Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HONG KONG (AP) — Social media platforms and messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Twitter say they will deny law enforcement requests for user data in Hong Kong while studying ramifications of a national security law enacted last week.

Facebook and its messaging app WhatsApp said in separate statements Monday that they would freeze the review of government requests for user data in Hong Kong, “pending further assessment of the National Security Law, including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with international human rights experts.”

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s disaster management agency said the death toll from recent flooding has risen to 50 and at least a dozen others are still missing.

Pounding rain since late Friday in Japan’s southern region of Kyushu has triggered widespread flooding.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 49 of the dead confirmed as of Tuesday morning were from riverside towns in the Kumamoto prefecture. One person was found dead in another prefecture of Fukuoka as the heavy rain spread across the southern area. At least a dozen people are missing.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned its citizens on Monday to exercise caution in travelling to Canada, citing “frequent violent actions” by law enforcement, amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Ottawa.

The warning, published by the Chinese embassy in China on the WeChat messaging app platform, said Chinese citizens should pay close to the local security situation. It did not give specific examples on the violent actions.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are conducting exercises in the contested South China Sea within sight of Chinese naval vessels spotted near the flotilla, the commander of one of the carriers, the USS Nimitz, told Reuters on Monday.

“They have seen us and we have seen them,” Rear Admiral James Kirk said in a telephone interview from the Nimitz, which has been conducting flight drills in the waterway with the Seventh Fleet carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, that began on the U.S. Independence Day holiday of July 4.

MANILA, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Monday raised the alert level for Bulusan volcano to 1, saying the volcano located in the southeast of Manila "is currently in an abnormal condition."

In a bulletin, the institute said it recorded a total of 53 volcanic earthquakes since July 3, including 43 "low-frequency events that are associated with weak and shallow hydrothermal or magmatic gas activity within the edifice."

HONG KONG (AP) — The top American diplomat in Hong Kong said Monday that it is a “tragedy” to use the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s new national security law to chip away at “fundamental freedoms” in the Asian financial hub and create an “atmosphere of coercion and self-censorship.”

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong low-cost airline HK Express, part of the Cathay Pacific Group, said Monday it will gradually resume flights on Aug. 2 as Asian governments ease coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

HK Express suspended all flights in March as governments tightened border controls.

The carrier, which normally flies 25 routes throughout Asia, gave no details of its planned schedule.

Cathay’s flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, earlier suspended 90% of its flights. The airline has staff to take unpaid leave.

BEIJING, July 5 (APP): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the China-India border to interact with troops was aimed at diverting public attention from his government’s incompetence in its coronavirus response and the country’s slumping economy, a Chinese analyst said.

Modi visited a forward post in the border region of Ladakh on Friday morning, days after the June 15 border clash between Chinese and Indian troops. Indian media called Modi’s visit a “surprise,” and said it was a morale boost to Indian troops, and sent a powerful message to China.

SEOUL, July 5 (NNN-YONHAP) — North Korea’s state media outlets have refrained from criticizing South Korea for nearly two weeks, after leader Kim Jong-un put military action plans against the South on hold in a surprise about-face after weeks of harsh threats and rhetoric.

Tokyo, Jul 5 (AP/PTI) Deep floodwaters and the risk of more mudslides that left about 20 people confirmed or presumed dead hampered search and rescue operations on Sunday in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen perished and scores are still stranded.

Rescue helicopters plucked more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. Up to 10,000 defense troops, the coast guard and fire brigades are taking part in the operation.