Asia

Myanmar’s military has sharply escalated attacks on civilians since a new administration took office in the war-torn country, a conflict monitor said Monday, even as regional governments ramp up diplomatic engagement.

At least seven more bodies were recovered from the tunnel of an under-construction hydroelectric project in India‘s northeastern state of Sikkim, the state government said on Thursday, bringing the death toll from a blast to 22.

HONG KONG — In the shadow of a rusty warship, the small boats circled each other menacingly, the men inside them taunting each other and waving oars in the air.

Flash floods in eastern Afghanistan have killed 20 people, injured about 80 more and left more than 100 missing, Afghan authorities said Monday.

Supporters of India‘s youth-led “cockroach” movement were caned by police on Monday as they sought to march on parliament in the capital, New Delhi, despite authorities denying permission for the protest.

The mayor of a small Japanese city became the first sitting mayor in the country to take maternity leave on Monday, a decision that has drawn some criticism at home and attracted international media attention.

China on Friday urged the United States to withdraw its new “discriminatory” visa regulations and said it reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures.

Japan’s parliament enacted Friday a historic revision to the 19th-century Imperial House Law by insisting only paternal-lineage men can become emperor, sparking fear that it could doom the already shrinking imperial family.

The world has largely viewed the U.S. more favorably than China for years, but those opinions have flipped in Beijing’s favor this year, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center.

Hong Kong authorities have raided two bookstores and arrested five people on suspicion of selling allegedly seditious publications, local media reported Wednesday, in the latest step targeting independent booksellers.