Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Oct 10 (APP): The 330 MW Thar Energy Limited (TEL) Power Project in Thar Block-II being completed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Sindh province was making steady progress, said a senior Chinese official.

The TEL power plant was a 330MW mine-mouth lignite-fired power project being built by Thar Energy, which was owned by Hub Power Company (Hubco), China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), and Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC).

HANOI, Oct 10 (NNN-VNA) – Vietnam reported 4,513 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, including 4,512 locally transmitted and one imported, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

Most of the community cases were detected in southern localities, including 1,662 in Ho Chi Minh City, 820 in Binh Duong province, and 575 in Dong Nai province.

The new infections brought the country’s total tally to 836,134, with 20,442 deaths, the ministry said.

YANGON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will launch a COVID-19 vaccination program for schoolchildren aged over 12 years next week, state-run media reported on Sunday.

About 1 million students of middle and high school level who have enrolled for 2021-2022 academic year will be vaccinated, in an effort to cut the spread of COVID-19 infections, the report said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s ruling liberal party on Sunday nominated its candidate for next year’s presidential elections, selecting a maverick politician known for his outspoken views who is currently the race’s front-runner.

Lee Jae-myung’s nomination as the Democratic Party presidential candidate comes despite his rivals’ efforts to depict him as a dangerous populist and link him to a snowballing real estate scandal.

Lee has vowed to fight economic inequality, introduce a universal basic income and resume reconciliation projects with North Korea.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president on Sunday called for the maintenance of the political status quo in a forthright speech which acknowledged rising pressure from China

Tsai Ing-wen also firmly rejected Chinese military coercion, a stance driven home by a rare demonstration of Taiwan’s defense capabilities in a parade on its National Day.

BANGKOK, Oct 9 (NNN-Bernama) — The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) wants United Nations (UN) to speed up actions to address issues in Myanmar, as military leader Min Aung Hlaing’s violent assault on the people since February has driven the country into a state of acute crisis.

“During this unprecedented nationwide emergency, the people of Myanmar feel they have been abandoned by the UN. The UN is in danger of repeating its past mistakes in Myanmar,” SAC-M said in a statement here on Saturday.

TAIPEI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - China's embassy in Australia said former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was a "pitiful" politician on Saturday after he denounced Chinese pressure against Taiwan during a visit to the island.

Abbott visited Taiwan, which is claimed by China, in a personal capacity this week, meeting President Tsai Ing-wen and saying at a security forum that China may lash out with its economy slowing and finances "creaking".

The Chinese embassy in Canberra responded with distain.

MANILA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa used her new prominence to criticise Facebook as a threat to democracy, saying the social media giant fails to protect against the spread of hate and disinformation and is "biased against facts".

The veteran journalist and head of Philippine news site Rappler told Reuters in an interview after winning the award that Facebook's algorithms "prioritise the spread of lies laced with anger and hate over facts."

BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. should clarify an incident involving a U.S. nuclear submarine, including the exact location of the incident, the intention of the U.S. navigation, details of the incident, what the submarine collided with, whether it caused nuclear leakage, and whether it damaged the local marine environment, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.

BEIJING (AP) — China and the U.S. held a virtual meeting on Saturday regarding the two countries’ fraught trade relationship, after a lengthy break in negotiations.

China’s top trade negotiator Liu He called U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to discuss the “Phase 1” trade deal, negotiated under the Trump administration, along with other major economic concerns, according to a statement from China’s Commerce Ministry.

Both sides “conducted pragmatic, candid and constructive exchanges” according to the statement.