Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has attracted more than 740,000 international visitors in the first seven months of 2022, an increase of 560 percent compared to the same period last year, the Ministry of Tourism said in a news release on Saturday.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the re-opening of all socioeconomic activities has boosted growth at some major tourist destinations in capital city Phnom Penh, the cultural province of Siem Reap and the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk.

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese chemical tanker ship crashed into a cargo ship off the coast of southwestern Japan, the coast guard said Saturday.

No one was injured among the six Japanese crew members aboard the tanker Ryoshinmaru and 14 Chinese crew members aboard the Belize-registered cargo ship Xin Hai 99.

The crash early Saturday was under investigation and both ships were anchored in the area, about 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) off the coast of Wakayama prefecture, according to a Kushimoto Coast Guard official.

BEIJING, Aug 19 (APP): Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin on Friday urged the India to normalize relations and consensus development between the leadership of two countries for a stable and healthy development.

Both the countries have the wisdom and ability to understand each other better, he said during his regular briefing when asked to comment on Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar remarks on India and China relations.

SEOUL, August 19. /TASS/: The North Korean authorities will never accept South Korea's offer of denuclearization in exchange for economic aid, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said, according to the Yonhap news agency, which cited the newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

TOKYO, Aug 19 (NNN-NHK) – Japan logged a record daily high of 255,534 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, as the country feared a strain on the medical system, fuelled by the seventh wave of infections.

The daily tally topped the previous record of 250,403 cases registered on Aug 10, with 21 of Japan’s 47 prefectures posting record high numbers. A total of 287 deaths were reported nationwide.

The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 27,453 new cases, down 1,963 from Wednesday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysian national carmaker, Proton, signed a general distributorship agreement with smart Automobile Co., Ltd., to sell electric vehicles (EVs) and provide services in Malaysia and Thailand.

At a ceremony, witnessed by officials from various government agencies yesterday, both sides paved the way for the introduction of new energy vehicles, the national carmaker said, in a statement.

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta chief said on Friday he would consider allowing deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be moved to house arrest from prison but only after verdicts in a litany of cases against her have been reached.

Suu Kyi, ousted in a widely condemned military coup last year, was moved to a jail in the capital Naypyitaw in June where she is being held in solitary confinement, the army said. The Nobel laureate and democracy champion, 77, has spent around half of the last three decades under house arrest.

MANILA, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos is scheduled to visit Indonesia and Singapore next month in his first overseas trips since taking office on June 30, Press Secretary Rose Beatrix Cruz-Angeles said on Friday.

In a virtual news conference, Angeles said Marcos will be in Indonesia from Sept. 4 to 6 and in Singapore from Sept. 6 to 7.

Like the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said her country will never accept South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “foolish” offer of economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps, accusing Seoul of recycling proposals Pyongyang already rejected.

In a commentary published by state media Friday, Kim Yo Jong stressed that her country has no intentions to give away its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program for economic cooperation, saying “no one barters its destiny for corn cake.”

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was anything but subtle — dispatching warships and military aircraft to all sides of the self-governing island democracy, and firing ballistic missiles into the waters nearby.