Pakistan yesterday opened four-country talks aimed at luring the Afghan Taliban back to the negotiating table with the Kabul government, even as the insurgents wage an unprecedented winter campaign of violence.

Nepali bureaucrat Pradip Raj Kandel on Sunday clinched the title of Integrity Idol, a television talent show-styled initiative that awards honest civil servants. The

President Abdul Hamid yesterday stressed the need for putting best efforts in generating innovative and sustainable solutions to ensure a healthy and hygienic atmosphere and build a prosperous South Asia.

An Indian teenager held captive for two weeks by a gang of men said in an interview broadcast that she was repeatedly raped before being shot twice and dumped in a well on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to begin talks today aimed at restarting the Afghan peace process and eventually ending 14 years of bloodshed fighting the Taliban insurgents.

Sri Lanka's new government yesterday presented its plan for a new constitution aimed at devolving power and preventing the sort of ethnic tensions that led to a long and bitter civil war that ended in 2009.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reiterates her government's stance of zero tolerance to terrorism and says no one would be allowed to use Bangladesh's soil for insurgent acts against any country.

Hundreds of people joined a Shia-led protest in Islamabad against Pakistan's decision to join Saudi Arabia's 34-country coalition against extremism, as Riyadh's foreign minister ended a two-day visit to the country.

Bangladesh should not continue any relation with Pakistan because of its heinous role during the 1971 War of Liberation, said Dhaka

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, chief minister of India's restive Kashmir region and one of the country's best-known Muslim politicians, died yesterday, an official said.

India yesterday made it clear that foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan will go ahead only if Islamabad acts on the 'actionable intelligence' provided by Delhi on the Pathankot terror attack.

An alleged Bangladeshi national is among three persons arrested from Bidhannagar area of West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district adjacent to Kolkata and seized seven fake Indian passports from them.

India's Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed dies after a brief illness, aged 79.

Indian Union home ministry's disaster management experts warn of a bigger catastrophe, earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.2 or greater on the Richter scale which may hit the already ruptured Himalayan region, reports The Times of India.

The North Korean authorities say they have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb amid reports of a tremor near the main nuclear test site.

In fresh turn in diplomatic row, Pakistan has asked Bangladesh to withdraw a diplomat without citing any reason. Maushumi Rahman would have to leave the country within 48 hours, according to Pakistan foreign office.

In the serene grounds of Paro Ugyen Pelri Palace in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a young couple pose for the camera, his arm

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged Pakistan to take action against militants India says are responsible for a recent attack on an air base.

Sri Lanka's main opposition yesterday welcomed President Maithripala Sirisena's promise of land for 100,000 people who were forced from their homes during the long civil war, most of them Tamils.

Indian security forces were working yesterday to carefully defuse grenades in the final stages of an operation to secure a vast air base near the border with Pakistan, two days after a militant attack killed seven military personnel and wounded 22.