Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BANGKOK, June 17 (Reuters) - Thailand hastily issued a raft of new regulations for cannabis use this week after a long-planned decriminalisation raised alarm at the potential for unchecked use of the substance anywhere and by anyone - including children.

Soon after the country became the first in Asia to legalise growing and consumption of cannabis in food and drink on June 9, businesses began openly selling marijuana, with strains called "Amnesia" and "Night Nurse" on offer from a truck in Bangkok. 

BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States is proven once more to be the top empire of hackers in the world and the gravest threat to global cybersecurity.

A recent report by information security media anzerclub.com revealed that the United States has been working with its "Five Eyes" allies and a few European countries to conduct secret data stealing operations worldwide, and that Washington has commanded U.S. Internet companies to develop weapons to attack Chinese telecom equipment. Those acts have again laid bare America's dirty motive to perpetuate its cyber hegemony.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two long-wanted Abu Sayyaf militant commanders accused of beheading two kidnapped Canadian tourists and a German in the southern Philippines have surrendered to authorities, officials said Friday.

Almujer Yadah and Bensito Quitino gave themselves up to military officials in Jolo town in southern Sulu province and surrendered their assault rifles, Sulu military commander Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio and other security officials said. The officials did not provide details of how and when the surrenders were arranged.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing launched a new-generation aircraft carrier Friday, the first such ship to be both designed and built in China, in a milestone as it seeks to extend the range and power of its navy.

The Type 003 carrier christened Fujian left its drydock at a shipyard outside Shanghai in the morning and tied up at a nearby pier, state media reports said.

State broadcaster CCTV showed assembled navy personnel standing beneath the massive ship as water jets sprayed over its deck, multi-colored streamers flew and colorful smoke was released.

BEIJING, Jun 16 (APP): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will operate its weekly commercial passenger flights between Islamabad and Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province from July 6.

In this regard, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has accorded a formal approval to PIA to operate its flights on Islamabad-Chengdu route in addition to Islamabad-Xi’an section, well informed sources told APP here on Thursday.

NUR-SULTAN, June 16. /TASS/: Russia proposed to move the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings to Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Manama, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said during a press conference after the 18th Astana Format meeting on Syria.

"I believe it is too early to speak about specific achieved agreements on this issue. We have outlined our position. We also outlined it before [UN Special Envoy on Syria Geir] Pedersen and other stakeholders that accompany the Committee’s operation, those being Turkey and Iran," he said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea reported a new “epidemic” of an intestinal disease on Thursday, an unusual announcement from the secretive country that is already contending with a COVID-19 outbreak and severe economic turmoil.

It’s unclear how many people are infected in what the official Korean Central News Agency said was “an acute enteric epidemic” in southwestern Haeju city.

BEIJING, Jun 15 (APP): Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that the media outlets from China and Pakistan could jointly project cooperation between the two countries by fact based reporting and counter false information by exposing lies aimed at making a greater contribution to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) development, socio economic growth and people to people exchanges.

NUR-SULTAN, June 15. /TASS/: The continuity of friendship and alliance in relations between Russia and Kazakhstan remains and the Central Asian republic’s government will do everything possible to preserve it, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel published on Wednesday.

"The continuity of friendship and alliance between our countries is fully preserved. In any case, as the head of state, I will do everything possible to preserve truly friendly relations between our countries," he said.

SEOUL, Jun 15 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s automotive export logged a double-digit growth last month, due to strong demand for environmentally-friendly vehicles, government data showed today.

Car shipment advanced 18.9 percent from a year earlier to 4.15 billion U.S. dollars in May, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It marked the highest May figure, on the back of robust global demand for eco-friendly vehicles, the export of which surged 46.1 percent to 1.28 billion dollars.