South Asia News - AFP

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama is in a stable condition after surgery in India to remove gallstones and is likely to be discharged early next week, hospital officials and an aide said Saturday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Tribesmen in northwestern Pakistan buried their dead on Saturday after a suicide attack killed at least 40 at a mass meeting called to tackle Taliban militancy in the area.

COLOMBO (AFP) - Heavy fighting continued between troops and TamilTiger rebels across Sri Lanka's war-ravaged north, with the military killing 20 guerrillas, the defence ministry said Saturday.

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Taliban rebels decapitated four pro-government tribal elders in a Pakistan border region where the army is fighting Al-Qaeda and extremist militants, officials said Saturday.

PANAJI, India (AFP) - Authorities in the Indian resort state of Goa on Saturday gave a final warning to the mother of murdered British teenager Scarlett Keeling to appear in court to face neglect charges.

MUMBAI (AFP) - Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 66 Saturday, was taken to hospital after reportedly suffering abdominal pain, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Indian Kashmir's first train service hits the tracks Saturday -- the fruit of an eight-year project that had to overcome the twin challenges of tough terrain and separatist violence.

BANGALORE, India (AFP) - Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly hit a stubborn 38 not out as Australia tightened the screw in the first Test here on Saturday.

DHAKA (AFP) - All-rounder Jacob Oram smashed an unbeaten 75 to help New Zealand recover from a precarious position and post 212-9 in the second one-day international against Bangladesh here on Saturday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of anti-Taliban tribal leaders in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border Friday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee signed a pact Friday to open up sales of civilian nuclear technology to India for the first time in three decades.

ON BOARD US MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he has urged NATO allies to temporarily increase force levels in Afghanistan next year to protect the 2009 presidential elections.

BUDAPEST (AFP) - NATO forces will from now on directly target Afghanistan's opium trade to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money from reaching Taliban-led insurgents, the alliance announced on Friday.

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Police fired teargas and baton-charged hundreds of Kashmiri Muslims protesting a visit Friday to the volatile region by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

MALE (AFP) - The Maldives' first-ever democratic presidential election will be decided in a run-off on October 29, after the first round failed to deliver a clear winner, officials said.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan and Iran on Friday said they were willing to undertake bilaterally a stalled multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline even if India does not join the project.

TORONTO (AFP) - Controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar marked his return to international cricket by taking two wickets to help Pakistan to a 35-run win over Canada in the four-nation Twenty 20 tournament here on Friday.

MUMBAI (AFP) - Indian share prices plunged Friday to a two-year low and the rupee tumbled, despite central bank moves to boost liquidity and government attempts to ease fears of an economic slowdown.

TORONTO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's latest spin sensation Ajantha Mendis took three wickets and was named man of the match as his side clinched a five-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the first game of the Canada T20 event here on Friday.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A suicide attack struck a police complex in Islamabad and a roadside bomb killed 10 people in Pakistan's northwest on Thursday, underscoring the growing threat posed by Islamist militants.

MALE (AFP) - The first-ever democratic presidential battle in the Maldives is to go into a second round after Asia's longest-serving leader failed to deliver a knock-out blow to his rivals, officials said Thursday.

KABUL (AFP) - At least 36 Islamic militants were killed in clashes with security forces in Afghanistan, authorities said Thursday, adding that villagers had reported that 10 civilians died in rebel gunfire.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Fears over the Afghanistan conflict rose another notch Thursday, amid reports of a bleak draft US intelligence assessment detailing its slide into corruption, drugs and insurgent violence.

KABUL (AFP) - The lawyer of an Afghan reporter sentenced to death on blasphemy charges accused authorities Thursday of holding his client beyond a legal deadline, as the young man neared a full year in detention.

BUDAPEST (AFP) - NATO nations struggled Thursday to agree new steps to combat opium production in Afghanistan by hunting down drug lords and laboratories in an effort to halt the flow of funds to Taliban insurgents.

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepal's deposed king blessed hundreds of his former subjects in the world's newest republic Thursday for a Hindu festival, an AFP reporter witnessed.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The Dalai Lama has been hospitalised due to abdominal pain and could undergo surgery on Friday, a senior doctor told AFP, but his spokesman insisted that he was only undergoing "routine tests."

BANGALORE, India (AFP) - Skipper Ricky Ponting ended his run drought on Indian soil with a superb century as Australia came back strongly after a shock start in the first Test on Thursday.