Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News UK

China cancels Britain visit 'over Dalai Lama meet'

Sat, 26 May 2012 03:30:05 +0100

China's top legislator cancelled a visit to Britain in anger over a meeting between British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, a source said.

Briton Dies In Crocodile Infested River

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:15:01 +0100

One British man has died and another is missing after falling into a crocodile-infested river in India.

Turkmen leader sacks oil and gas minister

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:25:55 +0100

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked his oil and gas minister, citing his poor performance on state television on Friday, just two days after the Central Asian nation agreed landmark deals to supply natural gas to Pakistan and India. The deals agreed on Wednesday offer major economic benefits but depend on building and defending a U.S.-backed pipeline across violence-wracked Afghanistan, including a 735-km (450-mile) leg through the provinces of Herat and Kandahar. ...

US says China's yuan undervalued, not manipulated

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:26:10 +0100

The Obama administration on Friday rejected calls from Congress to brand China a currency manipulator, but said its "significantly undervalued" currency was a key brake on global growth.

Gaga 'Won't Tone Down Shows' For Asian Tour

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:25:12 +0100

Lady Gaga's manager has denied suggestions the singer will tone down her act to allow her to perform in some countries on her Asian tour.

Exile Tibetans want EU to investigate self-immolations

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:29:29 +0100

VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the Tibetan government in exile called on the European Union on Friday to send an investigative team to areas where dozens of Tibetans have set themselves ablaze in protest at Chinese rule. Prime Minister in exile Lobsang Sangay told a news conference that 35 Tibetans have set themselves on fire and 27 of them had died in what he said were attempts to seek freedom for Tibet and the return of its exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who was sitting beside Sangay. ...

Chinese 'cannibal' detained in Yunnan province

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:36:19 +0100

Police in southwest China have detained a man suspected of murdering more than a dozen boys and young men, chopping up their bodies and selling the flesh to unsuspecting consumers, reports said Friday.

China counter-challenges U.S. over subsidies at WTO

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:42:51 +0100

GENEVA (Reuters) - China filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday to challenge U.S. tariffs charged on Chinese goods that the United States considers to be unfairly subsidised. The dispute, revolving around so-called countervailing duties, relates to 22 products with an annual export value to the United States of $7.3 billion, China's mission to the WTO said in an emailed statement. There was no immediate reaction from U.S. officials. China did not name the products subject to countervailing duties. ...

China hits back at critical U.S. human rights report

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:42:31 +0100

BEIJING (Reuters) - China hit back on Friday at the U.S. State Department's annual survey of human rights, saying that only the Chinese people could pass judgement on what the Foreign Ministry said were the country's obvious achievements in the area. Asked about criticism of China in the report, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei condemned it for being prejudiced. "The United States State Department's annual report on human rights maligns other countries, and the content concerning China ignores the facts and is filled will prejudice, confusing black and white," he told a daily news briefing. ...

Japan eyes smaller nuclear role but no exit strategy

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:07:33 +0100

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is leaning toward a policy of halving nuclear power's share of electricity supply from pre-Fukushima levels to about 15 percent by 2030, but will likely stop short of pledging the long-term exit strategy that many voters favour, experts said. That would be a victory of sorts for a nuclear industry that has been under fire since a huge earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima atomic plant in March 2011, triggering meltdowns in the world's worst radiation accident in a quarter century. ...

China says WTO complaint affects $7.3 billion exports

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:24:58 +0100

GENEVA (Reuters) - A Chinese trade complaint launched on Friday against U.S. countervailing duties on Chinese products relates to 22 products and affects Chinese exports to the United States worth $7.3 billion collectively, China's mission to the World Trade Organization said in an emailed statement. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Louise Ireland)

US Cuts Pakistan Aid After Bin Laden Doc Jailed

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:55:49 +0100

America has withdrawn $33m in aid from Pakistan in protest at the 33-year sentence given to a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama Bin Laden.

Exclusive - China leadership rules Bo case isolated, limits purge - sources

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:04:52 +0100

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao has demanded senior Communist Party officials stifle tensions over the ousting of ambitious politician Bo Xilai and show unity as they prepare for a change of leadership, sources briefed on recent meetings said. Hu urged the party to close ranks at a meeting of about 200 officials early this month at a Beijing hotel, declaring the downfall of Bo - China's biggest political scandal in two decades - to be an "isolated case", the three sources said. ...

Activist Chen urges China to prosecute "lawless officials"

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:20:42 +0100

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng urged authorities in Beijing on Thursday to prosecute "lawless" officials who harassed and abused the self-taught lawyer, his family and supporters, saying such prosecutions could help China establish the rule of law. In one of his first interviews since arriving in the United States last Saturday, Chen told Reuters the rough treatment of his family and supporters who helped him escape house arrest last month was "entirely against Chinese law". ...

Analysis - China's nine-dashed line in South China Sea

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:18:57 +0100

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Alongside an armada of paramilitary patrol vessels and fishing boats, China has fired off a barrage of historical records to reinforce its claim over a disputed shoal near the Philippines in the South China Sea. While this propaganda broadside makes it clear Beijing will take a tough line with Manila as a standoff over Scarborough Shoal continues into a seventh week, the exact legal justification for China's claim and the full extent of the territory affected remain uncertain, according to experts in maritime law. ...

Chen Guangcheng, in US, pledges to keep speaking out

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:38:22 +0100

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng has vowed to keep speaking out against rights abuses in China as he settles into a new life in New York following his dramatic escape from illegal detention.

Alibaba.com says 83.8 pct of shareholders back privatisation

Fri, 25 May 2012 03:26:33 +0100

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Alibaba.com Ltd, Hong Kong-listed unit of China's Alibaba Group, said on Friday that 83.8 percent of its shareholders have approved a $2.5 billion buyout offer by the parent to take the company private, in a decision that was widely expected. Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo Inc owns a 40 percent stake, is offering investors HK$13.50 ($1.74) per share in cash to take Alibaba.com private, the same price as the company's initial public offering in 2007. Shares of Alibaba.com, which were suspended on Friday, closed on Thursday at HK$13.42. ...

U.S. senators penalize Pakistan for jailing CIA helper

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:25:48 +0100

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators scandalized by Pakistan's jailing of a doctor for helping the CIA track down Osama bin Laden voted on Thursday to cut aid to Islamabad by $33 million (21 million pounds) -- one million for each year in the doctor's sentence. "It's arbitrary, but the hope is that Pakistan will realize we are serious," said Senator Richard Durbin after the unanimous 30-0 vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee. "It's outrageous that they (the Pakistanis) would say a man who helped us find Osama bin Laden is a traitor," said Durbin, the Senate's number two Democrat. ...

Activist Chen urges China to prosecute those who harassed him

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:54:13 +0100

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng urged authorities in Beijing on Thursday to prosecute "lawless" local officials who harassed and abused the self-taught lawyer, his family and supporters, saying such prosecutions could help China establish the rule of law. In one of his first interviews since arriving in the United States last Saturday, Chen told Reuters the rough treatment of his family and supporters who helped him escape house arrest last month was "entirely against Chinese law. ...

Clinton condemns Pakistan for jailing doctor who helped CIA

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:06:31 +0100

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan's jailing of a doctor for 33 years for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden is "unjust and unwarranted," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, vowing to continue to press the case with Islamabad. "The United States does not believe there is any basis for holding Dr (Shakil) Afridi. We regret the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence," she said, calling his treatment "unjust and unwarranted." (Reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Anthony Boadle)

Son of China's Bo Xilai graduates from Harvard

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:04:45 +0100

BOSTON (Reuters) - The son of fallen Chinese politician Bo Xilai graduated from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government on Thursday, capping a tumultuous academic year that also placed him in the centre of his homeland's biggest leadership crisis in two decades. Bo Guagua, whose perceived lavish lifestyle overseas has created a firestorm on the Internet back in China, wore a black cap and gown with crimson hood when he accepted his diploma at a commencement ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

Airlines say carbon law cutting EU off from growth

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:57:30 +0100

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Rising tensions with India and China over the European Union's "arrogant" law on carbon emissions could rob the region of the markets that can rescue it from economic malaise, airline leaders said on Thursday. They also said they had prepared contingency plans for a possible exit of Greece from the euro, as part of the industry's extensive crisis management, and they were worried about a domino effect of more countries' being forced out of the currency bloc, with implications for all businesses. ...

Muslim leaders enlisted to help stamp out polio

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:56:31 +0100

GENEVA (Reuters) - The last three countries where polio is still paralysing children -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria -- said on Thursday that they have enlisted Muslim women and religious leaders to allay fears of vaccination and wipe out the disease. Polio cases are at an all-time low worldwide, following its eradication in India last year, raising hopes but also fears about a threat of resurgence especially in sub-Saharan Africa unless remaining reservoirs of polio virus are stamped out. ...

U.S. hails Arab Spring but warns of instability

Thu, 24 May 2012 15:33:59 +0100

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hailed on Thursday last year's "Arab Spring" popular revolutions in the Middle East but said instability and violence often precede greater respect for human rights. In its annual survey of human rights around the world, the State Department praised Myanmar for having freed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and for starting to open up its political system after decades of repression. It described as "extremely poor" human rights in Belarus, China, Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which are perennial targets of U.S. ...

Fukushima radiation higher than first estimated

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:31:29 +0100

TOKYO (Reuters) - The radiation released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost 2-1/2 times the amount first estimated by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday. Tokyo Electric Power said its own analysis conducted over the past year put the amount of radiation released in the first three weeks of the accident at about one-sixth the radiation released during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. ...

US drone strike 'kills eight in Pakistan'

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:21:18 +0100

A US drone strike on Thursday killed eight militants in a Taliban stronghold of Pakistan's tribal belt, bringing the death toll from such strikes to 12 in two days, Pakistani officials said.

Myanmar must cope with protest, avoid violence - ASEAN chief

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:05:50 +0100

TOKYO (Reuters) - Myanmar's authorities need to keep calm and avoid violence in the face of protests against power outages and should view them as a natural stage in a transition from military rule to democracy, the head of the ASEAN grouping said on Thursday. Demonstrations have taken place in several towns in Myanmar this week, including the commercial capital, Yangon, as citizens test the limit of democratic changes, leaving the authorities struggling to respond. ...

Pakistan seeks face-saving formula in NATO talks

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:31:33 +0100

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is unlikely to re-open supply routes to NATO troops in Afghanistan unless the United States offers a politically acceptable formula in talks on ending a six-month standoff on the issue, a Pakistani official said on Thursday. The official said the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP)had to be politically savvy, taking into account widespread anti-American sentiment in the country ahead of general elections due by early next year. ...

Brother of blind China activist flees village

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:21:04 +0100

BEIJING (Reuters) - The brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has fled his village in north-eastern China, evading a security clampdown to seek help from lawyers for his son who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists. Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Reuters that he walked out of his home in Shandong province at 3 a.m. (1900 GMT) on Tuesday, eluding the increased number of sentries near his village by avoiding roads and running through fields. He arrived in Beijing on Wednesday evening after a six-hour journey by car. ...

U.S. should respect decision to imprison doctor who helped CIA - Pakistan

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:50:58 +0100

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States should respect a Pakistan court's decision to imprison a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday. "I think as far as the case of Mr. Afridi is concerned, it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by the Pakistani courts, and we need to respect each other's legal processes," Moazzam Ali Khan told reporters. (Reporting by Rebecca Conway; Writing by Qasim Nauman)

Transit fees toughest issue in NATO talks - Pakistan official

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:20:36 +0100

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Higher transit fees are the most difficult issue in Pakistan's talks with the United States on re-opening supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan, a Pakistani official told Reuters on Thursday. The official said Pakistan was demanding substantially higher fees and that it was not clear when a breakthrough was possible. "It could be tomorrow or it could be in two months," the official said. (Reporting by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Iran says world powers creating "difficult atmosphere" at talks

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:42:07 +0100

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - World powers are hindering talks in Baghdad with Iran over its nuclear programme, creating a "difficult atmosphere", an Iranian delegation official said on Thursday. The so-called P5+1 nations -- United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- have pushed Iran for concessions on its uranium enrichment programme, following a 15-month diplomatic freeze and talks in Istanbul last month. "What we heard in Istanbul was more interesting... We believe the reason P5+1 is not able to reach a result is America," the official said, asking not to be named. ...

U.S. drone strike kills 10 in northwest Pakistan - officials

Thu, 24 May 2012 07:36:23 +0100

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike on suspected Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan killed 10 people on Thursday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, an attack likely to raise tensions in a standoff with Washington over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The pilotless drone aircraft attacked a compound in a village in North Waziristan, a day after a similar attack killed four suspected militants in the same region. "The drone fired two missiles at the compound. We believe it was being used by militants," one of the Pakistani officials said. ...

Chinese Estates head to be prosecuted in Macau over bribery

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:22:41 +0100

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong tycoon Joseph Lau, who heads developer Chinese Estates Holdings, will face prosecution over bribery and money laundering in a land deal in Asia's gambling capital, Macau, Chinese Estates said in a statement on Thursday. A court in Macau on Wednesday formally accepted an accusation by the public prosecutor that Lau had a case to answer on the charges, the company said. The court denied a request by Lau that the case be thrown out for lack of evidence. No date was set for the trial. ...

Suu Kyi to make first trip out of Myanmar in 24 years - party

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:15:32 +0100

YANGON (Reuters) - Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years next week to deliver a speech at an international forum in Thailand, her party said on Thursday. Her decision to venture outside the country she had only expected to return to temporarily in 1988 comes after a year of dramatic change in Myanmar after almost a half century of military rule. Suu Kyi, 66, won a parliamentary seat in April after engaging with the reformist rulers once part of the junta that locked her up for 15 years for her fight against ...

'Five militants killed' by US drone in Pakistan

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:33:28 +0100

A US drone strike on a militant compound killed five insurgents in northwest Pakistan's lawless tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.

Chinese couple bury woman alive, sparking outrage

Thu, 24 May 2012 04:34:39 +0100

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested a young couple who buried an old woman alive believing she was dead after their car hit the 68-year-old, newspapers said on Thursday, in a case which has sparked outrage over declining public morality. The couple had been at an all-night karaoke session when they hit the woman while driving in the early hours of the morning in the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang last month, the official China Daily said. "A witness said he heard someone crying and saw an elderly woman lying on the ground near (the car)," it cited a policeman as saying. ...

Chinese Estates head to be prosecuted over bribery in Macau

Thu, 24 May 2012 04:06:22 +0100

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Joseph Lau, the flamboyant tycoon who heads developer Chinese Estates Holdings, will face prosecution over bribery and money laundering in a land deal in Asia's gambling capital, Macau, the second high-profile corruption case involving a Hong Kong property company in two months. Hong Kong's clubby business community is already captivated by the arrests in late March of the billionaire Kwok brothers who run Asia's largest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties. ...

Amnesty accuses U.N. council of "failed leadership"

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:04:02 +0100

LONDON (Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty International lambasted the United Nations Security Council on Thursday as "tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose". In its annual report, Amnesty said the failure of world powers to take stronger action on Syria was evidence that a sclerotic security council was hamstrung by vested interests, and also warned of abuses arising from Europe's economic crisis. Permanent security council members Russia, a key arms supplier to Syria, and China have shielded Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from tough sanctions. ...

China activist worried about nephew's legal plight

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:56:57 +0100

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is worried his nephew will be subjected to a revenge show trial by Chinese officials and will work to publicize his plight from New York, a supporter said on Wednesday after meeting Chen. Chen, who escaped from house arrest last month and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, arrived in New York with his family on Saturday after China let him leave a hospital to quell a diplomatic rift with the United States. ...