BEIJING: China has approved the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine for those as young as three, the drugmaker confirmed on Tuesday (Jun 8), making it the first country to offer jabs to young children. Since the coronavirus first emerged in central...

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor’s ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressed shock that the state had only received 615,210 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Jun 1. In a statement released by the ruler’s private secretary Mohamad Munir Bani on Tuesday (Ju...

BEIJING: A herd of wild elephants in southwestern China have been captured on camera taking a breather from a 500km march of chaos that has caused more than US$1 million in damage. Chinese state television has launched a 24-hour live feed of the her...

Taiwan reported 219 new domestic COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, slightly up from 211 reported on Monday.

Pakistani engineers Tuesday combed the mangled wreckage of two trains that collided in a remote farming region, an accident that killed dozens and highlighted huge safety problems on the nation's dilapidated rail network.

China pledges further COVID-19 aid to Southeast Asia

BEIJING: Chinese authorities are trying to lure back fugitive fraudsters operating across the border in Myanmar by threatening to cut off pensions and other benefits for family members, according to social media postings by public security bodies. S...

Tokyo's Tsukiji market, once the site of the world-famous dawn tuna auction, became the city's latest mass vaccination site on Tuesday, with first responders lining up for their shots.

South Korea injected 857,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses on Monday, setting a daily record in its inoculation drive that took its vaccination rate to 16.4per cent for a first dose, data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) showed.

Hong Kong will continue to invite foreign judges to its courts and the city's legal system remains "hard as a rock", Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday amid international concern about the impact of a sweeping national security law.

A top Japanese virologist and government adviser has warned of the risks of spreading COVID-19 infections during the Tokyo Olympics, the Times of London reported on Tuesday, the latest high-profile caveat about the global sporting showpiece.

Mongolia goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose its sixth democratically-elected president, with the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) on the cusp of consolidating its power following a low-key campaign crimped by COVID-19 curbs.

China reported 33 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 7, up from 19 cases a day earlier, the health authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

Three Myanmar journalists who faced deportation after fleeing to Thailand to escape a military crackdown have been granted asylum in a third country, their employer said Monday.

A woman died after an ex-security guard at a Pakistani hospital posed as a doctor and performed surgery on her, police said Monday.

President Joe Biden's order last week banning U.S. investment in certain Chinese companies is broader than a similar one signed by his predecessor Donald Trump and has a lower bar, making it easier to add more companies later.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened a meeting of senior officials of the Workers' Party to evaluate and improve the economy in the second half of the year, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR: With schools in Malaysia returning to home-based teaching and learning again, Jessica Teng is bracing for hectic weeks ahead juggling work and her three children's studies.  The corporate communications manager, who resides in Shah ...

JAKARTA: Toko dua lantai yang menjual perlengkapan dan oleh-oleh Haji dan Umrah itu biasanya sibuk meladeni pengunjung yang berdatangan seiring dengan mendekatnya musim haji. Tetapi tahun ini, toko tersebut tampak sepi dan sunyi dengan pemiliknya Mu...

JAKARTA: Usually, with the Haj season just weeks away, the two-storey shop selling supplies and gifts for people preparing for the Islamic pilgrimage would be a hive of activity. But this year, it appeared lifeless and desolate. The owner of the...

For more than a decade, Kuala Lumpur has faced challenges in developing or maintaining its air force, says a security researcher.

Norman Riaz was lying on his bunk bed aboard the Millat Express and playing with his mobile phone as it sped through the Pakistan countryside just before the deadly catastrophe early Monday.

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court hearing into the fire and sinking of a container ship off Colombo was told on Monday (Jun 7) that its local agent had deleted e-mails vital to the investigation. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl reported an onboa...

SEOUL: Former South Korean footballer Yoo Sang-chul, who starred in the country's run to the World Cup semi-finals in 2002, has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Monday (Jun 7). He was 49. The m...

JOHOR BAHRU: Malaysia Super League giant Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) is looking to send its U-21 squad to play in the Singapore Premier League (SPL), said Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.  In an interview with Astro Arena on Sunday (J...

SINGAPORE: The “very slow” progress being made to resolve the ongoing crisis in Myanmar is disappointing, said Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday (Jun 7).  The situation in Myanmar was among the issues discusse...

SHANGHAI: A few malls and residential complexes in Shanghai have started asking visitors to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, with one shopping centre's temporary decision to bar entry sparking a backlash on social media. A video showing a local r...

BEIJING: China expressed fury over US senators visiting Taiwan to donate COVID-19 vaccines, saying it could embolden "separatist forces" on the island. Beijing sees democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory which is to be seized one da...

Indonesian authorities have drafted in more doctors and nurses to two areas on the islands of Java and Madura after hospitals there approached full capacity amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, the country's health minister said on Monday (Jun 7).

TAIPEI: A leading Taiwanese chip testing and packaging company said on Monday (Jun 7) that all its migrant employees have been suspended from working for around two weeks to contain a coronavirus outbreak. At least 206 employees, mostly migrant work...

SINGAPORE: New COVID-19 cases in Malaysia fell for the fourth consecutive day to 5,271 on Monday (Jun 7), down from 6,241 cases on Sunday. This was the first time in 19 days that daily cases have dropped below 6,000. Malaysia passed the 6,000-mark o...

BAUAN, Philippines: The COVID-19 pandemic is adding a new unwelcome element to sea pollution off the town of Bauan, a popular dive site in the Philippines' Batangas province. Regular visitors and locals have reported a rise in the number of face ma...

Seoul court rejects slave labor claim against Japanese firms

BEIJING: China is hosting foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations this week amid heightened competition between Beijing and Washington for influence in the region. Chinese state media said the meeting on Tuesday in the southwestern megacit...

China's exports rose 27.9 per cent in May while imports grew at the fastest pace in more than a decade as the global economy powers back from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, official data showed on Monday (Jun 7).

NEW DELHI: India's capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai began a gradual easing of restrictions on Monday (Jun 7) as coronavirus infections in the country fell to a two-month low. India on Monday reported 100,636 new infections - after severa...

MANILA: The Philippines will open up its vaccination drive this week to include around 35 million people working outside their homes, such as public transport staff, in a bid to help curb COVID-19 transmission and to open up the economy, officials sa...

NAYPYIDAW: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will go on trial next week, her lawyer said on Monday (Jun 7), with the Nobel laureate facing an eclectic raft of charges, from possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies to flouting coronavirus restrictio...

COLOMBO: Heavy rain has lashed Sri Lanka, triggering floods and landslides that have killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, officials said on Monday (Jun 7). After days of rain, rivers on the island nation's southe...

KUALA LUMPUR: Police in Malaysia's Terengganu state are using drones to detect high body temperatures among people in public areas as the country undergoes its third nationwide lockdown.  The drones can detect body temperatures from as high as 20...

BANGKOK: Thailand kicked off a long-awaited mass vaccination campaign on Monday (Jun 7) as the country battles its third and worst wave of the coronavirus epidemic. The government aims to administer 6 million doses this month, hoping to ease worries...

At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured Monday in a train crash in southern Pakistan, police said.

TAIPEI: Taiwan will extend its COVID-19 restrictions for another two weeks until Jun 28 and schools will remain shut until the summer vacation, the government said on Monday (Jun 7), adding that its outbreak has not yet stabilised. After months of ...

Toyota reaches settlement over bullied engineer's suicide

Teenager Fatima Noori and her fellow pupils hug and pray as they gather in their Kabul classroom, just weeks after bombs exploded right outside the school gates, killing scores of their classmates.

In the Gulf of Thailand, fisheries researchers use a guideline to scuba dive to the ocean floor where they release baskets full of young bamboo sharks.

China reported 19 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 6, down from 30 cases a day earlier, the health authority said in a statement on Monday.

Half of the Japanese public thinks the Olympics will take place this summer, a survey by Yomiuri daily newspaper showed on Monday, less than two months before the Games' scheduled opening.

A black box from a container ship sinking off Sri Lanka was recovered but a dive on Sunday (Jun 6) to check for oil leaks had to be aborted, the navy said.

TOKYO: Activists staged a colourful protest in Tokyo on Sunday (Jun 6), calling on the Japanese parliament to approve an anti-discrimination Bill protecting the rights of the country's LGBT community. Led by drag queens and DJs blaring upbeat music,...

BEIJING: A social media account for popular Chinese e-commerce site Xiaohongshu, or "Little Red Book", was unavailable on Sunday (Jun 6), after it issued a post on Friday, the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 6,241 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday (Jun 6) as the number of patients in the intensive care unit hit a record for the 13th consecutive day. Selangor accounted for about a third of the new infections with 2,178 cases....

COLOMBO: The death toll from floods and mudslides following heavy rains in Sri Lanka rose to 14 with another two missing, officials said on Sunday (Jun 6). Ten districts on the Indian Ocean island have been under heavy rainfall since last Thursday,...

TAIPEI: All foreign workers at a plant of major Taiwanese chip packager King Yuan Electronics in Taiwan's northern city of Miaoli will be quarantined as health workers try to stop an outbreak of COVID-19 there, the government said on Sunday (Jun 6). ...

BEIJING: A man armed with a knife killed six people and wounded 14 others in a city in eastern China, state media reported Sunday (Jun 6). The attack occurred Saturday afternoon in the streets of Anqing, Anhui province, 430km west of Shanghai, stat...

NEW DELHI: India reported 114,460 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday (Jun 6), the lowest in two months, while the death toll increased by 2,677, as parts of the country prepared to ease movement restrictions. India has the world's second-largest numb...

COLOMBO: Experts recovered the data recorder of a fire-ravaged ship carrying chemicals that is slowly sinking off Sri Lanka’s capital, as salvage crews stood by to head off a possible environmental disaster, officials said Sunday (Jun 6). The Sing...

BANGKOK: Thailand is concerned at the violence in many parts of Myanmar and wants to see the implementation of steps agreed by Southeast Asian leaders with the military junta to help end the turmoil since the Feb 1 coup, the foreign ministry said on ...

Over 7,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been disposed of in Japan due to mishandling, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday, as Japan races to inoculate its people amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

KUALA LUMPUR: All schools in Malaysia will carry out home-based teaching and learning for the new school term beginning mid-June. In a press conference on Sunday (Jun 6), Minister for Education Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said the decision was made after ta...

TAIPEI: Taiwan on Sunday (Jun 6) lifted its toughest water restrictions for three parts of the island that had seen supplies cut for two days a week after heavy rain helped ease a biting drought.  Sub-tropical Taiwan is dealing with its worst droug...

TAIPEI: The United States will donate 750,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan as part of the country's plan to share shots globally, US Senator Tammy Duckworth said on Sunday (Jun 6), offering a much-needed boost to the island's fight against the p...

BANGKOK: Jidapa Pinitpongskul, then 11 years old, thought the hospital was scary. She wished she had had a friend there with her, someone who could have made the experience less lonely and daunting. “If there had been someone to play with me or as...

Ministers from Asia-Pacific trade group APEC on Saturday agreed to expedite the transit of COVID-19 vaccines and related goods, but stopped short of agreeing to remove tariffs on them.

South Korea's respect for intellectual property rights makes it an ideal partner for the United States as it seeks to decouple its supply chains from China and forge partnerships to manufacture coronavirus vaccines, a trio of U.S. senators said on Sa...

TAIPEI: Three US senators arrived in Taiwan on Sunday (Jun 6) on a US Air Force freighter and will meet President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss security and other issues, a trip that will likely irritate China. The United States, like most countries, ha...

HONG KONG: One of the organisers of the annual vigil remembering Beijing's deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown was released on bail Saturday (Jun 5) after authorities prevented the sensitive commemoration from taking place on the 32nd anniversary of t...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will take part in phase three clinical trials for a new COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China's Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products. The clinical study will be conducted at eight research centres in Malaysia, said health d...

India asks Twitter to follow tough new social media laws

Authorities in the southern Chinese industrial hub of Guangzhou on Saturday imposed more restrictions on business and social activity, seeking to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases.

Floods and mudslides kill 4, another 7 missing in Sri Lanka

A giant African pouched rat called Magawa who spent years sniffing out landmines in the Cambodian countryside has stopped working and will enjoy a well-earned retirement eating bananas and peanuts, his employers told AFP.

At makeshift factories hidden in Myanmar's jungle, locals who have formed self-defence groups make rifles to take the fight to the military junta, but their homemade weapons don't always hit the mark.

Taiwan reported 511 new domestic COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including 35 cases added to totals for recent days as authorities readjust infection numbers following delays in reporting positive tests.

India reported on Saturday 120,529 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,380.

China reported on Saturday 24 new coronavirus cases on the mainland for June 4, the same number as a day earlier, the country's health authority said in a statement.

HONG KONG: China on Saturday (Jun 5) berated the US and EU consulates in Hong Kong for displaying candles to commemorate the June Tiananmen crackdown, slamming it as a "clumsy political show" to destabilise the city. Candles were seen lit in the wi...

KALWA, India: When health worker Neelam Kumari knocks on doors in Indian villages the occupants sometimes run out the back, terrified that she wants to vaccinate them against COVID-19. With India's devastating recent virus surge easing in cities, t...

BEIJING: China has approved emergency use of Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine in people aged between three and 17, its chairman Yin Weidong told state TV late on Friday (Jun 4). China's mass vaccination drive, which administered 723.5 million dose...

As Chinese millennials navigate through family planning, observers highlight on the programme Money Mind how China could try to keep its demographic transition on an even keel.

Simply allowing people to have more children without addressing some of the deeper socio-economic structures will yield little result, says an economics professor.

The 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in July makes it timely to assess whether it has accomplished its goal of ending endemic rural poverty, says the SMU’s John Donaldson.

From headcount cuts to restructuring and rebranding, regional carriers are trying all they can to stay viable. But when will things return to normal?

Investigations into the origins of COVID-19 are not just about scientific interest, but part of the competition for influence between the US and China, says Christian Le Miere.

Envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held talks with Myanmar's junta Friday, with its top general reiterating he would only allow fresh elections once the coup-stricken country had returned to "normal."

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan is pushing for a political settlement in Afghanistan before foreign troops leave later this year, to reduce the risk of civil war in its western neighbour.

COLOMBO: Environmentalists on Friday (Jun 4) sued the Sri Lankan government and operators of a container ship loaded with chemicals and plastic that burnt offshore for almost two weeks, as international experts prepared to deal with a possible oil ...

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man was arrested in Thailand on Thursday (Jun 3) after he allegedly used a mail service to send drugs to Singapore. About 3kg of Ice and 1,320 ecstasy pills hidden in an air parcel were seized at the Suvarnabhumi Airport Pos...

LELLANA, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan fishermen have been left feeling helpless after a cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals and plastics caught fire and later sank, resulting in a ban on fishing along an 80km stretch of the island nation's west coast. ...

BEIJING: China on Friday (Jun 4) ripped into the United States' human rights record and told Washington to "look in the mirror" after America's top diplomat said he would honour those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen incident. Beijing urged the United S...

South Korean prosecutors are seeking a 50 million won (US$45,000) fine for Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee over an allegation of unlawful use of a prescription sedative, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

NEW DELHI: A rapid rise in cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, has added to the challenges faced by India's healthcare system as it deals with a massive second wave of COVID-19 infections. Nepal on Thursday (Jun 3) also reported its f...

KUALA LUMPUR: Since the start of Malaysia’s total lockdown on Tuesday (Jun 1), a salt manufacturer in Selangor has cut its production line from over 18 types of products to a maximum of 10. Mr Seow Jun Ze, the business development manager of Qing...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong closed off a park where tens of thousands gather annually to commemorate China's 1989 Tiananmen incident and arrested the vigil's organiser, in what activists see as suppression of one of the city's main symbols of democratic hop...

NEW DELHI: The coronavirus variant first identified in India is highly infectious and can be caught by people who have already had the disease or been only partially vaccinated, a panel of Indian government scientists said in a report published on Fr...

A boat filled with dozens of Rohingya, mostly women and children, landed on an island off the Indonesian coast early Friday, according to an AFP reporter and the UN refugee agency.

TOKYO: The number of babies born in Japan hit a new record low last year, official data showed, highlighting concern over the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on one of the world's lowest fertility rates. In 2020, the greying country saw 840,832 births, a...

KATHMANDU: Nepal has reported its first death from mucormycosis or "black fungus", the highly deadly infection affecting thousands of COVID-19 patients in neighbouring India. Health ministry spokesman Krishna Prasad Poudel told AFP that there are no...

TOKYO: The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games cannot happen if no athletes can make it to Japan for the event, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee President Seiko Hashimoto said at a news briefing held on Friday (Jun 4). She said that the decision on whether to h...

TAIPEI: Major Taiwanese chip packager King Yuan Electronics said on Friday (Jun 4) it will halt production on the island for two days after several employees contracted COVID-19, the first time the pandemic has hit the global chip hub, as case numbe...