Tens of thousands on dhabas line India's national highways, but many are now struggling to survive as customers stay at home despite several state governments relaxing COVID-19 curbs on movement.

BANGKOK: A group of volunteers have spent days rescuing at least 120 cats locked up in three townhouses outside Bangkok, where the animals were kept in dark rooms and small, filthy cages with hardly any food or water. The buildings are located near...

BEIJING: A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday that China rejects a U.S. Federal Communications Commission vote to advance a plan to ban approvals for equipment in U.S. telecoms networks from Chinese firms including Huawei and ZTE. ...

SEOUL: A North Korean hacking group known as Kimsuky broke into the network of South Korea's state-run nuclear think tank last month, the latest in a series of cyberattacks by the North, a South Korean lawmaker said on Friday (Jun 18). The breach of...

Satara, INDIA: Having watched his father's funeral pyre burn by a river bank close to their farm last month, Indian sugarcane grower Dattatray Bagal and his brothers had to set aside grief to count the financial cost of the coronavirus's impact on th...

Thousands of Olympic volunteers and officials began receiving vaccines in Tokyo on Friday, five weeks before the Games, as experts warned it would be safest to hold the event without fans.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia must be careful when using the term "herd immunity" as COVID-19 is likely to stay even after a large portion of the population is vaccinated, national coordinating minister for immunisation Khairy Jamaluddin said on Wednesday...

Japan will tighten its rules on support for exports of new coal power plants, in line with a pact by the Group of Seven nations (G7) to halt new government backing for "unabated coal power" by the end of 2021, a government official said on Friday.

Hunters shot and killed a brown bear in northern Japan on Friday after it rampaged through a city, injuring four people including a soldier and lumbering across busy roads.

SEOUL: About 760,000 South Koreans who have received a first dose of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine will be offered Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine as a second dose due to shipment delays by global vaccine sharing scheme COVAX, the government said.  Sev...

Japanese corporate giants are joining the nation's COVID-19 vaccination effort ahead of the Olympic Games as the government struggles to meet its inoculation targets amid fears of a resurgence of infections.

BEIJING: Eight employees of a unit of China Gas Holdings have been detained by local police after a fatal gas pipeline explosion on Sunday, according to a statement by the Shiyan city government.  The blast, which killed 25 people and injured 138, ...

Consumer prices rose slightly in Japan in May for the first time in 14 months, data showed Friday, but analysts said they were unlikely to soar above pre-pandemic levels.

SYDNEY/BEIJING: A World Bank-led project declined to award a contract to lay sensitive undersea communications cables after Pacific island governments heeded U.S. warnings that participation of a Chinese company posed a security threat, two sourc...

China is ramping up a propaganda blitz ahead of the 100th birthday of the ruling Communist Party, with banners and billboards around the country reminding citizens to live a "civilised" life and obey authorities.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily increased its Friday (Jun 18) press run after 500 police officers raided its newsroom on Thursday and seized reporting materials as part of a probe into whether articles threatened China's national security....

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country needs to prepare for "both dialogue and confrontation" with the United States under President Joe Biden, state media reported Friday.

While India’s daily infections are down sharply, many now suffer from insomnia, panic attacks and other psychological symptoms, says the Financial Times’ Amy Kazmin.

The Build Back Better World plan builds on past US efforts to boost international infrastructure financing and is not necessarily aimed at countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative, says Andre Wheeler.

Vaccine hesitancy, concerns over specific vaccines and choosiness over which vaccine to take may be causing unnecessary delays in Malaysia’s vaccination programme, says Monash University Malaysia’s Dr Vinod RMT Balasubramaniam.

Cash incentives, lucky draws and burger vouchers are among the incentives given out to encourage people to register for their shots.

The White House will consider arranging talks between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as the two countries spar over issues including human rights, a top US official said on Thursday (Jun 17).

The top US general said on Thursday (Jun 17)  there was a low probability that China would try to take over Taiwan militarily in the near-term as Beijing has some way to go to develop the capabilities needed.

The United Nations General Assembly is set on Friday (Jun 17)  to call for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urge the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, diploma...

YANGON: An American journalist detained in Myanmar since May appeared in a special court on Thursday (Jun 17), his employer said, where he faces charges under a law that criminalises encouraging dissent against the military. "Frontier Myanmar's ma...

COLOMBO: Dozens of turtles and dolphins were killed by intense heat and chemical poisoning from a container ship that burned for almost two weeks off Sri Lanka, authorities said on Thursday (Jun 17). The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl has bee...

HANOI: Vietnam's health ministry on Thursday reported 515 new COVID-19 cases, the highest number of new daily infections recorded since the virus was first detected in the country in January last year. Vietnam has recorded 12,014 infections overall...

THIMPU, Bhutan: At least a dozen people have been killed in Bhutan and Nepal and several others are missing as torrential monsoon rains hit the region, triggering landslides and inundating homes, officials said on Thursday (Jun 17). The annual monso...

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s president ordered authorities to speed up the country's vaccination campaign as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday (Jun 17) of the need to increase social restrictions in the country amid a fresh surge of CO...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's chief economic affairs minister defended President Joko Widodo's flagship job creation law at the Constitutional Court on Thursday (Jun 17), arguing the move to simultaneously amend scores of laws in one go was legal. The law th...

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government has acknowledged the king's views and will take follow-up measures based on the Constitution and the laws, said the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday (Jun 17).  The King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Mus...

A pig that became an unlikely national icon in China after surviving 36 days under rubble from a powerful 2008 earthquake has died at the age of 14, sparking an outpouring of emotion on Thursday (Jun 17).

JAKARTA: More than 350 Indonesian doctors and healthcare workers have contracted COVID-19 despite being vaccinated with Sinovac and dozens have been hospitalised, officials said, as concerns rise about the efficacy of some vaccines against more virul...

PARIS: Cathay Pacific is working with Airbus to introduce "reduced crew" long-haul flights with a sole pilot in the cockpit much of the time, industry sources told Reuters. The programme, known within Airbus as Project Connect, aims to certify its A...

SEOUL: South Korea has provided US$900,000 to a UN-led humanitarian aid initiative for Myanmar, UN data showed on Thursday (Jun 17). A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said earlier data on its financ...

TOKYO: Japan said on Thursday (Jun 17) it will make a vaccine passport available from next month for Japanese travellers, as governments around the world experiment with ways to relaunch tourism and business trips. "We are preparing to issue a certi...

SHANGHAI: A senior Chinese epidemiologist said the US should be the priority in the next phase of investigations into the origin of COVID-19 after a study showed the disease could have been circulating there as early as December 2019, state media sai...

TOKYO: For Japanese condom makers, the Olympics was supposed to be a golden opportunity, with hordes of eager tourists and tens of thousands of their innovative, ultra-thin prophylactics given to athletes. But a ban on overseas fans, strict virus ru...

A spiked drink, a puff of dust, missing memories, and an empty bank account.

BANGKOK: Burner phones, safehouses, sheltering with rebels and months away from loved ones - Myanmar's anti-coup activists have been driven underground by a brutal crackdown but have no regrets about choosing a life on the run. Myanmar has been in t...

KUALA LUMPUR: A former Malaysian national team swimmer says she hopes to become a "catalyst for change" after her taboo-breaking decision to open up about alleged sexual assault by a coach. Cindy Ong's story is the latest to cast a harsh spotlight o...

HONG KONG: China is poised to unveil a much tougher than anticipated crackdown on the country's US$120 billion private tutoring industry, four sources told Reuters, including trial bans on vacation tutoring and restrictions on advertising. The new r...

TOKYO: Japan's government on Thursday (Jun 17) approved lifting Tokyo's virus emergency just over a month before the Olympics, but set new restrictions that could sharply limit fans at Games events. The state of emergency in place in Tokyo began in ...

JIUQUAN: The first astronauts arrived at China's new space station on Thursday (Jun 17)in the country's longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power. The trio blasted off on a Long March-2F rocket f...

A goalkeeper from Myanmar's national team who raised an anti-coup salute during a match outside Tokyo has refused to fly home and will seek asylum in Japan, local media reported.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police arrested five executives at the Apple Daily early Thursday (Jun 17) morning, including its editor-in-chief Ryan Law. It was the second time in less than a year that the newspaper's office had been raided. More than ...

Democratic and Republican members of the US House of Representatives will introduce legislation this week seeking to boost US support for Taiwan, part of an effort in Congress to take a hard line in dealings with China.

US President Joe Biden said China was trying to project itself as a responsible nation in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remained unclear whether Beijing was really trying to understand the origins of the coronavirus.

Apart from employing the “hammer and dance” to manage COVID-19, Malaysia needs to use the “shield” of vaccines as well, say researchers.

The first astronauts for China's new space station are set to blast off Thursday for the country's longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power.

The global infrastructure plan announced by G7 leaders aims to offer developing nations a credible alternative to China's much-criticised Belt and Road Initiative - but it faces major hurdles on the ground, especially if Beijing's hiccups are any ind...

Animal activists in Bangladesh have warned of a growing crisis among horses used for tourism during the country's COVID-19 lockdown, after owners said on Wednesday (Jun 16) that five more had died of starvation in a popular resort town.

Myanmar junta troops burn village in escalation of violence

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday (Jun 16) that a run for vice president in next year's elections was a "good idea" because he has unfinished business, including solving the country's drug problem. Duterte, who is barred...

KUALA LUMPUR: The rulers of Malaysia said there is no need to extend a state of emergency beyond Aug 1, while calling for the political temperature to be cooled down.  Keeper of the Rulers' Seal Syed Danial Syed Ahmad said in a statement on Wed...

BANGKOK: Thailand plans to reopen its borders to international tourists in 120 days, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced in a televised speech on Wednesday (Jun 16). “Now, it is time for us to look further into the future at reopening the c...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said on Wednesday (Jun 16) that parliamentary sittings should reconvene as soon as possible, after he chaired a special rulers' conference.  A statement issue...

TOKYO: Japan will lift the state of emergency on Sunday (Jun 20) for nine prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday, adding that the government will instead introduce "quasi-emergency" measures in seven of ...

PUTRAJAYA: Agricultural produce from areas placed under enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in Cameron Highlands can still be transported across Malaysia and to Singapore, said Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong on Wednesday (Jun 16). "The Cabi...

SEOUL: The newly appointed United States envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, will make his first visit to neighbouring South Korea this week for a possible three-way meeting with counterparts from Seoul and Tokyo, the Kyodo news agency said on Wednesda...

MANILA: The Philippines' labour minister said on Wednesday (Jun 16) he will ask for government approval to allow 5,000 more healthcare workers to be deployed abroad, double the annual cap in a country that is one of the world's biggest sources of nur...

A Malaysian court on Wednesday (Jun 16) overturned an inquest verdict of "misadventure" in the death of a French-Irish teen who vanished in the jungle, replacing it with an "open" ruling in a victory for her family.

TOKYO: Workers scaled a giant statue of a Buddhist goddess in Japan on Tuesday (Jun 15) to place a custom-made mask on her face, an act meant to be a prayer for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. It took four workers three hours to carry the massive...

TOKYO: Japan's government will include a pledge to achieve a "safe and secure" Tokyo Olympic Games in its economic blueprint due out on Friday (Jun 18), according to a final draft seen by Reuters on Wednesday. An earlier draft blueprint only called...

China has tripled its daily COVID-19 vaccine rollout in June, inoculating 44per cent of its population with at least one dose, but its health experts warn against a quick border reopening, citing an uneven rollout and the low rate of full vaccination...

PARIS: French police on Wednesday (Jun 16) arrested a leading figure in conspiracy circles over the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl in April, as he returned to the country on a flight from Singapore after living in Malaysia. Remy Daillet, who w...

BENGALURU: India's iconic Taj Mahal reopened to the public on Wednesday (Jun 16) as the country, still reeling from a disastrous second wave of the pandemic, rushes to lift restrictions in a bid to revitalise its economy. The 17th century monument,...

NEW DELHI: India's technology minister said on Tuesday (Jun 15) that Twitter had deliberately defied and failed to comply with the country's new information technology rules, which became effective in late May. The new rules or the so-called Interm...

HANOI: Vietnam has imposed an anti-dumping levy of 47.64 per cent on some sugar products from Thailand for five years to replace a temporary tax introduced in February, the country's industry and trade ministry said on Wednesday (Jun 16). The deci...

Macau said Wednesday it was closing its representative office in Taiwan, following neighbouring Hong Kong which made the same move last month in protest at Taipei's support for pro-democracy activists.

BEIJING/TAIPEI: China does not tolerate foreign forces intervening in Taiwan issues and has to make strong responses to such acts of "collusion", the government said on Wednesday (Jun 16) after the island reported the largest incursion to date of Chi...

China will send three men to space in its first crewed mission in nearly five years, including the country's oldest astronaut to go into space, part of an ambitious plan to complete a space station by the end of next year.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court will rule Wednesday (Jun 16) on a challenge by the family of a French-Irish teenager over an inquest verdict that she died by misadventure after vanishing in the jungle. The body of Nora Quoirin, a 15-year-old with le...

South Korean authorities are failing to properly tackle the country's widespread digital sex crimes against women, which have a devastating impact on victims, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report said Wednesday.

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the country's economy improved this year but called for measures to tackle the "tense" food situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and last year's typhoons, state media said on Wednesday (Jun 16).  ...

The leaders pointedly reiterated liberal democracies’ commitment to multilateralism, says a foreign affairs observer.

Malaysia’s encounter with Chinese military aircraft in early June illustrates how tackling foreign aircraft coming close can be a grey area in a region of overlapping claims and different interpretations of airspaces, says Mike Yeo.

The nominee to be the top US diplomat for East Asia promised on Tuesday (Jun 15) that President Joe Biden would keep building relations with Taiwan, but balked at backing an overhaul of delicate arrangements on the issue with China.

Striker Ado Onaiwu bagged a six-minute first-half hat-trick as Japan confirmed their dominance in Group F of Asian 2022 World Cup qualifying with a crushing 5-1 win over the Kyrgyz Republic in Suita on Tuesday.

TOKYO: Japan's requirement of domestic clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines cost it precious time in inoculating its population, vaccine programme chief Taro Kono said on Tuesday (Jun 15). About 4.8 per cent of Japan's population has been fully v...

Aung San Suu Kyi confronted with sedition charge on 2nd day of trial

BANGKOK: Thailand's prime minister apologised and took the blame on Tuesday (Jun 15) for coronavirus vaccination delays, while thousands of private companies and public organisations raced to secure doses imported by a royal-backed academy.  Prime ...

HANOI: A Vietnamese conservationist working to save pangolins from the devastating multi-billion-dollar wildlife trade won a prestigious award Tuesday (Jun 15) for his role in rescuing more than a thousand of one of the world's most endangered creat...

TAIPEI: Twenty-eight Chinese air force aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday (Jun 15), the island's government said, the largest reported incursion to date. Whil...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's parliament, which has not met since the state of emergency was declared in January, can reconvene during the third phase of the national recovery plan, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday (Jun 15).   This is�...

TOKYO: Japan's lower house of parliament voted down on Tuesday (Jun 15) a no-confidence motion brought against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga by opposition parties angered over its refusal to extend the current parliamentary session. T...

China said on Tuesday (Jun 15) that radiation levels remained normal at one of its nuclear power plants and that there were no safety concerns, after the station's French operator reported a gas build-up.

A young Indian billionaire has admitted to cheating in a shock win over five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anand, saying it was for "fun and charity".

TOKYO :Olympics organisers prepared on Tuesday to unveil their latest "playbook" of rules to control COVID-19 infections as Japan's government pondered whether to extend a state of emergency and senior Olympics official John Coates arrived in Tokyo.

BANGKOK: An Australian national accused of sexually assaulting Myanmar children in Thailand was arrested in the border province of Tak after six months on the run, according to the Tak Immigration Office. On Jun 2, Thai authorities managed to track ...

SEOUL: South Korean's military began annual drills on Tuesday (Jun 15) around a set of islands also claimed by Japan, days after planned talks between the two countries' leaders were called off amid a spat over an Olympics map. Seoul and Tokyo have ...

SHANGHAI: French energy company EDF is investigating a potential issue linked to a build-up of inert gases at its nuclear plant in China's south-eastern province of Guangdong. The probe comes after CNN reported that the United States government was...

NYINGTRI, China: In a room warmed by an open wood stove, Baima says her family converted their white-brick house into a hotel as China's Communist leadership ushers tens of millions of tourists to the politically sensitive region of Tibet. Surround...

Beijing on Tuesday accused NATO of exaggerating the threat from China and "creating confrontation", after a vow from the Western allies to work together to counter the "systemic challenges" posed by its policies.

TOKYO: Japan on Tuesday (Jun 15) denied a media report that South Korean President Moon Jae-In is arranging a visit to Japan timed with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, as well as talks with Japanese Prime Minister Suga. The relationship between Asian neig...

BEIJING: A huge red banner welcomed more than 11,000 students in Wuhan for a massive graduation ceremony more than a year after the city was battered by the first global outbreak of COVID-19. Students in navy gowns and mortarboards sat in crowded r...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will "never cooperate" with an International Criminal Court probe into the country's deadly drug war, his spokesman said Tuesday, branding the process "legally erroneous".

The UN improperly collected and shared data from more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, passing it on to Myanmar, the country they fled, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, urging an investigation.

The Chinese scientist at the center of theories that the coronavirus pandemic originated with a leak from her specialized lab in the city of Wuhan has denied her institution was to blame for the health disaster.

When Paul Noritaka Tange won the rights to design the Aquatics Centre for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, one of the first things he did was to visit the grave of his father: the revolutionary Pritzker-winning architect, Kenzo Tange.