JAKARTA: Ten orangutans have been airlifted back to their natural habitat on Indonesia's Borneo island, in the first release of the apes into the wild for a year due to the dangers of COVID-19 infection. The animals were flown by helicopter across t...

LONDON: Group of Seven (G7) countries said on Tuesday (Feb 23) they "firmly condemn" violence committed by Myanmar's security forces against protesters and urged them to "exercise utmost restraint and respect human rights and international law". The...

Staying in different lodgings each night to evade arrest, the lawyer representing Aung San Suu Kyi says her trial will help determine whether Myanmar's people again become "slaves" of the military.

HANOI: Vietnam's government said on Tuesday (Feb 23) health workers, diplomats and military personnel would be among the first to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when the country starts its inoculation programme next month. The country with a populat...

SEOUL: The first of three expert panels in South Korea reviewing a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech gave its recommendation on Tuesday (Feb 23) for the government to approve the vaccine. The national pharmaceutical panel is planning...

JAKARTA: Indonesia has dismissed a recent report suggesting that an action plan is being prepared to help the Myanmar military to uphold its promise of holding a new election. Foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told reporters on Tuesday (F...

OECUSSE, Timor-Leste: A defrocked American priest went on trial on Tuesday (Feb 23) to face charges he sexually abused young girls at his shelter for orphans and children from impoverished families, marking the first clergy sex case to emerge in Timo...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gave her clear support on Tuesday (Feb 23) to electoral reforms in the city, a day after a top Beijing official signalled major changes would be coming to ensure it is run by "patriots". Lam said political str...

A Malaysian court ordered a temporary halt to a controversial plan to deport 1,200 Myanmar detainees to their homeland Tuesday weeks after a coup, following a last-ditch legal challenge.

Malaysia began bussing asylum seekers and other detainees from Myanmar to a port where ships were waiting to take them back to their strife-torn homeland, even as rights groups made a late legal bid to stop their deportation, saying lives were at ris...

JAKARTA: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday (Feb 23) that Myanmar's transition to democracy after this month's coup should follow the wishes of its people. Her remarks came after anger from anti-coup protesters to a Reuters re...

Emperor Naruhito said he was anticipating a "bright future" as Japan began its coronavirus inoculation programme, during an address to mark his 61st birthday on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan bishops urge government to release blast inquiry

Malaysian activists made a last-ditch legal bid to halt the deportation Tuesday of 1,200 Myanmar detainees to their homeland weeks after a coup, following a storm of criticism.

Canadian MPs passed a non-binding motion Monday calling China's treatment of its Uighur minority a "genocide" and calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to officially label it as such.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday (Feb 23) imposed sanctions on two members of Myanmar's military junta over the country's Feb 1 coup. The United States said it was blocking any US property and suspending the entry into the country of two mem...

This is the first time in six decades that China and the West hold such fundamentally different views of China’s global trajectory, says a political science professor.

The world may be witnessing a tectonic shift in Myanmar's political landscape underway, says a political science lecturer.

BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers on Monday (Feb 22) agreed to impose sanctions on Russian officials for the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and to target Myanmar's military over its seizure of power, the bloc's top envoy said. Th...

TOKYO: The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Monday (Feb 22) that two seismometers at one of its three melted reactors have been out of order since last year and did not collect data when a powerful earthquake struck the a...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Aviation Group obtained court approval in Britain on Monday (Feb 22) for a deal between its leasing unit and a majority of its aircraft operating lessors, allowing it to begin a restructuring plan with new capital of RM3.6 bil...

TOKYO: Japan renewed its claim on a contested island in the Sea of Japan held by South Korea at an annual event on Monday (Feb 22), escalating tensions between the neighbours whose relations were already strained over Seoul's demands for compensation...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will maintain the current level of coronavirus restrictions in the capital Manila until mass vaccinations start, his spokesman said on Monday, despite calls to ease curbs and revive the country's ailing economy.

Britain's foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Monday denounced torture, forced labour and sterilisations that he said were taking place against Muslim Uighurs on an "industrial scale" in China's Xinjiang region.

BANGKOK: The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) said on Monday (Feb 22) that levels on the vital waterway have "slightly" increased and it would look into why its outflow data from Chinese dams upstream differed from data later given by...

RAINI, India: Growing up in a remote tribal village high in the Indian Himalayas, Kundan Singh loved to play on a field by the sparkling Rishiganga river. The 48-year-old recalls afternoons there competing in sports tournaments, surrounded by forest...

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday (Feb 22) local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hot spots had been detected on the island of Sumatra.  The Southeast Asian country has suffered so...

BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers on Monday (Feb 22) tasked the bloc's top diplomat and its executive wing with drawing up a series of measures to target those responsible for the military coup in Myanmar, as people rallied in the streets of...

MUMBAI: Alarmed by signs that a second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic is building, India's richest state of Maharashtra ordered fresh restrictions on people's movement and imposed night curfews in some cities, though not in the financial capital Mumba...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian long-haul budget airline AirAsia X (AAX) has proposed a separate restructuring programme for its aircraft lessors that aims to tackle their concerns, citing a chance to recover rental losses, a document seen by Reuters shows. ...

A top Chinese official on Monday outlined plans to ensure only "patriots" run Hong Kong as Beijing seeks to neuter any remaining democratic opposition and take a more direct role in how the business hub is run.

GENEVA: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday (Feb 22) condemned the "brutal force" used by those behind Myanmar's coup and urged the military to immediately halt the repression and release prisoners. In his annual address to the UN Human...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam received China's Sinovac vaccine on Monday (Feb 22) together with top officials at a live televised event to bolster public confidence ahead of the vaccine's rollout in the global financial hub this week. Sin...

COX'S BAZAR: The United Nations refugee agency on Monday (Feb 22) called for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees who were adrift in their boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, many of whom were ill and suffering from extreme...

JAKARTA: The Indonesian capital of Jakarta could see more flooding and landslides this week as the meteorology agency predicted rains of moderate to heavy intensity to sweep through the city over the next few days. The rains will primarily hit Jak...

SINGAPORE: Indonesia's PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical has received a US$60 million credit line from Singapore's DBS Bank to help support the company's plan to grow export sales, Chandra Asri and DBS Bank said in a joint statement on Monday (Feb 22). ...

The Philippines has approved Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, but will not give it to healthcare workers at risk of exposure due to its varying levels of efficacy, its Food and Drugs Agency (FDA) said on Monday.

EU foreign ministers are expected Monday to approve sanctions against those behind Russia's crackdown on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his supporters, as well as those responsible for the coup in Myanmar.

YANGON: Protesters gathered in Myanmar’s biggest city on Monday (Feb 22) despite the ruling junta’s thinly veiled threat to use lethal force if people answered a call for a general strike opposing the military takeover three weeks ago. Despite r...

SYDNEY: The Chinese government has made an investment in BGI Genomics, a listed Chinese company that has supplied millions of COVID-19 tests globally as the gene firm seeks to fund exponential growth driven by the pandemic. BGI Group, which...

SEOUL: Doctors in South Korea have threatened a protest strike against legislation to strip them of licences following criminal convictions, sparking fears about possible disruption of a coronavirus vaccination effort set to begin this week. Healthc...

Donald Trump offered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One after a summit in Hanoi two years ago, according to a new BBC documentary.

TOKYO: Japan will only receive limited doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the first months of the inoculation rollout and shots for the elderly will be distributed gradually, the country's inoculation chief said. Pfizer, the maker of Japan's only approv...

SHANGHAI: A popular chain of Chinese tea shops has apologised for a range of cups and teabags sporting sexist slogans, after they sparked widespread outrage on the internet, the Shanghai Daily reported on Monday (Feb 22). Modern China Tea Shop, base...

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi called on the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to work with Beijing to reopen dialogue between the two countries to restore a bilateral relationship damaged under the presidency of Donald Trump.

A United Airlines 777 with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines landed safely at Denver International Airport on Saturday after its right engine failed.

Britain will on Monday (Feb 22) call for the United Nations to be given "urgent and unfettered" access to Xinjiang to investigate reports of abuses in the Chinese region.

US President Joe Biden must demonstrate resolve yet bolster communication channels with China and manage the signature of interactions with Taiwanese officials, says Ted Gover.

A call for a Monday (Feb 22) general strike by demonstrators in Myanmar protesting the military’s Feb 1 seizure of power has been met by the ruling junta with a thinly veiled threat to use lethal force, raising the possibility of major clashes.

New Zealand will use its platform as host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the coming months to seek a global approach to COVID-19 vaccinations that would eliminate tariffs on goods needed to fight the coronavirus.

NEW DELHI: Indian and Chinese troops have completed a pull-out from a lake area on their disputed border in the western Himalayas, setting the scene for disengagement at other friction points, the two countries said on Sunday (Feb 21). Thousands of ...

A sombre Buddhist funeral song rung out in Myanmar's capital as the body of a young woman, struck down during a rally against this month's military coup, was carried to a ceremony marking the end of her short life.

More than 100,000 farmers and farm workers gathered in India's northern Punjab state on Sunday in a show of strength against new farm laws, where union leaders called on supporters to amass outside the capital New Delhi on Feb. 27.

Five people were killed in the severe floods that submerged entire neighbourhoods in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, authorities said Sunday, as residents returned to clean their homes and salvage belongings.

Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka said she felt comfortable being a role model for the next generation after her fourth Grand Slam victory solidified her position at the forefront of a new era for tennis.

BANGKOK: Thailand is promoting cannabis as a cash crop for the country’s farmers as another source of income, a senior official said on Sunday (Feb 21). “Everybody has the right to grow marijuana by partnering up with provincial hospitals for me...

Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker by volume, on Sunday asked for patience from foreign governments awaiting their supply of COVID-19 shots, saying it had been directed to prioritise India's requirements.

South Korea will begin administering the first of 117,000 doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine on Feb. 27, a day after the country begins its first vaccinations with AstraZeneca's products, the prime minister announced on Sunday.

Fujifilm Holdings Corp will restart a clinical trial in Japan of its antiviral drug Avigan for the treatment of COVID-19, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.

TAIPEI: Taiwan's government said on Sunday (Feb 21) that it had confirmed three cases of the COVID-19 variant first discovered in Brazil, and that all arrivals from that country would undergo centralised quarantine from this week. Health Minister Ch...

A multimillion-dollar sailing yacht that once belonged to French tycoon Bernard Tapie has sunk off the coast of Malaysia, an official confirmed Sunday, after it caught fire a few days ago.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia moved up its COVID-19 inoculation drive by two days as the first batch of vaccines arrived in the Southeast Asian nation on Sunday (Feb 21). Malaysia aims to vaccinate at least 80 per cent of its 32 million people within a yea...

YANGON: Facebook on Sunday (Feb 21) deleted the main page of the Myanmar military under it standards prohibiting the incitement of violence, the company said, a day after two protesters were killed when police opened fire at a demonstration against t...

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic heads into Sunday's (Feb 21) Australian Open final unbeaten on eight previous occasions in the title match, but knowing he will need to be at his mental and physical best to overcome red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev. The Ser...

MANDALAY: Tens of thousands of opponents of Myanmar's military coup gathered again on Sunday (Feb 21) in towns from north to south, undeterred by the bloodiest episode of their campaign the previous day when police and soldiers opened fire in the c...

WASHINGTON: The United States is "deeply concerned" by reports that Myanmar security forces have fired on protesters and continue to detain and harass demonstrators and others, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in tweet on Saturday (Feb ...

Cut off from the outside world, with essential supplies curbed, fishing and agricultural communities in Johor could use more help, says Serina Rahman.

KUALA LUMPUR: For Mr Kap Ling Sang, a refugee from Myanmar living in Malaysia, the news that the military in his home country had seized power in a coup on Feb 1 created concerns and worries - about members of his own family who are still there an...

KUALA LUMPUR: The United Nations refugee agency said on Saturday (Feb 20) at least six people registered with it were among 1,200 Myanmar nationals to be deported by Malaysia next week, while the United States voiced alarm that the plan could put d...

TAIPEI: Taiwan's air force scrambled for a second straight day on Saturday (Feb 20) after a dozen Chinese fighter aircraft and bombers carried out drills close to Taiwan-controlled islands in the disputed South China Sea, the defence ministry in Tai...

BRUSSELS: The EU's foreign policy chief on Saturday (Feb 20) condemned increasingly deadly violence in Myanmar, after two protesters were killed as security forces fired live rounds, and said the bloc will "take appropriate decisions". "I strongly c...

SINGAPORE: The use of lethal weapons in Myanmar against unarmed civilians is “inexcusable”, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Saturday (Feb 20) after reports of two deaths in the city of Mandalay.   Myanmar's security ...

TOKYO: Japan's celebrations for Naomi Osaka's fourth Grand Slam title went into orbit on Saturday (Feb 20), with an astronaut tweeting congratulations from the International Space Station. Osaka's 6-4, 6-3 triumph over America's Jennifer Brady in th...

BANGKOK: Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Thailand's parliament after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and nine ministers survived a parliamentary no-confidence motion on Saturday (Feb 20) after a four-day censure debate. "It was a disappoi...

MANDALAY: Myanmar's security forces fired live rounds and rubber bullets at protesters in the country's second-largest city of Mandalay on Saturday (Feb 20), leaving at least two dead and about 30 injured.  Much of the country has been in an upro...

MANILA: The Philippines' health ministry on Saturday (Feb 20) reported 239 new coronavirus deaths, the second-highest daily increase in casualties since the pandemic started, and 2,240 infections. The previous daily high death toll was 259 deaths re...

Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli has revealed that he struggled with depression and felt like the "loneliest guy in the world" after failing with the bat during a tour of England in 2014.

Novak Djokovic says going unbeaten in eight Australian Open finals will give him confidence in Sunday's decider, but he'll need more than that to overcome "the man to beat" - red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev.

PHNOM PENH: An outbreak of coronavirus has hit the Chinese expat community in Cambodia, the country's Premier Hun Sen said on Saturday (Feb 20), a setback in the nation's otherwise successful containment efforts. The kingdom has so far fared well i...

Taiwan's government on Saturday granted emergency use authorisation for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, with shots expected to be administered at soon as within seven days of arrival.

Severe flooding across several areas in the Indonesian capital forced more than a thousand people to flee their homes on Saturday, with the country’s meteorology agency warning the conditions were set to continue for the next week.

Four retired Taiwanese military intelligence officers -- including a major general -- have been indicted for spying for China, prosecutors said Saturday.

Thailand's prime minister survives no-confidence vote

Opponents of Myanmar's coup took to the streets again on Saturday (Feb 20) with members of ethnic minorities, writers and poets and transport workers among those coming out to demand an end to military rule and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and oth...

Washington has urged the leaders of Myanmar's new military regime to refrain from violence and relinquish power, after the death of a young anti-coup protester sparked new anger against the junta.

Greta Thunberg on Friday tweeted her support for an Indian activist jailed over a guide for anti-government farmers protests, which the Swedish climate campaigner had earlier shared to social media.

The US and Japan will need to shore up their economic heft and pursue a shared commitment towards setting the rules on trade, says Titli Basu.

BANGKOK: Pan’s little face was pressed against the sliding glass door. He was balancing on his three legs, seemingly oblivious to the missing one the vet had taken away to save his life. Six months old, fluffy and mostly white, Pan was looking wi...

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that all Group of Seven leaders expressed their support for Japan's plan to hold the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

A Delhi court granted a police request on Friday (Feb 19) to extend the detention of climate activist Disha Ravi who they accuse of sedition for her alleged role in the creation of an online "toolkit" intended to help farmers protesting reforms.

AlphaTauri's new driver Yuki Tsunoda said on Friday (Feb 19) that his ambition was to be "the first Japanese driver to win a race in Formula 1".

TOKYO: Cooling water levels have fallen in two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant since a powerful earthquake hit the area last weekend, indicating possible additional damage, its operator said on Friday (Feb 19). New damage could furth...

Forty-six small whales stranded on a beach in Indonesia have died, after rescue efforts succeeded in saving three others, local officials said on Friday (Feb 19).

Strutting across a road junction in Myanmar traditional dress and wielding colourful paper parasols, Yangon's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) activists are stepping up to be part of a "revolution" against the military.

BEIJING: China is considering additional measures to increase its flagging birth rate, more than four years after ending its controversial one-child policy. For decades, China enforced strict controls on additional births in the name of preserving s...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's top health official said on Friday (Feb 19) the government had not politicised any coronavirus vaccine, as she sought to reassure residents worried about China's Sinovac, due to be rolled out in the global financial hub from ne...

SINGAPORE: Myanmar's refined fuel imports have stalled as protests over the Feb 1 coup have shut the banks and government offices necessary for trade, while depreciation in the nation's currency has driven up costs, four industry sources said. The ...

HANOI: Vietnam will receive 60 million COVID-19 vaccines this year, including 30 million under the WHO-led COVAX scheme, the health minister said on Friday (Feb 19) as the Southeast Asian country battles its biggest virus outbreak since the pandemic...

KUALA LUMPUR: Students in Malaysia will return to schools in phases, beginning with pre-schoolers as well as Primary 1 and Primary 2 students on Mar 1.  In a press conference on Friday (Feb 19), Senior Minister for Education Mohd Radzi Md Jidin sa...

BANGKOK: Hundreds gathered outside of parliament in Bangkok late on Friday (Feb 19), holding a demonstration that coincided with the censure debate against the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha by opposition lawmakers inside the buildi...