Asia Today

Today's headlines: despite rampant Covid, China reopens borders to entry from Jan. 8; at least 20 Rohingya die at sea; Isis attack on Kurdish militias in Raqqa; Levada Institute says more than 50% of Russians want peace talks with Ukraine.

The other news of the day: Christmas saw some 35,000 people displaced due to heavy rains in northern Mindanao; faced with the spread of COVID-19, India reintroduces testing for travellers entering from China and three other countries; five major NGOs are set to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban ban them from employing female staff; two Tajik nationals convicted in Russia for drug trafficking die in the war in Ukraine.

Today's headlines: US allocates $10 billion in military loans for Taiwan; Thailand's tourism industry gains ground; Iran: Sunni cleric attacks government over protest crackdown; Rahul Gandhi's 'long march' ends in Delhi; Russia: Patriarch Kirill wants military exemption for clerics; Indian drug under indictment in Uzbekistan.

Today's headlines: Covid-19 crisis worsens in China; North Korea accused again of selling arms to Russia; Thai PM Prayut runs again; Premier of Pakistan's Punjab province removed; Iran calls for negotiated solution to crisis between Azeris and Armenians over Karabakh.

Today's headlines: Taiwanese jets scrambled to ward off Chinese air raid; Demonstrators in Gwadar order the Chinese to leave the port of Gwadar; Japan extends the life of its nuclear power plants; Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates against the Taliban over university ban on women; At least 7.8 million Ukrainians fled after Russian invasion; Armenians and Azeris negotiate to break stalemate over Karabakh access.

Today's headlines: The Taliban ban women from university; Japanese foreign minister's visit to Beijing postponed due to Covid crisis; Philippines worried about Chinese occupation in the South China Sea; Syria: second US raid in a week against Isis; Tensions continue between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh.

Today's news: The World Bank cuts China's growth estimates; The US sends bombers and fighter jets to the Korean peninsula; Malaysia's Ibrahim government wins a vote of confidence; Iran increases uranium enrichment; India offers wheat to flour and biscuit producers to cool prices; Kazakh dissident arrested.

Today's headlines: Islamist radicals occupy a counter-terrorism centre in Pakistan; Thai corvette sinks: 33 sailors missing; Australian foreign minister goes to Beijing; Three policemen die in Jordan during an anti-protest raid; Moscow Theological Academy hosts a theoretical and practical conference on 'Patriotic and Moral-Spiritual Education of the Military'.

The other news of the day: In Malaysia five parties sign an agreement to back Anwar’s government, India set to report the highest increase in coal use in 2023; a woman is injured in riots by ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighbourhood; pressure failure in the Soyuz Ms-22 spacecraft causes apprehension.

Today's headlines: more clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; the eldest daughter of the King of Thailand hospitalised with heart problems; North Korea tests a new solid fuel engine; In China, drips are being made in cars for hospitals already full of Covid patients; a kindergarten in Siberia has banned wearing yellow and blue for New Year's Eve.

Today's headlines: Vietnam wants to reduce its dependence on Russian arms; Myanmar's coup junta rejected talks with an ethnic militia group; Indonesia and Singapore sign an extradition agreement; India uses the rupee instead of dollars in trade with Russia.

Today's headlines: amendments criminalising pre-marital pregnancies and homosexuality were passed in a Malaysian state; the US created a new space unit in South Korea; more than 900 Afghan children were repatriated from Iran; doctors in Russia must avoid 'provocative phrases' towards patients.