JAPAN-TSUNAMI-ANNIVERSARY — Japanese gather in Tokyo and along the country's ravaged northeast coast to observe a moment of silence five years after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck offshore, triggering a devastating tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people and sent reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant into meltdown. 

MYANMAR-POLITICS — A longtime confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi is confirmed in a parliamentary vote as one of three final candidates to be Myanmar's next president, albeit as a proxy for the Nobel laureate.

KOREAS-TENSION — South Korea's spy agency tells lawmakers that the number of North Korean cyberattacks on the South has doubled over the past month.

UNITED NATIONS-CHINA-HUMAN RIGHTS — The United States and 11 other Western countries criticize China's "deteriorating human rights record," saying its "extraterritorial actions are unacceptable." 

CHINA-CONCLAVE-ENVIRONMENT — China will not return to its era of pursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment despite its slowing economy, the country's environment minister says. 

UNITED STATES-INDONESIA-KILLINGS — The Indonesia that Barack Obama lived in as a child bore fresh scars from the darkest period in country's modern history. Shortly before Obama's arrival in 1967, hundreds of thousands of people had been killed in a bloody anti-communist purge. Now Indonesian human rights officials want Obama's help in addressing unanswered questions about the bloodshed 50 years ago. 

INDONESIA-FOREST FIRES — Indonesia's top security minister says authorities have started efforts to fight forest and peatland fires that often pollute Southeast Asia's air as the dry season begins this month. 

INDIA-GREEN CONCERNS — A massive cultural festival opens on the banks of the Yamuna River in the Indian capital despite concerns that the sprawling construction of roads, ramps and pontoon bridges will irreparably damage the floodplains of the river.