China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to three people familiar with the situation. The trip by the Chinese ... ( read original story ...)
Re-Opening Politics, North Korea’s Future Draw Scrutiny: Weekend Reads
How and when to ease lockdowns to fight the coronavirus — along with government efforts to ramp up testing capacity — were the key questions across the globe this week as the pandemic spread.In the U. ( read original story ...)
Five Years After Nepal’s Quake, Lockdown Stops Reconstruction
The coronavirus epidemic has not only put Nepal's people and economy in lockdown for a month, but also stopped the slow and desperately needed reconstruction of homes and other buildings devastated by ... ( read original story ...)
Malaysia Sees 2.4 Billion Ringgit a Day of Losses From Lockdown
Malaysia estimates 2.4 billion ringgit ( $550 million) of losses each day from businesses remaining shut due to movement restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The government has ... ( read original story ...)
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court ends flogging as punishment
The General Assembly of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has decided to end flogging as punishment in disciplinary cases, according to a document cited by local media. ( read original story ...)
Saudi Arabia Abolishes Flogging as a Punishment for Crime
The most high-profile flogging in recent years was of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in 2014 on charges of “insulting” Islam. ( read original story ...)
Saudi Arabia to end flogging as a form of punishment
Form of corporal punishment will be replaced by jail terms, fines or a mixture of both ... ( read original story ...)
Saudi Arabia is responsible for the slow death of the kingdom’s Nelson Mandela
Hamid, Saudi Arabia’s most prominent intellectual and activist, is gone. Two weeks ago, al-Hamid, collapsed and slipped into a coma in prison. For weeks, he had been denied a long-overdue cardiac ... ( read original story ...)
Rouhani Says Iran Should Assume Worst-Case Coronavirus Scenario
Iran should draw up economic plans based on a worst-case scenario of nearly a year of disruptions due to the coronavirus, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, as the death toll from the disease ... ( read original story ...)
Ramadan Begins In Iran Amid Fears Of ‘Fresh Outbreak’ Of Virus
Ramadan began in Iran on Saturday as health officials raised fears of a "fresh outbreak" of coronavirus cases in the country, two weeks into a gradual reopening of shops. As the predominantly Shiite ... ( read original story ...)