Asia

Russia and China should stand firm in rejecting Western interference and defending each other’s security interests, presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agreed in a video call on Wednesday. Their conversation, eight days after Putin spoke to U.S. President Joe Biden in a similar format, underscored how shared hostility to …

Lithuania’s diplomatic delegation to China left the country on Wednesday in a hastily arranged exit, diplomatic sources said, as relations soured further over Taiwan, which opened a de facto embassy in Vilnius last month. Beijing, which has stepped up pressure on countries to sever relations with the island, downgraded diplomatic …

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has officially withdrawn his candidacy for senator in Halalan 2022, local media reported, citing Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez. Duterte withdrew his candidacy on Tuesday hours after Senator Christopher “Bong” Go pulled out of the presidential race, as per the report.

The UN’s food agency has warned that a failing economy could plunge Afghanistan into catastrophe next year. A spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) said during a briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that Afghanistan’s fragile economy was on the brink of collapse. “The spiraling economic …

Two people were killed and four wounded in separate bomb explosions in the west of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Friday, the Taliban said. “Two civilians have been killed and three others were wounded” when a bomb exploded on a minibus in the Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul, the Taliban’s interior ministry …

Myanmar anti-coup demonstrators staged a “silent strike” Friday, closing businesses and emptying the streets of cities and towns across the country to protest against military rule. The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the February coup, with the economy in tatters and more than 1,300 people killed by …

Indian farmers who have been staging a year-long protest in New Delhi announced on Thursday that they are ending their demonstrations after the government U-turned on controversial farm legislation. Announcing the decision, Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior farm union leader, stated that the group has “received a letter from the …

India and Russia signed 28 investment pacts on Monday, including deals on steel, shipbuilding, coal, and energy, India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. India has also begun to receive S-400 missiles from Russia this month, Shringla said, adding that supplies would continue.

An Indonesian volcano was active again on Monday, spewing out hot clouds of ash, two days after a powerful eruption killed at least 22 people and left dozens missing. Mt. Semeru, the tallest mountain on the island of Java, erupted dramatically on Saturday, shooting a towering column of ash into …

A court in military-ruled Myanmar found deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of charges of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions on Monday, drawing international condemnation of what critics described as a “sham trial”. Suu Kyi is set to serve two years in detention at an undisclosed location, a sentence …

India’s tally of reported cases of the heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus rose to 12 on Sunday after the state of Maharashtra said it had detected seven new cases. Local media also said a new case had been reported in New Delhi. India expects Omicron, which scientists say …

Five people were killed and at least 15 arrested after Myanmar security forces in a car rammed into an anti-coup protest on Sunday morning in Yangon, local news portal Myanmar Now reported. Witnesses on the scene told Reuters dozens had been injured. Photos and videos on social media show a …

The eruption of Semeru volcano has killed at least 14 people and injured dozens on Java island, Indonesia’s disaster agency said on Sunday, as rescue teams searched for victims under layers of ash, sometimes digging with their bare hands. Semeru, the tallest mountain on Java, threw up towers of ash …

China’s Communist Party took American democracy to task on Saturday, sharply criticizing a global democracy summit being hosted by President Joe Biden next week and extolling the virtues of its governing system. Party officials questioned how a polarized country that botched its response to COVID-19 could lecture others, and said …

India reported its third case of the Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday, government officials said, as total Covid-19 cases inched closer to the 35 million mark. Officials in the western state of Gujarat said the patient who tested positive for Omicron was a 72-year old man of Indian origin who …

Indonesia’s Mount Semeru erupted on Saturday, spewing out a tower of smoke and ash that plunged local communities into darkness and forced thousands of nearby residents to flee. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said. But rescuers moved to evacuate local residents as lava …

China told Indonesia to stop drilling for oil and natural gas in maritime territory that both countries regard as their own during a months-long standoff in the South China Sea earlier this year, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The unprecedented demand, which has not previously been reported, …

The leader of the Taliban has delivered his first televised address since the group took power in Afghanistan in mid-August. He vowed not to interfere in other countries and asked for international aid. “We assure all the countries that we will not interfere in their internal affairs and we want …

Singapore-based virtual currency exchange Coinstore has begun operations in India at a time when the Indian government is preparing legislation to effectively bar most private cryptocurrencies. Coinstore has launched its web and app platform and plans branches in Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai which will act as its base in …

India’s total fertility rate has dropped below the replacement level for the first time, according to data released by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The rate has fallen to two in the latest survey, below the level at which a generation is producing enough children to replace itself. Given …