Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

5 July 2019; AFP: The Malaysian producer of Hollywood film "The Wolf of Wall Street" and stepson of the country's disgraced ex-leader was Friday charged with illegally receiving almost $250 million from state fund 1MDB.

Riza Aziz pleaded not guilty to five charges of money laundering when he appeared in a Kuala Lumpur court.

He is accused of receiving $248.17 million in 2011 and 2012 in illegal proceeds that originated from the scandal-hit Malaysian fund.

Beijing, Jul 4; GANASHAKTI: China Thursday accorded a red carpet welcome to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who held wide ranging talks with her Chinese counterpart

Li Keqiang to further consolidate bilateral ties and signed nine agreements.

The nine instruments - five agreements, three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and a document - were signed in different sectors ranging from aid for the Rohingyas and economic and technical cooperation, investment, power, culture and tourism.

PHNOM PENH, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-seven Cambodian immigrants deported from the United States arrived in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh on Thursday, a senior police official said on Friday.

"Thirty-seven Cambodian immigrants, including a woman, arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport this morning (July 4)," the official at the Interior Ministry's General Identification Department told Xinhua and asked not to be named.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks fell Friday as investors waited for American employment data and details of U.S.-Chinese trade talks.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong fell while Australia edged up.

Investors looked ahead to monthly U.S. jobs data due out Friday, which are expected to be a factor in the Federal Reserve’s decision this month on interest rates. The markets expect a solid 165,000 increase in non-farm payrolls.

The central bank has said it is prepared to cut rates to shore up the U.S. economy if trade disputes crimp growth.

TOKYO (AP) — An Australian student on Friday thanked Swedish and his country’s diplomats for securing his release in North Korea but kept mum about what led to his weeklong detention.

“I intend now to return to normal life but wanted to first publicly thank everyone who worked to ensure I was safe and well,” Alek Sigley said in a statement released by his family’s spokeswoman in Australia, a day after he was flew from Pyongyang to Beijing and then Tokyo to be reunited with his Japanese wife.

HONG KONG (AP) — Student unions from two Hong Kong universities have turned down invitations from city leader Carrie Lam for talks about the recent unrest over her proposal to allow the extradition of suspects to mainland China.

Student leaders said at a news conference Friday that they do not think Lam is being sincere in her offer of closed-door meetings. They say any meeting should be public and include a wider representation.

HONG KONG (AP) — It was almost noon on Monday when hundreds of protesters outside Hong Kong’s legislature voted to break in.

Watching from the side, one protester disagreed. They were too few, 19-year-old Daisy Chan worried, and the police presence was heavy.

As hours passed, thousands more trickled into the plaza and a nearby roundabout. The police retreated into the building. Angry protesters shattered windows with carts, sledgehammers and metal barricades.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday its operating profit for the last quarter likely fell more than 56% from a year earlier amid a weak market for memory chips.

The South Korean tech giant estimated an operating profit of 6.5 trillion won ($5.5 billion) for the April-June quarter, which would represent a 56.3% drop from the same period last year.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The stepson of Malaysian ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak pleaded not guilty on Friday to laundering $248 million from the 1MDB state investment fund, become the third person in his family to face charges in the scandal.

4 July 2019; DW: Japan has evacuated more than a million people from its southernmost main island of Kyushu  as torrential rains triggered landslides and concerns for widespread flooding.

A woman in her 80s was unaccounted for in the city of Soo in Kagoshima prefecture after her house was buried by a landslide on Thursday morning.

More rain is expected to hit wider regions of the country, including Tokyo, on Thursday.