The head of the UN children's fund urged Myanmar on Monday to implement the recommendations of a panel on the Rohingya crisis led by former UN head Kofi Annan, saying it had yet to create conditions right for the return of refugees from Bangladesh.

Pakistan's Supreme Court yesterday upheld the acquittal of a Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, dismissing a petition filed by Islamists who have called for her execution.

Myanmar's ruling party yesterday clashed with military lawmakers as it proposed steps towards changing the constitution, its biggest challenge in nearly three years to the army's power over politics as enshrined in the charter.

Malaysia yesterday unveiled an ambitious five-year plan to clamp down on corruption in government, months after a multi-billion-dollar graft scandal brought down the previous administration.

A predominantly Muslim area of the southern Philippines has returned a resounding "Yes" in this week's referendum on greater autonomy, boosting hopes for peace in one of Asia's most conflict-torn regions.

A multi-billion dollar China-backed rail project in Malaysia has been scrapped, government officials said yesterday, adding that the cost of building it was too high.

US Congressman and Chairman of US House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel appreciates the government of Bangladesh for hosting the persecuted Rohingyas from Myanmar, and also expresses his hope to visit Bangladesh, see the Rohingya camps and hold talks with various stakeholders.

Rather than creating conditions for the return of the Rohingyas, Myanmar is engaging in a sustained campaign of violence, intimidation and harassment of the ethnic minority, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar said yesterday.

As bullets smashed into the walls, the residents of Alecheung village jolted from their sleep and fled leaving everything behind -- civilian victims of a crackdown by Myanmar's army on ethnic Rakhine militants in an area already concussed by violence.

New government curbs on aid activities in Myanmar's western Rakhine State "are affecting at least 50,000 people", the United Nations has said in an internal note, highlighting the growing impact of recent fighting on the civilian population.

Indian authorities beat and threatened Rohingyas, forcing some to flee to Bangladesh in recent weeks, said Fortify Rights yesterday.

Cambodia's strongman premier Hun Sen yesterday called on his country's military to "destroy" opponents if the government comes under threat, in a tirade in which he described himself as the "the one who steers the wheel" of the army.

Members of Malaysia's royal families yesterday elected Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah as the new king, following the unexpected abdication of the previous monarch.

More than 145,000 Rohingya children – living in Cox's Bazar camps – are now going to Unicef-supported learning centres, as a new school year begins.

Myanmar did not allow the UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, to visit conflict areas in northern Rakhine State on Tuesday, citing safety concerns, reported Myanmar Times yesterday.

Myanmar did not allow Christine Schraner Burgener, UN special envoy for Myanmar, to visit the conflict zones in northern Rakhine State citing safety concerns, according to report.

After a five-day impasse, the Indian Border Security Force yesterday took back 31 stranded Rohingyas from the no-man's land near the Kaziatali border along Brahmanbaria's Kasba upazila and Tripura's Sipahijala district.

Minority Muslims in the Philippines casted votes yesterday in a long-awaited referendum on autonomy, the culmination of a peace process to end decades of separatist conflict in a region plagued by poverty, banditry and Islamist militancy.

A decades-long push to halt the violence that has claimed some 150,000 lives in the southern Philippines culminates with a vote on giving the nation's Muslim minority greater control over the region.

Six Myanmar border guard police have been wounded in an attack by Rohingya Muslim insurgents in Rakhine state, government media reports, amid fears of escalating violence in the region.