Sri Lanka's political crisis yesterday descended into farce with MPs throwing punches and projectiles in parliament, a day after voting the disputed prime minister out of office and leaving the country without a government.

Bangladeshi women shows a slow performance in using modern contraception in the world. In a wider perspective, an ambitious goal to boost the number of women using modern contraception by tens of millions by 2020 is falling far behind, said experts.

The International Crisis Group has warned of serious security risks of “forced repatriation” of the Rohingya, just as Myanmar and Bangladesh prepare for the November 15 return of the refugees sheltered in Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka's parliamentary Speaker yesterday accused President Maithripala Sirisena of "usurping" the rights of legislators and asked public servants not to carry out his "illegal orders".

Bangladesh is ranked among the countries in South Asia which are less affected by organised crimes. The four South Asian countries- Nepal (107), Bangladesh (97), India (90) and Sri Lanka (85), are among the group of the countries that have been less affected by organised crime as compared to Pakistan, according to data published by World Economic Forum.

For Nurul Amin, a Rohingya Muslim living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, the days since learning he and his family were among a group of people set to potentially be repatriated to Myanmar have been among the most frightening since they fled their home.

The incitement case against three Myanmar journalists who reported critically on the financial management of Yangon's government has been withdrawn,

A Pakistani Christian woman has been freed from prison yesterday a week after the Supreme Court overturned her conviction and death sentence for blasphemy against Islam, and she is at a secure location in the country, officials said.

Pakistan has removed the acting chief of state-run television after a caption read “Begging” instead “Beijing” during a broadcast of Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to China, which has promised economic aid to the impoverished South Asian country.

The Taliban have infiltrated a strategic district in southeastern Afghanistan and fought with members of the Shia Hazara minority, officials said yesterday, a week after militants and a Shia militia clashed in a central province.

A prolonged power-struggle between Sri Lanka's president and his sacked prime minister has paralysed the island's government and must be solved immediately, a key MP said.

The United Nations' human rights investigator on Myanmar urged Bangladesh on Tuesday to drop plans to start repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine state this month, warning they would face a "high risk of persecution".

In a shocking revelation, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime wing says data from "almost all" Pakistani banks was looted in a recent security breach.

In yet another name change, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh yesterday announced that Faizabad district in the state will be henceforth known as Ayodhya. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath made the announcement at a function to mark the Deepavali function in Ayodhya in the afternoon.

More than 400 Afghans were killed or wounded in poll-related violence during three days of voting last month, the UN said yesterday, making the parliamentary ballot the deadliest on record. The vast majority of the 435 casualties happened on the first day of voting on October 20.

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday suffered a jolt when it failed to retain a parliamentary seat which has been its long-held bastion in the southern state of Karnataka as ruling Congress and its alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular) won two other parliamentary constituencies and won both the assembly seats that went to by-polls last weekend.

Facebook Inc says a human rights report it commissioned on its presence in Myanmar showed it has not done enough to prevent its social network from being used to incite violence.

Lawyers for two Myanmar Reuters journalists yesterday filed an appeal against their seven-year jail sentence linked to their reporting on the Rohingya crisis, the news agency said.

Twitter suspended the account of a ultra-right Pakistani cleric on Sunday following inflammatory statements targeting the judiciary, prime minister, and military after the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, the government said.

Sri Lanka's speaker of parliament said yesterday he would not accept a former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the new prime minister until he proves he commands a majority in parliament.