Category Archives: Asia Pacific

New Zealand National party reinstates MP after inquiry clears him of bullying

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Sam Uffindell had been stood down after allegations he had bullied a female housemate while at university

A New Zealand MP who has apologised for attacking a fellow student at high school has been reinstated to the opposition National party after an inquiry cleared him of bullying a female flatmate while at university.

Sam Uffindell had been suspended so the party could carry out an investigation into allegations of violence and intimidating behaviour at university, but on Monday he was reinstated to his former position, after the investigation found no evidence of bullying after high school.

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Joe Biden again says US forces would defend Taiwan from Chinese attack

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White House confirms US policy has not changed after president’s remarks on 60 Minutes show

Joe Biden has again said US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, in his most explicit statement so far on the issue.

Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview broadcast on Sunday whether US forces would defend the self-ruled island claimed by China, he replied: “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”

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Monkeypox: don’t touch foreigners, says China health chief, as first case reported

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Official Wu Zunyou also called for people to avoid ‘skin-to-skin contact’ with those who had been abroad recently, as well as ‘strangers’

A senior Chinese health official has advised people to avoid physical contact with foreigners to prevent possible monkeypox infection after the first known case of the virus on mainland China was reported on Friday.

“To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that 1) you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners,” Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted on his official Weibo page on Saturday.

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Anger in China after 27 people killed in Covid quarantine bus crash

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Tragedy in Guizhou province became a lightning rod for social media criticism of zero-Covid policy before posts were shut down

Anger has flared among social media users in China after 27 people died when a bus carrying them to a Covid-19 quarantine facility crashed in the south-west province of Guizhou.

With millions of Chinese still under tight restrictions thanks to Beijing’s strict zero-Covid strategy, the deaths in the early hours of Sunday quickly became a lightning rod for criticism of the government. Only two people have died from Covid in Guizhou in the entire pandemic.

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Man dies as strong earthquake topples building in Taiwan

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Train partially derails and residents are trapped inside collapsed block after 6.9-magnitude quake

At least one person has died after a strong earthquake shook much of Taiwan, toppling a three-storey building and temporarily trapping four people inside, leaving about 400 tourists stranded on a mountain and derailing part of a train.

The 6.9-magnitude quake was the largest of more than 75 that rattled the island’s south-eastern coast between Saturday evening, when a 6.4-magnitude quake struck the same area, and Sunday afternoon.

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Rare ‘special warning’ issued as violent typhoon makes landfall in Japan

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More than 7 million people urged to take refuge as Typhoon Nanmadol hits south-west of country with 150mph winds

Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall in south-western Japan on Sunday night, with authorities urging millions of people to take shelter from the powerful storm’s high winds and torrential rain.

The storm officially made landfall at about 7pm local time (11am BST) as its eyewall – the region just outside the eye – arrived near Kagoshima, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

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Beijing-backed Chinese language schools in UK to be replaced with teachers from Taiwan

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MPs in talks with Taiwan to help phase out Confucius Institutes as relations between the countries worsen

A group of cross-party MPs is in talks with Taiwan to provide Mandarin teachers to the UK as the government seeks to phase out Chinese state-linked Confucius Institutes, the Observer has learned.

There are currently 30 branches of the Confucius Institute operating across the UK. Although controversies have existed for many years, they have continued to teach Britons Chinese language, culture and business etiquette. These schools are effectively joint ventures between a host university in Britain, a partner university in China, and the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF), a Beijing-based organisation.

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South Korean founder of failed cryptocurrency Terra denies he is ‘on the run’

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Do Kwon’s whereabouts are still unknown since a South Korean court issued an arrest warrant earlier this week

Do Kwon, the South Korean founder of the failed cryptocurrency Terra wanted by police, has denied he was on the run after Singapore investigators said he was not in the city-state as had been believed.

Kwon’s whereabouts have been thrown into question after a statement from Singapore police late on Saturday, and his tweets did not reveal where he was.

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6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes off east coast of Taiwan

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There were no reports of any injuries or damage in the immediate aftermath of the quake

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck south-eastern Taiwan on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake hit just after 9.30pm (1330 GMT) about 50km (30 miles) north of the coastal city of Taitung at 10 kilometres (six miles) deep.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau put the magnitude slightly lower at 6.4 but said it was shallower at 7.3 kilometres (4.5 miles).

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Japan tells 2m to shelter from ‘very dangerous’ Typhoon Nanmadol

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Authorities urge evacuations in Kyushu before arrival of storm that could cause flooding, landslides and collapse of houses

Two million people in Japan have been told to seek shelter before the arrival of Typhoon Nanmadol, the national broadcaster, NHK, said, as the weather agency issued a rare “special warning” about the powerful storm.

NHK, which compiles alerts issued by local authorities, said level four evacuation instructions – the second highest – were in place for people in Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki in the southern Kyushu region.

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Major fire engulfs skyscraper in Changsha, central China

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State media report number of casualties currently unknown in blaze at telecommunications firm

A fire engulfed a skyscraper in the central Chinese city of Changsha, with authorities saying that no casualties had yet been found.

The blaze broke out in a 42-floor building housing an office of the state-owned telecommunications company China Telecom, according to the state broadcaster CCTV.

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Weather tracker: Typhoon Muifa wreaks havoc in China after summer of records

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Highest red alert issued in Shanghai as meteorological autumn does not give way to cooler temperature in France

Typhoon Muifa made landfall in eastern China on Wednesday evening, shortly after affecting Japan in previous days, arriving as a Category 2 storm and billed as the strongest on record to hit Shanghai, China’s largest city.

China’s central meteorological observatory issued its first highest typhoon red alert of the year. The tropical system brought sustained winds of 95mph, a threat of up to 200mm of rainfall and waves in excess of five metres.

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World Bank warns higher interest rates could trigger global recession

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Study says global economy is in steepest slowdown after a post-recession recovery since 1970

The world may be edging toward a global recession as central banks simultaneously raise interest rates to combat persistent inflation, the World Bank has warned.

The three largest economies, – the US, China and the eurozone – have been slowing sharply, and even a “moderate hit to the global economy over the next year could tip it into recession”, the bank said in a study.

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Son of Fijian prime minister faces NSW court on domestic violence-related charges

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Ratu Meli Bainimarama has been charged with assault, stalking, choking and other charges in Windsor local court

The son of the Fijian prime minister is facing criminal charges in relation to domestic violence-related allegations in a New South Wales court.

Ratu Meli Bainimarama, 36, has been charged with 17 offences related to domestic violence, including five charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two charges of stalking, four charges of common assault, one charge of destroying or damaging property, one charge of intentionally distributing an intimate image without consent and four counts of intentionally choking a person without consent.

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Anger among MPs as Chinese vice-president to attend Queen’s funeral

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Wang Qishan to be at service despite banning of Conservative MPs due to complaints about Chinese repression

The Chinese vice-president, Wang Qishan, is to attend the Queen’s funeral in a move that has prompted complaints from a group of British Conservative MPs that have been banned from travelling to China due to their campaigns against Chinese repression.

Wang will be the most senior Asian political leader to attend the service at Westminster Abbey and among the representatives of authoritarian states, a grouping that also includes Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the president of Egypt. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is expected to lead a delegation to London, although his attendance at the funeral has not yet been confirmed.

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Putin tells Xi he understands China’s ‘questions and concerns’ over Ukraine

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Russian leader seems keen to curry favour with Chinese president as battlefield setbacks and sanctions bite

Vladimir Putin has told Xi Jinping that he understands China’s “questions and concerns” about the war in Ukraine, in a rare nod to tensions between the two states caused by the Russian invasion.

The remarks came as Xi and Putin met on Thursday for the first time since the war began, at a summit in Uzbekistan where the Russian president was expected to court the Chinese leader personally as an ally in his conflict with the west.

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Woman arrested in South Korea over alleged murder of two children found in suitcases in New Zealand

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Police in Auckland request extradition of 42-year-old woman from Seoul to face two charges of murder

A 42-year-old woman has been arrested in Seoul for the alleged murder of two children whose bodies were discovered in suitcases bought at an auction in New Zealand.

South Korean authorities arrested the woman today on a Korean arrest warrant for two charges of murder.

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Australia is funding just one-tenth of its fair share of global climate action, study finds

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Wealthy high-polluting countries to face growing calls from poorer nations to help cover cost of extreme weather and sea level rises

Australia is being urged to increase its investment in climate action, with a new report estimating the country is funding just one-tenth of its fair share globally.

The study being released by Oxfam and ActionAid Australia on Thursday calls on Australia to immediately increase its climate finance commitments to $3bn ahead of the UN climate meeting Cop27 to be held in Egypt in November.

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Leading environmentalists decry crackdown on Vietnam climate activists

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Letter from Goldman prize winners aims to block country’s bid to join UN’s human rights council over its jailing of campaigners

More than 50 winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize are calling on the UN to reject a bid by Vietnam to join the international organization’s human rights council (UNHRC) amid a crackdown on the country’s climate activists.

In a letter sent on Wednesday, 52 past winners of the Goldman prize for environmentalists have urged the UNHRC to vote against the application from Vietnam, where authorities have this year jailed four climate leaders on disputed tax charges.

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Vietnam urged to free green activist Nguy Thi Khanh as it bids to join UN rights body

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Goldman laureates raise concerns over Vietnam’s record on suppressing environmental protest

More than 50 Goldman environmental prize laureates from 41 countries have written to the UN human rights council as it considers admitting Vietnam as a new member.

In the letter, which comes as the council meets for its 51st session (12 September – 7 October), the prize winners raise concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record, in particular the sentencing in June of Nguy Thi Khanh, a fellow Goldman prize winner and Vietnam’s best-known environmental advocate, to two years’ imprisonment for alleged tax evasion.

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