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Severe patients at record high as Japan reports 5,700 new virus cases

Kyodo News
Jan 17 11:43 PM

TOKYO - More than 5,700 new coronavirus cases were confirmed across Japan on Sunday, with the number of hospitalized patients with serious symptoms topping 970 to hit a record high, authorities said. Read more »

Over 2 million deaths and almost 95 million infected: COVID-19 tally as of Jan. 17

Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 09:27 PM

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 2,022,740 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Sunday. Read more »

Freight ship sinks off Turkey's Black Sea coast, two dead - coast guard

Reuters
Jan 17 09:02 PM | Updated Jan 18 12:58 AM

(UPDATE) A Palau-flagged freight ship has sunk off the coast of Turkey's Black Sea province of Bartin, killing two crew members, the coast guard said on Sunday, adding that search and rescue operations for more crew members were continuing. Read more »

Quake death toll at 78 as Indonesia struggles with string of disasters

Stanley Widianto and Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Reuters
Jan 17 06:10 PM | Updated Jan 17 11:31 PM

(UPDATE) At least 78 people have been killed after an earthquake struck Indonesia's West Sulawesi province on Friday, the Search and Rescue agency (Basarnas) said on Sunday, the latest in a string of disasters to hit the Southeast Asian country. Read more »

Gunmen assassinate two Afghan women judges in Kabul ambush

Emal Haidary and Mushtaq Mojaddidi, Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 03:09 PM

The attack on the judges happened as they were driving to their office in a court vehicle, said Ahmad Fahim Qaweem, a spokesman for the Supreme Court. Read more »

Race to succeed Merkel in top job thrown wide open

Femke Colborne, Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 12:33 PM

Moderate Armin Laschet may have won a key vote this weekend to become the new leader of Germany's conservative CDU party, but his victory has thrown wide open the question of who will succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in the top job. Read more »

Indonesia’s Mt Semeru spews hot clouds

Agus Harianto, AFP
Jan 17 11:09 AM

In this picture taken on January 16, 2021, lava is seen during an eruption of Mount Semeru in Lumajang, East Java Indonesia. Read more »

Vietnam’s omission from Wang Yi’s Southeast Asia tour tells a story, observers say

Shi Jiangtao, South China Morning Post
Jan 17 10:13 AM

China's foreign minister has visited nine of the 10 ASEAN countries in recent months, but tensions with Beijing made Hanoi a no-go zone, according to the experts. As the only Southeast Asian nation to take on Beijing over the South China Sea and management of the Mekong River, Vietnam has become a focal point in the tensions between the US and China. Read more »

China says latest COVID-19 outbreak caused by imported cases

Brenda Goh and Steven Bian, Reuters
Jan 17 09:20 AM

China's recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the northeast have come from travelers entering the country or contaminated frozen food imports, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday. Read more »

US state capitals gird for pro-Trump armed protests, FBI flags risk of violence

Nathan Layne and Patricia Zengerle, Reuters
Jan 17 09:16 AM | Updated Jan 17 05:14 PM

(UPDATE) Protesters are expected to descend on statehouses across the United States on Sunday in support of baseless claims that electoral fraud robbed President Donald Trump of a second term, as law enforcement officials girded for possible violence. Read more »

Biden to sign executive orders on Day 1, amid high alert for inauguration

Anita Chang Beattie, Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 09:11 AM

Joe Biden's top aide said Saturday the incoming president would sign about a dozen executive orders on his first day in office, as police fearing violence from Trump supporters staged a nationwide security operation ahead of the inauguration. Read more »

UK sees third-highest daily death toll with new COVID-19 cases at 3-week low

David Milliken, Reuters
Jan 17 09:01 AM

Britain reported its lowest number of daily new coronavirus infections since the start of the year on Saturday, adding to signs that a national lockdown is slowing the spread of a more infectious variant of the disease. Read more »

US COVID-19 vaccine supplies strain to meet wider eligibility, 2nd doses

Peter Szekely, Reuters
Jan 17 08:53 AM

Scattered shortages of COVID-19 vaccines persisted on Saturday under pressure from growing demand, as previously inoculated Americans returned for their required second shots and millions of newly eligible people scrambled to get their first. Read more »

NASA's Boeing moon rocket cuts short 'once-in-a-generation' ground test

Joey Roulette, Reuters
Jan 17 08:38 AM

NASA's deep space exploration rocket built by Boeing briefly ignited all four engines of its behemoth core stage for the first time on Saturday, cutting short a crucial test to advance a years-delayed US government program to return humans to the moon in the next few years. Read more »

Indonesia hunts for survivors as quake death toll hits 60

Andi Hajramurni and Olagondronk, Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 08:31 AM | Updated Jan 17 02:58 PM

The death toll from a powerful earthquake on Indonesia's Sulawesi island has jumped to 60, authorities said Sunday, with thousands left homeless as rescuers raced to find anyone still alive under mountains of rubble. Read more »

Heavily armed man arrested at Washington security checkpoint

Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 07:40 AM

Wesley Allen Beeler, of Virginia, had driven to a checkpoint on Friday evening and presented officers with a fake inauguration credential, according to a document filed in Washington, DC Superior Court. Read more »

India starts huge vaccine drive as European rollout stutters

Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 07:37 AM

India kicked off one of the world's largest coronavirus vaccination drives Saturday, as US drugs giant Pfizer moved to calm fears in Europe about delays to deliveries of their vaccine.    Read more »

Nepal team claims first winter ascent of Pakistan's K2

Cyril Belaud, Agence France-Presse
Jan 17 01:00 AM

A team of Nepali climbers made history on Saturday after becoming the first to summit Pakistan's K2 in winter, singing their country's national anthem as they reached the top. Read more »

Serbia receives 1 million doses of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine

Reuters
Jan 17 12:20 AM

President Vucic was accompanied by Beijing's ambassador to the Balkan country at Belgrade's airport, as containers carrying the vaccines were unloaded from a plane. Read more »

Indonesian Semeru volcano erupts, spews ash 5 kms into sky

Reuters
Jan 16 10:25 PM

Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country, and while many show high levels of activity it can be weeks or even months before an eruption. Read more »

Ilang Pinoy nurse sa California, may agam-agam sa pagpapabakuna

ABS-CBN News
Jan 16 07:37 PM

Marami, kabilang ang ilang Pinoy nurses sa California, ang may agam-agam umano sa pagpapabakuna.  Read more »

‘South China Sea strategic benefit’ if Beijing builds tunnel to holiday island Hainan

Rachel Zhang, South China Morning Post
Jan 16 06:34 PM

A senior adviser to the Chinese government is calling for a proposed road and rail tunnel between mainland China and its southern island province of Hainan to be put back on the agenda, to boost the island’s economy and help Beijing gain a foothold in the South China Sea.   Read more »

‘We’re running out of food’: Hunt for buried survivors after Indonesia quake

Agence France-Presse
Jan 16 06:02 PM

Search-and-rescue worked through the night as they pulled dozens of bodies from beneath crumpled buildings in Mamuju, a city of about 110,000 people. Read more »

China reports 130 new mainland COVID-19 cases vs 144 a day earlier

Reuters
Jan 16 03:05 PM

This surge comes as a World Health Organization-led (WHO) team of investigators are in quarantine in the city of Wuhan, where the disease emerged in late 2019. The team aims to investigate the origins of the pandemic that has now killed nearly 2 million people worldwide.   Read more »

'Friend' China to donate 1 million vaccine doses to Cambodia: PM

Agence France-Presse
Jan 16 02:50 PM

China will donate one million doses of its Sinovac coronavirus vaccine to Cambodia, the kingdom's strongman premier Hun Sen has said, thanking "friend" Beijing for its generosity.  Read more »