A Vietnamese activist was put under house arrest and barred from leaving the country after she defaced the national flag, she told media on Friday, vowing to fight for democracy in the one-party state where dissent is swiftly stamped out.Authorities in the communist country show little tolerance for criticism of any kind, and desecrating national symbols such as the yellow-starred red flag is deemed particularly offensive.

Myanmar said that a request at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe the mass deportation of Rohingya Muslims from the country was "meritless" and should be rejected.Some 700,000 Rohingya were violently expelled from their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state in a military crackdown that started almost a year ago after insurgents attacked border guard posts.The stateless minority fled to Bangladesh where they recounted widespread rape, murder and the burning of villages a

On 29 July, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake took place on the Indonesian island of Lombok, killing 20 and injuring hundreds. The July earthquake triggered incidents of landslide on Mouth Rinjani, causing more than 1,200 hikers to be trapped and needing to be rescued.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has picked Ma’ruf Amin, the head of the nation’s influential clerics’ council, as his running mate for next year’s election, setting the stage for a rerun of the 2014 race with former general Prabowo Subianto.Amin was chosen for his vast experience in religious and political affairs and the pair will file their nominations on Friday, Widodo, known as Jokowi, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.

If the anthem Majulah Singapura (Onward, Singapore) was intended by the nation’s founding fathers as a positive affirmation, it must be working. Singapore celebrates its 53rd birthday today as a vibrant and flourishing city-state.In his National Day address, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singaporeans enjoy a good quality of life, better than many others in the world.

Yesterday marked the 51st anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. As per tradition, it was Hanoi’s turn this year to host the annual flag-raising event, where the ASEAN flag is raised to commemorate ASEAN Day. ASEAN was formed on 8 August, 1967 by five founding member nations – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines – against a backdrop of hostilities and conflict in the region.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Malaysia’s new deputy prime minister, said one of the darkest moments of her life came in 2015 when her husband Anwar Ibrahim, the former opposition leader, was sent to jail for a second time.In hindsight, she ended up appreciating the moment in one sense as it pushed her back into politics in an effort to free him.

30 years ago, nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar saw hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets of then capital, Rangoon. Led mostly by student leaders, it was the largest mass protest in the country since its independence in 1948.The 8888 Uprising, named after the date of the protest, 8 August 1988, remains a watershed moment in Myanmar’s history.

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged under the anti-money laundering act in a case linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, adding to his earlier charges of corruption and breach of trust.Najib was served with three counts of money laundering breaches related to SRC International, a former unit of state fund 1MDB.

Tensions between China and the United States (US) do not seem like easing anytime soon as US State Secretary Mike Pompeo wrapped up his recent tour of Southeast Asia. In this brief tour, Pompeo stopped by three countries – Malaysia to meet with its newly elected Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Singapore for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and Indonesia for a meeting with President Joko Widodo. Prior to his tour of Southeast Asia, Pompeo called for a “free and open” Indo-Pacific.