Tag Archives: Asia

China reported no coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January. The National Health Commission said it had 32 confirmed cases, down from 39 on Monday. It comes as the government is under scrutiny as to whether it is underreporting its figures. The …

Japan is to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures as early as Tuesday in a bid to stop the coronavirus, the prime minister said, with the government preparing a stimulus package to soften the economic blow. More than 3,500 people have tested positive for the …

India is restricting the export of most diagnostic testing kits, as coronavirus cases in the South Asian nation topped 3,350 on Sunday despite a three-week nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the respiratory disease. India, which in recent weeks already banned the export of certain drugs, along with ventilators, …

The number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in South Asia neared 6,000 on Saturday, even as authorities in some cities tightened restrictions on movement and warned lockdowns could be extended in a bid to rein in the pandemic. “If people don’t obey the rules seriously and cases continue to rise, …

Pakistani authorities ordered on Friday four men, including a British militant, convicted of the 2002 murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, to be detained for three months despite a lower court’s ruling to overturn their convictions. The High Court in the province of Sindh on Thursday acquitted the four, including …

Dozens of people are missing and feared dead after a ferry in the Solomon Islands set sail despite warnings not to embark during a cyclone. The MV Taimareho was traveling on Thursday night from the capital Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, to West Are’ are, on Malaita Island. The …

Singapore will close schools and most workplaces, except for essential services and key economic sectors, for a month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday, as part of stricter measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Singapore’s infections, both imported and domestic, have been rising sharply in recent …

Shenzhen has become the first Chinese city to ban the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat. It comes after the coronavirus outbreak was linked to wildlife meat, prompting Chinese authorities to ban the trade and consumption of wild animals. Shenzhen went a step further, extending the ban to …

The Malaysian government was forced to apologize after its Women’s Development Department published a series of sexist “tips” to help deal with the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, including advising women to continue to wear makeup and to “avoid nagging.” The campaign was met with fierce backlash online, and the posts have …

The US is cutting $1bn (£0.86bn) in aid to Afghanistan and threatening further reductions in co-operation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. Pompeo announced the cut following a trip to the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he failed to break a deadlock between two politicians who both claim victory in …

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday, the latest in a series of such launches by Pyongyang as the world struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. The South Korean military condemned the launches as “extremely inappropriate given the difficult situation the …

At least two dozen Afghan security forces and policemen have been killed and several others are missing after “Taliban infiltrators” attacked them in an army base in southern Afghanistan. The attack on a joint police and army headquarters near Kalat, the provincial capital, killed at least 14 Afghan army forces …

China has expelled at least 13 American journalists in the biggest crackdown of its kind in recent memory, a move that Beijing called “self-defense” for restrictions placed on Chinese state media representatives in the US. The journalists, from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, …

Two bombs exploded in front of a government office in Thailand’s insurgency-hit southern Yala province on Tuesday, wounding 18 people, a security official said. The explosions took place in front of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), a Thai government body that oversees the administration of three mostly Malay-Muslim …

Thai villagers scouring a dark cave for bat guano, sought after by farmers as a nutrient-rich crop fertilizer, are undaunted by scientists’ suggestion that it could be behind a coronavirus that has infected more than 150,000 people worldwide. The source of the virus remains a matter of debate after it …

Some key industries in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, were told they can resume work on Wednesday, a day after President Xi Jinping visited the city for the first time since the outbreak began. The city of 11 million has been in lockdown since …

Twitter and Facebook have suspended more than 80 accounts following a Reuters investigation that linked them to a network of news sites backed by the Indonesian army that publish pro-government propaganda about the restive region of Papua. The 10 sites in the network appear to be independent news outlets. But …

A man was shot and about 30 people taken hostage on Monday by a gunman at a mall in the Philippine capital, Manila, where armed police and negotiators attempted to end the standoff peacefully. The gunman, a former security guard at Virra Mall in Manila’s San Juan City, shot a …

China is currently producing large amounts of favipiravir, a first antiviral drug approved to fight the Covid-19 outbreak, from which about 1,770 people have already died and the other 70,548 have been infected. According to China Daily, this is a generic version of the anti-catarrhal fapilavir and the National Medical …

An airstrike in Afghanistan has killed at least eight civilians, officials said Saturday, as the war-torn country prepares for a “reduction in violence” under a deal between Taliban militants and the United States. The incident took place in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Friday when a vehicle carrying civilians …