Hong Kong police use tear gas on protesters

HONG KONG – Pro-democracy demonstrators defied onslaughts of tear gas and appeals from Hong Kong’s top leader to go home, as the protests over Beijing’s decision to limit political reforms expanded across the city early today.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying reassured the public that rumors the Chinese army might intervene were untrue.

Protesters spent the night on the pavement, some flat on their backs asleep, others milling around as they watched for police. The sit-ins spread from the financial district, near the government headquarters, to other areas of Hong Kong in the strongest challenge yet to Beijing’s decision to limit democratic reforms for the semi-autonomous city.

In Japan, hope fades for volcano victims

TOKYO – Rescue efforts on Mount Ontake were to resume late Sunday as hopes diminish that survivors will be found near the peak after Japan’s second-highest volcano erupted two days ago, the nation’s second natural disaster in a month.

Four of 31 victims found without a pulse were brought down from the mountain Sunday. Rescue work was halted in the afternoon because of the strong smell of sulfur, public broadcaster NHK reported. Officials have yet to confirm that any of the 31 victims were killed.

Al-Qaida warns of revenge for airstrikes by U.S.-led coalition

BEIRUT – The leader of al-Qaida’s Syria affiliate vowed Sunday that his group would “use all possible means” to fight back against airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and warned that the conflict would reach Western countries joining the alliance.

The U.S. views the affiliate, known as the Nusra Front, as a terrorist group, but Syrian rebels have long seen it as a potent ally against both the Islamic State extremist group – which is the main target of the coalition – and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Syrian rebels, activists and analysts have warned that targeting the Nusra Front will inject more chaos into the Syrian conflict and indirectly help Assad by striking one of his main adversaries. The U.S. insists it wants Assad to step down, but is not targeting his forces, which are best placed to benefit from the airstrikes.

In a 25-minute audio recording, Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani portrayed the U.S.-led coalition as a “Crusader alliance” against Sunni Muslims and vowed to fight back.

Bloomberg News, Associated Press