Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Dec 29 (NNN-ANTARA) – An Indonesian court, last night, sentenced former Indonesian Youth and Sports Minister, Roy Suryo, to nine months in jail, for spreading hate speech, through his social media account.

Suryo was tried after he re-posted a picture of a Buddhist statue, edited to resemble the face of the country’s president, Joko Widodo.

HONG KONG, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong has asked Japan to withdraw a COVID-19 restriction that allows passenger flights from the financial hub to land only at four designated airports, saying the decision would affect about 60,000 passengers.

India, Italy, Taiwan and the United States require mandatory COVID-19 tests on travellers from China after Beijing's decision last month to lift stringent zero-COVID policies that fuelled a surge in infections across mainland China.

BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19, UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on Thursday, nearly doubling its estimate from a week ago, as infections ripped across the world's most populous nation.

COVID infections started to sweep across China in November, picking up pace this month after Beijing dismantled its zero-COVID policies including regular PCR testing on its population and publication of data on asymptomatic cases.

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 people were killed in a massive fire that engulfed a hotel in northwest Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province, officials said late on Thursday.

"In a preliminary report, 19 people were pronounced dead in the blaze, and some more victims are probably still missing in the charred building, as search operation is still going on," Sek Sokhom, director of the Banteay Meanchey provincial information department, told Xinhua.

BEIJING (AP) — China says it will resume issuing passports for tourism in another big step away from anti-virus controls that isolated the country for almost three years, setting up a potential flood of Chinese going abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday.

POIPET, Cambodia (AP) — A massive fire at a Cambodian hotel casino Thursday injured over 60 people and killed at least 19 — a number that officials warned would rise after the search for bodies resumes Friday.

The blaze, which started around midnight Wednesday, was put out over 12 hours later at 2 p.m. Thursday, said Sek Sokhom, head of Banteay Meanchey province’s information department. He said more than 60 people were injured and the death toll was expected to rise once rescuers are able to access victims who were believed to still be under debris or in locked rooms.

BEIJING (AP) — Moves by several countries to mandate COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving from China reflect global concern that new variants could emerge in its ongoing explosive outbreak — and that the government may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough.

There have been no reports of new variants to date, but China has been accused of not being forthcoming about the virus since it first surfaced in the country in late 2019. The worry is that it may not be sharing data now on any signs of evolving strains that could spark fresh outbreaks elsewhere.

SEOUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unveiled new goals for the country's military for 2023 at an ongoing meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported on Wednesday, hinting at another year of intensive weapons tests and tension.

On the second day of the Sixth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the party's 8th Central Committee, Kim reviewed the "newly created challenging situation" on the Korean peninsula and the broader political landscapes, the report said.

SEOUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that any provocation by North Korea must be met with retaliation without hesitation despite its nuclear weapons, his office said, after an intrusion by North Korean drones.

Five North Korean drones crossed into South Korea on Monday, prompting South Korea's military to scramble fighter jets and attack helicopters to try to shoot them down, in the first such intrusion since 2017.

CHENGDU, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Chinese hospitals and funeral homes were under intense pressure on Wednesday as a surging COVID-19 wave drained resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules on Chinese visitors.

In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year.