Top Asian News 7:03 a.m. GMT

Social media sites call for Australia to delay its ban on children younger than 16

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An advocate for major social media platforms told an Australian Senate committee Monday that laws to ban children younger than 16 from the sites should be delayed until next year at least instead of being rushed through the Parliament this week. Sunita Bose, managing director of Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the digital industry in Australia including X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, was answering questions at a single-day Senate committee hearing into world-first legislation that was introduced into the Parliament last week. Bose said the Parliament should wait until the government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies is completed in June.

South Korea holds memorial for forced laborers at Sado mines, a day after boycotting Japanese event

SADO, Japan (AP) — South Korea paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines in a memorial ceremony on Monday, a day after boycotting a similar event organized by Japan, as tensions over historical atrocities continue to impact relations between the two sides. Monday’s ceremony at a former dormitory near the 16th century Sado mines, which were listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was organized by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and attended by nine families of Korean wartime laborers, the country’s ambassador to Japan and other officials. Japan on Sunday held a memorial service for all workers at the Sado mines, including Koreans.

Japan holds first memorial for ‘all workers’ at Sado gold mines but blurs WWII atrocity. Why?

SADO, Japan (AP) — Japanese officials have held a memorial ceremony near the Sado Island Gold Mines, listed in July as a UNESCO World Heritage site after Japan moved past years of historical disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the mines’ dark history. However, it has not offered an apology. At these mines, hundreds of Koreans were forced to work under abusive and brutal conditions during World War II, historians say. Japanese officials at Sunday’s ceremony paid tribute to “all workers,” including Korean laborers who died at the mines, without acknowledging that they were forced laborers — part of what critics call a persistent policy of whitewashing Japan’s history of sexual and labor exploitation before and during the war.

Landslide and flash floods hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island, leaving 16 dead and 6 missing

KARO, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers in Indonesia recovered 16 bodies under tons of mud and rocks or that were swept away in flash floods that hit mountainside villages on Sumatra Island, officials said Monday. Six people are still missing, officials said. Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down a mountain after torrential rains over the weekend and rivers burst their banks, tearing through four hilly districts in North Sumatra province, washing away houses and destroying farms. Police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, farm equipment and their bare hands to sift through the rubble looking for the dead and missing in Semangat Gunung, a resort area in Karo district, said Juspri M.

New Zealanders help to save about 30 whales after a pod strands on a beach

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — More than 30 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a beach in New Zealand were safely returned to the ocean after conservation workers and residents helped to refloat them by lifting them on sheets. Four of the pilot whales died, New Zealand’s conservation agency said. New Zealand is a whale stranding hotspot and pilot whales are especially prolific stranders. A team was monitoring Ruakākā Beach near the city of Whangārei in New Zealand’s north on Monday to ensure there were no signs of the whales saved Sunday stranding again, the Department of Conservation told The Associated Press.

Pakistani police arrest thousands of Imran Khan supporters as capital under lockdown ahead of rally

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police arrested thousands of Imran Khan supporters as the capital remained under lockdown ahead of a rally there to demand the ex-premier’s release from prison, a security officer said Sunday. Khan has been behind bars for more than a year and has over 150 criminal cases against him. But he remains popular and his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI, says the cases are politically motivated. Shahid Nawaz, a security officer in eastern Punjab province, said police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters. They include five parliamentarians. Pakistan has since Saturday sealed off Islamabad with shipping containers and shut down major roads and highways connecting the city with PTI strongholds in Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

In South Korea, nations meet in final round to address global plastic crisis

Negotiators gathered in Busan, South Korea, on Monday in a final push to create a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution. It’s the fifth time the world’s nations convene to craft a legally binding plastic pollution accord. In addition to the national delegations, representatives from the plastics industry, scientists and environmentalists have come to shape how the world tackles the surging problem. “We must end plastic pollution before plastic pollution ends us,” Kim Wansup, South Korea’s minister of environment, said during the opening session. The planet is “ choking on plastic, ” according to the United Nations. It’s polluting lakes, rivers, oceans and people’s bodies.

What to know about the plastic pollution treaty talks in South Korea

A last round of negotiations on a legally binding treaty to address the global scourge of plastic pollution has opened in Busan, South Korea. Here’s what to know about it: National delegations still have a lot to hammer out before there is a treaty. Most contentious is whether there will be a limit on the amount of plastic that companies are allowed to produce. Led by Norway and Rwanda, 66 countries plus the European Union say they want to address the total plastic on Earth by controlling plastic design, production, consumption and what happens at the end of its life. Some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries, including Saudi Arabia, vigorously oppose such limits.

Australia withdraws a misinformation bill after critics compare it to censorship

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s government has withdrawn a bill that would give a media watchdog power to monitor digital platforms and require them to keep records about misinformation and disinformation on their networks. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said Sunday that the government was unable to drum up the support needed to pass the legislation. The opposition spokesman, David Coleman, said the bill “betrayed our democracy” and amounted to “censorship laws in Australia.” “Based on public statements and engagements with senators, it is clear that there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate,” Rowland said. The bill would have granted the Australian Communications and Media Authority power over digital platforms by approving an enforceable code of conduct or standards for social media companies if self-regulation fell short.

Warring tribes in northwest Pakistan agree to a cease-fire after bloodshed

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Shiite and Sunni Muslim tribes in Pakistan’s northwest have agreed to a cease-fire, a government spokesman said Sunday, days after 42 Shiites were killed in an ambush. The attack on the convoy last Thursday in Kurram district triggered retaliatory attacks and rampages that killed dozens more people from both communities. A spokesperson for the provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Muhammad Ali Saif, said the two communities agreed to a seven-day cease-fire after a government delegation held talks with Sunni and Shiite elders. “The parties also agreed to exchange prisoners and return the bodies of the deceased,” he said.