Vietnam records first Covid-19 death
Vietnam has recorded its first Covid-19 fatality, in a devastating blow for a country proud of its zero deaths.
The 70-year-old man was from the central city of Hoi An, state media said on Friday.
No new infections had been reported for more than three months before an outbreak was reported in the nearby resort of Da Nang earlier this week.
Vietnam, which has a population of around 95 million, has reported just 509 cases since the pandemic began.
India arrests dozens of journalists in clampdown on critics of Covid-19 response
Reporters for independent outlets, many in rural areas, say pressure won’t deter them from covering embarrassing stories
Danish Raza in New Delhi
Published onFri 31 Jul 2020 06.00 BST
Facing a continuing upward trajectory in Covid-19 cases, the Indian government is clamping down on media coverage critical of its handling of the pandemic.
More than 50 Indian journalists have been arrested or had police complaints registered against them, or been physically assaulted.
The majority of those facing action are independent journalists working in rural India, home to more than 60% of the 1.35 billion population.
Hong Kong election delayed after opposition candidates barred
Carrie Lam calls decision 'necessary' after spike in coronavirus cases, but critics say this is an excuse for the government to avoid a humiliating defeat
Adam WithnallAsia Editor
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has announced the postponement of the city's key assembly elections, citing an ongoing spike in coronavirus cases.
The election was due to take place on 6 September, and had been seen as an opportunity for pro-democracy parties to win an historic majority amid public dissatisfaction at a new security law imposed by Beijing.
Ms Lam's government said the vote would be delayed for a year, and that the Chinese national parliament would need to decide on how to fill the resulting gap in the legislative programme.
Opinion: Turkey closing window on press freedom
Turkey is expanding its already strict regulation of social media sites. It's the latest move by President Erdogan to silence those few remaining critical voices, says Christian Mihr of Reporters Without Borders.
Turkey is taking steps to close the window on press freedom once and for all. News of more restrictions comes as no surprise: Dozens of journalists have been unlawfully detained and given long prison sentences in unfair trials across Turkey, especially since the failed coup attempt in July 2016. Media pluralism has been all but destroyed. Until recently, social media platforms represented the last safe haven for critical Turkish journalists.
How can we apply lessons from the Spanish flu’s second wave to Covid-19?
The Spanish flu has swept back into public consciousness thanks to Covid-19, ending its status as a “forgotten pandemic”. Experts emphasise that the infamous second wave of this flu from a century ago was a very different disease from Covid-19 – but also say that it provides historical lessons to help face fears of a resurgent coronavirus.
Covid-19 infection rates are soaring in a variety of countries, several months on from the gruelling lockdowns that characterised the spring across the globe.
In the US, the average daily number of new confirmed infections has skyrocketed since mid-June – while in Spain, one of the countries the virus hit hardest in the early months of the pandemic, a big rise in cases prompted the UK to impose sudden travel restrictions on Saturday. Several countries previously acclaimed for managing the pandemic deftly – such as Australia and Vietnam – have seen alarming new coronavirus clusters.
Women in Xinjiang shine a light on a campaign of abuse and control by Beijing
Updated 0735 GMT (1535 HKT) July 31, 2020
Zumrat Dawut said she was forcibly sterilized by the Chinese government for having one too many children.
A former resident of Urumqi, the capital of China's western Xinjiang region, the 38-year-old Uyghur woman said she was fined 18,400 yuan ($2,600) in 2018 for having three children, one more than she was allowed to under Chinese rule.
When she went to pay the fine, Dawut said she was told she'd also need to have a mandatory "birth control procedure."
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