Asia

by Jing Xuan TENG Over a dozen Chinese lawyers and activists were detained or went missing in the final days of 2019 in a crackdown on participants of a private democracy gathering, rights groups said Thursday. The Chinese government has severely reduced the space for civil liberties since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, […]

Around 100,000 people were urged to flee five Melbourne suburbs on Monday evening as Australia’s spiralling bushfire crisis killed a volunteer firefighter battling a separate blaze in the countryside. Authorities in the country’s second-biggest city downgraded an earlier bushfire emergency warning but said residents should steer clear of the blaze, which has burned through 40 […]

Tesla delivered its first batch of China-made cars on Monday, less than a year after the electric vehicle company broke ground on its first plant outside the United States. Work began on the firm’s multibillion-dollar Shanghai “Gigafactory” in January, allowing the company to skirt trade tensions between China and the US and sell directly to […]

A Nepalese worker was killed Monday after he fell into a meat-mincing machine in Malaysia’s Malacca state, an official confirmed. The Malacca fire department’s Zulkhairani Ramli told AFP the 47-year-old man was working at a meat-processing factory near Masjid Tanah when the incident occurred. “The victim was doing maintenance with three other workers when suddenly […]

by Patrick BAERT A Chinese court on Monday sentenced the scientist who claimed to be behind the world’s first gene-edited babies to three years in prison for illegal medical practice, state media reported. He Jiankui, who shocked the scientific community last year by announcing the birth of twin girls whose genes had allegedly been altered […]

by Jing Xuan TENG China on Monday jailed the leader of an unofficial Protestant church for nine years for “incitement to subvert state power”. Pastor Wang Yi, whose Early Rain Covenant Church was the target of a government crackdown last year, was also found guilty of “illegal business operation” by a court in Chengdu, southwest […]

China denied on Friday that detained Uighur academic Tashpolat Tiyip was secretly tried and sentenced to death, after UN experts demanded answers from Beijing. The foreign ministry said former Xinjiang University president Tiyip’s case was still ongoing and his rights had been “protected in accordance with the law”. Tiyip was “suspected of corruption and bribery,” […]

A massive locust invasion has destroyed thousands of hectares of crops in northwest India, authorities said, with some experts on Friday terming it the worst such attack in 25 years. While officials have attempted to tackle the swarm with pesticides, farmers have deployed drums to drive away the insects, with videos showing schoolgirls banging on steel […]

An earthquake struck Iran on Friday less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the country’s only nuclear power plant, monitors said. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage. The US Geological Survey said the 5.1 magnitude quake struck 44 kilometres (27 miles) from the southwestern city of Borazjan and at a depth […]

by Jalees ANDRABI From Netflix to Hitler, protesters are tapping pop culture and history as they vent their anger against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new citizenship law — and with deft use of India’s beloved acronyms. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) eases naturalisation for persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but not if […]

Hong Kong endured a third straight day of political unrest over the Christmas period Thursday as police and pro-democracy protesters clashed inside shopping malls. Protesters spent the afternoon on Thursday marching through multiple malls chanting anti-government and anti-police slogans. Riot police swooped on dozens of black-clad protesters in one mall in Tai Po district using […]

The year 2019 saw an explosion of demonstrations across the world as people demanded an overhaul of entrenched political systems and action on climate change. Here is a look back at these and other events that marked the year. Protests sweep Latin America On January 23, Venezuela’s opposition chief Juan Guaido declares himself interim president, […]

Thousands of mourners flocked to mass graves Thursday in Indonesia’s Aceh province to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in history. On a grassy field in Aceh Besar district where at least 47,000 victims were laid to rest, family members and relatives prayed, scattered flower […]

Singapore — The police said yesterday (Dec 25) that a 32-year-old Indian national is under investigation for taking part in a public assembly at Marina Bay in protest against India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act. According to TODAY, the police had received a report about the matter on Tuesday (Dec 24). The police said in a statement […]

China made overtures on trade to Japan and South Korea and offered support for an infrastructure initiative as it hosted the leaders of its two neighbours this week amid strained ties with the US. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Beijing was willing to strengthen […]