Asia

Thai mall gunman shot dead after deadly rampage

  by Thanaporn Promyamyai and Dene Chen Agence France Presse NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AFP) — A Thai soldier who killed at least 20 people and holed up in a mall overnight was shot dead by commandos on Sunday, ending a near-17-hour ordeal which left dozens wounded and stunned the country. It was unclear how many people remained trapped inside the Terminal 21 mall in Nakhon Ratchasima — also known as Korat — as the gunman […]

Thai soldier holds out in mall after killing 20 in mass shooting

by Thanaporn Promyamyai and Dene Chen NAKSON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AFP)–A Thai soldier who killed 20 people in a shooting spree remained holed up in shopping mall on Sunday morning with an unknown number of people feared trapped inside, despite repeated attempts by armed police to flush the gunman out. Volleys of gunfire rang out before dawn, hours after Thai security services stormed the ground floor of the Terminal 21 mall in Nakhon Ratchasima – also […]

China virus death toll soars to 722: official

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — The number of deaths from China’s new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 722 on Saturday, surpassing the toll from the SARS outbreak on the mainland and Hong Kong almost two decades ago. Another 86 people died from the virus, according to the national health commission, with all but five in hard-hit Hubei province, where the disease emerged in December. In its daily update, the commission also confirmed another 3,399 new cases. […]

Hong Kong Airlines to lay off 400 staff as virus hits city

    HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong Airlines said Friday it has been forced to slash hundreds of jobs and ask remaining staff to take unpaid leave as the coronavirus outbreak compounds problems at the already-struggling firm. The announcement by the city’s number two carrier comes days after Cathay Pacific said it had asked all its 27,000 workforce to take three weeks leave without salary between March and June because of collapsing demand […]

China virus crisis deepens as whistleblower doctor dies

  by Laurent THOMET Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese doctor who was punished after raising the alarm about China’s new coronavirus died from the pathogen on Friday, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has now killed more than 630 people. At least 31,000 people have now been infected by a virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang and colleagues first brought to light in late December. The […]

China’s Xi discusses coronavirus with Trump: state media

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Friday with US President Donald Trump on the novel coronavirus outbreak, emphasizing that Beijing has “spared no effort in fighting the epidemic”, state media reported. Xi told Trump on the phone that China was “fully confident and capable of defeating the epidemic”, and that “the long-term trend of China’s economic development for the better will not change”, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The viral outbreak, […]

Coronavirus cases on Japan cruise ship treble to 61

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AFP) — Another 41 people on a cruise ship quarantined off Japan have the new coronavirus, the country’s health minister said Friday, confirming more on board will now be tested for the illness. The newly diagnosed infections mean at least 61 people from the ship have contracted the virus, which has killed hundreds of people, most of them in China, and infected more than 30,000 on the mainland. Japanese authorities have so far […]

Another 41 on Japan cruise have new coronavirus: NHK

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Another 41 people on board a cruise ship off Japan’s coast have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus, Japan’s health minister said on Thursday. The new cases raise the number of confirmed infections on board the ship to at least 61, said Katsunobu Kato. Japanese authorities have tested 273 people on board the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined after a former passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong last month, […]

Trump confirms killing of AQAP chief in Yemen

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that the US had killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — days after the jihadist group claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at a US naval base. The US “conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qassim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),” Trump said in a White House statement. AQAP claimed responsibility […]

Global panic deepens over China virus as whistleblower doctor dies

by Helen Roxburgh and Laurent Thomet BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese doctor, among the first to raise the alert about China’s new coronavirus, himself died from the pathogen on Friday, emphasizing the depth of a worsening crisis that has killed more than 560 people. Global panic also spread, with thousands trapped on quarantined cruise ships. Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang died at 2:58 am, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on its verified account on […]

UPDATED: China virus death toll hits 636, more than 30,000 infections

BEIJING, China (AFP) –The official Chinese death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose on Friday to 636, with the government saying total infections had climbed past 30,000. The toll was raised by 73 new deaths from the epidemic, the National Health Commission said in its daily update. Another 3,143 new cases of infection were confirmed, bringing total infections in the country thus far to 31,161, it said. The central province of Hubei where the virus […]