Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, draws crowds on a political tour ahead of by-elections in April.
  Some 29 Chinese workers are being held by rebels in Sudan's volatile South Kordofan region.
  The US defence secretary says he is concerned about a Pakistani doctor arrested for providing intelligence for the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.
  Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in the UK to meet PM David Cameron following France's decision to speed up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
  England are bowled out for only 72 to crumble to a 72-run defeat in the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and lose the three-match series.
  Suspected rebels in India's north-east state of Manipur kill at least four people at a polling station during a local election, police say.
  Pakistan's former military leader Pervez Musharraf has decided to postpone his return to the country, one of his aides says.
  Chinese security forces have shot dead a young Tibetan in Sichuan province, campaign groups say, in what would be the third such killing this week.
  One of Sri Lanka's most controversial diplomats, former army Maj Gen Shavendra Silva, is appointed to a senior post at the UN, officials say.
  The Japanese government admits failing to keep records of key meetings dealing with the country's nuclear crisis last year.
  Afghan film The Forgotten Victims denounces war crimes committed in Afghanistan in the last three decades.
  The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has been forced to explain the actions of a staff member who leaked information which led to her being confronted by an angry mob last Thursday.
  Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani gives a wide ranging interview to the BBC's Nik Gowing at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
  Lahore's Dr Akram has said many Pakistani hospitals are forced to buy the cheapest drugs - as the death toll from a batch of faulty drugs in the city rises.
  A state of emergency has been declared in Fiji after heavy floods kill at least six and leave thousands homeless.
  Mary Kom, who has already won 5 world championships in boxing, is preparing to make her Olympics debut in London this summer.
  A Pakistani man who lost his bookstore in the economic downturn now rides a rickshaw through the streets selling his books.
  More than 100 people have now died in Lahore after taking contaminated heart medicine, Pakistan officials have said.
  A school boy in the Indian capital, Delhi, claims to have invented a device that can help women ward off potential attacks.
  A special tartan commissioned to mark the arrival of two pandas in the UK is unveiled at Edinburgh Zoo.
  South Korea charges Chinese man with attempted arson for hurling Molotov cocktails at the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
  Residents in a city in southern China empty supermarket shelves of bottled water in panic buying sparked by toxic cadmium in a nearby river.
  Conoco Phillips and China National Offshore Oil Corporation agree a compensation deal for the oil spill at their field in China.
  Police in the Indian city of Calcutta arrest two top doctors of a private hospital which caught fire last month, killing 90 people.
  Australia wrap up a 4-0 series whitewash over India, who suffer their eighth consecutive defeat, with a 298-run win in the final Test in Adelaide.
  Police investigate amid outcry after a severely battered toddler is admitted to hospital in the India capital, Delhi.
  Fiji declares a state of disaster over flooding and landslides that have killed at least six people and displaced thousands.
  Economy grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter of 2011
  US President Barack Obama announces a new trade enforcement unit to investigate unfair practices in countries such as China.
  Officials in Nepal say they are at a loss to know what to do with luxury vehicles handed back to the state by the deposed king and former ministers.
  A woman in northern Afghanistan gives birth to sextuplets, despite being unaware she was carrying more than one child.
  Gunmen on motorcycles shoot dead three lawyers and wound another in an apparent sectarian attack in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi.
  Key facts, figures and dates.
  Provides an overview of Australia, including key facts and events
  Key facts, figures and dates
  Key facts, figures and dates.
  Provides an overview of Brunei, including key events and facts.
  Key facts, figures and dates
  Provides an overview of Cambodia, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of China, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of the Cook Islands, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of East Timor, including key events and facts about this former Portuguese colony which won independence from Indonesia in a long civil war
  Provides an overview of Fiji, including key events and facts about this tropical island and ethnically diverse former British colony in the Pacific.
  Provides an overview of French Polynesia, including key events and facts
  An overview of Guam, including key facts, political leaders and the media
  An overview of Hong Kong, including key facts, political leaders and notes on the media
  Details of the key facts, figures and dates.
  Provides an overview of Indonesia, including key events and facts about the world's fourth most populous nation
  Provides an overview of Japan, including key events and facts about this earthquake-prone country on the western rim of the Pacific.
  An overview of the former princely state of Kashmir, which has been partitioned between India and Pakistan since 1947.
  Provides an overview of Kazakhstan, including key events and facts about this vast, mineral-rich Central Asian country.
  Provides an overview of Kiribati including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of North Korea, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of South Korea, including key events and facts
  Provides overview, key facts and events, timelines and leader profiles along with current news about Kyrgyzstan
  Provides an overview of Laos, including key events and facts
  An overview of Macau, including key facts, political leaders and notes on the media
  Provides an overview of Malaysia, including key events and facts.
  Key facts, figures and dates.
  Provides an overview of the Marshall Islands, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of Micronesia, including key events and facts
  Summary: Provides an overview of Mongolia, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of Nauru, including key events and facts about the world's smallest republic
  Key facts, figures and dates.
  An overview of the Pacific territory, including key facts, political leaders and notes on the media
  Provides an overview of New Zealand, including key events and facts
  A profile of the South Pacific island - the world's smallest self-governing territory
  A profile of the US commonwealth territory in the north-west Pacific
  Key facts, figures and dates.
  Provides an overview of Palau , including key events and facts about this tropical island nation in the northern Pacific.
  Provides an overview of Papua New Guinea, including key events and facts
  Provides an overview of Philippines, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of Samoa, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of Singapore, including key events and facts.
  Key facts, figures and dates.
  Provides an overview of Solomon Islands, including key events and facts.
  Provides key background, including facts and figures
  Provides an overview of Tajikistan, including key events and facts about this mountainous Central Asian republic.
  Provides an overview of Thailand, including key events and facts.
  An overview of Tibet, including key facts, political leaders and notes on the media
  A profile of the three-island territory in the South Pacific
  Provides an overview of Tonga, including key events and facts.
  Overview of Turkmenistan, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of Tuvalu, including key events and facts.
  Provides an overview of Uzbekistan, including key events and facts about the country.
  Provides an overview of Vanuatu, including key events and facts
  Provides an overview of Vietnam, including key events and facts about this east Asian country
  An overview of Xinjiang, including key facts, political leaders and notes on the media
  Japan retail sales rise at their fastest pace in a year
  Samsung Electronics announces a 17% rise in profits
  The glamour and excitement of Bombay's jazz age
  Is Chongqing really the world's biggest city?
  An edible dowry for an Australian bride in Papua New Guinea
  Feelings run high in Lahore as heart pill deaths mount
  Is Pakistan's economy in danger of potential collapse?
  Canal-dwellers anger at plans to evict them to flood-proof Bangkok
  The Davos crowd comes to terms with a new global power