BEIJING, Feb 4 — China today announced a wide range of measures targeting United States businesses including Google, farm equipment makers and fashion brand Calvin Klein’s owner, minutes after additional US tariffs on Chinese goods took effect.

SEOUL, Feb 4 — South Korea’s Air Busan will not allow passengers to keep powerbanks in luggage stored in overhead cabin bins, in what it called today a preemptive measure after one of its planes was engulfed in flames last week.

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 — The Trump administration said it would lock US Agency for International Development workers out of their headquarters in downtown Washington DC for a second day today as it moved to shutter the agency, prompting two Democratic senators to vow to block confirmations of State Department nominees in protest.

SEOUL, Feb 4 — South Korea aims to rebuild its aviation safety system from scratch, the transport ministry said today, launching a new committee to improve air travel in the country that suffered two major aviation incidents a month apart.

CANBERRA, Feb 4 — Research led by Australia's nuclear and radiation safety agency has found no link between mobile phone use and various cancers, reported Xinhua.

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 — Mailed packages from China must undergo formal customs entry under new tariffs scheduled to be implemented today, according to a notice from the US Customs and Border Protection posted online yesterday.

JAKARTA, Feb 4 — Indonesia's parliament will today vote on a bill that will allow the government to set up a new investment agency expected to manage its stakes in some of the biggest state companies.

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 — Elon Musk, who has moved swiftly to shrink the size of the US government at President Donald Trump's behest, is now considered a "special government employee", the White House said yesterday.

DAMASCUS, Feb 4 — A car bomb killed at least 20 people in the northern Syrian city of Manbij yesterday, the Syrian presidency said, marking the second attack there in three days and the country's deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December.

LONDON, Feb 3 — World Health Organisation (WHO) member states will discuss cutting part of its budget by US$400 million (RM1.79 billion) in light of President Donald Trump’s move to withdraw the United States, its biggest government funder, from the WHO, a document released today showed.

MANILA, Feb 3 — The Philippines, among the world’s largest rice importers, today declared a food security emergency to lower the cost of rice, which it said stayed elevated despite lower global prices and a reduction in rice tariffs last year.

TAIPEI, Feb 3 — Taiwan today banned government departments from using Chinese startup DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence service as it was a security risk, toughening language from last week which said it should not be used.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 — United States President Donald Trump said yesterday, without citing evidence, that “certain classes of people” in South Africa were being treated “very badly” and that he would cut off funding for the country until the matter is investigated.

TOKYO, Feb 3 — Asia’s factory activity weakened in January as soft Chinese demand and threats of higher tariffs by US President Donald Trump weighed on business sentiment, private surveys showed on Monday, darkening the outlook for the region’s economy.

DOHA — Qatar's prime minister on Sunday called on Israel and Palestine to immediately begin negotiating phase two of the Gaza ceasefire, adding that there is no clear plan for when talks will begin.

BEIJING, Feb 2 — China's government on Sunday denounced the Trump administration's imposition of a long-threatened 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports while leaving the door open for talks with the US that could avoid a deepening conflict.

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, demanding they stanch the flow of fentanyl — and illegal immigrants in the case of Canada and Mexico — into the United States, kicking off a trade war that could dent global growth and reignite inflation.

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 — Canada will introduce tariffs of 25 per cent on imports from the United States in retaliation to US tariffs, reported German news agency (dpa).

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 — The US Army on Saturday released the name of the third soldier who died on a Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this week, killing 67 people in all.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — An Arab nations ministerial meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday rejected any plans to relocate Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.