PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — In a major diplomatic breakthrough that could ease Southeast Asia's migrant crisis, Indonesia and Malaysia offered Wednesday to temporarily take in thousands of people who have been stranded at sea but appealed for international help, saying the crisis is a global, not regional, problem. The reversal in their positions, after weeks of saying the migrants were not welcome, came as more than 430 weak, hungry people were rescued — not by navies patrolling the waters but by a flotilla of Indonesian fishermen who brought them ashore in the eastern province of Aceh.
8:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) Gambia's government says it is willing to resettle Muslim Rohingya migrants stranded at sea after fleeing predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.
BEIJING (AP) — Hand your passport to police or it will be canceled, read the notice to all 4.4 million residents of far-northwestern China's Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The demand would now seem outrageous to most Chinese, who more than a decade since passport restrictions were eased have become increasingly accustomed to traveling abroad for tourism, study or work.
BEIJING (AP) — China's president warned Wednesday that religions must be independent from foreign influence, as the government asks domestic religious groups to pledge loyalty to the state. China is ruled by the officially atheist Communist Party, and Beijing attempts to control a variety of religions and their spread.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that North Korea has canceled an invitation for him to visit a factory park in the country that is the last major cooperation project between the rival Koreas. Ban had previously said that he wanted to go Thursday to the Kaesong industrial park just north of the heavily fortified Korean border to help improve ties between North and South Korea, which jointly run the complex but have seen their always-tense ties worsen in recent weeks.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal must take lessons from earthquake-hit countries such as Mexico and strictly enforce existing building laws as it prepares to rebuild from two major quakes, a senior United Nations official said Wednesday. Earthquakes on April 25 and May 12 killed at least 8,622 people and damaged 756,000 houses and other buildings in Nepal.
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — Indonesia and Malaysia agreed Wednesday to provide temporary shelter to thousands of migrants believed to be stranded at sea, a potential breakthrough in the humanitarian crisis confronting Southeast Asia after weeks of reluctance by the region's nations to take responsibility. The announcement was made by Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman after a meeting with his counterparts from Indonesia and Thailand called to address the plight of the migrants. Most of them are the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and others are Bangladeshis fleeing poverty.
PARIAMAN, Indonesia (AP) — A Japanese man who says he was deceived into carrying someone else's bag on a flight into Indonesia was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for smuggling methamphetamine into the country. Masaru Kawada, 73, was arrested in November at Minangkabau Airport in West Sumatra's capital, Padang, after customs officials found 2.35 kilograms (5.18 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine in his luggage.
TOKYO (AP) — The governor of the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa said Wednesday that he would head to Washington to convey local objections to a plan to relocate a U.S. air base. A plan set in 1996 would move U.S. Marine Air Station Futenma to a less developed area of Okinawa island.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's military says its jets have carried out airstrikes against five militant hideouts in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing 13 militants. In a statement, the military said the strikes were carried out Wednesday near the Datta Khel village in North Waziristan where the army has been carrying out a major operation against local and foreign militants since last June.
In this photo by Rick Rycroft, a baby Western lowland gorilla clings to its mother at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Frala has kept a tight hold of her baby since it was born last week, and its sex has yet to be determined. The zoo says Frala is an experienced mother with six previous offspring living around the world. It's the zoo's second gorilla baby in seven months, and zookeepers say they'll be future playmates, which is important for learning socialization skills. Primate keeper Lisa Ridley told Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "Having a new baby on board not only strengthens the family group that we've got here, but these guys are ambassadors for their species."
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Women activists including Gloria Steinem and two Nobel peace laureates said Wednesday they may have to change plans to cross Korea's Demilitarized Zone because authorities can't guarantee their safety if they walk from the North to the South at Panmunjom, the symbolic but tense site where the Korean War armistice agreement was signed. The rare crossing of the DMZ, which has been approved by both Koreas, is to take place Sunday.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's aquariums promised Wednesday to stop acquiring dolphins captured in a bloody hunt that was depicted in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" and has caused global outrage. The move by the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums follows a decision last month by the Swiss-based umbrella group World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, or WAZA, to suspend the Japanese organization's membership.
WASHINGTON (AP) — If the U.S. doesn't write the rules of international trade, President Barack Obama warns, China will. In fact, China is already helping write those rules, and in some ways has jumped ahead of the game. There's intense competition between the U.S. and China for economic influence in the world. As Obama seeks to persuade lawmakers to back his trade agenda, he has cast that competition as an economic threat.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 2.4 percent annual pace in the January-March quarter, suggesting a recovery is gaining traction despite persisting weakness in corporate and household spending. About 2 percentage points of the first quarter's growth reflected an increase in inventories stemming from the plunge in demand that followed a sales tax increase in April 2014. An increase of 7.5 percent in housing investment also drove growth.
- Malaysia
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/top-asian-news-at-230-pm-gmt/
No comments:
Post a Comment