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Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb on Saturday resigned, just a year before the state goes to polls. The BJP legislative party will meet at 5 pm to pick its new leader.  Deb became the chief minister of the state after the BJP won the 2018 Tripura polls, ending the 25-year-long rule of the Left Front government. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to face a tough challenge from Trinamool Congress, which defeated the BJP in the 2021 Bengal polls, reports Hindustan Times. Also: Tripura CM thanks Hasina for gift of delicious mango But Biplab Deb is not the only BJP chief minister to have resigned year before the elections. In 2021, BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka witnessed leadership changes.  Karnataka The Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in the southern state in 2019 under the leadership of veteran BS Yediyurappa. The saffron party had been able to form the government after resignations by Congress and JDS legislators had resulted in the fall of the HD Kumaraswamy government. Two years after leading the state, Yediyurappa stepped down from his post and was succeeded by Basavaraj Bommai. Karnataka goes to polls next year.  Gujarat Last year, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani resigned from his post, saying he is ready to take new responsibilities assigned to him by the party. He was succeeded by Bhupendra Patel. The home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah has been a BJP fortress since 1995, and goes to polls later this year.  Uttarakhand The BJP successfully ducked the anti-incumbency wave in Uttarakhand this in the Assembly polls held in February. But a year before the polls, the saffron party changed chief ministers thrice. After serving for four years as chief minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat had resigned in March last year. He was succeeded by Tirath Singh Rawat who resigned in just four months, paving way for Pushkar Singh Dhami.

North Korea on Saturday reported 21 new deaths and 174,440 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambles to slow the spread of COVID-19 across its unvaccinated population. The new deaths and cases, which were from Friday, increased total numbers to 27 deaths and 524,440 illnesses amid a rapid spread of fever since late April. North Korea said 243,630 people had recovered and 280,810 remained in quarantine. State media didn’t specify how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as COVID-19 infections. The country imposed what it described as maximum preventive measures on Thursday after confirming its first COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. It had previously held for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a ruling party Politburo meeting on Saturday described the outbreak as a historically “huge disruption” and called for unity between the government and people to stabilize the outbreak as quickly as possible. Officials during the meeting mainly discussed ways to swiftly distribute medical supplies the country has released from its emergency reserves, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said. In a report presented to the Politburo, the North’s emergency epidemic office blamed most of the deaths on a lack of “scientific knowledge about treatment methods,” including drug overdoses. Kim, who said he was donating some of his private medicine supplies to help the anti-virus campaign, expressed optimism that the country could bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions are occurring within communities that are isolated from one another and not spreading from region to region. He called for officials to take lessons from the successful pandemic responses of other nations and picked an example in China, the North’s major ally. China, however, has been facing pressure to change its so-called “zero-COVID” strategy that has brought major cities to a standstill as it struggles to slow the fast-moving omicron variant. Also Read: North Korea confirms 1st Covid outbreak, Kim orders lockdown North Korea since Thursday has imposed steps aimed at restricting the movement of people and supplies between cities and counties, but state media’s descriptions of the measures indicate people aren’t being confined to their homes. Experts say a failure to control the spread of COVID-19 could have devastating consequences in North Korea, considering the country’s poor health care system and that its 26 million people are largely unvaccinated. Tests of virus samples collected Sunday from an unspecified number of people with fevers in the country’s capital, Pyongyang, confirmed they were infected with the omicron variant, state media said. The country has so far officially confirmed one death as linked to an omicron infection. Lacking vaccines, antiviral pills, intensive care units and other major health tools to fight the virus, North Korea’s pandemic response will be mostly about isolating people with symptoms at designated shelters, experts say. North Korea doesn’t have technological and other resources to impose extreme lockdowns like China, which has shut down entire cities and confined residents to their homes, nor it could afford to do so at the risk of unleashing further shock on a fragile economy, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification. Even as he called for stronger preventive measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, Kim has also stressed that the country’s economic goals should be met, which likely means huge groups will continue to gather at agricultural, industrial and construction sites. It’s unusual for isolated North Korea to admit to an outbreak of any infectious disease, let alone one as menacing as COVID-19, as it’s intensely proud and sensitive to outside perception about its “socialist utopia.” Experts are mixed on whether the North’s announcement of the outbreak communicates a willingness to receive outside help. The country had shunned millions of doses offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because of concerns over international monitoring requirements attached to those shots. North Korea has a higher tolerance for civilian suffering than most other nations and some experts say the country could be willing to accept a certain level of fatalities to gain immunity through infection, rather than receiving vaccines and other outside help. South Korea’s new conservative government led by President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office on Tuesday, has offered to send vaccines and other medical supplies to North Korea, but Seoul officials say the North has so far made no request for help. Relations between the rival Koreas have worsened since 2019 following a derailment in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. However, Kim’s call for his officials to learn from China’s experience indicates that the North could soon request COVID-19-related medicine and testing equipment from China, said analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea’s Sejong Institute. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday that Beijing was ready to offer North Korea help but said he had no information about any such request being made. North Korea’s viral spread could have been accelerated after an estimated tens of thousands of civilians and troops gathered for a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 25, where Kim took center stage and showcased the most powerful missiles of his military nuclear program. After maintaining one of the world’s strictest border closures for two years to shield its poor health care system, North Korea had reopened railroad freight traffic with China in February apparently to ease the strain on its economy. But China confirmed the closure of the route last month as it battled COVID-19 outbreaks in the border areas.   Hours after the North acknowledged its first COVID-19 infections on Thursday, South Korea’s military detected the North test-firing three ballistic missiles in what appeared to be a defiant show of strength. Kim has been accelerating his weapons demonstrations in 2022, including the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile in nearly five years. Experts say Kim’s brinkmanship is aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating a removal of crippling U.S.-led sanctions and other concessions from a stronger position. South Korean and U.S. officials also say the North is possibly preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017, which they say could happen as early as this month.    

As many as 26 people were killed and some 40 others injured in a massive fire that broke out at a commercial building near a busy metro rail station in the Indian capital on Friday evening, officials said.   The fire began on the first floor of the four-storey building near west Delhi's Mundka metro station and spread like wildfire to engulf the entire structure within minutes, according to the fire and police officials.   "Some 30 fire tenders have been pressed into service. The blaze has been contained but not fully doused," Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg told the local media. "Our men are still scouting for survivors."   A senior police officer said that at least 26 bodies, some charred beyond recognition, had been pulled out of the ill-fated building.    "Fortunately, firemen and police personnel have managed to rescue some 60 people from the building. Those with burn injuries have been hospitalised, but the condition of some of them is critical," he said.   Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to express grief at the loss of lives in the tragedy.   "Distressed by the tragic fire accident at a building near Mundka Metro Station in Delhi. My condolences to the bereaved families. I wish for speedy recovery of the injured," the President's office tweeted.   "Extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to a tragic fire in Delhi. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I wish the injured a speedy recovery," Modi wrote.   "The owner of the building has been arrested on charges of negligence and a probe initiated," the police officer said.   Building fires are common in India, and are often attributed to poor maintenance and absence of basic fire safety systems. A number of people die in such fires in India every year.   Also read: 10 Covid patients die in India hospital fire  

India on Friday announced the reopening of its Embassy in Kyiv next week as the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 79th day. The Indian Embassy in the Ukrainian capital, which temporarily relocated to neighbouring Poland in March as the war intensified, will resume operations in Kyiv from May 17, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Read: India records 2,841 new COVID-19 cases, 9 more deaths "The Indian Embassy in Ukraine, which was temporarily operating out of Warsaw (Poland), would be resuming its operation in Kyiv w.e.f. 17 May 2022. The Embassy was temporarily relocated to Warsaw on 13 March 2022," the Ministry said. On March 13 this year, days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv relocated to Poland "in view of the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine". Read: Sri Lankan power family falls from grace as economy tanks "In view of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Ukraine, including attacks in the western parts of the country, it has been decided that the Indian Embassy in Ukraine will be temporarily relocated to Poland,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said at the time. India had earlier evacuated almost all its 15,000 nationals from Ukraine.  

With one brother president, another prime minister and three more family members cabinet ministers, it appeared that the Rajapaksa clan had consolidated its grip on power in Sri Lanka after decades in and out of government. But as a national debt crisis spirals out of control, with pandemic woes and rising food and fuel costs due to the war in Ukraine compounding problems from years of dubious economic decisions, their dynasty is crumbling. The three Rajapaksas resigned their cabinet posts in April, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down on Monday, angry protesters attacked the family’s home this week and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has not been seen outside his heavily guarded compound. But the family is not going down without a fight, ordering troops to shoot protesters causing injury to people or property, instituting a nationwide curfew and allegedly encouraging mobs of their supporters to fight in the streets with anti-government demonstrators. Read: Myanmar to resume issuing tourist visas after 2-year hiatus In his first speech to the nation in some two months, Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday said he would return more power to Parliament — by rolling back an amendment he implemented to buttress the all-powerful executive presidential system. On Thursday he appointed a new prime minister — of no relation. But it might be too little, too late to put an end to the nationwide protests calling for the ouster of the president, the last Rajapaksa still clinging to national office. “This is a crisis very much of his making. He did not create the crisis from the beginning, but the Rajapaksas have come to epitomize the failings in our structure of government with their nepotism, their corruption and their human rights violations,” said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives think tank in Colombo. With soaring prices, fuel and food shortages and lengthy power cuts, Sri Lankans have been protesting for weeks, calling for both the Rajapaksas to step down. Violence erupted Monday after Rajapaksa supporters clashed with protesters in a dramatic turn that saw Mahinda resign. Nine people were killed and more than 200 injured. Angry protesters attacked the family’s ancestral home in the Hambantota area, and Mahinda has been forced to take refuge on a heavily fortified naval base. With his atypically conciliatory speech Wednesday, it is clear Gotabaya has been “badly shaken by the protests,” said Dayan Jayatilleka, a former diplomat who served as Sri Lanka’s representative to the United Nations during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency. Still, it may be too early to count him out, Jayatilleka said, noting that Gotabaya had changed tack to sound “flexible and pragmatic.” “Gotabaya has a dualistic personality — one side of that personality that the country has seen is this unilateralist, quite insensitive ex-military man,” Jayatilleka said. “But there’s another side — somewhat more rational. But the more rational side was on a very long vacation.” The Rajapaksa family has been involved in Sri Lankan politics for decades, with the focus most recently on Mahinda, the president’s older brother. While Gotabaya pursued a military career and rose through the ranks, Mahinda focused on politics and was elected president in 2005. Gotabaya, who by then had retired from the military and immigrated to the United States, returned to become defense secretary. Read: Plane veers off runway in China and catches fire; 36 injured The two won enormous support among their fellow Sinhalese Buddhists for ending the country’s 26-year civil war with ethnic Tamil rebels in 2009 and Mahinda was re-elected to a second term in 2010. About 70% of Sri Lanka’s 22 million people are Buddhists, mainly ethnic Sinhalese. Hindus, mainly ethnic Tamils, make up 12.6% of the population, while another 9.7% are Muslim and 7.6% are Christian. Minority groups and international observers accused the military of targeting civilians in the war and killing rebels and civilians who surrendered in the final days. According to a U.N. report, about 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of fighting alone. Mahinda pushed through a constitutional change to allow him to run for a third presidential term and called elections early in 2015 to press what he saw as an advantage, but was defeated in an upset by Maithripala Sirisena, who garnered support from minorities with his reformist platform and push for reconciliation. Mahinda Rajapaksa then unsuccessfully sought to become prime minister, and it appeared that the luster of the Rajapaksa name had worn off. But with Sirisena’s coalition government already plagued with infighting and dysfunction, on Easter Sunday in 2019 Islamic extremists targeted Christian churches and luxury hotels in coordinated suicide attacks, killing hundreds of people. Amid allegations the Sirisena government had not acted on intelligence information, and a wave of Buddhist nationalism, Gotabaya Rajapaksa swept to power in a landslide later that year. “The bombs catapulted him to victory in the 2019 election,” Jayatilleka said. “The feeling was we need Gotabaya, we need his military experience.” He appointed Mahinda as prime minister and added two other brothers and a nephew to his cabinet. In 2020 he pushed through a constitutional amendment strengthening the power of his office at the expense of Parliament. By the time Gotabaya took office, Sri Lanka was already in an economic slump triggered by a drop in tourism after the bombings and a slew of foreign debt from infrastructure projects, many bankrolled by Chinese money and commissioned by Mahinda. In one notorious case, Mahinda borrowed deeply from China to build a port in Hambantota, the family’s home region. Unable to make its debt payments on the project, Sri Lanka was forced to hand the facility and thousands of acres of land around it to Beijing for 99 years — giving China a key foothold directly opposite regional rival India’s coastline. Read: N. Korea reports 6 deaths after admitting COVID-19 outbreak With the economy already teetering, Gotabaya pushed through the largest tax cuts in Sri Lankan history, which sparked a quick backlash, with creditors downgrading the country’s ratings, blocking it from borrowing more money as foreign exchange reserves nosedived. The pandemic hit soon after, again battering tourism, a prime source of foreign currency. A poorly executed ban on importing chemical fertilizers in April 2021 made things worse by driving prices up before Gotabaya was forced to repeal it. Compounding the problems this year, the Ukraine war has increased food and oil prices globally. The central bank said inflation was at 30% in April, with food prices up nearly 50%. With the economy today in tatters, protests have come from all sectors of society, with even Sinhalese Buddhists joining in. “There is public vilification of the Rajapaksa now and that’s a notable change to what we were seeing previously,” said Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives. There is a “real genuine anger among the people that it’s the Rajapaksas who have led to this crisis.” Still, Jayatilleka suggested if Gotabaya can appoint a new cabinet that enjoys popular support, he may be able to cling to office. “If he stitches together a government that looks somewhat new — not as top heavy with the Rajapaksas as it was stuffed full of them — that may have more success,” he said. But Saravanamuttu said it was too late for a comeback. “His constituency has turned against him and therefore he has no real power base left in the country,” he said. “The monks are turning against him and also sections of the military because ordinary soldiers and their families are also suffering. Word from the street is that he has to go.”

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,116,254 on Friday, as 2,841 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data. Over 36 percent of the cases were reported from Delhi, where there are 4,928 active cases with the positivity rate standing at 3.64 percent. Besides, nice deaths from the pandemic registered across the country since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 524,190. Also Read: India COVID-19 tally rises to-26,530,132 daily deaths fall below 4000 There are still 18,604 active COVID-19 cases in the country with a fall of 463 active cases during the past 24 hours. So far, 42,573,460 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals, of whom 3,295 were discharged during the past 24 hours.    

North Korea said Friday that six people died and 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across the nation, a day after its first acknowledgement of a COVID-19 outbreak. The true scale is unclear, but a big COVID-19 outbreak could be devastating in a country with a broken health care system and an unvaccinated, malnourished population. North Korea, which likely doesn’t have sufficient COVID-19 tests and other medical equipment, said it didn't know the case of the mass fevers. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said of the 350,000 people who developed fevers since late April, 162,200 have recovered. It said 18,000 people were newly found with fever symptoms on Thursday alone, and 187,800 people are being isolated for treatment. One of the six people who died was confirmed infected with the omicron variant, KCNA said, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the total illnesses were COVID-19. Also read: North Korea confirms 1st COVID outbreak, Kim orders lockdown North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday after acknowledging a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time in the pandemic. Those reports said tests from an unspecified number of people came back positive for the omicron variant. It’s possible that the spread of the virus was accelerated by a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 25, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took center stage and showcased the most powerful missiles of his military nuclear program in front of tens of thousands. Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, said the pace of the fever's spread suggests the crisis could last months and possibly into 2023, causing major disruption in the poorly equipped country. Some experts say the North’s initial announcement communicates a willingness to receive outside aid. It previously shunned vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because they have international monitoring requirements. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the South was willing to provide medical assistance and other help to North Korea based on humanitarian considerations. KCNA said Kim was briefed about the fever when he visited the emergency epidemic prevention headquarters on Thursday and criticized officials for failing to prevent “a vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system.” He said the spread of the fever has been centered around capital Pyongyang and nearby areas and underscored the importance of isolating all work, production and residential units from one another while providing residents with every convenience during the lockdown. “It is the most important challenge and supreme tasks facing our party to reverse the immediate public health crisis situation at an early date, restore the stability of epidemic prevention and protect the health and wellbeing of our people,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying. North Korea's claim of a perfect record in keeping out the virus for two and a half years was widely doubted. But South Korean officials have said North Korea had likely avoided a huge outbreak until now, in part because it instituted strict virus controls almost from the start of the pandemic. Also read: North Korea raises alarm after confirming 1st COVID-19 case Describing its anti-coronavirus campaign as a matter of “national existence,” North Korea had severely restricted cross-border traffic and trade and is even believed to have ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers who cross its borders. The border closures further battered an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program, pushing Kim to perhaps the toughest moment of his rule since he took power in 2011. Hours after confirming the outbreak Thursday, North Korea launched three short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, South Korea and Japan said, in what possibly was a show of strength after Kim publicly acknowledged the virus outbreak. It was the North’s 16th round of missile launches this year. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the United States supported international aid efforts but doesn’t plan to share its vaccine supplies with the North. “We do continue to support international efforts aimed at the provision of critical humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable North Koreans, and this is, of course, a broader part of the DPRK continuing to exploit its own citizens by not accepting this type of aid,” Psaki said Thursday in Washington, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “It’s not just vaccines. It’s also a range of humanitarian assistance that could very much help the people and the country and instead they divert resources to build their unlawful nuclear and ballistic missiles programs.”

North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world. The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in public, likely for the first time since the start of the pandemic, but the scale of transmissions inside North Korea wasn't immediately known. A failure to slow infections could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated. Some experts say North Korea, by its rare admission of an outbreak, may be seeking outside aid. Also read: WHO: COVID-19 falling everywhere, except Americas and Africa However, hours after North Korea confirmed the outbreak, South Korea’s military said it detected the North had fired three suspected ballistic missiles toward the sea. It was its 16th round of missile launches this year — brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and negotiate sanctions relief and other concessions from a position of strength. The official Korean Central News Agency said tests of virus samples collected Sunday from an unspecified number of people with fevers in the capital, Pyongyang, confirmed they were infected with the omicron variant. In response, Kim called at a ruling party Politburo meeting for a thorough lockdown of cities and counties and said workplaces should be isolated by units to block the virus from spreading. He urged health workers to step up disinfection efforts at workplaces and homes and mobilize reserve medical supplies. Kim said it was crucial to control transmissions and eliminate the infection source as fast as possible, while also easing inconveniences to the public caused by the virus controls. He insisted the country will overcome the outbreak because its government and people are “united as one.” Despite the elevated virus response, Kim ordered officials to push ahead with scheduled construction, agricultural development and other state projects while bolstering the country’s defense posture to avoid any security vacuum. North Korea’s state TV showed Kim and other senior officials wearing masks as they entered a meeting room, although Kim removed his mask to speak into a set of microphones. Still photos distributed by KNCA showed Kim unmasked and sitting at the head of a table where all other officials remained masked. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, couldn't immediately confirm whether it was the first time state media showed Kim wearing a mask since the start of the pandemic. Kim has previously spoken to huge crowds without a mask as he praised the country's earlier pandemic response, and his decision to be seen with a mask could be aimed at raising public vigilance. North Korea, which has maintained strict anti-virus controls at its borders for more than two years, didn’t provide further details about its new lockdown. But an Associated Press photographer on the South Korean side of the border saw dozens of people working in fields or walking on footpaths at a North Korean border town — an indication the lockdown doesn't require people to stay home, or it exempts farm work. Also read: North Korea raises alarm after confirming 1st COVID-19 case The measures described in state media and Kim’s declaration that economic goals should still be met could indicate that North Korea is focusing more on restricting travel and supplies between regions, analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea’s Sejong Institute said. North Korea’s government has shunned vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because they have international monitoring requirements. Seoul's Unification Ministry said South Korea is willing to provide medical assistance and other help to North Korea based on humanitarian considerations. Relations between the Koreas have deteriorated since 2019 amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations and the North's increasingly provocative weapons tests. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Beijing is offering North Korea help in dealing with the outbreak. North Korea has reportedly rejected previous Chinese offers of domestically developed vaccines. Kim Sin-gon, a professor at Seoul’s Korea University College of Medicine, said North Korea is likely signaling its willingness to receive outside vaccines, but wants many more doses than offered by COVAX to inoculate its entire population multiple times. He said North Korea would also want COVID-19 medicines and medical equipment shipments that are banned by U.N. sanctions. Omicron spreads much more easily than earlier variants of the coronavirus, and its fatality and hospitalization rates are high among unvaccinated older people or those with existing health problems. That means the outbreak could cause “a serious situation” because North Korea lacks medical equipment and medicine to treat virus patients and many of its people are not well-nourished, Kim Sin-gon said. Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea, said North Korea’s admission of the outbreak is likely designed to press its people harder to guard against the virus as China, which shares a long, porous border with the North, has placed many of its cities under lockdown over virus concerns. North Korea will also likely stress lockdowns, although the experience of China’s “zero-COVID” policy suggests that approach doesn’t work against the fast-moving omicron variant, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University. “For Pyongyang to publicly admit omicron cases, the public health situation must be serious,” Easley said. North Korea’s previous coronavirus-free claim had been disputed by many foreign experts. But South Korean officials have said North Korea had likely avoided a huge outbreak, in part because it instituted strict virus controls almost from the start of the pandemic. Early in 2020 — before the coronavirus spread around the world — North Korea took severe steps to keep out the virus and described them as a matter of “national existence." It all but halted cross-border traffic and trade for two years, and is believed to have ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers who crossed its borders. The extreme border closures further shocked an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program, pushing Kim to perhaps the toughest moment of his rule since he took power in 2011. North Korea had been one of the last places in the world without an acknowledged COVID-19 case after the virus first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 spread to every continent including Antarctica. Turkmenistan, a similarly secretive and authoritarian nation in Central Asia, has reported no cases to the World Health Organization, though its claim also is widely doubted by outside experts. In recent months, some Pacific island nations that kept the virus out by their geographic isolation have recorded outbreaks. Only tiny Tuvalu, with a population around 12,000, has escaped the virus so far, while a few other nations – Nauru, Micronesia and Marshall Islands – have stopped cases at their borders and avoided community outbreaks. North Korea's outbreak comes as China — its close ally and trading partner — battles its biggest outbreak of the pandemic. In January, North Korea tentatively reopened railroad freight traffic between its border town of Sinuiju and China’s Dandong for the first time in two years, but China halted the trade last month due to an outbreak in Liaoning province, which borders North Korea.

A Chinese passenger jet veered off the runway during takeoff and caught fire on Thursday, sending black smoke billowing into the air and injuring more than 30 people. The Tibet Airlines flight with 122 people on board was departing from the southwestern city of Chongqing for a flight to Nyingchi in China’s Tibet region. Videos shared by state media showed the left side of the aircraft on fire as people who appeared to be passengers headed away from the scene. Other footage showed fire trucks spraying water on the plane. The accident happened at 8:09 a.m. (0009 GMT), Tibet Airlines said. The Airbus A319-115 jet had 113 passengers and nine flight crew on board, all of whom were evacuated. During the evacuation, 36 people were injured with sprains or scrapes, according to the southwest regional branch of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). “In the process of taking off, the flight crew discovered an abnormality with the aircraft and stopped the takeoff according to the procedures. The aircraft left the runway and caught fire after the engine hit the ground. Currently the fire has been put out,” the aviation authorities said in a statement. Also Read: Second 'black box' found in China Eastern plane crash One passenger, Long Anquan, told China News Service that during takeoff he heard an unusual noise, after which the plane started to lean to one side and hit the ground with its wing. Long quickly bent forward and put his hands over his head, but the impact was so strong that he was still injured. Long said he felt lucky to survive. “I’ve used up all my luck in my entire life,” he said in an interview with China News Service. The Chinese flight tracking platform VariFlight said the plane is 9 1/2 years old. The airport said about two hours after the accident that flights had resumed and that an investigation was underway. One of the three runways remained closed, the CAAC said. The incident follows the crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 in southeastern China on March 21 in which all 132 people on board were killed. That accident, in which the plane went into a sudden nosedive and slammed into the ground in a mountainous area, remains under investigation.    

Myanmar announced Thursday it will resume issuing visas for visitors in an effort to help its moribund tourism industry, devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and violent political unrest. Starting on Sunday, tourist “e-Visas” will be provided online in a move also intended to harmonize tourism with neighboring countries, according to a government notice in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Visitors need a certificate of vaccination, negative results from a COVID-19 RT-PCR test taken shortly before their flight and a travel insurance policy. They must also take an ATK rapid test after arrival. Myanmar on April 1 had already resumed issuing business visas, and on April 17 dropped a ban on international commercial flights. It had stopped issuing visas and suspended flight arrivals in March 2020. Tourism is an important source of revenue for most Southeast Asian nations but they banned almost all foreign visitors after the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020. In the past six months most have reopened and gradually dropped most or all testing requirements. Also Read: Rights group urges UN Security Council to impose binding arms embargo on Myanmar The pandemic and political instability have buffeted Myanmar’s economy, which was put under more pressure by economic sanctions imposed by Western nations targeting commercial holdings controlled by the army, which seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar hosted 4.36 million visitor arrivals in 2019, before the pandemic, but the number fell to 903,000 in 2020, the latest year for which official statistics are available. Peaceful opposition to the military takeover has turned into armed resistance, and the country is now in a state of civil war, according to some U.N. experts. The army is conducting large-scale offensives in the countryside while anti-government forces carry out scattered urban guerrilla attacks in the cities. The U.S. State Department advisory for Myanmar, which it calls by its old name Burma, is at its maximum alert Level 4. It advises against travel there “due to areas of civil unrest and armed conflict.” It also says “reconsider travel to Burma due to COVID-19-related restrictions.”