Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Sept 6 (NNN-ANTARA) – Indonesia and the Philippines signed yesterday, a memorandum of understanding (MoU), on intensifying maritime security cooperation on the waters of their border areas.

The MoU was signed during the state visit to Indonesia by Philippine President, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, who met with Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, at the Bogor Palace in West Java yesterday. Marcos is on a three-day visit to Indonesia from Sept 4.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept 6 (NNN-ANN) – Brunei logged a daily average of 169 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, compared to 205 cases per day the week before, the country’s health ministry said, yesterday.

According to the health ministry’s weekly briefing, 52,431 antigen rapid test (ART) results were uploaded to the government platform over the past week, with 2.2 percent of them being positive.

Currently, one hospitalised case is held in the intensive care unit and two cases require assisted breathing, according to the health ministry.

PHNOM PENH, Sept 6 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodia approved 123 fixed-asset investment projects, worth nearly 3.3 billion U.S. dollars, in the first eight months of this year, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia’s report, today.

The approved projects, during the Jan-Aug period, included garment, footwear and travel goods factories, tire factory, hotels, hospitals, automobile assembly factory, electronic factory, and fruit processing and packaging factory, among others, the report said.

TAIPEI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan's government expressed its condolences to China on Tuesday for an earthquake in Sichuan province and said it was ready to send rescuers, in a sign of goodwill to Beijing despite weeks of military tensions.

China, which claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory despite the strong objections of the government in Taipei, has been carrying out drills around the island following a visit last month by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

BEIJING (AP) — At least 46 people were reported killed and 16 missing in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown.

The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county shortly after noon, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in southwestern China’s Chengdu have maintained strict COVID-19 lockdown measures on the city of 21 million despite a major earthquake that killed at least 65 people in outlying areas.

Footage circulating online Tuesday showed workers wearing top-to-bottom protective gear preventing residents of apartment buildings from exiting through locked lobby doors following Monday’s 6.8 magnitude quake centered in the surrounding province of Sichuan.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in years killed at least six people, dumped a meter (3 feet) of rain, destroyed roads and felled power lines on Tuesday. The death toll could have been higher if not for proactive evacuations and school closures, officials said.

There was also greater public awareness about the storm and its risks. Typhoon Hinnamnor made impact just weeks after heavy rain around the capital, Seoul, caused flooding that killed at least 14 people.

BEIJING, Sept 5 (APP): China has put together 200 tons of onions and will soon dispatch via Karakoram Highway to the flood-hit people of Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Mao Ning said on Monday.

“Based on Pakistan’s needs, the Chinese side has put together 200 tons of vegetables and will deliver them via the Karakoram Highway as soon as possible,” she said during her regular briefing while responding to a question asked by APP correspondent.

BEIJING, Sep 5 (APP): The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a ray of hope for developing countries aiming to turn green & clean goals into concrete action and Pakistan is looking forward to grasp this opportunity for a better, healthier future, said Commercial Counsellor of Pakistan Embassy in China Ghulam Qadir.

DUSHANBE, September 2. /TASS/: Rashid Alimov, a former secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, on Monday said the significance of the organization is ascending as new international relations are shaping up.

Alimov, now a professor at the Tajikistan presidential State Service Academy, made the comments in an interview with TASS ahead of a SCO summit that will take place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand from September 15-16.