Asia

China will take “drastic measures” if Taiwan makes moves towards independence, a Beijing official warned on Wednesday, adding that Taiwan’s provocations and outside meddling could intensify next year. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday will name former U.S. official Rina Amiri as a special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, two sources familiar with the decision said. Amiri has spent two decades advising governments, the United Nations, and think tanks on issues related to …

A senior UN official says he was “horrified” by reports that at least 35 civilians, including women and children, were killed and their bodies were burned in Myanmar, urging probe into the incident. The UN Humanitarian Affairs Chief, Martin Griffiths, in a statement said authorities in Myanmar must investigate the …

The two-day military exercise involving Japan’s self-defense forces, coast guard, and police was conducted in late November on a remote uninhabited island. According to Kyodo news agency, citing unnamed Japanese government sources, the island was chosen specifically because its landscape closely resembles that of the disputed Senkaku Islands, which have …

A surge in new coronavirus infections in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian has prompted local authorities to announce stringent measures to contain further spread of the disease. The city of 13 million, which entered its fifth day of lockdown on Monday, identified 150 new domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms …

At least 40 people died and over 150 others were injured after a ferry caught fire on the Sugandha river in Bangladesh’s Jhalakathi district. At least 40 people died and over 150 others were injured early Friday after a packed three-story ferry carrying around 800 passengers caught fire on the …

Senior South Korean diplomats held talks with Chinese counterparts on Thursday after a diplomatic spat with Taiwan over Seoul’s cancellation of an invitation to a senior Taipei official to take part in a business forum last week. Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-Kun and aides conducted an online meeting on Thursday …

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday the situation in Hong Kong had improved in the past year from “chaos,” and hailed recent legislative elections in the city as a manifestation of the people’s democratic rights. Xi’s remarks, carried by state media, were made during a meeting in Beijing with …

At least one person was killed and scores were missing after a landslide of dirt and rubble ripped down the waste heap of a Myanmar jade mine, sweeping workers searching for fragments of the gems into a lake and burying them under the debris. Throngs of their families stood on …

Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan disrupted the erecting of a security fence by the Pakistani military along the border between the two countries, Afghan officials said on Wednesday. Pakistan has fenced most of the 2,600 km (1,615 miles) border despite protestations from Kabul, which has always contested the British-era boundary demarcation …

Deadly typhoon is the strongest the archipelago has faced this year, with peak winds reaching 146mph At least 375 people have been killed after a devastating typhoon tore through the Philippines, causing “complete carnage” and leaving over 630,000 seeking shelter in schools, churches, and camps ahead of Christmas. Typhoon Rai, …

China will not shy away from confrontation with the United States and would “fight to the end,” the country’s senior diplomat said in a keynote speech on Monday. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing would welcome cooperation with Washington, as long as it’s mutually beneficial, according to a transcript …

The death toll in the strongest typhoon to batter the Philippines this year has reached at least 146, and the governor of an island province especially hard-hit by Typhoon Rai said there may be even greater devastation that has yet to be reported. Gov. Arthur Yap of Bohol province in …

Islamic countries pledged on Sunday to set up a humanitarian trust fund for Afghanistan as, with millions facing hunger and a harsh winter setting in, Pakistan’s prime minister warned of chaos if the worsening emergency was not urgently addressed. The crisis is causing mounting alarm but the international response has …

Torrential rains in Malaysia have caused flooding that has driven more than 11,000 people from their homes, closed dozens of roads, and disrupted shipping, authorities said on Saturday. More than 66,000 personnel from the police, army, and fire department have been mobilised nationwide to help rescue people stranded by floodwaters …

Senior Taliban officials appealed on Saturday for international help to combat a deepening economic crisis that has fuelled fears of another refugee exodus from Afghanistan. The comments, at a special meeting to mark the U.N.’s international migrants day, underlined the new Islamist Taliban government’s push to engage with the world …

At least 2,500 people including hundreds of children have fled a flare-up in fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic minority rebels and have taken refuge across the border in Thailand, Thai authorities and an aid group said. Those displaced had poured into the Thai town of Mae Sot after …

The death toll from a typhoon that slammed into the Philippines rose to 12 on Friday, and its president feared it could climb further as authorities assess the devastation caused by one of the strongest tropical storms to hit the country this year. President Rodrigo Duterte said he would visit …

At least 27 people were feared dead after a fire swept through a psychiatry clinic in the Japanese city of Osaka on Friday, and police were investigating possible arson after reports a man had spilled liquid that fuelled the blaze. The fire broke out at the clinic on the fourth …

The Taliban didn’t take the Afghan capital — they were invited, says the man who issued the invitation. In an Associated Press interview, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered some of the first insights into the secret and sudden departure of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — and how he came …