Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

HONG KONG (AP) — A group of pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators filed a legal challenge against the government’s use of a colonial-era emergency law to criminalize the wearing of masks at rallies to quell anti-government demonstrations, which diminished in intensity but didn’t stop.

The mask ban that went into effect at midnight Friday triggered an overnight rash of widespread violence and destruction in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, including the setting of fires and attacks on an off-duty police officer who fired a live shot in self-defense that wounded a 14-year-old.

BEIJING, Oct 5 (APP): Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan will arrive in the Chinese Capital in early next week for official visit to China.

During his visit, PM Imran Khan will hold separate meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang and discuss issues of regional and bilateral significance.

He will also discuss expansion of projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework besides cooperation in agriculture, industrial and socioeconomic sectors.

HANOI, October 4. /TASS/: Russia is prepared to provide to Vietnam its cutting-edge weapons and other military hardware, for it faces no external restrictions in this field, Russian export and import giant Rosoboronexport’s delegates told TASS on the sidelines of the international exhibition Defense and Security Expo underway in Hanoi on October 2-4.

TAIYUAN, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China sent its observation satellite into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province at 2:51 a.m. Saturday (Beijing Time).

The satellite, Gaofen-10, was launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. It was the 314th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

As part of the country's high-definition Earth observation project, the microwave remote sensing satellite is capable of providing photographs with a resolution of less than a meter.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 5 (Xinhua) — Cambodia’s Supreme Court has upheld the decision of a lower court to sentence an unlicensed medical practitioner to 25 years in prison, for infecting over 200 villagers with HIV via the reuse of unclean needles.

Yem Chrin, 60, was arrested in 2014 in northwestern Battambang province, after most of his patients had their blood tested positive for HIV and accused him of transmitting the virus via the reuse of unsterilised needles.

HONG KONG (AP) — All subway and trains services are closed in Hong Kong after another night of rampaging violence that a new ban on face masks failed to quell.

After widespread overnight arson attacks, looting, fighting with police and beatings, the government on Saturday called on the public to swing behind it in condemning the increasingly violent protests.

John Lee, the government’s security secretary, says by not condemning violence, people are stoking it.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s embattled leader insisted a new measure banning masks at rallies was not a move toward authoritarian rule or at the behest of the Chinese government, which signaled its approval shortly after she implemented the toughened response to quell four months of increasingly violent protests.

International observers worried, however, that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s use of the Emergency Ordinance — last invoked more than 50 years ago — could lead to harsher measures that would limit free expression in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

BEIJING, Sep 4 (APP): Pakistan Ambassador to China Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi has said that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed between Pakistan and China would become operational in a few months.

“Actually the free trade agreement will hopefully be implemented shortly, because it’s still going through the internal processes of being ratified. We hope that in the next few months, it will become operational,” she said in an exclusive interview to China Economic Net (CEN) here on Friday.

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The former head of China’s top securities regulator, Liu Shiyu, has been removed from a government position following an investigation by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the watchdog said on Friday.

Liu “severely violated political discipline and political rules”, received gifts and used his power and position to seek personal gains for others, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics said Friday it has ended the production of smartphones in its last factory in China.

Production at the factory in southern China’s Huizhou ended last month, the company said in an email Friday.

It said it made “the difficult decision to cease operations of Samsung Electronics Huizhou” in order “to enhance efficiency” in its manufacturing.

Samsung’s market share in China has dwindled to near insignificance as competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi got the upper hand.