Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday announced a plan to provide 10 million coronavirus vaccine doses to developing nations through the global COVAX initiative.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China is responding to a request from the World Health Organization as developing countries seek to fill shortages predicted to run through March. He did not offer details on which vaccine China was providing to COVAX, or whether it was a donation.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s new leader said the military government installed after Monday’s coup plans an investigation into alleged fraud in last year’s elections and will also prioritize the COVID-19 outbreak and the economy, a state newspaper reported Wednesday.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing announced the moves Tuesday at the first meeting of his new government in the capital, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

WUHAN, China (AP) — World Health Organization investigators on Wednesday visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus, with one member saying they’d intended to meet key staff and press them on critical issues.

The WHO team’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a highlight of their mission to gather data and search for clues as to where the virus originated and how it spread.

BEIJING, Feb 2 (APP): Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary-General Vladimir Norov has said that the SCO member states regarded an early settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan as a vital factor in strengthening security and stability in the region as a whole.

Addressing a webinar on the Afghan Peace Process held recently, he said that the conflict in Afghanistan could only be settled by the Afghans themselves and under their guidance through a political dialogue and an inclusive peace process.

(Reuters) - The party of Myanmar’s detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Tuesday for her immediate release and for the miitary junta that seized power a day earlier to recognise her victory in an election in November.

The Nobel Peace laureate’s whereabouts remained unknown more than 24 hours after her arrest in a military takeover that derailed Myanmar’s tentative progress towards full democracy.

TOKYO, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday extended the state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic in struggling regions for one month to March 7.

Among the 11 of the Japan's 47 prefectures currently covered by the state of emergency, Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures will remain under the declaration, as well as Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures, Suga said at a meeting of the government's COVID-19 task force.

HANOI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) concluded Monday morning in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

During the eight-day congress, delegates reviewed the party building work and the leadership of the 12th CPV Central Committee (CPVCC), before electing new leaders for the 13th term. They also reviewed the past 35 years of the country's reform cause, discussed the implementation of the 10-year socio-economic development strategy, among other issues.

YANGON, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A majority of regional and state chief ministers were released on Tuesday after the military's one-day detention, a senior military official told Xinhua.

The military detained government leaders, regional and state chief ministers and central executive members of the ruling National League for Democracy early Monday.

The detained chief ministers and members of parliament representatives of the ruling party are allowed to be freed from detention by the military on Tuesday morning, the military source said.

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi on Tuesday called on the Biden administration to focus on cooperation and manage differences in bilateral ties so as to bring the relationship back to its former course of sound and steady development.

Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the call in an online conversation with board members of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

BANGKOK (AP) — The man installed by army leaders as Myanmar’s president after Monday’s military coup is best known abroad for his role in the crackdown on 2007 pro-democracy protests and for his ties to still-powerful military leaders.

Myint Swe was the army-appointed vice president when he was named on Monday to take over after the military arrested civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her party.

Immediately after he was named president, Myint Swe handed power to the country’s top military commander, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.