Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

YANGON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta showed off its military strength with a parade in the capital Naypyitaw on Saturday, with its leader Min Aung Hlaing defending last year's coup as necessary to protect the country from enemies, both domestic and foreign.

Celebrating Myanmar's Union Day, which marks independence from British colonial rule in 1947, the government also announced that 814 prisoners would be pardoned. Pardons are often granted on major holidays.

TAIPEI, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Taiwan is closely watching the situation in the narrow strait that separates it from China and raising its preparedness in response to what is happening with Ukraine, the government said on Saturday, though it added the two cases were very different.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military activity near the self-governing island over the past two years, though Taiwan has reported no unusual manoeuvres by Chinese forces in recent days as tensions over Ukraine have spiked.

VIENTIANE, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith has spoken highly of the China-Laos Railway during his recent trip by the Lane Xang EMU train and inspection on the railway's operation.

Thongloun, who led a government delegation, took the train traveling from the capital Vientiane to the Boten town bordering China on Monday, before returning to Vientiane from Luang Prabang on Wednesday.

BEIJING, Feb 11 (APP): Since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed by Narendra Modi came to power, the Indian authorities have been acquiescing in the extremes of Hindu far-right elements against Muslims. their extreme manifestos are arousing the hatred of Hindus against Muslims and inciting civil society groups to exert violence against Muslims.

SEOUL, Feb 11 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s export logged a double-digit fall, in the first 10 days of this month, due to less business days, customs office data showed today.

Export, which takes up about half of the country’s export-driven economy, amounted to 15.7 billion U.S. dollars in the Feb 1-10 period, down 12.6 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Korea Customs Service.

It was attributed to less business days due to holidays. The number of working days was 6.5 in the 10-day period, down by two from a year earlier.

Washington, Feb 11 (AP) The Biden administration on Thursday approved a nearly USD14 billion arms sale to Indonesia, as the U.S. presses ahead with steps it believes will help counter China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

The State Department announced the USD13.9 billion sale of advanced fighter jets while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Australia on a visit also intended to underscore the U.S. determination not to allow China free rein in the Pacific, even as developments between Russia and Ukraine demand attention.

BEIJING, Feb.10 (APP): Pakistan has exported sesame seeds amounting to $120.44 million to China in the year 2021 and hopefully, it is going to become a top exporter in the coming years, said Badar Uz Zaman, Pakistan’s Commercial Counselor in Beijing.

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 10 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian Home Minister, Hamzah Zainudin, on Thursday confirmed that former Bangladesh High Commissioner, Mohammed Khairuzzaman, is currently detained by the authorities.

Without disclosing what offence Mohammed Khairuzzaman was arrested for, he said the arrest of the former diplomat was carried out in accordance with existing legal procedures.

“If there is a request from the country of origin that we feel has a basis, then we will make (arrest) and everything is done according to existing legal procedures,” he said.

JAKARTA, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Police announced Thursday that they have arrested three suspected terrorists affiliated to the Islamic State-linked terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in the Indonesian province of Bengkulu.

The National Police's spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan said the three suspects arrested by anti-terrorism unit Densus 88 on Wednesday were allegedly affiliated to the JI's networking in North Sumatra, Riau and South Sumatra provinces.

"They have pledged allegiance to the JI since 1999," he told reporters in Jakarta.

BEIJING, Feb 9 (APP): The brutal military suppression and grave violation of fundamental human rights of ethnic minorities, including Muslims, by the Hindutva-Modi government shows that the Indian ruling class is very afraid of non-Hindu groups, and that its society is moving towards unrest and division.

The region with the largest concentration of Muslim population in the world is South Asia. In this region, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh alone have a combined Muslim population of more than 500 million, accounting for one third of World’s 1.6 billion Muslim population.