Category Archives: Asia Pacific

‘Horrific’: Singaporean woman jailed for 30 years after maid tortured and killed

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Judge says Gaiyathiri Murugayan was mentally ill but understood what she was doing in abusing Piang Ngaih Don from Myanmar

Singapore’s high court has sentenced a woman to 30 years in prison for killing her Burmese maid after more than a year of abuse that included starving, torture and beatings.

Singaporean Gaiyathiri Murugayan pleaded guilty in February to culpable homicide among 28 charges related to her abuse of Piang Ngaih Don, who was 24 and subjected to 14 months of beating that culminated in her death in 2016.

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China stepping up use of secret detention without trial, report warns

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Rights activists say country has built one of world’s most far-ranging systems of forced disappearance

China has ramped up its use of secret detention without trial, creating one of the most far-ranging systems of forced disappearance in the world, human rights activists warn in a report.

Tens of thousands of people have been subjected to “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL), an anodyne, bureaucratic name for an Orwellian system, the group Safeguard Defenders said in the report, Locked Up.

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‘Get vaccinated or I will have you jailed’: Duterte – video

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Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the country battles one of Asia’s worst outbreaks, with a cumulative total of more than 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths.

“You choose, get vaccinated or I will have you jailed,” Duterte said in a televised address on Monday following reports of low turnouts at vaccination sites in the capital, Manila

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Kim Jong-un’s sister dismisses hopes of US-North Korea nuclear talks

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Kim Yo-jong’s intervention appears to have thwarted any prospects for early resumption of negotiations

Kim Jong-un’s influential sister appears to have dismissed hopes for a breakthrough on nuclear talks with the US, warning Washington that it faced “disappointment” if it believed engagement with North Korea was a possibility.

Kim Yo-jong, a senior figure in the ruling party who is considered one of the North Korean leader’s closest confidantes, said any US expectations for a resumption of talks were “wrong”, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.

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Hong Kong leader refuses to say how media can avoid arrest in wake of Apple Daily raids

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Carrie Lam denies arrest of senior editorial figures at pro-democracy paper and seizure of its assets was an attack on press freedom

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has refused to clarify how journalists can avoid breaking the vaguely defined national security law following the raid and prosecution of journalists at a pro-democracy newspaper.

At a regular press conference on Tuesday the city’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, defended the arrest of senior Apple Daily executives under the national security law (NSL) – two of whom have been charged with conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country – as well as the raid of its newsroom and freezing of assets.

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Philippines president Duterte: ‘You choose, Covid vaccine or I will have you jailed’

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President says he is ‘exasperated’ by reports of vaccine hesitancy in the capital amid slow rollout

President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Philippines battles one of Asia’s worst outbreaks, with a cumulative total of more than 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths.

“You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed,” Duterte said in a televised address on Monday following reports of low turnouts at several vaccination sites in the capital Manila.

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Indonesia tightens restrictions as it confirms record new coronavirus infections

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The country’s infections, the worst in south-east Asia, have passed two million

Indonesian health authorities are battling a new surge in coronavirus infections, as the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) reported the highest one-day total, with 14,535 cases confirmed in the 24 hours to Monday.

Daily case totals are reaching levels last seen in January, the peak of Indonesia’s fight against the virus.

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Elephant in the room: visitor crashes through kitchen wall in Thailand

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Woman finds hungry elephant rummaging for late-night snack – and it’s not the first time he’s stopped by

Ratchadawan Puengprasoppon was awoken in the early hours of Saturday morning by crashing and banging. When she went to find out what had happened, she discovered an elephant’s head poking through her kitchen wall beside the drying rack.

The male elephant, named Boonchuay, appeared to be looking for something to eat. His trunk rummaged through the kitchen drawers, knocking pans and cooking paraphernalia to the floor. He chewed on a plastic bag as Ratchadawan, unsure what to do, filmed the episode on her phone.

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Taiwan recalls trade officials from Hong Kong over ‘one-China’ clash

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Hong Kong demanded Taiwanese staff sign commitment to Beijing’s one-China principle in visa renewals

Taiwan says it has pulled back all but one staff member from its Hong Kong trade office after they refused to sign a commitment to the one-China principle required for visa renewals.

The officials returned from Hong Kong on Sunday, leaving just one colleague at the office, which acts as Taiwan’s diplomatic presence.

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Hungary’s LGBT protests and Juneteenth Day: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms from China to Colombia

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‘Devastated’ Phuket in race to vaccinate 70% of islanders in time for holiday season

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Thai region hopes jabs and ‘sandbox’ scheme will allow tourists to return and rejuvenate economy

In normal times, the convention centre at Phuket’s Angsana Laguna resort hosts extravagant weddings and luxury business summits. Since April, it has served as one of seven centres on the frontline of the island’s Covid vaccination campaign. Behind the room’s white satin curtains, medical staff in hair nets and blue aprons administer 1,800 doses each day.

The island is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible in the hope that, if 70% of the population are vaccinated before 1 July, Phuket will become the first Thai destination to reopen to foreign tourists.

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‘Forces for good will prevail’: Joy in Taiwan as US sends 2.5m Covid vaccine doses

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The US donation has more than doubled Taiwan’s available vaccine stocks as it battles a rise in coronavirus infections

Taiwan has reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the United States for shipping 2.5m Covid-19 vaccine doses to the island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections.

Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through “vaccine diplomacy”, initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden’s administration advances its pledge to send 80m US-made shots around the world.

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Death at sea: the fisheries inspectors who never came home

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Eritara Aati Kaierua is one of more than a dozen observers who have died since 2009. A year later his family are still waiting for answers

In his last email to his family, Eritara Aati Kaierua told them he loved them and apologised for not being in touch sooner. “Fish is a little scarce or maybe this location is not fertile, we are now fishing in Papua New Guinea and we are still here,” he wrote to his wife, Tekarara, on 21 February 2020.

“Please try to stay well … and I will try my best to stay healthy from here too,” he wrote.

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Australia takes China to WTO over its trade sanctions on Australian wines

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Coalition says despite going to the World Trade Organization it ‘remains open to engaging directly with Beijing to resolve the issue’

Australia is lodging a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over China imposing anti-dumping duties on Australian wine exports, the federal government announced on Saturday.

The decision follows “extensive consultation with Australia’s winemakers”, it said, adding: “Australia remains open to engaging directly with China to resolve this issue.”

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One person killed after suspected tornado hits Auckland

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The storm struck the suburb of Papatoetoe, causing extensive damage to homes

One person has died and two people have been injured after a suspected tornado hit a shipping container site in the New Zealand city of Auckland on Saturday morning.

Fire crews were also attending about 100 calls after the tornado ripped through the suburb of Papatoetoe, bringing down trees, tearing off roofs and smashing windows, Stuff reported.

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Kiwi wars: the golden fruit fuelling a feud between New Zealand and China

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One firm’s attempt to regain control of illegal cultivation shows Wellington’s lack of leverage over its largest trade partner

It is the story of a global superpower, a smuggling operation, pestilence and a small hairy fruit.

Ubiquitous on supermarket shelves and in lunchboxes, the humble kiwi is New Zealand’s most valuable horticultural export. Recent battles for control of the fruit, however, have shone a light on tensions in New Zealand’s relationship with China.

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In hunt for Covid’s origin, new studies point away from lab leak theory

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Amid the heavily politicised debate, a lot of evidence now points to a natural spillover event – but other causes cannot be ruled out

The coronavirus pandemic has raised so many questions as it has continued its inexorable spread across the planet, but perhaps the first of them remains the most contentious: where did Sars-CoV-2 come from?

In recent weeks there has been renewed focus on whether it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory. However, new findings strengthen the case for a natural origin, in what has become a heavily politicised debate.

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‘We have more in common than what separates us’: refugee stories, told by refugees

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In One Thousand Dreams, award-winning photographer Robin Hammond hands the camera to refugees. Often reduced by the media’s toxic or well-meaning narratives, the portraits and interviews capture a different and more complex tale

Robin Hammond has spent two decades crisscrossing the developing world and telling other people’s stories. From photographing the Rohingya forced out of Myanmar and rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to documenting the lives of people in countries where their sexuality is illegal, his work has earned him award after award.

But for his latest project the photographer has embarked on a paradigm shift: to remove himself – and others like him – from the process entirely. Instead, as part of an in-depth exploration of the refugee experience in Europe, the stories of those featured are told by those who, arguably, know them best: other refugees.

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Hongkongers queue to buy Apple Daily copies after editor-in-chief arrested

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Public outpouring of support for tabloid after raid on offices by national security police

Hongkongers queued at city news stands before dawn on Friday to buy the latest edition of the Apple Daily newspaper, a day after national security police arrested its editor-in-chief and four other directors.

On Thursday morning hundreds of officers from the Hong Kong police national security department raided the homes of the employees, including editor-in-chef Ryan Law, and the Apple Daily newsroom for the second time in less than a year. It froze millions of dollars in company assets.

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