Asia

China confirmed on Monday that its first domestically built aircraft carrier had sailed through the Taiwan Strait for “routine” training and tests after Taipei accused Beijing of intimidation around upcoming elections. The ship, which has yet to be named, is Beijing’s second carrier and will add massive firepower to its navy once it is officially […]

by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA A thick grey smog choked New Delhi for the fifth day Saturday, adding to a mounting pollution health crisis, but retired naval commander Anil Charan is one of the vast majority of the city’s 20 million inhabitants who do not wear a mask. Indian media is packed with warnings about the risk […]

by Catherine LAI / Su Xinqi Government supporters took to the streets of downtown Hong Kong on Saturday after a chaotic working week saw hardcore pro-democracy activists cause widespread disruption in the city and stretch police resources. A “Blossom Everywhere” campaign of roadblocks and vandalism across the semi-autonomous financial hub shut down large chunks of […]

Hong Kong—The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) became part of the ongoing protests in the city earlier this week as a confrontation occurred, with students endeavouring to bar police from entering the university campus. University officials suspended classes a fortnight earlier than the original schedule, but CUHK may yet continue to be the scene […]

by Danny KEMP International investigators looking into the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine released intercepted phone calls on Thursday showing close links between “high-ranking” Russian officials and rebel suspects facing trial over the crash. The probe said the recordings raised questions about the possible involvement of key Kremlin officials — including Defence Minister Sergei […]

China on Thursday completed a test of its Mars exploration lander ahead of Beijing’s first mission to the red planet slated for 2020. Beijing is pouring billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022. Thursday’s hovering and obstacle-avoidance test, which took place in northern Hebei province, was […]

by Haeril HALIM Indonesian Mirnawati once ate rice with every meal, but its link to diabetes convinced her to join a growing movement to quit a staple food in the third biggest rice-consuming nation on Earth. As World Diabetes Day is held Thursday, the Southeast Asian nation is struggling to tackle a disease that affects […]

Pro-democracy protesters challenging China’s rule of Hong Kong on Thursday choked the city for a fourth straight working day, firing arrows at police, barricading roads and disrupting transport links, as schools and businesses closed. The territory has entered its sixth month of protests, which have morphed from mass rallies into a “blossom everywhere” campaign of […]

by Shaun TANDON Uighur activists said Tuesday they have documented nearly 500 camps and prisons run by China to detain members of the ethnic group, alleging that Beijing could be holding far more than the commonly cited figure of one million people. The East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, a Washington-based group that seeks independence for […]

by Amal JAYASINGHE Police stepped up security across Sri Lanka on Wednesday over fears of violence on the final day of campaigning for the fiercely contested presidential election, officials said. Elite police commandos reinforced police as the two frontrunners in Saturday’s vote Sajith Premadasa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa held rival rallies in and around Colombo. “There […]

More than 50 people, mostly children, were injured by a man who broke into a kindergarten in southwest China and sprayed them with corrosive liquid, local authorities said Tuesday. The suspect, a 23-year-old surnamed Kong, entered the kindergarten by climbing a wall before spraying victims with sodium hydroxide, said local authorities in Kaiyuan city, Yunnan […]

Self-exiled Cambodia opposition leader Sam Rainsy had planned to rally with thousands of his supporters to march into Cambodia through the Thai border last Saturday, but his plan faltered after he was barred from flying to Bangkok from Paris. In an interview with Malaysiakini in Putrajaya he repeated his wish to organise a huge rally of Cambodian exiles […]

The ex-King of Malaysia is hitting back at his ex-wife, Russian Model Oksana Veovodina, 27, who says that her baby boy is his son. In an exclusive article the Daily Mail said the King called Veovodina ‘cruel and vindictive’. The British paper said the Kelantan Sultan, Muhammad V insists the pictures of the baby produced […]

A court in southern China sentenced a former politician from Japan to life imprisonment on Friday for attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country hidden in the soles of platform shoes. 76-year-old Takuma Sakuragi was caught at an airport in 2013 with 3.29 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hidden in the handle of his suitcase and […]

Indian police have arrested more than 500 people ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on a hotly disputed religious site in the holy city of Ayodhya, media reports said, with authorities fearing the verdict could trigger unrest. The decision on the future of the site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims is due by November […]