TRENTON, March 23 — Canada’s population, spurred by immigration, jumped by over 1 million last year, the largest increase since the Second World War baby boom, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported on Wednesday (March 22).

SYDNEY, March 23 — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fought back tears on Thursday as he revealed the question the government wants to put to a vote in a proposed federal referendum to constitutionally recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

WASHINGTON, March 23 — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs after the recent collapse of two US banks.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — The 29th Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) Retreat held today in Magelang, Indonesia, has endorsed Indonesia’s seven Priority Economic Deliverables (PEDs) under their purview, which focus on three Strategic Thrusts namely Recovery and Rebuilding, Digital Economy and Sustainability.

PHNOM PENH, March 22 — China is an enormous market for Cambodia and other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said here on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, March 22 — Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin cemented the friendship between China and Russia and jointly criticised the West, which moved to buttress Ukraine against Moscow's invasion with nearly US$16 billion (RM71.6 billion) in financial aid and faster delivery of battle tanks.

TAIPEI, March 21 — Taiwan was ranked as the fourth happiest country in Asia and 27th happiest in the world, according to the 2023 World Happiness Report released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Monday.

LOS ANGELES, March 21 — The magnitude and quality of a key immune cell's response to vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine were considerably lower in people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people without prior infection, according to a new study published on Monday.

ANKARA, March 20 — The death toll from powerful earthquakes that struck southern Turkiye last month has risen to 50,096, an official from the nation’s disaster agency said on Monday.

BANGKOK, March 20 — Thailand dissolved its parliament on Monday to clear the way for an election in May, a vote set to reignite a long-running power struggle between a military-backed establishment and a political movement that has dominated elections for two decades.

HELSINKI, March 20 — Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the sixth time in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2023 released on Monday.

SEOUL, March 19 — The number of working South Koreans aged 60 and above has more than doubled in the past 10 years due to higher living costs amid a global economic slowdown, government data showed Sunday.

MONTREAL, March 19 — The United Nations' (UN) aviation council on Friday (March 17) voted to hear a case against Russia over the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the foreign ministers of Australia and the Netherlands said.

SINGAPORE, March 18 — Singapore President Halimah Yacob’s three-day state visit to Malaysia from Monday (March 20) will strengthen bilateral ties between the two neighbouring states which have a rich shared history and a close interdependence.

BANGKOK, March 17 — Looking at the current circumstances there is no prospect for a negotiated settlement in Myanmar’s political crisis, the United Nations' (UN) Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer said.

JAKARTA, March 17 — Asean has sufficient resources to become a centre of world economic growth with a GDP reaching US$3.36 trillion (RM15.07 trillion) in 2021 and a population of 650 million people, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said on March 15.

NAYPYIDAW, March 17 — At least 22 people, including three Buddhist monks, were shot dead at close range in central Myanmar last week, according to a doctor's post-mortem report, in what opponents of military rule say was a massacre of civilians conducted by the army.

BERLIN, March 17 — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that he did not see a risk of a new financial crisis in Germany and Europe following the collapse of US Silicon Valley Bank and the uncertain situation around the Switzerland-based global investment bank Credit Suisse.

SYDNEY, March 17 — New Zealand will ban TikTok on devices with access to the parliamentary network because of cybersecurity concerns, a government official said on Friday.

LONDON, March 17 — Prince Harry will on Friday seek to win his libel claim against publisher Associated Newspapers without the case going to trial, his lawyer said, as the British royal steps up his legal battles against the tabloid press.