On Etsy, eBay, Facebook and Twitter, little rectangular slips of paper started showing up for sale in late January. Printed on card stock, sellers listed them for US$20 to US$60 each, with a discount on bundles of three or more.

A prominent Singapore minister stepped aside on Thursday as the successor to the premier, in a shock move that upended the tightly-controlled country's carefully planned power transfer.Finance minister Heng Swee Keat was in 2018 named to a key post in the ruling party that put him in pole position to take over when Singapore's founding family hands over the premiership. He was expected to replace Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of the late founding premier Lee Kuan Yew,

The Philippine defence department said Thursday it was keeping "all our options open" as a diplomatic row with Beijing grows over hundreds of Chinese vessels in the contested South China Sea.Tensions over the resource-rich waters have spiked in recent weeks after more than 200 Chinese boats were detected at Whitsun Reef, in the Spratly Islands, where China and the Philippines have rival claims. China, which claims almost the entirety of the sea, has refused repeated appeals

A group of international scientists called for a new investigation into the origins of COVID-19 on Wednesday after China and the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a scrutinised report last week concluding that the virus most likely came from wildlife instead of a laboratory.24 scientists from Europe, the United States (US), Australia and Japan issued an open letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, that analysed steps to complete a more comprehensive investigation.&qu

A leading Myanmar actor, singer and model who has backed the country’s anti-coup protests was arrested on Thursday, reports said, as the junta hunts more than 100 celebrities for supporting the movement.The country has been rocked by daily protests since the military seized power on 1 February, and the authorities have launched a bloody crackdown on dissent, with hundreds killed and more than 2,500 arrested.Paing Takhon, 24 – a star in both, Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand – has be

Thailand has detected at least 24 cases of the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 that was first identified in Britain, a government health expert said on Wednesday.

Myanmar's ambassador to Britain accused a Yangon military-linked figure of occupying the embassy Wednesday and barring him access, in an extraordinary diplomatic stand-off a month after the envoy called for the junta to release ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Protesters gathered outside the building in London's Mayfair neighbourhood with the ambassador, Kyaw Zwar Minn, as reports emerged he had been locked out.

The United States (US) on Wednesday warned China against what the Philippines and Taiwan see as increasingly aggressive moves, reminding Beijing of Washington's obligations to its partners."An armed attack against the Philippines' armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters."We share the concer

At first glance, one can see similar motives for the 2006 and 2014 coups in Thailand as well as the 2021 Myanmar coup.In all three cases, coup-plotters faced popular civilian governments seeking more control over the military.In 2006, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin confronted Thailand’s populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

As the United States’ (US) vaccination campaign accelerates, so-called vaccine passports are gaining traction despite political divisions and a fragmented health care system that complicates the centralisation of data.Asher Weintraub, 17, was happy to show off the new digital New York state “pass” that he downloaded to his smartphone, which, via a QR code, certified that he was vaccinated against COVID.“I think it is a good thing, you don’t have to like provide all (sorts of) forms and docume