Asia & Pacific

Dharampal Singh stumbled upon a group of monkeys while collecting firewood; the pernicious primates pelted him with bricks from the top of a tree, mortally wounding him.

A couple of amateur wreck hunters have gone to Cambodia to prove their theory, which could become a massive development in the search for the Malaysian Airlines flight. However, instead of finding the truth, they faced an unfriendly environment and overwhelming physical demands.

BEIJING (Sputnik) – The Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office expressed on Monday its condolences over the deadly train crash in Taiwan.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Japan will closely follow the situation around the US decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Seoul and Pyongyang are going to hold the general-grade military talks in the border village of Panmunjom on Friday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Monday in a statement.

China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plan to hold their first joint drills in the South China Sea next week, in an attempt to alleviate friction in the maritime region.

The train had been on its way from Shulin to Taidun when the incident took place not far from Yilan City, the local newspaper Huantsu Shibao reported.

British film producer Ian Wilson claimed to have found the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines jet which vanished in 2014, on Google Maps. Although many doubt this theory, he has gone out on a ground mission to prove it right and solve one of the most chilling aviation mysteries of the century.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A 5.9-magnitude earthquake occurred on Sunday near the Southwest Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

None of the New Zealand officials will attend the so-called "Davos in the Desert" investment summit in Riyadh due to the circumstances of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death, Trade Minister David Parker said in a statement.

As populations rise, plastic trash piles up following the 2017 Chinese import ban.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters gathered in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, demanding that President Tsai Ing-wen set up a referendum to decide whether the people prefer to declare formal independence from mainland China.

Earlier reports suggested that the deal between Moscow and Jakarta could fall under the US Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), despite attempts to secure a waiver for Indonesia.

The project was developed by the state-owned aircraft giant Aviation Industry Corporation of China. The AG600 with the code-name "Kunlong", made its very first flight in the coastal city of Zhuhai in December 2017.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Voting at polling stations that remained closed Saturday over security concerns in Afghanistan will be delayed until Sunday, the chief of the national election commission told 1TV channel.

India is pursuing an independent security policy despite US threats to introduce sanctions over its decision to purchase the advanced S-400 air defense system from Russia.

The country's by-election vote tally has been overshadowed by a heavy storm that started in the morning in Wentworth, and east Sydney, Australia.

Three attacks in northern Afghanistan have injured more than a hundred people and scared voters going to vote in the country’s first parliamentary elections since 2010, according to media reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks on Friday, during which the latter said that Beijing wanted the two nations that currently describe the state of their relations as a "golden era," to enter into a "diamond era in the relationship," May’s press service said.

United States Defense Secretary James Mattis reiterated Washington’s position on the South China Sea Friday, calling for Japan and South Korea to work with America in the sea to prevent a singular power from dominating its waters.