North Korea launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) towards the east on Friday, a South Korean defense ministry official told CNN.

President Joe Biden held a three-hour talk Monday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, their first in-person encounter since Biden took office and an opportunity that both sides appeared to hope would lead to an improvement in rapidly deteriorating relations.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday said the country will repeal the colonial-era Section 377A of Singapore's Penal Code, thereby decriminalizing gay sex in Singapore, but added that same-sex marriage will continue to be illegal in the city-state.

North Korea fired at least one unidentified ballistic missile on Thursday, that Japan said flew over its main island, landing in the Pacific Ocean, and South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said landed in waters off the east of the peninsula.

South Korean authorities were on Sunday investigating the crowd surge that killed at least 153 partygoers in Seoul, as the rattled nation attempts to come to terms with one of its worst-ever disasters.

The Malaysian government's insistence on holding a snap general election next month during a monsoon season that's expected to bring devastating floods risks putting politics above people's lives, opposition lawmakers and political analysts say.

Dozens of people have been killed in military airstrikes that hit a celebratory event in Myanmar's mountainous Kachin state on Sunday, according to local news outlets and international organizations.

Indonesia has halted the sale of all syrup and liquid medicines following the deaths of nearly 100 children and an unexplained spike in cases of acute kidney injuries.

Standing in a row outside the gates of Godhra remand center in Gujarat, western India, the 11 middle-aged men could have been mistaken for visiting dignitaries receiving sweets and blessings from local admirers.

Across Asia, borders are opening and quarantine measures are lifting as even the last few countries clinging to Covid restrictions embrace a return to travel.

North Korean state media has broken its silence over the country's recent spate of missile tests, claiming they were part of a series of simulated procedures intended to demonstrate its readiness to fire tactical nuclear warheads at potential targets in South Korea.

• What's next for Sri Lanka? • Video: See protesters enjoy luxuries in presidential palace

Protesters celebrated in Sri Lanka's commercial capital late into the night Thursday after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tendered his resignation following a week of escalating demonstrations over the country's crippling economic crisis.

More than 50 US and Japanese warplanes flew over waters near Japan this week as the two allies put on a show of force amid rising tensions in the region with China and Russia.

• Sri Lanka's crisis rages on. Here's what we know

• Video: Ups and downs of Shinzo Abe

When Akie Matsuzaki married Shinzo Abe, then a rising political aide, in 1987, she followed a path well trodden by Japanese wives and gave up her job at the country's largest advertising agency.

Japan's ruling coalition swept to victory on Sunday in an upper house election that took on heightened significance following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

An aquarium employee waves a mackerel near a penguin -- but there's no reaction. When she moves the fish closer to its beak, the penguin turns away haughtily. An otter sniffs the fish, then runs away.

Choi Jung-hun smiled as I read out the latest official Covid-19 figures from North Korean state media: fewer than 5 million cases of "fever" and just 73 fatalities -- a fraction of the death toll of every other country in the world.