Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

29 September 2019; AFP: At least 36 people died and 36 others were injured in east China when a packed coach with a flat tyre collided with a truck, authorities said Sunday.

The bus was carrying 69 people -- its maximum capacity -- when it crossed into oncoming traffic and hit the freight truck on an expressway in eastern Jiangsu province on Saturday morning, the Yixing public security bureau said.

Dubbed the 'super camera', Chinese scientists have developed a 500 megapixel camera that can identify individuals from crowds of tens of thousands of people. Camera was unveiled by researchers at China's International Industry Fair last week.

The facial recognition camera offers four times more detailed than the human eye, and can identify individuals from crowds of tens of thousands in streets or at sports stadiums. 

JAKARTA, Sept 29 (NNN-ANTARA) – The number of casualty climbed to 30, with 156 others injured, while around 25,000 people took shelters, a senior disaster agency official said today (Sunday), after a 6.5-magnitude quake hit Indonesia’s eastern Maluku province, three days ago.

The jolts damaged 534 houses, one bridge, nine office buildings, six education facilities, one health facility and two other infrastructure facilities, according to the spokesman of the national disaster management agency, Agus Wibowo.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China plans to step up economic adjustments to counter its slowing economy while providing adequate liquidity in the economy, the central bank said on Sunday.

The United States and China have been locked in an escalating trade war for more than a year, which has hit China’s already slowing economic growth.

The statement was posted on the official Twitter-like Weibo account of the Peoples’ Bank of China.

HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on protests in Hong Kong (all times local):

5:20 p.m.

Members of an elite police squad have charged out from behind barricades surrounding the Hong Kong government office complex, after protesters continued to throw objects and attempted to scale the barriers despite police use of a water cannon earlier.

The sudden appearance of the officers, commonly known as raptors, took many protesters by surprise Sunday and a number who failed to flee in time were subdued and detained in a scene of chaos.

28 September 2019; AFP: Renewed clashes broke out in Hong Kong Saturday night as police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse hardcore protesters hurling Molotovs and bricks after tens of thousands rallied peacefully in a nearby park.

Huge crowds had gathered to mark the fifth anniversary of the "Umbrella Movement", the failed pro-democracy campaign that laid the groundwork for the massive protests currently engulfing the finance hub.

SEOUL/OSLO (Reuters) - A fire that spread across two oil tankers in a South Korean port injured 10 people on Saturday, coastguard and fire officials said, adding the blaze had largely been put out.

An explosion occurred on the Stolt Groenland, a 25,000-tonne, Cayman Island-flagged oil tanker, at the southern port of Ulsan at around 10:50 a.m. (0150 GMT), a coastguard official said.

There were 25 sailors aboard, including Russians and Filipinos.

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea highly expected a "transformation" in relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a senior South Korean government official said here on Friday.

HONG KONG (AP) — Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong announced plans Saturday to contest local elections and warned that any attempt to disqualify him will only spur more support for monthslong pro-democracy protests.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Key oil freight rates from the Middle East to Asia rocketed as much as 28% on Friday in a global oil shipping market spooked by United States sanctions on units of Chinese giant COSCO for alleged involvement in ferrying crude out of Iran.

In what the State Department called “one of the largest sanctions actions the U.S. has taken” since curbs were re-imposed on Iran in November last year, two units of COSCO were named alongside other companies in claims of involvement in sanctions-busting shipments of Iranian oil.[