Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

Seoul, Dec 30 (AFP/PTI) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned top ruling party officials of the "grave situation" facing the nuclear-armed state's economy and called for urgent corrective measures.

His comments, reported Monday by state media, came on the second day of a key party meeting held ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to shift its stance on stalled nuclear talks with Pyongyang.

(Reuters) - The Indian government has allowed Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co to participate in trials for 5G networks, a company spokesman said on Monday.

India’s nod to Huawei comes at a time when the global rollout of 5G technology has been complicated by U.S. sanctions against the company. The United States has been lobbying allies not to use Huawei’s network equipment in their 5G networks.

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 jolted Southwest of Africa at 2019-12-29 18:24:41 GMT on Sunday (2019-12-30 02:24:41 Beijing Time), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 52.8544 degrees south latitude and 11.3526 degrees east longitude.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Monday as investors awaited updates on the signing of a trade deal between the U.S. and China and kept a wary eye on North Korea.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for his military and diplomats to prepare unspecified “offensive measures” to protect the country’s security and sovereignty, the North’s state media said on Monday, before his end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to make major concessions to salvage a fragile nuclear diplomacy.

BEIJING (AP) — Three researchers involved in the births of genetically edited babies have been convicted and sentenced for practicing medicine illegally, Chinese state media said Monday.

The report by Xinhua news agency said lead researcher He Jiankui was sentenced to three years and fined 3 million yuan ($430,000).

Two other people received lesser sentences and fines. Zhang Renli was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 1 million yuan. Qin Jinzhou received an 18-month sentence, but with a two-year reprieve, and a 500,000 yuan fine.

BEIJING, Dec 29 (APP): With the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Pakistan’s domestic economic growth, the trade volume surged this year at a major border port between China and Pakistan.

Cargo import and export reached 66,600 tonnes in the first 11 months at Khunjerab Pass in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, up 46.8 percent from the same period last year. Trade volume increased by 1.4 times to 5.99 billion yuan (around 856.3 million U.S. dollars) during the same period, according to a report of China News Network on Sunday.

Manila, Dec 29 (AFP/PTI) The number of deaths from a powerful storm that hit the Philippines on Christmas has climbed to 41, authorities said Sunday, with tens of thousands still in evacuation centres.

Typhoon Phanfone left the Philippines on Saturday after devastating several islands in the central Visayas, including popular tourist destinations, but the extent of the damage continued to grow as assessments came in.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - More than 1,000 people rallied in the rain in a park in Hong Kong’s financial district on Sunday, chanting slogans for democracy as they huddled under a sea of umbrellas.

The crowd, a mix of young and elderly people, wore black and turquoise surgical masks to hide their identities as they listened to organizers speaking on a makeshift stage.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has opened a high-profile political conference to discuss how to overcome “harsh trials and difficulties,” state media reported Sunday, days before a year-end deadline set by Pyongyang for Washington to make concessions in nuclear negotiations.

The ruling Workers’ Party meeting is a focus of keen attention as some observers predict North Korea might use the conference to announce it would abandon faltering diplomacy with the U.S. and lift its moratorium on major weapons test.