Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Journalist held without trial in China said to need urgent medical attention

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Advocates of Huang Xueqin accuse authorities of ‘trying to exert mental pressure and physical torture’

Advocates for a Chinese journalist and activist who has been held in detention without trial for almost 18 months have said she needs urgent medical attention.

Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, a labour rights activist, were detained in September 2021 and formally arrested a month later. They have been accused of inciting subversion of state power, and held in Guangzhou without access to family or lawyers.

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‘Playing football in heaven’: tributes pour in after boy rescued in Thai cave dies in UK

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Friends of Duangpetch Promthep share emotional messages after the talented player was found dead in his dorm at a football academy

Tributes have been paid to Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018, who died in the UK on Tuesday.

Kiatisuk Senamuang, the founder of the Zico Foundation and a mentor to Duangpetch, known also as Dom, wrote in a message: “Have fun playing football in heaven, be what Dom wanted to be, just go for it, go to watch every match you want to.”

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Wuhan welfare protests escalate as hundreds voice anger over health insurance cuts

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Crowds of retirees gather in cities of Wuhan and Dalian to protest against cuts as local government coffers feel strain of years of Covid policies

Crowds of hundreds of older people took to the streets in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian on Wednesday in escalating protests against changes to the public health insurance system.

The protests were sparked by cuts to monthly allowances paid to retirees under China’s vast public health insurance system. The changes, gradually introduced since 2021, come as local government finances are strained following years of strict and costly zero-Covid policies.

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China claims US balloons flew over Tibet and Xinjiang as spying row rumbles on

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US deputy secretary of state says Beijing is claiming ‘a gazillion balloons by the US over China … That is absolutely not true’

Diplomatic friction has worsened between the United States and China after Beijing claimed, without evidence, that US high-altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions, and threatened unspecified measures against US entities for undermining Chinese sovereignty.

Washington and Beijing are locked in a tussle over flying objects after the US military this month shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Beijing said it was a civilian research vehicle mistakenly blown off course, and that Washington overreacted.

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Japan sees its number of islands double after recount

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Digital mapping leads to around 7,000 new islands being discovered though it’s unlikely to expand Japan’s territory, media reports say

It can’t be easy keeping count of the number of islands scattered around an area of more than 370,000 square kilometres, in a country that is regularly subjected to volcanic activity and extreme weather.

While Japan has seen the formation of new islands, and the quiet disappearance of another, geographers have said official statistics showing it is made up of around 6,000 islands are way off the mark.

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China’s provinces spent almost £43bn on Covid measures in 2022

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Third of provinces yet to publish data as country looks to revive economy after zero-Covid policy ends

Chinese provinces spent more than £42.8bn on tackling Covid-19 in 2022, according to data released by local governments, with the figure expected to rise as the huge cost of the pandemic hits the world’s second-largest economy.

Although national statistics are not yet available, at least 20 of China’s 31 provinces have published figures on how much money they spent on measures to control the pandemic.

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Captain of football team rescued from Thai cave in 2018 dies in UK

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Cause of death of Duangpetch Promthep, who moved to Leicester to attend a football academy, has not been confirmed

Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys from the Wild Boars football club who were rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018, has died in the UK.

Duangpetch, who had moved to the UK to attend a college’s football academy, died on Tuesday, the Zico Foundation, which had supported his scholarship abroad, said. His death was also confirmed by Brooke House college in Leicester.

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Thai activists call for stop to punishment haircuts in schools

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One teacher accused of cutting hair of at least 100 students after relaxing of regulations last month

Activists in Thailand have called for clearer guidance and enforcement to stop the use of humiliating punishment haircuts in schools, after a teacher was accused of cutting the hair of at least 100 students as they sat in rows on the floor.

For decades, students in Thailand have had to comply with strict rules regarding the length and style of their hair. Last month, however, in response to growing protests from young people, the ministry of education revoked its hair regulations, saying schools could instead develop their own policies.

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Kevin Rudd: Australia’s incoming ambassador to US says balloon saga threatens push to ease tensions with China

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Former Labor prime minister says incident has created ‘diplomatic clouds’ that may overshadow efforts to stabilise relationship

The incoming Australian ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, has warned the Chinese balloon saga has created new “diplomatic clouds” that put at risk recent efforts to ease tensions between Beijing and Washington.

In a speech in Brisbane on Wednesday, Rudd also warned against expecting any “softening in China’s ideological cleavage with the west”.

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UK rehearsing economic fallout scenarios if China invades Taiwan

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Exclusive: Whitehall officials planning strategy to tackle disruption to global supply chains in the aftermath of an attack

Whitehall officials have strategised a series of scenarios about the economic fallout that could follow if China were to invade Taiwan, sources have told the Guardian.

Concerns about the major disruption to global supply chains and consequences of any coordinated western response have been examined by civil servants as part of what is said to be routine “forward-scanning” exercises.

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Philippines president summons Chinese ambassador over laser incident

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The Philippines accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a ‘military-grade laser light’ at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member

Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos has summoned the Chinese ambassador to express serious concern over the “increasing frequency and intensity of actions” by China against Philippine vessels.

The meeting came a day after the Philippines accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a “military-grade laser light” at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member and disrupting a mission in the South China Sea.

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Japan says aerial objects spotted in recent years were likely Chinese spy balloons

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Defence ministry demands China’s government ‘confirm the facts’ after analysis of incidents since 2019 find objects were likely used for surveillance

A new analysis of unidentified aerial objects that flew over Japan’s airspace in recent years “strongly” suggests they were Chinese spy balloons, according to Tokyo’s defence ministry.

“After further analysis of specific balloon-shaped flying objects previously identified in Japanese airspace, including those in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, we have concluded that the balloons are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China,” the defence ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.

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Fukushima: Japan insists release of 1.3m tonnes of ‘treated’ water is safe

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Neighbouring countries and local fishers express concern as 12th anniversary of nuclear disaster looms

Almost 12 years have passed since the strongest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history resulted in a tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people along its north-east coast.

As the country prepares to mark the 11 March anniversary, one of the disaster’s most troubling legacies is about to come into full view with the release of more than 1m tonnes of “treated” water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

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Cyclone Gabrielle: at least three dead in New Zealand storm as regions remain cut off

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North Island wakes to devastation, as flood waters continue to rise, hundreds rescued from rooftops and more than 10,000 people displaced

New Zealand was attempting to come to grips with the extent of destruction from Cyclone Gabrielle, as the severe weather system moves away from the country, leaving behind high flood waters, widespread damage, more than 10,000 displaced and at least three dead.

As much of the country woke on Wednesday morning to clear skies, some parts of the North Island remained cut off from all access, power and communications, making assessing the damage or reaching those in need difficult.

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West Papuan separatists release video of New Zealand pilot they took hostage

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Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot for Susi Air, was abducted by armed wing of the Free Papua Movement

Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua province have released photos and videos of a man they say is the pilot from New Zealand they took hostage last week.

Phillip Mark Mehrtens of Christchurch, a pilot for the Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was abducted by independence fighters from the West Papua National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, who stormed his single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro, in the remote Nduga district.

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Cyclone Gabrielle worst storm to hit New Zealand this century, says PM

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National state of emergency invoked and thousands displaced as storm devastates large parts of North Island and minister says ‘this is climate change’

New Zealand is in a national state of emergency, as Cyclone Gabrielle batters the country, with floods trapping people on roofs, thousands displaced and landslides destroying homes in what officials have described as an “unprecedented” natural disaster.

“Cyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen in this century. The severity and the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation,” the prime minister, Chris Hipkins, said on Tuesday. “We are still building a picture of the effects of the cyclone as it continues to unfold. But what we do know is the impact is significant and it is widespread.”

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Flooding hampers rescue efforts as North Island residents told power could be out for weeks – as it happened

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New Zealand’s national power grid operator has declared a “grid emergency” and warned that power might not be restored to some for “for days to weeks, rather than hours”.

The widespread power cuts in Hawkes Bay and Bay of Plenty happened after a substation flooded during severe rain from Cyclone Gabrielle.

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New Zealand minister decries climate crisis ‘lost decades’ in wake of Cyclone Gabrielle

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James Shaw says country is entering ‘period of consequences’ for inaction over climate change as extreme weather wreaks havoc across the North Island

New Zealand’s climate change minister has made a furious speech excoriating parliament for lost decades of “bickering” over the climate crisis, as Cyclone Gabrielle devastates the country.

“As I stand here today, I struggle to find words to express what I am thinking and feeling about this particular crisis,” James Shaw told parliament on Tuesday.

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Chinese ship accused of using ‘military-grade laser’ against Philippine vessel

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Philippines coastguard says crew member temporarily blinded and mission disrupted in South China Sea

The Philippines has accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a “military-grade laser light” at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member and disrupting a mission in the South China Sea.

The Chinese ship shone a green laser light twice towards the boat as it sought to deliberately block a resupply mission, the Philippine coastguard said. It also accused the Chinese vessel of making “dangerous manoeuvres by approaching about 150 yards from the vessel’s starboard quarter”.

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UK fighter jets always on standby, Sunak says after US shoots down objects

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Prime minister will do ‘everything it takes’ to keep country safe as Britain conducts security review

UK fighter jets are on standby to shoot down Chinese spy balloons if any are spotted in British air space, the prime minister has said.

Rishi Sunak said Typhoon planes were ready at all times in case the UK came under threat from balloons such as the one US officials said they shot down last week.

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