As the United States (US) and Europe ramped up their COVID-19 vaccination programs, the Asia-Pacific region, once lauded for its pandemic response, struggled to get them off the ground.

The 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on a United States (US) warrant, followed by China's detention of two Canadians, sparked an unprecedented dispute between Beijing and Ottawa.Last Friday, a legal agreement in New York paved the way for Meng to board a plane to China after nearly three years of detention in Canada and for the two Canadian men to also set off home.Here are the key dates in the case:Wanted: Meng Wanzhou In August 2018, a Ne

Some have become global mainstays and others are staying local: here is an overview of more than 20 approved COVID-19 vaccines currently in use, and a few that fell by the wayside.mRNA Leads The PackMessenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines developed by United States (US)-German alliance Pfizer/BioNTech and American company Moderna have emerged as the most successful vaccines in use today.A survey from Canada's McGill University shows the Pfizer jab Comirnaty has been approved in 100 countries, whil

One of Brazil’s biggest healthcare providers has been accused of covering up coronavirus deaths, pressuring doctors to prescribe ineffective treatments, and testing unproven drugs on elderly patients as part of ideologically charged efforts to help the Brazilian government resist a COVID lockdown.Prevent Senior, a health maintenance organization with a chain of hospitals and more than half a million members, is in the crosshairs of a congressional inquiry into Brazil’s coronavirus crisis and

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:YouTube StandoffRussia threatens to block YouTube and take other retaliatory measures, after the United States (US) video-sharing platform blocked the German-language channels of state broadcaster RT for violating coronavirus disinformation rules.YouTube Takes On Anti-VaxxersYouTube says it will remove videos that falsely claim approved vaccines are dangerous, as social networks seek to crack down on health misinformation around COVID

Cambodian anti-landmine authorities are training dogs to sniff out COVID-19, hoping the sharp-nosed canines normally used to detect underground explosives can keep the virus on a tight leash.Cambodia has won praise for a swift vaccine drive, with the health ministry saying over 98 percent of the adult population has received at least one dose.Now they are embarking on a new strategy to spot COVID cases.Joining the fight will be 12 Belgian Malinois dogs the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC)

China hands out at least twice as much development money as the United States (US) and other major powers, new evidence shows, with most of it coming in the form of risky high-interest loans from Chinese state banks.The sheer amount of Chinese lending is startling.

The Philippines has approved COVID-19 jabs for children as young as 12, an aide to President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday, as the country battles surging infections fuelled by the hyper-contagious Delta variant.Duterte's government has been skewered over the glacial rollout of vaccines, with just over a quarter of the adult population fully vaccinated nearly seven months after the first doses were delivered.The daily case rate has soared, often exceeding 20,000, with hospitals struggling

At the end of June, when Malaysians were grappling with a drastically worsening pandemic, pictures of black flags, and people waving them from their cars or their homes, appeared on social media.Hashtag #Lawan, which means “fight” in the Malay language, the flags became a rallying cry against the government’s failures in handling the coronavirus.

Thailand is to cut the quarantine for vaccinated travellers to seven days starting in October, officials said Monday, as it seeks to revive its battered tourism industry.Pre-pandemic Thailand attracted nearly 40 million visitors a year, but COVID-related travel restrictions have hammered the sector, contributing to the economy's worst performance in more than 20 years.The kingdom is pushing to reopen despite still being in the grips of a deadly third wave of infections, driven by the Del