Andy Wong is a political and business intelligence analyst based in Singapore.

Singapore is currently in the midst of its largest domestic COVID surge, with 192 cases directly linked to an outbreak centered around the country's karaoke lounges, known as KTVs.

Most of these KTVs are not innocent family-friendly affairs: Like another outbreak in Taiwan earlier this year, they are fronts for illegal brothels run by organized crime cartels.

But this latest outbreak goes deeper than just the evident public health crisis. It has exposed the

CAIRO/ISTANBUL -- A third wave of coronavirus cases has hit Africa as the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread, all at a time when less than 2% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

"Many countries are still at peak risk, and Africa's unprecedented third wave surged up faster and higher than ever before," said Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization's regional director for Africa, in an virtual news conference Thursday.

Cumulative confirmed cases reached 6 million in mid-July,

TOKYO/HONG KONG -- When it comes to smartphones and laptops, "Made in China'' is starting to lose its negative connotations for consumers in the West. Chinese automaker Aiways sees no reason why the same shouldn't apply to electric vehicles.

The Shanghai-based startup unveiled its latest model -- the all-electric U5 SUV -- for the French market in an online event last month.

"The design is very simple and uncluttered," one of the presenters said as she detailed the

SINGAPORE -- It took fewer than 10 days for reported community coronavirus cases in Singapore to grow from zero to over 100 this month, highlighting persistent risks despite a swift vaccination campaign.

Thursday brought deja vu for residents of the city-state, with authorities imposing another ban on dining in restaurants, as seen only about two months ago. Singapore is on guard against the highly contagious delta variant that has driven a COVID-19 resurgence around the world, including far-harder-hit neighboring countries like

TOKYO -- Even the best laid plans by 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizers have not been able to fully stem COVID-19 infections among those who have come to Japan for the Games.

South Africa's men's soccer team will play Japan on Thursday night, after an anxious afternoon waiting for the results of their COVID tests. Two players became the first positive cases inside the Olympic Village last weekend. FIFA, world soccer's governing body, said the rest of the team would have to

BANGKOK -- Japanese auto group Toyota Motor has halted operations at its three factories in Thailand as the country's delta-variant COVID epidemic disrupts the supply of key automobile parts.

The closures underline how the pandemic is still putting the automobile supply chain under strain. The stoppage started from Wednesday (July 21) and will last at least until July 28, Nikkei has learned. Toyota said it will "assess the situation and decide" whether to resume operations from July 29.

The carmaker has sourced wire

TOKYO -- When French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Japan on Friday, he will be the only leader of a developed nation to attend the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.

In Tokyo, the French president is expected to meet Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and have an audience with Emperor Naruhito, as well as promote the 2024 summer Games in Paris. But Macron's most consequential meeting in Japan may be with his own countryman.

Two years have passed since Macron's last meeting with Vincent Fichot,

Anthony W. Holmes was special adviser for North Korea in the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2017 to 2021 and is the principal at Holmes-Asia.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will leave office in 2022 having not fulfilled his goal, stated in 2017 at the very beginning of his administration, to achieve permanent peace with North Korea.

While that language may sound like traditional boilerplate talking points, for Moon it means something

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong national security police arrested five labor union members on Thursday over an alleged "conspiracy to distribute seditious materials."

According to local media reports, the five are members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, which has published a series of children's picture books, written in colloquial Cantonese, since June 2020.

According to a police statement, the suspects sought to "stir hatred" against the city's government and the judicial system among young children, agitating