Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boasted that a recently tested intercontinental ballistic missile is another “reliable and maximum-capacity” weapon to contain U.S. military threats, state media reported Saturday. The United States responded to the North’s weapons launch by flying supersonic bombers in a show of force.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Kim oversaw the launch of the Hwasong-17 missile, a day after its neighbors said they had detected the launch of an ICBM that showed a potential to reach anywhere in the United States.

18 Nov 2022; MEMO: Thailand's Prime Minister met with Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on Friday in Bangkok, signing agreements to expand diplomatic relations restored this year, more than three decades after Saudi Arabia downgraded ties over a jewellery theft, Reuters reports.

The two leaders presided over the signing of five agreements, pledging to increase trade and investment between the two countries, promote tourism and deepen cooperation in energy.

SEOUL/TOKYO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday that Japanese officials said had sufficient range to reach the mainland of the United States and that landed just 200 kilometres (130 miles) off Japan.

The launch, reported by both South Korean and Japanese officials, comes a day after a smaller missile launch by the North and its warning of "fiercer military responses" to the U.S. boosting its regional security presence.

TOKYO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A missile fired on Friday by North Korea had sufficient range to reach the United States mainland, and was capable of flying as far as 15,000 km (9,320 miles), Japan's defence minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said.

The projectile, in the class of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), reached an altitude of 6,000 km (3,730 miles), covering a range of 1,000 km (622 miles) on a lofted trajectory, Hirokazu Matsuno, the chief cabinet secretary, had said earlier.

JAKARTA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's western province of Bengkulu on Friday evening, but did not trigger a tsunami, the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake jolted 212 km SW of Bengkulu at 13:37:06 GMT on Friday.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 4.9559 degrees south latitude and 100.7384 degrees east longitude, said the USGS.

BANGKOK, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday urged the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies to join hands in achieving sustainable growth amid global challenges at the APEC CEO Summit.

Prayut, whose country is the host of APEC 2022, delivered a keynote speech at the summit, saying APEC's priorities are guided by the Bio-Circular-Green Economy that Thailand introduced as a recovery strategy from COVID-19 and a blueprint for long-term growth that is more balanced, sustainable and inclusive.

BANGKOK (AP) — Threats to peace and stability burst onto the agenda at a summit of Pacific Rim leaders Friday in Bangkok after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese territorial waters.

The missile test was a stark reminder of persisting risks of conflict in the region and beyond, on top of frictions between the big powers that threaten to unravel the global order.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand convened an emergency meeting on the missile launch.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Friday while Europe opened higher after a Federal Reserve official suggested U.S. interest rates might have to be raised higher than expected to cool inflation.

London and Frankfurt advanced while Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo declined. Wall Street futures were lower. Oil prices gained.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese waters Friday in its second major weapons test this month that showed a potential ability to launch nuclear strikes on all of the U.S. mainland.

BAKU, November 17. /TASS/: Russia is interested in cooperating with Azerbaijan in the shipbuilding sphere, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said at the plenary session of the 11th Russia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum.