COLOMBO -- Along the northwestern waterfront of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, the China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC)-invested and operated Port City Colombo has become a new hotspot for residents seeking leisure and recreation. From shopping and dining to water sports, the sandy beach is filled with laughter and excitement every weekend.
At the entrance to the Port City stands a duty-free shopping mall, the first stop for many visitors. Early in the morning, 66-year-old Sudarman de Silva arrived with his family to shop there, who had just returned from a trip to Dubai the previous night. De Silva picked a few bottles of liquor for himself, while his daughter-in-law selected some cosmetics. (Sri Lanka-Port City)
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KABUL -- Police have discovered seven pieces of firearms and ammunition in central Afghanistan's Daykundi province, said a statement of provincial police office on Thursday.
The weaponry, which includes three stocks of Kalashnikov assault rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade, a machinegun, two hunting guns and hundreds of bullets and projectiles, was recovered from a house during operations in Pato district recently, the statement added. (Afghanistan-Weaponry Recovered)
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HANOI -- Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in central Vietnam on Thursday evening, bringing torrential rains and powerful winds that caused widespread damage, local media outlet VNExpress reported.
The typhoon uprooted trees, damaged roofs, and shattered glass windows of buildings in several localities. Power outages were reported across large areas of several provinces, affecting hundreds of thousands of households. (Vietnam-Typhoon Kalmaegi)
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SEOUL -- Seven people were presumed trapped under a 60-meter-high boiler tower that collapsed at a power plant in southeastern South Korea on Thursday, according to Yonhap news agency.
The accident occurred at about 2:07 p.m. local time (0507 GMT) at the thermal power plant in Ulsan, some 310 km southeast of the capital Seoul. (South Korea-Structure Collapse)
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KUALA LUMPUR -- Disruptive actions aimed at stunting multilateralism, free and open trade must not be allowed to derail efforts to advance global cooperation and integration, participants at a forum here have said.
Countries would do well to fully utilize various mechanisms to ensure stable trade, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and regional groupings like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia-Pacific (BRICAP) President Ong Tee Keat said at the BRICAP Seminar 2025. (Malaysia-RCEP) ■
