Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

China recorded 52.7 million domestic tourist trips during the three-day New Year holiday, up 0.44 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on January 3. Tourism revenue during the holiday period reached over 26.5 billion yuan ($3.8 billion), up four percent from the same period last year, according to the ministry.

China's cultural and tourism market remained stable during the holiday, which ended on January 2, it added.

65,000 passengers started off with an awful New Year in the Philippines after being stuck when 361 flights were delayed, cancelled or diverted at the country's main Ninoy Aquino airport in Manila. A power supply problem caused the airport's traffic management system to go offline for several hours on January 1, 2023. The Department of Transportation has launched a probe and senators are also planning an investigation.

The Republic of Korea military on January 2 apologized for triggering a public alarm on December 30 by test-launching a solid-fuel space launch vehicle unannounced and pledged to find ways to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. The Defense Ministry shared the details of the test flight that was conducted by the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD) on that day after sunset in waters off the western coast to verify the performance of a homegrown solid-fuel space rocket.

Pakistan's government has ordered all malls and markets to close by 8:30 p.m. local time among other measures in a new energy conservation plan, the defense minister said on January 4, as the country grapples with an economic crisis. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves barely cover a month's worth of imports, most of which are accounted for by energy purchases from abroad. Defense minister Khawaja Asif said the cabinet approved measures to shut markets, including restaurants, aimed to save the cash-strapped country about 62 billion Pakistani rupees ($273 million).

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced its first nationwide elections since its president fled and resigned in the face of widespread protests. Local government polls will be held before the end of February, officials said, after they were delayed by a year due to the pandemic. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who replaced his deposed predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, will face his first test of the public's opinion. Legally, a presidential election cannot be held until the last quarter of 2024.