CAIRO/WASHINGTON, March 22 — Israel's spy chief is due to travel to Qatar on Friday for ceasefire negotiations while the US plans to put a resolution calling for an immediate truce in Gaza to a vote of the UN Security Council, intensifying pressure on its ally.

BOSTON, March 22 — A 62-year-old man with end-stage renal disease has become the first human to receive a new kidney from a genetically modified pig, doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced on Thursday.

CAIRO, March 21 — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi called Thursday for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during a meeting with United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Anadolu Agency (AA) quoted the Egyptian presidency’s statement.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Malaysia is not ruling out the possibility of delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza via airdrop.

SINGAPORE, March 21 — Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has issued a reminder to car travellers using the QR code clearance initiative at the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints to bring along their passports, as they may still be required for verification in selected cases.

SINGAPORE, March 21 — Singapore has successfully conducted its first humanitarian airdrop to Gaza on Wednesday, as part of the country’s third tranche of humanitarian aid assistance to the conflict area.

LOS ANGELES, March 21 — An analysis of over 20,000 US adults found that people who limited their eating across less than eight hours per day, a time-restricted eating plan, were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease compared to people who ate across 12 to 16 hours per day, a new study has suggested.

HANOI, March 21 — Vietnam is seeking its third president in little more than a year after its ruling Communist Party on Wednesday forced the resignation of Vo Van Thuong, who was only elected last year after the sudden dismissal of his predecessor.

WASHINGTON, March 21 — Nearly 70 former US officials, diplomats and military officers on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to warn Israel of serious consequences if it denies civil rights and basic necessities to Palestinians and expands settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

JAKARTA, March 21 — Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto pledged on Wednesday to be a president for all Indonesians after official results showed him sweeping last month's election, even as rivals said they would mount legal challenges over the electoral process.

BEIJING, March 20 — China has said the United States (US) must refrain from "stirring up trouble" or taking sides on the South China Sea issue, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a security deal with the Manila extended to attacks on the Philippine Coast Guard.

NAYPYIDAW, March 20 — No bidders showed up at an auction in Myanmar today for the sale of the home of jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for which the starting price had been set at around US$90 million (RM426.6 million), a witness and local media reported.

TELUK, March 20 — Solikah, an Indonesian housewife living in the fishing village of Teluk, was in tears as she pointed to piles of trash strewn on a beach close to her home of 40 years.

TAIPEI, March 20 — Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has said China has built "enormous" military bases on three islands surrounding Taiwan's main holding in the South China Sea, but Taipei is not looking to further escalate tensions in the strategic waterway.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — The World Bank Group has called for urgent action to save lives as more than half the population of Gaza is on the brink of famine including children and the elderly.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Malaysia has the potential to become a leading supplier of feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the Asia Pacific region, given its diverse range of feedstock and biomass available in the country, according to Air New Zealand.

GENEVA, March 20 — The United Nations'(UN) climate chief issued a red alert on Tuesday as new data showed that records for every single climate indicator were shattered in 2023.

BERLIN, March 20 — Officials from over 70 countries convened here Tuesday for a two-day conference to discuss ways for the realisation of the COP28 targets.

MOSCOW, March 19 — The Indian Foreign Ministry has rejected China's 'absurd' claims to a contested border region in the Himalayas, as the old diplomatic row escalated in early March after the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reported Sputnik.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the latest analysis from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reflects the dire situation that the people of Gaza are facing.