Asia

by Leo RAMIREZ China on Monday extended its biggest national holiday to buy time in the fight against a viral epidemic and neighbouring Mongolia closed its border, after the death toll spiked to 81 despite unprecedented quarantine measures. In a sign of the mounting official concern, Premier Li Keqiang visited ground-zero to oversee containment efforts […]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to end a pact key to annual war games with American troops if the US does not restore the travel visa of an official who oversaw his drug war. It is the latest in a long line of Duterte’s threats to shrink or sever ties with historical ally Washington, […]

China on Friday added four more cities to a transport ban around the epicentre of a deadly virus, restricting the movement of some 41 million people in 13 cities as authorities scramble to control the disease. Officials in Xianning, Xiaogan, Enshi and Zhijiang cities — all located in central Hubei province where the virus first […]

by Amber Wang with Jerome Taylor in Hong Kong As the world prepares to welcome the Year of the Rat, feng shui masters predict a lucky year for Donald Trump, but warn Harry and Meghan’s futures are less certain as they make a bid for freedom. Both the US President and the Sussexes have begun […]

by Aishwarya KUMAR Pawan Kumar feels zero sympathy for the four men he is due to hang next month for a 2012 gang rape and murder that appalled India. “The people who are going to die are like beasts, not humans,” the third-generation hangman and father-of-seven told AFP in his tiny flat in the northern […]

by Danny KEMP The UN’s top court will announce Thursday whether it will allow a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya Muslims to go ahead and if it will impose emergency measures to stop further violence. The ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) comes days after a Myanmar commission concluded that some […]

Protestors outside a Canadian courtroom pressing for the release of a senior Chinese telecommunications executive fighting extradition to the US were paid actors, they told local media. It was not clear, however, who footed the bill. A dozen men and women on Monday, at the start of the hearing considering whether or not to hand […]

by Vishal MANVE Rashmi Sahijwala never expected to start working at the age of 59, let alone join India’s gig economy — now she is part of an army of housewives turning their homes into “cloud kitchens” to feed time-starved millennials. Asia’s third-largest economy is battling a slowdown so sharp it is creating a drag […]

by Jerome TAYLOR / Xinqi SU Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced Thursday. The international financial hub has been on high alert for the virus, which has killed 17 people […]

by Helen ROXBURGH As China locks down the city at the epicentre of a new viral outbreak, countries around the world are scrambling to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Here’s what we know so far about the illness that has killed 17 people and infected at least 570, most in Wuhan: It’s entirely […]

With a busy background of essentially buccaneering cases against members of a previous government, a by-election took place in Kimanis, Sabah, on Jan 18. The ruling Pakatan Harapan-backed candidate lost. The Opposition candidate from Barisan Nasional-Umno, Mr Mohamad Alamin, managed to secure a margin of some 2,029 votes over Mr Karim Bujang of Warisan, which […]

by Quy Le BUI Beer sales in Vietnam are down ahead of the lunar new year, bar owners said, as a tough new drink-driving law threatens to put a lid on celebrations in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for the cold stuff. In the run-up to Vietnam’s Tet holiday, open-air ‘bia hoi’ bars are […]

Macau on Wednesday reported its first confirmed case of the new SARS-like coronavirus as authorities announced all staff in the city’s bustling casinos had been ordered to wear face masks. The former Portuguese colony is a huge draw for mainland tourists as the only place in China that allows gambling. With the Lunar New Year […]

by Beiyi SEOW A new virus that has killed nine people, infected hundreds and reached the United States could mutate and spread, China warned Wednesday, as authorities scrambled to contain the disease during the Lunar New Year travel season. The coronavirus has caused alarm for its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed […]

With the high number of travellers expected during the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations this weekend, authorities in China are fighting to contain what is being termed as the Wuhan virus, which is believed to have originated from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Chinese citizens expected to travel to commemorate the […]