Asia

A passenger train derailed after striking a herd of elephants near a wildlife reserve in central Sri Lanka in the early hours of Thursday. While no injuries were reported among passengers, six elephants died from the accident in Habarana, east of the capital Colombo. Two injured elephants were being treated, …

Cherylann Mollan BBC News, Mumbai BeerBiceps/YouTube Ranveer Allahbadia, also known as BeerBiceps, is a popular Indian podcaster “Dirty.” “Perverted mind.” “Disgusting.” These were the words India’s Supreme Court used on Tuesday while granting interim protection from arrest to a popular YouTuber who has been in the eye of a storm …

Getty Images About half of Yemen’s population needs humanitarian assistance, including nearly 10 million children When Hanaa arrived at work a few months ago, she found “drawers and doors smashed, and the boss surrounded by security personnel”. Computers, phones, cameras and documents were all confiscated, her boss was arrested and …

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images Ne Zha 2 features a boy battling demons with his magical powers A chorus of praise is being sung around Ne Zha 2, the Chinese film about a mythical boy who battles demons, which has been newly crowned the world’s highest-grossing animated film. The box …

Jean Mackenzie Seoul Correspondent BBC/Hosu Lee Some of Yoon’s supporters believe the opposition party wants to unify with the North and turn South Korea into a communist country On a cold January afternoon, a young pharmacy student, Shin Jeong-min, waited restlessly outside South Korea’s Constitutional Court, as the country’s suspended …

The chief minister of India’s Uttar Pradesh state has rejected a government report that found high levels of contamination in a key bathing place at the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest gathering. The report said the waters at Sangam – the confluence of rivers considered holy by Hindus – in …

EPA Analysts say they are not optimistic that the ruthless “cancel culture” surrounding the industry will change Actress Kim Sae-ron‘s death in an apparent suicide has renewed criticism of South Korea’s entertainment industry, which churns out stars but also subjects them to immense pressure and scrutiny. Kim, 24, had been …

Getty Images Melbourne police say they are investigating reports of online threats against one of the two victims in the shopping centre Australian police have charged a 31-year-old woman for assaulting two Muslim women at a shopping centre in Melbourne last week. The woman from Pascoe Vale suburb is due …

A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of Japan’s former prime minister Fumio Kishida in 2023. Ryuji Kimura, 25, hurled a pipe bomb at Kishida as the country’s leader approached a crowd for a speech during an election event in the city of …

More than 150 false killer whales have died or will be euthanised after a mass stranding on a remote Australian beach. Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment said the pod had beached near Arthur River, in the island’s north west. About 90 of the 157 animals – which witnesses …

Getty Images India has still not developed its own foundational language model like DeepSeek that’s used to power things like chatbots Two years after ChatGPT took the world by storm, China’s DeepSeek has sent ripples through the tech industry by collapsing the cost for developing generative artificial intelligence applications. But …

Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News Supplied Asha Roy was due to take part in a football tournament that Islamists protested against recently Asha Roy, 17, was excited to take part in a women’s football tournament, but her hopes were dashed as Islamists forced the organisers to cancel the match in northern …

South Korea has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of sharing user data with the owner of TikTok in China. “We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance,” the South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency. The country had already removed DeepSeek from app stores over the weekend over data protection …

Shaimaa Khalil Tokyo correspondent Reuters The Fukushima disaster continues to hang over Japan, bringing back painful memories Japan says it will increase its reliance on nuclear energy in a major policy shift as it seeks to meet growing demand from power-hungry sectors like AI and semiconductors. An energy plan approved …

A couple in north-east Pakistan has been detained on suspicion of murdering a 13-year-old girl who worked for them as a maid, for allegedly stealing chocolates. The girl who goes only by one name, Iqra, succumbed to multiple injuries in hospital last Wednesday. A preliminary police investigation said she had …

Her fellow shooter Avani Lekhara was presented with the BBC ISWOTY Para-sportswoman of the Year award. The 23-year-old is the first Indian woman to win three Paralympic medals, with gold in Paris following a gold and bronze at Tokyo 2020. Indian President Droupadi Murmu said: “I appreciate the entire team …

The US State Department has dropped a statement from its website which stated that Washington does not support Taiwan’s independence – a move which has sparked anger in China. China said the revision “sends a wrong… signal to separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence”, and asked the US to “correct …

The Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, is a six-week long event being hosted in India’s Prayagraj city. The BBC filmed through the night at the Mela to answer one question – does this convergence of hundreds of millions of people ever go to sleep? The festival, which began …

Singapore’s opposition leader Pritam Singh has been found guilty of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee. The charges against Singh relate to his handling of Raeesah Khan, a former lawmaker from his party, who lied to parliament in a separate case. The verdict in this high-profile trial comes as …

BBC Chloe Cheung, 19, has been named a “wanted person” by Hong Kong police Just over a year ago, Chloe Cheung was sitting her A-levels. Now she’s on a Chinese government list of wanted dissidents. The choir girl-turned-democracy activist woke up to news in December that police in Hong Kong …