Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A 7.4-magnitude earthquake jolted off East Nusa Tenggara province in central Indonesia on Tuesday, damaging over 230 houses, a bridge and buildings, Indonesia's weather agency and a disaster official said.

A minor tsunami was detected after the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami warning, but it was lifted two hours after the quake as there was no major tsunami identified, the agency's head Dwikorita Karnawati told a press conference.

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has detected a COVID-19 case involving the Omicron coronavirus variant, local health authorities said at a press conference Tuesday.

The variant was found during the genome sequencing of samples collected from a 67-year-old man under home quarantine in the city, said Chen Bin, deputy head of the Guangzhou municipal health commission.

BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday expressed China's appreciation for the support shown by relevant countries and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Beijing Winter Olympics and their stance against politicizing sports.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The United States will expand its military and economic relationships with partners in Asia to push back against China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

Blinken said the Biden administration is committed to maintaining peace and prosperity in the region and will do that by boosting U.S. alliances, forging new relationships and ensuring that the U.S. military maintains “its competitive edge.”

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Tuesday marked its deadliest day of the pandemic as an unrelenting, delta-driven spread stretched thin hospitals and left people dying while waiting for beds.

Health experts warn that the country’s medical system is quickly approaching its limits and that fatalities could worsen if the government continues to be slow and hesitant in tightening social distancing.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 94 virus patients died in the past 24 hours while a record 906 were in serious or critical condition.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A magnitude 7.3 undersea earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Flores Island on Tuesday, and the country’s meteorological agency warned that tsunami waves are possible.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake hit at a depth of 18.5 kilometers (11.5 miles) under the sea, and was located 112 kilometers (74 miles) north of the town of Maumere, the second-largest on the island in East Nusa Tenggara province with a population of 85,000.

BEIJING, Dec 13 (APP): The maker of the J-20, China’s most advanced stealth fighter jet, revealed that it recently broke records in terms of aircraft delivery due to high demand, with experts saying that the J-20 has entered a mass production phase after it solved the last missing piece of the puzzle, the domestically developed WS-10 engine.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia reported 3,490 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight, bringing the national total to 2,691,639, according to the health ministry.

Fourteen of the new cases are imported, with 3,476 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry’s website showed.

Seventeen more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 30,879.

A total of 5,399 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 2,601,908.

BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China is expected to leverage a slew of both macro and micro tools to stabilize economic growth in 2022 as the recently-concluded tone-setting economic conference has arranged policy priorities.

Expecting a mix of measures to stabilize growth next year, experts forecast that the world's second-largest economy's fiscal policy is highly likely to be intensified, and its monetary policy to manifest marked structural features.

BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The so-called "summit for democracy" has torn open the U.S. mask of "democracy defender" and revealed its true face "democracy saboteur", a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to comment on the international society's indifferent reaction and mostly critical voices from world mainstream media toward the summit.