Asia

JAKARTA – At least 26 people were killed after a 6.0 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s main Java island, its disaster agency said Saturday, as the country reels from a cyclone disaster in another part of the archipelago. The afternoon quake hit offshore about 45 kilometres southwest ...

KOLKATA – Five people were killed in fresh election bloodshed in the Indian state of West Bengal on Saturday, including four shot dead by paramilitary troops “in self-defence”, officials said. West Bengal in eastern India has seen thousands killed in decades of political violence, and the current state election campaign ...

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. File/AFP US climate envoy John Kerry has praised India as a “world leader” in renewable energy but said during a visit to the fossil fuel-dependent nation that the globe needs to phase out coal faster. India is the world’s third-biggest emitter of ...

Credit: Reuters Photo WELLINGTON -New Zealand temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country. The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its ...

AFP photo HANOI – The man behind Vietnam’s successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, was formally sworn in as president in Hanoi. Phuc, 66, was Vietnam’s prime minister for the last five years, a period in which the economy boomed, and his government’s COVID-19 response won plaudits ...

Members of Indian security forces carry the coffin of one of their colleague, who died following a gun battle with Maoist rebels, which left twenty-two members of Indian security forces killed and 32 others wounded, at the Central Reserve Police Force’s Jagdalpur camp in Bijapur district of India’s Chhattisgarh state ...

Anti-coup protesters run from teargas and charging riot police and soldiers in Mandalay, Myanmar. Demonstrators in Myanmar took to the streets again to protest last month’s seizure of power by the military. (AP Photo) YANGON – A rebel group has accused Myanmar’s military of deploying “excessive force”, saying on Saturday ...

SYDNEY – Australia’s leader has reassigned some key members of his Cabinet and launched a new task force as he tries to address a series of sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked his government. Prime Minister Scott Morrison removed embattled ministers Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds from their high-profile roles. ...

  DUBAI – Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman has made a telephone call to Prime Minister Imran Khan to inquire about his health. The two leaders discussed the launch of Saudi Arabia s Billion Tree campaign. Imran Khan praised Saudi Arabia s  Green  initiatives. The Prime Minister also briefed him on ...

DHAKA – Thousands of people demonstrated in Bangladesh, a day after clashes between police and hardline Islamist protestors against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi left five dead. The violence, which began Friday at the main mosque in the capital Dhaka, rocked several key districts in the Muslim-majority ...