Officials in India's capital imposed a special tax of 70% on retail liquor purchases from Tuesday, to deter large gatherings at stores as authorities ease a six-week lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

One of Bangladesh's largest drugmakers, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, will start production this month of the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir, which has shown promise in fighting the new coronavirus, a senior company executive said on Tuesday.

Afghanistan's government began distributing free bread to hundreds of thousands of people across the country this week as supplies have been disrupted during the coronavirus shutdown and prices have soared, officials and experts said.

India will begin flights on Thursday to bring home some 400,000 citizens stranded overseas by travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, prompting some worries over the risk that imported infections could fuel contagion in the country.

Afghan security forces arrested eight members of a network grouping Islamic State and Haqqani militants responsible for bloody attacks in the capital including on Sikh worshippers, the country's security agency said on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka's central bank cut its benchmark interest rates by a further 50 basis points on Wednesday, its third reduction since the coronavirus crisis struck there in March.

Indian troops killed four militants in gun battles in Kashmir on Wednesday, including the commander of the biggest separatist group fighting New Delhi, a police official said, triggering clashes across the disputed region that left dozens injured.

The U.S. special envoy on Afghanistan is on a mission to press Taliban negotiators in Doha and officials in India and Pakistan to support reduced violence, speeding up intra-Afghan peace talks and cooperating on the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department said on Wednesday.

Pakistan's cabinet has declined to include a religious sect that rights group says suffers widespread persecution in a newly formed commission for minorities, after opposition from conservatives in the government, officials said on Thursday.

More than a third of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Afghan capital have been among doctors and other healthcare staff, two senior health officials said on Thursday, in a sign that the war-torn country is struggling to deal with the pandemic.

Coronavirus cases in Pakistan surged past 25,000 on Friday, just hours before the government was due to lift lockdown measures, with the country reporting some of the biggest daily increases in new infections in the world.

The Bangladesh navy has rescued around 280 Rohingya Muslims from the Bay of Bengal, towing their stranded boat to an island where they will be quarantined as a precaution against the coronavirus, coast guard and naval officials said on Friday.

Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents killed a provincial police chief and two others in a roadside bomb attack, the local governor said on Friday, in the latest violence hindering a U.S.-brokered peace process.

Seven people were killed when protesters angry over what they see as unfair food aid distribution during the coronavirus pandemic clashed with police in Afghanistan's western Ghor province on Saturday, according to a local member of parliament.

One has been promoting environmental regulation for decades, while the other is bent on dismantling such policies. It makes for clear battle lines in the upcoming presidential election.

Storks are famous in folklore for delivering human babies to their parents. Conservationists are looking to return the favour with the imminent hatching of several white stork eggs on a 'rewilding' estate in southern England - as the coronavirus outbreak provides a noticeable boost for some wildlife.

BMW expects the coronavirus pandemic to hit demand and earnings throughout this year, while Volkswagen sees some green shoots with higher Chinese demand. Francis Maguire reports.

Facebook's new content oversight board will include a former prime minister, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and several constitutional law experts and rights advocates in its first 20 members.

The S&P 500 and the Dow fell on Wednesday but the Nasdaq ended higher. The indexes pulled back late in the session after U.S. President Donald Trump said China may or may not keep a trade deal between the two countries. Fred Katayama reports.

Japan's Nintendo said Thursday it sold 21 million Switch units in the year ended March, smashing its forecast of 19.5 million units, with hit title Animal Crossing: New Horizons shifting 13.4 million units in its first six weeks. Ciara Lee reports

A chemical gas leak at an LG Polymers plant in southern India on Thursday killed at least 9 people, and emergency services rushed more than 300 to hospital and evacuated hundreds more from nearby areas, a police official in Andhra Pradesh state said. Libby Hogan reports.

Pfizer's chief scientific officer tells Reuters his company got a head start on vaccine development for the coronavirus because it had already been working for two years on the flu with its German partner, BioNTech. Fred Katayama reports.

The world's biggest brewer, AB InBev, says it sees signs of a rebound in China, but warns the next quarter will still be worse overall. Julian Satterthwaite reports.

Payne Capital Management's Courtney Dominguez says the high level of investor pessimism indicates the markets may have bottomed. She says savings could make their way into stocks.

H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, said local currency sales have tumbled 57% since the start of March compared with a year ago. Ciara Lee reports

Wall Street's indexes climbed Thursday, with the Nasdaq erasing losses for 2020, following a clutch of upbeat earnings reports led by PayPal. Fred Katayama reports.

Neiman Marcus Group filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, marking one of the highest-profile collapses yet among retailers forced to temporarily close stores in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Freddie Joyner has more.

Stocks on Wall Street jumped Friday despite historic job losses suffered by the economy. Fred Katayama reports.

Guinness World Records has named a South African restaurant as the official titleholder for 'Most Varieties of Milkshakes Commercially Available'.

"Mad Mike" Hughes, a self-styled explorer and daredevil bent on proving that the earth is flat was killed over the weekend when his homemade rocket crashed in the California desert over the weekend.

Belgian waffles may be about to become more environmentally friendly.

The growls from the caged hyena reverberate through the room as Mohamed Sheikh Yakub slumps silently in a chair nearby, hoping the animal will frighten away the evil spirits he says have troubled him since his divorce.

A hedge fund manager in Hong Kong has publicly apologised after a parody video of him licking his finger and wiping it on a hand rail in a metro car went viral, sparking anger in the city which is grappling to contain an outbreak of the new coronavirus.

(This March 17 story corrects stock symbol of Zoom to ZM.O, not ZOOM.PK in the last paragraph)

A British vicar got more than he expected from his first attempt at an online sermon when he leaned too close to a candle on a cross and his sweater caught fire.

A quick-thinking Helsinki bakery has saved itself from financial ruin due to the new coronavirus pandemic by creating a cake that looks like a toilet roll.

Gerson Monje holds up his cellphone to proudly show off his online sex shop. A red banner reading "sold out!" is plastered across half of the products.

With potato farmers and processors struggling, Belgians are being urged to eat more fries to offset a slump in demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Volunteers clad as Superman and Spider-Man sprayed disinfectant against the coronavirus on Indonesia's island of Java, flanking a colleague wearing the winged helmet of local superhero Gatotkaca who shouted, "Wear masks, wash hands and stay alert."

Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw.

Dressed as "Star Wars" characters, local officials in the Philippines are out and about to enforce strict quarantine measures while also handing out relief packages.

Chewy and Miley, both two-year-old Schnauzer dogs, are getting their hair cut at a groomer in Bangkok for the first time since the new coronavirus outbreak began in Thailand in January.

Priest Don Giuseppe Castelvecchio hasn't been able to conduct services in his San Fiorano church for two months. In the town where restrictions are easing, his sermons delivered from a loud speaker in a car are a welcome relief. Joe Davies reports.

The last "supermoon" of 2020 rose in the night sky on Thursday over a world beginning to re-emerge after weeks of coronavirus-related lockdowns.

Australia will ease social distancing restrictions implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus in a three-step process, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, with the aim of removing all curbs by July. Lauren Anthony reports.

Along with millions around the nation, Prince Charles held a two-minute silence outside his family's Balmoral estate, while military jets flew over the United Kingdom's four capitals, and 1940s-style tea parties plus singalongs were planned in homes.

With its season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, one of Austria's most popular glacial ski resorts covered its glacier in protective fabric earlier than usual this year to help preserve it for a still uncertain reopening.

The latest figures from the Labor Department released on Friday showed the U.S. economy losing 20.5 million jobs in April, the steepest plunge in payrolls since the Great Depression. Colette Luke has more.

Syria's government allowed mosques to open on Friday for worshipers willing to perform prayers. The mosque had remained closed as part of the measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management utilizes robots to give its students a virtual graduation ceremony. Freddie Joyner has more.