Asia News Feeds

Till now, K2 was the only mountain higher than 8,000m not to be conquered in winter.

Mount Semeru has erupted, pouring volcanic matter miles into the air and placing locals on alert.

After three harrowing years in Chinese re-education camps, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a Uighur woman who had been lured back to China from France only to be arrested, interrogated and abused, recounts her ordeal in a just published book.

The first-ever winter scaling of K2 in Pakistan goes to 10 Nepalese Sherpas. The world’s second-highest peak, known as the "savage mountain," ranks as more dangerous than Everest.

Players are flown in ahead of the Australian Open while thousands of citizens are waiting to return.

The quake on Sulawesi island has left dozens dead and injured, with many more feared trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has test-fired anti-warship ballistic missiles against targets in the Indian Ocean as they wrapped up a two-day military exercise.

Hit by a new wave of coronavirus cases, China has finished a 1,500-room temporary hospital in a city south of Beijing.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the "world’s largest" vaccination drive today, starting with healthcare and frontline workers. The government has defended the Indian-made Covaxin jab.

Health and frontline workers are first in line for jabs at vaccination centres across the country.

India started inoculating health workers Saturday in what is likely the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign, joining the ranks of wealthier nations where the effort is already well underway.

The earthquake struck the island of Sulawesi on Friday, injuring hundreds and destroying a hospital.

Riyadh has urged Bangladesh to take back some 54,000 Rohingya that are currently in Saudi Arabia. But agreeing to this would complicate Bangladesh’s Rohingya repatriation talks with Myanmar.

The show of military strength comes days before the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president.

Thailand’s electricity demand has dropped, but this hasn’t stopped the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River in neighboring Laos.

Officials will take no further action after concluding the bird is “highly likely to be Australian”.

The Afghan vice-president tells the BBC that the latest US troop withdrawal will lead to violence.

Key flight data has been downloaded from the Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea last weekend.

Indonesian investigators have successfully recovered data from a crashed passenger jet’s flight recorder, days after the plane with 62 people aboard slammed into the sea, they said Friday.

A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Sulawesi island early Friday, killing at least 34 people, levelling a hospital and severely damaging other buildings, authorities said.

The tech giants are fighting the Australian government over plans to make them pay for news content.

In addition to heavy restrictions on journalists in the Xinjiang region, China alleges “fake news”.

Rajini Chandy, a southern Indian actress, has raised hackles in a state where women still dress modestly.

The group’s leader in Afghanistan says the practice is “inviting criticism”. It’s also proving expensive.

An outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu is rapidly spreading across India, causing concern among officials and forcing them to come up with a plan to tackle the emergency.

More than 2,000 Rohingya refugees in a camp in Bangladesh were left homeless Thursday after a blaze ripped through over 500 shacks in the early hours, an official said.

Thousands of Hindus arrive for the bathing festival despite warnings to stay away during the pandemic.

Iran, Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to revive a transnational train service, which is likely to connect Islamabad, Tehran and Istanbul this year. But can the three countries bear its cost?

Calls grow for the South Korean government to step up its defenses after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced plans for advanced new weapons systems.

Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest known cave painting: a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was made at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia. 

South Korea’s top court upheld on Thursday a 20-year jail sentence for former President Park Geun-hye on graft charges that led to her downfall, bringing an end to the legal process and so for the first time raising the possibility of a pardon.

A team of experts from the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan on Thursday to start a highly politicised probe into the origins of the coronavirus, as China reported its first death from Covid-19 in eight months.

Thai group Rap Against Dictatorship is known for its outspoken comments against the military and monarchy,

Instead of inoculating the elderly, Indonesia is focusing on working-age adults. Will it succeed?

A court in Bangladesh has banned women from registering nikahs, or Islamic weddings, because of their menstruation cycles. Activists say the verdict is unconstitutional and discriminatory.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for increased military power and greater nuclear war deterrence, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday, as a rare ruling party congress came to a close after eight days of policy discussions.

A vocal anti-“drug war” Catholic priest in the Philippines is to stand trial on charges of sedition.

With 17 million inhabitants, Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan. But its water distribution system is dysfunctional due to state negligence. Water is only distributed through pipelines in half the city. This shortage has led to the creation of a water mafia, which runs hundreds of illegal pumping stations. The water mafia generates millions of dollars every year, while the megalopolis is in a state of absolute water stress. According to the UN, Karachi is the world’s third most affected city when it comes to lack of water. Our correspondents report.

In less than 200 days, the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are due to get underway, but among the Japanese public, fears over the virus and the spiralling cost of the Games mean most would rather see the event postponed or cancelled altogether.

Indonesian navy divers searching the ocean floor on Tuesday recovered the flight data recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea with 62 people on board.

Japan is working to isolate and analyse a new variant of the coronavirus detected in four people who arrived from Brazil, a health ministry official said Tuesday.

The Chinese ad sparked outrage for allegedly implying that women were to blame for unwanted attention.

Kim Jong-un says he wants more and better weapons – so how will the next US president respond?

It’s a chance to catch some winter sun in a stunning tropical location and temporarily forget the coronavirus pandemic. After months of closure, the Maldives has reopened to visitors again, or at least those with a negative Covid-19 test and quite a bit of cash to spare. Wealthy visitors are flocking to the South Asian islands for a luxury getaway and the opportunity to take off their face masks at last. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24’s Emerald Maxwell.

Many countries are trying to secure anti-COVID-19 doses from India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines. But India’s domestic vaccination demand is also huge.

Ten World Health Organization scientists will visit China from Thursday to probe the origins of Covid-19, authorities said, more than a year after the pandemic began and amid accusations Beijing delayed the investigation.

India’s drug regulator’s decision to grant emergency use approval to a local vaccine has raised eyebrows as the company developing it has not provided proof of its efficacy.

Rights activists in Pakistan have hailed the Lahore court’s decision to outlaw intrusive rape test in sexual assault cases but demanded that other anti-women laws be also scrapped.

Goa, a western coastal state and major tourist destination, is welcoming visitors after months under a COVID-19 lockdown. But the comeback has been slow, and often painful.

The Indian drug regulator has formally approved two coronavirus shots just hours after health workers across the country began a trial run of the country’s huge vaccination program.