Asia

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a Central Military Commission meeting, state media KCNA said on Saturday, where he called for boosting military power, but KCNA did not have details of any military activities planned. The meeting on Friday called for a “high-alert posture” against the “recent fast-changing” situation …

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the United States should first lift all the sanctions it has imposed on Iran in order to return to the 2015 nuclear deal as negotiations continue in the Austrian capital to revive the agreement, which was abandoned by the US three …

Taliban spokesman tells Reuters Turkey should withdraw troops as part of deal with the US for pullout of foreign forces. Turkey should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of foreign forces, a Taliban spokesman has said, effectively rejecting Ankara’s proposal to guard and run …

Building collapses are common in India during the June-September monsoon season when heavy rains weaken the foundations of structures that are poorly built. A three-story dilapidated building has collapsed following the first monsoon downpour in India’s Mumbai, killing at least 11 people, including eight children. Dozens of rescuers were clearing …

China has arrested more than a thousand people for using the profits from crime to buy cryptocurrencies, security officials said, as part of a growing crackdown on the industry. The country’s bitcoin mines power nearly 80 percent of the global trade in cryptocurrencies, although trading in China is banned. Officials …

South Korean lawmakers are pushing for reform to reduce the military’s judicial power after a female soldier who had suffered sexual abuse committed suicide, rekindling criticism of the military’s handling of sex crimes. An air force master sergeant, identified by her surname Lee, took her life last month after being …

India reported on Thursday the highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 in the world, at 6,148, after a big eastern state revised its figures to account for people who succumbed to the disease at home or in private hospitals. The health department of Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, revised …

A five-story building being demolished in southern South Korea has collapsed, sending debris falling on a bus and killing nine people on board A five-story building being demolished in southern South Korea collapsed on Wednesday, sending debris falling on a bus and killing nine people on board, officials said. Concrete …

After nearly four months of scorching heat and humidity, the season of rains, breezes and cloudy skies has started in several Indian regions – including Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Delhi. As the Monsoon season began in India, heavy rains have hit the country’s financial capital Mumbai. The downpour has …

The Indian government has ordered the temporary closure of all tiger reserves to tourism, after a spate of Covid-19 outbreaks in zoos around the country. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, an agency under the government’s environmental ministry, issued its order on Monday after the death of a Covid-positive lioness a …

UN says people fleeing military’s ‘brutal, indiscriminate attacks’ in eastern Kayah are in dire need of food and water. A United Nations rights expert has warned of “mass deaths from starvation, disease, and exposure” in eastern Myanmar after “brutal, indiscriminate attacks” by the military forced tens of thousands of people …

The head of the Philippine armed forces visited a coral-fringed island his country occupies in the South China Sea this week, a move that could stoke already heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing in disputed waters claimed by both countries. During Monday’s visit, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief …

China’s parliament expressed indignation and opposition on Wednesday to a U.S. bill aimed at countering a technology threat from the Asian giant, the official Xinhua news agency said. In a statement, the foreign affairs committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) said the bill displayed a Cold War mentality, smearing …

The government blamed the Taliban for the attack on the British-American charity, the HALO Trust. The militant group denied any responsibility. At least 10 people were killed and 16 others injured in an armed attack on staff members of a British-American charity in Afghanistan that has been clearing land mines …

Foreign ministers of Southeast Asia and China agreed during a meeting to exercise restraint in the South China Sea and avoid actions that could escalate tensions, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Tuesday. The ASEAN statement referred to a meeting on Monday in China of the ministers …

The US pullout from Afghanistan is more than 50 percent complete, the Pentagon said Tuesday, as it approaches its September 11 deadline to remove troops. Since President Joe Biden ordered the departure from Afghanistan in April, the Department of Defense has withdrawn the equivalent of approximately 500 C-17 loads of …

India battles a new challenge in mucormycosis, a rare fungal disease with a high mortality rate commonly referred to as ‘black fungus’. As a devastating second wave of COVID-19 ebbs with less than 100,000 new cases reported on Tuesday, India is now battling a new scare: Mucormycosis, commonly referred to …

Turkey has offered to guard and run Kabul’s airport after the United States and other NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan, but U.S. officials say Ankara is imposing conditions that need to be resolved as their leaders prepare to meet next week. Turkish officials say Ankara made the proposal at a …

Mongolia goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose its sixth democratically-elected president, with the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) on the cusp of consolidating its power following a low-key campaign crimped by COVID-19 curbs. The vote is the first after constitutional amendments stripped the office of some of its …

A top Japanese virologist and government adviser have warned of the risks of spreading COVID-19 infections during the Tokyo Olympics, the Times of London reported on Tuesday, the latest high-profile caveat about the global sporting showpiece. Tohoku University professor Hiroshi Oshitani was an architect of Japan’s “Three Cs” approach to …