More than 200 people have been injured in a train crash in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. A metro train carrying 213 passengers collided with an empty one in a tunnel near the Petronas Towers, at about 20:45 (12:45 GMT), police said. The empty train had just been repaired, and was going in the opposite […]
Samoa’s first female prime minister has been sworn into office in a tent after she was locked out of parliament by her opponent, who has refused to step down. Fiame Naomi Mata’afa took the oath of office in a marquee in the parliament’s gardens, leaving uncertainty over who controls the Pacific island nation. Tuilaepa Sailele […]
Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has appeared in court in person for the first time since her government was overthrown by the military in February. The hearing, in the capital Naypyidaw, was immediately adjourned. The former leader faces several charges including violating a state secrets law. Before the hearing, Ms Suu Kyi was […]
Coronavirus pandemic An Indian couple reportedly chartered a plane and held a mid-air wedding with more than 160 guests in an effort to escape coronavirus restrictions. Video footage posted on social media appeared to show the couple and their guests packed into the hired jet. The state of Tamil Nadu, where the flight was said […]
By Dulcie Lee & Alex Kleiderman BBC News Coronavirus pandemic The Pfizer and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines are highly effective against the variant identified in India after two doses, a study has found. Two jabs of either vaccine give a similar level of protection against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant as they do for the […]
By Soutik Biswas India correspondent Coronavirus pandemic IMAGE COPYRIGHTAFPimage captionIndia has seen thousands of cases of “black fungus” affecting recovered and recovering Covid-19 patients India has reported more than 8,800 cases of deadly “black fungus” in a growing epidemic of the disease. The normally rare infection, called mucormycosis, has a mortality rate of 50%, with […]
Twenty-one runners have died after extreme weather struck a long-distance race in north-western China. High winds and freezing rain hit participants in the 100km (60-mile) ultramarathon in the Yellow River Stone Forest, a tourist site in Gansu province, on Saturday. The race was halted when some of the 172 runners went missing, and a rescue […]
By Shruti Menon BBC Reality Check Reality Check India’s largest vaccine producer is struggling to meet domestic demand and says it won’t be making doses available for export until the end of the year. The Indian government aims to ramp up production to cope with the pandemic, with a pledge to produce at least two […]
Coronavirus pandemic India’s government has instructed social media companies to remove any content that refers to the “Indian variant” of Covid-19. The IT ministry said the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the variant as B.1.617 and any reference to “Indian” was false. Geographical terms have been used to describe a number of other variants, including […]
Myanmar’s military leader has claimed Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health” in his first interview since leading a violent coup in February. Min Aung Hlaing also said Ms Suu Kyi would appear in court within days. She has been under house arrest and has not been seen in public since the military seized […]
