TOKYO: Coronavirus cases in the Greater Tokyo area are showing signs of creeping up, Japanese Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said on Friday (Mar 12), raising questions about whether a state of emergency can be lifted on schedule on Mar 21. The Japa...

BEIJING: China denied on Friday (Mar 12) it was planning to hit e-commerce giant Alibaba with a fine of almost US$1 billion for allegedly flouting monopoly rules, as authorities put the screws on the firm as part of a crackdown on the technology sec...

SEOUL: South Korea will suspend defence exchanges with Myanmar and ban arms exports to the country after a military coup and violent suppression of pro-democracy protests, the foreign ministry said on Friday (Mar 12). The ministry also said Seoul wo...

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Friday (Mar 12) holds the first-ever four-way summit with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan, ramping up efforts to cement alliances as concerns grow over a rising China. In a flurry of diplomacy, Japan a...

BEIJING: China's plans for electoral reform in Hong Kong, coupled with the imposition of a security law, amount to a "combination of punches" to quell unrest in the southern city, a top Beijing official said on Friday (Mar 12). Hong Kong was rocked ...

Myanmar activists held more rallies on Friday (Mar 12), a day after a rights group said security forces killed 12 protesters and as the lawyer of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi ridiculed new bribery allegations against her. Protests were held in Ya...

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and members of his cabinet cancelled on Friday plans to receive AstraZeneca vaccine shots after the country delayed use of the vaccines over reports of blood clots in some European nations, a health officia...

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday (Mar 12) condemned what he called "vicious hate crimes" committed against Asian Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, calling such acts "un-American" and demanding they stop. "Too often...

A Hong Kong court hears on Friday an appeal by about two dozen activists against a decision last week to deny them bail in a widely monitored case of 47 opposition figures charged with conspiracy to subvert the government.

China will "soon" hold its first trial for Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who have been held in China since late 2018 and who were formally charged with espionage in June 2020, the Global Times reported, citing an unnamed source.

South Korea will extend social distancing rules with a ban on private gatherings of more than four people in a bid to stamp out the possibility of a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Friday.

It may be premature to assume China’s outreach efforts to Myanmar and Southeast Asia will increase its influence in the region, says a researcher.

Myanmar's military is likely committing "crimes against humanity", the UN's top expert on rights in the country said Thursday, adding that at least 70 people had reportedly been "murdered" since the February 1 coup.

Malaysia on Thursday brought in a law to tackle fake news related to COVID-19 and the state of emergency imposed nationwide since January, with the threat of hefty fines and jail terms of up to six years.

A rumbling volcano on Indonesia’s Sumatra island unleashed an avalanche of searing gas clouds down its slopes during an eruption on Thursday (Mar 11). No casualties were reported.

Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees plunged into India's Ganges river on Thursday as the country kicked off one of the world's largest religious festivals, even as officials reported the biggest spike in coronavirus cases for three months.

The Chinese Olympic Committee has offered vaccine doses to be used for participants at this summer's Tokyo Olympic Games and next year's Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday.

China and the United States have common interests and many areas for cooperation and should strive for a healthy development in relations, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday.

The Philippines' health ministry on Thursday recorded 3,749 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase in cases in nearly six months, and 63 additional deaths.

BANGKOK: Northern Thailand is choking on toxic air. Its hills and mountains are ablaze with forest fires, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossing the hazardous threshold.  According to AQI readings by the Pollution Control Department, five north...

Pakistan on Thursday (Mar 11) blocked the popular social media app TikTok after a court order over a complaint that it ran indecent content, a spokesman for the country's telecoms regulator said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the country would continue to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) in trying to find the origins of COVID-19, in response to a question on U.S. criticism that it was not transparent in sharing data on early ca...

Knife-wielding men who stole hundreds of toilet rolls during panic-buying shortages in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in Hong Kong were jailed for more than three years on Thursday.

YANGON: Eight protesters were killed in Myanmar on Thursday (Mar 11) when security forces opened fire on protests against the Feb 1 coup, witnesses and local media said.  Six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when forces fired on a ...

BEIJING: China's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday (Mar 11) for changes to Hong Kong's electoral system including plans to grant Beijing veto powers over who gets to be nominated and elected to run the Asian financial hub, as leaders move ...

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia reported its first death from the coronavirus on Thursday (Mar 11) amid its biggest COVID-19 outbreak so far, after a 50-year-old man succumbed to the virus after testing positive less than two weeks ago. With 1,124 coronaviru...

Myanmar's military junta has removed Arakan Army (AA) insurgents from its list of terrorist groups because the faction has stopped attacks and in order to help establish peace across the country, state media said on Thursday.

TAIPEI: Taiwan's classic beef noodle soup has taken on a sweet and sour twist. Taipei chef Hung Ching Lung created a pineapple beef noodle soup at his eponymous restaurant Chef Hung, in what he says is a modest attempt to support Taiwanese pineapple...

KATHMANDU: Hundreds of climbers are set to return to Mount Everest for the first time next month under strict conditions, government officials and mountaineers said, as the world's tallest peak reopens after a year closed due to the coronavirus pande...

BEIJING: China has slammed a BBC report, days after summoning the British ambassador to Beijing to register displeasure over a recent article she penned defending press freedom. The Chinese embassy in London posted a statement on its website on Thu...

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has decided to halt its efforts to build a trans-Pacific undersea cable that would have connected California and Hong Kong, due to tensions between the United States and China. "Due to ongoing concerns from the US government ...

JAKARTA: A tourist bus plunged into a ravine on Indonesia's main island of Java after its brakes apparently malfunctioned, killing at least 27 people and injuring 39 others, police and rescuers said on Thursday (Mar 11). The bus was carrying a grou...

IWAKI, Japan: With a moment of silence, prayers and anti-nuclear protests, Japan on Thursday (Mar 11) mourned about 20,000 victims of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan 10 years ago, destroying towns and triggering nuclear meltdowns...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's High Court released on bail on Thursday (Mar 11) one activist charged with conspiracy to commit subversion but remanded another in a widely monitored case that saw the most sweeping use yet of the city's national security law...

BANGKOK: Thailand is considering an expansion of prison space as it arrests more political prisoners, the justice minister said on Wednesday (Mar 10). Somsak Thepsuthin said Bangkok Remand Prison and Klong Prem Central Prison, where most recently de...

South Korea will extend vaccination for people aged 65 years and older with AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to ramp up its immunisation drive, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a government meeting on Thursday.

SYDNEY: Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui is welcome to campaign on political issues in Australia and his arrival was not a matter for China, the chair of the Australian parliament's intelligence committee said on Thursday (Mar 11). In the fi...

NEW YORK: The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations called on Wednesday (Mar 10) for a "de-escalation" in the crisis in Myanmar, where the junta has pursued a violent crackdown against peaceful anti-coup demonstrators. "Now it's time for de-escal...

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday (Mar 10) imposed sanctions on two children of Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing and six companies they control in response to the military's Feb 1 coup and the killing of protesters since the takeov...

NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council unanimously called for a reversal of the military coup in Myanmar on Wednesday (Mar 10), strongly condemning the violence against peaceful protesters and calling for "utmost restraint" by the military. ...

US dependence on Taiwan's microelectronics supply chain may just be the thing keeping the peace in the Taiwan Strait, says a researcher.

With investors having pumped in billions, it comes as no surprise that pressure for an exit is mounting, say Joel Shen, Leong Chuo Ming and Gabriel Li of Withers KhattarWong.

Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin will travel to Japan and South Korea next week, in the first overseas and in-person trip by top Cabinet members of the Biden administration.

Google said on Wednesday it is reviewing recent advertisements run by a Myanmar military-backed telecommunications firm and has disabled some army-linked accounts on its services in the wake of the country's coup.

Pfizer Inc has told the Indian government it wants to produce its coronavirus vaccine locally if assured of faster regulatory clearance and freedom on pricing and exports, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Sri Lanka has invited the new foreign minister of Myanmar's junta to a regional meeting next month, sparking accusations on social media that Colombo is tacitly endorsing the military coup.

In a handful of South Korean hospitals, designated nurses are using specially designed syringes to squeeze extra doses of coronavirus vaccine out of each vial in a bid to stretch the still limited number of vials to cover more people.

BEIJING: China on Wednesday (Mar 10) accused a top US commander of attempting to "hype up" the threat of an invasion of Taiwan to inflate Washington's defence spend and justify its own military chicanery in Asia. The US' top military officer in Asia...

Japanese swim star Rikako Ikee will enter four events at next month's national championships, reports said Wednesday, as she vies for a Tokyo Olympics spot in her comeback from leukaemia.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a landmark ruling, Malaysia’s high court said on Wednesday (Mar 10) that Christians are allowed to use the word “Allah” in religious publications for educational purposes.  Three other words: Baitullah (the Arabic word for G...

South Korea has agreed to a 13.9per cent increase in its contribution to the cost of hosting some 28,500 U.S. troops for 2021, the biggest annual rise in nearly two decades, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Fortnite maker Epic Games launched legal action against Google in Australia on Wednesday, opening another front in its global fight against the stranglehold of tech titans on app marketplaces.

SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday (Mar 10) it will exempt business people working to secure supply of auto chips from two-week COVID-19 quarantine requirements and prioritise the vaccination of people key to auto chip procurement. The move comes ...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said on Wednesday (Mar 10) it was focused on preserving cash after it posted a record annual loss of HK$21.65 billion ($2.79 billion), caused by travel downturn, restructuring costs and fleet writedowns. ...

The families of athletes competing at the Tokyo Olympics could be barred from entering Japan to watch them, the Games president has suggested in an interview with local media.

WASHINGTON: An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar's junta will be paid US$2 million to "assist in explaining the real situation" of the army's coup to the United States and other countries, documents filed with the US Justice Department show....

BEIJING: Until recently, few people had even heard of the Chinese billionaire with a gruff reputation who built a fortune on China's seemingly unquenchable demand for his ubiquitous red-capped bottled water. But reclusive Zhong Shanshan has become A...

MINAMISANRIKU, Japan: For nearly a decade, a Japanese hotel has been giving bus tours to show visitors the history of the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan's northern Pacific coast in 2011. The 9.1 magnitude earthquake and the tsunami it...

YANGON: Myanmar security forces launched tear gas and surrounded hundreds of anti-junta protesters at two places in Yangon on Wednesday (Mar 10), witnesses said, prompting the US embassy to call for their withdrawal. In New York, the UN Security ...

BEIJING: China's factory gate prices rose at the fastest pace since November 2018 in February, official data showed on Wednesday (Mar 10), underscoring expectations for robust growth in 2021 as the world's second-largest economy gathers momentum. Th...

When Tokyo won the right to host the Olympic Games, enthusiastic buyers flocked to purchase luxury condominiums planned for the sprawling development that will house athletes during the event.

TAIPEI: A new magazine in support of Hong Kong's struggle for democracy is reaching out to the diaspora and those still living in the former British colony, offering unvarnished commentary from the safety of Taiwan where it is published. Taiwan has ...

SHANGHAI: China reported five new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday (Mar 9), down from eight a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Wednesday. The National Health Commission said all of the new cases were imported infections from o...

BANGKOK: Myanmar's military-controlled government is cracking down on coverage of mass protests, raiding media companies and detaining dozens of journalists since its Feb 1 coup. The crackdown comes as the military has escalated violence against m...

WASHINGTON: China could invade Taiwan within the next six years, as Beijing accelerates its moves to supplant American military power in Asia, a top US commander said on Tuesday (Mar 9). Democratic Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by ...

People barricaded in a Yangon neighbourhood overnight said on Tuesday (Mar 9) that Myanmar security forces searched their homes room by room for anti-coup protesters, targeting apartments flying the flag of Aung San Suu Kyi's party.

Spooked by tales of difficult resettlements, some Hong Kongers are having second thoughts about immigrating to the UK, says the Financial Times’ Louise Lucas.

Myanmar’s UN envoy Kyaw Moe Tun’s actions have sparked dissent among Myanmar diplomats, which could keep the coup high on the international agenda, says Dr Nehginpao Kipgen.

The Chinese government's treatment of Uighurs has violated "each and every act" prohibited by the United Nations' Genocide Convention, a report by dozens of international experts alleged Tuesday.

Twenty years after being blasted out of Afghanistan's rugged central highlands, one of the country's famed Buddha statues made a brief virtual return on Tuesday (Mar 9) night as a three-dimensional projection filled the alcove that hosted the statue ...

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will hold first-ever joint talks on Friday (Mar 12) with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan, boosting an emerging four-way alliance often cast as a bulwark against China. It will be one of the first summits...

India's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned the United Kingdom's high commissioner over what it called "unwarranted and tendentious discussion" of Indian agricultural reforms in the British parliament.

BEIJING: China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday (Mar 9) that it had summoned Britain's ambassador to Beijing to lodge stern representations over an "inappropriate" article she wrote defending recent international media coverage on China. Caroline...

The United Nations on Tuesday condemned the killing by Philippine police of nine activists in weekend raids against suspected insurgents and urged authorities to avoid rhetoric that could lead to human rights violations.

A UN scientific panel on Tuesday confirmed a previous finding that radiation from the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan was unlikely to raise cancer rates discernibly, and said a jump in thyroid cancer in children was due to "ultrasensitive" screening...

The Singapore Government will pay for the cost of vaccination.

Thai PM ends presser by spraying reporters with disinfectant

JAKARTA: Indonesia hopes that the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Singapore could potentially boost two-way investment by between 18 per cent to 22 per cent over the next five years, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Tuesday (Mar 9). T...

Kneeling before them in the dust of a northern Myanmar city, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare "the children" and take her life instead.

YANGON: An official from deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) died in custody after he was arrested early on Tuesday (Mar 9), a former member of parliament said. Ba Myo Thein, an MP of the dissolved upper h...

Taiwan's top court will rule on whether the island's current hunting regulations breach the constitutional rights of indigenous tribes in a long-running legal saga that is reaching its landmark conclusion.

India's federal government on Tuesday denied any shortage of coronavirus vaccine doses in a big northwestern state and said it was sending supplies around the country based on demand and consumption patterns.

SINGAPORE: Malaysian cargo drivers who deliver essentials such as fruits and vegetables to Singapore have welcomed the move by the Singapore Government to offer COVID-19 vaccinations.  With the vaccination, they hope that waiting time at the land...

Loyalty to China's Communist Party will be key to deciding if a Hong Konger is a "patriot", a senior Chinese official said Tuesday, as Beijing draws up new laws to vet the finance hub's politicians.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Top Glove Corp posted a record profit for the fourth consecutive quarter in the December to February period as continued demand for gloves globally boosted sales, the company said on Tuesday (Mar 9). Net profit soared 2,380 ...

BEIJING: China has launched a health certificate programme for domestic travellers, leading the world in plans for so-called virus passports. The digital certificate, which shows a user's vaccination status and virus test results, is available for C...

PUTRAJAYA: A North Korean man is set to be extradited from Malaysia to face money laundering charges in the United States after losing a final legal challenge on Tuesday (Mar 9). Mun Chol Myong, who has lived in the Southeast Asian country for a dec...

JAKARTA: Indonesia has approved AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, said the country's food and drug agency (BPOM) on Tuesday (Mar 9), after receiving more than 1 million doses of the vaccine a day before. The vaccine will be given to ...

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court on Tuesday (Mar 9) granted international human rights groups permission to challenge the recent deportation of Myanmar nationals, a major step in a country where the law bars immigration decisions from being questioned...

MANILA: Police killed a central Philippine city mayor and two of his aides, while two of the police officers were killed in the latest deadly violence involving the police force, officials said Tuesday (Mar 9). "I can only assume that this was a mis...

HONG KONG: Beijing's plans to change Hong Kong's electoral system will protect the city's international role, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday (Mar 9), as critics decry the move as an end of democratic hopes in the former British colony. De...

TOKYO: The starting ceremony for this month's Olympic torch relay will likely be held without spectators, a Japanese newspaper reported on Tuesday (Mar 9), but fans will still be able to line the route. The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that organi...

TOKYO: Japan's economy expanded at a slower than initially reported pace in October to December, with firms tightening spending on plant and equipment and sharply cutting inventories as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand. The slower growth was main...

TOKYO: When a huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on Mar 11, 2011, devastating towns and triggering nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima, a stunned world watched the chaotic struggle to contain the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. An o...

SHANGHAI: China reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Monday (Mar 8), down from 19 a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Tuesday. The National Health Commission said in a statement that all new cases were imported infections...

Semiconductors, responsible for microchips that power everything from computers to cars has been hit with a global shortage thanks to the pandemic. But the factors for this shortage are structural, says a Cambridge University visiting fellow.

JAKARTA: The urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, especially in terms of procuring medical supplies and rolling out social assistance packages, has heightened the risk of corruption, said a deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Comm...

BUCHEON, South Korea: It's 5.30 in the morning.  Most of South Korea is still asleep but a logistics hub in Bucheon city near Seoul is already buzzing with activity.  Delivery workers are sorting thousands of parcels, organising them by address...

YANGON: Hundreds of young Myanmar protesters who had been trapped by security forces in a district of Yangon overnight have been able to get out, activists said on Tuesday (Mar 9). This comes after calls from western countries and the United Nations...

The Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, said on Sunday that Beijing willing to communicate with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and hopes Washington will remove all "unreasonable" restrictions on cooperation as soon as possib...