Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

MANILA, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Western Pacific Takeshi Kasai on Friday urged people to remain vigilant against the spread of the potentially more transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant.

The Manila-based WHO regional office said many countries are reporting detection of Omicron increasing daily. "Geographic distribution is likely already wider than currently reported," warned the agency.

02 Dec 2021; MEMO: Turkey and Azerbaijan have started working on establishing a joint university in Azerbaijan, a Turkish official said on Thursday, and reported by Anadolu News Agency.

"We are planning to establish a university in Azerbaijan. This university will be realised by establishing affiliations with the most reputed universities," Erol Ozvar, head of the Council of Higher Education, said at an economic forum hosted by Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC).

BEIJING (AP) — China and the United States are tussling over President Joe Biden’s upcoming democracy summit, which the ruling Communist Party sees as a challenge to its authoritarian ways.

The party maintains China has its own form of democracy and plans to issue a report titled “China: Democracy that Works” on Saturday, five days before the opening of Biden’s two-day virtual meeting with about 110 other governments.

BEIJING, Dec 2 (APP): Prime Minister Imran Khan’s positive remarks on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) fully demonstrated that Pakistan attached high importance to friendship between the two countries and a comprehensive cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

BEIJING, Dec 2 (APP): Nowadays, it is in the interests of all stakeholders to promote the situation in Afghanistan towards lasting peace and stability. At this critical moment, Pakistan is actively playing the key role.

As far as the Afghan issue is concerned, Pakistan and Russia are both important countries. Constantly deepening Pakistan-Russia cooperative relations is conducive to the respective interests of both sides, the positive development of the situation in Afghanistan and the maintenance of regional peace and stability.

PHNOM PENH, Dec 2 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, revealed today that, his eldest son, Hun Manet, will be one of the prime ministerial candidates, after the father’s possible retirement in 2030.

Hun Sen, 69, said, he would stay in power until 2030, and after that, he would name Manet to be a prime ministerial candidate in general elections.

SEOUL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The defence chiefs of the United States and South Korea said on Thursday they would review and update ways to deter North Korea, even as they emphasised a growing regional role for Seoul.

North Korea's missile and weapons developments are increasingly destabilising for regional security, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said after talks with his South Korean counterpart, Suh Wook, but the two sides also discussed issues beyond the Korean peninsula.

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China will livestream to the world the first space class from its space station Tiangong in the upcoming days, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced Thursday.

A space science education brand "Tiangong Class," the first of its kind, will be launched, according to the CMSA.

In the "Tiangong Class," Chinese astronauts will become the "teachers in space" and interact with students, especially teenagers.

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project connecting Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province with the Laotian capital, Vientiane, will begin operations on Friday, the China State Railway Group said on Thursday.

The 1,035-kilometer-long railway is a docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s aviation regulator cleared the Boeing 737 Max on Thursday to return to flying with technical upgrades more than two years after the plane was grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes.

China is the last major market where the Boeing 737 Max was awaiting approval after the United States allowed flights to resume in December 2020 and European Union regulators gave permission in January. Brazil and Canada also have given approval.