GENEVA: Pakistan reiterated its commitment to completing a programme with the International Monetary Fund in a meeting on the sidelines of a climate conference in Geneva on Monday (Jan 9), the finance ministry said in a statement. Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar and IMF officials…

BEIJING: Zhao Lijian, a brash and outspoken diplomat who exemplified Beijing’s “wolf warrior” turn against the West, will no longer serve as a foreign ministry spokesman, a Chinese government website showed on Monday (Jan 9). Zhao took up the post of foreign ministry spokesperson in…

The 36-year-old, visiting Thailand for a month to go diving, said it was “very familiar to visit here, and the weather is good too”. Jiang, who booked her flight two weeks ago, said she had a last-minute panic about possible travel restrictions. “We worried the…

BANGKOK: Thailand’s long-serving leader Prayut Chan-o-cha vowed to continue his work running the country under a new political party on Monday (Jan 9), hinting at a bid to remain prime minister after an election this year. The 68-year-old retired general, who has been in power…

JOHOR BAHRU: Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi on Monday (Jan 9) called on Johoreans to get their second COVID-19 booster shot, even though the number of cases there remains “under control”. This comes after the state’s health director said that only 1.9 per cent…

TAIPEI, Taiwan: China’s health care authorities declined to include Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment drug in a national reimbursement list that would have allowed patients to get it at a cheaper price throughout the country, saying it was too expensive. Paxlovid, an oral medicine developed by New…