It is only a matter of time before a child witness commits suicide if nothing is done to address the adversarial culture in courtrooms, the head of a leading British charity has warned.

A bomb blast has killed at least 14 people at an election campaign rally held by a pro-Taliban party in north-west Pakistan.

A fire broke out at an illegal six-storey plastics market in the Indian city of Kolkata today, killing at least 18 people.

A private Indian hospital where 90 people died in a massive fire failed to update its safety procedures despite being ordered to do so months ago, officials said today.

At least 61 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, senior officials have said.

Up to £1m (€1.5m) a year will be taken from the wages of prisoners who work in communities and used to support victims of crime, ministers in Britain said today.

The Pakistani Taliban is claiming responsibility for an attack on a police station that killed at least 10 officers.

Two passengers were killed and nine others injured when a roadside bomb hit a minibus in north-western Pakistan today, an official said.

A car bomb killed nine people close to the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar today, the latest in a series of attacks that are challenging recent police claims of progress against Islamist militants in the region.

About 150,000 Pakistanis were forced to move to higher ground as floodwaters from a freshly swollen Indus River submerged dozens more towns and villages in the south, a government spokesman said today.

Pakistan thanked the world for coming to its aid and said more than 20 million flood victims now knew that nations and people around the globe were standing with them during the worst disaster the country has ever faced.

At least five militants and one policeman were killed today during a gun battle at a high school in north-western Pakistan.

BRITISH police shut down a busy railway station north of London yesterday after an explosives-packed car was found outside it.

A grenade exploded at a concert featuring leading Indian movie stars in the Sri Lankan capital today, a day before the anniversary of the death of a leading Buddhist cleric, the military said.