JAKARTA -- Indonesian authorities have said that the country will resume coal export in phases starting from Wednesday, with dozens of ships carrying coal cleared to depart on Tuesday.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan told a press conference late Monday that the official regulation to lift the coal export ban was being finalized. (Indonesia-Coal Export Ban)

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SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired an unidentified projectile into eastern waters, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Tuesday.

The JCS said in a statement that the South Korean military detected the projectile, presumed to be a ballistic missile which the DPRK launched from its inland area into the East Sea at about 7:27 a.m. local time (2027 GMT Monday). (South Korea-DPRK Missile Launch-2ND LD WRITETHRU)

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TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday an entry ban on non-resident foreigners to the country will be further extended until the end of February.

"The framework of the current border controls will be maintained until the end of February," Kishida told reporters Tuesday morning.

The entry ban on non-resident foreigners to the country in its current form has been in place since Nov. 30, following Japan's first case of the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19. (Japan-PM-Border Restrictions)

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MANILA -- The highly infectious Omicron coronavirus variant has raced ahead of Delta and is now the dominant variant in the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said late Monday night.

In a pre-recorded meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte aired late Monday night, Duque said that the newest genome sequencing showed over 60 percent of samples are Omicron variant cases.

He said that from the genome sequencing conducted on Jan. 3, around 60.42 percent, or 29 of 48 samples were Omicron cases, while 18 or 37.5 percent were Delta. (Philippines-COVID-19-Omicron Variant)