Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

ALMATY, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev fired his defence minister on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to show leadership and initiative when the Central Asian country was rocked by its worst unrest in 30 years of independence.

The removal of Murat Bektanov marked the latest stage in Tokayev's purge of the security establishment as he consolidates power after violent protests shook the former Soviet republic in the first week of January.

JAKARTA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian lawmakers on Tuesday passed a law on the relocation of the nation's capital to the island of Kalimantan, which the country shares borders with Malaysia and Brunei, from the most populated island of Java.

The move is a step forward in one of the most ambitious projects initiated by the country's President Joko Widodo.

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland recorded 55 new locally-transmitted COVID-19 infections over the past day, a considerable drop compared with 127 newly reported a day earlier.

Tuesday saw 33 new local infections in Henan, 14 in Tianjin, seven in Guangdong, and one in Beijing, according to the latest data from the National Health Commission.

Across the Chinese mainland, a total of 32 imported COVID-19 cases were also newly reported.

BEIJING (AP) — With just over two weeks before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, residents of the Chinese capital say they’re disappointed at not being able to attend events because of coronavirus restrictions that have seen parts of the city placed under lockdown.

Organizers announced Monday that no tickets will be sold to the general public and only selected spectators will be allowed. Access to the famed National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, and indoor venues in the heart of Beijing have been sealed off.

NUR-SULTAN, January 18. /TASS/: The mass riots that erupted in Kazakhstan in January were aimed at destroying the republic’s integrity and the state’s fundamentals, Kazakhstan’s first President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Tuesday.

SEOUL, Jan 17 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea registered a total of 199,749 breakthrough COVID-19 infections, which refer to the vaccinated people who were infected with the virus, the health authorities said today.

The number of those who tested positive for COVID-19, after receiving two vaccine doses, came in at 199,749 as of Jan 9, up from 187,611 a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It accounted for 0.475 percent of the fully vaccinated people that reached 42,051,045.

JAKARTA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to relocate Indonesia's capital from Jakarta to a site deep within the jungle of Kalimantan on Borneo island, the most significant advancement of an idea the country's leaders have been toying with for years.

The new state capital law, which provides a legal framework for President Joko Widodo's ambitious $32 billion mega project, stipulates how development of the capital will be funded and governed.

TOKYO, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan reported 32,197 daily COVID-19 cases across the country on Tuesday, exceeding the previous record of 25,992 daily cases in August last year and logging a new all-time high, according to an NHK tally based on data from local governments.

The Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed 5,185 new infection cases, the first time to top 5,000 in nearly five months since Aug. 21, 2021. The number rose more than five times from 962 on last Tuesday, recording the biggest count on Tuesdays ever.

BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Tuesday urged the United States to offer apologies and compensation to victims of secret experiments.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to comment on a Danish Radio documentary which exposed the secret human body experiments practiced on 311 Danish children in the 1960s, allegedly funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities said Tuesday that they will kill about 2,000 small animals, including hamsters, after several tested positive for the coronavirus at a pet store where an employee was also infected.

The city will also stop the sale of hamsters and the import of small mammals, according to officials from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. The pet shop employee tested positive for the delta variant on Monday, and several hamsters imported from the Netherlands at the store tested positive as well.