Asia

An “exquisitely preserved” trace of dinosaur skin has been discovered in South Korea. Researchers found a set of tiny tracks from a blackbird-sized Minisauripus, the smallest known theropod. The footprints themselves, which measured only an inch long, also contained perfectly preserved skin traces. “These are the first tracks ever found …

Mount Everest may have shrunk as the result of a devastating earthquake – so a team of Nepalese surveyors is heading to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain to discover the truth. After two years of training, the four-strong group will try to work out whether the official height …

Indians have started voting in the country’s multi-phase parliamentary elections, in what is considered the biggest elections in history. India’s general elections kicked off early on Thursday, with about 900 million people being eligible to vote at about a million polling stations set up across the country. The voting takes …

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s party is on course to win a landslide victory in the Maldives parliamentary election, early result show. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is projected to win almost 60 seats in the 87-seat parliament, local media report. Final results are expected to be declared on Sunday. An …

Japan’s space agency has dropped a bomb the size of a baseball onto an asteroid in an effort to understand the origin of the solar system. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft was used to fire the copper explosive towards the asteroid, named 162173 Ryugu, making a crater which it could then collect …

An extraordinary fire engulfed the mountainous region along the northeastern coasts of South Korea, killing one person and injuring dozens of others. It was confirmed by 16:00, local time, on Friday (0700 GMT) that the fire killed one person and injured 34 others, burning more than 500 hectares of land, …

Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has been rearrested in Tokyo on fresh financial misconduct allegations. Authorities arrested the 65-year-old less after he was dramatically freed on bail last month in Japan following more than 100 days in detention. According to local media, prosecutors entered Ghosn’s temporary accommodation in central Tokyo …

US Vice President Mike Pence warned Turkey on Wednesday that it could risk its membership in NATO if it goes ahead with plans to buy a Russian air defense system despite widespread international opposition. Pence’s escalating rhetoric came after Turkey insisted on Wednesday that the Russian deal was done, signaling …

A kindergarten teacher in China’s Henan province has been detained after she allegedly poisoned 23 children by putting nitrite into their food. The victims, who were all students at Mengmeng kindergarten in Jiaozuo city, fell ill after eating porridge supplied by the school on Wednesday morning, according to a statement …

U.N. World Food Program Director David Beasley is traveling to Mozambique Tuesday to draw attention to the devastation caused by the cyclone that recently struck the area of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in the southeastern part of Africa. The trip comes a day after the top U.N. aid chief said …

At least 5 people were killed and another eight were injured after a train derailed due to an explosion of the railway track in Pakistan, the Dunya News broadcaster reported Sunday. The accident occurred near Nasirabad in the country’s southwestern province of Balochistan, according to the broadcaster. The rescue operation …

The US president and top defense officials have alleged that the Chinese military benefits from the work that Google is doing in China. Last year, Trump unleashed a large-scale trade war against Beijing, partly due to the alleged theft of US intellectual property. Google has pushed back accusations of helping …

A woman and her baby died after she attempted to deliver her baby herself by watching YouTube clips, as she feared being stigmatized for being a single mother, Indian police said. The 26-year-old unmarried woman was in the full-term of her pregnancy when she attempted self-delivery at her rented accommodation …

A 116-year-old Japanese woman who loves playing the board game Othello was honored Saturday as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records. The global authority on records officially recognized Kane Tanaka in a ceremony at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka, in Japan’s southwest. Her family …

More than 80 people were injured after a high-speed boat collided with a “marine creature” off the northwest coast of Japan, the country’s Coast Guard said. The boat was carrying 121 passengers during the collision, injuring 87 people traveling on the vessel, according to the Coast Guard from the Niigata …

A grenade blast at a bus station in the Indian city of Jammu has killed one civilian and injured at least 30 people, police have said. Authorities called for calm following the explosion on Thursday morning, which comes weeks after a Pakistan-based militant group killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in …

Slightly over a year ago, Chinese archaeologists revealed that the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang, was obsessed with finding the elixir of life by any means and even ordered a nationwide search for the miraculous potion. Archaeologists in central China’s Henan province have discovered an “elixir …

Indian military officials said on Thursday they welcomed Pakistan’s planned return of a captured pilot, but refused to confirm they would de-escalate a conflict between the two nuclear powers. The pilot, identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan, became the human face of the flare-up over the contested region of Kashmir following …

Thailand’s military-appointed parliament on Thursday passed a controversial cybersecurity law that gives sweeping powers to state cyber agencies. The Cybersecurity Act voted unanimously, is the latest in a wave of new laws in Asian countries that assert government control over the internet. Civil liberties advocates, internet companies and business groups …

The US formally suspended tariffs rises on £200bn of Chinese goods but hopes of resolving a trade war between the two nations faded, sending global stock markets fell for the third straight day on Thursday. US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer pushed back higher import duties which had been due …