How prepared was Japan for the pandemic, and how well can it medically adapt to the emergency going forward?

Anyone with four days of mild cold symptoms is now being encouraged to consult a public health center about getting tested.

On Thursday, this newspaper reported that an inter-ministerial committee was to table before Cabinet a framework paper on a strict post-lockdown transport sector plan where public transport vehicles will face 42 days of extended lockdown in a bid to decongest the city. When approved, the new rules will compel passenger vehicles to be taken for inspection every after six months, at the owner’s cost, and there will be compulsory registration of all boda boda cyclists.

But this is also the time for us to refocus on farming as a national economic activity. Throughout the lockdown farmers have continued to work in their fields

Covid-19: In discussions about resuscitating the economy, the provision of cheap credit to the working poor has hardly featured. Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi explores some of the measures the government can employ to help out this class of businesses.

[Dalsan Radio] The African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM, expresses its heartfelt condolences to the families of those who perished in the plane crash of 4th May, 2020. The aircraft which left Baidoa, had six people on board and was approaching Bardale, south of Somalia and 300km northwest of the capital Mogadishu when it crashed.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are meeting in the Department of Agriculture to try to resolve their significant differences on housing, public transport and the environment, writes Sandra Hurley.

There is a long way to go before the Covid-19 crisis ends. Hong Kong and a few other places seem to have suppressed community transmission. But in much of the world, the virus still claims new victims every day.Some experts believe the global pandemic could continue for another two years before it is brought under control with testing, contact tracing, therapy and perhaps a vaccine.It is hard to see international travel and trade returning to normal anytime this year. Worldwide, unemployment…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally received the support of a majority of lawmakers to lead a new government on Thursday, paving the way for a controversial power-sharing deal with rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz.Later in the day, Israel’s figurehead president, Reuven Rivlin, assigned Netanyahu the task of forming a government within two weeks, after he received the signatures of 72 lawmakers endorsing the Likud party leader as prime minister.Israel’s parliament, the Knesset,…

The Philippines’ top broadcaster ABS-CBN on Tuesday was ordered off the air over a stalled operating licence renewal, drawing fresh charges that authorities were cracking down on press freedom.Since running afoul of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, the media powerhouse has seen bills to extend its franchise languish in Congress as the leader repeatedly attacked ABS-CBN in speeches.Duterte is notorious for tangling with media outlets critical of his policies, sparking concern that press…

As governments across the world scramble to roll out containment plans to stem the spread of the coronavirus, a survey has found most people are unimpressed with their leaders’ responses to the pandemic.Political leaders from China, Vietnam and New Zealand were ranked highly by their citizens in the survey of 23 economies, scoring 86, 82 and 67 respectively while those in France, Hong Kong and Japan came in last, scoring 14, 11 and 5.When it came to overall scores – a measure taking into…

Australia’s economy has become too reliant on China as a result of a government push for domestic industry to maximise exports to the world’s second largest economy, industry submissions to a government inquiry say.Business groups also singled out Australian government policies, including management of bilateral relationships with Indonesia and India, as hurting access to alternative markets.While some Australian export industries are not reliant on demand from China, companies like those in…

Malaysia’s politics took another dramatic turn on Friday ahead of its first parliamentary sitting in months as the speaker of the house accepted a motion by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to launch a no-confidence vote against his replacement, Muhyiddin Yassin.Mahathir, however, has conceded that he does not believe he has the numbers required to command the majority support of parliament, claiming that Muhyiddin had won over supporters by giving them government roles. “Maybe we will…

Malaysia’s on-again-off-again political partners Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim said “it’s time” to restore an election mandate that they won two years ago, issuing a statement together for the first time since internal bickering in February led to the collapse of their ruling coalition. The two leaders – now in the opposition – said the current government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wasn’t the choice of voters at ballot boxes and does not have a mandate to rule. The statement…

Prague Daily Monitor

The Czech political parties are promising more efficient offices, mainly through digitalization. The proposed law for a faster and more effective state originally came from the Starostové a nezávislí party (STAN). Since then ANO and ČSSD have pledged to fulfill the goals of the Digital Česko plan. ODS and the Pirates also have digitalization as part of their platform.

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The production of reusable masks for all Hongkongers was not for profit, a government official said as she revealed the manufacturer’s identity and defended the lack of a public tender for the project worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Annie Choi Suk-han, permanent secretary of the Innovation and Technology Bureau, said most of the masks were being made by Crystal International Group at a facility in Vietnam.The rest were assembled, disinfected and packed using three local facilities offered…

The High Court has thrown out a Hong Kong resident’s challenge to his quarantine status, dismissing his application for a writ of habeas corpus over his mandatory isolation at a government-run facility.Accountant Syed Agha Raza Shah, who tested negative for Covid-19 upon his return, was sent to the Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan for a 14-day stay after returning from Pakistan via Qatar with about 200 other Hong Kong residents on April 29.On Thursday, he applied for a writ of habeas corpus…

After almost three months of hectic preparation, Denis Huen Yin-fan’s Hong Kong factory started delivering masks to customers last week to help protect them against the Covid-19 pandemic.Just as the supplies began reaching his clients, the Hong Kong government announced it will be distributing reusable and disposable masks to all households, free of charge, within weeks.Every household will receive reusable masks that can be washed up to 60 times, as well as a pack of 10 disposable masks.1.5…

Hong Kong recorded zero new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, as a government adviser suggested that border control measures between the city and Macau could be the first to be lifted.It was also the 20th day in a row without any local infections, although a handful of imported cases over the past week had taken Hong Kong’s tally to 1,044 with four related deaths.Health experts earlier raised the prospect of Hong Kong being declared free of local transmission if there were no such cases after 28 days…

A revised bailout plan will be proposed by the Hong Kong government very soon to save Ocean Park from running out of cash as early as in June, the Post has learned.Two sources said that a HK$10.6 billion (US$1.35 billion) proposal tabled in January would not go ahead with officials unveiling an alternative on Monday at the earliest, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the theme park on Southern district to shut down temporarily.On Friday night, the legislature’s Finance Committee announced that…

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling on governments and leaders around the world to ensure that their respective lockdown measurements don’t end up causing harm to people by those enforcing the lockdowns.   “Emergency powers should not be a weapon governments can wield to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate […]

The post Governments Cautioned Not to Use COVID-19 Lockdown to Cause Harm appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The finance ministry has slashed €367 million from public expenditure as part of a revision of the 2020 state budget amid the coronavirus crisis. The government savings were passed by the Council of Ministers. Giorgos Panteli, permanent secretary of the finance ministry, told the Cyprus News Agency that the savings...

The post Coronavirus: Government slashes spending by €367 million appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

  The agriculture ministry on Saturday rubbished a report by daily Phileleftheros suggesting two fire-fighting aircraft leased by Cyprus through EU co-funding were going to be based at RAF Akrotiri following pressure from Turkey. Citing credible unnamed sources directly involved in the matter, Phileleftheros said Turkey did not want the...

The post Government denies Turkish pressure over aircraft on British bases appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

Get to work on a bike - European governments work to put in place wider and more cycle paths

Performance assessments help people in Southeast Asia determine how well their government is performing and how they can be improved.

Artificial intelligence could be enormously beneficial to society, and it could also lead to catastrophe. Governments can play a role determining the outcome of AI’s development.

NEW DELHI: Since the election results were announced last week — handing out a clear mandate to the Narendra Modi-led BJP — real estate brokers across the country have been prodding buyers to book their dream homes fast, since with a stable government on the cards, builders could increase prices any time soon. Business for thousands of brokers has been thin over the last year or so as negative sentiment engulfed the market and home sales tanked. Investors fled and genuine home buyers waited anxiously to see if a new stable government can infuse life into the economy. “It might just be a case of brokers trying to perk up […]

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government is set to substantially ease norms for foreign investment in the construction sector, hoping to drum up interest in the prime minister’s plans for 100 smart cities as well his affordable housing initiative. The government is seriously considering the removal of all restrictions on size and minimum capitalisation for the smart cities as well as affordable housing projects. “The discussions are on for exempting smart cities from all FDI conditionalities. We need to give them a push by making it attractive for investors,” said a government official. The new policy is also expected to provide easier exit windows.The proposal could be moved for the […]

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel in a show of support for the new coalition government, resuming travel after a coronavirus suspension, the State Department announced Friday.

While the the stock markets, the corporate world and a large section of the country’s citizens are celebrating the election verdict, 45-year-old Shailesh Singh, a Delhi-based executive, is a worried man. Singh has been hunting for an apartment in the National Capital Region (NCR) for the past six months but has not been able to zero in on one. Now he is afraid that in the euphoria generated by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) decisive victory, real estate prices may start rising again, making his purchase more expensive. Why prices won’t move up Singh’s worries might be premature. Realty experts are of the view that while there might be some […]

NEW DELHI: Low-cost housing, which found several mentions in BJP’s 2014 election manifesto, is likely to get infrastructure status, making it easier for real-estate developers to get finance from banks and for longer tenures, and eventually increasing the supply of houses. While developers are in favour of an infrastructure tag to the housing sector as a whole, the government is likely to grant it only to the low-cost segment, said a senior government official, who did not wish to be named. According to government definition, low-cost houses are those with an area of up to 40 sq metres. BJP’s manifesto talks about rolling out a massive low-cost housing programme to […]

The dust has settled on the elections drama and the BJP is now firmly in the driver’s seat. By and large, this is being seen as the best possible news for the Indian real estate sector – and rightly so. Narendra Modi has the business mind-set, background and also determination which are called for to bring India’s entire economy back on track. What the real estate sector now awaits is his policy approach to the issue of housing in India. Now, as the country stands poised on the verge of a major change in economic climate, it is a good time to reflect on why boosting the housing sector is […]

Thousands of cyclists took over streets in the center of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana on Friday evening to protest against the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa and the restrictions it has imposed to fight the coronavirus.

Thousands of cyclists took over streets in the center of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana on Friday evening to protest against the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa and the restrictions it has imposed to fight the coronavirus.

Our increased reliance on the internet and smart tech means we are watched more than ever before. Is that something to fight – or is our concept of privacy just outdated?

The UK government has refused to say how many covid-19 contact tracers it has employed, with less than three weeks to go until its target of recruiting 18,000 of them by mid-May

Chinese telecomms firm Huawei will be allowed to provide technology for key parts of the UK's super-fast 5G infrastructure, prime minister Boris Johnson has said, despite opposition from the US

"This government has failed to show any self-criticism whatsoever, when it is glaringly obvious to everybody that big mistakes have been made."

SCOTLAND’S Economy Secretary has penned a letter to the UK Government venting her frustration at being given “insufficient time” to consider workplace safety proposals.