Top Asian News 4:52 a.m. GMT

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — More than 20 years after his father almost bargained them away for a pair of nuclear reactors, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has his nuclear weapons — and a nation still plagued by chronic blackouts. Even on the clearest days, plumes of smoke from two towering chimneys linger over the center of Pyongyang. The Soviet-era Pyongyang Combined Heat and Power Plant smokestacks are one of the North Korean capital's most recognizable landmarks. Possibly more than anything else, this is Kim Jong Un's Achilles heel as he turns his attention from developing the country's nuclear weapons arsenal to building its economy.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has airlifted thousands of boxes of tangerines to North Korea in return for the North's large shipments of pine mushrooms in September, Seoul officials said Monday. South Korea says it will send 200 tons of tangerines to North Korea by Monday afternoon. Seoul's Defense Ministry says military planes flew to Pyongyang twice on Sunday to deliver the fruits and are doing the same on Monday. After September's inter-Korean summit talks in Pyongyang, North Korea gave South Korea 2 tons of pine mushrooms as a goodwill gesture. The tangerine airlifting is a sign that the two Koreas are pushing ahead with efforts to improve ties despite a stalemated global diplomacy on North Korea's nuclear program.

SYDNEY (AP) — A homeless man who rammed a shopping trolley at a knife-wielding attacker who was threatening police is being hailed and rewarded for his actions, but he insists he isn't a hero. Michael Rogers emerged from a crowd of onlookers during the attack Friday afternoon in downtown Melbourne, Australia, in which one person was fatally stabbed and two others wounded. Social media users have dubbed Rogers "Trolleyman" and an online fundraiser for him by registered charity Melbourne Homeless Collective had raised more than $72,000 ($100,000 AUD) by Monday morning. "Our hero is humble as can be and had no idea about this fundraiser," the GoFundMe page reads.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's president said he dissolved Parliament and called elections to avoid possible violence inside Parliament and around the country if a vote had to be taken to decide whether his chosen prime minister or his sacked rival had the majority support. In a televised address to the nation Sunday evening, President Maithripala Sirisena said he heard stories from lawmakers on both sides of possible violence in Parliament that could even result in deaths and clashes spreading around the country. "It appeared to me that, if I allowed the Parliament to be convened on the 14th, without dissolving it, it could have brought about commotion and fights in every city and every village would lead to very unpleasant and difficult situation for the average citizens of my beloved country," he said.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The repatriation of ethnic Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh, to which more than 700,000 fled since last year to escape deadly violence carried out by Myanmar's security forces, will begin this week, top Myanmar officials said Sunday. Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye announced at a news conference that Bangladesh had informed Myanmar authorities that repatriation, agreed upon in principle months ago, would begin on Thursday. A Myanmar government statement said an initial group of 2,251 would be sent back from mid-November at a rate of 150 per day. Noting that the actual date depended upon Bangladesh taking action, Win Myat Aye said, "Whether it will happen on the day or not, we have to be ready on our side and we try our best to do that." Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's repatriation commissioner, said he was unaware that a date had been set.

SYDNEY (AP) — A former strawberry farm supervisor was accused in court Monday of retaliating over a workplace grievance by putting needles into the fruit, sparking recalls that devastated the Australian industry. Magistrate Christine Roney said while prosecutors were alleging My Ut Trinh was "motivated by spite or revenge" she would not consider granting bail for the woman until the reasons for her actions became clearer. While no injuries were reported from the needles, the crisis escalated to six states and neighboring New Zealand. Australia's multimillion-dollar strawberry industry suffered major financial losses, with fruit recalled from supermarket shelves and destroyed. Major food distributors in New Zealand removed Australian strawberries from stores.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Online shoppers in China have shattered last year's record by making $30.8 billion in sales on the country's annual buying frenzy Sunday, as the tradition marked its 10th year. The spending binge has for years eclipsed Cyber Monday in the U.S. for online purchases made on a single day. This year's tally was 27 percent higher than a year ago. It breaks from gloomy forecasts about the world's second-largest economy, which is struggling with a tariff war with the U.S., a stock market slump and slowing overall growth. Known as Singles Day, the clamor for deals and discounts was heralded with characteristic fanfare by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has turned an unofficial holiday for people without romantic partners into a yearly windfall for digital retailers.

PARIS (AP) — William Kearsey's war was long over by the time his son ever heard about it. By then, the World War I veteran had undergone 28 surgeries to knit back together the bones and flesh of his face, which was shattered in a trench in Belgium in 1917. A century after fighting in the first war of its kind ceased, Kearsey's son, Peter, stood on a rain-soaked avenue in Paris on Sunday to honor the armistice that ended the war his father and so many other soldiers endured. "It's appropriate, really, like what they went through in the trenches.

BEIJING (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. ___ CHINA DEMANDS END TO US OPERATIONS China has demanded the United States stop sending ships and military aircraft close to its South China Sea island claims during talks to prepare for a meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Two Indian soldiers were killed when Pakistani soldiers fired along the highly militarized de facto frontier that divides the disputed region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the Indian army said Sunday. Pakistani soldiers on Sunday targeted a forward post in Rajouri sector along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between the two rivals, said Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman. He said a soldier was killed after getting hit by sniper fire. On Saturday, another Indian soldier was killed when he was hit by a sniper in Sunderbani sector, Anand said. Anand called the two incidents a "blatant violation" of the 2003 cease-fire accord between India and Pakistan.