Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the United States' plan for the sale of arms worth 100 million U.S. dollars to Taiwan and urges its immediate cancellation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the sale of weapons to the Taiwan region of China by the United States severely violates the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique.

BEIJING (AP) — China has ordered inhabitants of the southern city of Baise to stay home and suspended transportation links amid a surge in COVID-19 cases at least partly linked to the omicron variant.

Classes have been suspended, non-essential businesses closed and mass testing of residents ordered. Restaurants are only permitted to serve take-out. Traffic lights have been switched to red only to remind drivers to stay home.

As of Tuesday, 135 cases had been reported in the city — at least two of them found to be omicron, health authorities said.

TOKYO, February 7. /TASS/: Washington backs Tokyo on the issue of the "Northern territories" (how Japan refers to the southern part of the Kuril Islands) and recognizes Japanese sovereignty over them, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said on Monday on the occasion of Japan's Northern Territories Day.

TOKYO, Feb 7 (NNN-NHK) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), plans to visit the disaster-hit Fukushima plant next week, to evaluate the safety of Japan’s contentious plan to discharge radioactive water from the plant into the Pacific Ocean, the government said today.

SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The recent resurgence was driven by cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which became a dominant strain.

Of the new cases, 6,873 were Seoul residents. The number of the newly infected people living in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 9,780 and 2,366 respectively.

The virus spread also raged in the non-metropolitan region. The number of new infections in the non-capital areas was 16,112, or 45.9 percent of the total local transmission.

BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- China voiced firm opposition on Monday to a U.S. bill containing negative content related to China, urging the U.S. side to view China's development and China-U.S. relations in an objective and rational way.

According to media reports, on Feb. 5 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called "America COMPETES Act of 2022."

United Nations, Feb 7 (AP) North Korea is continuing to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms and exchanges, illicit money that is an important source of funding for its nuclear and missile programs, U.N. experts said in a report quoting cyber specialists.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly fell Monday, though Shanghai’s benchmark jumped after markets reopened from the Lunar New Year holidays.

Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Hong Kong declined despite an unexpectedly positive U.S. jobs report on Friday.

Investors were watching for moves by central banks in India, Indonesia and Thailand, which are all set to decide on monetary policy within the week.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister on Monday pledged to double the number of COVID-19 booster shots being delivered on a daily basis across the country, as his government faces criticism for a delayed rollout of vaccines.

Speaking before lawmakers, Fumio Kishida said authorities would aim to deliver around 1 million boosters a day by the end of February. The premier said the added doses are “key” to fighting the ongoing omicron surge of infections.

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (APP): Pakistan is ready to learn from the Chinese experience to develop and promote winter sports in its scenic northern areas, said Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain.

Pakistan and China have good economic and strategic bonds and now converting into sports ties. Chinese media and culture are not known as much as western media in Pakistan but now we are working on these areas, he said in interview with China Economic Net (CEN).