BEIJING: The resumption of student visa applications at United States missions in China got off to an acrimonious start this week when netizens took exception to an American embassy social media post they interpreted as likening Chinese students to ...

NEW DELHI: India saw record new jumps in COVID-19 cases and deaths on Thursday (May 6), dashing tentative hopes that the catastrophic recent surge was easing. Health ministry numbers showed 3,980 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the national tot...

The seven members of the Blitzers have trained hard for three years – enduring gym sessions, singing lessons and up to 10 hours of dance practice at a time – for their shot at stardom.

BEIJING: China's state economic planner said on Thursday (May 6) that it has "indefinitely" suspended all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, the latest setback for their strained relations. "Recently, some Australian C...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong will face another 10 months in jail for participating in an unauthorised assembly on Jun 4, 2020, to commemorate the 1989 crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square. It was the first ...

Australia's competition regulator on Thursday (May 6) said that it would block a pricing, code-sharing and scheduling deal between Qantas and Japan Airlines because it would likely mean higher fares for passengers.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday (May 5) that it is following the trajectory of a Chinese rocket expected to make an uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere this weekend, with the risk of crashing down in an inhabited area.

NEW YORK: More than 200 global organisations urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday (May 5) to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, saying the time for statements has passed and immediate action is needed to help protect peaceful protesters agains...

About one in four women in the world’s most populous country are said to have endured domestic abuse. The programme Undercover Asia speaks to victims, experts and an ex-abuser about the deep-seated problem.

What the glittering top line economic growth figures out of China do not show is the millions of Chinese still living in poverty and this is an important driver of China’s political strategy, says an economics professor.

The hardships of the pandemic seem to have triggered a surge in some forms of labour organising, says an economist.

 US President Joe Biden is expected to announce his strategy toward China soon, and calls are growing for him to make a clear public commitment to defend Taiwan militarily in the event of Chinese aggression.

Myanmar’s security forces moved in and the street lamps went black. In house after house, people shut off their lights. Darkness swallowed the block.

Rescue workers dressed in protection gear hoist a gleaming coffin to a temple's crematorium - a fast-tracked process that is a departure from Thailand's tradition of days-long funerals as the kingdom grapples with a COVID-19 outbreak.

HANOI: Vietnam has extended the quarantine period for anyone arriving in the country to three weeks, authorities said Wednesday (May 5), following a fresh community COVID-19 outbreak. The nation has so far kept case numbers low - recording just over...

Going door-to-door in a Manila suburb, Philippines health workers administered COVID-19 vaccinations on Wednesday to those unable to visit clinics due to illness or old age as part of efforts to protect more vulnerable groups in the area.

GENEVA: WHO experts have voiced "very low confidence" in data provided by Chinese state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm on its COVID-19 vaccine regarding the risk of serious side-effects in some patients, but overall confidence in its ability to prevent th...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Wednesday (May 5) that Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru are among the places under a movement control order (MCO) from May 7 to May 20, as the government retightened restrictions ami...

Thai court says key official can stay despite drug case

JAKARTA: Indonesia's economy shrank for the fourth consecutive quarter in January-March, data showed Wednesday (May 5), as the country's leaders struggle to overcome a recession wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. The 0.74 per cent on-year contract...

GENEVA: Nepal is being overwhelmed by a COVID-19 surge as India's outbreak spreads across South Asia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Wednesday (May 5). "We need to act now and we need to act fast to have...

JAKARTA: Train stations and airports in Jakarta were packed with travellers making a last-ditch effort to leave the capital city, with the government set to impose another ban on Thursday (May 6) on the annual exodus to other provinces marking ...

LONDON: The United States, South Korea and Japan pledged Wednesday to cooperate on North Korea as their top diplomats met in London, coming together despite renewed tensions between the Asian nations. Joined by aides, US Secretary of State Antony B...

LONDON: The Group of Seven meeting in London was hit by a COVID-19 scare on Wednesday when India's foreign minister and his entire team said they were self-isolating after two delegation members tested positive. Britain is hosting the three-day fore...

Cricket authorities in Australia and New Zealand rushed to evacuate star players from Covid-hit India on Wednesday, after the lucrative Indian Premier League was abandoned.

GENEVA: India accounted for 46 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide last week and one in four deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday (May 5). The surge of the coronavirus in India, including of a highly infec...

PETALING JAYA: Veterans of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) have announced their plan to form a new political party and contest in the country’s next general election. MAF Veterans Association president Sharuddin Omar said the veterans were in the...

WELLINGTON: New Zealand's parliament unanimously declared on Wednesday (May 5) that severe human rights abuses were taking place against Uyghur people in China's Xinjiang region, spurring the Chinese embassy to decry the move as interference in inter...

SEOUL: One dose of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer was 86.6 per cent effective in preventing infections among people aged 60 and older, real world data released by South Korea showed on Wednesday (May 5). Data by the Korea Disease Cont...

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday (May 5) pledged billions of dollars to boost its flagging vaccine programme as the country's new COVID-19 cases rose by 382,315, the 14th straight day of more than 300,000 cases. With vaccines among the main weapons in...

YANGON: Five people killed in an explosion in Myanmar this week, including an ousted lawmaker, had been building a bomb, media controlled by the military junta said on Wednesday (May 5). Since the military seized power and ousted an elected governme...

SINGAPORE: Singapore is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Wednesday (May 5), as community cases in Singapore spike ahead of the launch of a travel bubble with Hong Kong. "The vast majority of the com...

TAITUNG COUNTY: Before heading into Taiwan's mountains with his homemade rifle, indigenous hunter Tama Talum often chants prayers and makes offerings of rice wine and betel nut to the spirits. Talum, 62, was one of the hundreds from his Bunun tribe...

WASHINGTON: The United States policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacific on Tuesday (May 4) appeared to reject calls for the US to make a clear statement of its willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, saying there were "significa...

The ban on travellers from India by Australia had added "anxiety" for its cricketers after the Indian Premier League's (IPL) suspension, Australia vice captain Pat Cummins said, as players isolated in the coronavirus-ravaged nation on Wednesday (May ...

The world's oldest person, a 118-year-old Japanese woman, has decided not to take part in the torch relay for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics over COVID-19 fears, an official at her nursing home said on Wednesday (May 5).

TAIPEI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is planning to build several more chipmaking factories in the US state of Arizona beyond the one currently planned, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. TSMC, the world's larg...

The Japanese government is considering an extension of the state of emergency for Tokyo and other major urban areas that was scheduled to end on May 11, the Yomiuri Newspaper said on Wednesday.

KUALA LUMPUR: The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seized a shipment of 3.97 million nitrile disposable gloves from Malaysia's Top Glove estimated to be worth US$518,000, on indications they were made by forced labour, it said on Wednesda...

US intelligence agencies are warning that any gains in women's rights in Afghanistan made in the last two decades will be at risk after US troops withdraw later this year.

The European Commission said on Tuesday (May 4) that efforts to win approval for the EU's massive investment deal with China were effectively "suspended" given the soured diplomatic relations between both sides after tit-for-tat sanctions.

YANGON: Myanmar's junta-controlled media announced a ban on satellite television receivers on Tuesday (May 4), saying outside broadcasts threatened national security and threatening to jail anyone caught violating the measure. With mobile Internet a...

NEW DELHI: Britain and India on Tuesday (May 4) signed an accord on migration and mobility, an Indian foreign ministry official said, as they look to deepen economic, cultural and other ties following the UK's departure from the European Union. The ...

NEW DELHI: Eight Asiatic lions at an Indian zoo have contracted the coronavirus, the government said on Tuesday (May 4), adding that there was no evidence that animals could transmit the disease to humans. Zoo authorities in the southern state of Hy...

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's Twitter account was "permanently suspended" Tuesday for violating policies on hateful conduct and abusive behaviour, the social media giant said.

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia on Tuesday (May 4) ordered journalists to stop reporting from blockaded COVID-19 "red zones" and from chasing ambulances as the country battles against a record surge in infections. The country has seen COVID-19 cases surge sin...

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government has announced that morning Aidilfitri prayers and Hari Raya visiting will be allowed with restrictions and health protocols in place.  Speaking during a press conference on Tuesday (May 4), Senior Minister ...

Thousands of Shiite Muslim devotees ?- many not wearing masks -- gathered in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore for a religious procession on Tuesday, fanning fears about the spread of the coronavirus after similar crowds were blamed in neighbouring I...

Britain and India will begin formal free trade deal talks later this year, the UK government said Tuesday, after they agreed an initial package to boost bilateral trade and investment.

BEIJING: China urged the Philippines on Tuesday (May 4) to observe "basic etiquette" and eschew megaphone diplomacy after the Southeast Asian nation's foreign minister used an expletive-laced Twitter message to demand that China's vessels leave disp...

The fact that so many require medical care in India’s second COVID-19 wave is a symptom of longstanding structural deficiencies, says a doctor.

SEOUL: The chairman of one of South Korea’s biggest dairy companies has resigned over a scandal in which his company was accused of deliberately spreading misinformation that its yogurt helps prevent coronavirus infections. While stepping down as ...

Chinese navy ships have arrived off Bali to help haul up a submarine that sank last month killing 53 crew, the Indonesian Navy said Tuesday as it geared up for a deep-sea salvage operation.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's richest Twenty20 cricket tournament, was suspended on Tuesday (May 4) and its players sent home as India battles a massive surge in coronavirus cases. The move, which follows growing controver...

Sipping bubble tea and dressed in their holiday finest, millions of Chinese travellers flocked to domestic tourist attractions over the Labour Day long holiday with COVID-19 fears already a distant memory.

The remainder of the coronavirus-hit Indian Premier League (IPL) could be played in Mumbai following bubble breaches in Delhi and Ahmedabad, local media reports said on Tuesday (May 4).

The Myanmar junta has charged a Japanese journalist under a "fake news" law, a report said on Tuesday (May 4), in the latest blow to press freedom since the military seized power.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday (May 4) that the government was working on "fake news" legislation to tackle "misinformation, hatred and lies", as worries grow over media freedoms in the global financial hub. Under Beijing's d...

NEW DELHI: India's COVID-19 caseload topped 20 million on Tuesday (May 4) as the relentless surge finally forced the suspension of the nation's lucrative cricket competition involving some of the sport's biggest global stars. The South Asian nation...

YANGON: Blasts from at least one parcel bomb in Myanmar have killed five people, including an ousted lawmaker and three police officers who had joined a civil disobedience movement opposing military rule, local media reported on Tuesday (May 3). Si...

SEOUL: A South Korean publisher's defiant move to release the memoirs of the North's founder Kim Il Sung has triggered a heated debate over Seoul's decades-old ban on Pyongyang's propaganda under national security laws. Critics of the measure say So...

MUMBAI: Her exam revision done, schoolgirl Swadha Prasad gets on with her real work: Finding life-saving oxygen, drugs and hospital beds for COVID-19 patients as India reels from a brutal second wave of infections. As their government struggles to t...

Australia's prime minister fended off accusations of racism and having blood on his hands on Tuesday (May 4), as he retreated from a threat to jail Australians trying to escape COVID-19-wracked India.

Rolling out of vaccines to developing countries, Beijing has framed itself as a solution to the pandemic rather than the origin of the coronavirus, says an international studies professor.

Several factors point to a growth story that could make Southeast Asian Tech the darling of Wall Street, says INSEAD Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise, Jason Davis.

JAKARTA: Despite obvious signs that a powerful cyclone was brewing, life carried on as usual in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara last month.  Aside from grounding ships and airplanes from travelling in the rough weather, hardly any pr...

Pfizer said on Monday (May 3) it told the Indian government that there was no concern over the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine, as the country insists on small local trials for foreign shots despite a record surge in infections and shortage of doses...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday (May 3) asked North Korea to embrace diplomacy as he briefed allies on a new US strategy that stresses low-key progress rather than Donald Trump's pageantry.

Former Australian cricketer Michael Slater slammed his government on Monday for threatening to jail anyone who breaks its India travel ban, telling the prime minister he had "blood on your hands".

PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered an end to a blanket lockdown in Phnom Penh, even as Cambodia reported a record 841 new coronavirus cases on Monday (May 3).  The Southeast Asian nation has recorded one of the world's smallest COVID-...

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte received his first dose of Sinopharm's vaccine against COVID-19 on Monday to encourage reluctant Filipinos to get inoculated and help stop the spread of the virus, his closest aide said.

BEIJING: Electric vehicle maker Tesla, facing scrutiny in China over safety and customer service complaints, is boosting its engagement with mainland regulators and beefing up its government relations team, industry sources said. Tesla's change of ...

MELBOURNE: A leading Myanmar swimmer has called for an international boycott of his country's Olympic committee, branding it a "puppet" of the southeast Asian nation's military rulers. Australia-based Win Htet Oo said he had given up his dream of sw...

SEOUL: North Korea has notified authorities that its team plans to skip next month's World Cup qualifiers hosted by South Korea due to COVID-19 fears, the South's football association said on Monday (May 3). North Korea's football association (PRKFA...

hampions were eligible for Tokyo.

Hong Kong's economy jumped back into growth in the first quarter of the year, official figures showed on Monday (May 3), ending the city's most pronounced period of recession in its modern history.

A leading Myanmar ethnic rebel army said that it had shot down a military helicopter on Monday (May 3), a day after a renewed junta crackdown on anti-coup protests left at least five civilians dead.

MANILA: The Philippines' top diplomat unambiguously told Beijing where to go on Monday (May 3), as the government insisted that Chinese vessels were still illegally lingering in the disputed South China Sea. "China, my friend, how politely can I put...

SEOUL: South Korean officials fuelled hope on Monday (May 3) for the arrival of 7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by mid-May to prop up an inoculation campaign that is flagging as supplies dwindle, hit by shipment delays. Nearly 3.4 million of the...

DHAKA: At least 26 people were killed when a speedboat packed with passengers collided with a vessel transporting sand on Monday (May 3) in the latest maritime disaster to hit Bangladesh. Police said the speedboat carrying about three dozen passenge...

Australia on Monday said a Chinese company's controversial 99-year-lease on Darwin Port is under review and could be scrapped, opening a new point of friction in relations between Beijing and Canberra.

Taiwan's defence minister on Monday (May 3) said that authorities were investigating whether a man from mainland China had managed to cross the Taiwan Strait in a rubber dinghy in a bid to seek political sanctuary.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has closed land crossings with Iran and Afghanistan for travellers and slashed international flights as the government warned of a "critical" few weeks ahead in the battle against COVID-19.  The border restrictions were announc...

TAIPEI: Taiwan became the latest place to ban arrivals from coronavirus-stricken India on Monday (May 3), as it moves to prevent new infections, with more nations reporting cases of a variant first identified in the subcontinent. The variant, B1617...

JAKARTA: Indonesia has recorded its first cases of a highly infectious COVID-19 variant first detected in India, the health minister said on Monday (May 3), as authorities implored people not to travel to their hometowns for the end of the Muslim fa...

MUMBAI: India's tally of COVID-19 infections rose on Monday (May 3) to just short of 20 million, propelled by a 12th straight day of more than 300,000 new cases, as scientists predicted the pandemic could peak in the next couple of days. Total infec...

TOKYO: Finance ministers and central bank governors from China, Japan and South Korea on Monday (May 3) vowed "targeted" measures for those countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and committed to foster fiscal and financial stability. In...

BANGKOK: Thailand on Monday (May 3) reported a new daily record of 31 coronavirus deaths, the health ministry said, as the country grapples with a third wave of infections. After managing to largely control the virus for around a year through shutd...

BEIJING: China reported 11 new COVID-19 cases in the mainland on Sunday (May 2), down from 15 cases 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 im...

An increasingly powerful China is challenging the world order, acting "more repressively" and "more aggressively" as it flexes its influence, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired on Sunday (May 2).

Fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban has left more than 100 insurgents dead in the past 24 hours, the defence ministry said Sunday as it took control of a US military base in a restive province.

A leading Indian industry body urged authorities to take the "strongest national steps" and to curtail economic activity to save lives on Sunday (May 2) as the country battles surging coronavirus cases that have overwhelmed the healthcare system.

China's carrier group conducts exercises in South China Sea

KOLKATA: The incumbent chief minister's party in India's West Bengal state has defeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in a state election held as the coronavirus pandemic surged to crisis levels. Modi has been criticised for focusing on the e...

Cambodia reported a daily record of 730 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that emerged about two months ago.

Malaysia has detected its first case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant first identified in India, Health Minister Adham Baba said on Sunday, days after imposing a ban on flights from India.

NEW DELHI: India's COVID-19 death toll jumped by a record 3,689 deaths of Sunday (May 2), the highest single-day rise since the start of the pandemic, taking the country's death toll to more than 215,000.  Authorities reported 392,488 new infection...

Hundreds of Thai protesters hurled red paint, tomatoes and eggs at a Bangkok court Sunday, demanding the release of all political detainees, including an activist who was hospitalised after a hunger strike.

SINGAPORE: A cross-border travel scheme facilitating trips between Malaysia and Singapore for compassionate reasons such as death and visits to loved ones who are critically ill is set to kick off on May 17. This was confirmed in a joint statement o...

Myanmar's security forces opened fire on some of the biggest anti-coup protests in days on Sunday (May 2), killing seven people, media reported, three months after the coup plunged the country into crisis.  The protests, after a spell of dwindlin...