Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Nov 20 (NNN-ANTARA) – A train hit a minibus, in Lumajang regency of Indonesia’s East Java province last night, leaving 11 people dead and three others injured, a rescuer said.

The accident occurred when a minibus passed through a railway crossing, which has no train-crossing barrier, in Ranupakis village at 19:53 local time, but suddenly a train came and hit the minibus, said Muhammad Hariyadi, head of the provincial search and rescue office.

YANGON, Nov 20 (NNN-MNA) – Two people were killed and three others injured, when a ship, docked behind a steel factory, in Insein township in Yangon, caught fire, an official from a rescue organisation said, yesterday.

After the fire was extinguished, on the double-decker ship, carrying cement, two dead bodies were found inside the ship’s oil storage tank, U Thurein Tun said, adding that, 15 rescue organisations came to the scene for rescue operations.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Heavy rain and flooding are expected in Peninsula Malaysia’s east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu, in the coming days, with authorities yesterday, warning those at risk, to take precautions.

Those in high-risk areas have also been asked to comply with instructions from the authorities, as federal disaster relief agencies take steps to prepare for severe continuous rains, Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a statement.

BANGKOK, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is gaining popularity worldwide with joint efforts required to promote TCM globally, experts and scholars said in an international symposium in the Thai capital Bangkok.

Over 100 scholars from 20 countries and regions participated in the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) 2023 International Symposium on Acupuncture-Moxibustion scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

BEIJING, Sep 3 (APP): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), on occasion of International Students Day, has offered a 20 percent special student discount with an 80 kg baggage allowance on the flights for China.

The national flag carrier is currently operating a weekly flight on the Islamabad-Beijing-Islamabad route every Sunday, official sources said on Saturday.

Expressing pleasure over the discount, Ali Imran said that a large number of Pakistani students are studying across China, and they could benefit from the offer during the upcoming winter holidays.

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Armenia and Azerbaijan have been able to agree on the basic principles for a peace treaty but are still "speaking different diplomatic languages", Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Saturday, according to Russia's TASS news agency.

The two countries have been at odds for decades, most notably over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Baku's forces recaptured in September, prompting a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from it.

TOKYO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Daisaku Ikeda, who helped spread Buddhist thought around the world through Soka Gakkai - Japan's largest religious organisation and an ally of the government - has died, the organisation said on Saturday.

Ikeda died on Wednesday evening from natural causes at age 95, Soka Gakkai said in a statement on its website.

He was the longtime spiritual leader of the lay Buddhist organisation known abroad for its association with celebrities and at home for its influence on politics.

JAKARTA, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The services of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway (HSR) in Indonesia, locally known as Whoosh, have brought lots of joy for the public in the world's fourth-largest populous nation since it was officially launched about a month ago.

For 36-year-old Bagus Ahli Ramadhan, who works in Jakarta with his family living in Bandung, West Java province, the presence of the train has been a great blessing.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday it successfully tested new solid-fuel engines designed for intermediate-range ballistic missiles as it works on enhancing its nuclear-capable arsenal with more powerful, harder-to-detect weapons that can potentially target U.S. military bases in Guam and Japan.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the country’s military scientists tested the first-stage and second-stage missile engines on Saturday and Tuesday. The report did not say when the new missile system was expected to be completed.

BANGKOK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Thailand rolled back on Tuesday plans of joint patrols with Chinese police in popular tourist spots after public backlash.

Tourism officials on Sunday floated the idea of having Chinese and Thai police patrol much-visited areas to build confidence among tourists, including Chinese nationals.

The plan, however, sparked uproar online, drawing criticism that it compromised national sovereignty, and a rebuke from the country's police chief.