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Asia
Analysis
China relations
Beijing is winning hearts and minds, Australia needs to get real in the Pacific
For many Solomon Islanders, the equation is simple. China offers them something they have not had for too long: aspiration.
- by Eryk Bagshaw
Latest
Four killed in ‘terrorist’ bombing during Catholic mass
A bomb killed four people and wounded several during a Catholic Mass in an attack that Filipino authorities called Islamist terrorism.
- by Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales
China’s Belt squeezes so tight, Laos is choking
A shiny new train line that makes local travel and cross-border trade easier symbolises what Laos owes the superpower next door.
- by Chris Barrett
First New Zealand, now Malaysia backtracks on pioneering tobacco ban
Malaysia’s government have been accused of caving into big tobacco and the vaping industry after unwinding plans to ban future generations from smoking.
- by Chris Barrett
‘Historic’ decision allows same-sex couple to legally marry in Nepal
The country became the first in South Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, and only the second in the whole of Asia, after Taiwan.
- by Binaj Gurubacharya
Exclusive
Immigration
Indonesia thwarts group paying $10,000 for illegal boat trip to Australia
Police in West Java have swooped on a group of Bangladeshi nationals as they prepared to board a boat to Australia after paying a people smuggler $10,000 each.
- by Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies
Indian rescuers pull out all 41 workers who were trapped in a tunnel for 17 days
Relatives and government officials erupted in joy, set off firecrackers and shouted “Bharat Mata ki Jai” — Hindi for “Long live mother India” — as the smiling workers began emerging from the tunnel entrance.
Malaysia should push to extradite hitman home from Australia: jailed ex-PM
Serving his own sentence for corruption, Najib Razak has weighed in on the release of Sirul Azhar Umar following the High Court’s ruling against indefinite detention.
- by Chris Barrett
Updated
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Art went to Israel for a better life. His wife doesn’t want him going back
Caught up in Hamas’ brutal attack on southern Israel last month, Thai workers on farms near Gaza are slowly being freed during the four-day pause in the conflict.
- by Chris Barrett and Nuttakarn Sumon
China paid this Australian influencer. He was told to pick a fight with Mack Horton
Chinese state-backed social media influencing operations manage teams of foreign nations to do its bidding online.
- by Eryk Bagshaw
Australia and Philippines launch joint patrols in South China Sea
The first combined operation began on Saturday and comes after months of intensifying friction in the contested waterway.
- by Chris Barrett