An informal meeting of foreign ministers of SAARC countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Saturday was canceled as other member countries opposed Pakistan’s insistence on having a representative of the Taliban at the table.

The Taliban said yesterday Afghan girls will be allowed to return to school “as soon as possible”, after their movement faced international fury over their effective exclusion of women and girls from education and work.

Guinness World Records has certified two Japanese sisters as the world’s oldest living identical twins at 107, in an announcement Monday coinciding with Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan.

On one hand, you’re raising fresh funds to avert a crisis and on the other hand money that is theirs -- belongs to them -- they cannot use. I think freezing the assets is not helping the situation. I would strongly urge the powers that be that they should revisit that policy and think of an unfreeze.”

Indian officials said on Tuesday they had seized nearly three tonnes of heroin originating from Afghanistan worth an estimated 200 billion rupees ($2.72 billion) amid the chaos following last month's takeover of the country by the Taliban.

Fears were mounting in Afghanistan yesterday as the Taliban tightened their grip on women’s rights, slashing access to work and denying girls the right to secondary school education.

Toppled Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has “no comment” on a declaration of war against the junta by a shadow government dominated by lawmakers from her party, her lawyer said yesterday.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore are tackling food waste by turning discarded durian husks into antibacterial gel bandages.

The interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital said many female city employees have been ordered to stay home by the country’s new Taliban rulers.

Hong Kong’s political elite began selecting a powerful committee yesterday which will choose the city’s next leader and nearly half the legislature under a new “patriots only” system imposed by Beijing.

Indian authorities seized over $20 million of heroin and detained seven Iranian men in a deep-sea drug bust off the country’s western coast, officials said yesterday.

Myanmar anti-junta dissidents have carried out a bomb attack on security forces near Yangon, with several killed in an ensuing firefight, the military and media said.

The Shanghai government will support companies applying for approval to sell duty-free goods, and encourage duty-free shops to be set up at airports, hotels, malls and other commercial venues, municipal authorities said.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has not ruled out seeking re-election to parliament within the next two years, he told Reuters in an interview, despite a corruption conviction that would block him from running.

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao said on Sunday he will run for president of the Philippines next year, after railing against corruption in government and what he calls President Rodrigo Duterte's cozy relationship with China.

With Covid-19 cases on a sharp decline over the last few months, India may soon allow foreign tourists for the first time in one and half years, the country’s home ministry officials said.

Myanmar anti-junta dissidents have carried out a bomb attack on security forces near Yangon, with several killed in an ensuing firefight, the military and media said.

Some Afghan girls returned to primary schools with gender-segregated classes on Saturday, but older girls faced an anxious wait with no clarity over if and when they would be able to resume their studies at the secondary school level.

Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan yesterday, after the country’s new Taliban rulers ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom.

Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term “rooftop garden,” as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as small vegetable plots.