The Chinese megacity of Guangzhou on Thursday cancelled hundreds of flights and began testing 5.6 million people over one suspected COVID case, part of an escalating battle across the country to extinguish the virus.China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with eastern Shanghai recording dozens of daily deaths and the capital Beijing sealing off whole neighbourhoods where handfuls of cases have been detected.Under its zero-COVID policy, China has used

The frontrunner in the Philippines presidential race, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has praised his father – the country’s late dictator – as a “political genius”, and his mother as the dynasty’s “supreme politician”, less than two weeks before an election that could return the Marcos family to power.Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong, has a clear lead in the polls ahead of an election on 9 May, despite his father’s notorious history.In an interview with CNN Philippines, Marcos Jr praised the poli

A Pakistan separatist group warned Wednesday of more deadly attacks on Chinese targets, a day after a woman suicide bomber killed four people – including three teachers posted from Beijing.The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) – one of several groups fighting for independence in Pakistan's biggest province – claimed responsibility for Tuesday's blast, saying it was the first time a woman had "self-sacrificed" for the group.Chinese nationals and interests have regularly been tar

A Myanmar junta court on Wednesday sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail for corruption, part of a barrage of criminal cases that could see the deposed civilian leader jailed for decades.Suu Kyi has been in military custody since a coup ousted her government in February last year and plunged the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.In the latest case, the Nobel laureate was accused of accepting a bribe of US$600,000 in cash and gold bars.After two days of delays, the special court i

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the world's relationship to vaccines, spurring unprecedented production and innovation even while poorer nations were left behind.At the start of World Immunization Week, AFP looks at the current state of play.Millions Of Lives Saved Vaccines for more than 20 life-threatening diseases prevent between two to three million deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Until COVID-19, vaccines tended to be targeted at spec

A mentally disabled Malaysian man was executed in Singapore on Wednesday, his family said, after losing a long legal battle and despite a storm of international criticism and appeals for clemency.Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, which has some of the world's toughest drugs laws, and handed a death sentence the following year.The plan to hang him sparked widespread criticism due to concerns about his intellectual

An unknown, severe strain of hepatitis has been identified in nearly 170 children across 11 countries in recent weeks, with at least one child dying of the mysterious disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Here's what we know so far.Where Has It Been Detected? The first five cases were flagged in Scotland on 31 March by "astute clinicians, realising they were seeing something unusual", said Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at

Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports is sending soaring cooking oil prices even higher worldwide, exacerbating global food security fears amid adverse weather and the war in Ukraine.The export ban, announced by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last Friday, comes as global food supplies come under strain due to disappointing harvests in some countries, export disruptions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and labour shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices of palm oil on Mo

Beijing on Tuesday launched mass coronavirus testing for nearly all its 21 million residents, as fears grew that the Chinese capital may be placed under a strict lockdown like Shanghai.China is trying to contain a wave of infections in Shanghai – its biggest city – which has been almost entirely locked down for weeks and reported 52 new COVID deaths on Tuesday.Beijing authorities have ordered people in 12 central districts accounting for most of its population to undergo three rounds of PCR t

If the son of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos wins the 9 May presidential election, he will not be the only Marcos currently in power – and will almost certainly not be the last.Elite families have long ruled the poverty-ravaged nation, holding on to positions of power for generations by dishing out favours, buying votes or resorting to violence.Analysts say the system has become more pervasive in the decades since a popular uprising deposed Marcos and forced the family into exile