Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TAIPEI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Taiwan may take China to the World Trade Organization after the country effectively banned the import of more Taiwanese food and drink products, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Saturday as Beijing accused Taipei of "political manipulation".

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past two years of Chinese import bans on various agricultural and aquatic goods, including pineapples and grouper fish, saying it is part of a Chinese pressure campaign.

PREAH SIHANOUK, Cambodia, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Saturday called on countries to maintain the presence of permanent peace, saying that it is the "most significant element" for the development of all nations in the world.

Hun Sen made the appeal in a speech at Preah Sihanouk during the opening ceremony of the 16th World Congress of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World-Bays Club, which was attended by about 130 delegates representing 34 bays from 21 countries and regions.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Hundreds of people marched in the Philippine capital on Saturday protesting what they said was a rising number of extrajudicial killings and other injustices under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The protesters, led by a Philippines-based rights group, gathered at a public square in Manila before marching toward the presidential palace to demand justice for victims. Police estimated around 800 protesters took part in the rally, which coincided with International Human Rights Day.

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court sentenced a pro-democracy media tycoon to five years and nine months in prison on Saturday over two fraud charges linked to lease violations, the latest of a series of cases against prominent activists that critics say are aimed at crushing dissent in the city.

Jimmy Lai, who was arrested during a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement following widespread protests in 2019 and under the National Security Law imposed by Beijing, was also fined 2 million Hong Kong dollars ($257,000).

BISHKEK, December 9. /TASS/: CIS leaders have agreed to hold an informal meeting in St. Petersburg before the New Year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a summit in Bishkek on Friday.

"Aside from our work today I’d like to remind you that we are expecting you at the agreed upon informal meeting of CIS leaders in St. Petersburg before the New Year," the president told his counterparts at the Eurasian Economic Union summit.

TOKYO/LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Japan, Britain and Italy are merging their next-generation jet fighter projects in a ground-breaking partnership spanning Europe and Asia that is Japan's first major industrial defence collaboration beyond the United States since World War Two.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's unemployment fell to the lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic in October, reaching 602,000 persons, official data showed on Friday.

The unemployment rate in October remained at 3.6 percent, 0.3 percentage points higher than the pre-pandemic level of 3.3 percent in February 2020, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.

SINGAPORE, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Delegates at the Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Labor Organization (ILO) agreed here on Friday to bolster efforts to achieve social justice and decent work for all.

The Singapore Statement released at the closing ceremony said that since the 16th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2016, the Asia and the Pacific and Arab states regions have continued to experience transformations in the world of work and have been subject to unprecedented crises.

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. is closely monitoring Chinese activities that potentially threaten American assets in space as debris rapidly accumulates in low Earth orbit, the head of United States military operations in space said Friday.

Commander of U.S. Space Command Army Gen. James Dickinson also cheered the overwhelming passage in the United Nations of a resolution that countries not conduct direct-ascent antisatellite tests that create vast fields of space debris, which endanger satellites and space stations.

BEIJING (AP) — A rash of COVID-19 cases in schools and businesses were reported Friday in areas across China after the ruling Communist Party loosened anti-virus rules as it tries to reverse a deepening economic slump.