Millions of Afghans, including children, could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken to pull Afghanistan back from the brink of collapse, a senior United Nations official warned, calling for frozen funds to be freed for humanitarian efforts.

Malaysia's Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin reminded his fellow politicians to put on their masks in meetings, seeing that "many politicians have diabetes, hypertension and are probably obese".

The UN said Friday it feared an even greater human rights catastrophe in Myanmar amid reports of thousands of troops massing in the north of the Southeast Asian country, which has been in chaos since a February coup.

But when we are faced with situations like the one that is currently occurring in Myanmar, then perhaps Asean should actually do some soul-searching.

Myanmar’s junta chief on Monday (Oct 18) announced the release of more than 5,000 people jailed for protesting against a February coup, days after a regional bloc delivered a major snub to the military regime.

Eleven students drowned and 10 others were rescued during a school outing for a river cleanup in Indonesia’s West Java Province, officials said Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that battle-hardened militants from Iraq and Syria are “actively” entering Afghanistan as the country’s new rulers are struggling to steady the ship as it faces problems from multiple fronts.

The Taliban held their first face-to-face talks with a joint US-EU delegation yesterday in Qatar as Brussels pledged one billion euros ($1.2 billion) in aid for Afghanistan.

The US State Department said Sunday that this weekend’s talks with representatives of the Taliban in Doha, Qatar -- the first such gathering since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August -- were “candid and professional” while emphasizing that the Taliban “will be judged on its actions, not only its words.”

India today dismissed any possibility of a major countrywide disruption in electricity supply due to “shortage” of coal, terming it as “entirely misplaced fears” and stressing that “ample coal is available in the country to meet the demand of power plants”.

An earthquake of 5.6 magnitude jolted Myanmar early today, with tremors being felt in parts of Bangladesh.

Girls have returned to some secondary schools in a northern province of Afghanistan, Taliban officials and teachers said yesterday, but they remain barred from classrooms in much of the country.

The Taliban said yesterday they had destroyed an Islamic State cell in the Afghan capital, hours after a suspected IS attack on a mosque killed five people.

Qatar and the EU’s top diplomats yesterday labelled a recent string of human rights abuses in Afghanistan “disappointing”, with Doha encouraging the Taliban to look to Qatar for how to run an Islamic system.

The Taliban yesterday warned of consequences if the United States did not stop flying drones over Afghan airspace.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said on Monday there might be a need to prohibit dog meat consumption amid debate over the controversial practice and growing awareness of animal rights.

One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned of the risk of a “civil war” in Afghanistan if the Taliban is unable to form an inclusive government there.

Fears were mounting in Afghanistan yesterday as the Taliban tightened their grip on women’s rights, slashing access to work and denying girls the right to secondary school education.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has not ruled out seeking re-election to parliament within the next two years, he told Reuters in an interview, despite a corruption conviction that would block him from running.