Asia

Which Passports Open the Most Doors: Singapore Reigns

The latest Henley Passport Index, updated quarterly, reveals which passports offer the broadest global access without a visa. Singapore has reclaimed the top spot, granting its citizens visa-free entry to…

Read More Here

Infant formula contamination scare spreads to Danone and Lactalis

Three of the world's largest dairy companies are recalling and blocking batches of infant milk formula after a contamination scare that began with Nestle widened to French groups Danone and…

Read More Here

India to withdraw diplomats’ families from Bangladesh

India will withdraw its diplomats' families and dependents from Bangladesh in the face of security threats as tension rises ahead of a February 12 general election, an Indian official said…

Read More Here

Central Asia’s population boom contrasts Europe’s demographic decline, report shows

Central Asia’s population is projected to exceed 114 million by 2050, according to the United Nations Population Fund, setting the region apart from much of Europe and East Asia, where…

Read More Here

Magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes near Baculin, Philippines

A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the Philippines' southern islands on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. USGS said…

Read More Here

Xi Jinping vows to reunify China and Taiwan in New Year’s Eve speech

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has vowed to reunify China and Taiwan in his annual New Year’s Eve speech in Beijing. Speaking the day after the conclusion of intense Chinese military…

Read More Here

Taiwan stays on high alert as Chinese ships pull back after massive drills

Taiwan remained on high alert on Wednesday after China staged massive military drills around the island the previous day, keeping its emergency maritime response centre running as it monitored Chinese…

Read More Here

Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, dies at 80

Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister and a dominant figure in the country’s politics for decades, has died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness, her Bangladesh…

Read More Here

Search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 expected to resume on Tuesday

The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to resume on 30 December, more than a decade after the plane disappeared with 239 people onboard in one of aviation’s…

Read More Here

China launches war games around Taiwan

China staged live-fire drills around Taiwan on Monday, deploying troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its "Justice Mission 2025" exercises, as the island scrambled soldiers and showcased U.S.-made hardware…

Read More Here

Japan prepares to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima

Japan took the final step to allow the restart of the world's largest nuclear power plant on Monday as the region of Niigata voted to resume operations, a watershed moment…

Read More Here

Hong Kong’s last opposition party votes to disband under China pressure

Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy party has voted to dissolve, drawing a close to more than 30 years of political activism and underscoring the dramatic narrowing of the city’s political space.…

Read More Here

Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister made secret trip to Israel

Taiwan's high-profile Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicised visit to Israel recently, three sources familiar with the trip told Reuters, at a time when Taiwan is looking…

Read More Here

South Korea scrambles jets amid Chinese and Russian drill

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that Russian and Chinese aircraft entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) at around 10 a.m. local time (0100 UTC/GMT) on Tuesday.…

Read More Here

Russian bombers join Chinese air patrol near Japan as Tokyo-Beijing tie strains

Japan has scrambled jets to monitor Russian and Chinese air forces conducting joint patrols around the country, the Japanese defence ministry said late Tuesday, amid rising tensions between Tokyo and…

Read More Here

Border battle expands as Thailand and Cambodia clash for second day

Heavy clashes between Thailand and Cambodia continued for a second day on Tuesday, spreading to new parts of their contested border as both sides traded accusations of targeting civilians. Thailand…

Read More Here

Taiwan, Japan voice concern over Chinese military movements

Taiwan and Japan voiced concern on Friday over Chinese military activities in the region, after Reuters reported that Beijing had deployed a large number of vessels across East Asian waters…

Read More Here

China’s military firms struggle as corruption purge bites, report says

Revenues at China’s major state-owned military companies fell sharply last year as sweeping corruption investigations stalled procurement and delayed major weapons contracts, according to new research by the Stockholm International…

Read More Here

China’s military warns Japan will pay ‘painful price’ if steps out of line over Taiwan

China's defence ministry said on Thursday that Japan will have to pay a "painful price" if it steps out of line over Taiwan, responding to Japanese plans to deploy missiles…

Read More Here

China Hit by Two Major Tragedies

China has been confronted with two severe incidents that underscore longstanding challenges in transport safety and urban emergency readiness. In Yunnan province, eleven people lost their lives on Thursday after…

Read More Here

Taiwan Warns: Be Combat-Ready by 2027, Citing Rising Risk of Force from China

Taiwan will prepare itself for combat within the next two years amid "intensifying" threats from China, the nation's president has declared. Lai Ching-te held a news conference on Wednesday morning…

Read More Here

‘Return’ to China not an option for Taiwan’s people, premier says

Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday that a "return" to China is not an option for the island's 23 million people, after Chinese President Xi Jinping pressed his country's…

Read More Here

North, South Korea in ‘very dangerous’ standoff

North and South Korea are in a "very dangerous situation" where an accidental clash is possible any time and it was crucial for Seoul to engage Pyongyang in dialogue, South…

Read More Here

China Tightens Grip on Japan Links as Cruise Lines and Concerts Face Sudden Cancellations

Chinese cruise lines and cultural institutions are abruptly distancing themselves from Japan as diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Tokyo intensify, disrupting tourism flows, entertainment events and business plans across the…

Read More Here

Two Miss Universe judges quit scandal-hit pageant, as one claims it’s rigged

Two Miss Universe judges have resigned days before the annual beauty pageant, with one of them accusing organisers of rigging the selection process. Lebanese-French musician Omar Harfouch, who announced his…

Read More Here

Singapore reveals world’s first green fuel tax on flights

Singapore is poised to become the first country in the world to sting travellers with a green fuel tax. Last week, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) confirmed its…

Read More Here

Japan warns citizens in China about safety as diplomatic crisis deepens

Japan has warned its citizens in China to step up safety precautions and avoid crowded places amid a deepening dispute between Asia's two largest economies over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae…

Read More Here

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina: From political dominance to death sentence

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina, sentenced to death in absentia on Monday for her deadly crackdown on student protesters last year, has been a dominant figure in the South Asian nation for…

Read More Here

Taiwan to distribute security handbook to all households as China threat rises

Taiwan will begin distributing millions of civil defence handbooks to households across the island this week, in an unprecedented effort to prepare residents for potential emergencies, including the possibility of…

Read More Here

Suicide bomber kills 12 outside court in Pakistan capital

At least 12 people have been killed and 27 others injured in a suicide bombing outside a court complex in Islamabad, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has confirmed. The explosion…

Read More Here

N Korea ‘head of state’ who served under three Kims dies

Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's former ceremonial head of state and a lifelong supporter of the ruling dynasty, has died aged 97, according to state media. He held the role…

Read More Here

Taiwan does not want China’s ‘one country, two systems’, president says

Taiwan does not want China's "one country, two systems" and must uphold its freedom and democracy, and resolve to defend itself, President Lai Ching-te said on Friday, rejecting Beijing's latest…

Read More Here

Pakistan threatens to ‘obliterate’ Taliban after peace talks fail

Pakistan's defence minister threatened to "obliterate" the ruling Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan, a dramatic escalation of rhetoric after the collapse of talks towards a lasting peace between the South Asian…

Read More Here

Trump cuts China tariffs to 47% after ‘amazing’ Xi meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had agreed to reduce tariffs on China to 47% in exchange for Beijing resuming U.S. soybean purchases, keeping rare earths exports flowing…

Read More Here

China says it ‘absolutely will not’ rule out use of force over Taiwan

China "absolutely will not" rule out using force over Taiwan, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday, striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media this…

Read More Here

Trump oversees truce signing and trade deal flurry on first Asian stop

U.S. President Donald Trump hit the ground running on the first leg of his Asian tour on Sunday, announcing a slew of trade agreements in Malaysia and joining the signing…

Read More Here

Japan’s Sanae Takaichi elected as country’s first female prime minister

Japan’s parliament on Tuesday elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first female prime minister, a historic first that comes one day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal…

Read More Here

Japan’s Ishin party joins political establishment it vowed to fight

Formed in 2010 to shake up Japan's political establishment and loosen Tokyo's administrative stranglehold, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, will now help the ruling Liberal Democratic Party extend…

Read More Here

India contradicts Trump on Russian oil pledge

A senior Indian official has challenged President Donald Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi phoned him to announce India would stop buying Russian oil. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s…

Read More Here

Trump Says Modi Pledged to Stop Buying Russian Oil, Eyes China Next

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to halt India’s purchases of Russian oil, as Washington steps up efforts to cut Moscow’s…

Read More Here

Powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes off southern Philippines, tsunami warnings issued

An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck offshore in the southern Philippines on Friday morning, the country's seismology agency said, with tsunami warnings issued in several countries and people in nearby…

Read More Here

Officials Confirm Rising Fatalities Following Philippines Quake

The death toll from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the central Philippines has risen to 69, a disaster official said on Wednesday as the government mobilised agencies to search for…

Read More Here

Internet blackout hits Afghanistan as Taliban enforce morality crackdown

Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban authorities have ordered a nationwide shutdown of the country's fiber optic internet "until further notice," according to a government source who spoke with French news agency AFP…

Read More Here

North Korea tells UN: We will never give up nuclear program

North Korea will never give up its nuclear program, the country's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, describing it as "tantamount to…

Read More Here

Deadly cyclone makes landfall in China after devastating Hong Kong, Taiwan and Philippines

Super Typhoon Ragasa, the strongest tropical cyclone of the year, made landfall on Wednesday in Yangjiang, a city in China’s southern Guangdong province, according to the National Meteorological Centre. The…

Read More Here

ICC charges Former Philippine president Duterte with crimes against humanity

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The 80-year-old is accused of being criminally responsible for dozens of murders…

Read More Here

North Korea’s Kim says he is open to talks if US drops denuclearisation demand

North Korea's Kim Jong Un said there was no reason to avoid talks with the U.S. if Washington stopped insisting his country give up nuclear weapons, but he would never…

Read More Here

Surge in deadly ‘brain-eating’ amoeba cases causes alarm in India’s Kerala state

An increase in cases of a rare but fatal form of encephalitis has put authorities in India's southern state of Kerala on alert, forcing them to step up testing to…

Read More Here

North Korea says its nuclear weapons state is irreversible

The permanent mission of North Korea to the United Nations said the country's position as a nuclear weapons state was irreversible, denouncing U.S. "anachronistic" claims for denuclearisation, state media KCNA…

Read More Here

China’s Xi convenes ‘Axis of Upheaval’ in Beijing, sidelining Trump

Chinese President Xi Jinping convened a landmark summit in Beijing on Tuesday, hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in what analysts have dubbed an…

Read More Here

More than 600 killed in Afghanistan quake, Taliban interior ministry says

A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake has struck eastern Afghanistan, leaving more than 600 people dead and over 1,500 injured, according to figures released by the Taliban interior ministry. The hardest-hit province…

Read More Here

Putin and Modi join Xi at landmark Summit in China

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are among the leaders attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China – the largest gathering since the…

Read More Here

Taiwan has right to be free and ‘preserve self-determination’, senior US senator says

Taiwan has the right to remain free and uphold its self-determination, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a staunch supporter of Taiwan in Congress,…

Read More Here

Japan plans stricter terms for visas to foreign entrepreneurs

Japan plans tougher requirements for visas to foreign entrepreneurs, with a six-fold increase in minimum capital to 30 million yen ($204,000) and full-time employment of at least one person in…

Read More Here

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to join Putin at China military parade

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un will attend a military parade in Beijing next week alongside Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's foreign ministry has said, in what will be a landmark…

Read More Here

North Korea’s Kim calls for rapid nuclear buildup

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country needed to rapidly expand its nuclear armament and called U.S.-South Korea military exercises an "obvious expression of their will to provoke…

Read More Here

China accuses Philippines of ‘playing with fire’ on Taiwan

China accused the Philippines on Friday of "playing with fire" after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the Southeast Asian nation would be drawn into any conflict between China and the…

Read More Here