Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HANOI, Jan 14 (NNN-VNS) — Three volunteers who received a 25mcg dose of Nanocovax – the first Vietnamese COVID-19 vaccine to be tested on humans – last December received their second shot Wednesday.

The three, comprising one male and two females aged between 20 and 25, are among the first 20 volunteers given the vaccine on Dec 17, 2020.

Professor Do Quyet, Director of the Hanoi-based Vietnam Military Medical University, said the second shot comes 28 days after the first one.

New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) Archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest known cave art -- a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was painted at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia.

The cave painting uncovered in South Sulawesi consists of a figurative depiction of a warty pig, a wild boar that is endemic to this Indonesian island.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police have arrested 11 people over suspected crimes related to assisting a group of 12 pro-democracy activists accused of attempting to flee the city by boat for Taiwan last year, local media and activists reported on Thursday.

Those arrested, ages 18 to 72, according to local broadcaster RTHK, included eight men and three women.

Daniel Wong, a lawyer who tried to help the 12 people detained in mainland China last August, was among those arrested.

Wong wrote on Facebook that police arrived at his apartment at 6 a.m. local time.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian divers resumed a search on Thursday for the remains of 62 victims and the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air plane that plunged into the Java Sea soon after takeoff last weekend, officials said.

The search at the crash site of the Boeing 737-500, which was traveling from Jakarta to Pontianak, had been temporarily suspended on Wednesday after bad weather whipped up high waves.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan could consider fresh economic stimulus, including a possible fourth extra budget, as the government expands a state of emergency amid a record surge in coronavirus infections, a prominent cabinet minister said on Thursday.

“Suddenly demand has gone, so I think the government, if it is necessary, will be willing to inject money into the economy,” Taro Kono, the administrative and regulatory reform minister, said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's top court upheld a 20-year prison sentence on former President Park Geun-hye Thursday in a retrial of the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of the former head of state.

The Supreme Court sentenced Park to 15 years in prison for bribery and another five years for other charges with a fine of 18 billion won (16.4 million U.S. dollars) and a forfeit of 3.5 billion won (3.2 million U.S. dollars), upholding the high court's ruling in July last year.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency to seven more prefectures Wednesday, affecting more than half the population amid a surge in infections across the country.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also said Japan will suspend fast-track entry exceptions for business visitors or others with residency permits, fully banning foreign visitors while the state of emergency is in place.

WUHAN, China (AP) — A global team of researchers arrived Thursday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries.

The 10-member team sent to Wuhan by the World Health Organization was approved by President Xi Jinping’s government after months of diplomatic wrangling that prompted an unusual public complaint by the head of the WHO.

BEIJING, Jan 13 (APP): A delegation of China International Culture Exchange Center (CICEC) on Wednesday visited Pakistan Embassy, Beijing and donated a batch of medical supplies to support Pakistan in its fight against Covid-19.

The batch of supplies includes 30,000 masks, PPE suits, 3000 boxes of Chinese herbal medicine, and nucleic acid test kits, China Economic Net (CEN) reported.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) — The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has renewed the industry’s call on governments to deploy more flexible policies to safely reopen borders using testing rather than to rely on quarantine measures.

Director-general and chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said scientifically, travellers would not be a significant factor in community transmission if testing is used effectively.