New Zealand authorities are investigating the possibility that freight may have transported the first Covid-19 cases in more than three months, as the nation plummeted back into lockdown. The detection in Auckland of four infected family members prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to rapidly reimpose tight controls on movement in New Zealand’s largest city and travel restrictions around the country. …

METRO MANILA – According to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the country needs to balance its ties with the two superpowers when the issue of South China Sea territory is concerned. Lorenzana believes that Philippines should not get involved when the two major country are hurling accusations with each other. He also lauded the President’s decision to stop holding drills with …

Washington’s attempt to ban some Chinese-origin inventions is a sign of “madness” in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, China’s state-backed Global Times tabloid published in an editorial. Pompeo spoke anti-China remarks almost regularly, constantly playing tricks to escalate tensions between China and the US, and demonstrating the resilience of the Trump administration against China.The US State Department issued an …

It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to throw out Taiwan’s long-established diplomatic rulebook: he accepted a telephone call from President Tsai Ing-wen a month before taking office in January 2017. The 10-minute chat was the first time that a president-elect had talked to a Taiwanese head of state since the United States broke ties with Taipei in favor of …

The US Consulate in Hong Kong stated that it was ludicrous to imply that its diplomats meeting with pro-democracy politicians would infringe the city’s latest national security law, a accusation posed in a recent state media article in China. Chinese state-owned tabloid Global Times ran a story earlier this week suggesting a recent meeting between US Consul General Hanscom Smith …

METRO MANILA – In an effort meant to not further escalate the tension, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the military not participate in the South China Sea drills being conducted by several nations. According to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Duterte gave a standing order that Philippine navy should not get involved in the South China Sea exercises except the 12 mile …

Security was tight outside the US consulate in the Chinese city of Chengdu as workers inside were ready to depart, the day after China ordered it to close in response to a US request that China shut down its consulate in Houston. Tit-for – tat consulate closures have led to a rapid deterioration in relations between the two largest economies …

China labeled the sudden closing of its consulate general in Houston, Texas – a “financial threat” by the United States, and threatened strong countermeasures should Washington not reverse its move. Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, told a press conference in Beijing that the change directed Tuesday local time seriously breaches foreign laws and principles regulating international affairs. China …

Last month, after days of heavy rain, the dam at a small reservoir in the Guangxi area of China gives way in a failure that could be a harbinger of sterner tests for several of the country’s 94,000 ageing dams as the environment gets extremer. Located in the county of Yangshuo, famed for its otherworldly karst scenery, the dam collapsed …

In eastern Anhui province, Chinese authorities blew up part of a dam to alleviate flood pressure, local media announced, as heavy rains continued to swell rivers across parts of the region. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, rising waters across central and eastern China have left more than 140 people dead or missing, and floods have affected nearly 24 …