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00:00:01a
00:00:28Hello in and welcome to Asian newsweek.
00:00:29Let's start in the Philippines where a deadly
00:00:33fire has torn through passenger ferry near a tourist
00:00:36hotspot. The vessels manifest says the boat had
00:00:40117 passengers and 17 crew on
00:00:43board. At least five people have been confirmed dead with the death
00:00:47toll expected to rise. The coast guard has shared footage
00:00:50of the burntout vessel with smoke still rising from the charred
00:00:54remains, while dozens of people
00:00:57of are still unaccounted for. Karen Limmer, the chief of. Philippines Bureau
00:01:01has more. The ferry was
00:01:04a traveling from Manila its way to Koron and Kuron is a popular tourist
00:01:08destination known for its turquoise
00:01:11of waters and very popular for
00:01:14of diving, but according to officials, the passengers, the
00:01:18the fairy might be also carrying both tourists and at the
00:01:22same time people are heading home um to Koron. I think
00:01:26it's it's good to understand that Philippines
00:01:28of is an
00:01:29of archipelago. so we have more than 7,600
00:01:33islands, so lot of inter island travel is happening, lot
00:01:37of people rely on these ferry going to and from you
00:01:40homes back to their provinces and it's a cheaper option. of course, there's
00:01:44been
00:01:45in reports in the past where regulators have reported some
00:01:49of this ferries that have been in these
00:01:52accidents were overloaded, they were
00:01:55of old,
00:01:56of um, in maybe there was, they didn't pass safety um
00:02:00um assessments, which is actually different in this case, they didn't want to
00:02:04make any conclusion at the moment, but according to
00:02:09a of officials, these of particular um fairy actually passed uh safety assessments that were that was
00:02:12conducted this year. meanwile, 25
00:02:16people have been killed in fire
00:02:18of a of foreign flagged cargo ship docked in eastern china.
00:02:22state media says the ship was undergoing repairs a shipyyard in the city of
00:02:26Chindau when it erupted in flames. videos on social media
00:02:30media showed thick smoke rising from the vessel while it was docked.
00:02:34the exact cause is unknown and investigation is
00:02:37underway. there've been chaotic scenes across Indonesia this
00:02:41week after ash from a volcanic eruption that started last
00:02:45of friday closed down key air hubs.
00:02:47of more than 340,000 passengers experienced flight
00:02:51delays, cancellations or
00:02:53of disruptions over number of days. Indonesia correspondent Tim swanston
00:02:57reports. there's been major. travel chaos over
00:03:01the last few days in and out of Indonesia with flight
00:03:05cancellations across the board because
00:03:08of the eruption of Mount Anakutao on
00:03:11Friday. Mount Anakotao sits halfway between
00:03:15Java and Sumatra. The eruption has blanketed Jakarta,
00:03:19West Java, Banten, southern sumatra
00:03:22in ash, and the disaster mitigation agency has urged people to
00:03:26wear masks in affected areas to avoid breathing in that.
00:03:30schools have pivoted to remote learning in Jakarta and
00:03:33Lampung, vision from the eruption over the weekend shows this
00:03:37red lava that's lighting up the sky at
00:03:40night. Monday was chaos
00:03:43at Chakarta's main airport, which was closed,
00:03:47along with several other Indonesian airports. It's dangerous for flights
00:03:51to go near the ash
00:03:53in cloud, in
00:03:54in sulfur and silica particles can cause damage to plane engines and
00:03:57visibility is also low. had a
00:04:01meeting on monday with officials about the eruption and said that disaster
00:04:05mitigation funds needed to increase. it is
00:04:08worth noting though that funding for Indonesia's disaster mitigation
00:04:12agency has been slashed in recent years and staying with
00:04:16this story, Indonesian authorities are searching
00:04:18in for eight people who went missing at sea near the anacratil
00:04:22volcano. on friday morning, rescue teams recovered a life
00:04:26jacket and a plastic container approximately 10 nautical.
00:04:30from their last known location, but it's not clear if they're related to the
00:04:34missing vessel. early this week, five journalists along with a
00:04:38guide and two crew members went
00:04:40of a speed boat to report on the volcanic eruptions. the boat
00:04:44lost contact on Monday afternoon and is believed to have gone
00:04:47missing in the sunder straight. destroute relatives have gathered at the port
00:04:51office in Karita a waiting news
00:04:54of their
00:04:55in family of members. the missing journalists work for Indonesian news outlets
00:04:58and
00:05:12was buried by last month's deadly floods raising hopes
00:05:16some people may still be found alive. around 900
00:05:20people are suspected to be trapped in hydro-power tunnels after a
00:05:24glacier collapse sent mud in debri through parts of Nepal and
00:05:27Tibet. tunneling experts say hollow section has been
00:05:31found bringing fresh hope that some survivors may have been
00:05:35able to shelter. Nepal's prime minister says rescue efforts
00:05:38will continue without let up. thousands are still missing. across
00:05:42Nepal and China's Tibet region and at least 1,300
00:05:46people have been confirmed dead. Dozens of unidentified bodies
00:05:50are being buried in mass graves. A building collapsed in
00:05:54New Delhi has killed seven people. The five-story building was being
00:05:58used to house students. Local media says the building's
00:06:02owner has since been arrested. Authorities say water had accumulated
00:06:06in the building's basement which was undergoing construction when the
00:06:09collapse happened. Bangladesh is. facing its worst
00:06:13measel outbreak on record, claiming the lives of more than 100
00:06:16children this year. the country once came close to eliminating the
00:06:20disease, but disruptions to immunization programs and vaccine
00:06:24supply have pushed the health system to breaking
00:06:27point. desperate parents crowd
00:06:30hospital wards in the capital, darker, seeking urgent medical
00:06:34help influx of children sick with
00:06:36meaasles. 14 days ago, when we were at the
00:06:40district hospital, there were other children. treated alongside my
00:06:43daughter. I saw that those children also had red rashes on their
00:06:47bodies, sores in their mouths and fever. seeing these things, I
00:06:51realized it was measles. Since March, the country has recorded more
00:06:55than 166,00 suspected measel
00:06:58cases. It's the largest current outbreak in the world and the
00:07:02health system is struggling to contain
00:07:04it. I'm a non-medical person. That's
00:07:08why I came here to the doctors helplessly, but they cannot tell us what the
00:07:11actual problem is. 'they're not telling us what to do, we're just hopping around
00:07:15from one hospital to another. disruptions to immunization
00:07:18schedules reversed much the progress Bangladesh had made towards
00:07:22controlling the disease in recent years.
00:07:26first, the pandemic interrupted routine
00:07:28vaccinations, and then in
00:07:322024, the government missed the campaign carried out every four
00:07:36years, amid the political upheaval that led to the ousting of then
00:07:39premier shake hassina. the pose has given the highly
00:07:43contagious virus a chance to spread. covid
00:07:47during the COVID period in 2021 and 2022, we did not go out of
00:07:51our homes and many of us did not take our children to get vaccinated, so if you
00:07:55look at children who are now four or five years old, many them miss their
00:07:58vaccinations. a growing number of dangi fever patients is
00:08:02putting additional pressure on the already overstretched healthcare
00:08:05system. the mosquito born disease which can cause fatal
00:08:09complications has spread drastically in recent weeks.
00:08:13It's linked to warmer temperatures and urbanization, underscoring the
00:08:16environmental challenges facing Bangladesh's health
00:08:19system. In comparison to last
00:08:23year's trends dengi cases started quite early this year.
00:08:27This is related to climate changing
00:08:28weather.
00:08:37outbreak or the epidemic as it is happening still now
00:08:40and situation that's growing
00:08:44up, it's a kind of a failure of all of us, it's a collective
00:08:47failure. An emergency vaccination campaign is currently underway
00:08:51to stem the flow of rising cases. It's a race against time
00:08:55for a country hoping to reset the clock on Measel's control.
00:08:59Emilia Costegan, ABC News. Still to come on
00:09:03Asia news week, the mystery of five baby arungutons found a
00:09:06forest far from their natural habitat. Plus, Asia is home to the
00:09:10world's highest paid leader. and they're set to get million dollar pay
00:09:14rise, more on that shortly. The Philippines defense
00:09:18secretary has lashed out at China during a public forum
00:09:22after a man handed him a note during a Q&A session,
00:09:25asserting China's position on the South China Sea. The Philippines and
00:09:29China have repeatedly clashed over the waterway, which Beijing claims
00:09:33sovereignty over, despite international rulings that say
00:09:36otherwise. It's unclear who wrote or passed Gilberto
00:09:40Teodoro the note, nor whether they were... associate of
00:09:44China. Let's take a look now at the moment that's gone viral
00:09:47online. In international law,
00:09:50unfortunately just
00:09:51like is
00:09:55uh, just like uh, I have note
00:09:59here, I think this is from China, you should have
00:10:02joined the uh, and may I read it, China's
00:10:06position on the South China Sea arbitration is clear, consistent and
00:10:10firm. They have no position, they are. arbitration violates
00:10:13fundamental principles of international law, this is
00:10:17actual coersion, bullying and
00:10:21aggression. I will keep this paper.
00:10:25as mamento of how desperate China is
00:10:29and how ineffective its
00:10:32position is in the face of a free audience. Thank
00:10:36you very much for the person who
00:10:40gave me this piece of paper, you just done your country a great
00:10:44service. North Korea and Russia have opened the first road
00:10:47bridge over their shared border a display of deepening ties between the
00:10:51two nations. The Kremlin says the new bridge is designed to. accommodate a
00:10:55projected growth in freight and passenger traffic with up to
00:10:59300 vehicles able to pass over it daily. direct air and
00:11:03rail links already exist between Moscow and Pyongyang, but until Monday
00:11:07there had not been a formal road link. South Korea
00:11:10is expecting a surge in power demand as chipmakers,
00:11:14Samsung Electronics and SK Heinix expand production and
00:11:18build new AI data centers. The country is currently powered by mix
00:11:22of coal, gas and nuclear energy with rene. contributing
00:11:26just over 10%. the country has 26 nuclear
00:11:29reactors which provide about a third of its power needs. the south korean
00:11:33energy minister says reliance on nuclear energy is unavoidable for
00:11:37now as new energy demands will need to be
00:11:39met. the
00:11:43electrification of vehicles and of our gas-based heating means that these
00:11:46demands are being converted into electricity demand. overall
00:11:50electricity demand is increasing significantly in the process the energy
00:11:54transition and the AI revolution. Australia's
00:11:57student visa refusal rate has hit a 10-year high as
00:12:01migration becomes a hot button topic. The Australian Department
00:12:05of Home Affairs says applications are not assessed based nationality, though
00:12:09data shows some countries have higher refusal rates than others, as Natasha
00:12:13Selem reports. Some countries are seeing
00:12:16more ejections than the other. Nepal for
00:12:20example has seen more than 50% of rejection this
00:12:24year. while India has seen more than 40%
00:12:28and China sees 5.8%
00:12:32of rejection. In assessing the student visa applications, the
00:12:35government is using the genuine student criteria
00:12:39which looks at the applicants
00:12:42condition in their country of origin, they
00:12:46also assess the potential situations
00:12:50for applicants in Australia. At the same
00:12:54time there als so looking at the value that the course that the
00:12:57student is proposing to study, how it
00:13:01will have an impact on them, um, with other things
00:13:05such as the immigration history and also other relevant
00:13:08factors. last week the government shap down the
00:13:12vocational and educational um training
00:13:15program um emit concerns that students
00:13:19are using this to um to stay longer
00:13:23in Australia rather than actual um studying
00:13:26here, but the experts are warning um
00:13:30against using a blanket approach in um doing
00:13:34this, because it might also impact
00:13:38the interest of overseas students to come to Australia to genuinely
00:13:42study here. for the students who whose
00:13:45visas applications were rejected, they're actually
00:13:48looking at other countries to study. um, some
00:13:52students have decided to study in, countries in Asia, for
00:13:56example, some are looking at New Zealand, while
00:14:00some others are looking at European countries, um,
00:14:04but um, experts are also warning that
00:14:07if the immigration officials or the case officers
00:14:11is not handling their student visa applications fairly
00:14:15or um a a right way, then
00:14:19itl it might impact the impression that
00:14:23they have towards Australia. um and seeing
00:14:26Australia as a country that's not friendly towards
00:14:30overseas students, which in the long run might also impact
00:14:34to the international education sector, which creates
00:14:38thousands of jobs and generates millions of income. Five
00:14:42baby orangutons have been found a forest in India's eastern state of
00:14:45Odisha far from their natural habitat, prompting
00:14:49investigation into how they got there. photos and videos shared
00:14:53online show the young critically and apes sitting together on the
00:14:57forest floor, eating bananas, thousands of kilometers
00:15:00from tropical rainforests aorangutans are found in the wild
00:15:04only in Indonesia and Malaysia. the local government says
00:15:08investigators are examining whether the animals were trafficked into the
00:15:11country by an international smuggling network. we
00:15:15know that these five arangutans, three males and two females were
00:15:19found a cacharina plantation which is extremely
00:15:22unusual and to be honest. is unusual, the
00:15:26pattern is not, we've seen this happen in the past as well, where animals that are not native to
00:15:30India have ended up in trade, and it's a it's a systemic issue that
00:15:34we're trying to solve, the world's highest paid leader is to
00:15:37get paid even more. Singaporean prime minister Lawrence Wong is
00:15:41expected to get a pay increase of more than million US dollars in his next
00:15:45annual pay package as the salaries of Singapore's ministers
00:15:49and other office holders set for a boost. Mr. Wong will be
00:15:53paid $2.8 million making him the top-paid world
00:15:56leader ahead of Hong Kong's chief executive who's paid around $700
00:16:00thousand. For reference, the US president is paid
00:16:04400,000 and the UK prime minister takes home.
00:16:0823000. Lawrence Wong says the extra million will go to
00:16:12charity over the next 5 years. Well, Hong Kong's
00:16:15first chief executive has died at the age of
00:16:1889. Tunga became Hong Kong's first leader
00:16:22after the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in
00:16:261997. The Shanghai born shipping
00:16:29tycoon had no political experience but was handpicked by Beijing
00:16:33to rule the territory. In 2005 at mid. mounting
00:16:37criticism of his leadership, tung resigned partway through his
00:16:41second term, citing failing health. this
00:16:45week marks 50 years since the death of tong, founder the
00:16:49people's republic of china. chairman died at the age of
00:16:5282 back in 1976, bringing an end to
00:16:56the cultural revolution. tens of millions of people are believed to
00:17:00have died under the communist leaders policies. the CCP has
00:17:04retrospectively condemned the cultural revolution as a grave
00:17:07error for which Ma bore primary responsibility, but
00:17:11the party still reveals him, saying his achievements outway his
00:17:15mistakes. Mao's six meter high portrait still overlooks
00:17:19Beijing's Tieneman Square, and his preserved body lies a memorial
00:17:23hall in the symbolic center of Chinese political
00:17:26power. North Korean state media has released video of crowds
00:17:30in Pyongyang celebrating the 78th anniversary the states
00:17:34founding. The event featured musical performances of
00:17:37fireworks display and a speech delivered by leader Kim Jong On.
00:17:41In it, Kim thanked soldiers involved in overseas military
00:17:45operations, likely reference to North Korean troops fighting
00:17:49in Russia's war in Ukraine. Indonesia's
00:17:52wildfires have been worsened by this year's super Elnino.
00:17:56The fires have caused thick smoke to spread across other parts of Southeast
00:18:00Asia, posing a health risk to residents. Our correspondent traveled to
00:18:04West Calimantan for this report.
00:18:07shrouded in toxic haze, the west kalimantan
00:18:11capital of Pontianak, nearly invisible.
00:18:15Residents here are used to some smoke, but this is
00:18:19on another level. The children are sick, this woman
00:18:23says, they're coughing, they have runny
00:18:25noses. The smoke is being caused by
00:18:29fires which have been burning across the region for months,
00:18:32largely in wetland areas known as peathlands.
00:18:36These... landfires are notoriously difficult to put out.
00:18:40These are thick layers of vegetation. You might not see
00:18:44flames on the surface, but there could be embars meters below
00:18:47ground. Dozens of people have been arrested on
00:18:51suspicion of deliberately lighting fires. The blazer is
00:18:55exacerbated by drought conditions driven by a
00:18:58super elninho weather pattern. Yang kedua, water sources have
00:19:02begun to dry up. The biggest challenge for us firefighters is
00:19:06the lack of water. The haze has spread to other countries, reaching
00:19:10Malaysia, Singapore, Bruney, and as far as the
00:19:13Philippines. It's forcing tens of thousands of people
00:19:17to seek treatment for respiratory conditions. In
00:19:21my view, this is worse than years before, Dr. Mohamed Ariyev
00:19:25says the intensity is getting worse. There are fears the
00:19:28situation could still deteriorate further as Elnino
00:19:32conditions persist. Tim Swanston, ABC News, West
00:19:36Calimantan. more now on Nepal's flood
00:19:39recovery: scientists believe the climate crisis played role in the
00:19:43floods and now Nepal is asking for $20 million in
00:19:47climate compensation. It comes as the country marks one year
00:19:51since deadly Jens protest brought massive political
00:19:54upheaval. For more on this, senior news editor at Nepal
00:19:58television, Shivani Tapa Basniat
00:20:00is with us from Katmandu. Shivani, tell us what's the latest
00:20:04on the recovery efforts in Nepal after the floods?
00:20:07concern is certainly preventing
00:20:09you know displacement from becoming second disaster here,
00:20:13people have lost homes, they have lost livelywoods and access to basic services
00:20:17and relocation raises very very difficult questions
00:20:20about safety and whether people can remain connected
00:20:23to their livelihoods that they so depend on,
00:20:27but the deepest pain is with the families the missing
00:20:31here, they are caught between hope and morning and some have even
00:20:35begun the Hindu funeral rights using symbolic
00:20:38FVGs, because bodies cannot be retrieved,
00:20:42while DNA identification has is being used by
00:20:46the authorities to establish identities.
00:20:50Well,
00:20:50this has all been a massive test for the world's youngest Prime Minister,
00:20:54Balendra Shah. He was rapper, then became Nepal's
00:20:58leader in March, are people satisfied with his actions
00:21:02so far? There is level of
00:21:04contentment, but I would rather say public
00:21:08support certainly is under scrutiny at the moment, because
00:21:12it's the youth who are really supporting and giving the giving a
00:21:15benefit of doubt to the prime minister and his government, but then there is...
00:21:20is level of
00:21:21you know skepticism as well and discontent, what we can say
00:21:25is that the nature of his popularity certainly is gradually taking a
00:21:29shift because he came to power as a symbol of hope and political
00:21:32renewal, now he has to convert that symbolic
00:21:35mandate into state capacity, and the flood is certainly
00:21:39not testing his popularity but also his
00:21:43credibility, because people recognize the very enormous
00:21:47effort the security forces and the government's relief operate. but they are
00:21:51also asking whether the state was prepared for
00:21:54disaster of this magnitude and whether specialized technology and
00:21:58international expertise could have been brought in faster. well, it's been a year
00:22:02since Jenzi protest led to the toppling the government.
00:22:06how has this been marked in katmandu?
00:22:09well, the anniversary was marked on 8th of September, but it
00:22:13was inevitably overshadowed by the flood. year
00:22:17ago, Kathmandu witnessed one the most... consequential
00:22:21youth lead uprising in Nepal's recent
00:22:25history, but the protest brought down the government and
00:22:29fundamentally changed the political landscape with dozens injured and so many
00:22:32lives lost. what I remember most from those days
00:22:36was the sheer intensity that this was not simply a student
00:22:40demonstration, but it became a broad expression of
00:22:44public discontant and a frustration over corruption.
00:22:48A year later when Nepal was mark. the anniversary, the mood is more
00:22:52sober, families are, but but families are
00:22:55still looking and asking for justice and fulfillment the promises that
00:22:59were made to the victims, while the public is asking whether the political
00:23:03transformation they fought for has actually produced better
00:23:07governance, and the flood in many ways yan has become the
00:23:11first greatest test of political change that gensy
00:23:15helped bring about. it's really good to talk to you,
00:23:18Shivani, thank you so much. for your time, thank you, thank you so
00:23:22much,
00:25:55the surface, scientists and local divers are worried rising sea
00:25:59temperatures are threatening important coral ecosystems.
00:26:03Geering up for dive, these women have done hundreds of times
00:26:07before, but what weights below is cause for
00:26:10concern. When I went underwater,
00:26:14even in the deep areas, so many corals are lying,
00:26:17collapsed.
00:26:19Ho has been free diving off the coast of jeju island for
00:26:22years. She's had to switch to
00:26:26a thinner wet suit because the water here doesn't get as cold
00:26:29anymore.
00:26:31It wasn't that I had. environment
00:26:33the like rising
00:26:37changes to water temperatures are affecting what are known as soft corals
00:26:41relied on by thousands of species of marine life.
00:26:45Unlike hard corals, they stay upright through internal fluid
00:26:49pressure, but in recent years that pressure has been
00:26:52disrupted causing them to
00:26:54collapse. small
00:26:57organisms, juvenile fish, and individuals that have just hatched from their eggs
00:27:01can take shelter there. which greatly boosts their chances of
00:27:04survival, so if this foundational
00:27:07ecosystem collapses, there is very high possibility that the
00:27:11entire marine ecosystem could collapse as well.
00:27:15the changes are threatening south korea seafood industry and the traditions that have
00:27:19been built around it. the jeju sea is known for its
00:27:23female divers called henyo who make their living scoring the
00:27:26seafore. all the henure are feeling
00:27:30heartbroken about it these days. for now, these divers
00:27:34are forced to settle for shorter work days and smaller
00:27:37harvests. that place is so beautiful and
00:27:41has been a source of comfort in my life, watching it collapse like that, turning
00:27:45white. i was so bewildered and felt afraid, wondering is the sea
00:27:49now completely collapsing. with el ninho conditions
00:27:53expected to persist, south korea's ocean ministry has vowed to
00:27:57launch investigation into the scale the damage. rebecca
00:28:01johnston, abc.