Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

Beijing, Apr 18 (PTI) Twenty-one people were killed on Tuesday when a hospital building caught fire in China's national capital.

A hospital admissions building in Beijing's Fengtai district caught fire at 12:57pm (local time) on Tuesday, leaving 21 dead and 71 patients displaced, state-run China Daily reported. The cause is currently under investigation, the report said. PTI KJV ZH AKJ.

MANILA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Tuesday vowed to step up fight against political violence and illegal drug trade, saying the two are the biggest threat to the country's peace and order.

During a meeting with members of the national and regional peace and order councils at the presidential palace, Marcos noted that violent incidents were rampant after elections last year and people think that the situation has worsened.

KARUIZAWA, Japan (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies vowed a unified front against Chinese threats to Taiwan and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, saying at the close of their meetings Tuesday that they were committed to boosting and enforcing tough sanctions against Moscow.

BEIJING, Apr 17 (APP):At Haikou Fullsing Internet Industrial Park in the capital city of China’s Hainan Province, a young Pakistani entrepreneur has displayed some products imported from Pakistan for potential local and foreign buyers.

“We are importing Basmati rice, pinenuts and pure honey from Pakistan and sell them to the local as well as foreign buyers,” Waheed Yaseen, Operational Director, Hainan Raman Technology told APP on Monday.

YANGON, April 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Myanmar’s junta said on Monday it would release more than 3,000 prisoners to mark the Buddhist New Year, without specifying whether those jailed in its bloody crackdown on dissent would be freed.

The military has arrested thousands since its coup more than two years ago that plunged the country into turmoil and sparked widespread clashes with anti-coup fighters.

TOKYO, April 17 (Reuters) - The Group of Seven nations see eye to eye on the need to stand up to any Chinese "coercion" or efforts to exert control in the Taiwan Strait, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Monday, amid increased tensions around Taiwan.

Concerns about what the G7 wealthy nations see as China's increasingly aggressive stance on Taiwan and more broadly in the Indo-Pacific region have been in sharp focus during talks among G7 foreign ministers in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa.

SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) - The dollar edged higher on Monday after the April survey of business activity in New York state rose for the first time in five months and bolstered expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in May.

The dollar index , a measures of the currency against six major peers, rose 0.443% after the Empire State Manufacturing index shot to 10.8 from -24.6 in March, far higher than expectations of -18 in a Reuters poll of 35 economists.

SEOUL, April 17 (Reuters) - South Korea, the United States and Japan staged joint naval missile defence exercises on Monday to improve responses to North Korean threats, as Pyongyang accused Washington of ramping up "nuclear blackmail" with military drills.

The three nations agreed at talks in Washington on Friday to hold regular missile defence and anti-submarine exercises in their efforts to boost diplomatic and military cooperation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States, South Korea and Japan conducted a joint missile defense exercise Monday in waters near the Korean Peninsula as they expand military training to counter the growing threats of North Korea’s nuclear-capable missiles.

Last week, North Korea conducted one of its most provocative weapons demonstrations in years by flight-testing for the first time an intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants, as it pursues a weapon that’s more responsive, harder to detect and could directly target the continental United States.

KARUIZAWA, Japan (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are vowing a tough stance on China’s increasing threats to Taiwan and on North Korea’s unchecked tests of long-range missiles, while building momentum on ways to boost support for Ukraine and punish Russia for its invasion.

Russia’s war in Ukraine will consume much of the agenda Monday as the envoys gather in this Japanese hot spring resort town for Day Two of talks meant to pave the way for action by G-7 leaders when they meet next month in Hiroshima.