Australian authorities said Monday they had called off a major air and sea search for survivors from a boat carrying at least 55 asylum seekers which disappeared suddenly off a remote Indian Ocean territory.

Vietnam's leaders faced a first-ever confidence vote in the communist-controlled parliament on Monday as the authoritarian regime seeks to allay growing public anger at corruption and a lack of political accountability.

Bangladesh has suspended seven inspectors it accuses of negligence for renewing the licenses of garment factories in a building that collapsed in April, killing more than 1,100 people, a top Labor Ministry official said Monday.

Veteran Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani resigned Monday in apparent protest at the elevation of hardliner Narendra Modi to lead his party into next year's elections.

North and South Korea agreed Monday to hold senior-level talks this week in Seoul, a breakthrough of sorts to ease tensions after Pyongyang's recent threats of nuclear war and Seoul's vows of counterstrikes.

North and South Korea held their first official talks for more than two years Sunday, seeking to set up a high-level meeting in Seoul after months of tensions and threats of nuclear war.

Planes, merchant and navy ships were scouring seas off Australia Sunday in a major search operation after a people-smuggling boat carrying 55 men, women and children sank, with 13 confirmed dead.

India's main opposition party announced Sunday that a deeply divisive Hindu ideologue will head its 2014 election campaign, indicating he would likely be its choice for prime minister if the party were to win.

Monsoon rains and strong winds in Sri Lanka have killed at least 19 people with dozens more missing, most of them fishermen caught in rough seas, officials said on Sunday.

About 10,000 Cambodians protested in the capital on Sunday to show their anger at an opposition leader who allegedly described a notorious Khmer Rouge prison as a Vietnamese invention.