Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

MANILA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 22,415 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, the highest ever single-day spike, raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,103,331.

The DOH also reported 103 coronavirus-related deaths, raising the country's death toll to 34,337. Eight laboratories failed to submit data, it said.

The Philippines has recorded more than 20,000 daily cases for the fourth straight day.

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- China on Sunday started to solicit public opinion for the detailed operation rules of the new stock exchange which is to be set up in Beijing, a primary platform for smaller firms to meet their financing needs.

These rules, unveiled on the official website of China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), or the "new third board," where the novel bourse built upon, involved the procedures of listing, trading and membership management of the new stock exchange.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures rose Monday after weak U.S. hiring in August fueled expectations the Federal Reserve might postpone withdrawal of economic stimulus that has boosted stock prices.

London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong rose.

Investors appeared to welcome Friday’s Labor Department report that U.S. employers added only 235,000 jobs in August, barely one-third of the consensus forecast of 730,000.

BANGKOK (AP) — For two months, carpenter Tun Nye hasn’t been able to send any money home to his parents in Myanmar to help them care for his 11-year-old son, after authorities in Thailand shut down his construction site over coronavirus concerns.

No work has meant no income for him or his wife, who have been confined to one of more than 600 workers’ camps dotted around Bangkok, living in small room in a ramshackle building with boards and blankets to cover missing windows.

BEIJING, Sep 5 (APP): The production of high-yielding hybrid rice receives a notable boost in Pakistan, from the startup of modern color sorter machines and seeds given by China to Pakistan to facilitate the sowing of this grain.

Michael Guo, sales manager of Hefei Meyer optoelectronic technology international said that they started to sell the color sorter to the Pakistan market in 2008, it’s very hard to promote the Chinese Brand at the very beginning, as many people prefer to buy European and Japanese Brand.

TAIPEI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan's air force scrambled on Sunday against renewed Chinese military activity, with its defence ministry reporting that 19 aircraft including nuclear-capable bombers had flown into Taiwan's air defence identification zone.

Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China's air force near the self-ruled island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.

MANILA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine army will deploy an additional 4,500 troops next year in the islands of Sulu in the southwest to fight terrorists, a Philippine lawmaker said on Sunday.

Johnny Pimentel, chairperson of the strategic intelligence committee in the House of Representatives, said the Department of National Defense will be spending 929 million pesos (18.62 million U.S. dollars) next year in deploying "a whole new Philippine army division to the Sulu archipelago."

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States must work with China to find a global solution to end the raging COVID-19 pandemic, said renowned U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs in an interview with Malaysian media published on Sunday.

In an email interview with Malaysian newspaper the Star, Sachs said the global response to the pandemic has been wholly inadequate and one of the main geopolitical problems might have been the failure of the United States to work with China for global solutions.

HONG KONG (AP) — The group behind the annual Tiananmen Square memorial vigil in Hong Kong said Sunday it will not cooperate with police conducting a national security investigation into the group’s activities, calling it an abuse of power.

Police notified the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China last month it was under investigation for working for foreign interests, an accusation it denied.

JAKARTA, Sept 4 (NNN-ANTARA) – High-end consumers in Indonesia decided to travel out of town and abroad using charter planes or private jets, during the surge in COVID-19 cases for various reasons.

“There are travellers who make trips for medical purposes and holidays among other reasons,” said the chairperson of the Indonesian Travel Agent Association (Astindo), Pauline Suharno.