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%).

A marriage proposal has gone viral after a Filipino couple staged the moment on a rope bridge suspended 600 meters above the ground in Vietnam’s northern mountains.

Travelers from the Philippines showed the strongest interest in visiting Vietnam in 2025, with accommodation searches rising 86% year-on-year, according to travel platform Agoda.

China on Monday warned its citizens against traveling to Japan during the Lunar New Year, its longest public holiday, as Beijing’s anger over a comment Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made in early November showed no signs of abating.

Airports in Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan have tightened health surveillance and passenger screening following a Nipah virus outbreak in India’s West Bengal state.

Nepal has arrested six people after an investigation into fraudulent helicopter rescues of travelers in the Himalayan nation in a US$1.69 million insurance scam, police said on Jan. 26.