Indian farmers vow to carry on protests despite cold, deaths

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers, protesting over agricultural laws that they say threaten their livelihoods, have vowed to carry on their around-the-clock sit-ins despite cold weather that has already led to some deaths among them.
21 December 2020

Biman plans to resume flights to Kathmandu from Feb 1

Biman plans to resume regular flight operation on Dhaka-Kathmandu route from February after a 10-months recess.
21 December 2020

Covid-19: Couple holds 10,000 people drive-thru wedding in Malaysia

Some 10,000 people attended a wedding reception in the Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya on Sunday without stepping out of their vehicles, to comply with Covid-19 health protocols.
21 December 2020

Covid-19 pandemic: socio-economic fallout poses great risk to migrants in Asia-Pacific

The Covid-19 pandemic and its socio-economic fallout poses great risk to migrants in the Asia-Pacific, a new United Nations report reveals on the International Migrants’ Day being observed today.
18 December 2020

Pakistan toughens rape law after outcry over attacks

Pakistan has introduced a rape law that will create special courts to try cases within four months, after protests over the gang rape of a woman whose car ran out of fuel.
16 December 2020

Wearing someone else’s face: Hyper-realistic masks to go on sale in Japan

A year into the coronavirus epidemic, a Japanese retailer has come up with a new take on the theme of facial camouflage - a hyper-realistic mask that models a stranger’s features in three dimensions.
16 December 2020

Thai researcher deems chicken feathers rich protein source

A researcher in Thailand is seeking funding to continue his study into how best to convert the nutrient component found in the feathers into a powder that can be transformed into a lean, protein-rich source of edible food.
16 December 2020

Japanese man who used Twitter to lure 9 murder victims sentenced to death

Tokyo district court sentenced a man to death for the 2017 murders of nine people, local media has reported, ending a case that grabbed headlines in Japan with the culprit dubbed “Twitter killer” for contacting victims via the social media platform.
15 December 2020

After 60 years, East Jerusalem Palestinians face eviction under Israeli settler rulings

For Nabil al-Kurd, being forced out of the East Jerusalem home he has lived in since the 1950s would be a fate worse than death.
15 December 2020

Singapore approves Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in Asia first

Singapore became on Monday the first Asian country to approve Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine and said it expects to start receiving shots by the end of the year.
14 December 2020

China gives Pakistan $1.5 billion loan to repay $2 billion Saudi Arabia debt

China has agreed to immediately provide $1.5 billion financing line to Pakistan to help the country repay a $2 billion Saudi Arabia debt, according to India Today.
14 December 2020

ADB launches $9 billion vaccine initiative for Asia Pacific

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) vaccine initiative offering rapid and equitable support to its developing members as they procure and deliver effective and safe coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines.
11 December 2020

Pakistani media coverage of PM Hasina and envoy’s meet leaves out 1971 remarks

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on December 3 said Bangladesh cannot forget and forgive atrocities committed by Pakistan in 1971 when Pakistani High Commissioner Imran Ahmed Siddiqui called on her at the Gono Bhaban. Unlike the Bangladeshi media outlets, Pakistani news media, curiously, left out the remarks made by PM Hasina on Pakistan’s atrocities in 1971.
9 December 2020

UAE says Chinese Covid vaccine 86 percent effective

The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday a Chinese coronavirus vaccine tested in the federation of sheikhdoms is 86% effective, in a statement that provided few details but marked the first public release of information on the efficacy of the shot.
9 December 2020

19 Bangladeshi fishermen rescued from Indian waters in Bay of Bengal

Indian Coast Guard personnel have rescued 19 Bangladeshi fishermen who were stranded in Indian waters in the Bay of Bengal.
8 December 2020

Indonesia’s Bio Farma says not yet able to determine Sinovac vaccine efficacy

Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma has said the efficacy of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac could not yet be determined, after previously saying that interim data showed 97% efficacy.
8 December 2020

Women in Asia often abused online but find limited recourse: UN Women study

Civil society activists say that women commonly face online violence in Asian countries but for many victims, fear and distrust make reporting these attacks to authorities “often the last resort,” a new UN Women study has found.
8 December 2020

Asia News Network alliance to begin new chapter as legal entity in Singapore

Twenty-one years after a group of regional editors sealed an agreement in Bangkok to form a voluntary alliance, Asia News Network (ANN) has taken a major step forward with its formal registration as a legal entity, based in Singapore.
7 December 2020

Oxygen supply shortage leaves 6 Covid patients dead in Pakistan

At least six Covid-19 patients died after "criminal negligence" resulted in a delayed supply of oxygen to a hospital in northwest Pakistan, officials said Sunday, as the country battles a second wave of the epidemic.
7 December 2020

Indonesia receives first Covid vaccine from China's Sinovac

Indonesia received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine from China on Sunday, President Joko Widodo said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme.
7 December 2020