Myanmar's military has imposed repeated internet blackouts, blocked some social media sites and drafted a cybersecurity bill as it attempts to grind down resistance to its takeover.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesday (Feb 17) agreed to save the world's only known wild specimen of a species of tree that was due to be chopped to clear the way for a four-lane expressway. The Sri Lanka Legume (Crudia zeylanica) - a flower...

BEIJING: Chinese cinemas racked up record box-office revenues during the week-long Chinese New Year holiday, as coronavirus travel curbs compelled millions to forego visits home during what is usually the world's biggest annual domestic migration. R...

Opponents of Myanmar's military coup parked their cars in the middle of city streets and on bridges on Wednesday, pretending they had broken down to block police and army trucks moving around to break up protests.

WASHINGTON: A US Navy warship sailed by islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Wednesday (Feb 17) in a freedom of navigation operation, marking the latest move by Washington to challenge Beijing's territorial claims in the contested wate...

A deal for Taiwan to buy 5 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech SE is on hold, the island's health minister said on Wednesday, citing potential Chinese pressure for the delay.

China will pay a price for its human rights abuses, U.S. President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday, responding to queries at a televised event on the Asian nation's handling of Muslim minorities in its far western region of Xinjiang.

China steps up online controls with new rule for bloggers

YANGON: Thousands were rallying in Yangon on Wednesday (Feb 17) to protest against the military coup despite a build-up of troops and fears of violence escalating. "Today is the day we have to fight till the end. We need to show our unity and stre...

SEOUL: South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday (Feb 17) warned against loosening enforcement of social distancing rules after the number of new coronavirus cases hit the highest levels in nearly 40 days. The government relaxed dista...

Japan launched its COVID-19 inoculation drive on Wednesday by administering Pfizer Inc's vaccine shots to Tokyo hospital workers, TV footage showed, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga aims to defy the odds and hold the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

YANGON: Opponents of Myanmar's military coup called for more big protests on Wednesday (Feb 17) to show that the army's claim of widespread public support for overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and holding new elections was false. They voi...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's wife, Ri Sol Ju, appeared in state media for the first time in more than a year on Wednesday, joining her husband at a concert on one of the country's biggest holidays.

Sanctions have limited impact when Myanmar has support from some regional countries, key state-owned enterprises are left untouched and a looming cybersecurity law threatens to cut protesters from the outside world, says international security schola...

BEIJING: Yoga studio owner Zhu Lin did not go home for the holidays this year. Neither did she travel to a vacation spot, like tropical Hainan island, as she would have as an alternative on some years. Like it did for millions of others this Chin...

Myanmar's military on Wednesday (Feb 17) drew fresh international criticism by slapping a new charge on deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as the generals cut off the internet for a third straight night in a bid to grind down an anti-coup upri...

Canada and other nations are considering labelling China's treatment of its Uighur minority a genocide, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: India will increase the number of its COVID-19 vaccination sites by up to five times after administering nearly 9 million shots in a month, a government official said on Tuesday (Feb 16), amid concerns about the speed of coverage in the co...

SEOUL: North Korean hackers attempted to steal information on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, South Korea’s intelligence service said on Tuesday (Feb 16), but it denied a lawmaker's claim that vaccine maker Pfizer was targeted. Earlier Tuesday, ...

BEIJING: The military coup and unrest in Myanmar are "absolutely not what China wants to see", the Chinese ambassador to the Southeast Asian country said in remarks published on Tuesday (Feb 16). Envoy Chen Hai's comments come as anti-coup protests ...

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha faced a torrent of vitriol from opposition MPs on Tuesday (Feb 16) over his handling of a pandemic-bruised economy, amid a renewed push from a protest movement calling for his resignation and royal ref...

TOKYO: Japan will kick off its COVID-19 vaccination programme on Wednesday (Feb 17) amid concerns that a shortage of special syringes could lead to the waste of millions of doses of Pfizer vaccine as the country grapples with its third and most serio...

DHAKA: A special tribunal in Bangladesh’s capital on Tuesday (Feb 16) sentenced five members of a banned militant group to death and a sixth man to life in prison for the 2015 killing of a prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger known for speaking ...

YANGON: Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was hit with another charge on Tuesday (Feb 16), after the military imposed a second straight overnight Internet shutdown in an attempt to grind down an anti-coup uprising. In the two weeks since th...

At least 37 passengers were killed when a bus plunged into a canal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday (Feb 16), police told AFP as recovery efforts continued.

The Philippines' top court on Tuesday dismissed an election protest by Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the country's former dictator, whose defeat in the 2016 vice-presidential poll was a setback for his clan's political reviv...

BANGKOK: A child modelling agent in Thailand was arrested and charged for alleged child sexual assault and child pornography in a high-profile case involving transnational crimes and thousands of children across the world. The Thai Department of Sp...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia announced on Tuesday (Feb 16) that the movement control order (MCO) will be extended for the states of Selangor, Johor and Penang as well as the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur until Mar 4.  Meanwhile, it will relax the CO...

DHAKA: A court in Bangladesh sentenced to death five members of a militant group on Tuesday (Feb 16) for killing a US blogger critical of religious extremism six years ago. Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to death by mach...

Protesters opposed to Myanmar's military coup blocked train services between Yangon and a southern city on Tuesday (Feb 16), hours after a United Nations envoy warned the army of "severe consequences" for any harsh response to the demonstrations.

Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev became the first man in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam semi-final on debut Tuesday, overcoming an injured Grigor Dimitrov in four sets at the Australian Open.

NEW DELHI: When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in India, there were fears it would sink the fragile health system of the world’s second-most populous country. Infections climbed dramatically for months and at one point India looked like it might o...

A former Olympic swimmer who won a silver medal for Australia was arrested Tuesday and charged with running a syndicate trafficking in the drug "ice", police said.

Veteran Hong Kong activists went on trial Tuesday for organising one of the biggest democracy protests to engulf the city in 2019, part of a sweeping crackdown targeting Beijing's critics over the last 18 months.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will receive the COVID-19 vaccine alongside frontliners on Feb 26, the first day of the implementation of the national COVID-19 immunisation programme. Mr Muhyiddin made the announcement dur...

Australia's Victoria state is well placed to begin easing out of a snap five-day coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said, as it reported just two new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday.

South Korea has arranged to buy coronavirus vaccines for 23 million more people, its prime minister said on Tuesday, a day after authorities said delays and efficacy concerns meant fewer people would be vaccinated in the first quarter of the year.

OSLO: Norwegian telecom operator Telenor on Monday (Feb 15) said that concerns for its employees' safety had stopped it listing forced Internet outages in Myanmar following the Feb 1 military coup. READ: Myanmar experiencing 'near-total Internet sh...

In Myanmar, companies and businesses are adjusting to a new reality after the military took over control of the government on Feb 1. What does military rule mean for foreign investments in Myanmar? Money Mind reports.

Economist Kaushik Basu explains why he thinks Vietnam, Mexico and South Korea are poised to prosper.

At first blush, a merger between Gojek and Tokopedia appears sensible but a closer look suggests huge challenges, says lawyer Joel Shen.

Myanmar's military government deployed extra troops around the country and choked the Internet for the second night in a row as it intensified a crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets on Monday (Feb 15).

Britain's drug regulator is auditing manufacturing processes at Serum Institute of India (SII) which could pave the way for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to be shipped from there to the UK and other countries, according to two sources close to the m...

BERLIN: Germany wants Europe and the United States to strengthen transatlantic ties with a trade deal to abolish industrial tariffs, a WTO reform to increase pressure on China and a joint carbon-emission trading system to protect the climate. Peter ...

BRUSSELS: China last year overtook the United States as the EU's biggest trading partner, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday (Feb 15). Britain meanwhile, which is no longer part of the European Union, was the third-largest trading part...

YANGON: Security forces in Myanmar intensified their crackdown against anti-coup protesters on Monday (Feb 15), seeking to quell the large-scale demonstrations calling for the military junta that seized power earlier this month to reinstate the elec...

DENPASAR, Indonesia: Indonesian police are on the hunt in Bali for a Russian fugitive wanted by Interpol after he escaped from custody while waiting to be deported from the resort island, authorities said on Monday (Feb 15). CCTV footage released by...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Monday (Feb 15) defended a plan to deport 1,200 Myanmar nationals on navy ships sent from their homeland just weeks after a coup, following criticism from the United Nations. News emerged last week the migrants would be se...

BENGALURU: India's Serum Institute will ship COVID-19 vaccines to Canada within a month, its chief executive said on Monday (Feb 15), in a sign that a diplomatic row triggered by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's comments on political protests...

The United States is providing the Philippines with military aid that amounts to "loose change" compared to other Asian countries, a top Philippine official said on Monday (Feb 15), justifying demands by President Rodrigo Duterte for Washington to p...

Two million people in Vietnam will be put under a raft of restrictions starting Tuesday, after their northern province became the epicentre of a growing Covid-19 outbreak.

JAKARTA: Indonesian tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a business partner of former US president Donald Trump, launched on Monday (Feb 15) construction on a movie studio as part of a tourism complex on Java island that is set to receive tax breaks. Lido Cit...

SHANGHAI: China is cracking down on vaccine-related crimes, making dozens of arrests over the production and distribution of fake COVID-19 vaccines, price gouging and illegal inoculations, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday (Feb 15). Aut...

South Korea will initially exclude people aged 65 years and older from inoculation with AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine because of a lack of data proving its efficacy in the elderly, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Monday.

A former South Korean coastguard chief was cleared of negligence Monday over bungled rescue operations for one of the country's deadliest maritime disasters, when more than 300 people were killed, most of them schoolchildren.

BENGALURU: Indian opposition politicians and activists on Monday (Feb 15) condemned the arrest of a 22-year-old climate activist after she was accused of helping disseminate a document by Greta Thunberg promoting farmer protests. Police picked up Di...

In an era of regimented game plans, strict training regimes, nutritionists and pre-match routines, one player is refreshingly going her own way - Hsieh Su-wei.

BANGKOK: Thailand's pandemic-shattered economy suffered its worst full-year performance in more than two decades, data showed Monday (Feb 15), with officials citing the toll of both a gutted tourism industry and ongoing political upheaval. Last yea...

BANGKOK: Thailand reported 143 new coronavirus infections on Monday (Feb 15) and in quarantine detected its first case of the highly contagious COVID-19 variant first found in South Africa, its coronavirus taskforce said. Two new deaths were reporte...

Japan's Tohoku Electric Power has adequate electricity generation capacity to meet demand, a spokesman said on Monday, after a large earthquake at the weekend knocked out several big fossil-fuelled power stations.

SYDNEY: Australia and New Zealand have received their first shipments of COVID-19 vaccines and will begin rolling out inoculations in the coming week, while populous cities of Melbourne and Auckland remained locked down following the emergence of ne...

Rain sets off Indonesia landslide; 2 dead, 16 missing

Two twin South Korean women volleyball stars have been suspended from the national team over allegations of school bullying, reports said Monday, in the latest sporting abuse scandal to hit the country.

YANGON: Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi will appear in court via video conference this week over charges brought against her by the new military junta, her lawyer said Monday (Feb 15). Aung San Suu Kyi, detained since a Feb 1 coup against...

Philippine reopening of theaters, arcades stalls amid debate

South Korea eased some of its strictest social distancing rules for businesses on Monday, but kept limits on private gatherings as authorities prepared to unveil plans for the roll out of the first coronavirus vaccines later this month.

One of Australia's biggest casino groups has seen a boardroom exodus after being declared unsuitable to hold a gambling licence, with the CEO of Crown Resorts becoming the latest executive to resign on Monday.

TOKYO: Japan's pandemic-hit economy shrank in 2020 for the first time in more than a decade, but the contraction was less than expected and it ended the year on a strong note thanks to a pick-up in exports and huge government support. Still, analyst...

Myanmar cut Internet service and deployed troops around the country on Monday (Feb 15) in signs of a feared crackdown on anti-coup protests, hours after security forces fired to disperse a demonstration in the country's north.

Security forces in Myanmar opened fire to disperse protesters at a power plant on Sunday and armoured vehicles rolled into major cities as the new army rulers faced a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations that saw hundreds of thousands on the streets...

Bangladesh is moving 3,000-4,000 more Rohingya Muslim refugees to a remote Bay of Bengal island over the next two days, two officials said on Sunday, despite concerns about the risk of storms and floods lashing the site.

The US embassy in Myanmar warned on Sunday night (Feb 14) of military troop movements and possible "telecommunications interruptions" in Yangon.

LONDON: British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday (Feb 14) that he shared concerns about the level of access given to a World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 fact-finding mission to China, echoing criticism from the United States. The...

BANGKOK: The Thai government on Sunday (Feb 14) defended its decision not to join the World Health Organization-sponsored coronavirus vaccine programme COVAX, saying that to do so would risk the country paying more for the shots and facing uncertaint...

Indian rescuers find 11 more bodies after glacier flooding

Japan's Health Ministry said on Sunday it has officially approved Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, the first such approval in the country as it steps up efforts to tame a third wave of infections in the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games.

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani lab will soon receive Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for commercial sale, a company official said on Sunday (Feb 14), making Pakistan one of the first countries to market shots privately as it scrambles to secure supplies....

Thousands of people from Myanmar living in Japan marched in downtown Tokyo on Sunday (Feb 14) to protest the military coup back home, some holding photos of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and signs deploring the loss of human rights.

China fired back on Sunday (Feb 14) at the US over allegations from the White House that Beijing withheld some information about the coronavirus outbreak from World Health Organization investigators.

Singaporean Sue-Anne Chng used to wear a different outfit on all 15 days of the Chinese New Year, when it is customary to don new clothes to symbolise a fresh start.

IWAKI, Japan: The stench of alcohol filled the small bar on Sunday (Feb 14) as Aoi Hoshino swept up glass from whiskey bottles smashed in a strong earthquake the night before, one appearing to be an aftershock from a devastating quake that hit the Fu...

YANGON: Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar for a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday (Feb 14), as the new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers that could cripple their ability to ...

More than 100 people were injured and trains halted over a wide swathe of northeastern Japan on Sunday after the region was jolted by a major earthquake in the same area as the 2001 Fukushima quake that set off a tsunami nearly 10 years ago.

BEIJING: China reported seven new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Saturday (Feb 13), compared to eight cases a day earlier, the health commission said on Sunday. All of the new cases were imported infections, the National Health Commission sai...

YANGON: Myanmar's new military regime warned the public not to harbour fugitive political activists on Sunday (Feb 14) after issuing arrest warrants for veteran democracy campaigners supporting massive nationwide anti-coup protests. Much of the cou...

BEIJING: Chinese state TV included dancers in blackface portraying Africans in a holiday gala for the second time in three years, prompting criticism online, as Asia welcomed the Year of the Ox with muted festivities amid travel curbs to contain rene...

BANGKOK: The air that sweeps gently through the rows of vines in the GranMonte estate is cool. In the middle of winter here, on the flank of Khao Yai National Park, the temperature drops and grapes can flourish. The vineyard, northeast of Bangkok, ...

Rejecting an emergency appeal, US Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer has cleared the way for the extradition to Japan of two Americans accused of helping former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flee the Asian nation.

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka face their toughest tests so far when the Australian Open enters the last 16 stage on Sunday, while Novak Djokovic faces a battle to recover from a potentially tournament-ending injury.

BENGALURU: Billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla will set up an electric-car manufacturing unit in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Saturday (Feb 13). "The US firm Tesla will be opening an electr...

TOKYO: A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 hit off the coast of eastern Japan on Saturday (Feb 13), shaking buildings and triggering widespread blackouts, but there appeared to be no major damage and no tsunami warning was issued....

Thai pro-democracy protesters scaled a massive Bangkok monument Saturday, draping it in a crimson cloth and calling for the kingdom to abolish its draconian royal defamation laws.

Beijing was once again shrouded in smog on Saturday after several days of heavy pollution which have plagued China’s capital during the Lunar New Year national holiday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 3,499 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday (Feb 13), bringing the total number of cases in the country to 261,805.  Five new deaths were recorded as well, compared to 17 the previous day. The death toll in Malaysia stand...

EU calls on China to reverse ban on BBC World News channel

India's top court tackles social media in free speech case

China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to a World Health Organization-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, one of the team's investigators said, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began.

Indian authorities on Saturday said there were no initial reports of critical damage to buildings and infrastructure, or casualties, in its northern states after intense tremors from a quake in the central Asian nation of Tajikistan on Friday night.

China holiday train travel down nearly 70per cent amid restrictions

Thailand on Saturday reported 126 new coronavirus cases, taking its total infections to 24,405.