A librarian in Indonesia’s Java island is lending books to children in exchange for trash they collect in a novel way to clean up the environment and get the kids to read more.

China’s armed forces are capable of blockading Taiwan’s key harbours and airports, the island’s defence ministry said yesterday, offering its latest assessment of what it describes as a “grave” military threat posed by its giant neighbour.

Liberation War veteran Lt Col (retd) Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir yesterday received Padma Shri, one of India’s most prestigious civilian awards, in recognition of his contribution to public affairs.

In Taliban’s first news briefing since their return to power in Kabul, the group’s spokesperson said the new regime would be “positively different” from their 1996-2001 stint, which was infamous for deaths by stoning, girls being banned from school and women from working in contact with men.

India has told a gathering of navy chiefs and heads of maritime forces of 12 countries, including Bangladesh, that New Delhi will continue to oppose and deter the attempts of aggression on land and sea and also called for a collaborative effort in this regard.

Four of 40 infants in the newborn-care unit of a government hospital died in central India when a fire swept through the unit late on Monday, government officials said, the latest in a string of hospital fires in the country this year that have killed dozens.

Astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, authorities said yesterday, as her team completed a six-hour stint outside the Tiangong space station as part of its ongoing construction.

Two Bangladeshis -- career diplomat Syed Muazzem Ali and scholar Dr Enamul Haque -- were yesterday honoured by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind with two highest civilian awards of India.  

Nine people are dead and two others missing after floods in Sri Lanka and parts of southern India caused by more than a week of pounding rains.

At least 89 people, including 17 children, have tested positive for the Zika virus in a surge of cases in the Indian city of Kanpur, its health department said yesterday.

The Taliban appointed 44 of its members to key roles including provincial governors and police chiefs on Sunday, a key step in increasing its governance as the country grapples with growing security and economic problems.

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik yesterday said Aryan Khan, the son of Shah Rukh Khan, was kidnapped for ransom and “their game was ruined because of one selfie”.

A drone laden with explosives targeted the residence of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Baghdad early on Sunday in what the Iraqi military called an attempted assassination, but said Kadhimi escaped unhurt.

The head of the United Nations body investigating the most serious crimes in Myanmar has said that preliminary evidence collected since the military seized power on February 1 shows a widespread and systematic attack on civilians “amounting to crimes against humanity”.

China’s state news agency Xinhua lauded President Xi Jinping on Saturday as a tireless, selfless and scholarly servant of the people, ahead of a key meeting of the ruling Communist Party that is expected to further cement his authority.

A spy for the Chinese Ministry of State Security has been convicted by a federal jury of plotting to steal trade secrets from several U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Fire tore through a hospital in western India yesterday killing at least 11 coronavirus patients, officials said.

Four women have been killed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government said yesterday, as local sources identified at least one of the victims as a rights activist.

I’ve received countless notes of congratulations after being blacklisted and sanctioned, for life, by the #CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Many are jealous for not being recognized; some ask where they can apply for it. To deserve the rare honor, I’ll keep fighting for #Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.

The Pakistani Taliban have demanded that the government of Pakistan release a number of prisoners as a condition for talks aimed at laying the ground for full ceasefire negotiations, multiple sources in the group said.