More than half a million people have turned up to vote on the second and final day of Hong Kong's primary elections, held by the city’s pro-democracy camp over the weekend. The turnout is reflecting steely support for the movement despite Beijing’s imposition of a national-security law that has curbed public expressions of dissent in recent weeks.

Thousands of voters turned out to participate in primary elections on Saturday to select democracy candidates to run for seats in Hong Kong's parliamentary elections in September. The poll is set to run over two days and was organised by the group Power for Democracy.

Beijing said on Wednesday that it could join nuclear disarmament talks if Washington lowers its arsenals to China's level. The US and Russian officials held talks in Vienna last month to discuss a replacement for the New START treaty, which limits each side to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and is due to run out in February.

Beijing on Tuesday reported zero new coronavirus cases for the first time since the emergence of a cluster in the Chinese capital in June that prompted fears of a domestic second wave. Capital’s health commission said it detected only one asymptomatic case the previous day, which China does not include in its confirmed cases counts.

Rescue workers in Japan on Monday combed through the wreckage of houses shattered by deadly floods and landslides in a desperate search for survivors as the death toll rose and more torrential rain loomed, news wires reported.

China’s top legislative body approved a national security law for Hong Kong on Tuesday in a move expected to raise tensions between Beijing and foreign governments. Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole representative to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, confirmed the law's passage in an interview broadcast by Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK.

China on Monday announced visa restrictions on US officials who “behave egregiously” in relation to Hong Kong affairs, days after Washington announced similar restrictions on Chinese officials believed to be undermining freedoms in the Asian financial hub.

At least six people were killed when gunmen attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi on Monday, with a policeman among the dead after the assailants opened fire and hurled a grenade at the trading floor, police said.

Japan’s defence minister has reignited suspicions that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is suffering from poor health. Addressing media at the Japanese Foreign Correspondents Club on Thursday (local time), Taro Kono said concern for Kim’s health was one of several matters Japan had been discussing with other countries, according to NK News.

This week the tensions in the relationship between North and South Korea escalated after Pyongyang blew up its joint liaison office with the South, located in the border town of Kaesong. The building of the office was South Korea's first permanent official representation in the North since 1953. This demolition marked Pyongyang's first direct actions against its southern neighbour after numerous threats which were made in the last few weeks.