The Philippines and China held "friendly and candid" talks on the South China Sea, the Philippines' foreign ministry said on Saturday, days after the minister ordered Chinese vessels out of the disputed waterway in an expletive-laced tweet.

BEIJING: China reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on May 21, down from 24 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Saturday (May 22). The National Health Commission said in a statement that nine of the new cases were importe...

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden acknowledged Friday (May 21) there is no easy path to getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons but reaffirmed his "iron-clad" commitment to the US alliance with South Korea after talks with President Moon J...

Mica is the mineral that gives a sparkle to an array of products, from eye shadow to lip gloss. But what consumers do not see is a deadly trade involving even children. The programme Undercover Asia investigates.

Whether the high profile games goes ahead is not down to just infection rates. Politics and money have a part to play too, says an observer.

BANG KLOI, Thailand: No-ae Meemi looks frail in the crowd of villagers at the community hall. His long grey hair is covered in a light turban, lips red from chewing betel. Little by little, he pulls his body along the bamboo floor to the front of th...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday said his country would work closely with the United States to achieve a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The United Nations said on Friday it was alarmed at violence in northwestern Myanmar's Chin State, where thousands of people have been displaced by fighting between security forces and fighters opposed to the junta that took power in February.

Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are close to running out of coronavirus vaccines, authorities said Friday, and are hoping China and Russia will bolster South Asia's efforts to tackle a devastating pandemic wave.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said.

India's crude oil processing fell in April from the previous month with top refiners reducing crude runs as a fierce second wave of coronavirus infections curbs mobility and demand for fuel.

BANGKOK: Thailand on Friday (May 21) said it has detected its first locally transmitted cases of the COVID-19 variant discovered in India, as it announced the formal roll-out of its national vaccination plan next month. The Ministry of Public Health...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will tighten the current movement control order (MCO) with stricter restrictions on its economic and social sectors, said the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Friday (May 21).  A statement was issued following a National Se...

NAYPYIDAW: The head of Myanmar’s military-appointed state election commission said on Friday (May 21) that his agency will consider dissolving Aung San Suu Kyi's former ruling party for its alleged involvement in electoral fraud and have its leader...

India's crowded financial hub Mumbai won plaudits this year for tackling the second wave of the pandemic better than any other metropolis in the country - and it is gearing up to get ahead of a potential third wave that experts fear could affect chil...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Friday (May 21) reported more than 6,000 new COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day, as intensive care units (ICUs) in the country continue to struggle with the influx of patients. Many of the 6,493 new COVID-19 case...

KOTA KINABALU: A Malaysian businessman behind the controversial offer of COVID-19 vaccine donation to Penang state government was called up for questioning by Sabah police on Friday (May 21). Sabah Police Commissioner Hazani Ghazali confirmed that t...

Hong Kong said on Friday its decision earlier this week to suspend operations at its representative office in Taiwan was motivated by Taipei's "gross" interference in internal affairs, including with its offer to assist "violent protesters."

HANOI: Vietnam's government has urged two provinces that are home to production facilities of companies such as Samsung Electronics and Foxconn to boost efforts to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak disrupting industrial production. Deputy Prime Minister V...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday will become the second world leader welcomed by President Joe Biden at the White House.

SYDNEY: An Australian writer detained in Beijing on spying allegations will go to court on May 27 after a delay in his trial, his supporters said. Pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun, who is facing trial on espionage charges that he denies, has been ...

SHANGHAI: China have won 28 of 32 gold medals awarded at the Olympics, but their supremacy could face its biggest test yet in Tokyo this summer. Few countries have dominated a sport quite like China has in table tennis - winning every gold for the ...

SEOUL: South Korea on Friday (May 21) approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, as the country attempts to speed up its inoculation efforts, drug safety minister Kim Gang-lip told a news conference. The green light comes after two of three expert panels ...

TOKYO: Japan is set to expand a state of emergency to cover the southern island of Okinawa on Friday (May 21), just as it approved two more COVID-19 vaccines to speed up its lagging inoculation campaign. After health regulators' green light a day ea...

KATHMANDU: Mountaineer Akash Negi is fully prepared to take on the world's highest mountain - after spending several weeks sleeping in a tent in his living room in New Jersey. As Nepal battles COVID-19, a growing number of climbers are using oxyge...

TOKYO: A Japanese journalist recently freed from a Myanmar jail urged his government on Friday (May 21) to take "concrete action" against the military regime there, including reviewing its development aid. Myanmar authorities arrested Yuki Kitazumi,...

BENGALURU: India reported 259,551 new COVID-19 infections over the last 24 hours on Friday (May 21), while deaths rose by 4,209. Daily new cases were down by about 16,000 compared to the previous day, while the number of deaths increased. The coun...

BEIJING: A skyscraper in southern China that caused panic when it started to shake earlier this week will stay closed for the foreseeable future, the owner of the building said, as the cause of the swaying is investigated. The 300m SEG Plaza in the...

TOKYO: Tokyo could freeze all aid to Myanmar, Japan's foreign minister warned in an interview published on Friday (May 21), as the military junta continues to use lethal force against opponents of its coup. Japan is a top donor to Myanmar, and has a...

YANGON: A humble library for orphans in Yangon, built of recycled plastic waste, stands empty without books or archives. It was supposed to start welcoming young readers earlier this year, but its opening has been indefinitely deferred by Myanmar's ...

HANOI: Fewer independent candidates than before are standing in an election in Vietnam on Sunday (May 23) to a legislature that is dominated by the Communist Party but which has taken on a growing role in discussing social issues. Despite increasin...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new immigration pathway for Hong Kong residents has received nearly 6,000 applicants three months since its launch, a spokesman for the country's immigration ministry said on Thursday.

Hong Kong has announced its representative office in Taiwan will “temporarily suspend operations” but both sides have been winding down interactions in recent years, says Bo Zhiyue.

Bangladesh authorities on Thursday (May 20)imposed a lockdown in five Rohingya refugee camps in the country's southeast after a spike in coronavirus cases in recent days, officials said.

A Japanese government panel on Thursday recommended approval of Moderna and AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccines, as criticism mounts over the slow start to inoculations with just two months until the Olympics.

SHANGHAI: China's emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions rose 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with pre-pandemic levels, driven by a carbon-intensive economic recovery and big hikes in steel and cement output, research...

South Korea on Thursday said it will conduct a clinical trial that mixes COVID-19 vaccine doses developed by AstraZeneca Plc with those from Pfizer Inc and others.

SINGAPORE: Brunei is temporarily suspending a reciprocal green lane arrangement with Singapore until further notice. Travellers who have already been approved to enter Brunei under this arrangement will be allowed to do so until 7pm on Thursday (May...

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will visit Japan from Jul 12, ahead of the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, broadcaster TV Asahi reported on Thursday.

The World Health Organization and three other international bodies have formed a team of experts to help develop a global plan to prevent the spread of diseases from animals to humans, the WHO said on Thursday.

China, in global campaign, vaccinates its citizens in Thailand against COVID-19

SEREMBAN: Malaysian celebrity and entreprenuer Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor and husband Muhammad Haris Mohd Ismail pleaded not guilty to the charges of breaching the country’s COVID-19 health regulations while on a shopping trip earlier this month. The...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been hoping to use his first summit with U.S. President Joe Biden this week to press a legacy policy of engaging North Korea, but Washington has played down the prospect of any quick impetus on the issue.

SINGAPORE: The Shangri-La Dialogue, which had been scheduled to take place on Jun 4 and Jun 5 in Singapore, has been cancelled two weeks before the meeting. This is due to the deterioration of the global COVID-19 situation, the organiser of the defe...

TAIPEI: Taiwan reported 286 new domestic COVID-19 cases on Thursday (May 20), a slight increase from the previous day. Having been held up as an example of how to successfully stop the virus in its tracks, Taiwan has over the past two weeks reported...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record of 6,806 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday (May 20), as the country continues to battle a third wave of infections.  This is the second consecutive day that Malaysia has logged record numbers of daily cases ...

JOHOR BAHRU: Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar has called for Members of Parliament (MPs) and state assemblymen representing constituencies in Johor to meet and discuss how to overcome the COVID-19 situation.  In a statement on his Facebook ...

AHMEDABAD, India: A major new storm was brewing in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast, forecasters warned on Thursday (May 20), just days after the biggest cyclone to hit the west of the country in decades left at least 110 people confirmed dea...

HONG KONG: The first Hong Kong resident to be charged under Beijing's national security law can be tried without a jury, a senior judge said on Thursday (May 20), in a ruling that cements the financial hub's fast-changing legal traditions. Tong Ying...

TOKYO: Two officials at Myanmar's embassy in Tokyo have become the latest diplomats dismissed by the junta after protesting the military coup in their country, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday (May 20). Administrator Aung Soe Moe and a...

JAKARTA: An Indonesian court has postponed the issuance of a verdict regarding a lawsuit against the government over the alarming levels of air pollution that regularly blanket Jakarta. The verdict was supposed to be handed down on Thursday (May...

BEIJING: China said on Thursday (May 20) that a United States warship illegally entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea, the latest salvo in the two nations' dispute over Beijing's territorial claims in the busy waterway. In a stateme...

BEIJING: China postponed a supply mission to its new space station on Thursday (May 20) for unspecified technical reasons. The Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft was expected to have been launched early on Thursday morning. China Manned Space announced th...

BENGALURU: India reported on Thursday (May 20) 276,110 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,874. The country's infection tally stands at 25.77 million, with a death toll of 287,122, health ministry data showed. ...

TOKYO: Tokyo must boost its military at a "radically different pace" than in the past to counter Beijing's growing capacity, Japan's defence minister said in an interview published on Thursday (May 20). Nobuo Kishi warned the gap between Japan and C...

Vietnam plans to set up a 25.2 trillion dong (US$1.1 billion) fund to acquire 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for its population, its Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Thursday (May 20).

SHANGHAI: China reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (May 19), down from 14 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Thursday. The National Health Commission said in a statement one of the new cases was a local inf...

TOKYO: After four years spent working and living alone, far from his family and friends, Tsuyoshi Tatebayashi packed his bags at the end of March and returned, at last, to his wife and two daughters. Like hundreds of thousands of other white-collar ...

SYDNEY: Australia is looking into the cause of a hold-up of table grape exports to China, with Trade Minister Dan Tehan saying about 20 per cent of the fruit shipped to the mainland is stuck at the border in yet another sign of deteriorating relation...

Even though India’s lockdowns are more targeted this year, significant economic losses remain likely, especially if subsequent waves of the infection continue to burden healthcare infrastructure, says economist Charu Chanana.

Solar panels against an alien landscape, ramps and rods pointing at the Martian horizon -- China's first probe on the Red Planet has beamed back its first "selfies" after its history-making landing last week.

MAHUVA, India: The number of casualties from a major cyclone that slammed into India jumped to at least 87 on Wednesday (May 19) as the navy searched for 65 people still missing, adding to the country's woes as it suffered a record number of COVID-1...

Thailand is aiming to administer one shot of a coronavirus vaccine to 70per cent of its population by September, its health minister said on Wednesday, as it seeks to provide protection for more people faster amid its deadliest outbreak so far.

Bags of rice and beans arrived in a tough neighborhood in San Pedro Sula, Honduras' second-largest city, government aid for poor residents struggling during a coronavirus lockdown in April 2020.

BANGKOK: Thailand began vaccinating Buddhist monks against COVID-19 this week, hoping to build up their protection to enable them to safely perform their spiritual duties. About 500 monks were inoculated in the capital, Bangkok, on Tuesday (May 18) ...

Every day after he wraps up the online classes he teaches at a Bengaluru college, Akshay Mandlik puts on his mask, gloves and overalls and heads out to help bury the COVID dead.

Born and raised in the bustling megacity of Jakarta, Indonesia's densely populated, traffic-choked capital, environmentalist Khalisah Khalid has long anguished over the city’s toxic air.

TOKYO: The young widow of an ageing Japanese real estate mogul was charged on Wednesday (May 19) with murdering the self-described "Don Juan" just months into their marriage, local media said. Kosuke Nozaki, who boasted in his autobiography of spen...

China is preparing to launch a rocket carrying supplies for its new space station just days after landing a rover on Mars, as it hustles ahead with its extraterrestrial ambitions.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Selangor state government has made an initial booking of 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be sold to employers looking to hasten vaccination for their employees.  State Public Health, Unity, Women and Family Development C...

A man who tweeted insults at a Japanese reality TV star after her suicide was fined $12,000 on Wednesday after his comments had sparked concern over cyberbullying.

The Israeli embassy in Beijing has accused China's state broadcaster of "blatant anti-Semitism" in a report on US policy during the ongoing deadly violence in the Palestinian Territories and Israel.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record high of 6,075 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (May 19), as the country continues to battle a third wave of infections. This is the first time Malaysia’s new daily COVID-19 caseload has breached the 6,000 ...

TOKYO: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday (May 19) reassured an anxious Japan that the Tokyo Olympics will be safe for athletes as well as the host community amid mounting opposition to the Games and fears it will fuel a spike in...

YANGON: People displaced by an upsurge of fighting in Myanmar's Chin State voiced concerns over shelter and supplies as more flee the conflict that has sprung up between the army and insurgents opposed to the junta that seized power in February. Th...

BEIJING: Engineers were inspecting a skyscraper in southern China on Wednesday (May 19), a day after it triggered widespread panic when it suddenly began shaking, as people took to social media to ask if shoddy construction may have been to blame. T...

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has expressed its concerns to India's High Commissioner over comments made by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about a purported COVID-19 variant found in Singapore. In a press statement o...

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday (May 19) reported a record 4,529 coronavirus deaths in a single day even as the number of new cases in its devastating new wave fell. The daily pandemic death toll has been rising in recent days as cases spread into rur...

TAIPEI: Taiwan raised its COVID-19 alert level for the whole island on Wednesday (May 19) as domestic cases continued to rise, with another 267 new cases. The capital Taipei is already under a higher alert level, meaning restrictions on gatherings a...

She was already beyond child-bearing age, but Qelbinur Sedik said that Chinese authorities still forcibly sterilised her, part of what she describes as a systematic campaign to suppress births of Uyghurs and other minorities in the tense Xinjiang re...

Board for China-built port in Sri Lanka needs public assent, says Supreme Court

BEIJING: China accused the United States on Wednesday (May 19) of threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait after a US warship again sailed through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from its giant neighbour. The US Navy's ...

NEW DELHI: The world's largest vaccine maker said on Tuesday (May 18) it hopes to resume delivering COVID-19 jabs to COVAX and other countries by the end of this year, after India restricted exports to combat a massive rise in infections at home. Th...

BANGKOK: Some of the world’s oldest and most significant rock art, created by ancient civilisations in South Sulawesi, is being destroyed at an alarming rate due to the impacts of climate change. Research by experts at Australia’s Griffith Univ...

BANGKOK: Thais who do not want to wait for the COVID-19 vaccine distribution from their government have opted for a new option to get it overseas.  The growing demand for vaccination amid a new wave of outbreaks in the country has given rise to tou...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record daily number of COVID-19 fatalities on Tuesday (May 18) with 47 deaths, bringing the national death toll since the start of the pandemic to 1,994. The country’s two previous records for daily COVID-19 fat...

Hong Kong's plans to let non-locally trained doctors practise in the city to tackle a shortfall of medical staff in the public sector moved forward on Tuesday, with the bill to be read in the legislature on June 2.

TOKYO: An elderly Japanese man has anonymously donated his life's savings - in cash - to a city outside of Tokyo, an unexpected financial windfall as the economy reels from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The man, who did not identify hims...

One of China's tallest skyscrapers was evacuated Tuesday after it began to shake, sending panicked shoppers scampering to safety in the southern city of Shenzhen.

Japan's ruling lawmakers on Tuesday dropped a controversial push to change rules on handling asylum seekers and deportations after opposition pressure over the death of a Sri Lankan woman.

KUALA LUMPUR: Well-known Malaysian celebrity and entrepreneur Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor has allegedly broken the movement control order (MCO) rule barring Hari Raya visits last week. The celebrity, popularly known as Neelofa, was said to have violated...

High traces of Viagra and other drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction were found in Seoul's wastewaters, and their presence in the urban area is expected to increase, South Korean researchers say.

AHMEDABAD, India: India's total COVID-19 caseload surged past 25 million on Tuesday (May 18) as a powerful cyclone complicated the health crisis in one of the states where the disease is spreading most quickly. COVID-19 tests were administered to 20...

SEOUL: Pressure is mounting on South Korean President Moon Jae-in to pardon Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, who is back in prison after his conviction in a massive corruption scandal, even though business has rarely looked better at South Korea’s larges...

MUMBAI: The Indian Navy mounted a massive air and sea rescue mission on Tuesday (May 18) for 81 missing oil workers and crew whose barge sank in heavy seas following a powerful cyclone that tore up the west coast of the country a day earlier. The v...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's government suspended operations at its representative office in Taiwan on Tuesday (May 18), in a sign of escalating diplomatic tension between the global financial hub and the democratically-ruled island that Beijing claims. ...

Hong Kong's newly appointed Catholic bishop on Tuesday (May 18) said he would need to tread carefully with Beijing as it cracks down on dissent - but vowed to plead with authorities to defend religious freedoms.

TOKYO: A top medical organisation has thrown its weight behind calls to cancel the Tokyo Olympics, saying that hospitals are already overwhelmed as the country battles a spike in COVID-19 infections less than three months from the start of the Games...

MAHUVA, India: At least 21 people were dead and 96 were missing on Tuesday (May 18) after a monster cyclone slammed into western India, compounding the misery for millions of others who are enduring a devastating COVID-19 surge. Hundreds of thousan...

YANGON: More than 800 people have been killed by Myanmar's security forces since a wave of protests broke out across the country after the military seized power in a coup in February, an activist group said. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the ar...