ASEAN IN FOCUS

Malaysia scrambles jets to intercept Chinese military planes

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia scrambled jets to intercept 16 Chinese military aircraft off the country’s coast in the South China Sea, a rare incident that the foreign minister angrily denounced Tuesday as an “intrusion”. It took place Monday off the Malaysian part of Borneo island over the fiercely contested waters, where China and Malaysia have overlapping territorial claims. The Chinese air force transport planes approached Malaysian airspace in “tactical formation” and flew to […]

PHL leads ASEAN in terms of number of people vaccinated per day, says Galvez

PHL achieves 150k jabs a day, 1M per week; over 5M doses already administered   (Eagle News) – The Philippines has been able to administer over 5 million vaccine doses before the end of May, and has vaccinated over three million individuals, according to vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez said that the country was also able to triple the number of people vaccinated this May compared […]

Malaysia imposes lockdown as Southeast Asia battles virus surge

by M. Jegathesan KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia imposed a tough nationwide lockdown on Tuesday to battle a worsening coronavirus outbreak, as countries across Southeast Asia struggled with a resurgence in cases driven by infectious variants. Much of the region escaped the pandemic’s first wave last year relatively unscathed by rapidly closing borders and introducing curbs. But countries from Thailand to Vietnam are being hammered by fresh surges, with efforts to quell outbreaks hampered […]

Singapore to vaccinate schoolchildren against Covid

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore will start vaccinating schoolchildren against the coronavirus soon, the prime minister said Monday, after officials warned that new strains were affecting youngsters more. The city-state recently tightened curbs following a slight uptick in cases, after months of reporting barely any local transmissions. This included closing schools amid signs that new variants, such as the one first detected in India, were affecting children in greater numbers. In a televised speech, Prime […]

Vietnam to suspend incoming int’l flights to Hanoi over new Covid variant from June 1 to 7

  HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — The international airport of Vietnam’s capital will suspend inbound flights from abroad beginning Tuesday, the country’s aviation body announced, as it grapples with a fresh wave of virus outbreaks. A “temporary suspension of receiving international flights” will begin at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport from June 1 at midnight until June 7, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said in a statement on Monday. Vietnam’s health minister said over the […]

Vietnam discovers new hybrid virus variant – combination of Indian and British strains

  HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam has discovered a new Covid-19 variant which spreads quickly by air and is a combination of the Indian and British strains, health officials confirmed Saturday. The country is struggling to deal with fresh outbreaks across more than half of its territory, including industrial zones and big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. More than 6,800 cases including 47 deaths have been reported in Vietnam, with the […]

Nearly 300 rescued in Indonesia ferry accident

    TERNATE, Indonesia (AFP) — Search teams are looking for one missing person after rescuing all other passengers from a large ferry that caught fire in Indonesia, an official said Sunday. The KM Karya Indah was heading to Sanana, a remote port in the northeast of the Indonesian archipelago when it was engulfed in flames. Shortly after departing, the ferry caught fire, forcing passengers and crew to jump into the sea to save themselves. […]

Malaysia announces national lockdown to battle virus surge

  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia announced on Friday it will impose a nationwide lockdown for the first time in over a year as it battles a rapidly escalating coronavirus outbreak that has strained the country’s healthcare system. Officials believe more infectious variants have contributed to the surge, as well as gatherings in the Muslim-majority country during the holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday earlier this month. After a new daily record […]

Millions in Myanmar struggle to buy food as coup price hike bites

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Aye Mar sits with her seven children in their Yangon kitchen and worries whether their meal of rice and stringy vegetables — all she can afford in coup-stricken Myanmar — will satisfy their hunger. The national economy and banking system have been paralyzed since a military power-grab which pushed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi out of office in February. Livelihoods have been lost after strikes and factory closures, fuel prices […]

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi defiant in first comments since coup

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said her ousted party would “exist as long as the people exist” during her first in-person court appearance since a February coup, her lawyer told AFP Monday. Since the February 1 putsch, Myanmar has been in uproar with near-daily protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement, with more than 800 killed by the military, according to a local monitoring group. “We met with Amay […]

Police and soldiers killed in eastern Myanmar amid heavy fighting

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Dozens of Myanmar security force members were killed Sunday, rebel fighters said, after heavy fighting in the coup-hit country’s eastern fringe. Myanmar has been in chaos since the February putsch, as the military uses lethal force to crack down on dissent. The civilian death toll has climbed to at least 815 people, according to a local monitoring group. The violence has pushed some in the anti-junta movement to form a so-called […]

China says US ‘creating risks’ with South China Sea warship sail-bys

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Thursday branded the United States an “out-and-out security risk creator” in the South China Sea, after an American warship sailed through waters near the disputed Paracel Islands. Tensions in maritime waters claimed by both China and many of its neighbors have ratcheted up recently, with Beijing staging live-fire drills and sending hundreds of fishing vessels to a reef claimed by the Philippines. China’s military said the USS Curtis Wilbur, […]