Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will reaffirm its strong relationship with the United States and discuss the “difficult” regional security situation in the “two-plus-two” meeting of foreign and defence chiefs next week, the government’s top spokesman said on Thursday.

The allies will aim to strengthen their deterrence and response capabilities in dealing with the region’s security, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a regular news conference, ahead of the bilateral meeting on March 16.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Thursday the government was declaring war on property crime amid widening accusations of insider speculation by dozens of employees of the state housing corporation.

The growing scandal has sparked outrage in South Korea as property prices in and around the capital Seoul have soared, making affordable housing hard to find.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s High Court released on bail on Thursday one activist charged with conspiracy to commit subversion but remanded another in a widely monitored case that saw the most sweeping use yet of the city’s national security law.

The High Court was ruling on an appeal by prosecutors against a lower court’s decision to grant bail to the activists.

BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhua) -- China's top diplomats will hold a high-level strategic dialogue with their U.S. counterparts in Alaska on March 18 and 19 at the invitation of the U.S. side, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian confirmed Thursday.

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — Amnesty International accused Myanmar’s military government on Thursday of increasingly using battlefield weapons against peaceful protesters and conducting systematic, deliberate killings.

Myanmar has been roiled by protests and other acts of civil disobedience since a Feb. 1 military coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi just as it was to start its second term. The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian nation after five decades of military rule.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ceremonial legislature on Thursday endorsed the ruling Communist Party’s move to tighten control over Hong Kong by reducing the role of its public in picking the territory’s leaders.

The measure adds to a crackdown against a protest movement in Hong Kong calling for greater democracy. The crackdown has prompted accusations Beijing is eroding the autonomy it promised when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997 and is hurting its status as a global financial center.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is marking the 10th anniversary Thursday of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that hit the northeastern region, where many survivors’ lives are still on hold.

People, some carrying bouquets, walked to the coast or graves to pray for relatives and friends washed away by the tsunami. Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are scheduled to observe a moment of silence at a memorial service later Thursday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has agreed to a 13.9% increase in its contribution to the cost of hosting some 28,500 U.S. troops for 2021, the biggest annual rise in nearly two decades after U.S. calls for greater funding.

The increase will take South Korea’s contribution this year to 1.18 trillion won ($1.03 billion). Former U.S. President Donald Trump had accused South Korea of “free-riding” on U.S. military might and demanded that it pay as much as $5 billion a year.

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A principal official of the European Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday summoned British Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson, lodging solemn representations over her inappropriate signed article on social media.

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — Protesters against the military takeover in Myanmar carried homemade shields and moved with more caution and agility Tuesday, adapting their tactics to the escalating violence from security forces not reluctant to use lethal force to break up crowds.