Top Asian News 2:40 a.m. GMT
Australians vote in election with high prices and shortage of housing major issues
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australians voted in Australia’s general election on Saturday as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his rival Peter Dutton continued campaigning along the east coast. Voting will continue until 6 p.m. Both Albanese and Dutton, who is opposition leader, began Saturday in the electorally crucial city of Melbourne. Albanese will return home to Sydney to vote and Dutton will head to his hometown of Brisbane. Dutton wants to become the first political leader to oust a first-term government since 1931, when Australians were reeling from the Great Depression. Asked if he believed his conservative coalition could win the election, Dutton told reporters in Melbourne: “Absolutely, I do.” “There are a lot of quiet Australians out there who may not be telling their neighbors how they’re voting but I think they’re going to go into the polling booth and say: ‘You know what, I’m not going to reward Anthony Albanese for the last three years,’” Dutton told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Pakistan asks Gulf allies to help ease India tensions following Kashmir attack
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister met Friday with envoys from Gulf allies, seeking to defuse tensions with India following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region, his office said. In separate meetings with the Saudi, Kuwait and UAE ambassadors, Shehbaz Sharif briefed them on Islamabad’s stance regarding the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, where 26 people, mostly Hindus, were killed. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Islamabad strongly rejects. Following “credible intelligence” from a Pakistani minster that India intended military action over Pakistan’s alleged role in the Pahalgam tourist attack, Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar have received calls from the United States and other nations’ diplomats, according to Sharif’s office and Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Voting underway in Singapore as its long-ruling party seeks a bigger win
SINGAPORE (AP) — Singaporeans were voting Saturday in a general election that is seen as the first key test of support for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took office last year. His People’s Action Party is widely expected to comfortably extend its 66-year dominance in the city-state. But the election is being closely watched on whether the opposition can make further gains as people express unhappiness over tight government control and a high cost of living. Wong, a U.S.-trained economist who is also finance minister, has appealed for a resounding mandate to steer trade-reliant Singapore through economic turbulence following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes.
How the democracy sausage, a polling day snack, became Australia’s election symbol
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Many Australians arriving at polling places on Saturday followed their civic duty by eating what’s become known as a democracy sausage, a cultural tradition as Aussie as koalas and Vegemite, and for some just as important as casting their vote. The grilled sausage wrapped in a slice of white bread and often topped with onions and ketchup is a regular fixture of Antipodean public life. But when offered at polling places on election day, the humble treat is elevated to a democracy sausage — a national, if light-heated, symbol for electoral participation. Or, as a website tracking real-time, crowd-sourced democracy sausage locations on polling day notes: “It’s practically part of the Australian Constitution.” But the tradition is far from political.
China says it’s evaluating US overtures for trade talks, but tariffs remain an obstacle
China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday that Beijing is evaluating multiple approaches by the Trump administration for trade talks, but steep tariffs imposed by Washington must go. A ministry statement reiterated China’s stance that is open to talks, but also that Beijing is determined to fight if it must. It said one-sided tariffs of up to 145% remain an obstacle, undermining trust. “The tariff and trade wars were unilaterally initiated by the U.S., if the U.S. side wants to talk, it should show its sincerity, and be ready to take action on issues such as correcting wrong practices and canceling the unilateral imposition of tariffs,” it said.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has survived a volatile political era
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Anthony Albanese hopes to become the first Australian prime minister in 21 years to lead a political party to two consecutive election victories when the country votes on Saturday. The last was John Howard, who won a fourth consecutive term in 2004, making him the second-longest serving leader in Australia’s history. But when he was voted out three years later, it marked the beginning of a turbulent period in Australian politics with six prime ministers. “There’s a lot of undecided voters. We have a mountain to climb. No one’s been reelected since 2004,” Albanese told reporters Friday.
Peter Dutton, a former police detective who’s hawkish on China, is leading Australia’s conservatives
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton is a former police detective who gained a reputation during his years in government for his tough stance on border security and as a vocal critic of China. If he becomes prime minister at general elections on Saturday, it will be the first time since 1931 — amid the economic turmoil of the Great Depression — that an Australian government has been ousted after a single three-year term. A major factor in his success or failure is likely to be his pledge to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with nuclear power instead of the government’s reliance on renewable energy sources.
Singapore’s long-ruling party seeks stronger election victory in test for new prime minister
SINGAPORE (AP) — Singaporeans will vote Saturday in a general election that is set to return to power the city-state’s long ruling party, and it will be closely watched as a gauge of public confidence in Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s leadership. The People’s Action Party has won every election since the Asian financial hub gained independence in 1965. Wong, who took office last year, hopes to clinch a stronger mandate after the PAP suffered a setback in 2020 polls over voters’ rising discontent with the government. Here’s what to know about the Singapore election. Singapore holds a general election every five years and voting is compulsory.
The body of a truck driver whose vehicle fell into a sinkhole in Japan is recovered after 3 months
TOKYO (AP) — The body of a truck driver was recovered Friday three months after his vehicle fell into a sinkhole that suddenly appeared while he was driving on a road near Tokyo. The 3-ton truck fell into the hole in Yashio City, just northeast of the Japanese capital, in January. During an earlier search and rescue operation, workers tried to lift the truck but only its flat-bed came out. The 74-year-old driver, trapped in the cabin of the truck, was believed to have been swept to a location about 30 meters (yards) downstream. On Friday, after three months of preparation to build a safe underground pathway for workers to reach the targeted area, rescuers wearing helmets and hazmat suits went inside of it and recovered the body, officials said.
South Korea’s ex-Prime Minister Han says he will seek the presidency in June election
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday he will run in next month’s presidential election and would seek to lessen the powers of the office and ease strife-ridden domestic politics if he wins. Han’s entry heats up the scramble among conservatives to unify behind a candidate to compete with liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung, whose campaign recently was set back by a court decision to open a new trial on election law violation charges. “I’ve determined to find what I can do for the future of the Republic of Korea that I love and for all of us.