Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

YALA (Southern Thailand), Nov 6 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Several members of an armed group attacked two security checkpoints in southern Thailand Tuesday night, killing 15 volunteers and injuring four others on duty, according to police.

Yala provincial police chief Police Maj Gen Prabpal Meemongkol said the deaths and injuries occurred following an intense shootout between the attackers and the security volunteers at 10.15 pm (11.15 pm in Malaysia) at the checkpoints which are located three kilometres apart.

DUSHANBE, November 6. /TASS/: An attack on an outpost on the Tajik-Uzbek border was carried out by militants of the Islamic State (terror group, outlawed in Russia), who had come from Afghanistan, Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security said on Wednesday.

"They [the attackers - TASS] crossed the border from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan with a special task, all of them are members of the IS terror group," the intelligence agency said in a statement.

BEIJING (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said Iran had explicitly signaled its intent for the first time to quit its nuclear deal in announcing it would start injecting uranium gas at an enrichment facility.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of a visit to China, Macron called Iran’s latest move “grave”.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday Washington’s review of a trade preference facility for Indonesia would conclude soon, and he predicted “far more investment” by U.S. companies in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) office has been reviewing Indonesia’s eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facility for over a year to address concerns about market access for U.S. goods, services and investment.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The European Union and China have agreed to protect 100 European regional food designations, known as geographical indications (GI), in China and 100 Chinese geographical indications in the EU, the EU Commission said on Wednesday.

The deal will protect the names of such products as cava, Irish whiskey, feta and prosciutto di Parma, as well as China’s Pixian bean paste, Anji white tea and Panjin rice.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam strongly condemns violent action against lawmaker Junius Ho, she told a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho was attacked by a man wielding a knife on Wednesday and was taken to hospital along with an injured aide.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Beijing supports bolder action to tackle the roots of unrest that has rocked Hong Kong for months, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday, just hours after a knife-wielding man attacked a pro-Beijing lawmaker in the Chinese-ruled city.

Han Zheng, a vice premier, said at a meeting with Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in Beijing the anti-government protests were damaging the “one country, two systems” formula under which the former British colony has been governed since its handover to China in 1997.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets were mostly higher Wednesday after investors were rattled by a possible snag in a U.S.-Chinese trade truce following reports Beijing wants Washington to lift punitive tariffs.

Germany and Paris opened higher and London was unchanged. Tokyo rose while Shanghai declined and Hong Kong was flat.

Khartoum, Nov 6 (AFP) Sudan's first ever satellite for conducting research in military, economic and space technology has been launched by China, the northeast African country's ruling body has said.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads Sudan's sovereign council, on Tuesday announced the launch of the satellite at a meeting of his top security officials held in Khartoum.

China's state news agency, Xinhua, reported that the satellite was launched on Sunday from north China's Shanxi Province.

HONG KONG (AP) — An anti-government supporter stabbed and wounded a pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker who was campaigning for local elections Wednesday, police said, marking another escalation in five months of protests demanding political reforms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The government condemned the attack against Junius Ho and said police arrested the assailant. A police official, who requested anonymity as he isn’t authorized to make statements, says Ho, his assistant and the attacker were hospitalized.