AFP, MANILA: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday said Washington wanted to avoid “confrontation” in the South China Sea, after an international tribunal rejected Beijing’s claims to most of the waters. Kerry made the remarks after meeting with Philippine Foreign Secretary…

AFP, TOKYO: A Japanese man who admitted murdering 19 people at a centre for the mentally disabled grinned at news cameras Wednesday before being questioned…

AFP, KATHMANDU: At least 58 people have died in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in Nepal, the government said Wednesday. Another 20 people are missing and the Nepal army is racing to evacuate hundreds more from flooded villages as the waters rise. The home ministry spokesman said 58 people…

AFP, BANGKOK: A former prime minister whose party supported Thailand’s last coup lambasted the junta’s new constitution on Wednesday before a referendum on it, a rare blow to the army from within its own political camp. Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was appointed prime minister from 2008-2011,…

AFP, TEHRAN: Iran’s Guardian Council announced Wednesday that next year’s presidential election will take place on May 19 with embattled incumbent Hassan Rouhani expected to run for a second term. Rouhani, a moderate who oversaw a deal with world powers to end sanctions in exchange for curbing…

AFP, ANKARA: Turkey issued arrest warrants Wednesday for 47 former staff of the Zaman newspaper, an official said, in a growing crackdown on citizens suspected of links to alleged coup mastermind Fethullah Gulen. The official, declining to be named, said the swoop covers “executives and some staff…

AFP, NEW DELHI: Two Muslim women have been beaten up at a railway station in central India on suspicion of carrying beef, an offence in many parts of the Hindu-majority country, police said Wednesday. The meat the women were carrying has since turned out to be buffalo, but police in Madhya Pradesh state…