Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s coup leader used the country’s Union Day holiday on Friday to call on people to work with the military if they want democracy, a request likely to be met with derision by protesters who are pushing for the release from detention of their country’s elected leaders.

BEIJING (AP) — China has banned the BBC World News television channel in a diplomatic fight with Britain after British regulators revoked the license of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.

The move late Thursday was largely symbolic, because BBC World already was limited to being shown on cable TV systems in hotels and apartment compounds for foreigners and some other businesses.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ripped into the performance of his Cabinet and fired a senior economic official he appointed a month ago, saying they’d failed to come up with new ideas to salvage an economy in decay.

The report by state media on Friday comes during the toughest period of Kim’s nine-year rule. The diplomacy he had hoped would lift U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear program is stalemated, and pandemic border closures and crop-killing natural disasters last year deepened the damage to an economy broken by decades of policy failures.

TOKYO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo 2020 organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori will resign over his controversial remarks about women, media reports said here on Thursday.

Nearly all major Japanese media outlets, including state broadcaster NHK and news agency Kyodo, have reported that the 83-year-old former prime minister will quit the position since protests over his comments have shown no sign of abating.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered tougher legal supervision to support his development plans and eradicate various economy-related unlawful acts, state media said Thursday, as he works to salvage an economy battered by the pandemic and other challenges.

Kim spoke Wednesday during a Workers’ Party meeting convened to follow up on decisions made at the ruling party’s congress in January, where he admitted previous economic plans had failed and announced a new five-year development plan.

BEIJING (AP) — Cui Tingting dyed her hair Mars red for the arrival of China’s spacecraft at the planet known in Chinese as the Fire Star.

“This is a great era for space, and the future of mankind lies in the exploration of outer space,” said Cui, director of the China Mars Society, the local chapter of a global advocacy network. She hosted an online party Wednesday night to wait for the announcement that the Tianwen-1 spacecraft, launched last July, had reached Mars orbit.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A growing number of governments are curbing diplomatic ties with Myanmar and increasing economic pressure on its military over the coup last week that erased the fragile democratic progress in the long-oppressed Southeast Asian nation.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday he was issuing an executive order that will prevent Myanmar’s generals from accessing $1 billion in assets in the United States, and promised more measures.

BEIJING, Feb 10 (APP): China on Wednesday reiterated its principled stance on the expansion of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and sought a package solution that takes into account the interests and concerns of all parties.

” (Epansion) should be done through the widest possible democratic consultation and seek a package solution that takes into account the interests and concerns of all parties,❠Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during regular briefing in response to a question regarding India’s candidature for permanent membership of the UNSC.

SEOUL, Feb 10 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s employment dropped 982,000 in Jan, from a year earlier, marking the highest fall in over 22 years, since Dec, 1998, statistical office data showed today.

The number of those employed totaled 25,818,000 in Jan, according to Statistics Korea. The year-on-year employment continued to slide for 11 straight months since Mar, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic resurged here since Nov. In the latest tally, the country reported 444 more cases for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 81,930.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen reached out to the people of Hong Kong in a Lunar New Year message on Wednesday, telling them that while democracy is not perfect it is humankind’s best system and they should keep the faith.

Democratic Taiwan has become a safe haven for many Hong Kongers who have fled the Chinese-run city in the face of a mounting crackdown on dissent after Beijing unveiled a new tough security law last year following months of protests.