Category Archives: Asia Pacific

‘There should have been an alarm’: in air thick with acrid smoke, people in Hong Kong are reeling and angry

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As apartment complex still blazes more than 24 hours after fire began, police suspect cause is owing to ‘grossly negligent’ action

More than 24 hours after the first tower caught fire, the Hong Kong residential complex was still burning. Fire crews blasted water from cherrypickers at the mid-level floors, but above that, the fires were roaring out of reach.

Wang Fuk Court, in the northern Hong Kong district of Tai Po, was home to about 4,800 people. The eight-tower complex had been under renovation for years, clad in bamboo scaffolding and mesh.

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Jakarta overtakes Tokyo as world’s most populous city, according to UN

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The rankings were changed after the UN used new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities

Jakarta has overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most populous city, according to a UN study that uses new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities.

The Indonesian capital is home to 42 million people, according to an estimate by the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its World Urbanisation Prospects 2025 report published this month.

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Death toll in Hong Kong tower block fire rises to 44 with hundreds still missing

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Three arrests made after huge blaze broke out at Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po district on Wednesday

The death toll from a huge fire that engulfed several residential tower blocks in Hong Kong has risen to 44, with 45 in critical condition and hundreds reported missing.

A taskforce has been set up to investigate the cause of the fire, which broke out on Wednesday afternoon at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po, in the northern New Territories. The complex is made up of eight 31-storey towers containing about 2,000 flats, which house about 4,800 people.

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Death toll in Hong Kong tower block fire rises to 44 with hundreds still missing

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Three arrests made after huge blaze broke out at Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po district on Wednesday

The death toll from a huge fire that engulfed several residential tower blocks in Hong Kong has risen to 44, with 45 in critical condition and hundreds reported missing.

A taskforce has been set up to investigate the cause of the fire, which broke out on Wednesday afternoon at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po, in the northern New Territories. The complex is made up of eight 31-storey towers containing about 2,000 flats, which house about 4,800 people.

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Bamboo scaffolding may be to blame for spread of Hong Kong tower block fire

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Hong Kong is one of the last places in the world where bamboo is widely used by construction workers

A deadly fire in an apartment complex in Hong Kong appears to have spread in part because the buildings were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding, a traditional building material that the authorities have been phasing out for safety reasons.

Dozens of people died on Wednesday in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades. The blaze tore through the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po, in the northern New Territories. The complex is made up of eight 31-storey towers containing about 2,000 flats that house about 4,800 people.

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Taiwan plans extra $40bn in defence spending to counter China’s ‘intensifying’ threats

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President Lai Ching-te declared there was ‘no room for compromise on national security’ in face of escalating harassment and espionage

Beijing’s threats to Taiwan are “intensifying” and its preparations to invade are speeding up, Taiwan’s government has said while announcing a $40bn special defence budget and a swathe of measures to counter Chinese attacks.

The Taiwan president, Lai Ching-te, said there was “no room for compromise on national security”, and he was committed to boosting Taiwan’s defences in conjunction with US support.

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Taiwan plans extra $40bn in defence spending to counter China’s ‘intensifying’ threats

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President Lai Ching-te declared there was ‘no room for compromise on national security’ in face of escalating harassment and espionage

Beijing’s threats to Taiwan are “intensifying” and its preparations to invade are speeding up, Taiwan’s government has said while announcing a $40bn special defence budget and a swathe of measures to counter Chinese attacks.

The Taiwan president, Lai Ching-te, said there was “no room for compromise on national security”, and he was committed to boosting Taiwan’s defences in conjunction with US support.

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Mother who hid children’s bodies in suitcases jailed for life in New Zealand

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Hakyung Lee was found guilty of murdering her children and concealing their remains in a storage locker

A mother who murdered her two children and hid their bodies in suitcases stored inside a rented locker has been sentenced to life imprisonment in New Zealand.

Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was found guilty earlier this year of killing her children in a crime that has become known as the “suitcase murders”.

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Protests erupt in China’s Guizhou province over cremation mandate

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Villagers demonstrate against drive for alternative funeral practices instead of burial to preserve land resources

Protests have erupted in China’s southern Guizhou province, the latest in a string of rural demonstrations that have seen incidents of unrest increase by 70% compared with last year.

The protests in Shidong town started over the weekend in response to a directive from local authorities that people should be cremated rather than buried after their death.

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China’s Xi Jinping raises future of Taiwan in call with Donald Trump

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China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and Xi told Trump that its return was an ‘integral part of the post-war international order’

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told Donald Trump that Beijing’s claims to Taiwan remain unchanged, in a phone call that came amid rising tensions over the self-governing island.

Xi told Trump on Monday that Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

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Thai woman found alive in coffin before temple cremation

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The 65-year-old woman shocked temple staff when they heard a faint knocking and she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation

A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation.

Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pick-up truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.

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Two climbers dead after fall on Aoraki Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak

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Two others rescued as authorities work to recover the bodies of those killed after they fell near the summit

Two mountain climbers have died on Aoraki, New Zealand’s tallest peak, with two others from the same group rescued, authorities said.

The climbers’ bodies have been found and specialist searchers were working to recover them “in a challenging alpine environment”, the police area commander Inspector Vicki Walker said on Tuesday. None of the climbers have been publicly identified.

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Ukrainian refugee Danylo Yavhusishyn wows Japan to win his country’s first elite sumo title

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  • 21-year-old beats grand champion Hoshoryu

  • Wrestler uses ring name Aonishiki Arata

Danylo Yavhusishyn has become the first Ukrainian to win a sumo tournament in Japan.

The 21-year-old, who fled the war in Ukraine three years ago, won the Kyushu tournament after a tie-breaking victory over grand champion Hoshoryu from Mongolia.

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Vietnam flooding death toll reaches 90 amid landslides and relentless rain

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Environment ministry says most of the deaths were in the mountainous central province of Dak Lak

The death toll from major flooding in Vietnam has risen to 90, with 12 more people missing, the environment ministry said on Sunday after days of heavy rain and landslides.

Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding.

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A translation of the Nauruan president’s remarks will stay suppressed for a decade – but secrecy in Australia’s offshore policy is nothing new

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From Scott Morrison’s ‘on-water matters’ to the Albanese government’s MOU with Nauru, successive governments’ attitude to legitimate scrutiny has been one of hostility

Offshore, secrecy dominates. But it doesn’t stop at the water’s edge.

In February, Australia brokered a new offshore arrangement with Nauru, striking a deal to send members of the so-called NZYQ cohort – non-citizens with criminal histories – to the Pacific island. Australia would give Nauru more than $400m in exchange.

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Alice Guo, Chinese national who ran huge scam centre while Philippines mayor, sentenced to life in prison

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Guo, who pretended to be Filipina to become mayor, found guilty of human trafficking after raid on compound where more than 700 people were forced to run scams

Alice Guo, a Chinese national who became a mayor in the Philippines while masquerading as a Filipina, has been sentenced to life in prison along with seven others on human trafficking charges, state prosecutors have said.

Guo, who served as mayor of a town north of Manila, was found guilty of overseeing a Chinese-operated online gambling centre where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk torture.

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Samoa PM suspends country’s only daily newspaper from press briefings amid dispute over coverage

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Prime minister has accused the Samoa Observer of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand

Samoa’s only daily newspaper has been banned from attending press conferences with the Samoan prime minister, in a move that critics say threatens the democratic integrity of the Pacific nation.

Relations between La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt and the Samoa Observer have deteriorated in recent weeks, with the prime minister accusing the newspaper of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand.

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Papua New Guinea ‘not happy’ as Australia walks away from bid to host Cop31

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Australia had been pushing to host climate conference next year with south Pacific nations, which are increasingly threatened by rising seas and climate-fuelled disasters

Papua New Guinea has voiced frustration after Australia ditched a bid to co-host next year’s UN climate talks with its Pacific island neighbours.

“We are all not happy. And disappointed it’s ended up like this,” foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko told Agence France-Presse after Australia ceded hosting rights to Turkey.

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Watch out for online contact with Chinese spies, UK defence minister warns public

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After MI5 issues China espionage alert to parliament, Luke Pollard says message should be heeded by all citizens

Ordinary UK citizens need to watch out for online contact with Chinese spies, the defence minister has said, after MI5 issued an espionage alert to parliament.

Luke Pollard said a warning given to parliamentarians on Tuesday that China was attempting to recruit individuals with access to sensitive information should also be heeded by the public at large.

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China suspends seafood imports from Japan as Taiwan row escalates

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Beijing reimposes 2023 ban, citing Japan PM’s comment that military would respond to Chinese attack on island

China has suspended imports of Japanese seafood again, as the fallout over the Japanese prime minister’s comments about Taiwan continues to escalate in one of worst bilateral disputes in years.

The ban was first reported on Wednesday by the Japanese outlets Kyodo News and NHK, and appeared to be confirmed by China’s foreign ministry, which said there was “no market for Japanese seafood in the current climate”.

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