Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has flagged one-off cash payments for pensioners and a temporary cut in fuel taxes among other measures is likely in his 2022/23 Budget later on Tuesday, along with the usual pre-election splurge in infrastructure.

Millions endured a second day of lockdown after authorities effectively split the country's biggest urban area in two, with residents of the city's eastern half confined to their homes for four days and subjected to mandatory testing. 

Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, which has some of the world's toughest drugs laws and handed a then mandatory death sentence the following year.

In an impassioned speech, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said he found it "very insulting... to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs or have other motives in pursuing our national interest".

Russia launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine just over a month ago, sparking the worst geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War Two. The countries are engaged in peace talks in Turkey.

The issue was at the center of discussions among representatives of G20 members in the first Health Working Group (HWG) meeting, which was held in Yogyakarta in a hybrid format, on Monday.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has served as a "reminder" for countries in the Indo-Pacific to better manage potential conflict in the region, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

The 76-year-old's civilian government was ousted in a coup last year that triggered mass protests, and she faces a raft of charges that could see her jailed for more than 150 years.

The war games are the last under outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, who previously threatened to cancel exercises and axe a key military deal with longtime ally the United States as he pivoted towards China. 

Confirmation on Friday by the Solomon Islands government that it was "diversifying" its security relationships beyond Australia has prompted alarm in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

The move, announced late Sunday, caused a run on grocery stores by residents who have become increasingly exasperated with authorities' inability to snuff out the outbreak despite nearly three weeks of increasingly disruptive measures.

The former cricketing star is accused by the opposition of mismanaging the economy and foreign policy in the most serious challenge to his leadership since coming to power in 2018.

Kim's comments follow Pyongyang successfully carrying out the launch in defiance of crippling international sanctions on Thursday, the first time the North has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at the full range since 2017. 

The move by Asia's biggest oil refiner to hit the brakes on a potentially half-billion-dollar investment in a gas chemical plant and a venture to market Russian gas in China highlights the risks, even to Russia's most important diplomatic partner, of unexpectedly heavy Western-led sanctions.

The snap lockdown, announced by Shanghai's city government on Sunday, will split the city in two roughly along the Huangpu River for nine days to allow for staggered testing.

The March 2 incident took place during the PCG's maritime patrol operations around the Scarborough Shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, the PCG said in a news release.

Taal volcano, which sits in a picturesque lake south of Manila, exploded with a "short-lived" burst at 7:22 am (2322 GMT), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement. 

Biden and Lee will meet March 29, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since a putsch in February 2021, with more than 1,700 people killed in crackdowns on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

Dozens of victims' relatives have been waiting for days as rescue teams combed heavily forested slopes for plane debris and signs of survivors from Monday's disaster near the city of Wuzhou, Guangxi province.

Telenor in May 2021 wrote down the value of its Myanmar business by 6.5 billion crowns ($751 million) and later said it would be sold for $105 million to Lebanese investment firm M1 and local firm Shwe Byain Phyu.

Abdulla Yameen wants to cancel defense deals signed with India, with which the Maldives shares decades of close and friendly ties.

A security pact with the Pacific island nation would be a major inroad for China in a region that US allies Australia and New Zealand have for decades seen as their "back yard".

The minister, Casten Nemra, whose country along with Panama and Liberia is popular for registering ships, told reporters on a trip to Taiwan that his Pacific island nation strongly condemned the Russian invasion.

The top advisory group on vaccines approved the fourth shot for vulnerable groups: those aged over 65, indigenous people over 50, people who are immunocompromised, and care home residents.

An aerial survey showed coral bleaching at multiple reefs, "confirming a mass bleaching event, the fourth since 2016," said a report by the Reef Authority, which manages the world's largest coral reef system.

Dian Triansyah Djani made the statement after Russia's ambassador to Indonesia confirmed on Wednesday President Vladimir Putin planned to attend the November heads-of-state summit in Bali.

Wunna Maung Lwin made the remarks on March 21 at a reception for Sokhonn, ASEAN secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi and the Cambodian delegation, who are in the bloc’s westernmost country for a three-day visit from March 20-23.

Reuters confirmed with a Solomon Islands government official on Thursday that a security treaty with China would need to go to cabinet for discussion, and would match the security treaty signed with Australia that allows for the deployment of armed forces to Honiara.

Ismail Sabri said apart from Malaysia, the language was also used as a medium instruction in several neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore as well as in southern Thailand, southern Philippines and in parts of Cambodia.