SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired an intermediate-range projectile, believed to be a ballistic missile, toward its eastern waters, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday.

The JCS said in a statement that the South Korean military detected one intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was launched eastward at a high angle into the eastern waters from the Mupyong-ri area in the DPRK's northern province of Jagang at about 7:52 a.m. local time Sunday.

The DPRK said it conducted six missile tests in January, including a hypersonic missile on Jan. 5 and Jan. 11 each, two railway-borne short-range ballistic missiles on Jan. 14, two tactical guided missiles on Jan. 17, a long-range cruise missile on Tuesday and a surface-to-surface tactical guided missile on Thursday. Sunday's launch marked the seventh of such tests. (South Korea-DPRK Projectile Launch)

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ISLAMABAD -- A hand grenade attack in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday left at least 16 people injured, including two policemen, local media and police said.

According to police in the area, an unknown miscreant threw a hand grenade at a market area of Jaffarabad district in the province and fled the scene, injuring 16 people on the spot.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. (Pakistan-Hand Grenade Attack)

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong recorded 81 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours on Sunday after registering over 100 cases for seven days in a row, according to data from the Center for Health Protection.

The newly reported cases consist of four imported cases and 77 local cases.

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Sunday that dynamic "zero infection" is the most effective way to fight against the epidemic and protect public health and safety. (Hong Kong-COVID 19-Zero Infection)

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KABUL -- Afghanistan's caretaker government began to deliver China-aided humanitarian food supplies to four provinces, an official has said.

The supplies, which will be shipped by 26 cargo trucks to southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces and western Farah and Ghor provinces, included 848 tons of rice and wheat, Hasal Khan Musleh from the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation told reporters on Saturday.

Musleh said that Afghanistan has received several batches of humanitarian supplies donated by China, which are being sent to the vulnerable people in the country's 34 provinces. (Afghanistan-China-Aid)

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PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia's economy is expected to grow over 5 percent in 2022 after the southeast Asian nation has fully reopened since November, buoyed by its high vaccination rates, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said here on Sunday.

"The success of the COVID-19 national vaccination campaign has allowed Cambodia's economy to grow at a faster-than-expected rate," he said during a handover ceremony of 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine donated from Poland.

"Cambodia's economy is projected to grow by around 3 percent in 2021 and will continue to grow by more than 5 percent in 2022, mainly thanks to the full re-opening of the country, and the return of the socioeconomic activities to normal across all sectors," he added.(Cambodia-GDP-Forecast)

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YANGON -- Myanmar has recorded no daily deaths from COVID-19 for seven days in a row, leaving the total death toll unchanged at 19,310, according to a release from the Ministry of Health on Sunday.

The total number of COVID-19 cases has risen to 535,254 in the country after 174 new cases with a daily positivity rate of 1.87 percent were reported in the past 24 hours, the release said. (Myanmar-COVID-19 Infections)