Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

(Reuters) --- Myanmar's pro-democracy activists sharply criticised an agreement between the country's junta chief and Southeast Asian leaders to end the nation's violent post-coup crisis and vowed on Sunday to continue their protest campaign.

Some scattered peaceful protests took place in Myanmar's big cities on Sunday, a day after the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Jakarta, Indonesia, reached a consensus to end the turmoil in the country, but gave no timeline.

BEIJING (AP) — China will launch its next robot lunar lander in 2024, and it will carry equipment from France, Sweden, Russia and Italy, the official news agency reported.

Plans call for Chang’e 6 to land near the lunar south pole and collect samples for return to Earth, the program’s chief designer, Hu Hao, said at a conference Saturday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders demanded an immediate end to killings and the release of political detainees in Myanmar in an emergency summit Saturday with its top general and coup leader who, according to Malaysia’s prime minister, did not reject them outright.

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also told Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during the two-hour talks in Jakarta that a dialogue between contending parties in Myanmar should immediately start, with the help of ASEAN envoys.

SINGAPORE, Apr 24 (NNN-CNA) – Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, announced here yesterday a cabinet reshuffle, with seven of the 15 ministries to be headed by new ministers starting from May 15.

Ong Ye Kung will transfer from Minister for Transport to Minister for Health, and co-chair the multi-ministry task force handling COVID-19 with Lawrence Wong.

Minister for Education and the Second Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, will replace Heng Swee Keat as the Finance Minister.

(Reuters) --- China will hold discussion on building a defence system against near-earth asteroids, a senior space agency official said on Saturday, as the country steps up efforts towards realizing its longer term space ambitions.

Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, didn't provide any further details in his opening remarks at a ceremony for China's space day in the eastern city of Nanjing.

Tokyo, Apr 23 (AP-PTI) Japan is set to issue a third state of emergency for Tokyo and three western urban prefectures amid skepticism it will be enough to curb a rapid coronavirus resurgence ahead of the Olympics in July.

Health and economy ministers in charge of the virus measures were meeting with experts on a government taskforce to obtain their preliminary endorsement for the plan.

NANJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia's aerospace authorities have invited all interested countries, international organizations and partners to cooperate in a moon station project.

The announcement was made by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos at a conference for the international moon station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province on Friday.

URUMQI, China (AP) — A spokesperson for the Xinjiang region called accusations of genocide “counter to the facts” as China came under more pressure this week over its treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group in the remote border area.

The British Parliament approved a nonbinding motion Thursday that said China’s policies amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Human Right Watch appealed to the U.N. earlier in the week to investigate the allegations of crimes against humanity.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s first Mars rover will be named Zhurong after a traditional fire god, the government announced Saturday.

The rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 probe that arrived in Mars orbit on Feb. 24 and is due to land in May to look for evidence of life.

It is part of Chinese space plans that include launching a crewed orbital station and landing a human on the moon. China in 2019 became the first country to land a space probe on the little-explored far side of the moon and in December returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders are to meet Myanmar’s top general and coup leader in an emergency summit in Indonesia Saturday, and are expected to press calls for an end to violence by security forces that has left hundreds of protesters dead as well as the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees.