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China relations
China accused of sonar blast ‘aggression’ after spray with Philippines vessels
The skirmish in the South China Sea followed a sonar incident involving the Australian Navy last month.
- by Neil Jerome Morales
Latest
Two boats with 400 Rohingya aboard adrift in the Andaman Sea: UN
The captain of one boat said he feared all on board would die if they did not receive help. The whereabouts of the other boat were unclear.
- by Grant Peck
Analysis
China relations
How Australia borrowed from China’s playbook in dealing with smaller nations
For many Solomon Islanders, the equation is simple. China offers them something they have not had for too long: aspiration.
- by Eryk Bagshaw
Opinion
China relations
Chinese sub-plot is not a secret, but the implications are ‘profound’
Australia does not have the luxury of defending against a hypothetical adversary. We have to plan for a very real one.
- by Peter Hartcher
‘I thought the world was coming to an end’: Hikers caught up in volcano eruption
A rescue mission is under way to find 12 climbers, after 11 others were found dead near the erupting crater of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi.
- by Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies
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.