Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

Beijing, Apri 23 (AFP) President Xi Jinping will lead a hard sales push at a Beijing summit this week, to corral more countries into a global infrastructure project at the core of China's superpower ambitions and win over those who see a strategic threat.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) envisages massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects across 65 countries from Asia to Europe and Africa that collectively account for 30 per cent of global GDP.

SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stocks mostly rose Tuesday and oil prices soared to their highest level since October after the U.S. said it would soon impose sanctions on all buyers of Iranian oil.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed 0.2% higher at 22,259.74 and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.2% to 2,220.51. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2% to 30,007.65. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 gained 1% to 6,319.40. The Shanghai Composite bucked the regional trend, falling 0.1% to 3,210.77.

Shares rose in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia, but fell in Singapore.

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the final appeal of two Reuters journalists and upheld seven-year prison sentences for their reporting on the military’s brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo earlier this month shared with their colleagues the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, one of journalism’s highest honors. The reporters were arrested in December 2017 and sentenced last September after being accused of illegally possessing official documents, a violation of a colonial-era law.

PORAC, Philippines (AP) — A new powerful earthquake hit the central Philippines on Tuesday, a day after 6.1 quake hit the country’s north and killed at least 11 people.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of Tuesday’s quake at 6.4, while the local seismology agency said it was a 6.5. The quake was centered near San Julian town Eastern Samar province and prompted residents to dash out of houses and office workers to scamper to safety.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage from the new quake.

Tehran, April 22, IRNA - A delegation from Iran's Expediency Council is in China to take part in the country's Belt and Road Initiative.

22 Apr 2019; DW: US electric carmaker Tesla said on Monday it was investigating a video that had gone viral in China that appeared to show one of its cars spontaneously catching fire.

"After finding out about this incident in Shanghai, we immediately sent a team to the scene. We are currently contacting relevant departments to understand the situation. Based on current information, no one was hurt," Tesla wrote on Weibo, the main Chinese social media site.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Brunei lives up to its name as the "Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures," as its pearls, precious or semi-precious stones and precious metals make up the fourth largest export of the country.

Updated data posted earlier this month from the International Trade Centre, the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, showed that the sultanate recorded 29.0 million U.S. dollars in exports of pearls, precious or semi-precious stones and metals last year.

SHENZHEN, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech giant Huawei's revenue rose 39 percent year on year to 179.7 billion yuan (26.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, the company announced on Monday.

The company's net profit margin in the first quarter was about 8 percent, slightly higher than in the same period last year.

20 Apr 2019; AFP: Singapore has extradited an Indian national to the United States to face charges in a call center fraud that scammed millions of dollars from victims in the United States, the Justice Department announced Friday.

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 42, of Ahmedabad, India, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in a Houston, Texas federal court for his role in a case that was first announced in 2016, charging 60 people with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Beijing, Apr 19 (PTI) China said Friday it was ready to hold a Wuhan-style summit meeting with India this year to improve ties, notwithstanding the differences over the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship project.