Chinese vaccines were the first batches of vaccines available to many neighboring countries. In early spring, when neighboring countries were hit hard by the pandemic, the timely supply of Chinese vaccines provided hope and power to the fight against the pandemic.

Overall, Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, has reported more than 2.4 million infections and 64,631 fatalities from COVID-19. Those figures are widely believed to be a vast undercount due to low testing and poor tracing measures. Indonesia reported the highest toll of 1,040 deaths on Wednesday and nearly 39,000 confirmed cases on Thursday and Friday.

SEOUL/SYDNEY, July 3: The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging through Asia this week, with record numbers of infections in Australia and South Korea, prompting some countries to tighten curbs and others to hasten vaccination.

NEW DELHI, April 27: India recorded more than 320,000 new cases of coronavirus infection Tuesday as a grim surge of illness and death weighed on the country and its sinking health system started getting much-needed support from foreign nations.

SINGAPORE, April 8: India, South Korea and Thailand faced mounting coronavirus infections on Thursday, undermining cautious hopes that Asia might be emerging from the worst of the pandemic as worries about safety threatened to delay vaccination drives.

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: Leaders of the United States, India, Australia and Japan agreed to pool financing, manufacturing and distribution capacity to send 1 billion coronavirus vaccines across Asia by the end of 2022, India’s foreign secretary said on Friday.

The US cannot decouple its economy completely from China without enormous costs.

Here is a species of endangered wild dogs whose population has diminished to a level that it could get extinct anytime soon. But you may be reading about it for the first time.

The Asian Development Bank projects that the coronavirus could push 160 million more into poverty across Asia. The region’s poverty rate will increase for the first time in 20 years, according to the World Bank.

INDIA, Oct 24: Asia surpassed 10 million infections of the new coronavirus on Saturday, the second-heaviest regional toll in the world, according to a Reuters tally, as cases continue to mount in India despite a slowdown and sharp declines elsewhere.

GENEVA, Oct 20: Europe and North America should follow the example of Asian states by persevering with anti-COVID measures and quarantining anyone who comes into contact with infected people, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Monday.

GENEVA, Oct 12: There has been a dramatic increase in extreme weather events in the past 20 years, which are taking a heavy human and economic toll worldwide and are on track to expand further, and Asia has been hardest-hit, the United Nations said on Monday.

SYDNEY/TOKYO, July 14: Australian states tightened borders and restricted pub visits on Tuesday, while Disney prepared to close its Hong Kong theme park and Japan stepped up tracing as a jump in novel coronavirus cases across Asia fanned fears of a second wave of infections.

PHUKET, Thailand, March 27: From the sun-soaked beaches of Thailand to the foothills of Mount Everest in Nepal, tourists across Asia are finding their dream vacations have turned into travel nightmares as airlines cancel flights and countries close their borders in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Let yours truly take you guys back to the 13th century on merchant ships infested with flea-plagued rodents, before bringing you back to the troubling times of today.

The moot question is whether China and Nepal can provide a conduit for linking pipeline from Central Asia to South Asia. It needs trilateral dialogue among China, Nepal and India

The Bhaktapur-based school, Rajarshi Gurukul bagged ‘The Best International School in Nepal 2019’ in Asian Education Leadership Awards 2019, held in Kolkata, India on September 15.

NEW YORK – History at any moment can be understood as a snapshot, telling us where we are, or as a moving picture, telling us not just where we are but where we have been and where we may be headed. It is a distinction with an enormous difference.

ASIR GUDANG/JOKHABAD, May 31: When local investigators scoured a riverbed in southern Malaysia for clues in a chemical dumping case that hospitalized over one thousand people earlier this year, they found a cocktail of toxins, including a colorless liquid commonly secreted when tires are recycled.

SEOUL, May 1: Thousands of trade union members and activists were marking May Day on Wednesday by marching through Asia’s capitals and demanding better working conditions and expanding labor rights.

The Trump administration in the US has come up with the Indo-Pacific doctrine which in many ways is a restatement of Barak Obama’s pivot to Asia, known as the rebalance doctrine. Both doctrines are of the same origin and carry a shadow of the famous Thucydides trap that was popularized by Harvard Professor Graham Allison in the 1990s.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

Asia's football chief and FIFA's second-in-command Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa received a fresh, four-year term on Saturday, triggering complaints from campaigners who said regional soccer was in "crisis" over human rights.

SINGAPORE, March 28: Avoiding threats from climate change and pollution will require Asia’s booming cities to become much more efficient in their use of energy resources, delegates at a city development conference said on Thursday.

BENGALURU, March 19: Corporate spending in Asia is likely fall for the first time in three years, a Reuters analysis of Refinitiv data showed, as businesses conserve cash in the face of a stalling Chinese economy, an unresolved trade dispute and Brexit uncertainty.

Nepal should be cautious about possible fallout of Western strategy to counter China by using South Asia, including Nepal and India

SINGAPORE, Feb 28 : Oil prices dipped on Thursday, dragged down by weakening factory output in China and Japan and record U.S. crude output, although markets remained relatively well supported by supply cuts led by producer club OPEC.

LONDON, Feb 27 : European stock markets opened lower on Wednesday after fresh hostilities erupted between India and Pakistan, causing Asian assets to fall and pushing investors into safe havens such as the yen.

KATHMANDU, Feb 19: Nepal beat Malaysia by 34 runs in the opening match of the ICC Women T20 World Cup Qualifier -Asia 2019 going on in Thailand.

WASHINGTON, Jan 31: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he is sending a team “someplace in Asia” to set up a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by the end of February.

SINDHULI, Jan 31: With the increasing number of vehicles along this vital highway, various places along the Banepa-Bardibas section of BP Highway have developed numerous cracks and bumps, making travelling risky. The shoddy repair work carried out recently along various sections of the highway has made the road even more dangerous.

On a summer day in the mountains high above Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, the Tuyuksu glacier is melting like mad. Rivulets of water stream down the glacier's thin leading edge.

HONG KONG, Jan 2: Factory activity weakened across Asia in December as the Sino-U.S. trade war and a slowdown in Chinese demand hit production in most economies, strengthening the case for a pause in interest rate hikes in the region in 2019.

Even though China has remained favorite destination for investors for decades, India has pipped its neighbour in 2018 for the first time in the last 20 years in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), changing the dynamics of attractive Asian market.

SEOUL, Dec 29: To judge by the stream of extraordinary images on the Korean Peninsula, you might think 2018 marked the beginning of an elusive peace in one of the world’s last vestiges of the Cold War.

European Investment Bank (EIB) is the public bank owned by 28 member countries of the European Union. The EIB supports investment in 160 countries worldwide. In Asia, it focuses on support for climate-related investment. Nearly 14 percent of its investment is outside the EU including Asia. The EIB has provided more than 190 million euro for energy investment across Nepal over the last five years.

KATHMANDU, Nov 29: With the slogan “Addressing Critical Challenges of Our Time: Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity and Universal Values” Nepal is hosting for the regional summit for Asia-Pacific nations, which is scheduled to be held on November 30 –December 2.

BANGKOK, Nov 2: Despite rapid economic growth, the Asia-Pacific region has nearly a half billion people who go hungry as progress stalls in improving food security and basic living conditions, a United Nations report said Friday.

With new and fresh leadership in South Asian countries, there are hopes that initiatives will be taken to revive SAARC and resolve regional issues

KATHMANDU, July 28: The qualifying event for Asia Cup 2018 has been shifted to Malaysia, where top six Asian associate nations will compete to earn a spot in the forthcoming marquee Asian cricket event in September. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) revealed the change in venue, from India to Malaysia, through their official twitter handle and website on Friday.

KATHMANDU, July 25: The schedule for the Asia Cup 2018 has been confirmed to run from 15 to 25 September at the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Test nations Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will take on each other to inaugurate the marquee Asian cricket championship at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

KATHMANDU, July 11: NIC Asia Bank Limited opened new branch offices at Amargadhi of Dadheldhura and Dipayal Silgadhi of Doti.

KAZAN, July 3: South Korea hammered the Germans, and Japan very nearly did the same to Belgium, but Asia’s representatives are once again heading home before the business end of the World Cup gets going.

SARANSK, June 19: Japan beat 10-man Colombia 2-1 in their opening Group H match on Tuesday, the first time an Asian team has overcome a South American one at the World Cup.

KATHMANDU, June 13: The 7th NIC Asia Property Expo 2018 Nepal being organized in Kathmandu from June 15 to 19. The event will be held at Bhrikuti Mandap Exhibition Center.

SHANGHAI, May 24: Asian shares moved lower on Thursday as investors fretted about new setbacks in U.S.-China trade talks, but negative sentiment was tempered by U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggesting it would not raise the tempo at which it increases interest rates.

KATHMANDU, April 27: The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) has appointed Upendra Poudyal, a senior banker, as its representative for the Asia Pacific region.

KATHMANDU, April 26: Nepal ranks second in South Asian countries in World Press Freedom Index of 2018. The World Press Freedom Index ranks 180 countries on indicators such as media independence, self-censorship, the rule of law, transparency and abuses.

According to most experts, while China’s capacity is improving, US remains world leader in research and development.

KATHMANDU, April 10: NIC Asia Bank Ltd and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has exchanged a mandate letter for long-term loan. The loan from IFC is subject to approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).