Category Archives: Asia Pacific

PNG threatens to send refugees back to Australia unless it keeps funding humanitarian program

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Exclusive: Papua New Guinea official accuses Australia of abandoning 70 men but government maintains it has no responsibility for them

Refugees exiled to Papua New Guinea a decade ago will be sent back to Australia if the Australian government fails to continue funding PNG’s humanitarian program, Port Moresby’s most senior migration official has warned.

PNG’s chief migration officer, Stanis Hulahau, said the refugees had been abandoned by Australia and the PNG businesses that had been housing and caring for the men were owed tens of millions of dollars.

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Weather tracker: Typhoon Koinu causes disruption in Taiwan

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Heavy rain and strong winds force schools and businesses to shut and leaves thousands without power

Typhoon Koinu made landfall in southern Taiwan on Thursday morning, reaching the country as a category 4 typhoon on the Hengchun peninsula as the storm’s eye crossed over Eluanbi for about five minutes. At this stage, the maximum sustained winds were recorded at 135mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

By Thursday afternoon, the storm was 62 miles off the western coast of Eluanbi, with maximum sustained winds of 89mph. Despite weakening, Koinu is expected to reach coastal areas of southern China this weekend, and the city of Guangzhou has already cancelled some flights and trains.

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Closure of maternity wards fuels Chinese debate over population decline

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Recent shutdown of obstetrics units not officially linked with falling birth rate – but online commentators speculate

A number of hospital obstetrics units in China have closed, prompting discussion about the effects of China’s dramatically falling birthrate.

Several hospitals in Zhejiang province have reportedly closed or downsized their obstetrics units, along with hospitals in Jiangsu and Guangdong.

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Tokyo district mayor urges Halloween revellers to stay away amid crush fears

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Ken Hasebe issues warning after 2022 Itaewon tragedy in Seoul, in which more than 150 people died

Authorities in one of Tokyo’s liveliest neighbourhoods are pleading with revellers to stay away during Halloween, fearing a repeat of last year’s deadly crowd crush in the Itaewon district of Seoul.

Ken Hasebe, the mayor of Shibuya – a popular destination for young Japanese and foreign tourists – said partygoers hoping to mark the celebration in the area on and around 31 October would be disappointed.

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Taiwan records world’s third most powerful wind gust ever as Typhoon Koinu hits

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Windspeed measuring device was destroyed as category four cyclone hit, injuring nearly 200 and creating waves up to seven metres high

A category four cyclone has produced one of the strongest wind gusts ever recorded worldwide, and injured almost 200 people as it crossed the southern tip of Taiwan early on Thursday.

Typhoon Koinu brought wind gusts of up to 95.2 metres per second, or 342.7km/h (212.9mph) when it crossed Taiwan’s outer Lanyu (Orchid) island on Wednesday night. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) told the Guardian it was the highest wind gust recorded in Taiwan since the organisation was founded in 1986. The gust destroyed the island’s anemometer, the CWA said.

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Evergrande, the ‘runaway’ developer that could become a wrecking ball for China’s economy

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The regulatory crackdown that sparked arrests and a debt crisis in China’s second-biggest developer may do more harm than good to market, say analysts

The saga of China’s second-largest development firm has escalated from a financial crisis to a potentially criminal one with the investigation and detention of Evergrande chairman and founder, Hui Ka Yan.

The company resumed trading on Tuesday after it was suspended last week in the wake of media reports of Hui’s apprehension. But analysts say signs point to a potential liquidation of the company, which could have drastic ramifications for China’s economy too.

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North Korea’s halt of nuclear reactor suggests bid to obtain weapons-grade plutonium – report

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Suspension of operations at Yongbyon complex points to reprocessing work for nuclear arms, South Korean government source quoted as saying

North Korea has halted the nuclear reactor at its main atomic complex, probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean news report has said, citing a government source.

The operation of the five-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex has been suspended since late September, according to intelligence assessments by US and South Korean authorities, the report said.

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Australia will pay $27m compensation to Indonesians held in adult jails when they were children

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Commonwealth agrees to settle with more than 120 Indonesians wrongly detained as adult people smugglers, some when they were as young as 12

The Australian government has agreed to pay more than $27m to Indonesians who were wrongly detained or prosecuted as adult people smugglers while they were children using a deeply flawed wrist X-ray technique.

The commonwealth this week agreed to settle a class action brought by the Indonesians, some who were as young as 12 when they were locked up in adult prisons and prosecuted in adult courts as people smugglers between 2010 and 2012 during the highly charged political climate around border protection.

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Certificate to own car in Singapore rockets to $106,000

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Cost of ‘certificate of entitlement’, introduced in 1990 to control number of cars, now equivalent to four Toyota Camry Hybrids in US

To own a car in Singapore, a buyer must bid for a certificate that now costs $106,000, equivalent to four Toyota Camry Hybrids in the US, as a post-pandemic recovery has driven up the cost of the country’s vehicle quota system to all-time highs.

Singapore has a 10-year “certificate of entitlement” (COE) system, introduced in 1990, to control the number of vehicles in the small city-state, which is home to 5.9 million people and can be driven across in less than an hour.

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Bond market sell-off sends UK long-term borrowing cost to 25-year high

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Rate tops level last seen after Liz Truss mini-budget as fears of global inflation and US political instability spook markets

Britain’s long-term cost of borrowing has hit its highest level since 1998, as political instability in the US and fears of sustained high levels of inflation triggered a sell-off in global bond markets.

The yield, or interest rate, on 30-year UK government bonds hit 5.115% early on Wednesday, according to the financial data provider Refinitiv.

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Bondi businessman accused of selling secrets to China can only be accused of plagiarism, lawyers argue

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Lawyers for Alexander Csergo say a search using AI tools used to check plagiarism at universities verified his claim he provided open source material

Lawyers for a Bondi businessman accused of selling Australian secrets to China say simple artificial intelligence tools used to check for plagiarism at universities verified his claim he only provided publicly available information.

Alexander Csergo watched on via video link from Sydney’s Parklea prison on Wednesday as prosecutors told Downing Centre local court they would ask the federal attorney general’s department if it wanted to continue his case.

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Thai police say boy, 14, arrested after shooting at mall in Bangkok

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At least two people dead and five wounded in incident at Siam Paragon shopping centre

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after two people were killed in a shooting at a busy luxury mall in central Bangkok.

A Chinese national and Burmese national were killed in the incident at Siam Paragon mall, according to Thailand’s national police chief, Torsak Sukvimol. A further five people were injured. Their condition is unclear.

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Chinese censors block ‘Tiananmen’ image of athletes hugging

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Picture of athletes’ ‘6/4’ race numbers erased in perceived reference to 1989 massacre

A photograph of two Chinese athletes hugging after a race has been censored on Chinese social media because the women’s race numbers inadvertently formed a reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Lin Yuwei and Wu Yanni, China’s entrants in the women’s 100m hurdles final, embraced after the race at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Lin won gold in the race with a time of 12.74 seconds. A photograph of the two women in profile showed Lin’s lane number, 6, next to Wu’s lane number, 4.

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Timor-Leste president hits back at Australian criticism of new partnership with China

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José Ramos-Horta rejects concerns about plan that includes enhanced military engagement as ‘imagined Chinese ghosts’

Timor-Leste’s president has hit back at criticism of a new partnership between his country and China, which includes plans to enhance military engagement, accusing detractors of “imagining Chinese ghosts”.

José Ramos-Horta, serving as president for the second time, told the Guardian that both Timor-Leste and China were “confused” by the concerns raised over the upgrading of ties between the two countries to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” announced last week.

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Evergrande shares soar as trading in crisis-hit China firm resumes

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Stock was suspended after report billionaire founder Hui Ka Yan was under police surveillance

Shares in the embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande jumped after trading resumed in Hong Kong after their suspension last week.

Shares soared more than 40% early on and were later 20% ahead. Trading in Evergrande and its property services and electric vehicle subsidiaries was suspended on Thursday, after a Bloomberg report that the company’s billionaire chairman and founder, Hui Ka Yan, was under police surveillance. On Friday, the company said he was being investigated over suspected “illegal crimes”.

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J-pop agency Johnny & Associates to change name amid sexual abuse scandal

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Japanese talent agency to create new firm to manage artists as it tries to distance itself from disgraced founder

The Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates, whose late founder has been accused of sexually abusing hundreds of boys and young men, will change its name and establish a new firm to manage upcoming artists, as it struggles to repair its battered reputation.

The agency’s president, Noriyuki Higashiyama, told a televised press conference on Monday that the company would be renamed Smile-Up, as part of its attempts to distance itself from its disgraced founder, Johnny Kitagawa.

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Vietnam detains energy thinktank chief in latest arrest of environmental expert

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Ngo Thi To Nhien detained over charges of ‘appropriating documents’, a government spokesperson confirmed

Vietnam state media has confirmed the arrest of the director of an independent energy policy thinktank – the sixth expert working on environmental issues to be taken into custody in the past two years.

A rights group reported last month that Ngo Thi To Nhien, executive director of the Hanoi-based Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition (Viet), had been detained, although at the time there was no official confirmation.

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Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu wins Maldives presidency, upending relationship with India

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Runoff vote was widely seen as a referendum on whether to pursue closer ties with China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation

Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday’s presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional partner India.

Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation, better known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists.

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Travel website Booking.com leaves hoteliers thousands of dollars out of pocket

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As the website boasts about increased revenue, some partners say they have not been paid for months

Travel website Booking.com has left many hotel operators and other partners across the globe thousands of dollars out of pocket for months on end, blaming the lack of payment on a “technical issue”.

The issue is widespread in Thailand, Indonesia and Europe among hoteliers who are venting their frustrations in Facebook groups as rumours swirl about the cause of the failure to pay.

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Maldives vote: runoff for presidency begins in shadow of India-China tussle for influence

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Pro-Delhi incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih faces uphill battle against Beijing-leaning frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu as contest remains on knife’s edge

The Maldives started voting on Saturday to decide their next president, in an elections widely seen as a referendum on whether to hitch their fortunes to China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation.

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 61, faces an uphill battle to secure a second mandate after a term that saw renewed ties with New Delhi, the archipelago’s traditional benefactor.

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