Asia

US President Donald Trump has said has threatened Iran with “obliteration” if the country launches any attack on American forces in the Middle East region. In a Twitter rant on Tuesday railing against the Islamic Republic, Trump said, “Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that …

Iran’s president has responded with defiance to the latest sanctions imposed by the US, saying they show it is lying about wanting dialogue. Hassan Rouhani said the measures against Iran’s supreme leader unveiled by President Donald Trump on Monday would be “useless” and denounced the US plans to target his …

India’s top court on Monday ordered an investigation into an outbreak of “brain fever” that has killed at least 122 children, after hearing a petition in which the state and central governments were accused of negligence. The disease, Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, believed to be caused by dehydration and malnutrition, has …

Change, hope, and a new beginning. That’s the promise of Istanbul’s newly elected mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. His slogan, “Everything will be great,” is on everyone’s lips in Turkey. Imamoglu’s win in the repeat of the mayoral vote invigorates Turkey’s fatigued opposition. It breathes new life into a part of the …

  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the B team was close to implicating US President Donald Trump in the war. Zarif’s reference to the telephone call was Saudi Arabia’s contact with elements of the terrorist “creation” group, which confirmed their cooperation in the case of the tanker bombing …

A power cut that disrupted rail traffic on a Japanese island last month was caused by a slug, officials say. More than 12,000 people’s journeys were affected when nearly 30 trains on Kyushu shuddered to a halt because of the slimy intruder’s actions. Its electrocuted remains were found lodged inside …

Seven-storey building has collapsed in Cambodia, killing at least seven people with others reported missing, officials say. At least 21 people have been injured – several critically – as the search for survivors continues into the evening. The under-construction building in the coastal city of Sihanoukville was owned by a …

Amid the ongoing trade war with the US, China appears to be “rolling out the red carpet for the rest of the world,” reducing tariffs on countries competing with the US, an international economics think tank says. Beijing is not sitting idly by, waiting to see who can outlast the …

India is set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in less than a decade, according to a new United Nations report. China and India currently account for about 37% of the entire global population of roughly 7.7 billion, with China currently home to about 1.4 billion people …

A tsunami warning has been issued after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck close to the coast of Japan. There were no reports of serious casualties, but the country’s Meteorological Agency issued a warning for a 0.2 to 1-meter tsunami along the northwest coast of the main island of Honshu. The …

Turkey has ordered the arrest of 128 military personnel suspected of supporting US-based opposition figure Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the failed 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday that police were looking for more than half of the military …

Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in North Korea on Thursday for a two-day state visit, his first official trip to the country since he came to power in 2012. Xi is making the trip “at the invitation” of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Xinhua reported Monday. North Korean …

At least 100 children have died this month in the eastern Indian state of Bihar from an illness that impairs the functioning of the brain. Encephalitis, commonly known as brain fever, has led to the death of 97 children, and 146 others have been treated for the disease, Shailesh Prasad …

An ancient tower dating back 2,000 years in the historic Afghan city of Ghazni collapsed this week, local officials said, raising concerns about the vulnerability of the country’s cultural heritage and the government’s ability to protect them. The old citadel is known as Ghaznain Fort originally had 36 towers, but …

Two weeks after an avalanche swept up and probably killed a group of climbers in the Himalayas, Indian authorities mounted efforts to pluck their bodies from an exposed mountain face, braving harsh weather and treacherous terrain. The peaks in the 2,400-km (1,500-mile) -long range are among some of the world’s …

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday indefinitely delayed a proposed law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, in a dramatic retreat after anger over the bill triggered the city’s biggest and most violent street protests in decades. The extradition bill, which would have covered Hong Kong’s seven …

Heavy rain and floods continued on Saturday, June 15, after 61 people have been killed and 356,000 evacuated from their homes as heavy rain and floods swept through large parts of southern and central China this week, Chinese rescue authorities said. In a notice published late on Thursday, June 13, …

At least 43 children have died in less than two weeks in the Indian state of Bihar from a brain disease that scientists believe could be linked to consumption of lychee fruit. Health officials said the children died at two hospitals in Muzaffarpur, a region of the state that is …

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani on a visit to Tehran this week, in a bid to ease the tension between Washington and Iran that experts called a bold move for a Japanese leader. Tension has escalated a year after …

A fishing boat carrying more than 60 Rohingya Muslims was found beached on an island in southern Thailand on Tuesday, officials said. The passengers – 28 men, 31 women, and five children – were stranded on Rawi island in Tarutao National Park in Thailand’s southern Satun province after the boat …