Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Apple more than doubled its donation to China’s efforts to fight COVID-19 to over 50 million yuan ($7 million), CEO Tim Cook posted on Weibo on Wednesday, weeks after the iPhone maker said it had opened all its 42 stores in one of its largest markets.

Cook said in a post on Twitter last week that Apple donated 10 million masks for health professionals in the United States and Europe, which it sourced through its supply networks.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported on Wednesday a fall in new confirmed coronavirus cases, with almost all cases imported from overseas.

China had 36 new cases on Tuesday, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday, down from 48 a day earlier.

All but one of the cases were imported, bringing the total number of imported cases to 806.

Another 130 asymptomatic cases were reported, with a total of 1,367 such cases under observation as of March 31.

There was one reported new case of a local infection, in Guangdong province.

SEOUL (Reuters) - The commander of U.S. troops in South Korea on Wednesday called for negotiators to quickly resolve a cost-sharing dispute that has put more than 4,000 local workers on unpaid leave, with South Korean officials suggesting an agreement could come soon.

About half of the nearly 9,000 South Koreans employed by the U.S. military command were placed on unpaid leave starting on Wednesday, after the two countries failed to agree on a new pact months after the last agreement expired at the end of 2019.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce firm Pinduoduo Inc said on Tuesday that it had raised $1.1 billion in a private share placement, bolstering its ability to finance growth, despite recent market volatility.

Undeterred by the coronavirus epidemic that has rocked financial markets around the world, Nasdaq-listed Pinduoduo has secured several long-term investors including Chinese private equity firms Hillhouse Capital and Boyu Capital and tech giant Tencent Holdings for the deal, said three sources.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan remains on the brink of a state of emergency as the rate of new coronavirus cases accelerates across the country, its top government spokesman said on Wednesday, amid reports the capital may order public schools to stay closed for a second month.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that controlling the virus that has raced across the world was a top priority. While Japan’s some 2,200 cases and 66 deaths are dwarfed by numbers from the United States, Europe and China, new infections continue to set fresh daily records.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, on continuing worries about the economic fallout from the pandemic as reports of coronavirus cases keep surging in various regions.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.7% in morning trading to 18,588.90.

Adding to the damage was the Bank of Japan’s quarterly survey of business sentiment called “tankan,” which highlighted the gloom over a likely recession. The world’s third largest economy had already been lagging for months when the outbreak began taking its toll earlier this year.

NUR-SULTAN, March 31. /TASS/: The Kazakhstani authorities have imposed a temporary ban on supplies of gasolines, diesel and aviation fuel to the republic from Russia, press service of the republic’s energy ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Republic of Kazakhstan is imposing a temporary ban on supply from the Russian Federation of gasolines, diesel and aviation fuel to the domestic market of Kazakhstan," the statement said.

Supplies will be temporarily banned starting March 31, a source in the ministry’s press service explained to TASS.

BANGKOK, March 31. /TASS/: Three Russian nationals with confirmed coronavirus are undergoing treatment in hospitals in Thailand’s Chonburi province, Vladimir Pronin, head of the Russian embassy’s consular department, told TASS on Tuesday.

According to Pronin, three Russian nationals have tested positive for COVID-2019. "They are a man and a woman with her daughter from Siberia," he said. "They are currently undergoing treatment at two hospitals in Pattaya."

"All the three were diagnosed with coronavirus last weekend," he added.

31 March 2020; AFP: Underfed and chained up for endless hours, campaigners warn many elephants working in Thailand's tourism sector may starve, be sold to zoos or shifted into the illegal logging trade as the coronavirus decimates visitor numbers.

Before the virus, life for the kingdom's estimated 2,000 elephants working in tourism was already stressful, with abusive methods often used to 'break them' into giving rides and performing tricks at money-spinning animal shows.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s prime minister and his deputy won’t attend meetings together to cut coronavirus risks as pressure for a lockdown builds, with domestic cases topping 2,000 and a minister saying the country’s containment strategy was stretched to the limit.

Shinzo Abe told cabinet members on Tuesday that his second-in-command, Taro Aso, would no longer be present at any meeting the prime minister attends, a government spokesman said, in a move to guard leadership against infection that could hamper Japan’s efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.