Wednesday, 9 Jul 2025

Asia

Asia News – Get latest breaking news & top stories today in Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Australia/New Zealand at…

Many killed in Bangladesh mosque gas pipeline blast

At least 13 worshippers killed during Friday night prayers when a blast sent flames raging through the mosque. A gas pipeline explosion near a mosque in Bangladesh killed 13 people and injured 30 as worshippers were about to end their prayers, officials said on Saturday. The explosion, which fire service officials suspect was caused by […]

Hit by Covid-19 pandemic, Bangkok nightlife pivots to local customers

BANGKOK – It’s 10.30pm on a Tuesday night and the bar tables at Bangkok’s Sugar Club are filling up. As the deejay turns up the volume and laser beams quiver overhead, two women in bikinis and face shields stride on stage. Strangers flirt. Step onto the street outside in Sukhumvit Soi 11, however, and the […]

Morning Briefing: Top stories from The Straits Times on Sept 5

Good morning! Here are our top stories to kick-start your Saturday, Sept 5. 5,280 S’pore citizens retrenched between January and June About 11,000 citizens were placed on unpaid leave compared with 33,000 non-citizens in the same period. READ MORE HERE Ong Ye Kung explains why median wage band of S’poreans in financial sector is lower […]

Dollar dips as market recovers from weak U.S. jobs data

LONDON (Reuters) – As risk assets recovered on Friday afternoon, the safe-haven U.S. dollar dipped, retracing gains made on safe-haven demand following a Labor Department report that job growth slowed further in August, threatening the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Employment slowed and permanent job losses increased as programs to help businesses pay wages […]

Safe-haven dollar jumps after U.S. job growth slows

LONDON (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar on Friday rose to its highest in a week as investors bought into the safe-haven asset after the U.S. Labor Department reported job growth slowed further in August with financial assistance from the government virtually depleted, threatening the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs to help businesses pay […]

China planning building spree in Tibet as India tensions rise: Sources

BEIJING (REUTERS) – China is planning a more than one trillion yuan (S$199 billion) push to accelerate infrastructure investment in Tibet, including new and previously announced projects, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The renewed push to step up development of the remote and impoverished south-western region signals Beijing’s intent to bolster frontier security […]

Rule-of-law row is top challenge to EU COVID recovery fund: senior official

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Securing agreement on the exact conditions on respecting democracy to attach to the disbursement of European Union funds is the biggest challenge to implementing an EU plan to revive the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said on Friday. European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits, spoke to […]