Myanmar police have arrested a prominent government critic on suspicion of violating sedition laws, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The chief of Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district emphasises that Thai citizenship shall be granted based on the law and there will be no exemption even for four of the footballers rescued from the cave.

Bangladesh has urged the international community to continue and "step up pressure on Myanmar" authorities so that the Rohingyas can return to their ancestral homes in Myanmar in safety, dignity and sustainable livelihood.

An administrative overhaul by the Pakatan Harapan government will see nine agencies operating as independent entities and reporting directly to Malaysian parliament when it starts tomorrow.

Rohingyas arrested in a Myanmar army sweep in August 2017 send letters from a prison hundreds of miles away in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to their dear ones who managed to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Twelve boys and their soccer coach rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand planned to explore the cavern complex for only about an hour before treacherous flood waters rose to trap them for more than two weeks, one of the boys' fathers said.

The United Nations is preparing to send teams of experts into Myanmar's Rakhine state to begin work aimed at eventually repatriating Rohingya Muslims who fled violence last year, the regional head of the UN development agency said on Thursday.

Men banned women from voting in the village of Mohri Pur sometime around 1947, and they have obeyed ever since -- until this year, when changes to Pakistan's election laws and women's attitudes could shift the dynamic.

The United Nations is preparing to send teams of experts into Myanmar's Rakhine state to begin work aimed at eventually repatriating Rohingya Muslims who fled violence last year, the regional head of the UN development agency says.

The Canadian High Commission has presented birthday boy Dr Mahathir Mohamad a photograph of his meeting with the young Justin Trudeau in 1982.

Schooled as a monk and now hailed a hero, football coach Ekkapol Chantawong is one of several stateless members of the "Wild Boars", a team whose survival after days trapped in a flooded Thai cave fixated a country that does not recognise them as citizens.

The nail-biting rescue of a Thai boys soccer team and their coach from a flooded cave complex transfixed news viewers around the world, and the story could be headed for a retelling by Hollywood.

The boys rescued from a Thai cave were passed "sleeping" on stretchers through the treacherous pathways, a former Thai Navy SEAL who was the last diver to leave the Tham Luang complex told AFP yesterday.

Bangladesh has completed registration of all the Rohingya refugees it is giving shelter to and the number has come up to be 11,18,576, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan says.

Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu arrives in Dhaka tomorrow for one-day visit to Bangladesh to meet high government officials and visit Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.

UN human rights experts expressed grave concern after a court in Myanmar officially charged two Reuters journalists under the 1923 Official Secrets Act in connection with their investigations into a massacre at Inn Din village, Rakhine State.

A video clip shows the moment last night when Thai Navy Seal divers, who had accompanied the last members to be rescued from deep in the Chiang Rai's flooded cave complex, leave the cave, with army medic Dr Pak Loharnshoon being the last person to get out.

A foreign diver involved in the mission to save 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded Thai cave has hailed the children as "incredibly strong", and described their treacherous escape journey as unprecedented.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will visit Myanmar soon to see the condition in Rakhine State before starting the repatriation of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals from Bangladesh.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) criticises the signing of a secret deal between UN and Myanmar, saying that it has questioned the role of the UN.