Tag Archives: Asia

One simple question has kept China-watchers scratching their heads for years: Will the country get old before it gets rich? The metaphorical needle between both those two words has just shifted hard toward “old.” China’s National Bureau of Statistics released data on Tuesday from its once-a-decade national census, which was …

A wildfire in eastern Kazakhstan that has burned an area of 310 hectares (766 acres) has killed at least one person and injured two others on Monday, the local emergencies department said. More than 200 firefighters were at the scene, aided by two helicopters, the department said in a statement, …

Imran Khan’s visit to Riyadh is a significant move to rebuild relations between the historic allies following recent setbacks, say, analysts. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has started a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia in an effort to reset relations after tensions between the longtime allies in recent years. Khan’s …

The Maldives speaker of parliament and former president, Mohamed Nasheed, was in critical care on Friday after being severely wounded in a bomb blast outside his home, hospital authorities said, in what police are treating as a terrorist attack. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s explosion in the capital Malé …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

China warned Washington not to “play with fire” on Wednesday as a US delegation wrapped up a historic trip to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. Beijing has been infuriated by the highest-profile visit in decades to Taiwan, which it sees as part of its territory, as US-China relations plunge to …

Indonesia’s rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted Monday, sending a column of volcanic materials as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and depositing ash on villages. Falling grit and ash accumulated up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) in already abandoned villages on the volcano’s slopes, said Armen Putra, an …

The death toll from a landslide at a tea plantation in the southern Indian state of Kerala rose to 43 on Sunday with nearly two dozen people feared trapped, a senior official said. The landslide, caused by heavy rain, hit the plantation in Idduki district in the early hours of …

Some areas have seen more than 40 consecutive days of rain – as fears also grow in North Korea about damage to crops. At least 30 people are dead and a dozen are missing after more than a week of devastating torrential rain caused landslides and floods in South Korea. …

Afghanistan agreed on Sunday to release 400 “hard-core” Taliban prisoners, paving the way for the beginning of peace talks aimed at ending more than 19 years of war. Under election-year pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for a deal allowing him to bring home American troops, the war-torn country’s grand …

Eleven patients have died after a fire at a coronavirus treatment facility in India, as the country posted a record daily rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19. The blaze, the country’s second such incident in four days, ripped through the Hotel Swarna Palace in the city of Vijayawada, southeast India, …

China said ‘unilateral’ changes made in the status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 were ‘illegal and invalid’ India hit out on China on Wednesday for saying that “unilateral” changes made to the status of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 were “illegal and invalid,” saying Beijing …

Sri Lankans shrugged off fears of the novel coronavirus and streamed into polling centres on Wednesday to elect a new parliament that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will clear the way for him to boost his powers. The tourism-dependent island nation of 21 million people has been struggling since deadly Islamist …

Authorities on Wednesday enforced security restrictions in many parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir, a year after New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in a decision that set off anger and economic ruin amid a harsh security clampdown. Officials lifted a curfew in the restive region’s main city of Srinagar late …