Asia suffered its hottest year on record in 2020, the United Nations said yesterday ahead of the COP26 summit, with extreme weather taking a heavy toll on the continent’s development.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday but remained near multi-year highs, supported by a global supply shortage and strong demand in the United States, the world’s biggest consumer.

Women activists in Kabul yesterday held up signs that read “why is the world watching us die in silence?” protesting the

Japan’s princess Mako married her university sweetheart yesterday, but it was a low-key union bereft of traditional rituals, with the couple voicing sadness over the controversy that haunted their engagement.

Sadhguru -- an internationally revered Indian yoga teacher, author and public speaker -- recently, while answering a question, has said that it is not fair to say attacks on temples and Hindus are happening “in” Bangladesh, as such statement might indicate that it is happening “all over the country”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government of Karnataka state has told the Indian Supreme Court that it has no immediate plan to deport the 72 Rohingyas in its jurisdiction.

Japan's Princess Mako, the eldest niece of Emperor Naruhito, married her university sweetheart on Tuesday morning (Oct 26) in a stripped-down, low-key administrative affair.

India’s health authorities are on alert as Covid genomic surveillance experts reported some cases of a new sub-lineage of SARS CoV 2’s Delta variant, which is potentially more infectious, in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra states.

Reports on Myanmar by two United Nations envoys used unreliable sources, made sweeping allegations and infringed on the country’s sovereignty, the ruling junta said in its latest swipe at the international community’s response to its crisis.

Millions of Afghans, including children, could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken to pull Afghanistan back from the brink of collapse, a senior United Nations official warned, calling for frozen funds to be freed for humanitarian efforts.

Malaysia's Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin reminded his fellow politicians to put on their masks in meetings, seeing that "many politicians have diabetes, hypertension and are probably obese".

"This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation unless we can step up our life-saving assistance," said David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme.

Children as young as 3 will start receiving Covid-19 vaccines in China, where 76% of the population has been fully vaccinated and authorities are maintaining a zero-tolerance policy toward outbreaks.

Myanmar’s military rulers yesterday pledged to cooperate “as much as possible” with a peace plan agreed with Asean, despite a stern rebuke of the regional bloc for excluding the country’s top commander from a summit this week. 

China has given complete doses of Covid-19 vaccines to about 75.6% of its population as of Oct. 23, National Health Commission

Indian paramilitaries shot dead a civilian in Kashmir on Sunday, residents said, as authorities tightened security across the disputed territory for a visit by a top Indian minister. 

China is set to expand pilot property tax reforms, state media reported, as the government battles real estate speculation in the world’s second-biggest economy.

China Evergrande Group said on Sunday it had resumed work on more than 10 projects in six cities including Shenzhen - a statement that comes after it appeared to avert default with a last-minute bond coupon payment last week.

China has passed an education law that seeks to cut the “twin pressures” of homework and off-site tutoring in core subjects, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Afghanistan will shortly collapse into chaos unless the international community acts rapidly, Swedish and Pakistani ministers have warned.