Asia

India will need to spend an additional 800 billion rupees ($11 billion) to provide free vaccine and food to millions of people devastated by a deadly wave of coronavirus infections, Bloomberg News said on Tuesday. The government of the world’s second-most populous nation will earmark an additional 700 billion rupees …

Pakistani engineers Tuesday combed the mangled wreckage of two trains that collided in a remote farming region, an accident that killed dozens and highlighted huge safety problems on the nation’s dilapidated rail network. At least 63 people were killed early Monday when a high-speed passenger train knifed through carriages of …

A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees that set sail in February but had been adrift in the Andaman Sea with engine failure has landed on an Indonesian island after a voyage of more than 100 days, a human rights official said. The vessel sailed on Feb. 11 from Cox’s …

Eighteen people were killed in a fire on Monday at a chemical factory in the western Indian city of Pune, police said. The police said 20 people had survived the blaze and the charred bodies of all those killed had been recovered. An inquiry has been ordered by the district …

China administered about 14.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on June 6, bringing the total number administered to 777.88 million, data from the National Health Authority showed on Monday.

Heavy rain has lashed Sri Lanka triggering floods and landslides that have killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, officials said on Monday. After days of rain, rivers on the island nation’s southern and western plains overflowed on the weekend, inundating low-lying areas and …

Renewed interest in coronavirus origin hypothesis after criticism over WHO inquiry and arrival of new US administration. There is growing public support among the world’s scientific community for fully exploring the possibility the coronavirus may have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, leading to the global outbreak that has …

At least 37 people were killed and dozens more injured in Pakistan’s Sindh province after an express train derailed and collided with another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. The incident occurred early on Monday near the city of Daharki, in Ghotki District of Pakistan’s southeast Sindh province. According …

A black box from a ship loaded with chemical and plastic that is sinking off Sri Lanka has been located, officials said Sunday, as investigators probe what caused the vessel to catch fire. The Voyage Data Recorder, also known as a maritime “black box”, enables investigators to review procedures and …

Police caught a suspect in a knife attack that killed six people and injured 14 on Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Anqing, local authorities said on Sunday. The suspect in the attack, which took place on a pedestrian shopping street, is an unemployed 25-year-old man who was “venting …

US donation comes after Taiwan accused China of trying to block the island from accessing vaccines internationally. The United States will give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, as part of the country’s plan to share millions of jabs globally, a delegation of US senators have announced after Taipei complained …

Landmine explosion occurs hours before Taliban leaders and UN officials met in Qatar to discuss the Afghan peace process. At least 11 civilians have been killed in northern Afghanistan when their vehicle set off a land mine, local government officials said on Sunday, accusing the Taliban of planting the roadside …

With COVID-19 infections coming down to the lowest level country-wide in nearly two months to 120,529 new cases in the last 24 hours, India’s major cities today announced significant relaxations in lockdowns in New Delhi and Mumbai. Government and private offices will be allowed to reopen with 50 percent attendance …

Three U.S. senators will visit Taiwan on Sunday and will meet President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss security and other issues, Taiwan’s government and the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei said on Saturday, a trip that will likely irritate China. The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic …

At least three people were killed in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady River delta region on Saturday as the military junta’s forces clashed with villagers, local media and residents said, while fighting was also reported in northern and eastern Myanmar. The army has struggled to impose control since the army returned to power …

A total of 81 refugees on Idaman Island are staying in emergency tents and have been provided with food and water by locals as they await their fate. A boat carrying 81 Rohingya refugees has washed ashore at an uninhabited island in Indonesia after drifting for more than 100 days …

Two people died and six were missing after an accident in a coal mine in central China, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday. The “accidental outburst” occurred at a coal mine run by Henan Hebi Coal and Electricity Co in the late afternoon on Friday, and the authorities in Henan …

Taliban insurgents show no sign of reducing the level of violence in Afghanistan to facilitate peace negotiations with the government, and appear to be trying to strengthen their military position as leverage, with the “unprecedented violence” of 2020 carrying into 2021, UN experts said in a new report circulated Friday. …

Flash floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka triggered by heavy rains have killed at least three people and left two missings, while more than 5,000 are displaced, officials said Saturday. Rains have been pouring in six districts of the Indian Ocean island nation since Thursday night, and many paddy fields …

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday that Pakistan is ready to restart talks with arch-rival India if Delhi provides a roadmap towards restoring the previous status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. The two nuclear-armed neighbors both control parts of Kashmir but claim it in full. In 2019, …