Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The son of longtime autocratic Cambodian leader Hun Sen was approved by Parliament on Tuesday as the country’s new prime minister, part of a generational change in top positions in the Southeast Asian nation.

Hun Manet, 45, won his first seat in the National Assembly in July elections and takes over from his father, who had been Asia’s longest serving leader with nearly four decades in power, after serving as Cambodia’s army chief.

He was approved by lawmakers unanimously and is to be officially sworn in later Tuesday.

YANGON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- A rock-loaded train was hit by a mine explosion on the Yangon-Mawlamyine railway section in Mon State, southern Myanmar, according to the Mon State government.

No one was injured, but a section of the train track was cut off, an official from the state government told Xinhua on Sunday.

A freight train was also hit by mines on the Mandalay-Yangon railway section in the Bago Region in a similar incident on Friday.

SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (NNN-XINHUA) – Singapore’s Presidential Elections Committee, today issued eligibility certificates to senior investor, Ng Kok Song, former senior minister Shanmugaratnam Tharman, and Tan Kin Lian, former National Trades Union Congress Income chief.

Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, has issued the writ of presidential election, setting the nomination day on Aug 22.

TOKYO, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- As the Japanese government approaches a decision on the specific date for the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean, hundreds of Japanese gathered in central Tokyo on Friday to rally against the discharge plan.

BANGKOK, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Thailand is stepping up construction of the China-Thailand railway in an effort to further develop domestic infrastructure, improve competitiveness, and enhance regional connectivity, according to deputy government spokesperson Traisuree Taisaranakul on Thursday.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for measures to mitigate the effects of this year’s disastrous flooding which has left scores dead and inflicted massive damage on crops, homes and infrastructure, including in and around Beijing.

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese town said Friday it has agreed to a geological study to determine its suitability as an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel.

Kaminoseki, a small town in the southwestern prefecture of Yamaguchi, said it would accept the offer of a survey by Chugoku Electric Power Co., one of two major utility operators, along with Kansai Electric Power Co., whose spent fuel storage pools are almost full.

BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 jolted Northern Sumatra, Indonesia at 1316 GMT on Thursday, said the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was initially determined to be at 4.46 degrees north latitude and 96.43 degrees east longitude.

BEIJING (AP) — China says it would welcome a visit by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo following the imposition of foreign investment controls by her agency that have stung numerous Chinese companies.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson Shu Jueting did not offer a date, but said the countries are in “close communication on arrangements,” according to reports Thursday.

Media have speculated that a visit could come as early as later this month. Raimondo last met her Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, in Washington in May to discuss trade.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.”