TOKYO, Feb 1 — Asia's factory activity contracted in January as the boost from China's Covid reopening had yet to offset headwinds from slowing United States and European growth, surveys showed on Wednesday, underscoring the fragility of the region's economic recovery.

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 1 — No Malaysians were reported to be affected by the 5.9-magnitude earthquake that hit northwestern Iran near the city of Khoy (780 kilometres north of Tehran) on Saturday (January 28).

NEW YORK, Feb 1 — US online payment provider PayPal is planning to cut some 2,000 jobs, which equals some seven per cent of the company's total workforce, due to a "challenging macro-economic environment", reported German Press Agency (dpa).

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 1 — Boeing said that the company is holding a ceremony on Tuesday to say goodbye to its 747 jumbo jets at its factory in Everett, Washington state, in northwestern US.

ANKARA, Jan 31 — Over 1.5 million people have been displaced in the past two years, with more than five million children in dire need of humanitarian aid in Myanmar, the UN said on Tuesday, a day before the competition of the second year of the military coup in the country.

LONDON, Jan 31 — Britain's economy will slam into reverse this year as the cost-of-living crisis hits households hard and will see the worst performance of all the advanced nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

BRUSSELS, Jan 31 — European countries are still experiencing high incidences of medicine shortages, with deteriorating burdensome impact on patients, according to a recent survey.

LOS ANGELES, Jan 31 — The Biden administration announced on Monday it plans to end the Covid-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11.

SINGAPORE, Jan 31 — International Monetary Fund economists said on Tuesday that Singapore and other Southeast Asian economies are seeing downgrades to their 2023 growth outlooks because slowing global growth will outweigh the positive impact of China's economic reopening.

NEW YORK, Jan 31 — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern Monday over the intention of Myanmar's ruling junta to hold elections amid intensifying aerial bombardment and the burning of civilian houses along with ongoing arrests, intimidation and harassment of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists.

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 — President Joe Biden said Monday that the US will not provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

JAKARTA, Jan 31 — Indonesia hopes that Malaysia can quickly issue a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the foreign worker recalibration programme (RTK) 2.0 announced on January 10.

JAKARTA, Jan 30 — Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are scheduled to meet here from February 3 to February 4, according to the Asean Secretariat.

HANOI, Jan 30 — Vietnam’s total retail sales of goods and services in January were estimated at 544.8 trillion VND (US$23.22 billion or RM98.46 billion), up 5.2 per cent from the previous month and 20 per cent as compared with the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

JAKARTA, Jan 30 — Indonesia plans to produce 695 million tonnes of coal this year and sees exports of 518 million tonnes, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif said on Monday, a level that would mean record shipments out of the country.

BANGKOK, Jan 30 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s maiden visit to Thailand next month has raised hopes that he can help forge peace in Southern Thailand, local news reported.

HANOI, Jan 30 — Strengthening the connectivity between the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and deepening the bilateral economic ties will be one of the priorities of the 27-member union this year, according to EU Ambassador to Asean Igor Driesmans.

WELLINGTON, Jan 27 — New Zealanders have been suffering from egg supply shortage for more than a month, which has even affected Kiwis' Christmas and New Year celebrations on their dinner table.

Reuters, Jan 27 — Oil prices edged marginally higher on Friday, extending for a second session on strong U.S.

DETROIT, Jan 27 — The surprise leadership shuffle on Thursday at Toyota Motor Corp, renewed urgency at Renault and Nissan Motor Co to restructure their alliance and Elon Musk's declaration that Tesla Inc will be the world's No.