China Lockdown Angst Rips Through Markets as Stocks, Yuan Plunge - Bloomberg

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1. China Lockdown Angst Rips Through Markets as Stocks, Yuan Plunge  Bloomberg
2. China lockdown fears rip through Asia markets as stocks, renminbi tumble  The Straits Times
3. Stocks tumble as China lockdowns rattle investors  ฺBangkok Post
4. Pinduoduo, Alibaba Lead Chinese ADR Decline Amid Lockdown Woes  Bloomberg
5. Asian markets track Wall Street rout, oil sinks  INQUIRER.net
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-04-25 08:27:12Z
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Indonesia's Anak Krakatoa volcano erupts, spews huge ash tower - CNA

JAKARTA: The offspring of Indonesia's infamous Krakatoa volcano erupted on Sunday (Apr 24), spewing a towering volcanic ash cloud about 3,000m into the sky.

Mount Anak Krakatoa, which means Child of Krakatoa, belched thick ash over the strait that separates the islands of Java and Sumatra, forcing authorities to warn nearby residents to wear masks outside.

"We are still recording continuous eruptions with thick clouds towering at between 500 to 3,000 metres from the peak," Deny Mardiono of Indonesia's Geological Agency told AFP.

Anak Krakatoa has erupted at least 21 times in recent weeks but Sunday's eruption was the largest yet, Mardiono said.

Authorities ordered people to stay out of a 2km exclusion zone around the volcano, which is currently graded at level two of Indonesia's four-tiered volcanic alert system.

"People, including tourists, should adhere to the recommendation from the Geological Agency, which prohibits anyone to be within a 2km radius from the crater," he added.

The volcano has been sporadically active since it emerged from the sea at the beginning of last century in the caldera formed after the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatoa.

That disaster was one of the deadliest and most destructive in history with an estimated 35,000 people killed.

Anak Krakatoa last erupted in 2018, generating a tsunami that killed 429 people and left thousands homeless.

Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago nation, sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

The country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

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2022-04-24 13:00:56Z
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EU regulator backs using Pfizer COVID-19 shot as booster after other vaccines - CNA

A European Medicines Agency (EMA) committee on Friday (Apr 22) recommended approving the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, as a booster for adults who have previously been inoculated with other vaccines.

The recommendation from Europe's drug regulator comes days after global COVID-19 cases surpassed 500 million, according to a Reuters tally, as the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron surges in many countries.

Some European countries are now seeing a slower uptick in new cases, or even a decline, but the region is still reporting over 1 million cases about every two days, according to the Reuters tally published on Thursday.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, Comirnaty has already been authorised as a booster following two shots of any other type of vaccine.

Some countries have also begun rolling out second boosters in certain groups, such as the immunocompromised and the elderly. In March, the EMA said that there was not yet enough data to support a recommendation on the need for a second booster shot in the general population.

Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech showed that three doses of their shot produced significant protection against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in healthy children aged five to 11.

Analysts have forecast sales of US$33.79 billion for the vaccine in 2022, according to Refinitiv data. The two companies have already delivered more than 3.1 billion vaccine doses globally.

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2022-04-23 01:12:25Z
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Influencer banned from Weibo after questioning Covid drug's efficacy - Insider

• Wang Sicong has been banned from China's "Twitter" after questioning the use of traditional Chinese medicine to treat Covid.
• The 34-year-old, who has 40.5 million Weibo followers, is the son of China's one-time richest man Wang Jianlin.
• Despite a lack of reliable clinical data, Chinese authorities have recommended traditional medicines to treat Covid, per Reuters. 

The influencer son of a Chinese billionaire has been banned from posting on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform after he questioned the efficacy of a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) endorsed by Beijing to treat mild Covid cases.

"The user is currently banned for violating relevant laws and regulations," reads a message on Wang Sicong's Weibo account, where he has more than 40.5 million followers.

Known for flaunting his lavish lifestyle online, the 34-year-old is the son of real estate mogul Wang Jianlin, who was once China's richest man.  

While Weibo did not provide details behind the ban, reports said it is related to the influencer's now-deleted posts on the Lianhua Qingwen capsules, a popular herbal medicine used to treat Covid. 

Weibo did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

According to Bloomberg, Wang had reposted a video last week asking if the drug had ever been recommended by the World Health Organization as a Covid treatment. In a separate post, he also urged the Chinese securities watchdog to investigate Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical, which makes the drug, per state media outlet Global Times. 

Shares of China-listed Shijiazhuang Yiling plunged by 10% on Tuesday, and shed another 10% the next day, per American news outlet Quartz. 

Despite a lack of reliable clinical data, Chinese health authorities have recommended TCM medicines, including the Lianhua Qingwen capsules, for use by Covid patients, per Reuters. 

In Shanghai, the epicenter of China's current Covid outbreak, millions of boxes of TCM products were distributed to residents across the city earlier this month. Lianhua Qingwen was also given to all Hong Kong households during the city's raging fifth wave of COVID-19 infections in March.

Made with 13 ingredients, including rhubarb, honeysuckle and apricot kernel, Lianhua Qingwen was developed in 2003 to treat severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), per South China Morning Post.

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2022-04-22 06:19:09Z
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Japan researchers develop electric chopsticks to enhance salty taste - CNA

Miyashita and his lab have explored various ways that technology can interact with and stimulate human sensory experiences. He's also developed a lickable TV screen that can imitate various food flavours.

The taste-enhancing chopsticks may have particular relevance in Japan, where the traditional diet favours salty tastes. The average Japanese adult consumes about 10 grams of salt per day, double the amount recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Excess sodium intake is related to an increased incidence of high blood pressure, strokes and other ailments.

"To prevent these diseases, we need to reduce the amount of salt we take," said Kirin researcher Ai Sato.

"If we try to avoid taking less salt in a conventional way, we would need to endure the pain of cutting our favourite food from our diet, or endure eating bland food."

Miyashita and Kirin are refining their chopsticks prototype and hope to commercialise them as early as next year.

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2022-04-19 01:46:00Z
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Singapore's air passenger traffic at 31% of pre-pandemic numbers - CNA

SINGAPORE: Air passenger traffic in Singapore is now at 31 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with the country seeing 400,000 passengers for the week ending Apr 17, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said on Monday (Apr 18). 

This is up from 18 per cent a month ago, CAAS added, noting the increase follows the reopening of Singapore’s borders to all fully vaccinated travellers at the beginning of this month. 

It also said that Singapore is on track to restoring 50% of pre-COVID passenger volume by this year.

In a press release on Monday, CAAS described the increase in air passenger traffic as "broad based".

"Traffic volume increased for all major markets, with particularly strong growth for traffic to and from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand," the agency said. 

"Direct traffic increased for both international and local travellers, with Singapore citizens and permanent residents making up 32 per cent of total direct traffic," it added. 

The number of passenger flights also increased to 38 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the week ending Apr 17, up from 29 per cent a month ago.

CAAS noted the frequency of flights to and from Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam had "increased significantly".

It added that three airlines - Air New Zealand, Myanmar Airways International and Indonesia's Batik Air - had restarted scheduled passenger flights to the country, while air links were also re-established with five cities - Cairns, Da Nang, Kota Kinabalu, Madurai and Riyadh.

Travel restrictions introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19 had earlier seen passenger movement at Changi Airport plummet. For instance, in April 2020 after Singapore closed its borders to travellers, it stood at 0.4 per cent of what it was at the start of that year.

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2022-04-18 10:21:32Z
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Shanghai to resume some production, reports more than 24,000 new cases - South China Morning Post

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1. Shanghai to resume some production, reports more than 24,000 new cases  South China Morning Post
2. Factories resume operation in Shanghai under govt guidance, 'trailblazing yet arduous' move for megacity  Global Times
3. Shanghai unveils business restart plan on supply chain woes  The Straits Times
4. Shanghai Unveils Business Restart Plan on Supply-Chain Woes  Bloomberg
5. Shanghai issues epidemic prevention guidelines for local industrial enterprises to resume operation  Global Times
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-04-17 07:50:12Z
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