The last 24 hours have been rather eventful in Malaysia.Just yesterday, the country’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced strict new curbs in over half the country to combat a coronavirus surge. A two-week partial lockdown will be imposed in the worst-hit parts of Malaysia including the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and five of the country’s 13 states, starting Wednesday (13 January).

Thai authorities on Monday charged four democracy activists with royal defamation, with the protest movement rocking the kingdom put on hold because of a spike in coronavirus cases.A total of 41 people have now been charged with insulting the monarchy in a major uptick in Thailand's use of its strict lese majeste laws since a youth-led protest movement began last July.The charges can carry a 15-year jail sentence, but the threat of prosecution has not deterred protesters from demanding r

It is the world's most pressing scientific puzzle, but experts warn there may never be conclusive answers over the source of the coronavirus, after an investigative effort marked from the start by disarray, Chinese secrecy, and international rancour.11 January marks the anniversary of China confirming its first death from COVID-19, a 61-year-old man who was a regular at the now-notorious Wuhan wet market.Nearly two million deaths later, the pandemic is out of control across much of the w

The Philippines has secured 30 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by United States (US) drug maker Novavax, officials said Sunday, as the country braces for a surge in infections after a huge religious event.This is only the second vaccine deal signed by the national government, which has faced growing criticism for its slowness in procuring jabs for the archipelago where nearly half a million infections have been recorded.It hopes to secure 148 million doses this year from seven c

19 Rohingya and a Thai woman accused of housing them have been arrested for illegal entry to Thailand, police said Saturday, as concerns grow about trafficking routes for the Muslim minority fleeing Myanmar.The embattled Rohingya have long faced persecution in Myanmar, where they are denied freedom of movement and citizenship, and lack access to work, healthcare and schools. A 2017 military crackdown in western Rakhine state sent almost 750,000 fleeing across the border to Bangladesh

China has sealed off two cities south of Beijing, cutting transport links and banning millions of residents from leaving, as authorities move to stem the country's largest COVID-19 outbreak in six months.The pandemic has so far broadly been brought to heel by Chinese authorities since its emergence in Wuhan in late 2019, with small outbreaks swiftly snuffed out using mass testing, local lockdowns and travel restrictions.But Hebei province in northern China has seen 127 new COVID-19 cases

Last week, while many were welcoming 2021 and bidding farewell to the dreaded 2020, a tragedy occurred in a grand hotel in Makati City in the Philippines.Christine Angelica Dacera checked in at the City Garden, a four-star hotel to celebrate New Year’s Eve with her friends.However, on 1 January, 2021, the 23-year-old flight attendant at Philippines Airlines was found unconscious in the bathtub of a hotel room.According to media reports, one of her friends, Rommel Galido woke up around 10:00 a

The world's poorest countries can expect to start receiving their first COVID-19 vaccine doses between the end of January and mid-February, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.Vaccination is already under way in some of the world's wealthiest nations, including the United States (US), Britain, European Union countries and Canada.COVAX, the globally-pooled vaccine procurement and distribution effort, has struck agreements to secure two billion doses -- and the first of

The tattoo-chested man in a horned headdress, the middle-aged intruder with his foot on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk and the woman shot dead by police: Their images have been beamed around the world but who are the Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol?Pro-Gun CampaignerRichard Barnett, 60, from Gravette in northwest Arkansas, barged into the office of House Democrat leader Pelosi where he was photographed leaning back in a chair with his left foot on her desk.Barnett, known loc

Roughly one in a hundred thousand people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have had severe allergic reactions, United States (US) health officials said Wednesday while stressing that the benefits of immunization greatly outweigh the known risks.The data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which documented 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of a reported 1,893,360 shots from 14 December to 23 December."This averages out to a rate of 11.1 an