Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Japan on Dec. 20-21 and will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as Japan looks to help ease tensions in the Middle East, the Japanese government’s chief spokesman said on Tuesday.

“Our country will persistently continue to support diplomatic efforts in cooperation with the United States, Iran and various other related countries aimed at easing tensions in the Middle East,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

He said the two leaders will meet on Dec. 20.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian police officer on death row for the 2006 slaying of a Mongolian model has accused former prime minister Najib Razak of ordering him to kill the woman, according to media reports and the policeman’s lawyer.

Azilah Hadri and another police officer, who were serving on Najib’s security detail at the time of the murder, were sentenced to death in 2015 for killing 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose Tuesday following a rally on Wall Street that sent the major indexes to record highs, cheered by surprisingly strong economic reports out of China.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.5% to 24,071.31. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.1% to 2,191.29. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.1% to 27,815.17., while the Shanghai Composite stood at 3,013.25%, up 1.0%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 6,847.10.

Beijing, Dec 16 (AFP/PTI) China on Monday called the expulsion of diplomats from the US a "mistake", following reports that Washington quietly expelled two embassy officials in September after they drove onto a sensitive military base in Virginia.

The incident is the latest spat between the world's two biggest economies and comes days after they announced a truce in the form of a mini-deal to reduce some tariffs in a bruising trade war which has weighed on both sides.

BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China and the United States have agreed terms of a “phase one” trade deal under which Washington reduced some tariffs and Beijing canceled retaliatory duties that were previously scheduled to take effect on Dec. 15.

Before Sunday’s deal, U.S. corn, sorghum, wheat, undenatured ethanol, and refined copper cathodes had faced an additional tariff of 10% an imports into China. Propane, cotton, aluminum scrap, copper scrap and rare earth magnets were all set for an additional 5% duty.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping met Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in Beijing on Monday, saying he recognized her courage to govern the Asian financial hub in these “most difficult” times.

“The situation in Hong Kong in 2019 was the most complex and difficult since its return to the motherland,” Xi told local media in brief comments before the closed door session.

SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea posted trade surplus for 94 straight months through November despite the continued fall in export, customs office data showed Monday.

The revised figure for trade surplus reached 3.3 billion U.S. dollars in November, staying in the black for 94 months since February 2012, according to Korea Customs Service.

Export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, declined 14.4 percent over the year to 44.1 billion U.S. dollars last month, while import dived 13.0 percent to 40.7 billion U.S. dollars.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat said Monday that Washington won’t accept a year-end deadline set by North Korea to make concessions in stalled nuclear talks and urged Pyongyang to return to a negotiating table immediately.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Monday following a U.S.-Chinese trade deal that disappointed some investors.

Hong Kong fell, while Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul were little-changed.

The interim “Phase 1” agreement announced Friday was in line with expectations. The two sides agreed to reduce some punitive tariffs imposed in their fight over China’s technology ambitions and trade surplus. Beijing agreed to buy more American farm exports.

Market choppiness reflects concern “the details were disappointing,” said Mizuho Bank in a report.

BEIJING (AP) — Turmoil over amendments to extradition legislation has damaged Hong Kong society on all fronts, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Monday during a meeting with the territory’s leader, Carrie Lam.

Lam is in Beijing for talks with Li and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It’s her first visit to Beijing since pro-democracy candidates swept local Hong Kong elections last month in a rebuke of how Lam has handled months of fiery anti-government protests.