Xinhua Asia-Pacific News Summary at 0600 GMT, Feb. 1

SEOUL -- Athletes from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will come to South Korea late Thursday by plane to participate in the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics, Seoul's unification ministry said.

Unification Ministry Spokesman Baek Tae-hyun told a regular press briefing that the DPRK's athlete delegation was scheduled to arrive at the Yangyang International Airport in South Korea's east region at about 5:45 p.m. local time (0845 GMT). (South Korea-DPRK-Olympics)

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TOKYO -- Eleven people died in a fire at a welfare facility for elderly people late Wednesday night in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Sapporo, local police said early Thursday.

According to local media reports, there were a total of 16 residents staying at the facility for senior homeless people when the fire broke out in the three-story building at around 11:40 p.m. local time on Wednesday night. (Japan-Fire-Elderly People)

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YANGON -- A petrol bomb was thrown into Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's residential compound in Yangon on Thursday morning, U Zaw Htay, Director-General of the State Counselor office told Xinhua.

"We were able to put out the fire in time and no casualties occurred in the incident," he said. (Myanmar-Bomb Attack)

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CANBERRA -- An Australian government-funded project to build roads in Vanuatu has been "rated poorly against a number of criteria" by an official audit.

The assessment, undertaken by the Australian National Audit Office in June 2015, found that the aid project had not followed "standard process" and planning had "not been efficient." (Australia-Vanuatu-Road)

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SYDNEY -- Aussie scientists in collaboration with researchers from Japan have announced on Thursday, the world's first accurate blood test for Alzheimer's disease.

Capable of detecting the illness up to 20 years before any symptoms occur at an accuracy of over 90 percent, the test identifies the build-up of a protein called amyloid-beta, which is an early indicator of the disease. (Australia-Alzheimer) Enditem