Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) need to make joint efforts and meet each other half way to conclude a bilateral investment treaty, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

Committed to promoting high-level opening up, China will carry out the negotiations with the EU in the premise of upholding its security and development interests as well as at its own pace, and work to reach a comprehensive, balanced and high-level investment treaty, an MOC spokesperson said in an online response to press query about the two sides' progress in negotiation.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — With rich countries snapping up supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, some parts of the world may have to rely on Chinese-developed shots to try to conquer the outbreak. The question: Will they work?

There is no outward reason to believe they won’t, but China has a history of vaccine scandals, and its drugmakers have revealed little about their final human trials and the more than 1 million emergency-use inoculations they say have been carried out inside the country already.

BEIJING, Dec 24 (APP): China has always aimed to bring nations together through regional integration and harmony for a strong social foundation for a shared global community, said experts in an online international conference on working together towards a community with a shared future.

Pakistan Research Center for a Community with Shared Future, Communication University China (CUC), Beijing and Center for Global and Strategic Studies Islamabad jointly organized online activity to analyze international academic networks.

XI’AN, Dec 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – The first cargo train from Turkey to China, arrived in the north-western Chinese city of Xi’an. All goods completed customs clearance, according to local authorities.

The cargo train, loaded with 1,383 refrigerators for the home appliance manufacturer, BSH Hausgerate GmbH (BSH), travelled 8,693 km, after leaving Istanbul on Dec 4. The cargo is worth about 10.4 million yuan (about 1.59 million U.S. dollars), according to the Xi’an International Trade & Logistics Park.

PHNOM PENH, Dec 24 (NNN-AKP) – The European Union, Germany and France earlier this week provided a credit agreement worth 95.8 million euros (116 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia, to support Rural Infrastructure Development for Cambodia (RID4CAM) project, said a joint press statement yesterday.

TOKYO, Dec 24 (NNN-NHK) – Japan on Wednesday confirmed a daily record 3,271 COVID-19 cases, bringing the cumulative total to 206,988, not including those related to a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo.

The nation’s death toll also marked a single-day high at 56, with the total number of deaths since the outbreak of the virus now reaching 3,082 people.

In Tokyo, the hardest hit by the virus of all of Japan’s 47 prefectures, 748 new infections were reported yesterday, marking the second-highest daily increase.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices edged down on Thursday but were holding well above $50 per barrel in light holiday trade as a drop in U.S. stockpiles spurred demand hopes, while hints of an imminent Brexit deal underpinned investors’ risk appetite.

Brent crude futures were down 40 cents, or 0.8%, to $50.80 a barrel at 1100 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 36 cents, or 0.75%, to $47.76.

Both contracts gained more than 2% on Wednesday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday apologized for denying allegations that his office may have possibly violated Japan’s strict political funding laws and admitted he was unaware what his office had done.

Abe said he will correct his false statements in parliament on Friday, marking a stunning reversal of fortunes for Japan’s longest-serving premier and one of its political bluebloods, whose grandfather and great-uncle also held the post.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese regulators on Thursday announced an anti-monopoly investigation of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, stepping up the ruling Communist Party’s efforts to control fast-growing tech industries.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court granted HK$10 million ($1.3 million) bail on Wednesday to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the highest profile pro-democracy activist charged under the city’s new national security law on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.

An immediate appeal by the prosecution was then denied on the same day.