Tillakaratne Dilshan cracked a solid 54 as Sri Lanka reached 132-1 at lunch on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Galle today.

Clashes between Filipino militants and security forces in Borneo have left 60 people dead up to Thursday evening, including 52 of the armed intruders, according to Malaysian police.

The police in the Maldives detained opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed on Tuesday, defying pressure from regional power India which had called for him to be free to campaign for elections.

In a major assault early this morning, Malaysian security forces launched air strikes and ground attacks to flush out the armed Philipino group, which was holed up in a remote village in Sabah state.

At least 30 people were injured and 3,200 houses damaged as a 5.5 magnitude earthquake today hit quake-prone southwest China.

Bangladesh police arrested five students of an elite private university on Saturday on charges of murdering an anti-Islamist blogger whose death triggered nationwide turmoil.

A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on Monday, setting buildings in the capital swaying but causing no risk of a tsunami, the country’s meteorological agency reported.

At least four people were injured and nearly 60 houses were toppled when a 4.9-magnitude quake jolted a border area near southwest China today.

Thousands of people were evacuated after a dam in north China’s Shanxi province collapsed, causing heavy flooding and damaging highways and rail tracks.

Accusing North Korea, China’s closest ally of pursuing a policy of a “hostage taker” by resorting to nuclear tests, a state-run Chinese daily today said Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons put neighbours at risk and called for stern punishment if it hurt Beijing’s interests.