The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi jumps to 384, authorities say, with many of those killed swept away by giant waves as they played on the beach.

Another case of political interference in official matters surfaced after Punjab Minister for Prisons Zawar Hussain visited the Kot Lakhpat Jail on Thursday and allegedly unlocked high security barracks.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday slammed Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, accusing it of harbouring terrorists and "masking malevolence with duplicity".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded with the UN's highest environmental honour for his leadership of the

The Pakistani premier's house milked its livestock reserves yesterday as dozens gathered for a buffalo auction in the capital Islamabad, in the latest push for Prime Minister Imran Khan's highly publicised austerity drive.

The Maldives' military chief on Wednesday quashed speculation that outgoing President Abdulla Yameen would try to cling on to power, telling the nation that the armed forces would "protect the will of the people".

India is committed to buying Iranian oil and continuing the two nations' economic cooperation, the Iranian foreign minister said after a meeting with his Indian counterpart and ahead of US sanctions aimed at halting Tehran's oil exports.

After decriminalizing consensual gay sex between two adults, the Indian Supreme Court rules that adultery is not a crime, scrapping an "archaic" law saying the "husband is not the master of the wife."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is awarded this year’s UN’s highest environmental honour for his leadership of the International Solar Alliance and pledges to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022.

As aid workers rushed to vaccinate Rohingya refugees against measles earlier this year, rumours swirled through the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh - the injections would make women sterile and convert children into Christians.

China yesterday called for "continuity and stability" in the Maldives after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the leader of an opposition that has vowed to review Chinese projects, defeated incumbent president Abdulla Yameen in a weekend election.

Myanmar's powerful army chief says the United Nations has no right to interfere in his country's sovereignty, a week after UN investigators called for him and other top generals to be prosecuted for "genocide" against the Rohingya.

Nepal has reinstated a deal with a Chinese state-owned company to build a $2.5 billion hydroelectric plant scrapped by the previous government, officials confirmed yesterday, as the new pro-Beijing administration seeks massive infrastructure investment.

Veteran Maldives lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih overcame the detention and exile of key opposition figures to win a weekend presidential poll and unseat incumbent Abdulla Yameen, but now faces the task of holding together a disparate coalition.

Doctors at the Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad of India hold a protest trying to draw attention towards the dilapidated condition of the biggest government hospital in Telangana.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with militants in the country's northwest near the Afghan border on Saturday, the military said. The militants had infiltrated from across the Afghan border, and an officer was among the Pakistani soldiers killed. Nine militants were also killed.

Maoist rebels were yesterday accused of assassinating a south Indian lawmaker and another former legislator in a brazen daytime ambush on their vehicle, police and media reports said.

India yesterday launched the world's biggest health insurance scheme which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would cover some 500 million poor people. The programme, dubbed "Modicare", promises health cover worth 500,000 rupees ($6,900) to every poor family to treat serious ailments.

The Maldives presidential election will not be free and fair because President Abdulla Yameen has used draconian laws to crackdown on rivals, a foreign monitoring group said on the eve of voting.

More than a quarter of a million people will vote on Sunday for the next leader of the small Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives in an