China's defence minister warned yesterday that the military would do "whatever it takes" to stop any attempt to "split" Taiwan from the mainland, days after a pro-independence protest on the island and a US naval operation.

Japan's Shinzo Abe and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang commemorated the 40th anniversary of a friendship treaty yesterday, at the start of a rare trip to Beijing by the Japanese prime minister, who is seeking to repair frayed relations.

Malaysia's former leader Najib Razak and an ally are charged with allegedly looting $1.6 billion of public money, the latest accusations against figures from the scandal-plagued old regime.

The world's longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China opens to traffic, with excited travellers making their first journeys along what has been described as a politically-driven and costly white elephant.

Australia yesterday slapped travel and financial sanctions on five top Myanmar military officers, accused of overseeing brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims by units under their command, following similar moves by the European Union and United States.

A Chinese city’s plans to launch a man-made moon to replace street lights is met with derision and incredulity online.

China's President Xi Jinping launches the world's longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China at a time when Beijing is tightening its grip on its semi-autonomous territories.

Unclaimed urns containing ashes of the dead are piling up by the thousands across Japan, creating storage headaches and reflecting fraying family ties and economic pressures in a rapidly ageing nation.

The two Koreas and the US-led United Nations Command yesterday agreed to demilitarise a section of the heavily fortified border dividing the peninsula by this week, as a diplomatic thaw gathers pace.

At least 19 people reportedly loses their lives and more than 40 others are injured when two passenger coaches collided with each other near Pull Ghazi Ghat area of Pakistan's Dera Ghazi Khan.

At least 17 people die after an express train derailed and flipped over on a popular coastal route in Taiwan.

Pakistan's finance minister yesterday promised to end the country's reliance on International Monetary Fund bailouts to shore up its

Southeast Asian nations seeking to combat the threat of militancy have agreed to share intelligence, Singapore's defence minister said

The former head of internet censorship in China, Lu Wei, pleaded guilty to accepting at least 32 million yuan in bribes at a trial yesterday. Lu, who oversaw a tightening of online censorship during his tenure at the Cyberspace Administration of China, was a fierce defender of China's policy of internet control.

The wife of fallen former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei has expressed fears for his life and her own safety, lashing out at what she called the "cruel" and "dirty" Chinese government that arrested him in mysterious circumstances.

The United States opposes a plan by South and North Korea to set up a no-fly zone over their heavily fortified border, the latest sign of a

Chinese authorities yesterday slapped penalties totalling a whopping $1.3 billion on a pharmaceutical company over a vaccine scandal that fuelled public fears of domestically-made medicine.

China yesterday issued an ardent defence of the alleged mass internment of minorities in its far west Xinjiang region, with a regional official insisting that authorities are preventing terrorism through "vocational education" centres.

The Kremlin yesterday said a deal to create a buffer zone in Syria's Idlib was going ahead, despite jihadists missing a deadline to leave the area the day before. The accord is a last-ditch effort to stave off a regime onslaught on Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold left in war-ravaged Syria.

North and South Korea yesterday agreed to begin reconnecting rail and road links, another step in an improving relationship that has raised US concern about the possible undermining of its bid to press the North to give up its nuclear programme.