SINGAPORE: Singapore and Hong Kong on Monday (Apr 26) announced that a long-delayed air travel bubble between the two cities is set to launch on May 26, after it was deferred last year following a spike in COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong. Under the trav...

New COVID-19 restrictions came into force in Thailand on Monday (Apr 26) to try to halt a spiralling outbreak that saw deaths hit a record single-day high over the weekend.

Thailand has suspended issuing travel documents from India over concerns of imported COVID-19 cases, as more venues were closed in Bangkok on Monday (Apr 26) as part of efforts to contain a third wave of infections in the country.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian health authorities on Monday (Apr 26) said the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca is safe for use, three days after the Southeast Asian nation received its first batch of the shots bought through the global COVAX facility. Some...

BEIJING: Beijing-born Chloe Zhao was scrubbed from Chinese social media on Monday (Apr 26) as a nationalist backlash airbrushed out her remarkable achievement of becoming the first woman of colour to win the best director Oscar. Zhao on Sunday night...

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday (Apr 26) expressed his condolences to the families of 53 crew members aboard the sunken KRI Nanggala 402 submarine.  The submarine was found on Sunday broken into three parts at the bottom of the...

Anti-coup activists on Monday (Apr 26) called for people to stop paying their electricity bills and agricultural loans, and keep their children away from school, scorning the top general's pledge at a regional summit to end the post-coup crisis. Sca...

BENGALURU: India on Monday (Apr 26) set a global record for a rise in daily coronavirus cases for a fifth straight day, while deaths from COVID-19 also jumped by an all-time high over the last 24 hours. With 352,991 new cases, India's total caseload...

TOKYO: Japan's ruling party suffered a triple blow at by-elections over the weekend, as voter frustration with scandals and government management of the coronavirus risked weakening the influence of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government. Suga's...

SINGAPORE: Singapore and Hong Kong have agreed to set May 26 as the launch date of their travel bubble, both cities announced on Monday (Apr 26). Stricter conditions will be introduced for the travel bubble's resumption. This includes travellers ha...

BENGALURU: The Indian government asked social media platform Twitter to take down dozens of tweets, including some by local lawmakers, that were critical of India's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, as cases of COVID-19 again hit a world record. ...

HONG KONG: Chinese property developers have turned their sights to Hong Kong's border districts as mainlanders from neighbouring boomtown Shenzhen consider parts of the former British colony as a more affordable long-term housing prospect. The devel...

The China-born filmmaker behind Nomadland is the first Asian woman and second woman ever to win best director at the Academy Awards.

STOCKHOLM: Military expenditure worldwide rose to nearly US$2 trillion in 2020, defying the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers said on Monday (Apr 26). Global military spending increased by 2.6 per cent to US$1,981 billion in 2020...

A leading contender to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor this fall has called for “dialogue and toughness” toward China when it comes to defending democratic values and human rights.

SINGAPORE: Singapore state investment firm Temasek said on Sunday (Apr 25) that medical equipment, including much-needed oxygen-related supplies, are being sent from Singapore as India faces a surge in COVID-19 cases. Four cryogenic oxygen cylind...

BALI: All 53 crew members on board a sunken Indonesian submarine have been confirmed dead, with debris of the vessel found, said Indonesia's military chief on Sunday (Apr 25).  Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said search teams had received "vis...

GUANYUN, China: Americans like their lingerie to be risque, Europeans prefer it more classy, and Chinese remain a bit shy but are opening up. But the biggest order of all came from North Korea. So goes the street-corner discussion in Guanyun, a sle...

ISKANDAR PUTERI, Johor: A move to allow Malaysian workers in Singapore who have received their COVID-19 vaccine to return home is being studied, said a Johor official on Sunday (Apr 25). Mohd Izhar Ahmad, chairman of the Johor Investment, Enterpren...

MELBOURNE: Conflict with China over Taiwan "should not be discounted", but Australia will work with its allies in the region to try and maintain peace, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said on Sunday (Apr 25). "I don't think it (conflict) sh...

BANGKOK: Thai authorities are stepping up travel restrictions and other measures to combat a rapidly spreading third wave of COVID-19 infections as the country logged 11 deaths on Sunday (Apr 25), a daily record. Although Thailand had success in lim...

MANILA: The Philippine coast guard is conducting drills in the South China Sea which an official said on Sunday (Apr 25) were part of efforts to secure "our maritime jurisdiction" over the disputed waters. The exercises near the Philippine-occupied...

India on Sunday reported a record daily rise of 349,691 new coronavirus infections, taking its overall tally to 16.96 million infections.

BALI: The hunt for a missing Indonesian submarine with 53 crew turned into a salvage effort Sunday (Apr 25) after recovered debris suggested it broke apart as it sank off the coast of Bali. Warships, planes and hundreds of military personnel had le...

TOKYO: The Japanese government is planning to open large vaccination centers in Tokyo and Osaka in the coming weeks to administer shots in a bid to speed up its inoculation drive, local media reported on Sunday (Apr 25). Japan only started vaccinati...

Myanmar's shadow government of ousted lawmakers has welcomed a call by Southeast Asian leaders for an end to "military violence" after their crisis talks in Jakarta with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.

The market for health and beauty products in the country is soaring. But there have also been concerns about bogus and misleading claims, so how safe and effective are these supplements? The programme Undercover Asia investigates.

Despite official warnings to users, the new audio-based social media app has gained much popularity in Thailand. Can the Government use the app to reach out to opponents, asks a Thai professor.

SINGAPURA: Pusat penjaja Lorong 4 Toa Payoh yang terletak di Singapura terkenal dengan makanan jalanan yang murah dan enak seperti mi Hokkien, mi kuay chap dan mi wantan.  Namun dalam tempoh beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini, pengunjung mempunyai sat...

Sasqia Dahuri’s dishes have garnered praise from her customers, particularly Malaysians based in Singapore craving for the taste of traditional Kelantanese cuisine.

India's Bharat Biotech said on Saturday that it will supply Covaxin directly to state governments at 600 rupees per dose, while it will supply the vaccine directly to private hospitals at 1,200 rupees per dose.

SINGAPORE: Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed on the need for an immediate stop to the violence in Myanmar after an emergency meeting in Jakarta on Saturday (Apr 24). The meeting, chaired by Brunei Sultan Hass...

GENEVA: A first case of the coronavirus variant contributing to the exploding COVID-19 outbreak in India has been detected in Switzerland, the public health authority said on Saturday (Apr 24). "The first case of the Indian variant of COVID-19 has ...

At least eight workers were killed and hundreds were rescued after an avalanche struck a remote Himalayan region near the China border in northern India, officials said Saturday.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian artist was detained by police late on Friday (Apr 23) for allegedly insulting the country's queen by making a Spotify playlist that mocked comments on the queen's Instagram account, an arrest condemned by rights groups as a ...

Nepal on Saturday inaugurated a replica of a historic tower that collapsed in a devastating 2015 earthquake, a day before the disaster's sixth anniversary.

India's coronavirus infections rose by 346,786 overnight, the health ministry said on Saturday, setting a new world record for the third consecutive day, as overwhelmed hospitals in the densely-populated country begged for oxygen supplies.

SINGAPORE: Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has said he is not opposed to a visit by a delegation from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to help resolve the crisis in the country.  This came out of a meeting among leaders of A...

Malaysia received 268,800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines on Friday night, its first batch from the pharmaceutical company, state news agency reported on Saturday.

Legs stiff from long days in the rice terraces of northern Vietnam, scores of female farmers dressed in colourful cloth headbands and skirts gather on a gravel pitch for a game of football.

BALI: There is evidence that the missing Indonesian KRI Nanggala 402 submarine has sunk, while objects have been recovered, said military chief Hadi Tjahjanto on Saturday (Apr 24).  Speaking at a press conference, he said: “The navy has found ...

Cambodia closed all markets in the capital Phnom Penh on Saturday to contain a spike in coronavirus infections as thousands of families plead for food during a two-week lockdown.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's police on Saturday (Apr 24) arrested a member of parliament in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks that killed 279 people as pressure to speed up the investigation mounted. Detectives took Rishad Bathiudeen, leader ...

NEW DELHI: India's daily COVID-19 death toll passed a new record on Saturday (Apr 24) as the government battled to get oxygen supplies to hospitals overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of new daily cases. Queues of COVID-19 patients and their ...

A spokesperson for the Xinjiang region called accusations of genocide “counter to the facts” as China came under more pressure this week over its treatment of the Uighur ethnic group in the remote border area.

BANGKOK: Thailand curbed shop operating hours on Saturday (Apr 24) after the country recorded another record daily rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths amid a third wave of the pandemic. Shopping malls in 18 risky provinces, including in the capital Ba...

JAKARTA: Southeast Asian leaders held Myanmar crisis talks on Saturday (Apr 24) with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing who has become the focus of international outrage over a military coup and crackdown that has left more than 700 dead. The meeting of t...

BALI: Hopes of rescuing dozens aboard a missing Indonesian submarine faded Saturday (Apr 24) as its oxygen reserves were believed to have run out, turning the focus to retrieving the stricken vessel from waters off Bali. As hundreds of military per...

Former president Donald Trump on Friday accused his South Korean counterpart of ripping off the United States, while continuing to highlight his supposed friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Nationalist Chinese bloggers resemble militias arguing with one another which is what makes this a more complex battlefield than it appears, says the Financial Times’ Yuan Yang.

ASEAN must balance competing challenges in order to arrive at a meaningful outcome at the Special Summit, says Moe Thuzar.

US President Joe Biden’s early foreign policy offers promise, showing discipline, a focus on Asia and pressing issues on trade, taxation and more. The key question is whether this will last, says Dr Prashanth Parameswaran.

A new industrial boom is bringing high-tech investments to eastern Thailand. But in this drought-prone landscape, is there enough water to go around?

HONG KONG: A former member of a now defunct Hong Kong independence group was jailed on Friday (Apr 23) for possessing explosives during protests that swept the financial hub nearly two years ago. Louis Lo, 29, pleaded guilty to storing TATP, a high-...

LONDON: The West must urgently act to ensure that China does not dominate the key technologies of the 21st century or the communist state could effectively grab control of the world's global "operating system", Britain's top cyber spy said. Britain'...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong is to grant a site on the western Kowloon peninsula, close to the high-speed railway to the mainland, to Beijing's national security office for its permanent base in the city, the government said on Friday (Apr 23). The office, ...

Beijing on Friday (Apr 23) criticised British MPs after they approved a symbolic parliamentary motion declaring that Uighur Muslims in China were "suffering crimes against humanity and genocide", calling the accusations a "big lie".

YANGON: Protesters marched through downtown Yangon on Friday (Apr 23) to demand that regional leaders "stand with Myanmar people", ahead of a weekend ASEAN summit attended by junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. The country has been in turmoil since Feb 1...

SYDNEY: Australia's diving team said it was "not safe" to travel to Japan as they withdrew from a Tokyo Olympics test event on Friday (Apr 23) just three months before the pandemic-postponed Games begin. The Diving World Cup was set to take place fr...

TOKYO: Japan announced a new COVID-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday (Apr 23), as the country battles surging infections just three months before the Olympic opening ceremony. The nation's virus outbreak remains much s...

Japanese car giant Honda said on Friday (Apr 23) that it would aim to have electric and fuel cell vehicles account for 100 per cent of all sales by 2040 to promote climate goals.

TOKYO: Japan is singling out alcohol consumption in bars and restaurants in a new state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures, a response that highlights experts' belief that alcohol can help accelerate transmission of COVID-19. Th...

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will travel to Jakarta on Saturday (Apr 24) to attend a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), where the crisis in army-ruled Myanmar is set to be discussed. Leaders at the ...

NEW DELHI: India is reeling from a new COVID-19 surge, stretching hospitals to the limit with dire shortages of beds, oxygen and drugs as more than 2,000 people die daily. Here's a look at the reasons for the vicious new wave and why the healthca...

BANYUWANGI, Indonesia: The past few days have been trying times for Mdm Yayak Dwi Ernawati, 46.  Her son-in-law, Mr Pandu Yudha Kusuma, 23 is among those serving on board the missing KRI Nanggala 402 submarine.  In an interview with CNA on Friday...

JAKARTA: Indonesia will stop issuing visas for foreigners who have been in India in the past 14 days to prevent the spread of different coronavirus strains, a government minister said on Friday (Apr 23). India is facing a health crisis, including t...

TOKYO: Japan will hold a joint military drill with United States and French troops in the country's southwest next month, the defence minister said on Friday (Apr 23), as China's actions in regional waters raise concern. The exercise, running from M...

MANILA: The Philippines has sent two new diplomatic protests to China over its failure to withdraw what it called on Friday (Apr 23) "threatening" vessels that were massing in contested areas of the South China Sea. The Philippines has ramped up its...

NEW DELHI: Sirens wailing, a police convoy escorting a tanker carrying oxygen reached a hospital in India's capital just in time, to the huge relief of doctors and relatives of COVID-19 patients counting on the supply to stave off death. India on Fr...

BENGALURU: India recorded the world's highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Friday (Apr 23), while daily deaths from COVID-19 also jumped by a record. With 332,730 new cases, India's total caseload has now passed 16 m...

Southeast Asian summit to address Myanmar's post-coup crisis

JAKARTA: An Indonesian military spokesman said 25 ships have joined the search for an Indonesian submarine which went missing during a military exercise, as more ships were on their way to the scene. Military spokesman Major-General Achmad Riad t...

SEOUL: South Korea on Friday (Apr 23) granted conditional approval to allow the public to use two coronavirus self-test kits for the first time, as a surge in infections rekindled calls to step up testing.  The decision comes as South Korea grapple...

MUMBAI: As India's daily coronavirus cases set global records, people desperately searching for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders are finding help on social media. But for others like Ruby Yadav, who has never heard of Twitter, time and hope is runn...

WASHINGTON: The United States military will send airborne teams to help Indonesia search for a submarine that went missing with 53 sailors aboard, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday (Apr 22). Kirby said the US Defense Department was "dee...

TOKYO: Japan will declare "short and powerful" states of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures on Friday as the country struggles to contain a resurgent pandemic just three months ahead of the Olympics. Under a new state of emergency ...

Viral photos of crowds gathered at Ramadan bazaars across the country have sparked concern, but vendors maintain that all will be well if health protocols are adhered to.

Jokowi’s decision to convene a summit specifically to deal with the Myanmar issue is a marked departure from ASEAN’s indirect and informal diplomacy, says an analyst.

The belligerence displayed in recent years by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been called “wolf warrior” diplomacy, but a more accurate characterisation may be “internet troll” diplomacy, says a China observer.

The United States voiced solidarity on Thursday (Apr 22) with Australia, saying it suffered from China's "coercive" diplomacy, after the US ally angered Beijing by scrapping a major infrastructure deal.

Afghanistan’s military “will certainly collapse” without some continued American support once all US troops are withdrawn, the top US general for the Middle East told Congress on Thursday (Apr 22). 

A weekend summit on the Myanmar coup crisis will be a test for ASEAN's credibility and unity, a senior Thai official said on Thursday (Apr 22), amid an escalating death toll and violence across its western border.

South Korea will stop funding coal-powered plants overseas, President Moon Jae-in told a US-led summit Thursday, as he vowed a larger role in fighting climate change.

A Norwegian climber hoping to summit Everest confirmed Thursday that he has tested positive for Covid-19, in a blow to Nepal's hopes for a bumper mountaineering season on the world's highest peak.

SHANGHAI: China will start to phase down coal consumption over the 2026-2030 period as part of its efforts to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, President Xi Jinping told the Climate Leaders' Summit on Thursday (Apr 22). "We will stric...

Japan's government is expected to issue a third state of emergency on Tokyo and three western prefectures that could last for about two weeks, according to media reports, underscoring its struggle to deal with a surge in new COVID-19 case numbers.

Japan aims to cut emissions 46 percent by 2030, significantly more than previously pledged, the country's prime minister announced Thursday ahead of a key US-hosted climate summit.

The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility on Thursday (Apr 22) for a deadly bomb blast at a luxury hotel hosting the Chinese ambassador in the south-west of the country, as officials raised the death toll to five.

Belgium's ambassador to South Korea apologised Thursday after footage showed his wife hitting two boutique staff in the head in a row over shoplifting.

TOKYO: A police officer helping with Japan's Olympic Torch relay has become the first participant in the event to be diagnosed with COVID-19, organisers said on Thursday (Apr 22). A man in his 30s tested positive for the virus after working on the r...

An award-winning Hong Kong journalist was found guilty on Thursday of improperly searching a public vehicle licence database to help track down the perpetrators of an attack on democracy supporters by government loyalists.

Laos locks down capital over COVID-19 outbreak tied to Thailand

SYDNEY: Australia said on Thursday (Apr 22) that it cancelled two accords between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative because they were out of line with the federal government's foreign policy, which sees a "free and open Indo Pa...

BALI: Oxygen supply for the missing military submarine will run out by early Saturday, Indonesian authorities said as they expressed optimism on search and rescue efforts. Head of navy Admiral Yudo Margono told a press conference on Thursday (Apr 2...

After an international mission to China turned up more questions than answers about the pandemic origins, the WHO is evaluating how to move forward through a diplomatic quagmire to solve the mystery.

Malaysia's government on Wednesday enacted a new emergency law allowing it to use funds derived from oil and gas contributions to pay for vaccine procurement, as it looks to ramp up its COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Both veteran Marxists who have spent decades campaigning for Hong Kong democracy, Chan Po-ying and Leung Kwok-hung viewed marriage as something of a patriarchal and unnecessary institution.

BENGALURU: India recorded the world's highest daily tally of 314,835 COVID-19 infections on Thursday (Apr 22) as a second wave of the pandemic raised new fears about the ability of crumbling health services to cope. Health officials across northern...

BALI: Rescue vessels from Singapore and Malaysia are being deployed to assist in the search for a missing Indonesia submarine.   Indonesia’s military spokesman Major-General Achmad Riad said on Thursday morning (Apr 22) that Singapore is sendin...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has issued US$800 million 10-year trust certificates, the world's first sovereign US dollar sustainability sukuk, the finance ministry said on Wednesday (Apr 21). In addition, the country also issued US$500 million 30-year t...