Top Asian News 9:57 a.m. GMT

New Zealand’s Ardern, an icon to many, to step down

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, who was one of the first members of her generation elected as a national leader and became a global icon of the left, said Thursday she was leaving office after five and a half years. Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation’s worst-ever mass shooting and the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. But she was facing mounting political pressures at home and a level of vitriol from some that hadn’t been experienced by previous New Zealand leaders. Still, her announcement came as a shock throughout the nation of 5 million people.

Reaction to Jacinda Ardern resigning as New Zealand leader

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shocked many with her announcement Thursday that she will leave office next month. She said every moment leading her country was a privilege, but she didn’t have enough in reserve to seek another term. Other world leaders as well as Ardern’s political rivals praised her for her leadership during some of the country’s most difficult moments. ARDERN IN HER OWN WORDS: — “I think I’ve spent so much time thinking hard about this decision because it’s such a critical one that there hasn’t been too much time I think for self-reflection. I imagine that I would do that in the coming months ahead.

Lunar New Year tourism hopes fizzle as Chinese stay home

BANGKOK (AP) — A hoped-for boom in Chinese tourism in Asia over next week’s Lunar New Year holidays looks set to be more of a blip as most travelers opt to stay inside China if they go anywhere. From the beaches of Bali to Hokkaido’s powdery ski slopes, the hoards of Chinese often seen in pre-COVID days will still be missing, tour operators say. It’s a bitter disappointment for many businesses that had been hoping lean pandemic times were over after Beijing relaxed restrictions on travel and stopped requiring weeks’ long quarantines. Still, bookings for overseas travel have skyrocketed, suggesting it’s only a matter of time until the industry recovers.

Hong Kong to scrap isolation rule for new COVID-19 cases

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will scrap its mandatory isolation rule for people infected with COVID-19 starting Jan. 30 as part of its strategy to return the semi-autonomous Chinese city to normalcy, the city’s leader said Thursday. For most of the pandemic over the last three years, Hong Kong has aligned itself with mainland China’s “zero COVID” strategy, requiring those who test positive to undergo quarantine. Many residents had to be sent to hospitals or government-run quarantine facilities even when their symptoms were mild. Currently, infected persons are allowed to isolate at home for a minimum of five days and can go out once they test negative for two consecutive days.

China accuses ‘some Western media’ of COVID-19 coverage bias

BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday accused “some Western media” of bias, smears and political manipulation in their coverage of China’s abrupt ending of its strict “zero-COVID” policy, as it issued a vigorous defense of actions taken to prepare for the change of strategy. The move in December to end mass testing and quarantines led to a sharp rise in cases, with some hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed with victims. An editorial in the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily outlined what it called China’s “optimization and control measures” and blasted reports by media outlets they didn’t identify as “completely biased hype, smear and political manipulation with ulterior motives.” Since the initial wave of new cases, life in much of China has largely returned to normal, although officials have expressed concern about a further spread of the virus into the countryside during the Lunar New Year travel rush now underway.

Ukrainians learn mine clearing skills from Cambodian experts

PREYTOTOEUNG, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian experts, whose country has the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s most contaminated by landmines, walked a group of Ukrainian soldiers through a minefield being actively cleared Thursday, hoping their decades of experience would help the Europeans in their own efforts to remove Russian mines at home. Wearing protective body armor, helmets and visors, the group of 15 Ukrainians were guided along cleared routes through the former battlefield in northwestern Battambang province by trainers with the Cambodian Mine Action Center, a government agency that oversees the clearing of land mines and unexploded ordnance in the country.

In Pakistan, trans men search for inclusion, visibility

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Aman, a 22-year-old transgender man from the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, says he was always close to his father. When he was little and it was cold out, his father held his hands to warm them. When he was at university, his father would wait until he got home to eat dinner together, regardless of how late it was. Now they are cut off. Aman’s decision to live as a man has cost him everything. His parents and five siblings no longer speak to him. He dropped out of university and had to leave home. He has attempted suicide three times.

S. Korea, Iran summon each other’s envoys over Yoon comment

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and Iran have summoned each other’s ambassadors in a diplomatic spat triggered by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s comments describing Iran as the “enemy” of the United Arab Emirates during a trip to that country this week. While visiting South Korean special forces stationed in the UAE on Monday, Yoon described the hosts as South Korea’s “brother nation” tied by growing economic and military cooperation, and then compared the threat he said UAE faces from Iran to the threat South Korea faces from nuclear-armed North Korea. “The security of our brother nation is our security,” Yoon said.

North Korea sustains high defense spending with new budget

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament has passed a budget that sustains a high level of defense spending despite economic troubles as leader Kim Jong Un pushes for an aggressive expansion of his nuclear arsenal amid stalled diplomacy. State media reports indicated Kim didn’t attend the Supreme People’s Assembly’s two-day session that ended Wednesday. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency didn’t mention any comments by assembly members toward the United States or South Korea in its report of the meetings on Thursday. The assembly convened weeks after Kim called for an “exponential increase” of nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting “enemy” South Korea and the development of more advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S.

Study: Non-infectious diseases cause early death in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has considerable control over infectious diseases but now struggles against cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer as causes of early deaths, according to a new study published Thursday. The Lancet Global Health, a prestigious British-based medical journal, reported that five non-communicable diseases — ischaemic heart disease, stroke, congenital defects, cirrhosis, and chronic kidney disease — were among the 10 leading causes of early deaths in the impoverished Islamic nation. However, the journal said some of Pakistan’s work has resulted in an increase in life expectancy from 61.1 years to 65.9 over the past three decades. The change is due, it said, “to the reduction in communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases.” That’s still 7.6 years lower than the global average life expectancy, which increased over 30 years by 8% in women and 7% in men.