Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway (HSR), the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, carried a total of 220,227 passengers in 576 trips during a 12-day year-end holiday from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2, an official said Wednesday.

Eva Chairunisa, General Manager Corporate Secretary of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia (KCIC), said in a press release that the number is 33 percent higher than that from early December till the start of the holiday season.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia attracted fixed-asset investment of 4.92 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, up 22 percent from 4.03 billion dollars in a year earlier, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said in a news release on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian country approved 268 investment projects last year, which could create approximately 307,000 jobs, the CDC said, adding that those projects were mainly focused on industries, infrastructure, agriculture and agro-industry, and tourism.

SUZU, Japan (AP) — Japanese rescue workers and canine units searched urgently through rubble Wednesday ahead of predicted bitter cold and heavy rain in what the prime minister called a race against time after powerful earthquakes killed at least 73 people in western Japan.

Fifteen people were listed as officially missing and possibly trapped under collapsed buildings.

TOKYO (AP) — A transcript of communication between traffic control and two aircraft that collided and burst into flames at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport showed that only the larger Japan Airlines passenger flight was given permission to use the runway where a coast guard plane was preparing for takeoff.

ULAN BATOR, Jan 2 (NNN-APA) – Mongolia’s central bank said today, it had purchased a total of 17.8 tonnes of gold in 2023, from legal entities and individuals.

Purchasing gold is one of the key ways for the central bank to ensure the country’s economic stability, according to the Bank of Mongolia.

A statement revealed that, at the close of 2023, Mongolia’s foreign exchange reserves reached 4.8 billion U.S. dollars, marking a rise of 1.4 billion dollars from the end of 2022.

JAKARTA, Jan 2 (NNN-ANTARA) – An earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.1, struck off East Nusa Tenggara province, in central Indonesia today, the country’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

The earthquake rocked at 11:46 a.m. local time (0446 GMT), with the epicentre situated 16 km south-west of Kupang regency, and a depth of 37 km, the agency said.

No tsunami warning has been issued by the agency, as the quake would not trigger giant waves.

WAJIMA, Japan, Jan 2 (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake that hit Japan on New Year's Day killed at least 55 people, with rescue teams struggling in freezing temperatures on Tuesday to reach coastal areas where many are feared trapped under possibly thousands of destroyed homes.

In Suzu, a town of just over 5,000 households near the quake's epicentre, 90% of houses may have been destroyed, according to its mayor Masuhiro Izumiya.

"The situation is catastrophic," he said.

JAKARTA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia received over 10.4 million foreign tourists in the first 11 months of 2023, marking a 110.8 percent increase compared to the same period in 2022, the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced Tuesday.

November alone saw 917,410 foreign tourist arrivals, reflecting a 30.17 percent year-on-year growth, BPS Acting Head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti told a press conference. However, the number represented a 6.24 percent decline compared to October 2023.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand and China will soon implement visa-free entry for each other’s citizens, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Tuesday.

Chinese nationals will be granted visa-free entry on a permanent basis beginning March 1, Srettha said after his Cabinet’s weekly meeting. Chinese visitors have been allowed visa-free entry since September last year, but the privilege was due to expire on Feb. 29.

TOKYO (AP) — A passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft collided on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday and burst into flames, with five people on the smaller plane killed, officials said.

All 379 people on Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 got out safely before the plane was engulfed in flames, Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed. The pilot of the coast guard plane escaped but the five crew members died, Saito said.