TOKYO (AP) — A man set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister's office in Tokyo on Wednesday in an apparent protest against the state funeral planned next week for former leader Shinzo Abe, officials and media reports said.
BEIJING (AP) — China toned down its rhetoric on Taiwan on Wednesday, saying it is inevitable that the self-governing island will come under its control but that it would promote efforts to achieve that peacefully.
HOBART, Australia (AP) — About 230 whales have been stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island off the Australian state’s northwestern coast.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The parents of a Malaysian man who died after falling prey to a human trafficking scheme appealed Wednesday to the government to rescue other scam victims trapped in Myanmar and Cambodia, saying they hoped there would be no more fatalities.
The Asian Development Bank has downgraded its forecasts for growth in the region, citing the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates to combat decades-high inflation, and China’s slowing economy.
The Manila, Philippines-based lending agency revised its estimate for growth in developing Asian economies to 4.3%, down from an earlier forecast of 5.2%.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Survivors of torture and other atrocities under Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos on Wednesday marked his martial law declaration 50 years ago by pressing their demand for justice and apology from his son — now the country’s president in a stunning reversal of fortunes for the once reviled family.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Indigenous traditional owners on Wednesday won a court challenge that prevents an energy company from drilling for gas off Australia’s north coast.
The Federal Court decision against Australian oil and gas company Santos Ltd.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A military exercise in Fiji involving the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand ends this week as the traditional allies counter China’s growing influence in the region.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Devastating floods in Pakistan’s worst-hit province have killed 10 more people in the past day, including four children, officials said Wednesday as the U.N. children’s agency renewed its appeal for $39 million to help the most vulnerable flood victims.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the United Nations had just warned of a world gone badly wrong — a place where inequity was on the rise, war was back in Europe, fragmentation was everywhere, the pandemic was pushing onward and technology was tearing things apart as much as it was uniting them.
HONG KONG (AP) — A man who paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II near the British Consulate in Hong Kong was arrested for alleged sedition.
Police said the 43-year-old man was detained late Monday near the consulate, where dozens of people had gathered to remember the late monarch.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — He sounded a global alarm, warning leaders about the survival of humanity and the planet. In language that was sometimes downright undiplomatic, he called out those he blames for the perilous state of the world.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — It was 31 years ago when the Marshall Islands’ first president, Amata Kabua, appeared before the U.N. General Assembly to sound the alarm over global warming. Today, his son — current president David Kabua — is still sounding the alarm, which has only gotten more dire.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world’s richest people have put its poorest at risk, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. charged Tuesday at the United Nations, pushing for action on inequality, nuclear weapons and climate change.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed the need for wealthy nations to share their advanced technologies and innovations with developing countries, particularly when it comes to closing the education gap and fighting infectious diseases.
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-ruled government on Tuesday denied reports it carried out an air attack on a school in the country’s turbulent north-central region that killed at least seven children, accusing the media of distorting the truth.
HELSINKI (AP) — Hollywood's Brad Pitt and Australian musician Nick Cave have debuted as artists in an exhibition in Finland that displays sculptures and ceramics created by the movie star and the singer-songwriter.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hollywood actress and U.N. humanitarian Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to one of the worst flood-hit areas in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said, as the death toll from months-long deluges rose to 1,559.
TOKYO (AP) — A tropical storm that dumped heavy rain as it cut across Japan moved into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday after killing two and injuring more than 100, paralyzing traffic and leaving thousands of homes without power.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A nighttime bus crash that killed 27 people in southwest China this week has set off a storm of anger online over the harshness of the country's strict COVID-19 policies.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of 14 young sperm whales that were found beached on an island off of the southeastern coast, officials said Tuesday.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group announced on Tuesday a $6.2 billion plan to eliminate fossil fuels and carbon emissions from its operations by the end of the decade.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors have asked Interpol to issue a fugitive alert for the founder of Terraform Labs as they investigate a $40 billion crash of the firm’s cryptocurrency that devastated retail investors around the world.
NEW YORK (AP) — The United Nations will be judged by how it addresses China’s persecution of ethnic minorities, diplomats and human rights advocates charged Monday on the sidelines of the body’s General Assembly, calling for forceful action after a report raised the specter of “crimes against humanity.”
BANGKOK (AP) — Government helicopters have attacked a school and village in north-central Myanmar, killing at least 13 people including seven children, a school administrator and an aid worker said Monday.
With COVID-related school disruptions setting back children around the world, activists implored world leaders Monday to prioritize school systems and restore educational budgets slashed when the pandemic hit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — How high are the barriers to entry at the U.N. General Assembly? Less than 4 feet (1.2 meters), technically.
MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian security official declared Monday on a visit to China that the Kremlin considers beefing up ties with Beijing as a top policy goal.
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the national Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, described the “strengthening of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with Beijing as an unconditional priority of Russia’s foreign policy.”
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani judge Monday ordered police to drop terrorism charges against former prime minister Imran Khan for verbally threatening police officers and a female judge at a political rally last month.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan said Monday there have been no fatalities for the past three days from the deadly floods that engulfed the country since mid-June, a hopeful sign that the nation is turning a corner on the disaster.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. aircraft carrier is to visit South Korea this week for its first joint training with South Korean warships in five years, officials said Monday, in an apparent show of force against increasing North Korean nuclear threats.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — About 400 tourists who were stranded on a mountainside when a strong earthquake hit Taiwan have descended safely, as the island on Monday repaired damage caused by the quake.
The 6.8 magnitude quake hit the island on Sunday afternoon, temporarily trapping four people inside a leveled three-story building, knocking a train from its tracks and damaging a bridge.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government on Monday criticized President Joe Biden's statement that American forces would defend Taiwan if Beijing tries to invade as a violation of U.S. commitments about the self-ruled island, but gave no indication of possible retaliation.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A strong earthquake shook much of Taiwan on Sunday, toppling a three-story building and temporarily trapping four people inside, stranding about 400 tourists on a mountainside, and knocking part of a passenger train off its tracks.
TOKYO (AP) — A tropical storm slammed southwestern Japan with rainfall and winds Monday, leaving one person dead and another missing, as it swerved north toward Tokyo.
Residential streets were flooded with muddy water from rivers, and swathes of homes lost power after Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall in the Kyushu region Sunday then weakened to a tropical storm.
BEIJING (AP) — A bus reportedly taking 47 people to COVID-19 quarantine in southwest China crashed before dawn Sunday morning, killing 27 and injuring 20 others, media said.
The bus overturned on an expressway in Guizhou province, a brief statement from the Sandu county police said, without mentioning any connection to quarantine.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Facing a complex set of challenges that try humanity as never before, world leaders convene at the United Nations this week under the shadow of Europe’s first major war since World War II — a conflict that has unleashed a global food crisis and divided major powers in a way not seen since the Cold War.
TAICHUNG, Taiwan (AP) — They came with homemade gliders and launched themselves into the harbor from a 6-meter- (20-foot-) high ramp. Some just crashed into the water.
It was mostly if not all for fun, as thousands of spectators laughed and cheered on 45 teams competing to see who could go the farthest before falling into the waters of Taichung, a port city in central Taiwan.
TOKYO (AP) — A powerful typhoon slammed ashore in southern Japan on Sunday as it pounded the region with strong winds and heavy rain, causing blackouts, paralyzing ground and air transportation and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations on Sunday called for Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to reopen schools to girls in grades 7-12, calling the anniversary of their exclusion from high school “shameful.”
SHAOXING, China (AP) — Ninety minutes after Queen Elizabeth II died, orders for thousands of British flags started to flood into a factory south of Shanghai.
BEIJING (AP) — Two Chinese astronauts went on a spacewalk Saturday from a new space station that is due to be completed later this year.