Asia News from WN Network

South Korea’s birthrate is so low, the president wants to create a ministry to tackle it 2024-05-09
CNN

South Korea’s leader on Thursday said he plans to create a new government ministry to tackle the “national emergency” of the country’s infamously low birth rate as it grapples with a deepening demographic crisis. In a televised address, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would ask for parliament’s...

photo: WN

Fiji’s former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama jailed for a year 2024-05-09
Al Jazeera

Frank Bainimarama, who was Fiji’s prime minister for some 15 years until losing power in 2022, has been jailed for a year after he was found guilty of using his position to shut down a corruption investigation into a prominent university. Once armed forces chief, Bainimarama seized power in a 2006...

photo: AP / Nicolas Asfouri/Pool Photo

NK leader voices 'firm support' in his message to Putin over Victory Day 2024-05-09
Korea Times

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia, Sept. 13, 2023. AP-Yonhap North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the...

From flooding in Brazil to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere 2024-05-09
The Manila Times

IN sweltering Brazil, flooding killed dozens of people and paralyzed a city of about 4 million people. Voters and politicians in India, amid national elections, are fainting in heat that hit as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.3 degrees Celsius). A brutal Asian heat wave has closed schools in the...

photo: WN / Shilpa

Thailand’s prime minister wants to outlaw cannabis, 2 years after it was decriminalized 2024-05-08
Wtop

BANGKOK (AP) — The prime minister of Thailand, the first country in Asia to legalize cannabis two years ago, said Wednesday that he wants to outlaw the drug again amid concerns that the lack of regulation had made it available to...

photo: AP / Jeff Chiu

Malaysia plans ‘orangutan diplomacy’ in palm oil pitch 2024-05-08
Al Jazeera

Malaysia has said it plans to start an “orangutan diplomacy” programme for countries that buy its palm oil. The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s second biggest producer of the edible oil after Indonesia, but critics say the mass development of the industry has fuelled deforestation and...

photo: Public Domain / Pizzaboy1

From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere 2024-05-08
Independent Online

In sweltering Brazil, flooding killed dozens of people and paralyzed a city of about 4 million people. Voters and politicians in India, amid national elections, are fainting in heat that hit as high as 115 degrees (46.3 degrees Celsius). A brutal Asian heat wave has closed schools in the...

photo: AP / Andre Penner

Pakistan bets on a cannabis high as its economy struggles 2024-05-08
Al Jazeera

Islamabad, Pakistan – When Aamir Dhedhi took his mother to India in 2014 to get treatment for Parkinson’s disease, the doctors there advised him to procure cannabidiol (CBD) oil to help her manage her pain. It was the first time that Dhedhi, a Karachi-based entrepreneur, learned about the medicinal...

photo: Creative Commons / Khalid Mahmood https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Khalid_Mahmood

Rape, terror and death at sea: How a boat carrying Rohingya children, women and men capsized 2024-05-08
Hindustan Times

MEULABOH, Indonesia — The boat glided across waters that were dark and still, under a night sky that was cloudless and calm. But on board, the 12-year-old girl quaked with fear. Rape, terror and death at sea: How a boat carrying Rohingya children, women and men capsized The captain and crew who she...

photo: AP / Reza Saifullah

Indonesia volcano eruptions force thousands to evacuate as airlines cancel flights 2024-05-02
CNN

Renewed eruptions from a remote Indonesian volcano have triggered fresh evacuation orders and sparked flight cancellations and airport closures this week with smoke, lava and volcanic gasses spewing out of the fiery mountain. Mount Ruang, a 725-meter (2,400-foot) volcano on Ruang Island, North...

photo: PVMBG via AP Photo