Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s government backed down Tuesday from widely-criticized regulations to broaden its ability to restrict media reports and social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha had long sought to crack down on what he deems fake news. But the new regulations, enacted at the end of last month, included the ability to prosecute people for distributing “news that may cause public fear.”

ULAN BATOR, Aug 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – Air quality in the Mongolian capital city of Ulan Bator has been deteriorating dramatically, due to smoke from massive wildfires raging in Russia’s Siberia, authorities said today.

“Air quality in the capital city is now reaching very unhealthy level. Today, the average density of PM 2.5 stayed at 151.5 micrograms per cubic metre, which is 15 times above WHO exposure recommendation,” the Mongolian national agency for meteorology and environment monitoring, said in a statement.

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council on Sunday strongly opposed and condemned the U.S. intervention in Hong Kong affairs, which are China's domestic affairs.

A spokesperson with the office made the statement in response to a Hong Kong-related memorandum from the U.S. government.

When the U.S. government said that it wanted to stand with people in Hong Kong, it obviously wanted to stand with those few anti-China forces seeking to disrupt Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A volcanic eruption on Indonesia’s turbulent Mount Merapi churned and boiled Monday, sending renewed flows of lava and ash down its slopes for a second day.

Pyroclastic flows — avalanches of rock, ash and volcanic gas — burst from the mountain’s actively growing lava dome inside the crater.

The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) peak is near Yogyakarta, an ancient city of several hundred thousand people embedded in a large metro area on the island of Java. The city is a center of Javanese culture and a seat of royal dynasties going back centuries.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister thanked people for helping the country safely hold the Olympics despite the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic.

He noted the Games were delayed by a year and held under tight restrictions, but “I believe we were able to fulfill our responsibility as the host nation,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, thanking the people for their understanding and cooperation.

TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki on Monday marked the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city with its mayor urging Japan, the United States and Russia to do more to eliminate nuclear weapons.

In his speech at the Nagasaki Peace Park, Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Japan’s government to take the lead in creating a nuclear-free zone in Northeast Asia rather than staying under the U.S. nuclear umbrella — a reference to the U.S. promise to use its own nuclear weapons to defend allies without them.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher Monday after China and Australia tightened anti-virus controls that threaten to weigh on an economic recovery.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea and Sydney advanced. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

On Friday, Wall Street ended at a new high after a government report showed the U.S. job market improving.

BEIJING, Aug 8 (APP): Expressing satisfaction over tremendous increase in exports to China in first half of 2021 as compared to first six months of last year, Commercial Counsellor, Pakistan Embassy, Beijing, Badar uz Zaman on Sunday said that the Pakistani exporters needed to establish good brands to attract Chinese customers and further increase exports to China.

TOKYO, August 8. /TASS/: President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has declared the 2020 Olympic Summer Games closed.

He also called on the youth of the world to gather in Paris in three years.

The closing ceremony of the 32nd Olympic Games is being held at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo without spectators.

TOKYO, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Olympic flag was passed to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo for the 2024 Games at the Tokyo closing ceremony on Sunday.

   Hidalgo waved the flag, decorated with the five Olympic rings, after she received it from International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

The Tokyo 2020 Games were declared closed by IOC chief Thomas Bach on Sunday, ending the “most challenging Olympic journey” after a year’s pandemic delay and threats of cancellation.