Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL (Reuters) - 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.

Iran denied on Tuesday it was using the ship and its crew as hostages, a day after it seized the tanker near the Strait of Hormuz while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under U.S. sanctions.

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday it would make a “necessary response” to a planned military dialogue between the United States and Chinese-claimed Taiwan, saying it firmly opposed the event.

China has been angered by stepped up support for the democratic island by outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, including new arms sales and visits to Taipei by senior U.S. officials, which have strained already poor Beijing-Washington ties.

TOKYO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo on Wednesday confirmed a record 1,591 new daily COVID-19 infections, with the record number of cases coming just days ahead of a state of emergency likely being declared for Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures due to a surging "third wave" of infections.

The previous daily high in Tokyo was set on Thursday last week and saw 1,337 infections as rising cases in the Greater Tokyo area, comprising Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, are showing no signs of abating.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un admitted that his economic development plans have failed as he opened the nation’s first full ruling party congress in five years, state media reported Wednesday.

In an opening speech at the congress that began Tuesday, Kim said that “almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives” under a previous five-year development plan established at the 2016 congress, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police arrested about 50 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists Wednesday for allegedly violating the new national security law by participating in unofficial election primaries for the territory’s legislature last year.

The mass arrests, including of former lawmakers, were the largest move against Hong Kong’s democracy movement since the law was imposed by Beijing to quell dissent in the semi-autonomous territory last June.

BEIJING, Jan 5 (APP): A reported released by a Brussels-based NGO has uncovered an ongoing Indian disinformation campaign launched to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular Pakistan but also China to lesser extent.

The report released in early December said it uncovered two Indian organizations creating and spreading disinformation against China to reinforce anti-China sentiment in India, China Global Television (CGTN) reported.

YEREVAN, January 5. /TASS/: Armenian President Armen Sarkissian who is spending the New Year holidays in London with his family has tested positive for COVID-19, the president’s Executive Office informed the Hraparak newspaper on Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 5 (Bernama) — ASEAN countries should work towards international standards in providing universal internet connectivity in order for the digital economy to grow, said a digital marketing and personal branding trainer.

The founder of Digital Marketing Rider, Shalini Subramaniam, said an education system that will adapt to demands for a digital future and stronger safety nets for data protection is needed for the growth of the digital economy.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The former chairman of China’s Huarong Asset Management Co was sentenced to death, a court in the northern city of Tianjin said on Tuesday, in one of the country’s highest profile corruption cases.

Lai Xiaomin was convicted of receiving or seeking bribes totalling 1.788 billion yuan ($276.72 million) from 2008 to 2018, when he was also a senior banking regulator, according to the Secondary Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin.

He was also convicted on a charge of bigamy.

Lai was expelled from the ruling Communist Party in 2018.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Iran denied on Tuesday it was using a South Korean ship and its crew as hostages, a day after it seized the tanker in the Gulf while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under U.S. sanctions.

The seizure of the MT Hankuk Chemi and its 20-member crew near the strategic Strait of Hormuz has been seen as an attempt by Tehran to assert its demands, just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in the United States.