Top Asian News 5:36 p.m. GMT
Written by on January 20, 2023
Wisps of fog hung over central Almaty, Kazakhstan, last month as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev somberly unveiled a monument to those killed a year ago in the worst unrest in the Central Asian nation’s three decades of independence. Words on the stark concrete “Reverence” memorial speak of the need for unity and harmony in the energy-rich country of 19 million. But a year after calm was restored and a state of emergency lifted on Jan. 20, 2022, both appear elusive. And an official fog still shrouds many of the events surrounding the days known as “Bloody January.” Despite government promises of accountability as well as promises of economic and political reforms in the former Soviet nation, many Kazakhs say they have not seen meaningful changes or even clarity about what happened to those who were killed and detained in the rioting.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — India’s foreign minister said Friday his country has given financial assurances to the International Monetary Fund to facilitate a bailout plan to help neighboring Sri Lanka emerge from its worst economic crisis, in a first formal announcement from one of the island nation’s creditors. India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar announced the support while on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, where he met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and other Cabinet ministers. “We felt strongly that Sri Lanka’s creditors must take proactive steps to facilitate its recovery. India decided not to wait on others but to do what we believe is right.
BEIJING (AP) — More bodies were found Friday following an avalanche that buried vehicles outside a highway tunnel in Tibet, raising the death toll to 28, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. Images from the scene at the exit of the tunnel connecting the city of Nyingchi in Tibet’s southwest with an outlying county showed about half a dozen backhoes digging through deep snow. Reports said around 1,000 rescuers had joined the effort. Tons of snow and ice collapsed onto the mouth of the tunnel on Tuesday evening, trapping drivers in their vehicles. Many of the people were headed home for China’s Lunar New Year holiday, which starts Sunday.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday announced plans to downgrade the legal status of COVID-19 to the equivalent of seasonal influenza in the spring, a move that would further relax mask wearing and other preventive measures as the country seeks to return to normalcy. Kishida said he has instructed experts and government officials to discuss the details on lowering COVID-19′s status. A change would also remove self-isolation rules and other anti-virus requirements and allow COVID-19 patients to seek treatment at any hospital instead of only specialized facilities. “In order to return to our ordinary daily life in Japan while pursuing measures to adapt to living with the coronavirus, we will study concrete measures to gradually move on to a next step,” Kishida said.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — When Jacinda Ardern announced this week she was stepping down as New Zealand’s prime minister, speculation began almost immediately about what she might do for a second act. When she leaves, she will have accumulated 15 years experience as a lawmaker and five-and-a-half years as leader. She will also be just 42 years old. Observers say she has all sorts of career possibilities open to her. Ardern said she was leaving the job because she no longer has “enough in the tank to do it justice” and has no immediate plans for her own future other than to spend more time with her fiancé and 4-year-old daughter.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A fire destroyed about 60 makeshift homes in a densely packed neighborhood surrounded by some of the wealthiest streets of South Korea’s ultramodern capital Friday. Firefighters extinguished the flames in Seoul’s Guryong village within about five hours, and no injuries or deaths were reported. Shin Yong-ho, an official at the fire department of Seoul’s Gangnam district, said rescue workers have searched areas affected by the fire but all residents were believed to have safely evacuated. More than 800 firefighters, police officers and public workers fought the flames and handled evacuations after the fire began around 6:30 a.m.
HONG KONG (AP) — As the week-long Lunar New Year holidays in China draw near with promises of feasts and red envelopes stuffed with cash, children have another thing to look forward to –- one extra hour of online games each day. Only one hour. For years, Chinese authorities have sought to control how much time kids can spend playing games online, to fight “internet addiction.” They’ve claimed success in curbing the problem but are taking no chances. In 2019, authorities restricted minors to playing 90 minutes a day on weekdays and banned them from playing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
TOKYO (AP) — The head of a U.N. nuclear agency task force assessing the safety of Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the wreaked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea said Friday that Japanese regulators have shown their commitment to comply with international safety standards. International concern over the plan has been widening. Last week, the head of the 18-nation Pacific Island Forum, which includes Australia, New Zealand and other island nations, expressed concern about any impact of radiation from the water on the livelihoods of people in the region which suffered in the past from atomic bomb tests, and urged Japan to suspend the plan.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan has formally resubmitted documents seeking to obtain UNESCO World Heritage recognition for a controversial former gold mine that has added to diplomatic frictions with South Korea over Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula and its wartime actions. Japan’s earlier hope to get the Sado Island mine listed as a World Heritage site this year was delayed because the original documents filed were insufficient and required more information. Japan submitted updated documents on Thursday. The mine in northern Japan operated for nearly 400 years and was once the world’s largest gold producer before closing in 1989. Uncertainty remains over its possible recognition by UNESCO.
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A bomb planted by suspected militants derailed a passenger train in a remote area in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, injuring at least 15 people on board, officials said. A separatist group later claimed responsibility. The train was passing through the district of Bolan in Baluchistan province when the bomb went off, according to a district administrator, Samiullah Agha. The explosion was so powerful that it derailed eight train cars, Agha said. Rescuers transported the injured to a nearby hospital, and engineers were repairing the damaged rail tracks. Some of the more seriously injured were moved to a military hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital in Baluchistan.
watch avatar the way of water full movie
watch avatar the way of water full movie
watch avatar the way of water full movie
