ADANA, Turkiye/DAMASCUS, Feb 6 — A huge earthquake killed about 1,700 people and injured thousands more on Monday in central Turkiye and northwest Syria, flattening apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war.

SINGAPORE, Feb 6 — Polluting single-use plastic production rose globally by six million tonnes per year from 2019 to 2021 despite tougher worldwide regulations, with producers making "little progress" to tackle the problem and boost recycling, new research showed on Monday.

HONG KONG, Feb 6 — The much-anticipated trial of 16 Hong Kong democracy activists charged under a national security law imposed by Beijing began on Monday with security tight for a case that some observers say will be a test of the city's judicial independence.

DIYARBAKIR/ANKARA, Turkey, Feb 6 — A major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, killing about 200 people as buildings collapsed across the snowy region, and triggering a search for survivors trapped in rubble.

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Feb 6 — A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck southern Turkey early on Monday and was felt in Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria, collapsing buildings and sending residents into the snowy streets, witnesses and broadcasters said.

JOGJAKARTA, Feb 5 — Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) need to come back stronger together in the recovery phase of the Covid-19 pandemic to achieve quality and sustainable tourism.

ISLAMABAD/DUBAI, Feb 5 — Pakistani former President Pervez Musharraf died on Sunday following a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dubai, after years in self-imposed exile.

LONDON, Feb 5 — Former British prime minister Liz Truss has said she was never given 'realistic chance' to implement her radical tax-cutting agenda by her party and by 'powerful economic establishment', reported the German Press Agency (dpa).

MANILA, Feb 4 — The Philippine central bank will focus on inflation rather than the Federal Reserve's recent policy action when it meets on February 16 to review key interest rates, its governor said on Saturday.

JAKARTA, Feb 3 — Asean foreign ministers today welcomed Timor Leste's participation as an observer for the first time at the 32nd Asean Coordinating Council (ACC) meeting.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 3 — Free services that rely on Twitter's software tools are threatened with the loss of their livelihood after the online service said it will only offer paid access to its APIs (application programming interfaces) from February 9.

JAKARTA, Feb 2 — Indonesia is set to host a series of Asean Foreign Ministers' (AMM) Retreat meetings at the Asean Secretariat here from February 2 to February 4.

SYDNEY, Feb 2 — Australia will replace the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on its A$5 banknote with a new design to reflect and honour the history of its Indigenous culture, the country's central bank said on Thursday.

SEOUL, Feb 2 — North Korea said Thursday it will take the "toughest reaction" to the United States' move to expand joint military exercises with South Korea, as the US defence chief has pledged to deploy more strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula to ensure its security commitment.

JAKARTA, Feb 2 — Indonesian president Joko Widodo said his government will consider halting the export of unprocessed copper ores to encourage domestic processing of raw materials in the country’s industrialisation push, following a similar policy on nickel and bauxite.

MANILA, Feb 2 — The Philippines has granted the United States expanded access to its military bases, the countries said on Thursday, amid mounting concern over China's increasing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea and tensions over self-ruled Taiwan.

BANGKOK, Feb 1 — Thailand's economy continued to recover in December, driven by tourism, despite a global economic slowdown, the central bank said on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — The Malaysian embassy in Peru said it was closely monitoring the latest development in the South American nation, adding that no Malaysians were affected by the current protests which are taking place in certain parts of the country, including in the capital city of Lima.

NAYPYIDAW, Feb 1 — Protesters marked the two-year anniversary of Myanmar's military coup with a 'silent strike' in major cities and at rallies overseas on Wednesday, as exiled civilian leaders vowed to end what they called the army's 'illegal power grab'.

NAYPYIDAW, Feb 1 — Two years after Myanmar's military coup, a young factory worker turned resistance fighter mourns the loss of his leg in battle.