Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (NNN-Bernama) — The cost of performing the Haj is expected to increase due to the inflation rate as well as the latest regulations which have been set by the Saudi Arabian government, especially following the introduction of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said this included the PCR testing and vaccination required to enter Saudi Arabia as well as the capacity limits in buses, accommodation and tents during the Haj ritual.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia today reached the target of fully vaccinating 80 per cent of its adult population against COVID-19, a feat that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob hailed as “a success of us all (Malaysians)”.

“Congratulations! Malaysia has fully vaccinated 80 per cent of its adult population. Carry on battling COVID-19,” he announced in his official Twitter account, along with the #LindungDiriLindungSemua (ProtectOneselfProtectEveryone) hashtag.

TASHKENT, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the OPEC Fund for International Development agreed to provide loans worth 275 million U.S. dollars on rural development in Uzbekistan, a presidential decree said Tuesday.

A loan of 200 million dollars will come from the IsDB, the OPEC Fund for International Development will allocate 75 million dollars, and Uzbekistan will also contribute 60 million dollars to the project, according to the decree.

TOKYO, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government decided on Tuesday to call an extraordinary Diet session on Oct. 4 to determine a new prime minister, ahead of a general election possibly to be held in November.

The presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) scheduled for Sept. 29 is expected to effectively decide the next premier succeeding the outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is to resign at the end of September, as the LDP controls the powerful lower house of parliament.

PYONGYANG, Sept 20 (NNN-KCNA) – The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) today criticised the United States for transferring the technology of building nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.

Chief of the Foreign News Section of the Department of Press and Information said, the U.S. decision was “extremely undesirable and dangerous acts, which will upset the strategic balance in the Asia-Pacific region and trigger off a chain of nuclear arms race.”

VIENTIANE, Sept 20 (NNN-KPL) – A total of 98 people were killed in 568 road accidents in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, in the first six months of 2021.

According to the report, issued by the Traffic Police department, under the Lao Ministry of Public Security, 533 were injured and 1,143 vehicles were damaged, in road accidents in the capital, in the first six months of 2021.

Most road accidents occurred because of drunk driving, speeding and other violations of traffic rules, according to the report.

PHNOM PENH, Sept 20 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodia has administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 12.05 million people, or 75.3 percent of the kingdom’s 16-million population, officials and experts said today.

Of them, 10.3 million, or 64.4 percent, have been fully vaccinated with both required shots, and 830,814, or 5.2 percent, have received a booster dose, the health ministry’s secretary of state and spokeswoman, Or Vandine, said in a report.

BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. drone strike in late August in the Afghan capital of Kabul supposedly targeting terrorists turned out to have 10 innocent civilians killed instead, including seven children.

Amid a cascade of searing media reports, Commander of U.S. Central Command Kenneth McKenzie on Friday admitted the horrendous incident, noting that it is "unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or were a direct threat to U.S. forces."

BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-3, carrying supplies for the upcoming Shenzhou-13 crewed mission, successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on Monday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

At 10:08 p.m. (Beijing Time), Tianzhou-3 completed a computer-orchestrated rendezvous and docking at the rear docking port of the Tianhe core module. The whole process took approximately 6.5 hours, the CMSA said.

BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese central government spokesperson Monday hailed the successful holding of the 2021 Election Committee's subsector ordinary elections in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as opening new prospects and bringing new hope.