South Korea

This will be put towards building five chip factories, the firm told the BBC.

Samsung is the world's biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs.

Under the official plan, companies in high-tech industries will be offered incentives like expanded tax breaks and infrastructure support.

"The mega cluster will be the key base of our semiconductor ecosystem," South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement on Wednesday.

Young-kyu Park is the new Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of South Korean to Nauru, succeeding Shinhee Cho.

“The Republic of Nauru and the Republic of Korea share a longstanding relation based on common interests,” President Aingimea said.

“I especially wish to take this opportunity to express the government’s appreciation for the COVID-19 assistance rendered by your country to Nauru through UNICEF for medical items.”

Gatherings of more than 50 will be banned in the capital Seoul and surrounding areas from Tuesday, while gyms and karaoke bars be closed.

On Sunday 631 new infections were reported in one day, the highest number in nine months.

The country was widely praised for its virus response earlier this year, with aggressive testing and contact tracing.

But the authorities have struggled in recent weeks. The number of active cases in South Korea now stands at 7,873, and there are concerns about rising numbers in hospitals.

Soaring demand for shares in Big Hit has given it a market valuation of £3.2bn ($4.1bn), with shares priced at the top of the expected price range.

Big Hit boss Bang Si-hyuk, who owns 43% of the management label, will become a billionaire.

In August, he gave each BTS member 68,385 shares, worth £6.2m in total.

Currently priced at between 105,000-135,000 won (£70.03-£88.70) per share, Big Hit expects to raise about £638.3m with the sale of 7.13 million new shares when it is listed on Korea's Stock Exchange, the KOSPI, on 15 October.

Nearly 200 staff and students have been infected in the greater Seoul area over the past two weeks.

Remote learning will continue until 11 September, the Ministry of Education said.

Health authorities have warned that the country is on the brink of a nationwide outbreak.

All students in the greater Seoul area, home to over 25 million people, will now take classes online with the exception of those in their final year of high school who are due to take university entrance examinations in December.

Tuesday saw a three-digit increase in cases for a fifth day after weeks with numbers generally around the 40s.

South Korea is viewed as one of the world's coronavirus success stories for its management of the disease.

But a spike in new cases linked mostly to a church has sparked concerns of a wider outbreak.

The country recorded 246 new infections on Tuesday, bringing the nationwide total to 15,761.

Many of the new cases have been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, whose pastor has been a vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in.

The 2020 K League season started on Friday with a match between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings played without spectators after a delay of more than two months caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Jeonju World Cup Stadium, home turf of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, was not filled with fans but giant yellow and white cards saying "#CU SOON STAY STRONG" were placed on empty seats, while coaches and substitutes wore face masks.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), says the virus appears to have been "reactivated" rather than the patients being reinfected, Reuters reported.

The number of patients has grown after 51 were announced on Monday and officials say it brings doubt into what it means for a patient to be cleared of the virus and when they should be allowed to return home.

Bloomberg reported a patient is currently deemed fully recovered when two tests conducted with a 24-hour interval show negative results.

Officials said on Saturday that 229 new cases had been confirmed since Friday, raising the total to 433.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun described the situation as "grave".

Many of the new cases are linked to a hospital and to a religious group near the south-eastern city of Daegu, authorities have said.

Two patients in South Korea have died so far and there are fears the number will rise.

The Grace Road Church has extensive business networks in Fiji, but the government said these would not be affected by Shin Ok-joo's arrest.

The police in South Korea said Ms Shin, who was arrested last week, has been charged with slavery and foreign exchange violation.

Her church believes an armageddon is coming, and Fiji is the only place in the world that will escape it.

Up to 400 Korean followers are reported to have worked in Fiji, but South Korean authorities said their passports were confiscated and they're not being allowed to leave.