Asian Correspondent Asia News

Aboriginal rights advocates burn Australian flag

SYDNEY (AP) — Supporters of indigenous rights have burned an Australian flag on the steps of the nation’s Parliament House. Around 200 protesters marched in Canberra on Friday and burned the flag in front of a wall of police. No one was hurt and the protesters left minutes later. The protest follows an angry clash...

HK considers garbage fee to help reduce waste

Having been to places where waste segregation is a common practice, I think charging Hong Kong people for rubbish generated could be an effective way to reduce waste. Hong Kong is a top-rated city when it comes to economy and progress, but lags behind in environment-friendly practices. Locals enjoy the convenience of throwing trash anywhere...

New extinction risk to Thai elephants: eating them

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s revered national symbol, the elephant, may face a new threat of extinction: being poached not just for their tusks, but for their meat. Two wild elephants were found slaughtered last month in a national park in western Thailand, alerting authorities to the new practice of consuming elephant meat. “The poachers took...

Why China’s $99 tablet could be the best of them all

Tablet computers have grown in popularity of late. In fact, tablet and e-reader ownership has doubled in the 2011 holiday season alone in the U.S. market, according to Pew Internet. But with a range of tablet offerings from the inexpensive entry-level models, to mid-range content-driven Android tablets, to the iPad, which one is actually the...

Malaysia investigates Muslim sexual morality drive

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities said Thursday they were investigating whether a Muslim group violated religious laws with a morality campaign that describes the Prophet Muhammad as a role model for “sacred sex.” The group that calls itself the Obedient Wives Club is planning private talks for hundreds of its members in the...

New Zealand judge grants bail to Megaupload pair

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — A judge in New Zealand has granted bail to two men arrested last week in the case against file-sharing site Megaupload. Auckland judge David McNaughton granted bail Thursday to Megaupload employees Finn Batato and Bram van der Kolk. McNaughton previously denied bail to website founder Kim Dotcom. The men are...

Soldiers overthrow Papua New Guinea defense chief

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — Rebel soldiers have staged an apparently bloodless mutiny in the Papua New Guinea capital on Thursday and installed a new military leader, a news agency and Australian officials reported. The new crisis comes during a turbulent period in the South Pacific’s most populous island nation, where two political...

World’s richest man? Malaysian ‘trillionaire’ has tongues wagging

Move over Carlos Slim and Bill Gates. The richest man on earth may be Kamal Ashnawi, who claims to have five trillion euros in one of his multiple bank accounts, pushing Slim and Gates off the edge for being still just “billionaires”. Kamal who, you ask? According to an article in The Star, Kamal claims...

SOPA and PIPA shelved, but Megaupload closure a sign of things to come

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) cracked down on cloud file storage site MegaUpload a day before the Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) and Protect IP (PIPA) acts were shelved in the US Senate and Congress. The DoJ used the PRO-IP (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008) law to shut down Megaupload with...

Japan’s ‘Nuclear Alley’ conflicted over reactors

OHI, Japan (AP) — International inspectors are visiting a rugged Japanese bay region so thick with reactors it is dubbed “Nuclear Alley,” where residents remain deeply conflicted as Japan moves to restart plants idled after the Fukushima disaster. The local economy depends heavily on the industry, and the national government hopes that “stress tests” at...

Burma’s blacklisting of Muslim babies reveals entrenched racism

Last week a small NGO took a report detailing state discrimination against Muslim babies in Burma to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Muslim minority in question, the Rohingya, has suffered for decades as a result of an outwardly racist governmental policy toward non-Buddhists in Burma, which has also seen Christian...

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Sydney’s best ethnic eats: A suburban adventure

Sydney’s culturally diverse population produces no shortage of delicious cuisine from all over the world. A trip to the suburbs, particularly those in the city’s inner west, south west and west uncovers an amazing array of eats from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South America and more. It’s literally the world on a plate. Here...

Sina Weibo beats Twitter record on Chinese New Year

Sina Weibo might just be the Asian startup name you will hear quite often. The micro-blogging site, which is open primarily to China, has set a new record of 32,312 messages per second beating the record of 25,088 messages per second set by Twitter during the national broadcast of Japanese Anime series, Castle in the...