Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

NUR-SULTAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan plans to modernize 3,477 villages by 2024 in accordance with new regional standards, making drinking water, repaired roads and basic social facilities available in the most remote rural areas, First Deputy Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said Sunday at a Nur Otan Party session.

Addressing the session attended by representatives of regional branches of the ruling Nur Otan Party, Smailov said the party is aimed at improving quality of life and well-being of Kazakhstanis.

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea expressed regret Monday over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s artillery firing drills in an inter-Korean border island.

Defense ministry spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo told a press briefing that the artillery firing drills were in violation of the comprehensive military agreement, which the military authorities of the two Koreas agreed to and had been fully implemented.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to practice firing artillery near a disputed sea boundary with rival South Korea, Pyongyang’s state media reported Monday, drawing a quick rebuke from Seoul.

It was the latest sign of impatience from Kim amid worries that nearly two years of U.S.-North Korean diplomacy will fall apart if Washington doesn’t meet Pyongyang’s year-end deadline to offer a new initiative to settle their long-running standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons program.

TOKYO (AP) — Pope Francis met Monday with victims of Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster and called for the world to rethink its reliance on nuclear power as it considers the planet it wants to leave to future generations.

Francis recalled that Japan’s Catholic bishops called for the abolition of nuclear power plants in the aftermath of the “triple disaster,” in which three reactors at a nuclear plant in Fukushima melted down after an earthquake triggered a tsunami.

HONG KONG (AP) — The pro-democracy opposition won a resounding victory in Hong Kong elections, according to media tallies, in a clear rebuke to city leader Carrie Lam and her handling of violent protests that have divided the Chinese territory.

Hong Kong media said Monday that the pro-democracy camp had won a commanding majority of the 452 district council seats at stake, taking control of at least 17 of the city’s 18 district councils.

CHINA (AP) --- After bloody race riots rocked China’s far west a decade ago, the ruling Communist Party turned to a rare figure in their ranks to restore order: a Han Chinese official fluent in Uighur, the language of the local Turkic Muslim minority.

Now, newly revealed, confidential documents show that the official, Zhu Hailun, played a key role in planning and executing a campaign that has swept up a million or more Uighurs into detention camps.

CHINA (AP) --- The watch towers, double-locked doors and video surveillance in the Chinese camps are there “to prevent escapes.” Uighurs and other minorities held inside are scored on how well they speak the dominant Mandarin language and follow strict rules on everything down to bathing and using the toilet, scores that determine if they can leave.

“Manner education” is mandatory, but “vocational skills improvement” is offered only after a year in the camps.

KUNMING, China, Nov 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Chinese companies, signed contracts worth 1.3 billion yuan (about 184 million U.S. dollars) to purchase goods, mainly agricultural products, from their Laos counterparts.

The deals were signed as the 2019 Sino-Laos Investment Fair concluded Friday, in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province.

Nagasaki, Nov 24 (AFP) Pope Francis Sunday railed against atomic weapons, the nuclear deterrent and the growing arms trade, as he paid tribute to the victims of the "unspeakable horror" of the Nagasaki bomb.

In a highly symbolic visit to the Japanese city devastated by the nuclear attack in August 1945, Francis said nuclear weapons were "not the answer" to a desire for security, peace and stability.

"Indeed they seem always to thwart it," he said.

HONG KONG (AP) — Long lines formed outside Hong Kong polling stations Sunday in elections that have become a barometer of public support for anti-government protests now in their sixth month.

The voting for 452 seats in the city’s 18 district councils has taken on symbolic importance in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. A strong showing by the opposition would show that the public still supports the pro-democracy movement, even as the protests have become increasingly violent.