Tag Archives: Asia Pacific

March 22-28, 2024 Lawyers file a lawsuit against the presidential election results in Indonesia, Thailand tries to help displaced people in Myanmar, and the Myanmar military holds the annual Armed Forces Day parade. Christian, Muslim and Buddhist devotees participate in events for the Holy month of Lent in the Philippines, the fasting month of Ramadan in Indian-controlled Kashmir and Buddha’s …

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s military said Monday it has arrested 13 elite troops accused of involvement in a video showing the torture of an indigenous Papua man believed to be a member of a separatist group. The video that emerged in recent days on social media shows men who appear to be soldiers kicking, beating and dunking the man …

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Six more bodies of Rohingya refugees have been found at sea off Indonesia after a boat with more than 150 people aboard capsized last week, local authorities said Monday. The bodies of the six women were found off the coast of Aceh province, search and rescue officials said in a statement. Five bodies were found …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The economic situation in debt-stricken Sri Lanka has started to gradually improve following its worst economic crisis two years ago, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday. Inflation has come down from a peak of 70% in 2022 to 5.9% last month and the country’s economy expanded in the second half of last year following a …

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces Wednesday killed at least eight insurgents as they repulsed an attack by a separatist group on a sprawling government building outside the Chinese-funded Gwadar port in the volatile southwest, officials said. Three security forces were also killed in the ensuing shootout. All the Chinese nationals working at the port in Baluchistan province were …

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese high court ruled Thursday that denying same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and called for urgent government action to address the lack of any law allowing for such unions. Plaintiffs and the LGBTQ+ community in Japan cheered it as giving them hope for change toward equality. The court does not have the power to overturn the current …

NEW DELHI (AP) — India has successfully conducted its first test flight of a domestically developed missile that can carry multiple warheads, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday. The missile is equipped with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, Modi said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. India has been developing its medium- and long-range missile systems since …

Godzilla finally made it to the Oscars this year — and slayed. The movie “Godzilla Minus One,” set in the waning days of World War II, won the Oscar for best visual effects, pushing aside such big-budget behemoths as “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” “Napoleon” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.” “Godzilla Minus One,” from writer-director Takashi Yamazaki, …

BEIJING (AP) — China’s national legislature wrapped up its annual session Monday with the usual show of near-unanimous support for plans designed to carry out ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s vision for the nation. The weeklong event, replete with meetings carefully scripted to allow no surprises, has highlighted how China’s politics have become ever more calibrated to elevate Xi. …

BEIJING (AP) — The former chairman of the state-owned Bank of Beijing is under investigation for corruption, the latest in a series of graft investigations focused on the country’s financial sector. Yan Bingzhu, who led the bank since its establishment in 1996 and until he retired in 2017, is among several top officials being probed for “seriously violating discipline and …