Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Philippines radio journalist shot dead during live broadcast

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Killer of Juan Jumalon, 57, pretended to be a listener to enter home studio in Misamis Occidental province

A radio anchor in the southern Philippines has been fatally shot in his studio in a brazen attack witnessed by people watching the programme live on Facebook.

The gunman gained entry to the home-based radio station of Juan Jumalon, a provincial news broadcaster known also as DJ Johnny Walker, by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him twice during a live morning broadcast in Calamba town in Misamis Occidental province, police said.

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Osaka’s baseball underdogs hope one more win will lift curse of KFC

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Many in the city have put the Hanshin Tigers’ lack of success down to an unusual Colonel Sanders-based superstition, but it may be about to end

The last time the Hanshin Tigers were proclaimed the best baseball team in Japan, their fans celebrated by hurling themselves into a canal and carrying out an “abduction” that many believe placed their team under a curse that has lasted almost four decades.

On Saturday, the sleeping giants of Japanese baseball were forced to wait another day for the chance to banish the jinx by winning their first Japan Series title since 1985, after a defeat to local rivals Orix Buffaloes ensured that the season’s finale would go to a seventh and decisive game.

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Albanese offers gentle rebuke over China’s ‘unnecessary barriers to trade’ at Shanghai expo

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Australian prime minister pushes the benefits of ‘rules-based trade’ after a period of unilateral sanctions imposed by China

Anthony Albanese has delivered an implicit rebuke to China for its strong-arm tactics during Beijing’s protracted trade war with Canberra, telling attenders at a trade expo in Shanghai “Australia and China have prospered thanks to the certainty and stability that is made possible by rules-based trade”.

But while politely criticising Beijing’s trade tactics, Australia’s prime minister did not rule out supporting China’s long-held ambition to join a critical regional pact – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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Albanese arrives in China for landmark visit, says it’s in ‘our national interest’

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Albanese will meet Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang, on the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016

Anthony Albanese has declared Australia will “cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, but ... also engage in our national interest” as the prime minister arrived in the People’s Republic for a landmark three day official visit.

Albanese touched down in Shanghai on Saturday evening. After being received at the airport by senior diplomats from both countries, the prime minister went immediately to a banquet hosted by China’s premier Li Qiang to open China’s International Import Expo in downtown Shanghai.

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A new chapter: how China sees Albanese’s ‘ice-breaking’ state visit

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Chinese state media have previously viewed Australia’s actions as blindly following the US. Does a resumption of dialogue signal a change?

It’s a busy time in Beijing – this autumn has already hosted a major Belt and Road forum, international dignitaries, and a security summit. But an upcoming visit by the Australian prime minister has also prompted a flurry of preparations and discussion.

Anthony Albanese’s three-day tour of Shanghai and Beijing, the first prime ministerial visit to the country in seven years, is being warmly welcomed. He is expected to meet with the premier, Li Qiang – the host of the official visit – and the president, Xi Jinping, with whom Canberra has said Albanese will raise tough issues.

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Blockbuster show on Genghis Khan opens in France after row with China

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Exhibition features objects never before seen in Europe and draws lessons from Mongol empire relevant to today

It was a major cultural row between France and China, prompting a history museum to pull the plug on one of its most important exhibitions of the decade accusing the Beijing authorities of interference and trying to rewrite history.

But now the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne history museum in Nantes has finally opened its blockbuster exhibition on Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire, with large crowds queueing to see hundreds of objects that have never been shown in Europe, some dug up by archaeologists only three years ago. It is part of a new modern reading of the geopolitical importance of the vast continental empire.

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Final New Zealand election results show National party will need populist NZ First to govern

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Centre-right party loses two seats in final tally and will need to rely on traditional partner Act as well as NZ First to form coalition

After weeks of political limbo, the final results of New Zealand’s election have been released showing the centre-right National party will need the support of the libertarian Act party and populist party New Zealand First to form a coalition government.

The governing Labour party was ejected from office after six years in the October election, with preliminary results handing a slim majority to National and its traditional coalition partner Act.

Reuters contributed to this report

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The great powers signed up to Sunak’s AI summit – while jostling for position

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Even China is part of the UK’s ‘Bletchley declaration’ – but Britain is not the only country ambitious to lead on the issue

Sitting in a purpose-built hut in the grounds of the historic Bletchley Park country estate, British officials believed they had pulled off a diplomatic coup.

On stage in front of them was the UK’s technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, and behind her were high-level representatives from the US and China, together for the first time to discuss the international regulation of artificial intelligence.

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Albanese to raise human rights and trade with Xi in first China visit by Australian PM since 2016

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Ahead of trip signalling emergence from diplomatic deep freeze, Albanese also calls on Beijing to again allow Australian journalists to report from mainland

Anthony Albanese will raise human rights, trade and Australia’s concerns about the militarisation of the South China Sea when he meets Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday during the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016.

Albanese has signalled he intends to raise the plight of the Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who has been detained for more than four years in China. Ahead of his departure, the prime minister also called on the Chinese government to issue visas to Australian journalists, allowing them to report once again from the mainland.

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Li Keqiang funeral in China brings out crowds despite suppression effort

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Police line road amid strictly controlled public tributes to premier once seen as antidote to authoritarian Xi Jinping

Hundreds of people have gathered near a state funeral home in China as former premier Li Keqiang was being laid to rest.

Plainclothes and uniformed police lined the road leading to the funeral home, blocking traffic and telling people to move along while watching for the presence of unofficial or foreign media.

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China and US reportedly agree to rare nuclear arms control talks

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Talks expected on Monday would be first since Obama administration and follow visit to Washington by Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister

China and the United States will reportedly discuss nuclear arms control next week, the first such talks since the Obama administration.

The talks would be led on Monday by Mallory Stewart, a senior state department official, and Sun Xiaobo, the head of the arms control department at China’s foreign ministry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

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Malaysia issues ‘kill switch’ order to cut controversial concerts

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Measure to ensure foreign artists ‘adhere to the local culture’ follows incident at gig by the 1975 in Kuala Lumpur

Concert organisers in Malaysia must now have a “kill switch” to cut short performances that break official guidelines, a minister has said.

The measure follows the controversy surrounding a performance in Kuala Lumpur by the 1975, whose frontman Matty Healy criticised Malaysia’s homophobic laws in a profanity-laden speech and kissed a male bandmate on stage. The incident in July led to the cancellation of the weekend festival at which the band was performing.

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Halloween costumes in Shanghai poke fun at Chinese authorities

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People dress as Covid workers, surveillance cameras and Winnie-the-Pooh, a reference to Xi Jinping

Halloween revellers in Shanghai have poked fun at the Chinese authorities with their costumes, dressing up as Covid prevention workers, surveillance cameras and China’s falling stock market.

Videos posted on social media showed police shepherding away people with particularly subversive costumes on Tuesday night, including one dressed as Lu Xun, a Chinese writer from the early 20th century whose fable about a useless scholar has become a meme for China’s unemployed youth.

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Seoul to trial seatless subway carriages to cut rush-hour congestion

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From January, it will be standing room only in some carriages so people can use the South Korean capital’s metro lines ‘more comfortably and safely’

Seoul’s subway system plans to introduce trains with carriages with no seating in order to alleviate congestion during peak hours, its operator has announced.

The trial programme, set to start in January, will involve the removal of seats from two carriages on subway trains running on two of the South Korean’s capital’s nine major lines during morning and evening rush hours, Seoul Metro said on Wednesday. It forms part of a broader project aimed at reducing congestion on one of the world’s busiest metro systems.

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Hong Kong: over-the-top punishment for 2019 democracy protesters, report finds

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More than 10,000 arrests and nearly 3,000 prosecutions, with 82% given jail including ‘extraordinary high’ proportion of children

Protesters involved in the 2019-2020 pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong have been treated extraordinarily harshly by the criminal justice system compared with local and international norms, a report has found.

The surge in arrests, detentions and charges in the wake of the anti-extradition bill protests that saw millions of Hongkongers taking to the streets to oppose closer ties with mainland China meant that the criminal justice system was put under “extreme stress”, according to Jun Chan, Eric Yan-ho Lai and Thomas E Kellogg at the Center for Asian Law of Georgetown University.

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Biden expected to meet with Xi Jinping next month for ‘constructive’ talks

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White House comments come after China’s foreign minister made rare visit to Washington to pave way for Xi to meet Biden

Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco in November for “constructive” talks, the White House said on Tuesday.

The comments came days after China’s foreign minister made a rare visit to Washington to pave the way for Xi to meet Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

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Police arrest suspected gunman and free hostage at Japanese post office

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Man detained after eight-hour standoff at building in Warabi and earlier shooting at nearby hospital

Japanese police have captured a suspected gunman who holed up at a post office and have rescued a member of staff who was held hostage, NHK television reported on Tuesday.

The arrest ended a more than eight-hour standoff with the man, reportedly in his 80s, who entered the post office with a gun in Warabi, north of Tokyo, an hour after a hospital shooting in which two people were wounded in the nearby city of Toda.

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Yang Hengjun’s family urges Albanese to negotiate with China for jailed Australian writer’s release

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Democracy activist ‘hasn’t enjoyed any direct sunlight for over four years’ and his children fear their father risks being left to die in a Chinese prison

The children of jailed Australian writer Yang Hengjun, detained for more than four years in China, have pleaded with Anthony Albanese to negotiate his release in Beijing this week, telling the prime minister his situation is critical and their father risks “being left to die”.

The writer and avowed democracy activist was arrested in January 2019 and charged with espionage. Yang has collapsed in prison and been told he has a 10cm cyst growing on his kidney, his sons said in a letter to Albanese, emphasising there was “a narrow window of opportunity” to secure his release.

In a prison, inmates are allowed to go outside to get fresh air and may eat in the canteen. Unlike the detention centre where I eat, drink, defecate and urinate all in a small room.

I haven’t enjoyed any direct sunlight for over four years. At most, some rays of sunlight occasionally come through one or two panes of glass and flicker fitfully.

Don’t forget I have not been convicted yet. According to Chinese law, I am still innocent, yet I have been locked up for more than four years, and I am almost destroyed … I’m talking about physically; mentally, no-one can destroy me.

I just hope I will be able to get out alive.

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‘Alarming’ rates of babies with antibiotic-resistant bugs in Asia-Pacific, Australian study finds

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Study urges Australia to research new drugs as it warns rate of mutated infections ‘much worse than anticipated’

“Alarming” rates of babies with infections resistant to common antibiotics in the Asia-Pacific region should prompt urgent investment into new drugs for treating childhood diseases, findings from a new study suggest.

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics is driving bugs to mutate so that common drugs are no longer effective to kill them, known as antimicrobial resistance. Dr Phoebe Williams, an infectious diseases paediatrician and antimicrobial resistance researcher with the University of Sydney, said she regularly travelled to work in hospitals in the south-east Asia and Pacific region where she found “entire wards of babies that have multi-drug resistant infections, and there is nothing left to treat them with”.

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Hong Kong leader defends elections after largest pro-democracy party shut out

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The Democratic party, the city’s largest pro-democracy party, failed to secure enough nominations under new rules introduced by authorities

Hong Kong’s leader has defended the rules for upcoming local elections as open and fair, even though an electoral overhaul means the city’s remaining pro-democracy activists won’t be part of the race.

The city’s largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic party, will be absent in December’s district council election for the first time since its establishment in 1994.

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