TEHRAN: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has vowed that WhatsApp and Instagram will remain blocked in the country, blaming the online platforms for stoking protests that started more than four months ago. The Islamic republic was rocked by major demonstrations after the mid-September death of Mahsa…

NEW DELHI: India announced a double-digit increase in its annual defence budget on Wednesday (Feb 01) with an eye on its increasingly assertive geopolitical rival China, with which it shares a tense and disputed northern border. New Delhi – already the world’s third-biggest military spender…

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar’s National Defence and Security Council agreed on Wednesday (Feb 1) to extend the country’s state of emergency by six months, state media said, likely delaying elections the junta had pledged to hold by August. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s request to prolong…

Some tourists out and about in Bangkok on Wednesday were feeling the impact of its polluted air. Chen Hsuan-ting from Taiwan told CNA he has suffered from an allergy since arriving in the city two days ago. “I can’t breathe properly and have itchy eyes,”…

SEOUL: A South Korean court on Wednesday (Feb 1) rejected a Buddhist temple’s claim to a statue that it said Japanese pirates looted in the 14th century, clearing the way for Japan to press for its return. The 20-inch gilt bronze statue of a Buddhist…

PHNOM PENH: The last surviving Khmer Rouge leader has been transferred to a Cambodian state prison to serve two life sentences after losing his appeal against a genocide conviction, prosecutors said Wednesday (Feb 1). In its final verdict last year, the kingdom’s UN-backed court upheld…