Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday warned that if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists on visiting Taiwan, China will take firm and robust measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity and the U.S. side shall bear all ensuing consequences.

Urging the U.S. side to stick to the one-China principle and stipulations of the three China-U.S. Joint Communiques, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that Pelosi's planned visit to Taiwan must be cancelled immediately.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Chinese coast guard ship last month maneuvered for days near a research vessel deployed by Philippine and Taiwanese scientists to undertake a crucial survey of undersea fault lines west of the northern Philippines, sparking concerns among the scientists on board, officials said Thursday.

Jakarta, Apr 7 (AP) The young woman from Myanmar and her family now live amid the tall grasses of a riverbank on the Thai border, trapped between a country that does not want them and a country whose military could kill them.

Like thousands of others fleeing mounting violence after a military takeover in Myanmar last February, Hay left her village for neighbouring Thailand in search of a safe haven that does not exist. Returning to Myanmar would place her and her family at risk of death.

BANGKOK (AP) — India’s power sector has been targeted by hackers in a long-term operation thought to have been carried out by a state-sponsored Chinese group, a U.S.-based private cybersecurity company detailed in a new report.

Over the last several months, the Insikt Group, the threat research division of Massachusetts-based Recorded Future, said it has collected evidence that hackers targeted seven Indian state centers responsible for carrying out electrical dispatch and grid control near a border area disputed by the two nuclear neighbors.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The young woman from Myanmar and her family now live amid the tall grasses of a riverbank on the Thai border, trapped in limbo between a country that does not want them and a country whose military could kill them.

HONG KONG, April 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong Chief Secretary John Lee, a security official during the global financial hub's prolonged and often violent 2019 pro-democracy protests, said on Wednesday he had resigned in a bid to run in an election in May to become the city's new leader.

Lee, 64, a former deputy commissioner of police, was promoted to the global financial hub's No. 2 role in 2021 in a move that some political analysts said signalled Beijing's priorities for Hong Kong were security rather than the economy.

CHENGDU, April 6 (Xinhua) -- No casualties have been reported after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday, according to local authorities.

As of 5:30 p.m., 645 homes have been damaged to varying degrees and a total of 1,045 residents have been relocated to safety, the publicity department of Xingwen County said.

Two sections of a provincial-level highway faced interruptions, but power supply and communications remain unaffected, the department said.

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China will adhere to its dynamic zero-COVID approach as local infections are surging, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC) said Wednesday.

China is facing a serious challenge in COVID-19 containment as numbers of local cases, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, are rising rapidly, and the virus continues to spread in communities in some areas, NHC spokesperson Mi Feng told a press conference.

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China said Wednesday it is firmly opposed to and strongly condemns the proposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan worth 95 million U.S. dollars, urging the U.S. to withdraw its plan.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower Wednesday after a Federal Reserve official’s comments fueled expectations of more aggressive U.S. rate hikes and the White House announced more sanctions on Russia.

Market benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney retreated.