Asia News Feeds

Surfing is estimated to be worth billions of dollars to the country’s economy.

The deal aims to create India’s largest entertainment company which will dominate the advertising market.

Thousands of angry students marched in the streets of Dhaka to celebrate the ouster of long-serving PM Sheikh Hasina. Bangladeshis are demanding that Hasina, who fled to neighboring India, be put on trial.

New track Attach is Moose Wala’s last music video, and has been racking up millions of views.

At a time when Berlin is calling for increased deportations to Afghanistan, the Taliban is attempting to exert more control over Kabul’s diplomatic mission in Germany. Berlin has apparently accepted the move.

India’s competition regulator is looking to curb Big Tech’s dominance over web search and advertising. Interest groups say monopolistic practices hinder competition and negatively impact Indian businesses.

Super Typhoon Yagi, which has already killed over a dozen people in the Philippines, could be the most powerful storm to hit southern China in a decade.

US tariffs on Southeast Asian solar exports could further weaken solar panel producers in the European Union, but also help the EU’s green agenda.

The Pope is currently in Indonesia as part of his tour around the Asia Pacific region.

China’s president has kicked off a major summit in Beijing by pledging billions in financing for African countries. He also promised to help create one million jobs on the continent.

As the US, China and UK try to woo Pacific Islands for geopolitical reasons, nations are more concerned about climate.

The once booming garment industry faces an uncertain future amid political unrest and slowing demand.

Since April, wolf attacks have terrorised villages near the Nepalese border, killing nine children.

US officials say China lavished Linda Sun with money and perks including meals prepared by a personal chef.

Rachael Gunn says sorry after her zero score at the Olympics prompted ridicule and made global headlines.

The messaging platform said there had been a "miscommunication" about the issue. Seoul has vowed to clamp down on a rising tide of online sex crimes.

It comes days after South Korean police said they had launched an investigation into Telegram.

Pope Francis and Indonesian President Joko Widodo highlighted the role religion can play in fostering peace. The pontiff is set to host leaders of six different religious groups in Jakarta.

Former Mayor Alice Guo is accused of money laundering, human trafficking, and having ties to Chinese organized crime. She has denied the allegations, calling them "malicious."

Alice Guo was arrested in Indonesia after being on the run in four countries for weeks.

China is feting African leaders at a summit in Beijing aimed at strengthening ties.

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. 

Major international companies, including big tech firms, are exploiting India’s labor laws and skirting overtime payment, say workers.

Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, is being promoted as a sustainable alternative to the sinking Jakarta. DW examines the impact the new city is having on the Indigenous Balik tribe’s ancestral homeland.

Three of the 57 defendants had received life sentences in a country where protests are effectively illegal.

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 raising their voices or reading aloud in public. Although Western countries and blocs like the US and EU have condemned the new laws, NGOs say much more could and should be done. In Perspective, we spoke to Heather Barr, interim women’s rights deputy director for Human Rights Watch.

The Russian leader’s visit to the ICC-member state is seen as a show of defiance against the Hague.

Extreme weather events are increasingly putting girls at risk, say rights groups, pointing to climate-displaced families marrying off young girls in exchange for money.

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.

The Pope will visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore over 12 days.

China pledged to install satellite dishes in some 10,000 villages across Africa, aiming to generate goodwill.

The crisis engulfing more than 500 schools and universities involves many underage victims.

Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s continued presence in India means new diplomatic challenges for Delhi.

Pope Francis is traveling to Southeast Asia and Oceania on a long-planned trip. He will be airborne for a good 43 hours.

The massive statue of a revered 17th Century warrior king has sparked a controversy in Maharashtra state.

The new school year has begun in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where access to education is a major challenge. More than 26 million children do not attend school in Pakistan, the majority of them girls. The country has the second-highest number of out-of-school children in the world. Pakistan’s prime minister declared a state of emergency over the issue at the beginning of May. However, no concrete action has yet been taken. Our correspondents report.

The oppression of Afghan women continues unabated before the eyes of the world. The Taliban imposed severe new restrictions earlier this month, with women not only obliged to cover their faces but now forbidden from raising their voices, singing or reading aloud in public. Western countries – led by the US and EU – have condemned the new laws but also seem resigned to the Taliban regime, which offers some stability in the region. 

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 also two years since the death of Mahsa Amini, who was killed while in detention by the Iranian morality police for seemingly showing too much hair under her veil. Her death prompting the biggest protest movement in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Annette Young is joined by Afghan-Canadian journalist, Zahra Nader and Iranian human rights researcher, Mahsa Alimardani, as they discuss the failure of the international community to stand up to both regimes on women’s rights.

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. Afghan artist and activist Fatimah Hossaini reacts to the devastating new laws. 

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 decades, it also left hundreds of thousands of homes without power. Floods and landslides are now feared by the authorities.

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 sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997.

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 efforts to increase military communications between the two rival powers amid tensions over Taiwan and China’s maritime operations in the South China Sea.

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. 

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 putting their centuries-old way of life under threat, taking up land used for grazing cattle and damaging precious water sources.

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 authorities warned of a “major disaster”. 

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 multinational crisis force, comprising 200 officers for regional emergencies and disaster response.

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 discussions on the disputed South China Sea and ongoing tensions around Taiwan.

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 teach Chinese to the Nepalese, gradually turning them away from India. Caught between the two Asian giants, Nepal’s allegiance is constantly shifting, as projects and investment deals come and go. FRANCE 24’s Léa Delfolie, Khansa Juned and Bhadra Sharma report.

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 millimeters annually over the last 30 years, the WMO report noted that regions north and east of Australia are experiencing significantly higher rates. 

The city is growing inexorably. And it is not a place for anyone with a fear of heights, or a sensitive stomach. If you want to experience China, you can’t avoid the growing megacity of Chongqing.

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 one of the deadliest attacks in the soutwestern province.

More than 4 million people have been affected by flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains in Bangladesh, with almost 300,000 taking refuge in emergency shelters on Saturday, the ministry of disaster management said.

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, and Khansa Juned met with one former detainee as well as with activists and families still hoping to be reunited with their loved ones.

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 that left more than 450 dead.

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, Indonesia’s government and Australian Indigenous communities. 

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. Report by FRANCE 24’s W. de Tamaris, I. Rahmi and J. McCurry.

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.

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 events of the Shiite calendar which marks the 40th day of mourning for the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

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 women.

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 and released images showing ships heavily damaged by what it called “unlawful and aggressive maneuvers” by the Chinese coast guard.

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 refugees, most of whom fled neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 after a military crackdown

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 industry, disrupted by weeks of civil unrest, would also be a priority.