Asia News

Indonesian minister defends bank bailout

AFP - Wednesday, November 25

JAKARTA (AFP) - - Indonesia's finance minister and central bank chief on Tuesday defended a 704-million-dollar lifeline thrown to a failed lender, which has become the centre of the country's latest graft scandal. More »

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Former Thai PM Samak dies at 74
AFP - Wednesday, November 25
BANGKOK (AFP) - - Former Thai prime minister Samak Sundaravej, who was forced from office in 2008 for starring in television cooking shows, died of liver cancer Tuesday at the age of 74, associates said.
'Amazing' Bangladeshi twins out of intensive care
AFP - Wednesday, November 25
MELBOURNE (AFP) - - Bangladeshi twins Trishna and Krishna are out of intensive care and seeing each other for the first time as they make an "amazing" recovery from surgery to separate their conjoined heads, doctors said Tuesday.
Jetstar 'sorry' after taking Paralympic hero's wheelchair
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
MELBOURNE (AFP) - - Australian budget airline Jetstar apologised on Tuesday after making a Paralympic champion check in his wheelchair before catching a flight, prompting him to drag himself through the airport.
'World's biggest animal sacrifice' begins in Nepal
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
BARIYAPUR (AFP) - - Up to a million Hindu devotees gathered Tuesday in a tiny village in Nepal to witness the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals in a mass sacrifice that has drawn widespread criticism.
Obama must help Chinese dissident: US lawmakers
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US President Barack Obama should "pick up the phone" and urge Chinese President Hu Jintao personally to ease pressure on a Beijing-based human rights lawyer, Jiang Tianyong, US lawmakers said Monday.
Afghan governor warns Dutch over pullout: report
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
LONDON (AFP) - - The governor of an Afghan province pleaded Tuesday with the Netherlands not to withdraw troops from the region next year, warning its job is "only half finished," a report said.
Troops deployed after Philippine massacre: military
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
MANILA (AFP) - - Hundreds of extra troops have been deployed in the southern Philippines after gunmen believed linked to a local politician kidnapped and killed at least 22 people, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
Cuba, Australia boost ties during FM visit
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
HAVANA (AFP) - - Cuba and Australia have decided to strengthen their 20-year relationship, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said Monday at the start of a two-day visit to Havana.
Indonesia president sidesteps action on corruption case
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
JAKARTA (AFP) - - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday sidestepped advice from his own fact-finding team to punish senior law enforcers over a huge corruption scandal that has gripped the nation.
Japanese hostage in Yemen freed: governor
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
SANAA (AFP) - - A Japanese engineer kidnapped by tribesmen near the Yemeni capital on November 15 was released on Monday, Sanaa's governor Numan Duid announced.
Taiwan's dwindling birth rate causes concern
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
TAIPEI (AFP) - - As a schoolteacher, Ariel Shen has been observing Taiwan's declining birth rate from up close.
China 'sentences quake activist to three years'
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
BEIJING (AFP) - - A Chinese dissident who campaigned for the parents of children killed in last year's Sichuan earthquake was sentenced Monday to three years in jail on a state secrets charge, his wife said.
Gunmen fire on Americans' home in Indonesia
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) - - Gunmen fired at the home of two US academics in the Indonesian province of Aceh on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks directed against foreigners in the region, police said.
Anger builds as China mine toll hits 104
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
HEGANG, China (AFP) - - Relatives of victims angrily demanded answers Monday as the death toll from China's worst mining disaster in two years climbed to 104 and hopes of finding more survivors faded.
Japan, China, S.Korea sign food safety memorandum
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
TOKYO (AFP) - - Health ministers from Japan, China and South Korea agreed Monday to step up efforts to ensure food safety following concerns over pesticide-tainted Chinese-made dumplings.
21 dead in Philippine hostage crisis: military
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) - - Twenty-one people who were among a group of local politicians and journalists abducted in the southern Philippines on Monday have been found dead, the region's military chief said.
Alleged Thai spy files bail request in Cambodia: lawyer
AFP - Tuesday, November 24
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - - The lawyer for a Thai national held on charges of spying on fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra said he filed a bail request to a Cambodian court Monday.
Asylum-seekers riot at Australia detention centre
AFP - Monday, November 23
SYDNEY (AFP) - - Australia moved to tighten security at its main immigration centre on Monday after a riot by 150 asylum-seekers, reportedly wielding pool cues, broomsticks and tree branches, left 37 wounded.
Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand: official
AFP - Monday, November 23
SYDNEY (AFP) - - More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.