SYDNEY, June 28 — Facebook owner Meta is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees, a company representative told a parliamentary hearing today.

TOKYO, June 28 — Japan has today started the seventh round of release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.

SEOUL/SINGAPORE, June 28 — Congestion at Singapore's container port is at its worst since the Covid-19 pandemic, a sign of how prolonged vessel re-routing to avoid Red Sea attacks has disrupted global ocean shipping — with bottlenecks also appearing in other Asian and European ports.

JERUSALEM, June 28 — Anti-government protesters gathered in Jerusalem yesterday and converged on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home, lighting a bonfire on the street outside and calling for his resignation.

BENGALURU, June 28 — Russian hackers who broke into Microsoft's systems and spied on staff inboxes earlier this year also stole emails from its customers, the tech giant said yesterday, around six months after it first disclosed the intrusion.

BENGALURU, June 28 — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that individuals aged six months and older should be given an updated Covid-19 vaccine for the 2024-25 immunisation campaign, irrespective of whether they have previously been vaccinated for the disease.

TOKYO, June 28 — Core inflation in Japan's capital accelerated in June on rising fuel bills and the boost to import costs from a weak yen, data showed on today, keeping alive expectations for a near-term interest rate hike by the central bank.

ISTANBUL, June 27 — Amazon's market value surpassed US$2 trillion on Wednesday for the first time in the company’s history as its shares hit an all-time high during afternoon trading, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

JAKARTA, June 26 — E-commerce firm Shopee said today it agreed to make changes to its services in Indonesia after the country’s antitrust agency said the platform had admitted to violating anti-monopoly rules.

SINGAPORE, June 26 — Singapore faces greater money laundering and terrorism financing risks than other countries because it is an international finance and business hub, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told a meeting of a global financial crime body today.

JAKARTA, June 26 — Indonesia’s antitrust agency today said in a statement that e-commerce firm Shopee had admitted to violating a monopoly rule for its courier service in Indonesia.

SEOUL, June 26 — Takeoffs and landings at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport were disrupted today for about three hours before dawn due to balloons launched by North Korea filled with refuse, an airport spokesman said.

BANGKOK, June 25 — The rationalisation of Malaysia's diesel subsidy will have no impact on Thailand's trucking industry, said Land Transport Federation of Thailand president Apichart Prairungruang.

MOSCOW, June 25 — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison in the United Kingdom and is flying to Australia, reported Sputnik.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip, June 25 — Medics in Gaza said yesterday they were working to step up screening of young children for severe malnutrition amid fears that hunger is spreading as people flee to new areas.

MEXICO CITY, June 25 — At least 234 threatened howler monkeys have died in tropical forests in the south-eastern Mexican state of Tabasco, wildlife non-profit Cobius said on yesterday, a figure nearly triple that of a month ago which it attributed to a nationwide heatwave.

MANILA, June 24 — The Philippines will continue with resupply missions to troops on an atoll in a disputed part of the South China Sea despite Chinese Coast Guard vessels deliberately disrupting a mission last week, said its Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

JAKARTA, June 24 — A forest fire has ravaged at least 50 hectares of land in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java since June 18, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said.

TOKYO, June 24 — Only 10.4 per cent of the Japanese public support Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the upcoming ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race, signaling widespread dissatisfaction, reported Xinhua.

BARCELONA, June 24 — Max Verstappen won the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix for the third year in a row yesterday while McLaren's pole-sitter Lando Norris rued a poor start that he said had cost him victory.