Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — Rescuers have found two more survivors in the rubble of a building in central China that collapsed more than three days ago, state media reported Tuesday.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a man and a woman were pulled out on Monday afternoon and early Tuesday morning.

The woman, whose rescue came after being buried for 88 hours, alerted workers using life detection equipment to her presence by knocking on objects. Xinhua said she was conscious, had normal vital signs and was able to communicate with her rescuers.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing is preparing new hospital facilities to deal with a spike in COVID-19 cases, even though the numbers of new cases remain low.

State media reported Tuesday a 1,000-bed hospital at Xiaotangshan in the northeastern suburbs built for the 2003 SARS outbreak has been refurbished in case it’s needed.

Unofficial reports online say thousands of beds have been prepared in a centralized quarantine center near the airport, but state media has not confirmed those preparations in what could be an attempt to avoid stoking public fears.

Xinhua: Former diplomat of the Netherlands Peter Bootsma has been working with Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone on China's tropical island of Hainan since September 2021.

He says the medical tourism zone provides opportunities for international pharmaceutical companies.

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- On Friday afternoon, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held its 38th group study session. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the session, which is about regulating and guiding the healthy development of capital in China according to law.

BEIJING, May 01 (APP): The climatic conditions of many parts of China are quite similar to that of Pakistan. Thus it is a great opportunity to learn from the Chinese experience in precision agriculture to improve Pakistan’s agricultural outputs.

This was noted by Dr. Muhammad Naveed Tahir, Associate Professor from Department of Agronomy, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) in an interview with China Economic Net (CEN), a major Beijing-based news website providing economic news reports.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 (NNN-Bernama) — A total of 858,054 children aged five to 11 years in Malaysia or 24.2 per cent of those in this age group have been fully vaccinated under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) as of Saturday.

According to the COVIDNOW website, 1,535,126 children or 43.3 per cent of this group have received at least one dose of vaccine.

For teenagers aged between 12 and 17, a total of 2,894,109 individuals or 93 per cent have completed their vaccination, while 2,991,866 or 96.1 per cent have received at least one jab.

TAIPEI, May 1 (Reuters) - China's lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19 are "cruel" and Taiwan will not follow suit, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Sunday.

Having controlled the pandemic with tough border controls and quarantines, Taiwan has been dealing with a surge in domestic infections since the start of this year, with some 75,000 infections driven by the Omicron variant.

April 30 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators held an emergency meeting with domestic and foreign banks to discuss how they could protect China's overseas assets from U.S.-led sanctions similar to those imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, The Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the discussion.

The internal conference, held on April 22, included officials from China's central bank and finance ministry and executives from local and international banks, the report said.

SEOUL, May 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday named his national security adviser, five senior secretaries and four other members of the presidential office, according to Yoon's presidential transition team.

Yoon, who is set to take office on May 10, nominated Kim Sung-han, a former vice foreign minister who is currently leading the foreign affairs and security subcommittee of the transition team, as the top presidential security adviser.

BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China has the confidence, capabilities and conditions to achieve this year's economic and social development goals, said an official with the country's top economic planner.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is temporary, said Zhao Chenxin, secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Zhao expected that the Chinese economy will soon return to a normal track with the policy effect of coordinating COVID-19 control and economic development gradually emerging.