Landslides have killed at least three people at a Chinese-backed power plant on Indonesia's Sumatra island, the disaster agency said Friday, with fears that the toll would rise.

The dual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Myanmar's post-coup political crisis could could result in nearly half the population, or as many as 25 million people, falling into poverty by 2022, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns...

BEIJING: Gathered in a practice room, five generously proportioned young men in baggy black sweaters are patting their bellies and waggling their arms. Bearded with double chins, they shout “Hoo-Ha!” in time to upbeat African drums. The choreogr...

BANGKOK: A Myanmar swimmer has abandoned his dream of competing at the Tokyo Olympics in protest at the junta ruling his homeland, saying that taking part would be "propaganda" for the regime. Win Htet Oo is one of Myanmar's top swimmers but in ear...

BENGALURU :All vaccination centres in India's financial capital of Mumbai were shut for three days starting Friday due to a shortage of vaccines, said authorities, as the country posted another record daily rise in coronavirus cases.

A North Korea defector group this week twice defied a ban by Seoul on flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula, it said Friday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong was among the four people who pleaded guilty on Friday (Apr 30) of participating in an illegal assembly on Jun 4 last year to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen incident. It was the first time the vigi...

MANILA: Community-run stalls offering free food to the needy have multiplied across the Philippines, with many struggling to feed their families as COVID-19 restrictions bite and government help falls short. Street sweeper Juliet Reyes regularly pic...

NEW DELHI: The first US emergency aid to India arrived on Friday (Apr 30) as the country battles a devastating surge in COVID-19 cases which has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums. A Super Galaxy military transporter carrying more than 400 oxyge...

TOKYO: Tokyo consumer prices fell unexpectedly in April due to cuts in mobile phone fees by major carriers, government data showed on Friday (Apr 30), making the central bank's 2 per cent inflation target appear even more elusive. Major carriers hav...

TOKYO: Japan's industrial output posted a surprise increase in March, as a jump in car production helped keep an economic recovery from last year's deep coronavirus slump on track. The output rise will likely ease worries about the impact the health...

SYDNEY: Living half a world away from coronavirus-stricken Indian relatives, Sydney doctor Yadu Singh has beat back his frustration at being unable to help by providing lifesaving medical guidance via phone, text and video chat. It was 4am in easte...

BEIJING: China's factory activity expanded at a slower-than-expected pace in April as supply and transport bottlenecks weighed on production and overseas demand lost momentum. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) fell to 51.1 ...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit US President Joe Biden in Washington on May 21, the White House said Thursday.

RANSIH KALAN, India: Every year, Swarn Singh sows rice in his fields, knowing that the thirsty crop is draining northern India's Punjab of its groundwater. But Singh says he has no choice, adding, "We'd rather plant crops that need less water". The...

TOKYO: A Japanese sumo wrestler has died after landing on his head during a bout last month in a horrifying injury that caused shockwaves and calls for reform in the sport. Hibikiryu, a lower-tier wrestler whose real name was Mitsuki Amano, died of...

MAE SARIANG, Thailand: Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers in Myanmar are poised to cross into Thailand if, as expected, fighting intensifies between the Myanmar army and Karen insurgents, joining those who have already escaped the turmoil that foll...

BANGKOK: A shortage of hospital beds in Thailand has put a strain on its public health system as a new wave of COVID-19 infected more than 34,000 patients this month. On Thursday (Apr 29), the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) rep...

Among the five is the woman who returned the dogs, initially thought to be uninvolved in the robbery.

The United States is looking to help India quickly and sharply scale up oxygen supplies available for COVID-19 patients as it rushes in aid, officials said on Thursday (Apr 29).

Why were the Academy Awards show blocked in China? A nationalist backlash against Nomadland director Chloe Zhao isn’t quite it, says Professor Bo Zhiyue.

One can assess ASEAN’s recent emergency meeting in Jakarta in two ways. One scenario is cautiously optimistic; the other would be tantamount to pure fatalism, says a foreign affairs observer.

Chile, a global leader in vaccination, is considering issuing a "green card" to those inoculated against the coronavirus in an effort to encourage younger adults who may be reluctant to turn out for their shots, health officials said on Thursday (Apr...

Pakistan has purchased 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from three Chinese companies, its health minister told Reuters on Thursday.

India's severe medical oxygen supply crisis is expected to ease by mid-May, a top industry executive told Reuters, with output rising by 25 per cent and transport infrastructure ready to cope with a surge in demand caused by a dramatic rise in corona...

NATO has started the withdrawal of its mission from Afghanistan following a decision by President Joe Biden to bring US forces home, an alliance official said Thursday.

BANGKOK: A court in Thailand on Thursday (Apr 29) denied bail for seven detained activists accused of insulting the king, two of whom have deteriorating health from more than a month of hunger strikes, their lawyer said, prompting concern from right ...

BEIJING: Financial regulators in China summoned 13 Internet companies on Thursday (Apr 29) to call for changes to their fintech operations, the central bank said in a notice, as Beijing ramps up scrutiny on monopolistic practices in the country's te...

Vietnam said on Thursday it had detected its first locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus in 35 days, as authorities ordered tighter surveillance to prevent a new outbreak.

TAIPEI: Taiwan began moving more than 400 people to a centralised quarantine facility on Thursday (Apr 29) from an airport hotel after a rare domestic outbreak of COVID-19, and will sterilise the entire hotel building. Taiwan has kept the pandemic w...

JAKARTA: Indonesia has formally designated Papuan separatists as "terrorists", its chief security minister said on Thursday (Apr 29), a move activists said could expand the powers of security forces, including lengthy detentions without charge. The ...

NEW DELHI: Ashish Poddar kept an ice pack on hand as he waited outside a New Delhi hospital for a black market dealer to deliver two drugs for his father, who was gasping for breath inside with COVID-19. But the drugs never arrived, the ice that was...

China warned the United States on Thursday (Apr 29) against imposing its democratic ideals, while criticising trade sanctions and military moves in Beijing's backyard just hours after President Joe Biden's speech on American geopolitical priorities.

Japanese business leaders and a Nobel Prize-winning biologist called upon the government to reform its vaccination programme, including allowing drive-through inoculations, as the nation struggles to contain a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

BEIJING: China's population grew last year, the statistics bureau said on Thursday (Apr 29), in an apparent bid to quash reports that it had fallen, but authorities stopped short of saying from which year numbers had grown. On Tuesday, the Financial...

BANGKOK: Thailand's finance ministry on Thursday (Apr 29) reduced its 2021 economic growth forecast for a second time this year to 2.3 per cent from 2.8 per cent growth, after a third wave of coronavirus infections struck the tourism-reliant nation...

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Thursday (Apr 29) that authorities would build houses for the relatives of the crew of a submarine that went missing before being found in pieces on the bottom of the Bali Sea, with all 53 personnel ...

China became the country to have administered COVID-19 vaccinations to more people than any other this week, but health authorities will need to accelerate the rollout to meet a target to inoculate 40per cent of its population by the end of June.

In Hong Kong's famed party zone Lan Kwai Fong, dormant bars and clubs are revving up to serve customers again, but only if they have had at least one vaccine shot - one of the few examples globally of offering greater freedom for the vaccinated.

Unidentified attackers fired rockets at two Myanmar air bases on Thursday (Apr 29) but there were no casualties and only minor damage in another sign of deteriorating security since the military overthrew an elected government three months ago. Ther...

The team bus of Liaoning Hongyun will be auctioned to help pay its former players, but it will take much more than that to raise the $850,000 that Jacob Mulenga says he is owed.

BENGALURU: India's COVID-19 infections crossed the 18 million mark on Thursday (Apr 29) with almost 380,000 new cases, breaking another world record for new daily infections. The explosion in infections, blamed in part on a new virus variant as wel...

QINGDAO: Chinese officials were waiting for better weather before deciding whether to siphon off the remaining cargo from a stricken tanker after hundreds of tonnes of oil spilled into the Yellow Sea after a collision in dense fog two days ago. The ...

The United States said on Thursday it was "deeply concerned" by a new Hong Kong immigration law which includes powers to stop people leaving the city, raising fears Chinese mainland-style exit bans could be deployed there.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will not withdraw navy and coast guard boats patrolling the disputed South China Sea, insisting the country's sovereignty over the waters is not negotiable.

BEIJING: China on Thursday (Apr 29) launched the first module of its new space station, state television showed, a milestone in Beijing's ambitious plan to place a permanent human presence in space. The Tianhe core module, which houses life support ...

A devastating surge in coronavirus infections has exposed India's dilapidated health infrastructure and a deep shortage of oxygen -- a key treatment for seriously ill Covid-19 patients.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines said on Thursday (Apr 29) it will trial the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass, a mobile app that allows passengers to verify their COVID-19 test results and vaccination status. The trial wil...

DUBAI: Indians from the millions-strong expat community in the UAE, stranded in their homeland during a catastrophic COVID-19 surge, are swamping private jet operators with requests to whisk them back to safety. Fearing a prolonged flight ban betwee...

With more than 300,000 new cases a day and the death toll evidently much higher than reported, India is no one’s idea of a global leader, says Shashi Tharoor.

If two of Indonesia’s most valuable tech companies come together, they can take on bigger rivals. The question is whether this is too late, says David Kuo.

Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to begin at the weekend as the country's toll from the coronavirus shot past 200,000 on Wednesday (Apr 28), worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen.

BANGKOK:  Long queues have returned to Thailand's unusually quiet international airport this week, after it converted its check-in area into an immunisation centre as part of efforts to speed up its COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Cordons and suitcases w...

Myanmar's military launched air assaults for the second day in a row into rebel-held territory after gunfire was heard from neighbouring Thailand, a Thai official said on Wednesday (Apr 28), as fighting escalates along the border.

China criticizes Japan over Fukushima treated water release

Tokyo Olympics organisers Wednesday said they won't decide how many spectators - if any - can attend the Games until June, as coronavirus surges raise fresh uncertainty.

JAKARTA: Indonesian police said Wednesday (Apr 28) they have smashed a drug smuggling ring that moved 2.5 tonnes of methamphetamine into the country from Afghanistan, a haul worth about US$82 million. One Indonesian suspect was shot dead while 17 o...

Hong Kong passed a new immigration law on Wednesday (Apr 28) that includes powers to stop people from entering or leaving the city, raising fears that Chinese mainland style "exit bans" could be deployed in the international business hub.

TOKYO: Japan has only used about a fifth of the COVID-19 vaccine doses it has imported so far, government data showed on Wednesday (Apr 28), underscoring logistical hurdles such as a shortage of medical staff as it grapples with a sluggish inoculatio...

JAKARTA: At least 10 people were killed in a gun battle between police and rebels in Indonesia's restive Papua region, authorities said, in an apparent retaliation for the execution of a top intelligence chief. The hours-long shootout Tuesday (Apr 2...

TOKYO: Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said on Wednesday (Apr 28) he fully understood the decision to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and was committed to holding a safe, succe...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will abolish its primary school leaving examination from 2021, said Senior Education Minister Radzi Jidin on Wednesday (Apr 28).  The decision to abolish the (Primary School Achievement Test) UPSR was made after getting view...

MELBOURNE: Australians involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are "anxious" about how they will get home from the tournament as the COVID-19 crisis continues in India but they are not looking for any "free rides", the head of the players' union ...

BERLIN: BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin on Wednesday (Apr 28) voiced confidence that the vaccine that his company jointly developed with Pfizer works against the Indian variant of the coronavirus. "We are still testing the Indian variant, but the In...

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday (Apr 28), after parliament approved his plan to reorganise several agencies while creating a new investment ministry.   This was his second Cabinet reshuffle in just...

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) will continue as scheduled, a senior Indian cricket board official told Reuters on Wednesday (Apr 28), despite fierce criticism of the popular Twenty20 competition being played in the midst of the national C...

The young widow of an ageing Japanese real estate mogul was arrested on Wednesday (Apr 28) on suspicion of murdering the self-described "Don Juan" just months into their marriage, local media said, citing police sources.

TAIPEI: Chinese vaccine makers are looking at mixing their jabs and whether a booster shot could help better protect against COVID-19. Sinovac and Sinopharm, the two Chinese manufacturers that combined have exported hundreds of millions of doses all...

KUALA LUMPUR: The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will not be used in Malaysia’s mainstream national COVID-19 vaccination programme, said Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin. Speaking at a joint press conference with Mi...

Pakistan recorded more than two hundred COVID-19 deaths in a day for the first time since the start of the pandemic on Tuesday (Apr 27), as the government said it was considering stricter lockdowns.

BENGALURU: India's giant IT firms in Bengaluru and other cities have set up COVID-19 "war rooms" as they scramble to source oxygen, medicine and hospital beds for infected workers and maintain backroom operations for the world's biggest financial fir...

TAIPEI: Taiwan's government on Wednesday (Apr 28) accused China of waging economic warfare against the island's tech sector by stealing technology and enticing away engineers, as parliament considers strengthening legislation to prevent this. Taiwan...

Myanmar's pro-democracy unity government, which includes members of parliament ousted by the military coup, has told Southeast Asia's regional bloc that it will not engage in talks until the junta releases all political prisoners. The 10-member Asso...

SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday (Apr 28) it will offer some exemptions to mandatory quarantine measures for people who have been fully inoculated against COVID-19, in an effort to encourage more vaccinations. South Korea has so far vaccinated 4...

NEW DELHI: India's toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday (Apr 28), the country's deadliest day yet, as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff members compounded a record number of new infections. The second wa...

Himanshu Verma sighed in relief as a mask was fitted over his mother's face, allowing the Covid-19 sufferer to breathe in oxygen as she sat alongside a busy road on the outskirts of New Delhi.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's exports jumped 31 per cent in March from a year earlier, rising at their fastest pace in nearly four years, as the Southeast Asian country continued to shake off the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed on...

The heirs to South Korea's Samsung group announced their plans to pay more than $10 billion in death duties Wednesday -- one of the world's biggest ever inheritance tax settlements -- including donating Picasso and Monet artworks.

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Government has sent a consignment of oxygen cylinders to support India’s COVID-19 pandemic response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday (Apr 28). This comes as India continues to battle a new wave of COVID-1...

BEIJING: Tiny unicorns and cartoon girls in clown costumes line the shelves of Wang Zhaoxue's study in Beijing - tokens of China's mania for "blind boxes" that has made fortunes for toymakers and even caught the attention of those in power. The 18-...

GUWAHATI, India: An earthquake of magnitude 6 struck India's rugged northeastern state of Assam on Wednesday (Apr 28), causing cracks in the walls and floors of some structures, but no immediate casualties were reported. The quake hit at a depth of...

WASHINGTON: A bipartisan group of US senators on Tuesday (Apr 27) urged the Biden administration to slap more sanctions on the junta in Myanmar, including choking revenues to a state energy company, in response to its coup and violent crackdown on pr...

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday (Apr 27) that a variant of COVID-19 feared to be contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in India has been found in more than a dozen countries.

Dealing with 12 hours a day on watch and the need for high operational readiness, submariners have a hazardous career, says James Goldrick.

The UN's cultural agency on Tuesday (Apr 27) awarded its annual press freedom prize to Philippine journalist Maria Ressa whose reporting has made her a target of her country's judiciary and online hate campaigns.

Senior US officials on Tuesday (Apr 27) pledged sustained support for India in helping it deal with the world's worst current surge of COVID-19 infections, warning the country is still at the "front end" of the crisis and overcoming it will take som...

The United States said on Tuesday (Apr 27) it was easing remaining COVID-19 restrictions on international students, giving the green light to Chinese nationals to start the school year at US universities.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday cautioned Africa to beware of China's growing role as he vowed a greater US commitment in talks with Nigeria and Kenya.

COX'S BAZAR: The Bangladesh coastguard on Tuesday (Apr 27) rescued 30 Rohingya refugees adrift in the Bay of Bengal for two days after they were attacked by pirates, an official said. About 1 million Rohingya refugees live in sprawling camps in sout...

NEW DELHI: Vital medical supplies began to reach India on Tuesday (Apr 27) as hospitals starved of life-saving oxygen and beds turned away coronavirus patients, and a surge in infections pushed the death toll close to 200,000. A shipment from Brit...

China said on Tuesday (Apr 27) that it had offered help to South Asian countries in accessing COVID-19 vaccines, but India did not attend a regional video conference on the matter, although it is currently suffering the world's worst wave of the pand...

Japanese financial group Nomura Holdings on Tuesday confirmed losses of $2.3 billion for fiscal 2020-2021 linked to the sudden liquidation of holdings by US hedge fund Archegos.

India expects to secure the biggest chunk of the 60 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses that the United States will share globally, two Indian government sources told Reuters, as New Delhi battles a devastating surge in infections.

BEIJING: A tanker carrying around 1 million barrels of bitumen mix was involved in a collision near the Chinese port city of Qingdao, spilling oil into the Yellow Sea, Chinese maritime officials and tanker representatives said on Tuesday (Apr 27). T...

MANILA: The Philippines will ban travellers coming from India to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus variant blamed for a huge surge in COVID-19 cases in the South Asian nation, a senior official said on Tuesday (Apr 27). Travellers coming from...

Sri Lankan Cabinet approves proposed ban on burqas in public

A new coronavirus wave hitting Sri Lanka has halted a cricket match between two of the country's top schools that has been played for 141 years, continuing even through world wars.

BEIJING: A Chinese space mining start-up launched into low Earth orbit on Tuesday (Apr 27) a robot prototype that can scoop up debris left behind by other spacecraft with a big net. The NEO-01, which will also peer into deep space to observe small c...

NEW DELHI: Since the beginning of the week, Dr Siddharth Tara, a postgraduate medical student at New Delhi’s government-run Hindu Rao Hospital, has had a fever and persistent headache. He took a COVID-19 test, but the results have been delayed as ...

Narendra Modi is not the first world leader to suffer the consequences for acting too slowly – or declaring victory too early, says The Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman.