Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s position to only invite non-political representatives from Myanmar to ASEAN’s high-level meetings remain unchanged – unless there was real progress in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PCs).

According to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra), this view was expressed by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob during a video conference with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen Tuesday, at the latter’s request.

SEOUL, Jan 26 (Reuters) - North Korea's internet appears to have been hit by a second wave of outages in as many weeks, possibly caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, researchers said on Wednesday.

The latest incident took place for about six hours on Wednesday morning local time, and came a day after North Korea conducted its fifth missile test this month.

BEIJING, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Military Commission recently issued a decision ordering greater efforts to improve work related to military talent to bring about substantial progress in the modernization of military personnel.

The decision stressed the need to upgrade the capabilities, composition, as well as development and management of military personnel, and cultivate high-quality and professional military personnel.

BEIJING, January 25. /TASS/: A Russia-China inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in establishing a lunar station is actually ready and may be signed shortly, Russia’s Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

"The agreement is practically ready and it seems that it may be signed quite soon," the diplomat said. He recalled that all states had been invited to participate in setting up an international lunar station.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s position to only invite non-political representatives from Myanmar to ASEAN’s high-level meetings remain unchanged – unless there was real progress in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PCs).

According to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra), this view was expressed by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob during a video conference with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen Tuesday, at the latter’s request.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday test-fired two suspected cruise missiles in its fifth round of weapons launches this month, South Korean military officials said, as it displays its military might amid pandemic-related difficulties and a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the United States.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing residents are coping with abrupt local lockdowns and sweeping COVID-19 testing requirements as the Chinese capital seeks to prevent a coronavirus outbreak ahead of the Winter Olympics that opens in less than two weeks.

The lockdowns are part of China’s “zero tolerance” measures to fight the pandemic that have been ratcheted-up ahead of the Games. Those now include requiring tests for anyone who purchases medications to treat cold, cough, fever and other maladies.

SEOUL, Jan 24 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea reported 7,513 more cases of COVID-19, as of midnight, compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 741,413.

The daily caseload stayed above 7,000 for the third consecutive day, amid the spread of the Omicron variant, which the health authorities said became a dominant strain here.

The recent resurgence was attributable to small cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area.

XINING, Jan 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – No casualties or property damages have been reported so far, after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the city of Delingha, in north-west China’s Qinghai Province yesterday, local authorities said today.

The earthquake took place at 10:21 a.m. yesterday (Beijing Time), with its epicentre in an extremely sparsely populated area, to the north-west of Hala Lake, some 119 km from downtown Delingha and 439 km from the provincial capital, Xining.

TAIPEI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Two U.S. aircraft carrier groups have entered the disputed South China Sea for training, the Department of Defense said on Monday as Taiwan reported a new Chinese air force incursion at the top of the waterway including a fearsome new electronic warfare jet.

The South China Sea and self-governing Taiwan are two of China's most sensitive territorial issues and both are frequent areas of tension between the United States and China.