World

Lawmakers elected Social Democrat Olaf Scholz as German chancellor on Wednesday, ending 16 years of conservative rule under Angela Merkel and paving the way for a pro-European coalition government that has promised to boost green investment. Scholz, 63, who served as vice chancellor and finance minister in coalition with Merkel, …

A military helicopter carrying Indian defence chief General Bipin Rawat crashed near the town of Coonoor in southern India on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force said. Two defence sources said they were currently trying to ascertain Rawat’s status. Rawat was appointed as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by …

Japan’s economy shrank 3.6 percent in the third quarter, worse than the initial estimate of a 3.0 percent contraction, revised government data showed on Wednesday, posting a decline as private spending took a hit from a resurgence in Covid-19. The revised figure for gross domestic product (GDP) released by the …

South Korea’s new daily Covid-19 cases rose above 7,000 for the first time, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Wednesday, putting hospital capacity under strain as deaths and severe cases rise. Infections in South Korea have skyrocketed this month after the government began to ease restrictions under a so-called “living …

The death toll from the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Semeru volcano rose to 34 on Tuesday, the national disaster agency said, as aid was rushed to the affected region. The biggest mountain on the island of Java on Saturday ejected a mushroom of volcanic ash high into the sky and …

While travel stopped and the world locked down, in the dazzling blue waters of Thailand’s idyllic Phi Phi islands, a gentle renaissance was underway. Mass tourism had brought the archipelago, immortalized in Leonardo DiCaprio movie “The Beach”, to the brink of ecological catastrophe. Now Thailand hopes to make Phi Phi …

The United States will not send government officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics, the White House said on Monday, after Beijing threatened unspecified “countermeasures” against any diplomatic boycott. President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering such a boycott amid criticism of China’s human rights record, including what …

Covid treatments using plasma taken from the blood of recovered coronavirus patients should not be given to people with mild or moderate illness, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Convalescent plasma showed some early promise when given intravenously to people sick with Covid-19. But in advice published in the British …

Thailand has detected its first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a U.S. citizen who had traveled to the country from Spain late last month, a health official said on Monday. The confirmed case in the man, who had arrived on Nov. 29, makes Thailand the 47th country to …

Asian markets broadly fell in morning trading Monday, tracking uncertainty over the Omicron variant of Covid-19 as well as disappointing U.S. jobs data and the future of Chinese tech firms on Wall Street. The Omicron variant has been detected in 38 countries but no deaths have yet been reported, with …