Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- More countries worldwide have regretted U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), voicing support for and highlighting the organization's crucial role in guiding global efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump announced Tuesday that his administration is halting the nation's funding to the WHO, which he accused of "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," triggering widespread backlash and criticism across the world.

TOKYO (AP) — IOC member John Coates, who oversees planing for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, has claimed the postponed games could help “kick start” Japan’s economy.

Japan has been devastated like many countries by the coronavirus pandemic and could be in a recession when the Olympics are to open on July 23, 2021.

“These games are a very positive opportunity for an economic stimulus,” Coates said in a teleconference on Thursday with the Tokyo organizing committee. “These games can help kick start the economy again. These games could be the rebirth of the tourism industry.”

BEIJING (AP) — China suffered its worst economic contraction since at least the 1970s in the first quarter as it fought the coronavirus, and weak consumer spending and factory activity point to a longer, harder recovery than initially expected.

The world’s second-largest economy shrank 6.8% from a year ago in the three months ending in March after factories, shops and travel were closed to contain the infection, official data showed Friday.

BEIJING (AP) — The central Chinese city of Wuhan has raised its number of COVID-19 fatalities by 1,290, with state media saying Friday the undercount had been due to the insufficient admission capabilities at overwhelmed medical facilities at the peak of the outbreak.

Wuhan’s revised death toll of 3,869 is the most in China. Numbers of total cases in the city of 11 million were also raised by 325 to 50,333, accounting for about two-thirds of China’s total 82,367 announced cases.

BEIJING, Apr 16 (APP): China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and assured that China would continue to provide all possible support to help Pakistan overcome the Covid-19 epidemic as soon as possible.

“We will continue to provide all possible support according to the needs of Pakistan to help Pakistan overcome the epidemic as soon as possible,” he said.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (NNN-BERNAMA) – China Global TV Network (CGTN) has listed Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah as one of the world’s top three doctors ‘born’ from public health officials in handling the COVID-19 outbreak, alongside America’s Dr Anthony Fauci and New Zealand’s Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

On its website Tuesday, CGTN said it has crowned Dr Noor Hisham as one of the top doctors in the world for his straightforward and calm approach in handling the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia.

TOKYO, Apr 16 (NNN-NHK) – In a further bid to try and help cushion the economic impact on society, amid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese government is mulling providing 100,000 yen (931 U.S. dollars) to each people, government officials said on Wednesday.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Komeito coalition ally, reportedly made the latest cash handout suggestion to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying, the government needed to send a firm message to the public that it is doing everything in its power to curb and mitigate the economic fallout from the virus.

SEOUL, Apr 16 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korean President, Moon Jae-in’s ruling Democratic Party, won a landslide victory, in parliamentary elections held amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preliminary results from the National Election Commission showed on Thursday (today) that the Democratic Party secured 163 directly-contested constituency seats, while its sister Platform Party, gained 17 proportional representations (PR) slots.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The ruling liberal party secured a resounding victory in South Korea’s parliamentary elections, which had the highest turnout in nearly three decades despite the coronavirus pandemic forcing social distancing at polling places.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly lower Thursday after unexpectedly weak U.S. retail and other data added to gloom about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai declined.

On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index sank 2.2% after the U.S. government reported last month’s retail sales plunged by a record 8.7% and factory output fell at the fastest rate for March since 1946. The retail figures hit especially hard because consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy.