Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUNMING, May 2 (Xinhua): Southwest China's Yunnan Province exported 7,108 tonnes of tea worth 33.1 million U.S. dollars in 2018, the provincial agriculture and rural affairs department said.

The planting area of tea in Yunnan reached 420,000 hectares, with a total yield of 16.7 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U. S. dollars), said Wei Min, deputy head of the department.

Yunnan is a major tea production base in China, with the locally produced Pu'er tea being especially popular in China and abroad.

2 May 2019; DW: Police in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China are using a mass surveillance app to target the Uighur Muslim population, a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

The tool profiles people by labeling "completely lawful" behavior as suspicious, in order to help authorities detain the religious minority, the report said.

May 1, 2019; GANASHAKTI: Millions of workers across the world poured into the streets Wednesday for International Workers’ Day, an annual working-class rebellion known as May Day.

Bus drivers and housekeepers in Hong Kong rallied for a 44-hour workweek. Garment workers in Bangladesh demanded paid maternity leave. In the Philippines, workers marched for a higher minimum wage.

Manila, May 1 (AFP) Thousands of Philippine protesters marched in Labour Day rallies on Wednesday, torching a giant effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte as they attacked his economic policies' impact on the nation's poor.

Rows of marchers flew red banners and chanted near the presidential palace in Manila, where they set fire to the horned effigy adorned with Chinese and US flags -- the two competing powers in the Philippines.

Tokyo, May 1 (AFP) New Emperor Naruhito vowed Wednesday he would always stand with the Japanese people, as he prayed for world peace in his first address to the nation after ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne.

He swore to "act according to the Constitution... while always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them".

BEIJING (AP) — American and Chinese trade negotiators began more talks Wednesday aimed at ending a tariff war after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said U.S. officials might be moving toward a decision on whether to make a deal with Beijing.

No agreements have been announced but both governments say they are making progress. That has helped to reassure jittery global financial markets.

Washington is pressing Beijing to roll back industry development plans it says are based in part on stolen technology and that violate its market-opening commitments.

TOKYO, April 30 (Xinhua): Japanese people, immersed in a jubilant mood to welcome the beginning of a new era, planned on Tuesday to celebrate Reiwa in various activities, starting on May 1 with the ascent of Crown Prince Naruhito to the throne.

Japanese Emperor Akihito in his final speech as a monarch on Tuesday declared his abdication and said he sincerely hoped for a stable future for Japan and peace and happiness around the world.

Beijing, Apr 30 (AFP) China Tuesday rejected "any interference" in its internal affairs after UN chief Antonio Guterres raised the plight of ethnic Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang region during a visit to Beijing.

Guterres had been under pressure from rights groups to publicly confront Beijing over the mass detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities in Xinjiang during his trip.

Beijing, Apr 30 (AFP/PTI) President Xi Jinping urged China's youth on Tuesday to be loyal to the Communist Party as he sought to whip up patriotic sentiment in a nationalist speech marking the centennial of a student protest.

Xi delivered his hour-long plea at the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, a landmark protest against colonialism and imperialism that rocked China in 1919.

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, has upgraded the fifth edition of the renminbi (RMB), the Chinese currency, and on Monday announced the issuing of the new batch from Aug. 30.

The new issuance will include notes with a face value of 50 yuan (about 7 U.S. dollars), 20 yuan, 10 yuan and one yuan, and coins valued one yuan, 50 fen and 10 fen.

Compared with the current series in circulation, the new batch will see brighter colors and adjusted patterns with enhanced anti-conterfeiting feature, a PBOC official said.