Category Archives: Asia Pacific

White Island volcano eruption: Whakaari Management found guilty of ‘astonishing’ safety failures

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New Zealand judge Evangelos Thomas criticised failures of safety audits given ‘obvious risks’ that led to 2019 fatal eruption

A New Zealand court has found the owner of White Island/Whakaari, the offshore volcano that erupted in 2019, killing 22 people, guilty on one charge of breaching workplace safety laws.

On Tuesday, Auckland district court ruled Whakaari Management Limited (WML), the holding company of landowners Andrew, James and Peter Buttle, had not met its obligations to visitors to the volcano.

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China’s billionaires looking to move their cash, and themselves, out

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Crackdowns on financiers, roiling political climate and slowing economy under Xi Jinping has many seeking exit plans

Billionaires are notoriously difficult to track. It’s no surprise – the easier they and their assets are to find, the easier they are to tax. But by all accounts, the number of uber-wealthy people in China is in decline. Of the world’s estimated 2,640 billionaires, at least 562 are thought to be in China, according to Forbes, down from 607 last year.

With crackdowns on financiers and a roiling political climate, many of China’s rich people are looking to move their money, and themselves, out of the country.

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PNG to investigate corruption claims in Australia-funded refugee program

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Papua New Guinea’s immigration minister John Rosso says whistleblower’s ‘serious allegations’ revealed by the Guardian have prompted audit

Allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement within the Australia-funded refugee support program in Papua New Guinea will be formally investigated by the Port Moresby government.

After allegations from a whistleblower inside PNG’s immigration authority that millions of dollars had potentially been misused, PNG’s deputy prime minister, also the minister for immigration, John Rosso, has ordered an audit into where the money has gone.

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Higher interest rates help HSBC to more than double profits

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Bank criticised by MPs for being too slow to reward savers as it announces 15% rise in net interest income and $3bn share buyback

Higher interest rates helped HSBC to more than double its profits and hand over $3bn (£2.5bn) to shareholders, as MPs criticised the largest UK banks for being too slow to reward savers.

The London-headquartered bank said it was launching a share buyback, and paying a dividend worth 10 cents a share, after what its chief executive, Noel Quinn, hailed as “three consecutive quarters of strong financial performance”.

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Why the rusting wreck of a second world war ship is so important to China

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The Sierra Madre, deliberately marooned by the Philippines in 1999, is crumbling but repair is being made impossible by an effective blockade by Beijing

It is perhaps the most unlikely kind of military base. For more than two decades, a second world war-era ship, BRP Sierra Madre, has stood deliberately grounded in the remote, shallow waters of the fiercely contested South China Sea, carrying the Philippine flag and guarding against Chinese expansion.

But its future is increasingly precarious, and the ship has become a growing flashpoint in one of the world’s most disputed waters.

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Sharp rise in bear attacks in Japan as they struggle to find food

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Amid lack of acorns and beechnuts in natural habitats, bears have injured 158 people and killed two since April

Experts in Japan have warned that bear attacks are rising at an unprecedented rate, as the animals struggle to find food in their natural habitat.

Bears have caused at least 158 injuries and two deaths since April, equalling the record set in 2020, according to media reports. Most of the attacks occurred in the northern part of Honshu, Japan’s biggest island, the environment ministry said.

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Overseas students and workers targeted in illicit UK visa trade

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Brokers in south Asia charging up to £800 for appointments that should be free

UK visa appointments are being booked up by brokers and sold on for hundreds of pounds in an illicit trade targeting overseas workers and students.

An Observer investigation has found brokers in some parts of south Asia charging up to £800 for the biometric appointments, which are widely advertised on Facebook and the Telegram messaging service.

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Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meeting a step closer, says US

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US president and senior aides meet with Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, after which White House says it is ‘working towards’ top-level talks

The US and China have agreed to work towards setting up a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping after the US president met with China’s foreign minister on Friday.

Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The Chinese president has not yet confirmed he will come.

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Captain of Thai cave football team took his own life at UK school, coroner rules

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Inquest finds death of Duangphet Phromthep, 17, could not have been foreseen or prevented

The captain of the Thai football team who were trapped in a cave for several days in 2018 took his own life while at school in the UK, a coroner has ruled.

Duangphet Phromthep died at Kettering general hospital on 14 February, two days after being found unconscious at Brooke House College in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

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Evidence mounts of North Korean arms to Russia in threat for Ukraine

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Despite questions over quality, scale of munition shipments indicates Moscow plans to continue conflict for long time

In pouring rain, a jubilant crowd waving pompoms and flowers greeted the Russian foreign minister as he stepped on to the airport asphalt in Pyongyang.

While the heavily choreographed welcoming scenes were a familiar sight in totalitarian North Korea, Sergei Lavrov’s rare visit to the country came amid mounting evidence that Pyongyang has started to provide artillery rounds to Russia, opening up a supply line that could have profound implications for the war in Ukraine.

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Taiwan election may open window for better China ties, report says

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International Crisis Group urges all parties including US to re-establish a baseline level of trust

Taiwan’s presidential election in January is a window of opportunity to resume dialogue between Taipei and Beijing, reduce tensions and lower the risk of conflict, an NGO has said.

A war over Taiwan is not inevitable but “the current trajectory is dangerous”, a report by the International Crisis Group says.

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Fukushima nuclear plant workers sent to hospital after being splashed with tainted water

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The operator Tepco says the workers came in contact with the wastewater when a hose came off accidentally and have been taken to hospital as a precaution

Four workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant were splashed with water containing radioactive materials, with two of them taken to hospital as a precaution, according to the plant operator.

The incident, which took place on Wednesday, highlights the dangers Japan still faces in decommissioning the plant. The reactor was knocked out by an immense tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst atomic disaster since Chornobyl in 1986.

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New Zealand gangs may be forced to cover facial tattoos with makeup, incoming government says

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Ban on offensive facial markings could come as part of wider crackdown on gangs, National party says

New Zealand’s gangs may have to cover up offensive tattoos with makeup if the incoming government’s crackdown on gang activity goes ahead.

On Thursday, the National party’s police spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, told the national broadcaster RNZ that if its proposed ban on gang patches – large insignia sewn on to jackets, for example – does not work, then it would consider making gang members apply foundation over their facial tattoos, or face arrest.

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Li Keqiang, former premier of China, dies aged 68

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Li served as China’s number two leader for 10 years before being sidelined by Xi Jinping

China’s former premier, Li Keqiang, has died suddenly at the age of 68, according to Chinese state media. Li had a heart attack and died in Shanghai early on Friday, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

“Comrade Li Keqiang, while resting in Shanghai in recent days, experienced a sudden heart attack on Oct 26 and after all-out efforts to revive him failed, died in Shanghai at ten minutes past midnight on Oct 27,” the state broadcaster CCTV reported.

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Dismay as South Korea upholds military ‘sodomy law’ for fourth time

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Activists deplore ‘distressing setback for equality’ as court backs law against ‘indecent acts’ between military personnel

South Korea’s constitutional court has upheld two anti-LGBTQ+ laws including the country’s notorious military “sodomy law” for the fourth time, in a ruling activists are calling a setback for equality rights.

The court, in a five-to-four vote, ruled that article 92-6 of the military criminal act, which prescribes a maximum prison term of two years for “anal intercourse” and “any other indecent acts” between military personnel, even while on leave and consensual, was constitutional in response to several petitions challenging the law.

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Aukus will ‘get done’ despite jitters in Congress, Biden tells Albanese at White House meeting

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Getting approval for nuclear submarine plan through legislature a question of ‘not if, but when’

Joe Biden has played down congressional jitters over the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal and has revealed he assured Xi Jinping that the countries involved are not aiming to “surround China”.

The US president welcomed the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to the White House and insisted he was “confident that we’re going to be able to get the money for Aukus because it’s overwhelmingly in our interest”.

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Xi says China willing to cooperate with US as hopes rise for talks with Biden

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Xi Jinping says whether or not two countries can find right way of getting along is crucial to the world

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said China is willing to cooperate with the US as both sides manage their differences and work together to respond to global challenges, raising hopes of a meeting between Xi and the US president, Joe Biden, this year.

In a letter delivered at an annual dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York, Xi said whether or not the US and China could establish the “right” way of getting along would be crucial to the world, according to state media.

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Japan court rules mandatory sterilisation of people officially changing gender unconstitutional

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Judges reject requirement for trans people to remove reproductive organs for state-recognised gender change

Japan’s top court has ruled that a legal clause requiring people to undergo sterilisation surgery if they want to legally change their gender is unconstitutional.

Several international organisations including the European court of human rights, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and UN had said the requirement was discriminatory and infringed on human rights.

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Tsingtao beer loses its fizz in South Korea after video of worker appearing to urinate into tank

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China’s Tsingtao beer reportedly experiences a consumer backlash in South Korea after video of a worker appearing to urinate into a beer tank goes viral

Restaurants and consumers in South Korea have quickly lost their taste for Tsingtao beer, according to media reports, after a video that appeared to show a brewery worker urinating into a tank at one of the firm’s plants in China went viral.

The clip, which has been viewed tens of millions of times on social media since it appeared last Thursday, shows a man wearing a helmet and blue uniform clambering over the side of a high-walled container and apparently relieving himself over its contents.

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Japan investigates foreign YouTubers accused of dodging train fares and stealing food

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The rise in nuisance influencers comes as tourism numbers in Japan near their pre-pandemic levels

A rise in the antics of nuisance influencers in Japan, who are accused of duping train ticket collectors and pretending to be homeless to get cash, has caused consternation in the country as tourism number near their pre-pandemic levels.

A railway company in Japan is investigating allegations that a group of four popular foreign YouTubers had travelled long distances by train without paying. One of the suspected fare dodgers, known online as Fidias, posted a video to his 2.38 million subscribers over the weekend showing him and three others evading rail staff and blagging free food.

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