Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HANOI, Nov 2 (NNN-VNA) – Vietnam earned over 50.1 billion U.S. dollars from exporting phones and components, in the first 10 months of this year, according to the country’s General Statistics Office, today.

The number accounts for more than 16 percent of the country’s total export revenue over the period, and posted a year-on-year rise of 7.6 percent.

With that revenue, phones and components continued to be Vietnam’s largest export items, followed by computers and electronic components, as well as, garments and textiles.

SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - As South Korea mourns the deaths of more than 150 people in a Halloween party crush, many people - even those not directly involved - are dealing with trauma and a search for answers that has at times blamed the victims, a psychiatry expert says.

Thanks in part to a flood of disturbing images in the first hours of the disaster, the emotional and mental health effects of the disaster could touch all corners of society, said Ulsan University Hospital professor of psychiatry Jun Jin-yong.

SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - North Korea fired at least 23 missiles into the sea on Wednesday, including one that landed less than 60 km (40 miles) off South Korea's coast, which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol described as "territorial encroachment" and Washington denounced as "reckless".

It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South's waters since the peninsula was divided in 1945, and the most missiles fired by the North in a single day. South Korea issued rare air raid warnings and launched its own missiles in response.

BEIJING, November 1. /TASS/: Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries will continue developing political, security, economic and trade cooperation, according to a joint statement that was adopted on Tuesday following the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of SCO Member States.

HANOI, Nov 1 (NNN-VNA) – Vietnam saw nearly 2.4 million international arrivals in the first 10 months of this year, increasing nearly 19 times from the same period last year, but still much lower than the pre-pandemic period in 2019, the General Statistics Office, said today.

From Jan to Oct, visitors entering the country by air amounted to approximately 2.1 million, accounting for 88.8 percent of the total.

Over the 10 months, nearly 1.7 million foreign visitors to Vietnam were from Asia, increasing over 15 times, compared to the same period last year.

TOKYO (AP) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday stressed his country’s increased defense cooperation with Japan and other democracies in the Indo-Pacific region faced with security challenges such as Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s rise.

Steinmeier, after holding talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, told a joint news conference that Germany and other countries “committed to freedom and democracy are standing up together and sending signals that they want to stick to the international rules-based order.”

(AP) --- This summer, as China fired missiles into the sea off Taiwan to protest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, a much different kind of geopolitical standoff was taking shape in another corner of the Pacific Ocean.

Thousands of miles away, a heavily-armed U.S. Coast Guard cutter sailed up to a fleet of a few hundred Chinese squid-fishing boats not far from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Its mission: inspect the vessels for any signs of illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s police chief admitted “a heavy responsibility” for failing to prevent a recent crowd surge that killed more than 150 people during Halloween festivities in Seoul, saying Tuesday that officers didn’t effectively handle earlier emergency calls about the impending disaster.

SEOUL, Oct 31 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea and the United States, kicked off their large-scale joint air drills today, involving about 240 warplanes, according to the South Korean air force.

The Vigilant Storm exercise, will last until Friday, mobilising around 140 military aircraft from the South Korean side, including F-35A stealth jets, F-15K and KF-16 fighters, as well as, KC-330 tankers.

The U.S. air force will deploy about 100 aircraft, such as F-35B stealth fighters, EA-18 electronic warfare aircraft, U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and KC-135 tankers.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (NNN-Bernama) — The strengthening of joint Arab action to face current challenges on the regional and international scenes, the Palestine issue, food security and political and economic cooperation are among the important agenda for deliberation at the 31st Arab League Summit, to be hosted by Algeria from Nov 1-2.