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International News

Thailand’s adorable pygmy hippo Moo Deng has the kind of face that launches a thousand memes

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Japan celebrates as Ohtani becomes the first major leaguer to reach 50-50 milestone

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Huge python grabs Thai woman in her kitchen, squeezes her for two hours before she can be freed

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From The Asian Reporter, V34, #10 (October 7, 2024), page 2.

Monthslong festival season starts in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s monthslong festival season began last month with tens of thousands of devotees pulling a wooden chariot with a young girl revered as a living goddess. Families gathered for feasts and lit incense for the dead at shrines. Men and boys in colorful masks and gowns representing Hindu deities danced to traditional music and drums, drawing throngs of spectators to Kathmandu’s old streets. The Indra Jatra festival marks the end of the monsoon and rice farming season and signals the dawn of fall. It’s celebrated mostly by the Newar community, the native residents of Kathmandu. It is also known as the festival of deities and demons and especially honors Indra, the Hindu god of rain. The masked dancers, one of the highlights of the ceremony, can be fearsome, entertaining, and awe-inspiring, depending on the performers’ movements. Kumari, a young girl who is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal as a living goddess, left her temple palace and was driven around the center of the capital in a wooden chariot pulled by devotees, who lined up to receive her blessing. Among the spectators were President Ram Chandra Poudel, officials, and diplomats. The weeklong Indra Jatra precedes months of other festivals in the predominantly Hindu nation. They include Dasain, the main festival, and Tihar, or Diwali, the festival of lights, in November.

China’s economy softens, Beijing’s lagging demand persists

BEIJING (AP) — China’s economy softened in August, extending a slowdown in industrial activity and real estate prices as Beijing faces pressure to ramp up spending to stimulate demand. Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed weakening activity across industrial production, retail sales, and real estate in September compared to July. "We should be aware that the adverse impacts arising from the changes in the external environment are increasing," said Liu Aihua, the bureau’s chief economist in a news conference. Liu said that demand remained insufficient at home, and the sustained economic recovery still confronts multiple difficulties and challenges. China has been grappling with a lagging economy post-COVID, with weak consumer demand, persistent deflationary pressures, and a contraction in factory activity. Chinese leaders have ramped up investment in manufacturing to rev up an economy that stalled during the pandemic and is still growing slower than hoped. Beijing also has to deal with increasing pressure to implement large-scale stimulus measures to boost economic growth.

Myanmar military gov’t begins census considered bogus

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government began a nationwide census last week, saying it would be used to compile voter lists for a general election promised for next year, even though much of the country is engulfed in civil war. The census is widely seen as an effort to gather information to closely monitor opponents of military rule even more. Census enumerators, mostly schoolteachers and local administrative workers, went door-to-door in the capital of Naypyitaw, accompanied by soldiers and police. State television MRTV reported that the census was carried out in all 14 of the country’s regions and states, and the initial collected data is hoped to be released by the end of this year. A group that leads the struggle against military rule, the shadow National Unity Government, has advised people to use "caution" in complying with the survey. "Whether they are doing it for the fake elections or census, they are doing it to terrorize the people, so don’t collaborate with them in these matters," said Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government. "I would like to say that all those who cooperate with the military council will be punished according to the law because their action is similar to encouraging and cooperating with the military’s terrorist activities." Pro-democracy guerrillas have also warned that those who help collect information will face reprisals. The Chin Brotherhood Alliance, which comprises five ethnic Chin militias from the northwestern Chin state, and the Dawei Defense Team, a group from the southern Tanintharyi region, warned in statements in September that they will take strong action against military government personnel who participate in the survey. Such guerrilla groups, which frequently target people associated with the military, carried out attacks during a three-week survey to compile voter lists in January 2023, when elections were still expected later that year. The military government is widely viewed as hoping the polls will legitimize its rule, which began after it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

China is raising its retirement age

BEIJING (AP) — Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world’s major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, passed the new policy in September after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV said. The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work. "We have more people coming into retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure. That’s why I think it’s now time to act seriously," said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China’s population and its ties to the economy. The previous retirement ages were set in the 1950s, when life expectancy was only around 40 years, Peng said. The policy will be implemented starting in January, according to the announcement from China’s legislature.

Taiwanese fighter jet crashes, pilot found safe

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese fighter jet crashed during a nighttime training exercise in September, but the pilot who ejected was found safe, according to the defense ministry. The Mirage 2000 jet lost power at around 8:00pm, the ministry said. Rescuers found the pilot about two hours later.

Hsieh Pei-hsun was conscious and taken to a military hospital for an exam. He had been flying off the coast of Hsinchu, a city south of Taipei on the island’s west side. Taiwan purchased Mirage 2000 jets from France during the 1990s and relies on them as well as U.S.-made F-16Vs for its air force. Self-ruled Taiwan faces frequent military exercises near its waters by China, which claims the island as its territory and threatens to use military force to bring it under its control.

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