TOKYO -- Japan's ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito is headed for victory in the upcoming House of Councilors election, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling LDP likely to win more seats than the number it currently holds, according to an opinion poll published on Monday.

The LDP is projected to snatch about 60 seats on its own, up from the current 55 it holds, showed a poll conducted by Nikkei business daily at the weekend. (Japan-Upper House Election)

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SINGAPORE -- Singaporean President Halimah Yacob posted on Facebook on Monday evening that she was just tested positive for COVID-19 with mild flu-like symptoms.

"Thankfully, I have been vaccinated and boosted," she said. "I hope to recover soon and am sorry to have to miss the events this week."

Also on Monday evening, Singapore's Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin also said that he was tested positive for COVID-19. (Singapore-President-COVID-19)

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BAGAN, Myanmar, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) has been turned into a "golden model" of regional cooperation six years after it was launched with fruitful results.

During a joint press conference with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin, which was held following the seventh LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting earlier in the day in Bagan, Myanmar, Wang said the six countries along the Lancang-Mekong river will continue to treat each other on an equal footing and cooperate closely to promote development and work for the upgrading of the LMC mechanism. (Myanmar-China-LMC)

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PHNOM PENH -- The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Monday launched the KHQR code payment service, aiming at promoting the wider use of mobile retail payments in the Southeast Asian country, a senior official said.

KHQR is a universal quick response (QR) code system created for retail payments in the country, NBC said, adding that it only requires a single QR for receiving payment from any mobile app including the Bakong app. (Cambodia-Mobile Payment-Launch)