NEW DELHI: India's capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai began a gradual easing of restrictions on Monday (Jun 7) as coronavirus infections in the country fell to a two-month low. Hospitals in the megacities - which have a combined population o...

MANILA: The Philippines will open up its vaccination drive this week to include around 35 million people working outside their homes, such as public transport staff, in a bid to help curb COVID-19 transmission and to open up the economy, officials sa...

NAYPYIDAW: The trial of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will begin next week, her lawyer told AFP on Monday (Jun 7). Myanmar has been in uproar since Aung San Suu Kyi was deposed in a Feb 1 coup, with near-daily protests and a nationwide civ...

COLOMBO: Heavy rain has lashed Sri Lanka, triggering floods and landslides that have killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, officials said on Monday (Jun 7). After days of rain, rivers on the island nation's southe...

KUALA LUMPUR: Police in Malaysia's Terengganu state are using drones to detect high body temperatures among people in public areas as the country undergoes its third nationwide lockdown.  The drones can detect body temperatures from as high as 20...

Thailand kicked off a long-awaited mass vaccination campaign on Monday as the country battles its third and worst wave of the coronavirus epidemic.

At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured Monday in a train crash in southern Pakistan, police said.

TAIPEI: Taiwan will extend its COVID-19 restrictions for another two weeks until Jun 28 and schools will remain shut until the summer vacation, the government said on Monday (Jun 7), adding that its outbreak has not yet stabilised. After months of ...

Toyota reaches settlement over bullied engineer's suicide

Teenager Fatima Noori and her fellow pupils hug and pray as they gather in their Kabul classroom, just weeks after bombs exploded right outside the school gates, killing scores of their classmates.

In the Gulf of Thailand, fisheries researchers use a guideline to scuba dive to the ocean floor where they release baskets full of young bamboo sharks.

China reported 19 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 6, down from 30 cases a day earlier, the health authority said in a statement on Monday.

Half of the Japanese public thinks the Olympics will take place this summer, a survey by Yomiuri daily newspaper showed on Monday, less than two months before the Games' scheduled opening.

A black box from a container ship sinking off Sri Lanka was recovered but a dive on Sunday (Jun 6) to check for oil leaks had to be aborted, the navy said.

TOKYO: Activists staged a colourful protest in Tokyo on Sunday (Jun 6), calling on the Japanese parliament to approve an anti-discrimination Bill protecting the rights of the country's LGBT community. Led by drag queens and DJs blaring upbeat music,...

BEIJING: A social media account for popular Chinese e-commerce site Xiaohongshu, or "Little Red Book", was unavailable on Sunday (Jun 6), after it issued a post on Friday, the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 6,241 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday (Jun 6) as the number of patients in the intensive care unit hit a record for the 13th consecutive day. Selangor accounted for about a third of the new infections with 2,178 cases....

COLOMBO: The death toll from floods and mudslides following heavy rains in Sri Lanka rose to 14 with another two missing, officials said on Sunday (Jun 6). Ten districts on the Indian Ocean island have been under heavy rainfall since last Thursday,...

TAIPEI: All foreign workers at a plant of major Taiwanese chip packager King Yuan Electronics in Taiwan's northern city of Miaoli will be quarantined as health workers try to stop an outbreak of COVID-19 there, the government said on Sunday (Jun 6). ...

BEIJING: A man armed with a knife killed six people and wounded 14 others in a city in eastern China, state media reported Sunday (Jun 6). The attack occurred Saturday afternoon in the streets of Anqing, Anhui province, 430km west of Shanghai, stat...

NEW DELHI: India reported 114,460 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday (Jun 6), the lowest in two months, while the death toll increased by 2,677, as parts of the country prepared to ease movement restrictions. India has the world's second-largest numb...

COLOMBO: Experts recovered the data recorder of a fire-ravaged ship carrying chemicals that is slowly sinking off Sri Lanka’s capital, as salvage crews stood by to head off a possible environmental disaster, officials said Sunday (Jun 6). The Sing...

BANGKOK: Thailand is concerned at the violence in many parts of Myanmar and wants to see the implementation of steps agreed by Southeast Asian leaders with the military junta to help end the turmoil since the Feb 1 coup, the foreign ministry said on ...

Over 7,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been disposed of in Japan due to mishandling, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday, as Japan races to inoculate its people amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

KUALA LUMPUR: All schools in Malaysia will carry out home-based teaching and learning for the new school term beginning mid-June. In a press conference on Sunday (Jun 6), Minister for Education Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said the decision was made after ta...

TAIPEI: Taiwan on Sunday (Jun 6) lifted its toughest water restrictions for three parts of the island that had seen supplies cut for two days a week after heavy rain helped ease a biting drought.  Sub-tropical Taiwan is dealing with its worst droug...

TAIPEI: The United States will donate 750,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan as part of the country's plan to share shots globally, US Senator Tammy Duckworth said on Sunday (Jun 6), offering a much-needed boost to the island's fight against the p...

BANGKOK: Jidapa Pinitpongskul, then 11 years old, thought the hospital was scary. She wished she had had a friend there with her, someone who could have made the experience less lonely and daunting. “If there had been someone to play with me or as...

Ministers from Asia-Pacific trade group APEC on Saturday agreed to expedite the transit of COVID-19 vaccines and related goods, but stopped short of agreeing to remove tariffs on them.

South Korea's respect for intellectual property rights makes it an ideal partner for the United States as it seeks to decouple its supply chains from China and forge partnerships to manufacture coronavirus vaccines, a trio of U.S. senators said on Sa...

TAIPEI: Three US senators arrived in Taiwan on Sunday (Jun 6) on a US Air Force freighter and will meet President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss security and other issues, a trip that will likely irritate China. The United States, like most countries, ha...

HONG KONG: One of the organisers of the annual vigil remembering Beijing's deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown was released on bail Saturday (Jun 5) after authorities prevented the sensitive commemoration from taking place on the 32nd anniversary of t...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will take part in phase three clinical trials for a new COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China's Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products. The clinical study will be conducted at eight research centres in Malaysia, said health d...

India asks Twitter to follow tough new social media laws

Authorities in the southern Chinese industrial hub of Guangzhou on Saturday imposed more restrictions on business and social activity, seeking to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases.

Floods and mudslides kill 4, another 7 missing in Sri Lanka

A giant African pouched rat called Magawa who spent years sniffing out landmines in the Cambodian countryside has stopped working and will enjoy a well-earned retirement eating bananas and peanuts, his employers told AFP.

At makeshift factories hidden in Myanmar's jungle, locals who have formed self-defence groups make rifles to take the fight to the military junta, but their homemade weapons don't always hit the mark.

Taiwan reported 511 new domestic COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including 35 cases added to totals for recent days as authorities readjust infection numbers following delays in reporting positive tests.

India reported on Saturday 120,529 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,380.

China reported on Saturday 24 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 4, the same number as a day earlier, the country's health authority said in a statement.

HONG KONG: China on Saturday (Jun 5) berated the US and EU consulates in Hong Kong for displaying candles to commemorate the June Tiananmen crackdown, slamming it as a "clumsy political show" to destabilise the city. Candles were seen lit in the wi...

KALWA, India: When health worker Neelam Kumari knocks on doors in Indian villages the occupants sometimes run out the back, terrified that she wants to vaccinate them against COVID-19. With India's devastating recent virus surge easing in cities, t...

BEIJING: China has approved emergency use of Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine in people aged between three and 17, its chairman Yin Weidong told state TV late on Friday (Jun 4). China's mass vaccination drive, which administered 723.5 million dose...

As Chinese millennials navigate through family planning, observers highlight on the programme Money Mind how China could try to keep its demographic transition on an even keel.

Simply allowing people to have more children without addressing some of the deeper socio-economic structures will yield little result, says an economics professor.

The 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in July makes it timely to assess whether it has accomplished its goal of ending endemic rural poverty, says the SMU’s John Donaldson.

From headcount cuts to restructuring and rebranding, regional carriers are trying all they can to stay viable. But when will things return to normal?

Investigations into the origins of COVID-19 are not just about scientific interest, but part of the competition for influence between the US and China, says Christian Le Miere.

Envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held talks with Myanmar's junta Friday, with its top general reiterating he would only allow fresh elections once the coup-stricken country had returned to "normal."

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan is pushing for a political settlement in Afghanistan before foreign troops leave later this year, to reduce the risk of civil war in its western neighbour.

COLOMBO: Environmentalists on Friday (Jun 4) sued the Sri Lankan government and operators of a container ship loaded with chemicals and plastic that burnt offshore for almost two weeks, as international experts prepared to deal with a possible oil ...

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man was arrested in Thailand on Thursday (Jun 3) after he allegedly used a mail service to send drugs to Singapore. About 3kg of Ice and 1,320 ecstasy pills hidden in an air parcel were seized at the Suvarnabhumi Airport Pos...

LELLANA, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan fishermen have been left feeling helpless after a cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals and plastics caught fire and later sank, resulting in a ban on fishing along an 80km stretch of the island nation's west coast. ...

BEIJING: China on Friday (Jun 4) ripped into the United States' human rights record and told Washington to "look in the mirror" after America's top diplomat said he would honour those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen incident. Beijing urged the United S...

South Korean prosecutors are seeking a 50 million won (US$45,000) fine for Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee over an allegation of unlawful use of a prescription sedative, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

NEW DELHI: A rapid rise in cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, has added to the challenges faced by India's healthcare system as it deals with a massive second wave of COVID-19 infections. Nepal on Thursday (Jun 3) also reported its f...

KUALA LUMPUR: Since the start of Malaysia’s total lockdown on Tuesday (Jun 1), a salt manufacturer in Selangor has cut its production line from over 18 types of products to a maximum of 10. Mr Seow Jun Ze, the business development manager of Qing...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong closed off a park where tens of thousands gather annually to commemorate China's 1989 Tiananmen incident and arrested the vigil's organiser, in what activists see as suppression of one of the city's main symbols of democratic hop...

NEW DELHI: The coronavirus variant first identified in India is highly infectious and can be caught by people who have already had the disease or been only partially vaccinated, a panel of Indian government scientists said in a report published on Fr...

A boat filled with dozens of Rohingya, mostly women and children, landed on an island off the Indonesian coast early Friday, according to an AFP reporter and the UN refugee agency.

TOKYO: The number of babies born in Japan hit a new record low last year, official data showed, highlighting concern over the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on one of the world's lowest fertility rates. In 2020, the greying country saw 840,832 births, a...

KATHMANDU: Nepal has reported its first death from mucormycosis or "black fungus", the highly deadly infection affecting thousands of COVID-19 patients in neighbouring India. Health ministry spokesman Krishna Prasad Poudel told AFP that there are no...

TOKYO: The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games cannot happen if no athletes can make it to Japan for the event, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee President Seiko Hashimoto said at a news briefing held on Friday (Jun 4). She said that the decision on whether to h...

TAIPEI: Major Taiwanese chip packager King Yuan Electronics said on Friday (Jun 4) it will halt production on the island for two days after several employees contracted COVID-19, the first time the pandemic has hit the global chip hub, as case numbe...

PHNOM PENH: Toxic home-brewed rice wine has killed more than 30 Cambodian villagers in three separate incidents in less than a month, authorities said on Friday (Jun 4). Seven women died and nearly 100 people were hospitalised in the latest poiso...

A possible panda pregnancy at a Tokyo zoo caused stocks of a nearby restaurant chain to briefly soar 30 per cent on Friday as the chance of a pandemic conception bred excitement among investors.

SEOUL: South Korea's air force chief resigned Friday (Jun 4) over the suicide of a woman master sergeant who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a colleague only to have her complaints ignored. The incident has caused an outcry in the South, which ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian health authorities said on Friday (Jun 4) conditional approval had been granted for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Siam Bioscience in Thailand. Health Ministry director-general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said in ...

A senior British judge has announced that she will quit Hong Kong's top court when her term ends, stating that there were "all sorts of question marks" over Beijing's new national security law, media reported on Friday (Jun 4).

Foreign experts have been deployed to help Sri Lanka contain a potential oil leak from a burnt-out container ship partially sunk off Colombo, the ship's operator said Friday.

BANGKOK: Nervous laughter breaks out in Myanmar's eastern jungle as a young man training to overthrow the junta is knocked backwards by the kick of a rifle he has just fired at a target painted on a tree. Waiting behind him for their turn with the ...

A single car parking space has been sold for a whopping HK$10 million ($1.3 million) at a luxury Hong Kong apartment complex, local media reported on Friday.

Malaysian health authorities have raised concerns about a growing number of coronavirus deaths and serious cases involving children, after a surge in overall infections forced the Southeast Asian nation into a strict lockdown.

SINGAPORE: Singapore will tighten border control measures for travellers from Guangdong amid an increase in COVID-19 cases in the Chinese province, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (Jun 4).  From 11.59pm on Saturday, short-term travelle...

Vietnam has approved China's Sinopharm vaccine for use against COVID-19, local media reported on Friday.

Volunteer social worker Ashok Kurmi is helping an army of young fans fight the coronavirus in Mumbai's slums using an unusual accessory: A clown costume.

One of Japan's sporting heroes and a member of the local Olympic committee said on Friday (Jun 4) her nation had been "cornered" into pressing ahead with the 2020 Games despite public opposition during the coronavirus pandemic.

A panel of United Kingdom-based lawyers and rights experts investigating the plight of Uyghurs in China will begin hearing evidence from witnesses on Friday (Jun 4), as Beijing branded it a "machine producing lies".

TOKYO: Japan delivered to Taiwan 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine on Friday (Jun 4) for free, in a gesture that will more than double the amount of shots the island has received to date. Taiwan is battling a spike in domestic...

Mongolia once guaranteed free childcare for working mothers under communist rule but decades after the landlocked country transitioned to democracy, some have been forced to choose between bribing nurseries or leaving their jobs to look after their y...

BEIJING: China reported on Friday (Jun 4) 24 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for Thursday, the same number as a day earlier, the country's health authority said in a statement. Of the new infections, 15 were imported, the National Health Comm...

The trio behind Voice of Baceprot formed the band as young teens in 2014. They've since attracted international attention from stars such as Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers.

SHANGHAI: A decade ago, more than 110 million people tuned in from China to watch Li Na become the first Asian-born player to win a Grand Slam singles title. But now she is rarely seen on TV or in the country's media. Her big breakthrough for Chines...

From fake medicines to fire extinguishers disguised as oxygen cylinders and recycled personal protective equipment, India's coronavirus hell has been lucrative for its ever-inventive army of scammers, with sometimes deadly consequences.

Hong Kong police detained prominent democracy activist Chow Hang-tung on Friday morning, with authorities determined to prevent any protests on the anniversary of Beijing's deadly Tiananmen crackdown.

Japan's household spending soared in April, official figures showed on Friday, although the gains were mostly driven by base effects from last year's sharp fall due to the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

HONG KONG: Some global banks, funds and other financial services providers say they are stepping up hiring in Hong Kong, in a sign the city's unique position as a financial gateway to China is outweighing concerns about Beijing's tightening grip over...

World output will recover but the coming expansion will be unevenly distributed, economist Nouriel Roubini elaborates.

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is paying close attention to several provinces that have reported a significant increase in COVID-19 cases recently, including Riau Islands and North Kalimantan where there has been more imported cases from Mala...

China’s aggressive diplomatic tactics and wolf-warrior diplomacy have cost it dearly, but there’s some hope President Xi Jinping’s latest declaration signal change, says Professor Bo Zhiyue.

Amid growing calls for rules on mask-wearing in public areas to be relaxed among some quarters, South Korea has indicated those vaccinated can do so. But there’s good reason to think most will keep theirs on, says Steven Borowiec.

Chile's health ministry said Thursday it would raise the minimum age of men approved to receive the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to 45, from 18, until authorities complete an investigation into a young man who had a blood clot after his first shot...

LAHORE, Pakistan: A Pakistani court on Thursday (Jun 3) overturned the death sentence of a Christian couple in a blasphemy case, acquitting them for lack of evidence after they had spent seven years on death row, lawyers said. A lower court had sent...

Exiled Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei says the coronavirus pandemic, rather than slow him down, has spurred him on, as he prepares to open an exhibition of his art in Lisbon on Friday.

Twitter on Thursday introduced its first ever subscription service, which has been dubbed "Blue" and offers added features for prolific tweeters, as it seeks to diversity its revenue streams beyond advertising.

A shadow government in Myanmar on Thursday called on the Rohingya minority to help it overthrow the junta, promising citizenship and repatriation for the persecuted Muslim community in a future democratic Myanmar.

SINGAPORE: While Sri Lanka braces itself for a possible oil spill from a sunken Singapore-registered container ship, the vessel operator's chief executive on Thursday (Jun 3) expressed “deep regrets and apologies” for the impact that the incide...

The European Union will impose a new round of sanctions on Myanmar's military junta and its economic interests in the coming days, EU foreign affair chief Josep Borrell told Reuters on Thursday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 103 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday (Jun 3), marking a second consecutive day with more than 100 deaths. This brings the COVID-19 death toll to 3,096, said health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. The countr...