Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares retreated Wednesday and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell sharply as thousands continued protests against proposed legislation that many city residents fear could further erode the territory’s legal autonomy.

In midday trading in Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 0.4% to 12,104 and the CAC 40 in France dropped 0.6% to 5,377. Britain’s FTSE 100 also skidded 0.6% to 7,356. U.S. shares were headed for a weak open as the future contract for the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.2% to 26,017 while that for the S&P 500 also declined 0.2% to 2,882.

12 June 2019; AFP: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected in Tehran on Wednesday for a rare diplomatic mission, hoping to ease tensions between the Islamic republic and Tokyo's key ally Washington.

The first Japanese prime minister to visit Iran in 41 years, Abe is expected to arrive in Tehran at around 1120 GMT and go straight into talks with President Hassan Rouhani.

TOKYO (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Wednesday and Hong Kong’s Seng index tumbled 1.7% as thousands continued protests against proposed legislation that many city residents fear could further erode the territory’s legal autonomy.

Renewed jitters over the trade war between the U.S. and China were weighing on sentiment, pulling shares slightly lower on Wall Street, where benchmarks fell for the first time in six days.

HONG KONG (AP) — Steps by the Chinese and Hong Kong governments in recent years have raised unease among Hong Kong residents about their future, a concern that burst out in a protest by hundreds of thousands of people last weekend.

Many in the semiautonomous Chinese territory worry the freedoms they enjoy under a “one-country, two-systems” framework are eroding, as both governments use carrots and sticks to draw Hong Kong into China’s orbit.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong delayed a legislative session on a contentious extradition bill as thousands of protesters amassed to block entry to the building Wednesday out of concern the measure signaled greater Chinese control and further erosion of civil liberties in the semiautonomous territory.

The overwhelmingly young crowd of demonstrators filled nearby streets, overturned barriers and tussled with police outside the government headquarters and offices of the Legislative Council.

BEIJING, June 10 (APP): Secretary General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Vladimir Norov has said that the leaders of eight member countries would gather and address security and other topics during the summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan this week.

“We’ll discuss some hot international and regional issues, as well as topics related to peace and stability for SCO countries and the region,” Norov told China Global Television Network (CGTN) in an interview here.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei said Tuesday it would have become the world’s number one smartphone maker by year’s end if it were not for “unexpected” circumstances — a hint that pressure from the U.S. may be hurting its sales.

“If we had not encountered anything unexpected, we would have become number one in the world by the fourth quarter,” Huawei’s chief strategist, Shao Yang, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Shanghai.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday as investor jitters over trade eased after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended plans to impose tariffs on Mexican imports and said he expects to meet with the Chinese leader.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% in morning trading to 21,208.09. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.3% to 6,528.30. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3% to 2,105.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng stood at 27,820.63, up nearly 0.9%, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 1.9% at 2,905.44.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A human rights group said Tuesday it has identified hundreds of spots where witnesses claim North Korea carried out public executions and extrajudicial state killings as part of an arbitrary and aggressive use of the death penalty that is meant to intimidate its citizens.

The Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group said its research was based on interviews with 610 North Korean defectors conducted over four years who helped locate the sites with satellite imagery.

BEIJING (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong over the weekend to protest a legislative proposal that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. It was thought to be the territory’s largest protest in more than a decade and reflects growing apprehension about relations with the Communist Party-ruled mainland.

A closer look at the issue:

___

WHY WERE PEOPLE PROTESTING?