Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Tokyo surpassed the 1,000-mark for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, Governor Yuriko Koike said Thursday, according to local media.

Public broadcaster NHK, meanwhile, quoted Tokyo metropolitan government sources as saying that new cases have topped 1,300, far eclipsing the previous record of 949 cases logged last Saturday, as the city continues to grapple with consistently rising infections.

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday voiced resolute opposition to the sailing of two U.S. warships through the Taiwan Strait.

"The move by the U.S. warships has sent a wrong signal to separatist elements advocating 'Taiwan independence' and seriously endangered peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese health regulators said Thursday that they have given conditional approval to a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned Sinopharm.

The two-dose vaccine is the first approved for general use in China. The go-ahead comes as the country has begun to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

TOKYO, Dec 30 (NNN-NHK) – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 struck Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture today, the weather agency here said, although no tsunami waning was issued.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the temblor, which occurred at 9:35 a.m. local time (0035 GMT), was centred inland with its epicentre at a latitude of 36.4 degrees north and a longitude of 140.6 degrees east, with a depth of 60 km.

DHAKA, Dec 30 (NNN-BSS) – Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh, yesterday signed agreements for 200 million U.S. dollars in additional loans, including 130 million U.S. dollars concessional loan, to improve access to efficient and reliable electricity supply in rural areas in Bangladesh, by strengthening transmission and distribution networks.

The additional loans will scale up the ongoing 616 million U.S. dollars, Bangladesh Power System Enhancement and Efficiency Improvement Project, which ADB approved in 2017.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (NNN-Bernama) — To overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia is looking forward to intensifying efforts on vaccine development with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said the Malaysian King Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

In an exclusive interview with Emirates News Agency (WAM), Sultan Abdullah said UAE has demonstrated itself as a friend of Malaysia during this difficult period.

TASHKENT, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev suggested naming 2021 as the Year of Supporting Youth and Strengthening Public Health during his annual address to the country's parliament on Tuesday here.

"Investment in the harmonious development of the younger generation pays back to the society tenfold, hundredfold," he told deputies, adding that the coronavirus pandemic has proved the necessity of reforming the primary health care system, sanitary and epidemiological services radically.

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, China's national legislature, on Wednesday strongly condemned and firmly opposed the U.S. signing into law a funding bill for fiscal year 2021 which contains China-related negative content.

The related negative content and clauses on Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang have seriously damaged China's national interests and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, the committee said in a statement.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reviewed the agenda for an important ruling party congress set for early next month, state media reported Tuesday, dispelling outside speculation the North might delay the meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Workers’ Party Congress is the first in five years. It is North Korea’s biggest political conference and is mainly intended to set new political and economic priorities, reshuffle top officials and review past projects.

HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced 10 pro-democracy activists and protesters who sought to flee Hong Kong by speedboat to between seven months and three years in prison, in a case with major political overtones for the territory.

The Yantian District Court in the southern city of Shenzhen gave the harshest sentences to the two accused organizers of the ill-fated Aug. 23 attempt to reach self-ruled Taiwan. Relatives said all defendants pleaded guilty, a move apparently aimed at receiving lighter sentences.