Top Asian News at 6:00 a.m. GMT HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Anti-China protesters hoping to lay wreaths at a famous statue in the Vietnamese capital on Sunday were obstructed by an unusual sight of ballroom dancers and an energetic aerobics class held to a thumping sound system. The demonstrators suspect the government deployed the dancers as a way to stop them from getting close to the statue and make their speeches inaudible. The few who tried to get close to the statue of Ly Thai To, the founder of Hanoi and a nationalist icon, were shooed away. WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency was involved in the surveillance of an American law firm while it represented a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States, The New York Times reported in a story based on a top-secret document obtained by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden. The February 2013 document shows that the Indonesian government had retained the law firm for help in trade talks, the Times reported in a story posted on its website Saturday. The law firm was not identified in the document, but the Chicago-based firm Mayer Brown was advising the Indonesian government on trade issues at the time, according to the newspaper. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Tourists, hawkers and motorcyclists rub shoulders every morning in the congested alleyways of Hanois low-rise Old Quarter, which seems generations away from the office towers and electronics megastores springing up in other parts of the capital. The quarters street grid, laid out in the 15th century, is still dominated by dilapidated shops selling everything from brass gongs to bamboo scaffolding. It is now among Asias best-preserved urban hubs of traditional commerce — thanks largely to decades of inattention. The 82-hectare (203-acre) downtown area is crammed with Buddhist temples, pagodas and French colonial shophouses, whose original tiles and peeling yellow paint have become a draw for foreign visitors. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Indonesia to discuss climate change and press authorities in Jakarta and throughout Asia to step up efforts to combat it. Kerry is to deliver a speech on the matter here on Sunday, a day after winning an agreement with China to cooperate more closely in reducing the effects of climate change. U.S. officials are hoping that other nations, particularly those in the developing world, will follow suit. SIDOMULYO, Indonesia (AP) — The ash and debris that Indonesias Mount Kelud blasted from its belly brought death and misery, and disrupted international air traffic. But for many of the millions of people cleaning up in the wake of the explosive eruption, it was also a money earner and a shot of life for their crops. This is a blessing of the disaster, said Imam Choiri, a farmer who was scraping up the ash from the road to use as fertilizer on his small vegetable plot a few kilometers from the crater of the rumbling mountain. Choiri said locals believe the ash helps drive away pests from crops. BERLIN (AP) — Director Diao Yinans Black Coal, Thin Ice, a detective thriller set in northern China, won the Berlin International Film Festivals main Golden Bear prize on Saturday. The movie also picked up the best actor award, which went to Liao Fan. DREAMS COME TRUE BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescuers searched Saturday for seven Japanese divers who were missing off the resort island of Bali, police said. The group, including two instructors, left Friday morning on a boat they hired for a dive around mangroves in Crystal Bay when strong winds and heavy rains hit the area, said Maj. Nyoman Suarsika, chief of Nusa Penida police. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An improvised explosive device killed a NATO service member in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the U.S.-led international military coalition said. In its statement, the coalition did not give further details on where the incident occurred or the nationality of the service member killed. BEIJING (AP) — Playing host to the Olympics or World Cup can showcase an ambitious countrys rise and cast a harsh light on its weaknesses. This week in Sochi, the eye-popping cost of Russias Winter Games and logistical fumbles got as much attention as figure skaters and snowboarders. But organizers say the problems will be forgotten quickly, while the infrastructure improvements, international attention to the region and new winter resort built for the games will be a legacy benefiting Russia for decades. RENO, Nevada (AP) — A big-game hunter from Montana is suing a Canadian outfitter and a world-renowned hunting guide in Tajikistan he accuses of turning his once-in-a-lifetime adventure of bagging a rare, wild argali sheep known as the Marco Polo into a nightmare. Rick Vukasin said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Reno last week that he spent more than $50,000 pursuing the animal in the Pamir mountains of northeast Tajikistan near Chinas border in December 2012. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he urged Chinese leaders to support press freedom and a free Internet. Speaking Saturday after talks with Chinese leaders, Kerry said that the Chinese economy would be stronger with great freedom of the Internet. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.N. panel has found crimes against humanity have been committed in North Korea and will call for an international criminal investigation, The Associated Press has learned. The report, to be released Monday, is the most authoritative account yet of rights violations by North Korean authorities, and is bound to infuriate its unpredictable leader. But justice remains a distant prospect, not least as North Koreas ally, China, would be likely to block any referral to the International Criminal Court. BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday he had won a commitment from China to help bring a belligerent North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks, even as he butted heads with Chinese leaders over a series of increasingly aggressive steps Beijing has taken to assert itself in territorial disputes with its smaller neighbors. Kerry met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior officials as he sought to underscore the Obama administrations commitment to refocusing U.S. foreign policy on the Asia-Pacific region amid myriad other global priorities. He addressed issues ranging from climate change, human rights and rule of law, to Syria and Iran with his Chinese hosts. BEIJING (AP) — The major city of Guangzhou in southern China closed its live poultry markets on Saturday for two weeks to halt the spread of the H7N9 strain of bird flu. The closure lasts through Feb. 28 to strengthen work to control the spread of the H7N9 flu, the city government said in a one-sentence announcement on its microblog account. MANIWALA, India (AP) — She lies in wait while her victims are collecting firewood, or taking cattle to graze, or working in the fields. She has grabbed people in broad daylight, carrying them away silently into the forests or the sugarcane fields. By the time the victims are found, often little is left but a pair of shoes, unspeakable gore and a ring of drying blood. Over seven weeks she has traveled, almost completely unseen, for more than 120 miles (190 kilometers). She has crossed villages, small towns and at least one highway.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:07:34 +0000
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