Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led the country in a moment of silence Tuesday on the ninth anniversary of the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed at least 18,000 people.Abe and his Cabinet ministers gathered in his office in Tokyo and held a silent prayer at the exact moment a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011.FILE – An aerial view shows the No. 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, July 18, 2013.The quake triggered a massive tsunami that swept over the region and swamped the Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaging the plant’s cooling system and causing a meltdown of its three reactors, making it the world’s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. More than 160,000 people were forced to to flee their homes, many of whom have never returned.The observance in Abe’s office was held after the prime minister canceled the annual official public observance due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has sickened at least 1,200 people and killed at least 12.But hundreds of people gathered at Tokyo’s Hibiya Park Wednesday for a solemn observance of the anniversary, many of them wearing protective face masks.The Japanese government partially lifted an evacuation order last week for the town of Futaba, one of the many towns emptied during the Fukushima disaster.  The decision came after organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics announced that Futaba has been added to the route of the traditional Olympic torch relay, which begins on March 26.    
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Myanmar police said the army had filed a lawsuit against Reuters news agency and a local lawmaker for criminal defamation, weeks after the military objected to a news story published about the death of two Rohingya Muslim women as a result of shelling in Rakhine state.After publication, the army said its artillery fire had not killed the women or caused other civilian injuries and blamed insurgents of the Arakan Army (AA), who are fighting for greater autonomy in Rakhine state. The AA denied responsibility and accused the army. Reporters are banned from the area where the incident happened.Police Lieutenant Kyaw Thu, the acting station head in Buthidaung township, in the north of Rakhine state, told Reuters both the news agency and the lawmaker were being sued under section 66D of the Telecommunications Act.The section, which has been used to jail government critics in the Southeast Asian country, outlaws online defamation and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.Kyaw Thu said that police had not yet contacted Reuters about the case and would seek to do so.”We are trying to make an approach in so far as we can, to find out where Reuters news agency is, what kind of organization it is and the reporter and the editor,” he told a Reuters reporter on Sunday before putting down the phone.He said that police had requested permission from the speaker of Myanmar’s national parliament with regards to proceeding with the case against lawmaker Maung Kyaw Zan, who represents Buthidaung.The case follows an army complaint about a story published by Reuters on Jan. 25 in which the lawmaker was quoted as saying that the army’s artillery fire had caused the deaths of the two Rohingya women.The army held a news conference on Feb. 4 to complain about the story, after which Reuters updated the story to reflect the army’s position.The army subsequently filed a complaint objecting to the Reuters story to the Myanmar Press Council (MPC), which adjudicates disputes between authorities and news media.”Reuters stands by the reporting that is of concern to the military and is the subject of an ongoing discussion with Myanmar’s Press Council,” a Reuters spokesperson said.”We do not believe there is any basis for a criminal action against Reuters or our journalists under Myanmar law. We have not seen any criminal complaint against Reuters, and so cannot comment further at this time.”The member of parliament said that it was unfair to bring a lawsuit against him.”As a representative of the people, I listened to what the people told me and I spoke about it,” he told Reuters by phone. “I will just have to face the lawsuit and receive the judgement from the court.”Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the military, confirmed the complaint against the lawmaker but said he did not know about the lawsuit against Reuters.Rakhine state is the western region from which more than 750,000 Rohingya fled in 2017 following a military crackdown.Myanmar is facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Hague over the crackdown. The army denies genocide, saying it was fighting a legitimate battle against Rohingya militants who attacked police stations.Two Reuters reporters were released from a Myanmar jail last May after spending more than 18 months behind bars, accused of breaking the official secrets act in a case that sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates.Before their arrest in December 2017, they had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in Rakhine state. 
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Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled Tuesday to the city of Wuhan for his first visit since the area became the center of a coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 80,000 people and killed 3,100 in China.Chinese state media said Xi would be visiting medical workers and patients, as well as inspecting efforts to control the outbreak.His visit came as health officials reported 19 new cases Tuesday, part of a continuing trend of fewer and fewer infections in China as the virus spreads more rapidly in other countries.  About 70% of China’s cases have already recovered.Part of China’s response was to lock down large areas to try to prevent the virus from spreading at large gatherings or among travelers going to other areas in the country.Italy is now taking the same strategy after becoming one of the largest outbreak sites outside of China with more than 9,000 cases and 460 deaths.The Italian government initially put restrictions on the northern part of the country, but Tuesday brought the start of travel restrictions to the entire country of 60 million people.A traveler wears a mask inside Rome’s Termini train station, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a televised address Monday evening that the quarantine measures could be summarized by the phrase “I’m staying home.”In Iran, officials said Tuesday the coronavirus has killed 54 more people, bringing the death toll in the Islamic Republic to 291The head of the World Health Organization said Monday that the coronavirus has gained a foothold in so many countries that “the threat of a pandemic has become very real.”But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced optimism as well, saying it “would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.”Tedros said that with “decisive, early action,” world leaders can slow the advance of the illness and prevent infections. He said that “among those who are infected, most will recover.”In the United States, which has about 600 cases and 26 deaths from the virus, several areas with outbreaks are banning large gatherings, while major universities, including: Stanford, the University of Washington and Ohio State University are holding classes only online.Four members of Congress are self-quarantining after having contact at a recent political conference with someone who has tested positive.  Incoming White House chief of staff Mark Meadows may have had contact and is also isolating himself until Wednesday.President Donald Trump, who spoke at the conference and had contact with several people who had direct contact with the infected person, has not been tested for the coronavirus.President Donald Trump speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, March, 9, 2020.White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement late Monday the president “has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms,” and that White House doctors will monitor him.Elsewhere, Germany reported its first two deaths from coronavirus, but Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against thinking that it is in vain to try to halt the spread of the virus.”We are working for valuable time,” Merkel said, “time in which scientists can research medicines and a vaccine” and governments can stockpile protective gear.French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron took a hand-in-hand walk down Paris’s famed Champs-Elysees boulevard as a message of confidence, but kept a one-meter security distance from other people.”I’m shaking hands using my heart,” he said as he waved at people.
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Ing Chhorvy sits in a two-room condominium in Phnom Penh’s upscale Tuol Kork district. The 38-year-old mother of five is neither the owner of the condo nor does she live there, but the developer wants mortgage payments for the posh unit her cousin owns.Ing Chhorvy is worried about her children’s future after the arrest of her cousin, Ven Rachana, who went by Thai Srey Neang on Facebook and owns the condo.”The important thing is that she is the breadwinner of the family. When she is imprisoned, what else do we have?” said Ing Chhorvy, who lives in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Sangke commune.Ven Rachana sold women’s clothes and cosmetics on a Facebook page called the Thai Srey Neang Online Shop. Every day, she posted pictures of her products or went live on Facebook to sell them.She is one of the many Cambodians who use Facebook, a platform synonymous with the internet in Cambodia, to sell items from food products to medications with almost everything under the sun in between.The sellers can be seen on Facebook working hard to find buyers. They model their products for viewers, answer viewer queries and then direct potential buyers to payment methods.However, on February 18, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a clampdown on female online sellers for dressing too “sexy” while selling their products. The prime minister was speaking at the National Council of Women when he ordered the police to raid the homes of female online retailers, purportedly because they were sullying Khmer culture.”As described in Khmer literature, the Khmer woman must remain virtuous to uphold the image of her family,” Online seller Thai Srey Neang was arrested by National Police of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Feb. 20, 2020. (Courtesy Photo)According to police reports, a day before Ven Rachana’s arrest, she had been summoned to a local police station and “educated” about her clothing choices. The police then had her sign an agreement to refrain from posting “sexy” pictures and videos. In a video posted to Facebook by the police, she apologizes for wearing clothing “which disgraces Khmer traditions” and “affects the honor of Cambodian women,” according to Amnesty International. But that night Ven Rachana resumed her allegedly provocative sales pitches on Facebook, leading to her arrest shortly after. Released hours later, police said Ven Rachna was re-arrested after posting a photo of herself in her underwear hours after being released.Authorities have charged her with pornography under Cambodia’s 1996 Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. They also charged Ven Rachna with exposure of a sex organ under Article 249 of the Criminal Code, according to Amnesty International. She was then sent to pretrial detention in Phnom Penh’s CC2 prison. The combined charges could result in up to 15 months’ imprisonment, according to Amnesty.Van Meta said the family requested leniency for their breadwinner.”We were trying hard to make this request, but they didn’t release her,” said Ven Meta, 42, whose two daughters live with Ven Rachana.Ven Meta said she was worried about mounting expenses, especially outstanding payments for the condominium, which now totaled around $2,000.The condo developers have started “to ask for money, saying that if there is nobody living there or is not paying the money, they will not let us to keep the home,” Ven Meta said, adding that before her arrest, Ven Rachana lived in the condo with the two nieces and two sales assistants.Hun Sen’s order has come under scrutiny from human rights groups. His assertion that “sexily” dressed women were aggravating the issue of sexual exploitation came under fire as a case of “victim-blaming.” Victim-blaming suggests that the victim rather than the perpetrator bears responsibility for an alleged crime. Amnesty International’s Regional Director Nicholas Bequelin said, “These transparently trumped-up charges are an affront to gender equality and make a mockery of the rule of law. The arbitrary nature of Ven Rachna’s arrest and the discriminatory abuse of her freedom of expression represent a troubling regression in the state of women’s rights in Cambodia.”A coalition of women’s rights advocates and groups released a statement February 19 questioning the legal basis to arrest or even educate women for their choice of clothing, and suggestions that women’s appearance in public affected Khmer culture.”Furthermore, there is no deep study to prove that the way of woman dressing clothes is the cause of creating the deficit of social morality,” the statement read.Seng Reasey, executive director of the local rights group, Silaka, questioned how a celebrity could post pictures in a bikini and not upend so-called social morality, but that someone lower on the socioeconomic ladder could be arrested for dressing “sexy” and affecting cultural and societal norms.”When they are celebrities, it seems to be no problem. Or is this done because action is being taken against someone of a different status,” said Seng Reasey, adding that neither the bikini-clad celebrity nor the online seller should face criminal action.Suong Nary, 25, just started her own online business on Facebook, selling products such as lotions. She said she was concerned by Ven Rachana’s arrest and imprisonment but was quick to add that she did not use “sexy” sales tactics on her Facebook page.A successful business “depends on our words and our products, which are the main requirements to make sales,” she said. “I don’t believe that we have to do Facebook Live.”Back in Tuol Kork, Ing Chhorvy is keen for Ven Rachana to be released and resume selling products on Facebook, her mounting economic desperation seemingly making it hard for her to consider that her cousin could go back to jail.  “We hope that there is someone coming to help, so she can be released soon,” she said. “If she comes, we will be able to continue our living because we have many children.”
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A U.N. investigator Monday warned of serious consequences if COVID-19 gains a foothold in North Korea, and urged the government to accept international offers of help to contain the spread of the deadly virus. The investigator submitted a report on the North’s human rights situation to the U.N. Human Rights Council.The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said the lack of freedoms and wide-range abuses in the tightly controlled, highly secretive society run counter to the transparency needed to combat the coronavirus epidemic.Ojea Quintana acknowledges the government’s extensive efforts in preventing an outbreak of this virus inside the North. He warns a widespread infection in North Korea would be devastating for the people as many are malnourished, suffering from stunted growth and are vulnerable to getting sick.  The U.N. official is calling on North Korea to allow full and unimpeded access to medical experts and aid workers and urges the government not to restrict access to vital information. The government in Pyongyang has not publicly disclosed any cases of COVID-19.“Measures to contain and combat the spread of COVID-19, such as lockdowns and quarantines, as well as treatment of patients, should be carried out in strict accordance with human rights standards. Further isolation of the country is not the answer. The international community must respond accordingly and offer medical and scientific assistance,” he said.  People wear masks to protect from a new coronavirus as they walk through the Kwangbok Street in Pyongyang, North Korea, Feb. 26, 2020.The United States and other countries have imposed economic sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear weapons program. Ojea Quintana said sanctions create economic hardships for the people and given the coronavirus crisis, they should be reviewed.The U.N. rapporteur describes the overall human rights situation in North Korea as abysmal.  “Basic freedoms continue to be limited, control and surveillance are pervasive, and the population fears arbitrary arrest and mistreatment, including detention in political prison camps…A recent account refers to frequent deaths of prisoners due to hard labor, lack of food, contagious diseases and overcrowding,” he said.  Ojea Quintana said women are the most abused members of this repressive society. He said women are the primary caretakers of the household and are under pressure to provide money and labor to the government. He said women are vulnerable to threats, imprisonment and sexual abuse from local state officials. Additionally, he said they have no political power or recourse to justice.The North Korean delegation boycotted the U.N. Council session and did not avail itself of its right of reply as the concerned country. 
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Vietnamese authorities vowed Monday to punish anyone concealing sickness after 13 people caught the deadly new coronavirus on a flight to Hanoi, sparking lockdowns and panic-buying in the capital.The Southeast Asian country had previously reported only 16 cases of the virus despite bordering China — the epicenter of the global outbreak — but a cluster of infections was discovered at the weekend among 201 passengers on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Britain.The group were in quarantine Monday and recovering, Vietnam’s health ministry said, with the hospital they were held in placed on lockdown along with several houses and hotels in Hanoi where they had stayed.Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc vowed Monday to “duly punish” those who fail to disclose a coronavirus diagnosis, according to state media.He told a meeting of officials in Hanoi that “we need strong, adequate and immediate measures to effectively stop the source of infection”.Authorities have launched an online tool asking all citizens to declare their health status.”Declaring false information… may be subject to criminal handling,” stated an official notice.A 29-year-old woman on the flight from London was found to be suffering from the disease after returning to Hanoi from a tour of France, Italy and Britain.She is believed to have infected her aunt and driver, forcing authorities to isolate several houses near her home and a private hospital where she first sought treatment.The other patients included Vietnamese, British, Irish and Mexican nationals.A minister on the same flight tested negative for the virus but was also quarantined for 14 days with the group.The health ministry said there may be “more cases to be discovered as a result of close contact” with the first patient.People in the capital were seen panic-buying staple items as the lockdown of the hospital began.The infections bring the country’s total to 30, including a man who returned from South Korea, but more than 18,600 people have been monitored for illness or placed in isolation since early February. No-one has died from the virus.Vietnam has granted limited access to visitors from China and South Korea — another major coronavirus hotspot — since the outbreak began at the start of the year, imposing a 14-day quarantine at government-controlled centers.Several sports and cultural events have been cancelled across the nation, but Vietnam’s inaugural Formula One race is still set to go ahead on April 5 in Hanoi. 
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The coronavirus epidemic prompted China to ban the unregulated trade of wildlife and the consumption of wild animals. Now the World Wildlife Fund (WWW) is calling on Southeast Asia — a key hub of wildlife trafficking and source of contraband for Chinese customers — to follow in China’s footsteps.The environmental group applauded Beijing’s prohibition but said it was not enough. While the exact cause of the coronavirus outbreak is not known, officials believe it may be linked to the human handling of raw wild animal meat.“Southeast Asian countries must learn from China’s example and ban the sales of wild meat for the health of their citizens and to prevent damage to their economies, as is happening currently due to COVID-19,” A. Christy Williams, the WWF International regional director for the Asia Pacific, said. “This means that they must stop the trade from moving into their territories.”He was referring to the fact that in the past, similar prohibitions in China of other products, such as ivory, led traffickers to move their trade into Southeast Asia. In other words, China’s current ban on wild meat could move the trade to its neighbors, which is why WWF Asia Pacific is urging other nations to follow suit with their own bans. It recommended that governments increase market inspections and raise awareness among the public to stop the sale and consumption of wildlife products.From the swine flu to the avian influenza, Asia has had experience with epidemics originating in human contact with animal products.While the concern around the current coronavirus epidemic is primarily about human health, it may also yield the benefit of having fewer animals trafficked. China has long been a major market for animal products such as rhino horn and pangolin skins. Besides wildlife trafficking among Chinese citizens, this has led traffickers to do business in nearby developing nations, which they can use to source animal products or to transfer the products from farther afield.In Vietnam for instance, which shares a land border with China, the environmental groups Education for Nature (ENV), Four Paws International, and World Animal Protection are trying to convince owners to give up their sun bears and Asiatic black bears, whose bile is collected and sold for perceived medicinal benefits in China and elsewhere.“The bear bile industry was once profitable and in-demand,” Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung, the vice director of ENV, said. “However, as more people choose to not buy bear bile, more farmers are asking their bears for forgiveness and giving them better lives at a rescue center.”Her group said that bears have been tortured and that hundreds remain in cages. Vietnam had thousands of bears 15 years ago, a number that has decreased to less than a thousand now because of the bile trafficking, according to Four Paws.Environmental groups in Asia have cited ethical reasons in appealing to people to stop the wildlife trafficking. However with the coronavirus epidemic, the groups are now also appealing to people’s self interest. Past epidemics show that just focusing on the containment of infected individuals is not enough, but there needs to be control over the use of animal products as well, said Ron Ryuji Tsutsui, the chairperson of the WWF CEOs group in the Asia Pacific.The coronavirus has already had some unintended environmental benefits, such as improved air quality in some Asian cities as fewer factories and cars on the road emit less greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Tsutsui hopes that tighter regulatory control of the wildlife trade in the wake of the virus will be good not just for humans but for animals too.“China’s decision to deal with the source of the problem — permanently closing markets and banning the eating of wild meat — is a game changer,” he said of the response to the coronavirus. “All Asian governments need to follow this example in the interest of human health, as well as the conservation of wildlife.”
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International Women’s Day celebrations were held across the world Sunday. But in many countries hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak, a number of events were canceled.
 
In South Korea, which is reporting the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases outside of China, was among the nations calling off public Women’s Day events.
 
“Although we can’t be physically together, our minds for realizing gender equality are stronger than ever,” the country’s gender equality minister Lee Jung-Ok said in a video message.
 
On the same day in South Korea, the new feminist political party announced its launch with an estimated 8,000 signed members.
 
In Italy, which has reported the most deaths from COVID-19 outside of China, a quarter of the country was on lockdown as of Sunday.
 
But in neighboring Spain, Women’s Day events continued as scheduled, as they did in Paris.
 
In China, the epicenter of the COVID-19 virus which originated in the northeastern city of Wuhan, state-run news outlets celebrated the female health workers on the frontlines of the crisis.
 
State-run media outlet Xinhua profiled female laboratory technicians, nurses, and psychological professionals helping those affected by the outbreak to honor International Women’s Day.
 
According to the World Health Organization, roughly 70% of the global health workforce is female. Women make up 70% of the global health workforce. That’s why on #WomensDay, I remind everyone that the world needs 9 million more nurses & midwives to achieve #HealthForAll. 2020 is the year to #SupportNursesAndMidwives & to invest in their education & jobs. pic.twitter.com/ueK07bP5qO
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 8, 2020 In Pakistan, the “aurat march” (women’s march) went ahead as scheduled in the capital of Islamabad, but a number of people were reportedly injured in violent clashes between some 1,000 feminist marchers and conservative marchers holding a “Modesty Walk.”
 
A women’s marathon planned in neighboring India was canceled amid virus fears but women did march in several cities to commemorate International Women’s Day.   Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a number of prominent women would be taking over his social media accounts in honor of the day.Greetings on International Women’s Day! We salute the spirit and accomplishments of our Nari Shakti. As I’d said a few days ago, I’m signing off. Through the day, seven women achievers will share their life journeys and perhaps interact with you through my social media accounts.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 8, 2020
 Protesters in the Philippine capital of Manila burned an effigy of president Rodrigo Duterte, whom they accuse of misogyny.
 
 The theme of International Women’s Day 2020 is “Each for Equality”. “An equal world is an enabled world,” International Women’s Day wrote on their website.
 
 
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Prominent Chinese activist and legal academic Xu Zhiyong, who has urged President Xi Jinping to step down over the coronavirus epidemic and other crises, has been held by authorities in secret detention on a state security charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail, his friends said Sunday.Xu, a former law professor and champion of social equality and the rule of law, was detained Feb. 15. His family found out from Beijing police Saturday, after repeated inquiries, that he has been held on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” said fellow activist Hu Jia and legal academic Teng Biao.They said Xu had been placed in “residential surveillance at a designated location,” a form of solitary detention that can last up to six months in an unknown location without lawyer or family access.Many government critics and human rights lawyers who have been held in such detention have been subjected to torture, sleep deprivation and forced medication in solitary confinement for months before being formally charged and jailed on state security crimes.The authorities are also holding Xu’s girlfriend, Li Qiaochu, on the same charge at a secret location, Hu said.Charges of inciting subversionHu, who has been jailed himself for “inciting subversion,” predicted Xu would be handed a long jail term, probably as long as eight years, because he has been jailed once but continued to push his social campaign New Citizens Movement even after his July 2017 release.Xu served a four-year prison sentence for “assembling a crowd to disrupt order in a public place” for protesting for the rights of China’s internal migrants and his campaign to get officials to release information about their personal assets.“The authorities really hate him, because they wanted to ‘educate’ him and he just wouldn’t change. They want to contain him and undermine his activism so they have been seeking evidence to jail him again,” Hu said.Beijing police refused to comment by phone Sunday.FILE – Xu Zhiyong at a meeting in Beijing.Crack down on free speechXu’s detention is the latest in a crackdown on free speech as China maneuvers to control the narrative on the growing coronavirus epidemic.Xu delivered harsh criticism of Xi in an impassioned essay posted online in early February while hiding from the authorities. He blasted the leader for what he said was Xi’s inability to cope with crises that included the coronavirus epidemic and the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.“You didn’t authorize the truth to be released, and the outbreak turned into a national disaster,” Xu wrote. “Mr. Xi Jinping, please step down.”Xu predicted his bold words would land him in jail yet again.“Seven years ago, I wrote you an open letter hoping that you would lead China towards constitutional democracy … but you jailed me for four years,” he wrote while in hiding. “Now your people are looking for me everywhere, seeking to throw me into jail again.”“Where are you taking China? Do you know? Towards democracy or dictatorship? Modernization or the Cultural Revolution?” Xu wrote.On the runXu has been on the run from state security police since December, after the police started rounding up participants in a secret gathering in the southeastern city of Xiamen in Fujian province. Xu was among about 20 activists and human rights lawyers attending. Xu has been critical of Xi’s policy of maintaining stability at the cost of civil freedom and human rights.Teng, a longtime friend of Xu who started fighting for migrants’ rights with him as Ph.D. graduates in 2003, said Xu’s criticism of the government was an exercise of freedom of speech, which is protected by the Chinese constitution.“But obviously China has no plan to honor this basic freedom … he is highly likely to be given a heavy sentence,” said Teng, who was frequently harassed and detained by the authorities before he moved to the United States in 2014.
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A 38-year-old man in Siem Reap is the first Cambodian diagnosed with the coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced Saturday.The development prompted the Cambodian government’s decision to close schools in the provincial capital for two weeks and cancel a gathering scheduled for next month to celebrate Khmer New Year near the FILE – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen gives flowers to a passenger who disembarked from the MS Westerdam at the port of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Feb. 14, 2020.Earlier this week, Hun Sen asked his government to prepare for the COVID-19 outbreak. The prime minister asked ministries to cut their capital expenditure by half without cutting salaries, and the Finance Ministry set aside $30 million to deal with the epidemic.Hun Sen’s announcements were in stark contrast to his earlier attempts to downplay the viral outbreak.In January, he urged Cambodians stranded in China to remain and help fight the virus. In early February, Hun Sen traveled to China to meet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.  Several weeks later, he handed flowers to passengers disembarking in Sihanoukville from a cruise ship after Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Guam had barred the ship, even though the Holland America Line said no cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed among its 1,455 passengers and 802 crew members.
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About 30 people remained trapped early Sunday after a five-story hotel being used for coronavirus quarantine collapsed in the southeast Chinese port city of Quanzhou, state media said.About four hours after the collapse, the Quanzhou municipality said 38 of the 70 or so people who had been in the Quanzhou Xinjia Hotel had been rescued.A video stream posted by the government-backed Beijing News site showed rescue workers in orange overalls clambering over rubble and twisted steelwork carrying people towards ambulances.The hotel collapsed at about 7:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) on Saturday evening.”I was at a gas station and heard a loud noise. I looked up and the whole building collapsed. Dust was everywhere, and glass fragments were flying around,” a witness said in a video posted on the Miaopai streaming app.”I was so terrified that my hands and legs were shivering.”A woman named only by her surname, Chen, told the Beijing News website that relatives including her sister had been under quarantine at the hotel as prescribed by local regulations after returning from Hubei province, where the coronavirus emerged.She said they had been scheduled to leave soon after completing their 14 days of isolation.”I can’t contact them, they’re not answering their phones, she said.”I’m under quarantine too (at another hotel) and I’m very worried, I don’t know what to do. They were healthy, they took their temperatures every day, and the tests showed that everything was normal.”The municipality said 36 emergency rescue vehicles such as cranes and excavators, 67 firefighting vehicles, 15 ambulances, and more than 700 firefighters, medical and other rescue workers were at the scene as the operation stretched into the night.Quanzhou is a port city on the Taiwan Strait in the province of Fujian with a population of more than 8 million.The official People’s Daily said the hotel had opened in June 2018 with 80 rooms.Beijing News’ video stream was viewed by more than 2 million Weibo users on Saturday evening, and the hotel’s collapse was the top trending topic on the Weibo site, China’s close equivalent to Twitter.Some users demanded a investigation into how the hotel could have collapsed.Anger has been building up against the authorities in China over their early handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 3,300 people globally, most of them in China.The Fujian provincial government said that as of Friday, the province had 296 cases of coronavirus and 10,819 people had been placed under observation after being classified as suspected close contacts.The official Xinhua News Agency said the committee responsible for working safety under the State Council, China’s cabinet, had sent an emergency working team to the site. 
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After months of cooling tensions, Japan and South Korea may be on the verge of another row, this time, over the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.South Korea sent out a foreboding omen Friday after Japan said it would quarantine travelers from South Korea or China. South Korea’s National Security Council called the decision “unreasonable, excessive and extremely regrettable,” adding it would consider reciprocal measures.South Korea now has the second-largest outbreak in the world, with at least 6,767 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 45 deaths as of mid-afternoon Saturday. Meanwhile, Japan has more than 1,000 cases between its mainland and the Princess Diamond cruise ship. The nations, however, have taken different approaches in handling their outbreaks — South Korea has tested its citizens for COVID-19 aggressively compared to Japan, using thousands of kits more per day.In Japan, chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga called the travel curbs decision “result of a comprehensive review of the information available about the situation in other countries and the effects of other measures.”Although several other nations have banned the entry of South Korean travelers, Japan’s move likely hit a nerve with Seoul because of already-existing, unresolved conflicts between the two countries.An empty departures are is pictured at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, March 4, 2020.A dispute broke out between the two countries last year after Tokyo restricted exports of three products used in South Korean electronics on national security grounds.  Many in South Korea saw the export restrictions as retaliation for a South Korean Supreme Court order that a Japanese company compensate living Korean victims of forced labor during Japan’s World War II occupation of the Korean peninsula, and boycotted Japanese products.”I think we have to see this in context of very poor bilateral relations between the two countries,” said Peter Ward, a researcher on the North Korean economy. “The imposition of trade sanctions, the boycott in South Korea, the forced labor disputes … It has to be seen in that context.”Although the boycotts have died down, Japan’s decision to quarantine South Korean travelers may be provoking old strife.”Put it this way: If another country that was not Japan had outlined such measures, I’m not sure that South Korea would have been so quick to respond the way they have,” Ward said.”It is regrettable that a public health threat that knows no borders is complicated by nationalist politics,” said Leif Eric-Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.Ultimately, he said, “the need and opportunities for cooperation regarding COVID-19 should outweigh the points of friction.” 
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