BEIJING: China reported its first cluster of COVID-19 cases among workers in a meat processing plant, raising fears among local consumers who have until now mainly worried about the safety of imported foods. Ten confirmed cases were found in a facto...

Truck with quarry explosives blasts in India, killing 5

TAIPEI: Taiwan is under no illusions it can quickly sign a long hoped for free trade deal with the United States but feels when the time is right "success will flow naturally", the island's chief trade negotiator said on Friday (Jan 22). Taiwan has ...

TOKYO: Japan's Cabinet approved draft laws to toughen coronavirus restrictions on Friday (Jan 22), a move that could threaten rule-breakers with fines and prison sentences for the first time since the outbreak began. With just six months until the v...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's air accident investigator is probing whether a problem with the autothrottle system, which controls engine power automatically, contributed to the Sriwijaya Air crash on Jan 9 that killed 62 people, an official said on Friday (J...

BEIJING: It will take at least 15 more days to get through a massive amount of debris and reach miners already trapped for 11 days since an explosion in a gold mine in eastern China, authorities said on Thursday (Jan 21). The mine shaft is blocked 3...

CHONBURI, Thailand: Underwater divers in plastic-choked waters off the coast of Thailand snip through discarded nets tangled around a reef - a new initiative helping protect marine life and aiding the fight against coronavirus. The "ghost nets" dis...

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that he was determined to realise the Tokyo Olympics.

BEIJING: Beijing launched mass COVID-19 testing in parts of the city on Friday (Jan 22), while Shanghai was testing all hospital staff, as China battles the worst outbreak since March 2020. China reported a slight decline in new daily COVID-19 cases...

TOKYO: Suicides increased in Japan during 2020 after a decade of declines, with the number of women committing suicide surging amid the emotional and financial stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic even as fewer men took their own lives. Suicide h...

BEIJING: A new form of African swine fever identified in Chinese pig farms is most likely caused by illicit vaccines, industry insiders say, a fresh blow to the world's largest pork producer, still recovering from a devastating epidemic of the virus....

TOKYO: With much of Japan under a state of emergency due to a third wave of COVID-19 infections, organisers of the Tokyo Olympics will mark six months to go on Saturday (Jan 23) with little fanfare, no fireworks and amid rapidly dwindling public supp...

US military prosecutors have filed formal charges against Indonesian extremist Hambali and two others in the 2002 Bali bombings and 2003 Jakarta attack, the Pentagon said on Thursday (Jan 21).

JAKARTA: Indonesia has rolled out a mass COVID-19 vaccination programme with President Joko Widodo becoming the first person in the country to be inoculated last week.  The government is aiming at vaccinating two-thirds of the population to rea...

Strong earthquake shakes southern Philippines; no tsunami

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday that China has agreed to provide half a million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 free of cost to Pakistan by January 31.

PUTRAJAYA: A movement control order (MCO) in six Malaysian states and federal territories which was to expire on Jan 26 is to be extended to Feb 4, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Thursday (Jan 21). The affected areas are the states of ...

A fire broke out Thursday at India's Serum Institute, the world's largest maker of vaccines, but a source said production of the coronavirus vaccine was not affected.

The rotting carcass of a nearly 14-metre (46-foot) whale washed up Thursday on Bali beach popular with tourists.

Thousands of Mongolians have protested against what they say is the heavy-handed treatment of a coronavirus-infected mother and her newborn baby, prompting a wave of resignations by officials.

A Japanese court upheld a ban on dual citizenship on Thursday, rejecting a suit that challenged the measure's constitutionality and sought damages for those affected.

BANGKOK: A banned Thai opposition politician, who is facing a criminal complaint of defaming the monarchy, defended on Thursday (Jan 21) his criticism of the government's COVID-19 vaccine strategy that relies on a company owned by King Maha Vajiralon...

TOKYO: When the Tokyo Olympics were postponed last year, officials promised they would open in 2021 as proof of mankind's triumph over the coronavirus. But six months before the rescheduled start, victory over the virus remains distant, and fears a...

Barriers still enclose Wuhan's notorious seafood market - one of the few immediate reminders that the city was once the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic that has transformed the world.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka reopened to foreign tourists on Thursday (Jan 21) after a nearly 10-month closure that cut deeply into the Indian Ocean island nation's lucrative travel industry. Full operations also resumed on Thursday at the island's two intern...

Chinese rescuers drilled deep into the ground Thursday in an increasingly desperate bid to save 21 miners now trapped for almost two weeks, with one confirmed dead and still no signs of life from over half of the missing workers, state media reported...

The former president has come under fire after the US Capitol storming. While America prepares to turn a page on his term, Americans should be wary not to throw out policies the last administration got right.

The family of French-Irish teenager Nora Quoirin will challenge an inquest ruling that she died by misadventure after vanishing in the Malaysian jungle while on holiday, their lawyer said on Thursday (Jan 21).

Taiwan's relationship with its most important global backer the United States has gotten off to a strong start with President Joe Biden's new administration, after the island's de facto ambassador attended his inauguration on Wednesday (Jan 20).

SHANGHAI: Twitter has locked the account of China's US embassy for a tweet that defended China's policies in the Xinjiang region, which the US social media platform said violated the firm's policy against "dehumanisation". The Chinese Embassy acco...

BEIJING: China plans to impose strict COVID-19 testing requirements during the Chinese New Year holiday season, when tens of millions of people are expected to travel, as it battles the worst wave of new infections since March last year. The commer...

COVID-19 has turbocharged Malaysia’s already fractious politics – and that’s flowing into the country’s economy says this observer.

BANGKOK: As the Thai government races to secure more COVID-19 vaccines from various sources, a group of medical scientists is preparing for the first clinical trial of a home-grown cure they are developing to fight the pandemic. In April, they expe...

World leaders said they were looking forward to working with US Joe Biden, as the Democrat was sworn in as president after four turbulent years under Donald Trump.

India's government on Wednesday offered to suspend implementation of three new farm laws that have triggered the biggest farmers' protests in years, which farm union leaders said they would now consider calling off.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 4,008 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Jan 20), the country’s second highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic. Malaysia previously reported a record 4,029 cases on Jan 16 and has registered four-digit da...

China on Wednesday dismissed Washington's allegation that Beijing was committing genocide against Uighurs and other minorities as "outrageous lies" and "poison" in a rancourous epilogue to a combative period in relations between the superpowers.

BANGKOK: An ultra royalist group in Thailand launched a new political party on Wednesday (Jan 20) to defend King Maha Vajiralongkorn, amid unprecedented calls for reform of the monarchy by a youth-led protest movement. The Thai Pakdee (Loyal Thai) ...

Thailand's ministry of digital economy and society will file a criminal complaint of defaming the country's monarchy against banned opposition politician Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the ministry said on Wednesday.

South Korea may secure additional coronavirus vaccines for 20 million people from U.S. drugmaker Novavax Inc, President Moon Jae-in said, according to a statement from the presidential office on Wednesday.

DENPASAR, Indonesia: Foreigners caught not wearing face masks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali are being subject to an unusual punishment: Push-ups. Video footage circulating on social media this week shows tourists in T-shirts and shorts bei...

India started exporting coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday with the first shipment to the neighbouring Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the foreign ministry said.

BEIJING: A partial lockdown was imposed on the Chinese capital on Wednesday (Jan 20), with 1.6 million residents banned from leaving Beijing, after a handful of cases were detected. Seven cases were reported in the city on Wednesday, including six ...

Rescuers are widening a communication shaft in the hope of extracting a group of Chinese gold miners who have been trapped deep underground for 10 days in rising floodwaters, state media said Wednesday.

HONG KONG: A top British barrister has pulled out of leading a team prosecuting a group of prominent Hong Kong dissidents, the city's authorities said on Wednesday (Jan 20), following growing criticism in the UK. David Perry was announced last week...

Seven former and current bank employees have been arrested in Hong Kong as part of a major operation against a US$810 million international money-laundering syndicate, police said Wednesday.

THULASENDRAPURAM, India: A tiny, lush-green Indian village surrounded by rice paddy fields was beaming with joy on Wednesday (Jan 20) hours before its descendant, Kamala Harris, takes her oath of office and becomes the United States vice president. ...

Japan's top government spokesman said on Wednesday that the timeline for vaccinating the broader population against the coronavirus would be decided and disclosed to the public after the approval of a vaccine.

Japan aims to start vaccinating the general public against the coronavirus in May - just two months before the postponed Olympics - after targeted jabs for the most vulnerable, reports said on Wednesday (Jan 20).

SHANGHAI: Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma made his first public appearance since October on Wednesday (Jan 20) when he spoke to a group of teachers by video, easing concern about his unusual absence from the limelight and sending shares in the e-commer...

BEIJING: China's capital Beijing said on Wednesday (Jan 20) it will investigate all individuals who entered the city from abroad from Dec 10 and shut down a subway station after reporting the biggest daily jump in new COVID-19 cases in more than thr...

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee says Australia's plan to force digital giants to pay media outlets for news content is "unworkable" and undermines a "fundamental principle" of the Internet.

Like China, India will be looking to leverage the diplomatic benefit of its ability to manufacture vast amounts of the vaccines, says an observer.

KUALA LUMPUR: Traders in Kuala Lumpur and beyond who were anticipating a busy season in the lead up to Chinese New Year are now bracing themselves for potential losses, after the government again enforced a Movement Control Order (MCO) in almost a...

The United States declared Tuesday that China is carrying out genocide against the Uighurs and other mostly Muslim people, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dramatically raising pressure over Beijing's sweeping incarceration of minorities on his la...

Thai leader threatens punishment for false vaccine news

TOKYO: At least 134 cars were involved in a series of crashes in Japan on Tuesday (Jan 19) when a snowstorm struck a stretch of highway, with one person killed and a dozen hurt in the chaos. Ten people were taken to hospital, two of them seriously ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 14 new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday (Jan 19), as the government moved to expand its movement control order (MCO) to all states except Sarawak. The latest fatalities come amid a nationwide state of emergency as Malaysia...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's National Unity Minister Halimah Mohamed Sadique has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the fifth member of the Cabinet to be diagnosed with the disease.  She will undergo treatment and quarantine in Johor Bahru.  In a...

China is using localised tactics to battle a wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, an approach that avoids the sort of widespread shutdowns that devastated the economy last year but is also sowing uncertainty ahead of the Lunar New Year travel season.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Tuesday (Jan 19) that all states in Malaysia, with the exception of Sarawak, will be placed under Movement Control Order (MCO) from this Friday. In a press conference, Mr Ismail...

Thailand’s government defended its coronavirus vaccine strategy on Tuesday against opposition criticism that it is too reliant on a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

TAIPEI: Taiwan on Tuesday (Jan 19) cancelled a major festival during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday as the island reported four locally transmitted cases of COVID-19, the biggest daily rise in local infections in nearly 11 months. Taiwan, wh...

Medical experts say the South Korea governent is not taking the steps necessary to achieve its goal of reaching herd immunity to the coronavirus through mass vaccinations by November.

Four UNICEF schools for Rohingya children in refugee camps in Bangladesh have been destroyed in a fire, officials said Tuesday, with the UN children's agency calling it arson.

BEIJING: Profit at state-owned companies that dominate China's banking, oil and most other industries rose by as much as 25 per cent last year as the country recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, the government said on Tuesday (Jan 19). Total rev...

Social media was abuzz Tuesday after India secured a historic fourth Test and series win over Australia by three wickets after a thrilling final day.

Thai court gives record 43-year sentence for insulting king

Philippine students and activists protested on Tuesday against a government decision to allow security forces to patrol the campuses of the country's biggest university after authorities accused it of being a breeding ground for communist rebels.

An out-of-control dumper truck crushed fifteen people to death as they slept by the roadside early Tuesday in western India, authorities said.

Warriors rally from 14 down in 4th, beat Lakers 115-113

MANILA: The Philippines is now free of the highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu virus, the Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday (Jan 19), citing a declaration by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). "As of Jan 8, the country is now free ...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's air accident investigator is still hoping to recover the cockpit voice recorder from a crashed Sriwijaya Air jet to better understand information obtained from the flight data recorder, an official said on Tuesday (Jan 19). The ...

MAMUJU, Indonesia: Relief workers worked to clear up rubble of collapsed buildings on Tuesday (Jan 19) on an Indonesian island where a deadly earthquake left thousands of people homeless. The 6.2 magnitude earthquake on Friday that killed at least 8...

BEIJING: Rescuers are in telephone contact with workers trapped for more than a week following an explosion in a gold mine in China and have been able to send them food and medicine, an official said on Tuesday (Jan 19). Chen Fei, the mayor of the ...

HSINCHU, Taiwan: Taiwanese troops using tanks, mortars and small arms staged a drill on Tuesday (Jan 19) aimed at repelling an attack from China, which has increased its threats to reclaim the island and its own displays of military might. “No m...

As Vietnam's ruling Communist Party gears up for its most important meeting in years, its leadership has presided over an intensified crackdown on dissent, according to rights groups, activists and data collated by Reuters.

TOKYO: Yuichiro welled up as he collected a food parcel at a Tokyo outreach event offering help to the growing number of Japanese pushed into poverty by the COVID-19 pandemic. "There is no work. Absolutely none," said the 46-year-old, until recently...

Pakistan on Monday approved the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, a government statement said, two days after AstraZeneca's vaccine developed with Oxford University received a similar authorization.

TOKYO: Japan's foreign minister accused South Korea on Monday (Jan 18) of worsening already strained ties by making "illegal" demands for compensation for the sexual abuse of Korean women and use of forced labourers during World War II. Toshimitsu M...

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday the government will extend social distancing measures due to expire this week as the city remains on heightened alert after the number of COVID-19 infections climbed back into triple digits.

SHANGHAI: China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for a seventh day on Tuesday (Jan 19) in the worst domestic outbreak since March last year, with one northeastern province seeing a record daily increase. Mainland China posted 118 new cases ...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday (Jan 18) he would not stop Filipinos from getting shots of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech, despite reports in Norway of deaths among frail elderly people after being inoculated.

Myanmar on Monday announced it was cancelling contracts with a Thai industrial giant to work on a controversial deep sea port project.

Japanese doctors have detected a fast-spreading variant of the new coronavirus first discovered in Britain in three people who had not travelled there, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

Nearly three million people were put under lockdown in China Monday after a surge in coronavirus cases linked to a travelling salesman in the country's northeast.

Lunar rocks retrieved by a historic Chinese mission to the moon weighed less than initially targeted, but China is still willing to study the samples with foreign scientists, the mission's spokesman said on Monday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong reported 107 new COVID-19 cases on Monday (Jan 18), the highest toll in nearly a month as authorities tested thousands of residents after an outbreak in an old residential building located in a busy commercial and residential are...

BEIJING: US officials who have engaged in "nasty" behaviour over Chinese-claimed Taiwan will face sanctions, China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday (Jan 18), after Washington lifted curbs on exchanges between US and Taiwanese officials. Ties have w...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced a new economic assistance package worth RM15 billion (US$3.7 billion) on Monday (Jan 18) to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.  In a televised address, Mr Muhyiddin said the p...

SEOUL: A South Korean court sentenced Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee to two and a half years in prison on Monday, which could delay the group's ownership restructuring following the death of Lee's father in October. The ruling als...

BEIJING: Twelve out of 22 workers trapped for a week by an explosion in a gold mine are alive, Chinese state media said on Monday (Jan 18), as hundreds of rescuers worked to bring them to safety. The Xinhua News Agency said Monday a note passed thro...

MANILA: Coronavirus infections in the Philippines have surged past 500,000 in a new bleak milestone, with the government facing criticism for failing to immediately launch a vaccination program amid a global scramble for COVID-19 vaccines. The Depa...

The de facto chief of South Korea's Samsung business empire was convicted on Monday (Jan 18) over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two-and-a-half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decision-maker.

SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday (Jan 18) that US President-elect Joe Biden should hold talks with North Korea to build on progress that President Donald Trump had made with leader Kim Jong Un. Biden takes office on Wednesday...

SHANGHAI: Chinese conservationists have criticised a plan to dam a key flood outlet for the Yangtze river, the Poyang lake, fearing a hammer blow for an already fragile ecosystem, a rest area for migratory birds and home of the endangered Yangtze ri...

MAMUJU, Indonesia: Aid packages were handed out on Monday (Jan 18) to thousands of people left homeless and struggling after an earthquake killed at least 81 people on an Indonesian island. More rescuers and volunteers were deployed to the hard...

BEIJING: China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of a major holiday season. The National Health Commission said in a sta...

TOKYO: Major firms including Sony, Panasonic and Nissan on Monday (Jan 18) urged the Japanese government to make its 2030 renewable energy target twice as ambitious. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last year set a 2050 deadline for Japan to become ca...

SEOUL: North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament has passed decisions made by a major ruling party meeting where leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent and established plans to salvage a dismal economy. The North’s Korean Central ...