9th China-South Asia Expo in Yunnan to exhibit products from over 1,400 companies

The 9th China-South Asia Expo, scheduled for June 19-24, will attract more than 1,400 companies from 54 countries and regions to showcase their products in Kunming City of southwest China's Yunan Province, according to a press briefing by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Friday.

Over 120 companies from the China 500 List, the Global 500 List, and other industry-leading enterprises will be among the exhibitors for the expo.

The expo will include pavilions for exhibitors from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and other countries and regions around the world.

Covering an area of 150,000 square meters, the expo will showcase products from sectors like manufacturing, green energy, culture, healthcare, and agriculture.

Li Chaowei, director of Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce, said a special release hall will be set up for this year's expo.

"We will set up a release hall for the first time at this year's expo, providing a platform for exhibitors to launch their new products, technologies, and services. So far, 29 companies have signed up for the new release, covering fields such as biomedicine and health, new energy vehicles, and new scientific and technological materials," he said.

The expo has also attracted nearly 1,000 registered professional buyers from 31 countries and regions, including South Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) members.

9th China-South Asia Expo in Yunnan to exhibit products from over 1,400 companies

9th China-South Asia Expo in Yunnan to exhibit products from over 1,400 companies

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight