Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian divers on Sunday located parts of the wreckage of a Boeing 737-500 at a depth of 23 meters (75 feet) in the Java Sea, a day after the aircraft with 62 people onboard crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.

“We received reports from the diver team that the visibility in the water is good and clear, allowing the discovery of some parts of the plane,” Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said in a statement. “We are sure that is the point where the plane crashed.”

TOKYO, January 9. /TASS/: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that his country plans to develop relations with Russia and China, North Korea’s KCNA news agency reported on Saturday.

Kim Jong-un was speaking at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, which opened on January 5.

In particular, Kim Jong-un noted that Pyongyang laid the foundation for the development and expansion of friendly relations with Moscow, and also received guarantees of strengthening ties with Beijing.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more advanced nuclear weapons and said the United States is “our biggest enemy,” state media said on Saturday, presenting a stark challenge to President-elect Joe Biden just days before he takes office.

Washington’s hostile policies would not change regardless of who occupies the White House but dropping those policies would be key to North Korea-U.S. relations, Kim said, according to state news agency KCNA.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday published new rules for countering “unjustified” laws and restrictions imposed by foreign countries on Chinese companies and citizens, as economic relations between Beijing and Washington deteriorate.

The rules on “unjustified extra-territorial application of foreign legislation” were posted on department’s website and established a “working mechanism” to assess the legal implications of such incidents.

Beijing, Jan 9 (PTI) Beijing has gone on an alert mode following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the neighbouring Hebei province while China has administered nine million coronavirus vaccines so far in a stepped-up nationwide drive to contain the virus.

The National Health Commission (NHC) on Saturday reported 33 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, of whom 17 were locally transmitted and the rest arrived from outside the mainland.

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The cost of COVID-19 vaccination, including both vaccines' expenses and inoculation fees, will be covered by medical insurance fund and government fiscal, rather than individuals, said a Chinese official Saturday.

After the vaccines are approved and available to the general public, they will be offered free to the Chinese people, who can receive inoculation on a voluntary, informed basis, said Li Tao, deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, at a press conference.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Sriwijaya Air passenger jet carrying 62 people lost contact with air traffic controllers after taking off from Indonesia’s capital on Saturday on a domestic flight, officials said.

Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said the Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta at about 1:56 p.m. and lost contact with the control tower at 2:40 p.m.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to expand his nuclear arsenal as he disclosed a list of high-tech weapons systems under development, saying the fate of relations with the United States depends on whether it abandons its hostile policy, state media reported Saturday.

Kim’s comments during a key meeting of the ruling party this week were seen as applying pressure on the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has called Kim a “thug” and has criticized his summits with President Donald Trump.

BEIJING, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China drew a comparison on Thursday between the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump and last year’s often-violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong but noted that no one had died when demonstrators took over the legislature of the China-ruled city.

Clips of the chaotic scenes from Washington aired repeatedly on Chinese state television.

SEOUL, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A South Korean delegation left for Iran on Thursday to negotiate the early release of an oil tanker and its crew seized in strategic Gulf waters this week.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had seized the South Korean- flagged Hankuk Chemi — which it said was carrying 7,200 tonnes of “oil chemical products” — for infringing maritime environmental laws.

The Guards said the arrested crew were from South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.