Six death row inmates are executed in Taiwan in an act condemned by international human rights groups.

Egyptians begin to vote amid tight security in a final referendum on a new constitution, a day after clashes erupted in Alexandria.

Elaborate banquets are off the menu for China's top military officials, as part of a bid to curb extravagance, state media reports.

Syria has consolidated its chemical weapons into "one or two" places to prevent rebels capturing them, Russia says.

India police use tear gas, water cannon and batons to disperse protesters marching over the brutal gang rape of a young woman on a bus last week.

Italy's president dissolves parliament following the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Monti, paving the way for elections in February.

Four South Korean workers for Hyundai are freed days after being snatched by gunmen in Nigeria's oil-rich Bayelsa state.

A mob in Pakistan storms a police station and beats to death a Muslim man accused of desecrating the Koran.