Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO, Aug 22 (NNN-NHK) – Two people have been confirmed dead, after a car collided with a bus, on an expressway in Nagoya, central Japan, today, local media reported.

According to local fire officials, the bus caught fire, after overturning in the collision. Seven others were injured in the fatal crash, local emergency services, said.

The fiery collision occurred at 10:15 a.m. near the Toyoyama-Minami interchange.

Fire officials and prefectural police said that, the blaze had since been brought under control.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Visiting President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Abdulla Shahid on Monday praised Cambodia for its key contribution to keeping peace in the world, according to a senior Cambodian official.

Shahid made the remarks during a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, said Eang Sophalleth, a personal assistant to Hun Sen.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Indiana’s Republican governor met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday, following two recent high-profile visits by U.S. politicians that drew Beijing’s ire and Chinese military drills that included firing missiles over the island.

Gov. Eric Holcomb arrived Sunday evening in Taiwan for a four-day visit that will focus on economic exchanges, particularly in semiconductors, according to a statement from his office.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States and South Korea began their biggest combined military training in years Monday as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat.

The drills could draw an angry response from North Korea, which has dialed up its weapons testing activity to a record pace this year while repeatedly threatening conflicts with Seoul and Washington amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.

SINGAPORE, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday said tensions between the United States and China and the Russia-Ukraine war affects security in the Asia-Pacific.

"We can expect more geopolitical contestation in the Asia-Pacific," he said, adding that Singapore would try its best to avoid being caught up in the "major power rivalry" .

CHONGQING, China (AP) — China says it will try to protect its grain harvest from record-setting drought by using chemicals to generate rain, while factories in the southwest waited Sunday to see whether they would be shut down for another week due to shortages of water to generate hydropower.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A man in Indonesia has tested positive for monkeypox, making him the country’s first confirmed case of the disease, authorities said late Saturday.

The 27-year-old who lives in the capital, Jakarta, had returned from an overseas trip on Aug. 8, Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said in a news conference. The man began experiencing symptoms five days later and went to see a doctor. He tested positive for monkeypox on Friday night and is now isolating at home, Syahril said.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been diagnosed with the coronavirus Sunday and canceled his planned travels while he isolates and recuperates.

Kishida developed a slight fever and cough late Saturday and tested positive in a COVID-19 PCR test, said Noriyuki Shikata, the cabinet secretary for public affairs at the prime minister’s office.

“Prime Minister Kishida is isolated inside his residence,” he told The Associated Press on Sunday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (NNN-Bernama) — Foreign students holding valid Chinese residence permits for study are allowed to enter China from Aug 24, said China Embassy in Malaysia.

The embassy, in a Facebook post on Saturday, said it will accept visa applications from Malaysian students receiving long-term academic education in China from now on.

JAKARTA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia has confirmed its first monkeypox infection, detected in a person who had returned from an unidentified country with documented cases, a health ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

The 27-year-old male tested positive in the capital Jakarta late on Friday, Mohammad Syahril told a news conference.

The Indonesian national, who is doing "well" and showing only mild symptoms, is self isolating at home, said Syahril, who did not say where the patient had come from.