World

China’s foreign minister Qin Gang will not attend a diplomatic gathering in Indonesia this week for health reasons, a spokesman for his ministry said on Tuesday. Top diplomat Wang Yi would represent China at the meetings in Jakarta instead, the spokesman, Wang Wenbin, told a regular briefing, confirming a Reuters …

Indonesia’s coast guard said on Tuesday it seized an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of involvement in the illegal transshipment of crude oil, and vowed to toughen maritime patrols. The MT Arman 114 was carrying 272,569 metric tons of light crude oil, valued at 4.6 trillion rupiah ($304 million), when it was …

A Vietnamese flag atop Spratly Island appears blank white on Google Maps, with the all-seeing tech giant saying the flag cannot be seen due to “low-quality image.” When users accessed Google Maps satellite images on Tuesday morning, they reported that the rooftop of a building on Spratly Island, part of …

Anti-erosion revetments built around Cai Rang floating market, the largest such Mekong Delta site of its kind, are too tall for merchants to ply their trades. The revetments are 3-4 m higher than merchants’ boats, forcing vendors to use ladders to get up and down the banks of the Can …

A tractor on fire impeded traffic the Phap Van-Cau Gie expressway for over three hours, forcing vehicles to be re-routed to the National Highway 1A. At around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, a tractor running on the Phap Van-Cau Gie expressway in the Hanoi-Ninh Binh direction caught fire as it reached Y …

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced on Tuesday his retirement from politics, nine years after he took power in a military coup, and promised to stay in charge only temporarily. His announcement was widely expected after his military-backed United Thai Nation party was thumped in a May 14 election, in …

All six people aboard a tourist helicopter in Nepal were killed when it crashed soon after take-off near Mount Everest on Tuesday, aviation authorities said. The Manang Air chopper was heading for the capital Kathmandu from near Lukla, the gateway for climbing expeditions to the world’s highest peak, but lost …

Japan’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that restricting a transgender woman’s use of toilets at her workplace was “unacceptable”, a decision that may help promote LGBT rights in the only G7 nation without legal protection for same-sex unions. The ruling, the first by Japan’s highest court on the work environment …

A Panamanian vessel carrying 25,500 tons of steel from the Philippines to Vietnam was stranded at a reef in the sea region of central Binh Thuan Province. The Nemrut Bay vessel, spanning 180 meters and with 20 crew members on board, departed on June 21 to transport the steel to …

Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung and 53 others stood trial at the Hanoi People’s Court Tuesday for a Covid-19 repatriation flight bribery scandal. The others include Nguyen Quang Linh, a former assistant to Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, and Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, former head …