Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

Sept 19 (Reuters) - China's former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was ousted from his position in July, had an extramarital affair while he was ambassador to the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with a briefing.

The report said Qin was cooperating with the investigation, which was now focused on whether the affair or Qin's conduct had compromised China's national security.

TOKYO, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told a United Nations session on Monday in Switzerland that the concentration of U.S. military bases in the southern prefecture threatens peace.

He also expressed his opposition to the Japanese government's plan to build a new U.S. military base despite public concerns, according to local media reports.

BANGKOK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Thailand received over 19 million foreign tourists between January and mid-September, representing a 271-percent year-on-year increase, official data showed on Tuesday.

As of last week, the Southeast Asian country earned more than 795 billion baht (about 22.08 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue from foreign visitors who were mainly from Malaysia, China, South Korea and India, according to data released by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

BEIJING, Sept 18 (Reuters) - China has complained to Germany after its foreign minister labelled President Xi Jinping a "dictator", the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday, calling the title "absurd" and an "open political provocation".

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made the remarks in a live interview with Fox News last week when asked about Russia's war on Ukraine.

"If Putin were to win this war, what sign would that be for other dictators in the world, like Xi, like the Chinese president?" she said.

SEOUL, Sept 18 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is heading home on Monday, most likely with gifts from his Russian hosts including a rifle, a cosmonaut's glove, and military drones - which on their own are a violation of U.N. sanctions.

Following are some of the items he is bringing back to the "friendship" museum, where gifts received by the North's three generations of leaders are kept.

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's imports of oil and gas products totaled 2.28 billion U.S. dollars during the January-August period this year, down 9.5 percent from last year, according to a report from the General Department of Customs and Excise on Monday.

As the country's oil and gas heavily rely on imports, the Ministry of Mines and Energy predicts that the demand for oil and gas products is expected to rise to 4.8 million tons in 2030, up from 2.8 million tons in 2020.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s top diplomat is heading to Russia for security talks after two days of meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser over the weekend in Malta.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy post, will be in Russia from Monday to Thursday for China-Russia strategic security consultations, the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.

TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's new cabinet showed no significant signs of improvement following its reshuffle this week, according to opinion polls conducted by multiple Japanese media outlets.

National news agency Kyodo found in its latest poll that the reshuffle saw a limited impact on lifting popularity, although the cabinet's approval rating slightly edged up 6.2 percentage points from late August to 39.8 percent.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russia’s nuclear-capable bombers, hypersonic missiles and an advanced warship from its Pacific fleet on Saturday as he continued a trip in Russia’s Far East that has sparked Western concerns about an arms alliance that could fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

BAIKONUR COSMODROME /Kazakhstan/, September 15. /TASS/: The Soyuz MS-24 manned spacecraft, which was blasted off from the Baikonur spaceport on Friday, has separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket, a TASS correspondent reported.

The spacecraft’s crew are Oleg Kononenko, deputy chief of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut team, who will become a fourth TASS special correspondent on the orbital outpost orbit, cosmonaut Nikolay Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara.