Britain's Prince Harry has qualified as an Apache attack helicopter pilot, St James's Palace said Thursday, adding that he had won a prize for shooting skills.

Hungary's central bank is pulping wads of old notes into briquettes to help heat needy humanitarian organisations, a gesture that has warmed many bodies and hearts amid a deadly cold snap.

Myanmar state media contrasted the country's reforms with the Arab Spring on Thursday, saying the nominally civilian government would avoid bloodshed in its transition to democracy.

The mayor of the Maldives' second-largest city Addu spoke Thursday of a total law and order "breakdown" following a night of violence that saw police stations attacked and torched.

A car bomb killed at least one person and wounded another 15 in Thailand's violent deep south on Thursday, local hospital officials said.

A leopard dragged away and devoured a 14-year-old girl in western Nepal in what is thought to be the fifth deadly attack by the same animal in just two months, police said on Thursday.

An office block that collapsed, killing 115 people, including 65 foreign students, in last year's Christchurch earthquake did not meet building standards, an official report found Thursday.

The new president of the Maldives Mohamed Waheed, who is accused by his predecessor of taking part in a coup, struggled Thursday to contain "anarchy" in the holiday paradise as protests and violence spread.

Abused in the street and shunned by her family, a Thai teenager will answer a police summons this week over claims she insulted the revered monarchy amid vehement debate about the kingdom's lese majeste law.

North Korea has unveiled a massive carving 120 metres wide across a natural rockface to mark next week's birthday of late leader Kim Jong-Il, according to state media.