Top Asian News 4:15 a.m. GMT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A gunman killed a legal adviser for Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy on Sunday, shooting the lawyer in the head at close range as he walked out of the Yangon airport, the government said. The gunman was arrested after he killed Ko Ni, a prominent member of Myanmar's Muslim minority, and wounded a taxi driver who tried to stop him from fleeing, the Ministry of Information said in a video posted on state-run MRTV. Ko Ni was the Supreme Court advocate for the NLD and a longstanding legal adviser to the country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities expanded the search Monday for six people, including five Chinese tourists, still missing two days after their boat sank off Borneo island. Twenty-two people were rescued, but three Chinese tourists died. Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency said in a statement that the search area has been expanded by about four times to 1,500 square nautical miles of the South China Sea, off Sabah state. It said Brunei has also deployed a plane to search in its waters. Government minister Shahidan Kassim was reported by the national Bernama news agency as saying that the 20 Chinese tourists rescued were weak, shivering and sunburnt but had sustained no serious injuries.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, says President Donald Trump's ban on citizens of seven Muslim countries from entering the U.S. could hurt the global fight against terrorism. Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir said Monday that the policy is the sovereign right of the U.S. but Indonesia, which is not one of the directly affected countries, "deeply regrets" it and believes it will have a "negative impact on global efforts to fight terrorism" and the handling of refugees. "It is wrong to associate radicalism and terrorism with a particular religion," Nasir said in a statement. "Efforts to combat terrorism must be carried out by promoting international cooperation, including in addressing the root causes of terrorism." Trump on Friday signed an executive order placing a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S.

BANGKOK (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. ___ WHITE HOUSE ON COLLISION COURSE WITH CHINA? The new U.S. administration is heating up rhetoric over the South China Sea with a promise to challenge China's occupation of disputed islands.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — President Donald Trump had agreed to keep an Obama administration promise to resettle refugees languishing in Pacific island camps despite the U.S. toughening its stance on Muslim immigration, the Australian prime minister said Monday. Trump had agreed that during a 25-minute telephone conversation on Sunday to accept an unspecified number of refugees as promised in the final months of the previous administration, ending weeks of uncertainty, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. "I thank President Trump for his commitment to honor that existing agreement," Turnbull told reporters. He declined to say how many refugees might be resettled in the United States.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine airstrikes have killed 15 Muslim militants linked to the Islamic State group, including a suspected Indonesian militant, while one of Southeast Asia's top terror suspects was seriously wounded in the country's south, the military chief said Sunday. Military Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said the body of the suspected Indonesian militant, known by his nom de guerre Mohisen, was recovered by troops along with three dead Filipino followers of militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was seriously wounded in the hilly outskirts of Butig town in Lanao del Sur province. Eleven other militants were reportedly killed, Ano said, citing intelligence, but added their bodies have not been found.

BEIJING (AP) — A tiger-mauling death at a Chinese zoo is under investigation by local authorities who say the victim climbed a fence into the tiger's enclosure. The attack occurred Saturday at a resort on Dongqian Lake in eastern China's Zhejiang province. A local government statement says the victim, identified only by his surname of Zhang, climbed a fence with a friend instead of buying tickets. Zhang entered the tiger enclosure and was attacked by a tiger. A photo shared on Chinese social media appears to show Zhang lying next to the tiger. Zhang died later in a hospital. State television reported the tiger was shot dead by local police, and three others nearby were dispersed using firecrackers.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ The only insurgent leader to sign a peace pact with Afghanistan's government will return to the country within weeks, his chief negotiator says, in a move that could shake up Afghan politics and complicate the much wider war against the Taliban. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former warlord who battled U.S. forces after the 2001 invasion and nursed a bitter rivalry with other Afghan factions, agreed to lay down arms last year. Amin Karim, his chief negotiator, told The Associated Press earlier this week that he would return to the capital in ``a matter of weeks, not months.'' Hekmatyar is seen as a potential rival to President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who have governed the country through a shaky, U.S.-brokered power-sharing agreement since the disputed elections of 2014.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A 23-year-old dental student from France won the Miss Universe crown Monday in the annual pageant held this year in the Philippines. Iris Mittenaere from the small town of Lille in northern France said in reply to a final question from pageant host Steve Harvey that she would be honored if she just landed among the three finalists, but was visibly stunned when she was announced the winner among the field of 86 contestants. Mittenaere was speechless and put her hands on her face as the outgoing winner from the Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, crowned her as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause at the packed Mall of Asia Arena by Manila Bay.

PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) — Theerayut Charoenpakdee was terrified when police stopped her outside a mall in Pattaya, a Thai resort famous for its sordid nightlife. A urine test on the spot revealed meth coursing through her veins. "I thought I was going to be thrown in prison with all the men because I still have the title of Mr.," the transgender woman said. "I was afraid. News and TV tells us that being sent to prison is scary." It turned out not to be the ordeal she expected. The prison she was destined for — Pattaya Remand — separates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners from other inmates, a little-known policy despite being in place nationwide since 1993, according to the Department of Corrections.