Two Hong Kong lawmakers who advocate a split from China should be banned from taking up their seats, government lawyers argued in court yesterday, as concerns grow Beijing will wade into the escalating row.

The discovery of a human settlement in Australia dating back 49,000 years has challenged theories about when the world’s oldest continued civilisation came to the country, the archaeologist who made the find said yesterday.

China yesterday launched its most powerful rocket ever, state media said, as the country presses on with a programme which has seen it become a major space power.

Indonesian police yesterday detained one of the crew of a packed speedboat that crashed off an Indonesian island a day earlier, while a search-and-rescue team scoured the waters for dozens of missing passengers.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his vice-president called for peace as tensions rose yesterday ahead of a protest planned by hardline Muslim groups against the Jakarta governor, a Christian and the first ethnic Chinese in the job.

South African President Jacob Zuma faced increasing calls yesterday to resign after a damaging probe unearthed further evidence of alleged corruption at the top of the ANC government.

The anti-corruption protest had barely begun when it was brought to an abrupt end, baton-wielding police firing volleys of tear gas and charging at a group of hundreds gathered in Nairobi’s centre.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has accused the United Nations of “scapegoating” Kenyan soldiers for the failings of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Secretary of state for justice, Liz Truss, is escorted around HMP Brixton by the prison governor David Bamford in London.

The High Court yesterday struck a blow to the government’s plans for leaving the EU, ruling it must seek parliament’s approval before starting exit talks in a landmark judgement that could delay Brexit.

Thousands of citizens of Pakistan’s Lahore, one the world’s most polluted cities, complained yesterday of breathing difficulties and irritable eyes as a blanket of thick smog was forecast to persist for several days.

At least 21 people have been killed and dozens more injured after two trains carrying hundreds of passengers collided in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi during morning rush hour yesterday, officials said.