International

Filming the sequel of James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster ‘Avatar’ will bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars to New Zealand after it ended its coronavirus outbreak, the film's producer told media as production resumed on Monday. The film's crew, including director Cameron and producer Jon Landau, was given special permission to fly to New Zealand two weeks ago, even though its borders are closed to keep out the coronavirus, stirring some grumbling about unfair treatment. But Landau said New Zealand had much to gain. ‘This one production alone is going to hire 400 New Zealanders to work on it,’ Landau told 1News after coming out of a hotel in Wellington where he and his colleagues have been in quarantine since they arrived. ‘We're going to spend, in the next five months alone, over $70 million here,’ he said. Filming was suspended in March, shortly before New Zealand went into a strict coronavirus lockdown. The lockdown smothered the outbreak and last week, New Zealand lifted all restrictions except border controls after declaring it was free of the virus, one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-pandemic normality. Cameron, Landau and dozens of crew members working on the ‘Avatar’ sequel were allowed back on economic grounds, which critics said was unfair while families are still separated and businesses are struggling without key staff. The film is among a handful of productions getting going in New Zealand, which hopes to win more film business after its successful campaign against the coronavirus. ‘The opportunities are immense,’ Landau said. ‘We are just the wedge in the door that hopefully unlocks a lot for the economy.’ New Zealand's mountains, meadows and forests were made famous by ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and have drawn a growing number of major film productions over recent years.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who turned 45 on Monday, said he and his family had tested positive for the new coronavirus and that he would be working from home. Pashinyan, said in video message posted on Facebook that his "coronavirus test was positive yesterday" and that his wife and four children were also infected. He did not have any "visible symptoms" and would be working from home "to the best of my ability", Pashinyan added in the clip he recorded himself. The ex-Soviet republic with a population of around three million people has registered 9,492 coronavirus cases and 139 deaths. COVID-19 patients have overwhelmed hospitals and health officials last week said that intensive care beds could be soon reserved for patients with the best chance of survival. Health Minister Arsen Torosyan has said that out of 186 intensive care units in the country reserved for virus patients, only 32 are empty and those would soon be filled. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Pashinyan to congratulate him on his birthday and to offer "words of support" for a speedy recovery, the Kremlin said. Pashinyan's announcement came nearly one month after Armenia lifted a state of emergency imposed in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He has acknowledged failings in his government's coronavirus response including efforts to enforce anti-virus measures. He told a cabinet meeting several days ago that "false rumours that the pandemic is a fiction" were to blame for widespread quarantine violations. "People don't believe that the virus exists, because 70 percent of cases are asymptomatic," he said. Analysts said conspiracy theories and disinformation on social media had undermined government efforts to fight the outbreak. "Quarantine didn't work in Armenia," virologist Nuneh Bakunts told AFP, because people believed disinformation and so didn't "take the threat seriously." An investigation by the UK-based website openDemocracy revealed that controversial local news portal Medmedia.am had been spreading "incredibly dangerous" virus disinformation. Medmedia.am reported the pandemic was fake and falsely claimed that a local morgue offered money to a dead patient's relatives to sign documents saying the death was caused by the coronavirus, openDemocracy said. The pandemic has badly impacted the poor ex-Soviet country. The economy grew by 7.6 percent last year but the International Monetary Fund has forecast GDP to fall by 1.5 percent in 2020. Armenia's central bank has said all sectors of the economy will suffer, especially tourism and construction. In March, the government came up with an economic stimulus package worth $303 million (277 million euros), offering enterprises direct financial aid and a three-month tax holiday, among other measures. Pashinyan was elected prime minister in the wake of mass popular protests he led two years ago against veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian and his Republican Party. He has since led a relentless crusade against graft and initiated sweeping judicial reforms.

Tropical Storm Amanda triggered flash floods, landslides and power outages as it barrelled through El Salvador and Guatemala Sunday, killing 14 people, authorities said, warning of further heavy rain to come. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared a 15-day state of emergency to cope with the effects of the storm, which he estimated to have caused $200 million in damage, but which weakened later in the day as it moved into Guatemala. Amanda, the first named storm of the season in the Pacific, unleashed torrents of floodwater that tossed vehicles around like toys and damaged about 200 homes, the head of the Civil Protection Service William Hernandez said. The fatalities were all recorded in El Salvador, Interior Minister Mario Duran said, warning that the death toll could rise. One person is still missing, senior government official Carolina Recinos added. ‘We are experiencing an unprecedented situation: one top-level emergency on top of another serious one,’ San Salvador mayor Ernesto Muyshondt said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic. He added that half of those killed died in the capital, and that 4,200 people had sought refuge in government-run shelters after losing their homes or being forced to leave because they were in high-risk areas. In some flooded areas, soldiers worked alongside emergency personnel to rescue people. ‘We lost everything, we've been left with nowhere to live,’ said Isidro Gomez, a resident of hard-hit southeastern San Salvador, after a nearby river overflowed and destroyed his home. Another victim, Mariano Ramos, said that at dawn residents of his San Salvador neighborhood were slammed by an avalanche of mud and water. An elderly man died in the area, officials said. El Salvador's environment ministry warned residents of the ‘high probability’ of multiple landslides that could damage buildings and injure or kill people. Nearly 90 percent of El Salvador's 6.6 million people are considered vulnerable to flooding and landslides due to its geography. In neighboring Guatemala, officials said roads had been blocked by at least five landslides and some flooding was reported, but no evacuations were underway. Even though Amanda weakened to tropical depression status, Guatemalan officials warned that heavy rain would continue, with swollen rivers and possible ‘landslides affecting highways ... and flooding in coastal areas.’

Antarctica conjures images of an unbroken white wilderness but blooms of algae are giving parts of the frozen continent an increasingly green tinge. Warming temperatures due to climate change are helping the formation and spread of ‘green snow’ and it is becoming so prolific in places that it is even visible from space, according to new research published on Wednesday. While the presence of algae in Antarctica was noted by long-ago expeditions, such as the one undertaken by British explorer Ernest Shackleton, its full extent was unknown. Now, using data collected over two years by the European Space Agency's Sentinel 2 satellite, together with on-the-ground observations, a research team from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have created the first map of the algae blooms on the Antarctic Peninsula coast. ‘We now have a baseline of where the algal blooms are and we can see whether the blooms will start increasing as the models suggest in the future,’ Matt Davey of the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences told Reuters. Mosses and lichens are considered the dominant photosynthetic organisms in Antarctica - but the new mapping found 1,679 separate algal blooms that are a key component in the continent's ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ‘The algal blooms in Antarctica are equivalent to about the amount of carbon that's being omitted by 875,000 average UK petrol car journeys,’ Davey said. ‘That seems a lot but in terms of the global carbon budget, it's insignificant. ‘It does take up carbon from the atmosphere but it won't make any serious dent in the amount of carbon dioxide being put in the atmosphere at the moment.’ Green is not the only splash of colour in Antarctica. Researchers are now planning similar studies on red and orange algae, although that is proving harder to map from space.

Uzbek authorities on Sunday launched a criminal probe after a major dam burst, prompting the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from flooded homes there and in Kazakhstan. The wall of the Sardoba reservoir dam in eastern Uzbekistan burst early on Friday and at least 70,000 people have been evacuated. More than 50 people were hospitalised. Over 600 homes in southern Kazakhstan have also been flooded. Uzbekistan's state prosecutor said on Sunday that a criminal case had been opened into ‘official negligence’ and construction violations. Construction of the Sardoba dam began in 2010 under the supervision of current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who was prime minister at the time. It was completed in 2017. Mirziyoyev on Friday flew to the region, which saw strong winds and rains prior to the collapse of the dam, in order to oversee the evacuation and cleanup operation. Officials in Kazakhstan's southern Turkestan region, where more than 5,000 people have been evacuated so far, criticised Uzbekistan for not providing timely information on the status of flood control Saturday. ‘We have a copy of our correspondence with the Uzbek side, that as of (8 pm on Friday) the situation was stable and there were no problems,’ said Saken Kalkamanov, deputy governor of the Turkestan region. ‘They said that not a drop of water would reach Maktaraal district,’ he said, referring to the area where the flood hit. ‘Nevertheless, what happened has happened.’ The administration of the Turkestan region estimated that the floods caused crop damage worth more than $400,000 -- mostly to the cotton, which is grown throughout the Central Asian region.

Kazakh airlines made their first regular domestic flights in more than a month on Friday, with rows of passengers seated alongside empty middle seats, after the vast Central Asian nation eased coronavirus lockdown rules. Kazakhstan's 19 million people are spread across a country the size of Western Europe and many people rely on flights to travel between family and work. The first route to reopen was the 90-minute flight between the biggest city Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan, three domestic carriers - Air Astana, SCAT, Qazaq Air - said, adding that other routes would follow from Monday. Passengers were required to present certificates confirming they had tested negative for COVID-19, which are valid for a week, and undergo temperature checks at the airport. Airlines must leave empty seats between passengers, who must wear protective masks, the carriers said, citing new rules. SCAT said the arrangement reduced the number of seats available by 30%, and Friday's return flight operated at 62% of capacity. Kazakhstan has confirmed more than 3,500 cases of the disease and 25 deaths. A state of emergency will continue until at least May 11, but businesses including banks, logistics firms and factories were allowed to reopen on Tuesday. International flights remain suspended apart from special ones bringing home Kazakhs stranded abroad. Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air became one of the first European airlines to restart routes on Friday, with flights between London's Luton airport and the Bulgarian capital Sofia. 

A deadly Pacific storm slammed into Fiji on Wednesday, tearing off roofs and flooding towns, after leaving a trail of destruction in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Tropical Cyclone Harold weakened slightly overnight from a scale-topping Category Five to a Four, but was still lashing Fiji with winds of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour), forecasters said. The official NaDraki weather service said the cyclone was offshore south of Fiji's main island Viti Levu, but passing closer to land than initially expected. Despite the downgrade, it said Harold remained ‘extremely dangerous’ as it barrels eastward, threatening further damage in Tonga early Thursday. Images on social media showed extensive damage at Nausori, just outside the Fijian capital Suva, with corrugated iron roofs peeled back by the ferocious winds. The main street of Ba, in the island's north, was submerged after the local river burst its banks. ‘Emergency authorities are the only personnel allowed to travel, all Fijians should stay indoors,’ Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said. ‘There are a number of reports of winds whipping up flying debris in the Suva area. It can be deadly. Keep yourself indoors and out of harm's way.’ The National Disaster Management Office said residents along much of the south coast, home to many of the country's major tourist resorts, should evacuate. NDMO director Vasiti Soko said 85 evacuation centres had been set up and officials were attempting to maintain social distancing to ensure COVID-19 did not spread among those fleeing the cyclone. Fiji has 15 cases of the coronavirus, with all known sufferers in quarantine before the cyclone hit. - Town 'obliterated' - Harold claimed 27 lives in the Solomon Islands last week, and on Tuesday ripped through Vanuatu, destroying much of the country's second-largest town Luganville. World Vision's Vanuatu director Kendra Gates Derousseau said an aerial survey carried out by disaster officials late Tuesday showed the town of Melsisi on Pentecost island had also been devastated. ‘We've done some programming there in the past, so I can recognise the landmarks -- you can see that 90 percent of all buildings are obliterated, is the term I'd use,’ she told AFP. A massive international aid effort was launched after the last Category Five storm to hit Vanuatu, Cyclone Pam in 2015, flattened the capital Port Vila. But Vanuatu's international borders are currently closed as the impoverished Pacific nation bids to remain one of the world's few places with no confirmed COVID-19 cases. The government has revoked a domestic travel ban imposed as part of its virus response, which will allow disaster relief to flow from Port Vila to the worst-hit islands in the north. New Zealand deployed a P-3 Orion aircraft to help with damage assessments and allocated NZ$500,000 ($300,000) in aid funding for essential supplies. Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Wellington would provide further assistance if requested by Vanuatu. ‘We are aware that the government of Vanuatu is running a 'keep it out' strategy, and we will give serious consideration to ensure that any response to the cyclone does not lead to the spread of COVID-19 to Vanuatu,’ he said. The cyclone formed off the Solomons last week, where it washed dozens of passengers from an inter-island ferry into the sea. It was initially expected to only reach Category Three. Latest forecasts say it will brush past Tonga early Thursday, still at Category Four strength, before petering out over the sea by the weekend. Tonga's Fua'amotu Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said some coastal areas should expect to be pounded by massive six-metre (20-foot) swells. Its arrival coincides with a high tide and flood warnings were in place for much of the kingdom.

A deadly Pacific cyclone intensified as it hit Vanuatu on Monday, threatening a natural disaster that experts fear will undermine the impoverished Pacific nation's battle to remain coronavirus-free. Tropical Cyclone Harold, which claimed 27 lives when it swept through the Solomon Islands last week, strengthened to a scale-topping category five superstorm overnight, Vanuatu's meteorology service said. The cyclone is now packing winds of up to 235 kilometres per hour (145 mph), prompting red alerts across several provinces. It made landfall on the remote east coast of Espiritu Santo island on Monday morning and was heading directly for Vanuatu's second-largest town Luganville, which has a population of 16,500. The slow-moving storm is expected to pass north of the capital Port Vila early Tuesday. Officials warned residents in the nation of 300,000 to expect flash flooding and said ships should stay in port or risk facing huge swells. Another concern is the impact a large natural disaster could have on Vanuatu's attempts to remain one of the world's few countries without any reported COVID-19 infections. Vanuatu has virtually sealed its international borders to avoid the virus but emergency measures such bans on public meetings have been temporarily suspended to allow people to gather in evacuation centres. ‘The focus was more on COVID-19 and now we have moved our focus to preparedness for the cyclone,’ Vanuatu Red Cross disaster coordinator Augustine Garae told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ‘We understand that some people in some communities are not really well prepared.’ - Widespread destruction - A major international relief effort was needed the last time a category-five system, Cyclone Pam, hit Vanuatu in 2015. If a similar operation were needed in the wake of Cyclone Harold it would run the risk of importing the virus to a nation that lacks the health infrastructure to deal with even a mild outbreak. ‘There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Vanuatu, but a significant disaster at this time could present serious logistical challenges to delivering life-saving aid,’ Oxfam's Vanuatu director Elizabeth Faerua said. Cyclone Pam flattened Port Vila, killed 11 people and left a swath of destruction that the World Bank estimated wiped out almost two-thirds of Vanuatu's economic capacity. The latest storm Harold has already caused widespread damage in the Solomon Islands, where an inter-island ferry ignored weather warnings and 27 people were washed off its decks. Solomons police said Sunday that the bodies of five passengers from the MV Taimareho had been recovered and the search would resume the next day. ‘I would like to thank everyone... involved in the search for the missing 27 people so far as we try as much as possible to find the bodies so their grieving relatives can give them a proper burial,’ chief superintendent Richard Menapi said. The ferry set off from Honiara for Malaita island on Thursday night, packed with more than 700 people as part of a government evacuation programme in response to the virus crisis.

At least 28 ferry passengers were swept overboard in a powerful storm off the Solomon Islands, reports said Saturday, with the captain unaware he had lost anyone until the boat docked. The passengers were heading from the capital Honiara to West Are'are, more than 120 kilometres (75 miles) away, under a government programme to evacuate people to their home villages during the global coronavirus epidemic. The MV Taimareho set sail on Thursday night as tropical cyclone Harold bore down on the Solomons, and with weather forecasters warning against any unnecessary voyages. But the captain ignored advice not to sail, the nation's leader said, as survivors reported dozens of people were swept overboard by huge waves and strong winds. Local media put the death toll at 28. But police said it was impossible to verify the number. ‘Initial reports say the captain of the boat had no knowledge of the missing people until he was informed when the boat arrived at her destination at Are'are,’ police marine department chief Charles Fox Sau said. ‘At this stage we cannot confirm how many people are missing as the investigation into this sad incident continues.’ In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Manasseh Sovagare said a search and rescue operation was under way. ‘It is with deep regret to learn that a number of passengers are missing at sea after being washed overboard from a passenger vessel which departed ... from Honiara, despite the several weather warnings issued,’ he said. Disaster authorities in the Solomons, which has limited healthcare facilities, have been stretched as they prepared for the impact of coronavirus while the region was being battered by tropical cyclone Harold. The island nation, with a population of just over 600,000, is one of a dwindling number of countries where there have been no reported coronavirus cases so far. Harold, packing winds of up to 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph), downed trees and damaged homes before heading away and was expected to intensify before reaching Vanuatu late Sunday. Although the government has not yet completed a damage assessment, Australia has donated Aus$100,000 (US$60,000) in immediate emergency funding.

A coronavirus-free tropical island nestled in the northern Pacific may seem the perfect place to ride out a pandemic -- but residents on Palau say life right now is far from idyllic. The microstate of 18,000 people is among a dwindling number of places on Earth that still report zero cases of Covid-19 as figures mount daily elsewhere. The disparate group also includes Samoa, Turkmenistan, North Korea and bases on the frozen continent of Antarctica. A dot in the ocean hundreds of kilometres from its nearest neighbours, Palau is surrounded by the vast Pacific, which has acted as a buffer against the virus. Along with strict travel restrictions, this seems to have kept infections at bay for a number of nations including Tonga, the Solomons Islands, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. But remoteness is not certain to stop the relentless march of the new disease. The Northern Mariana Islands confirmed its first cases over the weekend, followed by a suspected death on Monday. Klamiokl Tulop, a 28-year-old artist and single mum, is hopeful Palau can avoid the fate of Wuhan, New York or Madrid -- where better-resourced health services were overrun. But she describes a growing sense of dread, a fear that the virus is coming or could already be on the island undetected. "You can feel a rising tension and anxiety just shopping," she told AFP. "Stores are crowded even more during non-payday weeks." There have been several scares on Palau, including a potential case that saw one person placed into quarantine this week as authorities await test results. Inside Australia's four remote Antarctic research bases, around 90 people have found themselves ensconced on the only virus-free continent as they watch their old home transform beyond recognition. There is no need for social distancing in the tundra. "They're probably the only Australians at the moment that can have a large dinner together or have the bar still open or the gym still open," Antarctic Division Operations manager Robb Clifton told AFP. The bases are now isolated until November, so the group is safe, but Clifton admits "the main thing that's on the mind of expeditioners is how their loved ones are going back home." In some places, reporting no cases does not always mean there are no cases to report. North Korea has portrayed emergency measures as an unqualified success in keeping COVID-19 out, despite sustained epidemics in neighbouring China and South Korea. But state media also appears to have doctored images to give ordinary North Koreans face masks -- handing sceptics reason to believe the world's most secretive government may not be telling the whole truth. While Palau has no confirmed cases, it has still been gripped by the society-altering fears and economic paralysis that have affected the rest of the world. Supermarket aisles in the country's largest town Koror have seen panic buying and there are shortages of hand sanitisers, masks and alcohol. The islands depend heavily on goods being shipped or flown in, meaning supplies can quickly run low. United Airlines used to fly six times a week from nearby Guam -- which has seen more than 50 cases -- but now there is just one flight a week. "Look at how bad we coped when shipments were late before this pandemic happened," Tulop said. "Everyone was practically in uproar." Residents have been practising social distancing. Doctors are waiting for test kits to arrive from Taiwan. The government is building five isolation rooms that will be able to hold up to 14 patients. It all feels like waiting for the inevitable. "I would like to be optimistic we won't get the virus," Tulop said. "But Palau would most definitely get it. We rely heavily on tourism and most of us even need to travel for work." Rondy Ronny's job is to host big tourist events, but work has already dried up, and he admits to being "very anxious". "I have loans and bills and payments due," he said. "This will definitely put me back, I hope the government will do something about our economy too, to help it recover." Palau's biggest test may yet come with the first positive case. But even in the most remote corners of the world, the impact of this truly global pandemic is already being felt. Nowhere, it seems, is truly virus-free.

Authorities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have announced fresh restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus as the number of cases in Central Asia rose. The government of Kyrgyzstan, where the number of coronavirus cases more than doubled on Saturday to 14, declared a month-long state of emergency from Sunday and said it would shut down public transportation in the capital, Bishkek. The cabinet urged citizens to minimise travel and said it has already locked down the provincial districts where the infection had been diagnosed. In Kazakhstan, where 53 cases have been confirmed, authorities said they were closing all parks in Almaty, the country's biggest city, which was this week put on lockdown along with the capital, Nur-Sultan. Over the last two days, police and National Guard personnel have also locked down several residential buildings in Almaty where infected people lived. In Uzbekistan, with 37 confirmed cases, the government said late on Friday it was shutting down all entertainment venues and tea houses and banning large-scale wedding parties and other family ceremonies. In Turkmenistan, which has so far reported no coronavirus cases, locals travelling to and from the capital, Ashgabat, said that officials at checkpoints set up around the city informed them that non-essential travel was banned. The Turkmen government, which earlier suspended all international flights, has made no official announcements on the scope and duration of the new restrictions. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; additional reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov in Tashkent, Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek and Marat Gurt in Ashgabat; editing by Alexander Smith and Jason Neely)

Kyrgyzstan has banned entry to all foreigners to safeguard against a coronavirus, Deputy Prime Minister Altynai Omurbekova said on Tuesday. Kyrgyzstan has reported no virus cases on its soil, although all its neighbours, except one, have infections. 

New Zealand, Cambodia and Taiwan were among the countries in the Asia Pacific region to announce new travel restrictions on Saturday as part of global efforts to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. Every person entering New Zealand from Sunday will have to self-isolate for 14 days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a press conference. She added that only travellers from the Pacific Islands would be exempt from the measures. She asked New Zealanders to avoid all non-essential travel overseas and said cruise ships would not be allowed to dock in the country's ports until June 30. New Zealand so far has six confirmed cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and has been able to trace all contacts of those infected, Ardern said. Elsewhere, Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has tested positive for coronavirus and is being treated at the Central Army Hospital in Jakarta, according to State Secretary Pratikno. The minister's Twitter feed shows he recently met the Dutch minister of infrastructure and water management, Cora Van Nieuwenhuizen, to discuss cooperation in the transport sector. The news came as authorities in the capital, Jakarta, said they would close schools for two weeks starting Monday and the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 96, with five deaths. India's government on Saturday declared a ‘notified disaster,’ a mechanism which makes it easier for regional governments to draw on funds set aside for disaster response. Funds can be used to compensate close relatives of any people who die from the virus, said the Home Ministry. So far 84 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the country of 1.3 billion people. Meanwhile Malaysia confirmed 41 new cases, taking the national total to 238, while tallies in the Philippines jumped to 111 cases and eight deaths. Authorities announced a curfew in metropolitan Manila for 30 days, starting Sunday, as part of the lockdown ordered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Thousands of people began to leave Manila to go home to their provinces before flights and bus trips to and from the capital are suspended on Sunday. In Cambodia, the health ministry on Saturday announced a 30-day entry ban on foreign travellers from Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the United States that will take effect on Tuesday. Cambodia has seven confirmed cases of Covid-19, six of whom are foreigners. The country also ordered schools closed in the capital Phnom Penh and a second city in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19, local media reported. The Education Ministry said all public and private schools that follow the state curriculum in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap City - home of the world-famous Angkor Wat and surrounding temples - would be closed, effective immediately, local news outlet VOD reported. In Taiwan, an official travel alert was announced and set to begin on Tuesday for the 26 countries in Europe's Schengen Area, Britain, Ireland and Dubai. Officials urged Taiwanese citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to those countries and said inbound passengers would be subject to 14-day home quarantine. Taiwan has reported 53 cases of Covid-19, including one death. Vietnam announced a 30-day ban on foreign travellers entering the country on Saturday. The ban will apply to visitors from 26 countries in Europe's Schengen Area and Britain. Anyone who has visited those countries within 14 days of arriving in Vietnam will also be barred entry, the Foreign Ministry said. Vietnam has so far recorded 47 coronavirus cases. In Pakistan, where 28 cases have been confirmed, authorities decided to close all educational institutions for three weeks and close the country's borders with Iran and Afghanistan. In neighbouring Afghanistan, which has 11 cases, all sporting events have been banned. The country also cancelled traditional Nowruz ceremonies to mark the Persian New Year in Balkh and the Afghan capital Kabul. Thousands of people crossing the Iranian border are the main concern regarding the spread of the virus.

Getting a good night's rest while flying economy class is impossible for most long-haul travellers. Air New Zealand aims to change that with its Economy Skynest, which offers six full-length lie-flat sleep pods that give economy passengers much longed-for horizontal time. New Zealand's national carrier, which operates some of the world's longest flights, such as the upcoming Auckland-New York service at up to 17 hours 40 minutes, said it has filed patent and trademark applications for the Economy Skynest on Wednesday. ‘We have a tremendous amount of development work underway looking at product innovations we can bring across all cabins of the aircraft,’ Air New Zealand Chief Marketing and Customer Officer Mike Tod said in a statement. ‘A clear pain point for economy travellers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out. The development of the Economy Skynest is a direct response to that challenge,’ Tod added. The airline would make a final decision on whether to use the bunks next year after it has assessed the performance of its inaugural year of Auckland-New York operations. The pods would be over two metres long and more than 58 centimetres wide. While the exact positioning of the bunks within the aircraft was still to be confirmed, Air New Zealand said, it would be in the economy cabin.  

* Prime minister had failed to get 2020 budget passed * New coalition seeking to form government * Young democracy has been beset by political instability The prime minister of East Timor has sent a letter of resignation to the president, he said on Tuesday, as the tiny Southeast Asian nation faces new political instability after the collapse of a coalition supporting him in parliament. The prime minister has repeatedly failed to secure passage of a budget for 2020 after the largest party in his coalition, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party of independence hero Xanana Gusmao, withdrew support. ‘I have sent a (resignation) letter to the president,’ Taur Matan Ruak, who goes by a popular name rather than his birthname of Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, told reporters after meeting President Francisco Guterres. Ruak said he was prepared to stay in office until the resignation was accepted so as ‘to guarantee government activities in our country’. He had been backed by a three-party coalition, the Alliance of Change for Progress (AMP), that won 34 of the 65 seats up for grabs in a parliamentary election in May 2018, the country's fifth since independence from Indonesia in 2002. But there has been occasional political deadlock and growing tension after the president, who belongs to the opposition Fretilin party, rejected some ministers proposed by Gusmao, over accusations of graft. On Saturday, Gusmao, East Timor's first president and a former prime minister, announced a new six-party coalition controlling 34 seats without Ruak's party that he said would prepare to form a new government. ‘It is set up to resolve the current political deadlock,’ he told a news conference. ‘These six political parties met to put hands together in order to go ahead and form a new government.’ Asia's youngest democracy has been beset by political instability in recent years, hampering efforts to reduce poverty, stamp out corruption and develop its rich oil and gas resources. The energy sector accounted for about 60 percent of gross domestic product in 2014 and contributed more than 90 percent of government revenue.

Police in Azerbaijan detained three opposition party leaders and more than 100 activists on Sunday before they were due to take part in a protest against the results of last week's national election, which have been questioned by international observers. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan) party won 72 out of 125 seats in the single-chamber parliament last Sunday, with nearly all other seats going to small parties and independents loyal to President Ilham Aliyev. Before Sunday's unauthorised protest was scheduled to start, police detained either at their homes or outside their party headquarters the leader of the REAL party, Ilgar Mamedly, the leader of the Musavat Party, Arif Gajily, and the head of the D18 opposition movement, Ruslan Izzetly. All three failed to win seats in last week's election. Dozens of riot police surrounded the election commission's building, where the protest had been due to start from, and put anyone arriving to take part in the demonstration on a bus, a Reuters witness at the scene said. Some protesters held up posters saying: ‘Abolish election results!’ or ‘We demand free elections!’ Police officials declined to comment on arrests. International monitors found widespread procedural violations in the vote count, which they said raised doubt about the honesty of the election. Aliyev had called the election nine months early to consolidate his authority and speed economic reforms. The CEC has so far cancelled the results in four election constituencies following reports about violations. Azerbaijan has been governed by Aliyev since 2003 when he succeeded his late father Heydar. Western nations have courted Azerbaijan because of its role as an alternative to Russia in supplying oil and gas to Europe, but various European bodies and rights groups have accused Aliyev of muzzling dissent and jailing opponents, charges Baku denies.

* Clashes in villages in southern Zhambyl province * Area is home to members of Dungan minority group * Situation now under control: president A brawl and a series of clashes in several villages in Kazakhstan's southern Zhambyl province have left eight people dead and scores wounded, Interior Minister Yerlan Turgumbayev said on Saturday. Some 70 people were involved in the initial brawl on the outskirts of the Masanchi village, close to the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border, he told a briefing, after which 300 more people arrived from the nearby villages. The crowd clashed with police, wounding two officers with gunshots, and torched dozens of buildings and cars. Police have detained 47 people and confiscated two hunting shotguns, Turgumbayev said. Police and the National Guard now have the situation under control, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement, ordering the government to take steps to maintain calm in the villages. The area where the clashes took place is home to many members of the Dungan minority group of Chinese ethnic origin. Tokayev urged a thorough investigation and instructed security agencies to prosecute those spreading ethnic hate speech, ‘provocative rumours and disinformation’. Dauren Abayev, Minister of Information and Public Accord, told a briefing the authorities have temporarily closed a large outdoor merchandise market in Almaty, the largest city in the nation of 19 million, after ‘calls for violence’ there.

Commonwealth nations on Saturday welcomed back the Maldives 40 months after it angrily quit the organisation over criticism of its human rights record under strongman president Abdulla Yameen. The move is a new step in ending the international isolation that the Indian Ocean holiday destination suffered under Yameen's rule from 2013 to 2018. The group of mainly former British colonies said an application to return made by the Maldives had been approved after "due diligence" including a country assessment. The country has sought to repair its image after Yameen suffered a shock defeat in a 2018 election to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The Maldives government said Solih telephoned Commonwealth secretary general Patricia Scotland to state that renewed membership was "symbolic of this administration's commitment to both engage with the international community and to deliver on our domestic pledges to citizens in good faith." The Commonwealth said reforms underway in Maldives were in line with the group's values and they encouraged Solih to pursue the measures. "Together we will support Maldives to realise its ambitions," Scotland said. Yameen withdrew the Maldives from the Commonwealth over its pressure to protect human rights during a fierce crackdown on dissent. Yameen accused the Commonwealth leadership of interfering in the nation's affairs. But on top of Commonwealth criticism, the United States repeatedly warned about events in the strategically-located archipelago sitting on key international shipping lanes. Since Solih's election, political prisoners have been freed and opposition figures in exile have returned home.

* New Zealand sets polling date for Sept 19 * Parliament to be officially dissolved on August 12 * PM Ardern asks for a further term to 'get the job done' * Analysts predict a tight race New Zealanders will go to polls on September 19 to decide on a second term for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and also to vote in referendums on the divisive issues of legalising cannabis and euthanasia. Ardern is hugely popular among liberal voters overseas thanks to her compassionate but decisive response to a mass shooting, her focus on climate change action and multilateralism, and her ability to combine motherhood and leadership. But her popularity at home has been affected by slowing economic growth and low business confidence, a failed state housing project and scandals within her coalition government. ‘I will be asking New Zealanders to continue to support my leadership and the current direction of the government, which is grounded in stability, a strong economy and progress on the long term challenges facing New Zealand,’ Ardern told a news conference. Political pundits are predicting a close contest, with scheduled referendums on legalising cannabis and euthanasia expected to be distracting and divisive. ‘I am not making predictions on this as it's going to be a tight race,’ said Grant Duncan, Associate Professor at Massey University in Auckland. New Zealand's Treasury last month trimmed its 2020 economic growth forecast and flagged a budget deficit as international headwinds including Brexit and the US-China trade war bite. The government last month announced a NZ$12 billion ($7.7 billion) infrastructure spend to try counter those factors. Two October opinion polls showed support for her ruling coalition at its lowest since 2017. Her own popularity also waned, but she remains far ahead of her rivals. In an interview with Reuters last month, Ardern noted there was work to be done but her party was still polling higher than it was before the 2017 election. 'CAN'T DELIVER' Ardern, 39, took the helm of the country as the world's youngest female leader in 2017, a remarkable rise that dominated global headlines and generated the phrase ‘Jacinda-mania’. She campaigned passionately to end child poverty and economic inequality, upstaging the ruling centre-right National Party and forming a government with the small, nationalist New Zealand First Party and the Green Party under the country's proportional voting system. Ardern's response to the massacre at two mosques in Christchurch in March, when she wore a headscarf to meet with the families of the victims and then rapidly pushed a ban on semi-automatic weapons through parliament, was widely praised. She became only the second head of state after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto to give birth while in office, attending the United Nations with her baby and partner in tow. But critics have accused her of playing to a global audience while bringing little change locally. ‘New Zealanders have seen that Labour and Jacinda Ardern can’t deliver,’ National Party leader Simon Bridges said in a statement. ‘While there’s a lot of announcements, leadership means actually getting things done.’ Ardern said last week her party would wage a ‘relentlessly positive’ 2020 election campaign while announcing her party had signed up to Facebook's advertising transparency tool to fight misinformation. ‘We will be asking for a further term to get the job done,’ Ardern told the news conference. The cannabis referendum, pushed through by the Greens, would bring younger voters to the polls, but there were concerns there were too many things going, said Duncan from Massey University. ‘The big issue is how people feel about the government's performance...it's performance in relation to housing and child poverty, and there will be a debate about climate change,’ said Duncan. The parliament will be officially dissolved on August 12 and until then the government will function as usual, Ardern said.

Kazakhstan was in mourning on Saturday after at least 12 people were killed in a plane crash, with Interior Minister Yerlan Turgumbayev promising a thorough investigation into the accident, local media reported. The probe is to look into the condition of the aircraft, while the black box, containing key flight data, is to be brought to the Russian capital, Moscow, to undergo assessment.  The Fokker 100 aircraft, operated by Kazakh airline Bek Air, lost height shortly after take-off on Friday, crashing into a two-storey residential building in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city.  The plane was flying from Almaty to the capital, Nursultan, formerly known as Astana. Investigators are focussing on whether the accident was caused by pilot error or a technical fault. Most of the almost 100 people on board survived the crash, and many were sent to hospital for treatment.  Deputy health minister Kamalzhan Nadyrov said doctors had been able to stabilize some of the patients, with 42 now in a stable condition. Seven people were severely injured, he said. A day of national mourning was announced for Saturday. The government in the Central Asian country reportedly called on the media to refrain from broadcasting all forms of entertainment that day. In addition, authorities grounded all Fokker 100 planes in the country, which is under authoritarian rule. Bek Air was ordered to cease operations, with Kazakh media reporting that a decision on whether it can resume flights will be taken on January 10 at the earliest. Four foreigners were on the plane - two from Ukraine, one from China and one from Kyrgyzstan. They all survived the accident, according to Kazakh authorities.  It was the worst plane crash in years in the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic. Most recently, more than 20 people died there in crashes in 2012 and 2013.