Exclusive: Journalist who became the voice of the victims of Australia’s punitive detention system granted a visa after seven-year ordeal
Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish Iranian exile and journalist who became the voice of those incarcerated on Manus Island, has had his refugee status formally recognised by New Zealand, and granted a visa to live there.
He said he finally felt secure “knowing that I have a future”.
Continue reading...The teenager’s violent death has inspired a broader movement against PNG’s endemic domestic abuse
For six full days 19-year-old Jenelyn Kennedy suffered. Her legs and arms were chained, witness statements to police say, her mouth gagged.
They allege she died from being beaten, locked in her room. Her young children in a room down the hall.
Continue reading...New research suggests that the global peak may be lower than expected. But the challenges will still be immense
In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrung his hands as he contemplated the growing mass of humanity, warning: “The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race.”
A few years after he wrote that essay, the global population hit 1 billion. Now, thanks to the exponential growth which he described, it is closing in on 8 billion. The scholar’s direst warnings, echoed by others through the years, have not come to pass. But his concerns about the strain on resources have been multiplied by the climate crisis, with greenhouse gas emissions rising, and global heating in turn causing land loss and deterioration.
Continue reading...Xi has stifled dissent at home and is increasingly willing for China to assert itself abroad
Earlier this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a rare meeting in Beijing with business leaders. Admitting that the Covid-19 pandemic had a “huge impact” on the country’s economy, Xi used a Chinese idiom to assure his listeners.
“While the green hills last, there will be wood to burn,” he said. “If we maintain our strategy … we will find opportunity in crisis and turbulence. The Chinese people will surely prevail over all difficulties and challenges ahead”.
Continue reading...Juan Tang is accused of lying about links to China military, amid tensions between Washington and Beijing after US orders Houston consulate to close
A Chinese researcher charged with lying to the FBI about her military affiliation has taken refuge in China’s San Francisco consulate, according to court documents, further escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The standoff in San Francisco comes at the same time the US ordered the closure of China’s Houston consulate, on grounds of involvement in theft of “American intellectual property and private information”.
Continue reading...Almost 600 North Korean ‘ghost ships’ have washed up on the coast of Japan in the past five years, some containing the corpses of their crew
“Dark fleets” of hundreds of Chinese vessels are fishing illegally in North Korean waters, according to a study, forcing displaced local fishermen to risk their lives in distant waters in unsafe boats, many of which are carried across rough seas to the coast of Japan.
In a report published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, Global Fishing Watch (GFW), says more than 900 vessels of Chinese origin fished illegally in the area in 2017, and 700 in 2018. Together it is estimated they caught more than 160,000 metric tonnes of squid, worth more than $440m (£346m).
Continue reading...Exits of an MP and a minister might signal a new attitude in a nation where politicians’ private lives have traditionally been off-limits
After a New Zealand MP quit and a minister was fired in successive days over allegations of sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, was asked by a reporter whether it was “open season” on any member of parliament who had “ever had an affair”.
“I don’t want to get drawn into hypotheticals,” Ardern replied as she faced questions about the sacking of Iain Lees-Galloway, her minister of workplace relations and safety, over his workplace relationship with a former staffer in his office.
Continue reading...Exclusive: some say it’s ‘unfathomable’ to only have three months to prepare for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians exam amid a heavy pandemic workload
Hundreds of trainee physicians who were told an exam they must pass to be eligible for specialist training would be deferred until 2021 due to Covid-19 are distressed after the Royal Australasian College of Physicians said on Monday the exam will in fact be held in about three months’ time.
The decision will affect around 700-800 physician trainees in Australia and around 100 in New Zealand who are eligible to sit the exam, which involves a written and clinical component.
Continue reading...Beijing condemns move that could mark dramatic escalation in diplomatic tensions
The closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston threatens to start a fresh diplomatic row between China and the US, with Beijing accusing the US of giving it 72 hours to shut the diplomatic mission in a move it described as “unprecedented” and an “outrageous” escalation.
China said the US told the consulate on 21 July to cease all operations and events, and that Beijing threatened retaliation if the decision was not withdrawn.
Continue reading...New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has fired her immigration minister after being told he had engaged in a 12-month-affair with a staffer in his office.
Iain Lees-Galloway's affair took place over a 12-month period and Ardern was concerned that an abuse of power may have taken place.
Continue reading...The UK’s suspension of the extradition treaty with Hong Kong reflects an international shift. But British and American interests are not identical
Mike Pompeo’s remark that Britain was making its own “sovereign choices” in dealing with China might have sounded better had he not concluded with a pat on the head: “We think – well done.”
The US secretary of state’s visit to London highlighted the complications of the government’s toughened stance. The hardening of attitudes towards China, seen throughout much of the west and elsewhere, has been driven primarily by Beijing’s increasing repression at home and forcefulness internationally. Much of the shift is a sensible recalibration. The government was right to extend the arms embargo on mainland China – which covers equipment potentially used for internal repression – to Hong Kong, and to suspend the extradition treaty with the region. Britain could hardly have done otherwise, given not only its historical responsibility, but also the extraordinary reach and draconian nature of the national security law.
Continue reading...Survivors of dangerous sea journey convicted amid a rise in hate speech and mass detentions in centres rife with Covid-19
A group of Rohingya refugees who survived a treacherous journey at sea now face caning and seven months in jail after they were convicted under the immigration act in Malaysia, where activists have warned of an alarming rise in xenophobia and inhumane treatment of the migrants.
Hundreds of arrests and a sharp rise in hate speech have shocked refugees and migrants who had seen Malaysia as a welcoming country, particularly for Muslims, despite not being signed up to the 1951 refugee convention.
Continue reading...Ambassador to London calls extradition treaty suspension ‘blatant’ interference in Chinese affairs and a contravention of international law
China’s ambassador has accused the UK government of blatantly interfering in China’s internal affairs by suspending extradition with Hong Kong, and led a cavalcade of Beijing voices warning of consequences.
On Monday the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, announced his government would follow moves by Australia, Canada, and the US, and formally suspend its extradition agreement with Hong Kong in response to Beijing’s unilateral imposition of national security laws.
Continue reading...Beijing claims its re-education camps in Xinjiang are needed to combat Islamic terrorism, but Dilara’s experiences tell a different story
By the standards of Chinese officialdom, Dilara is surely the perfect minority. She doesn’t wear a headscarf. She drinks beer. Pretty and outgoing, she socialises often with Chinese friends.
If you closed your eyes and heard her speak Mandarin, you would never guess she had greenish eyes and brown hair, that she isn’t Han – the dominant ethnic group in China – but Uighur, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking people who call Xinjiang province, in the far west of China, their homeland.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary also bans export of riot control kit in response to security crackdown
The UK is to immediately suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and also bar the export of riot control equipment following Beijing’s imposition of a sweeping national security law on the territory, Dominic Raab has announced.
Speaking to the Commons on Monday, the UK foreign secretary said that while Britain sought cooperative ties with China, it was deeply worried at both events in Hong Kong and the repression of the Uighur population in China’s Xinjiang province.
Continue reading...As the first young person in China to engage in Greta Thunberg-inspired Fridays for Future climate strikes, Howey Ou says she has become a target for the authorities who see that activism as a challenge to their control.
The 17-year-old claims she has been told to ditch her climate activism as a condition for her restarting studies at Guangxi Normal University affiliated high school in Guilin, where she studied until late 2018.
It is not necessarily her concerns for the climate that have sparked a pressure campaign from authorities, Kecheng Fang, an assistant professor at the school of journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the Guardian. He said: 'Most importantly, because it is about collective action ... No matter what kind of collective action it is, it’s considered highly sensitive'
Continue reading...Ou Hongyi, who took part in the #FridaysforFuture protest, says she has been told she cannot return to school unless she stops her activism
Takes initiative. An independent thinker. Engages in study outside of the curriculum. Cares deeply about her community and the world around her. Stands up for her convictions and beliefs.
These are all qualities that would appear to make Ou Hongyi a suitable candidate for studying at her dream institution of Harvard University.
Continue reading...Researchers claim system could save lives in situations like the Whakaari/White Island eruption in 2019, which killed 21 people
New Zealand scientists say they have invented a warning system to predict volcanic eruptions that may prevent future tragedies such as the blast that killed 21 people on White Island/Whakaari in 2019.
University of Auckland academics David Dempsey and Shane Cronin say their research “shows patterns of seismic activity before an eruption that make advance warning possible”.
Continue reading...Lam says situation out of control, while Melbourne makes face masks compulsory
The coronavirus situation in Hong Kong is “really critical”, with a record 100 new infections recorded on Sunday, the territory’s leader, Carrie Lam, said, as Melbourne became the first city in Australia to make wearing masks compulsory in response to a resurgent and aggressive outbreak there.
Hong Kong was held up months ago as a model for its success in keeping down Covid-19 cases in the crowded city-state of 7.5 million people, but its caseload – although still low by European and American standards – had grown by a third in the past fortnight to nearly 1,800. Lam has shuttered bars, gyms and nightclubs in the past week and on Sunday announced new guidelines including mandatory mask-wearing indoors.
Continue reading...China’s ambassador to the UK has denied reports of abuse of the Uighur population in the Xinjiang region, as he was confronted with footage of shackled prisoners being herded on to trains.
Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Liu Xiaoming said: 'I do not know where you get this videotape,' adding, 'sometimes you have a transfer of prisoners, in any country.'
Xinjiang is home to China's Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has been subjected to religious and ethnic persecution by Chinese authorities in recent years.
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