Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China raised its flood response alert on Sunday to the second highest level as heavy rain battered regions along the Yangtze River, with the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Jiangxi among the worst hit, state media reported.

Flooding in the Poyang county of Jiangxi pushed water levels of Lake Poyang, China’s biggest freshwater lake, to above 22.52 metres (74 feet), a historical high and well above the alert level of 19.50 metres (64 feet).

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens queued to cast ballots over the weekend in what the Chinese-ruled city’s opposition camp says is a symbolic protest vote against tough national security laws directly imposed by Beijing.

The unofficial poll will decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest Legislative Council elections in September, when they aim to ride a wave of anti-China sentiment stirred by the law to seize control for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals.

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities issued a statement on promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the development of the maritime economy on Saturday, the 16th Maritime Day of China.

China's seafarers are still at the forefront of ensuring the smooth operation of international logistics and supply chains as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, according to the document posted on the website of the Ministry of Transport.

JAKARTA, July 12 (NNN-ANTARA) – The Indonesian government is preparing a food estate in Pandih Batu sub-district, Pulang Pisau district, around 147.4 kilometres from Central Kalimantan Province’s capital city of Palangka Raya.

Indonesian President, Joko Widodo visited the area. The president gave directives that the food estate development project would be managed by Minister of Public Works and Public Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, and Minister of Defence, Prabowo Subianto.

Beijing, Jul 12 (PTI) A 5.1-magnitude earthquake on Sunday jolted China's north Hebei province's Tangshan city, according to officials.

Strong tremors were felt in the nearby regions including Beijing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

TOKYO (AP) — The governor of Japan’s Okinawa island demanded a top U.S. military commander take tougher prevention measures and more transparency hours after officials were told that more than 60 Marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus over the past few days.

Okinawan officials on Sunday reported a total of 61 cases — 38 of them at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen — since July 7. They said that U.S. military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown.

BEIJING, July 11 (APP): China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD), the sponsor of the expansion project of China-Pakistan Gwadar Faqeer Middle School, Gwadar has been promoting cooperation between the two countries on education in the region, giving the young generation an opportunity to make a difference.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s opposition camp set up polling booths across the Chinese-ruled city on Saturday for primary elections aimed at selecting democracy candidates who stand the best chance of success in Legislative Council elections in September.

The primaries come less than two weeks after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on the Asian financial hub, stoking concerns that wide-ranging freedoms not seen in mainland China will be crushed.

BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China-U.S. ties, one of the world's most important bilateral relationships, are faced with severe challenges, which came at an ill-timed moment in a world battered by a ferocious pandemic and its economic fallout.

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s long-governing party comfortably won Friday’s general elections as expected amid the coronavirus pandemic, but faced a setback as the opposition made minor gains.

Lee said his People’s Action Party secured 83 parliamentary seats, retaining its overwhelming majority with 89% of the total seats, but its popular vote dipped to 61%. The Workers’ Party, the only opposition with a presence in Parliament, increased its seats from six to 10 — the biggest victory for the opposition since independence.