Asia

Google has suspended Huawei’s Android license after the Trump administration blacklisted the Chinese phone maker over security concerns. The move will prevent Huawei devices from receiving key software and security updates, as well as potentially impact their ability to access popular Google apps like Maps and YouTube. Huawei is one …

It is universally recognized that insects or arachnids found burrowing, laying eggs or otherwise setting up camp inside a human’s head is a shuddersome prospect, but one we all find profoundly compelling. The latest example of this genre of news comes to us from Jiangsu province in east China, where …

Iron is crucial for the healthy functioning of your body. But one Indian man clearly overdid it when he snacked on as many as 116 iron nails, several pellets, and a long wire, which doctors had to remove from his stomach. A surgeon in Bundi, north-western India, was puzzled after …

Japan is about to start testing its fastest ever bullet train, which can reach speeds of up to 400kph. The Alfa-X train will be put into service in 2030, with plans to run it at 360kph. This will make it faster than China’s Fuxing Hao service linking Beijing and Shanghai …

A Myanmar pilot safely landed a passenger jet without its front wheels on Sunday, after landing gear on the Myanmar National Airlines plane failed to deploy, the airline and an official said. It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week, after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off …

Earlier in the day, Gwadar Station House Officer (SHO) Aslam Bangulzai said that three or four heavily armed terrorists had attacked the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel. At around 4:50 pm we got reports that there are three to four armed men in PC Hotel,” the SHO said, adding that “the …

Islamic State (IS) claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India after a clash between militants and security forces in the contested Kashmir region killed a militant with alleged ties to the group. IS’s Amaq News Agency late on Friday announced the new province, that …

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was rudely accosted by an unlikely assailant during a campaign rally on Wednesday night in the form of a rather large cockroach. The 74-year-old was mid-sentence when his aide tried to shoo the bug away but it merely scrambled down Duterte’s chest before he nonchalantly swatted …

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned the UK that allowing Huawei to bid on 5G contracts could spell the end of the US-UK “special relationship” – and, apparently, the UK’s membership in the Five Eyes. “With respect to 5G, the United States has an obligation to ensure that …

In a fresh show of naval force in the contested South China Sea, a U.S. guided missile destroyer conducted drills with a Japanese aircraft carrier, two Indian naval ships, and a Philippine patrol vessel in the waterway claimed by China, the U.S. Navy said on Thursday. While similar exercises have …

A huge car bomb explosion and subsequent gunfire have hit the Afghan capital, Kabul, according to officials, with at least nine people having been injured. The explosion, which sent a cloud of smoke and dust into the sky, hit a central area in the capital on Wednesday. An Afghan Health …

Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless after a cyclone packing winds of about 200 km per hour slammed into eastern India, ripping out tin roofs and destroying power and telecom lines, officials said on Sunday. At least 33 people were killed after cyclone Fani struck the state of …

North Korea has conducted a “strike drill” for multiple launchers, firing tactical guided weapons into the East Sea in a military drill supervised by leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday, the North’s state media reported on Sunday. The purpose of the drill was to test the performance of “large-caliber long-range …

India’s space agency wants to touch down its rover on the Moon’s south pole, an area on the Earth’s natural satellite where no one has gone before. The launch is scheduled for July. “All the [ISRO] missions, whatever we have had till now [to the moon], have all landed near …

The strongest cyclone to hit India in five years killed at least 12 people in eastern Odisha state, before swinging north-eastwards into Bangladesh on Saturday where more than a million people have been moved to safety. Having hit land, tropical cyclone Fani had lost some of its power and was …

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn announced on Wednesday that he had married his consort, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn, and named her Queen Suthida. The announcement, carried in the Royal Gazette, came just before the official coronation of the king, 66, on May 4-6. Vajiralongkorn, also known by the title King Rama X, …

A new era dawned in Japan on Wednesday as Naruhito officially became emperor at midnight following his father’s historic abdication from the Chrysanthemum Throne, the world’s oldest monarchy. The 59-year-old Naruhito will formally take possession of the sacred imperial regalia at a solemn ceremony later Wednesday but he became the …

Counting millions of ballot papers by hand proved to be a life-threatening job for hundreds of election staff in Indonesia, as over 270 died and nearly 2,000 fell ill after working long hours, an official has said. As many as 272 staff have died just 10 days after Indonesia held …

Snack giant PepsiCo’s Indian subsidiary is suing nine farmers in the state of Gujarat, telling them to lay-off growing a type of spud used in its popular brand of potato chips. Advocacy groups, meanwhile, have vowed to bite back. The potato farmers, who tend plots averaging 3-4 acres in size, …

Nearly 40 world leaders and scores of finance officials are gathered in Beijing to build a new platform for international trade and counter US unilateralism and protectionist policies. Dubbed as the Belt and Road (BRI) initiative, they aim to reinvent the ancient Silk Road to connect Asia to Europe and …