Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Friday hailed a new visa offering Hong Kong citizens a route to citizenship after China’s crackdown but Beijing said it would no longer recognise special British passports offered to residents of the former colony.

Britain and China have been bickering for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong, though Beijing says the West’s views are clouded by misinformation and an imperial hangover.

BISHKEK, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Sadyr Zhaparov officially took office as the new Kyrgyz president on Thursday, becoming the sixth president of Kyrgyzstan.

Zhaparov took the oath at an inauguration ceremony at the Kyrgyz National Philharmonic building, and then head of the country's Central Election Commission Nurzhan Shaildabekova handed over the president's certificate and the badge.

Zhaparov said Kyrgyzstan will adhere to a multi-vector foreign policy in his speech.

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s election commission rejected allegations by the military that fraud played a significant role in determining the outcome of November’s elections, which delivered a landslide victory to Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party.

The decision, announced Thursday, came amid heightened tensions after the military, which had ruled Myanmar for five decades until 2015, refused to rule out the possibility of a coup if their complaints were ignored.

WUHAN, China (AP) — World Health Organization experts are to begin face-to-face meetings with their Chinese counterparts Friday in the central city of Wuhan at the start of the team’s long-awaited fact-finding mission into the origins of the coronavirus.

Those meetings should be followed by the first field visits in and around the industrial and transport hub on Friday, WHO said on Twitter but did not give further details about the team’s agenda.

BEIJING, January 28. /TASS/: In 2021, the Chinese authorities plan to intensify trade and economic cooperation with Russia in order to increase bilateral trade to $200 bln, official representative of the Ministry of Commerce of China Gao Feng said on Thursday.

According to him, through joint efforts, in 2021, the Chinese-Russian economic cooperation will be even better and more stable, and the volumes of bilateral trade will recover in the near future on the way to the target of trade turnover of $200 bln.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Jan 28 (NNN-ANN) – Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between China and Brunei, held a blood donation at its headquarters, at Pulau Muara Besar.

According to a press release from Hengyi today, the blood donation was held in collaboration with Blood Donation Centre, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital (RIPAS), Brunei’s most prominent hospital. A total of 52 staff and the management of Hengyi volunteered to donate their blood during the event.

MANILA, Jan 28 (NNN-PNA) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB), announced today, it priced a 4.5-billion-U.S. dollar five-year global bond, proceeds of which will be part of ADB’s ordinary capital resources.

The Manila-based bank said, the five-year bond, with a coupon rate of 0.5 percent per annum, payable semi-annually and a maturity date of Feb 4, 2026, was priced at 99.759 percent, to yield 14.43 basis points over the 0.375 percent U.S. Treasury notes, due Jan, 2026.

TOKYO, Jan 28 (NNN-NHK) – Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, spoke with new U.S. President, Joe Biden, via the phone today (Thursday), which was their first phone conversation, since the American leader was inaugurated last week.

In the talks that lasted about 30 minutes, the two leaders affirmed the importance of Japan-U.S. alliance and discussed the situation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as well as, COVID-19 response and climate change, among other issues.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China toughened its language towards Taiwan on Thursday, warning after recent stepped up military activities near the island that “independence means war” and that its armed forces were acting in response to provocation and foreign interference.

Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, reported multiple Chinese fighter jets and bombers entering its southwestern air defence identification zone last weekend, prompting Washington to urge Beijing to stop pressuring Taiwan.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea and the United States should seek an initial denuclearisation deal that includes a halt to the North’s nuclear activity and a cut in its programme in exchange for some sanctions relief, South Korea’s prime minister said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, in his first interview with a foreign media outlet since taking office a year ago, told Reuters that “creative” thinking and mutual incentives were needed to get negotiations going again and prevent another breakdown.