Top Asian News 3:59 a.m. GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Fed up with the theft of toilet paper from public bathrooms, tourist authorities in China's capital have begun using facial recognition technology to limit how much paper a person can take. The unusual move — part of a "toilet revolution" — is another step in China's vast upgrading of public facilities. Bathrooms at tourist sites, notorious for their primitive conditions and nasty odors, are a special focus of the campaign, a response to a vast expansion in domestic travel and demands for better-quality facilities from a more affluent public. "Today in China, people are highly enthusiastic about tourism, and we have entered a new era of public tourism," said Zhan Dongmei, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy.

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — The Catholic Church on the Pacific island of Guam has been devastated by allegations that its longtime archbishop sexually abused altar boys. But even before the scandal broke, Guam's church was divided over another issue — the presence of a controversial European lay movement that became so toxic that a community of nuns fled to the mainland U.S. in despair. The battle on the tiny tropical U.S. territory pits the Neocatechumenal Way lay group against critics on a majority Catholic island that was colonized by Spanish missionaries in the 17th century. The Way was founded in the 1960s in Madrid and is best known for sending families out on missions to evangelize in places where Catholics are a either a minority or have fallen away from the church.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against the Afghan president's visit to Australia on Monday, calling for his government to end discrimination against the Hazara ethnic minority and to refuse to repatriate asylum seekers rejected by Australia. The protesters gathered outside Government House, where Ashraf Ghani met with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on the first visit to Australia by an Afghan president. Hazara protester Barat Ali Batoor said the security situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated too much for members of the Hazara community for the Afghan government to continue to accept asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia in 2011 to accept failed Afghan asylum seekers.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — When Durdana married for a second time and to a man of her own choosing, her parents threatened to kill her if she tried to see her new husband. They imprisoned her in their home, but she still had her mobile phone and had learned that a helpline for women had been set up. She noted the number and then one day when she was alone in the house, she called. Nayab Hassan was on the other end. She had been trained how to answer the call. "Be gentle. Listen. Let them speak. Let them tell you what they want.

NEW DELHI (AP) — From Bollywood superstars to political heavyweights, the Regal theater hosted some of India's biggest names over more than eight decades. But with nostalgic theater-goers singing their way to the exits after a final showing of a Bollywood classic, the iconic New Delhi theater has closed its doors to make way for a multiplex. "It's the end of an era. It's very sad," said Nanak, who had worked at the theater since 1979. Nanak, whose grandfather and father were part of the Regal's management team in the 1950s and '60s, uses one name. With its corridors studded with black-and-white images of Bollywood stars such as Nargis, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, the magic of a bygone era was visible throughout the theater.

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — The custodian of a local shrine and his accomplices killed 20 devotees after intoxicating them in eastern Punjab province, police said Sunday, in what officials said was the outcome of a dispute over custodianship of the shrine. Senior police officer Mohammad Bilal said the shrine custodian in a village near the city of Sargodha some 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of Multan was arrested Sunday morning along with four others for killing worshippers with batons and knives. Bilal said another four people were in critical condition. A doctor at Sargodha hospital told Geo TV that the victims were killed while nude and the bodies bore multiple stab wounds and blunt weapons marks.

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man who struck and killed a renowned Australian humorist with his pickup truck will be sentenced in May after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash. The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that 20-year-old Tristian Myers pleaded guilty last week in the death last October of Leslie Nassar. He had been living in the small southwestern Idaho city of Nampa with his family. Nassar was a well-known social media and technology-engineering figure in Australia. He ran a satirical news column for Crikey, an online magazine, and a comedic Twitter feed called Department of Australia.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has retained support in its Yangon strongholds, but loyalty has weakened in ethnic minority areas that helped boost the NLD's 2015 general election victory, according to by-election results announced Sunday. The results from Saturday's by-elections released by the country's election commission showed the NLD taking eight of 12 seats for the combined upper houses of the national parliament. It won only one of seven seats at stake in state assembles, where ethnic-focused parties performed strongly. The NLD won its 2015 election majority with the support of ethnic minorities anxious to end five decades of military rule, but Suu Kyi's failure so far to meet their political demands for greater autonomy has fractured their united front.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated an 11-kilometer (7-mile) tunnel through the Himalayan terrain on Sunday to help ease travel on a highway linking the troubled Kashmir Valley with the rest of India. Modi drove in an open jeep through the all-weather route, which is expected to help trade and tourism in the region. The highway is blocked sometimes for hours and even days due to heavy snow, monsoon rains and landslides. It took engineers six years to build the tunnel, which cost 25 billion rupees ($382 million). However, separatist leaders fighting for the region's independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan shut businesses and public transport in the region on Sunday and said the construction of tunnels and roads would not succeed in appeasing them.

BEIJING (AP) — The lawyer for a Sydney-based professor who was prevented from leaving China said Sunday that his client has been allowed to return to Australia, apparently bringing closure to an incident that raised concerns about the safety of conducting academic research in China. The barring of associate professor Feng Chongyi from leaving the country had prompted diplomatic appeals from Australia and an open letter to China's leaders from dozens of academics. Feng's lawyer Chen Jinxue said Feng flew home from the southern city of Guangzhou on Saturday night after a final round of questioning by security agents from the southwestern province of Yunnan, where Feng had traveled to during his most recent visit.