Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign ministry on Saturday expressed regret over the cancellation of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

From the South Korean side, it was sorry for Pompeo's "delayed visit" to the DPRK, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement said it would be significant to continue to seek ways to make talks between the DPRK and the United States contribute to the common goal of the Korean Peninsula's complete denuclearization and the permanent peace settlement.

SHANGHAI, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. self-driving company Waymo LLC, the driverless car division of Google's parent company Alphabet, has registered its exclusively-founded enterprise in Shanghai, according to information published on National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Park Geun-hye, South Korea's impeached and ousted president, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison by an appeals court over corruption charges including bribery, exposing the deep-rooted collusive ties between politicians and businessmen.

The Seoul High Court raised Park's sentence by one year from the lower court's ruling of the 24-year imprisonment. Park was fined 20 billion won (18 million U.S. dollars), higher than the lower court's fine of 18 billion won (16 million U.S. dollars).

Jakarta, Aug 24 (AFP) A string of deadly earthquakes that rocked Indonesia's Lombok island this summer killed 555 people and injured nearly 1,500, the disaster agency said Friday, with hundreds of thousands left homeless.

The picturesque island next to holiday hotspot Bali was hit by two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5.

On Sunday, it was shaken by a string of fresh tremors and aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude.

Jakarta, Aug 24 (PTI) Iran hurt India's pride in kabaddi yet again as it delivered a second straight knockout punch to the sport's most successful nation in the women's gold medal match of the 18th Asian Games here on Friday

The two-time defending champions were shocked 24-27 in a thrilling final as the firm favourites settled for silver

India's raiders disappointed in the title clash as Iran came from behind to jolt them in the second half

Beijing, Aug 23 (AFP) China today said it would continue to "counter-attack" as Washington imposed new tariffs on USD 16 billion worth of its goods, further inflaming trade tensions.

The US moves were "clearly suspected" of violating World Trade Organization rules, the commerce ministry said in a statement, adding that it would file a lawsuit against them under the WTO's dispute resolution mechanism.

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar; 232 Aug 2018; AA: A leading human rights group said on Tuesday that international monitoring was vital in the repatriation of thousands of Rohingya Muslims as Myanmar authority has tortured and imprisoned returnees from Bangladesh.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

Singapore, Aug 21 (AFP) Aung San Suu Kyi today said it was up to Bangladesh to decide how quickly Rohingya refugees would return to Myanmar, appearing to blame Dhaka for the delay.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after a brutal military crackdown on the stateless minority almost a year ago.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Aug 21 (NNN-Bernama) -- Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) (Malaysia's central bank) international reserves amounted to US$104.2 billion as at Aug 15 compared with US$104.5 billion as at July 31, 2018.

In a statement today, the central bank said the reserves were sufficient to finance 7.6 months of retained imports and were 0.9 times the short-term external debt.

Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo made a dramatic entry to Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, riding a motorbike, before opening Indonesia’s second hosting of the Asiad.

The opening ceremony included spectacular pyrotechnic show and simulated volcanic eruption.