Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang Monday called for joint efforts from authorities, market players and other stakeholders to improve the business environment.

Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, made the remarks here while attending a consultative symposium with leaders of other political parties on research findings regarding optimizing the business environment.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president said Monday the country is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to a bitter dispute over tightened Japanese control of exports of high-tech materials used by South Korean companies to produce semiconductors and displays.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The Sunday service this week at an unassuming church in Taiwan was especially moving for one man. It was the first time Liao Qiang had worshipped publicly since authorities shut down his church in China seven months ago.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Amnesty International urgently called for international pressure and an immediate U.N. investigation to help end what it says are possible crimes against humanity in the Philippine president’s bloody anti-drug crackdown.

The London-based rights watchdog said in a study released Monday that extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s 3-year-old campaign remain rampant and the scale of abuses has reached “the threshold of crimes against humanity.”

BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhua) -- China is expected to surpass the United States to become the world's largest insurance market in the mid-2030s, according to a report from Swiss Re Institute.

China consolidated its position as the second largest insurance market globally in 2018, with total premiums reaching 575 billion U.S. dollars. However, the Chinese market is currently still less than 40 percent of the size of the U.S. market and is also smaller than the three largest markets in Europe - Britain, Germany and France - combined.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday that an Australian student who it detained for a week had spread anti-Pyongyang propaganda and engaged in spying by providing photos and other materials to news outlets with critical views toward the North.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, said North Korea deported Alek Sigley on Thursday after he pleaded for forgiveness for his activities, which the agency said infringed on the country’s sovereignty.

LANZHOU, July 5 (Xinhua) -- A heavy ion cancer treatment system developed by Chinese researchers will soon be put into operation in northwest China's Gansu Province, researchers said.

The system will be used in a hospital in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu, which is mainly dedicated to treating cancer patients with the technology of heavy-ion accelerators.

Cancer radiation treatments employing heavy-ion accelerators can bombard a target with high-energy electrons to kill cancer cells.

BAKU, July 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf (Phase I) were inscribed on the World Heritage List as a natural site on Friday at the ongoing 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Azerbaijan's capital here.

The decision to inscribe the Chinese natural site on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage List was unanimously supported by all members of the World Heritage Committee.

SHENYANG, July 6 (Xinhua) -- More than 28,600 people were affected after a strong tornado hit a city in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Wednesday, causing an economic loss of over 1 billion yuan (145 million U.S. dollars), the local government announced on Saturday.

The tornado, packing winds up to 23 meters per second, struck the city of Kaiyuan around 5:15 p.m Wednesday. It touched down at the Jingouzi Township, rampaged through an industrial park and churned south. It lasted around 15 minutes.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s political divisions showed no sign of closing as students rebuffed an offer from city leader Carrie Lam to meet and a few thousand mothers rallied in support of young protesters who left a trail of destruction in the legislature’s building at the start of the week.

“Don’t feel lonely, dad and mum will support you,” read one of many handwritten messages held aloft at a “Hong Kong Mothers” rally Friday.