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.

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.

Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for unity among her people, according to a source familiar with her legal proceedings, in rare remarks since her overthrow in a military coup last year.

Pakistan said yesterday incidents of its security forces being targeted in cross-border attacks from Afghanistan had risen significantly, and called on Taliban authorities to act against militants, a day after purported air strikes by Pakistan.

Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of a new guided weapons system to improve North Korea’s “tactical nukes”, state media said yesterday, capping days of celebrations surrounding the birthday of the country’s founding leader.

Families of detained Myanmar protesters had their hopes dashed yesterday after political prisoners were not included in some 1,600 people released by the junta to mark the Buddhist new year.

At least five children and a woman were killed in an eastern Afghan province when Pakistani military forces fired rockets along the border in a pre-dawn assault yesterday.

Pakistan’s new ruling alliance took control of the lower house of parliament yesterday with the election of a new speaker, cementing control of the assembly after former premier Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote.