Top Asian News 6:41 p.m. GMT

Suu Kyi's party expected to win second term in Myanmar polls

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s citizens go to the polls Sunday in an effort to sustain the fledgling democracy they helped install just five years ago. There are about 37 million registered voters, though turnout is expected to suffer because of a recent surge in coronavirus cases. In 2015, excitement was high over the opportunity to end more than five decades of army-directed rule. The National League of Democracy party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi roared to a landslide election victory, and she became her country’s leader after many hard years at the forefront of a non-violent struggle against military dictatorships that won international admiration.

In India, polluted air spells trouble for virus patients

NEW DELHI (AP) — A thick quilt of smog lingered over the Indian capital and its suburbs on Friday, fed by smoke from raging agricultural fires that health experts worry could worsen the city’s fight against the coronavirus. Air pollution in parts of New Delhi have climbed to levels around nine times what the World Health Organization considers safe, turning grey winter skies into a putrid yellow and shrouding national monuments. Levels of the most dangerous particles, called PM 2.5, climbed to around 250 micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered hazardous to breathe, according to the state-run System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research.

Indonesians collect old phones to help students get online

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — When a garbage collector came to Ghina Ghaliya’s house in the Indonesian capital and asked if she had an old mobile phone his children could use to access the internet, it sparked an idea for a broader campaign to help students stuck at home by the coronavirus. “He said it does not matter if it is the ugly one, as long as his children can use it for learning from home," said Ghaliya, a journalist at a national newspaper. “I thought there must be many people who need second hand mobile phones out there.” Shortly after the pandemic hit Indonesia, Ghaliya and 11 other journalists in Jakarta organized a group to provide food and money to people in need.

Australia inquiry says police should guard hotel quarantine

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Overseas travelers should be quarantined in hotels guarded by police, an inquiry into an Australian city’s bungled quarantine program reported on Friday. The Victoria state government’s decision to use private security firms instead of police and the military to enforce quarantines in Melbourne hotels has been widely blamed for lax infection controls that led to Australia’s worst virus resurgence in its second-largest city. An inquiry into that quarantine program recommended in an interim report “a 24/7 police presence on-site at each quarantine facility.” The government closed Melbourne Airport to international arrivals in July before commissioning retired judge Jennifer Coate to investigate what went wrong in hotel quarantine, which has been blamed for virtually all COVID-19 community transmission in Victoria.

Asia Today: Court upholds state border closings in Australia

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s highest court on Friday upheld the closure of a state’s border and dismissed billionaire businessman Clive Palmer’s argument that the pandemic measure was unconstitutional. The seven High Court judges ruled that Western Australia’s state border closure to non-essential travel applied during “a hazard in the nature of a plague or epidemic” complied with the constitution. All Australian states and territories have used border restrictions to curb infections and a court ruling against Western Australia could have impacted their pandemic responses. The state shut its border to the rest of Australia on April 5 and has not recorded any cases of COVID-19 community transmission since April 11.

Final votes confirm New Zealand won't legalize marijuana

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand won't be legalizing marijuana after the final votes counted Friday in a referendum failed to overturn the result from election night — although it got close. The referendum to legalize the drug ended up with 48% in support and 51% opposed, a tightening from the election night split of 46% in favor and 53% against. The special votes tallied after the Oct. 17 election included those cast overseas and accounted for about 17% of the total vote. The special votes also slightly increased the majority of liberal Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party, which ended up with just over 50% of the total vote, and 65 of Parliament's 120 seats.

Lam says next US president should not interfere in Hong Kong

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Friday that whoever wins the U.S. presidential election should end U.S. interference in the internal affairs of her city and China overall. She accused the Trump administration of repeatedly interfering over the past year, citing U.S. sanctions on officials including herself and the suspension of special trading conditions previously granted to Hong Kong. “That is totally unreasonable,” she said at a news conference wrapping up a four-day visit to Beijing. “I hope that they will come back to normalcy and accept that the relationship has to be built on mutual respect and cooperation.” The U.S.

Evacuation begins as Indonesia's most active volcano rumbles

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities began evacuating people living on the volatile Mount Merapi volcano’s fertile slopes on Friday following an increase in volcanic activity. The head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, Hanik Humaida, warned that Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano, could erupt at any time, possibly sending hot gas clouds down its slopes up to 5 kilometers (3 miles). Edy Susanto, a local disaster mitigation agency official, said about 300 people from two villages, mostly the elderly, pregnant women and children, were taken to emergency shelters in Central Java’s Magelang district. Susanto said emergency measures to evacuate people living within 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) of the crater’s mouth were being prepared as local administrations in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces closely monitor the situation.

Malaysia to raise 2021 spending to counter virus impact

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's government proposed a larger national budget in 2021 on Friday to help the coronavirus-hit economy rebound by up to 7.5% and provide increased handouts for the poor. The budget is the first by the unelected government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who took power in March after initiating the collapse of the former reformist government. It is a key test of support for Muhyiddin, who has a slim two-seat majority in Parliament and faces challenges from allies in his coalition and opposition parties. Finance Minister Zafrul Aziz told Parliament that the expansionary budget has the people's welfare in mind during the pandemic and will raise spending to a record 322.5 billion ringgit ($78.1 billion), up 2.5% from this year.

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