Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed Monday while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged 5% after the neighboring city of Shenzhen was ordered into a shutdown to combat China’s worst COVID-19 outbreak in two years.

Benchmarks rose in Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo and U.S. futures were higher. Oil prices retreated against the backdrop of uncertainty from the war in Ukraine.

Germany’s DAX advanced 1.8% to 13,879.27, while the CAC 40 in Paris picked up 0.6% to 6,293.04. Britain’s FTSE 100 was almost unchanged at 7,152.08.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Chinese authorities reported 1,337 locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 across dozens of mainland cities Monday as the fast-spreading variant commonly known as “stealth omicron” fuels China’s biggest outbreak in two years.

The vast majority of the new cases were in far northeastern Jilin province with 895. Shenzhen reported 75 new cases as residents began the first of three rounds of mass testing. Officials on Sunday locked down the city, which has 17.5 million people and is a major tech and finance hub that neighbors Hong Kong.

BEIJING, Mar 13 (APP): The official commissioning of China’s new generation main battle aircraft into the Pakistan Air Force is another major milestone in the development of defense cooperation between China and Pakistan, and reflects more the iron-clad friendship between the two brotherly countries, Cheng Xizhong, Visiting Professor of Southwest University of Political Science and Law said on Sunday.

BEIJING (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases in an outbreak in China’s northeast tripled Sunday and authorities stepped up anti-disease controls by suspending bus service to Shanghai and ordering residents of another city to stay at home.

The case numbers in China’s latest surge of infections are low compared with some other countries. But authorities are enforcing a “zero tolerance” strategy that temporarily shuts down cities to isolate every infected person despite a rising economic cost.

NUR-SULTAN, March 12. /TASS/: Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air company suspends flights to Russia due to lack of insurance coverage in the country, the press service said on Saturday.

"Qazaq Air has been notified about the failure to provide insurance coverage in Russia and its airspace. Considering this, the airline is not able to operate flights to Russia until the issue of insurance coverage is resolved," the statement reads.

The press service also noted that the flight to Novosibirsk scheduled for March 12 was cancelled.

PHNOM PENH, Mar 12 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodia today provided 10 more vaccine vans, to help neighbouring Laos fight the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Cambodian health ministry’s secretary of state and spokeswoman, Or Vandine, handed over the vehicles to Lao health minister, Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, at the Trapeang Kriel international border checkpoint, in Stung Treng province, bordering Laos’ Champasak.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (Reuters) - A coalition led by Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Saturday scored a landslide victory in a state election seen as a key test for national polls, after voting reforms that saw a large influx of young and first-time voters.

The convincing win in southern Johor state for a coalition led by Ismail Sabri's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) came ahead of a general election that could be called as early as July.

BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Red Cross Society of China on Saturday announced that it has sent a second batch of emergency humanitarian aid supplies to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.

The new supplies, including food, sleeping bags and moisture-proof pads, left Beijing on Saturday and are expected to arrive in Budapest at 8 p.m. Beijing time. They will then be transported to Ukraine.

The first batch of such supplies was shipped from Beijing on Wednesday.

BEIJING (AP) — China instituted new COVID-19 restrictions Saturday that included urging the public not to leave Beijing and closing schools in Shanghai while the leader of Hong Kong warned that its coronavirus outbreak has yet to reach its peak.

In Beijing, where five new cases were reported, part of the Yosemite housing complex in the northeastern district of Shunyi was locked down after an infection was found there. Residents were ordered to undergo testing.

The government said the infected person was a close contact of an earlier case in the capital.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Turkmenistan citizens are voting Saturday in an election that could mark the beginning of a political dynasty for the gas-rich Central Asian nation’s sitting president.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, 64, announced the vote last month, setting stage for his 40-year old son Serdar to take over.

Serdar Berdymukhamedov has risen through a series of increasingly prominent government posts and most recently has served as the country’s deputy prime minister, answering directly to his father.