THAILAND
Travel curbs announced
The government has said it would classify all travelers into three groups under intensified surveillance for the new coronavirus as officials try to prevent a wider outbreak in the tourism-reliant nation. People coming from China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Iran and Italy will be subject to mandatory 14-day self-quarantine, the Tourism Authority of Thailand said in a statement. They must apply for visas and present health forms at check-in certifying they are at no risk of developing COVID-19, or they will be denied boarding. Arrivals from another group of 11 countries with local transmission have to report symptoms to officials for at least 14 days. The country yesterday reported 32 new cases of COVID-19 in the largest daily jump in infections since the outbreak began, bringing its total tally to 114, health officials said.
SOUTH KOREA
Number of new cases fall
The country yesterday morning reported 76 additional cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase in new infections since Feb. 21. The numbers raised the total for the country to 8,162. The death toll increased by three to 75, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. It said 120 people had recovered and were released from quarantine over the past 24 hours, raising the number of recovered to 834. A majority of cases in the country has been reported in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby areas.
JAPAN
New virus cases rise by 64
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare yesterday announced 64 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours. The ministry said that the country has 780 cases plus 697 others from a cruise ship that was stranded in the country, for a combined total of 1,477. The ministry said the death toll has risen to 29, including seven former cruise ship passengers. The new cases come from 13 prefectures, including Hokkaido, Tokyo and Osaka.
IRAN
Death toll hits 724
Tehran yesterday said the COVID-19 outbreak has killed another 113 people, pushing the death toll in the country to 724. The country is suffering from the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with 13,938 cases and even senior government officials testing positive. There are concerns that the number of infections is much higher than the confirmed cases reported by the government, with some lawmakers having questioned the official toll. It is also unclear if local hospitals are able to cope with the influx of new cases, with at least 2,500 new infections announced in just the previous two days. State TV last week reported that hospitals in some areas were overwhelmed.
HONG KONG
Reports put on ‘Minecraft’
A virtual library housing censored articles from around the world has been created within the video game Minecraft by press freedom group Reporters Without Borders. The group said it had put work by banned, exiled or killed journalists in five countries — Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Vietnam — on an open server, making it available for players to view, despite local censorship laws. “In these countries, where Web sites, blogs and free press in general are strictly limited, Minecraft is still accessible by everyone,” the group said in a news release. “These articles are now available again within Minecraft, hidden from government surveillance technology.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing
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