SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Saturday reported 21 new deaths and 174,440 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambles to slow the spread of COVID-19 across its unvaccinated population.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Before acknowledging its first domestic COVID-19 cases, North Korea spent 2 1/2 years rejecting outside offers of vaccines and steadfastly claiming that its superior socialist system was protecting its 26 million people from “a malicious virus” that had killed millions around the world.
TOKYO (AP) — Okinawa on Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of its return to Japan on May 15, 1972, which ended 27 years of U.S. rule after one of the bloodiest battles of World War II was fought on the southern Japanese island.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has tested positive for COVID-19 but said she still plans to travel to the U.S. later this month for a trade trip and to give the commencement speech at Harvard University.
NEW DELHI (AP) — With one brother president, another prime minister and three more family members cabinet ministers, it appeared that the Rajapaksa clan had consolidated its grip on power in Sri Lanka after decades in and out of government.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Protesters attacked earlier this week by supporters of Sri Lanka's government demanded Friday that the newly appointed prime minister arrest his predecessor for allegedly instigating the attack against them as they were calling for his resignation.
NEW DELHI (AP) — A massive fire erupted Friday evening in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing at least 27 people and leaving several others injured, the fire control room said.
BEIJING (AP) — Shanghai will try again to reopen in a few days after it has eliminated COVID-19 transmission among the general population as the outbreak in China's largest city subsides, an official said Friday.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's defense minister said Friday that a Chinese warship with spying capabilities had been hugging the nation's western coastline in what amounted to an “aggressive act.”
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Hindus in Indian-controlled Kashmir staged protests on Friday, a day after assailants fatally shot a Hindu government employee in the disputed Muslim-majority region.
Police blamed anti-India rebels for the killing of Rahul Bhat, a revenue clerk, inside an office complex in Chadoora town on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday announced he's nominating one of his top national security aides as ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, aiming to underscore his administration's commitment to the Pacific region.
NEW DELHI (AP) — A retired Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-in-law, demanding that they produce a grandchild within a year or pay them 50 million rupees ($675,000).
Sanjeev Ranjan Prasad, a 61-year-old retired government officer, said it was an emotional and sensitive issue for him and his wife, Sadhana Prasad, and they cannot wait any longer.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Allies of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the presumptive next president of the Philippines, appear set to dominate both chambers of Congress, further alarming activists after the late dictator son's apparent election victory restored his family to the seat of power.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Six people have died and 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across North Korea, state media said Friday, a day after the country acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time in the pandemic.
SYDNEY (AP) — A man impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday disrupted the Australian election campaign when he burst into an event that Prime Minister Scott Morrison was attending with lawmaker Gladys Liu.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday kicked off the first-ever Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit to be held in Washington as his administration makes an extended effort to demonstrate that the United States has not lost focus on the Pacific even while dealing with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world.
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bombing targeted a van carrying Pakistani security forces in the southern port city of Karachi on Thursday, killing a passerby and wounding 13 people, police said.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Thursday, its neighbors said, the latest in a series of weapons demonstrations this year and one that came just hours after it confirmed its first case of the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Five-time former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was reappointed on Thursday in an effort to bring stability to the island nation, which is engulfed in a political and economic crisis.
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar announced Thursday it will resume issuing visas for visitors in an effort to help its moribund tourism industry, devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and violent political unrest.
GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases reported worldwide has continued to fall except in the Americas and Africa, the World Health Organization said in its latest assessment of the pandemic.
HONG KONG (AP) — Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 90-year-old Catholic cleric arrested by Hong Kong police on national security charges, has long been a fiery critic of Beijing's control of religion and political monopoly, along with efforts by the Vatican to reach a working arrangement with the ruling Communist Party.
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese passenger jet veered off the runway during takeoff and caught fire on Thursday, sending black smoke billowing into the air and injuring more than 30 people.
The Tibet Airlines flight with 122 people on board was departing from the southwestern city of Chongqing for a flight to Nyingchi in China's Tibet region.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Chinese ambassador says China’s engagement with South Pacific island countries poses no threat to Australia, responding to fears that Beijing will establish a military foothold in the Solomon Islands.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden called Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday to congratulate him on his apparent landslide victory in the Philippine presidential election, Manila’s ambassador to Washington said.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan and the European Union on Thursday agreed to step up their sanctions against Russia as leaders from the two sides raised concerns about the war’s impact in the Indo-Pacific, where they seek to strengthen their partnership and increase engagement amid China's growing assertiveness.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A Nepali Sherpa broke her own record as the most successful female climber of Mount Everest by reaching the summit of the world's highest peak Thursday.
Lakpa Sherpa and several other climbers took advantage of favorable weather to reach the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit early in the morning, her brother and expedition organizer Mingma Gelu said.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s leaders are struggling to reverse an economic slump without giving up anti-virus tactics that shut down Shanghai and other cities, adding to challenges for President Xi Jinping as he tries to extend his time in power.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's president on Wednesday promised to appoint a new prime minister, empower the Parliament and abolish the all-powerful executive presidential system as reforms to stabilize the country engulfed in a political crisis and violence triggered by the worst economic crises in memory.
HONG KONG (AP) — A 90-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal, a singer and at least two others have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China’s national security, in an action widely condemned as a further sign of Beijing's erosion of rights in the city.
TOKYO (AP) — Katsumoto Saotome, a Japanese writer who gathered the accounts of survivors of the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo in World War II to raise awareness of the massive civilian deaths and the importance of peace, has died.
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s public health minister, who has spearheaded the country’s drive to decriminalize cannabis, says the government will distribute 1 million of the plants free when most legal restrictions on production and possession of the drug are lifted next month.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — More than 90% of Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth such mass event in seven years in the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, Australian government scientists said.
TOKYO (AP) — Wim Wenders is making a film about high-end public toilets in Japan that will have what the renowned German director calls “social meaning” about people in modern cities.
TOKYO (AP) — Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said the possibility of her country joining NATO was for the security of its citizens and called for the international community to unite in stepping up sanctions against Russia during talks Wednesday in Japan.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the namesake son of an ousted Philippine dictator, declared victory Wednesday in this week’s presidential election and faced early calls to ensure respect for human rights, the rule of law and democracy.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court put the country’s colonial-era sedition law on hold Wednesday. Critics say the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was increasingly using it to silence criticism and dissent.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's capital has announced it will start recognizing same-sex partnerships to ease the burdens faced by residents in their daily lives, but the unions will not be considered legal marriages.
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday defended sticking to its strict “zero-COVID” approach, calling critical remarks from the head of the World Health Organization “irresponsible.”
The response from the Foreign Ministry came after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had been discussing with Chinese experts the need for a different approach in light of new knowledge about the virus.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The South Asian nation of Sri Lanka is experiencing an unprecedented economic collapse that has pushed the government into a deep crisis. The island is struggling to import basic necessities for its 22 million people because of diminishing foreign reserves and crippling debt, spurring weeks of anti-government protests that recently turned violent and led to the prime minister's resignation.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand will reopen its borders to tourists from all countries by July, allow back cruise ships and make it easier for skilled workers to immigrate as it looks outward to the world again following the COVID-19 pandemic, the government said Wednesday.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s apparent landslide victory in the Philippine presidential election is raising immediate concerns about a further erosion of democracy in Asia and could complicate American efforts to blunt growing Chinese influence and power in the Pacific.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The powerful alliance between the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte is set to usher in six years of governance in the Philippines that are concerning to human rights activists.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's defense ministry ordered security forces on Tuesday to shoot anyone causing injury to people or property to contain widespread arson and mob violence targeting government supporters.
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday promoted the role of the ruling Communist Party’s youth wing ahead of a key party congress later this year that comes amid rising economic and social pressures.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The namesake son of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos appeared to have been elected Philippine president by a landslide in an astonishing reversal of the 1986 “People Power” pro-democracy revolt that ousted his father.