The United States has warned that Sri Lanka could face a return to conflict unless it probes war crimes allegedly committed by its troops and addresses the grievances of its minority Tamil population.

Bangladesh's prime minister has ruled out a new blasphemy law despite a mass campaign by Islamists to introduce the death penalty for bloggers whom they accuse of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

Two elderly women were beheaded in Papua New Guinea after being tortured for three days, a report said Monday, the latest in a string of sorcery-related crimes.

A red-robbed Buddhist monk calmly picked up stones and hurled them at a security camera. Then, as police looked on, his followers smashed up a popular, Muslim-owned clothing store.

Sri Lanka's president Sunday ordered an investigation into a mass grave dating back to a period when thousands of people disappeared during a crackdown on Marxist rebels, his spokesman said.

Insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms launched a suicide attack and stormed a courthouse Wednesday in a failed bid to free Taliban inmates, killing at least 44 people, half of them shot in the basement. Nine attackers were killed.

Police in Myanmar said they were investigating the head of a mosque and a Muslim teacher for possible negligence after a pre-dawn fire swept a religious dormitory Tuesday, killing 13 children in a blaze that raised new concern over sectarian tensions that have plagued the country since anti-Muslim violence hit the nation's heartland last month.

Bangladesh police have arrested three atheist bloggers for defaming Islam and the prophet Mohammad, police said Tuesday, amid demands from religious fundamentalists for an Internet crackdown.

Dock workers at Sri Lanka's main container port called Tuesday for a boycott of cargo from neighboring India amid worsening relations.

Privately owned daily newspapers hit Myanmar's streets Monday for the first time in decades under new freedoms that represent a revolution for a media industry which was shackled under military rule.