Southeast Asia | The Daily Star

  • Imran writes to Modi

    Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking that India and Pakistan resume dialogue that has been suspended since 2015. In the letter addressing the PM as "Modi Sahab", Imran Khan also suggests a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

  • India top court reserves verdict

    India's Supreme Court yesterday reserved its judgement on a plea seeking the immediate release of five leading rights activists accused of having links with Maoists and in connection with violence during a backward caste rally.

  • Ex-PM hit with 25 new charges

    Malaysian prosecutors yesterday charged former Prime Minister Najib Razak with 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power over hundreds of millions of dollars received in his personal bank account.

  • ICC referral may need to be considered over Rohingya treatment: UK

    British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt says the international community should consider referring the treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court unless those responsible are tried and held accountable in the country.

  • 12 killed, dozens missing in new Philippine landslide

    Twelve people are killed and dozens missing after a landslide unleashed by monsoon rains struck in the central Philippines, inflicting more misery on the already storm-battered nation.

  • Former columnist jailed for 'abusive' posts on Suu Kyi

    A former columnist for state media has been jailed for seven years for "abusive" Facebook posts about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a court official said yesterday, the latest case threatening free expression in the country.

  • Philippines typhoon toll hits 81, set to rise

    The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Mangkhut has climbed to 81 and could hit triple digits as searchers dig through a landslide where dozens are presumed dead, authorities said yesterday. Mangkhut swamped farm fields in the north and smashed houses when it tore through with winds and heavy rains.

  • New Malaysia child marriage draws UN condemnation

    The marriage of a 15-year-old Malaysian girl to a man almost three times her age drew condemnation from the United Nations yesterday, putting fresh pressure on the Muslim-majority country to halt such unions.

  • 5 South Asia countries to form regional network

    Senior government officials of five South Asian countries in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region have agreed to form a regional network to boost their mountain economies and slow down glacier and snowmelt caused by climate change and pollution.

  • UN's Myanmar probe: Crimes of the highest order

    A United Nations probe into abuses against the Rohingya committed by Myanmar's military, released yesterday, determined the level of brutality employed was "hard to fathom". Here are extracts from the speech delivered by Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in Geneva, as he unveiled the report.

  • Philippines storm toll climbs to 74

    The death toll in Typhoon Mangkhut hit 74 yesterday, Philippine authorities said, as rescuers used their bare hands to sift through a massive landslide in which dozens were feared killed in the worst-hit region.

  • ROHINGYA CRACKDOWN: Russian 'FB' bans top Myanmar general

    Russian social media site VKontakte (VK) has followed Facebook by banning Myanmar's army chief and a nationalist monk known for stirring up Islamophobia in a country condemned globally for the treatment of its Rohingya Muslims.

  • Thailand eases ban on political activities

    Thailand partially eased its ban on political activities, the ruling junta announced yesterday, allowing political parties to recruit new members for the first time in four year as the countdown begins for a much-anticipated national poll.

  • Malaysia charges ex-PM's lawyer

    Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak's chief lawyer was arrested and charged with money laundering yesterday, as authorities intensified

  • Thai opposition urges junta to lift politics ban

    The toppled Thai opposition yesterday called on the ruling junta to lift the ban on political activities as the countdown begins for the kingdom's first election since a 2014 coup.

  • UN report details silencing of independent journalism in Myanmar

    A host of ill-defined laws is used in Myanmar to exert control over independent journalism across the country, including in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states, a UN human rights report on freedom of expression in the country finds.

  • AI could mean 28m jobs lost

    New technology could mean 28 million jobs being lost in the ASEAN region.

  • Reprieve for foreign workers in Malaysia

    Foreign workers holding the Visit Pass -- Temporary Employment (PLKS) for the past 10 years will be given a reprieve to continue working in Malaysia, says the country's Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran.

  • Rakhine State

    UN gets access to Rakhine

    The UN began work inside Myanmar's violence-torn northern Rakhine state yesterday, the first time its agencies have been granted permission to operate there since more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the area last year.

  • Nawaz, daughter to attend Kulsoom’s funeral

    The cancer-stricken wife of Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif dies in London while her husband and daughter were in prison, officials say.

  • S'pore to return $11m of 1MDB to Malaysia

    A Singapore court has ordered the return of millions of dollars misappropriated from Malaysian state fund 1MDB in a cross-border

  • Rich states not doing enough

    Developing countries rounded on the United States and its allies at emergency climate talks yesterday, accusing the world's richest nations of stalling a deal aimed at preventing runaway global warming.

  • 3 Indonesian birds

    Indonesia removes 3 songbirds from new protected list

    The Environment and Forestry Ministry of Indonesia has removed three popular songbirds from the newly revised protected species lists following protests from bird owners.

  • Asean MPs welcome ICC jurisdiction over crimes against Rohingya

    Regional lawmakers welcome the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which ruled that it could exercise jurisdiction over the alleged crime of deportation of the Rohingya population, despite Myanmar not being a party to the Rome Statute.

  • Myanmar govt to refuse media phone calls after ICC ruling

    Myanmar's government spokesman will no longer answer phone calls from media, he said yesterday, one day after the International Criminal Court ruled it had jurisdiction to investigate crimes against the country's Rohingya Muslim community.

  • Dr Mahathir Mohamad

    Malaysian PM condemns lesbian caning

    Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday denounced the caning of two women convicted of having lesbian sex in violation of strict Islamic laws, after the punishment sparked a storm of criticism.

  • FB to build $1b Singapore data centre, first in Asia

    Facebook said yesterday it will invest over $1 billion to build a data centre in Singapore, its first in Asia, powered by renewable energy and adapted to the city-state's tropical climate.

  • Malaysia’s immigration police

    Human Trafficking: 65 Bangladeshi workers rescued in Malaysia

    Malaysian immigration police have rescued 65 Bangladeshi workers, believed to be victims of human trafficking, from the dormitory of a foreign worker recruitment company in Bandar Baru Nilai and arrested two Malaysians over the incident.

  • Mayor on Duterte's 'narco list' killed

    A Philippine mayor on President Rodrigo Duterte's list of allegedly narcotics-linked officials was shot dead in his own office yesterday.

  • Freedom of the press essential to democracy

    US Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday called on Myanmar's government to reverse a court ruling that imprisoned two Reuters journalists for seven years and to release them immediately.

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