World

A few cities in China’s tourism hub Hainan extended lockdowns on Friday, with some of the measures expected to last through the weekend, while Lhasa in Tibet also tightened restrictions, among the latest curbs to contain Covid clusters in the country. Under the “dynamic Covid zero” policy that aims at …

A man in central Vietnam’s Ha Tinh Province was arrested Thursday for smuggling 10 kilograms of methamphetamine for VND150 million ($6,411). Bien Van Truong, 35, was caught at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday by Ha Tinh border guards as he was trying to flee from a taxi passing through Vu …

Three people were killed and eight others remained missing amid heavy rains and floods in northern Vietnam due to impacts of a tropical depression. Hoa Binh Province reported three deaths: Dinh Thi Nguyet, 35, Ha Tam Uyen, 4, and Nguyen Minh Hieu, 10, who were swept away by floodwaters and …

The health ministry has decided not to vaccinate children under 5 against Covid-19 yet, it said in a Thursday report to the prime minister. The Ministry of Health will continue to follow recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO), experience from other countries and will determine whether to vaccinate children …

Manulife Financial Corp saw the number of agents in its China and Vietnam businesses drop in the second quarter to the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2019, due to increased regulation and lingering pandemic challenges, contributing to a decline in sales in the key region. The number of agents …

A hacker has claimed to have obtained the personal information of 48.5 million users of a Covid health code mobile app run by the city of Shanghai. The hacker with the username as “XJP” posted an offer to sell the data for $4,000 on the hacker forum Breach Forums on …

Australia’s competition watchdog said that Google was ordered by Federal Court to pay A$60 million ($42.7 million) in penalties for misleading users on collection of their personal location data. The court found Google misled some customers about personal location data collected through their Android mobile devices between January 2017 and …

The end of Covid-19 should not be declared yet since its incidence has not stabilized and continues to fluctuate, the Ministry of Health has said. In a communication to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Wednesday, it said for Covid to be considered a common illness, it needs to meet …

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol pardoned Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee on Friday. South Korea’s Justice Ministry saying the business leader was needed to help overcome a “national economic crisis”. The pardon is largely symbolic, with Lee already out on parole after serving 18 months in jail for …

A “monster” wildfire raged for a third day in southwestern France on Thursday, ravaging forests and forcing 10,000 people to evacuate their homes. With no let-up in scorching temperatures likely before the weekend, firefighters backed by water-bombing aircraft battled on many fronts, saying the massive fire could change direction at …