Police arrested a third suspect today over the gang rape and killing of two teenage cousins found hanging from a tree in northern India, as a top state official said he was recommending a federal investigation into a case that has triggered national outrage.

Two police officers who failed to investigate the disappearance of two teenage girls in India who were gang-raped and later found hanging from a tree have been fired.

India has accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in Kashmir, calling it the most serious ceasefire violation between the nuclear-armed neighbours in a decade.

A speeding train has run over a group of pilgrims, killing at least 20 people in eastern India, a lawmaker says.

A 5-year-old girl has died after being raped in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, an official said.

At least 35 people were feared drowned today after a boat capsized on the Ganges river in north India.

A furious Indian bride burned her husband to death because he kept saying she was not as beautiful as one of his female friends.

Nepal’s parliament speaker said communists have agreed to stop blocking parliamentary proceedings so that politicians can choose a new government.

Nepal’s political parties were holding crisis talks on forming a new coalition government today after the prime minister resigned in a power struggle with the president over enlisting former Maoist rebels into the military.

Supporters of a senior Indian minister who built a temple to honour him and his wife were arrested for violating election law.

Nepal’s communist rebels today declared a three-month halt in attacks, lifting a key burden on the new government poised to take control after weeks of bloody protests forced King Gyanendra to reinstate Parliament.

Security forces were deployed to holy sites across India today after terror bombings killed 20 people in Hinduism’s holiest city, sparking anger among its residents and concerns of possible widespread sectarian violence.

Two stationmasters and an engineer face criminal charges today after a head-on train crash that killed at least 37 people in northern India was blamed on a communications blunder.