A video showing a powerful Vietnamese official enjoying a bite of steak smothered in gold leaf at a luxury London restaurant has sparked online anger in the Southeast Asian country, where the average person earns a few dollars a day.To Lam, minister of public security – whose agency deals with the monitoring of dissent and surveillance of activists in the authoritarian state – was seen tucking into the hunk of meat at Nusr-Et Steakhouse in the wealthy area of Knightsbridge.Nusr-Et, named afte

What if a simple pill could help you heal from COVID-19?United States (US) pharma giants Merck and Pfizer have announced encouraging results for oral drugs, while an anti-depressant has also shown promise in what could open up a new chapter in the fight against the pandemic.What Are These Treatments?They are pills taken orally as soon as the first symptoms of COVID-19 appear, to avoid serious forms of the illness, and therefore hospitalisation.This form of treatment has been sought since the

The Philippines on Friday lifted restrictions on national obsessions like karaoke and basketball in the capital Manila and reopened universities in the megacity of 13 million people as virus cases eased there.All restrictions on the movement of young people aged below 18 years were lifted in the capital, officials announced, and primary schools could reopen soon, pending the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte."This is good news and one that has been highly anticipated," Duterte&#

Pfizer said Friday that a clinical trial of its pill to treat COVID-19 had shown it is highly effective, hailing it is as a big step toward ending the pandemic. A simple pill to treat the coronavirus at home has been sought since the start of the global health crisis. So far, all treatments have been either intravenous or vaccine shots.Pfizer's is the second anti-COVID pill after that of Merck, which is actually an influenza medicine rebranded to fight the coronavirus.

Indonesia on Thursday questioned the terms of a deal to end deforestation by 2030 signed by over 100 countries, including the Southeast Asian archipelago, which is home to the world's third-biggest rainforest.The nations agreed on the multi-billion-dollar plan at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow this week to stop cutting down trees on an industrial scale in under a decade.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the agreement was pivotal to the overarching goal of limiting temper

Europe is once again "at the epicentre" of the COVID pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, as cases soar across the continent.At a press conference WHO Europe head Hans Kluge said the continent could see half a million more deaths by February.He blamed insufficient vaccine take-up for the rise."We must change our tactics, from reacting to surges of COVID-19 to preventing them from happening in the first place," he said.The rate of vaccination has slowed

Britain on Thursday became the first country to approve an anti-COVID pill, as it greenlit the use of Merck's antiviral drug to treat patients suffering from mild to moderate coronavirus, regulators said. "Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for COVID-19," said health minister Sajid Javid."This will be a game-changer for the most vulnerable and the immunosuppress

Asia's gradual easing of international travel curbs is proving a welcome relief for the region's hard-hit tourism operators slowly opening up to visitors from around the world - with one giant exception.China, previously the world's largest outbound tourism market, is keeping international air capacity at just 2 percent of pre-pandemic levels and has yet to relax tight travel restrictions as it sticks to zero tolerance for COVID-19.That has left a US$255 billion annual spending

China is expanding its nuclear arsenal much more quickly than anticipated, narrowing the gap with the United States (US), the Pentagon said in a report published Wednesday.China could have 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, and could top 1,000 by 2030 – an arsenal two-and-a-half times the size of what the Pentagon predicted only a year ago, according to the report.The People's Republic of China (PRC) "is investing in, and expanding, the number of its land-, sea-, and air-base

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:India's Covaxin Gets WHO Emergency ApprovalThe World Health Organization (WHO) issues an emergency use listing for the India-made Covaxin vaccine, a move expected to increase COVID-19 jabs available in poor countries.The vaccine, made by India's Bharat Biotech and with a 78-percent efficacy rate after two doses over a month "is extremely suitable for low- and middle-income countries due to easy storage requirements,&quo