A bomb placed under a sofa killed four Afghans including an election candidate yesterday, officials said, as deadly violence escalates ahead of the October 20 parliamentary ballot.

Outgoing Maldives President Abdulla Yameen told the nation Wednesday he accepted defeat in last month's elections, even as the strongman ruler lobbies the Supreme Court to call a fresh poll.

Imran Ali, who was convicted for the rape and murder of six-year-old Zainab Amin in Kasur, is hanged to death in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Central Jail.

The chair of a United Nations inquiry that accused Myanmar's military of genocide is likely to brief the Security Council this month after Britain, France, the United States and six other members requested the meeting, diplomats said on Tuesday.

The Maldives' top court yesterday rejected three "secret" witnesses offered by President Abdulla Yameen in his petition to have his September election defeat annulled, in what is likely a major blow to his case.

An ultra-nationalist monk -- dubbed the "Buddhist Bin Laden" -- condemns the international community for their calls to bring Myanmar's generals to justice over the Rohingya crisis.

Anwar Ibrahim won an overwhelming mandate in a parliamentary by-election yesterday, officials said, setting the stage for his return to frontline Malaysian politics and sealing the once-jailed opposition figure's remarkable resurrection.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim wants that all the supports for the Rohingya people, who were forcibly displaced to Bangladesh from Myanmar, should come in the form of grant, Finance Minister AMA Muhith says.

Malaysia has freed 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims who escaped from immigration detention in Thailand, their lawyer said yesterday, ignoring

A Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut were safe after a Soyuz rocket bound for the International Space Station failed in mid-air two minutes after liftoff in Kazakhstan, leading to a dramatic emergency landing.

A child born today in Bangladesh would be more productive than his peers in India and Pakistan, as the country fared better than its larger regional competitors in a new World Bank ranking.

Malaysia has decided to abolish the death penalty, a senior minister said yesterday, with more than 1,200 people on death row set to win a reprieve following a groundswell of opposition to capital punishment.

Indonesia yesterday extended for a day the search for victims of a 7.5 magnitude quake and tsunami on Sulawesi island at the request of relatives of the many still missing, the national disaster mitigation agency said.

A booster rocket carrying a Soyuz spacecraft with a Russian and US astronaut on board headed for the International Space Station fails mid-air, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi that a credible investigation into alleged human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims is key to resolving tensions in the country's Rakhine state.

Myanmar police arrest three journalists after their paper criticised the financial management of Yangon's government, which is overseen by a protege of leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in the latest case to spark concern over press freedom.

Rescue workers in Indonesia stepped up their search for victims of an earthquake and tsunami yesterday, hoping to find as many bodies as they can before this week's deadline for their work to halt, as the official death toll rose to 2,010.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh welcomes a new contribution of US $22.25 million from the United Kingdom that will help meet the immediate food and nutrition needs of Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh as they face the dangerous monsoon season.

In a rapidly growing world of internet users, Bangladesh has been ranked fifth largest internet using country in Asia.

The number of people believed missing from the quake and tsunami that struck Indonesia's Palu city has soared to 5,000, an official said yesterday, an indication that far more may have perished in the twin disaster than the current toll.