Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Allies turned adversaries: Samoa’s former deputy PM to challenge her former leader

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The most stable democracy in the Pacific is undergoing a seismic political shift as the country approaches elections next year

Samoa’s former deputy prime minister will run against her former party of 35 years, and the prime minister she served under, when she contests next year’s election as an independent candidate.

The most prominent and powerful female politician in Samoa’s independent history, and the daughter of the country’s first prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa quit as deputy prime minister and as a member of the government last month. It also meant she left the Human Rights Protection party (HRPP) of which she had been a member of since 1985.

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Typhoon Goni kills at least 10 as it hits eastern Philippines

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Volcanic mudflows bury houses before powerful winds weaken as storm blows towards Manila

A powerful super typhoon has slammed into the eastern Philippines, killing at least 10 people and causing volcanic mudflows to bury houses before weakening as it blew towards Manila, where the capital’s main airport was shut down, according to officials.

Typhoon Goni hit the island province of Catanduanes at dawn on Sunday with sustained winds of 140mph (225km/h) and gusts of 174mph. It was heading west towards densely populated regions, including Manila, and rain-soaked provinces still recovering from a typhoon last week that left at least 22 people dead.

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Trump finds unlikely backers in prominent pro-democracy Asian figures

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Hong Kong tycoon and dissidents praise US president’s hardline approach towards China but others dispute its authenticity

Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media tycoon and one of the most prominent pro-democracy figures in the city, waded into the US election in its final days, with an enthusiastic endorsement of the incumbent in his Apple Daily newspaper.

“I find a stronger sense of security in [Donald] Trump,” he wrote in an editorial that praised the US president for his “hardline” approach to Beijing.

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The Wait part 5: don’t forget to smile

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In the fifth part of our series examining the plight of refugees in Indonesia, we hear the story of what has happened to Mozhgan’s family. Her dad Amir has struggled the most. In episode one we heard him in the midst of a shocking crisis. That was a year ago. How is he now?

You can find all episodes of The Wait collected here and read Nicole Curby’s feature about it here.

Support for this project was provided by the Walkley Public Fund, and a Judith Neilson Institute Freelance Grant for Asian Journalism.

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Thailand protests: three pro-democracy leaders hospitalised after melee outside police station

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Trio mingled with supporters after court ordered their release, before police from another city arrived to question them

Three prominent Thai pro-democracy leaders are in hospital after chaotic scenes outside a Bangkok police station overnight as officers tried to slap them with further criminal charges.

A court on Friday ordered the release of Panupong “Mike” Jadnok, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul and Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, who have been in custody since mid-October on sedition charges, but police sought to question them over outstanding arrest warrants.

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Philippines orders thousands of evacuations ahead of 2020’s strongest storm

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System with 265km/h winds is expected to make landfall on Sunday on main island of Luzon, home to Manila

Philippine officials have ordered evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the main Luzon island as a category-5 storm that is the world’s strongest this year approaches.

Typhoon Goni, with 215km/h (133 mph) sustained winds and gusts of up to 265km/h (164 mph), will make landfall on Sunday as the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in 2013.

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The US election that doesn’t count: Guam goes to the polls but votes won’t matter

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‘Now that I live in Guam, I cannot vote’. The first Americans to ‘vote’ on polling day have no say in who will be president

Politics is a favourite sport on the streets of Hagatna, where voters are preparing for the US elections.

Billboards adorn every street corner and conversations are dominated by candidates and their policies. But when Guamanians go to the polls on 3 November and mark down their preference for president, their “votes” won’t count.

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Japan’s ‘love hotels’ accused of anti-gay discrimination

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Same-sex couples say hotels make excuses to turn them away despite 2018 law change

In May this year, at the height of the coronavirus’s first wave, two gay men living together in Amagasaki, western Japan, thought they would ease the boredom of the country’s soft lockdown with a visit to a love hotel, where couples pay for short stays to have sex.

But rather than the carefree time they had anticipated, the couple, in their mid-30s, did not even get as far as the door to their room.

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New Zealand votes to legalise euthanasia in referendum

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Results must be enacted by the new Labour government by November 2021, but second referendum on legalising cannabis fails to find support

New Zealanders have voted to legalise euthanasia for those with a terminal illness, in a victory for campaigners who say people suffering extreme pain should be given a choice over how and when to bring their life to a close.

The decision on whether to legalise euthanasia appeared as a referendum question on the 17 October general election ballot paper, alongside a second referendum question on whether to legalise cannabis – which did not succeed, according to preliminary results.

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‘We have a right to be at the table’: four pioneering female peacekeepers

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Twenty years after a landmark UN resolution, leading figures share insight on women’s vital role in mediating conflict

In October 2000, the UN security council adopted resolution 1325 – the first resolution that acknowledged women’s unique experience of conflict and their vital role in peace negotiations and peacebuilding. Twenty years on, we speak to four women helping keep the peace around the world.

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Taiwan marks 200 days without domestic Covid-19 infection

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Authorities thank public for helping to reach milestone, as cases surge in many countries

Taiwan has reached 200 days without any domestically transmitted cases of Covid-19, underlining its success in keeping the virus under control as cases surge in other parts of the world.

The country’s Center for Disease Control last reported a domestic case on 12 April. CDC officials thanked the public for playing a role in reaching the milestone, while urging people to continue to wear masks and wash their hands often.

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Large Covid outbreak in China linked to Xinjiang forced labour

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More than 180 cases traced to garment factory where Uighurs must take up work placements

China’s largest coronavirus outbreak in months appears to have emerged in a factory in Xinjiang linked to forced labour and the government’s controversial policies towards Uighur residents.

More than 180 cases of Covid-19 documented in the past week in Shufu county, in southern Xinjiang, can be traced back to a factory that was built in 2018 as part of government “poverty alleviation” efforts, a campaign that researchers and rights advocates describe as coercive.

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Typhoon Molave: rescuers scramble to find dozens buried under landslides in Vietnam

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At least 15 already confirmed dead in central Quang Nam province following torrential rains brought by strongest storm in decades

Rescue teams in Vietnam have used heavy machinery to search for survivors buried under landslides triggered by torrential rains from Typhoon Molave, one of the strongest typhoons to hit the region for decades, the government said.

The landslides, which hit remote areas in the central province of Quang Nam a day earlier, have killed at least 15 and 38 people are missing with rescue efforts hampered by bad weather at the tail end of the storm, the government said.

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Man arrested after showering commuters with money from 30th-floor window

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Police in Chongqing, south-western China, detain man on drugs charges after his benevolence caused traffic chaos

Chinese police have arrested a man after he scattered a “heavenly rain of banknotes” on commuters from his apartment window while allegedly high on methamphetamine.

Police said the 29-year-old was “in a trance” after taking drugs at his home on the 30th floor of a building in Chongqing, in south-western China, when he began throwing cash out of the window to the streets below.

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Hong Kong activist who sought US consulate help charged with secession

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Tong Chung, who was arrested on Tuesday as he attempted to shelter in the US consulate, is the second to be charged under national security law

A Hong Kong court has denied bail to a 19-year-old activist who was arrested under the national security law while attempting to shelter inside the US consulate.

Tony Chung is the only the second of at least 27 people arrested under the law to be charged, and now faces prosecution for alleged crimes of secession, money laundering and conspiracy to publish seditious material. The last charge falls under colonial-era criminal laws.

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Eight charged in alleged Chinese plot to coerce family to return from US

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  • Five individuals arrested, with three believed to be in China
  • Chinese government allegedly plotted to pressure ex-official

Eight people have been charged with conspiring to work on behalf of China’s government in a plot to coerce a Chinese family in the US to return to their home country to face charges.

Five of the individuals charged, including an American private investigator, were arrested on Wednesday in New Jersey, New York and California. The rest are believed to be in China, top justice department officials said in a news conference.

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US senators seek to declare Uighur ‘genocide’ by China in bipartisan push

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Republican senator John Cornyn says resolution ‘is the first step toward holding China accountable for their monstrous actions’

US senators have sought to declare that China is committing genocide against Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims, a step that could increase pressure on Beijing over the plight of an estimated one million-plus people being held in detention camps.

The text states that China’s campaign “against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region constitutes genocide”.

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Hong Kong activist detained attempting to seek asylum at US consulate

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Tony Chung, 19, was on bail on suspected national security offences when he was reportedly ‘snatched away’

Tony Chung, a 19-year-old Hong Kong activist on bail after his arrest on suspected national security offences, has been detained by authorities while attempting to seek asylum at the US consulate.

Two other members of Chung’s now-disbanded activism group, Yanni Ho and William Chan, were also arrested later on Tuesday.

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Global coronavirus report: Italian police use tear gas to disperse lockdown protests

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WHO tells countries ‘not to give up’ as virus fatigue sets in; street clashes in Barcelona; US daily deaths rise 10% in two weeks

Police in Italy have fired tear gas to disperse angry crowds in the northern cities of Turin and Milan after protests against the latest round of anti-coronavirus restrictions flared into violence.

As the head of the World Health Organization urged countries “not to give up” in their fight to contain the virus, luxury goods shops, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in the centre of Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off firecrackers and lighting coloured flares.

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China sanctions major US defence companies after arms sales to Taiwan

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Lockheed Martin, Boeing Defense, Space & Security and Raytheon named along with US officials who played a role in weapons sales

China will sanction several major defence companies in retaliation for multibillion dollar US arms sales to Taiwan, the foreign ministry has announced.

Lockheed Martin, Boeing Defense, Space & Security and Raytheon were named as targets of the sanctions, as well as “the US individuals and entities who played an egregious role”, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press briefing on Monday, but did not provide further details.

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