Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s highest court on Wednesday acquitted Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha of breaching ethics clauses in the country’s constitution, allowing him to stay in his job at a time he’s fending off calls for his resignation from student-led pro-democracy protesters.

The Constitutional Court ruled on a complaint brought by the Pheu Thai party, the largest opposition grouping in Parliament, that Prayuth had broken the law by continuing to live in his military residence after he retired as army commander in September 2014.

BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday its latest lunar probe has finished taking samples of the moon’s surface and sealed them within the spacecraft for return to Earth, the first time such a mission has been attempted by any country in more than 40 years.

The Chang’e 5, the third Chinese probe to land on the moon, is the latest in a series of increasingly ambitious missions for Beijing’s space program, which also has a probe en route to Mars carrying a robot rover.

BEIJING, Dec 2 (APP): Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe’s visit to key neighbors – Pakistan and Nepal in the Southwest border were of practical meaning to safeguard regional security, according to observers.

Wei met with Pakistani President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad and discussed a wide range of topics, including the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and defense cooperation.

BANGKOK, Dec 2 (Bernama) — The Bank of Thailand’s (BoT) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has expressed concern over the rapid appreciation of the baht and will consider necessary measures to ensure the exchange rate movements will not be an obstacle to economic recovery. 

According to minutes of its policy meeting on Nov 18 published Wednesday, the committee would closely monitor developments in foreign exchange markets and capital flows as well as consider the necessity of implementing additional appropriate measures. 

JAKARTA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- About 550 people fled home as the Semeru volcano on Indonesia's main Java Island released incandescent lava and hot clouds on early Tuesday, according to the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency.

The agency spokesperson Raditya Jati said that 300 of these people fled to an observation post, and the rest stayed at shelters located in the Supiturang village.

HONG KONG, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Wednesday vehemently refuted a report issued by a U.S. congressional commission and firmly opposed the sweeping attacks and unfounded accusations in the Chapter on Hong Kong.

A spokesman for the HKSAR government said the report by the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission is another vivid example of the blatant interference by the United States in Hong Kong's affairs, following the U.S. Congress' successive passage of a host of laws against the HKSAR.

HONG KONG (AP) — Three prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were sentenced to jail Wednesday for a protest outside police headquarters as authorities stepped up a crackdown on opposition to tighten control by Beijing over the territory.

The activists — Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam — are among more than 10,000 people who have been arrested since June 2019 on charges related to protests against a proposed extradition law that expanded to include demands for greater democracy.

Hong Kong, Dec 2 (AP-PTI) Hong Kong is limiting most gatherings to just two people and ordering compulsory testing of workers at retirement homes and facilities for people with disabilities, among tightening measures to contain a new wave of the coronavirus.

The semi-autonomous southern Chinese city reported 82 news cases on Wednesday, all but 10 of them listed as having been transmitted among residents.

Since Nov 17, it has reported more than 1,000 confirmed cases, only a few of which were brought from outside the city.

Bangkok, Dec 2 (AP-PTI) Thailand's highest court is set to rule Wednesday on whether Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has breached ethics clauses in the country's constitution and should be ousted from his position.

The Constitutional Court will rule on a complaint brought by the Pheu Thai Party, the largest opposition grouping in Parliament, that Prayuth has broken the law by continuing to live in his military residence after he retired as army commander in September 2014.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese spacecraft sent to return lunar rocks to Earth collected its first samples Wednesday after landing on the moon, the government announced, adding to a string of successes for Beijing’s increasingly ambitious space program.

The Chang’e 5 probe touched down shortly after 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday after descending from an orbiter, the China National Space Administration said. It released images of the barren scene at the landing site showing the lander’s shadow.