Asia

Japan extended on Friday a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas until the end of May to stem a surge in coronavirus cases, but Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reiterated that it is still possible to host Tokyo Olympics this summer. The government had hoped a “short and …

India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi warned on Friday that unless the deadly second COVID-19 wave sweeping the country was brought under control it would devastate India as well as threaten the rest of the world. In a letter, Gandhi implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare for another national …

Three Indian policemen have been killed in a militant attack on a security checkpoint in the Indian-administered Kashmir, New Delhi says.  Kashmir Police Chief Vijay Kumar said that militants attacked the security checkpoint north of the main city of Srinagar and killed one local policeman and two officers from the …

China welcomed on Monday to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed summit of world leaders to avoid “confrontation” over a U.S. threat to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran. The United States lost a bid on Friday to extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran. Russia and China …

India on Sunday restored high-speed 4G internet services in two districts of Kashmir after the Supreme Court last month said an indefinite shutdown of the internet there was illegal. The communications lockdown had been imposed after partial autonomy of the Muslim majority region was scrapped by the Prime Minister Narendra …

A Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground on a reef in Mauritius last month threatening a marine ecological disaster around the Indian Ocean island has broken apart, authorities said on Saturday. The condition of the MV Wakashio was worsening early on Saturday and it split by the afternoon, the Mauritius …

The Afghan government released dozens more Taliban prisoners on Thursday, beginning the final phase of a detainee swap agreed in a deal between the U.S. and the insurgent group. Officials said 80 men were allowed to walk out of prison this week. The release of the remaining 320 or so …

More than a thousand protesters gathered in Thailand’s capital Bangkok on Sunday to demand the resignation of the government, changes to the constitution and an end to the harassment of opposition activists. Demonstrators said Sunday’s protest would show broader support for change in the Southeast Asian country beyond the student …

South Korea and the United States will start their annual joint military drills on Tuesday, in what local media said was a two-day delay after a South Korean officer tested positive for the new coronavirus. The drills will start on Tuesday, “considering the COVID-19 situation,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of …

India is ready to mass-produce COVID-19 vaccines when scientists give the go-ahead, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech on Saturday, also launching a national project to roll out health identities for each citizen. Modi identified health and economic self-reliance as the key priorities for his …

Taiwan has signed a 62-billion-dollar deal to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the United States – the biggest arms pact between Washington and Taipei which is expected to increase tensions with China. Under the deal, which the Pentagon announced on Friday, the US agreed to sell 90 F-16 fighter jets from American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed …

A prominent women’s rights advocate and member of the Afghan team tasked with negotiating with the Taliban sustained minor injuries in an attack in Kabul by unknown gunmen, officials said on Saturday. They described the attack on Fawzia Koofi, a former lawmaker, as an assassination attempt. It was condemned by …

A spike in new coronavirus cases in South Korea has prompted authorities to reimpose tighter social distancing curbs in Seoul, but that didn’t stop thousands of demonstrators from protesting against President Moon Jae-in’s policies. For the second day in a row in over four months, the country has reported a …

President Donald Trump ordered ByteDance on Friday to divest the U.S. operations of its video-sharing app TikTok within 90 days, the latest effort to ramp up pressure on the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles. “There is credible evidence that leads me to …

Landslides triggered by heavy rain swept away dozens of houses and killed at least 16 people in mountainous villages of Nepal on Friday and many people were missing, a home ministry official said. Nepal suffers flash floods and landslides during the June-September rainy season, resulting in loss of life and …

Flooding caused by weeks of unusually heavy monsoon rains has killed at least 22 people in North Korea, with four others missing, and even approached the country’s main nuclear reactor, but leader Kim Jong Un says he is too worried about coronavirus to accept outside help. The International Federation of …

More people in Indonesia rolled up their sleeves Friday to test a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by a Chinese company. The Indonesian government announced the partnership between state-owned enterprise Bio Farma and the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech in early July. As part of the deal, Indonesia recruited 1,620 volunteers for …

The Philippines will begin large-scale human testing of Russia’s coronavirus vaccine in October, but President Rodrigo Duterte will not receive the inoculation until regulators guarantee its safety, his spokesman said Thursday. Duterte had offered himself up as a guinea pig for the very first jab, expressing “huge trust” in the …

China’s military says recent military drills near Taiwan were “necessary action” to safeguard Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.  in a statement on Thursday, Zhang Chunhui, a spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), also said that the Chinese military would take any measure necessary to …

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung erupted again Thursday with a string of blasts that sent plumes of ash two kilometers (1.2 miles) into the sky, triggering a flight warning and fears of lava flows. The activity marked at least the eighth time that the rumbling volcano on Sumatra island has erupted in …