Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BANGKOK (AP) — Representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met with Myanmar’s junta leader on Friday, six weeks after an emergency regional summit on the coup in the country drew promises of progress toward a solution but produced no tangible results.

State broadcaster MRTV showed Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing meeting with Brunei Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi, but provided only a broad outline of their discussions.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has presided over a meeting of his ruling party in his first public appearance in about a month, and called for a larger political conference to discuss efforts to salvage a decaying economy.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Kim expressed appreciation that a lot of works were being sped up thanks to the “ideological enthusiasm and fighting spirit of self-reliance” demonstrated by the party and his people.

(Reuters) --- Two envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held talks in Myanmar with military ruler Min Aung Hlaing, army-run TV reported, as part of a visit aimed at ending a bloody crisis in the country.

The junta leader met ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and Erywan Yusof, the second minister for foreign affairs for Brunei, ASEAN's chair, Myawaddy TV reported. State-run MRTV said the envoys also met two military-appointed ministers.

(Reuters) --- Families of people who died in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 said they were preparing to hear painful details when a critical stage of a trial over the crash starts on Monday.

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels during fighting with Ukrainian government troops, international investigators say.

All 298 people on board were killed, two-thirds of them Dutch nationals.

Beijing, Jun 4 (AP-PTI) China is urging closer security and economic cooperation with Afghanistan in an apparent effort to bolster its influence in the region as the US and its allies prepare to withdraw their forces from the country.

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- China aims to limit public institutions' total carbon dioxide emissions to 400 million tonnes by 2025, the National Government Offices Administration said Friday.

In 2020, there were about 1.586 million public institutions across China, said a work plan on energy and resources conservation among public institutions during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

HONG KONG (AP) — Police arrested an organizer of Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigil remembering the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown and warned people not to attend the banned event Friday as authorities mute China’s last pro-democracy voices.

In past years, tens of thousands of people gathered in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to honor the victims who died when China’s military put down student-led pro-democracy protests on June 4, 1989, killing hundreds if not thousands.

BEIJING, June 3 (APP): Officials from Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries agreed to take measures, including strengthening connectivity, pushing forward e-commerce, building unified payment system, and deepening trade cooperation between member countries in order to offset the blow brought by COVID-19.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia tops the list on expansion opportunities for 65 per cent of Chinese companies looking to scale up their sales and production operations in ASEAN.

According to a survey conducted for Standard Chartered’s “Borderless Business: China-ASEAN Corridor”, Malaysia’s long-standing and strong economic ties with China presents a major growth opportunity for Chinese companies looking to internationalise.

“A significant majority of Chinese companies focusing on ASEAN expect business growth in the region over the next 12 months.

(Reuters) --- Around 400 pro-democracy supporters took to the streets of downtown Yangon on Thursday to stage one of the biggest recent demonstrations against military rule in Myanmar's commercial hub and largest city.

Despite a crackdown by security forces, the military is still struggling to impose order more than four months after overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a coup and arresting her and senior members of her party.