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Most Hong Kong people have grown weary of pro-democracy protests that have sparked clashes with police and disrupted the city for almost two months, and want the government to take action to end them, a poll showed.

About 68 percent of 513 respondents said the government should clear the protesters immediately, according to a survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong Nov. 17-18.

Public support for the demonstrations, which at their peak saw tens of thousands of people in the streets, is waning after crowds dwindled, attempts to negotiate with the government failed and the movements leaders failed to agree on strategy. The protests, the most disruptive since China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, were sparked by Beijings decision to screen candidates through a committee for the citys leadership election in 2017.

Hong Kongs Autonomy

Hong Kong police will help clear protest sites in the Mong Kok district as soon as preparations are complete, Police Chief Superintendent Hui Chun-tak said at a press briefing yesterday.

Police will take resolute action against anyone interfering with bailiffs, and will not tolerate any violence, Hui said. Mong Kok was the scene of some of the fiercest clashes during the protests for free elections.

A small group of protesters smashed through a glass door of the Legislative Council building in the Admiralty district early early yesterday, using metal barricades and concrete blocks. Police used pepper spray to repel other people who charged at them. Protest leaders and pro-democracy lawmakers condemned the break-in.

The clash is another sign the movement is splintering, with pro-democracy lawmakers and student leaders unable to restrain the demonstrators.

The use of violence is definitely against the umbrella movements emphasis as that of using peaceful, non-violent means to fight for full democracy, Alan Leong, leader of the pro-democracy Civic Party, said yesterday in a briefing with other legislators. It seriously undermines the movement.

Umbrella movement refers to protesters use of umbrellas initially as shields against pepper spray. The demonstrations, in their eighth week, are the biggest upheaval since China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.

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Most Hong Kong People Want Democracy Protests to End, Poll Shows

TIME World Burma Burma Counts Down to Elections But Democracy Remains a Distant Dream Adam Dean's photos capture a still impoverished Burma as it stumbles through democratic transition, and ethnic strife, one year before landmark polls

In late October or early November next year Burma will go to the polls. However, the nation, officially now known as Myanmar, remains a long way from realizing true democracy.

Nobel Peace Price winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 years under house arrest since returning to her homeland in 1988, was elected to parliament in April 2012, but remains constitutionally barred from becoming president.

In shunning the pro-democracy icon, Burmas indomitable military demonstrates that it continues to influence all aspects of life.

The easing of Western economic sanctions has seen Burmas long-cloistered economy pried open cellphones and ATMs are now commonplace but reform has largely been confined to sectors that benefit the generals and their cronies.

In ethnic border regions, rebel groups continue to battle the Burmese Army for greater autonomy, despite a raft of peace deals. Human rights abuses continue unabated; some advocacy groups say they have even increased.

In Burmas western Rakhine State, the much-maligned Rohingya Muslim minority faces strict curbs on marriage, movement, population growth and education. Over 100,000 of this wretched community fester in squalid ghettos following pogroms by radical Buddhists. Access to food and healthcare is severely limited.

For them, as will the 60% of Burmas 53 million population who continue to struggle in dire poverty, reforms have so far promised much but delivered little. For the past two years, photographer Adam Dean has been documenting Burmas stumbling transition.

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Burma Counts Down to Elections But Democracy Remains a Distant Dream

The three-finger salute from the "Hunger Games" books and movies symbolizes rebellion against unjust rule, a reason it was appropriated months ago by protesters against the military junta now running Thailand. Yesterday, the generals decided they'd had enough: Three students were detained for flashing the symbol.

Opponents of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general swept to power after a coup five months ago, see Thursday's crackdown as more evidence for what they already hold true Thailand is becoming an oppressive state with parallels to the popular book and movie franchise.

The Associated Press reports that police escorted Nachacha Kongudom, a university student, out of a movie theater in a Bangkok shopping mall after she flashed the three-finger salute in front of a billboard for the series' latest installment, "Mockingjay Part 1."

"The 'Mockingjay' movie reflects what's happening in our society," Ms. Nachacha told the AP before being led away. "When people have been suppressed for some time, they would want to resist and fight for their rights."

Meanwhile, police detained two male activists outside a nearby cinema. Police Col. Visoot Chatchaidet told reporters that the students had not been arrested, according to Reuters. "We are just inviting them to talk," he said.

All three protesters were released without charge. But Nachacha had to sign a form promising she would not engage in political activity, a lawyer told the AP.

Nachacha is a supporter of the Thai Student Center for Democracy (TSCD). The organization distributed more than 100 tickets to watch "Mockingjay" at a Bangkok theater. But APEX, the company that owns the cinema, cancelled all screenings of the movie ahead of its Thursday opening.

TSCD organizers said they were not staging a demonstration, but activists said police pressured the chain into calling off the showings.

"Everyone is afraid to do or to say something wrong," activist Ratthapol Supasopon said before police took him away, according to the Bangkok Post. "Today, in Thailand, we don't have freedom anymore."

The detentions in Bangkok occurred a day after police detained five university students who gave the three-fingered salute during a speech by Prime Minister Prayuth in northeastern Thailand, the AP reports.

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Why does the 'Hunger Games' have Thailand on edge?

Book Review | Social Justice Without Socialism - Primary Source Edition
BOOK REVIEW OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOK =--- Where to buy this book? ISBN: 9781293012918 Book Review of Social Justice Without Socialism - Primary Source Edition by John Bates Clark ...

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Book Review | Social Justice Without Socialism - Primary Source Edition - Video

Pyongyang, November 19 (KCNA) -- The Maritime Territorial Regional Committee for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation issued a statement on Nov. 11 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's work "Socialism Is a Science."

The statement said:

The work evoked lively response among world people right after its publication.

The book authored by the great man was just like a fresh air as we were almost choked in face of criticism by imperialists and renegades of socialism who talked about the "end of socialism" by taking the advantage of a series of collapse of socialism in various countries.

The preceding socialist theory that attached importance to material and economic factors only could hardly escape historical limitations.

Comrade Kim Il Sung founded the man-centered Juche idea, the first of its kind in history, and built Korean-style socialism which thoroughly embodied it.

Comrade Kim Jong Il who personified the idea and traits of the President further developed in depth the Juche idea and the idea and theory of socialist construction, clearly indicating the road to be followed by the working people.

Socialism in the DPRK is solid and it has dynamically advanced toward the final victory despite nuclear threat, blockade and economic sanctions by the imperialists.

Socialism centered on the popular masses is the most scientific, advantageous and powerful one.

It is sure to triumph for its scientific accuracy and truth.

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Socialism Is Sure to Triumph: Russian Party