Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TASHKENT, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan will enhance trade and transport links with Iran in order to increase trade volumes, the country's foreign ministry said here on Monday.

Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov met with visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss bilateral relations, as well as neighboring Afghanistan, the ministry said.

Both sides discussed the implementation of interregional transport and logistics projects, which are aimed at increasing the volume of mutual trade.

TOKYO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Stricter measures came into effect on Monday for three Japanese prefectures in an effort to combat a resurgence of COVID-19 cases under a revised law that does not require declaring a state of emergency.

The tougher measures effective for one month until May 5, cover Osaka, Hyogo and Miyagi prefectures, with prefectural authorities requesting restaurants and bars to shorten their opening hours and close by 8:00 p.m. and customers asked to wear masks while conversing.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed and U.S. futures were higher Monday after Wall Street rose to a record on optimism the spread of coronavirus vaccines might allow global business to return to normal.

Tokyo and Seoul rose while India and Thailand retreated. Markets in Europe, Greater China and Australia were closed for holidays.

“Asia is treading cautiously” despite strong U.S. jobs data and Wall Street’s gain, said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda in a report.

Manila, Apr 5 (AP-PTI) The Philippine government extended a lockdown by another week Monday after an alarming spike in coronavirus infections continued to surge and started to overwhelm many hospitals in the capital and outlying regions.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Metropolitan Manila and four outlying provinces, a region of more than 25 million people, under lockdown last week as daily infections breached 10,000. Roman Catholic leaders shifted Holy Week and Easter events online after all public gatherings, including in places of worship, were temporarily banned.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Multiple disasters caused by torrential rains in eastern Indonesia have killed at least 55 people and displaced thousands, the country’s disaster relief agency said Monday. More than 40 other people were missing.

Mud tumbled down from surrounding hills onto dozens of homes in Lamenele village shortly after midnight on Adonara island in East Nusa Tenggara province. Rescuers recovered 38 bodies and at least five people were injured, said Lenny Ola, who heads the local disaster agency.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The owner of a construction truck that caused Taiwan’s worst rail accident in decades, killing 48 people, apologized in tears while being led away from his home by police on Sunday. The unmanned truck’s emergency brake was not properly engaged, according to the government’s disaster relief center.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Before each rainy season Lu Lu Aung and other farmers living in a camp for internally displaced people in Myanmar’s far northern Kachin state would return to the village they fled and plant crops that would help keep them fed for the coming year.

But this year in the wake of February’s military coup, with the rains not far off, the farmers rarely step out of their makeshift homes and don’t dare leave their camp. They say it is simply too dangerous to risk running into soldiers from Myanmar’s army or their aligned militias.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China and its neighbours must not only crack down on wildlife trade but also shut legal loopholes that allow disease-prone species to be farmed, experts said after an investigation team concluded that COVID-19 most likely originated in animals.

A World Health Organization-led study, published Tuesday, said it was “likely to very likely” that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the global pandemic, was introduced to humans from bats via an intermediary species, with wildlife farming playing a crucial role.

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines’ defence chief said on Sunday China was looking to occupy more areas in the South China Sea, citing the continued presence of Chinese vessels that Manila believes are manned by militias in disputed parts of the strategic waterway.

“The continued presence of Chinese maritime militias in the area reveals their intent to further occupy (areas) in the West Philippine Sea,” Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement, using the local name for the South China Sea.

HUALIEN, Taiwan (Reuters) -Taiwan’s transport minister said on Sunday he would not shirk his responsibility for a deadly train crash even as his resignation offer was rejected amid growing questions over safety lapses that could have contributed to the disaster.

In the island’s worst rail accident in seven decades, 51 people have been confirmed dead after a packed express train slammed into a truck near the eastern city of Hualien on Friday, causing it to derail and the front part to crumple.