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Death toll hits 28 in India's caste riots

​The death toll from caste unrest in northern India has risen to 28 but violence has subsided, officials said on Thursday, as a court asked authorities to investigate reports of rape during the riots.

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Tense times for Thai junta, Buddhist clergy

It is not often you see a monk performing a headlock, much less on a soldier. But that's exactly what happened last week, when soldiers confronted monks who had gathered in a Buddhist park to pressure the Thai military government to speed up their appointment of the most senior monk in the kingdom.

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Amid transition, Myanmar's army chief Min Aung Hlaing emerges from the shadows

​Like many of his generation, the head of Myanmar's powerful military is a recent but enthusiastic convert to Facebook.On his profile background picture, the commander-in-chief gives a "thumbs up" from the cockpit of an airplane. Posts show him celebrating new year in a traditional boar tusk headdress and visiting wounded soldiers.

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India riots: Protesters reach deal to end agitation

Members of a rural Indian caste reached a deal late yesterday to end protests that paralysed the North Indian state of Haryana and cut water supplies to Delhi's 20 million residents, a protest leader and a police source said.

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MH370 victims' families want deadline extended for lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines

The families of those on board a Malaysia Airlines flight which vanished over the Indian Ocean two years ago have called for 60 more days to push their cases against the airline through courts before time runs out.

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Time to ease property curbs, say Singaporean developers

The head of the property developers' body here says it is time to wind back property cooling measures given an oversupply of housing and a fragile economy.

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Some things about the EU: What it means to be a member and how Britain is different

European Union leaders meet on Thursday (Feb 18) for what promises to be a tense two-day summit to discuss new terms for Britain's membership of the EU.

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India's top court worried by sedition row violence

India's highest court said Thursday (Feb 18) it was concerned about law and order after a student leader whose arrest for sedition has sparked major protests was attacked, while journalists and lawyers were heckled in court.

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Philippine Muslim rebel tells followers to keep ceasefire

The head of the Philippines' main Muslim rebel group on Thursday (Feb 18) urged his followers to maintain a ceasefire with the government despite failure to pass a bill implementing a peace accord.

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PM Lee hits 1m Facebook likes: 5 other Singapore personalities who have hit the milestone

​Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has become the first Singapore politician to hit 1 million likes on his Facebook page.

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Singapore exports to China suffer biggest hit in seven years

China’s slowdown really hit home last month, with Singapore’s shipments to the country taking the biggest hammering in seven years.

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Local Afghan govts 'involved in opium trade'

The US has spent more than US$7 billion (S$9.8 billion) in the past 14 years to fight the runaway poppy production that has made Afghan opium the world's biggest brand.

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Thai monks scuffle with troops amid leadership row

Buddhist monks scuffled with soldiers yesterday as thousands of orange-robed clergy met at a seminar to support the front runner for the post of Thailand's Supreme Patriarch.

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Indonesia nabs 33 plotting attacks against airport

Indonesian police have arrested dozens of people from radical Islamic groups who were plotting attacks against a Jakarta airport and other targets, the national police chief said yesterday.

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Asean central to peace and prosperity in Asia, says Obama at US-Asean summit

US President Barack Obama has underscored the importance of US-Asean relationship at a key summit, saying the region was central to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.

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Over 2,100 pregnant Colombians hit by Zika

More than 2,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the country's national health institute said, as the disease continues its spread across the Americas.

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Bangladesh turns politically tense again: The Statesman

​The struggle between the two Begums (a reference to the nation's two women political leaders) for the mastery of Bangladesh becomes ever so sharper with the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina according its approval to the filing of sedition charges against the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader, Begum Khaleda.