Top Asian News 9:14 p.m. GMT
Written by on January 17, 2023
BEIJING (AP) — China’s population shrank for the first time in decades last year as its birthrate plunged, official figures showed Tuesday, adding to pressure on leaders to keep the economy growing despite an aging workforce and at a time of rising tension with the U.S. Despite the official numbers, some experts believe China’s population has been in decline for a few years — a dramatic turn in a country that once sought to control such growth through a one-child policy. Many wealthy countries are struggling with how to respond to aging populations, which can be a drag on economic growth as shrinking numbers of workers try to support growing numbers of elderly people.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Airplane passenger Sonu Jaiswal’s 90-second smartphone video began with the aircraft approaching the runway by flying over buildings and green fields over Pokhara, a Nepalese city in the foothills of the Himalayas. Everything looked normal as Jaiswal’s livestream on Facebook shifted from the picturesque views seen from the plane’s window to fellow passengers who were laughing. Finally, Jaiswal, wearing a yellow sweater, turned the camera to himself and smiled. Then it happened. The plane suddenly appeared to veer toward its left as Jaiswal’s smartphone briefly captured the cries of passengers. Within seconds the footage turned shaky and recorded the screeching sound of an engine.
POKHARA, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese authorities on Tuesday began returning to families the bodies of plane crash victims and were sending the aircraft’s data recorder to France for analysis as they try to determine what caused the country’s deadliest air disaster in 30 years. The flight plummeted into a gorge on Sunday while on approach to the newly opened Pokhara International Airport in the foothills of the Himalayas, killing all 72 aboard. Searchers found cockpit voice and flight data recorders on Monday, and on Tuesday shut off a dam to ease efforts to retrieve the last remaining body from the 300-meter-deep (984-foot-deep) ravine.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s economic growth fell to its second-lowest level in at least four decades last year under pressure from anti-virus controls and a real estate slump, but activity is reviving after restrictions that kept millions of people at home and sparked protests were lifted. The world’s No. 2 economy grew by 3% in 2022, less than half of the previous year’s 8.1% rate, official data showed Tuesday. That was the second-lowest annual rate since at least the 1970s after 2020, when growth fell to 2.4% at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. China’s slump has hurt its trading partners by reducing demand for oil, food, consumer goods and other imports.
BANGKOK (AP) — Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior member of the government to step down after a series of high-profile corruption scandals for which he was held responsible. The state Vietnam News Agency reported that he had resigned at a session of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee that was held “to consider and give opinions on Comrade Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s wish to stop holding positions, quit work and retire.” The language of the announcement strongly suggested that he was forced to step down. Phuc, 68, began serving in government at the provincial level in 1979 and took his first position in national government in 2006.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations has designated an anti-India militant being held in Pakistan as a global terrorist, the world body’s second such designation stemming from the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. The announcement regarding Pakistani citizen Abdul Rehan Makki was hailed by neighboring India on Tuesday, a day after the decision. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the Islamic nation is itself a victim of terrorism and Pakistan supports counter-terrorism efforts at the international level, including at the United Nations. Makki, 68, is a senior figure in the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which is mainly active in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A prominent leader of Cambodia’s political opposition has been arrested for allegedly issuing worthless checks in a case his party said is politically motivated. Thach Setha, vice president of the Candlelight Party, was detained Monday and accused of issuing several bounced checks in 2019. He was sent to jail for pretrial detention under a law on payment transactions that provides penalties for irregular financial payments. If convicted, Thach Setha could face two to five years in prison and a fine of up to $12,250. The Candlelight Party is likely to be the biggest and most credible challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party in a general election in July.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Human rights groups urged Sri Lanka’s government to release a prominent student activist who was arrested five months ago during anti-government protests triggered by the country’s worst economic crisis and has been held without charges under harsh anti-terrorism laws. Wasantha Mudalige was brought before a magistrate in Colombo on Tuesday who ordered him to be remanded until Jan. 31. Seven human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said that under the powerful Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used since 1979, courts routinely deny bail if it’s opposed by the attorney general.
SYDNEY (AP) — A once high-ranking Australian cardinal who spent more than a year in prison before his child abuse convictions were quashed on appeal will be interred Feb. 2 after a requiem Mass at Sydney’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, the church said Tuesday. Cardinal George Pell, 81, died Jan. 10, shortly after undergoing hip surgery in a Rome hospital. As the Vatican’s finance minister for three years, Pell had been a key player in the early years of Pope Francis’ papacy, whose goals included reforming the Holy See’s finances, which had a long history of scandals and poor management. Pell returned to his native Australia in 2017 to be tried on child sex abuse charges over allegations that he molested two choirboys while he was archbishop of Melbourne.
BANGKOK (AP) — Yeti Airlines flight 691 crashed Sunday just before landing in Nepal’s tourist city of Pokhara, the gateway to a popular hiking area in the Himalayas, after a 27-minute trip from Kathmandu. At least 69 of the 72 people aboard have been confirmed dead. Pilots say Nepal can be a challenging place to fly, but conditions at the time of the crash were good, with low wind, clear skies and temperatures well above freezing. So what might have caused the crash of the ATR 72 aircraft? DID THE PLANE STALL? A dramatic video shot on a smartphone from the ground shows the last moments before the plane crashed in a gorge about 1.6 kilometers (a mile) from newly opened Pokhara International Airport.
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