World News in Brief: August 6

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said in Phnom Penh on Friday that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement will be a booster for trade and investment relations between Cambodia and the Republic of Korea.

India's daily COVID-19 caseload on Saturday fell below the 20,000 mark a day after showing an increase, officials said.
India's daily COVID-19 caseload on Saturday fell below the 20,000 mark a day after showing an increase, officials said.

* Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa said on Friday that Japan remains open to dialogue with China as keeping communications intact is all the more important when ties are strained.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Friday to boost cooperation in the transport, agriculture, finance and construction industries, they said in a joint statement after a four-hour meeting.

* Peruvian President Pedro Castillo reshuffled his cabinet on Friday, naming a new finance minister but stopping short of a full revamp by keeping Prime Minister Anibal Torres in his role.

* India's federal defense ministry on Friday said it has offered to sell 18 indigenously-developed light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas to Malaysia.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday banning "unfriendly" investors from making transactions with their shares in strategic Russian enterprises and projects until the end of the year.

* Russia declared 14 Bulgarian diplomats "personae non gratae" on Friday in response to Bulgaria's expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats and other measures against Russia's foreign missions.

* Israeli aircraft struck in Gaza and Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israeli cities on Saturday as fighting ran into a second day, ending more than a year of relative calm along the border.

* Egypt is mediating between Israel and the Palestinians to prevent escalation after Israel's strike in the Gaza Strip, state television channel Extra News said on Friday, citing an official source.

* Thailand's consumer inflation growth moderated slightly in July, data showed on Friday, before the central bank monetary policy committee meeting due for next week with a widely-expected policy rate hike.

* The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) has relaxed its foreign currency conversion order, allowing exporters to compulsorily convert only 65 percent of their earnings into kyats. The central bank issued the directives on Friday with immediate effect.

* World food prices declined dramatically in July, according to the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Friday.

* Three ships carrying a total of 58,041 tonnes of corn have been authorised to leave Ukrainian ports as part of a deal to unblock grain exports, said a group comprising Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel.

* Russia could reduce its planned 50 million tons of grain exports this year due to a possible yield decrease, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said Friday.

* Ukraine is aiming to start exporting its grain from the sea ports in the southern Mykolayiv region, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Friday, citing a regional official.

* Some areas of the Mediterranean Sea have reached temperatures of over 30 degrees centigrade due to the ongoing heatwave in Southern Europe, the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET) confirmed on Friday.

* Flash flooding triggered by a near-record downpour on Friday over one of the hottest, driest spots on Earth has stranded nearly 1,000 people inside California's Death Valley National Park and forced its temporary closure, park officials said.

* The southern Chinese beach holiday city of Sanya imposed a lockdown on Saturday and shut its public transport system to try to stop a COVID-19 outbreak during its peak tourist season.

* California hit another grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic as the most populous state in the United States officially reached 10 million confirmed cases, according to data released by the state health authorities on Friday.

* Australian authorities have revealed concerns over third COVID-19 vaccine dose rates as the country continues to battle against the wave of Omicron sub-variant infections in winter.

* The Republic of Korea reported 110,666 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 20,383,621, the health authorities said Saturday.

* Malaysia reported 3,927 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Friday, bringing the national total to 4,701,140, according to the health ministry.

* Myanmar's Foreign Ministry on Friday announced new terms and conditions of tourist visa given the low number of COVID-19 infections in the Southeast Asian country.

Xinhua/Reuters/VNA