Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Cambodia strongman Hun Sen set to claim landslide election victory after banning opposition

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Long-time ruler, who has ruthlessly oppressed critics, has indicated he will soon hand power to his son

Cambodians have begun voting in a one-sided general election in which the country’s strongman leader will run virtually uncontested.

It’s expected that Hun Sen, 70, who has ruled the country for almost four decades, will claim a landslide victory in Sunday’s vote. The country’s main opposition party, the Candlelight Party, was banned from running after it was accused of not providing the right paperwork.

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Malaysia bans the 1975 after Matty Healy defies anti-LGBTQ+ laws with stage kiss

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Singer’s protest kiss with bandmate and criticism of anti-homosexuality law leads to ban and festival cancellation

The English band the 1975 have been banned from performing in Malaysia after their lead singer criticised the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws on stage.

The group, fronted by Matty Healy, were playing at the Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

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US-China cultural exchange at low point after tensions and Covid, data shows

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Tourism, academia and literature all exhibit signs that trend of closer ties has gone into reverse

Cultural ties between the US and China are at a low point after several years of decline, according to Guardian analysis of official figures.

The Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, coupled with the continuing trade war between the two countries, is diluting cultural exchanges, with visitor numbers, students and even the world of literature all affected.

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Bankman-Fried planned to buy Nauru and build apocalypse bunker – lawsuit

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Lawsuit filed against FTX founder, 31, includes memo that detailed plans to purchase Pacific island in case world came to an end

The disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the FTX exchange, had planned to purchase the small Pacific island nation of Nauru in case the world came to an end, according to a new lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday by FTX against its 31-year-old founder and three other former executives, and seeking $1bn, included a memo created by Bankman-Fried’s younger brother Gabriel and an FTX Foundation executive. The memo detailed plans to buy Nauru.

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Certain of election victory, Cambodia’s Hun Sen prepares to hand power to son

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Hun Manet, eldest son of strongman who has ruled for four decades, faces balancing act when he inherits patronage system

When Cambodians go to the polls on Sunday, there is little doubt about who will be declared the winner. The only major opposition party has been banned from running, its members arrested and activists beaten in the streets. Independent media outlets have been closed down or their websites blocked.

With no viable opposition, Hun Sen, the strongman prime minister who has held power for almost four decades, is expected to again sweep to victory. His intense crackdown – which rights groups say is a deterioration even on the repression that preceded elections in 2018 – comes as he prepares to hand over to his eldest son, Hun Manet, 45.

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‘Facekinis’ become popular in China as temperatures soar

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People buying full-face masks alongside hats, fans – and hats with inbuilt fans – as temperatures rise above 35C

In scorching Beijing, “facekinis” are the hottest new fashion as surging temperatures shatter records.

With the air temperature rising above 35C (95F) and the ground surface temperature soaring as high as 80C in some parts of the country, residents and visitors have taken to carrying portable fans and covering themselves up to avoid getting burnt. Some hats even have fans built in.

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US ambassador to Beijing targeted in Chinese cyber-attack – report

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Nicholas Burns’ emails reportedly accessed in hack that exploited flaw in Microsoft system and took Washington by surprise

The US ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, was reportedly one of the American officials whose emails were accessed in a recent Chinese hacking attack which took Washington by surprise with its sophistication.

Another target was Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for east Asia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. When the attack was first disclosed last week, the administration admitted the email account of the commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, had also been compromised. US officials were quoted as saying those were the three most senior targets but that in total, hundreds of thousands of government email accounts could have been breached.

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North Korea fails to answer entreaties about US soldier who crossed border

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Travis King had finished prison term in South Korea for assault and was supposed to be returning to Texas

North Korea is not responding to US attempts to discuss the American soldier who crossed the heavily armed border and whose prospects for a quick release are unclear when military tensions are high and communication channels inactive.

Pte Travis King, who was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, after finishing a prison sentence in South Korea for assault, ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American to be held in North Korea in nearly five years.

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Hong Kong police raid homes of relatives of two exiled activists

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Families of Dennis Kwok and Christopher Mung questioned this week as pressure on dissidents grows

Hong Kong’s national security police raided the homes of relatives of two exiled activists this week, stepping up pressure on the dissidents who have HK$1m (£99,500) bounties on them.

The elder brother of Dennis Kwok, a former legislator, was taken away for questioning by police in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post. The brother was summoned along with another man and two women, whose identities could not be determined.

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New Zealand shooting: gunman kills two in Auckland hours before World Cup opening

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New Zealand police say shooter had history of family violence, adding there is no reason World Cup opening match shouldn’t go ahead

Two people have been killed and six injured after a shooting in Auckland city centre on Thursday morning, hours before the Women’s World Cup kicked off there.

New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins said the gunman was also dead and that there was no national security risk or rise in the national threat level. Visiting the scene on Thursday afternoon, he confirmed that that the World Cup would proceed as planned and that people should feel safe to attend the matches. He described the shooting as a “standalone incident”, but fans would see an enhanced police presences in and around sports venues.

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Gunman who killed two had family violence history, say New Zealand police – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on the shooting in Auckland at the link below:

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has cancelled a trip to the city of Hamilton, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Auckland, and is on his way back to the national capital Wellington, media reports said.

He is speaking now.

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US soldier was reportedly laughing when crossing border into North Korea

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Soldier, identified by US and Korean officials as Travis King, gave ‘out a loud “ha ha ha”’, member of tour group says

A US soldier who crossed into North Korea while on a tour group after escaping military detention was laughing as he fled over the inter-Korean border, according to media reports.

US and Korean officials identified the soldier as Private 2nd Class Travis King, according to CBS News. King, 23, was being held in custody by South Korea at the airport in Incheon, near Seoul, and in the process of being expelled when he fled.

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Pita Limjaroenrat: Thai voters’ change candidate, cut down by senators

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Young pro-reform candidate won over many in the electorate – but not military appointees who blocked him from being PM

After almost a decade of rule by the former army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, many voters in the recent Thai election longed for change. More than 14 million turned to pro-reform politician Pita Limjaroenrat and his party Move Forward.

Pita, aged 42, is far younger than most politicians in Thailand, and he and his party were able to use social media to reach new voters.

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Leader of Thailand’s most popular party fails in final attempt to become PM

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Court suspends Move Forward’s Pita Limjaroenrat from parliament as rivals vote against him taking office

The leader of Thailand’s pro-reform party has had his final attempt to become prime minister blocked by military royalist opponents, as a court suspended him from parliament.

Pita Limjaroenrat’s Move Forward party won the most votes in May’s election after promising bold changes to remove the military from politics and overhaul a law that shields the powerful monarchy from criticism. But the party is strongly opposed by the conservative establishment and has faced significant challenges in trying to take power.

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‘Not always king’: fossil shows mammal sinking teeth into dinosaur

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Discovery in China challenges view of early mammals as ‘fodder’ for dinosaurs, say researchers

Whether they had sharp teeth, vicious claws or were simply enormous, dinosaurs were creatures to be feared. But a newly identified fossil shows that, at least sometimes, the underdog bit back.

Experts revealed the 125m-year-old fossil that froze in time after being taken on by a small mammal a third of its size. They are tangled together, the mammal’s teeth sunk into the beaked dinosaur’s ribs, its left paw clasping the beast’s lower jaw.

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‘My son is innocent’: mother of imprisoned Australian businessman denies he’s a Chinese spy

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Lawyers say Alexander Csergo brought home list of requests from aspiring Chinese handlers to ensure he would be believed by Australian authorities

An Australian businessman facing a foreign interference charge brought home a “shopping list” given to him by two Chinese intelligence officials as evidence of China’s overt and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to cultivate him as a source, his lawyers say.

The list, which Alexander Csergo slipped between the pages of a magazine to spirit out of China, requests information about whether Australia’s new Aukus alliance is “preparing for [a] Taiwan war”, about competition between the US and China in the Pacific, and about the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

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Henry Kissinger meets China’s defence minister in surprise visit to Beijing

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Ex-US secretary of state’s meeting with Li Shangfu comes amid hopes of improved ties between two countries

The veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger has met China’s defence minister in Beijing.

According to a readout on Tuesday from the Chinese defence ministry, Li Shangfu said “friendly communication” between China and the US had been “destroyed” because “some people in the United States did not meet China halfway”. Kissinger said he was a “friend of China”, according to the readout.

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US soldier detained by North Korea after crossing border during visit to DMZ

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US and UN officials working to ‘resolve incident’ after private crossed border at truce village without authorisation

An American soldier being sent back to the US to face possible disciplinary action crossed in to North Korea during a tour of the demilitarised zone, US officials have said, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.

Private 2nd Class Travis King had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault before being released to be sent home to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Monday, where he potentially faced additional military disciplinary actions and discharge from the service.

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Unseen ‘log fight’ footage from Bruce Lee film Game of Death to be released

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Scene which has long been the holy grail for fans will feature in a new box set marking the 50th anniversary of the star’s death

Long-lost unseen footage of the celebrated “log fight” scene from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death is to be released in a new box set marking the 50th anniversary of the famed actor and martial artist’s death.

Lee, who shot to fame around the world with the 1973 film Enter the Dragon, died on 20 July 1973 before he could complete shooting on Game of Death, which eventually emerged in 1978, incorporating some of the original footage in a largely reshot and rewritten version.

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Where is Qin Gang? China’s foreign minister has not been seen in public for three weeks

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The absence of China’s foreign minister has been commented on online, where some discussion appears to have been censored

China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has not been seen in public for over three weeks, despite a flurry of high-profile diplomatic efforts to repair ties with the United States.

As a former ambassador to Washington DC, who is considered a protege of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Qin had been expected to play a key role in a string of high-level visits by US officials.

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