Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Diet on Wednesday enacted a record 101.46-trillion-yen (920 billion U.S. dollars) budget for fiscal 2019 to address the nation's ballooning social security costs, stimulate the economy and provide a buffer against the likely fallout from a consumption tax hike this year.

The budged passed the more powerful lower house of parliament at the beginning of March and was approved in the upper caucus by the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Customs officials in China have destroyed 30,000 copies of world maps printed in the country for not showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory. The maps were meant for export to an unspecified country, state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday.

China claims the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, and objects Indian leaders visiting that area to highlight its stand.

25 Mar 2019; AFP: Thailand's election was marred by "irregularities" and "rigged" to ensure the military retain their political grip on the kingdom, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra told AFP in an interview on Monday.

"Everyone knows in Thailand, everyone international that observed the election in Thailand, knows that (there) is irregularities," he told AFP in English. "What we call, we should call, rigged elections is there. It's not good for Thailand."

SEOUL, March 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Tuesday condemned Japan's primary school textbooks unjustly claiming sovereignty over the disputed islets, called Dokdo here and Takeshima in Japan.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that South Korea strongly denounced Japan's authorization of primary school textbooks laying an unjust territorial claim over the Dokdo islets, which are South Korea's territory historically, geographically and according to international law.

Beijing, Mar 25 (PTI) With the death of 14 more people, the toll from a chemical plant explosion in China rose to 78 on Monday, as the Cabinet ordered a nationwide inspection of chemical industries, days after the country witnessed one of the worst industrial accidents in recent times.

The explosion occurred after a fire in the fertilizer factory in Jiangsu province on Thursday, according to the government of Xiangshui county.

Cao Lubao, mayor of the city of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, said that the number of fatalities have increased from 64 on Sunday.

24 Mar 2019; DW: Thailand's pro-military party has taken the lead in the country's first general election since the military coup of 2014, according to preliminary results.

The vote pits a royalist junta headed by former general Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha against a "democratic front" led by the political party he ousted.

Electoral Commission figures show:

BANGKOK, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Thai voters flock to polling stations across the country on Sunday for the country's first general election since the 2014 coup.

Eligible voters have been lining up at polling station since 6:00 a.m. local time. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha cast his ballot at a station in Bangkok at about 8:30 a.m. local time.

The prime minister asked voters to use their rights properly to bring about unity and better development of the country.

Beijing, Mar 23; GANASHAKTI: A tour bus caught fire in central China's Hunan Province on Friday killing 26 people, local authorities said.

The 28 injured in the incident were rushed to three local hospitals for treatment. Among them the condition of five were state to be critical, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted local officials as saying.

The accident occurred around on Friday evening when the 59-seater bus from neighbouring Henan province suddenly caught fire on a highway in Hanshou County in the city of Changde.

HANOI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will be one of the first countries in the world to roll out 5G, the latest generation of mobile communications, its minister of information and communications said here on Friday.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung made the remarks at the ASEAN Conference on 5G in Hanoi, regarding the role of 5G as a pillar of digital economy due to its greater bandwidth, higher speeds and lower latency, Vietnam News Agency reported.

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday urged all concerned parties to settle the territorial dispute concerning the Golan Heights in accordance with relevant agreements of the United Nations.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a press briefing responding to relevant reports.