AFP, BANGKOK: Thailand has become the first Asian country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, a milestone in the fight against the disease. The announcement is a boost for a generation of Thai health workers who have transformed the nation…

AFP, LAHORE: A Pakistani teenager was burnt alive by her mother on Wednesday after marrying a man of her own choice, police said, the latest in a string of so-called “honour killings” in the country. Zeenat Bibi, 16, was set on fire by her mother Perveen Bibi in the eastern city of Lahore…

AFP, BEIJING: Beijing accused Washington of “hype” on Wednesday after the US said two Chinese jets conducted an unsafe intercept of one of its spy planes over the East China Sea. The spat came soon after the world’s two largest economies concluded an annual dialogue overshadowed by…

AFP, ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed into law a reform lifting immunity for lawmakers, his office said, in a move critics believe is aimed at evicting pro-Kurdish MPs from parliament. Erdogan’s approval came late Tuesday, less than a month after parliament adopted the…

AFP, MOSCOW: A Moscow court on Wednesday released radical performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky with a hefty fine for torching the door of the security services headquarters in a rare show of leniency by the authorities. A judge ordered the artist to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles ($7800, 6800 euros) after…

AFP, NEW DELHI: Indian police said Wednesday they have arrested the suspected leader of an illegal organ donation racket run out of one of the country’s top hospitals. T Rajkumar Rao was arrested in the eastern city of Kolkata late Tuesday on suspicion of leading a criminal gang that lured poor…

AFP, LONDON: Two Scottish mosques on Wednesday invited US presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to visit during his trip to Scotland later this month to inaugurate his newly-revamped golf course. “Before he makes another inflammatory speech, Mr Trump should learn more about…