SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Investment giant Blackstone Group made a $6.2 billion approach for troubled Australian casino firm Crown Resorts, sweetening an earlier offer as its main rival bidder is beset by regulatory problems.

Tai Hui is chief Asia market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

SEOUL -- On Thursday, a candidate to be the next president of South Korea announced he would give up on plans to seek another round of universal relief payments to boost the recovery from the pandemic, backing away from a signature pledge in the name of political harmony.

BENGALURU -- The Indian government has decided to scrap three contentious farm bills passed by parliament in September last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address to the nation on Friday.

MANILA -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said a leading candidate for next year's presidential election is into cocaine, an allegation that has triggered a guessing game in the country's increasingly politically charged atmosphere.

Nikkei Asia is tracking the spread of the coronavirus that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Cumulative global cases have reached 255,988,317 according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 5,131,002.

For more information about the spread of COVID-19 and vaccination progress around the world, please see our interactive charts and maps.

-- Global coronavirus tracker charts

-- Status of vaccinations around the