TOKYO — When Fumino Sugiyama, then a fencer for the Japan women’s national team, decided to come out to one of his coaches as a transgender man, he wasn’t sure what to expect. What followed shocked him in its brutality. “You’ve just never had sex with a real man,” the coach responded, and then offered […]
Good evening! Catch up on some of the week’s top reads. A future with Covid-19: When does a virus become endemic? There are cues to be taken from the Sars and H1N1 outbreaks, as well as diseases such as dengue and influenza. READ MORE HERE Residents rushed to douse flames on man who died after […]
KUALA LUMPUR – Seeking to reassure Malaysians amid rising Covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Saturday (June 5) pledged to ramp up vaccinations, as 16 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in the next two months, and 300 more vaccine centres will open nationwide. Malaysia’s vaccination rate is among the highest […]
BANGALORE (NYTIMES) – It was an odd, unanswerable question. Still, it was on the mind of at least one Google user in India. What is the country’s “ugliest” language? For anyone who typed the question into the platform’s search bar recently, its algorithm produced a fact box confident of the answer: a tongue called Kannada, […]
KALWA (AFP) – When health worker Neelam Kumari knocks on doors in Indian villages the occupants sometimes run out the back, terrified that she wants to vaccinate them against Covid-19. With India’s devastating recent virus surge easing in cities, the deadly pandemic is ravaging the vast poverty-stricken rural hinterland. But here, ignorance and fear rule. […]
BEIJING – When Ms Li Ji’s five-year-old son found out that his classmate has a younger sibling, he asked his parents for a younger sister to play with. “My husband and I thought about it but decided not to have another child because we really cannot afford it,” said Ms Li, 34. Please subscribe or […]
BEIJING – Countries in the Asian region have some of the world’s lowest fertility rates, prompting governments to offer married couples various incentives, from increasing parental leave to giving out cash bonuses, to spur a baby boom. Here’s a look at how nations are boosting births. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the […]
SINGAPORE – More than 80 per cent of secondary school and pre-university students in graduating cohorts who have been offered the Covid-19 vaccine have registered to get the jab, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Friday (June 4). This means that at least 43,000 students have signed up to get vaccinated, after about 52,000 […]
BANGKOK (REUTERS) – Thailand will go ahead with a plan next month to reopen to vaccinated foreign visitors, starting with its most popular resort island Phuket, as it tries to revive tourism while battling its biggest coronavirus outbreak so far. The plan was approved by the government’s economic task force on Friday (June 4) and […]
SINGAPORE – A 38-year-old driver who took two Covid-19 patients to government quarantine facilities is among seven community cases announced on Friday night (June 4) by the Ministry of Health (MOH). Meanwhile, a 19-year-old Hwa Chong Institution student is the sole unlinked case in the community. The driver is linked to the Hong Ye Group […]