The shutting down of the Philippines' top broadcaster crosses a dangerous line in eroding the nation's democracy and sends a warning to those who risk angering President Rodrigo Duterte, watchdogs said.Since rising to power in 2016, Duterte has steadily tightened his grip on the nation's key institutions and jailed or side-lined his loudest detractors, but until now his worst threats against critical media had not been fully realised.Tuesday's halting of broadcasting giant

Why are some people barely affected by coronavirus, while others become gravely ill even though they are young and healthy? Scientists are searching for answers in patients' genes, looking for mutations that affect their immune response in the hope of finding new treatments.

Since the COVID-19 virus emerged in Wuhan, China late last year, people from various backgrounds have succumbed to the disease. From front liners, politicians, and celebrities to ordinary people – the new coronavirus doesn’t discriminate. To date, over 3.7 million people have been infected with the virus, taking with it more 250,000 lives worldwide. The negative implications of the pandemic on people from all walks of life have been immense.

The Philippines' top broadcaster ABS-CBN was forced off air Tuesday over a stalled operating licence renewal, drawing fresh charges that authorities were cracking down on press freedom.Since running afoul of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, ABS-CBN has seen bills to extend its franchise languish in Congress as the leader repeatedly attacked the conglomerate in speeches.Duterte is notorious for tangling with media outlets critical of his policies, sparking concern that press freedoms ha

Yesterday marked Malaysia’s first day of a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), which is the country’s move to relax its virus lockdown. Malaysia has been under a partial lockdown since mid-March which is due to end on 12 May.

As several nations begin relaxing their lockdowns following an initial peak in COVID-19 cases, attention is turning to how they can avoid a "second wave" of infections as social distancing is eased.Italy and Spain - two of the hardest hit countries - have already started allowing people outside to exercise for the first time in nearly two months, and several United States (US) states are allowing businesses to reopen. In France, where confinement measures are set to lift on

Labour Day - which falls on 1 May every year - was an eventful day in Malaysia. The ASEAN member state which recently reported a plunge in COVID-19 cases – announced plans to ease the country’s partial lockdown, known locally as the Movement Control Order (MCO). Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a special address to the nation that the government will enforce a conditional MCO beginning 4 May.

Families of coronavirus victims in the Philippines are being denied traditional death rites in favour of hurried, impersonal cremations, with virus restrictions often meaning they are forbidden a last look at their loved ones.It is a painful and disorienting process for both the families and crematory workers that has upended the Philippines' intimate rituals of laying the dead to rest.Burial is the norm in the Catholic-majority nation, and it usually follows a days-long display of the e

Dozens of Rohingya refugees believed to have come from two boats stranded at sea for weeks as they tried to reach Malaysia landed on the Bangladesh coast on Saturday, Rohingya community leaders said.Bangladesh has refused to let the two trawlers carrying about 500 people to land on its territory despite United Nations (UN) calls to allow them in as a powerful storm bears down on the region.Security officials said a small boat carrying about 40 people, including "starving" women and