Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry left early Friday on a landmark trip to Sri Lanka, the first such visit in a decade to the Indian Ocean island as it returns to the diplomatic fold.

Kerry is due to arrive around dawn Saturday in Colombo, becoming the first U.S. secretary of state to set foot in the South Asian nation since Colin Powell, who visited in 2005 in the wake of the devastating Asian tsunami.

Sri Lanka's parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to restore a two-term limit for presidents and revive independent bodies to manage key institutions such as the police and the judiciary.

A total of 215 out of the 225 lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment which restores presidential term limits, reversing a change by former strongman Mahinda Rajapakse who scrapped them after being re-elected in 2010.

A massive earthquake killed more than 1,200 people Saturday as it tore through large parts of Nepal, toppling office blocks and towers in Kathmandu and triggering a deadly avalanche at Everest base camp.

Officials said at least 1,170 people are known to have died in Nepal, making it the quake-prone Himalayan nation's worst disaster in more than 80 years.

Australia is returning almost 50 Vietnamese asylum-seekers using a warship currently off the Asian nation's coast after intercepting them at sea, a report said Friday, as Canberra enforces a tough immigration policy.

The asylum-seekers were found by customs and navy vessels north of Australia earlier this month before being transferred to amphibious landing ship HMAS Choules, The West Australian newspaper said.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan signed six agreements including one on atomic energy Monday, the two countries' leaders said, as the strategically important island looks to build its first nuclear plant.

Details of the agreement were not immediately available but it comes after Sri Lanka signed a pact with India in February to build its atomic energy infrastructure, including training of personnel.

Sri Lanka's new president Maithripala Sirisena arrived in Pakistan Sunday for a three-day state visit, after making his first overseas trip as leader to Islamabad's rival India.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have traditionally enjoyed strong ties, particularly over defense, with Islamabad providing military assistance during its neighbor’s war against Tamil Tiger guerrillas that ended in 2009.

Sri Lanka's new government warned Monday that defeated Tamil Tiger rebels could regroup and orchestrate another conflict, six years after their defeat in the island's separatist war.

Deputy foreign minister Ajith Perera made the comments after members of his government pushed for the European Union to again blacklist the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has pledged a "political solution" for the island's war-torn north, where ethnic minority Tamils have long demanded greater autonomy.

During a two-day visit to the Tamil heartland of Jaffna, Wickremesinghe also repeated his government's promise of national reconciliation six years after the island's ethnic war ended, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

The youngest brother of Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena died in hospital Saturday after being attacked by a man wielding an axe two days earlier, police said.

Priyantha Sirisena, a father of three, suffered severe head injuries in his hometown of Polonnaruwa, 215 kilometers (134 miles) north-east of the capital Colombo, police said.

Sri Lanka's new president heads to Beijing this week for talks with China's leadership, seeking to smooth ruffled feathers after scuttling Chinese-funded projects and seeking stronger ties with regional rival India.

Maithripala Sirisena swept to power in January, ending a decade of rule by Mahinda Rajapakse, whose close alliance with Beijing had irked the island's traditional close ally India.