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A satellite photo of the Punggye-Ri nuclear test site in North Korea May 14, 2018. (Image: Planet Labs Inc/Handout via REUTERS) - 

South Korea's military said on Friday (Mar 11) it had detected activity at North Korea's nuclear test site to restore at least some tunnels that were demolished in 2018 when the site was closed.

North Korea has not tested a nuclear bomb or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017 but has said it could resume such testing with denuclearisation talks with the United States stalled.

Amid a flurry of now-moribund diplomacy in 2018, North Korea used explosives to demolish the entrances to some underground tunnels at Punggye-ri, its only known nuclear test site.

"Activity to restore part of the tunnels at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site that were destroyed on May 24, 2018, has been detected," South Korea's military said in a statement, without elaborating on the type of activity.

South Korea is closely cooperating with its US allies to monitor the activities, the statement added.

The report came after the National Security Council said on Sunday it was paying particularly close attention to Punggye-ri and the main nuclear reactor site at Yongbyon.

Images captured by commercial satellite a week ago showed very early signs of activity at the site, including the construction of a new building, repair of another building, and what was possibly some lumber and sawdust, specialists at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) said in a report released on Tuesday.

International monitors have also reported the nuclear reactor facility at Yongbyon appears to be in full swing, potentially creating fuel for nuclear weapons.

North Korea recently used what would be its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile system in two secretive launches, likely paving the way for a resumption of long-range tests, US and South Korean officials said on Friday//CNA

People queue for COVID-19 tests in Shanghai as dozens of cases emerged in the eastern economic hub in recent days (Photo: AFP/Hector Retamal) - 

A Chinese city of nine million was ordered into lockdown on Friday (Mar 11) and Shanghai shut its schools as authorities scrambled to halt a COVID-19 outbreak that has pushed nationwide cases to their highest levels in two years.

Changchun, the capital of northeastern Jilin province and an important industrial base, ordered residents to stay at home, allowing one person out every two days to buy "daily necessities".

The city also halted all public transport, ordered schools and businesses shut and said it would institute mass testing.

China's daily coronavirus case count soared past the 1,000 mark this week for the first time since the pandemic's early days in 2020.

That is up from fewer than 100 cases just three weeks ago as the highly transmissible Omicron variant challenges China's zero-COVID approach to tackling the pandemic.

COVID-19 was first detected in China in late 2019 but the government has kept its case count extremely low by international standards with a combination of snap lockdowns, mass testing and largely closed borders.

There were 1,369 cases across more than a dozen provinces, according to Friday's daily official count.

Jilin, which has reported hundreds of cases in recent days, is one of more than a dozen provinces facing upticks along with major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Shanghai on Friday ordered its schools to close and shift to online instruction for the foreseeable future after dozens of cases emerged in the eastern economic hub in recent days.

And as cases increased, the country's National Health Commission announced Friday that they would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests.

The kits will now be available online or at pharmacies for clinics and ordinary citizens to buy for "self-test", the health commission said, although nucleic acid tests will continue to be the main method of testing.

The government has invested much of its prestige in its ability to control COVID-19, and Friday's measures appeared to pour cold water on hopes China would scrap its disruptive zero-tolerance approach anytime soon.

The drawbacks of a zero-COVID approach have been laid bare in Hong Kong, where mixed messages from the local government have fuelled hoarding of food supplies and public fears that people will be taken away to isolation.

Mainland China's most recent major lockdown came in December when the city of Xi'an kept its 13 million people home for two weeks due to an outbreak.

But in the face of rising pandemic fatigue, top Chinese officials have in recent weeks urged local officials throughout the country to avoid such drastic steps.

As cases have climbed since late February, only relatively soft or highly targeted measures have been taken in affected areas.

In Shanghai, however, authorities have increasingly moved to quickly lock down individual schools, businesses, restaurants and malls over close-contact fears.

This has given rise to online images of students and teachers in the city confined for up to 48 hours on campuses, and patrons locked in restaurants or malls while awaiting testing.

Social media chat groups have buzzed with each temporarily shuttered mall, and long lines have appeared outside hospitals as people rush to obtain a negative COVID test.

"Every day I go to work, I don't know if I can come home," said one Shanghai social media user.

"Going to work is like 'Squid Game', there are fewer and fewer people," the user added, referring to the South Korean television series depicting a series of life-or-death contests.

Some Shanghai museums will also be temporarily closed from Friday, the city government said.

China's central economic planning agency recently warned that big lockdowns can hurt the economy.

Last week, a top Chinese scientist said the country should aim to co-exist with the virus, like other nations//CNA

Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA), the Britain's financial regulatory body, signage is seen at their head offices in London, Britain March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville - 

Financial services firms including those in the cryptoasset sector were warned by Britain's regulatory bodies on Friday that they were expected to ensure sanctions imposed against entities and individuals in Russia and Belarus were complied with.

"We are working closely with partners in government and law enforcement both here and abroad, including regulatory authorities, to share intelligence and act to prevent sanctions evasion, including through cryptoassets," the financial regulators said.

"We also remain ready to act in the event of sanctions breaches," added the statement from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England.

The statement said the use of cryptoassets to circumvent economic sanctions was a criminal offence, and that sanctions regulations did not differentiate between cryptoassets and other forms of assets.

The FCA had already written to all registered cryptoasset firms and those holding temporary registration status to highlight those entities and individuals who had been sanctioned, it added.

"Both the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority will act if they see authorised financial institutions supporting cryptoasset firms operating in the UK illegally," the statement said.

A senior European Union official said last week that the European Commission is studying whether cryptoassets are being used to get round financial sanctions imposed on Russian banks//CNA

People queue for shelter as they wait for transport after fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the border checkpoint in Medyka, Poland, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch - 

Eastern Europe's efforts to aid Ukrainians came under strain on Friday (Mar 11), with some cities running out of accommodation as the number of refugees passed 2.5 million and fighting in their homeland.

Relief work in frontline states - Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Moldova - has mainly been shouldered by ordinary citizens volunteering to drive, cook or house refugees, with the help of non-governmental organisations and local authorities.

But with the war now in its third week and the number of refugees swelling, it is becoming difficult to provide sufficient help.

In Krakow, Poland's second-largest city, one NGO described the situation at the train station as "tragic".

"There is nowhere to direct the refugees. They are stressed and confused, all kinds of help is needed, and above all, premises," tweeted Fundacja Brata Alberta, an NGO that in normal times helps individuals with mental disabilities.

In Hrubieszow, a Polish town on the Ukrainian border, Mayor Marta Majewska said she had spent all the town's crisis reserve of 100,000 zlotys (US$22,889), as well as 170,000 zlotys from the local province, to run a refugee reception centre.

"I am most worried about electricity bills," she told Radio Zet. "The city cannot bear it at all."

In Warsaw, the biggest temporary reception centre was about 70 per cent full by Thursday. Refugees now make up over 10per cent of the Polish capital's population, Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said.

Close to 4,000 Ukrainian children are now attending school in Warsaw, he added, with city authorities setting up 76 "preparatory classes" in which they learn Polish.

Trzaskowski separately called for other nations to step in, urging airlifts and a global system to manage the influx.

"We're getting overwhelmed ... We cannot improvise anymore," he told US television network MSNBC. "We need relocation in Europe and we need relocation in the world."

US President Joe Biden said on Friday the United States would welcome those fleeing the conflict.

"We're going to welcome Ukraine refugees with open arms if in fact they come all the way here," he told a group of US lawmakers. He gave no details.

In Przemysl, near Poland's busiest border crossing and a transit hub for refugees, Vice-Mayor Boguslaw Swiezy said he was seeing a decline in the number of volunteers, some of whom are students, others people taking time off work.

The Polish government will start reimbursing local governments' costs for handling refugees from next week, once a new law comes into force, the interior ministry said.

Romania's capital Bucharest was turning a convention centre and indoor arena, Romexpo, into its biggest refugee shelter yet, while Hungary was studying whether to turn museums, sports arenas and public buildings in Budapest into shelters.

The Hungarian government is also providing subsidies to employers who take on refugees to help cover accommodation and travel costs. In the Czech Republic, Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib called for more government funds to help accommodate refugees.

The United Nations bases its relief plans on 4 million people fleeing abroad, but has said it may need to revise the number higher.

The Polish Border Guard said 1.5 million people had entered Poland from Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24.

Nearly 365,000 people have so far fled into Romania, 219,000 to Hungary and 176,000 to Slovakia, officials said. Nearly 200,000 have reached the Czech Republic, which does not share a border with Ukraine.

Others are reaching or are seen getting to German, Sweden and other countries in Western Europe.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a special military operation to disarm its neighbour and dislodge its "neo-Nazi" leaders. Kyiv and its Western allies say this is a baseless pretext to invade a country of 44 million people//CNA