Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc’s new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The Indian embassy in Laos said it has so far rescued 924 Indian nationals from such scams, and 857 of them have returned to India

After three years of failed diplomacy, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has upped the ante and warned the military junta in Myanmar to end the civil war and allow the free flow of much-needed humanitarian aid.

The peace deal comes into effect on the weekend but experts aren't convinced it will lead to hostilities easing across the war-torn country.

WASHINGTON - Reports of Chinese citizens trafficked into scam centers along the Thai-Myanmar border are prompting renewed questions about Beijings

Thai media have reported on some promising developments for migrants, such as cabinet approval in October of a plan to grant citizenship to nearly half a million people, including long-term migrants and children born in Thailand, and new visas for digital, medical and cultural pursuits.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on January 22 emphasised that Vietnam is always closely monitoring the situation in Myanmar and hopes for a prompt return to stability there, for the benefit of the local people as well as for regional and global peace and stability.

At the same meeting, authorities from Myanmar, China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam agreed to arrest leaders of criminal syndicates, dismantle telecom fraud centres, and "make every effort" to coordinate the rescue of those trapped there ...

ASEAN's fifth envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Othman Hashim, appointed during the bloc's meeting of foreign ministers.

Officials from China, Myanmar and Thailand have reportedly reached a consensus on eradicating telecommunication fraud centres in Myanmar, a country with a long-standing fraud problem, exacerbated by the ongoing war in that country.

Malaysia’s House of Representatives Speaker Johari Abdul, is calling for more unity and cooperation among the 11-member nations/states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, which comprises almost 700 million people.

The fate of actor Wang Xing prompted outrage in China after he disappeared and had to be saved from a Myanmar scam center. But Beijing may have ulterior motives for its anti-scamming crackdown.