International

By Nina LARSON The world could see the Covid pandemic begin fading next year into an endemic disease like others humanity lives with, unless glaring inequality in vaccine access drags it out and worse variants emerge. Even as countries scramble to address a new worrying virus variant and Europe battles a winter resurgence, health experts […]

A rare joint opinion article by the ambassadors of China and Russia has sharply assailed President Joe Biden’s plans for a virtual summit of democratic countries — from which they were pointedly excluded. Calling the US plan “an evident product of its Cold-War mentality,” ambassadors Anatoly Antonov of Russia and Qin Gang of China said […]

The US military will reinforce deployments and bases directed at China and Russia, even while maintaining forces in the Middle East adequate to deter Iran and jihadist groups, the Pentagon said Monday based on the results of a review. The US Defense Department will be upgrading and expanding military facilities in Guam and Australia, underscoring […]

Singapore and Malaysia eased coronavirus travel restrictions on one of the world’s busiest land borders Monday after nearly two years, allowing some vaccinated people to cross without quarantine. Before the pandemic, about 300,000 people used to commute across the border from Malaysia every day to the neighbouring city-state, to work in areas ranging from public transport […]

The Philippines will welcome back fully-vaccinated tourists from most countries next week, the government said Friday, over 20 months after shutting its borders to keep out the coronavirus. Falling Covid-19 infections and rising vaccine coverage will allow the country to revive its battered tourism sector with the December 1 reopening, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Karlo […]

Two Myanmar-China border crossings have re-opened for trade after the movement of goods was suspended for almost seven months due to Covid-19 restrictions, officials said. Five shipping containers of produce were exchanged on Friday at the Kyin San Kyawt border gate, around 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the northern Myanmar city of Muse. Min Thein, […]

The Chinese army has carried out a “naval and air force combat readiness patrol” near the Taiwan Strait following a contentious visit to the island by a group of American lawmakers, a spokesperson said. Tensions between Beijing and Washington have soared over the fate of democratic self-ruled Taiwan, which China has vowed to one day […]

The United States praised South Africa Saturday for quickly identifying the new Covid strain called Omicron and sharing this information with the world — a barely veiled slap at China’s handling of the original outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with South Africa’s international relations and cooperation minister, Naledi Pandor, […]

Greenland has withdrawn an iron ore mining licence from a Chinese firm in the vast autonomous Danish territory, the local government said Wednesday. Now-bankrupt British company London Mining had been awarded the contract in 2013. But Hong Kong-based General Nice Group acquired the permit a year later when it bought the assets of the British […]

Malaysia’s longest-governing party stormed to victory in closely watched state polls Saturday, gaining a boost in power ahead of a general election. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was the lynchpin of a coalition that governed Malaysia for six decades until it was booted from power in 2018 following a storm of corruption allegations. Former […]

China vowed Friday to punish “diehard” Taiwan politicians, saying it would ban several from visiting the mainland, as tensions between Beijing and Taipei spiked to their highest level in years. China claims Taiwan as its territory — to be seized one day, by force if necessary — and has intensified efforts in recent years to […]

A Chinese intelligence officer was convicted in US federal court Friday of economic espionage in an alleged state-backed effort to steal technology from US and French aerospace firms, the Justice Department said. Xu Yanjun, an official in the Jiangsu province foreign intelligence office of the Ministry of State Security, was found guilty in the Cincinnati […]