Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO (AP) — Three bears that snuck into a tatami mat factory in northern Japan and holed up inside for nearly a day have been captured, according to town officials.

A patrolling town official spotted the bears, believed to be a parent and two cubs, as they walked into a tatami factory Wednesday morning in Misato, a town in Akita prefecture, where there’s been a growing number of reported bear attacks in or near residential areas.

An owner of the tatami factory said he saw the bears walking outside but never thought they would come inside.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia is still awaiting Indonesia’s response concerning cooperation under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said Malaysia has yet to receive any response after sending a letter to the country and hoped to hear from them soon.

“We have not received a response yet.  We have sent the letter directly and also to their embassy…we will wait for their response,” he told a press conference here, Thursday.

SEOUL, Oct 5 (Reuters) - North Korea has halted the nuclear reactor at its main atomic complex, probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean news report said on Thursday, citing a government source.

The operation of the 5 megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex has been suspended since late September, according to intelligence assessment by U.S. and South Korean authorities, the report said.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said it began releasing a second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea on Thursday after the first round of discharges ended smoothly.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said workers activated a pump to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, slowly sending the mixture into the ocean through an underground tunnel.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Koinu swept southern Taiwan on Thursday, killing one person and injuring more than 300 as it brought pounding rain and record-breaking winds to the island, leading to school and office closures.

One person was killed by flying glass in the central city of Taichung and at least 304 were injured around the island, Taiwan’s fire department said. Gusts of wind downed trees and caused damage to some buildings.

MALACCA (Malaysia), Oct 3 (NNN-Bernama) — Education has become one of the bridges that tie relations between New Zealand and Malaysia, said New Zealand Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro.

Kiro said the relations started in the early 1940s when the New Zealand Defence Force supported Malaysia’s defence during the emergency and then the Konfrontasi, before Malaysian students started going to New Zealand under the Colombo Plan in the early 1950s.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia is maintaining its 2023 gross domestic product (GDP)  growth forecast of 4.0-5.0 per cent, said Deputy Finance Minister I, Ahmad Maslan. 

“The Finance Ministry has not made any changes with regard to the economic growth projection for this year.

“However, we do appreciate the World Bank’s statement as the statement was based on its own analysis, and we respect their findings,” he said to reporters after launching the Malaysia-China Entrepreneur Macro Health Forum 2023 here Tuesday.

BANGKOK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Thai police arrested a teenage gunman suspected of killing two foreigners and wounding five people on Tuesday in a shooting spree at a luxury Bangkok mall, the latest high-profile gun violence to rock the country in recent years.

Hundreds of people, including children, were seen screaming and racing into the streets after gunshots rang out at the Siam Paragon mall, a major shopping and entertainment venue popular with tourists in Bangkok's crowded commercial heart.

JAKARTA, Oct 2 (NNN-ANTARA) – Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, declared the official operation of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR) at Halim Station in Jakarta, this morning.

The Indonesian Transportation Ministry issued an operating license Friday, to PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, a joint venture consortium between Indonesian and Chinese state-owned firms that construct and run the HSR.

TAIPEI, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan prosecutors said on Monday they are investigating accusations that people tried to interfere in the island's submarine program and that details about it were leaked, in what would be a serious breach of security.

Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday, a major step in a project aimed at strengthening the island's defence and deterrence against the Chinese navy, though it won't enter service for two years.