There have been protests in Hong Kong as residents anticipate a ruling by Beijing on Monday that would interfere in the outcome of local elections for the Legislative Council. Two dissidents on the Council have made it clear that they resent the control of the central government in Hong Kong affairs. They believe that the laws governing local politics were guaranteed in the 1997 decision by Great Britain to hand over the colony of Hong Kong to China cannot be broken. But Beijing fears the nascent independence movement in the colony, both because of the significance of the city for China’s economy, but also because of a possible connection to other independence movements in China in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Air quality in New Delhi has been a problem for some time, but the situation in the last week has reached crisis proportions. The city has been forced to close schools and halt construction as pollution levels have reached as high as 17 times their permissible limits. Some of the problem is due to the particulate emissions associated with Diwali celebrations, but New Delhi has experienced a large surge in the number of automobiles as the country has become richer.
The pressure on South Korean President Park Geun-hye increases as tens of thousands of South Koreans protest, demanding her resignation. Prosecutors have arrested Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of the late cult leader and there is evidence that Choi had access to classified information even though she held no government position whatsoever. President Park apologized to the country on Friday, but her popularity now stands at 5%. She has 15 months left in her term but it is doubtful that she will last much longer.
World Politics News 
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