Asia | The Daily Star

  • Hong Kong activists call for protest march against new security laws

    Hong Kong activists call for a protest march against Beijing's plans to impose national security legislation in the city, prompting alarm that the new laws could erode its freedoms through "force and fear".

  • Four dead after earthquake in southwest China

    Four people are killed and another 24 injured when an earthquake shakes southwestern China, local authorities say.

  • EU, Britain denounce Myanmar violence at UN Security Council

    UN Security Council European member states and Britain on Thursday denounced violence in Myanmar and expressed concern over the coronavirus pandemic in the country, in a document China refused to endorse, diplomatic sources say.

  • Students in China's virus centre Wuhan return to school

    Chinese youngsters in the global virus epicentre of Wuhan file back to class, wearing masks and walking in single file past thermal scanners.

  • S Korea says N Korean leader Kim not gravely ill

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not gravely ill, two South Korean government sources said on Tuesday, following reports he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was now in "grave danger".

  • Deserted Thai beaches lure rare turtles to build most nests in 20 years

    Thailand has found the largest number of nests of rare leatherback sea turtles in two decades on beaches bereft of tourists because of the coronavirus pandemic, environmentalists say.

  • coronavirus test

    63 Bangladeshis test Covid-19 positive in Malaysia

    Sixty-three Bangladeshis reportedly have tested positive for Covid-19 in Malaysia.

  • China's Wuhan lockdown ends, but another begins as local coronavirus cases rise

    The Chinese city where the coronavirus epidemic first broke out, Wuhan, ends a two-month lockdown, but a northern town started restricting the movement of its residents amid concerns of a second wave of infections in mainland China.

  • Coronavirus: WHO for stronger role of society, govt in SE Asia to avert further damage

    The World Health Organization emphasises on a stronger effort from society and governments in South-East Asia to prevent a long-haul struggle with the coronavirus pandemic and avert further loss of human life and other resources.

  • Stay vigilant and avoid going out

    The top official in China’s coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan warned residents to stay vigilant and avoid going out, even as the latest data showed a decline in new cases in the mainland and no new infections in the central city.

  • Should we wear masks or not?

    Should more of us wear face masks to help slow the spread of coronavirus?

  • India eyes phased exit

    India will pull out of a three-week lockdown in phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday, as officials battle to contain the country’s biggest cluster of coronavirus infections in the capital, New Delhi.

  • At least 19 killed in China forest fire

    Eighteen firefighters and one forestry guide died while fighting a huge forest fire in southwestern China, the local government said yesterday.

  • Myanmar journalist hit with terrorism charges

    A Myanmar journalist faces up to life in prison for publishing an interview with a rebel group operating in the country’s restive Rakhine state a week after the insurgents were classified as a terrorist organisation.

  • N Korea tests ‘super-large’ rocket launchers

    Nuclear-armed North Korea successfully tested “super-large multiple rocket launchers”, state media said yesterday, but leader Kim Jong Un was not described as commanding the drill as analysts say Pyongyang seeks to normalise its launches.

  • No community spread of virus

    India is still in the local transmission stage of the coronavirus pandemic, the government said yesterday, responding to questions about a health ministry document that said the country was currently in “local transmission and limited community transmission phase.”

  • Uzbekistan reports its first coronavirus death

    Uzbekistan locks down more cities and districts, and announces large bonus payments for medical workers, in its effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, as it reports the country's first death and the number of cases climbed to 83.

  • 9 doctors die from virus in Philippines

    Nine doctors have died in the Philippines from the coronavirus, the country’s top medical association said yesterday, as hospitals were overwhelmed and medics complained about a lack of protection on the front lines.

  • Malawi vice president sues president

    Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima has filed a lawsuit against President Peter Mutharika after he refused to fire the electoral commissioners who oversaw last year’s failed election, his lawyer said yesterday.

  • Sri Lanka pardons, releases soldier

    Sri Lanka’s president yesterday pardoned and released an army officer on death row for slitting the throats of Tamil civilians, including four children, during the island’s bloody civil war.

  • ‘No one will go hungry’

    India yesterday announced a 1.7-trillion-rupee ($22.6-billion) economic stimulus plan providing direct cash transfers and food security measures to give relief to millions of poor people hit by a nationwide lockdown over a coronavirus pandemic.

  • Thailand bans entry to foreigners

    The Thai government banned entry for all non-resident foreigners yesterday but held off on restricting people’s movement inside the country as the government prepared to roll out emergency measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

  • Doctors are ‘incarnations of God’: Indian PM Modi

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday described doctors and other health staff at the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus as “incarnations of God” and said those harassing them would face police action.

  • Pak civil servants suspended for corona patient selfie

    Pakistan has suspended six civil servants after they posed for a selfie with a coronavirus patient in a quarantine centre, an official said yesterday.

  • ‘FRIEND OF CORONAVIRUS’

    ‘FRIEND OF CORONAVIRUS’

  • South Asia steps up virus battle

    Mosques in Sri Lanka were shut indefinitely from yesterday, and the island imposed a countrywide curfew over the weekend, as South Asian countries step up efforts to check the spread of Covid-19 cases.

  • Imported cases in China hit record numbers

    China’s imported coronavirus cases have risen to a record 228, data showed yesterday, as infected travellers spread to ever more provinces, adding pressure on authorities to toughen entry rules and health protocols.

  • Malaysia army to enforce curbs

    Malaysia will mobilise the army to help enforce curbs on movement aimed at reining in the coronavirus, the government said yesterday, as it grapples with the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia.

  • It’s mask diplomacy

    With millions of face masks, low interest loans and teams of medical experts, China is trying to paint itself as a Good Samaritan while deflecting criticism over its initial missteps in handling the coronavirus.

  • Privacy fears as India hand stamps suspects

    People suspected of having the coronavirus in India have received hand stamps and are being tracked using their mobile phones and personal data to help enforce quarantines, raising concerns about privacy and mass surveillance.

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