Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

Commentary: Stop making waves in Taiwan Strait

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A recent comment from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the Taiwan issue, part of an aggressive speech against China, was illogical and absurd, and sent the wrong signal to separatists in Taiwan.

In a speech on Oct. 4, Pence accused China of threatening the stability of the Strait by establishing diplomatic relations with three Latin American countries.

His comment was an attempt to cause trouble concerning China's core interest, raising reasonable doubt about the intentions of the United States.

Premier Li calls upon Asia, Europe to build open world economy

BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday urged Asia and Europe to stay committed to building an open world economy.

Li made the appeal when addressing the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Brussels.

The hard-won momentum of the world economic recovery still demands adhering towards the direction of open development, and promoting a more inclusive and balanced global division of labor, Li said.

Malaysia's Anwar expected to return to parliament in by-election

PORT DICKSON, Malaysia, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is expected to be voted back to the parliament following the by-election on Saturday.

Voters in Port Dickson, a coastal town and a tourist attraction, are expected to elected the 71-year-old Anwar as member of the lower house of parliament, complement to the ruling Pakatan Harapan's surprising victory in the May general election.

ADB pledges 1 bln USD for Indonesia's earthquake, tsunami affected areas

JAKARTA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) pledged up to 1 billion U.S. dollars of emergency assistance fund to support Indonesia's immediate budgetary needs and reconstruction efforts in areas affected by earthquakes and tsunami in Central Sulawesi province.

The ADB assistance fund pledge was conveyed in the meeting of ADB President Takehiko Nakao with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday during the annual meeting of International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held in Bali.

China's foreign trade up 9.9 pct in first nine months

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's goods trade rose 9.9 percent year on year to 22.28 trillion yuan (about 3.23 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of the year, customs data showed Friday.

Exports increased 6.5 percent in the same period to 11.86 trillion yuan while imports grew 14.1 percent to 10.42 trillion yuan, resulting in a trade surplus of 1.44 trillion yuan, which narrowed by 28.3 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs.

China's Xinjiang region legalizes Muslim internment camps

11oct 2018; DW: Chinese authorities in the far-northwestern region of Xinjiang on Wednesday revised legislation to permit the use of "education and training centers" to combat religious extremism.

In practice, the centers are internment camps in which as many as 1 million minority Muslims have been placed in the past 12 months, according to rights groups and NGO reports.

World Bank, IMF heads urge US, China to play by trade rules

NUSA DUA, Indonesia; 11oct 2018; (AP) — The heads of the World Bank and IMF on Thursday urged the U.S. and China to play by world trade rules and de-escalate a dispute over Beijing’s technology development strategy that threatens to do lasting damage to the global economy.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said she would advise Beijing and Washington to cool down, fix aspects of the world trading system that need fixing and “don’t break it.”

NASA says 2 astronauts in good condition

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — The Latest on the failed space launch carrying two astronauts (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

NASA says that two astronauts from the U.S. and Russia are in good condition after an emergency landing following booster rocket failure minutes after the launch.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40 p.m. (0840 GMT; 4:40 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz booster rocket.

Russian carrier rocket aborts after launch - live broadcast

12:17

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. A Soyuz carrier rocket aborted after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, according to a live broadcast.

"The carrier rocket aborted," the newscaster reported during the live program.

11:49

BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan), October 11. /TASS/. A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft has blasted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS), TASS reports from the scene.

Subscribe to Asia (except ME & Indian SC)