Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The High Court here has set 15 days beginning June 15 to resume the trial of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)  former chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy on alleged tampering with the 1MDB final audit report.

Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan  fixed the dates — June 15 to 18; July 27 to 30; Aug 10 to 13; and Aug 24 to 26 — when the case came up for mention.

TOKYO, May 20 (NNN-NHK) – The Japanese city of Kobe will return a giant female panda, rented from China for breeding purposes, as the lease agreement is set to expire in July, the city said.

Tan Tan, the 24-year-old panda, has the equivalent age of between 60 and 70 in human years. It came to Kobe Oji Zoo in 2000, and bred in 2008, through artificial insemination.

The departure of Tan Tan will bring the total number of pandas in Japan to nine, with three in Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo and six in Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan.

JAKARTA, May 20 (NNN-ANTARA) – The Indonesian capital, Jakarta, which is hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, on Tuesday, decided to prolong a large-scale social restriction as the number of virus infections spikes in the country.

Jakarta’s governor, Anies Baswedan, announced that, the partial lock-down is extended for another 14 days until June 4.

The governor of the city urged citizens to obey the rules on the restriction, to rein the virus spread in the capital of 10 million people.

BANGKOK, May 20 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand’s national flag carrier, Thai Airways International Plc, will seek restructuring via a bankruptcy court, after the Thai Cabinet Tuesday approved a rehabilitation plan for the troubled state enterprise.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, agreed to the plan, proposed by the state enterprise policy committee, to pave way for Thai Airways to start restructuring process in the court.

TOKYO, May 20 (NNN-NHK) – The Japanese government is planning to offer financial aid to students here, who are struggling due to the pandemic, with the Cabinet on Tuesday approving the programme.

The Cabinet agreed to offer students who are suffering financially up to 200,000 yen (1,900 U.S. dollars) in cash, as a means of support, as many students have lost part-time jobs or seen their hours cut back, amid business closures across the country, resulting from the pandemic.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday amid signs of improving demand and a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories but worries over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic capped gains.

Brent crude futures for July delivery LCoc1 were up 23 cents, or 0.7%, at $34.88 per barrel at 0347 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for July CLc1 were up 14 cents, or 0.4%, at $32.10 a barrel. The July contract closed on Tuesday at $31.96, up 1%.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A man has been sentenced to death in Singapore via a Zoom video-call for his role in a drug deal, the city-state’s first case where capital punishment has been delivered remotely.

Punithan Genasan, a 37-year-old Malaysian, received the sentence for his role in a 2011 heroin transaction on Friday, court documents showed, with the country under lockdown to try and curb one of the highest coronavirus rates in Asia.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The U.S. investment advisory firm founded by Wall Street trader William O’Neil is stepping up business expansion in China as Beijing accelerates financial deregulation amid rising tension with Washington.

Undeterred by the pandemic, William O’Neil+Co last month obtained the regulatory go-ahead to launch local-currency funds in China, and will soon apply for a license to raise money locally for offshore investment, CEO Steven Birch said in an interview.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called for stability in relations with China in her inaugural address Wednesday but said she would not accept Beijing’s political terms that would “downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo.”

Reelected by a landslide late last year, Tsai said relations with Beijing had reached a “historical turning point” and that “peace, parity, democracy, and dialogue” should form the basis for contacts between the sides as a means to prevent intensifying antagonisms and differences.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Wednesday as market players waffled between hopes for recovery as economies gradually reopen and worries over the havoc wreaked by the pandemic.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose nearly 0.9% in morning trading to 20,606.92 on expectations that a state of emergency still in effect for Tokyo and seven other cities and prefectures may soon end. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3% to 1,986.24. But Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 5,548.60 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.2% to 24,328.95. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 2,892.49.