TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday asked organizers of big sport and cultural events to consider cancelling or postponing them in the next two weeks in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Abe made the request at a task force meeting on the disease, adding that the next two weeks is seen as a critical time for Japan to contain the spread of the epidemic.

"In view of large-scale transmission risks, we have decided to request (organizers) to cancel, postpone or hold sport and cultural events nationwide on a smaller scale than planned for the next two weeks nationwide," he said.

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KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian interim Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad broke the silence on Wednesday since his resignation, saying that he was willing to return to power if there was sufficient support for him to establish a non-partisan government prioritizing the interest of the country.

In his first public address since resigning on Monday, Mahathir said there were "many reasons" behind his resignation, but specifically brushing off accusations that he was not willing to give up his position and that he was crazy on power.

"To me, that power and position is 'a means to an end' or a tool to achieve the objective. And our objective is of course for the good of the country," the 94-year-old said in a televised speech.

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that a possible U.S.-Taliban peace deal will include a timetable for conditions-based U.S. troop withdrawals and the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.

The agreement "includes a timeline for both a conditions-based and phased troop withdrawal, and for the commencement of intra-Afghan negotiations," the top U.S. diplomat noted.

These negotiations, if taking place, will be "the first time that Afghans representing all sides of the conflict will sit down together and begin the hard work of reconciliation," Pompeo added.

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NEW YORK -- China's efforts to combat the novel coronavirus are encouraging in several aspects, a leading U.S. public health expert has said.

"It's very heartening to see how quickly Chinese scientists were able to identify the sequence of the virus" and published it rapidly thereafter, said Wafaa El-Sadr, director of the Global Health Initiative at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

These are "very useful to the global community to understand what this disease looks like," El-Sadr said in a recent interview with Xinhua. Enditem

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