Malaysia’s embattled leader was accused of treason and urged to quit yesterday after the king denounced his crisis-hit government for misleading parliament, a rare public rebuke from the revered monarch.

International calls yesterday mounted for the release of a Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and the repeal of anti-terror laws used to detain him for 15 months.

China told a visiting Taliban delegation on Wednesday it expected the insurgent group to play an important role in ending Afghanistan's war and rebuilding the country, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar yesterday called on the UN Security Council and member states to push for an emergency “Covid ceasefire” in light of an explosion of Covid-19 infections and deaths in Myanmar where attacks against the health workers escalated. 

Bhutan has inoculated most of its eligible population with second doses of Covid-19 vaccinations in a week, in a speedy rollout hailed by Unicef as a “success story” for international donations. 

North and South Korea signalled a surprise thaw in relations yesterday, announcing the restoration of cross-border communications that were severed more than a year ago and an agreement between their two leaders to improve ties.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin yesterday said that Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea have “no basis in international law”, taking aim at China’s growing assertiveness in the hotly contested waters. 

The bodies of three mountaineers who died during a winter expedition on Pakistan’s K2 have been found months after they went missing while scaling the world’s second-highest peak, officials said yesterday.

Rancour marked the start of yesterday’s talks between Beijing and the highest-level US envoy to visit under President Joe Biden’s administration, as Beijing urged Washington to stop “demonising” China while the US made a “forceful” case against China’s human rights violations.

Thailand reported a record number of coronavirus cases yesterday, while Malaysia has notched up more than 1 million infections, as the virulent Delta variant carves a deadly path through Southeast Asia - now a global epicentre for the virus.

Myanmar’s junta yesterday cancelled the results of 2020 polls won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, announcing they were not “free and fair” almost six months after deposing the Nobel laureate in a coup.

Al Qaeda is present in at least 15 Afghan provinces, primarily in the eastern, southern and southeastern regions, says a United Nations report prepared for the Security Council.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has suggested that the Afghan security forces’ first job was to make sure they could slow the Taliban’s momentum before attempting to retake territory, as Afghan forces plan to consolidate forces around strategically important parts of the country. 

China’s growing presence in Myanmar, the Rohingya refugees, illegal immigration, and drug trafficking have serious security concerns for north east India, according to India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.

China has supplied over 10,000 Covid vaccines to a Myanmar rebel group operating near its southern border, its spokesman said yesterday, as Beijing seeks to halt the influx of cases from the coup-wracked country. 

Myanmar has appointed a new temporary head of its embassy in London, Britain's foreign ministry said on Friday, replacing the previous ambassador who was ousted after breaking ranks with the military government over its February 1 coup.

Pakistan called on the United Nations on Friday to investigate whether India used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to spy on public figures including Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Afghanistan's Vice-president Amrullah Saleh has hit out at Pakistani trolls by tweeting the iconic picture of the signing of the instrument of surrender by Pakistan’s army in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Russia is cooperating closely with Myanmar to supply military hardware including aircraft, the Interfax news agency cited Alexander Mikheev, the head of Russian state arms trader Rosoboronexport, as saying.

At least three rockets landed in the Afghan capital Tuesday ahead of a speech by President Ashraf Ghani marking the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Azha.