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Bogor, Indonesia (AFP) Malaysia’s new prime minister met with Indonesia’s president Monday on his first foreign trip after winning a confidence vote and cementing his mandate last month following an inconclusive election. Anwar Ibrahim, a long-time opposition leader, was sworn in as the country’s 10th prime minister on November 24 to head a unity government in a shaky alliance with the graft-tainted party of his former political rivals. He met Indonesian President Joko Widodo […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Almost 90 percent of people in China’s third most populous province have now been infected with Covid-19, a top official said Monday, as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases. Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that “as of January 6, 2023, the province’s Covid infection rate is 89.0 percent.” With a population of 99.4 million, the figures suggest about 88.5 […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia is relocating its capital city from Jakarta to a site more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away in the rainforests of Borneo Island. The project is set to launch at the end of President Joko Widodo’s term in 2024. Here’s why Southeast Asia’s largest economy is moving its administrative center to Nusantara, a lush, biodiverse region home to the world’s oldest rainforests. – Sinking city – Jakarta is sinking at […]
by Sara HUSSEIN / Tomohiro OSAKI Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — In Tokyo’s Asakusa tourist district, caricaturist Masashi Higashitani is dusting off his Chinese as he prepares for an influx of travelers after Beijing ends inbound quarantine rules. “We used to say ‘ni hao’ all the time,” he said with a laugh as he whipped up a portrait in minutes. Nearly 9.6 million Chinese visited Japan in 2019, the biggest group of foreign tourists […]
Seoul, South Korea (AFP) South Korea’s first-ever lunar orbiter Danuri has sent black-and-white photos of the Moon’s surface and Earth, the national space centre said Tuesday. Danuri — a portmanteau of the Korean words for “Moon” and “enjoy” — was launched on a SpaceX rocket from the United States in August 2022 and entered lunar orbit last month. Its images — taken between December 24 and January 1 — show the lunar surface and Earth, […]
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) Thai authorities said Thursday that travellers from China could enter the kingdom without pre-departure coronavirus tests, hoping their return would be a shot in the arm for the country’s tourism sector recovery. China has experienced a surge in infections and its hospitals and crematoriums have been inundated after Beijing last month wound back tight restrictions. The United States, Canada, Japan and France are among the countries that have imposed new rules requiring […]
Beijing, China (AFP) by Jing Xuan TENG China on Thursday insisted it had been transparent with the international community about its Covid data, as it hit back against World Health Organization criticism that its tally of virus deaths was understating the true scale of its outbreak. There is mounting international concern over China’s steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions last month, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed. […]
Outside of China, many experts have their attention on the US and Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which has been detected in 29 countries so far. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said it was “the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet.” However there is no indication as yet that XBB.1.5 — which has been spreading rapidly in the northeastern United States — causes more severe disease than other types of Covid. […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The top-selling tuna at Tokyo’s traditional New Year auction sold for more than $270,000 on Thursday, nearly double last year’s price, breaking a pandemic trend of slumping demand. Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Onodera Group and Japanese wholesaler Yamayuki forked out 36.04 million yen ($273,000) for the 212-kilo bluefin tuna in the auction at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market. The figure was still only a fraction of the 2019 record price but marks a […]
Beijing and Manila on Wednesday vowed to resolve maritime disagreements through consultation, during a visit by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to the Chinese capital amid heightened tensions over the hotly disputed South China Sea. Marcos and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping both called for “friendly consultation to appropriately resolve maritime issues,” at a meeting on Wednesday, China’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV said. China and the Philippines are at odds over the South China Sea, with Beijing […]
Beijing, China (AFP) Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said Wednesday he hoped to strengthen ties with Beijing on his first state visit to China since taking office. China and the Philippines are at odds over the hotly disputed South China Sea, with Marcos expected to sign a deal in Beijing this week to establish direct communication on maritime issues. Manila considers it “of primary importance to… strengthen the relationship between China and the Philippines”, Marcos said […]
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s junta announced an amnesty for 7,000 prisoners to mark Independence Day on Wednesday following a show of force in the capital, days after increasing democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi’s jail term to 33 years. Swaths of the Southeast Asian country have been engulfed by fighting between junta troops and anti-coup rebels since the military seized power almost two years ago. The junta, which recently wrapped up a series of […]
