Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Monday that a total of 191,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance after multiple quakes and an ensuing tsunami devastated Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province.

A total of 56 percent of the figure were classified as rural population and the rest are urban population, the relief agency said.

Among the assistance desperately needed were foods, clean water and shelters, it added.

BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to a U.S. warship's entry into the neighboring waters of China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea.

"On Sept. 30, without permission of the Chinese government, the U.S. destroyer Decatur entered neighboring waters of islands and reefs of China's Nansha Islands," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

By K J M Varma

Beijing, Oct 2 (PTI) China's indigenously-developed large amphibious aircraft has successfully conducted high-speed water taxiing trials on the Zhanghe reservoir.

The test of the AG600 seaplane was conducted on Monday at a speed of 145 kms in the city of Jingmen of central China's Hubei Province, according to China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co Ltd (CAIGA).

Palu (Indonesia), Oct 2 (AP) Desperation exploded into anger Tuesday in the town closest to the epicentre of the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit parts of Sulawesi island four days ago, with residents begging Indonesia's president to help them as hungry survivors crawled into stores and grabbed boxes of food.

"Pay attention to Donggala, Mr. Jokowi. Pay attention to Donggala," yelled one resident in footage broadcast on local television, referring to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

"There are still a lot of unattended villages here."

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 30, 2018 shows Luodian-Wangmo highway linking Luodian County and Wangmo County of southwest China's Guizhou Province. The 75-km-long highway was put into operation on Sunday. (Xinhua/Tao Liang)

JAKARTA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Death toll of earthquakes and tsunami in Central Sulawesi province of central Indonesia has climbed to 1,203 on Monday.

Reports released by Disaster Management Institute of Indonesia, Care for Humanity and Humanity Data Center revealed that the data was counted in the provincial capital of Palu and Donggala district, not including figures from two other affected districts of Parigi Mountong and North Mamuju.

Jakarta, Oct 1 (AFP) Some 1,200 Indonesian convicts escaped from three different detention facilities in the devastated region of Sulawesi following an earthquake and tsunami disaster, a justice ministry official said Monday.

The mass prison break happened after the powerful tremor sparked a wall of water that devastated the small city of Palu Friday.

Ministry of Justice official Sri Puguh Utami said inmates had fled from two overcapacity facilities in Palu and another in Donggala, an area also hit by the disaster.

TASS, September 30. More than 170 aftershocks were recorded on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island after a 7.4 magnitude quake on Friday, a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster management agency, Sutopo Nugroho, said.

"Different aftershocks were recorded, and their magnitude did not exceed 5," Nugroho said. Some areas are still hard to reach, including Dungala, home to at least 300,000 people, which is the epicenter of the aftershocks.

Power and communications have been cut off for a second day in a row, he noted.

JAKARTA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from multiple strong earthquakes and an ensuing tsunami which devastated Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province has jumped to 832, a spokesman of the national disaster management agency said on Sunday.

Some 540 people were seriously injured and 16,732 people were forced to flee their homes, spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The death toll was expected to rise as assessment of the risks and evacuation were underway, according to the spokesman.

MANILA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 31 Filipinos are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each day in the Philippines, government data showed with the Department of Health (DOH) voicing alarm over the spread in the Philippines of HIV that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).