G20: Xi Jinping may not go to New Delhi summit

Today's headlines: Pyongyang launches two short-range missiles "to simulate a nuclear attack"; Sixteen die in T-shirt printing lab fire in the Philippines; A Palestinian teenager dies and three Israelis injured in new violence in the Middle East; A 90-year-old Japanese mountaineer on the summit of Mount Fuji in a wheelchair.

CHINA-INDIA

Reuters sources in both China and India report that in addition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping may also not take part in the G20 summit scheduled in New Delhi on 9 and 10 September. China would be represented by Premier Li Qiang. If the news were confirmed it would represent a further signal of the terrible state of relations between Beijing and New Delhi.

NORTH KOREA-SOUTH KOREA

North Korea said it launched two short-range ballistic missiles to simulate nuclear strikes against military targets in South Korea. State media said the tests were carried out as a warning against the United States' deployment of strategic bombers United in the region. South Korean media reported that the missiles were fired off the east coast around midnight. This launch takes place during the annual military exercises in Washington and Seoul.

PHILIPPINES

Sixteen people died and only three survived in a fire that razed a T-shirt printing and manufacturing shop in the Tandang Sora area of Quezon City in the Philippines. Most of the victims were workers from other areas of the country. According to one of the survivors, it was possible to use only one window to exit the house, since the other windows on the second floor were equipped with grates.

JAPAN

Ninety-year-old Japanese mountaineer Yuichiro Miura reached the 3,776 meter summit of Mount Fuji with a group of friends and family, after using a wheelchair for the three-day climb. Miura reached the summit around 7:20 in the morning, amid good weather and cold winds. Ten years ago, at the age of 80, Miura became the oldest person to conquer Everest but in June 2020 he was hospitalized for eight months due to a spontaneous epidural hematoma in his spine.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

A 15-year-old Palestinian teenager, Samer al-Zaanin, was shot and killed by Israeli security forces in Jerusalem near the Damascus Gate yesterday. According to the Israeli police he had attempted a knife attack in a light rail station. In another incident this morning three Israelis were injured, two of them seriously, in a truck attack on a checkpoint in the West Bank, near the Israeli town of Modiin.

RUSSIA

In all airports in the Moscow province, the rules of light aviation have been changed, involving the security bodies, as light aircraft are often mistaken for Ukrainian drones, creating a lot of tension and confusion, with continuous reports from the inhabitants of area, forcing the police to carry out lengthy checks.

KYRGYZSTAN

The international non-governmental organization "Committee for the Defense of Journalists" (CPJ) has appealed to the Kyrgyz authorities not to proceed with the liquidation of the "Kloop Media" fund, considered "a scandalous and deeply cynical attempt to silence some of the most resonant investigations of journalism in the country, especially those concerning the corruption of state officials".

• AsiaToday