HONG KONG: Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced plans to set up a new stock exchange in Beijing and more digital trade pilot zones under plans to expand the country's role as a global services hub.

HANOI: Vietnam's coronavirus epicentre Ho Chi Minh City is proposing to emerge from a strict lockdown and resume economic activities from Sept 15, shifting from its "Zero-Covid-19" strategy to living with the virus, according to a draft proposal.

SEOUL: Major Japanese cosmetics maker DHC Corp, which has been criticised for being discriminatory against ethnic Korean residents of Japan, said on Thursday it will withdraw from the South Korean market.

A woman who skipped bail while on trial for shooting dead her husband and dumping his body in the Chao Phraya River eight years ago has been arrested.

TOKYO: Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday he will not run for the leadership of his ruling party, effectively ending his tenure and throwing wide open the race for the next premier.

The Bank of Thailand and the Thai Bankers' Association said on Friday they would offer more support measures for debtors affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The former police chief of Muang district in Nakhon Sawan and six other suspects in the fatal torture of a drug suspect were transferred from Phitsanulok prison to Bangkok's Klong Prem Prison on Friday.

Twelve more Covid-19 deaths and 822 new infections were reported in Chon Buri on Friday, with most of the new cases in Si Racha, Muang and Bang Lamung districts.

JAIPUR, India: Faizuddin is still traumatised from the lightning strike that killed his three friends as they took selfies atop a 400-year-old fort in India, where climate change is making lethal strikes more common.

Thailand logged 14,653 new Covid-19 cases and 271 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Friday morning.