Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Malaysian music festival to take legal action against the 1975

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Promoters of the event claim that Matty Healy’s onstage kiss with bandmate ‘tarnished’ the festival’s reputation and are calling on the musicians to acknowledge liability and provide compensation

The organisers of the Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur are taking legal action against the 1975 after frontman Matty Healy criticised Malaysia’s punitive anti-LGBTQ+ legislation during their headline set.

On 21 July, Healy told the crowd: “I don’t see the fucking point of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with. Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m fucking furious.

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Australia warns of economic weakness in Pacific as it outlines development goals – without mentioning China

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Government updates development policy for the first time in a decade amid rising debt levels and competition with China for influence

Australian officials have sounded the alarm about rising debt levels and economic “fragility” among Pacific countries amid increasing competition with China for influence.

On Tuesday the Australian government will publish the first update of its international development policy in a decade, with a focus on the Pacific, south-east Asia and south Asia.

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UK Scouts says £1m cost of relocating jamboree will affect its work for years

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Head of Scout Association says event in South Korea had been poorly organised even before threat of Typhoon Khanun

The £1m cost of relocating the 4,500-strong UK contingent at the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will affect the work of the Scout Association for as much as five years, the organisation’s boss has said.

Matt Hyde, the UK Scouts chief executive, said the association had been forced to dip into its reserves after the event’s organisers decided to clear the campsite five days early because of an incoming typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days.

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Chinese soldiers pledge to sacrifice their lives in documentary on Taiwan invasion

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‘Chasing Dreams’, an eight-part series aired on state TV, features testimony from dozens of soldiers

China has released a new documentary about the army’s preparations to attack Taiwan, showcasing soldiers pledging to give up their lives if needed, as Beijing continues to ramp up its rhetoric against the self-ruled island.

“Chasing Dreams”, an eight-part series aired by state broadcaster CCTV last week to mark the 96th anniversary of the People Liberation Army (PLA), features military drills and testimonials by dozens of soldiers, of which several express their willingness to die in a potential attack against Taiwan.

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China floods: at least 14 killed after torrential rain in north-east

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Clean-up operations continue after rainfall destroys infrastructure and floods entire districts in aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri

At least 14 people are dead after torrential rain hit China’s north-eastern Jilin province, state media has reported, in the latest fatalities from more than a week of weather-related disasters across the country.

Thousands of troops have been sent into affected areas of Jilin and neighbouring Heilongjiang to assist with the flood response, evacuations, distributing supplies and fixing damaged roads. State media outlet Xinhua said about 2,000 soldiers and 5,000 members of the People’s Armed Police paramilitary force had been deployed.

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US dispatches warships after China and Russia send naval patrol near Alaska

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Combined naval patrol appeared to be largest such flotilla to approach US territory and ‘highly provocative’, expert says

The US dispatched four navy warships as well as a reconnaissance airplane after multiple Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska last week.

The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach US territory, according to experts that spoke to the outlet.

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Philippines accuses China of water cannon attack in Spratly Islands

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Latest in long history of nautical intimidations by Beijing, which lays unrecognised claim to almost all of the South China Sea

The Philippines has accused China’s coast guard of firing water cannon at its vessels in the disputed South China Sea, describing it as illegal and dangerous.

The Philippine coast guard said its vessels had been carrying food, water, fuel and other supplies for Filipino military personnel stationed at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands on Saturday.

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Russia ally Kim Jong-un demands more North Korean weapons output

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Dictator tours factories making drone engines and rocket launchers and calls for ‘rapidly expanding production capacity’

Kim Jong-un visited several major North Korean arms factories this week, including facilities making engines for strategic cruise missiles, and called for increased weapons production, state media has reported.

The three-day inspection of the factories comes less than two weeks after the dictator attended a major military parade with Russian and Chinese officials, showcasing North Korea’s newest weapons, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and spy drones.

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Japan’s PM deplores ‘Russia’s nuclear threat’ on 78th anniversary of Hiroshima

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Mayor of city where Little Boy atom bomb was dropped says nuclear deterrence is ‘folly’

Japan’s prime minister has hit out at Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and 74,000 in Nagasaki three days later, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities days before the end of World War II.

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Mother of UK scout tells of ‘unbearable’ conditions at South Korea jamboree

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Woman says 16-year-old son was exhausted from camping in temperatures of up to 35C and is now at hotel in Seoul

A mother has spoken out about the “unbearable” conditions her son experienced at the World Scout Jamboree campsite in South Korea, after temperatures reached 35C (95F) and organisers refused to end the event early.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said her 16-year-old son had been removed from the site by the UK Scout Association on Saturday because of the heatwave and was sleeping on the floor of a “cramped” hotel room near Seoul airport with three other scouts.

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China to relax internal migration rules to kickstart economy

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Changes to hukou urban quotas will offer easier access to education, healthcare and other benefits

China is to relax its rules on internal migration, making it easier for people to settle in small cities in an attempt to boost its ailing economy and spur growth, the government has announced.

The ministry of public security (MPS) announced plans to lower the bar for obtaining an urban hukou, or household registration. Beijing wants local governments to cancel hukou restrictions in cities with fewer than 3 million people, and relax the restrictions for cities with 3-5 million people, the MPS said.

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US and UK scouts pull out of world jamboree campsite due to extreme heat

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Thousands of scouts to be removed from site after hundreds of heat-related illnesses at event in South Korea

Thousands of UK and US scouts attending the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea are being removed from the official campsite in the south-western county of Buan amid a suffocating heatwave.

The event, which started this week, has drawn 43,000 young scouts from 158 countries, with the UK contingent the largest at 4,500.

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Anger in China over plan to use cities as ‘moat’ to save Beijing from floods

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Communist party secretary for Hebei made comments after visiting flood-hit areas earlier this week

Chinese social media users have reacted angrily to comments from a local Communist party official suggesting that the city of Zhuozhou and other flood-hit areas near Beijing should be used as a “moat for the capital”.

Ni Yuefeng, the Communist party secretary for Hebei, a province that borders the capital on three sides, made the comments after visiting flooded areas earlier this week. Typhoon Doksuri has ripped through north-east China, destroying homes and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate.

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New Zealand: one person dies in hospital after Auckland shooting

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Second victim in a stable condition after shots were fired when fight broke out in city centre

One of two people who were shot in downtown Auckland on Thursday night has died in hospital, police have confirmed.

Police were called after receiving reports of a fight between a group of people at about 11.30pm on Thursday on lower Queen Street, in Auckland’s city centre.

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Dutton wasn’t told details of Bhojani bribery investigation as it was not ‘custom and practice’, AFP tells estimates

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Federal police say they did not tell then home affairs minister name of man who was subject of Nauru investigation or that department had contracts with him

Australian federal police investigating an Australian citizen for allegedly bribing politicians on Nauru have told a Senate estimates hearing they did not tell the then home affairs minister his department was paying the man’s company multimillion-dollar accommodation contracts at the same time, because it was not “custom and practice”.

The AFP says it knew a company linked to Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani had multiple ongoing contracts with the home affairs department when it briefed the then home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, on its Nauru foreign bribery investigation on 12 July 2018.

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South Korea spends millions to rescue World Scout Jamboree amid scorching heatwave

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President says ‘unlimited’ airconditioned buses will be provided and food will be improved, after hundreds fall ill in heat amid soaring temperatures

South Korea has pumped millions into improving conditions at a global Scouts gathering it is hosting amid a suffocating heatwave, with president Yoon Suk Yeol ordering “unlimited” air-conditioned buses and cold-water trucks and hundreds more sanitary and medical staff being brought in.

The World Scout Jamboree, which kicked off on 8.8 sq km of unsheltered tidelands in the south-western county of Buan on Tuesday, has seen hundreds needing treatment for heat-related ailments. On Thursday, 138 people visited clinics and hospitals with heat-related illnesses, bringing the total tally to over 700.

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New Zealand must boost military spending as Pacific power struggle intensifies, review finds

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Defence minister launches first security strategy warning New Zealand faces greatest geostrategic challenges in decades

New Zealand needs to spend more on its military and strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific to help meet the challenges of great power rivalry and climate change, the government said amid an ongoing defence review.

Launching the country’s first ever national security strategy, defence minister Andrew Little said New Zealand faced more geostrategic challenges than it had in decades.

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US navy sailors arrested on charges of passing sensitive material to China

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Jinchao Wei, 22, and Wenheng Zhao, 26, accused in separate cases of ‘violating commitments they made to protect the United States’

Two US navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, US officials said on Thursday.

Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on Wednesday on a charge related to espionage involving conspiracy to sending national defense information to Chinese officials. In a separate case, the justice department charged Wenheng Zhao, 26, for allegedly collecting bribes in exchange for giving sensitive US military photos and videos to a Chinese intelligence officer.

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Nintendo jumps to £1bn profits powered by Super Mario film

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Movie drives sales of Switch gaming consoles as well as Super Mario title as Legend of Zelda also does well

The success of The Super Mario Bros Movie and the new Zelda video game helped to boost Nintendo’s bottom line on Thursday as the Japanese gaming company reported an 82% increase in profits.

It said its operating profit in the three months to 30 June rose to 185.4bn yen (£1bn), with the April release of the film – currently the biggest box office hit of 2023 – driving sales of Super Mario titles and the latest Legend of Zelda game also doing well.

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Rights groups call on Laos to release lawyer held after fleeing China

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Sixty-eight organisations sign letter amid fears Lu Siwei could be deported at request of Chinese authorities

Sixty-eight human rights groups have signed an open letter calling on the Laos government to release Lu Siwei, a Chinese former human rights lawyer detained by Laotian police near Vientiane last week.

Lu was seized by police on Friday as he attempted to board a train from Laos to Thailand, where he planned to catch a flight to the US to join his wife and daughter. Nearly one week later, he appears to still be held in Laotian immigration detention, despite reportedly being told that he would be deported to China.

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