Pakistan goes to the polls tomorrow with the jailing of popular former prime minister Imran Khan, the winner of the last national election, dominating headlines despite an economic crisis and other woes threatening the nuclear-armed country.

The Thai government will urgently move a bill to ban the recreational use of cannabis, the health minister said on Tuesday, after the kingdom decriminalised the drug in 2022

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s party has redefined election campaigning in Pakistan with its social media rallies and use of AI technology in a bid to sidestep a nationwide crackdown that has followed it online.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for an end to violence in Myanmar and a return to democracy, three years to the day since the military seized power in a coup

In mid-January, at a small gathering in a cantonment town in Myanmar, hard line pro-military monk Pauk Kotaw suggested that the country’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing step down and his deputy take over. The crowd cheered in agreement, according to videos of the event posted on social media.

Pakistan’s preeminent rights activist describes the upcoming election as a messy melodrama staged by an emboldened military, unlikely to bring down the curtain on a cast of crises plaguing the country.

Pakistan and Iran yesterday said that they respected each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and resolved to expand security cooperation, stepping up efforts to mend ties after tit-for-tat missile strikes this month at what they said were militant targets.

Fighters from a Myanmar ethnic minority armed group have seized control of a port town after more than two months of intense clashes with junta troops, they said.

Pakistan said yesterday it had “credible evidence” linking Indian agents to the killings of two Pakistani citizens on Pakistani soil.

Pakistan will deploy the army to ensure peace at its general election next month, the prime minister’s office said, amid concerns that recent attacks by Islamist militants could threaten the holding of the February 8 polls.

Six high-ranking Myanmar junta officers who handed over a strategic town to ethnic minority fighters and surrendered with hundreds of troops have been taken into custody, a military spokesman and others told AFP yesterday.

A father killed his son after the pair disagreed about which political party flag to display in the lead-up to Pakistan’s general election, police said.

The Maldives has granted permission for a controversial Chinese vessel to make a resupply call but it will not undertake any “research”, the Indian Ocean archipelago nation’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

In Singapore, where graffiti is banned, young creatives have taken over an abandoned mall, spray painting colourful murals and holding art workshops to bring the space back to life

Three universities affiliated with Pakistan’s military were shut over security threats in the capital Islamabad yesterday, police said.

At least 18 people have died after an explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand on Wednesday, a rescue worker said

Malaysia will review bilateral agreements with 15 nations from which it sources labourers in a bid to address exploitative practices and manpower imbalances that have left thousands of migrant workers stranded without jobs, officials said

Former Pakistan prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan on Monday alleged that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif was “playing with the support” of “two umpires” and one of them had recently given a “no-ball” in his favour.

The new Maldives president set a deadline on Sunday of March 15 for its giant neighbour India to withdraw all its troops from the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday rejected an attempt by former prime minister Imran Khan’s party to retain its traditional electoral symbol of a cricket bat, in the latest setback for the jailed leader ahead of a general election.