Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

YOKOSUKA, Japan, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The United States and Japan are looking to make a deal for Japanese shipyards to regularly overhaul and maintain U.S. Navy warships so they can stay in Asian waters ready for any potential conflict, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said on Friday.

"China watches what ships are coming in and out. It is not like this is a secret, they know what's happening. So therefore, they take an evaluation of your deterrence," Emanuel told reporters at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo.

TOKYO, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The largest faction of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), at the center of the enduring slush fund scandal, has decided to dissolve itself, local media reported on Friday.

The decision of the faction formerly led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, or Seiwaken, was learned from multiple sources close to the matter, said Japan's national daily Sankei Shimbun.

HONG KONG (AP) — World markets mostly advanced Friday after Wall Street recouped most of the week’s earlier losses and Japan reported slowing inflation, which may keep its ultra-low interest rates steady.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher and the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.

France’s CAC 40 added 0.5% to 7,434.81 in early trading. Germany’s DAX went up 0.4% to 16,635.19. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.7% to 7,510.86.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it had tested a purported underwater nuclear attack drone in response to a combined naval exercise between South Korea and the United States and Japan this week, as it continues to blame its rivals for raising tensions in the region.

The alleged drone test came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared he would scrap his country’s long-standing goal of a peaceful unification with South Korea and that his country would rewrite its constitution to define South Korea as its most hostile foreign adversary.

TOKYO (AP) — As Japan’s space agency prepares for its first moon landing early Saturday, it’s aiming to hit a very small target.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle, is using “pinpoint landing” technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.

While most previous probes have used landing zones some 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide, SLIM is aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet).

TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Japan aims to become the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon when it attempts a precision landing on Friday, in what would be a boost for a space programme that has suffered a wave of setbacks and been eclipsed by rival China.

Dubbed the "moon sniper", the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe is attempting to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of its target, a technology JAXA says is unprecedented and essential in the search for moon water and human habitability.

MUEANG SUPHAN BURI, Thailand (AP) — Rescue workers carried out the grim task Thursday of recovering the remains of the 23 apparent victims of a fireworks factory explosion in central Thailand.

Only part of the building frame stood at the site of the devastated factory in an otherwise-empty rice field in rural Suphan Buri province the day after the blast.

The damage to the site and the condition of the bodies made the number of victims difficult to determine.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan signed a deal with the United States on Thursday to purchase up to 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of its ongoing military buildup in response to increased regional threats.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government has pledged to double its annual defense spending to around 10 trillion yen ($68 billion) by 2027, which would make Japan the world’s third-biggest military spender after the United States and China.

TAIPEI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence ministry said it detected 18 Chinese air force planes operating around Taiwan and carrying out "joint combat readiness patrols" with Chinese warships on Wednesday, the first large-scale military activity after the Taiwanese election.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past four years regularly sent warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around the island as it seeks to assert sovereignty claims that the Taipei government rejects.

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Singapore's former Transport Minister S. Iswaran has been charged in court for graft, the anti-corruption agency said on Thursday, in one of the most high-profile graft cases involving a minister in the Asian financial hub in decades.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), in a statement, said Iswaran, who was arrested in July last year, is alleged to have obtained kickbacks valued at S$384,340.98 ($286,181) from property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, partly to advance Ong's business interests.