Asia markets mixed as China's loan prime rates remain unchanged; Japan hits new 33-year highs
This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asian news from Tokyo
North Korean teens get 12 years' hard labour for watching K-pop video
SEOUL – In video footage released by an organisation that works with North Korean defectors, the North Korean authorities are seen publicly sentencing two teenagers to 12 years’ hard labour for watching K-pop.
Japan's Slim probe lands on moon, but can't generate solar power
TOKYO — Japan on Jan 20 became the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon, but solar power issues threatened to cut short the nation's mission to prove a "precision" landing technology and revitalise a space programme that has suffered setbacks.
Why is Japan's 'moon sniper' landing mission important?
TOKYO — Japan aims to become the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon when it attempts the precision landing of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe on Friday (Jan 19).
Will Japan see more marriages with Tokyo’s taxpayer-funded AI-driven dating app or it is just ‘throwing money away’?
The Tokyo metropolitan government is playing Cupid with the city’s millions of unmarried residents, launching an AI-driven app to transform singletons into couples.
Panasonic puts productivity boost ahead of new EV plant in U.S.
Panasonic's battery business must focus on boosting productivity, Group CEO Yuki Kusumi told Reuters, signaling the Tesla supplier may hold off building a third battery plant in North America as demand for electric vehicles cools.
Foreign traders, Chinese fuel Japan's market rally in new year
TOKYO -- Global investors are piling into Japan, fueling the country's equity market this year amid a weaker yen and dampened prospects of the central bank's exit from its negative interest rate policy.
Japan's Sumitomo bets on carbon removal with Norway investment
TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. seeks to lock away carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sell the resulting credits to CO2 emitters starting in 2025 in a new business that has seen it invest in a Norwegian company, Nikkei has learned.