Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Chinese lawmakers on Friday weighed in on a fiery online debate on whether fireworks should be used to ring in the Lunar New Year in February, saying a total ban on pyrotechnics in the country credited with inventing them would be hard to implement.

In an unusually frank response, lawmakers said air pollution prevention laws and fire safety regulations have led to "differences in understanding" of the ban on fireworks, which was never absolute.

JAKARTA, Dec 29 (Reuters) - An Indonesian navy vessel in Aceh drove away a boat carrying Rohingya from Myanmar, a military spokesperson said, as growing numbers of would-be refugees from the strife-torn country face hostility from locals.

The wooden boat was encountered in waters near Weh Island, off Sumatra, military spokesperson Nugraha Gumilar said.

The Indonesian military vessel "shadowed" the vessel, which it believed to be carrying the Rohingya, a persecuted Myanmar Muslim-minority, until it was outside Indonesian waters and "would not return".

HONG KONG (AP) — An activist who advocated for Hong Kong independence and was jailed under a sweeping national security law fled to Britain to seek political asylum, according to his social media posts Friday.

Tony Chung was among the first convicted under the Beijing-imposed law that was introduced after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. He was found guilty of secession and money laundering in 2020 and sentenced to 43 months in prison.

SEOUL, Dec 27 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 South Korean military, police and emergency personnel joined rare defence drills on Wednesday that simulated an attack by North Korea on Seoul, to counter fears the city is in striking distance of Pyongyang's weapons and covert attack.

The exercise comes amid heightened tension after the North tested an intercontinental ballistic missile and launched its first military spy satellite, with the neighbours reinstating last month some military measures eased after a 2018 pact.

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel praised Japan’s contribution to drastic “reform and modernization” of their alliance, particularly its military capability and spending, as well as a decision to allow Japanese-made Patriot guided missiles to be shipped to the United States to make up for its decreasing inventory.

In a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on Wednesday, Emanuel noted a series of steps Japan has taken to bolster its military power and the countries’ alliance, saying it brings the “level of deterrence to capital D deterrence.”

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has convened a key meeting of its ruling party to review state policies this year and prepare for the coming year, the country's state news agency said Wednesday.

The 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) started Tuesday in Pyongyang, with WPK general secretary Kim Jong Un in attendance, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

TOKYO, Dec 26 (NNN-NHK) – Japan’s Okinawa prefectural government, yesterday, rejected a high court order to approve a revised plan for a key U.S. base relocation, within the southernmost prefecture, local media reported.

Okinawa will appeal the high court ruling to the Supreme Court, Kyodo news reported, citing a prefectural government official.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 (NNN-Bernama) — The flood situation in three Malaysian states — Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang — continued to worsen, with more evacuees placed in temporary relief centres this morning compared to Monday night.

In Kelantan, the number of flood victims rose to 12,572 people from 3,860 families as of 8 am Tuesday compared to 9,721 people from 2,962 families Monday night.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 (NNN-Bernama) — The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) should vote to suspend Israel for its ongoing war on Gaza and the decades long Apartheid policies against the Palestinian people, an analyst said.

Director of Hashim Sani Centre for Palestine Studies at Universiti Malaya Assoc. Prof Dr Mohd Nazari Ismail said the UNGA had taken a similar decision to suspend the South African Apartheid regime in Nov 1974.

BEIJING, Dec 26 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping vowed on Tuesday to resolutely prevent anyone from "splitting Taiwan from China in any way", the official Xinhua news agency reported, a little more than two weeks before Taiwan elects a new leader.

China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and has ramped up military and political pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.