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Top Asian News at 11:00 a.m. GMT(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Chinese man brings gay conversion therapy lawsuitBEIJING (AP) — A gay rights group says a Chinese man is suing a psychological clinic for carrying out electric shocks intended to turn him straight, as well as the search engine giant Baidu for advertising the center. The Beijing LGBT Center says Thursday's hearing is the first court case involving so-called conversion therapy in China. Malaysian prime minister in NetherlandsAMSTERDAM (AP) — Malaysia's prime minister has arrived in the Netherlands ahead of a meeting with his Dutch counterpart to discuss plans for repatriating remains of Malaysian victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and continuing problems accessing the crash site in eastern Ukraine. Najib Razak is meeting with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte Wednesday in The Hague before traveling to a military base in Hilversum, outside Amsterdam, where remains of more than 200 victims are being painstakingly identified. Fast food ambitions in China hurt by safety scaresBEIJING (AP) — Already China's biggest restaurant operator with 4,600 outlets, KFC is pursuing Chinese consumers so avidly it opens two more every day. That dramatic growth comes with a big catch: KFC's quality control is struggling to keep up. Mudslide swallows Indian village; at least 30 deadMALIN, India (AP) — Rescuers using earth-moving equipment and their bare hands dug through heavy mud and debris Thursday after a landslide engulfed an entire village in western India, killing at least 30 people and leaving about 100 missing and feared dead. More than 24 hours after the Wednesday morning landslide, authorities said the chances of survival were slim for anyone still trapped under the mud in Malin, a village of some 700 people in Pune district of Maharashtra state. China lets 1st foreigners into army news briefingBEIJING (AP) — Not many years ago, foreign reporters in China trying to call the country's secretive military couldn't even get a connection because phone numbers assigned to the journalists were barred from reaching the Defense Ministry. On Thursday, they were finally permitted to attend the Defense Ministry's monthly news briefing, marking a small milestone in the increasingly confident military's efforts to project a more transparent image. House panel calls on China to end organ harvestingWASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed on Wednesday a resolution calling on China to immediately end what it calls state-sanctioned harvesting of human organs from prisoners. China said the panel was making "false and irresponsible accusations." Human rights groups have long criticized China for taking organs from executed prisoners, the source of most transplanted organs. China said in 2012 it plans to abolish the practice in three to five years. Panel wants TEPCO execs charged over nuke crisisTOKYO (AP) — A Japanese judicial panel has recommended that three former executives of the utility that operates the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant face criminal charges over their role in the disaster. A document released by the panel on Thursday showed it voted in favor of indicting Tsunehisa Katsumata, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at the time of the crisis, along with two vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro. 7 killed, 13 missing as boat sinks in IndonesiaJAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A boat carrying Indonesian villagers to their hometown to celebrate the end of Ramadan sank Thursday after hitting a stump in a river, leaving a woman and six children dead and at least 13 others missing, an official said. National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the boat ran out of fuel and was swept by the current into the stump, causing it to flip over and sink in the Barombang River in North Sumatra. Top Filipino diplomat to oversee Libya evacuationsMANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines' top diplomat said Thursday he was on his way to arrange the evacuation from Libya of thousands of Filipino workers, one of whom was beheaded and a nurse gang-raped amid the worsening turmoil. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said he would fly to Tunisia's Djerba Island near the Libyan border to help arrange the departure of about 13,000 Filipino workers from the Libyan cities of Benghazi and Misarata and the capital, Tripoli. The Filipinos will be brought by chartered ships to Malta, where they could take flights to Manila. Tibetan monk cremated in Nepal without protestsKATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Thousands of Tibetan exiles recited prayers and offered white and orange scarves Thursday during the cremation ceremony for a revered Tibetan monk, whose funeral in Nepal nearly fell victim to regional politics. Nepal had initially given permission to let the remains of Shamar Rinpoche enter the country, but immediately withdrew amid concerns that Tibetan exiles would protest China's rule over their homeland during the rites. Nepal strictly prohibits any activities considered to be anti-China. Chinese journalist, lawyer win Magsaysay awardsMANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Chinese investigative journalist whose work has led to the ouster of corrupt officials and a Chinese environmental lawyer are among this year's six recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, often regarded as Asia's version of the Nobel Prize. Hu Shuli was recognized as editor-in-chief of the Beijing-based, multi-platform Ciaxin Media Group that has exposed corporate fraud and government corruption, including the sale-for-adoption of children who were seized by family planning officials in Hunan province, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation in the Philippines announced Thursday. Chinese minority scholar indicted for separatismBEIJING (AP) — An outspoken Chinese minority scholar was indicted on separatism charges amid a renewed flare-up of bloody anti-government violence in the country's far west. The prosecutor's office in the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi announced the indictment of economics professor Ilham Tohti in a brief online statement Wednesday. Japanese search US archives for WWII MIA infoSARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — Racing against time, members of a Japanese organization are combing a New York military museum's World War II records for information they hope will lead to the graves of American servicemen still listed as missing in action on Saipan. The reason for the urgency: A developer plans to begin construction in the fall on a condominium near the beach where scores of Americans were killed on July 7, 1944, during Japan's largest mass suicide attack of the war. Australian leaders differ on Russian role in warCANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister and foreign minister on Thursday sent mixed messages on whether Russia was frustrating Dutch and Australian police efforts to retrieve the bodies of victims of the Malaysian airliner disaster in war-torn east Ukraine. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she feared Russia was behind the daily artillery barrages blocking police, while Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was too early to judge. Abbott has declined to follow the U.S. and European examples by ratcheting up sanctions against Russia in a bid to pressure President Vladimir Putin into ending his country's support for the separatists. Samsung profit falls as smartphone sales slowSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. reported a bigger-than-expected fall in second quarter profit on Thursday and said it was uncertain if earnings from its handset business would improve in the current quarter. Samsung warned earlier this month that the second quarter would be its worst in two years as rapid growth in smartphone sales had faded. The company particularly struggled to compete in cheap smartphones, currently the fastest growing part of the global smartphone business. Samsung shares dived 4 percent in Seoul. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |