Xinhua
08 Dec 2023

TOKYO -- Japan's economy shrank at an annualized real 2.9 percent in the July-September quarter, revised from 2.1 percent reported earlier, due to weak consumption, the Cabinet Office said Friday.

Real gross domestic product (GDP), the total value of goods and services produced in Japan adjusted for inflation, decreased 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, compared with the preliminary reading of a 0.5-percent decline. (Japan-GDP-Q3)

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NEW DELHI -- The Indian government's ban on the export of onions formally comes into effect Friday, officials said.

According to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on Thursday evening, the export policy of onions is revised from free to prohibited until March 31, 2024. (India-Onion-Ban)

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COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka's Central Environment Authority (CEA) will establish a QR code system to find out whether plastic bottles used for various reasons are recollected and recycled by those who produce and distribute them, the Department of Communication of Parliament announced on Friday.

Issuing a press release, the Department of Communication said the above decision was revealed when CEA officials appeared before the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development recently. (Sri Lanka-Plastic Bottles)

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HANOI -- Mortgage loans in Vietnam fell by 0.7 percent in the first 10 months of the year, the first drop in three years, revealing a lack of interest in home buying, the VnExpress newspaper reported Friday.

The newspaper cited analysts as saying that the lack of affordable residential products resulted in low home buying interest. (Vietnam-Mortgage Loans)

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CHATTOGRAM -- At Chattogram port, Bangladesh's first sea-land integrated super-large oil storage and transportation system has been put into operation, with a 100,000-ton oil tanker unloading oil through the Chinese-built single-point mooring (SPM) system.

The SPM system project was completed by builders from the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau. According to A. B. M. Azad, chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, the successful mooring of large oil tankers and offshore oil operation on Wednesday are important milestones in the Bangladesh-China energy cooperation as well as major achievements in bilateral energy cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. (Bangladesh-China-Port Project)

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BANGKOK -- Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) have been emerging as the sales volume front-runners among over 30 car brands exhibited at the 40th Thailand International Motor Expo which is wrapping up its 12-day run.

Led by Chinese brands, EV orders in the top 10 list have outpaced those of fuel-powered cars for the first time. (Thailand-Motor Expo-Chinese EV)