Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The North Korean and Chinese leaders expressed their desire Sunday to further strengthen their ties as they exchanged messages marking the 60th anniversary of their countries’ defense treaty.

In a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said it is “the fixed stand” of his government to “ceaselessly develop the friendly and cooperative relations” between the countries, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

BANGKOK (AP) — Soe Win stood in line at a plant to buy oxygen for his grandmother, who is struggling with COVID-19 symptoms.

“I have been waiting since 5 in the morning until 12 noon but I’m still in line. Oxygen is scarcer than money,” said the resident of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon.

10 July 2021; MEMO: Former Israeli Communications Minister Ayoub Kara was reported by The Jewish Press as being stranded at the Iran-Azerbaijan border.

Beijing, Jul 9 (AP-PTI) China's cyber-regulator ordered 25 apps owned by Didi Global Inc., the country's largest ride-hailing service, be removed from app stores late Friday, citing severe violations of rules against collecting personal data.

The Cyberspace Administration of China already ordered the removal of the main Didi app on Sunday, pending a cybersecurity review, after it debuted on the US stock market last week.

July 10 (Reuters) - An earthquake in Tajikistan killed five people, the Tajik emergency situations committee said on Saturday, with the epicentre of the quake 165 kilometres northeast of the capital city of Dushanbe.

The quake of magnitude 5.9 struck 27 km (17 miles) east of Rasht in Tajikistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

It was at a depth of 40 km and was also about 153 km south east of Khujand, Tajikistan, according to the EMSC.

HANOI, July 10 (Reuters) - Vietnam has received 2 million doses of the Moderna (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine donated by the U.S. government, the American embassy in Hanoi said on Saturday, as the Southeast Asian country battles its worst outbreak of the pandemic.

The shipment, delivered via the COVAX sharing facility, is part of the 80 million vaccine doses that President Joe Biden committed from U.S. vaccine supplies to support global needs, the embassy said in an emailed statement.

TOKYO, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan's weather agency issued a heavy rain warning for parts of southwestern Japan on Saturday, leading local authorities to direct some 245,000 residents to take immediate action to stay safe as per the highest level 5 alert, local media reported.

SEOUL, July 10 (Xinhua) -- An opinion piece in the Korea Times on Thursday raised doubts about the U.S. demonization of China, saying it could be "a colossal strategic blunder."

"Is practically every China claim in the South China Sea wholly invalid? Is it invariably the case that China is always in the wrong?" said Tom Plate, author of the opinion piece and a professor at Loyola Marymount University in California.

BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China has provided more than 100 countries and international organizations with 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and concentrates, accounting for one-sixth of the current global COVID-19 vaccine production, a Foreign Ministry official told Xinhua on Friday.

Guo Xuejun, deputy director-general of the department of international economic affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said during an interview with Xinhua that China has also actively supported other developing countries in producing vaccines to expand the global vaccine capacity.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Just two months ago, Indonesia was coming to a gasping India’s aid with thousands tanks of oxygen.

Today, the Southeast Asia country is running out of oxygen as it endures a devastating wave of coronavirus cases and the government is seeking emergency supplies from other countries, including Singapore and China.