Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Parts of Indonesia lack oxygen supplies as the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients who need it increases, the nation’s pandemic response leader said Monday, after dozens of sick people died at a public hospital that ran out of its central supply.

“Due to an increase of three to four times the amount (of oxygen) needed, the distribution has been hampered,” said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine troops found the last five dead from the crash of a transport aircraft in the south, raising the death toll to 50 in the military’s worst air disaster, officials said Monday.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules was carrying 96 mostly combat troops when it overshot the runway while landing Sunday at the Jolo airport in Sulu province, military officials said. It slammed into a coconut grove beyond the airport and burst into flames in a noontime disaster witnessed by horrified soldiers and villagers.

BANGKOK (AP) — A massive explosion at a factory on the outskirts of Bangkok early Monday shook an airport terminal serving Thailand’s capital, injured at least 11 people and prompted the evacuation of residents from the area, authorities said.

The fire broke out at around 3 a.m. at a foam and plastic pallet manufacturing factory in a southeastern area just outside Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Firefighters could be seen in photos from Thai media climbing through twisted steel wreckage to get their hoses close enough to the flames as they fought to control the blaze.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — At the end of May, Chen Pei-jer, a member of an expert committee in Taiwan to evaluate COVID-19 vaccines for use on the island, resigned.

Chen’s resignation came after he learned that Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration planned to take a regulatory shortcut in approving two vaccines being developed in Taiwan. The shortcut would allow the shots to be given to people for emergency use before the vaccines have finished the final stage of testing.

ATAMI, Japan (AP) — Rescue workers slogged through mud and debris Monday looking for dozens feared missing after a giant landslide ripped through a Japanese seaside resort town, killing at least three people.

July 4 (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces killed at least 25 people on Friday in a confrontation with opponents of the military junta at a town in the centre of the Southeast Asian nation, a resident and Myanmar-language media said on Sunday.

A spokesman for the military did not respond to calls requesting comment on the violence at Depayin in the Sagaing region, about 300 km (200 miles) north of the capital, Naypyidaw.

HONG KONG, July 4 (Reuters) - Beverage maker Vitasoy (0345.HK) has become the latest target of Chinese netizens' calls for a boycott after an employee circulated a memo online offering condolences to the family of a worker who had stabbed a Hong Kong police officer.

In a statement on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday, Vitasoy said a staff member had circulated a memo that it described as "extremely inappropriate" without authorisation, and the company reserved the right to take legal action.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is in stable condition and is expected to be discharged from hospital soon after receiving treatment for a digestive system infection, his office said on Sunday.

Following advice from a team of doctors, Muhyiddin, who was hospitalised for diarrhoea on Wednesday, will remain in hospital for intravenous antibiotic treatment and is expected to be discharged "in a few more days", his office said in a statement. 

TOKYO (AP) — A member of the Serbian Olympic rowing team has tested positive for COVID-19 while trying to enter Japan for the Tokyo Olympics that are to open in just under three weeks.

The news was reported Sunday by the Japanese agency Kyodo and cited Japanese health ministry officials.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine air force C-130 aircraft carrying troops crashed in a southern province after missing the runway Sunday, killing at least 17 military personnel while at least 40 were rescued from the burning wreckage, officials said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing. The aircraft had 92 people on board, including three pilots and five crew and the rest were army personnel, he said.