A special Southeast Asian envoy for the crisis in Myanmar yesterday urged its military rulers not to hold deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in prison, appealing for leniency ahead of a visit later this week.

Myanmar’s military-appointed defence minister joined a meeting of his Southeast Asian counterparts yesterday, despite pressure from some countries in the regional bloc and pro-democracy groups to exclude the junta from such gatherings. 

Sri Lanka’s military opened fire to contain rioting at a fuel station, officials said yesterday as unprecedented queues for petrol and diesel were seen across the bankrupt country.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on a Sikh temple in Afghanistan that killed one community member and a Taliban fighter.

An attack on a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital of Kabul killed at least two people and injured seven on Saturday, following a blast in a car loaded with explosives, officials said, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Fiji’s defence minister yesterday said that climate change posed the biggest security threat in the Asia-Pacific region, a shift in tone at a defence summit that has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and disputes between China and the United States.

China will “fight to the very end” to stop Taiwanese independence, the country’s defence minister vowed yesterday, stoking already soaring tensions with the United States over the island.

A top US government official yesterday said there was “no chance” the Myanmar junta’s planned elections next year would be free and fair.

North Korea has appointed veteran diplomat Choe Son-hui as its first female foreign minister, state media reported yesterday, as Pyongyang pushes ahead with a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests and ignores US calls for talks.

The United Nations warned yesterday that cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis could develop into a dire humanitarian crisis, with millions already in need of aid.

Thousands of Muslims have rallied across the South Asia nations of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan over derogatory remarks on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by two officials from India’s ruling party that has triggered a diplomatic backlash against New Delhi.

The Malaysian government has agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty, with a substitute sentence to be imposed at the discretion of the courts.

A driver for the World Health Organization in Myanmar has been shot dead, his employer said, adding that the circumstances of the killing were not yet clear.

UN human rights experts have condemned the Myanmar military junta’s attempts to establish a “digital dictatorship” in Myanmar by imposing further restrictions on the access to internet, internet shutdowns, online censorship, surveillance and other barriers to internet access.

Bangladeshi workers should be allowed into Malaysia to address its shortage of workers in crucial sectors, says the National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia (Papsma), in a call to Putrajaya.

A cabinet minister in crisis-hit Sri Lanka was convicted of extorting money from a businessman over a land deal yesterday, a rare guilty verdict in a graft case in the South Asian country.

South Korea and the United States said they fired eight surface-to-surface missiles off South Korea’s east coast early yesterday, responding to a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea on Sunday.

Fifty-nine Rohingya people have been discovered on a Thai island, saying they were abandoned by traffickers en route to Malaysia, a police officer said yesterday.

North Korea launched eight ballistic missiles from multiple locations yesterday, South Korea’s military said, a day after Seoul and Washington completed their first joint drills involving a US aircraft carrier in more than four years.

Myanmar junta troops have torched hundreds of buildings during a three-day raid in the country’s north, local media and residents said, as the military struggles to crush resistance to its rule.