BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar will hold the first phase of a general election on Sunday, its first vote in five years and an exercise that critics say will neither restore the country’s fragile democracy undone by a 2021 army takeover, nor end a devastating civil war triggered by the nation’s harsh military rule.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) – Imprisoned former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was sentenced to 15 years and a hefty 13.5 billion ringgit ($3.3 billion) in fines and assets after being convicted Friday in his biggest corruption trial tied to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund.

BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand and Cambodia were engaged in combat along their border on Friday, even as the two countries held talks to try to put an end to armed clashes that erupted in early December, breaking a ceasefire that had been reached five months earlier.