Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Janet Yellen inadvertently ate hallucinogenic mushrooms in China – and started a trend

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‘I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,’ the US Treasury secretary told CNN

US treasury secretary Janet Yellen has started a craze in China for a magic mushroom-based dish called Jian shou qing, or “see hand blue”, after she was spotted eating the fungi, known for being hallucinogenic, while on a visit to Beijing in July.

“I went with this large group of people and the person who’d arranged our dinner did the ordering. There was a delicious mushroom dish I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,” she told CNN.

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‘He was petrified’: Australian surfer drifts at sea for 37 hours after boat capsizes off Indonesia

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Elliot Foote’s father Peter Foote says his son floated through the night alone on a surfboard in ‘amazing’ survival story

The father of one of the Australian surfers who were missing at sea off the coast of Indonesia has spoken of the 37-hour ordeal, saying his son was “petrified” as he drifted on a surfboard through the night.

Elliot Foote, his girlfriend Steph Weisse and friends Will Teagle and Jordan Short were in a small boat that capsized in the sea during a storm near Pinang island off Aceh on Sunday night.

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Missing Australian surfers found alive off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province

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Elliot Foote, Steph Weisse, Will Teagle and Jordan Short and two Indonesian crew have been found but one crew member is still missing

Four Australians who went missing when their boat encountered poor weather off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sunday have been found alive.

Steph Weisse, Will Teagle and Jordan Short were found floating in the water on surfboards on Tuesday.

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China stops releasing youth unemployment rates amid economic gloom

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Release of figures suspended in order to ‘optimise labour force survey statistics’, says bureau, after youth jobless figure hit record 21.3% in June

China has said it would suspend the release of youth unemployment figures, as its central bank cut a key interest rate to boost flagging growth.

Youth unemployment hit a record 21.3% in June, as a slew of disappointing figures in recent months reflected a slump in China, with its post-Covid rebound fading.

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Typhoon Lan: mass power cuts hit western Japan as storm makes landfall

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Flights cancelled and flood and landslide warnings issued as typhoon approaches area south-west of Tokyo with sustained winds of 150km/h

Nearly 800 flights have been cancelled and tens of thousands of homes have lost power as a slow-moving typhoon made landfall in western Japan early on Tuesday, prompting authorities to issue flood and landslide warnings.

Approaching from the Pacific Ocean, Typhoon Lan hit the southern tip of Wakayama prefecture, 400km (250 miles) south-west of Tokyo. The typhoon had sustained winds of 150km/h (93mph) and was moving north-west across the western part of the main island of Honshu at around 15km/h (9mph).

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Top Chinese developer’s financial woes cast shadow over Australian property market

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Huge housing estates developed by Risland on the fringes of Sydney and Melbourne could be affected as shares of parent company Country Garden plunge

The financial problems of one of China’s biggest property companies, Country Garden, could reverberate in the Australian property market, where its subsidiary Risland Australia is developing two massive housing estates on the fringes of Sydney and Melbourne.

Delays in the projects or a corporate failure would have significant impacts on the amount of new housing coming on to the market during a dire affordability crisis.

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Four Australians among seven missing after boat hit by storm off Indonesian islands

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Search and rescue operation launched after small vessel failed to arrive at Pinang resort in the Banyak Islands off Aceh

Four Australian tourists and three Indonesian crew are missing after their boat encountered a storm on its way to a group of remote islands off the west coast of Indonesia.

A search and rescue operation was launched on Monday after the small boat failed to arrive at its resort island destination known for its surf and beaches on Sunday.

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Miss Universe cuts ties with Indonesia pageant over sexual assault claims

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Six Miss Universe Indonesia contestants allege they were asked to strip for ‘a body check for scars and cellulite’

The global organiser of the Miss Universe beauty pageant has cut ties with its franchise in Indonesia days after several contestants alleged they had been sexually abused in the run-up to the competition’s crowning ceremony in Jakarta.

Six contestants in the Miss Universe Indonesia pageant are understood to have filed complaints with police, alleging that organisers asked contestants to strip down to their underwear for “a body check for scars and cellulite” two days before the ceremony in July.

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Mudslide in north-western Chinese city leaves 21 dead and six missing

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Officials say 900 homes in Xi’an were left without power in disaster that struck after unusually high rainfall and typhoons

A mudslide in China’s north-western city of Xi’an has killed 21 people, with six still missing, officials said on Sunday.

The city’s emergency management authority released an update on the number of casualties from Friday’s disaster as China grappled with unusually high summer rainfall.

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Taiwan vice-president says ‘don’t be afraid’ to fight authoritarianism in New York speech

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William Lai issues global appeal during US stopover after China denounces him as a ‘troublemaker’

Taiwan’s vice-president has urged the world to stand up against the “increased threat from authoritarianism” and reiterated a willingness to talk to China, in a speech made in New York during a brief US stopover condemned by Beijing.

William Lai, a frontrunner to be Taiwan’s next president at elections in January, said in New York on Sunday: “If Taiwan is safe, the world is safe, if the Taiwan Strait is peaceful, then the world is peaceful,” according to a read out from Taiwan’s presidential office.

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China has its own reasons for being at Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia

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Gathering in Jeddah offers Beijing chance to placate global south and limit damage with west over Russia relations

When the Chinese envoy Li Hui arrived in Saudi Arabia, to join international talks on a peace deal for Ukraine this week, it was a pointed contrast with Beijing’s decision to skip a similar forum in Copenhagen in June.

At the summit, which excluded Russia, Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy promoted his vision for ending the war to a large gathering of countries from the global south.

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Outcry over loss of features on Bangkok’s landmark ‘robot building’

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Campaigners criticise renovation and call for better protection for the city’s distinctive architecture

A Bangkok landmark known as the “robot building” has been stripped of its identity, heritage campaigners have said, as they called for the city’s distinctive architecture to preserved.

The building – in the form of a giant robot made up of stacks of cubes and inspired by the architect watching his son play with a toy – has loomed over one of Bangkok’s busiest commercial districts for decades. Its design included oversized bolts and antenna, and windows shaped like cartoonish eyes.

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Scout jamboree in South Korea closes with regrets and K-pop concert

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Ceremony at Seoul’s World Cup stadium wraps up event beset by heatwave, unsanitary conditions and threat of typhoon

The 25th World Scout Jamboree has concluded with a concert in Seoul after a tumultuous 11-day journey across South Korea that was marred by a heatwave, unsanitary conditions and an evacuation owing to a typhoon threat.

“The last few days have not been easy, to say the least,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, the secretary general of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement during the closing ceremony on Friday at Seoul’s World Cup stadium.

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China’s new London embassy on hold pending Westminster intervention

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Deadline has passed for Beijing to appeal against Tower Hamlets council’s rejection of plans

China has temporarily shelved plans to build a new embassy in London, angrily accusing the British government of not doing enough to force through planning permission for the project.

China had been given until Thursday to file an appeal to Tower Hamlets council in east London after the proposals for the embassy were rejected.

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North Koreans ordered to protect portraits of Kim Jong-un as tropical storm Khanun looms

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State media urges citizens to focus on ‘ensuring the safety’ of propaganda relating to the Kim dynasty

North Koreans have been told to do everything possible to protect portraits of the Kim dynasty, as the country braces for heavy rain and strong winds caused by tropical storm Khanun.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Korean Workers’ party, said people’s “foremost focus” should be on “ensuring the safety” of propaganda portraits of its current leader, Kim Jong-un, his father, Kim Jong-il, and his grandfather and North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung.

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China a ‘ticking time bomb’ because of economic woes, Joe Biden warns

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At Utah fundraiser, US president says China’s employment and workforce issues pose a risk, because ‘when bad folks have problems, they do bad things’

Joe Biden has called China a “ticking time bomb in many cases” because of its economic challenges, saying the country was in trouble because of weak growth.

The US president pointed to the country’s high unemployment and ageing workforce, saying: “China is in trouble.”

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Owners of ‘LGBT’ Swatch watches could be jailed for three years in Malaysia

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Sellers of timepieces with rainbow colours face same punishment as country says they could ‘harm morals’

Owners or sellers of rainbow-coloured timepieces made by the Swiss watchmaker Swatch face three years in prison in Malaysia, the interior ministry has said, as the Muslim-majority country rails against LGBTQ+ symbols it says could “harm morals”.

Homosexuality is outlawed in Malaysia and LGBTQ+ people face discrimination.

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UK considers tighter rules on investment in China after US clampdown

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Rishi Sunak mulls whether to follow US lead in restricting funding for advanced technologies

The British government is considering tightening rules on investment in China after the US president announced new measures aimed at limiting the dollars and expertise flowing into sensitive technologies in the country.

Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics; quantum information technologies; and certain artificial intelligence systems.

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Pro-democracy advocate says Australia should prepare to lay future sanctions against Hong Kong officials

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Australian lawyer and China bounty target Kevin Yam still believes it is important to pursue diplomacy with Beijing

An Australian citizen who the Hong Kong authorities have vowed to “pursue for life” has risked further ire from Beijing by calling on the Australian government to consider future sanctions against Chinese officials.

Kevin Yam, one of eight overseas-based pro-democracy advocates accused of “encouraging sanctions … to destroy Hong Kong”, said the city’s descent into increasingly repressive rule had been “gut-wrenching”.

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Biden bans range of US high tech investments in China citing national security risk

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The order – to be implemented next year – restricts investments in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum tech and AI

Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain US investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors.

The long-awaited order authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict certain US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.

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