SEOUL: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, state media reported Saturday, following intense speculation that the leader of the nuclear-armed nation was seriously ill or possibly dead. The North reported that Kim had attended the opening of a fertiliser factory
TOKYO: Japan has asked for a one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games over the global coronavirus pandemic, and the International Olympic Committee has agreed, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday. “I proposed to postpone for about a year and president Bach responded with 100 per cent agreement,” Shinzo Abe
BY AMÉLIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Wearing masks and gloves as a precaution against coronavirus is ineffective, unnecessary for the vast majority of people, and may even spread infections faster, experts said Tuesday. While near-total lockdowns have been imposed in Italy, Spain and now France, the World Health Organisation’s advice has remained unchanged
BEIJING: China closed most of its makeshift hospitals for coronavirus patients, some schools reopened and Disney resort staff went back to work yesterday as normality slowly returns to the country after weeks battling the epidemic. New virus cases in China ― which accounts for the vast majority of the more
LOS ANGELES: The number of US coronavirus cases soared past 500 Sunday, including two further deaths, as California braced for the arrival of infected cruise ship passengers and saw a major tennis event cancelled. The surge came as President Donald Trump defended his administration’s “perfectly coordinated” response to the epidemic,
SEOUL: Nuclear-armed North Korea yesterday fired what Japan said appeared to be ballistic missiles, a week after a similar weapons test by Pyongyang. Analysts say the North has been continuing to refine its weapons capabilities during its long-stalled nuclear discussions with the US, which have been at a standstill since
LOS ANGELES: Sprinting shoppers, rationed mineral water and not a roll of toilet paper to be seen: panic-buying sparked by the new coronavirus soared in Los Angeles this week. Two days after California declared a statewide emergency, wholesale stores visited by AFP on Friday were unable to keep up with
KARACHI: Pakistani rescuers using their bare hands searched Friday for seven people missing after an apartment building collapsed, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble, taking the death toll to 16. Soldiers have been deployed to help in the search efforts after a five-storey building and two adjoining houses
BEIJING: The number of cases from the new coronavirus topped 100,000 worldwide as official data yesterday showed a significant hit to Chinese exports after the deadly outbreak brought much of the country to a halt. The World Health Organisation called the spread of the virus “deeply concerning” as a wave
WASHINGTON: US vodka distiller Tito’s has warned buyers that making hand sanitizer out of its liquor will not help them fight off the coronavirus, in response to a surge of internet users boasting of making their own moonshine virus protection. “I made some hand sanitizer out your vodka. The hand
