🇧🇩 Bangladesh

COVID-19 vaccinations begin in Rohingya camps

On 10 August over 4,000 Rohingya refugees received their first COVID-19 vaccine, as part of a national vaccination drive to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Rohingya refugees eligible for vaccination in the first cohort include some 48,000 individuals over 55 years of age with the drive set to continue until 17 August.

🇨🇳 China

Canadian sentenced to 11 years

Michael Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being declared guilty of spying, deepening a rift with Canada where a Chinese technology executive was detained.

Lithuania asked to withdraw ambassador to Beijing

China demands Lithuania withdraw its ambassador to Beijing after the Baltic state allowed Chinese-claimed Taiwan to open an embassy there.

🇮🇳 India

India looks to West to ease vaccine supply shortage

The country is in talks to acquire 50 million doses vaccines produced by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE and is also expecting to receive about seven million doses of vaccines by Moderna Inc. from the U.S. through Covax, a program to supply Covid-19 vaccines to poorer nations.

Chief Justice says police stations in India threats to human rights

Chief Justice Nuthalapati Ramana says rather than being the safest places, “the threat to human rights and bodily integrity are the highest in police stations”.

🇲🇾 Malaysia

King asks PM to bring forward confidence vote

Malaysia’s King has asked Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to bring forward a parliamentary vote of confidence currently scheduled for early September, amid growing pressure from the premier's opponents this week to convince the monarch the Perikatan Nasional government’s majority has evaporated.

🇳🇵 Nepal

Indigenous peoples the silent victims of country’s conservation ‘success story’ says Amnesty International

Nepal’s Indigenous peoples have suffered a litany of human rights violations over the past five decades as a result of abusive conservation policies says Amnesty International.

🇵🇰 Pakistan

#SanctionPakistan trends

As violence from a Taliban offensive on government-held areas surges in Afghanistan, the use of the Twitter hashtag #SanctionPakistan has shown the antipathy many Afghans hold for the perceived role of Pakistan.

🇸🇬 Singapore

2021 economic growth forecast raised as COVID vaccination progresses

Government raised the official growth forecast for 2021 after the economy held up stronger than expected in the first half of the year as the domestic COVID-19 situation stabilises.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka

COP26 Regional Ambassador commends Sri Lanka on commitments to renewable energy and climate action

Ambassador Ken O’Flaherty congratulated Sri Lanka for timely submission of its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with ambitious commitments on renewable energy and net zero carbon, as well as a pledge for “no more coal.” 

Stocks up as pandemic concerns loom

Stocks closed 0.31 percent up on 11 August as better-than-expected June quarter earnings boosted investor sentiment though gains were checked by looming lockdown concerns amid spike in COVID-19 deaths.