Archive for Asia
CNN Asia News: 19 February 2009
February 20th, 2009 • Asia, CNN News, World
- Clinton visits Indonesia on state visit
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Indonesia on the second stop of her tour of Asia — her first trip abroad as America’s top diplomat. - Taiwanese economy slumps into recession
Taiwan’s economy slumped 8.36 percent during the last three months of 2008, the government said Wednesday. - Indian hepatitis outbreak leaves 19 dead
Health officials in India’s Gujarat state are investigating a hepatitis outbreak that has left 19 people dead in less than two weeks, authorities said Wednesday. - Journalist killed in Taliban region
Attackers in a Taliban-controlled area of Pakistan shot and tried to behead a Pakistani journalist on Wednesday, according to his employer GEO TV. - Court: Chinese at Gitmo can’t be freed in U.S.
A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that 17 native Chinese Muslims in military custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot be released into the United States. - Dozens missing after Bangladesh boat collision
More than 60 passengers were missing after a riverboat collided with a trawler in southern Bangladesh Thursday, police said. - Kyrgyzstan’s leaders vote to close key U.S. base
Kyrgyzstan parliament has voted to close a base the U.S. military uses as a route for troops and supplies heading into Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Thursday. - Afghan ’surge’ could last five years
Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, predicted Wednesday that the additional 17,000 U.S. military forces to be sent to Afghanistan will remain there for as long as five years. - Obama: Troops alone cannot win Afghanistan
Diplomacy will play a bigger role in U.S. efforts in Afghanistan in future even as the Pentagon announced a significant troop increase, President Barack Obama said in an interview on Canadian television. - Australian fires burn as death toll rises to 208
The death toll from bushfires in southeastern Australia has risen to 208, the Australian Red Cross said Thursday. Fire authorities say five fires continue to burn and residents in the Narbethong area have been advised to “action their fire plans.”
CNN Asia News: 18 February 2009
February 19th, 2009 • Asia, CNN News, World
- Head of Khmer Rouge prison stands trial
A former Khmer Rouge official who is alleged to have run the genocidal regime’s notorious S-21 prison, where thousands were tortured and killed, has become the first member of the ultra-Maoist movement to go on trial in Cambodia. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, faces charges that include crimes against humanity. - Japan appoints new finance minister
A new finance minister was appointed in Japan Tuesday, immediately after a scandal ensnared his predecessor. - Australia: Five-year-old boy eaten by crocodile
A crocodile has snatched and eaten a five-year-old boy in Australia, state police have confirmed. - India: 70,000 trapped in Sri Lanka war zone
India on Wednesday urged Sri Lanka’s Tamil rebels to “release” civilians, who it said numbered about 70,000 in Sri Lanka’s war zone. - Clinton visits Indonesia on state visit
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Indonesia on the second stop of her tour of Asia — her first trip abroad as America’s top diplomat. - Taiwanese economy slumps into recession
Taiwan’s economy slumped 8.36 percent during the last three months of 2008, the government said Wednesday. - Indian hepatitis outbreak leaves 19 dead
Health officials in India’s Gujarat state are investigating a hepatitis outbreak that has left 19 people dead in less than two weeks, authorities said Wednesday. - Journalist killed in Taliban region
Attackers in a Taliban-controlled area of Pakistan shot and tried to behead a Pakistani journalist on Wednesday, according to his employer GEO TV. - Court: Chinese at Gitmo can’t be freed in U.S.
A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that 17 native Chinese Muslims in military custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot be released into the United States. - Obama: Troops alone cannot win Afghanistan
Diplomacy will play a bigger role in U.S. efforts in Afghanistan in future even as the Pentagon announced a significant troop increase, President Barack Obama said in an interview on Canadian television.
CNN Asia News: 17 February 2009
February 18th, 2009 • Asia, CNN News, World
- Pakistan in sharia law deal with Taliban
Pakistani government officials say that they have reached an agreement with the Taliban to allow Islamic law, or sharia, to be implemented in parts of North West Frontier Province. - Seven dead as train hits truck in Bangladesh
A train crashed into a truck at an unguarded rail crossing in Bangladesh on Tuesday, killing seven people, according to authorities. - Chinese mistress contest takes tragic turn
A married Chinese businessman who could no longer afford five mistresses held a competition to decide which one to keep. - Clinton warns against N. Korea missile launch
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her strongest comments yet about North Korea Tuesday during her tour of Asia. - Japan appoints new finance minister
A new finance minister was appointed in Japan Tuesday, immediately after a scandal ensnared his predecessor. - U.N.: Afghan civilian deaths hit record high
The number of civilians killed in armed conflict in Afghanistan rose 40 percent last year, to a record 2,118, a U.N. report said Tuesday. - Car bomb kills five in NW Pakistan
A car bomb blew up in a city in northwestern Pakistan Tuesday, killing 5 people and injuring 16 others, police said. - Woman fears Taliban take over
Gul Bibi and her three children fled the Taliban’s bloody interpretation of Islamic law in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, hoping one day to return. But now that the Pakistani government has recognized Taliban rule in the region, Bibi — who used a false name to protect her identity — said those hopes have been dashed. “The West also doesn’t realize the seriousness of the situation,” Bibi said. - Australian wildfires death toll rises to 200
Wildfires that scorched much of southeastern Australia this month now threaten part of the country’s water supply, even as the fires’ death toll has risen to 200, officials said. - Head of notorious Khmer Rouge prison stands trial
A former Khmer Rouge official who is alleged to have run the genocidal regime’s notorious S-21 prison, where thousands were tortured and killed, has become the first member of the ultra-Maoist movement to go on trial in Cambodia. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, faces charges that include crimes against humanity.
