TAIPEI: Taiwan will begin slightly easing restrictions on foreign visitors coming to the island beginning on Monday (Mar 1). The Central Epidemic Command Center says foreign nationals wishing to come to Taiwan for business can apply for special perm...

BEIJING: China on Thursday (Feb 25) said it had never asked US diplomats to undergo COVID-19 anal swabs, following American media reports that State Department personnel had complained of being subjected to the intrusive test. China - which has larg...

NEW DELHI: India is struggling to convince its health and frontline workers to take a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine controversially approved without late-stage efficacy data, government data showed on Thursday (Feb 25), days ahead of a wider roll-out. ...

SEOUL: At six in the morning, Heo Kwang-eum tees off another day in Thailand in coronavirus quarantine - literally. He is one of dozens of South Korean visitors spending two weeks in isolation playing golf at a resort an hour north of Bangkok. The 6...

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian man on Thursday (Feb 25) won the country's first legal challenge against Islamic laws banning gay sex, a victory hailed as "monumental progress" in combating persecution of the LGBT community. He was charged in an Islamic c...

JAKARTA: Indonesian rescuers hunted for survivors Thursday (Feb 25) after an illegal gold mine collapsed killing at least three people, with more believed to be buried under the rubble, officials said. A landslide Wednesday evening buried the remot...

YANGON: Supporters and opponents of Myanmar's military clashed on the streets of Yangon on Thursday (Feb 25) as authorities blocked students from leaving their campus to march, a day after a first flurry of diplomacy aimed at resolving the crisis. ...

Helicopters, firefighters battle 2 forest fires in Japan

Indonesia will receive at least two million doses of a coronavirus vaccine produced by China's Sinopharm for use in a private vaccination scheme due to run alongside a national inoculation programme, a minister said on Thursday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong residents are buying more houses and apartments to lease out for income in Britain, property agents say, a trend that coincides with what many expect to be a wave of emigration after China passed a national security law last year...

MANILA: The Philippines will take delivery of its first COVID-19 vaccines at the weekend, allowing it to kick off its inoculation programme from next week, a senior official said on Thursday (Feb 25). Despite having among the highest number of coron...

Audiences are cramming into Chinese cinemas to watch a sentimental comedy that has rapidly become one of the most popular films of all time in the country and marks a triumphant debut for its female director.

JAKARTA: Rescue teams in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province searched for survivors on Thursday (Feb 25) after a landslide in an illegal gold mining area killed at least three people, with more feared dead, disaster officials said. Teams comprised...

The US Consulate in Hong Kong has completed a multi-million-dollar property sale that was previously put on ice after Beijing refused to grant permission, the buyer announced Thursday.

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is enjoying an extended honeymoon with oil-rich Gulf nations, despite being criticised in the United States and Europe as a potential security threat.

SEOUL: South Korean politicians won't be the first in line when the country kicks off its COVID-19 vaccination drive on Friday (Feb 26), despite calls from the opposition party for the president to roll up his sleeve and take a shot to reassure vacci...

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping declared "complete victory" in China's effort to eradicate rural poverty at a ceremony on Thursday (Feb 25) in Beijing to celebrate what has been a signature initiative of his tenure. China credits Xi's leadership with ...

Japan is finalising plans to halt new development aid to Myanmar, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported on Thursday, as Western allies impose sanctions and threaten further action over the Southeast nation's military coup.

YANGON: Social media giant Facebook announced on Thursday (Feb 25) it was banning all accounts linked to Myanmar’s military as well as ads from military-controlled companies in the wake of the army’s seizure of power on Feb 1. Facebook said in ...

BEIJING: China's air quality targets for this year will be set at a slightly higher level than last year's average, an official said on Thursday (Feb 25), after pollution fell significantly in the early part of 2020 due to coronavirus-related lockdow...

Athletes are being encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but it will not be compulsory, IOC Vice President John Coates said on Thursday.

The Tokyo Olympic Organising Committee said on Thursday they are asking spectators for the upcoming torch relay to support by clapping, and will broadcast the event live to avoid gatherings.

Australians will see the prospect of Brisbane hosting the Olympics in 2032 as a symbol of hope as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, Queensland state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Thursday.

The United States expressed concern over Malaysia's deportation of nearly 1,100 Myanmar nationals and urged countries in the region to hold off on any repatriations in light of the Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar, State Department spokesman Ned Price...

An Istanbul court on Wednesday sentenced three Turks to four years and two months in prison for helping smuggle former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn in a musical instrument case to Lebanon from Japan.

BANGKOK: Three Cabinet ministers in Thailand were forced to leave their posts on Wednesday (Feb 24) after a court found them guilty of sedition for taking part in sometimes-violent protests in 2013 and 2014 against the government then in power. The ...

BANGKOK: Indonesia is holding intensive talks with both the Myanmar military and representatives of the ousted elected government in a bid to end a crisis over a Feb 1 military coup, Indonesia's foreign minister said on Wednesday (Feb 24). Indonesi...

BANGKOK: The Myanmar junta's foreign minister visited Thailand on Wednesday (Feb 24) as regional powers tried to broker an end to three weeks of deadly unrest triggered by a military coup. Foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin held talks with his count...

BANGKOK: Thai authorities are preparing a plan to ease restrictions for travellers vaccinated against the coronavirus, senior officials said on Wednesday (Feb 24), as the country looks to revive a tourism industry battered by travel curbs. Measures ...

The Philippines' top diplomat on Wednesday defended a new order requiring all international aid for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to be cleared with the foreign ministry, saying the aim was to stamp out funding for terrorism.

Vietnam received the first batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday ahead of the planned rollout of the Southeast Asian country's vaccination programme from next month.

A Russian fugitive whose dramatic sprint out of an Indonesian immigration office was captured on CCTV has been caught again after two weeks on the run, authorities said Wednesday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's King Al-Sultan Abdullah said on Wednesday (Feb 24) parliament can convene during a state of emergency, a move that could open the door for the opposition to launch a fresh confidence vote to challenge Prime Minister Muhyiddin...

KUALA LUMPUR: Several lawmakers and rights groups on Wednesday (Feb 24) called on Malaysia's government to explain its deportation of more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals, despite a court-ordered stay, with some saying the move could amount to contempt ...

BANGKOK: Amnesty International said it has found that a hacking group known as Ocean Lotus has been staging more spyware attacks on Vietnamese human rights activists in the latest blow to freedom of speech in the communist-ruled country. The human r...

SEOUL: South Korea's fertility rate fell to the lowest in the world last year, data showed on Wednesday (Feb 24), as uncertainty over the coronavirus discouraged couples from marrying and having children.  The number of expected babies per South Ko...

SEOUL: A North Korean defector wore a diving suit and fins during a daring six-hour swim around one of the world's most fortified borders, a Seoul official said, and was caught only after apparently falling asleep. Bungling South Korean forces did n...

NEW DELHI: India warned on Wednesday (Feb 24) that a breach of guidelines on testing and other measures to contain the coronavirus could worsen a recent spurt in infections in many states, particularly after it detected several variants. Nearly a mo...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong hiked stamp duty on stock trades on Wednesday (Feb 24) for the first time in almost three decades as it tries to plug a pandemic-induced record budget deficit, sending the local equity market tumbling. The business-friendly fina...

A Chinese man has been ordered to pay his ex-wife almost $8,000 for years of unpaid housework, in a landmark divorce case that has sparked furious debate in China.

MANILA: The Philippines health ministry said on Wednesday (Feb 24) it will investigate the illegal use of unauthorised COVID-19 vaccines, after a presidential adviser admitted to receiving shots of a Sinopharm vaccine smuggled into the country. Ramo...

BEIJING: China's commerce minister appealed to Washington for "joint efforts" to revive trade but gave no indication on Wednesday (Feb 24) when tariff war talks might resume or whether Beijing might offer concessions. "Cooperation is the only correc...

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia: The head of a controversial Malaysian "sugar daddy" dating website was charged on Wednesday (Feb 24) with causing public alarm after his claims that university students were using the service sparked an outcry. Sugarbook bills ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday (Feb 24), kicking off the national COVID-19 immunisation programme. Next in line to be vaccinated at the health office in Putra...

Early bird customers of a military-owned bank queued anxiously as dawn light crept over Yangon, after a strict new limit on daily cash withdrawals fuelled rumours of a money shortage in post-coup Myanmar.

Thailand received on Wednesday its first 200,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac, the country's first batch of coronavirus vaccines, with inoculations set to begin in a few days.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will introduce HK$120 billion (US$15.4 billion) in fiscal measures to help businesses and residents impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, as it looks towards economic growth later this year following a recession in 2020. The mea...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia may be ready for a general election once half of its 32 million population is vaccinated, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.  Speaking to CNA in an exclusive interview on the eve of the roll-o...

South Korea shipped its first doses of a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, transferring AstraZeneca vaccines from a production facility in the country to a warehouse outside the capital of Seoul in preparation for this week's inoculation drive.

The number of deaths in China - excluding the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan - fell slightly during the first three months of 2020, suggesting efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 reduced deaths from other causes, a new study showed.

A Hong Kong court said on Tuesday its denial of bail for media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the most high-profile person charged under a new the national security law, was due to the risk of his committing further offences.

JAKARTA: While Indonesia's foreign minister remains "open to the option" of visiting Myanmar, it is currently "not the right time", said the Indonesian foreign ministry on Wednesday (Feb 24). A leaked Myanmar government document earlier cited by Re...

TOKYO: Regional Japanese governments have requested emergency pandemic measures be lifted ahead of the Mar 7 scheduled end as new COVID-19 cases trend lower, the country's economy minister said, adding the government will seek expert views before agr...

Stronger words from Indonesia, Singapore and other ASEAN countries may seem new but do not supplant the important and consistent behind-the-scenes diplomatic work, says Dr Nehginpao Kipgen,

MANILA: The Philippines will let thousands of its healthcare workers, mostly nurses, take up jobs in the United Kingdom and Germany if the two countries agree to donate COVID-19 vaccines, a senior official said on Tuesday (Feb 23). Britain's heal...

NEW DELHI: India said on Tuesday (Feb 23) mutated versions of the coronavirus were not responsible for an upsurge in cases in two states, a potential relief for a country where mask-wearing and social distancing have largely disappeared. Maharashtra...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's ex-president and his intelligence chiefs should be prosecuted for failing to prevent suicide bombings two years ago on Easter Sunday that killed 279 people, according to an investigation released on Tuesday (Feb 23). Maithripal...

MANILA: Philippine forces have arrested nine women who were related to Abu Sayyaf commanders and militants in the south and could have been “potential suicide bombers", the military said Tuesday (Feb 23). The women were captured Friday in raids on...

The leader of Myanmar's junta has called for energetic efforts to revive an ailing economy, state media reported on Tuesday (Feb 23), as Western countries considered more sanctions to press the generals to shun a violent crackdown on democracy protes...

Improper storage, use of explosives killed 10 Chinese miners

LUMUT, Malaysia: Malaysia on Tuesday (Feb 23) deported more than 1,000 Myanmar detainees back to their homeland just weeks after a coup, despite a court order halting the repatriation and a storm of criticism. The migrants, whom activists say includ...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's government will gazette a Bill later this week that will require community level district councils to pledge an oath of allegiance to the city's mini Constitution, further stifling democratic opposition. Secretary for Mainland...

BANGKOK: Thailand will start vaccinating priority groups including health workers against COVID-19 by the end of this week, its prime minister said on Tuesday (Feb 23), a day ahead of the arrival of the country's first coronavirus vaccines. Thailand...

JAKARTA: Ten orangutans have been airlifted back to their natural habitat on Indonesia's Borneo island, in the first release of the apes into the wild for a year due to the dangers of COVID-19 infection. The animals were flown by helicopter across t...

LONDON: Group of Seven (G7) countries said on Tuesday (Feb 23) they "firmly condemn" violence committed by Myanmar's security forces against protesters and urged them to "exercise utmost restraint and respect human rights and international law". The...

Staying in different lodgings each night to evade arrest, the lawyer representing Aung San Suu Kyi says her trial will help determine whether Myanmar's people again become "slaves" of the military.

HANOI: Vietnam's government said on Tuesday (Feb 23) health workers, diplomats and military personnel would be among the first to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when the country starts its inoculation programme next month. The country with a populat...

SEOUL: The first of three expert panels in South Korea reviewing a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech gave its recommendation on Tuesday (Feb 23) for the government to approve the vaccine. The national pharmaceutical panel is planning...

JAKARTA: Indonesia has dismissed a recent report suggesting that an action plan is being prepared to help the Myanmar military to uphold its promise of holding a new election. Foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told reporters on Tuesday (F...

OECUSSE, Timor-Leste: A defrocked American priest went on trial on Tuesday (Feb 23) to face charges he sexually abused young girls at his shelter for orphans and children from impoverished families, marking the first clergy sex case to emerge in Timo...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gave her clear support on Tuesday (Feb 23) to electoral reforms in the city, a day after a top Beijing official signalled major changes would be coming to ensure it is run by "patriots". Lam said political str...

A Malaysian court ordered a temporary halt to a controversial plan to deport 1,200 Myanmar detainees to their homeland Tuesday weeks after a coup, following a last-ditch legal challenge.

Malaysia began bussing asylum seekers and other detainees from Myanmar to a port where ships were waiting to take them back to their strife-torn homeland, even as rights groups made a late legal bid to stop their deportation, saying lives were at ris...

JAKARTA: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday (Feb 23) that Myanmar's transition to democracy after this month's coup should follow the wishes of its people. Her remarks came after anger from anti-coup protesters to a Reuters re...

Emperor Naruhito said he was anticipating a "bright future" as Japan began its coronavirus inoculation programme, during an address to mark his 61st birthday on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan bishops urge government to release blast inquiry

Malaysian activists made a last-ditch legal bid to halt the deportation Tuesday of 1,200 Myanmar detainees to their homeland weeks after a coup, following a storm of criticism.

Canadian MPs passed a non-binding motion Monday calling China's treatment of its Uighur minority a "genocide" and calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to officially label it as such.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday (Feb 22) imposed sanctions on two members of Myanmar's military junta over the country's Feb 1 coup. The United States said it was blocking any US property and suspending the entry into the country of two mem...

This is the first time in six decades that China and the West hold such fundamentally different views of China’s global trajectory, says a political science professor.

The world may be witnessing a tectonic shift in Myanmar's political landscape underway, says a political science lecturer.

BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers on Monday (Feb 22) agreed to impose sanctions on Russian officials for the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and to target Myanmar's military over its seizure of power, the bloc's top envoy said. Th...

TOKYO: The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Monday (Feb 22) that two seismometers at one of its three melted reactors have been out of order since last year and did not collect data when a powerful earthquake struck the a...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Aviation Group obtained court approval in Britain on Monday (Feb 22) for a deal between its leasing unit and a majority of its aircraft operating lessors, allowing it to begin a restructuring plan with new capital of RM3.6 bil...

TOKYO: Japan renewed its claim on a contested island in the Sea of Japan held by South Korea at an annual event on Monday (Feb 22), escalating tensions between the neighbours whose relations were already strained over Seoul's demands for compensation...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will maintain the current level of coronavirus restrictions in the capital Manila until mass vaccinations start, his spokesman said on Monday, despite calls to ease curbs and revive the country's ailing economy.

Britain's foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Monday denounced torture, forced labour and sterilisations that he said were taking place against Muslim Uighurs on an "industrial scale" in China's Xinjiang region.

BANGKOK: The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) said on Monday (Feb 22) that levels on the vital waterway have "slightly" increased and it would look into why its outflow data from Chinese dams upstream differed from data later given by...

RAINI, India: Growing up in a remote tribal village high in the Indian Himalayas, Kundan Singh loved to play on a field by the sparkling Rishiganga river. The 48-year-old recalls afternoons there competing in sports tournaments, surrounded by forest...

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday (Feb 22) local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hot spots had been detected on the island of Sumatra.  The Southeast Asian country has suffered so...

BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers on Monday (Feb 22) tasked the bloc's top diplomat and its executive wing with drawing up a series of measures to target those responsible for the military coup in Myanmar, as people rallied in the streets of...

MUMBAI: Alarmed by signs that a second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic is building, India's richest state of Maharashtra ordered fresh restrictions on people's movement and imposed night curfews in some cities, though not in the financial capital Mumba...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian long-haul budget airline AirAsia X (AAX) has proposed a separate restructuring programme for its aircraft lessors that aims to tackle their concerns, citing a chance to recover rental losses, a document seen by Reuters shows. ...

A top Chinese official on Monday outlined plans to ensure only "patriots" run Hong Kong as Beijing seeks to neuter any remaining democratic opposition and take a more direct role in how the business hub is run.

GENEVA: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday (Feb 22) condemned the "brutal force" used by those behind Myanmar's coup and urged the military to immediately halt the repression and release prisoners. In his annual address to the UN Human...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam received China's Sinovac vaccine on Monday (Feb 22) together with top officials at a live televised event to bolster public confidence ahead of the vaccine's rollout in the global financial hub this week. Sin...

COX'S BAZAR: The United Nations refugee agency on Monday (Feb 22) called for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees who were adrift in their boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, many of whom were ill and suffering from extreme...

JAKARTA: The Indonesian capital of Jakarta could see more flooding and landslides this week as the meteorology agency predicted rains of moderate to heavy intensity to sweep through the city over the next few days. The rains will primarily hit Jak...

SINGAPORE: Indonesia's PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical has received a US$60 million credit line from Singapore's DBS Bank to help support the company's plan to grow export sales, Chandra Asri and DBS Bank said in a joint statement on Monday (Feb 22). ...

The Philippines has approved Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, but will not give it to healthcare workers at risk of exposure due to its varying levels of efficacy, its Food and Drugs Agency (FDA) said on Monday.