An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer has begun his ascent of Mount Everest, his website said, in a bid to become the oldest man to reach the roof of the world. In a voice message recorded on his website, Yuichiro Miura said the expedition was setting off Thursday for a climb that was expected to take a [...]

Taiwanese actor Jiro Wang will be appearing in mainland China’s first 3D horror film, “Bloody Doll”, this summer. As reported on Jayne Stars, the actor plays the role of Gao Yifeng, a bank employee who attends a reunion gathering for his university. There, he meets his old flame, Lin Xi (played by mainland actress Zhou [...]

Chinese authorities say rainstorms that battered southern China this week have killed 33 people and left 12 people missing. China Floods.JPEG The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs website says at least nine provinces have had storms and some flooding and landslides since Tuesday. It says Guangdong province has been hit the hardest with 19 deaths [...]

Cyclone Mahasen buffeted Bangladesh’s low-lying coast on Thursday, killing six people after forcing many thousands into emergency shelters, but authorities downgraded warnings later in the day as the storm lost strength. A storm surge did cause some flooding along the coast at high tide and thousands of rickety huts were destroyed by torrential rain and [...]

A cyclone slammed into Bangladesh Thursday, forcing the evacuation of one million people and killing 14, but fears of devastating damage eased when the storm weakened over land. Bangladesh authorities also found the bodies of 22 Muslim Rohingya from neighbouring Myanmar, missing since their boat capsized Monday as they fled the oncoming storm. They said [...]

Vietnam jailed two young activists Thursday for distributing anti-government leaflets, in a case slammed by rights groups as a fresh attempt by the communist regime to silence its critics. University student Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, was given six years in prison for anti-state propaganda, while computer technician Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, was jailed for eight [...]

An Australian choreographer alleged that Michael Jackson sexually abused him for seven years as a child, a claim the late singer’s estate described as “outrageous and sad.” Wade Robson – who testified at Jackson’s infamous 2005 molestation trial that the star never touched him – told a TV interviewer that the self-styled King of Pop [...]

Cyclone Mahasen started crossing Bangladesh’s low-lying coast on Thursday, bearing down on the ports of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, as tens of thousands of people huddled in shelters from a storm which the United Nations says threatens 4.1 million people. Winds up to 100 kph (60 mph) lashed the coast and whipped up waves, with [...]

They call it “Old Man’s Land” – ravaged by conflict and economic deprivation, Myanmar’s southeast Mon state is a place bereft of its young, who have flooded overseas in search of work. But with a reformist government now promoting peace and economic development in impoverished border areas, the region is now looking to its future [...]

Hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh and Myanmar were ordered to evacuate Wednesday as a cyclone bore down on coastal areas home to flood-prone refugee camps for victims of sectarian unrest. The United Nations has warned that more than eight million people could be at risk from Cyclone Mahasen, which is expected to make [...]

Philippine President Benigno Aquino signed a law Wednesday giving children three extra years of schooling, one of his key reforms aimed at lifting the country out of poverty. The law makes enrolment in kindergarten compulsory before children can begin the traditional six years of primary school. State-run high schools, which currently only have a four-year [...]

Gay South Korean filmmaker Kim Jho Kwang-Soo announced plans to marry his partner Wednesday and vowed to spearhead a campaign to legalise gay unions in a country that remains deeply conservative over matters of sexual identity. Dressed in matching tuxedos, Kim, 48, and his partner, Kim Seung-Hwan, 29, publicly kissed for the cameras at a [...]

Bangladesh started evacuating people from some coastal areas as Cyclone Mahasen was set to make landfall tomorrow morning. About 15,000 people were asked to leave their homes in the tourist area of Cox’s Bazar, while the local administration set up 534 emergency shelters in the region prone to cyclonic storms, Ruhul Amin, deputy commissioner of [...]

A cyclone threatening to lash low-lying coastal areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar appears to have weakened, but still poses a risk to more than eight million people, according to the UN. Cyclone Mahasen is moving northeastwards over the Bay of Bengal and expected to make landfall on Friday morning north of the Bangladeshi city of [...]

Rescuers were on Tuesday searching for 58 missing Rohingya Muslims whose boat capsized in western Myanmar as they fled a looming cyclone, state media said, as the storm threatened thousands living in makeshift camps. The boat, which sank after hitting rocks in a coastal waterway on Monday night, was one of seven vessels carrying Rohingya [...]

From the unconventional and awe-inspiring to the hilarious and heartwarming, here’s a look at some of the most interesting photos, videos and stories that have our newsroom talking today. What’s capturing your attention, filling your inbox and cluttering your Facebook/Twitter feed? Tweet us the stories you’re talking about using #InstantIndex or email us at ABC.WorldNews@abc.com [...]

The Japanese government on Tuesday distanced itself from comments by a prominent politician that the so-called “comfort women” of WWII served a “necessary” role by keeping troops in check. Outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam which was provided by the [...]

Sex workers in China are subject to abuse by police, including physical assault, arbitrary detentions and extortion, a new report says. The report by advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also describes cases of sex workers being coerced into HIV testing and sent to re-education camps. Prostitution is illegal in China, and the government has [...]

Bangladesh warned millions of people Monday that a cyclone could barrel into their coastal homes later this week as authorities in Myanmar began moving potential victims to higher ground. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that while it was too soon to predict where cyclonic storm Mahasen would hit, it raised its alert to four, meaning [...]

Chinese state media hailed the power of the Internet Monday after a probe was launched into a top state planner following an online expose, making him the most senior official toppled by social media. Liu Tienan, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, is being investigated for “serious disciplinary violations”, state-run media said [...]

A transsexual woman in Hong Kong won a groundbreaking court appeal Monday allowing her to marry her boyfriend and forcing the government to re-write the city’s marriage laws. The woman in her 30s, known in the Court of Final Appeal as “W” under anonymity rules, successfully overturned earlier verdicts that said marriage is only allowed [...]

An accidental explosion at a coal mine in southwest China killed 27 miners on Saturday, state media said, in the second deadly incident to hit the country’s troubled industry in as many days. A total of 81 miners were rescued after the blast at the Taozigou mine in Luzhou city, Sichuan Province, with 16 taken [...]

A 13-year-old dolphin was Saturday being transported to an ocean pen off a South Korean island for training to prepare it for release back into the wild after four years in a Seoul zoo, officials said. The female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, which had been at Seoul Grand Park Zoo since 2009, was flown by a [...]

Chinese theatres on Sunday resumed showing Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained”, a month after mysteriously yanking the film amid speculation state censors wanted further cuts over content. China strictly censors films and other media for sexual and political sensitivities while also limiting the distribution of foreign films to protect the domestic industry. “‘Django Unchained’ shows today, [...]

South Korea’s presidential office apologised Sunday for an “very shameful” scandal involving a former senior official who was fired midway through President Park Geun-Hye’s US visit. Yoon Chang-Jung, a former spokesman for Park, was sacked last week over allegations that he had sexually harassed a female intern – a Korean-American – while accompanying Park on [...]

China Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake which killed more than 80,000 but some said questions remained over the thousands of children who died as their schools collapsed. The 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern province of Sichuan on the afternoon of May 12, 2008, with its epicentre at Wenchuan county. Another [...]

The number of typhoons that will land along China’s coastal areas this year is estimated to be between seven and nine, the National Marine Environmental Forecasting centre said on Sunday. Though the figures are similar to that of last year, typhoons are becoming more destructive due to climate change, according to Zhang Zhihua, an official [...]

Five years after thousands of Chinese children died as their schools collapsed in an earthquake, new babies have given devastated families hope even as questions over poor building work and corruption remain. The 8.0 magnitude tremor struck Sichuan province on the afternoon of May 12 2008, entombing both Zhu Jian’s wife, a teacher, and their [...]

Taiwan on Friday awarded Oscar-winning director Ang Lee a top medal of honour to recognise his achievement in the film industry after he garnered two best director Oscars. President Ma Ying-jeou conferred the highest class of the “Order of the Brilliant Star” to Lee, making him the first person from the arts and entertainment sector [...]

A viral video of a bear attacking a monkey after the two fell off their bicycles at a Chinese zoo has sparked outrage among animal rights activists, but an official on Friday defended the show. A minute-and-a-half long video surfaced this week showing the bear biting and clawing the monkey after a mock race at [...]

A Chinese court ordered a controversial professor who claims descent from the ancient sage Confucius to apologise and pay a fine after a heated online row over poetry, local media reported Friday. Kong Qingdong, a professor at the elite Peking University who sparked an outcry in 2012 by calling Hong Kong people “dogs”, said online [...]

Philippine disaster officials say the bodies of four Europeans and their Filipino guide who were killed by rocks in a volcanic eruption early this week have been brought down from Mount Mayon. Albay provincial disaster officer Jukes Nunez says soldiers in a helicopter on Thursday carried the body of Filipino Jerome Berin, followed by the [...]

At least 33 people died Wednesday when an overcrowded bus skidded off the road into a fast-flowing river in northern India, police said. “So far, 33 bodies have been retrieved from the river and 14 other people are injured and have been rushed to hospital,” local police chief R.S. Negi told AFP from the crash [...]

A Singaporean artist was sentenced Wednesday to 240 hours of community service for spray-painting roads and a building wall in a case that sparked an online petition for leniency. Samantha Lo, 26, had earlier pleaded guilty to seven counts of mischief for spray-painting six streets with the wording “MY GRANDFATHER ROAD” and a wall with [...]

Chinese authorities have begun investigating reports that Zhang Yimou, one of China’s best-known movie directors, has seven children in violation of strict family planning rules, which could result in a fine of 160 million yuan ($26.05 million), state media said on Thursday. Online reports have surfaced that Zhang, who dazzled the world in 2008 with [...]

A Chinese city is using dogs to predict earthquakes, an official said Tuesday, after state-run media reported that neighbours were complaining of nightly false alarms – in the form of barking. China is regularly hit by seismic tremors. Around 200 people were left dead or missing by a quake in Sichuan province last month, and [...]

A Chinese tiger park has sought to quell public anger after images of holidaymakers sitting astride a strapped-down cub prompted outrage online, state media said Tuesday. Pictures taken at a Siberian tiger park in northwest China’s Jilin province showed visitors posing for photos while sitting on top of a tiger cub tied to a wooden [...]

Gigantic animals which once roamed Australia were mostly extinct by the time humans arrived, according to a new study Tuesday which suggests climate change played the key role in their demise. For decades, debate has centred on what wiped out megafauna such as the rhinoceros-sized, wombat-like Diprotodon, the largest known lizard, and kangaroos so big [...]

Singapore is the safest place to be born and the best place to be a mother in Asia, beating competitors Japan, South Korea and Malaysia – according to children’s aid agency Save the Children. Singapore has the lowest first-day mortality rate in Asia, making it the safest place in the region to be born. The [...]

Before they stand in front of a gathering of close family and friends to declare their love, Sydney couple Kate Duffy and Lisa Bowen must jet to New Zealand if they are to make it the “real deal”. Duffy, 29, popped the question on the couple’s four-year anniversary during a champagne picnic on Sydney Harbour, [...]

Utusan Malaysia published articles condemning the Malaysian Chinese with the headline ‘Apa lagi Cina Mahu?’ and Najib Tun Razak’s speech after the election stating the ‘Chinese Tsunami’ has further sparked agitation among Malaysian Chinese who have exercised their democratic right by supporting Pakatan Rakyat. The Malaysian Chinese played a prominent role in development of Malaya [...]

Five people are feared dead after one of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes spewed a giant ash cloud on Tuesday, with foreign tourists on its slopes during the eruption, authorities said. National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chief Eduardo del Rosario said local officials reported that up to 20 climbers and guides, including foreigners, [...]

South Africa and Vietnam have agreed to exchange the names of registered hunters in a bid to stop rhino poachers who obtain hunting permits under false pretences, a spokesman said Monday. Authorities are targeting these hunters who take advantage of laws allowing them to export the rhino horn as a hunting trophy to trade it [...]

Around 1,300 dogs crammed into cages have been seized in less than a week in Thailand’s northeast border region, officials said Monday, amid concerns that the canines were destined for overseas dinner plates. Around 300 dogs were found Monday in Bueng Kan province, according to local police, while authorities in neighbouring Sakon Nakhon province said [...]

Conservationists warned that Hong Kong may lose its rare Chinese white dolphins, also known as pink dolphins for their unique colour, unless it takes urgent action against pollution and other threats. Their numbers in Hong Kong waters have fallen from an estimated 158 in 2003 to just 78 in 2011, with a further decline expected [...]

Australia officially made Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg its first honorary citizen on Monday in recognition of the thousands of Jews he saved from the Holocaust, many of whom came to live Down Under. Prime minister Julia Gillard said the citizenship was “an expression of deep gratitude for all that our nation gained when so many [...]

Australia insisted it was committed to protecting the Great Barrier Reef on Saturday after the UN warned that the natural wonder’s world heritage status could be in downgraded in 2014. UNESCO said little had been done to address concerns about rampant coastal development and water quality raised a year ago with the Australian government in [...]

An Aerosmith concert promoter says the band has canceled next week’s show in Indonesia over security concerns, one day after news surfaced about an alleged bomb plot at the Myanmar Embassy. Helmi Sugara, event organiser spokesman, said that the legendary American rockers were scheduled to perform May 11 before a nearly sold-out crowd of 15,000 [...]

French Foreign minister Laurent Fabius Sunday honoured Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, appointing him a Commander of France’s Order of Arts and Letters. The minister presented Wong with the medallion of the order at the French consul’s residence in Hong Kong. The decoration “has even more significance because it comes from France, the spiritual home [...]

Chinese authorities have returned 10 Vietnamese children who were kidnapped and trafficked into China, state media said on Saturday. The children were returned on Friday after being discovered by Chinese authorities in 2011, when they were aged between 10 days and seven months, Xinhua news agency said on its website. Local authorities have arrested 43 [...]