Dutch judges said Monday they wanted relatives of victims to finally have "clarity" about the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine as the trial of four suspects entered a key phase.Some relatives were in court for the start of a week in which judges will at last examine evidence against the three Russians and one Ukrainian, who are on trial in absentia over the July 2014 disaster.The trial formally began in March 2020 but has until now dealt with legal arguments, ma

Vietnam, once a model for its successful handling of the pandemic, has started asking for public donations to buy vaccines as it struggles to contain a new coronavirus wave.The Southeast Asian country has vaccinated only about one percent of its population of nearly 100 million, and authorities have become increasingly alarmed by a recent spike in cases.Since last week, mobile phone users have received up to three text messages urging them to contribute to a COVID-19 vaccine fund, while civil

China has approved the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine for those as young as three, the drugmaker confirmed Tuesday, making it the first country to offer jabs to young children.Since the coronavirus first emerged in central China, Beijing has mostly managed to bring the country's outbreak under control, and has administered over 777 million vaccine doses after a sluggish start.A spokesperson for Sinovac said that its vaccine had been approved for use on children."In recent days,

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday called for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to give COVAX first refusal on new doses, or commit half of their volumes to the global jab equity scheme.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said manufacturers should turn their attention to the COVAX facility, which has struggled to get donation-funded doses to poorer countries.Tedros voiced his frustration that several poor countries have been unable to immunise their health workers, the eld

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will go on trial next week, her lawyer said Monday, with the Nobel laureate facing an eclectic raft of charges, from possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies to flouting coronavirus restrictions during elections last year.Myanmar has been in uproar since Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) government were ousted in a 1 February coup, with near-daily protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement.Almost 850 people have been killed by th

Southeast Asian countries, including nations that managed to control the coronavirus last year, are struggling to contain recent outbreaks as new variants and vaccine shortages leave populations exposed.Thailand’s cumulative caseload has more than quadrupled since 1 April, rising to almost 130,000, after infections spread in its cramped prisons, densely populated areas of the capital and construction sites.In neighbouring Malaysia, field ICUs are being established to cope with the increase in

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is estimated to be 40 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant that caused the last wave of infections in the United Kingdom (UK), Britain's health minister said Sunday.But people who have received two doses of vaccine, should be equally protected against either variant, he added."That figure, around 40 percent more transmissible, is indeed the latest advice I have," Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News.The Delta variant, als

The regional bloc must support the growing calls for a global arms embargo on Myanmar. Words alone have failed to persuade the Myanmar military to stop killing and jailing its civilian opponents. Both the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have called on the Myanmar military to cease its use of violence.

Here are the latest developments in the ongoing coronavirus crisis:Brazil Okays Vaccine ImportsBrazil's health regulator Anvisa has issued exceptional clearance for imports of Russia's vaccine against COVID-19, Sputnik-V, and India's Covaxin, while at the same time setting limits on their use.The agency had originally opposed their use because of a lack of data on them.Italy Logs Vaccinations RecordItaly logged 600,000 vaccinations on Friday, the most for a single day, local au

The Huanan seafood wholesale market in central Wuhan was the kind of place where people often caught colds. Vendors started setting up as early as 3:00 am, plunging their hands into buckets of cold water as they cleaned and prepared produce for the customers that arrived every morning.The sprawling market of more than 20 streets spanned two sides of a main road in an upscale neighbourhood of the commercial district of Hankou. Racks of meat were hung on hooks or spilled out on plastic mats.