Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday, ending a rare lull in violence, as residents took to the streets chanting “revolution of our time” and “liberate Hong Kong”.

The protest in the busy shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui followed a march by hundreds of people to the U.S. consulate to show “gratitude” for U.S. support for the demonstrations that have agitated the Chinese-ruled city for six months.

PHNOM PENH, Dec 1 (NNN-AKP) – HIV/AIDS killed more than 1,300 people in Cambodia in 2018, down 48 percent from over 2,500 deaths in 2010, Ieng Mouly, chairman of the National AIDS Authority, said today.

Speaking at an event marking World AIDS Day, Mouly said, some 880 people became newly infected with HIV last year, down 62 percent from 2,300 nine years ago.

HONG KONG (AP) — China accused the U.N. high commissioner for human rights of emboldening “radical violence” in Hong Kong by suggesting the city’s leader conduct an investigation into reports of excessive use of force by police.

The back and forth came ahead of three marches on Sunday in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The U.N. commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, wrote in an opinion piece Saturday in the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government must prioritize “meaningful, inclusive” dialogue to resolve the crisis.

Beijing, Nov 30 (AFP/PTI) China's November factory activity rebounded for the first time in seven months, data showed Saturday, despite the looming threat of fresh US tariffs within weeks if Beijing and Washington fail to sign a partial trade deal.

The closely watched Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a key gauge of activity in the country's factories, rose to 50.2 in November, up from 49.3 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

BEIJING, Nov 30 (APP): A two-member delegation from Pakistan attended the first Forum of Heads of Military Academies of CICA Member States held in Beijing.

The representatives from the military academies of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam also attended the forum, according to the Chinese Ministry of Defence here on Saturday.

30 November 2019; AFP: China has issued new rules banning online video and audio providers from using artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality technologies to produce "fake news."

The regulation published Friday by China's cyberspace authority said that both providers and users of online video news and audio services are "not allowed" to use new technologies such as deep learning and virtual reality to create, distribute and broadcast "fake news."

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Secondary-school students and retirees joined forces to protest in Hong Kong on Saturday, the first of several weekend rallies planned across the city, as pro-democracy activists vowed to battle what they say are police brutality and unlawful arrests.

A top Hong Kong official said the government was looking into setting up an independent committee to review the handling of the crisis, which has seen increasingly violent demonstrations since starting more than five months ago.

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia, Nov 30 (NNN-MONGOLIAWEB) – Mongolian Prime Minister, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, will pay an official visit to Russia from Tuesday to Friday, at the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, said.

During his visit, Khurelsukh is expected to hold talks with Medvedev and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on expanding bilateral ties and cooperation in a wide range of areas, the ministry said.

Seoul, Nov 29 (AFP) South Korea's central bank on Friday cut its growth forecast for this year to two percent, which would be the weakest rate in a decade as the economy is battered by trade disputes.

The world's 11th-largest economy is highly dependent on international commerce but is grappling with the fallout of a prolonged China-US trade dispute and embroiled in a spat of its own with neighbouring Japan.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed “great satisfaction” over the latest test of a large multiple-rocket launcher, state media said on Friday, a launch that experts said showcased improving performance by the system and its crews.

North Korea fired two short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast on Thursday in a fourth test of its new “super-large multiple-rocket launcher”, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said told a briefing.