Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TURKMENBASHI, August 12. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting with Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov proposed discussing the opportunities offered by combining the potentials of the Black Sea and Caspian regions.

"Your visit here to the Caspian region is evidence of what you and I said today, that you can try to combine both the Black Sea potential and the Caspian potential, especially if it brings dividends to the governments and the people of our countries," he said at a meeting with Borisov on the sidelines of the first Caspian Economic Forum.

TURKMENBASHI /Turkmenistan/, August 12. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has referred to the meeting with Iran’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on the sidelines of the first Caspian Economic Forum in Turkmenistan as a good opportunity for the two countries to compare notes amid sanctions.

12 August 2019; AFP: Export-reliant Chinese companies are slashing prices, moving production abroad, creating new domestic markets and even rebranding goods as they try to survive the escalating trade war with the United States.

12 August 2019; DW: After years of exile in Laos for violating lese-majeste laws, the Thai protest band Faiyen arrived in France, seeking asylum and singing songs forbidden at home. Their escape comes as more activists are disappearing.

Following the 2014 military coup in Thailand, many dissidents and activists fled to neighboring countries amid threats of persecution and violence. After leaving Thailand, some of these exiles mysteriously disappeared.

12 August 2019; DW: South Korea has said it will withdraw Japan from its fast-track trade list. The announcement comes after Japan placed export restrictions on South Korea.

South Korea's Trade Ministry said on Monday that from September it will remove Japan from its list of countries receiving preferential treatment in trade. 

The move deepens an ongoing trade rift between the countries.

12 August 2019; DW: From September 2021, Singapore will ban local sales of ivory, removing a key end-market for the valuable material. Some 100 African elephants are estimated to be killed each day by poachers who want their tusks.

Singapore on Monday announced it will ban the domestic sale of ivory from September 2021, closing an important market for poached elephant ivory.

12 August 2019; DW: A protest at the arrivals terminal of Hong Kong's airport has prompted authorities to cancel all flights for the remainder of the day. Protesters rallied against police brutality after another weekend of demonstrations.

Hong Kong airport suspended check-in for all flights on Monday due to a massive protest that began in earlier in the day and disrupted operations in its arrivals terminal.

HONG KONG, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A principal official of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Monday strongly condemned the radical violent acts of a small number of violent lawbreakers in Hong Kong.

The official called on the whole society to firmly support the HKSAR government and the Hong Kong police force in stopping violence, ending chaos and restoring order, as well as to jointly safeguard the rule of law and social security in Hong Kong.

BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. assertion that the recent depreciation of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar amounts to currency manipulation is not true, a U.S. scholar has said.

HANGZHOU/JINAN, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Typhoon Lekima has left 45 dead and 16 missing in two Chinese provinces, wreaking havoc there with torrential rains and strong gales.

By Monday morning, the death toll in Zhejiang Province has risen to 39 while nine others remained missing, said the Zhejiang provincial flood control headquarters.