Malaysian police said they arrested on Sunday 12 suspected Islamic militants who were plotting attacks in the country just as it prepares to host a Southeast Asian summit.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the suspects, arrested in separate raids in suburbs of the capital Kuala Lumpur, were all Malaysian men and suspected supporters of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.

Malaysia has called for China to cooperate with Southeast Asia in speeding up talks on a set of rules in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing's island-building activities have sparked international alarm.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, whose country hosts a regional summit next week, also cautioned rival claimants to the strategic seaway against taking actions that stoke tensions, according to an interview published Thursday in The Star.

Three Mexican brothers who were sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking in 2012 will have a final court hearing Thursday in their bid to avoid the hangman's noose.

Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the men have "exhausted all their legal options," except for a last appeal before Malaysia's highest court, which will hear defense arguments.

The search area for flight MH370 will double in size to encompass a vast Indian Ocean corridor if wreckage remains elusive, Malaysia, Australia and China said Thursday, asserting their commitment to finding the plane.

Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, ministers from the three countries said the deep-sea zone now being scanned for signs of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines jet would be expanded to 120,000 square kilometers (46,300 square miles) if the current area comes up empty.

An Indonesian fighter jet caught fire just before take-off on Thursday, prompting the pilot to jump to safety as flames and thick smoke engulfed the plane, officials said. 

The pilot escaped with minor injuries and is now being treated in hospital after leaping from the blazing F-16 aircraft, which was about to take off from an airbase in the capital Jakarta.

North Korea's first lady has appeared in public for the first time this year as part of celebrations marking the birthday of the country's founding leader Kim Il-Sung, state media said Tuesday.

A grinning Ri Sol-Ju, wearing what appeared to be a wedding ring on her left hand, was pictured clapping next to her smiling husband Kim Jong-Un during a men's football match at Kim Il Sung Stadium on Monday, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

A car bomb on the Thai resort island of Samui has wounded seven people, including an Italian girl, police said Saturday, in a further blow to the country's tarnished reputation as a top tourist destination.

The bomb, packed inside a Mazda pick-up truck with false number plates, exploded late Friday in the underground car park of the Central Festival mall, sending late-night shoppers running for safety.

Malaysia's parliament early Friday approved tougher penalties for sedition in a move criticised by the United Nations and described by the opposition as "a black day" for democracy and free expression.

For the second time this week, the ruling coalition pushed through legislation that has been denounced by rights and legal advocates, after it on Tuesday passed an anti-terrorism law that allows authorities to detain people without charge.

Malaysia's national police chief said Tuesday that 17 people detained over the weekend in a suspected Islamic militant plot had planned to kidnap high-profile figures and launch terrorist attacks.

Khalid Abu Bakar said the plotters arrested on Sunday were believed to have been inspired by the extremist Islamic State (IS) group and its bloody jihad in Syria and Iraq. 

Malaysia's parliament on Tuesday passed a tough anti-terrorism law meant to nip emerging signs of Islamic militancy in the bud, but which opponents denounced as a harsh blow for civil rights.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act allows authorities to detain terrorism suspects without charge, and the political opposition as well as legal and rights groups had urged its withdrawal.