Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO, Sept 7 (NNN-NHK) – Toyota Motor Corp. said yesterday that, the suspension of operations at all 14 of its group’s vehicle assembly plants in Japan, late last month, was caused by server malfunctions in its computer system, during regular maintenance work.

The Japanese automaker carried out the maintenance on Aug 27, to clean up the database of the system for processing production and parts orders. An error occurred because there was not enough disk space for the work, causing the system to halt.

JAKARTA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday it is important to avoid a "new Cold War" when dealing with conflicts between countries as world leaders gathered in Indonesia amid sharpening geopolitical rivalries across the Indo-Pacific region.

Speaking at an annual summit involving members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea, Li said countries needed to "appropriately handle differences and disputes".

TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Japan launched its lunar exploration spacecraft on Thursday aboard a homegrown H-IIA rocket, clearing a path to become the world's fifth country to land on the moon early next year.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the rocket took off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as planned and successfully released the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM). Unfavourable weather led to three postponements in a week last month.

SEOUL, Sept 6 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday any attempt to cooperate with North Korea on military affairs in a way that damages international peace must immediately halt.

Yoon made the comment at a summit meeting with Southeast Asia's ASEAN bloc countries in Jakarta, Indonesia, his office said.

The office did not elaborate but his comment comes amid reports that arms negotiations between North Korea and Russia are actively advancing and that the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, plans to visit Russia soon to meet President Vladimir Putin.

TOKYO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - China turned down Japan's proposal that it take part in the International Atomic Energy Agency's system in which countries excluding Japan can analyse the results of sea water monitoring off Fukushima, Kyodo news agency said on Tuesday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.

Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean late last month despite strong opposition from China.

SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Singapore is planning to expand a pilot project that boosts the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide emissions, using one of several emerging technologies that supporters hope can play a decisive role in the global battle against climate change.

As scientists call for more research into ocean carbon dioxide removal (OCDR), Singapore's Public Utilities Board (PUB) has built a plant that uses electricity to extract CO2 from seawater, allowing it to absorb more greenhouse gas from the atmosphere when it is pumped back out into the ocean.

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Russian air defense forces have destroyed Ukrainian drones in the Kaluga and Moscow regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Today at night, air defense forces destroyed drones in the Kaluga Region and in the Istra district that were trying to commit an attack on Moscow," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel.

Sobyanin added that according to preliminary data, there was no damage or casualties on the crash site and emergency services are working on the site.

YEOSU, South Korea, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korean fishermen have suffered a sharp fall in the sale of aquatic products after Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean.

"Fishermen are now really on the brink of death. They are on the brink of bankruptcy. There are many fishermen under such situations," Kim Young-chul, a fisherman and executive director of the National Fisherfolks Federation in South Korea, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders decided Tuesday that Myanmar won’t take over the rotating leadership of their regional bloc as scheduled in 2026, in the latest blow to efforts by its ruling generals to gain international recognition after violently seizing power in 2021.

Sept 4 (Reuters) - Kim Jong Un plans to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss the possibility of supplying Moscow with weapons for the war in Ukraine, as Russia says it is seeking closer military ties with North Korea.

In a rare trip abroad, Kim would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armoured train, to Vladivostok, on the Pacific Coast of Russia, where he would meet Putin, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing U.S. and allied sources.