Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, July 22 (APP): Passengers traveling by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) can now fly between Pakistan and 16 captivating cities in China via Beijing in partnership with Air China.

The Chinese cities include Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changchun, Hangzhou, Harbin, etc, an official of PIA told APP on Saturday.

The national flag carrier has also offered a 20 percent discount for students on flights between Pakistan and China.

DHAKA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and 45 others injured when a passenger bus veered off the road and fell into a waterbody in Bangladesh's Jhalokati district, a senior police official said on Saturday.

The passenger bus fell into the roadside waterbody in the district about 200 km south of the capital Dhaka on Saturday morning, leaving 13 passengers dead on the spot, Muhammed Afruzul Huqe Tutul, the district's police chief, told Xinhua.

SEOUL, July 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korean civic activists on Saturday shouted for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world ahead of the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Peace activists and ordinary people marched hundreds of meters from the Seoul plaza to the Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul to demand eased tensions on the peninsula and settlement of the peninsula issues through dialogue.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward its western sea Saturday, South Korea’s military said, marking the second launch event this week, apparently in protest of the docking of a nuclear-armed U.S. submarine in South Korea.

While adding to its barrage of missile launches in recent months, North Korea remained publicly silent for a fifth day on the fate of an American soldier who bolted into the North across the heavily armed Korean border this week.

HANOI, July 20 (NNN-Bernama) — Vietnam rolled out the red carpet for Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the official welcoming ceremony in the Presidential Palace here Thursday.

Anwar was received on arrival at the Presidential Palace by his counterpart Pham Minh Chinh.

The national anthem of Malaysia, Negaraku and Vietnam’s national anthem Tien Quan Ca were then played by the military band before Anwar accompanied by Chinh inspected the Guard of Honour.

ULAN BATOR, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has received a total of 421,780 foreign tourists so far this year, up nearly 73 percent year-on-year, the country's Ministry of Environment and Tourism said Friday.

Russia, China and South Korea were the biggest sources of tourist arrivals for Mongolia, the ministry said in a statement.

SEOUL, July 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korean fishermen on Friday held a maritime protest rally against Japan's planned discharge of contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean.

A group of local fishermen gathered on the seashore of the southwestern coastal county of Jangheung, carrying a rally called "flower bier" about 200 meters along the coast to protest against the contaminated water release plan.

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court will hand down a closely-watched decision over whether to ban the broadcast and distribution of “Glory to Hong Kong,” a protest song after the government asked it to do so in the name of national security.

The song was written during the 2019 anti-government protests and its lyrics call for democracy and liberty. But it has been mistakenly played at several international sporting events instead of China’s national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.” The decision is expected next Friday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A pink phone. A New York mission. Swedish diplomats. A North-South Korean hotline.

The United States and reclusive North Korea have no diplomatic ties — but they still have ways to contact each other. An American official said Wednesday that the U.S. government had reached out to the North as it tries to discuss a U.S. soldier who dashed into North Korea during a tour of a border area this week. The North has not yet responded, according to the U.S.

China does not want a trade war with the United States but will retaliate against any further U.S. restrictions on technology and trade, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. said.

Ambassador Xie Feng criticized U.S. curbs on the sale of microchips and chipmaking equipment to China that were imposed last year by the Biden administration. Beijing has described the measure as part of an effort to “contain” China.