The number of civilians killed and injured in the Afghan conflict has risen for the fifth year in a row, a UN report reveals.

India's most populous state battles to boost poll turnouts

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit China next week to discuss the future of Canada's oil products.

George Esper, who reported on the fall of Saigon for the Associated Press during the last days of the Vietnam war, dies at the age of 79.

A zoo in Kazakhstan, where overnight temperatures have dipped to nearly -40C, is giving monkeys a wine concoction as a remedy against flu.

Thousands of former Maoist fighters in Nepal begin the process of demobilisation, five years after they ended their armed revolt.

England's batsmen again fail to support their bowlers as 16 wickets fall on day one of the third Test against Pakistan in Dubai.

Force India unveil the new Formula 1 car in which Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg will compete in 2012.

Kim Dotcom's bail appeal is rejected by a New Zealand Court, as US campaigners hint at legal action to prevent files being deleted.

India PM Manmohan Singh says progress has been made on corruption but admits there is "still a long way" to go.

Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan joins Pedro de la Rosa at HRT for the 2012 season.

Troops in the Philippines are still searching for the body of top militant Marwan who was reported killed on Thursday, a military spokesman says.

India's Supreme Court questions the government's decisions in its row with the army chief over his retirement age.

Militants have killed at least seven Pakistani soldiers in an attack on a checkpoint in Kurram tribal region near the Afghan border, officials say.

The condition of a battered toddler in India improves as she is taken off a ventilator, doctors say.

A fireman guides a plane to land at an airport in India after air traffic controllers fail to turn up for work, it emerges.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic forecasts a record net annual loss of $10bn for the year to March.

The Chinese government keeps a tight control on the publishing and importation of books, especially those on what it deems sensitive subjects. But in Taiwan, the trade in Chinese language books is thriving.

Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court rejects an appeal by Khmer Rouge jailer Duch and increases his sentence to life imprisonment.

At least three people are killed and 50 hurt as a passenger train derails in India's north-eastern state of Assam, officials say.