HANOI -- The 15th National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam, the country's top legislature, concluded its fifth session in the capital of Hanoi on Saturday after approving a looser electronic visa policy, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The new visa policy is intended to facilitate economic activity by allowing foreign tourists and investors easier travel to and longer stay in the Southeast Asian country, according to the report.

Under the new arrangements for electronic visa (e-visa) applicants, Vietnam will triple the length of time that foreign travelers are allowed to stay in the country to 90 days. (Vietnam-National Assembly)

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KABUL -- The acting Prime Minister of the Afghan caretaker government Mawlawi Abdul Kabir said Saturday that his country respected the role of the United Nations and was seeking positive interaction with countries around the world.

In a meeting with the UN Special Coordinator for Afghanistan Feridun Sinirlioğlu, Kabir said that Afghanistan is seeking a positive interaction with the outside world on the basis of mutual respect, and assured that no one would be allowed to use Afghanistan's territory against others. (Afghanistan-UN-Visit)

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DHAKA -- Seven people were killed as the gas cylinder of a CNG-driven microbus exploded after the vehicle hit a highway divider in Bangladesh's central Faridpur district Saturday morning, a police official said.

Ziarul Islam, officer-in-charge of Bhanga Police Station in Faridpur, some 101 kilometers away from the capital Dhaka, told journalists that the accident took place as the driver lost control over the wheel and hit the highway divider.

The microbus heading towards Dhaka soon caught fire after its cylinder exploded, he said, adding that all the seven passengers were burnt to death. (Bangladesh-Car Accident)

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KATHMANDU -- The H9665 flight operated by Himalaya Airlines took off from Kathmandu on Saturday morning and landed in Beijing about four hours later, marking the resumption of direct flights between the Nepali and Chinese capitals after a hiatus of three years.

The return H9666 flight shall come back to Kathmandu on the same day, as the Kathmandu-based airline is operating a round trip every Saturday for now. (Nepal-China-Direct Flight)

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SINGAPORE -- The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Friday launched an industry utility that will securely maintain a centralized record of trade finance transactions in Singapore, according to a media release from ABS.

Launched at the ABS's 50th-anniversary dinner on June 23, the Trade Finance Registry (TFR) is supported by key trade financing banks in Singapore. This industry initiative aims to mitigate the risk of duplicate financing for the same underlying trade and will enhance trust and confidence among banks and traders, and strengthen Singapore's role as a key trading hub.

TFR will remove the information asymmetry faced by banks and facilitate the detection of duplicate financing. Participating banks will register new trade financing transactions on TFR, and notifications will be triggered if any of the new transactions are found to be duplicated in near real-time for further action. (Singapore-ABS-Trade Finance Registry)

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TOKYO -- A Japanese woman died of myocarditis last year after contracting the Oz virus, making her death the world's first fatal case of the virus, the country's health authorities have said.

The woman in her 70s who lived in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, did not have a history of traveling abroad, but had underlying diseases including hypertension, according to the report jointly released on Friday by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the National Insititute of Infectious Diseases (NIID). (Japan-Oz Virus-Death) Enditem

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