Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

Beijing, May 13; PTI/GANASHAKTI: China, which is developing its navy at a feverish pace, has commissioned two more guided missile destroyers taking the total of such warships to 20 with more in the pipeline, state-media reported on Monday.

Two Type 052D guided missile destroyers were launched last Friday in Dalian, a coastal city, state-run Global Times reported.

Their commissioning marked the 19th and 20th of launches of their kind, the report said and quoted Chinese analysts as saying that plans are afoot to build more guided missile destroyers.

Manila, May 13 (AP) Filipinos began casting their vote Monday in midterm elections highlighted by a showdown between President Rodrigo Duterte's allies who aim to dominate the Senate and opposition candidates fighting for checks and balances under a leader they regard as a looming dictator.

Nearly 62 million Filipinos have registered to choose among 43,500 candidates vying for about 18,000 congressional and local posts in the high-stakes elections in one of Asia's most rambunctious democracies.

HO CHI MINH CITY, May 12 (Xinhua): Police and border guards of Vietnam’s southern Long An province on Sunday arrested a local man for transporting 57 kg of crystal meth and nearly seven kg of heroin from Cambodia to Vietnam, local online newspaper VnExpress reported.

The drug trafficker is Truong Quoc Cuong, 41, from Long An. Cuong confessed that he had engaged in cross-border drug transport.

ULAN BATOR, May 12 (Xinhua): A heavy snowstorm had swept through southern Mongolian province of Umnugovi since Saturday, killing at least four people, the provincial government said on Sunday evening.

"Rescuers of the province's emergency management department have found alive 37 of the 41 herders who lost in the snowstorm. Unfortunately, remaining four people, including two members of a family from Tsogttsetsii soum of the province froze to death during the snowstorm on Saturday night," the provincial government said in a statement.

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua): Mobile payment, online shopping, entertainment, dining and beyond -- Chinese apps have been catching on with consumers across Asia.

App Annie, an analyst firm, said Chinese apps for e-commerce, social media and leisure have gained strong growth in Asian countries, and their users have been expanding.

In 2018, the number of downloads of shopping apps grew 54 percent compared with the figure in 2017, the firm said.

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua): China will hold over 1,000 lectures on earthquake resistance and disaster relief nationwide this year as the country made persistent efforts on raising public awareness and capability of disaster reduction.

The lectures will be held in schools, government agencies, enterprises, communities and villages in forms including expert instruction, emergency first-aid training and evacuation drills, the China Earthquake Administration said on the launch ceremony of the lectures Sunday.

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua): Beijing Daxing International Airport completed its first test flight of passenger planes as four aircraft landed safely on the runway Monday morning.

China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and Xiamen Airlines sent their flagship models A380, A350-900, B747-8 and B787-9, respectively, for the test.

"The test shows that the new airport has now turned its focus from infrastructure construction to operation preparations," said Wan Xiangdong, chief pilot of Civil Aviation Administration of China.

HANOI, May 11 (Xinhua): Vietnam and Myanmar agreed here on Saturday to expand cooperation to potential spheres, including navy, military medicine, defense industry, logistics, search and rescue, and fighting crimes related to national and regional security.

The consensus was reached in Hanoi on Saturday when Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Myanmar President U Win Myint, who is in Vietnam to attend the United Nations Day of Vesak celebration, Vietnam News Agency reported.

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua): Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing were the top three Chinese cities seeing the strongest development in mobile payment in 2018, a recent report showed.

The ranking was based on indexes measuring the mutual promotion between mobile payment and urban competitiveness, according to a report on China's mobile payment development jointly released by the State Information Center, China Economic Information Service, and Ant Financial.

YANGON, May 12 (Xinhua): A Myanmar National Airlines plane landed safely at Mandalay airport after suffering a nose wheel failure on Sunday morning, a police officer of the airport told Xinhua.

The accident caused panic among the 80 passengers on board, however, it resulted in no injury.

The airliner, Embraer 190, en route from Yangon to Mandalay, the second largest city in the central part of country, met with the accident while landing at the Tada U international airport at about 9 a.m. local time.

It tried to land safely while some smoke was monitored.