Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — Italy’s prime minister announced a sweeping coronavirus quarantine early Sunday, imposing restrictions on the movement of about a quarter of the country’s population in a bid to contain a widening outbreak.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree after midnight that imposes restrictions to the movement of people in the region of Lombardy and in at least 15 provinces, home to more than 16 million people. The measures will be in place until April 3.

BEIJING, Mar 6 (APP): The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will continue its mutually beneficial march toward development, prosperity and win-win cooperation in line with the aspirations of the peoples of both countries, Pakistan Ambassador to China, Naghmana Hashmi said on Friday.

The CPEC is a long-term bilateral economic project encompassing a vast array of short, medium and long-term projects. Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, there has been no suspension of trade flows and transportation linkages between Pakistan and China, she told Global Times.

NUR-SULTAN, March 7. /TASS/: Kazakhstan’s first President Nursultan Nazarbayev has had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin with whom he discussed the results of the Russian-Turkish negotiations on the situation in Syria, Nazarbayev’s press service reported on Saturday.

"The interlocutors exchanged views on pressing bilateral and international issues, including the results of the recent Russian-Turkish top-level negotiations on the Syrian settlement process, during which the important role of the Astana process was reaffirmed," the press service said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, and imports slowed, as the health crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.

The gloomy trade report is likely to reinforce fears that China’s economic growth halved in the first quarter to the weakest since 1990 as the epidemic and strict government containment measures crippled factory production and led to a sharp slump in demand.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A total of 78 million Chinese migrant rural workers have already returned to work, accounting for 60% of the total who left for home for the Chinese New Year holiday, a government official said on Saturday, as Beijing steps up measures to limit the disruption to businesses from the coronavirus outbreak.

But Chinese officials told a press briefing that the risk of contagion from increased population flows is rising, and the country will continue efforts to contain the virus spread.

BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- While five more countries have seen local transmission of COVID-19 as of Friday, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert called for decisive actions to fight the disease, saying there is no evidence suggesting COVID-19 will disappear in summer.

NANCHANG, China (AP) — In a lively Muslim quarter of Nanchang city, a sprawling Chinese factory turns out computer screens, cameras and fingerprint scanners for a supplier to international tech giants such as Apple and Lenovo. Throughout the neighborhood, women in headscarves stroll through the streets, and Arabic signs advertise halal supermarkets and noodle shops.

BEIJING, Mar 5 (APP): China on Thursday rejected the claim that the industrial autoclave seized on the Chinese ship by India could be used for military purposes, saying it was actually a heat treatment furnace shell system and not a dual-use item under non-proliferation and export regime.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Latheefa Koya Friday confirmed that she had handed in her resignation letter to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday (March 2).

In a statement to the media, Latheefa said that the resignation was her own decision and speculations that pressure was brought upon her to do so was baseless.

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. administration's move to limit the number of Chinese employees of Chinese media outlets in the united states severely undermines the mutual trust and exchanges between the two countries and reveals a real image of press bullying.