PHUKET, Thailand, Jan 22 — Hitting the white sand beaches and eating mango sticky rice and seafood, Chinese tourists are returning to Thailand for their first trips abroad since China ended its strict Covid-19 curbs and reopened its borders.

WELLINGTON, Jan 22 — New Zealand's ruling Labour Party selected Chris Hipkins to replace Jacinda Ardern as leader of the Labour party and prime minister in a meeting on Sunday, Radio New Zealand reported.

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 — The number of employees at Twitter has decreased by about 80 per cent since US entrepreneur Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar acquisition, Sputnik quoted CNBC reports citing internal company records.

OVIEDO (Spain), Jan 21 — Brazilian football player Dani Alves was sent to prison in Barcelona on Friday evening for allegedly raping a woman late last year.

LONDON, Jan 21 — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been issued with a fixed penalty notice by police for failing to wear a seatbelt while filming a social media clip in the back of a moving car, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

JAKARTA, Jan 19 — Indonesia's central bank, Bank Indonesia, announced an increase of 25 basis points in benchmark interest rate to 5.75 per cent on Thursday in order to control inflation amid global economic fluctuation, reported Xinhua.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Moody’s Investors Service has projected that the average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for G-20 emerging markets (EM) economies would decline to 3.1 per cent this year, the lowest in more than a decade, from 3.2 per cent in 2022.

DAVOS, Jan 19 — As the fastest growing trade bloc in the world, Asean needs both public and private sector involvement to make its supply chain seamless and take full advantage of its potential.

JAKARTA, Jan 19 — Families of Indonesian children who died because of tainted cough syrup demanded restitution as an Indonesian court on Tuesday started hearing their class-action lawsuit against government agencies and pharmaceutical firms.

GENEVA, Jan.

WELLINGTON, Jan 19 — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down from the role by February 7, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

HANOI, Jan 18 — Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan was named as the acting president on Wednesday, a day after former president Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.

DAVOS, Jan 18 — Asean is confident that it can navigate headwinds steaming from various geopolitical tensions and maintain stability as well as economic growth in the region, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut B.

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 — The revival of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project was not discussed during the republic’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's just-ended four-day official visit to Malaysia.

MOSCOW, Jan 18 — Amazon has reclaimed the top spot as the world's most valuable brand despite losing US$51 billion (RM220.1 billion) this year, or 15 per cent of its value, according to the annual Brand Finance Global 500 ranking.

HANOI, Jan 17 — Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has resigned after the ruling Communist Party blamed him for 'violations and wrongdoing' by officials under his control while prime minister, the government said on Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — Malaysia has urged the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to continue supporting a regional energy transition agenda based on local needs and social realities.

DAVOS, Jan 17 — Nearly two-thirds of the chief economists surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) forecast a global recession in 2023, despite being optimistic about inflation and strong balance sheets.

ISTANBUL, Jan 17 — China, the world's most populous country, has seen negative growth in 2022, a historic drop in population in more than six decades, according to national data released on Tuesday.

GENEVA, Jan 17 — Global employment growth is expected to ease to half of the current growth rate in 2022, as labour market recovery may be prevented by uncertain economic conditions amid persisting Covid pandemic conditions, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Monday.