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Myanmar's military government has dissolved the ousted ruling party of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and 39 other parties, state media announced on Tuesday, over their failure to register for an election set to prolong the army's grip on power.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is among dozens of parliamentary parties that were severely weakened by the military's 2021 coup against Suu Kyi's elected government and its crackdown on protests against its rule.

The polls, for which no date has been announced, will come amid a deepening crisis in Myanmar, where the military is fighting on multiple fronts to crush ethnic minority armies and a resistance movement formed to counter its lethal suppression of anti-coup dissent.

In a live broadcast late on Tuesday, state-run Myawaddy TV said 63 parties had registered at local or national level and named 40 parties that were automatically disbanded for failure to sign up by Tuesday's deadline.

The election is almost certain to be swept by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a military proxy that was trounced by the NLD in the 2015 election and in a 2020 vote that the generals eventually voided, citing unaddressed irregularities.

The hugely popular Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, 77, is among scores of NLD members jailed since the coup and is serving 33 years for multiple counts of corruption, a breach of a state secrets law and incitement, among other crimes.

Tun Myint, a senior NLD official, said the party would never have registered for the polls with many of its members in jail or "involved in the revolution".

"It doesn't matter whether they say our party is dissolved or not. We are standing with the support of people," Tun Myint told Reuters.

The shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which the junta has declared "terrorists", said the military had no authority to hold what would be a sham election.

"The political parties who respect the wishes of the people did not register," said its spokesperson Kyaw Zaw.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on Monday urged international critics to get behind his efforts to restore democracy.

The election would return Myanmar to the quasi-civilian democratic system that experts say the military can control with the NLD out of the picture.

Under the power-sharing arrangement outlined in the constitution, the military is guaranteed three ministerial portfolios, a quarter of all legislative seats and a say in who gets nominated to become president.

Richard Horsey, senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, said the election was dangerous for the country.

"The majority of the population fiercely oppose going to the polls to legitimise the military's political control, so we will see violence ratchet up if the regime seeks to impose a vote, and resistance groups seek to disrupt them," said Horsey, who was based in Myanmar for 15 years. (Reuters)

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appealed to parliament on Tuesday to act against predecessor Imran Khan over accusations that his party was involved in violence that erupted when police tried to arrest him for alleged corruption.

The clashes occurred earlier this month after Khan's supporters prevented police and paramilitary forces from detaining him over allegations he unlawfully sold state gifts during his 2018-22 tenure as premier. He denies any wrongdoing.

Last week Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah asked for a parliamentary ruling to empower authorities to crack down on Khan's party and his supporters.

"Did you ever see law enforcement officers going to serve a court summons on someone and then being attacked with petrol bombs?" Sharif asked lawmakers in a speech telecast live.

"I'm appealing to this parliament that these things need to be taken care of immediately. This house has to take action today if we want to save Pakistan," he said, adding: "Enough is enough. Now law has to take its course."

Sharif did not spell out what action he wanted the parliament to take against Khan.

Some of Sharif's ministers have called for a ban on Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, but it was not clear whether the government was seeking this from parliament.

Sharif's coalition government, which took office after a parliamentary vote of no confidence ousted former cricket star Khan last year, has alleged that Khan's supporters had Islamist militants among them.

Since being removed, Khan has been demanding early elections and holding protests across the country to press his case.

The clashes between Khan's supporters and security forces have brought a new flare-up of political instability to the nuclear-armed country of 220 million people, which is in the midst of a crippling economic crisis.

Khan says the government and the powerful military are trying to stop him from contesting the next election, scheduled for November. Both the government and military deny this. If convicted in any case, Khan could be disqualified from the vote. (Reuters)

The Biden administration on Tuesday imposed new trade restrictions on five Chinese companies for allegedly aiding in the repression of the Uyghur Muslim minority but China rejected the accusation as "lies" aimed at constraining it.

According to Hikvision's 2021 half-year report, at least four of the companies facing new curbs belong to the Chinese surveillance camera maker including Luopu Haishi Dingxin Electronic Technology Co, Moyu Haishi Electronic Technology Co, Pishan Haishi Yong'an Electronic Technology Co and Urumqi Haishi Xin'an Electronic Technology Co.

Yutian Haishi Meitian Electronic Technology Co Ltd was also added.

Hikvision did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The companies "have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance against the Uyghur people and members of other Muslim minority groups," in the Xinjiang region, the Commerce Department said in a posting in the Federal Register.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the United States "wantonly suppresses Chinese firms with lies and politicises normal business and economic cooperation" and its move is aimed at destabilising Xinjiang and using the issues to constrain China.

"The idea that there exists so-called repression of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang has long been debunked," Mao said at a regular briefing on Wednesday.

She also said that China would take all necessary measures to defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms.

Being added to the entity list means U.S. suppliers must get a special and difficult-to-obtain license before shipping goods to those companies.

The United States has increasingly used the list to target Chinese firms.

Hikvision was placed on the U.S. trade blacklist in 2019 for being implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of what rights groups and Uyghur activists say is China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang. (Reuters)

China's commercial capital Shanghai saw its population fall in 2022 in the first decline in five years, official data showed, after authorities imposed draconian COVID-19 lockdowns and more than 250,000 migrant workers departed.

The data, published by Shanghai's statistics bureau on Tuesday, showed the densely-packed hub had 24.76 million people last year, compared with 24.89 million people in 2021.

Shanghai's figures came after Beijing also posted its first population drop since 2003.

Both cities are in line with national trends. China's population fell last year for the first time in six decades, weighed down by rising living costs especially in big, sprawling urban hubs, weak economic growth, and changing attitudes towards raising a family.

Around 60% of people living in Shanghai said they wanted just one child or none at all, according to an official survey by the bureau. More than 28% of Shanghai residents polled said they did not plan to have an additional child because of the high childcare costs.

Shanghai's birth rate dropped to 4.4 per 1,000 people from 4.7 a year earlier, while its death rate increased to 6.0 per 1,000 people from 5.6 due to a rapidly ageing population.

China last year recorded its lowest ever birth rate, of 6.77 per 1,000 people.

Around 18.7% of Shanghai's population is older than 65, above the national average of 14.9%.

Many women in Shanghai were put off having children during a stringent COVID lockdown in April and May last year, which demographers said could have profoundly damaged their desire to have children.

Concerned by China's shrinking population, political advisers to the government have made more than 20 recommendations to boost birth rates, though experts said the best they can do was to slow the population's decline. (Reuters)