Spanish coastguards rescued 401 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean over the first two days of the new year, they said

China's population shrank last year for the first time in 70 years, experts said, warning of a "demographic crisis" that puts pressure on the country's slowing economy.

Tens of thousands of tourists have fled some of Thailand's most popular islands and resort areas as Tropical Storm Pabuk closes in and threatens to batter the southern part of the kingdom with heavy rains, winds and seven-metre waves.

North Korea's top diplomat in Italy has sought asylum and gone into hiding, Seoul lawmakers told reporters after a closed-door meeting with South Korean intelligence officials yesterday.

The number of confirmed dead from a New Year's Eve gas explosion in a Russian apartment block jumped to 37 yesterday as rescuers recovered more bodies from the rubble of the partially collapsed building.

Myanmar police have clashed with insurgents in the troubled western state of Rakhine, state-run media said yesterday, as intensified

Two women defied a centuries-old ban on entering a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Kerala yesterday, sparking protests and calls

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan reveals before a Supreme Court bench that academic credentials of seven pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had been found to be bogus and five of them have not even done matric.

Cambodia enjoys the most number of non - working days with 28 public holidays in a year among the countries of the world, according to date collected by the World Atlas.

At least eight people were injured, one seriously, when a vehicle ploughed into crowds celebrating New Year's Day in Tokyo early

An elaborate three-day coronation ceremony for Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn will take place between May 4 and 6, more than two and half years after the death of his revered father Bhumibol Adulyadej. This year is poised to be pivotal for Thailand. The country is also set to hold elections, with the junta teasing the date of Febuary 24.

At least 23 security personnel have been killed and dozens of others wounded in a series of attacks by the Taliban on security checkpoints in Afghanistan's northern Sar-e-Pul province, officials said yesterday.

A law requiring internet companies in Vietnam to remove content communist authorities deem to be against the state came into effect yesterday, in a move critics called "a totalitarian model of information control".

Nuclear-armed North Korea wants good relations with the US but could consider a change of approach if Washington maintains its sanctions, leader Kim Jong Un warned in his New Year speech yesterday after 12 months of diplomatic rapprochement.

A Thai man who felt slighted by his in-laws shoots dead six family members including his two young children at a New Year's Eve party before turning the gun on himself, police says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a "conciliatory message" to US President Donald Trump amid stalled nuclear negotiations, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday.

After a year of record bloodshed, Afghans are bracing for an even deadlier 2019 with the threat of a US drawdown and a looming presidential vote likely to fuel violence.

Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been named The Muslim Man of the Year according to 10th Anniversary Edition of the Muslim 500.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to meet the South's President Moon Jae-in "frequently" next year to discuss denuclearisation of the peninsula in a rare letter sent to Seoul, Moon's office said yesterday.

The Indonesian volcano which caused a tsunami that killed more than 400 people last week lost more than two-thirds of its height following the eruption which triggered the killer waves.