Category Archives: Asia Pacific

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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Singapore executes man over drugs in third hanging in a week

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Punishment for heroin trafficking comes just days after city executes first woman in nearly 20 years

Singapore has executed a 39-year-old man who was convicted of trafficking heroin in the city-state’s third hanging in just over a week, authorities say.

Mohamed Shalleh Adul Latiff was sentenced to death for possessing about 55g of heroin “for the purpose of trafficking” in 2019.

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Typhoon Khanun leaves two dead in Japan and 166,000 homes without power

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Heavy rains and high winds lash Okinawa and Kagoshima, as storm slowly moves north-west before forecast change in direction towards mainland

About 166,000 households in south-western Japan’s Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures were without power as Typhoon Khanun continued to hit with heavy rain and gusty winds, prolonging the damage potential.

The storm in the East China Sea was heading north-west at a slow speed with gusts of 222km/h (138mph), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It was projected to change direction to move east towards the country’s mainland until Tuesday, but its path was not determined, public broadcaster NHK said.

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Heatwave sees hundreds fall ill at World Scout Jamboree in South Korea

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At least 400 require treatment for heat-related symptoms on first day of global event attracting more than 40,000 young people from 158 countries

Hundreds of attendees at the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea have fallen ill as the country grapples with an extended heatwave affecting large swathes of the country.

The event, which started earlier this week, has drawn 43,000 young Scouts from 158 countries this year. By the end of the first day, Tuesday, officials had counted at least 400 patients who needed treatment for heat-related symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and exhaustion. On Wednesday, a further 207 heat-related cases emerged.

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Chinese firefighter ‘dies heroic death’ as Beijing reports heaviest rain in 140 years

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Extreme weather comes as China’s foreign ministry denies reports that it obstructed discussions on climate crisis at G20 meetings

China’s government awarded martyr status to a firefighter who died as he tried to rescue people trapped by heavy flooding that has pummelled Beijing and surrounding areas in the heaviest rain in at least 140 years.

Feng Zhen, a firefighter in Beijing’s Haidian district, was washed away by flood waters as he tried to rescue three people from a school building on Monday. The people escaped the area safely, but after receiving medical treatment Feng “died a heroic death”, according to state media.

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Aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri brought Beijing floods, meteorologists explain

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Rising ocean temperatures caused by climate crisis are also said to be causing China’s extreme weather

Summers in China are often wet, sometimes very wet, but nothing like the drenching that has engulfed Beijing and its neighbouring provinces this week.

As Beijing authorities lifted the flood alert on Wednesday morning, after the city’s heaviest rainfall for 140 years, 21 people across the region were confirmed dead. Dozens more were missing.

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Climate crisis: Australia must ready for ‘devastating’ regional disruption, MPs told

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Failed states, a rise in authoritarian politics and heightened risks of conflict among potential threats outlined in thinktank’s assessment

Australia must prepare for “devastating” climate-fueled disruption in the Asia-Pacific, including failed states, forced migration and regional conflicts over water shortages, a stark briefing for federal politicians warns.

The Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration thinktank has summarised the potential threats and impacts of the climate crisis in a note targeted at MPs.

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Xi Jinping replaces generals in charge of China’s nuclear arsenal

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Leader tightens grip over country’s military leadership with biggest shake-up in a decade

Two of China’s top generals overseeing its nuclear missiles have been replaced with scant explanation in the biggest shake-up of the country’s military leadership in a decade, underlining Xi Jinping’s commitment to tightening control over the armed forces.

Two men from outside the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) were appointed to head the unit, state media have reported. Wang Houbin, from the navy, was appointed as commander and Xu Xisheng, from the air force, its political commissar – a Chinese Communist party role of equal grade to military commander.

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Solomon Islands newspaper pledged to promote ‘truth about China’s generosity’ in return for funding

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The Solomon Star denies accusations of ‘giving away’ its independence by accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment

Local media in Solomon Islands have been accused of compromising their independence by entering into agreements with Chinese news organisations and accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment from the Chinese embassy.

Since the Solomon Islands government signed a high-profile security agreement with China in March 2022, some newspapers in the Pacific country have received cars, cameras, phones and printing machinery that costs thousands of dollars from the Chinese government, via its local embassy, according to local journalists. Some have raised concern about the gifts and the continued close dialogue between media organisations in China and Solomon Islands.

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‘Human in a costume’ sun bear draws crowds to Chinese zoo

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Visitor numbers rise by 30% as footage sparks claims animal could be a staff member in a bear suit

Visitors have flocked to a zoo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province after a video of one of its bears went viral with some suggesting she looked so human she could be a staff member in a bear suit.

Attendance numbers at Hangzhou zoo have risen by 30% to about 20,000 a day, with some people travelling overnight, since a video of the Malayan sun bear, named Angela, became a trending topic on Chinese social media over the weekend, Zhejiang-based Chao News reported.

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Teenager among 15 heat-related deaths as Japan and South Korea swelter

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In South Korea, 12 people died from heat-related deaths last weekend, while in Japan, three people died including a 13 year-old on her way back from school

Twelve people have died from heat-related causes in South Korea as it swelters through a heatwave, while in Japan it emerged a 13-year-old girl had died from heatstroke on her way back from a school club.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that at least five of those who died over the weekend were farmers, and at least seven were over 70, including some in their 90s. Most of the country has been under a heatwave warning – issued when temperatures pass 35C – since Tuesday. Over the previous week, three people are believed to have died from heat-related causes.

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Barbenheimer backlash: Warner Bros apologises after its Japan arm complains

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Warner Bros Japan publicly criticised US counterparts over ‘inconsiderate’ reactions to art combining playful Barbie imagery with mushroom clouds

Warner Bros global headquarters has apologised after its Japan office publicly complained that the US-based company was engaging with the “Barbenheimer” movement, which promotes a double bill of the apocalyptic Oppenheimer film and the lighthearted Barbie blockbuster.

There is a growing backlash in Japan against the conflation of Greta Gerwig’s playfully marketed movie with Oppenheimer, a biopic of the scientist behind the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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French climber dies in suspected fall during ‘stunt’ at Hong Kong high-rise

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Remi Lucidi, 30, who had a large social media following, found dead on a patio at apartment block

A man identified as the French climber Remi Lucidi has been found dead in Hong Kong and is believed to have fallen from a high-rise building while attempting a stunt.

Police said the body of a 30-year-old man believed to have engaged in extreme sports was found on a patio of an apartment block in the city’s Mid-Levels area. He was named in local media as Lucidi, who had gained a large social media following under the name “Remi Enigma” as he posted photographs from tall structures around the world.

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