The Kiribati island survived droughts due to sacred caves that captured rainfall but rampant phosphate extraction ruined this precious resource
The last decent rain on Banaba was more than a year ago.
Without rain, people on the isolated central Pacific island, which is part of the country of Kiribati, have been forced to rely on a desalination plant for all their water for drinking, bathing and growing crops.
Continue reading...The US risks being superseded by China as the prime global power within decades. For Washington, the idea is appalling
Joe Biden crosses the Atlantic this week on a tide of goodwill. After four years of Donald Trump, European leaders are grateful for the mere fact of a US president who believes in democracy and understands diplomacy.
Trump had no concept of historical alliance, strategic partnership or mutual interest. He saw multilateral institutions as conspiracies against US power, which he could not distinguish from his own ego. He heard European talk of a rules-based international order as the contemptible bleating of weakling nations.
Continue reading...Privacy protection is latest effort by the company to cut down tracking of users by advertisers and other third parties
Apple’s new privacy feature designed to obscure a user’s web browsing from internet service providers and advertisers will not be available in China, Saudi Arabia or Belarus, the company has said.
It was one of a number of privacy protections Apple announced at its annual software developer conference on Monday, the latest in a years-long effort by the company to cut down on the tracking of its users by advertisers and other third parties.
Continue reading...Country aims to vaccinate 70% of people this year but experts express doubts amid supply concerns
Thailand has started its Covid vaccination campaign amid concerns over the supply of doses, which are mainly being produced locally by a royal-owned company that has no prior experience of making vaccines.
Thailand aims to vaccinate 70% of the population before the end of the year, and is relying primarily on AstraZeneca doses produced by Siam Bioscience, a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The company is also due to supply vaccines to eight other countries in the region.
Continue reading...Once a poster child for blocking coronavirus, Taiwan failed to fully prepare a pandemic response or vaccination rollout
While most of the world suffered through hundreds of millions of cases and millions of deaths from Covid-19, the 23.5 million people in Taiwan largely lived a normal life, thanks to a well-documented strong and early response that saw it go 250 days without a single local case. It lobbied for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s decision-making body off the back of its undeniable success and expertise under the slogan “Taiwan can help”.
But now the tables have turned and the island itself is in need of assistance, after an outbreak that started among airline staff in April spread across the island. The government appears to have been caught short by something it thought would never happen: the poster child for outbreak prevention had apparently failed to fully prepare an outbreak response.
Continue reading...Warning comes amid fears of further delays to Kunming summit, which aims to agree on curbing destruction of ecosystems
The world is running out of time to reach an ambitious deal to stem the destruction of the natural world, the co-chair of negotiations for a crucial UN wildlife summit has warned, amid fears of a third delay to the talks.
Negotiators are scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, in October for Cop15, the biggest biodiversity summit in a decade, to reach a hoped-for Paris-style agreement on preventing wildlife extinctions and the human-driven destruction of the planet’s ecosystems.
Continue reading...Several popular accounts on Twitter-like service are closed down, displaying message saying account ‘violates laws and rules’
China has stepped up its crackdown on bitcoin trading and mining, blocking a slew of cryptocurrency-related accounts on the Twitter-like Weibo platform over the weekend.
More actions are expected, including linking illegal crypto activities in China more directly with the country’s criminal law, according to analysts and a financial regulator.
Continue reading...Police have also warned they will use drones to enforce travel restrictions, as Malaysia endures near total lockdown
Police in Malaysia are using drones to detect people with high temperatures in public spaces as part of Covid prevention measures, according to local media.
The drones, which can detect people’s temperatures as high as 20m above ground, emit a red light to alert the authorities if someone has a high reading, Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency, reported.
Continue reading...Critics say PNG does not have adequate governance or welfare systems to deal with problems casino may bring
Plans to build Papua New Guinea’s first casino in Port Moresby have sparked criticism from transparency advocates and experts who say the country’s industry regulator has undermined its independence with the deal and fear it could worsen social problems.
The agreement to build the US$43m venue was signed on 28 May by Paga Hill Development Corporation and the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB), drawing immediate condemnation from Transparency International.
Continue reading...A proposal to mine 60% of Wagina for bauxite was met with outrage by locals and became a landmark case in Solomon Islands
When a mining company arrived on Wagina nearly a decade ago with a proposal to mine 60% of the island for bauxite, resistance was swift and resolute.
“I was in the group that went and physically stopped the machines that landed on the site behind this island,” says Teuaia Sito, the former president of the Lauru Wagina Council of Women.
Continue reading...Offer a welcome boost for Taiwan, which says China has interfered with its attempts to secure vaccines internationally
The United States will donate 750,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan as part of the country’s plan to share shots globally, offering a much-needed boost to the island’s fight against the pandemic.
Taiwan is dealing with a spike in domestic cases but has been affected, like many places, by global vaccines shortages. It has also claimed that China is hindering its attempts to secure doses internationally.
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China
Continue reading...Experts say writing to people on the outside can help prisoners build purpose – but it goes both ways in what can be a difficult relationship
For the first time since 82-year-old Jan Skilling was a young girl, she has time to spare.
Widowed at 40 and responsible for a nest of kids, grandkids, and now “more great-grandkids than I care to count”, Skilling has spent any spare hour since she can remember looking after everyone but herself. So, in 2017, with retirement from her teaching career looming, she knew it was time for a change.
Continue reading...Case of Kyung Yup Kim is the first time China has requested New Zealand expedite a resident to face trial, and comes amid diplomatic tensions
New Zealand’s supreme court has reopened the door for a murder suspect’s potential extradition to China, in a landmark new ruling released on Friday. If it goes ahead, the extradition would be the first time New Zealand has sent a resident to China to face trial.
The case comes in a period of intense scrutiny of the New Zealand-China relationship, and after New Zealand has issued several statements raising “grave concerns” over potential human rights breaches by China, including abuses of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang and the crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Officers mobilised to break up the once-traditional events to mark the brutal crackdown against dissent in China 32 years ago
Hong Kong police have arrested a prominent barrister for allegedly promoting an unauthorised assembly on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, as thousands of officers were deployed to enforce a ban on protests and gatherings across the city.
On Friday, Hong Kong barrister and activist Chow Hang Tung, vice-chairwoman of the group which organises annual vigils for the victims of China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, was arrested, two group members said.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers medically evacuated from Nauru and PNG may also be considered in move advocates describe as a massive step forward
New Zealand’s government is now in regular conversation with Australia about how to resettle refugees from Australia’s offshore detention regime – a significant step towards a resolution, advocates say, eight years after New Zealand first offered.
Immigration minister Kris Faafoi confirmed to the Guardian that “New Zealand’s offer to Australia to resettle 150 refugees being held offshore still stands” and that “officials continue to explore how this might be implemented”.
Continue reading...Beijing is using blockchain to build a new internet and many developing countries are likely to sign up – but at what cost?
Cyberspace is one huge, unregulated mess. A virtual wild west where sophisticated criminal gangs ply their trade alongside multinational companies, spy agencies, activists, celebrity influencers – and nation states. The question of who governs it is one of the biggest of our time.
Britain needs to be, if not quite ruling the waves, at least a global force for good in the expanding virtual world. The issue has never been so pressing. Six years ago, I acted for a coder in the biggest cyberfraud phishing case in the UK. The malware my client and others created was so sophisticated that the police could not decode it but were able to show it was used for fraud. The financial data harvested was stored on two servers, one in France and one in the US, and the lack of international cooperation meant law enforcement never got their hands on it.
Continue reading...Joe Biden has asked US intelligence services to urgently investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the possibility that it began with an accident in a laboratory. The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont looks at the available evidence
When Covid-19 first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, much of the focus of the initial investigation fell on a seafood market that also sold exotic animals for human consumption. But in the months since, no definitive link has been proven and the precise origin story remains unsolved.
In the intervening period numerous conspiracy theories have spread: that somehow 5G phone signals could be involved, or that the virus is a hoax. Bracketed in with these was a theory that Covid-19 may have been released (accidentally or otherwise) from a lab.
Continue reading...China must tell the world a better story about itself, says president, as he seeks stronger ‘international voice’
China needs to improve the way it tells the world stories about itself, and convince people the ruling party is striving for the happiness of all Chinese people, Xi Jinping has said.
The Chinese president’s comments to a Communist party meeting on Tuesday come amid the country’s growing isolation in the global community, and tension with international media, largely driven by international concerns over human rights abuses.
Continue reading...Nourn moved from Cambodia to the US as a child, and ended up in an abusive relationship that led to a man’s murder. After years in prison, she is now a powerful voice for those who face incarceration and deportation
When Ny Nourn entered Central California Women’s Facility, the largest women’s prison in the world, there was every reason to believe she would never walk free on American soil again.
She was just 21, and had been sentenced to “life without parole” for her part in a hauntingly brutal murder – a part she was forced into. Even if, at some distant date, a successful appeal commuted that sentence, her conviction made Nourn deportable – so when she had served her time, she was likely to be transported to another prison and ultimately to Cambodia, the country of her parents’ birth, a country she had never set foot in.
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