Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday ahead of U.S. inflation data offering a glimpse at how the world’s largest economy is recovering.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.7% to 28,069.28 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1% to 3,532.23. The Kospi in South Korea gave up 0.3% to 3,234.37, however.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.5% at 26,724.99. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 7,594.50.

The benchmark of New Zealand rose but that of Singapore and Indonesia fell.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday repeated a threat to respond to U.S.-South Korean military exercises it claims are an invasion rehearsal, while the United States insisted the drills were “purely defensive in nature” to maintain the South’s security.

In a statement released by state media on Wednesday, senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol condemned South Korea for continuing the allied drills and warned of unspecified counteractions that would make Seoul “realize by the minute” that it had walked into a security crisis.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese author Iris Chiang hardly seems like the type whose work would be banned from publication in China. Yet four years after being sold to a Chinese publisher, her book teaching children how to appreciate art has yet to go to press, a victim of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan that are spilling over into the cultural sphere.

DANDONG, China (AP) — A Chinese court sentenced Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison Wednesday in a spying case linked to Beijing’s pressure campaign against the Canadian government over the arrest of an executive at tech giant Huawei.

A Canadian court will hear final arguments in the next few weeks over whether to hand over the executive, Meng Wanzhou, to face U.S. criminal charges in connection with possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran.

BEIJING, Aug 10 (APP): A shipment of nearly 980,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated by domestic drug maker China National Biotech Group through COVAX was transported to Pakistan as part of China’s effort to help the rest of the world tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said.

The doses, the first sent in a 170 million dose agreement, were packaged at a Beijing unit of CNBG, a subsidiary of State-owned Sinopharm. They were sent to cold storage at an airport for a security check and customs clearance.

HONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she supports the implementation of a mainland Chinese law in the former British colony to respond to foreign sanctions, the strongest signal yet that the city is set to adopt the legislation.

Lam, speaking at her weekly news conference, said she would prefer the law be introduced through Hong Kong legislation rather than Beijing legislation, by adding it to an annex of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law.

BEIJING/OTTAWA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A Chinese court upheld on Tuesday a Canadian man's death sentence for drug smuggling, a day before another court is due to rule on the case of another Canadian accused of spying.

The court proceedings for the two Canadians come as lawyers in Canada representing the detained chief financial officer of telecoms giant Huawei make a final push to convince a court there not to extradite her to the United States, where she faces charges linked to violating sanctions. 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ripped South Korea for proceeding with military exercises with the United States that she said are an invasion rehearsal and warned Tuesday that the North will work faster to strengthen its preemptive strike capabilities.

Kim Yo Jong’s statement came after South Korean media reported that the allied militaries will begin four days of preliminary training on Tuesday before holding computer-simulated drills on Aug. 16-26.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and expelled the Baltic nation’s top representative to Beijing over the country’s decision to allow self-governing Taiwan to open an office in Lithuania under its own name.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory without the right to diplomatic recognition, although the island maintains informal ties with all major nations through trade offices that act as de facto embassies, including in the United States and Japan. Chinese pressure has reduced Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies to just 15.

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed Tuesday as optimism about a gradual economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was tempered by worries over the variants spreading rapidly in some nations.

France’s CAC 40 was little changed in early trading, inching up to 6,813.29, while Germany’s DAX gained nearly 0.1% to 15,758.31. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.1% to 7,126.62.

U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures falling less than 0.1% to 34,986.00. S&P 500 futures were also down less than 0.1% at 4,424.50.