Asean defense chiefs call for halt to Gaza fighting

(UPDATE) JAKARTA: Southeast Asian defense chiefs on Wednesday called for fighting in Gaza to stop immediately and for the world to collaborate on setting up humanitarian aid corridors there, but they struggled on how to address the prolonged civil strife in Myanmar.

The crisis in Myanmar was high on the agenda when defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) met in Indonesia's capital Jakarta. The 10-nation bloc includes Myanmar, but its defense minister was again barred from attending this week's meetings due to the military government's failure to comply with a five-point emergency plan drafted to ease the violence.