Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday that U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar has performed the “worst in the world” in controlling the novel coronavirus, rejecting criticism of China made by Azar during a three-day trip to Taiwan this week.

Azar attacked China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday saying that if such an outbreak had emerged in Taiwan or the United States it could have been “snuffed out easily”.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government and the city of Hiroshima have appealed a court ruling ordering them to certify dozens of people who were exposed to radioactive “black rain” in the aftermath of the 1945 U.S. atomic bomb attack.

The appeal comes after the Hiroshima District Court for the first time on July 30 recognized the “black rain” victims outside of a government-set physical boundary used as a basis for deciding survivors’ eligibility for medical benefits. Both the city and the prefectural government joined the appeal.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Shin Yun-sun describes her life as a maze of dead ends.

The South Korean has spent many of her 75 years pestering government officials, digging into records and searching burial grounds on a desolate Russian island, desperately searching for traces of a father she never met.

Shin wants to bring back the remains of her presumed-dead father for her ailing 92-year-old mother, Baek Bong-rye. Japan’s colonial government conscripted Shin’s father for forced labor from their farming village in September 1943, when Baek was pregnant with Shin.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan sent COVID-19 assistance to foreign countries surreptitiously to avoid protests from China, its foreign minister said Tuesday during a meeting with the highest-level American official to visit the island in four decades.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has sought to isolate it diplomatically, including barring its participation in forums such as the World Health Assembly.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday announced unspecified sanctions against 11 U.S. politicians and heads of organizations promoting democratic causes, including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who have already been singled out by Beijing.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday said the 11 had “performed badly” on issues concerning Hong Kong, where China has cracked down on opposition voices following its imposition of a national security law in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city last month.

MITO, Japan (AP) — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide topped 20 million on Tuesday, more than half of them from the U.S., India and Brazil.

Health officials believe the actual number is much higher than that tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of those who are infected have no symptoms.

It took six months or so to get to 10 million cases after the virus first appeared in central China late last year. It took just over six weeks for that number to double.

Hong Kong, Aug 10 (AP/PTI) Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested on Monday on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers, his aide said, in the highest-profile use yet of the new national security law Beijing imposed on the city after protests last year.

"Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time," Mark Simon wrote on Twitter.

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 10 (NNN-BERNAMA) — An Iranian escaped the gallows when his charge of trafficking in methamphetamine was changed to possession of drugs Monday, leading to him being sentenced to 20 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the rotan (caning).

A Court of Appeal three-member bench comprising Justices Yaacob Md Sam, P. Ravinthran and Nordin Hassan set aside Baladastian Hamid Mohammadebrahim’s conviction and death sentence for the first charge of trafficking in 1,146.9 grammes of methamphetamine.

The bench substituted Baladastian’s charge to one of possession.

PENANG, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s former finance minister pleaded not guilty Monday to a second corruption charge related to a $1.5 billion undersea tunnel project and slammed the case as a trumped-up charge by the new government.

Lim Guan Eng, 59, was first charged Friday with soliciting 10% of potential profits in 2011 as a bribe for the project planned in northern Penang state. On Monday, he was accused of abusing his power as Penang chief minister to obtain 3.3 million ringgit ($786,182) as inducement to help a local company secure the construction contract.

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted Monday, sending a column of volcanic materials as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and depositing ash on villages.

Falling grit and ash accumulated up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) in already abandoned villages on the volcano’s slopes, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post on Sumatra Island.