Anushka Asthana talks to the journalist Corinne Redfern from The Fuller Project about the impact the pandemic has had on the thousands of Filipino women who are stranded overseas. The Philippine government says that approximately one third of its 10 million citizens overseas are women working in “elementary” jobs – a term widely interpreted as … Read more
Shenzhen, China – For Nicole Gao, Taobao Live is a lifeline. The Shenzhen-based businesswoman uses the live-streaming platform owned by Alibaba, China’s dominant e-commerce company, to sell beauty products such as facial masks, skin tightening creams, and moisturisers to online audiences of up to 30,000 at a time. That may sound like a lot, but … Read more
Self-ruled island is beefing up its military as China becomes increasingly assertive. Armed and ready to go, Taiwan air force jets screamed into the sky on Tuesday in a drill to simulate a war scenario, showing its fleet’s battle readiness after dozens of Chinese warplanes flew into the island’s air defence zone over the weekend. Taiwan, claimed … Read more
More than 300 firms agree to work together to help the hundreds of thousands of sailors stuck due to COVID restrictions. More than 300 top shipping, mining and trading companies say they plan to work together to help hundreds of thousands of merchant sailors stuck on ships for many months due to COVID-19 in a … Read more
Forty-team Champions League will stage group games in one West Asian and one East Asian hub from mid-April amid COVID-19 pandemic. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has cancelled several tournaments and announced centralised group stages for the Asian Champions League (ACL) and AFC Cup club tournaments as it continues to battle disruptions caused by the … Read more
Eleven rescued, one missing after a blast at a gold mine in coastal Shandong province on January 10. The bodies of nine workers killed in explosions at a gold mine in China have been found, raising the death toll from the incident earlier this month to 10. A total of 22 miners working about 600 … Read more
Genome testing indicates woman who got sick caught virus from another returning traveller just before leaving quarantine. New Zealand’s first case of coronavirus in the community in months has been identified as the South African variant, health minister Chris Hipkins said on Monday, adding that the 56-year-old woman probably caught it from another returning traveller … Read more
State media says the rescued miner was ‘in extremely weak physical condition’ after 14 days trapped below ground. The first of 22 people trapped in a gold mine in northern China has been lifted out, state media said, 14 days after becoming trapped below the ground following an explosion. The man, discovered on Sunday, was … Read more
Jakarta, Indonesia – Investigators are yet to determine the cause of this month’s Sriwijaya Air plane crash in Indonesia that killed all 63 people on board, but the disaster has once again put the spotlight on maintenance, training and safety across the country’s transport system. “There are correlations between the poor safety records of different … Read more
State of emergency in Tokyo and chief cities over pandemic raise doubts about delayed Games that have been rescheduled for July. Japan has denied a report that there is an agreement among officials that the Tokyo Olympics, which have already been delayed for a year, are “doomed” because of the still-raging coronavirus pandemic and that … Read more
With just more than six months to go until the postponed Games, doubts have grown over the event with the pandemic still raging across much of the world. The Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead this year after being postponed from last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach … Read more
Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba remembers being unable to step out of her home to play with the other children in their neighbourhood on the conflict-ridden southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines. She grew up as part of the Muslim minority on the island, in Cotabato City, a resource-rich marshland between two rivers that is now the … Read more
New York Stock Exchange had removed three China telecoms firms after former US President Trump’s executive order barring investments in military-linked companies. China’s three biggest telecommunications firms said they requested a review of the New York Stock Exchange’s decision to delist their shares more than a week ago, a move triggered by an executive order … Read more
11.56pm GMT23:56 New US CDC director sworn in In the US, a new CDC director is arriving to a mammoth task: reasserting the agency while the pandemic is in its deadliest phase yet and the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign is wracked by confusion and delays, AP reports. Dr Rochelle Walensky, 51, an infectious-diseases specialist at … Read more
China’s foreign ministry said the sanctioned US citizens showed no regard for the interests of the people of China and the US. China imposed sanctions on 28 individuals from the United States, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, over “crazy actions that have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs”. A statement from China’s foreign … Read more
United Nations agencies are warning that more than 350 million people in the Asia-Pacific region are going hungry as the coronavirus pandemic destroys jobs and pushes food prices higher. The report issued Wednesday by four agencies says the pandemic is making it difficult for 1.9 billion people to afford healthy diets. It follows an earlier … Read more
Rescuers drilled three more channels on Tuesday as they race against time to extract the 22 workers. Workers trapped in a Chinese gold mine for more than nine days have received more medical and food supplies, including bandages, blankets and rice porridge, but one of the group is in a critical condition with a severe … Read more
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that Germany is extending its pandemic restrictions, including the closure of schools and stores, until mid-February amid concerns that new mutations of the coronavirus could trigger a fresh surge in cases. AP: Germany’s infection rate has stabilised in recent days, indicating that existing restrictions may have been effective in bringing … Read more
As Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party gears up for its most important meeting in years, its leadership has presided over an intensified crackdown on dissent, according to rights groups, activists and data collated by Reuters news agency. A record number of political prisoners, longer jail terms, and increased harassment of activists in recent years have contributed … Read more
China is likely to have been the only large economy to grow last year as it rebounded from COVID lockdowns. While much of the world struggles with the resurgent coronavirus, and the economic pain it is bringing, China has recorded a positive growth rate for 2020, likely making it the only large economy to do … Read more
Health authorities say there’s a need for caution because it is now known whether the vaccines will prevent transmission. Australia may not fully reopen its international borders this year even if most of the population is vaccinated against coronavirus, the head of its health department said on Monday, as the country recorded no new local … Read more
12.58am GMT00:58 US nears 400,000 deaths, as additional 100,000 predicted in first five weeks of Biden administration Victoria Bekiempis Joe Biden’s promise to carry out 100m coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in power is “absolutely a doable thing”, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday. The president-elect has announced ambitious initiatives to combat Covid-19 … Read more
The death toll from a powerful earthquake on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has jumped to 56, authorities said on Sunday, with thousands left homeless as rescuers raced to find anyone still alive under mountains of rubble. More than 820 people were injured and about 15,000 left their homes after the 6.2-magnitude quake struck in the early … Read more
China’s economy is expected to grow at its slowest pace since the Mao era, and debt has soared to $43 trillion. Source link
Five Hong Kong democracy protesters who reportedly fled to Taiwan have arrived in the United States intending to seek asylum, an activist group said on Saturday. Their escape follows the mass arrest of democracy figures in Hong Kong under a new national security law that is part of a mounting crackdown by China on the … Read more
DEVELOPING STORY At least seven people killed, dozens trapped in collapsed buildings after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Majene. At least seven people have been killed and hundreds injured after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck and toppled buildings in Indonesia’s Sulawesi island in the early hours of Friday morning, the country’s … Read more
North Korea displayed what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at a parade on Thursday night, state media reported, marking the end of a political congress at which leader Kim Jong Un admitted severe failings but pledged to boost the country’s military might. Clad in a black leather coat, gloves and fur … Read more
When it comes to the Earth’s global surface temperature, 2020 came in hot — tying 2016 as the warmest year on record, according to a climate analysis published Thursday by NASA and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Earth’s average temperature was 1.02 degrees Celsius (1.84 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the … Read more
Jakarta, Indonesia – Yudi Qurbani has spent the last few days in an unexpected and unwanted role. He has become the family representative at the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) centre at Kramat Jati Police Hospital in Jakarta, coordinating with the team trying to locate the five members of his family who were on the Sriwijaya … Read more
China on Thursday reported its first death from COVID-19 in eight months as the country battles to contain a resurgence in cases – the most in 10 months – and welcomes the arrival of an expert team from the World Health Organization (WHO). More than 20 million people are under lockdown in the north of … Read more
The secretive Shincheonji Church of Jesus was at the centre of public anger early last year over a surge in cases traced to its followers. The elderly leader of a secretive religious sect at the centre of an early coronavirus outbreak in South Korea has been found not guilty of hindering the government’s virus prevention … Read more
12.54am GMT00:54 US state leaders are increasingly pushing for schools to reopen this winter — pressuring them, even — as teachers begin to gain access to the vaccine against the raging pandemic, AP reports. Ohio’s governor offered to give vaccinations to teachers at the start of February, provided their school districts agree to resume at … Read more
A major chunk of the global recovery in companies’ earnings – recovery expected in the first quarter of 2021 – is at risk of being pushed back further as coronavirus lockdowns and mobility restrictions in several countries cloud hopes of a swifter economic rebound, investment banks said. China announced lockdowns in four cities and European … Read more
Senior US officials had been considering plans to add the firms to a list of alleged Chinese military companies, which would have subjected them to a US investment ban. The administration of United States President Donald Trump has scrapped plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, four people familiar with the matter … Read more
A highly infectious mutation of the novel coronavirus first recorded in the United Kingdom last month has spread to dozens of countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since being reported to the WHO on December 14, the UK-identified variant VOC 202012/01 has been found in 50 countries, territories and areas, the United Nations … Read more
In a new document, the US says it wants to counter China’s ‘predatory economic practices’, ‘accelerate India’s rise’ and help Taiwan ensure its ‘freedom from coercion’. The Trump administration declassified its strategy to ensure continued dominance over China, which focuses on accelerating India’s rise as a counterweight to Beijing and the ability to defend Taiwan … Read more
The world has lost tropical forest equivalent to the size of California over a 13-year period, environmental group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Wednesday, calling for COVID-19 recovery plans to revitalise conservation efforts. In a new report, WWF analysed 24 deforestation hotspots across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and found that more … Read more
A coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech was found to be just 50.4 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections of COVID-19 in a Brazilian trial, researchers said on Tuesday, barely enough for regulatory approval and well below the rate announced last week. The latest results are a substantial disappointment for Brazil, as the Chinese … Read more
Foreign secretary slams rights abuses and outlines new rules banning imports of goods suspected of using forced labour. The United Kingdom has accused China of human rights violations amounting to “barbarism” against its Uighur minority, as it announced, on Tuesday, new rules to ban imports of goods suspected of using forced labour. The abuses were … Read more
Starting with just one plane in 2003, Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air has become the country’s third-largest airline group, aided by its strategy of acquiring old planes at cheap prices and serving routes neglected by competitors. The mid-market airline, which has few international flights, was thrust into the spotlight this week when a nearly 27-year old Boeing … Read more