Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TAIPEI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - China has been simulating attacks on U.S. Navy ships and is aiming to prevent foreign forces from coming to Taiwan's aid in the event of a war, Taiwan's defence ministry said in a strongly worded report raising the alarm on Beijing's military designs.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have soared following a visit to Taipei last month by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which infuriated Beijing, which viewed it as an interference in its affairs.

TAIPEI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan looks forward to producing "democracy chips" with the United States, President Tsai Ing-wen told the visiting governor of the U.S. state of Arizona, Doug Ducey, on Thursday, the latest in a string of senior officials from the county to visit.

Taiwan has been keen to show the United States, its most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, that it is a reliable friend as a global chip crunch impacts auto production and consumer electronics.

TAIPEI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan's military for the first time shot down an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast on Thursday, after the government vowed to take tough measures to deal with an increase in such intrusions.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own against the strong objections of the Taipei government, has held military exercises around the island since early last month in reaction to a visit to Taipei by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As the war in Ukraine stretches into its seventh month, North Korea is hinting at its interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in the country’s east.

The idea is openly endorsed by senior Russian officials and diplomats, who foresee a cheap and hard-working workforce that could be thrown into the “most arduous conditions,” a term Russia’s ambassador to North Korea used in a recent interview.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have locked down Chengdu, a southwestern city of 21 million people, following a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Residents have been ordered to stay home, and about 70% of the flights have been suspended to and from the city, which is a major transit hub in Sichuan province and a governmental and economic center.

The start of the new school term has been delayed, although public transport continues to operate and citizens are permitted to leave the city if they can show a special need.

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government on Thursday called on Washington to repeal its technology export curbs after California-based chip designer Nvidia said a new product might be delayed and some work might be moved out of China.

The latest controls add to mounting U.S.-Chinese tension over technology and security. American officials say they need to limit the spread of technology that can be used to make weapons.

BEIJING (AP) — The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. Beijing on Thursday denounced the assessment as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations.

SEOUL, Aug 31 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea reported 103,961 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight, compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 23,246,398, the health authorities said today.

The daily caseload was down from 115,638 the previous day, and lower than 139,307 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 94,010.

Among the new cases, 458 were imported, lifting the total to 58,798.

TAIPEI, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Taiwan said on Wednesday it would exercise its right to self-defence and counter-attack if Chinese armed forces entered its territory, as Beijing increased military activities near the democratically governed island.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own against the strong objections of the Taipei government, has held military exercises around the island this month in reaction to a visit to Taipei by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

JAKARTA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in Indonesia have stepped up their efforts to curb the spread of the monkeypox outbreak after the detection of the country's first confirmed case of the virus in the capital Jakarta.

At a hearing with Indonesian lawmakers here on Tuesday, the country's Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the ministry had already ordered about 2,000 monkeypox vaccines from a biotechnology company in Denmark and was working to procure relevant medicines from the United States.