Thailand’s public health minister, who has spearheaded the country’s drive to decriminalize cannabis, says the government will distribute 1 million of the plants free when most legal restrictions on production and possession of the drug are lifted next month.

The son of the disgraced late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos yesterday vowed to work for all people after his stunning election victory, and told the world to judge him by his presidency, not his family’s past.

The Philippines woke to a new but familiar political landscape on Tuesday, after an election triumph by Ferdinand Marcos Jr paved the way for a once unimaginable return to the country's highest office for its most notorious political dynasty.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr looked on course for a huge victory in the Philippines presidential election on Monday, after an unofficial tally of two thirds of the votes showed the son of the notorious late dictator surging ahead of his nearest rival.

Boos and heckles greeted Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday on his first public outing since nationwide protests erupted demanding his ruling family resign over the worsening economic crisis.

Women in Afghanistan yesterday expressed defiance after the Taliban issued a directive ordering them to cover fully in public, including their faces, or stay indoors, saying the change would effectively leave them “imprisoned”.

A former security chief who oversaw the crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy movement was anointed the business hub’s new leader yesterday by a small committee of Beijing loyalists. John Lee, 64, was the only candidate in the Beijing-backed race to succeed outgoing leader Carrie Lam.

North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile yesterday, Seoul said, its second missile launch in three days, after the United States warned Pyongyang could be preparing for a nuclear test.

Streets in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo were calm yesterday after the president declared a state of emergency following escalating anti-government protests.

The Taliban yesterday imposed one of the harshest restrictions on Afghanistan’s women since seizing power, ordering them to wear the all-covering burqa in public.

The Supreme Court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday struck down an appeal from deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi against a five-year jail sentence she was handed last week on corruption charges.

Law enforcers in Malaysia have arrested seven Bangladeshi workers in connection with the killing of their compatriot in Sitiawan, Perak.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced a 40 percent price hike for dozens of commonly used medicines yesterday as the island nation labours through its worst economic crisis in decades.

The son of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took charge of Punjab province yesterday, the country’s most politically important region, further bolstering the dynasty’s grip on power.

A Myanmar junta court today postponed giving its first verdict in the corruption trial of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a junta spokesman told AFP, a case which could see the Nobel laureate jailed for 15 years.

Pakistan’s National Security Council, a body of top civil and military leaders, has rejected ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s accusations that United States had conspired to topple his government through a parliamentary vote of confidence.

Travellers fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer need to take any Covid-19 tests to enter Singapore from next Tuesday (April 26).

By the time he reached a third Colombo pharmacy out of stock of the drug his cancer-stricken wife desperately needs, Dawood Mohamed Ghany was distraught.

The International Monetary Fund will consider providing quick financial assistance to debt-burdened Sri Lanka following representations by India, Sri Lanka’s finance ministry said yesterday.

At least six people were killed and 24 wounded yesterday by two bomb blasts that struck a boys’ school in a Shia Hazara neighbourhood of the Afghan capital, police and hospital staff said.