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, 16:48 PM

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, 16:16 PM

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, 17:20 PM

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, 15:57 PM

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, 11:50 AM

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, 06:48 AM

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, 12:40 PM

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, 13:01 PM

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, 07:32 AM

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, 19:49 PM

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, 17:58 PM

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, 05:41 AM

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, 10:28 AM

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, 07:54 AM

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, 05:55 AM

Bangladesh making impressive recovery from COVID-19: Bhutanese PM

Bhutanese Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering today highly appreciated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership, saying Bangladesh is making an impressive economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
6 December 2020, 08:33 AM

India fails to end deadlock with farmers, talks to resume next week

India’s government has failed to break a deadlock with farmers protesting over agricultural reforms and will meet again, the agriculture minister and union leaders say.
5 December 2020, 18:09 PM

World's first light-based quantum computer created

Chinese scientists have created the world's first light-based quantum computer that can reliably demonstrate "quantum computational advantage", a milestone in which a quantum machine can solve a problem no classical supercomputer can tackle within a reasonable amount of time.
5 December 2020, 15:40 PM

China conducting biological tests to create ‘super soldiers’, says US spy chief

China has conducted tests on its army in the hope of creating biologically enhanced soldiers, according to the top intelligence official in the US.
5 December 2020, 10:00 AM

Bangladesh can’t forget Pakistan’s atrocities in 1971: PM to Pakistan envoy

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Bangladesh cannot forget the atrocities committed by Pakistan in 1971.
3 December 2020, 13:33 PM