Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO (Reuters) - President Donald Trump marked the 60th anniversary of the signing of the security treaty between the United States and Japan with a call for a stronger and deeper alliance between the two countries, despite criticizing the pact six months ago.

“As the security environment continues to evolve and new challenges arise, it is essential that our alliance further strengthen and deepen,” Trump said in a statement dated Jan. 18.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Sunday that 17 more people had become infected with a new coronavirus strain, fanning fears it will spread further as hundreds of millions of people travel to celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year.

Three of those patients are seriously ill, according to a statement issued by the health commission in the central city of Wuhan, where all 62 of the cases in China have occurred.

Two people have died. Two cases have also been reported in Thailand and one in Japan - each involving people who traveled from Wuhan.

JAKARTA, Jan 19 (NNN-ANTARA) – An earthquake, with a magnitude of revised 6.1, jolted Indonesia’s eastern Papua province on Saturday evening (last night), but was not potential for tsunami, the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

Previously, the agency had released the quake at magnitude of 6.3.

The quake struck at 23:38 p.m. local time (1638 GMT), with the epicentre located at 39 km northwest of Jayapura district of the province, and the depth of 56 km under earth, official in charge at the agency, Abdul Rosyid, said.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas on Sunday to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters who gathered in a central Hong Kong park but later spilled onto the streets, briefly barricading roads and spray-painting buildings.

Out in numbers before the demonstration began, police intervened promptly when the rally turned into an impromptu march. Several units of police in riot gear were seen chasing protesters and several arrests were made.

A water cannon truck drove on central streets, flanked by an armored jeep, but was not used.

TASHKENT, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan's Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade signed project implementation agreements in strategic energy sector with Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's investment and development fund, and its subsidiary Masdar, the ministry's press service said Saturday.

The project agreement signed between Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade and United Arab Emirates' Masdar company envisages building of a 400 MW wind farm in Navoi region, southwestern part of Uzbekistan, to be commissioned in two years, according to the statement.

18 January 2020; AFP: Ash spewed by a Philippine volcano is being mixed with plastic waste to make bricks in an inventive response to the country's persistent problems of pollution and frequent natural disasters.

The Taal volcano burst into life nearly a week ago, sending towering dust columns into the sky and leaving nearby Binan city coated in fine grey powder.

NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - China and Myanmar inked dozens of deals on Saturday to speed up infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian nation, as Beijing seeks to cement its hold over a neighbor increasingly isolated by the West.

But no major new projects were agreed during the two-day visit by President Xi Jinping, the first of any Chinese leader in 19 years. Analysts said Myanmar was generally cautious of investments by Beijing and was also being careful ahead of elections later this year.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In the first such case in South Korea, military officials will determine next week whether to discharge a soldier who recently undertook gender reassignment surgery, officials said Friday.

South Korea bans transgender people from joining its military but has no specific regulations on what to do with those who have sex change operations during their time in the service.

The non-commissioned officer entered the military as a man and had a sex change operation last year and is currently at a military-run hospital, army spokesman Jeon Ha Gyu said.

Beijing, Jan 17 (PTI) China's economy grew by 6.1 per cent last year, the lowest annual growth rate in 29 years, National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, as weak domestic demand and the bruising 18-month-long trade war with the US took their toll on the world's second-largest economic giant.

The new data comes a day after China and the US signed a long-awaited phase one deal, marking a ceasefire in the 18-month-long trade war which saw the world's two largest economies slap 25 per cent tariffs on about half a trillion-dollar worth of each other's exports.

Naypyidaw Jan 17 (AFP/PTI) Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Myanmar's capital on Friday in a show of support for the embattled government of Aung San Suu Kyi as Beijing hopes to smooth the way for multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals.

The wide highways and manicured lawns of Naypyidaw, purpose-built by generals under Myanmar's junta, were dotted with red banners bearing Xi's face and greetings in Burmese and Mandarin ahead of the visit.