BANGKOK, Aug 23— Thai rescuers used hoes to search muddy, forested terrain for debris and the remains of nine people aboard a charter flight that crashed yesterday, authorities said, with all the travellers presumed dead.

JAKARTA, Aug 23 — Thousands protested in cities across Indonesia yesterday, capping a dramatic week in politics in the world's third-largest democracy as President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, enters the final weeks of his decade in office.

SINGAPORE, Aug 23 — Singapore has detected 13 cases of mpox Clade 2 infections this year, the health ministry said in a bulletin yesterday.

TAIPEI, Aug 22 — Taiwan's defence spending will rise 7.7 per cent next year, outpacing expected economic growth, the Cabinet said today, as the island adds more fighter jets and missiles to strengthen deterrence against a rising threat from Beijing.

JAKARTA, Aug 22 — Indonesia's Parliament has delayed passing revisions to an elections law that had threatened to spark protests today, following an outcry over legislation seen to strengthen the political influence of outgoing President Joko Widodo.

JAKARTA, Aug 22 — Indonesia President Joko Widodo said he respected the decisions of the country's institutions, amid a move by his allies in Parliament to try to reverse a court decision that changed qualification criteria for regional elections.

NAYPYIDAW, Aug 21 — A rapid depreciation of Myanmar’s currency is pushing up prices of essential goods, including food and medicine, affecting ordinary households in the country wrecked by civil war and a crumbling economy.

BEIJING, Aug 21 — Chinese state media threw its back behind China's most successful single-player video game to date, saying its adaptation of the Ming dynasty epic "Journey to the West" would force Western players to learn more about the country's culture.

JAKARTA, Aug 21 — Indonesia may shut down a portion of a coal-fired power plant near Jakarta to reduce air pollution affecting the city, a senior minister said today.

CANBERRA, Aug 21 — Australian politicians could be fined up to five per cent of their salary or suspended from Parliament for bad behaviour under new government workplace laws.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 21 — The KP.3.1.1 Covid-19 variant, now the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in the United States (US), has been causing increasing infections in the country, the latest data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed.

MANILA, Aug 21 — The Philippines' health minister said a recently detected mpox case in the Southeast Asian nation is of the mild Clade Two variant and not the newer variant that has spread rapidly in Africa.

BERLIN, Aug 20 — A World Health Organisation official stressed today that mpox, regardless of the new or old strain, is not the new Covid-19, as authorities know how to control its spread.

MANILA, Aug 20 — The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has said that the country has agreed to a request by the United States (US) to temporarily host a US immigrant visa processing centre for "a limited number" of Afghan nationals.

JAKARTA, Aug 20 — The Indonesian Navy intercepted a speed boat carrying undocumented Indonesian migrant workers and a Malaysian national in Tanjung Balai Karimun regency, Riau Island on Sunday (August 18).

BANGKOK, Aug 20 — Thailand's new Cabinet is expected to be finalised this week, said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

CHICAGO, Aug 20 — Thousands of mostly peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Chicago, the United States (US), on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention yesterday, in a show of anger against the Biden administration's support for Israel in the Gaza war.

SEOUL, Aug 20 — Over 200 South Korean and United States (US) fighter jets are due to fly around the clock for five days this week in what would mark the largest number of sorties flown in training by the allies, South Korea's Air Force said today.

NEW DELHI, Aug 20 — India has urged for a renewed and modernised partnership with Asean, stressing the need to adapt their cooperation to effectively tackle today’s challenges.

KINSHASA, Aug 20 — The ongoing mpox outbreak has been declared a "continental emergency," according to the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba.