Malaysia's embattled leader will offer his resignation to the king today, a minister said, potentially spelling an end to his 17-month-old government and plunging the country into fresh turmoil. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has faced mounting pressure to step aside after losing his parliamentary majority, and over his administration's handling of a worsening coronavirus outbreak. He made a last-ditch attempt to cling to power Friday by urging opposition MPs to s

Thousands of protesters in cars and on bikes massed in Bangkok's central shopping district Sunday, one of several mobile rallies across Thailand demanding Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha resign over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.The kingdom is grappling with its worst outbreak so far, registering record numbers of daily infections each week as hospitals struggle to cope.

The Taliban raced closer to a complete military takeover of Afghanistan on Sunday after capturing more major cities, leaving only the isolated capital Kabul for them to conquer.The insurgents took control of the key eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday, just hours after seizing the northern anti-Taliban bastion of Mazar-i-Sharif - furthering an astonishing rout of government forces and warlord militias achieved in just 10 days."We woke up this morning to the Taliban white flags all over t

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Russia Registers Record Daily DeathsRussia on Saturday recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll for a third day running, as the country continues to struggle with the Delta variant amid sluggish vaccination rates. Russia recorded its highest daily death toll, with 819 fatalities reported over the past 24 hours.

The Philippines’s already stretched healthcare system is under more strain as the country reports its second-largest daily increase in COVID-19 infections since the pandemic, providing more evidence of how the virulent Delta variant may be spreading.Hundreds of hospitals in the country were again nearing full capacity as of Saturday, with some facilities reporting they had run out of intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients, leaving healthcare workers, who are forced to work longer hour

China on Friday rejected the World Health Organization's (WHO) calls for a renewed probe into the origins of COVID-19, saying it supported "scientific" over "political" efforts to find out how the virus started.Pressure is once more mounting on Beijing to consider a fresh probe into the origins of a pandemic which has killed more than four million people and paralysed economies worldwide since it first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.A delayed and heavily

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to surge around the world this week, driven by a worsening situation in the United States (US) and Canada.Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database.Five Percent IncreaseThe average number of new daily cases globally increased by five percent over the week to 645,400, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.The pandemic has continued to gain ground for the past two months largely due to the highly contagious Delta variant which is pr

During the pandemic, an international movement opposed to COVID-19 vaccines and restrictions has grown on social media, often muddled with conspiracy theories and dangerous falsehoods. Now some committed activists are pursuing a new direction - organising online dating, house shares and possibly even blood banks just for the unvaccinated."I mean, I'm not at that stage yet.

Tirsa Manitik gave birth to her first girl in June and buried her a month later – another casualty of virus-battered Indonesia's soaring child death toll.The Southeast Asian nation has been hit by its worst COVID-19 surge yet as the ultra-infectious Delta variant sent deaths skyrocketing and left a trail of devastated parents in its wake."My heart is broken.

Authorities in China have suspended operations at a terminal in the world's third busiest cargo port after a worker was infected with the coronavirus.The closure of a key terminal at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port on the east coast, which handled almost 1.2 billion tons in 2020, reflects China's determination to squash its worst coronavirus outbreak in months no matter the economic costs.The worker at the port's Meishan terminal tested positive for coronavirus Wednesday, Ningbo city