For more than a year, residents living in a remote border town have been China’s foot soldiers in the battle against the coronavirus, enduring lockdown after lockdown to shield the rest of the country from contagion, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mothers in Ruili, a jewelry-trading center on China’s border with Myanmar, post despairingly about their toddlers being numb to regular swab tests—one said her 2-year-old has gotten 100 in his lifetime. Others post about spending months on end in isolation, despite test after test coming back negative.

India has cut the taxes paid by consumers on petrol and diesel after the surging cost of crude oil pushed fuel prices to record highs, BBC.com reported. The decision aims to ease price rises and "further spur the overall economic cycle", the government said. Global commodity prices have soared this year as economies around the world recover from the pandemic. However, the move is also expected to boost demand for fuel as countries try to curb fossil fuel consumption. India's excise duty on petrol has been reduced by 5 rupees (£0.049; $0.0671) per litre, and by 10 rupees on diesel.

Property developers in China looking to raise badly needed cash by selling assets are finding it hard to strike deals as potential buyers in the sector hoard funds after home sales plunged and Beijing stepped up its borrowing crackdown, Bloomberg News reported. China Evergrande Group last month ended discussions to sell a controlling stake in its property-management business that would have raised about $2.6 billion. A plan to unload a trophy office tower in Hong Kong also stumbled, while Modern Land China Co.

Traders have had a mixed view for most of this year about when emerging-Asia central banks will begin to normalize policy. Suddenly though, they are rushing to price in rate-hike bets across the region, Bloomberg News reported. The hawkish shift is most evident in South Korea and India, where markets are now anticipating at least a quarter-point increase in the next three months, while they are also building in Malaysia and Thailand over a two-year horizon.

Japanese policymakers on Tuesday reaffirmed the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) commitment to its 2% inflation target in a meeting held between the central bank chief and the country's economy and finance ministers, Reuters reported. The Japanese government and the central bank also agreed to keep in close contact and cooperation, in line with commitments made in a 2013 joint statement, which also laid out the country's inflation target for the first time.

Japan Airlines on Tuesday forecast a net loss of 146 billion yen ($1.28 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 2022, as it struggles to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Nikkei Asia reported. JAL had refrained making a forecast for the current fiscal year until now, amid lingering uncertainties related to COVID-19. The company is now expected to have operating losses for a second consecutive fiscal year. The airline forecasts 766 billion yen in consolidated sales for the current fiscal year, up 59% from the previous year.

The Reserve Bank of Australia bowed to market pressure Tuesday, abandoning a bond-yield target after an acceleration in inflation spurred traders to price in higher borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. The decision to scrap the 0.1% yield target on the April 2024 security comes after a bond market selloff last week and amid an improving domestic outlook underpinned by high vaccination rates. The RBA kept its cash rate at a record low 0.1%, as expected.

Chinese developer Modern Land said on Monday a default on a bond repayment last week has pulled forward repayment dates for a further $321 million worth of notes, and the company withdrew an interim dividend to hold on to cash, Reuters reported. The development highlights the impact of China Evergrande Group, which narrowly averted a costly default, on the rest of the high-yield sector as liquidity dries up and sales slow. Modern Land said last week it had not repaid principal and interest on its 12.85% senior notes with an outstanding principal of $250 million.

PT Garuda Indonesia needs at least $1 billion of additional funds to cut debt and stay afloat, as the government says it could give up its majority control of the troubled flag carrier, Bloomberg News reported. Garuda is currently in talks with creditors to restructure $6.3 billion worth of debt and expects to reach an agreement in the second quarter of 2022, according to Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, a deputy minister at Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises Ministry.

Thai Airways International Pcl will sell 42 planes and cut nearly a third of its workforce as part of a plan to slim down the fleet and cut costs, the head of its restructuring committee said on Monday, Reuters reported. The airline, which was in difficulty well before the pandemic struck, is going through a bankruptcy-protected restructuring. Piyasvasti Amranand, who is leading the effort, said that the planes being sold are old and not energy efficient. He said 16 jets on lease will be returned. After the sale, the airline will have 58 planes across four types.