BEIJING (AP) — Residents of the Chinese city of Xi’an are enduring a strict coronavirus lockdown, with business owners suffering yet more closures and some people complaining of difficulties finding food, despite assurances from authorities that they are able to provide necessities for the 13 million people largely confined to their homes.
SEOUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - A South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea's military said on Sunday.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person around 9:20 p.m. (1220 GMT) on Saturday on the eastern side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
"We've confirmed that the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line border about 10:40 p.m. (1340 GMT) and defected to the North," the JCS said.
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong online news site said Sunday that it will cease operations in light of deteriorating press freedoms, days after police raided and arrested seven people for sedition at a separate pro-democracy news outlet.
Citizen News announced its decision in a Facebook post Sunday. It said it would stop updating its site on Jan. 4, and it would be shuttered after that.
“We all love this place, deeply. Regrettably, what was ahead of us is not just pouring rains or blowing winds, but hurricanes and tsunamis,” it said in a statement.
BANGKOK, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The world's largest free trade pact forged by 15 Asia-Pacific countries entered into force Saturday to provide a tailwind for the region's post-pandemic recovery and a catalyst for global economic progress, bringing a ray of hope.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement groups 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, covering nearly a third of the world's population and gross domestic product.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further bolster his military capability, maintain draconian anti-virus measures and push hard to improve the economy during a speech at a key political conference this week, state media reported Saturday.
MANILA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The Philippine death toll from Typhoon Rai has crossed the 400 mark, the disaster agency said on Friday, as officials in some hard-hit provinces appealed for more supplies of food, water and shelter materials about two weeks after the storm struck.
Rai was the 15th and deadliest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year.
Reported deaths had reached 405, mostly due to drowning, fallen trees and landslides, Ricardo Jalad, chief of the national disaster agency, told a news conference. He said 82 were missing and 1,147 injured.
BEIJING, Dec 31 (Reuters) - China's anti-graft agency on Friday accused U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and its Sam's Club chain of "stupidity and shorted-sightedness" after Chinese news outlets reported Sam's Club had removed Xinjiang-sourced products from stores.
Last week, Sam's Club came under fire in China after several news outlets shared videos and screenshots on the Weibo social media platform that they said showed products from the far-western Chinese region of Xinjiang had been removed from the store's online app.
HANOI, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The 15th National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam, the country's top legislature, will gather online from Jan. 4 to 11 next year for its first extraordinary session, to discuss "really urgent issues" concerning national development, NA secretary-general Bui Van Cuong said Thursday.
SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was set free Friday under a special pardon granted by the incumbent President Moon Jae-in, according to Yonhap news agency.
Park, who had been imprisoned for 57 months over corruption charges, reportedly received the certificate of pardon at a hospital in Seoul, where she has been treated for over one month due to her chronic shoulder and waist pain.
The 69-year-old, after receiving shoulder surgery in 2019, allegedly planned to get treatment at the hospital until Feb. 2 next year.
BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach expressed confidence in a successful Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in his New Year message published on the IOC official website on Friday.
"We are looking forward to successful Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and we have great confidence, built on our experience, that we will stage safe and secure Olympic Winter Games for everybody," Bach said.
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