Over a million people have been evacuated and hundreds of flights were cancelled as typhoon Chan-Hom made landfall on Saturday in eastern China, bringing severe winds and heavy rainfall to Zhejiang and neighbouring provinces.
The Railways Minister said gas stoves carried by some passengers blew up when they were preparing breakfast on the speeding train in violation of rules.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya questioned the president's decision to suspend parliament till November 16, saying it will have "serious and undesirable" consequences on the country.
Sirisena's sacking of Wickremesinghe was the culmination of an year of bitter relations between them on several policy matters. The president has been critical of the prime minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.
A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.
Two Chinese pilots were killed when a frontline Su-27 fighter jet crashed in China's eastern ShandongProvince, the defence ministry announced on Monday.
A mob of over 3000 people rampaged through a Christian neighbourhood in this eastern Pakistani city on Saturday following reports that a Christian man had committed blasphemy, burning scores of houses and driving out about 150 families.
There were Vedic mantras engraved along with prayer songs for Lord Shiva, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Neither the government nor the people of Faisalabad demanded that the carvings be removed. I felt very happy to see Sanskrit shloka
This was the first phone call between the two leaders after Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20.
The Modi government's appalling inefficiency and lack of purpose stand exposed, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Typhoon Meranti, stated to be the world's strongest typhoon so far this year, made landfall in east China's Fujian Province early Thursday, causing widespread destruction.
Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai's wife and a helper working in their home have been charged with poisoning a British businessman to death, a case that triggered the downfall of the ruling Communist Party of China's powerful leader and rocked the country's politics.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have moved into a new sprawling bomb-proof residence in this eastern city that will be the base for their political activities in Punjab province ahead of the general election.
In Tibet, the people's frustration with their colonial masters has reached the extreme, international silence is too loud, says Vijay Kranti
The death toll in the ship capsize in Yangtze River, China's worst shipping disaster in 70 years, rose to 434 after two more bodies were found on Monday.
From Sri Lanka's most popular political family to its most despised -- going by the voices on the streets calling for the Rajapaksas' ouster -- what went wrong for the clan? Veteran Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy offers an insight.
China brings the world to its doorstep with scale replicas of famous tourist destinations from across the world.
The bus, heading to Rawalpindi from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, fell down in the ravine near Jhelum, 100 km southeast of Islamabad, state-run PTV reported.
Bad weather hit relief and rescue operations, and weather forecasters predict another typhoon next week.
Chinese rescuers on Friday lifted the cruise ship capsized in the mighty Yangtze river to one side using two salvage vessels and massive cranes with the death toll rising to 82.
More than 4,000 rescue workers are racing against time to find survivors amid rough weather conditions.
Nepal has been hit by heavy rainfall since Thursday. More than 25 districts and 10,385 households have been affected.
Secretary of Pakistan's ministry of water resources Khawaja Shumail said: "We have neither concern nor objection if India diverts water of eastern rivers and supplies it to its people or uses it for other purposes, as the IWT allows it to do so."
7 killed, 20 wounded in shooting at Ahmadiyya mosque in Pak
At least seven people have been killed and 22 others injured in Tibet as the earthquake that hit Sikkim and other North Eastern states in India also rocked the Chinese autonomous province leaving trail of destruction.
'The PLA has continued to do exercises and drills and recently carried out air exercises with fighter jets.'
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on Saturday claimed responsibility for kidnapping a group of over 30 boys, who had strayed into Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province as reports said some of them had escaped and reached back to their homes.
A group of about 40 Pakistani boys, who strayed into Afghanistan during a picnic to celebrate Eid have been kidnapped by Taliban militants, raising fears that they could be turned into suicide bombers.
At least 11 militants, linked to the dreaded Haqqani network, were killed and several more injured when United States drones on Monday attacked a car and a compound in Pakistan's restive Kurram tribal region, which has rarely been targeted by the CIA-operated unmanned spy planes.
-- Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group carried out the series of explosions. -- Police have so far arrested 24 people - mostly members of an Islamist extremist group - in connection with the blasts
'Jinnah developed a belief that Gandhi had stolen the tag of the leader of the Indian people from him and that he later used religion to reduce Gandhi's idea of a united India to naught was his revenge.'
'Putin has set aside all the rules and now he is deciding the rules.'
Prices are sustainable and not just driven by speculative gains
With PM Modi's visit, the time has come for a relook at India-Myanmar ties, and elevate the relationship to higher levels, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
The Afghan Taliban have claimed that they killed three persons, including two Indians, and injured seven Afghan soldiers in a missile attack on a United States airbase and an Indian non-governmental organisation's office in eastern Kunar province.The claim was made by Afghan Taliban spokesman Qari Omar Haqqani, who spoke to reporters in Khar in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal region on the phone on Sunday. Haqqani claimed the militants attacked the office of the Indian NGO.
'With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami's side.' 'There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent,' says R Rajagopalan.
A train carrying 900 passengers left from Yichang City, central Hubei Province for Chongqing in Wanzhou district.
At least eight Central Intelligence Agency workers were killed in a daring suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan on Thursday.
Cut off from the world and having to contend with an orthodox and repressive Taliban government, Afghans are facing the brunt of Pakistan's decades old policy of nurturing militant groups, note Harsh V Pant and Kriti M Shah four months after the Taliban took Kabul.
