Four people have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly stealing Covid-19 vaccines marked for prisoners and selling them to the public, authorities said yesterday.

Five medical workers in white protective gear battle to resuscitate a coronavirus patient in a quarantine centre on the edge of the Malaysian capital, but eventually fail.

More than 200 passengers were injured in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur yesterday when two metro trains collided in a tunnel, police said.

Twenty-one people were killed when extremely cold weather struck during an ultramarathon on Saturday in rugged Gansu province in northwestern China, state media reported on Sunday, sparking public outrage over the lack of contingency planning.

In less than a month, the Covid-19 cluster at Changi Airport has swelled to more than 100 people, including airport workers whose jobs did not require them to interact with passengers, family members of front-line staff and visitors.

A strong, shallow quake shook southwestern China near the border with Myanmar, killing at least three people and injuring more than two dozen as authorities rushed relief goods including tents to the area.

In December 2020, with coronavirus infections spreading rapidly across factories and workers’ dormitories in Malaysia, officials raided latex glove maker Brightway Holdings near Kuala Lumpur. They said they found workers living in shipping containers, under conditions so squalid that human resources minister M. Saravanan later likened them to “modern slavery.”

Companies in Singapore that have traditionally relied on migrant workers from India and Bangladesh are now looking further afield for labour, Channel News Asia has reported quoting several firms.

Tursunjan Mamat, a practicing Muslim in western China’s Xinjiang region, said he’s fasting for Ramadan but his daughters, ages 8 and 10, are not. Religious activity including fasting is not permitted for minors, he explained.

Over 200 press freedom violations linked to the pandemic were reported in the Asia-Pacific region, of which about half were from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal, stated a press release by International Press Institute (IPI).

Three Bangladeshi researchers have been included in the sixth edition of Asian Scientist 100 list.

China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said it had lodged solemn representations to Japan over its annual diplomacy report which expressed grave concerns on China's military capabilities and maritime activities.

All 53 crew aboard an Indonesian submarine that disappeared last week were killed, the military said yesterday as it confirmed the vessel had been found in pieces on the seafloor.

Indonesia’s navy is searching for a missing submarine with 53 people on board that went missing yesterday and is seeking help from neighbouring Australia and Singapore in the hunt, the Indonesian military chief told Reuters.

A new understanding is emerging at talks aimed at salvaging Iran’s nuclear deal with global powers, Tehran’s chief negotiator said yesterday according to Iranian state media, as China’s delegate also reported progress.

India and Thailand reported record daily coronavirus cases yesterday, as a new wave of infections, combined with a shortage of hospital beds and vaccines, threatens to slow Asia’s recovery from the pandemic.

China’s record imports of Iranian crude in recent months has squeezed out supply from rival producers, forcing sellers of oil from countries such as Brazil, Angola and Russia to slash prices and divert shipments to India and Europe.

Japan plans to release into the sea more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear station, the government said on Tuesday, a decision that is likely to anger neighbours such as South Korea.

Eight miners have been rescued and 21 remain trapped in a coal mine that flooded in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, state-backed newspaper China Daily reported citing local authorities.

Chinese regulators have fined Alibaba Group Holding Ltd 18 billion yuan ($2.75 billion) for violating anti-monopoly rules and abusing its dominant market position, marking the highest ever antitrust fine to be imposed in the country.