Smokestacks belch noxious fumes into the air from a massive coal-fired power plant on the Indonesian coast, a stark illustration of Asia's addiction to the fossil fuel which is threatening climate targets. Asia-Pacific accounts for about three-quarters of global coal consumption – even as the region struggles with the environmental and public health impacts of global warming, from deadly levels of air pollution in India to extreme heatwaves and wildfires in Australia. H

The World Trade Organization (WTO) said Friday its member nations had again failed to agree to suspend intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, with some countries doubting a deal could be reached unless certain delegations make "real compromises".South Africa and India have called for intellectual property rights to be temporarily lifted for coronavirus vaccines during the pandemic in order to boost production and address the gaping inequality in access between rich and

President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan promised Friday to work together for a stable, open and democratic Indo-Pacific in a veiled dig at China during their first in-person summit together.In Biden's latest effort to cement United States (US) leadership in the face of a rising China, the so-called Quad agreed to move ahead on a joint plan to provide COVID-19 vaccines around Asia, launched a new climate initiative and said the four nations would begin holding an

Thousands have fled a town in west Myanmar after days of fighting between anti-junta dissidents and the military, during which soldiers bombed civilian homes, residents and media said Wednesday.Myanmar has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi's government was ousted by the military in February, sparking a nationwide uprising that the junta has tried to crush.Attacks on junta troops have increased after lawmakers ousted by the generals called for a "people's defensive war&quot

As COVID-19 cases and deaths exploded in India in April and May, New Delhi’s premier Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and several others ran so short of oxygen that many patients in the capital suffocated.When the Reuters news agency visited the hospital on Friday, its last coronavirus patient was readying to leave after recovery - remarkable turnaround health experts attribute to growing levels of immunity from natural infection and vaccinations.But hospitals have learned from bitter experience during

The Tokyo Olympic Games are over, and the Japanese people and government have heaved a sigh of relief that the spectacle passed without a major COVID-19 outbreak in the athletes’ village or other disasters. In India, the celebrations of the country’s first gold medal in the men’s javelin throw – and its best-ever medal performance at a single Olympics – have not yet subsided.

This was supposed to be the Asian century, with the ascent of China being only one – albeit a major – part of the story.

The highly-contagious Delta variant is causing a surge in new COVID-19 cases even in countries with high vaccination rates – and experts warn that immunisation campaigns are in a race against time to contain it.Globally, the pandemic is still slowing down, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting the lowest number of new cases worldwide since February and decreasing deaths attributed to the coronavirus.But concerns are growing about the variant, prompting new restrictions in countri

India has classified a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in Europe as a "variant of concern", but it's too early to really tell.A mutation is elevated from a "variant of interest" to a "variant of concern" (VOC) when it shows evidence of fulfilling at least one of several criteria, including easy transmission, more severe illness, reduced neutralisation by antibodies or reduced effectiveness of treatment and vaccines.India's health ministr

China on Sunday announced it had administered its one-billionth shot in the world's biggest coronavirus inoculation drive as Brazil's death toll from the pandemic passed 500,000.The global death toll from COVID-19 is now more than 3.8 million and many nations are still battling outbreaks, but vaccine drives in some countries are allowing activities that were unthinkable a few months ago.China's vaccine milestone comes after the number of shots administered globally passed 2.5 b