Xinhua Asia Pacific news summary at 1000 GMT, Dec. 1

JAKARTA -- The Indonesian disaster management agency reported on Friday that 20 people were dead and 1,709 houses were destroyed after cyclone from the Indian Ocean triggered landslides, floods and whirl winds in the provinces, an official said.

The natural disaster also injured four people and forced 1,879 others to flee home and take shelters in safer grounds, spokesman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho disclosed. (Indonesia-Cyclone-Toll)

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MACAO -- The efforts by China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in cracking down on money laundering and terrorist financing have been praised by international organizations, Macao's Financial Information Office said on Friday.

The Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), an international organization on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, on Friday published the Mutual Evaluation Report on Macao SAR. (Macao-Money Laundering-Efforts)

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ISLAMABAD -- At least nine people were killed and 35 others injured as four terrorists launched an attack on a student hostel in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday morning, local Urdu media ARY said.

According to media reports, families of staff members of the Directorate of Agriculture and students of Agriculture University Peshawar were residing in the hostel when it came under attack. (Pakistan-School-Taliban Attack)

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NEW DELHI -- A journalist working for a vernacular daily was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said Friday.

The journalist was killed Thursday evening at Kanpur district, about 94 km southwest of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. (India-Journalist-Killing)

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MANILA -- The Philippines vowed on Friday to "scale up" its response to a growing number of HIV-infected people that has now reached nearly 47,000.

As of August this year, acting the Philippines had recorded a total of 46,985 HIV positive cases since January 1984 or 33 years after the first case of HIV infection was detected in the country, acting Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque said. (Philippines-HIV Infection-Response) Enditem