Pacific Asia
Today
More than 50 killed in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi triggers floods, landslides
Pacific Asia • 2:56 PM
1 min
Dozens of people have been killed in northern Vietnam after Asia's most powerful storm this year triggered floods and landslides on its way west. Typhoon Yagi cut power to millions of homes and companies, with factories across the country's northeast rep
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Pope Francis speaks out against ‘every kind of abuse’ of children in East Timor visit
Pacific Asia • 4:03 AM
1 min
Pope Francis spoke out against child sexual abuse during his visit to East Timor on Monday, indirectly acknowledging a long-running abuse scandal involving independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo. Thousands of devotees journeyed from remote areas an
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Yesterday
Saturday, september 7, 2024
Friday, september 6, 2024
Fugitive former mayor and alleged China spy deported back to Philippines
Pacific Asia • 1:55 PM
1 min
It's a story that has gripped the Philippines for months. Alice Guo, the fugitive former mayor of the city of Bamban, has been deported back home after being caught in Indonesia. She faces accusations ranging from shady business dealings involving illega
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India’s media wars: Press freedom in crisis
Pacific Asia • 9:10 AM
1 min
Press freedom is in crisis in the "world's largest democracy" with attacks against journalists, concentration of media ownership, pro-government bias and expulsions of foreign reporters. Since India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came t
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Super Typhoon Yagi slams into southern China after deadly pass through Philippines
Pacific Asia • 6:10 AM
1 min
Super Typhoon Yagi on Friday made landfall in southern China, barrelling into the Hainan and Guangdong provinces. The storm is the biggest to hit Asia in more than a decade and has led to hundreds of thousands of evacuations and schools and businesses to
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Tuesday, september 3, 2024
NATO member Turkey says 'process is under way' to join BRICS nations
Pacific Asia • 4:30 PM
1 min
Turkey has submitted a request to join the BRICS group of major emerging market nations, the spokesman of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party said Tuesday.
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Oppression of Afghan women: 'The world seems to be responding with a shrug,' HRW says
Pacific Asia • 11:12 AM
1 min
Human rights groups are reacting with fury after a further curtailing of women’s rights in Afghanistan. New laws brought in last month impose severe new restrictions on women that oblige them to not only cover their faces, but also forbid them from raisi
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Pope Francis arrives in Indonesia for first stop on 12-day Asia-Pacific tour
Pacific Asia • 4:59 AM
1 min
Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday for a three-day visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country in which he is expected to emphasise inter-religious ties.
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Monday, september 2, 2024
Saturday, august 31, 2024
Friday, august 30, 2024
The battle for freedom: Addressing the plight of Afghan and Iranian women
Pacific Asia • 2:54 PM
1 min
In this special edition to mark the beginning of a new season, we're focusing on the plight of Afghan and Iranian women. It's been three years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan and thus erasing women from all forms of public life. It's al
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Weakening typhoon churns through Japan, leaving at least five dead
Pacific Asia • 1:34 AM
1 min
Typhoon Shanshan, which has weakened to a severe tropical storm, continued to dump heavy rain on Japan, where it has killed at least five people and injured dozens since making landfall on Thursday. One of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in dec
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Taliban seek to further erase Afghan women from society: Singing, raised voices now banned
Pacific Asia • 12:45 AM
1 min
It's been three years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. Their policies have rolled back women’s rights. Newly enforced laws require women to veil their faces in public. They are also now prohibited from singing or raising their voices. A
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Thursday, august 29, 2024
US national security adviser meets Xi, top Chinese military brass in Beijing
Pacific Asia • 5:48 AM
1 min
On the last day of his visit to China, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping after a a rare meeting with top Chinese military official Zhang Youxia. Sullivan’s high-level meetings underscored
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Hong Kong journalists found guilty of sedition in landmark case
Pacific Asia • 12:25 AM
1 min
Human rights groups have condemned a Hong Kong court ruling on Thursday, which found two former chief editors of the shuttered news outlet Stand News guilty of sedition. Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were the first journalists to be convicted of seditio
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Wednesday, august 28, 2024
Powerful Typhoon Shanshan makes landfall in southern Japan
Pacific Asia • 11:59 PM
1 min
Injuries were reported in Japan on Thursday after a powerful typhoon made landfall, bringing strong winds and the risk of floods and landslides. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued its rare "special warning" for the most violent storms.
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‘Refugees in our own village’: India's desert herders pay price for green energy drive
Pacific Asia • 3:13 PM
1 min
The deserts of India’s western Rajasthan state have become home to one of the country's largest onshore wind farms as the country scrambles to boost renewables and stem the impact of climate change. But local livestock herders say the wind turbines are p
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Japan issues evacuation, emergency warnings as Typhoon Shanshan approaches
Pacific Asia • 4:51 AM
1 min
Japan on Wednesday was braced for its strongest typhoon of the year as Typhoon Shanshan approached the southern island of Kyushu. Tens of thousands of island residents have been told to evacuate the area and transportation services were suspended as auth
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Pacific Island leaders endorse contentious regional policing plan
Pacific Asia • 3:19 AM
1 min
Australia announced on Wednesday that Pacific Island leaders at a Tonga summit endorsed a regional policing plan to curb China's influence. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the agreement to establish up to four police training centres and a mult
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Tuesday, august 27, 2024
US national security adviser arrives in Beijing for 'substantive' talks with China's top diplomat
Pacific Asia • 2:45 PM
1 min
Top officials from China and the US said they were hoping for productive talks as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. A senior US official said that the talks would include discussi
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China's New Silk Road: Beijing increases its influence in Nepal
Pacific Asia • 8:48 AM
1 min
From infrastructure to tourism, China is strengthening its control over its smaller neighbour Nepal. Beijing has been increasing its investment in trade, tourism and reconstruction since Nepal's devastating 2015 earthquake. It is also sending teachers to
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Monday, august 26, 2024
Pacific sea levels are rising faster than global average, says WMO
Pacific Asia • 10:50 PM
1 min
Sea levels in the Pacific Ocean are rising more rapidly than the global average, endangering low-lying island nations, a World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) report revealed on Tuesday. While global sea levels have increased by an average of 3.4 milli
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Separatist militants kill dozens in 'coordinated' attacks across Pakistan's Baluchistan province
Pacific Asia • 6:53 AM
1 min
Gunmen killed at least 39 people in multiple attacks in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province on Monday, police said. The figure includes at least 23 people who were killed after gunmen forced them off buses and vehicles in Pakistan’s Musakhail district, in on
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Saturday, august 24, 2024
Friday, august 23, 2024
Five years without daylight: Hasina's 'enforced disappearance' of Bangladesh dissidents
Pacific Asia • 5:51 PM
1 min
Bangadesh's interim government has vowed to investigate the cases of hundreds of dissidents abducted by security forces under the regime of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina. FRANCE 24's special correspondents in Bangladesh Navodita Kumari, Léa Delfolie, a
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In historic visit to Ukraine, Indian PM Modi seeks to advocate for peace
Pacific Asia • 4:34 AM
1 min
In hopes of acting as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to Ukraine, becoming the first Indian premier to do so, to discuss pathways for "dialogue and diplomacy" between the two warring nations, at
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Bangladesh ex-PM Hasina has diplomatic passport revoked after fleeing to India
Pacific Asia • 1:08 AM
1 min
Bangladesh’s interim government on Thursday revoked the diplomatic passports of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former ministers as the United Nations weighs launching an investigation into possible human rights violations during recent protests
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Five years without daylight: Bangladesh’s forced disappearances
Pacific Asia • 12:43 AM
1 min
In Bangladesh, over 600 people including political opponents, lawyers and journalists have been abducted by the regime since 2009, according to Human Rights Watch. But since the fall of longtime leader Sheikh Hasina earlier this month, their families hav
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Wednesday, august 21, 2024
Australia approves plans for 'largest' solar farm in the world
Pacific Asia • 5:06 PM
1 min
The Australian government approved on Wednesday an ambitious plan for a massive solar farm intended to power millions of homes domestically and supply electricity to Singapore. The project now depends on sign-offs from Singapore's energy market authority
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The ugly legacy of tourism in Bali: thousands of tons of plastic waste wash up on beaches
Pacific Asia • 11:19 AM
1 min
Bali’s beaches are among the most beautiful in the world. In 2023, more than 5 million people descended on this Indonesia resort. But behind the picture-perfect image is an ugly legacy of overtourism – a yearly haul of 300,000 tons of plastic waste. Repo
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India top court creates taskforce on workplace safety as doctors' strike enters second week
Pacific Asia • 9:56 AM
1 min
India's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for healthcare workers after the "horrific" rape and murder of a doctor sparked medical strikes and furious protests. Story by Emerald Maxwell.
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Dozens killed as bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashes in Iran
Pacific Asia • 5:43 AM
1 min
At least 28 Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan en route to Iraq were killed when their bus crashed in central Iran, state media reported on Wednesday. The Pakistani pilgrims were travelling to Iraq to attend the Arbaeen commemoration, one of the biggest event
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Monday, august 19, 2024
Thousands in India join nationwide protests over doctor's rape and murder
Pacific Asia • 2:51 PM
1 min
A nationwide strike by healthcare workers launched after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old female doctor in Kolkata has escalated, with protests taking place across India in favor of stronger laws to protect medical personnel and better protection for
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Philippines, China trade blame after boats collide in disputed areas of South China Sea
Pacific Asia • 9:35 AM
1 min
Ships belonging to China and the Philippines collided in the South China Sea on Monday, prompting Beijing to accuse Manila of deliberately crashing a coast guard ship into a Chinese vessel. The Philippines, for its part, accused China of disinformation a
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Bangladesh caretaker govt vows continuous support for Rohingya refugees
Pacific Asia • 9:23 AM
1 min
Bangladesh will maintain support both for its immense Rohingya refugee population and its vital garment trade, Nobel laureate and new leader Muhammad Yunus said Sunday in his first major policy address. Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya r
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Sunday, august 18, 2024
Bangladesh's Yunus pledges support for Rohingya refugees, vital garment industry
Pacific Asia • 2:56 PM
1 min
Bangladesh's interim prime minister Muhammad Yunus said in his first major policy address on Sunday that his government would maintain support for the more than one million Rohingya refugees in the country, adding that reviving the mainstay garment indus
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Indian village celebrates Kamala Harris's roots, prays for her success
Pacific Asia • 8:53 AM
1 min
Vice President and presidential election contender Kamala Harris is viewed as role model in her mother's ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram where residents gather regularly to pray for her win in the upcoming US vote. Harris, who visited the village a
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Hospitals shutdown as India doctors go on strike over murdered colleague
Pacific Asia • 8:45 AM
1 min
Junior doctors in many Indian hospitals remained off the job on Sunday demanding swift justice for a colleague who was raped and murdered, despite the end of a 24-hour strike called by the country's biggest association of doctors. Doctors across the coun
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Saturday, august 17, 2024
Rising water levels threaten Indonesia's Jakarta
Pacific Asia • 8:50 AM
1 min
Jakarta, the former capital of Indonesia is sinking at an average of 10cm per year, threatening the livelihoods of its 10 million inhabitants. Meanwhile dykes that prevent sea water from flooding Jakarta are poorly maintained and could collapse at any mo
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Indian doctors launch nationwide strike over colleague's rape and murder
Pacific Asia • 7:59 AM
1 min
Hospitals and clinics across India halted services for all but emergency cases on Saturday as medical professionals launched a 24-hour strike in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata.
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Indian medics stage nationwide strike over doctor's rape and murder
Pacific Asia • 12:25 AM
1 min
India's medical workers began a countrywide strike Saturday to protest the rape and killing of a trainee doctor at a state-run hospital in the eastern West Bengal state. Saturday’s strike was called by the country’s largest group of doctors, the Indian M
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Thai king pardons billionaire former PM Thaksin in birthday amnesty
Pacific Asia • 12:16 AM
1 min
Thailand's billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has received a royal pardon that shortens his parole by two weeks, his lawyer announced on Saturday, a day after his daughter became the third family member to be elected PM.
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Friday, august 16, 2024
Who is Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand's new prime minister?
Pacific Asia • 10:41 AM
1 min
Thailand’s parliament elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, as the country’s new prime minister on Friday (August 16), just two days after her predecessor and ally Srettha Thavisin was dismissed by the
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India: Protests grow over the rape and murder of a doctor
Pacific Asia • 10:36 AM
1 min
Indian doctors said Friday (August 16) they would increase nationwide protests and strikes after the rape and murder of a colleague, a brutal killing that has focused outrage on the chronic issue of violence against women. Anger over the crime showed no
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Indian doctors call for nationwide shutdown of services after colleague's rape and murder
Pacific Asia • 9:44 AM
1 min
An association of Indian doctors called for more than a million colleagues nationwide to provide only essential services on Saturday, August 17, in a protest over the brutal rape and murder of a medic that is set to be the biggest such strike in recent t
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China to screen arrivals for mpox as Pakistan reports first case of deadly virus
Pacific Asia • 8:28 AM
1 min
China will monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, for the next six months, its customs administration said on Friday, after the WHO designated the outbreak a global public health emergency earlier this week.
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Thai lawmakers elect Thaksin's daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra as PM
Pacific Asia • 6:17 AM
1 min
Thailand’s parliament elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, as the country’s new prime minister on Friday, just two days after her predecessor and ally Srettha Thavisin was dismissed by the country's C
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Thursday, august 15, 2024
India ‘over-invested in Hasina and under-invested in Bangladesh’ – and is now panicking
Pacific Asia • 6:20 PM
1 min
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina long ignored the democratic backsliding in each other’s countries to forge close ties. With Hasina ousted from power, India’s warnings over the safety of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority smack
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Bangladesh mob beats ex-PM Hasina's supporters on site of planned rally
Pacific Asia • 9:34 AM
1 min
A mob wielding bamboo rods and pipes beat suspected supporters of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday as they gathered to pray and mark the anniversary of the 1975 assassination of Hasina's father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibu
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Thailand's Pheu Thai party picks Paetongtarn Shinawatra as PM candidate
Pacific Asia • 12:29 AM
1 min
Thailand's Pheu Thai party on Thursday announced it will nominate party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 37-year-old daughter of billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, for the position of prime minister. Lawmakers will vote on Friday in parliam
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Wednesday, august 14, 2024
Thai court sacks PM Srettha for appointing minister with criminal conviction
Pacific Asia • 1:22 PM
1 min
Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday (August 14) removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office after he was accused by former senators of breaching ethics rules by appointing a lawyer with a criminal conviction to his cabinet.
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Japanese PM Kishida announces he will not seek re-election in September
Pacific Asia • 7:31 AM
1 min
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has been in power since October 2021, announced on Wednesday that he would not stand for re-election as head of his party in September, marking the end of his premiership. Both Kishida and the Liberal Democratic
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Thai court sacks PM Srettha for appointing minister with criminal conviction
Pacific Asia • 6:34 AM
1 min
Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office after he was accused by former senators of breaching ethics rules by appointing a lawyer with a criminal conviction to his cabinet. The Thai parliament is se
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Taliban celebrates three years since returning to power in Afghanistan
Pacific Asia • 6:07 AM
1 min
Taliban authorities on Wednesday marked the third anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan with celebrations and a military parade outside a former US air base near Kabul boasting Soviet-era tanks. The Taliban government has consolidated its g
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Tuesday, august 13, 2024
South Korea employs sniffer dog to keep bedbugs out of country after Paris Olympics
Pacific Asia • 6:56 PM
1 min
Ceco, a 2-year-old beagle, has one mission: to keep South Korea safe from bedbugs. He has been deployed in the country's main airport to prevent the tiny insects from entering the country after the Paris Olympics.
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Bangladesh opens murder case against ousted PM Hasina over protest death
Pacific Asia • 10:02 AM
1 min
A court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six figures in her administration on Tuesday over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month. Hasina, 76, remains in India after fleeing by helic
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Hindu minority in Bangladesh demands protection amid retaliatory attacks
Pacific Asia • 8:51 AM
1 min
Ever since former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India, her supporters and associates have faced retaliatory attacks by mobs who have been met by little, if any, resistance from authorities. Members of the country's Hindu mi
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Monday, august 12, 2024
