Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were on track to jump more than 7% this week, their biggest weekly rise in months, on rising Middle East tensions after a key Saudi Arabian supply hub was knocked out in an attack last weekend.

A Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation north of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, as the United States worked with Middle East and European nations to build a coalition to deter Iranian threats after the Saudi attack.

KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA, Sept 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of schools have been ordered closed across Malaysia and Indonesia on Thursday, affecting at least 1.7 million students, officials said, as toxic haze from rampant forest fires sent air quality plummeting.

Nearly 2,500 schools were ordered to suspend classes in Malaysia — including nearly 300 in the smog-hit capital of Kuala Lumpur — over soaring health concerns sparked by toxic haze from out-of-control blazes in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator welcomed on Friday U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that a “new method” be used in talks on Pyongyang’s weapons programs.

Kim Myong Gil praised Trump’s “wise political decision” to seek a new approach to the stalled talks without a “troublemaker” in the U.S. administration — an apparent reference to John Bolton, Trump’s hawkish former national security advisor who resigned last week.

BEIJING, Sept 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China is poised to open a new mega-airport to the south of Beijing, already home to the world’s second-busiest aviation hub, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic.

Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) will see its first commercial flight take off on Sept 20, according to Chinese state media, with main tenant China Southern planning to deploy an Airbus A380, the world’s biggest airliner, for the maiden journey.

BEIJING, September 19. /TASS/: Beijing is hopeful that the United Nations Security Council will pass a China-Russia draft resolution on the situation in Syria’s Idlib, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said at a briefing on Thursday.

"We hope that the UN Security Council will support efforts to improve the situation in the region, facilitating the political settlement process in Syria. China and Russia have come up with a joint draft resolution and we hope that various parties will support it," he pointed out.

19 September 2019; AFP: A Japanese court on Thursday cleared three energy firm bosses of professional negligence in the only criminal trial stemming from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

The three men were senior officials at the TEPCO firm operating the Fukushima Daiichi plant and had faced up to five years in prison if convicted.

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 19 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The government has agreed to implement the use of body cameras on law enforcement officers such as police, immigration and customs to overcome issues of misconduct, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

He said the proposal for the use of the body cameras was accepted as there have been various allegations of misconduct by officers on duty, such as beating the person being investigated.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Three civilians, including a toddler, have been killed and four wounded after a shootout between Indonesian security forces and armed separatists in the country’s easternmost Papua area, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

Wednesday’s incident comes after additional security forces were deployed to restore security in Papua, following a series of sometimes violent demonstrations since August, triggered by concerns over perceived racial and ethnic discrimination.

BEIJING, September 18. /TASS/: China and Russia have been successfully acting as protectors of global security amid the failure of the United States’ foreign policy, particularly in relation to Afghanistan, said Chinese experts interviewed by the Global Times newspaper.

18 September 2019; AFP: As pro-democracy protests grind on for a fourth month, Hong Kong has been left counting the cost, with the city’s tourist industry battered and businesses forced to lay off staff as they struggle to stay afloat.

Images beamed around the world of black-clad demonstrators battling police in full riot gear on streets usually lined with shoppers have led travellers to shun the financial hub.