SINGAPORE, Aug 30 — Singapore on Monday announced new work visa rules to woo foreign talent as the Asian financial hub looks to bolster its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

JAKARTA, Aug 29 — A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 hit Indonesia's western province of West Sumatra on Monday, the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

TRIPOLI, Aug 29 — Charred cars and buildings pockmarked by bullets scarred Libya's capital on Sunday, the day after intense fighting killed 32 people yet appeared to leave the Tripoli government more firmly entrenched.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 29 — Pakistan needs financial help to deal with "overwhelming" floods, its foreign minister said on Sunday, adding that he hoped financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund would take the economic fallout into account.

WASHINGTON, Aug 28 — Two United States (US) Navy warships are sailing through international waters in the Taiwan Strait, three US officials told Reuters, the first such operation since heightened tension with China over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

KOTA BHARU, Aug 27 — Thailand is expecting over a million Malaysian tourists by the end of this year following the reopening of borders between both countries in April.

ANKARA, Aug 27 — US biotechnology firm Moderna is suing rivals Pfizer and BioNTech for infringing patents central to its Covid-19 vaccine technology.

BANGKOK, Aug 26 — Suspended Thai leader Prayuth Chan-ocha said on social media he will continue in his role as defence minister, in his first direct address to the public since a court ordered him to cease his duties as prime minister while it reviews his term limit.

BRUSSELS, Aug 26 — Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU), Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) called on Thursday to hold accountable perpetrators of human rights violations against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.

REUTERS, Aug 26 — The number of monkeypox cases reported globally declined by 21 per cent last week, after a month-long trend of rising infections, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

REUTERS, Aug 26 — Singapore's Grab Holdings Ltd on Thursday slashed its gross merchandise volume (GMV) outlook for the year, blaming a strong dollar and cooling demand for food delivery services as consumers return to dining outdoors.

JAKARTA, Aug 26 — Indonesian state-owned port operator Pelindo and a consortium of the country's sovereign wealth fund and logistics firm DP World have agreed to invest in the expansion of the Belawan port in Sumatra island, the companies said on Thursday.

JAKARTA, Aug 25 — The average remittances from Indonesian migrant workers from 2015 to 2019 reached US$9.8 billion annually, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said.

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — Singapore is preparing to start boosting children aged five to 11 years with PfizerBioNTech/Comirnaty vaccine in the fourth quarter of this year, the Health Ministry said today.

BANGKOK, Aug 24 — Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha from official duties today, after it decided to hear a petition to review his legally mandated eight-year term limit.

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — Singapore will do away with requirements to wear masks indoors starting August 29, as the country sees its Covid-19 situation stabilise further, the health minister said on Wednesday.

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — Covid-19 vaccination will continue to be a condition for the approval of all new applications for long-term passes and work passes in Singapore, the Health Ministry (MOH) said today.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — The Covid-19 pandemic has set back the fight against poverty in Asia and the Pacific by at least two years, and many people in the region will likely find it harder than before to escape poverty, according to a report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

LONDON, Aug 24 — AstraZeneca may not stay in the vaccine business in the long run, its CEO told Reuters on Tuesday, showing how quickly fortunes have changed for the drugmaker that produced one of the first Covid-19 shots but has since lost out to rivals.

BANGKOK, Aug 23 — The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) economies are facing demographic problems as low fertility rates cause populations to decline and affect the economies in the long run.