The first person convicted under Hong Kong’s national security law was jailed for nine years yesterday for terrorist activities and inciting secession, judges said, in a watershed ruling with long-term implications for the city’s judicial landscape. 

The first person charged under Hong Kong’s national security law was found guilty yesterday of terrorism and inciting secession in a landmark case that carries long-term implications for how the legislation will reshape the city’s common law traditions. 

Malaysia’s Parliament reopened Monday for the first time this year after a seven-month suspension due to a coronavirus emergency that has failed to curb a worsening pandemic.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck south of the Philippine capital early on Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

Malaysian police have arrested 49 men -- 48 of them Bangladeshis -- in connection with a prayer gathering, in violation of Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP), outside a surau (Islamic assembly building) in Taman Pelangi area of Johor state.

UN human rights experts today expressed concern over the condition of rights defenders in Myanmar, and called for a stronger international response to the military coup, including coordinated sanctions and an arms embargo on the junta by forming an “emergency coalition of nations”.

Malaysian cabinet ministers yesterday unanimously pledged their support for Muhyiddin Yassin to continue as prime minister, amid a new round of political uncertainty after the premier lost the backing of the country’s biggest party.

About 5,000 Afghan families have fled their homes in Kunduz after days of fighting between Taliban fighters and government forces, officials said yesterday, as the deadline looms for US-led troops to withdraw.

The Myanmar military regime has organised a new legal team, led by its Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin, to present the defense in the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Myanmar authorities torched over half a billion dollars worth of narcotics across the country yesterday, sending opium, heroin and methamphetamine up in smoke as experts warn smugglers have adapted to Covid-19 travel restrictions and are back in business.

The Myanmar military regime has organised a new legal team led by its foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, to present the defense in the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Asean members, collectively or otherwise, should tighten the screws on Myanmar’s military by engaging with the National Unity Government (NUG) before geopolitical manoeuvres by superpowers further complicate the crisis, experts said.

The UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR’s) goodwill ambassador Tahsan Khan yesterday visited Cox's Bazar and met with Rohingya refugees to learn about their experiences on World Refugee Day.

Supporters of Myanmar’s detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi wore flowers in their hair and paraded with them at street demonstrations yesterday as she marked her 76th birthday locked up by the generals who overthrew her.

Bangladesh expressed deep disappointment during adoption of the resolution on the situation of Myanmar, which it said, failed to adequately reflect on the Rohingya crisis and in recommending any action to resolve that crisis.

Al Jazeera English journalist Drew Ambrose, who produced a documentary “Locked up in Malaysia’s Lockdown” -- detailing the abuse of migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic last year, has won the Journalist of the Year award at the One World Media Awards in London for his work.

Bangladesh has sought a clear roadmap from the United Nations for repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

China launched a spacecraft on Thursday carrying three astronauts to part of a space station still under construction for the longest stay in low Earth orbit by any Chinese national.

China will send three astronauts into orbit on Thursday in a high-stakes mission, the first of four crewed space flights to complete the country’s space station by the end of next year.

New Zealand today announced NZ $8.25 million (US$5.89 million) in humanitarian assistance to support refugees and their host populations in Bangladesh and to support the need of internally displaced and conflict affected people in Myanmar.