Japan and Australia said on Wednesday they had "serious concerns" about reported human rights abuses against Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in China's Xinjiang region.

President Joko Widodo said on Wednesday he hoped Indonesia's COVID-19 vaccination rollout will hit one million shots a day by July, as authorities opened up inoculations to anyone aged over 18 in Jakarta to contain increased transmission in the capit...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday (Jun 9) after a royal audience that he has pleaded for the king to not extend the state of emergency in the country.  Speaking to reporters after leaving the palace, he noted th...

BEIJING: Beijing on Wednesday (Jun 9) accused Washington of "paranoid delusion" after the United States Senate passed a sweeping industrial policy Bill aimed at countering the surging economic threat from China. America's political parties overcame ...

Nicol David, the most successful female squash player of all time, said she is "thrilled and overwhelmed" that her life story will be immortalised in an upcoming biopic.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is expecting deliveries of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in Thailand to be delayed, its science minister said on Wednesday (Jun 9), among several countries to report a holdup with orders from the Thai plant. Scien...

MANILA: The head of the Philippine armed forces visited a coral-fringed island his country occupies in the South China Sea this week, a move that could stoke already heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing in disputed waters claimed by both co...

Mongolians voting for president amid biggest virus outbreak

The Hong Kong team behind celebrity humanoid robot Sophia is launching a new prototype, Grace, targeted at the healthcare market and designed to interact with the elderly and those isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

TOKYO: Japan and Australia have agreed to urge a peaceful resolution of Taiwan-related issues, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Wednesday (Jun 9), as China steps up pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as its own. "We confi...

Myanmar's Kayah State could suffer a "massive" loss of life beyond anything seen since the military seized power, with more than 100,000 people fleeing their homes to escape conflict, a U.N. human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.

Teenage Covid-19 patients in southern China bent over test papers and scribbled answers alone in hospital rooms, taking the life-changing "gaokao" college entrance exams despite being in virus-induced isolation.

Thailand's parliament on Wednesday started debating a bill to allow the government to borrow an additional 500 billion baht (US$16 billion) to help the tourism-reliant country deal with its latest and biggest coronavirus outbreak so far.

As an express train hurtled through farmland in Pakistan and smashed into the carriages of another service that had derailed minutes earlier, a family of nearby villagers was jolted awake.

Five million Melbourne residents will exit lockdown Thursday after Australian authorities said their adherence to strict rules had "changed the course" of a coronavirus outbreak in the city.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah is granting an audience to leaders from both sides of the political divide, with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin being the first to arrive at the palace on Wednes...

Philippine merchandise imports grew a hefty 140.9 per cent in April from a year earlier, while exports jumped 72.1 per cent, both rising at their fastest pace in more than a decade, government data showed on Wednesday.

China reported 16 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 8, down from 33 cases a day earlier, the health authority said in a statement on Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 68-32 to approve a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology, as Congress increasingly seeks to take a tough line against Beijing.

As both ruling and opposition parties splinter, Malaysia’s next government will ultimately involve an alliance between rival party coalitions, says a political scientist.

KUALA LUMPUR: With the COVID-19 death toll mounting in Malaysia, a volunteer group led by a religious teacher has doubled its efforts to lend a hand to Muslim families who are often at a loss in navigating health protocols and a proper burial for the...

BEIJING: China's Defence Ministry on Tuesday (Jun 8) denounced a brief weekend visit by three US senators to Chinese-claimed Taiwan on a US military aircraft as a "vile political provocation" that was irresponsible and dangerous. The three senator...

BENGALURU, India: Many more men in India have received COVID-19 vaccines than women, government data showed on Tuesday (Jun 8), highlighting gender disparity in the country's immunisation drive that has also disadvantaged the rural population. India...

BEIJING: China on Tuesday (Jun 8) warned the United States against pursuing a trade deal with Taiwan after Washington said it would start negotiations with the self-ruled island. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory. Chinese social media eru...

Overseas journalists covering the Tokyo Olympics will have their movements tracked by GPS, the Games president said Tuesday, and could have their passes revoked if they break the rules.

KUALA LUMPUR: Ninety-eight crewmen of the Royal Malaysian Navy ship KD Mahawangsa have tested positive for COVID-19, Malaysia's Ministry of Defence confirmed on Tuesday (Jun 8). Senior Minister of Defence Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the crew took a...

NEW DELHI: India's daily coronavirus infections have dipped below 100,000 for the first time in more than two months, as an overall downturn prompted some states to ease restrictions. The 86,498 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India’s tota...

Vietnam, once a model for its successful handling of the pandemic, has started asking for public donations to buy vaccines as it struggles to contain a new coronavirus wave.

KOLKATA: Lightning strikes killed 27 people and four passengers on a flight were hospitalised after severe turbulence during monsoon storms in eastern India, officials said on Tuesday (Jun 8). Lightning strikes during the June to September annual ...

BEIJING: China has approved the emergency use of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for those as young as three, the drugmaker confirmed on Tuesday (Jun 8), making it the first country to offer jabs to young children. Since the coronavirus first emerged...

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor’s ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressed shock that the state had only received 615,210 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Jun 1. In a statement released by the ruler’s private secretary Mohamad Munir Bani on Tuesday (Ju...

BEIJING: A herd of wild elephants in southwestern China have been captured on camera taking a breather from a 500km march of chaos that has caused more than US$1 million in damage. Chinese state television has launched a 24-hour live feed of the her...

Taiwan reported 219 new domestic COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, slightly up from 211 reported on Monday.

Pakistani engineers Tuesday combed the mangled wreckage of two trains that collided in a remote farming region, an accident that killed dozens and highlighted huge safety problems on the nation's dilapidated rail network.

China pledges further COVID-19 aid to Southeast Asia

BEIJING: Chinese authorities are trying to lure back fugitive fraudsters operating across the border in Myanmar by threatening to cut off pensions and other benefits for family members, according to social media postings by public security bodies. S...

Tokyo's Tsukiji market, once the site of the world-famous dawn tuna auction, became the city's latest mass vaccination site on Tuesday, with first responders lining up for their shots.

South Korea injected 857,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses on Monday, setting a daily record in its inoculation drive that took its vaccination rate to 16.4per cent for a first dose, data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) showed.

Hong Kong will continue to invite foreign judges to its courts and the city's legal system remains "hard as a rock", Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday amid international concern about the impact of a sweeping national security law.

A top Japanese virologist and government adviser has warned of the risks of spreading COVID-19 infections during the Tokyo Olympics, the Times of London reported on Tuesday, the latest high-profile caveat about the global sporting showpiece.

Mongolia goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose its sixth democratically-elected president, with the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) on the cusp of consolidating its power following a low-key campaign crimped by COVID-19 curbs.

China reported 33 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 7, up from 19 cases a day earlier, the health authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

Three Myanmar journalists who faced deportation after fleeing to Thailand to escape a military crackdown have been granted asylum in a third country, their employer said Monday.

A woman died after an ex-security guard at a Pakistani hospital posed as a doctor and performed surgery on her, police said Monday.

President Joe Biden's order last week banning U.S. investment in certain Chinese companies is broader than a similar one signed by his predecessor Donald Trump and has a lower bar, making it easier to add more companies later.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened a meeting of senior officials of the Workers' Party to evaluate and improve the economy in the second half of the year, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR: With schools in Malaysia returning to home-based teaching and learning again, Jessica Teng is bracing for hectic weeks ahead juggling work and her three children's studies.  The corporate communications manager, who resides in Shah ...

JAKARTA: Toko dua lantai yang menjual perlengkapan dan oleh-oleh Haji dan Umrah itu biasanya sibuk meladeni pengunjung yang berdatangan seiring dengan mendekatnya musim haji. Tetapi tahun ini, toko tersebut tampak sepi dan sunyi dengan pemiliknya Mu...

JAKARTA: Usually, with the Haj season just weeks away, the two-storey shop selling supplies and gifts for people preparing for the Islamic pilgrimage would be a hive of activity. But this year, it appeared lifeless and desolate. The owner of the...

For more than a decade, Kuala Lumpur has faced challenges in developing or maintaining its air force, says a security researcher.

Norman Riaz was lying on his bunk bed aboard the Millat Express and playing with his mobile phone as it sped through the Pakistan countryside just before the deadly catastrophe early Monday.

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court hearing into the fire and sinking of a container ship off Colombo was told on Monday (Jun 7) that its local agent had deleted e-mails vital to the investigation. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl reported an onboa...

SEOUL: Former South Korean footballer Yoo Sang-chul, who starred in the country's run to the World Cup semi-finals in 2002, has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Monday (Jun 7). He was 49. The m...

JOHOR BAHRU: Malaysia Super League giant Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) is looking to send its U-21 squad to play in the Singapore Premier League (SPL), said Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.  In an interview with Astro Arena on Sunday (J...

SINGAPORE: The “very slow” progress being made to resolve the ongoing crisis in Myanmar is disappointing, said Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday (Jun 7).  The situation in Myanmar was among the issues discusse...

SHANGHAI: A few malls and residential complexes in Shanghai have started asking visitors to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, with one shopping centre's temporary decision to bar entry sparking a backlash on social media. A video showing a local r...

BEIJING: China expressed fury over US senators visiting Taiwan to donate COVID-19 vaccines, saying it could embolden "separatist forces" on the island. Beijing sees democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory which is to be seized one da...

Indonesian authorities have drafted in more doctors and nurses to two areas on the islands of Java and Madura after hospitals there approached full capacity amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, the country's health minister said on Monday (Jun 7).

TAIPEI: A leading Taiwanese chip testing and packaging company said on Monday (Jun 7) that all its migrant employees have been suspended from working for around two weeks to contain a coronavirus outbreak. At least 206 employees, mostly migrant work...

SINGAPORE: New COVID-19 cases in Malaysia fell for the fourth consecutive day to 5,271 on Monday (Jun 7), down from 6,241 cases on Sunday. This was the first time in 19 days that daily cases have dropped below 6,000. Malaysia passed the 6,000-mark o...

BAUAN, Philippines: The COVID-19 pandemic is adding a new unwelcome element to sea pollution off the town of Bauan, a popular dive site in the Philippines' Batangas province. Regular visitors and locals have reported a rise in the number of face ma...

Seoul court rejects slave labor claim against Japanese firms

BEIJING: China is hosting foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations this week amid heightened competition between Beijing and Washington for influence in the region. Chinese state media said the meeting on Tuesday in the southwestern megacit...

China's exports rose 27.9 per cent in May while imports grew at the fastest pace in more than a decade as the global economy powers back from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, official data showed on Monday (Jun 7).

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. India on Monday reported 100,636 new infections - after severa...

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: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will go on trial next week, her lawyer said on Monday (Jun 7), with the Nobel laureate facing an eclectic raft of charges, from possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies to flouting coronavirus restrictio...

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...

BANGKOK: Thailand kicked off a long-awaited mass vaccination campaign on Monday (Jun 7) as the country battles its third and worst wave of the coronavirus epidemic. The government aims to administer 6 million doses this month, hoping to ease worries...

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