Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

4 Aug 2018; AFP; North Korea on Saturday said the US was acting with "alarming" impatience on the issue of denuclearisation, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed the need to maintain full sanctions pressure on Pyongyang.

The contrasting comments at a security forum in Singapore came after a new UN report showed Pyongyang was continuing with its nuclear and missile programmes and evading sanctions through ship-to-ship oil transfers.

5 Aug 2018; AFP; Asian countries have voiced concern about the potentially devastating impact of a US-China trade war, with ministers calling for the acceleration of talks for a gigantic Beijing-backed free-trade deal that excludes the United States.

5 Aug 2018; AFP; China's foreign minister said Saturday that his country's threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of American goods in an escalating trade spat was "fully justified".

Beijing threatened Friday to bring in the levies on products ranging from beef to condoms, after US President Donald Trump's administration upped the ante in its plans for additional tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200 billion.

Beijing, Aug 4, IRNA – China's major oil giant has paused importing oil from the US due to escalation of trade war between the two countries, a Chinese daily reported on Saturday.

LANGKAWI, Malaysia Aug 4 (NNN-Bernama) -- Malaysia is likely to benefit from the trade war between China and the United States (US) in terms of attracting foreign investors, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

He said policies implemented in this trade war would benefit investors who could not invest in certain countries, thus benefiting countries that were not involved.

SINGAPORE, Aug 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday he hoped Americans detained in Turkey would be released "in coming days", following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Singapore which both sides said was constructive.

Washington earlier this week imposed sanctions on two Turkish ministers over the case of Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor
on trial in Turkey for backing terrorism.

The United States has also been seeking the release of three locally employed embassy staff detained in Turkey.

Photo courtesy bernama images

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail launches the first kind of Android satellite smartphone in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on August 2, 2018.

Whether you are deep in the jungle, up on a mountain or far out at sea, you can stay connected using just an Android smartphone.

JINAN, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- A new freight train linking east China's Shandong Province with Milan, Italy, started service Friday, making it the newest China-Europe freight train route.

A 41-container train carrying clothing, electronic products, and machinery departed from Yanzhou North railway station in Jining, on Friday morning. The train will run every Friday.

The 10,900-km journey, which makes a stop in Chengdu for customs clearance, will take 18 days, said Zhang Benhong, deputy head of the railway station.

BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's new countermeasures to impose additional tariffs on about 60 billion U.S. dollars worth of products from the United States are "rational and restrained," a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council on Friday unveiled lists of 5,207 items of U.S. products to be subject to additional tariffs of four different rates -- 25 percent, 20 percent, 10 percent, and 5 percent.

BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday announced its decision to impose additional tariffs of four different rates on 5,207 items of imported U.S. products worth 60 billion U.S. dollars.

The rates of additional tariffs on such products will be 25 percent, 20 percent, 10 percent, and 5 percent, according to the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

"China was forced to take the countermeasures" in response to a U.S. plan to raise tariffs to be imposed on 200 billion dollars of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent, the commission said in a statement.