Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

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.

4 Aug 2018; AFP; US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Saturday called on his Myanmar counterpart to release two Reuters journalists accused of breaking a draconian secrecy law during their reporting of a Rohingya massacre.

Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, have been detained since December and face up to 14 years in prison for possessing classified documents linked to security operations in crisis-hit Rakhine state.

4 Aug 2018; AFP; North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear and missile programs and continues to evade UN sanctions through increased illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil products at sea, a UN report said Friday.

Beijing, Aug 3 (AFP) Beijing warned today it was prepared to impose new tariffs on 60 billion worth of US goods if Washington ups the ante in the escalating US-China trade war.

The commerce ministry issued a statement saying the new duties would be applied if Washington pulled the trigger on President Donald Trump's threat to raise tariffs on 200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

The statement said China reserves the right to apply "other countermeasures".

SINGAPORE, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) agreed here on Friday to join hands to promote multilateralism and support free trade.

The agreement came as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Council on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting and related meetings.

SINGAPORE, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have arrived at a single draft negotiating text of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday.

Wang made the remarks at the China-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting.

The draft text will serve as the basis of future COC negotiations.

It is another significant progress on the negotiations of COC, Wang noted.

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (NNN-UNNS) -- The United Nations has welcomed a new law which grants extra autonomy to Muslim communities living in the Southern Philippines, describing it as a “landmark achievement on the road to lasting peace”.

Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, signed the new legislation, formally known as the Organic Law for Bangsamoro in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Thursday, raising hopes that years of separatist violence involving central Government troops and militants from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, can be brought to an end.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- American and Chinese scientists developed a new nanoparticle vaccine that could effectively protect mice against influenza A virus, according to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The double-layered vaccine made with peptides showed strong potential for combating influenza viruses, providing a promising approach for developing universal influenza vaccines.

Contestants from South China University of Technology celebrate during the awarding ceremony of the RoboMaster 2018 competition in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, July 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)