A rupture between Taiwan’s two opposition parties over a mayoral race threatens to spill into November’s elections and erode the fragile trust underpinning their potential 2028 alliance. The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have both registered candidates for mayor of Zhubei, the biggest city in Hsinchu county, after weeks of negotiations failed to produce a joint contender. The KMT has nominated Hsinchu county councillor Wu Hsu-chih, while the TPP’s Chiu...

Bangladesh’s deadliest measles outbreak in decades is nearing the grim milestone of 1,000 child deaths, as a devastating epidemic sweeps through the country and crowded hospital wards fill with struggling babies. Cries of sick children and the hiss of oxygen machines fill the air at Dhaka’s Shishu Hospital, where Rima Akter keeps a vigil beside her nine-month-old son. “Just an hour ago, a child died, and they wheeled him out in front of us,” 30-year-old Akter said on Thursday. “We saw two...

When the day heats up, small business owner Chung Kee Wa, 68, changes how he tends his oil palm plantation in Yong Peng, in Malaysia’s southern Johor state. Oil palms younger than three years offer little shade, so he tends them in the early mornings and evenings, spraying pesticide, applying fertiliser or weeding. “We try our best to avoid going to the plantation around noon,” Chung said. He carries extra drinking water and, as a smallholder, decides when to slow down or change his hours. But...

Anita Lee Yan-kwan grew up around a traditional business that supplied fish balls to Hong Kong’s street food stalls and eateries. But for decades, Kau Kee Food Factory’s signature product was known only among industry operators until Lee, a second-generation owner, opened the company’s first retail store late last year. Kau Kee has operated as a silent giant in the food industry for 66 years, supplying its fish balls to nearly 1,000 eateries and snack stalls across the city. But it finally...

At least 10 people were killed and 62 injured on Friday after an explosion at a military barracks in the western Bolivian city of Viacha, local authorities said. The blast took place at around 2.30pm at a military facility used to store pyrotechnic material. While the cause has yet to be established, officials said the blast originated from the defence ministry’s fireworks stockpile. Viacha ‌health director Rita Nebraska told local television that between 10 and 15 people were believed ‌to have...

In a country consumed by conflict, a sport defined by brutality dominates: Myanmar’s lethwei martial art, where headbutts are encouraged and knockout blows are the aim of the game. “I can’t live without fighting,” said 19-year-old Su Luck, who enters the ring under the paradoxical pseudonym “Peace Prize”. “I have never once considered giving up this passion,” she said. Lethwei is traditional Burmese boxing, distinct from Thai kickboxing because head blows are permitted and fighters compete...

India’s largest-ever business delegation, 200 executives strong, touched down in Japan late last month in search of money, machinery and manufacturing know-how. At its head was Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, whose four-day tour from August 24 to 27 not only laid the groundwork for next year’s 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties but also worked to solidify an economic partnership now expanding into shipbuilding and defence. “We believe in the principle of continuous improvement and we are...