JAKARTA: Indonesia reported on Friday (Jan 8) a record daily number of new COVID-19 cases for the third successive day with 10,617 infections, bringing the total to more than 800,000, data from the country's COVID-19 task force showed. The Southeast...

Sri Lanka's government insisted Friday on the cremation of all coronavirus victims, rejecting international pleas and recommendations from its own experts to allow the Muslim minority to bury their dead in line with Islamic custom.

Families of 88 Australians killed in the 2002 Bali bombing will be distressed by the early release from prison on Friday of the Indonesian Islamic cleric suspected to be the mastermind of the attack, said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

As Tokyo woke up to its second state of emergency on Friday (Jan 8), many people believe it will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to host the Olympic Games safely.

JAKARTA: When Henik Andriani first went to Singapore to work as a domestic worker in 2008, she only received S$80 for the first seven months even though her monthly salary was S$630. A huge chunk of her pay was taken away by the employment agency to...

Indian fashion designer Satya Paul, whose eponymous brand breathed life into the traditional sari, modernising the garment with funky prints, has died at 78, his family said.

BEIJING: The former chairman of the main Chinese state bank behind Beijing's initiative to build railways and ports across dozens of Asian countries has been sentenced to life in prison on corruption charges, a court announced. Hu Huaibang was sente...

BEIJING: Browsing the Internet as a young policeman in China, Ma Baoli recalls the sheer volume of web pages telling him he was a pervert, diseased and in need of treatment - simply because he was gay. "I felt extremely lonely after I became aware o...

TOKYO: Japan's capital Tokyo began its first day under a coronavirus state of emergency on Friday (Jan 8) with much of life as usual, including morning commuter trains shuttling crowds of mask-wearing people at bustling stations. Prime Minister Yos...

TOKYO: Tokyo Olympics organisers insisted on Friday (Jan 8) that the coronavirus-postponed Games will still go ahead despite Japan declaring a state of emergency less than 200 days before the opening ceremony. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursd...

TOKYO: A history of vaccine controversies in Japan may cast a long shadow over the coronavirus jab roll-out, experts warn, even as the country battles a severe third wave of infections. While vaccine hesitancy, and outright opposition, has been grow...

SHANGHAI: The number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first identified, could be around three times the official figure, according to a study by Chinese researchers based in the city. T...

SHANGHAI: Global index providers MSCI and FTSE Russell said they would cut three Chinese telecom companies from their benchmarks in response to a US investment ban, crushing the share prices and widening the fallout from the US sanctions. The dele...

TOKYO: Athletes should be prioritised for the novel coronavirus vaccine so the beleaguered Tokyo Games can go ahead later this year, according to senior Olympics official Dick Pound. Canadian Pound, the longest-serving member of the International Ol...

TAIPEI: China on Thursday (Jan 7) threatened that the United States would pay a "heavy price" if its United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft kept plans announced by the State Department to travel to Taiwan in the coming days. "The United States will ...

SEOUL: A South Korean court on Friday (Jan 8) ordered the Japanese government to pay compensation to 12 World War II sex slaves or their families, in an unprecedented ruling likely to infuriate Tokyo. The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Ja...

TAIPEI: In a potential blow to the #MeToo movement in China, two former journalists were convicted of defaming a third journalist by publishing an account accusing him of sexual misconduct. A court in the eastern city of Hangzhou ruled on Tuesday (J...

SEOUL: South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics flagged a jump of more than a quarter in fourth-quarter operating profit on Friday (Jan 8), with working from home under the coronavirus pandemic driving demand for the devices powered by its chips. ...

China reported 53 new COVID-19 cases on Jan. 7, down from 63 reported a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Friday.

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un explored ways to renew inter-Korean ties and vowed to expand foreign relations, state media said on Friday (Jan 8), as he hosted a rare party congress less than two weeks before US President-elect Joe Biden take...

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who is linked to the deadly 2002 Bali bombings, was released from prison on Friday (Jan 8). Bashir, 82, was jailed in 2011 for his involvement in militant training camps in Indonesia’s wester...

GENEVA: The world's poorest countries can expect to start receiving their first COVID-19 vaccine doses between the end of January and mid-February, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday (Jan 7). Vaccination is already under way in som...

But UMNO’s plans to cut ties with Bersatu hardly spells the end of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, says James Chin.

A group of activists answered a police summons on Thursday over complaints that could see them jailed for up to 15 years for insulting Thailand's king, as authorities increasingly use "lese majeste" laws against pro-democracy protest leaders.

JAKARTA: Indonesia on Thursday (Jan 7) reported a daily record 9,321 new coronavirus infections, bringing its total cases to 797,723, data from its COVID-19 task force showed. It was the second consecutive day of reporting record infections. Thursd...

SHANGHAI :The capital and largest city in northern China's Hebei province barred people from leaving on Thursday in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the country reported the biggest rise in daily infections in more than five months.

North Korean state media have displayed an unprecedented portrait of leader Kim Jong Un in military uniform -- and an assault rifle on his desk -- as the nuclear-armed nation holds a key meeting of its ruling party.

Protests over the killing of 11 Shi'ite Hazara minority coal miners by Islamic State militants on Sunday have spread to other cities in Pakistan, including the economic powerhouse of Karachi.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record 3,027 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday (Jan 7), the country’s biggest daily increase since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.  Only six of these were imported while the rest were local infections.  Abo...

Joshua Wong, 24, one of Hong Kong's most prominent democracy activists who is serving a 13-1/2-month jail sentence for illegal assembly, is under suspicion for violating the city's national security law, according to a notice on his Facebook.

Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to win approval in Japan until May due to requirements for local clinical trials, the distributor said, casting doubt over a nationwide vaccination rollout before the summer Tokyo Olympics.

The storming of the US Congress left America's image as a beacon of democracy severely tarnished Thursday, with allies unable to hide their shock and authoritarian regimes gleefully exploiting the unrest.

China drew a comparison on Thursday between the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump and last year's often-violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, but noted that no one had died when demonstrators took over the le...

Countries in Asia were stepping up their fight against the coronavirus again on Thursday in a fresh effort to suppress an illness they had previously tamed, joining Europe in imposing new curbs.

BEIJING: Temperatures in the Chinese capital plunged to their lowest for more than five decades on Thursday (Jan 7), as Beijing was hit by gale-force winds and bitter conditions. On Thursday morning the mercury dropped to minus 19.6 degrees Celsius,...

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday (Jan 7) threatened US sanctions over Hong Kong authorities' mass arrests of pro-democracy figures and voiced anger that an American was among those rounded up.

KUALA LUMPUR: An application to register a new political party led by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has been rejected, said the party's lawyer Mior Nor Haidir Suhaimi on Thursday (Jan 7).  The Registrar of Society (ROS) rejected ...

Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano spewed avalanches of hot clouds on Thursday (Jan 7) morning as more than 500 residents were evacuated from its fertile slopes.

China should give access to World Health Organization (WHO) officials investigating the origins of COVID-19 "without delay", Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday.

Tears fill Gui Yuna's eyes as she describes losing her right leg in a road accident aged seven and school bullies kicking away her crutch to make her fall.

China's Internet erupted in mirth at America's troubled democracy after supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the US Capitol, comparing the chaos to the Hong Kong anti-government protests of 2019.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities awoke to a chorus of international condemnation on Thursday (Jan 7) following the mass arrest of pro-democracy opposition figures under a national security law that Beijing imposed on the finance hub. Western nations...

WASHINGTON/SHANGHAI: The Trump administration is considering adding tech giants Alibaba and Tencent to a blacklist of firms allegedly owned or controlled by the Chinese military, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Targeting A...

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would expand military capabilities to better defend the country, state media reported on Thursday (Jan 7), during a rare party congress as the country faces international sanctions and pressure. The Eig...

TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three adjacent prefectures on Thursday (Jan 7) to combat a rise in coronavirus infections. The emergency state would take effect on Friday and run through F...

SHANGHAI: Authorities in the capital of China's Hebei province strengthened travel restriction on Thursday (Jan 7) to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the country reported the biggest rise in daily COVID-19 cases in more than five months. Hebe...

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Malays National Organisation's (UMNO) Supreme Working Committee said on Wednesday night (Jan 6) that a motion to cut ties with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in the next general election would be debated at the p...

NEW YORK: The New York Stock Exchange said on Wednesday (Jan 6) it will delist three Chinese telecom companies, confirming its latest U-turn on the matter a day after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the NYSE chief he disagreed with an ear...

NEW DELHI: India will hold a mass nationwide online "cow science" exam next month, in the latest push by the Hindu nationalist government to promote and protect the sacred animal, officials said on Wednesday (Jan 6). The hour-long test on Feb 25, ...

China has notified downstream neighbours it is holding back the Mekong River flow at a hydropower dam on the waterway's upper reaches for 20 days, as part of a new data-sharing pact, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and Thailand said on Wednesday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record 2,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Jan 6), with Selangor and Kuala Lumpur accounting for almost half of the new infections.   Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were also four new fata...

China criticizes US order against dealing with Chinese apps

BANGKOK: Indonesia's men's doubles top seeds have been forced to pull out of next week's Thailand Open badminton after one of them, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, tested positive for COVID-19, the Badminton World Federation said. The withdrawal of Sukamul...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's highest Muslim clerical council hopes to issue a ruling on whether a COVID-19 vaccine is halal, or permissible under Islam, before the country is due to start a mass inoculation programme using a Chinese vaccine next week. The w...

The Philippines is negotiating with seven vaccine manufacturers to procure at least 148 million COVID-19 shots as it seeks to inoculate close to two-thirds of its population this year, a senior official said on Wednesday.

China said on Wednesday it would make a "necessary response" to a planned military dialogue between the United States and Chinese-claimed Taiwan, saying it firmly opposed the event.

SINGAPORE: The plan was to connect Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - two metropolitan cities in Southeast Asia - by a high-speed rail, revving both economies and propelling each to become a formidable force in the region.   However, this was not to be...

Criticism of India's approval of a local COVID-19 vaccine without proof of its efficacy grew on Wednesday after news that a regulatory panel approved the shot just one day after asking the vaccine maker for more evidence it would work.

JAKARTA: A counter-terrorism unit raiding a militant hideout in central Indonesia on Wednesday (Jan 6) killed two men suspected by police of involvement in twin bombings at a Philippine church in 2019 that killed more than 20 people. Police said in ...

A South Korean delegation is heading to Iran on Wednesday to seek the release of a chemicals tanker and its 20-member crew seized in Gulf waters by Iranian forces, Yonhap news agency reported.

TOKYO: Police in Japan have detained a 43-year-old Pokemon fan whose drive to "catch 'em all" saw him allegedly forge ice cream sticks in a competition to win cards featuring the game's characters. Local media said Takashi Ono is suspected of engrav...

Indonesia will impose two weeks of increased COVID-19 restrictions in parts of its most populous island of Java and the resort island of Bali from Jan 11 to support hospitals and reduce fatality rates, a minister said on Wednesday (Jan 6).

China's delayed carbon trading system will start operating in February, the environment ministry has said, as the world's biggest polluter takes steps towards decarbonising its economy by 2060.

Beauden Barrett set his sights on reclaiming the All Blacks' number 10 jersey Wednesday as he prepares to begin a stint in Japan, which is battling a coronavirus surge.

BANGKOK: Thailand's economic outlook would be substantially affected by a surge in coronavirus cases, minutes of the central bank's last policy meeting showed on Wednesday (Jan 6), as the Bank of Thailand (BOT) saw a need to preserve limited policy r...

BANGKOK: The world’s top canned tuna maker Thai Union said on Wednesday (Jan 6) its factories were continuing to operate normally after 69 out of more than 23,000 workers at its plants southwest of Bangkok tested positive for COVID-19. In a sta...

TOKYO: Japan's COVID-19 cases reached a new daily record on Wednesday (Jan 6), as the government faced mounting pressure from health experts to impose a strict state of emergency for the Tokyo greater metropolitan area. Rising infections have driven...

Malaysian villagers were evacuated in an excavator while others swam through deep waters Wednesday as the number forced from their homes by floods rose to more than 28,000 with at least four dead.

Huawei Technologies this year will likely see slower 5G business and push further into software, while hoping its smartphones get a reprieve from U.S. sanctions which last year struck the chip-reliant heart of its group, analysts said.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden's pick for secretary of state blasted Hong Kong authorities for arresting around 50 opposition figures on Wednesday (Jan 6) under a new national security law. "The sweeping arrests of pro-democracy demonstr...

South Korea rolled out mass testing for 52 prisons in the country after a massive prison outbreak and may extend flight suspensions from Britain in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus cases, the health minister said on Wednesday.

China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to raise at least US$5 billion through the sale of a U.S. dollar-denominated bond this month, four people with knowledge of the matter said, amid regulatory scrutiny of co-founder Jack Ma's empire.

U.S. startup Eat Just Inc said on Wednesday that Dicos, one of China's largest fast food chains, has added plant-based egg product supplied by the San Francisco firm to menus at more than 500 outlets across China.

Hong Kong police arrested 53 people in raids on democracy activists on Wednesday (Jan 6), with authorities saying an unofficial vote to choose opposition candidates in city elections was part of a plan to "overthrow" the government. Dawn raids on 72...

China reported 32 new COVID-19 cases on Jan. 5, down from 33 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Wednesday.

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opened its first ruling party congress in five years with an admission of policy failures and a vow to lay out new developmental goals, state media reported on Wednesday (Jan 6). The rare Workers' Party congres...

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Jan 6) signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group's Alipay, a senior administration official said, escalating tensions with Beijing ...

The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday he was "very disappointed" that China has still not authorised the entry of a team of international experts to examine the origins of the coronavirus.

Should Covid-19 boosters be delayed? Could the dose levels be reduced by half, and would mixing and matching shots made by different makers work just as well?

Japan should issue a COVID-19 state of emergency in the Tokyo area as soon as possible, a panel of experts advising the government on coronavirus responses said on Tuesday.

The fight to contain the coronavirus in northern China's Hebei has entered "wartime mode", official media reported on Tuesday, after the province surrounding capital Beijing saw its first locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in more than six months.

The former chairman of one of China's largest state-controlled asset management firms was sentenced to death Tuesday for soliciting $260 million in bribes, corruption and bigamy.

Asia Today: Thailand counts more virus cases, limits travel

Police officers showed "cowardice and negligence" in failing to confront a mob that attacked and set fire to a Hindu temple in northwest Pakistan, the provincial police chief said Tuesday.

HONG KONG/BEIJING: China has said it would revoke the licences of two human-rights lawyers involved in the case of 12 Hong Kong activists whom mainland authorities arrested at sea and accused of trying to flee to Taiwan, according to the two lawyer...

South Korea will send a government delegation to Iran "at the earliest possible date" to negotiate the release of a seized oil tanker and its crew, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Thailand's prime minister said on Tuesday his country had ordered an additional 35 million doses of the AstraZeneca Plc COVID-19 vaccine, bringing its total vaccine pipeline to 63 million doses.

A bluefin tuna sold for 20.8 million yen (US$202,197) in the first auction of the new year at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market on Tuesday when it reopened after the holiday break.

Hong Kong's outgoing top judge made a plea on Tuesday to maintain judicial independence as China state media and a growing host of pro-Beijing figures call for an overhaul of how the financial hub's courts are run.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mr Annuar Musa has been sacked as Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s secretary-general, reported Malaysian media on Tuesday (Jan 5). Mr Ahmad Maslan, the secretary-general of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), has confirm...

BEIJING: A year after the outbreak started, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are due in China for a highly politicised visit to explore the origins of the coronavirus, in a trip trailed by accusations of cover-ups, conspiracy and fear...

Chinese jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan's defence zone last year, a defence official said Tuesday, as a military-linked think-tank warned tensions were now at their highest since the mid-1990s.

TOKYO: Tokyo's annual New Year tuna auction ended on Tuesday (Jan 5) without the usual jaw-dropping bidding war, with the country's "Tuna King" holding back on gunning for the top fish, citing the pandemic woes affecting the restaurant industry. The...

The number of deaths linked to the coronavirus in South Korea passed 1,000 on Tuesday, while an increasing number of gym owners said they would reopen in protest against strict social distancing rules.

Indonesia must ensure a radical cleric and suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings does not incite more violence when he is released from jail this week, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said on Tuesday.

Indonesia will begin its nationwide COVID-19 mass vaccination programme on Jan. 13, the country's health minister said on Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia holds the view that the amount of compensation needed to be paid to Singapore for the termination of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project is much lower than S$270 million, said Minister in the Prime Minister...

NEW YORK: The New York Stock Exchange said on Monday (Jan 4) it no longer intends to delist three Chinese telecom giants that have been targeted by US President Donald Trump's outgoing administration, in a shock reversal of an announcement made on...

NEW DELHI: Representatives of the Indian government and protesting farmers failed again on Monday (Jan 4) to reach agreement on the farmers' demand that new agricultural reform laws be repealed. With the government refusing to revoke the legislation...

SHANGHAI: China reported 33 new COVID-19 cases on Jan 4, matching the count from the day before, the country's national health authority said on Tuesday (Jan 5). The National Health Commission said in a statement that 16 of the new cases were infec...