Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to win approval in Japan until May due to requirements for local clinical trials, the distributor said, casting doubt over a nationwide vaccination rollout before the summer Tokyo Olympics.

With an eye on the Olympics due to start in late July, Japan has secured rights to at least 540 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from several Western developers, the biggest quantity in Asia and more than enough for its 126 million population.

HEFEI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have set up an integrated quantum network that combines 700 fiber and two ground-to-satellite links and realized quantum key distribution between more than 150 users over a combined distance of 4,600 km.

Led by Pan Jianwei from the University of Science and Technology of China, the research was conducted by a group of scientists over the past few years. The research paper has been published in the journal Nature online.

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said the U.S. side should stop its groundless suppression of Chinese applications and restrictions on the normal use of Chinese products and services in the United States.

"We will firmly support enterprises to safeguard their rights and interests in accordance with the law, and reserve the right to take necessary measures," an MOC spokesperson said in an online response to a press request for comments on the U.S. executive order that bans transactions involving eight Chinese APPs.

HONG KONG (AP) — An American human rights lawyer who was detained in Hong Kong with scores of democracy activists and supporters as part of a sweeping crackdown was granted bail, his associate said Thursday.

John Clancey, who works at law firm Ho Tse Wai & Partners, was one of 53 people arrested Wednesday under the national security law over their participation in an unofficial primary election last year that authorities say was part of a plan to paralyze the government and subvert state power.

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed avalanches of hot clouds Thursday morning as hundreds more residents were evacuated from its fertile slopes.

Authorities evacuated more than 500 people living on the mountain in Magelang district on Java Island. Thousands of people already have had to leave their homes and farmland because of the dangers on Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano.

TOKYO (AP) — Teargas and bullets in the U.S. Capitol building. Outrage and condemnation from leaders across the world.

“What is happening is wrong,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement Thursday. “Democracy — the right of people to exercise a vote, have their voice heard and then have that decision upheld peacefully — should never be undone by a mob.”

BEIJING, Jan. 6 (APP): China and Pakistan signed a memorandum on translation and publication of classics on Tuesday, in an effort to give fresh impetus to cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

Zhang Jianchun, deputy secretary of the Communist Party’s propaganda department and Mrs. Nausheen Amjad, Secretary National Heritage and Culture Department, on behalf of both parties, signed on the memorandum, according to Chinese media on Wednesday.

PYONGYANG, Jan 6 (NNN-KCNA) – The eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), opened here with top DPRK leader, Kim Jong Un, delivering an opening address, reported official media today.

The congress was convened, in order to review the work of the party’s central committee, clearly reconfirm the exact orientation and duty in its struggle for winning a bigger victory in the socialist cause and take measures for substantial improvement.

06 Jan 2021; MEMO: A South Korean delegation is heading to Iran on Wednesday to seek the release of a chemicals tanker and its 20-member crew seized in Gulf waters by Iranian forces, Yonhap news agency reported.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday to their highest since February 2020 after Saudi Arabia agreed to reduce output more than expected in a meeting with allied producers, while industry figures showed U.S. crude stockpiles were down last week.

Brent crude rose as much as 0.9% to $54.09 a barrel, the highest since Feb. 26, 2020. It was at $53.82 a barrel at 0757 GMT after jumping 4.9% on Tuesday.