Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 (NNN-Bernama) — “When two elephants fight, the grass gets stomped” is the least repercussion that the world wants to see from the ongoing US-China trade war, which started on March 22, 2018. 

Since then, the cloud has been gloomy for the global economy and it has taken a toll not only on capital markets but also companies, whereby income is affected, forecast reviewed, output cut while jobs are on the line.

28 July 2019; AFP: US trade negotiators return to China this week for a fresh round of talks in a new city, but experts warn a change of air is unlikely to quickly solve an impasse between the world's two biggest economies.

The meetings in Shanghai on Tuesday and Wednesday will be the first face-to-face discussions since negotiations collapsed in May after President Donald Trump accused China of reneging on its commitments.

28 July 2019; DW: The vessel was detained more than a week ago after Pyongyang accused the crew of entering its territorial waters. Fifteen Russians and two South Korean nationals were on board.

North Korea has released a Russian fishing boat after it was detained for violating entry regulations, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang said on Sunday.

"At 19:30, the vessel left the Wonsan port's pier and headed to Sokcho (South Korea), where two South Korean crewmembers will come ashore," it said.

SINGAPORE, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A bilateral army exercise between the Singapore Armed Forces and the People's Liberation Army of China started here Saturday at Singapore's Jurong Camp with an emphasis on urban counter-terrorism cooperation.

Some 240 personnel from the two sides are participating in Exercise Cooperation which will last till Aug. 5. They will engage in tactical training such as urban rappelling, live firing and surveillance before a combined urban raid.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president said in an interview that he wants to see the speedy construction of a giant sea wall around Jakarta to prevent the low-lying capital from sinking under the sea, lending renewed backing and a sense of urgency to a slow-moving and politically contested mega project.

President Joko Widodo and his government are up against a tight timetable, including a forecast by experts that at the current rate, one-third of Jakarta could be submerged by 2050.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police on Saturday fired tear gas, swung batons and forcefully cleared out protesters who defied warnings not to march in a neighborhood where last weekend a mob apparently targeting demonstrators brutally attacked people in a train station.

Protesters wearing all black streamed through the Yuen Long area, even though police refused to grant permission for the march, citing risks of confrontations between demonstrators and local residents.

27 July 2019; AFP: Crowds of Hong Kong protesters defied a police ban on Saturday and began gathering in a town close to the Chinese border to rally against suspected triad gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators there last weekend.

Public anger has been raging since last Sunday when a gang of men in white t-shirts, armed with poles and batons, set upon anti-government protesters and bystanders in Yuen Long station, leaving at least 45 people needing hospital treatment.

27 July 2019; DW: Two South Koreans have died and several others, including foreign athletes competing at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, have been injured after a balcony collapsed in a nightclub next to the athletes' village.

Local news agency Yonhap has reported that two South Koreans were killed when a balcony holding about 100 people collapsed under the weight of partygoers at around 2:30 a.m. local time on Saturday (1730 UTC on Friday).

At least 17 other people were injured.

SHENZHEN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Huawei on Friday launched its first 5G mobile phone for commercial use in Shenzhen, home to its headquarters, as the telecom giant seeks to usher in the fast-speed 5G mobile world.

He Gang, head of Huawei's mobile phone division, said at the launching ceremony that Huawei Mate 20 X (5G) gained China's first 5G network access license.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two strong earthquakes hours apart struck a group of sparsely populated islands in the Luzon Strait in the northern Philippines early Saturday, killing at least eight people, injuring about 60 and causing substantial damage.

The quakes collapsed houses built of stone and wood, arousing residents from sleep, said Roldan Esdicul, who heads the Batanes provincial disaster-response office. Footage showed people clearing boulder-size stone bricks to pull out one body from the rubble of a home.