Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid homage to Harichand Thakur, the founder of the Matua sect, and lauded the community's rich culture and contributions

The United States and China have agreed to hold “intensive exchanges on balanced growth”, the US Treasury Department said in a statement, after two days of talks between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Guangzhou.

Pakistan yesterday denounced “provocative remarks” made by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in which he said India would enter Pakistan to kill anyone who escapes over its border after trying to carry out militant attacks.

Taiwan rescue helicopters flew sorties yesterday to pluck tourists to safety after a massive earthquake cut off roads and blocked tunnels, leaving hundreds stranded for days in the mountains.

India’s opposition Congress party has promised to strengthen economic and cultural ties with Bangladesh and pay greater attention to its immediate neighbours if it is voted to power in the upcoming national elections. “We will enhance economic and cultural relations between India and Bangladesh that are the two most populous countries in South Asia,” the party said in its election manifesto released at its national headquarters in New Delhi yesterday. Top party leaders including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were present at the event, reports our New Delhi correspondent. The party also vowed to protect minorities while accelerating growth and jobs, reports AFP. Nearly a billion Indians will vote to elect a new government in six-week-long parliamentary elections starting on April 19, the largest democratic exercise in the world. In its manifesto, Congress promised to protect “linguistic and religious minorities”. “The plurality of religions represents the history of India,” it said. “History cannot be altered.” Party leader Rahul Gandhi -- the son, grandson and great-grandson of prime ministers -- said the upcoming election was “fundamentally different” from any other in India’s history. “It is between those who want to end India’s constitution and democracy and those who want to save it,” he said. The Congress manifesto, titled a “justice document”, offered “concrete guarantees unlike Modi’s empty promises”, said lawmaker and lead author P Chidambaram. The party has promised to address India’s “massive unemployment” on a “war footing”, adding that it would earmark half of all government jobs for women. Young people voted for Modi in droves when he was first elected a decade ago after he said he would create 10 million jobs a year. But a recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report warned that India was hamstrung by a “grim” crisis, with unemployment on the rise Congress proposed an unconditional annual cash transfer of Rs 100,000 ($1,200) “to every poor Indian family”, without precisely defining who would qualify.

India’s Supreme Court put on hold a lower court’s order that effectively banned Islamic schools in the country’s most populous state, lawyers involved in the case said yesterday, giving a breather to thousands of students and teachers in the system.

Cooch Behar, the crucial north West Bengal district in India, became subject to strong opposing political views yesterday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rallies within 30 km of each other.

Opponents of army rule in Myanmar said yesterday they carried out drone attacks on two military targets in its capital Naypyitaw, attacks which, if confirmed, would be a major blow to the image of a junta struggling to govern.

Sri Lanka does not see any need to re-open talks on a contentious island ceded to it by New Delhi 50 years ago, the foreign minister has said, after the low-key territorial squabble turned into a hot-button election issue in India.

The Indian Air Force today said it plans to activate Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) on highways across the country

When a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan's scenic and largely rural east coast county of Hualien on Wednesday, local official Chang Tung-yao knew exactly what to do, having experienced a similar temblor six years before

A helicopter plucked to safety on Thursday six people stranded in a mining area after Taiwan's worst earthquake in 25 years, while hundreds of aftershocks rocking the eastern region near its epicentre drove scores more to seek shelter outdoors..The number of injured in Wednesday's 7.2-magn

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck off northeastern Japan's Fukushima region on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but no tsunami warning was issued

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is seeking re-election from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming national elections, has filed his nomination papers along with the mandatory affidavit which says he owns assets valued at Rs 20.4 crore, the Indian media reported today

Taiwan’s biggest earthquake in at least 25 years killed nine people yesterday and injured more than 900.

At least 13 Maoist insurgents were killed in a clash in central India, police said yesterday, taking the rebel toll in the long-running conflict to 50 this year.

As many as 23 Indian opposition politicians who crossed over to the BJP since the time it came to power in 2014 have got reprieve from federal agencies investigating corruption cases against them, The Indian Express reported yesterday.

India’s Congress leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday filed his nomination papers for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala for the upcoming elections.

India's Border Security Force was today asked by the country's Election Commission to keep strict vigilance along the international borders with Bangladesh for any illicit activity, especially 72 hours before polling, as part of a plan to ensure free, fair and peaceful national elections beginning on April 19

Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's Congress party, today filed his nomination papers for the Wayanad constituency in Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections