Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prayed together Sunday at a memorial for Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, as the two leaders continued efforts to mend ties repeatedly hurt by disputes stemming from Japan’s wartime brutality.

Yoon was in Hiroshima with leaders from seven other guest nations and G7 countries for “outreach” sessions on Sunday, the last day of the three-day summit.

BEIJING (AP) — The collapse of a nine-story building in central China that killed 54 people last year was caused by shoddy, illegal construction and local officials’ failure to enforce standards, according to an official report released Sunday.

At least nine people including the building owner were reported arrested following the April 2022 disaster in Changsha, which trapped survivors under rubble for up to five days. Nine people were injured.

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — President Joe Biden said Sunday that Republicans in the U.S. House must move off their “extreme positions” on the now-stalled talks over raising America’s debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default only on their terms.

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren’t occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow’s insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen.

Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.”

TOKYO, May 20 (NNN-NHK) – Major Japanese companies raised wages by an average 3.91 percent, following this year’s spring wage negotiations, marking the largest jump in 31 years, Japan’s biggest business lobby said, yesterday.

The average wage hike was equivalent to 13,110 yen (95 U.S. dollars) per month, up 5,680 yen from the previous year, according to preliminary data, from Japan Business Federation, also known as Keidanren.

VIENTIANE, May 20 (NNN-KPL) – Laos recorded a trade surplus of 1.39 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, and the total value of the country’s imports and exports was 15 billion dollars.

In 2022, the country’s exports were worth about 8.19 billion dollars, while imports were valued at 6.8 billion dollars, the Lao Economic Daily reported, yesterday.

Thailand was the largest export market for Laos in 2022, followed by China, Vietnam, Australia and Cambodia.

Thailand was also Laos’ largest source for imports, followed by China and Vietnam, according to the report.

HANOI, May 20 (NNN-VNA) – Vietnam’s state utility, EVN, has asked two leading fertiliser companies to halt operation until the end of May, so that it would have more gas supplies for power generation, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, yesterday.

TAIPEI, May 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island.

Taiwan will not provoke and will not bow to Chinese pressure, Tsai said in a speech in the presidential office in Taipei marking the seventh anniversary of her governance.

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 20 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's visit to Japan for the Group of Seven (G7) summit a "game changer," as the two met for talks on the sidelines of the event.

"I think this is a unique opportunity to (have) exchanges with a lot of countries from the south and express your situation, express a message and share a view. I do believe it can be a game changer," Macron said.

Macron added that France will be with Ukraine "to the very end".

SEOUL, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of South Koreans gathered in central Seoul on Saturday to voice their opposition to Japan's planned discharge of radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

"Stop Japan's dumping of nuclear contaminated water into ocean. Oppose the dumping from Fukushima," protesters shouted in unison with civic activists and politicians joining the rally.