Asia

    President Trump became the first sitting American commander in chief to set foot in North Korea on Sunday as he greeted Kim Jong-un, the country’s leader, at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone that has divided the peninsula for more than six decades. Met in the middle by a beaming Mr. Kim, Mr. Trump stepped across a low concrete marker at 3:46 p.m. local time and walked 20 steps to the base of a building on the North Korean side for an encounter carried live on international television an unprecedented, camera-friendly demonstration of friendship intended to revitalize stalled nuclear talks. It is good to see you again, a seemingly exuberant Mr. Kim told the president through an interpreter. I never expected to meet you in this place. Big moment, big moment, ...

    Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have jammed the city’s streets in a march protesting the government’s handling of a proposed extradition bill. The crowds, walking slowly and shouting “withdraw” and “resign”, spilled into the streets from Victoria Park and began marching towards the Central district where the government headquarters is located. The demonstrators carried banners demanding that chief executive Carrie Lam resign and drop the legislation completely instead of just suspending it as she announced on Saturday. The march looks likely to match in scale one a week earlier that brought as many as a million out to express their concern over the former British colony’s relations with mainland China. Farther down the parade route, mourners lined up to p...

    Japan’s emperor Akihito has called his 30-year reign a blessing and thanked the people of Japan for their support as he became the country’s first monarch to abdicate in two centuries. Speaking at a brief ceremony in the state room of the imperial palace a day before his eldest son, Naruhito, takes his place as the new occupant of the chrysanthemum throne, the 85-year-old Akihito said he had spent the 30 years of his reign performing his duties with deep respect and love for the people. That has been a great blessing, he said, before offering his heartfelt gratitude to the people of Japan who accepted me as the symbol of the state and supported me. He said he hoped the country’s future would be a stable and fruitful one, and pray with all my heart for peace and for...

    Dozens of people have been killed in a series of Easter Sunday explosions targeting churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6po8GaHCOQ The near-simultaneous blasts, two of which were suspected to have been carried out by suicide bombers, are thought to have killed 138 people and injured more than 500. St Anthony's Shrine and the three luxury hotels where the blasts took place are in Colombo, and are frequented by foreign tourists. Early reports suggest nine tourists were killed in the blasts. The Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa and St Sebastian's in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo, were also targeted. A seventh blast was recently reported in Dehiwela near the Sri Lanka capital. A police spokesman said that there were blast...

    The embattled head of Japan’s Olympic Committee resigned on Tuesday amid a widening corruption investigation linked to Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. With a little over a year to go until the opening ceremony for the Games, Tsunekazu Takeda announced during a meeting of the national Olympic committee in Tokyo that he would step down when his 10th term ends in June. Mr Takeda, 71, has denied any wrongdoing in the process of bidding for the 2020 Games and said he is cooperating with an investigation led by French authorities. Mr Takeda was placed under formal investigation by France’s financial crimes office on suspicion of “active corruption” on December 10, Le Monde reported. Prosecutors suspect that the IOC vote in 2013 was swayed by secret...

    A 116-year-old woman from Japan has been officially recognised as the world's oldest living person by Guinness World Records. Kane Tanaka was honoured by the organisation in a ceremony at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka, a city in southwest Japan. Her family and the city's mayor also attended the celebration. Ms Tanaka was born on 2 January 1903. She married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, and they had five children. The 116-year-old enjoys playing board games and studying maths. The previous oldest living person was another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, who died in July at the age of 117. Japanese people tend to exhibit longevity and dominate the oldest-person list. Although changing dietary habits mean obesity has been rising in the country, it is still re...

    Donald Trump appeared to mock aides of Chinese president Xi Jinping for wearing glasses during a rambling White House speech. The president used expressive hand gestures to mimic the advisers eyewear during the monologue, in which he claimed to have personally convinced Mr Xi over dinner to release three US college basketball players detained in Hangzhou over allegations of shoplifting. Mr Trump described how he apparently requested at a state function in Beijing in 2017 that his Chinese counterpart do him a favour by letting the group go free. I was having dinner with him at this incredible show that he put on in a ballroom, the likes of which few people have ever seen. It was an incredible evening, he said. Melania is here. And I’m talking. And it just happened ...

    The Thai political party that took the unprecedented and ultimately unsuccessful step of nominating a member of the royal family as its candidate for prime minister was fighting for its political life Wednesday, while the princess herself appeared to criticize the fallout. The country's Election Commission said Wednesday that it recommended the Thai Raksa Chart Party be dissolved because its prime minister candidate was "in conflict with the system of rule of democracy with king as head of state." It said the recommendation had been forwarded to the Constitutional Court for a decision. The party on Feb. 8 named Princess Ubolratana Mahidol its candidate for prime minister for the March 24 general election. But King Maha Vajiralongkorn just hours later issued an edict...

    The Indian banking system, already reeling under a pile of bad loans from the infrastructure and aviation sectors, is now faced with increased risks from the auto industry. Having cruised along smoothly for half-a-decade, the auto industry, where sales have grown at over 7% on average since 2013, may be in trouble due to a number of factors, according to credit rating agency Fitch. India’s biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki posted a 17% year-on-year decline in profits for the October-December 2018 quarter. It was also industry major Tata Motors third consecutive quarter in the red. Automobile sales had grown by 15% in the last financial year, but the new normal will be sub-10%. That we have to get used to, Kumar Kandaswami, partner with Deloitte India, had told Quartz ...

     An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family and refused to leave her Bangkok hotel room is a refugee, a UN agency has said. The case of Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has been referred to Australia for possible of asylum. In a brief statement, Australia said it would consider the request in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals. Ms Al-Qunun said she had renounced Islam known as apostasy and punishable by death in Saudi Arabia and that she feared her family would kill her as a result. She arrived in Thailand on Saturday on a layover between Kuwait and Australia, but was detained by the Thai authorities. The Australian government has previously stated that Ms Al-Qunun will not be given special treatment due to the high profile nature of her case. Nonethel...