Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — China strictly adheres to its policy of no first use of nuclear weapons “at any time and under any circumstances,” its Defense Ministry said Tuesday in a scathing response to a U.S. report alleging a major buildup in Beijing’s nuclear capabilities.

The Pentagon last week released an annual China security report that warned Beijing would likely have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, and that it has provided no clarity on how it plans to use them.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s leaders eulogized the late Jiang Zemin on Tuesday as a loyal Marxist-Leninist who oversaw their country’s rapid economic rise while maintaining rigid Communist Party control over society.

President and current party leader Xi Jinping praised Jiang in an hour-long address at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People as senior officials, military brass and rank-and-file soldiers stood at attention.

BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks were mostly lower in Asia on Tuesday after Wall Street pulled back as surprisingly strong economic reports highlighted the difficulty of the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation.

Tokyo rose while other regional markets declined. U.S. futures gained and oil prices also advanced.

Adding to worries over the potential for recession, Fitch Ratings revised its forecasts for world economic growth downward on Tuesday to reflect the Fed and other central banks’ interest rate hikes.

06 Dec 2022; MEMO: Indonesia has outlawed sex outside of marriage, defamation of the president and expanded laws against blasphemy in a new set of laws that have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups.

The government tried to pass a similar law in 2019 but after a draft was released tens of thousands of protesters who felt like their constitutional rights had been violated took to the streets.

HONG KONG/BEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) - China is set to announce a further easing of some of the world's toughest COVID curbs as early as Wednesday, sources said, as investors cheered the prospect of a policy shift that follows widespread protests and mounting economic damage.

Three years into the pandemic, China's zero-tolerance measures, from shut borders to frequent lockdowns, contrast sharply with the rest of the world, which has largely decided to live with the virus.

VIENTIANE, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Lao Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone on Saturday hailed the Laos-China railway as a pride of Laos.

When addressing a gathering to review the operation of the railway that went optional on Dec. 3, 2021, Sonexay said the cross-border railway, a landmark project of Laos-China friendship, is a strategic project to convert Laos from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub, synergizing with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired about 130 artillery rounds on Monday into the water near its western and eastern sea borders with South Korea, the latest military action contributing to worsening relations between the neighbors.

North Korea’s military said the firings were a warning against ongoing South Korean artillery exercises near the inland border town of Cheorwon and blamed the South for worsening tensions.

BEIJING (AP) — China is easing some of the world’s most stringent anti-virus controls and authorities say new variants are weaker. But they have yet to say when they might end a “zero-COVID” strategy that confines millions of people to their homes and set off protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.

TOKYO, Dec 4 (NNN-NHK) – Three female teachers, who previously worked at a nursery school, in the central Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka, were arrested today, for repeatedly abusing infants in their care, local media reported.

The teachers were detained hours after police searched the private school, called Sakura Hoikuen, in Susono City, local reports said today.

JAKARTA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia aims to develop a nuclear power plant in 2039 to achieve net zero emissions and support domestic needs for energy, the country's Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN) said here Sunday.

The agency's Director for Nuclear Installation and Material Control, Haendra Subekti, said in a statement that to realize the target, Indonesia is currently looking for investors to help finance the plant's construction.