YANGON - MYANMAR'S military regime on Sunday marked the 61st anniversary of its independence with pomp and defiance, as the junta called on people to support 2010 elections derided as a sham by democracy campaigners.

Soldiers raised the national flag at 4.28 am (5.48am Singapore time) - the exact time of the country's freedom from Britain - at a city hall in the remote capital of Naypyidaw, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of commercial hub Yangon.

JAKARTA - THOUSANDS of Indonesian Islamists rallied across the country on Sunday to condemn Israel's military strikes on the Gaza Strip and called on the government to send troops to fight Israeli forces.

Around 3,000 members of the Islamist Hizbut Tahrir movement took over the streets of central Jakarta to condemn Israel's strikes and ground offensive, which have killed hundreds of Palestinians.

HANOI - UNSEASONAL floods in central Vietnam have killed at least five people and left three others missing and feared dead in recent days, national emergency services and state media reports said on Sunday.

Four men were swept away in floods and one woman drowned when her small fishing boat sank in a swollen river as heavy rains hit Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces, said the National Flood and Storm Control Committee in Hanoi.