Japan's justice minister resigns weeks after taking office, citing ill health, amid a scandal over alleged ties to an organised crime group.

An early morning fire at a hospital in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan kills 12 elderly patients and injures dozens more.

Well-known Bengali poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay dies after a heart attack in the Indian city of Calcutta.

A Los Angeles coroner has confirmed film-maker Tony Scott's death was suicide, caused by blunt force trauma and drowning.

At least 10 Afghan security personnel are killed in a gun battle with Taliban insurgents in the western province of Herat, officials say.

Russell Means, who played a leading role in The Last of the Mohicans, dies at the age of 72.

At least eight people have been killed in car bomb and mortar attacks in predominantly Shia districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.

Troops are deployed in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and the northern city of Tripoli in a bid to calm tensions after clashes left seven dead.