SINGAPORE: Malaysia reported 19,819 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Aug 4), setting a new record for daily infections since the start of the pandemic. The Klang Valley accounted for more than half of the new cases - Selangor with the highest num...

BEIJING: China reported on Wednesday (Aug 4) the most new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since January as some cities stepped up restrictions, cut flights and increased testing to get to grips with an outbreak driven mainly by the Delta variant. ...

BANGKOK: The chair of Thailand's Thonburi Healthcare Group (THG) said on Wednesday (Aug 4) that a deal to import 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was unlikely to happen, despite his earlier claims that a deal was close. Thail...

South Korea posted a sharp increase in its coronavirus cases on Wednesday as it struggled to tame its fourth wave of infections amid the spread of new virus variants strains.

The gender disparity in India's COVID-19 immunisation drive has narrowed, government data showed on Wednesday, as pregnant women are now allowed to get their shots and authorities try to dispel rumours about fertility.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said he still commands the parliamentary majority, adding that he has received statutory declarations (SDs) from MPs who pledged their support.  In a televised address on Wednesday (Aug 4), ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was seen entering the national palace for an audience with King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Wednesday (Aug 4) morning, a day after the United Malays National Org...

Japan's Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said on Wednesday the country has entered a "new phase" in COVID-19 infections with a spike in Delta variant cases.

SHANGHAI: China should better protect minors from the dangers of the Internet, according to an opinion article in the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, published on Wednesday (Aug 4). The article follows the publ...

The gambling hub of Macau has launched a test programme for its 600,000 people after the Chinese-ruled city confirmed four new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, its government said in a statement on Wednesday.

Belarusian Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrived at a Japanese airport on Wednesday where she is expected to board a plane to Poland, after Warsaw offered the sprinter a humanitarian visa.

TOKYO: Throughout her open water career, Chantal Liew has faced doubts, obstacles and questions.  Why this sport? Why the sacrifice? Why the Olympics?  And in the shimmering waters of Tokyo Bay on a baking hot summer’s morning, she answered the...

18 months on, we have all the knowledge and tools needed to eliminate COVID-19 – it’s now a question of applying them, says William A Haseltine.

That Beijing is willing to administer a mortal blow on the US$100 billion private tuition industry shows how seriously it takes the problem, says the Financial Times' James Kynge.

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday (Aug 3) he was launching a "strategic dialogue" between the United States and Indonesia at talks in Washington with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. Blinken told reporters wh...

SINGAPORE: United States Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Singapore and Vietnam in a fortnight's time, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday (Aug 3), adding that such high-level visits to the region are "greatly valued". Ms Harris' v...

WASHINGTON: Vice President Kamala Harris will focus on defending international rules in the South China Sea, strengthening US leadership in the region and expanding cooperation on matters of security during her trip to Vietnam and Singapore, a senior...

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE: Bewildered investors in China's tech sector scrambled once again from regulators on Tuesday (Aug 3), fearing that a state media story that likened Internet gaming to opium signals a new front in the barrage of scrutiny that is bei...

KUALA LUMPUR: United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed on Tuesday (Aug 3) that he has gathered a sufficient number of statutory declarations (SDs) from party lawmakers who are withdrawing their support for Prim...

SEOUL: North Korea criticised Britain on Tuesday (Aug 3) for a plan to permanently deploy two warships in the Asia-Pacific region this year, calling it a "provocation". The plan comes as London steps up its engagement in Asia after expressing growin...

BANGKOK: China’s special envoy for climate change has defended the country’s plans for emissions reduction, while providing a preview of a soon-to-be-released strategic report on how it will reach a carbon emissions peak by 2030 and carbon neut...

JAKARTA: Indonesia will begin work on a 145 megawatt (MW) floating solar power project, the largest in Southeast Asia, after state power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and Masdar of the United Arab Emirates agreed financing for the project o...

HONG KONG: Swiss bank UBS was fined HK$11.55 million (US$1.5 million) by Hong Kong's securities regulator for failing to disclose its holdings in some companies covered in its research reports, the watchdog said on Tuesday (Aug 3). The Hong Kong Sec...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong online news outlet Initium announced it was relocating to Singapore on Tuesday (Aug 3) citing fading press freedoms, the first local media to quit the financial hub as authorities crack down on dissent. The announcement came the...

KOLKATA: At least 16 people have been killed and a quarter of a million people displaced from their homes after heavy monsoon rains lashed eastern India, officials said on Tuesday (Aug 3), as the air force joined rescue efforts. The latest deaths in...

TAIPEI: Chinese Taipei's defeat of China in the Olympic men's doubles badminton final has reignited nationalist anger on the mainland, sparking boycott calls and resulting in one celebrity losing a string of endorsements from a tea-maker to a sex toy...

HANOI: Vietnam is set to approve the use of Gilead Sciences's antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of patients who have contracted the coronavirus, state media reported on Tuesday (Aug 3). The Southeast Asian country successfully contained CO...

NEW DELHI: Female labour participation rate in India fell to 16.1 per cent during the July to September 2020 quarter, the lowest among the major economies, a government report said, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a widening job ...

North Korea wants international sanctions banning its metal exports and imports of refined fuel and other necessities lifted in order to restart denuclearisation talks with the United States, South Korean lawmakers said on Tuesday (Aug 3).

KUALA LUMPUR: A motion to debate and annul the emergency ordinances will be tabled in the parliament meeting in September, said Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. He said the process to repeal the ordinances, as the Cabinet had advised K...

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday (Aug 2) discussed China's "arbitrary detention" of two Canadian citizens. In a telephone conversation, the two leaders discussed Beijing's two-year detention of...

HONG KONG: One of Hong Kong's best known artists confirmed on Tuesday (Aug 3) that he had moved to Taiwan in search of "100 per cent freedom" from the government's crackdown on dissent. Kacey Wong's departure is the latest blow to Hong Kong's reputa...

MUMBAI :India's industrial hub of Maharashtra state eased COVID-19 restrictions in most districts on Tuesday, including in the financial capital of Mumbai, after a steady decline in new cases.

Japan will shift policy to focus on hospitalising patients who are seriously ill with the COVID-19 and those at risk of becoming so, officials said, to avoid strain on the medical system as cases surge in Olympics host city Tokyo and elsewhere.

The IOC said on Tuesday it was waiting for a report later in the day from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee on the case of sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, after launching an investigation into the incident that has rocked the Games.

ENOSHIMA: It’s been a journey that has taken them all across to the globe, through rough winds and sometimes stormy seas, but Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low’s effort shone through as they recorded Singapore’s best finish in a sailing event at the...

Authorities in Wuhan on Tuesday said they would test its entire population for Covid-19 after the central Chinese city where the coronavirus emerged reported its first local infections in more than a year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un requested that South Korea reconnect hotlines which Pyongyang severed a year ago, a South Korean lawmaker said on Tuesday after being briefed by his country's intelligence agency.

South Korea has detected its first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Tuesday, as the country battles with its fourth wave of infections nationwide.

In the year since making an unprecedented, taboo-breaking speech openly calling for discussion on the role of Thailand's powerful king, human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa has spent months in jail, charged with the crime of defaming the monarchy.

WASHINGTON: The United States said on Monday (Aug 2) that Myanmar's junta was playing for time with a two-year election timeframe as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to encourage ASEAN to appoint an envoy. Blinken is participating virtual...

Thinking it had COVID-19 under control, Vietnam was reluctant to enter the global vaccine market. Now it's behind in the queue even as cases rise, says this researcher.

From a persistent lack of financial resources to baseless accusations from the Philippine government, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz beat all odds to bag her country’s first Olympic gold medal.

Thousands more Afghans who may be targets of Taliban violence due to their US affiliations will have the opportunity to resettle as refugees in the United States under a new program announced by the State Department on Monday (Aug 2).

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced on Monday (Aug 2) that the current restrictions put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 will be extended until Aug 9. Several cities and regencies, including the Indonesian capital Jakarta, ha...

BANGKOK: Thailand will increase the number of people required to isolate at home with COVID-19 to 100,000, health officials said on Monday (Aug 2), as capacity in healthcare facilities dwindles amid a surge in cases driven by the Delta variant of the...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's health ministry reported 219 coronavirus deaths on Monday (Aug 2), a daily record, bringing the Southeast Asian country's total toll since the start of the pandemic to 9,403 deaths. The ministry also reported 15,764 new COVI...

BEIJING: The Delta variant poses new risks for the world's second-biggest economy as it spreads from the coast to China's inland cities and presents fresh challenges to authorities who have for months managed to avert any widespread outbreak of the c...

Hong Kong civil servants, teachers and healthcare workers must get vaccinated against COVID-19 or pay for regular testing, the city's leader announced on Monday (Aug 2), as her administration adopted a push into mandatory inoculations.

BEIJING: More than 300 people died in recent flooding in China's Henan province, authorities said on Monday (Aug 2), three times the previously announced toll.  The Henan provincial government said 302 people died and 50 remain missing. The vast m...

KUALA LUMPUR: The five-day special parliamentary meeting which began last Monday (Jul 26) was supposed to allow the Malaysian government to brief lawmakers about its COVID-19 response and pave the way for an eventual hybrid parliament sitting. Howev...

MANILA: The Philippines will extend a night curfew in the capital, Manila, amid a tightening of curbs in the Southeast Asian country to combat a potential surge in cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, a government official said on Monday (Aug 2). ...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's devastating second coronavirus wave, which saw the Southeast Asian country become the epicentre of Asia's COVID-19 outbreak, has peaked, its health minister said on Monday (Aug 2). Driven by the highly transmissible Delta varian...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's foreign minister urged Myanmar on Monday (Aug 2) to approve the appointment of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy and said little progress had been made on a plan to promote talks between Myanmar's ri...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's anti-corruption watchdog on Monday (Aug 2) charged a singer and prominent pro-democracy activist, Anthony Wong, with "corrupt conduct" at a 2018 election rally, the latest legal action against dissent by authorities in the city...

NEW DELHI: Two states in India's north-east have agreed to resolve their differences peacefully after their long-running border dispute erupted into deadly violence last week. Last Monday (Jul 26) clashes on the demarcation between Assam and Mizoram...

JAKARTA: A 5.9-magnitude quake struck off the coast of Indonesia's easternmost Papua region on Monday (Aug 2), the United States Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage. The quake hit at a relatively...

Kai Koyama was standing outside Tokyo's Olympic Stadium as fireworks burst overhead during the opening ceremony but unlike many of those around him he wasn't cheering, but protesting.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leaders including Mr Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Mahathir Mohamad gathered at the Merdeka Square on Monday (Aug 2), after they were blocked by the authorities from entering the parliament building. Monday’s special parl...

SEOUL: South Korea said on Monday (Aug 2) no decision has yet been made on its joint military exercises with the United States but they should not create tension, after North Korea warned the South against holding the exercises amid signs of a thaw ...

Tokyo Olympics organisers reported on Monday 17 new Games-related COVID-19 cases including one athlete, bringing the total number since July 1 to 276.

US shot putter Raven Saunders has risked disciplinary action after making the first podium protest of the Olympic Games.

On the one hand, Malaysia is embracing shifts bringing forth more renewables and electric vehicles. But on the other, it’s opening big oil facilities, says Renato Lima-de-Oliveira.

Foreign ministers from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are under pressure to appoint a special envoy to Myanmar this week after months of negotiations failed to find a consensus candidate.

Indonesia extended restrictions outside Java island by another week in efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus, local media reported on Sunday citing an interior ministry senior official.

China's world's number two Chen Yu Fei took badminton women's singles gold, beating Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying 21-18 19-21 21-18 in Sunday's final.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Sunday that if South Korea carries out a planned joint military exercise with the United States it will damage the resolve of the two Koreas to rebuild relations, state media KCNA re...

The International Olympic Committee does not plan to call for a moment of silence at the Tokyo Games on Aug. 6, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, instead aiming to honour it in the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony, organisers sai...

Thailand on Sunday extended tighter containment measures in the capital and high-risk provinces until the end of August, government sources said, to slow the spread of COVID-19 as the country deals with its biggest outbreak to date.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Sunday (Aug 1) reported 17,150 new COVID-19 cases - the country's fourth-highest daily tally to date.  The new cases have brought the national tally of coronavirus infections to 1,130,422, said health director-general...

2 rare Sumatran tigers recovering after catching COVID-19

The 430-metre glass-bottomed pedestrian bridge, designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan and opened in August 2016, was once the longest glass-bottomed suspension bridge in the world.

Cambodia will begin offering a booster shot against Covid-19, switching between the AstraZeneca and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to fight the spread of the coronavirus in the Southeast Asian country.

Chinese cities rolled out mass testing of millions of people and imposed fresh travel restrictions as health authorities battled Sunday to contain the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months.

TOKYO: South Korea's An San was ice-cool as she defied online sexist abuse to seal a hat-trick of gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, but the ace archer has been fighting discrimination since she was a child. An's three golds in three archery events ...

Afghan government forces struggled against Taliban assaults on several major cities Sunday as the insurgents stepped up a nationwide offensive that saw a key airport in the south come under rocket fire overnight.

Myanmar has endured six months of turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi's government and ended the country's decade-old experiment with democracy.

BANGKOK: Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday (Aug 1) again promised new multi-party elections and said his government is ready to work with any special envoy named by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He also saidÂ...

Bangkok: As COVID-19 cases surge in Thailand, some Buddhist monks are donning personal protective equipment over their distinctive robes, delivering oxygen cylinders, taking nasal samples to help with testing, and even helping carry the dead to the c...

BOGOR, Indonesia: Panas begitu menyengat saat empat sukarelawan dari gugus tugas COVID-19 setempat, berlapiskan alat pelindung diri lengkap, turun ke kawasan padat penduduk di Bogor, salah satu kota satelit Jakarta. Bermandikan keringat, dengan kaca...

BOGOR, Indonesia: The sun was blazing hot when four volunteers from the local COVID-19 task force, draped in full personal protective gear, descended on a densely populated neighbourhood in Bogor, one of Jakarta’s satellite cities.  Soaking in sw...

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually with Southeast Asian officials every day next week, a senior state department official said on Saturday (Jul 31), as Washington seeks to show the region it’s a US priority whi...

Top Indian and Chinese army commanders met on Saturday (Jul 31) after a gap of three months to discuss the expeditious disengagement of thousands of forces in a bid to ease the 15-month border tensions and clashes.

The mastermind behind a 2019 attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary troops has been killed in a shootout with security forces, Indian police in Kashmir said on Saturday.

The former member of Korean boy band EXO was accused earlier by a teenager of having sex with her while she was drunk. Wu denied the accusation.

Bishop: Albany diocese covered up priest abuse for decades

BANGKOK: A Thai hospital morgue overwhelmed by COVID-19 deaths has begun storing bodies in refrigerated containers, resorting to a measure it last took in a devastating 2004 tsunami, as the country grapples with its biggest coronavirus outbreak. Tha...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s special parliamentary meeting next Monday (Aug 2) will be postponed to a future date due to COVID-19 cases being detected in parliament, said the secretary of the House of Representatives. In a statement issued on Saturday...

SHIMULIA, Bangladesh: Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers rushed back to major cities on Saturday (Jul 31), besieging train and bus stations, after the government said export factories could reopen despite a deadly coronavirus wave. ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds of black-clad Malaysians staged an anti-government protest on Saturday (Jul 31) in defiance of a ban on public gatherings under coronavirus curbs, piling pressure on the embattled prime minister to resign. The mostly young pro...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's king extended a state of emergency in the eastern state of Sarawak until February 2022 to suspend regional elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Malaysia is under emergency rule nationally to prevent the spread of COVID-19 ...

BEIJING: China's worst COVID-19 outbreak in months has spread to two more parts of the country, health authorities said on Saturday (Jul 21), including a sprawling megacity of 31 million people. The National Health Commission reported 55 new cases...

Tokyo Olympics organisers on Saturday reported 21 new Games-related COVID-19 cases.

With the pandemic worsening, CNA looks back at how the situation unfolded from one that seemed to be under control, to record cases after the Idul Fitri holiday.

WASHINGTON: The first flight evacuating Afghans who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan brought more than 200 people, including scores of children and babies in arms, to new lives in the United States on Friday (Jul 30), and President Joe Bide...

SHANGHAI: China has opened the doors to what it bills as the world's largest planetarium, a slick new Shanghai facility showcasing the nation's recent extra-terrestrial exploits while notably downplaying those of space pioneers like the United States...

BEIJING: A reactor at a nuclear plant in southern China has been shut down because it is damaged, the operator said on Friday (Jul 30), but it insisted there were no major safety issues. Chinese authorities last month blamed minor fuel rod damage fo...

SINGAPORE: US Vice President Kamala Harris will make her first official visit to Singapore and Vietnam next month, the White House announced on Friday (Jul 30), adding that the trip is aimed at strengthening ties with "two critical Indo-Pacific part...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka announced Friday (Jul 30) it was ending its work-from-home option for civil servants, ordering all 1.2 million back to the office from Monday despite a surge in coronavirus infections. The island's top bureaucrat, PB Jayasundera, ...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police said on Friday (Jul 30) they had arrested a 40-year-old man for booing China's national anthem in a shopping mall broadcasting live the city's first Olympic gold medal win in 25 years earlier this week. More than 100 peop...