South and Central Asia

Russian-led military bloc to start withdrawing troops as detentions near 10,000

Natural gas crater in the Karakum desert has burned for five decades

Moscow deploys troops as clashes turn deadly in former Soviet state

Curfews announced in Delhi and Mumbai as Covid-19 cases surge across the country

Government forced to resign amid protests over fuel prices

Building of villages replicates tactics used in South China Sea, experts warn

‘War wounds’ still open as Armenia and Azerbaijan mark first anniversary of deadly conflict

Hopes that virus has ‘exhausted itself’ challenged by experts as vaccine drive stalls

Narendra Modi facing calls from Joe Biden to provide much-needed jabs to developing countries

Hospitals struggle as senior paediatrician says cases rising rapidly among minors

New study findings fuel claims that government is deliberately under-reporting pandemic fatalities

Malaysia to phase out Sinovac jab amid growing concern over its efficacy

Rapid spread of highly infectious Delta variant triggers hospital bed and oxygen shortages

Facebook, Twitter and Google threaten to leave over proposed data legislation

Civilian death toll rises as military battles anti-coup resistance groups

Hermit state’s leader accuses politburo members of endangering ‘safety of the country and its people’

WHO investigates new strain, prompting calls to add Southeast Asian nation to red list

Desperate families being duped with fake medicines and promises of access to hospital beds and funeral services

Hospitals overflowing with patients as concern rises that Indian ’double mutation’ is spreading freely

Half of all people getting tested in Kolkata are positive for coronavirus

Witnesses claim many coronavirus fatalities are not being recorded as double mutation triggers healthcare crisis

Army of volunteers inoculate more than half of population in just seven days

Hopes of herd immunity extinguished as wave of new strain sweeps across the country

Children among the dead in ‘bloodiest’ crackdown since military coup

Experts left searching for answers after dramatic - and unexplained - decline in Covid infections

Region has reported low infection and death rates following speedy responses to pandemic

The detained civil leader fell from grace over Rohingya crisis but remains face of nation’s pro-democracy movement

At least one demonstrator killed in clashes with New Delhi police as tensions over new agricultural laws boil over

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