Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea in what South Korea’s military described as a weapon likely designed for submarine-based launches, marking possibly the most significant demonstration of the North’s military might since President Joe Biden took office.

The launch came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. It underscored how the North continues to expand its military capabilities amid a pause in diplomacy.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher as investors waited for U.S. corporate results Tuesday to see how companies are coping with supply disruptions and the past quarter’s surge in coronavirus infections.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.3%, propelled by tech and consumer stocks.

”It was a good day to be a mega-cap tech stock,” said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report.

BEIJING, Oct 18 (APP): Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin Ul Haque said that China has now become the first destination for Pakistani students with around 28,000 enrolled in different Chinese universities.

Speaking on the occasion of the 4th Exchange Mechanism Conference under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Consortium of Universities, he said education and economic linkages were very important parts of this broad relationship.

BEIJING, Oct 18 (APP): Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian Monday said that as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) entered the second phase, there will be more Chinese agricultural technologies flowing into Pakistan.

“China-Pakistan cooperation in cultivating rice, corn, soybean, sugarcane and other crops has yielded fruitful results and play the important role in promoting development of our bilateral relations and deepening friendship between our people,” he said while responding to a question asked by APP during his regular briefing.

TOKYO, Oct 18 (NNN-NHK) – Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, called an emergency meeting of Cabinet members, including Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno and Industry Minister, Koichi Hagiuda, to discuss the recent oil price hikes, local media reported.

“We are closely watching movements in the crude oil market, as well as, the impact on domestic industry and households,” Kishida told reporters, after the meeting, today.

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 40-million-U.S. dollars loan to support Cambodia's efforts to expand access to credit among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and implement reforms to boost financial stability, said its press release on Monday.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew for the 10th consecutive month in September, and the year-on-year growth expanded from 2.7 percent in August to 12.3 percent, Enterprise Singapore, a government agency, announced on Monday.

The electronic NODX expanded by 14.4 percent year on year in September, extending the 16.7-percent increase in the previous month. Meanwhile, the non-electronic NODX grew by 11.7 percent in September, a reversal from the 1.4 percent decline in August.

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday urged the United States to forego its Cold War mentality and zero-sum mindset, view China and China's development from an objective perspective, form a deep understanding of the mutually beneficial nature of China-U.S. relations, and adopt rational and practical China policies.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on recent remarks on U.S.-China relations by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

TOKYO (AP) — Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.

Daily new COVID-19 cases have plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100, an 11-month low.

The bars are packed, the trains are crowded, and the mood is celebratory, despite a general bafflement over what, exactly, is behind the sharp drop.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s economic growth sank in the latest quarter as a slowdown in construction and curbs on energy use weighed on its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The world’s second-largest economy grew by 4.9% over a year ago in the three months ending in September, down from the previous quarter’s 7.9%, government data showed Monday.

Factory production, retail sales and investment in construction and other fixed assets all weakened.