* Singapore reported its highest number of local coronavirus cases in 10 months on Wednesday, after the discovery of a cluster among hostesses and customers of KTV karaoke lounges.
* Thailand on Thursday reported a new daily record of 98 coronavirus deaths, raising the country's total fatalities to 3,032, according to the data released by the Public Health Ministry.
* Malaysia's population is estimated at 32.7 million in 2021, up 0.2 percent from 32.6 million in 2020, official data showed Thursday.
* Indonesia’s Food and Drug Agency (BPOM) has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the Southeast Asian nation, the head of the agency said on Thursday. Agency head Penny Lukito said the vaccine would be given to Indonesians aged 12 years and above.
* The head of the World Trade Organization told trade ministers on Thursday she was optimistic about concluding multilateral talks on the fishing industry soon but called for a "shift of mindset" to bridge final gaps.
* The Armed Forces of Malta said on Wednesday it had rescued 84 migrants, including three who were found dead, drifting in a wooden boat at sea. The army said in a brief statement that the distressed boat was found in Malta's Search and Rescue (SAR) zone.
* More than 1,000 rescuers have been dispatched to the scene after 14 people were trapped in a tunnel flooding incident Thursday in Zhuhai City of south China's Guangdong Province.
* Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said Wednesday that Israel should abide by the peace agreements it has signed with Palestine to advance a serious political process.
* Afghan security forces have retaken control of a major southern border crossing with Pakistan that the Taliban briefly captured, a senior Afghan government official said on Thursday, but the Taliban dismissed that saying they still held the town.
* Travellers returning to England from the Spanish islands of Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca will have to quarantine at home unless they have had two COVID-19 vaccine shots, following a change in policy that could spell bad news for young holidaymakers.
* Quarantine free travel from Australia's Victoria state to New Zealand will be paused from 1:59 a.m. Friday local time, New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Thursday.
* Republic of Korea is sending a medical team to the Middle East to tackle a coronavirus outbreak on one of its ships on anti-piracy patrol while at home, new daily infections are hovering around record levels with 1,600 reported on Thursday.
* Australia reported a slowdown in new COVID-19 cases in Sydney on Thursday, while local media said Melbourne would follow it into lockdown as the outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant threatens to take hold in the Victorian capital.
* Argentina had some 4.7 million confirmed infections and its death toll hit 100,000 on Wednesday, making it one of the hardest-hit countries in the region in terms of cases and deaths per capita.
* The Bank of Canada said the downside economic risk of the pandemic had "significantly diminished", while predicting inflation would be higher than previously forecast through 2021 and 2022.
* The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said it would halt its pandemic-induced quantitative easing programme.
* Senegal is experiencing an "unprecedented" surge in infections, after reporting a new daily record of 733 cases.
