JAKARTA: Surging coronavirus cases in many parts of the world overshadowed the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Tuesday, with festivities curtailed by contagion fears.

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong newspaper linked to a spiritual group banned in China said Tuesday it would "never back down" after a gang of sledgehammer-wielding men ransacked its printing presses.

LAHORE, Pakistan: Thousands of supporters of a Pakistan Islamist party who blocked major roads to protest the arrest of their leader also disrupted critical oxygen supplies for Covid-19 patients, health officials said Tuesday.

The Philippines has deployed extra vessels to patrol the South China Sea where Chinese ships had been spotted at a disputed reef as tensions deepen between the two nations.

Late last month, foreign officials in army regalia toasted their hosts in Naypyitaw, the bunkered capital built by Myanmar’s military. Ice clinked in frosted glasses. A lavish spread had been laid out for the foreign dignitaries in honor of Myanmar...

TOKYO: Narita airport, near Tokyo, started on Tuesday trialing the use of facial recognition for international travellers, with no need to show passports or flight tickets after check-in.

Fifty-four people died and 373 were injured in 388 road accidents across the country on Monday, the third day of the Songkran road safety campaign, deputy permanent secretary for the interior Ansit Sampantarat said on Tuesday.

BEIJING: China's imports and exports boomed again in March, data showed Tuesday, reaffirming the recovery in the world's number-two economy continues apace and demand picks up in key overseas markets as they emerge from last year's virus crisis.

The government on Tuesday recorded 965 new cases of the novel coronavirus – all but nine of them locally transmitted – bringing the accumulated total since the start of the pandemic to 34,575.

PHITSANULOK: The body of a man reported missing three days earlier was found in the Nan River near Wat Chan Tawan-ok temple in Muang district on Monday afternoon.