Rishi Sunak says defence deal for Tempest means ‘outpacing those who seek to do us harm’
Britain will work to develop next-generation fighter jets with Italy and Japan, Rishi Sunak has announced.
The prime minister said the defence partnership will ensure the UK and allies are “outpacing and outmanoeuvring those who seek to do us harm”.
Continue reading...Changes to zero-Covid policy could prove insufficient if lockdowns are expected to continue
China’s nearly three-year policy of enacting strict lockdowns to contain outbreaks of Covid-19 came with a heavy price for the world’s second largest economy.
The question for its president, Xi Jinping, and his inner court of advisers is whether a sudden relaxation of lockdown rules brought in this week will both prevent a recurrence of the shockwave of protests across the country and turn the economy around.
Continue reading...Amid signs that supply chain woes are improving, economists remain uncertain that China is ready to live with Covid
Global shares and the price of some key commodities have risen on hopes that the easing of China’s strict zero-Covid measures would help to bring down inflation, even as some experts warned that the country was not prepared to live with the disease.
China’s government on Wednesday announced a significant shift towards living with the virus. People with Covid-19 who have mild or no symptoms can quarantine at home, while officials have been instructed to stop launching temporary lockdowns. Testing will no longer be required for “cross-regional migrants”.
Continue reading...Senior lawyer assisting coroner will not cross-examine police witnesses after bereaved families objected to her law firm’s work with the police
The coroner leading an inquiry into the 2019 terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques has ruled a senior lawyer assisting her investigation will not cross-examine police witnesses or give advice on officers’ conduct, after bereaved families called for her removal over her law firm’s close work with the police.
But coroner Brigitte Windley said in a ruling published on Friday that there was no allegation of misconduct by the lawyer, Alysha McClintock, who is also a Crown prosecutor. Windley declined the families’ application to remove McClintock from the inquiry altogether, rejecting their arguments that she might face real or perceived conflicts of interest when questioning officers at an inquest.
Continue reading...Former deputy prime minister thinks it ‘could be smart’ for future delegations to be widened, despite risk of angering China
Future Australian parliamentary visits to Taiwan should include government officials or even ministers, Barnaby Joyce has said after meeting with Taiwan’s president.
Joyce, the former deputy prime minister and former deputy chair of the national security committee, is among a cross-party group of federal politicians visiting Taiwan this week.
Continue reading...Exclusive: comments by diplomat involved in recent Manchester clash appeared threatening, student says
A senior Chinese diplomat involved in the recent violence against pro-democracy protesters in Manchester has suggested Chinese students in Britain should “resist distorting and discrediting” China’s Covid policies.
The comments by China’s consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, at a symposium to discuss the work of international students were said by Lyndon Lee, 23, a second-year law student at the University of York, to appear threatening.
Continue reading...Prime minister Fumio Kishida has seen approval ratings plummet since ties between LDP and the church were exposed
Japan’s lower house of parliament has passed a law that will make it a crime for religious and other organisations to “maliciously” secure donations from members – a move seen as an attempt by the ruling party to defuse the controversy over its ties to the Unification church.
The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has seen his approval ratings plummet since widespread ties between his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the church were exposed in the wake of the assassination this summer of Japan’s former leader, Shinzo Abe.
Continue reading...Adoptees sent to Europe and the US say they were wrongly removed from their families as government in Seoul actively promoted adoption
South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission will investigate the cases of dozens of South Korean adoptees in Europe and the US who suspect their origins were falsified or obscured during a child export frenzy in the mid-to late 20th century.
Thursday’s decision opens what could be South Korea’s most far-reaching inquiry into foreign adoptions, as frustration over broken family connections grows, and now grown up children demand government attention.
Continue reading...Conservationists have already raised concerns about Thursday’s auction at Sotheby’s of development rights to coral atoll network
Indonesia’s plan to auction the development rights to an entire archipelago of more than 100 tropical islands has descended into chaos, with a fisheries ministry official joining conservationists in criticising the sale.
Sotheby’s has described the uninhabited pristine Widi Reserve as “one of the most intact coral atoll ecosystems left on Earth”, and is due to open bidding on Thursday. No sale price has been stated, but prospective buyers will need to provide a US$100,000 deposit.
Continue reading...New Zealand parents say they will focus on supporting their son, now in the guardianship of his doctors, through life-saving operation
The family of a baby who has been placed in his doctors’ care because his parents refused to consent to a transfusion of “vaccinated blood” in a life-saving operation have said they will prioritise time with their son before the surgery.
The parents’ lawyer, Sue Grey, said in a Facebook post on Thursday morning that the family would be prioritising “a peaceful time with their baby until the operation, and to support him through the operation”.
Continue reading...People with Covid who have mild or no symptoms can now quarantine at home, but PCR tests are still required to enter many places
In the strongest sign so far that China is rolling back on its long-running zero-Covid policy, the national health commission said that people with Covid-19 who have mild or no symptoms can quarantine at home. The directive also instructed officials to halt temporary lockdowns and ended testing and health code requirements for people entering Beijing.
Continue reading...Australia’s foreign affairs minister to give speech in hope ‘nationalistic domestic posturing won’t sink efforts to build safeguards’
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged China to take up a US offer to put in place “guardrails” to prevent growing tensions from spiralling into war.
Wong will use a speech in Washington DC on Thursday to hit back at claims that Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus is driving a regional arms race.
Continue reading...New Zealand high court case has become a focus of protests from anti-vaxxers
A New Zealand high court judge has ruled in favour of health authorities who sought guardianship of a baby boy after his parents refused to consent to a transfusion of “vaccinated blood” in a life-saving operation.
The landmark decision, delivered on Thursday, is expected to have wide-ranging ramifications and has become a focus of protests for anti-vaxxers who held demonstrations outside the courtroom.
Continue reading...Analysis: the moralistic aspects of the new criminal code risk obscuring wider concerns about a stifling of protest and criticism of the state
Indonesia’s new criminal code limits the right to protest and participate in the public sphere, threatens the freedom of women and LGBTQ people and represents a trend of vague or “rubber” laws that are open to broad interpretation and selective implementation, experts have warned.
With provisions restoring a ban on insulting the president, state institutions and state ideology, as well as extramarital and premarital sex, the code will come into effect within three years, following Indonesia’s 2024 elections. Insults to a sitting president can lead to up to three years in jail.
Continue reading...Chinese president’s three-day trip to Riyadh will lead to a ‘strategic agreement’ between the authoritarian powers
Xi Jinping will arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday on a long awaited visit to a regional ally that has readied full state pageantry and a round of agreements likely to cement ties between China and Saudi Arabia – and deepen alarm in Washington.
China’s president will meet more than 30 heads of state and business leaders during his three-day visit to the Saudi capital, which is set to lead to a “strategic agreement” between the authoritarian powers. The trip is the culmination of decades of cooperation once based on oil sales, which has grown into bilateral trade of close to $90bn a year.
Continue reading...Japanese official says corruption claims could damage Sapporo’s chances of hosting 2030 event
More than a year after the Tokyo Olympics were held in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, their legacy has been overshadowed by a bribery scandal that threatens to derail a bid by another Japanese city to host the Winter Games.
This summer, as officials in Sapporo, on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, promoted their bid for the 2030 Games, police arrested Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympics executive, on suspicion of taking bribes in return for helping companies become official sponsors for last year’s event.
Continue reading...Joseph Wu backs Chinese protesters but says Beijing ‘might try to create external crisis to divert domestic attention’
Taiwan’s foreign minister has backed China’s anti-Covid protesters but also expressed concerns that Beijing could seek to scapegoat Taiwan if demonstrations restarted.
Joseph Wu said Taiwan stood alongside other democracies in calling for China to “respect basic human rights” regarding the extraordinary protests that spread across China last week and the swift police response to close in on those involved.
Continue reading...António Guterres calls for end to destruction of nature as Canada pushes proposal to protect 30% of Earth
Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction and governments must end the “orgy of destruction”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said at the beginning of the biodiversity Cop15.
“We are out of harmony with nature. In fact, we are playing an entirely different song. Around the world, for hundreds of years, we have conducted a cacophony of chaos, played with instruments of destruction. Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems,” he said.
Continue reading...Rights groups say amended criminal code underscores shift towards fundamentalism
Indonesia’s parliament has overhauled the country’s criminal code to outlaw sex outside marriage and curtail free speech, in a dramatic setback to freedoms in the world’s third-largest democracy.
Passed with support from all political parties, the draconian legislation has shocked not only rights activists but also the country’s booming tourism sector, which relies on a stream of visitors to its tropical islands.
Continue reading...Footage shows large protest at Nanjing Tech University, as rules persist despite steps to ease zero-Covid policy
Students at a university in eastern China have staged a protest against a Covid lockdown as many in the country remain under some form of restrictions despite government steps to ease its zero-Covid policy.
Videos posted on Twitter on Tuesday show large numbers of students protesting at Nanjing Tech University on Monday night, as they were placed under lockdown after one positive case was found. The Guardian phoned the university for confirmation but calls went unanswered. The posts had been geolocated by AFP and Reuters.
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