Hundreds of Rohingya refugees die en route from hunger or accidents at sea, but the numbers keep growing as shrinking food rations caused by dwindling international aid push yet more to make the dangerous crossing.

The Philippines and the US have a 12-year-old Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that allows a rotational presence of American military in Philippine bases without establishing a permanent presence.

Japan will ease decades-old arms export rules, the government's top spokesman Minoru Kihara said on Tuesday, paving the way for the sale of lethal weapons overseas.

The United States and Iran on Monday each warned they were ready for war as the clock ticked on a ceasefire, with uncertainty on talks that President Donald Trump had announced would resume in Pakistan.

"What the Asia-Pacific region most needs is peace and tranquility, and what it least needs is the introduction of external forces to create division and confrontation," Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson, said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

The warship passed through the strait, which borders Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, on Saturday, April 18, Indonesian Navy spokesperson First Admiral Tunggul told Reuters.

The war games will feature live-fire exercises in the north of the country facing the Taiwan Strait, as well as a province off the disputed South China Sea, where the Philippines and China have engaged in repeated confrontations.

Thousands of American and Philippine troops, joined for the first time by a significant contingent of Japanese forces, began annual military exercises Monday set against the backdrop of the Middle East war.

Among the vessels that made it through on Saturday, five of them last loaded cargoes from Iran ranging from oil products to metals. Three of them are liquefied petroleum gas carriers with one each heading to China and India.

Victims of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades began government-supervised visits to their ravaged former homes on Monday for the first time since the November blaze, looking to retrieve personal items that might have survived.

Concerns grew on Monday that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran might not hold after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Iran vowed to retaliate.

Indonesia has extended its deepest condolences to France over the death of its peacekeeper in southern Lebanon, reiterating its call for enhanced protection of the United Nations peacekeeping missions in the war-torn Middle East country.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday intended to speed up access to medical research and treatment based on psychedelic drugs.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a televised address that there has been "progress" in talks with Washington "but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain."

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast, South Korea and Japan said on Sunday, marking the latest in a flurry of launches by Pyongyang to accelerate efforts to boost its military capabilities.

Pope Leo sought to downplay his feud with US President Donald Trump on Saturday, saying reporting about comments he has made so far during his Africa tour "has not been accurate in all its aspects".

The attack follows an agreement between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday for a 10-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to six weeks of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

The war, now in its eighth week, has killed thousands, spread to Israeli attacks in Lebanon and sent oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world's oil shipments.

Japan is deepening cooperation with United States allies in the Asia-Pacific region that, like Tokyo, are involved in territorial disputes with China.

More than one in seven of the estimated 6,500 Rohingya refugees who attempted the sea crossing last year were reported missing or dead.

The sentence has been cut by one-sixth, but it remains unclear whether the Nobel Peace Prize winner will be allowed to serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest, the lawyer said.

Kosovo intends to send 22 members of the security forces, while Bosnia said more than 60 Bosnian soldiers are expected to join the peacekeeping force.

Subsequent statements and clarifications from both sides left uncertainty over how quickly shipping might return to normal, and some vessels could be observed making unsuccessful attempts cross the strait on Friday before turning back.

Hegseth also said the US will blockade Iranian ports for "as long as it takes."

Shortly after the truce went into effect at midnight local time (2100 GMT), the army told residents of the south—many of whom had to flee their homes following sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings—not to return, citing "several Israeli acts of aggression".

The Foreign Ministry announced that it is carrying out a third evacuation wave from Iran, aiming to repatriate 45 Indonesians this week as a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East continues to hold. 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the deal, which fills 20 percent of the fertiliser needed for the planting season, was a "significant outcome for our farmers".