SEOUL: South Korea on Wednesday (May 26) said masks will no longer be required outdoors from July for those vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 shot. The move is a bid to encourage older residents to get vaccinated as South Korea aims to immunise ...

BEIJING: Family members of 21 runners who died when freezing rain and strong winds interrupted a weekend mountain race in northwestern China have rejected offers of compensation and want to know how the tragedy could happen, local media reported on W...

Limb-lengthening surgery for cosmetic reasons is in demand in India, but it does not always end well, the programme Undercover Asia finds out.

BANGKOK: Some inmates in Thailand could soon get a provisional release as the government plans to reduce overcrowding in prisons in its fight against COVID-19. A new wave of outbreak is sweeping through detention facilities nationwide. More than 10...

Israel-Palestinian issues have long featured in Jakarta’s worldview. But today the issue has been coopted into a domestic battleground about identity politics, says a political analyst.

With new lockdowns and closure of international borders, wildlife has been an increasingly common sight in Malaysia’s urban areas, says Siew Lyn Wong.

DIGHA, India: Heavy rains and howling winds lashed eastern India on Wednesday (May 26) as the COVID-stricken country's second cyclone in as many weeks battered the coast, forcing more than 1.2 million people to seek shelter. Many scientists say cycl...

KUALA LUMPUR: Two passengers who were injured in the collision between two LRT trains on Monday (May 24) evening have undergone brain surgery, with a third needing cerebral resuscitation treatment, said Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) director Heric ...

Vietnam widened lockdown measures in its industrialised north on Tuesday to combat its biggest COVID-19 outbreak so far, as authorities reported a daily record in new cases that was more than double the previous high.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Tuesday (May 25) reported a record 7,289 new COVID-19 cases, the highest number of new daily infections in the country since the start of the pandemic. This is also the first time the number of new cases has breached the 7,...

Four people have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly stealing Covid-19 vaccines marked for prisoners and selling them to the public, authorities said Tuesday.

BANGKOK: Vaccine hesitancy has risen sharply in Thailand opinion polls show, just weeks away from the start of a mass inoculation programme and as the country fights its deadliest COVID-19 outbreak. Reasons for the rise in vaccine hesitancy were unc...

TAIPEI: Millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses are on their way to Taiwan, the health minister said on Tuesday (May 25), as he extended virus-related restrictions until the middle of June even though the trend in new infections is falling. Having spent ...

Pfizer is in talks with the Indian government over supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. drugmaker said on Tuesday, as New Delhi scrambles to bridge shortfalls, having pledged to fast-track approvals for overseas vaccines.

KUALA LUMPUR: Preliminary investigations into the head-on collision between two LRT trains has indicated that driver negligence was the cause of the accident, said Malaysian Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong on Tuesday (May 25).  The collision, ...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday (May 25) defended Hong Kong as an attractive place for businesses, after a recent survey found foreigners were considering leaving the longtime Asian business hub. Hong Kong has long been seen as on...

SHANGHAI: A shepherd has been hailed as a hero in China after it emerged that he saved six stricken runners during an ultramarathon in which 21 other competitors died. Zhu Keming was trending on the Twitter-like Weibo on Tuesday (May 25), three days...

SINGAPORE: There are currently no reports of Singaporeans injured in an accident involving two LRT trains in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Tuesday (May 25). More than 210 people were injured, with dozens seriou...

Hong Kong may soon have to throw away millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses because they are approaching their expiry date and not enough people have signed up for the jabs, an official warned on Tuesday (May 25).

64 people are currently hospitalised, with 6 of them in critical condition.

A new United States travel warning for Japan over COVID-19 risks will not affect this summer's pandemic-postponed Olympic Games, the Japanese government and Tokyo 2020 organisers said on Tuesday (May 25).

KUALA LUMPUR: The LRT Kelana Jaya Line in Kuala Lumpur resumed service at 6am on Tuesday (May 25) with trains operating on a single track, Prasarana Malaysia said in a statement, adding that there will also be supporting shuttle bus services. Ser...

SHANGHAI: China reported 15 new COVID-19 cases for Monday (May 24), down from 18 a day earlier, its national health authority said on Tuesday. The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that two of the new cases were local infections ...

BEIJING: China on Monday (May 24) offered to urgently send COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan to help it battle a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, drawing an angry response from Taipei and a swipe from Washington, which said US vaccines did not have st...

The view of China as a strategic rival has taken over the American political mainstream, says Zhang Jun.

Ramping up the production of vaccines and ensuring transparency in contracts are some ways to mitigate the delays in vaccination rollouts among the poorest countries, says the World Bank’s David Malpass.

It's tough to swallow bad celebrity behaviour when the country is struggling to deal with a new wave of infections, says ISEAS-Yusof Ishak’s Serina Rahman.

Passengers on a Kelana Jaya line Light Rail Transit (LRT) train on Monday (May 24) faced a harrowing moment when they were flung by the impact of its collision with another train.

BANGKOK: Thailand will extend the gap between the first and second doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to 16 weeks, in an effort to inoculate more people faster, a senior health official said on Monday (May 24). The plan follows a similar decisi...

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 210 people were injured after two LRT trains collided in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (May 24) evening. Videos and photos of the incident on social media showed broken glass panels and several commuters bleeding. Federal Territor...

YANGON: An American editor of a Myanmar-based news outlet was detained by authorities in Yangon as he attempted to board a flight out of the country on Monday (May 24), his employers said. Danny Fenster, a US citizen and managing editor of Frontier...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record number of COVID-19 fatalities on Monday (May 24) as well as more than 6,000 new cases for the sixth consecutive day. All 61 victims were Malaysians, aged 27 to 98. Many of them suffered from high blood pres...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Monday (May 24) said it was investigating allegations that some recipients of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were not injected with the correct dosage. At least two recipients have said in recent days that they were given...

A Nepali government official said on Monday that many foreign climbers were continuing their attempts to summit Mount Everest despite reports of a COVID-19 outbreak at the base camp of the world's tallest peak.

Indian authorities on Monday ordered the evacuation of nearly half a million people out of the path of a new cyclone heading towards eastern India just one week after another deadly storm smashed into the west coast.

KUALA LUMPUR: A new government directive that shoppers can only spend a maximum of two hours in retail premises is “not practical" to enforce, said the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association (PPKM). This came after the authorities announced on Sun...

AHMEDABAD: Indian pharmaceutical company Cadila Healthcare is aiming to triple monthly production of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate to as many as 30 million doses, its managing director said on Monday (May 24), as the country battles a massive wave of ...

Calls for World Health Organization reform and steps to avert future pandemics feature high on the agenda as the UN agency kicks off its annual member states' meeting on Monday.

The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) urged Vietnam on Monday to ease its lengthy quarantine period for vaccinated travellers and allow the private sector to help procure COVID-19 vaccines for their employees in the Southeast Asian country.

A series of coronavirus clusters among construction workers in Bangkok, including the first local cases of the variant first identified in India, has put a fresh spotlight on migrant labour rights as Thailand grapples with its deadliest outbreak so f...

TOKYO: The personal data of more than a million users of one of Japan's most popular dating apps may have been exposed by a hack, its operator has warned. Net Marketing, which runs the Omiai app, said it detected unauthorised access in April to the ...

YANGON: Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in person at a court hearing on Monday (May 24) for the first time since her government was overthrown by the military in a Feb 1 coup, her lawyer told Reuters. Aung San Suu Kyi looked in g...

BEIJING: An investigation was underway on Monday (May 24) into the deaths of 21 runners during a mountain ultramarathon in northwest China, as harrowing testimony emerged from survivors who battled to safety through freezing temperatures and bone-chi...

NEW DELHI: India said on Monday (May 24) it had passed more than 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, the third country after the United States and Brazil to hit the figure as it battles a huge wave of infections. The South Asian nation has...

TOKYO: Some of the world's toughest gun-control laws are posing unusual problems at the Tokyo Olympics, from the coach who can't touch a firearm to strict limits on ammunition. For Goran Maksimovic, the extent of Japan's restrictions only became cle...

TOKYO: Japan opened two mass inoculation centres on Monday (May 24) as the country races to vaccinate most of its elderly population against COVID-19 before the start of the Tokyo Olympics. The centres in Tokyo and Osaka will vaccinate thousands of ...

HONG KONG: A shadow of fear hangs over Hong Kong's outspoken and staunchly pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, with its billionaire owner Jimmy Lai now jailed and many reporters asking themselves: "Are we next?" Each day, tomorrow's date is hung up...

TAIPEI: Taiwan's government on Monday (May 24) nullified a decision by an island that sits close to China to mandate COVID-19 tests for all arrivals, rebuking it for not following the law even as authorities deal with a rise in domestic infections. ...

OSAKA, Japan: Hospitals in Japan's second largest city of Osaka are buckling under a huge wave of new COVID-19 infections, running out of beds and ventilators as exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse", and advise against holding the Olympics t...

SHANGHAI: Cryptocurrency miners, including HashCow and BTC.TOP, have halted their China operations after Beijing intensified a crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading, hammering digital currencies amid heightened global regulatory scrutiny of them. ...

TAIPEI: Taiwan criticised on Monday (May 24) what it called World Health Organization (WHO) "indifference" to the health rights of Taiwan's people and for capitulating to China after the island failed to get invited to a meeting of the WHO decision-m...

SHANGHAI: China reported 18 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday (May 23), down from 19 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Monday. The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that all of the new cases were imported infection...

TOKYO: In a series of tweets, SoftBank Group's founder and CEO Masayoshi Son expressed bewilderment and concern about the Tokyo Olympics going ahead amid Japan's slow-going vaccination drive during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Currently more than 80 per ...

WASHINGTON: Three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought hospital care in November 2019, months before China disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (May 23), citing a previously undisclo...

As the United States scales back its military presence across the Middle East to focus on great power competition with China and Russia, it risks giving those two countries a chance to fill the gap and expand their influenc

Young South Koreans are pushing back against unhealthy work practices and putting up barriers to seize back work-life balance. That distinction between the private and professional is one worth welcoming, says Steven Borowiec.

KUALA LUMPUR:  A full COVID-19 lockdown with all sectors shut like what was imposed last year would guarantee people’s safety, but there is a risk that the economy could collapse, said Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Speaking in an i...

KOLKATA: A severe cyclone is brewing off India's eastern coast, the nation's weather bureau warned on Sunday (May 23), as the death toll rose from a major storm that wreaked havoc in the west of the virus-hit nation last week. Moving northwards in ...

DHAKA: A leading Bangladesh journalist critical of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was granted bail on Sunday (May 23), after her detention sparked days of nationwide protests. Rozina Islam, 42, an investigative reporter for the c...

BANGKOK: Thai border controls will tighten after the discovery of three local COVID-19 cases of the B1351 variant from South Africa stemming from illegal border crossings, authorities said on Sunday (May 23), as the country grapples to contain its wo...

NEW DELHI: India's capital New Delhi will start relaxing its strict coronavirus lockdown next week if new cases continue to drop in the city, Delhi's chief minister said on Sunday (May 23). The nation on Sunday reported 240,842 new infections nation...

Fighters opposed to Myanmar's military government fought with troops in the east of the country on Sunday and claimed to have killed more than 13 members of the security forces, captured four and razed a police station, local media said.

JAKARTA: Indonesia reported a new cluster of 42 coronavirus infections among medical workers who treated 13 Filipino ship crew who were sick with COVID-19, and is tracing dozens of others, a government official said on Sunday (May 23). About 140 oth...

BEIJING: China reported 19 new COVID-19 cases on May 22, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Sunday (May 23). The National Health Commission said in a statement that 18 of the new cases were imported infec...

More than 125,000 school teachers in Myanmar have been suspended by the military authorities for joining a civil disobedience movement to oppose the military coup in February, an official of the Myanmar Teachers' Federation said.

The deaths occured during a mountain marathon cross-country race in northwestern China after hail, freezing rain and gale winds hit the high-altitude track, rescuers said on Sunday (May 23).

JAKARTA: An Instagrammer in Bali was deported after riding his motorcycle off a pier into the sea.  Two other influencers who flouted COVID-19 restrictions by drawing on face masks in an attempt to enter a supermarket were also made to leave the c...

Rights activists have accused ruling lawmakers in Japan of violating the Olympic spirit with homophobic remarks that included saying same-sex relationships "resist the preservation of the species".

KATHMANDU: An expert climbing guide said on Saturday (May 22) that a coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest has infected at least 100 climbers and support staff, giving the first comprehensive estimate amid official Nepalese denials of a COVID-19 clu...

China's Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd is willing to provide Taiwan with BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, its chairman Wu Yifang told Xinhua news agency, amid a spike in domestic infections on the island.

A research centre under Vietnam's health ministry is in talks with Russia to produce the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in the country, local media reported on Saturday.

The Philippines is investigating reports that some people have been illegally selling COVID-19 shots or their vaccine slots for financial gain, officials said on Saturday, as they reminded the public the vaccines are free.

Nepal's parliament was dissolved for the second time in five months Saturday and new elections called for November as the Himalayan country battled political turmoil alongside the coronavirus pandemic.

Hackers have stolen data on about 4.5 million Air India passengers around the world in the latest breach reported by a major airline.

Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was healthy at home and would appear in court in a few days, in his first interview since overthrowing her in a Feb 1 coup. The coup has plunged the Southeast Asian country ...

Chinese-born Australian academic and author Yang Jun will go on trial in China on espionage charges next week, after spending more than two years in detention, Canberra's foreign minister has confirmed.

KOROR, Palau: A spike in COVID-19 cases in Taiwan has burst its travel bubble with Palau, but the small Pacific island nation's president said Saturday (May 22) he was ready to reopen the link as soon as practical. The Palau-Taiwan bubble was hailed...

KUALA LUMPUR: Additional restrictions for Malaysia's ongoing Movement Control Order (MCO) will include mandating that more employees work from home and limiting operating hours for businesses, said Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Saturday (...

BEIJING: A remote-controlled Chinese motorised rover drove down the ramp of a landing capsule on Saturday and onto the surface of the Red Planet, making China the first nation to orbit, land and deploy a land vehicle on its inaugural mission to Mars.

TAIPEI: Taiwan reported another rise in domestic COVID-19 cases on Saturday (May 22), but the health minister said the trend remained stable with new infections concentrated in the northern part of the island in and around Taipei. After months of ke...

The Philippines and China held "friendly and candid" talks on the South China Sea, the Philippines' foreign ministry said on Saturday, days after the minister ordered Chinese vessels out of the disputed waterway in an expletive-laced tweet.

BEIJING: China reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on May 21, down from 24 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Saturday (May 22). The National Health Commission said in a statement that nine of the new cases were importe...

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden acknowledged Friday (May 21) there is no easy path to getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons but reaffirmed his "iron-clad" commitment to the US alliance with South Korea after talks with President Moon J...

Mica is the mineral that gives a sparkle to an array of products, from eye shadow to lip gloss. But what consumers do not see is a deadly trade involving even children. The programme Undercover Asia investigates.

Whether the high profile games goes ahead is not down to just infection rates. Politics and money have a part to play too, says an observer.

BANG KLOI, Thailand: No-ae Meemi looks frail in the crowd of villagers at the community hall. His long grey hair is covered in a light turban, lips red from chewing betel. Little by little, he pulls his body along the bamboo floor to the front of th...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday said his country would work closely with the United States to achieve a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The United Nations said on Friday it was alarmed at violence in northwestern Myanmar's Chin State, where thousands of people have been displaced by fighting between security forces and fighters opposed to the junta that took power in February.

Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are close to running out of coronavirus vaccines, authorities said Friday, and are hoping China and Russia will bolster South Asia's efforts to tackle a devastating pandemic wave.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said.

India's crude oil processing fell in April from the previous month with top refiners reducing crude runs as a fierce second wave of coronavirus infections curbs mobility and demand for fuel.

BANGKOK: Thailand on Friday (May 21) said it has detected its first locally transmitted cases of the COVID-19 variant discovered in India, as it announced the formal roll-out of its national vaccination plan next month. The Ministry of Public Health...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will tighten the current movement control order (MCO) with stricter restrictions on its economic and social sectors, said the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Friday (May 21).  A statement was issued following a National Se...

NAYPYIDAW: The head of Myanmar’s military-appointed state election commission said on Friday (May 21) that his agency will consider dissolving Aung San Suu Kyi's former ruling party for its alleged involvement in electoral fraud and have its leader...

India's crowded financial hub Mumbai won plaudits this year for tackling the second wave of the pandemic better than any other metropolis in the country - and it is gearing up to get ahead of a potential third wave that experts fear could affect chil...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Friday (May 21) reported more than 6,000 new COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day, as intensive care units (ICUs) in the country continue to struggle with the influx of patients. Many of the 6,493 new COVID-19 case...

KOTA KINABALU: A Malaysian businessman behind the controversial offer of COVID-19 vaccine donation to Penang state government was called up for questioning by Sabah police on Friday (May 21). Sabah Police Commissioner Hazani Ghazali confirmed that t...

Hong Kong said on Friday its decision earlier this week to suspend operations at its representative office in Taiwan was motivated by Taipei's "gross" interference in internal affairs, including with its offer to assist "violent protesters."

HANOI: Vietnam's government has urged two provinces that are home to production facilities of companies such as Samsung Electronics and Foxconn to boost efforts to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak disrupting industrial production. Deputy Prime Minister V...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday will become the second world leader welcomed by President Joe Biden at the White House.