Latest East Asia News

Dan Stastny, a pilot of a small sport plane, displays a snorkeling mask, modified to be a protection respirator for medical staff, that he will transport from a small Prague airport to a hospital in Ostrava some 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) east of Prague, Czech Republic, Sunday, April 5, 2020. Over 300 pilots in the Czech Republic have joined forces in a group of volunteers who use their private planes to distribute medical equipment all across the country. The

The Latest: 300 pilots form help group in Czech Republic

Apr. 5, 2020 7:07 AM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. TOP OF THE HOUR: — More than 300 pilots in the Czech Republic to use their...

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, protesters demonstrate in support of prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, right on poster, outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong. Wang was released from prison Sunday, April 5, 2020, after being held for more than four years, his wife Li Wenzu said. Wang was among more than 200 lawyers and legal activists swept up in 2015 in what became known as the 709 Crackdown for the date, July 9, when most of them were detained.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

Imprisoned Chinese rights lawyer released, his wife says

Apr. 5, 2020 3:59 AM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — Wang Quanzhang, a well-known Chinese rights lawyer, was released from prison Sunday after being held for more than four years, his wife said. It was unclear whether he would be allowed to return to Beijing, where he practiced and lived with his wife and young son. Police took him to his...

The Rev. Michael Amadeo, left, gives Holy Communion during the broadcast and recording of the Palm Sunday Mass at Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Catholic Church for parishioners to watch online Saturday, April 4, 2020, in Ankeny, Iowa. Sunday Masses continue to be available online in response to the new coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

US braces for more virus deaths; Europe hopes crisis peaking

Apr. 5, 2020 1:15 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. warned of many more coronavirus deaths in the days ahead as the global pandemic muted traditional observances from family grave-cleaning ceremonies in China to Palm Sunday for many Christians. Italy and Spain, the two hardest-hit European nations, expressed hope that the crisis was...

A family burn paper offerings for their departed relatives on the streets of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Saturday, April 4, 2020. Authorities are controlling access and limiting the number of people entering cemeteries across China during the annual Qingming festival, also known as the Grave Sweeping Day, a day when Chinese around the world remember their dearly departed and take time off to clean up the tombs and place flowers and offerings, a move to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Latest: Nearly 3,000 released from Sri Lanka prisons

Apr. 4, 2020 11:18 PM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. TOP OF THE HOUR: , — China reports 30 new coronavirus cases, mostly from new...

Emergency medical technicians transport a patient to Elmhurst Hospital Center emergency room, Saturday, April 4, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NY gets 1,100 ventilators with help from China, Oregon

Apr. 4, 2020 10:00 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York secured a planeload of ventilators from China on Saturday, and Oregon was sending a shipment of its own to battle the coronavirus pandemic at its U.S. core, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. But the governor's startling plan to force hospitals elsewhere in the state to give spare...

A medic of the Elmhurst Hospital Center medical team reacts after stepping outside of the emergency room, Saturday, April 4, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

New York gets Chinese ventilators; Trump wants more thanks

Apr. 4, 2020 9:05 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York governor said Saturday the Chinese government was facilitating a shipment of 1,000 donated ventilators to his state, highlighting the extreme measures leaders are taking in what has become a cutthroat scramble to independently secure enough lifesaving devices during the...

Applicants take written examination during a recruitment test for Ansan Urban Corporation at the Wa stadium in Ansan, South Korea, Saturday, April 4, 2020. The corporation decided to held their recruitment test at the outdoor stadium as part of precaution against the new coronavirus and also all applicants had to wear face masks and had their temperature checked. South Korea on Saturday extended for two weeks guidelines urging people to stick to social distancing. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP)

The week that was: Stories from the coronavirus saga

Apr. 4, 2020 8:50 PM EDT

This past week, New York got worse — far worse. In New York City, as morgue space ran out, people started wondering where the bodies will go and the funeral industry struggled to keep up. On the streets of a city accustomed to the exact opposite of social distancing, New Yorkers found a new, gentler...

In this Thursday, April 2, 2020, photo Dr. Daniel Durand, Chief Innovation Officer at Lifebridge Health, right, and Pothik Chatterjee, Executive Director of Innovation and Research at Lifebridge Health, left, pose for a portrait in Randallstown, Md. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Hunt for medical supplies creates marketplace of desperation

Apr. 4, 2020 4:27 PM EDT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Shady middlemen, phantom shipments, prices soaring by the hour, goods flown in on a private plane. What sounds like an organized-crime thriller is now the new reality for governors desperately trying to find the medical equipment their states need in the throes of a pandemic. With...

FILE - In this April 3, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

AP FACT CHECK: Trump, 'wartime' pandemic leader or 'backup'?

Apr. 4, 2020 9:42 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Is he a wartime president or a backup point man? President Donald Trump seems to go back and forth on that, or both ways at once, in responding to the coronavirus pandemic that takes more lives by the hour. In his recent rhetoric, the president who declared “It's a war” and...

People hold Chinese flags as they gather outside of a park where an official memorial was held for victims of coronavirus in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Saturday, April 4, 2020. With air raid sirens wailing and flags at half-mast, China held a three-minute nationwide moment of reflection to honor those who have died in the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China honors virus victims with 3 minutes of reflection

Apr. 4, 2020 5:04 AM EDT

WUHAN, China (AP) — With air raid sirens wailing and flags at half-staff, China held a three-minute nationwide moment of reflection on Saturday to honor those who have died in the coronavirus outbreak, especially “martyrs” who fell while fighting what has become a global pandemic. ...

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