Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

26 July 2018; AFP; Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he has signed a law which grants expanded autonomy for the mainly Catholic nation's Muslim south, a key step to ending one of Asia's longest and deadliest conflicts.

The measure has for years been a crucial missing element to a languishing peace pact with the country's largest Islamic rebel group which, along with other guerrillas, has waged a rebellion in the southern Philippines that has claimed about 150,000 lives since the 1970s.

26 July 2018; AFP; Japan on Thursday executed six more members of the cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, local media said, weeks after the group's leader was hanged.

Public broadcaster NHK and other outlets said all six Aum Shinrikyo cult members remaining on death row had been executed on Thursday morning. There was no immediate official confirmation.

The executions come after authorities hanged "guru" Shoko Asahara and six of his one-time followers earlier this month, after years on death row.

BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition on Wednesday to a U.S. defense spending bill which includes propositions aimed at China, and urged the U.S. not to disrupt the stable development of bilateral ties.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a routine news briefing when asked for comments about a draft bill of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

24 July 2018; (KPL) Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has suspended the planned monthly meeting of the government for August and led his cabinet members and other senior officials to Sanamxay to monitor rescue and relief efforts being made for flood victims. 

The collapse of the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam on Monday caused flash flooding in six villages of Sanamxay district including Yai Thae, Hinlad, Mai, Thasengchan, Tha Hin, and Samong. Hinlad and Mai villages were hard-hit.

BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday said it has no intention to spur exports through competitive devaluation of its currency, rejecting the United States' accusations of manipulating the exchange rate of the yuan.

"The yuan's exchange rate is mainly determined by market supply and demand," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press briefing. "It floats in both ways, which means there are ups and downs."

Currently, the good fundamentals of China's economy provide strong support for the exchange rate of the yuan to remain generally stable.

SHANGHAI, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China's research icebreaker Xuelong set sail from Shanghai Friday, marking the country's 9th Arctic expedition.

A team of 131 researchers, along with foreign scientists, will make the two-month trip of 12,300 nautical miles.

During the expedition, Xuelong will conduct research in Chukchi Rise and the Canada Basin in the Arctic Ocean and is expected to return to Shanghai before the end of September.

BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday called on the United States to be responsible in its words and policy-making, to show good global governance instead of creating disorder.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a press briefing, responding to comments by Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, that China was involved in a zero-sum game with the rest of the world on trade issues.

BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The seventh World Trade Organization (WTO) review of China's trade policies, held in Geneva, was a complete success, a Chinese commerce official said Thursday.

"The routine policy review has received high attention as 70 WTO members spoke at the meeting, which set a new record," Gao Feng, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson, said at a press conference.

SHANGHAI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese research group on Tuesday announced progress in developing a drug to treat Alzheimer's disease.

GV-971 was developed by Ocean University of China, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica under Chinese Academy of Sciences and Green Valley Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, after a 21-year study.

A phase three clinical trial is the last test before reaching the market.

In the trial, participants took 450 mg GV-971 orally twice a day for 36 weeks, which proved effective in improving cognition.

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China's C919 large passenger plane project has entered into a new major phase with intensive flight tests in multiple sites around the country, announced its developer the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC).

The No.102 C919 plane landed at Dongying Shengli Airport in east China's Shandong Province Thursday, after its first long-distance flight from the final assembly line in Shanghai, COMAC said.

Before this flight, the aircraft has completed multiple tests and had modifications made for the upcoming test missions.