Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing arrived on an official visit to Thailand, his first since he launched the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in 2021. The coup ignited a civil war, which has killed thousands of people and wrecked the economy. Min Aung Hlaing, who was already subject to sanctions over his involvement in the mass expulsion of Muslim Rohingyas in 2017, has been an international pariah, barred from western countries and accused of crimes against humanity.

He was declared president in April and left his position as military commander, following an election which was widely condemned for being neither free nor fair. The main opposition parties were barred from taking part, and there was no voting at all in large areas of Myanmar controlled by armed insurgents, ensuring that the military's own party now dominates the new parliament.

Iran said it has reached an agreement with Oman on a route for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei did not give any further details on the agreement, which he said was "in the final stages". Baqaei warned, however, that a deal with Oman would not guarantee safe navigation through the strait, arguing security remained impacted by the US blockade of Iran's ports. The US and Oman have not commented on the proposal.

Since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February, Tehran has largely blocked the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump warned that Iran would be "hit very hard" if the strait did not open "very soon". His comments came after senior US officials said talks had progressed to allow shipments to potentially resume later this week, though Iran has maintained that it is not negotiating with the US and has no plans to do so.

Pakistani authorities have imposed new restrictions on international media reporting in the country in a move that has drawn sharp criticism from journalist organisations. Anyone working for foreign media, including Pakistani nationals, must now seek permission to report from anywhere except the cities of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. The restrictions would leave on-the-ground reporting by foreign media at the discretion and timing of the authorities across most of Pakistan, which currently ranks 153 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index.

"These guidelines are tantamount to choking international media in an increasingly shrinking space," said political commentator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar. Limitations on the media are not new, but local media are often subject to more pressure than international outlets. "The public looks at the international media for independent reporting," Khokhar says. "Placing restrictions simply creates more room for disinformation and spread of fake news."

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile toward the sea on Thursday, its neighbors said, resuming weapons tests days before its rivals the U.S. and South Korea begin annual military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. The launch from North Korea's eastern coastal Wonsan area was detected around 5 p.m., South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that South Korea's military has bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely coordinating with the U.S. and Japan.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters the missile landed in the waters off North Korea's east coast and that there were no reports that the weapon reached Japanese territory. Koizumi said North Korea's repeated missile launches pose a threat to Japan and the region and that Tokyo lodged a protest to Pyongyang through their embassies in Beijing. South Korea's presidential national security council called the North Korean ballistic launch "a provocation" that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and urged the North to stop it.