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China reported a slight decline in new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as numerous cities battled outbreaks, and as restaurants and other businesses in Beijing shut after authorities urged people to stay home over the weekend.

Authorities have recently sought to ease the impact of their tough zero-COVID policy, which is battering the world's second-biggest economy and sowing frustration and anger as case numbers have risen to their highest since April.

Numerous businesses in Beijing's Chaoyang district, the capital's main business and diplomatic area, have shut or announced only limited services.

One restaurant owner in the nightlife hub of Sanlitun told Reuters that authorities had told him and other outlets in the area to close for three days from Saturday.

A major office complex in the nearby Dongcheng district said Chaoyang residents should not come to work from Monday and staffing levels would be reduced by 30%.

The outlying Beijing districts of Fangshan and Huairou announced additional testing requirements for people entering from other provinces.

Beijing reported 79 symptomatic and 436 asymptomatic cases for Friday, down from 100 symptomatic and 366 asymptomatic cases the previous day, government data showed.

Beijing authorities are on high alert in the hope of preventing the numerous Omicron variant outbreaks in other cities from spreading to the capital.

Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of Beijing's municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference that case counts in each district of the capital continue to trend upward. By 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday, the city had confirmed 395 confirmed cases, 56 of which were from people not in quarantine.

Nationwide, the authorities reported 24,263 daily domestically transmitted cases, of which 2,055 were symptomatic and 22,208 were asymptomatic, down from 25,129 the previous day.

That is approaching the highs when the authorities locked down Shanghai, China's financial hub and most populous city, earlier in the year.

This time, however, the cases are distributed across many cities, where authorities are weighing the costs and benefits of loosening policies that have damaged businesses.

Guangzhou, a city in the south of nearly 19 million people, reported 269 new domestically transmitted symptomatic cases and 8,444 asymptomatic cases, compared with 255 symptomatic and 8,989 asymptomatic cases a day before, authorities said.

Guangzhou authorities recently announced they would build facilities with more than 250,000 hospital beds to cope with the rising cases. This week, residents staged a protest in defiance of strict lockdown policies.

The manufacturing hub of Zhengzhou reported 182 new symptomatic locally transmitted COVID infections and 1,385 asymptomatic cases, compared with 107 symptomatic and 1,556 asymptomatic cases a day before, according to government data.

Lockdowns in the city sent some workers fleeing from a factory operated by Apple iPhone manufacturer Foxconn. Authorities have responded by offering low-level officials and residents cash bonuses on top of wages if they stay on the production lines. (Reuters)

The U.S. city of San Francisco will host the leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum next year, Vice President Kamala Harris said, as the 2022 summit drew to a close in Bangkok on Saturday.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is this week's host, handed over the chair of APEC to the United States for 2023, signalling the forum's end for this year.

"I'm happy to hand over the chairmanship to U.S. We are ready to conduct a seamless cooperation with them," he said, handing to Harris a "chalom", a woven bamboo basket used to carry goods and gifts in Thailand.

"Our host year will demonstrate the enduring economic commitment of the United States to the Indo-Pacific," Harris said in a statement released by the White House.

Harris is from Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, and previously served as a U.S. senator for California and as attorney general for the state.

Harris, who is heading the U.S. delegation at the summit talks in Bangkok, said: "We are working to strengthen our economic relationships throughout the region, including by increasing two-way trade flows and the free flow of capital, which supports millions of American jobs."

The meeting in the California city will take place in the week of Nov. 12 next year, the U.S. statement said.

In a separate statement, APEC leaders said the group welcomed an offer by Peru to host the bloc in 2024 and by South Korea to host it in 2025.

Set up to promote economic integration, APEC's 21 members account for 38% of the global population, and 62% of gross domestic product and 48% of trade. (Reuters)

France said on Saturday that COP27 climate negotiations in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, still had not produced an agreement capable of containing the rise in global temperatures at this stage.

"We can't let the 1.5°c climate warming objective die in Sharm-el-Sheik," French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Twitter. (Reuters)

Anwar Ibrahim has ramped up campaigning this week to be Malaysia's prime minister, buoyed by polls putting the veteran opposition leader ahead in a closely fought contest.

Saturday's general election looks to be the Southeast Asian nation's tightest since independence in 1957, with opinion polls predicting a hung parliament as no party or coalition is expected to get the simple majority needed to form a government.

The coalition led by Anwar - who in 25 years has gone from the heir apparent of Malaysia's longest-serving leader to a prisoner convicted of sodomy to the country's leading opposition figure - is expected to win the most seats but fall short of a majority, polls and analysts say.

Rival alliances, including those run by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin, could come together to clinch the required numbers and deny Anwar the top job.

The top issues for voters are the economic outlook, with growth expected to slow, and rising inflation. Many Malaysians are also frustrated with recent political instability that they think has taken politicians' focus away off economic development.

Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition is forecast to secure the largest share of votes at 33.6%, according to a survey released on Friday by independent pollster Merdeka Center. The Perikatan alliance led by Muhyiddin was polling at 20.3% and Ismail's Barisan Nasional 15.4%.

Pakatan Harapan coalition was on track to win the most seats at 82 of the 222 total, Merdeka said, while 45 seats were too close to call, based on the survey conducted Wednesday through Friday. Anwar was the most popular candidate for prime minister at 33%.

"The competition in many seats will be very close among the competing parties," Merdeka said.

Ismail's and Muhyiddin's alliances are part of the ruling coalition but contesting the election separately.

Anwar, a former finance minister and deputy prime minister, has appeared at big rallies vowing to create political stability, heal divisions between the Muslim-majority Malays and other ethnic groups and restore the economy by bringing in jobs and investment.

"This election is not about changing the prime minister," Anwar said in an address on Thursday. "This election is the best chance to save the country and make sweeping changes to restore our beloved nation."

'TOO CLOSE TO CALL'

Anwar heads a multiethnic coalition, while Barisan and Perikatan are led by parties that prioritise the interests of Malays. Race and religion are divisive issues in multi-racial Malaysia, where ethnic Chinese and Indians make up about 30% of the electorate.

Merdeka said its surveys through the campaign have shown a "discernible movement" of Malay voters to Perikatan and to a lesser extent, Pakatan, at the expense of Barisan.

Anwar's alliance could lose if other blocs team up against it, analysts say, with smaller political coalitions based in Borneo island's Sabah and Sarawak states potentially playing kingmaker.

In an interview with Reuters this month, Anwar ruled out working with Ismail and Muhyiddin's coalitions, citing "fundamental differences" over race and religion.

In the event of a hung parliament, Anwar's Pakatan could have an advantage in attracting allies, as divisions and infighting made the other two major coalitions "inherently unstable", said Bridget Welsh of the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

But she said many seats remained too close to call, as 15% to 30% of the electorate are undecided.

Anwar's more than two decades as an opposition figure have included nine years in jail for sodomy and corruption, charges he says were politically motivated.

He was released from prison in 2018 after joining hands with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, both his mentor and long-time rival, to defeat Barisan for the first time in Malaysia's history amid public anger at the government over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

Mahathir became prime minister for a second time in 2018 at age 92, promising to hand over power to Anwar within two years, but the coalition collapsed in 22 months due to infighting over the transition.

Muhyiddin briefly became premier, but his administration collapsed last year, paving the way for Barisan's return to power with Ismail Sabri at the helm. (Reuters)