BANGKOK: Thailand has signed a purchase order for 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine develop by Pfizer and BioNTech to be delivered before the end of this year, its health minister said. Details of the deal, delivery time frame and the vaccine...

MANILA: The Philippines will exempt elderly people who have been fully vaccinated from stay-at-home orders to encourage more to get inoculated and help authorities meet COVID-19 immunisation targets, officials said on Friday (Jun 11). Seniors living...

Thailand is prioritising AstraZeneca Plc COVID-19 vaccines produced in the country for itself due to the severity of the pandemic there, which has delayed deliveries to Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday.

Hong Kong censors are to vet all films for national security breaches under expanded powers announced on Friday, in the latest blow to the financial hub's political and artistic freedoms.

NEW DELHI: Another spat between India's government and US big tech has exacerbated disillusion among firms which have spent billions to build hubs in their largest growth market, to the extent some are rethinking expansion plans, people close to the...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in was set to depart Friday for the Group of Seven summit in Britain where talk of countering China could overshadow Seoul's efforts to be seen as a bigger player on issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pande...

KUALA LUMPUR: United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has pleaded with the king to not extend Malaysia's state of emergency beyond Aug 1, its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said after an audience with the ruler on Friday (Jun 11).  The party also ...

SOMA: Tamio Hayashi, 77, doubted he could ever navigate the Internet systems set up to register for COVID-19 vaccines across most of Japan. He hated the idea of using the "troublesome" systems that have broken down and befuddled other older resident...

Beijing has broken its legal obligations by undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and used a national security law to "drastically curtail freedoms" in the global financial hub, according to a report by Britain on its former colony.

KUALA LUMPUR: Recent festive celebrations in Malaysia sparked 60 COVID-19 clusters involving 3,511 cases, the health ministry said on Thursday (Jun 10). From May 13 to Jun 10, authorities said 58 clusters linked to Hari Raya Puasa and two clusters ...

India began an inoculation drive for its 1.38 billion people in earnest in mid-January.

Myanmar military plane crash kills 12, including senior monk

Train travel has largely ground to a halt in Cambodia due to the coronavirus but railway fans can still get their fix aboard a stationary carriage converted into a hipster cafe.

China reported 22 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for June 10, slightly higher than 21 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Friday.

Even after Trump, facts are being used to push narratives, rather than to guide us to the truth, says the Financial Times’ Jemima Kelly.

WASHINGTON: A US senator on Thursday (Jun 10) slammed American companies, including Amazon.com, Apple and Nike, for turning a blind eye to allegations of forced labour in China, arguing they were making American consumers complicit in Beijing's repr...

JAKARTA: Indonesia reported 8,892 new daily coronavirus infections on Thursday (Jun 10), the highest number since Feb 23. The country has reported nearly 1.9 million cases in total. Data from Indonesia's COVID-19 taskforce also showed 211 deaths r...

BEIJING: China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday (Jun 10) that a US move to revoke the Trump administration’s executive orders intended to ban apps like TikTok and WeChat was a “positive step,” amid strained relations between the two c...

Japan's Toshiba sought government help to try and influence a boardroom vote proposed by activist shareholders at its last regular annual general meeting, according to an independent probe published Thursday.

KUALA LUMPUR: The investigation findings for the crash involving two trains on the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit (LRT) line on May 24 showed that certain critical procedures were neglected by the hostler and operation control centre.  Minister fo...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka announced an investigation on Thursday (Jun 10) into a possible oil slick reported off its west coast where a container ship is submerged after burning for 13 days. Coast Conservation Minister Nalaka Godahewa said local experts we...

Hong Kong's anti-discrimination watchdog slammed two prominent pro-Beijing politicians on Thursday (Jun 10) for recent comments warning that next year's Gay Games would "divide the city" and bring "dirty money".

TAIPEI: Taiwan's Medigen Vaccine Biologics said on Thursday (Jun 10) that it was seeking a speedy emergency use authorisation, or EUA, from the government for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate after safely completing phase two trials. Developing its ow...

MANILA: A delay in COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to the Philippines has forced some cities in the capital region to close vaccination sites, complicating Manila's efforts to ramp up its immunisation drive. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thu...

Hong Kong customs announced their biggest ever bust of a speedboat gang smuggling luxury goods into the mainland on Thursday, unveiling a haul that included watches, handbags and shoes, endangered animal parts, cosmetics, wines, whiskey and cigars.

SINGAPORE: The Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble will remain on hold even though the COVID-19 situation in Singapore has improved, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Thursday (Jun 10).  Authorities on both sides will review the situation ...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will allow children aged 12 and above to receive the BioNTech coronavirus vaccine as it seeks to boost immunisation rates in the city. Government officials said on Thursday (Jun 10) they will offer the vaccine to about 240,000 c...

Taiwanese rights activists on Thursday urged authorities to revoke a "discriminatory" ban on migrant workers going outside after a coronavirus outbreak spread to the island's lucrative tech sector.

AstraZeneca says it is working closely with Southeast Asia governments to ensure its COVID-19 vaccine is supplied "as quickly as possible", after reported delays in deliveries of orders from a Thai plant owned by the country's powerful king.

SEOUL: South Korean lawmakers are pushing for reform to reduce the military's judicial power after a female soldier who had suffered sexual abuse committed suicide, rekindling criticism of the military's handling of sex crimes. An air force master s...

JAKARTA: An adult male orangutan has been released into an Indonesian national park by conservationists and the government after he was caught eating a villager's coconut plants on Borneo island. As the orangutan habitat diminishes due to land use, ...

A Myanmar military plane carrying a senior monk crashed near the central city of Mandalay due to bad weather on Thursday, a junta spokesman said, with conflicting reports on casualties.

KUALA LUMPUR: More leaders of key Malaysian political parties met King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Thursday (Jun 10), the second day of a series of meetings called by the ruler. Thursday's meetings began with an au...

BENGALURU: An Indian state has raised its COVID-19 death toll sharply higher after the discovery of thousands of unreported cases, lending weight to suspicion that India's overall death tally is significantly more than the official figure. Indian ho...

Wild wind and flooding rain lash southeast Australian state

Protesters shot during rallies against Myanmar's military regime are avoiding treatment for their wounds, fearing arrest if they visit junta-run hospitals and searching desperately for sympathetic doctors to operate on them in secret.

New corruption cases have been opened against Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and two other former officials from her government, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said on Thursday.

Police in China arrested over 1,100 people suspected of using cryptocurrencies to launder illegal proceeds from telephone and Internet scams in a recent crackdown, the Ministry of Public Security said.

3-story building collapses in India in heavy rain, kills 11

At least nine people were killed when a five-storey building being demolished in South Korea suddenly collapsed, crushing a bus, officials said.

SEOUL: South Korea is considering plans to vaccinate workers at key businesses including chip and electronics firms to prevent disruptions to production, an official at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The labour ministry...

Outside class hours, Kim Kyung-wook delivers meals on foot to apartment blocks near his university in eastern Seoul, while constantly checking his phone to trade stocks, cryptocurrency and used Nike sneakers.

Youths, graduates and migrant workers are paying the price in Malaysia’s on-off movement control orders, says Stewart Nixon.

The European Union denounced on Wednesday Hong Kong's major overhaul of its political system as a breach by China of its international commitments and threatened to send a delegation to visit the autonomous city.

If the spread of COVID-19 continues at current rates it will be years before the virus is controlled in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday, as it called for countries to share excess vaccine doses.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued an internal directive calling for several initiatives to counter China, US officials said on Wednesday, but few specifics were provided on how they would be different from efforts already underway.

SINGAPORE: Eight out of 11 member states of the Southeast Asian Games Federation have objected to Vietnam's proposal to postpone the competition over COVID-19 fears, according to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). The SEA Games Federation Office...

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga lamented on Wednesday (Jun 9) drawing so much criticism for Japan's hosting of the Olympics with the COVID-19 crisis unabated, while a newspaper reported that local spectators may be allowed to attend.

An international medical charity warned Wednesday of "life-threatening" consequences for thousands of HIV and tuberculosis patients in Myanmar after it was ordered by the junta to stop work in a southern city.

JAKARTA: More than a dozen Indonesian McDonald's outlets were temporarily shuttered on Wednesday (Jun 9) over COVID-19 fears as the chain's new BTS meal deal sparked frenzied buying from fans in the K-pop mad country. Jakarta and several other citi...

The Chinese foreign ministry defended the value of cultural exchanges with Japan on Wednesday after Chinese intellectuals came under heavy attack from nationalists online for attending events sponsored by the Japanese government over many years.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has stoked a feud with boxer Manny Pacquiao by criticising his "shallow" foreign policy knowledge, after the senator and eight-division champion said that he found the leader's stand on the South China Sea was "la...

SEOUL: Nine people died and another eight were seriously injured after a building collapsed in southern South Korea on Wednesday (Jun 9), sending debris falling on a bus, local media said. Concrete from the building, which was being demolished at th...

DOHA: India's Sunil Chhetri on Wednesday (Jun 9) said that comparisons with Lionel Messi are misplaced after surpassing his tally of international goals, and added that he remains a huge fan of the Argentine star. Chhetri overtook Messi's total ...

COIMBATORE, India: Twenty-eight elephants have been tested for COVID-19 at a forest reserve in southern India, officials said on Wednesday (Jun 9), after the reported death of a rare Asiatic lion from the virus. In what is believed to be the first ...

Chinese researchers plan to study using a COVID-19 vaccine from CanSino Biologics as a booster shot for people who have already been inoculated with other vaccines, clinical trial registration data showed.

Japan is at a "turning point" for LGBTQ rights, campaigners said Wednesday, vowing to use the Tokyo Olympics as a catalyst for change as they called on lawmakers to approve an anti-discrimination bill.

India's retail inflation likely rose last month after a three-month low in April, lifted by higher food and energy prices, but stayed within the Reserve Bank of India's target range for the sixth consecutive month, a Reuters poll found.

JAKARTA: Indonesia on Wednesday (Jun 9) reported 7,725 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily number since Feb 26, bringing the total number of cases to 1.87 million, data from the country's COVID-19 taskforce showed. The task force also rep...

PUTRAJAYA: The number of new COVID-19 cases in Malaysia returned to above the 6,000 mark on Wednesday (Jun 9), said Malaysia’s health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah. The country reported 6,239 new infections as of noon, up from 5,566 ca...

Tourism-reliant Thailand expects about 3 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, tied to a phased reopening to vaccinated visitors later this year, the state tourism agency said on Wednesday (Jun 9).

When Olympics organisers shifted the marathon event from Tokyo to the northern city of Sapporo, they did so because of concerns about the intense summer heat in the Japanese capital.

HANOI: Vietnam plans to postpone this year's Southeast Asian Games, state media said on Wednesday (Jun 9), as the country grapples with a new virus outbreak. The regional Olympics are due to be held in Hanoi and 11 other locations - some of them at...

SINGAPORE: Malaysians abroad whose passports expire in 2021 will be given a two-year validity extension for free, the High Commission of Malaysia in Singapore said on Tuesday (Jun 8).  The decision by the Malaysia Immigration Department was made ...

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 Wednesday (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 note...

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 and Taiwan are expecting deliveries of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in Thailand to be delayed, officials said this week, the latest countries to report a holdup with orders from the Thai plant. The delay comes am...

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 Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah met several key political leaders including Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday (Jun 9). Mr Muhyiddin was the first leader to have an audience with...

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...