YANGON: Rubbish piled up on the streets of Myanmar's main city on Tuesday (Mar 30) after activists launched a "garbage strike" to oppose military rule as the toll of pro-democracy protesters killed by the security forces since a Feb 1 coup rose to m...

JAKARTA: Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina said on Tuesday (Mar 30) it was still trying to fully extinguish a fire that broke out at its Balongan refinery a day before, injuring six people and prompting the evacuation of hundreds of nearby resident...

A Myanmar footballer playing for a Malaysian club has been hit with a one-match ban for flashing the three-finger salute used by anti-coup protesters during a game, an official said Tuesday.

HWASEONG, South Korea: In a South Korean rice field, the teenage world drone-racing champion is preparing to defend his title in one of the planet's fastest and highest-tech sports. But at all of 18 years old, Kang Chang-hyeon fears he is quickly p...

Several Asian countries scrambled to find alternative sources for COVID-19 inoculations on Tuesday (Mar 30) after export restrictions by manufacturer India left a World Health Organization-backed global vaccine sharing programme short of supplies.

HANOI: A court in Vietnam handed a two-year suspended jail term to a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant on Tuesday (Mar 30) after finding him guilty of breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, police said. After a one-da...

Shares in AirAsia Group fell in morning trade on Tuesday (Mar 30), as analysts lowered earnings forecasts after the Malaysian budget airline group posted its record quarterly loss.

MUMBAI: India recorded 56,211 new cases of coronavirus, a slight dip from the country's record-breaking tallies over the last three days, data from the health ministry showed on Tuesday (Mar 30). The country's tally dipped below the 60,000 mark afte...

SINGAPORE: Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will make a two-day trip to Fujian, China, his ministry said on Tuesday (Mar 30).  "(His) visit reaffirms the long-standing and substantive relations between Singapore and China, as both cou...

BEIJING: Leather, glitter, stilettos and a strut - voguing, the underground dance phenomenon, has seized Beijing and given China's LGBT community a "playground" to celebrate their identities. Sashaying down the runway clad in fake fur, mile-high wi...

BEIJING: Beijing approved a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system on Tuesday (Mar 30), a senior politician who works with China's parliament on matters relating to the former British colony's mini-constitution, told Reuters. The measure...

TOKYO: Japan's health minister apologised on Tuesday (Mar 30) after media reported ministry employees had gathered at a restaurant late at night in Tokyo in violation of the government's COVID-19 contagion protocols. Norihisa Tamura confirmed that 2...

KUALA LUMPUR: The US Customs has found forced labour practices in Top Glove's production of disposable gloves and directed its ports to seize goods from the manufacturer, it said on Monday (Mar 29). In a statement overnight, US Customs and Border P...

SHRI DUNGARGARH, India: Asli Bai Sayat, 72, had to travel for two hours on a camel cart to get her first COVID-19 vaccine shot in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan, but she may not have to go so far for the follow-up dose. After a slow start, In...

More than 500 people have been killed in the Myanmar junta's brutal crackdown on protests against its coup to oust civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a local monitoring group said on Tuesday (Mar 30).

PARIS: France on Monday (Mar 29) slammed "blind and deadly" violence in Myanmar where the ruling junta's ruthless crackdown left more than 100 people dead on Saturday, during the deadliest weekend since the military coup. "The security forces in ...

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, slammed South Korea's president for calling the North's recent missile test "concerning" and suggesting Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington should not create hurdles for talks, state media KCNA ...

After UMNO’s general assembly meeting, the shifting sands of coalition politics and UMNO’s polarising announcement make the road ahead rockier, says James Chin.

Pakistan's President Arif Alvi said on Monday he had tested positive for COVID-19 after receiving his first dose of an unnamed vaccine, just over a week after a similar announcement from the prime minister.

WASHINGTON: The US is immediately suspending all engagement with Myanmar under a 2013 trade and investment agreement until the return of a democratically elected government, US trade representative Katherine Tai said on Monday (Mar 29).  Saturday w...

NEW YORK: Britain has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar, where scores of anti-coup protesters were killed over the weekend, diplomatic sources said on Monday (Mar 29). The 15 Security Council members wil...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's budget airline AirAsia Group reported a record quarterly loss on Monday (Mar 29), as depreciation and impairments deepened the impact of lockdowns, but said it was confident of a full recovery in two years' time. Net loss in...

SINGAPORE: Singapore is studying a proposal from Hong Kong to reopen borders safely, said Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung on Monday (Mar 29) after a Hong Kong official said it has resumed discussions on a travel bubble with Singapore. “We are v...

A Myanmar toddler has miraculously survived a weekend airstrike that killed his father in their bamboo hut near the coup-hit country's border with Thailand.

SINGAPORE: Singapore has condemned the bombing in front of a Catholic church in Indonesia on Sunday (Mar 28), saying there is no justification for such violence. “Nothing can justify such violence against innocent civilians and places of worship,�...

India reported the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in five months on Monday, with the second wave of the disease driven by surging infections in the country's richest state Maharastra.

Thai police on Monday vowed to arrest more people participating in anti-government protests after detaining nearly 100 at a demonstration a day earlier, citing a law restricting gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Indians gather for Holi celebrations as virus cases surge

JAKARTA: The two suspected suicide bombers who attacked a Catholic church in Makassar, Indonesia were husband and wife who received online training on bomb making, authorities said on Monday (Mar 29).  Speaking at the scene of the attack, the hea...

The Oscars will not be shown in Hong Kong for the first time in more than half a century, its local broadcaster confirmed Monday, as doubts remained over whether Hollywood's top awards will air in mainland China.

SINGAPORE: Malaysia has paid more than S$102 million in compensation to Singapore for the terminated Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project, ministers from both countries said on Monday (Mar 29).  The payment of S$102,815,576 (RM32...

GENEVA: An international expert mission to Wuhan has concluded it was very likely that COVID-19 first passed to humans from a bat through an intermediary animal, while all but ruling out a laboratory leak. The intermediate host hypothesis was deeme...

Hong Kong will ease some coronavirus restrictions, the government said on Monday, allowing swimming pools and beaches to open and shortening the quarantine period for some international arrivals to 14 days from 21.

MANILA: More than 24 million people in the Philippines' economic hub entered a lockdown on Monday (Mar 29), as officials warned the week-long restrictions could be extended if coronavirus infections do not fall. People have been ordered to stay home...

PUTRAJAYA: The second phase of Malaysia's national vaccination exercise - which will prioritise the elderly, those with morbidity problems and people with disabilities - will start on Apr 19. Recipients will be notified of their appointments from A...

International athletes could be invited to participate in test events before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer, organisers said on Monday.

TAIPEI: There has been no progress on talks to seal a deal with Germany's BioNTech for its COVID-19 vaccine though talks are continuing, Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Monday (Mar 29). Taiwan complained last month that the firm h...

TAIPEI: Taiwan's air force is no longer scrambling each time Chinese aircraft encroach on its air defence identification zone, but tracks the intruders with ground-based missiles instead to help save resources, a senior official said on Monday (Mar 2...

TOKYO: Japan's COVID-19 vaccine minister, Taro Kono, said on Monday (Mar 29) that the pace of inoculation in the country would accelerate in May, but that the Tokyo Olympics, set to start in July, were not factoring into the schedule. Prime Minister...

A new factory in Abu Dhabi will start manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm later this year under a joint venture between Sinopharm and Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42 (G42).

YANGON: Myanmar security forces killed three people in the main city of Yangon on Monday (Mar 29), witnesses and media reported, as activists called on ethnic minority forces in the diverse nation to back their campaign against military rule. Afte...

SINGAPORE: Facebook said on Monday (Mar 29) it planned two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia and North America in a project with Google and regional telecommunication companies to boost Internet connection capacity between the regio...

The United States, Britain, the European Union and Canada have engaged in political manipulation to destabilise China, a spokesman for the regional government of Xinjiang said on Monday.

A panel of South Korean advisers said that a COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson was safe and effective, the food and drug safety ministry said on Monday (Mar 29), moving the single-dose shot a step closer to receiving regulatory approval.

SEOUL: North Korea said on Monday (Mar 29) that the United Nations Security Council showed a double standard as its sanctions committee criticised the country's recent missile test as a violation of UN resolutions. North Korea launched a new type of...

BEIJING: China reported 15 new COVID-19 cases in the mainland for Sunday (Mar 28), up from eight a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Monday. The National Health Commission, in a statement, said all the new cases were impor...

JAKARTA: Indonesian state oil company Pertamina said on Monday (Mar 29) it has shut its Balongan oil refinery in West Java as it battles to control a massive fire that broke out overnight, injuring six people. About 950 nearby residents had been ev...

YANGON: US President Joe Biden has led global condemnation of an "absolutely outrageous" crackdown by Myanmar's junta that left more than 100 people - including several children - dead in the bloodiest day since the coup two months ago. Soldiers an...

China generated 53 per cent of the world's total coal-fired power in 2020, nine percentage points more than five years earlier, despite climate pledges and the building of hundreds of renewable energy plants, a global data study showed on Monday.

Thousands of protesters broke through a police blockade in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday as they tried to march on the city of Bannu and then on to Islamabad to demand a government probe into the deaths of four young men who they allege were tortur...

The UN is in negotiations with Beijing for a visit "without restrictions" to Xinjiang to see how the Uyghur minority is being treated, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

The Indian state of Maharashtra reported 40,414 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest number reported by any Indian state since March 2020, government data showed.

JAKARTA: One of two suicide bombers who attacked an Indonesian cathedral on Sunday (Mar 28) belonged to a pro-Islamic State extremist group blamed for other church bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines, said police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo. �...

An exhibition of World Press Photo winners opened at a different venue in Hong Kong Sunday after a local university called off the event that features images of the city's 2019 pro-democracy protests because of security fears.

KUALA LUMPUR: United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) can withdraw its support for the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government "any time" if there are no indications of a general election in the near future, said party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. "...

YANGON: Protesters in Myanmar returned to the streets on Sunday (Mar 28) to press their demands for a return to democracy, just a day after security forces killed more than 100 people in the bloodiest day since last month's military coup. Protests w...

Palau's leader flew into Taiwan on Sunday as the two coronavirus-free allies prepare to launch a travel corridor and boost their pandemic-hit tourist sectors.

Hundreds of members of a hardline Islamist group attacked Hindu temples and a train in eastern Bangladesh on Sunday, police and a local journalist said, as violence spread across the country in the wake of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mo...

BEIJING: China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) will need to assess results from overseas Phase III clinical trials to decide whether its two-shot COVID-19 vaccine should be followed by a booster shot, a company executive said on Sunday (Mar...

BEIJING: A digital illustration by a prominent Chinese propaganda artist mocking Western governments, media and businesses critical of labour conditions in Xinjiang has gone viral on China's social media. The digital art by the artist who goes b...

Authorities in India's western state of Maharashtra imposed night curfews on Sunday to tackle a record surge in COVID-19 cases with the financial capital Mumbai reporting 6,123 new cases, the highest single-day spike since March last year.

KUALA LUMPUR: United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the party will not work with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Democratic Action Party or Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in the next general election....

The Chinese capital Beijing woke on Sunday morning shrouded in thick dust carrying extremely high levels of hazardous particles, as a second sandstorm in two weeks hit the city due to winds from drought-hit Mongolia and northwestern China.

MANILA: The Philippine military is sending light fighter aircraft to fly over hundreds of Chinese vessels in disputed waters in the South China Sea, its defence minister said, as he repeated his demand the flotilla be withdrawn immediately. Internat...

JAKARTA: Two suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday morning (Mar 28), the first day of the Easter Holy Week, police and witnesses said. The two suspects are confirmed dead...

Across Myanmar, opponents of the ruling junta on Sunday (Mar 28) mourned the killings of at least 114 people by security forces in the bloodiest day since the military coup on Feb 1, but vowed to keep protesting to end army rule. Children were amon...

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Saturday (Mar 27) that China's tit-for-tat sanctions against two Americans in the growing dispute over Beijing's treatment of Uighurs were "baseless" and would only shine a harsh spotlight on th...

BEIJING: China reported 8 new COVID-19 cases on Mar 27, compared with 12 new infections the previous day, the country's national health authority said on Sunday (Mar 28). The National Health Commission said in a statement that all of the new cases ...

Hong Kong's government said an initial investigation by Germany's BioNTech and Fosun Industrial into its coronavirus vaccine did not show any "obvious systemic factors" during packaging after use of the vaccine was suspended in the city and neighbour...

India's Modi ends Bangladesh visit that sparked violence

The proliferation of drones China produces for commercial use and military operations could alter the geostrategic balance, says Defense News’ Mike Yeo.

China’s fertility rate is on a downward slide, falling from 1.49 in 2018 to 1.47 in 2019 and may soon return to the low levels of the 1990s, says economist Zhang Jun.

KUALA LUMPUR: Seated at her home studio, Syarifah Nadhirah Syed Abdul Rahman carefully applied different shades of green watercolour for a daun semomok painting. Harvested from the forests, the plant's leaves are used by the local Orang Asli trib...

A World Health Organization (WHO)-backed programme to supply coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries expects that the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume full deliveries of the AstraZeneca shot to it in May, UNICEF said on Saturday.

India gave 1.2 million free doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Bangladesh on Saturday, its foreign minister said, as Dhaka urged New Delhi to maintain a regular supply of shots to battle the pandemic.

Cities around the world were turning off their lights Saturday for Earth Hour, with this year's event highlighting the link between the destruction of nature and increasing outbreaks of diseases like Covid-19.

Indonesia expects a slowdown in COVID-19 inoculations next month as India delays shipments of AstraZeneca vaccines, its health minister said on Saturday.

China on Saturday announced sanctions on individuals and entities in the United States and Canada, in response to sanctions imposed on Chinese citizens and groups over Xinjiang.

YANGON: The US embassy in Myanmar condemned the junta for "murdering" civilians on Saturday (Mar 27) as the military celebrates its Armed Forces Day. "Security forces are murdering unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they swore t...

Voting began in Assam and West Bengal on Saturday in state elections that will show how support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding up following a coronavirus-stricken year, and months of protests by farmers against his agricultural re...

The launch in India of a new COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly by the Serum Institute of India and U.S.-based biotech firm Novavax is likely to be delayed to September, the Indian company's boss said on Saturday.

The Philippines will reimpose stricter quarantine measures in the capital Manila and nearby provinces, a senior official said on Saturday, as the country battles to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases that put a bigger strain on hospitals.

Indonesia’s most volatile volcano was erupting again on Saturday (Mar 27), releasing plumes of ash high into the air and sending streams of lava and debris down its slopes. 

Bangladesh has deployed border guards to help maintain order, a senior officer said Saturday after deadly protests by hardline Islamists against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi rocked the Muslim majority nation.

COX'S BAZAR: Social network Facebook and its messaging app have been down in Bangladesh since Friday, the US tech giant said on Saturday (Mar 27), as protesters oppose Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to the country. Four people w...

CHIANG MAI: Myanmar's ethnic armed factions will not stand by and do nothing if the military junta's forces continue to kill protesters, the leader of one of the main armed groups said on Saturday (Mar 27). At least 16 protesters were killed by sec...

MUMBAI: India cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar said on Saturday (Mar 27) he has contracted the novel coronavirus and has mild symptoms as infections continued to surge in the world's second-most populated country. Tendulkar, who will turn 48 next mont...

KATHMANDU: Thousands of Bhutanese travelled to schools and public buildings for vaccination on Saturday (Mar 27) as the Himalayan kingdom launched its biggest inoculation drive against COVID-19 with the AstraZeneca shots provided by neighbouring Indi...

SYDNEY: Australia's trade minister threatened to take China to the World Trade Organization on Saturday (Mar 27) over its "unjustifiable" decision to hike duties on Australian wine imports for up to five years. In the latest salvo between Beijing an...

Myanmar's military will Saturday put on a major show of strength for the annual Armed Forces Day, as it struggles to quell widespread protests against its rule weeks after seizing power.

SEOUL: North Korea said on Saturday (Mar 27) that the administration of US President Joe Biden had taken a wrong first step and revealed "deep-seated hostility" by criticising its self-defensive missile test. North Korea on Friday claimed it had la...

JAKARTA: “Daasshh!” teriak Zakaria, pesilat Indonesia berusia 90 tahun sambil menendang kaki kanannya tinggi-tinggi ke udara, memamerkan keterampilan seni bela dirinya. Zakaria adalah pesilat tertua di Nusantara dan telah mendapatkan penghargaan...

JAKARTA: “Daasshh!” Mr Zakaria, a 90-year-old Indonesian pencak silat master exclaimed as he kicked his right leg high into the air, showing off his martial art skills.  Mr Zakaria, who goes by one name, is the oldest pencak silat fighter in ...

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday (Mar 26) condemned what it called a "state-led" social media campaign in China against US and other international companies for deciding not to use cotton from China's Xinjiang region over forced labour concer...

China outlines COVID-origin findings, ahead of WHO report

The former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the coronavirus escaped from a laboratory in China, according to an interview that aired Friday.

YANGON: Myanmar's military junta warned protesters were at risk of being shot in the head, state television said, as anti-coup activists called for a huge show of defiance on the country's Armed Forces Day on Saturday (Mar 26). A broadcast on the M...

Four supporters of a hardline Islamist group were shot dead in Bangladesh on Friday in violent demonstrations over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tour to Dhaka, officials said.

MOSCOW: Russia wants to strengthen military ties with Myanmar, its state media reported on Friday (Mar 26), after a meeting between top defence officials and a junta condemned by Western countries for killing hundreds of civilian protesters. Russi...

JAKARTA: Muslim majority Indonesia on Friday (Mar 26) banned an annual exodus that sees millions travel across the vast nation to mark the end of Ramadan over fears of a surge in COVID-19 infections. Travellers pack into airports, train stations and...