Asia

More than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the border into Tajikistan on Sunday after Taliban advances in northern Afghanistan, the Tajik border guard service said, while dozens of others were captured by the insurgents. The crossings underscore a rapidly deteriorating situation in the country as foreign troops near a …

Pakistan’s national security adviser has accused India of orchestrating last month’s deadly car bombing in the eastern city of Lahore, saying Sunday that an investigation has shown it was organized by an Indian intelligence operative. In a news conference in Islamabad, Moeed Yousuf said the probe showed that the man …

Indonesia has ordered oxygen makers to prioritise medical needs amid growing demand from COVID-19 patients, the government said on Sunday, following more than 60 deaths in a hospital where the supply of the life-saving gas was almost exhausted. The world’s fourth most populous nation is battling one of Asia’s worst …

The Taliban have captured a key district in their former bastion of Kandahar after fierce night-time fighting with Afghan government forces, officials said Sunday, the latest area to be seized since US troops began their final withdrawal. The insurgents have pressed on with their campaign to capture territory across Afghanistan’s …

The first astronauts to arrive at China’s new space station carried out their debut spacewalk, marking only the second time the country’s astronauts have ventured out of their craft while in orbit. Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng, and Liu Boming docked with the Tiangong space station in June, beginning a three-month …

Rain hampered Japanese rescuers seeking 20 missing people on Sunday after landslides triggered by torrential rains hit the central city of Atami, killing at least two, Kyodo news agency said. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said about 19 people were rescued and about 130 buildings were affected after floods, landslides and …

A military plane crashed and broke up in flames in the southern Philippines on Sunday with 92 people aboard, and the army chief said at least 40 people had been rescued. The C-130 aircraft of the Philippine Air Force had a mishap on landing on the island of Jolo, the …

Thousands of South Korean workers staged a rally in downtown Seoul to demand better conditions, video images showed on Saturday, defying a government ban and shrugging off warnings that their protest could ignite a new wave of the coronavirus. As South Korea battles a spike in infections fuelled by the …

TikTok was running again in Pakistan Saturday after a provincial court lifted the suspension of the popular social media service but ordered it to address complaints that it hosted objectionable content. The Pakistan Telecoms Authority (PTA) blocked access Thursday for the third time after a ruling by a Sindh court …

Newly arrived overseas tourists on Thailand’s island of Phuket were able to roam free without quarantine on Friday for the first time in more than a year, as Thailand launched a special programme for vaccinated visitors to the island. Tourists swam in hotel pools and walked along Phuket’s postcard-perfect beaches …

Japan’s military sent emergency rescuers to the central city of Atami on Saturday after landslides triggered by heavy rains left at least 20 people missing, public broadcaster NHK said. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has called together an emergency task force to tackle the crisis, NHK added, as it broadcast Twitter …

Authorities in the Philippines started evacuating thousands of people on Thursday after the alert status was raised on a restive volcano that spewed a one-kilometre (0.62 miles) high plume of gas and steam. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70 km (45 miles) south of central Manila, moved to …

The United States on Friday increased pressure on Myanmar’s junta in response to the February military coup, adding four companies it said support the military to its trade blacklist and imposing sanctions on key military officials. The U.S. Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on seven key members of the …

The Taliban say Afghanistan can get closer to peace and stability now that all US troops are leaving the country, as the foreign forces’ main base, Bagram, gets fully evacuated. “We consider this withdrawal a positive step,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters on Friday, hours after US military officials …

More than six million videos were removed from TikTok in Pakistan in three months, the app said on Wednesday, as it battles an on-off ban in the deeply conservative country. Wildly popular among Pakistani youth, the Chinese-owned app has been shut down by authorities twice over “indecent” content, most recently …

Police deployed in the streets of Hong Kong in large numbers on Thursday to prevent protests on the anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, and its acting leader said a national security law had brought order back to the city after chaos. Police vans, water cannon trucks, armoured vehicles, …

The Japanese embassy in Manila has announced that Japan and the Philippines will deepen their defense ties by holding their first-ever joint exercises next week, in an apparent attempt to counter Chinese influence in the region. In a statement on Thursday, the Japanese embassy hailed the drills as a “significant …

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the failure to implement measures to tackle the coronavirus had caused a “great crisis” and he chastised ruling party officials for risking the safety of the country and people, state media reported on Wednesday. The report by state news agency KCNA did not …

The Afghan Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that government forces had liberated five cities from the Taliban in the past 24 hours. Government forces recaptured control of Khost in Baghlan, Shinwari in Parwan, Khan Chahar Bagh, and Pashtun Kot in Faryab, and Kaldar in Balkh, the Afghan Ministry of …

Malaysia’s king on Wednesday asked for a special parliamentary sitting to be convened before Aug. 1, according to the speakers of both houses of parliament, as the country remains under lockdown amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Two weeks earlier, King Al-Sultan Abdullah said the country’s parliament should reconvene as …