Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines at workplaces and universities in a bid to speed up its inoculation campaign, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Tuesday.

According to Kato, the top government spokesman, the new round of inoculation campaign slated to begin on June 21 is aimed at speeding up the country's vaccination rollout and helping reduce the burden on local municipalities.

BEIJING (AP) — A man in eastern China has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but the risk of large-scale spread is low, the government said Tuesday.

The 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai, was hospitalized April 28 and is in stable condition, the National Health Commission said on its website.

No human case of H10N3 has been reported elsewhere, the commission said.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets were mixed Tuesday as investors looked ahead to U.S. jobs data for reassurance the biggest global economy is improving following the previous month’s big hiring miss.

London and Frankfurt opened and Shanghai also gained, while Tokyo retreated. Wall Street futures were higher as U.S. markets, which ended May with a gain, prepared to resume trading after a holiday.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese government spokesperson on Tuesday rejected an Australian writer’s complaint that he was tortured during interrogation before being put on trial on spying charges.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also accused Australia of “unfounded provocation” after its foreign minister said Yang Hengjun’s incarceration since January 2019 was arbitrary detention.

“There is no arbitrary detention or forced confession with torture on Yang Jun,” said spokesperson Wang Wenbin, referring to Yang by the name used by Chinese officials.

MANILA, May 31 (NNN-PNA) – Philippine police said, two people were killed and seven others injured, when a small speeding truck hit a car on a highway in Quezon province, early today.

Police said, the accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. local time, in Gumaca town, approximately 200 km south-east of the Philippines’ capital, Manila, and that the car, after being hit by the truck, crashed into a concrete street post.

Police said two of the car passengers died on the way to hospital.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 (NNN-Bernama) — The number of new COVID-19 cases in the country continues to drop Monday to 6,824, bringing the cumulative total to 572,357 cases, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Sunday, the country’s COVID-19 daily tally dropped significantly to 6,999 cases from the all-time high of 9,020 recorded on Saturday.

Through his tweet Monday, Dr Noor Hisham said Selangor state still recorded the highest number of new cases at 2,111, followed by Kelantan (695), Sarawak (654), Johor (489), Kedah (464), Kuala Lumpur (387) and Melaka (352).

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- China has always supported international anti-pandemic cooperation and has made active efforts to this end, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday, adding China firmly opposes using the pandemic as a political stunt or even interfering in China's internal affairs.

According to reports, Taiwan authorities expressed gratitude to the Japanese government for its recent decision to study the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to the island.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police said Monday they have arrested 11 suspected Islamic militants accused of plotting attacks at several Christian churches in easternmost Papua province.

On Friday, the elite counterterrorism squad arrested 10 suspects in several raids in Papua’s Merauke district after receiving information about planned attacks in the province, a predominantly Christian region in Muslim-majority Indonesia, Merauke police chief Untung Sangaji said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday the U.S. allowing South Korea to build more powerful missiles was an example of the U.S.’s hostile policy against the North, warning that it could lead to an “acute and instable situation” on the Korean Peninsula.

It’s North Korea’s first response to the May 21 summit between the leaders of the United States and South Korea, during which the U.S. ended decades-long restrictions that capped South Korea’s missile development and allowed its ally to develop weapons with unlimited ranges.

BEIJING, May 30 (APP): Pakistani mangoes will hit markets in China from June 10, this year, when first consignment of King of fruits will be transported from Lahore to Kumning, capital city of South-Western Yannan province.

“We are picking Sindhri variety from the farms in Tando Allahyar, Sindh province and after processing and packaging in Lahore, we will airlift first consignment to Kunming on June 10, Adnan Hafeez, Director, Imperial Ventures (Pvt) Ltd told APP on Sunday.