Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday rejected the position of the United States on Huawei, saying China hopes all countries will abide by the principle of fair competition and jointly safeguard a fair and non-discriminatory market environment.

According to reports, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned its allies to take seriously "the threat" posed by Chinese enterprise Huawei as they look for partners to build 5G wireless infrastructure. He made the remarks Saturday during the Munich Security Conference.

SUVA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A 24-year-old Canadian national allegedly found in possession of illicit drugs has been further remanded in police custody in Fiji on Monday after appearing in the Magistrates Court.

Joshua Aziz Rahman has been charged with one count of being in unlawful possession of 39.5 kg of cocaine.

Rahman was arrested after a raid in Suva last week where Fijian police discovered the bars of white powder.

The cocaine bars are worth more than 31 million Fijian dollars (14.5 million U.S. dollars).

SUVA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The wife of former Australian horse trainer John Nikolic has been freed from custody in Fiji after she was found not guilty of drugs and weapons charges on Monday.

Yvette Nikolic and her husband John have been on trial in Fiji's capital Suva and had pleaded not guilty to five charges related to the import of drugs and possession of drugs and firearms without a license.

On last Friday, lawyers for Yvette Nikolic submitted a "no case to answer" application to Justice Daniel Goundar.

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China will build at least 80 million mu (5.33 million hectares) of high-standard farmland this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Sunday.

China has started building drought and flood resistant farmland since 2011, in a bid to ensure food security. By the end of 2018, China has already developed 640 million mu of such farmland, with grain output increasing 100 kg per mu on average.

Water, fertilizer, and pesticide consumption on the farmland fell 24.3 percent, 13.8 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively, per mu.

SHANGHAI, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth" has taken second place in China's all-time box office as of Sunday afternoon, according to Maoyan, a professional box office tracker.

The film, released on Feb. 5, earned over 3.7 billion yuan (about 547 million U.S. dollars) as of 4:00 p.m. Saturday, surpassing Operation Red Sea to become the second most successful film in the Chinese box office.

JAKARTA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto on Sunday traded barbs over the issues of foods, infrastructure, energy, environment and human resources during the second debate two months ahead of presidential polls.

Both candidates, incumbent President Widodo and former army general Prabowo, squared off in the second out of five debates leading up to the presidential poll on April 17 in an effort to win undecided and swing voters.

PUCHONG, Selangor State, Malaysia, Feb 17 (NNN- BERNAMA) – Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has given an assurance that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will build one million affordable homes and low-cost houses, within a period of 10 years.

He said, although the government was facing various constraints in fulfilling the pledge, it would still be implemented, to help the less affordable group, especially those in the B40 group.

SHIJIAZHUANG, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Xiongan New Area in north China's Hebei Province will complete an afforestation project of more than 13,000 hectares with several green belts built this year, the provincial forestry department announced Saturday.

In 2018, more than 7,300 hectares of forest and 10 million nursery stocks were planted in Xiongan New Area about 100 km southwest of Beijing, raising its forest coverage rate by 6 percentage points.

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States have just concluded a new round of high-level trade talk in Beijing.

A string of positive signals released from the meeting have shown that on the basis of equality, the two countries are moving towards a final deal, led by the consensus reached by top leaders of the two countries.

When meeting with U.S. negotiation delegates on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China stands ready to resolve trade disputes through cooperation and reach a deal that can be accepted by both sides.

15 Feb 2019; DW: A court in Myanmar has passed a death sentence against two men involved in the assassination of prominent Muslim lawyer Ko Ni, a close aide of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The suspected mastermind remains at large.