Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Days before Taliban forces entered the Afghan capital of Kabul, U.S. President Joe Biden said at a news conference that he did not regret his move to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

However, with the news of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani leaving the country and the images of the United States scrambling to evacuate staff and top officials from its embassy in Kabul broadcasted worldwide, U.S. experts said Washington should regret its premature and irresponsible troop withdrawal.

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China respects the choices of the Afghan people and hopes for a smooth transition in the Afghan situation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday.

The Taliban said on Sunday that the war in Afghanistan has ended and they will soon declare the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They will take responsible actions to ensure the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign missions in Afghanistan.

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Monday with its biggest lava flow in months, sending a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 3.5 kilometers (more than 2 miles) down its slopes on the densely populated island of Java.

The rumbling sound could be heard several kilometers (miles) away as Mount Merapi erupted, sending hot ash 600 meters (nearly 2,000 feet) into the sky. Ash blanketed nearby towns, but long-established evacuation orders are in place near the volcano, and no casualties were reported.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president pledged to improve COVID-19 testing and treatment in a speech Monday marking the country’s independence and said the pandemic has changed Indonesian culture in ways that would be a foundation for advancement.

Wearing masks, not shaking hands and avoiding crowds of people were once taboo, while working from home, distance learning, online meetings and online court have become new habits “that we used to be hesitant to do,” President Joko Widodo said in the national address marking the country’s 76th anniversary of independence.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The last living leader from the inner circle of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime launched his courtroom appeal Monday, seeking to convince a long-running international tribunal to overturn his conviction on genocide charges.

Khieu Samphan, 90, was the former head of state for the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist regime that ruled Cambodia with an iron fist from 1975 to 1979 and was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

(AP) --- A young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uyghurs, in what may be the first evidence that China is operating a so-called “black site” beyond its borders.

The woman, 26-year-old Wu Huan, was on the run to avoid extradition back to China because her fiancé was considered a Chinese dissident. Wu told The Associated Press she was abducted from a hotel in Dubai and detained by Chinese officials at a villa converted into a jail, where she saw or heard two other prisoners, both Uyghurs.

TOKYO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Japan will never wage war again, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged on Sunday, as he commemorated the end of World War Two while members of his cabinet visited a shrine seen by critics as a symbol of the country's past militarism.

Nearly eight decades since the end of the war, the conflict remains a source of tension between Japan and its neighbours, particularly China and North and South Korea, with the Yasukuni shrine in central Tokyo a focal point for the strain.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan marked the 76th anniversary of its World War II surrender on Sunday with a somber ceremony in which Prime Minister Yosihide Suga pledged for the tragedy of war to never be repeated but avoided apologizing for his country’s aggression.

Suga said Japan never forgets that the peace the country enjoys today is built on the sacrifices of those who died in the war.

“We will commit to our pledge to never repeat the tragedy of the war,” he said in his first speech at the event since becoming prime minister.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — With his last-ditch plan to seek opposition backing for his government rejected, embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Sunday appeared set to resign after failing to cobble up majority support.

Mohamad Redzuan Mohamad Yusof, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, told the Malaysiakini online news portal that Muhyiddin will submit his resignation to the king on Monday.

“Tomorrow, there will be a special Cabinet meeting. After that, he will head to (the palace) to submit his resignation,” Redzuan was quoted as saying.

BEIJING, Aug 14 (APP): The soaring carbon dioxide emissions have led to frequent occurrences of climate anomalies and extreme climate disasters all over the world, and green development has become a global consensus.

In this context, China sets targets to peak its CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. While Pakistan aims to become climate neutral by 2050, and reduce at least 55% net emissions by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.