Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HANOI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnamese authorities have seized 98 kg of synthetic drugs sent from Germany, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

Three people have been arrested for their involvement in this case, the news agency cited Colonel Pham Quynh, deputy head of the Drug Crime Investigation Department under Hanoi City Police.

Upon examining suspicious parcels sent from Germany to Vietnam via Noi Bai International Airport, the police and customs forces of the capital Hanoi have found and seized 98 kg of synthetic drugs, he said.

BEIJING (AP) — China is seeking to minimize the possibility of a major new COVID-19 outbreak during this month’s Lunar New Year travel rush following the end of most pandemic containment measures.

The Transportation Ministry on Friday called on travelers to reduce trips and gatherings, particularly if they involve elderly people, pregnant women, small children and those with underlying conditions.

JAKARTA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- A car crashed into a river due to severe weather conditions on Thursday in Indonesia's South Sulawesi's Pangkep Regency, killing five people.

The car carrying six people was running through heavy rain at 05:15 local time from north to south, according to Pangkep police officer Ida Ayu Suastini, adding that then the car plunged into a three-meter deep river after hitting a tree on the left side of the road.

"One survivor is still receiving care at Pangkep Hospital," told Suastini.

BANGKOK, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thailand adopted a new requirement for foreign visitors to show proof of at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination, government officials announced Thursday.

Foreign arrivals are also required to have travel insurance that covers potential COVID-19-related expenses in case their next destination requires a negative RT-PCR result, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

BEIJING (AP) — Patients, mostly older people, lay on stretchers in hallways or took oxygen while sitting in wheelchairs as a COVID-19 outbreak stretched public health facilities’ resources in China’s capital Beijing, even after its reported peak.

The Chuiyangliu hospital in the city’s east was packed Thursday with newly arrived patients. Beds ran out by midmorning, even as ambulances continued to bring more people in. Hard-pressed nurses and doctors rushed to take information and triage the most urgent cases.

JAKARTA, Jan 4 (NNN-ANTARA) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2, struck Indonesia’s eastern province of Papua yesterday, the country’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

The quake happened at 19:55 p.m. local time (1255 GMT), with its epicentre located at 33 km north-east of Jayapura city, and a depth of 10 km under the seabed, the agency reported, adding that, the earthquake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami.

Earlier yesterday, a 5.0-magnitude quake jolted Indonesia’s West Papua province, the agency reported.

SEOUL, Jan 4 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday he would consider suspending a 2018 inter-Korean military pact if the North violates its airspace again, his office said, amid tension over a recent intrusion by North Korean drones.

Yoon made the comment after being briefed on countermeasures to North Korean drones that crossed into the South last week, calling for building an "overwhelming response capability that goes beyond proportional levels," according to his press secretary, Kim Eun-hye.

BEIJING, Jan 4 (Reuters) - China's state media rallied citizens on Wednesday for a "final victory" over COVID-19 as health officials abroad tried to work out the scale of its raging outbreak and how to stop it spreading.

Beijing's abrupt axing of "zero COVID" curbs last month has unleashed the virus on China's 1.4 billion people who have little immunity after being shielded since the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan three years ago.

HANOI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- A new version of Omicron called XBB has been recorded in southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, local media reported on Wednesday.

The COVID-19 sub-variant was reported in December last year and accounted for a small share only, according to a COVID-19 research team of the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit.

During the second half of 2022, the southern city reported mostly Omicron and Delta variants, according to Vietnam News Agency.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea maintained that Seoul and Washington are discussing its involvement in U.S. nuclear weapons management in the face of intensifying North Korean threats, after President Joe Biden denied that the allies were discussing joint nuclear exercises.

The purported difference came as South Korea is seeking a greater U.S. security commitment after North Korea’s record number of missile tests and escalating nuclear doctrine last year caused security jitters among many people in the South.