Asia

The search for victims in the rubble of a collapsed building in southern Cambodia drew to a close Sunday with the final death toll at 36 — the latest tragedy in a string of deadly construction accidents. Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen, said 23 people had been pulled alive from the rubble of the seven-storey […]

Protesters hurled petrol bombs Sunday at a Hong Kong police station and at least 60 people were arrested following a march against so-called parallel trading near the Chinese border. The Democratic Party said about 10,000 people marched peacefully in Sheung Shui district, but violence erupted after police ordered protesters to disperse. Earlier, several petrol bombs […]

Indonesia is stepping up sea and aerial patrols of islands near the disputed South China Sea, an official said Saturday, following a diplomatic spat over “trespassing” Chinese vessels. Military aircraft and three warships with some 600 navy, army and air force personnel have been deployed to waters around the Natuna islands, which border the South […]

The world reacted with alarm on Friday after top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US strike in Iraq, with leaders appealing for restraint. The assassination was praised by US President Donald Trump’s Republicans but elsewhere there were warnings of the danger it could inflame regional tensions. Following are some of the reactions […]

Dutch police were puzzled Friday by a spate of letter bombs sent to seemingly random targets in three of the Netherlands’ main cities as it warned the public to be on the lookout. The latest incident happened early Friday when staff at Amsterdam’s Okura hotel alerted police after they received a suspect parcel bearing the […]

The bushfires raging across Australia have had a devastating impact on the country’s unique flora and fauna, with some estimates putting the death toll at nearly half a billion animals in one state alone, and experts believe it could take decades for wildlife to recover. Unprecedented temperatures across the continent have made this season’s fires […]

by Amir Havasi Iran warned of “severe revenge” and said arch-enemy the United States bore responsiblity for the consequences after killing one of its top commanders, Qasem Soleimani, in a strike Friday outside Baghdad airport. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed the commander of its Quds Force foreign operations arm had been killed by US […]

by Patrick GALEY A computer programme can identify breast cancer from routine scans with greater accuracy than human experts, researchers said in what they hoped could prove a breakthrough in the fight against the global killer. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, and regular screening is vital in detecting the […]

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,” […]