BEIJING, Dec.

SINGAPORE, Dec 5 — The retail sales in Singapore fell 0.1 per cent in October on a year-on-year basis, reversing the 0.8 per cent growth in September, according to data released by the Department of Statistics on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

SEOUL, Dec 5 — South Korean and global security experts saw it unlikely for the growing competition between the United States and China to end soon, with some even predicting an armed conflict within the next five years, a report showed Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) said there is no lifting of the freeze on the issuance of new licences for the sale of liquor at sundry shops, convenience stores and Chinese medicine halls in the city.

GENEVA, Dec 4 — The World Health Organisation will hold an extraordinary session of its Executive Board on Dec.

LONDON, Dec 4 — Music streaming giant Spotify is to cut almost a fifth of jobs at the business in a move affecting about 1,600 posts, reported German news agency (dpa).

JAKARTA, Dec 4 — At least 11 hikers were killed and 12 others missing after Mount Marapi in Indonesia's West Sumatra province erupted on Sunday, triggering volcanic ash rain in several areas, reported German news agency (dpa).

ISTANBUL/AMMAN (Jordan), Dec 4 — The Israeli army fired upon two ambulances in the blockaded Gaza Strip, resulting in three people being wounded on late on Sunday.

GAZA, Dec 3 — Over 200 innocent civilians, including children, were savagely massacred on Saturday in a series of relentless Israeli aerial, artillery and naval strikes across the Gaza Strip, according to Palestine News and Information Agency (Wafa).

MANILA, Dec 3 — The Philippines lifted a tsunami alert early on Sunday as waves receded from a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck the south of the country, triggering coastal evacuations and some waves in there and in Japan.

DUBAI/CAIRO/LONDON, Dec 2 — Israel has informed several Arab states it seeks to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for the enclave after war ends, Egyptian and regional sources said.

MANILA, Dec 1 — The Philippines has built a new coast guard station on the contested island of Thitu in the South China Sea, boosting its ability to monitor the movements of Chinese vessels and aircraft in the busy disputed waterway.

DUBAI, Dec 1 — The UN climate change conference on Thursday operationalised a fund to support the world's particularly vulnerable countries in their efforts to cope with the loss and damage caused by climate change.

GAZA, Dec 1 — A number of Palestinian civilians, predominantly children and women, were killed or injured Friday morning as the Israeli forces resumed attacks on the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea.

DUBAI, Dec 1 — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced its commitment of US$100 million to the Fund for Climate Impact Response on Thursday, following an agreement to operationalise the fund during the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).

BRUSSELS, Dec 1 — Two back-to-back economic reports have warned about the persistence of inflation in the eurozone despite the minimal decrease in November from the previous month.

GAZA CITY, Dec 1 — The Israeli army has destroyed more than 60 per cent of the homes and residential units in the Gaza Strip, the government media office in Gaza said Thursday.

BERLIN, Dec 1 — BMW and Mercedes-Benz are setting up a joint venture (JV) to build a fast-charging network for electric cars in China, the German carmakers announced in a joint press release on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

LONDON, Dec 1 —  Google has called on Britain’s antitrust regulator to take action against Microsoft, claiming its business practices had left rivals at a significant disadvantage, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

VIENNA, Dec 1 — The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies, a group known as Opec+, on Thursday announced further production cuts for next year to bolster oil prices that have recently tumbled amid a weakening economic backdrop, reported Xinhua.