A Chinese tourist has died after a car carrying visitors overturned on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal in Russia, with investigators later saying the driver had never held a license.

The owner of a café on Hanoi’s Kham Thien Street has been fined VND2.5 million (US$95) for allowing a customer to sit dangerously close to the railroad tracks and film passing trains.

Malaysia’s tourism sector recorded 42.2 million visitors in 2025, an 11.2% year-on-year increase and 20.4% higher than 2019 benchmarks, making it the most visited country in Southeast Asia.

Flight bookings to North America have spiked since the football World Cup match schedule was announced in December, data from travel technology firm Amadeus showed on Tuesday, with 18% of those reservations made by British travelers.

Two cases of the deadly Nipah virus in India have prompted authorities in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia to step up airport screening in an effort to prevent the infection from spreading.

Health authorities are advising travelers to maintain good hygiene and avoid animal contact amid a Nipah virus outbreak in India’s West Bengal state, which has prompted tighter disease surveillance across Asia.

Standing Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh has signed a decision approving a detailed plan to implement the Government’s Decree 221 on granting time-limited visa exemptions to foreign nationals designated as special beneficiaries entitled to preferential treatment in support of Vietnam’s socio-economic development.

Heavy snowfall paralyzed transportation around New Chitose Airport in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Jan. 25, leaving about 7,000 passengers stranded overnight as flights, trains, and expressways were disrupted.

Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has screened more than 1,700 passengers arriving from Kolkata in India’s West Bengal state for the Nipah virus, with no infection cases found to date.

Vietnam joined an elite group of destinations achieving double-digit growth in 2025, alongside Brazil (37%), Saudi Arabia (20%), and Japan (17%).