Indonesian warships led the hunt Thursday for a submarine that went missing with 53 crew aboard and only enough oxygen for a few days.An oil spill where the submarine was thought to have submerged early Wednesday pointed to possible fuel-tank damage, and fanned fears of a deadly disaster.The crew on the KRI Nanggala 402 could have enough oxygen until early Saturday, but time was quickly running out as rescuers scoured the coast off holiday island Bali where it disappeared."There's t

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF) has urged rich countries to stop blocking a patent waiver plan that could boost the global production of coronavirus vaccines.Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will meet virtually for informal talks on Thursday to discuss a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for producing COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical tools for the duration of the pandemic.

Australia has scrapped agreements tied to China's Belt and Road initiative (BRI), prompting anger from Beijing and adding further strain to tense relations between the countries.The federal government used new powers to rip up two deals made between the state of Victoria and China.Canberra said it was backing away from the agreements to protect Australia's national interest.The Chinese embassy in Australia branded the move "provocative".It said the action by Canbe

The Myanmar military's crackdown on anti-coup protesters has displaced close to a quarter of a million people, a United Nations (UN) rights envoy said Wednesday.The junta has stepped up its use of lethal force to quash mass demonstrations against a 1 February coup which ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.At least 738 people have been killed and 3,300 are languishing in jails as political prisoners, according to a local monitoring group."Horrified to learn that...

Indonesian navy ships on Thursday scoured a patch of ocean off the coast of Bali searching for a submarine with 53 crew aboard after losing contact with the vessel during military exercises.The German-built KRI Nanggala 402 was scheduled to do live torpedo exercises when it asked for permission to dive early Wednesday morning, authorities said. "After permission was given according to the procedure, the submarine lost contact and could not be reached," the defence ministry

Younger people aren't as scared of the virus, so they're often more hesitant about getting vaccinated than their elders.As the days grow longer, there’s a palpable feeling of hope in the air – at least in the more fortunate western countries. Thanks in part to vaccines, COVID-19 deaths are dropping in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), enabling parts of normal life to resume. But, as we’re well aware, it’s not over yet.

China's President Xi Jinping will attend United States (US) President Joe Biden's virtual climate summit this week, Beijing said Wednesday, as the world's top polluting nations seek rare common ground despite wider political tensions.Biden has invited 40 world leaders including Xi and Russia's Vladimir Putin to the meet starting on Earth Day, meant to mark Washington's return to the front lines of the fight against climate change after former president Donald Trump di

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he is willing to deploy military ships to the South China Sea to assert the country's claim over oil deposits in a contested part of the waterway.Duterte, who has embraced China since taking power in 2016, has faced growing domestic criticism for his reluctance to confront Beijing over its activities in Philippine-claimed waters. Tensions spiked last month after hundreds of Chinese vessels were detected at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Isl

With India’s daily tally of COVID-19 infections surging by records, public health experts worry that a new – possibly more virulent – coronavirus variant could be racing through the crowded nation of more than 1.3 billion people.The new variant, which has a so-called double mutation, is thought to be fuelling India’s deadlier new wave of cases that has made it the world’s second worst-hit country, surpassing Brazil again, and has already begun to overwhelm its hospitals and

For Gio Pineda, a young doctor in the Philippines capital of Manila, the past few days have been among the most harrowing of his life.