Top US diplomat Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin arrived in Tokyo yesterday on their first overseas trip, looking to rally key Asian allies as a bulwark to China.

The World Health Organization said yesterday that a fund it launched a year ago to draw donations from regular people and companies towards battling the pandemic had raised nearly $250 million.

The World Health Organization appealed to countries not to pause vaccination campaigns after two more European nations and one in Asia joined a handful which have suspended use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine over safety fears.

A ban on girls singing in public imposed by education officials in the Afghan capital last week has been overturned after a social media campaign that included local women uploading videos of themselves belting out their favourite songs.

China’s capital and a wide swath of the country’s north were enveloped Monday in the worst sandstorm in a decade, forcing the cancelation of hundreds of flights.

A court in military-ruled Myanmar was unable to hold a virtual hearing on Monday for ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi because of internet problems, and the hearing has been adjourned until March 24, the head of her legal team said.

Yemen’s Houthi movement launched on Monday armed drones on Abha airport and an air base in the southern town of Khamis Mushait in Saudi Arabia, a spokesman of the group’s military said.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin arrive in Tokyo on Monday on their first overseas trip, looking to rally key Asian allies as a bulwark to China.

Myanmar security forces fired on pro-democracy demonstrators on Monday, witnesses said, a day after dozens of protesters were killed and attackers torched several Chinese-financed factories in the city of Yangon.

International deliveries of arms were flat in the period 2016-2020, ending more than a decade of increases, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday.

Security forces killed at least 22 anti-coup protesters in the poor, industrial Hlaingthaya suburb of Myanmar's main city on Sunday after Chinese-financed factories were set ablaze there, an advocacy group said.

A university in deeply conservative Pakistan expelled two students who embraced after getting engaged on campus, after a video of the incident spread on social media this week.

British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe yesterday appeared in a Tehran court to face new charges of “propaganda against the system”, a

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday he was traveling to Asia to boost military cooperation with American allies and foster “credible

North Korea has not responded to behind-the-scenes diplomatic outreach since mid-February by President Joe Biden’s administration, including to

Japanese worshippers yesterday prayed for the safety of themselves and their families by walking barefoot with Buddhist monks over smouldering coals at an annual festival near Mt Takaosan.

India’s Election Commission yesterday ruled out that there was any attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, saying it was an accident.

It will not be possible for Singapore to choose between the United States and China, given the extensive ties the Republic has with both superpowers, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

India’s Election Commission today suspended two senior police officers and shunted out the District Magistrate of Purbo Medinipur district in connection with the incident in Nandigram leading to injuries to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said the unfenced stretch of Dhubri district of Assam’s border with Bangladesh will be completely sealed off if Bharatiya Janata Party returns to power in the state.