Asian Headlines at 4:55 a.m. GMT
Military takes control of Myanmar; Suu Kyi reported detained
Military takes control of Myanmar; Suu Kyi reported detained
Leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichanne of Nepal has replaced Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan in Lahore Qalandars squad for the remainder of the Pakistan Super League. The 20-year-old Lamichanne has previously represented Lahore in seven games of Pakistan’s premier Twenty20 league in 2019. Rashid left for national duty after featuring in Lahore’s victories against Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi in the first two matches.
The Ministry of Health confirmed 12 new cases of COVID-19 in Singapore on Saturday (27 February), taking the country's total case count to 59,925.
The early ambitions of Joe Biden's presidency are quickly running into the guardrails of archaic Senate rules, testing his willingness to remake an institution he reveres to fulfill many of the promises he has made to Americans. It will also shape Biden's ability to keep two restive wings of the Democratic Party united: swing state moderates wary of the appearance of effectively giving up on bipartisanship and more progressive Democrats who argue that Republicans aren't coming along anyway. Biden — who spent four decades as a senator and speaks of the institution with veneration, as well as some revisionist history about the good old days of cross-party cooperation — is so far trying to find the middle ground.
Pollina Dinner returned to school in Berlin for the first time this week after two months of lockdown. The 9-year-old third-grader was thrilled to see her classmates and teachers again but frets about the coronavirus pandemic's effect on her life. Psychiatrists, psychologists and pediatricians in Germany have voiced growing alarm that school closings, social restrictions and other precautions are magnifying the fear, disruption and stress of the pandemic among Germany’s 13.7 million children and teenagers, raising the prospect of a future mental health crisis.
Bangladesh is under "no obligation" to shelter 81 Rohingya Muslim refugees adrift for almost two weeks on the Andaman Sea and being assisted by neighbouring India, said Bangladesh foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen. India's coast guard found the survivors and eight dead crammed on a fishing boat and were trying to arrange for Bangladesh to take them, Indian officials said on Friday. While feeding the refugees and giving them water, India was not planning to take them ashore.
Sports minister `threatened to withdraw the French team’s authorisation to play in the Six Nations if the rugby federation (FFR) does not properly investigate the origin of a COVID-19 outbreak within the squad. France’s game against Scotland was postponed after 11 French players, as well as staff, including head coach Fabien Galthie, tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week, prompting Maracineanu to ask for an investigation. FFR president Bernard Laporte said that "to my knowledge, nobody’s at fault", but Maracineanu appeared to disagree.
Myanmar police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters in Yangon on Saturday, after the country's ambassador to the United Nations broke ranks to make an emotional plea for action against the military junta.
Bangladesh is under "no obligation" to shelter 81 Rohingya Muslim refugees adrift for almost two weeks on the Andaman Sea and being assisted by neighbouring India, said Bangladesh foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen. India's coast guard found the survivors and eight dead crammed on a fishing boat and were trying to arrange for Bangladesh to take them, Indian officials said on Friday. While feeding the refugees and giving them water, India was not planning to take them ashore.
Leading Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer was arrested on Friday at his home in Santiago de Cuba, one of his supporters said.
All-rounder Chris Woakes has returned home without playing any part in England's four-test series in India as part of their rotation policy, the team said on Saturday. England have decided to rest multi-format players at different stages of their India tour to help them cope better with the challenges of living in strict bio-secure environments. Woakes was particularly in contention to play the third test in Ahmedabad but England kept faith with veteran seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad in a four-pronged pace attack.
Firecrackers lit up the skies on Friday night as Taiwanese celebrated a cacophonous traditional festival in the island's south, pared back this year due to the coronavirus pandemic but still allowed to go ahead due to Taiwan's low case numbers. The Beehive Fireworks Festival in Yanshui, close to Taiwan's old capital of Tainan, is renowned for its noisy and fiery atmosphere - participants wear motorcycle helmets and thick coats to avoid being injured as the streets are bombarded with fireworks and firecrackers. Held to coincide with Lantern Festival, which marks the final day of the Lunar New Year celebrations, the event had been in doubt due to government worries about COVID-19, though Taiwan has fewer than 30 active cases.
Bangladesh is under "no obligation" to shelter 81 Rohingya Muslim refugees adrift for almost two weeks on the Andaman Sea and being assisted by neighbouring India, said Bangladesh foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen. India's coast guard found the survivors and eight dead crammed on a fishing boat and were trying to arrange for Bangladesh to take them, Indian officials said on Friday. While feeding the refugees and giving them water, India was not planning to take them ashore.
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 — Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching has today denied influencing the Form 4 History textbook to allegedly “glorify communism”, after she was accused of being...
Three weeks ago the 13-year-old weighed just nine kilograms (20 pounds) when she was admitted to al-Sabeen hospital in Yemen's capital Sanaa with malnutrition that sickened her for at least the past four years. They are among some 16 million Yemenis - more than half the population of the Arabian Peninsula country - that the United Nations says are going hungry. Of those, five million are on the brink of famine, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock warns.
Taiwanese-American Lin, who is part of the Golden State Warriors' G League affiliate, Santa Cruz Warriors, made the claim in a Facebook post on Thursday but did not specify when or where the incident occurred. "Being an Asian American doesn't mean we don't experience poverty and racism," the former New York Knicks guard said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has extended partial coronavirus curbs in the capital until the end of March, as the country awaits the arrival of vaccines, the presidential spokesman said on Saturday. With southeast Asia's second-highest tally of infections and deaths, the Philippines has suffered lengthy, strict lockdowns in Manila and provinces, hitting an economy that was among Asia's fastest growing before the pandemic. Curbs will stay for another month in Manila, which accounts for 40% of national economic output, the spokesman, Harry Roque, said in a statement.
A first shipment of medical oxygen sent by Chile has arrived in Peru, which will help relieve a shortage for Covid-19 patients, President Francisco Sagasti said on Friday.
Yusuf Pathan, who won the World Cup and Twenty20 world title with India, has retired from all cricket at the age of 38.
Police were out in force early in the main city of Yangon and elsewhere, deployed at usual protest sites and detaining people as they congregated, witnesses said. Several media workers were detained.But people still gathered, some for a march by ethnic minorities in Yangon, their numbers building through the day.Crowds chanted and sang, then melted into side streets as police advanced, firing tear gas, setting off stun grenades and firing guns into the air, witnesses said.Similar scenes played out in the second city of Mandalay, and several other towns including Dawei in the south, witnesses and media reported.
Lady Gaga's two French bulldogs which were stolen at gunpoint in Hollywood have been safely returned, Los Angeles police said on Friday.