Washington's top diplomat urged Southeast Asia on Thursday to cut ties with Chinese companies helping build islands in the South China Sea, weeks after the United States (US) blacklisted two dozen firms working in the disputed waters.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's comments came at a regional Asian summit overshadowed by the US-China rivalry over a range of issues, from trade to the coronavirus.Tensions are also simmering over the South China Sea, with the US last month sanctioning

ASEAN member state Vietnam has been lauded for its successful handling of the COVID-19 virus outbreak. The country confirmed its first two cases on 23 January and had just over 350 total cases of coronavirus nationwide by the end of June.Nevertheless, Vietnam has seen a surge in infections in recent months. As of 9 September, 1,059 people in the country have contracted the disease with 35 COVID-19 related fatalities reported.

US-China rivalry is set to dominate discussions as the foreign ministers of 10 Southeast Asian countries begin an online summit Wednesday, with Washington's top diplomat ready to take aim at Beijing's "bullying" in the South China Sea.The summit comes just days after China launched ballistic missiles in the flashpoint waters as part of live-fire exercises and as Washington and Beijing clash over a range of issues from trade to the coronavirus.Ministers will be joined by Un

Myanmar's election campaign began Tuesday with Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains widely admired and respected at home despite her tarnished image abroad, hoping for a landslide win to further cement her status as the country's civilian leader.The Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy (NLD) swept to power in 2015 - the first national polls since the Southeast Asian nation emerged from decades of junta rule.Despite the coronavirus threat, campaigns are, for now, under way -

Nearly 300 Rohingya migrants reached Indonesia on Monday claiming to have been at sea for seven months, the United Nations (UN) refugee agency said, in one of the biggest such landings by the persecuted Myanmar minority in years.The migrants - including more than a dozen children - were spotted on a wooden boat by locals who helped them land near Lhokseumawe city on Sumatra's northern coast, officials said.But as many as 30 may have died during the perilous high-seas voyage, the UN said,

A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder, in a final ruling that was condemned by his fiancée and slammed by a United Nations (UN) expert as a "parody of justice".Eight unnamed defendants were handed jail terms of between seven and 20 years in a verdict that comes after Khashoggi's sons "pardoned" the killers in May, paving the way for a less severe punishment.The court ruling underscores Saudi efforts to dr

China is recasting Wuhan as a heroic coronavirus victim and trying to throw doubt on the pandemic's origin story as it aims to seize the narrative at a time of growing global distrust of Beijing.The PR blitz plays out daily in comments by Chinese officials and lavish state media coverage of a "reborn" Wuhan that trumpets China's epidemic-control efforts and economic recovery while the United States (US) struggles.The drive peaked in the past week as Chinese primary schools

At the Koon Chun Sauce Factory workers are scrambling to cover hundreds of thousands of bottles with new "Made in China" labels as the popular Hong Kong brand falls victim to spiralling diplomatic tensions.Founded nearly a century ago, the family-owned factory has survived a world war, multiple economic crises and the slow withering of Hong Kong's manufacturing base as companies looked for cheaper labour in mainland China.It remains one of the financial hub's most enduring

An increase in cases in Israel, France and Indonesia, a decline in South Africa: here is a weekly roundup of developments in the coronavirus crisis:Most New CasesIndia, the United States (US) and Brazil remain the three countries recording the greatest number of new cases over the past seven days, with 77,596, 40,875 and 40,035 cases respectively per day on average, according to an AFP count on Friday. While the number of cases was on the increase in India (15 percent more cases comp

India and China traded blame for rising tensions over their disputed Himalayan border on Saturday following their highest-level meeting since a deadly clash in June.India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe released rival statements accusing each other of inflaming the showdown after talks late Friday on the side-lines of an international meeting in Moscow.Singh said they had "frank" discussions on the dispute and the strained relatio