In June, a few dozen activists started meeting regularly at a seaside tented camp in Colombo for hours-long sessions to think up ways to revive Sri Lanka’s flagging protest movement.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi warned on Monday (July 11) during a policy speech in the Indonesian capital that countries should avoid being used as “chess pieces” by major powers in a region at risk of being reshaped by geopolitical factors.

Japan struggled with shock and sadness yesterday, trying to come to terms with the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a nation where firearms are strictly regulated and political violence extremely rare.

The UN Human Rights Council today adopted a resolution without a vote, calling for Myanmar to immediately commence voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation and reintegration of all Rohingyas in Myanmar.

North Korea criticised the US, South Korea and Japan’s recent deal on strengthening military cooperation to be a means to materialise a US plan for a military alliance like Nato in the region.

Sri Lanka has less than a day’s worth of fuel left, the energy minister said yesterday, with public transport grinding to a halt as the country’s economic crisis deepened.

Philippine Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa’s news company Rappler was ordered yesterday to shut down, a day before President

China’s foreign minister will travel to Myanmar this weekend for a regional meeting, a junta spokesman told AFP yesterday, in what will be Beijing’s highest-profile visit since the military seized power. 

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.