News Headlines

Fires blazed on the doorstep of a Hong Kong university into the early hours of Sunday as protesters hurled petrol bombs and police fired volleys of tear gas in some of the most dramatic scenes in more than five months of escalating violence.

COLOMBO: Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spearheaded the brutal crushing of the Tamil Tigers 10 years ago, stormed to victory on Sunday (Nov 17) in Sri Lanka's presidential elections. The retired lieutenant colonel, nicknamed the "Terminator" by his own family, won 53-54 per cent of the vote, his ...

A trove of leaked Chinese government documents reveals details of its clampdown on Uighurs and other Muslims in the country's western Xinjiang region under President Xi Jinping, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

SINGAPORE: A cruise ship on the way to Vietnam from Thailand docked in Singapore this week after 229 of its passengers and crew members fell ill, according to a joint statement issued on Friday (Nov 15).  The affected people suffered a gastrointestinal illness, with symptoms like vomiting and ...

The "Daijosai" rite is the most overtly religious of all the rituals about Emperor Naruhito's accession to the throne.

WASHINGTON: A top US official restricted access to the summary of Donald Trump's Ukraine call that triggered an impeachment probe, fearing it would damage the president, testimony released on Saturday (Nov 16) showed. White House Ukraine expert Timothy Morrison told House investigators he knew ...

Cashless payments are key in reviving Japan’s reputation as a leader in cutting-edge technology as it aims to catch up with China, says the University of Tokyo's Soichiro Takagi.

A bridal photoshoot at a cemetery in Kluang, Malaysia has sparked debate about whether a line was crossed in that chase towards the most interesting wedding photography locations. Terence Heng deconstructs why we do that.

For her work in marine environmental protection, Ms Swietenia Puspa Lestari was named BBC's 100 most inspiring and influential women for 2019.

HONG KONG: Police fired tear gas while protesters threw petrol bombs and fired arrows in clashes outside Hong Kong's Polytechnic University on Saturday (Nov 16), just hours after Chinese soldiers made a rare appearance to help clean up the city's streets. China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) ...

Lee Cheuk-yiu gave his protest-wracked home city something to cheer on Saturday as he upset India's Kidambi Srikanth to reach the Hong Kong Open badminton final.

TANJUNG PIAI, Johor: Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Dr Wee Jeck Seng has clinched a landslide victory over his rivals in the Tanjung Piai by-election. According to official results announced by the Election Commission (EC) at 9.20pm on Saturday (Nov 16) evening, Dr Wee clinched a simple majority ...

HONG KONG: China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers in shorts and t-shirts made a surprising appearance in some Hong Kong streets on Saturday (Nov 16), briefly helping residents clean up debris and barricades after anti-government protests blocked roads. In a post on its official Weibo ...

Beijing has doubled down in its criticism of Stockholm's support for Gui Minhai, a book publisher detained in China, after Sweden's minister for culture attended a literary award ceremony in his honour.

HONG KONG: Government supporters took to the streets of downtown Hong Kong on Saturday (Nov 16) after a chaotic working week saw hardcore pro-democracy activists cause widespread disruption in the city and stretch police resources. A "Blossom Everywhere" campaign of roadblocks and vandalism across ...

CAIRNS: An Australian wildlife ranger has recounted his terrifying escape from the clutches of a "particularly cunning" crocodile, after wrestling with the reptile and sticking a finger in its eye. Craig Dickmann, who made a split-second decision to go fishing last Sunday in a remote part of ...

COLOMBO: Sri Lankans voted Saturday (Nov 16) for a new president in what could mark a comeback for the Rajapaksa clan, loved for crushing the Tamil Tigers but loathed for alleged war crimes, corruption and cosying up to China. Despite 85,000 police on duty in an island that emerged from civil war ...

CIKUYA, Indonesia: When photographer Mr Syaipul Patony first laid his eyes on the sand quarry near his new house in Java’s Banten province, he instinctively knew it would make the perfect backdrop for pre-wedding photo shoots.  The 6ha site featured a man-made canyon surrounded by sheer cliffs ...

In our series on unique people, places and food in the region, CNA Lifestyle went Siargao in the Philippines, one of the surf world's best-kept secrets – before the tourists came.

MELBOURNE: Two Australian lawmakers known for their outspoken criticism of the Chinese regime said they had been barred from visiting the country next month because of their "frankness about the Chinese Communist Party". The two conservative members of parliament, Andrew Hastie and James Paterson ...

Less than 50 meters from a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) base, student protesters are building a fortress.

HONG KONG: Pro-China protesters plan to rally in Hong Kong on Saturday (Nov 16) to denounce increasingly violent anti-government unrest in the Chinese-ruled city and support the police who have become a prime target of attack. The former British colony has been embroiled in more than five months ...

HONG KONG: This year's edition of music festival Clockenflap has been cancelled, organisers said Friday (Nov 15), amid escalating violence in Hong Kong.  The organiser for Hong Kong's biggest music festival, which had been scheduled to run from Nov 22 to Nov 24, had earlier vowed to press ahead ...

SEOUL: U.S. Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday rejected any suggestion of bias in a Pentagon decision to award Microsoft Corp an up to US$10 billion cloud computing contract, after Amazon.com Inc announced plans to challenge it. "I am confident it was conducted freely and fairly, without any ...

China on Friday threatened "counter-measures" against Sweden if the country's culture minister awards a Swedish PEN rights prize as planned to detained Chinese-Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai.

North Korea launched a visceral diatribe against US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, calling the former vice-president a "rabid dog" - while also borrowing the terminology of Donald Trump.

By rallying Indian-origin voters against the Labour Party for the upcoming British elections, the friends of the BJP in the UK are adding to fault lines in British society, says Malminderjit Singh.

A partial trade agreement between the United States and China could be signed at the ministerial level, not by the two nations' presidents, a top White House aide said Friday.

Hong Kong protesters partially unblocked a key highway on Friday (Nov 15) and then blocked it again during the evening rush hour, exposing splits in a movement that has been largely leaderless in months of often violent unrest.

BERLIN: Two German citizens have been detained in Hong Kong and are receiving consular support, a source at the German foreign ministry said on Friday (No 15). The source said the German consulate in Hong Kong was in touch with lawyers and local authorities, giving no further details. Hong Kong ...

Myanmar struck back Friday after a surge of global legal pressure over its alleged crimes against the Rohingya, branding an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) "not in accordance with international law".

China on Friday threatened "counter-measures" against Sweden if the country's culture minister awards a Swedish PEN rights prize as planned to detained Chinese-Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday rejected any suggestion of bias in a Pentagon decision to award Microsoft Corp an up to US$10 billion cloud computing contract, after Amazon.com Inc announced plans to challenge it.

The Asian Tour event in smog-hit northern India was shortened to 54 holes Friday amid the severe weather conditions, as Thailand's Itthipat Buranatanyarat took a two-shot lead after the delayed first round.

JAKARTA: Indonesia swung to a trade surplus in October due to a slower-than-expected drop in exports, despite weak global trade amid the US-China trade war, data from the statistics bureau showed on Friday (Nov 15). Southeast Asia's largest economy recorded a trade surplus of US$161.3 million in ...

Schools in India's capital New Delhi will reopen on Monday after closing for two days due to a spike in pollution levels, but air quality is likely to remain "very poor" - a notch below the most hazardous "severe" rating - raising health risks for millions of students.

The Philippines on Friday reported its first case of a vaping-linked illness, as health authorities expressed concern at court orders preventing them from regulating electronic cigarettes.

The president of Hong Kong's Chinese University, which anti-government protesters have turned into a fortress stockpiled with petrol bombs and bows and arrows, threatened on Friday to call in "assistance" unless all non-students leave.

BEIJING: China on Friday (Nov 15) condemned an incident in which Hong Kong's justice secretary was jostled by masked demonstrators in London, and accused Britain of fuelling pro-democracy unrest. Teresa Cheng, Hong Kong's deeply unpopular Secretary for Justice, fell while being surrounded by a ...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan began vaccinating millions of children against typhoid on Friday (Nov 15) to try to control a drug-resistant superbug outbreak of the fever that has already infected some 11,000 people since 2016 and risks spreading internationally. The immunisation campaign, using a newly ...

DHAKA: Bangladesh coast guard rescued 122 Rohingya Muslim refugees from the Bay of Bengal on Thursday (Nov 14) as the boat they had boarded to illegally flee to Malaysia started sinking due to a mechanical problem, a coast guard official said. "Our patrol team rushed there after being informed by ...

SEOUL: A K-pop singer who was deported and barred from South Korea for avoiding conscription by becoming a US citizen should be allowed to return after 17 years in exile, a court ruled Friday (Nov 15). Steve Yoo was a hugely popular chart-topping singer in the 1990s, but that changed when he ...

Nine-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt is bringing his electric scooters to Japan, hopeful that his celebrity status will help persuade regulators that the environmental benefits are important enough to relax some of the curbs on their use.

HONG KONG: The Chinese and Hong Kong governments condemned on Friday (Nov 15) an attack by a "violent mob" on the city's justice secretary in London, the first direct altercation between demonstrators and a government minister during months of often violent protests. Secretary for Justice Teresa ...

JAKARTA: The Jakarta government is planning to ban the use of electric scooters on sidewalks, following the deaths of two riders who were hit by a car in the early hours of Monday (Nov 11). Officials are currently drafting new regulations which will force riders of e-scooters to wear helmets and ...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong confirmed on Friday (Nov 15) its economy plunged into its first recession in a decade in the third quarter, weighed down by increasingly violent anti-government protests and the escalating US-China trade war. The economy shrank by 3.2 per cent in July-September from the ...

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia will ban all elephant rides at the country's famed Angkor temple park by early next year, an official said Friday (Nov 15), a rare win for conservationists who have long decried the popular practice as cruel. The Angkor archaeological complex in northern Siem Reap attracts the ...

SEOUL: US allies South Korea and Japan should settle their differences to maintain a military intelligence-sharing pact, Washington's Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged on Friday (Nov 15), calling on Seoul to reverse its decision to end it. The neighbours are embroiled in a trade row stemming from ...

Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Group said on Friday it would sell flights on more than 100 other global airlines as part of a push to boost revenues.

HANOI: A court in Vietnam jailed a music teacher for 11 years on Friday (Nov 15) for a series of posts on Facebook that the government said were "anti-state". Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam's ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship ...