Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — Outside a funeral home in eastern Beijing, dozens of people were bundled up in parkas and hats against the freezing temperatures Friday evening as workers in full protective suits wheeled out coffins one by one.

When an employee with a clipboard shouted the name of the dead, a relative trundled up to the coffin to examine the body. One of the relatives told The Associated Press their loved one had been infected with COVID-19.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s king and queen have tested positive for COVID-19, and so far have only mild symptoms, the royal palace said Saturday.

Doctors prescribed treatment for King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 70, and Queen Suthida, 44, and requested them to refrain from duties for a while, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement.

Their symptoms are “very mild,” the statement said.

BATANG KALI, Malaysia (AP) — Rescuers on Saturday found the bodies of a woman and two children, raising the death toll from a landslide on an unlicensed campground in Malaysia to 24 with nine others still missing.

Selangor state fire chief Norazam Khamis told reporters the bodies of a mother and son were found buried under a meter (3 feet) of mud and debris. The body of a little girl was discovered later. He said there was hope of finding survivors if they clung on to piles or branches or rocks with pockets of air but that chances were slim.

TASHKENT, Dec 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – Energy companies from the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye and France, have won tenders to build and operate three solar power plants, with a total capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) in Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Energy Ministry said, yesterday.

According to the results of the tender, Abu Dhabi-based Masdar was awarded to construct a 250 MW project in Bukhara region, with a proposal of 3,044 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour of produced electricity, the ministry said.

BEIJING, Dec 16 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping and his senior officials pledged to shore up China's battered economy next year as the deaths of two veteran state journalists highlighted the worsening spread of COVID-19 in the capital Beijing.

Xi and his leaders ended their two-day Central Economic Work Conference with a call, via state media, to step up policy adjustments and strengthen coordination to support an economy that analysts estimate grew just 3% this year - its worst performance in nearly half a century.

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan confirmed a major nuclear power policy shift on Friday to tackle an energy crisis more than a decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster prompted it to idle most of its reactors.

Public opinion has been hostile towards nuclear energy since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, but the mood has shifted due to soaring energy costs amid the prolonged war in Ukraine and repeated power crunches in both summer and winter.

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict, as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears.

The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Friday awarded the government's honorable medal decorations to two Chinese experts in recognition of their contribution to restoring ruined temples at the famed Angkor Archaeological Park.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An presented the "Knight Class" medals to Jin Zhaoyu and Yuan Mengxi at the end of a two-day meeting of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC-Angkor).

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia looks forward to further strengthening economic cooperation with China, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has said.

The collaboration between the two countries in various sectors will boost local industries and bodes well for bilateral trade and investment, Loke said in his opening speech at the 12th Malaysia-China Entrepreneurs Conference (MCEC) on Thursday.

TOKYO, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed at its lowest in more than a month on Friday, dragged down by Wall Street's drop overnight, as interest rate hikes by major central banks raised concerns over an economic slowdown.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 524.58 points, or 1.87 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 27,527.12, marking its lowest closing level since Nov. 10.

The broader Topix index finished 23.69 points, or 1.20 percent, lower at 1,950.21.