SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired eight short-range ballistic missiles eastward, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday.

The JCS said in a statement that it detected the launches around four areas, including Sunan in Pyongyang, Kaechon in South Pyongan province, Tongchang-ri in North Pyongan province and Hamhung in South Hamkyong province, from around 9:08 a.m. to 9:43 a.m. local time. (South Korea-DPRK Missile Launch)

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NEW DELHI -- The death toll from the boiler blast in a chemical factory in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has risen to 13, officials said Sunday.

The blast took place Saturday at Dholana industrial area of Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh, about 86 km east of the Indian capital New Delhi. (India-Factory Blast-Deaths)

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NEW DELHI -- India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,176,817 on Sunday, as 4,270 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.

Besides, 15 deaths from the pandemic recorded across the country since Saturday morning took the death toll to 524,692. (India-COVID-19)

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MANILA -- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Sunday raised the alert level for Bulusan volcano from zero to one after the volcano in Sorsogon province, southeast of Manila, spewed a grey plume about a kilometer high into the sky.

The institute said the "phreatic eruption" occurred around 10:37 a.m. local time and lasted approximately 17 minutes. Ashfall was reported in towns near the volcano. (Philippines-Volcano)

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DHAKA -- At least 45 people were killed and hundreds of others injured as a devastating fire swept through a container facility in Bangladesh's Chattogram district, about 242 km southeast of the capital Dhaka.

The fire broke out in one of the containers loaded with chemicals in the container yard located in Sitakunda on the outskirts of Chattogram on Saturday night. (Bangladesh-Fire)

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HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Sunday that it will distribute around 190,000 sets of COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits to people in some areas of Hong Kong following detection of the COVID-19 virus in sewage samples.

The test kits will be distributed to residents, cleaning workers, and property management staff working in the areas with positive sewage testing results showing relatively high viral loads, in order to help identify infected persons. (Hong Kong-COVID-19)