India said the existing bonds of friendship with Bangladesh provide a solid basis for the greater development of South Asia, its joint prosperity, and inclusive growth of the people.

India said yesterday it had temporarily brought back officials from its consulate in Kandahar, a major city in southern Afghanistan, as Taliban fighters continue to gain control amid the withdrawal of international forces.

Afghan security forces, with the help of air strikes, repelled an assault by Taliban fighters on the provincial centre of a key northern province bordering Tajikistan on Sunday, officials said.

India has withdrawn nearly 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Kandahar of Afghanistan in view of the deteriorating security situation as Taliban gained control of new areas around the southern Afghan city.

A prominent ethnic rebel group in Myanmar suspended one of its key leaders this week, a spokesman said yesterday, as it investigates an alleged massacre of civilians on its territory. 

Terming the sending of mangoes by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina “a thoughtful gesture”, her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi has said it reminded him of the generous hospitality of Bangladesh during his visit in March.

Using a toilet can pay for your coffee or buy you bananas at a university in South Korea, where human waste is being used to help power a building. 

All cargo train operators today got the authorisation to use the Indian railway network to carry all cargo, including third-country freight between India and Nepal.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed the mangoes sent by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a thoughtful gesture and reminded him of the generous hospitality of Bangladesh during his visit in March.

The biggest party in Malaysia’s ruling coalition, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), yesterday said it was withdrawing support for the embattled prime minister and urged him to step down.

A brother of Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday became finance minister, tightening the family’s grip on power in the South Asian nation as it confronts growing economic troubles. Basil Rajapaksa, 70, took over the finance portfolio from another brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Regional officials in northern Afghanistan said on Wednesday they had recaptured government buildings in a provincial capital after Taliban fighters stormed it overnight, taking over the police headquarters and sparking panic among residents.

The clandestine clinic was under fire, and the medics inside were in tears.

Senior foreign executives of major telecommunications firms in Myanmar have been told by the junta that they must not leave the country without permission, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Hundreds of Taliban fighters were killed in fierce battles with government forces across several provinces of Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, as Washington announced it would finish withdrawing its troops from the country by the end of August. 

A Pakistani police constable has been arrested over the murder of a man who was acquitted of blasphemy charges last year, a police spokesman said.

Ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi asked the people of Myanmar to stay “united” in the face of military rule, her lawyers said yesterday, as she reappeared in a junta court.

India today termed Indian Air Force Chief R K S Bhadauria’s recent two-day visit to Bangladesh as “highly significant”.

A Myanmar junta trial of Aung San Suu Kyi will run longer than scheduled, her lawyers said yesterday, with the prosecution still to call nearly two dozen witnesses.

North Korean state television has aired a citizen’s comment about Kim Jong Un’s “emaciated” condition, a highly unusual broadcast in a country where public discussion of the leader’s health and personal life has always been off-limits.