Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Six people are missing, following a helicopter accident, in Malaysia’s Pahang state, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, said today.

The helicopter, carrying one pilot and five passengers, was flying from Perak state to Pahang state, when the accident occurred, it said in a statement.

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched and operations to recover the victims are currently underway, it said.

BEIJING, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The three most glaring omissions from China's new Communist Party leadership share one common trait: all rose through its Youth League and were considered members of a once-powerful faction whose influence Xi Jinping has now effectively crushed.

Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Wang Yang, both 67 and young enough to be re-appointed to the elite seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, were left off even the wider Central Committee, as Xi installed loyalists in top party posts during the recent twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle.

JAKARTA, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers retrieved three more bodies on Tuesday after a ship caught fire in the waters off Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province a day earlier, bringing the casualties of the incident to 17 people with at least five others still missing.

"Today we recovered the bodies of one child, one man and one woman," Saidar Rahmanjaya, head of the operation unit of the provincial search and rescue office, told Xinhua over the phone.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake rocked a large swath of the northern Philippines, injuring at least 36 people and forcing the closure of an international airport and the evacuation of patients in a hospital, officials said Wednesday.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Tuesday night’s magnitude 6.4 quake, which was set off by movement of a local fault, was centered 9 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of Lagayan town in Abra province at a depth of 11 kilometers (7 miles).

TOKYO (AP) — Officials from the United States and its Asian allies Japan and South Korea suspect North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test, and vice foreign ministers from the three countries said Wednesday their joint response would be “decisive.”

Cho Hyundong, South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister, said the trio is bolstering their defense cooperation to deter the growing possibility of North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons since the adoption in September of legislation spelling out scenarios where it would use nukes, including preemptively.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets mostly gained Wednesday on hopes the Federal Reserve might ease off plans for interest rate hikes, while London opened lower after Britain installed its third prime minister this year amid an economic crisis.

Other European markets gained. Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney closed higher. The euro edged above $1.

The future for Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index declined after gaining for a third day Wednesday after bond prices rose. That suggested some investors expect the Fed to ease off rate hikes as economic activity cools.

BEIJING, Oct 25 (APP): Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin has welcomed the decision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove Pakistan from its “grey list” and said, this also showed international support and recognition of Pakistan’s endeavor in this regard.

“China welcomes the decision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove Pakistan from its “grey list” and would like to send congratulations to Pakistan,” he said during his regular briefing.

SINGAPORE, Oct 25 (NNN-XINHUA) – Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, announced today that, the city-state raises its national climate target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, as part of its Long-Term Low-Emissions Development Strategy.

BANGKOK (AP) — Air strikes by Myanmar’s military killed as many as 80 people, including singers and musicians, attending an anniversary celebration of the Kachin ethnic minority’s main political organization, members of the group and a rescue worker said Monday.

The reported attack comes three days before Southeast Asian foreign ministers are to hold a special meeting in Indonesia to discuss widening violence in Myanmar.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower Tuesday in Asia as markets remained jittery over the outcome of a Communist Party congress in China, where key reformers were excluded from the highest ranks of ruling party leadership.

Hong Kong’s benchmark failed to hold onto early gains after a 6.4% selloff the day before that took it to its lowest close in over a decade. Tokyo and Sydney advanced but Shanghai, Seoul and Mumbai declined.

U.S. futures edged 0.1% higher but oil prices fall back.