World Blog - asia

14
Dec
2012
12:36am, EST
80,000 homeless in Philippines after Typhoon Bopha
Ted Aljibe / AFP - Getty Images
Residents rest under an uprooted tree used as temporary shelter in New Bataan, Compostela province on December 12, 2012 nearly one week after the southern part of the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Bopha. The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900 with hundreds more missing, many of them tuna fishermen feared lost at sea, the government said on December 11. Read the full story.
Erik De Castro / Reuters
A man looks for his relatives from lists of missing persons more than one week after Typhoon Bopha hit New Bataan, southern Philippines December 12, 2012.
Erik De Castro / Reuters
A girl and other typhoon victims search for recyclable materials from among the debris at the ruins of a house in the coastal town of Cateel, that was devastated during last Tuesday's Typhoon Bopha in Davao Oriental, southern Philippines on Wednesday.
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Explore related topics: weather, philippines, asia, world-news, typhoon-bopha
8
Dec
2011
8:17am, EST
Thai government via EPA
A government handout photo made available on Dec. 8, 2011 shows Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, left, showing her respect as she speaks with Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, right, during the official royal party to celebrate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 84th birthday at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, on Dec. 7.
Prime minister meets princess: The symbolism of a royal birthday party
By David R Arnott, NBC News
When a thumbnail version of this photo passed in front of my eyes my first thought was "Oh, somebody has fallen over." On closer inspection and on reading the caption, I realized that I was looking at something very different: a gesture of extreme deference.
It's a picture that contains a little more political symbolism than the average birthday party snap.
Royal pardons are often issued to mark the Thai king's birthday, and there was speculation last month that fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, convicted of corruption in 2008, would be among those offered a pardon this year.
The current PM pictured above, Yingluck Shinawatra, is Thaksin's sister. Though she is reported to have sidestepped questions about the proposed amnesty, saying only that the government would act within the law, the proposed pardon was shelved following a political uproar.
Nevertheless, it's prudent to keep in with the royals. There's always next year, after all.
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1 comment
The PM does look so comfortable. Moreover, neither is Princess Prathep who has to lean way over and bend down to hear her. This is not tradition or deference. There are many other ways to show respect. This is simply demeaning both to the Crown Princess and to the PM.
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Explore related topics: thailand, asia, royals, diplomacy, featured, yingluck-shinawatra, princess-maha-chakri-sirindhorn
8
Dec
2011
5:47am, EST
Denied access to official data, Chinese citizens take their own pollution readings
Andy Wong / AP
Tan Liang, a resident of Beijing, prepares to take readings on a PM2.5 detector outside his residential compound in Beijing, China, on Dec. 3, 2011.
The Associated Press reports from BEIJING:

Armed with a device that looks like an old transistor radio, some Beijing residents are recording pollution levels and posting them online. It's an act that borders on subversion.

The government keeps secret all data on the fine particles that shroud China's capital in a health-threatening smog most days. But as they grow more prosperous, Chinese are demanding the right to know what the government does not tell them: just how polluted their city is.

"If people know what their air is like, they are more likely to take action," said Wang Qiuxia, a researcher at local environment group Green Beagle, who shows interested residents how to test pollution on a locally made monitoring machine. Continue reading.

Andy Wong / AP
Tan Liang carries a PM2.5 detector towards a garbage-burning facility located near his residential compound in Beijing on Dec. 3, 2011.
Andy Wong / AP
Wang Qiuxia, right, a volunteer from an environmental group, teaches Cheng Jing, left, how to operate the PM2.5 detector in Beijing on Dec. 7, 2011.
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China begins to admit 'fog' is really smog

A smog by any other name

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Chinese are growing more outspoken about the "fog," now accurately calling it "smog," covering cities like Beijing.
Follow @msnbc_pictures
7 comments
That's what it used to look like in in East LAX, you couldn't see down the street and on really bad days you couldn't see across the street back in the 70's. China needs environmental regulation and standards in its industry's, maybe they could eventually "Lift the Fog".
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Explore related topics: china, asia, pollution, environment, beijing, world-news, smog
11
Mar
2011
8:48pm, EST
Saturday morning dawns with search and rescue efforts in Japan
By Carissa Ray
See our slideshow of images from the earthquake, tsunami and the ensuing devastation here.
Yasushi Kanno / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP
An elderly man is carried by a Self-Defense Force member in the tsunami-torn Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, on Saturday morning, March 12, one day after strong earthquakes hit the area.
Kyodo News / AP
People wait for rescue on the rooftop of a ruined building tangled with tsunami-drifted debris in Rikuzentakada, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday morning, March 12, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.
Kyodo News / AP
A man walks outside a two-story house, with its first floor structure was destroyed by tsunami, in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on Saturday morning, March 12, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.
Kyodo News / AP
A woman who was left inside a building is rescued Saturday, March 12, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.
Kyodo News / AP
A local resident walks through debris in Rikuzentakata, Iwate, northern Japan on Saturday morning, March 12 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.
Kyodo / Reuters
A man looks out over an area swept by a tsunami following an earthquake in Sendai City, northeastern Japan on March 12. Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday, with fires raging and parts of some cities under water after a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed thousands.
18 comments
Although I have already seen pictures of the disaster is Japan, these are some of the most powerful images I have seen thus far. I can hardly fathom a 9.0 magnitude earthquake—Japan's worst disaster. With thousands dead and missing, the situation is nothing less than an extreme tragedy. The ey …
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Explore related topics: japan, asia, earthquake, tsunami, disaster, natural-disaster, world-news

Prime minister meets princess: The symbolism of a royal birthday party