PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Eighty per cent of Malaysians will have received their Covid-19 vaccinations by year’s end, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Mr Khairy, who is also the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, said from June, vaccine supply will begin to outstrip the number of […]
ZHUOXI, TAIWAN (NYTIMES) – The smell of damp earth filled the air on a recent moonless evening as the hunter wove through the dense mountain thicket, clutching a homemade rifle and with only the narrow white beam of a headlamp to illuminate his prey. But the hunter, Vilian Istasipal, was confident. He knew this terrain well. […]
YANGON (REUTERS) – Myanmar pro-democracy activists pledged on Tuesday (April 13) to hold a series of protests this week to maintain pressure on military rulers during the country’s most important holiday of the year. The five-day New Year holidays, known as Thingyan, are usually celebrated with prayers, ritual cleaning of Buddha images in temples, and […]
HONG KONG – Amid resumption of talks with Singapore over a much-delayed travel bubble, Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam has said that Singapore will not impose a requirement on travellers from Hong Kong to be vaccinated before their trip. Mrs Lam said this on Tuesday (April 13) ahead of her weekly executive council meeting, […]
HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – Bookings for coronavirus vaccinations jumped in Hong Kong as the government said it could ease social-distancing rules for inoculated people in a bid to encourage more of the population to sign up for shots. About 13,500 people made online reservations for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinations at community centre and another 3,300 booked for […]
MANILA (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – One of the advantages we had relative to many other comparable economies as we entered the pandemic crisis last year was a strong government financial position. Our public debt-to-GDP ratio was relatively low at 40 per cent, compared to well over 100 per cent for other economies, including […]
SINGAPORE – A jobless man who housed two young brothers and their mother at his flat, but sexually abused the boys during their two-month stay, was sentenced to 18 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane on Tuesday (April 13). The man, who was the godfather of the two boys, had pleaded guilty last […]
FILE PHOTO: Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda wearing a protective face mask attends a news conference as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Tokyo, Japan, April 27, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS TOKYO (Reuters) -Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda preached on Tuesday the benefits […]
SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australia has no current plans to add Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine to its immunisation drive, authorities said on Tuesday (April 13), as it moves away from procuring vaccines under review over blood clots. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and AstraZeneca anti-Covid vaccine doses use an adenovirus, a harmless class of common-cold […]
SEOUL (NYTIMES) – A parody on Chilean television of the Korean boy band BTS prompted an international backlash over the weekend, illustrating the power of the group’s many fans and a heightened sensitivity around the world to racist, particularly anti-Asian, speech. In a short sketch on the show Mi Barrio, which aired on Saturday (April 10) […]