Latest Asia News

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

May. 16, 2024 22:53 PM EDT

May 10-16, 2024 Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during his two-day state visit to one of his strongest allies and trading partners. Flash flooding and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano’s slopes on Indonesia’s...

China and Russia reaffirm their close ties as Moscow presses its offensive in Ukraine

May. 16, 2024 16:42 PM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday reaffirmed their “no-limits” partnership that has deepened as both countries face rising tensions with the West, and they criticized U.S. military alliances in Asia and the Pacific region. ...

Sweltering heat across Asia was 45 times more likely because of climate change, study finds

May. 14, 2024 17:34 PM EDT

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Sizzling heat across Asia and the Middle East in late April that echoed last year's destructive swelter was made 45 times more likely in some parts of the continent because of human-caused climate change, a study Tuesday found. Scorching temperatures were...

Buddha's birthday: When is it and how is it celebrated in different countries?

May. 12, 2024 01:13 AM EDT

The birthday of the historical Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha, known as Vesak in several countries, celebrates the birth of the child who became Prince Siddhartha around the end of the 4th century B.C. This is a holy occasion for all Buddhists, but is celebrated on different dates depending on the...

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

May. 10, 2024 04:03 AM EDT

May 3-May 9, 2024 General elections continue throughout India. Campus protests in the U.S. have influenced students in Bangladesh and South Korea. Buddhists monks clean Buddha statues before his birthday. Horse riders compete in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous region. Teams...

Thailand's prime minister wants to outlaw cannabis, 2 years after it was decriminalized

May. 08, 2024 09:12 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — The prime minister of Thailand, the first country in Asia to legalize cannabis two years ago, said Wednesday that he wants to outlaw the drug again amid concerns that the lack of regulation had made it available to children and increased crimes. Prime Minister...

From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere

May. 07, 2024 22:14 PM EDT

In sweltering Brazil, flooding killed dozens of people and paralyzed a city of about 4 million people. Voters and politicians in India, amid national elections, are fainting in heat that hit as high as 115 degrees (46.3 degrees Celsius). A brutal Asian heat wave has closed schools...

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

May. 02, 2024 22:40 PM EDT

April 26-May 2, 2024 Workers marched during a May Day rally in Jakarta, anti-nuclear protesters demonstrated in front of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan in Taipei, and people in India’s northeastern Assam state crossed the Brahmaputra River in a country boat to vote in the national...

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

Apr. 25, 2024 22:46 PM EDT

April 19-25, 2024 People cast votes in the first round of polling for India’s national election. A Long March rocket carrying a crew of Chinese astronauts in a Shenzhou-18 spaceship lifts off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Military cadets attend an Anzac Day dawn service...

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

Apr. 19, 2024 01:35 AM EDT

April 12-18, 2024 Shoppers are terrified after a lone assailant started stabbing people at a shopping mall in Sydney; people appreciate spring flowers like cherry and azalea blossoms in Tokyo; a King Sejong statue receives a spring cleaning in Seoul, South Korea. People prepare for...