Vietnam / AFP Vietnam jailed three women on Wednesday on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda after they waved the flag of the former US-backed South Vietnam regime, state media said. A court in Ho Chi Minh City found the women guilty of carrying out “propaganda against the socialist Republic of Vietnam,” the official ThanhNien newspaper reported. The trio had waved …

Bangui / AFP France will end its military intervention in the Central African Republic this year as it has achieved its objectives of restoring security to the country after three years of communal violence, the French defence minister said Wednesday. “I can confirm to you the end of Operation Sangaris during the course of 2016,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said in …

Naypyidaw / AFP Myanmar entered a new era on Wednesday as Aung San SuuKyi’s democracy movement took power after 50 years of military domination, with a close aide of the Nobel Laureate sworn in as president. HtinKyaw, a school friend and confidante of the democracy champion, succeeds former general TheinSein who has helmed reforms that have transformed Myanmar from hermit …