Top Asian News 3:24 a.m. GMT
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Solomon Islands lawmakers elected former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele as prime minister Thursday in a development that suggests the South Pacific island nation will maintain close ties with China. Manele used his first speech as leader to promise to govern with integrity and to put his nation’s interests first. “I will discharge my duties diligently and with integrity. I will at all times put the interests of our people and country above all other interests,” Manele said in a speech outside the National Parliament of Solomon Islands. Manele won 31 votes in a secret ballot of 49 lawmakers who won general elections on April 17, Governor General David Vunagi said, while Matthew Wale, who led the opposition in the previous parliament, received the remaining 18.
BEIJING (AP) — A section of a highway collapsed after heavy rains in a mountainous area in southern China, sending cars tumbling down a slope and leaving at least 36 people dead, authorities said Thursday. The Meizhou city government said that 23 vehicles have been found after a 17.9-meter (58.7-foot) long section of the highway gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Thirty other people had injuries, none of them life-threatening, a government statement said. The search effort was complicated by steady rain, gravel and soil coming down at the site, posing some risk to the workers, a fire department official told Chinese media.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40% of Americans now label China as an enemy, up from a quarter two years ago and reaching the highest level in five years, according to an annual Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday. Half of Americans think of China as a competitor, and only 6% consider the country a partner, according to the report. The findings come as the Biden administration is seeking to stabilize U.S.-China relations to avoid miscalculations that could result in clashes, while still trying to counter the world’s second-largest economy on issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to Taiwan and human rights.
MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s Mount Ruang volcano spewed more hot clouds on Wednesday after an eruption the previous day forced the closure of schools and airports, pelted villages with volcanic debris and prompted hundreds of people to flee. Seven airports, including Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, remained closed after Tuesday’s eruption, the second in two weeks. Schools were shut to protect children from volcanic ash. The volcano is on tiny Ruang Island, part of the Sitaro islands chain. The Indonesian geological agency urged people to stay at least 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the volcano’s crater.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The European Union and United Nations abruptly rescheduled the launch of an anti-human trafficking program this week after being confronted with questions on the choice of venue: a Phnom Penh hotel owned by a Cambodian tycoon who has another property that has been used by human traffickers. The launch of the EU-U.N. “PROTECT” project, which aims to help prevent violence against women and children, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, had been set to take place May 3 in Cambodia in the Phnom Penh Hotel. The facility is owned by L.Y.P. Group, a conglomerate entirely run by the family of tycoon Ly Yong Phat, a Cambodian senator with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Manet.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Yunis Safi, a businessman in Kabul, knows very well the importance of showing off your phone if you want something done. “In Afghanistan, your phone is your personality,” he said, smiling, a jewel-encrusted ring on each hand. One boasts an emerald, the other a fat Russian diamond. “When you go to a meeting with the government, the better your phone, the more they respect you.” Safi runs a phone shop in the posh Shar-e-Naw neighborhood. An armed guard stands outside. The iPhone 15 Pro Max adorns the shop shelves, retailing for $1,400. He has customers ready to part with this sum of money, which may come as a surprise to some given the country’s economic woes and more than half the population relying on humanitarian aid to survive.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on hundreds of companies and people tied to Russia’s weapons development program, more than a dozen Chinese entities accused of helping Moscow find workarounds to earlier penalties, and individuals linked to the death of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The actions by the departments of Treasury and State target Russia’s military-industrial base, chemical weapons programs and people and companies in third countries that help Russia acquire weapons components as its invasion of Ukraine has entered its third year. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the action “will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it.” The Senate, meanwhile, gave final approval to legislation barring imports of Russian uranium, boosting U.S.
BEIJING (AP) — The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China said he was allowed back into his lab after he spent days locked outside, sitting in protest. Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post on Wednesday, just past midnight, that the medical center that hosts his lab had “tentatively agreed” to allow him and his team to return and continue their research for the time being. “Now, team members can enter and leave the laboratory freely,” Zhang wrote in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. He added that he is negotiating a plan to relocate the lab in a way that doesn’t disrupt his team’s work with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which hosts Zhang’s lab.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A senior Australian government minister said Wednesday the bilateral relationship with India was good and had improved in recent years, but declined to comment on reports that two Indian spies were secretly expelled from Australia four years ago. Treasurer Jim Chalmers was asked during a television interview whether India could be considered Australia’s friend after Australian news media and The Washington Post reported the two intelligence operatives’ quiet expulsion. Chalmers told Australian Broadcasting Corp., “I don’t want to get into those kinds of operational issues in any way.” “We’ve got a good relationship with India and with other countries in the region, it’s an important economic relationship, it’s become closer in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides, and that’s a good thing,” Chalmers said.
For one day, workers ruled the world’s biggest streets. Thousands strong marched Wednesday to mark May Day, the first day of the month when workers’ rights are celebrated in demonstrations around the globe. From Seoul to Paris, Istanbul to Berlin, they drew attention to stagnant wages and the high cost of living as they took aim at their governments. In some cases, their governments returned fire. In Turkey, police in riot gear shot rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of protesters who clashed with officers as they tried to break through a barricade and reach Istanbul’s Taksim square in defiance of a ban.