Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — China’s imports and exports shrank in November under pressure from weakening global demand and anti-virus controls at home.

Exports sank 9% from a year ago to $296.1 billion, worsening from October’s 0.9% decline, customs data showed Wednesday. Imports fell 10.9% to $226.2 billion, down from the previous month’s 0.7% retreat in a sign of a deepening Chinese economic slowdown.

The country’s global trade surplus narrowed by 2.5% from a year earlier to $69.9 billion.

BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP) — A Muslim militant and convicted bomb-maker who was released from prison last year blew himself up Wednesday at a police station on Indonesia’s main island of Java, killing an officer and wounding 11 people, officials said.

The attacker entered the Astana Anyar police station with a motorcycle and detonated one of two bombs he was carrying as police were lining up for a morning assembly, said Bandung city Police Chief Aswin Sipayung. The other explosive was defused.

BEIJING (AP) — China rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.

SONGKHLA, Dec 6 (NNN-Bernama) – Three State Railway of Thailand (SRT) workers were killed and four others were injured when a bomb exploded Tuesday near the scene of the railway bomb explosion last Saturday in Sadao here.

Deputy Army Commander of the 4th Division Maj Gen Paisan Nusang confirmed that three SRT workers died at the scene while four others were injured and they are currently receiving treatment in hospital.

SEOUL, Dec 6 (NNN-YONHAP) – The life expectancy for South Korean new-borns continued to rise for the 51st consecutive year in 2021, statistical office data showed, today.

The average life expectancy at birth came to 83.6 years in 2021, slightly up from 83.5 years recorded in the previous year, according to Statistics Korea.

It marked the lowest yearly gain in three years, amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, but the life expectancy kept going up since relevant data began to be compiled in 1970.

JAKARTA, Dec 6 (NNN-Bernama) — A London-based non-governmental organisation has warned there is a risk of infectious disease outbreaks in the aftermath of the earthquake in Cianjur district, West Java.

Save the Children said survivors were now crammed into tents housing hundreds of people with little access to adequate toilets or clean water.

In a statement it said heavy rains and aftershocks have created swamp-like conditions that are ripe for the spread of disease and infection.

BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Residents of China's capital were allowed into parks, supermarkets, offices and airports without a negative COVID-19 test on Tuesday, the latest in a mix of easing steps nationwide after unprecedented protests against a tough zero-COVID policy.

"Beijing readies itself for life again," read a headline in the government-owned China Daily newspaper, adding that people were "gradually embracing" newfound freedoms.

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Tuesday hailed women for their significant contributions to maintaining regional and global peace and security.

"The significant role that women have played in the area of peacekeeping operations is certainly noteworthy," he said in an opening speech of a workshop on gender, law and armed conflicts.

SINGAPORE, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The International Labor Organization (ILO) opened its Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) in Singapore on Tuesday to discuss employment and the future of work.

The event comes at an important juncture for the world of work as the region faces multiple challenges, including the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by the global food, energy and finance crises, the ILO said.

PREY VENG, Cambodia, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- A China-aided cataract blindness elimination project was launched on Tuesday, aiming at helping eliminate cataract blindness in southeastern Cambodia's Prey Veng province.

Speaking at the ceremony, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly expressed his sincere thanks to China's GX Foundation for funding the project, which would provide free eye check-ups, treatment and surgery for all cataract patients in the province.