Top Asian News 11:00 a.m. GMT

A year on, WHO still struggling to manage pandemic response

GENEVA (AP) — When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic one year ago Thursday, it did so only after weeks of resisting the term and maintaining that the highly infectious virus could still be stopped. A year later, the U.N. agency is still struggling to keep on top of the evolving science of COVID-19, to persuade countries to abandon their nationalistic tendencies and help get vaccines where they’re needed most. The agency made some costly missteps along the way: It advised people against wearing masks for months and asserted that COVID-19 wasn’t widely spread in the air. It also declined to publicly call out countries — particularly China — for mistakes that senior WHO officials grumbled about privately.

Still recovering, Japan marks 10th disaster anniversary

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that hit its northeastern region, where many survivors' lives are still on hold. Carrying bouquets, many walked to the coast or visited graves to pray for relatives and friends washed away by the tsunami. Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga were among those observing a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. — the minute the shaking started — at a memorial in Tokyo. The magnitude 9.0 quake that struck on March 11, 2011, was one of the biggest on record and set off a massive tsunami that swept far inland, destroying towns and causing meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

EXPLAINER: How dangerous is the Fukushima nuke plant today?

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — A decade ago, a massive tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of its reactors melted down, leaving it looking like a bombed-out factory. Emergency workers risked their lives trying to keep one of history's worst nuclear crises from spiraling out of control. Proper equipment has now replaced ragged plastic hoses held together with tape and an outdoor power switchboard infested by rats, which caused blackouts. Radiation levels have declined, allowing workers and visitors to wear regular clothes and surgical masks in most areas. But deep inside the plant, danger still lurks. Officials don't know exactly how long the cleanup will take, whether it will be successful and what might become of the land where the plant sits.

AP PHOTOS: Damage preserved as memorial of Japanese tsunami

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (AP) — New roads. New town halls. New shopping centers. The scars are disappearing from Japan’s northeast coast as people rebuild from the tsunami that wrecked the region 10 years ago. But some towns have decided to preserve reminders of the March 11, 2011, disaster — as a symbol of their resilience, to remember their dead loved ones, and as a lesson for future generations. In Rikuzentakata, where more than 1,700 people died, townspeople refurbished the lone pine tree that initially survived the tsunami, which flattened the surrounding coastal forest. When the tree, which is known as the “Miracle Pine,” began dying from seawater exposure, it was taken down, treated and then reerected to create a memorial that has become a symbol of hope for the region.

Chinese lawmakers endorse tighter control over Hong Kong

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ceremonial legislature on Thursday endorsed the ruling Communist Party’s move to tighten control over Hong Kong by reducing the role of its public in picking the territory’s leaders. The measure adds to a crackdown against a protest movement in Hong Kong calling for greater democracy. The crackdown has prompted accusations Beijing is eroding the autonomy it promised when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997 and is hurting its status as a global financial center. Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong has added to irritants in relations with Washington, Europe and other governments that also include trade, technology and the party's treatment of ethnic minorities.

Rights group: Myanmar military using systematic deadly force

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — Amnesty International accused Myanmar's military government on Thursday of increasingly using battlefield weapons against peaceful protesters and conducting systematic, deliberate killings. Myanmar has been roiled by protests and other acts of civil disobedience since a Feb. 1 military coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi just as it was to start its second term. The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian nation after five decades of military rule. The military “is using increasingly lethal tactics and weapons normally seen on the battlefield against peaceful protesters and bystanders across the country,” Amnesty International said in a report.

The Latest: Israel vaccinates vast majority of its soldiers

Myanmar's searing smartphone images flood a watching world

The images ricochet across the planet, as so many do in this dizzying era of film it, upload it, tell it to the world: scenes from a protest-turned-government crackdown, captured at ground level by smartphone users on the streets of Myanmar. Images shot across barricades and furtively through windows. From behind bushes and through smudged car windshields. Horizontal video. Vertical video. Video captured by people running toward chaos and away from it. People shouting. People helping. People demanding. People dying. The world is watching violent events unfold in Myanmar for many reasons, but perhaps one above all: because it can. It is a dynamic completely unlike the uprising that spread through the Southeast Asian nation in the pre-internet, pre-smartphone summer of 1988.

Hong Kong court grants bail to 5th activist, jails another

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court on Thursday granted bail to a fifth pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker but revoked bail for another, after both were charged with subversion under the national security law. They're part of a group of 47 activists and former lawmakers who were arrested over their involvement in an unofficial primary election last year, aimed at determining the strongest candidates in a legislative election that was later postponed due to the pandemic. Authorities say the primary was part of a plot to paralyze the government and subvert state power, as at least some of the activists had planned to vote down major bills and force Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to resign if their pro-democracy camp had gained a legislative majority.

Biden's deal with Seoul points to a swift shift on alliances

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new agreement with South Korea on sharing the cost of keeping U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula is early evidence that President Joe Biden is shifting America's approach to alliances in Asia and beyond. It shows he will cut allies a break to build unity in competition against China and Russia. President Donald Trump had demanded South Korea pay billions more to keep American troops on its soil. In his view, the United States was getting fleeced by what he suggested were freeloaders masquerading as allies. Initially, Trump insisted the South Korean government pay five times as much as it previously had.