By Nina LARSON The world could see the Covid pandemic begin fading next year into an endemic disease like others humanity lives with, unless glaring inequality in vaccine access drags it out and worse variants emerge. Even as countries scramble to address a new worrying virus variant and Europe battles a winter resurgence, health experts […]
A rare joint opinion article by the ambassadors of China and Russia has sharply assailed President Joe Biden’s plans for a virtual summit of democratic countries — from which they were pointedly excluded. Calling the US plan “an evident product of its Cold-War mentality,” ambassadors Anatoly Antonov of Russia and Qin Gang of China said […]
The expansion of a Zara clothing store in France was blocked over a probe into whether its parent company Inditex benefits from the use of forced labour of Uyghurs in China, officials said Monday. Zara France wanted to double the surface area of its shop in the centre of the southern city of Bordeaux, but […]
The US military will reinforce deployments and bases directed at China and Russia, even while maintaining forces in the Middle East adequate to deter Iran and jihadist groups, the Pentagon said Monday based on the results of a review. The US Defense Department will be upgrading and expanding military facilities in Guam and Australia, underscoring […]
Singapore and Malaysia eased coronavirus travel restrictions on one of the world’s busiest land borders Monday after nearly two years, allowing some vaccinated people to cross without quarantine. Before the pandemic, about 300,000 people used to commute across the border from Malaysia every day to the neighbouring city-state, to work in areas ranging from public transport […]
An episode of “The Simpsons” in which the cartoon American family visit Tiananmen Square is missing from the Disney+ streaming service in Hong Kong, adding to concerns about mainland China-style censorship in the city. It comes at a time when authorities are clamping down on dissent, with curbs on speech becoming a norm in the […]
US-listed Chinese microblogging platform Weibo is seeking to raise up to $547 million in a share offer in Hong Kong, documents showed Monday, the latest China tech company to list closer to home as tensions with the United States rise. Several US-listed Chinese tech firms such as Alibaba have held initial public offerings in Hong […]
The Philippines will welcome back fully-vaccinated tourists from most countries next week, the government said Friday, over 20 months after shutting its borders to keep out the coronavirus. Falling Covid-19 infections and rising vaccine coverage will allow the country to revive its battered tourism sector with the December 1 reopening, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Karlo […]
Two Myanmar-China border crossings have re-opened for trade after the movement of goods was suspended for almost seven months due to Covid-19 restrictions, officials said. Five shipping containers of produce were exchanged on Friday at the Kyin San Kyawt border gate, around 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the northern Myanmar city of Muse. Min Thein, […]
