Residents rush to erase digital footprints as law gives police powers over online activity
At midnight on Tuesday, the Great Firewall of China, the vast apparatus that limits the country’s internet, appeared to descend on Hong Kong.
Unveiling expanded police powers as part of a contentious new national security law, the Hong Kong government enabled police to censor online speech and force internet service providers to hand over user information and shut down platforms.
Continue reading...Heavy rain that caused deadly floods in southern Japan has moved north-east, hammering large areas of the country’s main island, swelling rivers, triggering mudslides and destroying homes and roads. At least 58 people have died over several days of flooding
Continue reading...Christopher Wray condemns campaign against ex-pats and says Beijing espionage is ‘greatest threat to US economic vitality’
Chinese agents have been pursuing hundreds of Chinese nationals living in the US in an effort to force their return, as part of a global campaign against the country’s diaspora, known as Operation Fox Hunt, the FBI director has said.
Related: Apple under pressure to act after TikTok pulls out of Hong Kong
Continue reading...Joshua Wong, Lee Cheuk-yan and James To say they have no choice but to oppose draconian legislation imposed by Beijing
Hong Kong activists planning parliament in exile
For Joshua Wong, Lee Cheuk-yan and James To – three of Hong Kong’s highest profile pro-democracy activists – the possibility of going to jail in China has never been more real.
The national security law passed in Beijing and enacted in Hong Kong on 1 July appears to be tailor-made for them in many ways.
Continue reading...During the annual Yadnya Kasada festival, the Tenggerese people climb Mount Bromo, an active volcano, and seek the blessing of the gods by presenting offerings of rice, fruit, livestock and other items. Inside the crater villagers use nets to try to catch the offerings
Continue reading...Officers able to conduct raids without warrants and secretly monitor suspects
Hong Kong police have been granted sweeping new powers, including the ability to conduct raids without a warrant and secretly monitor suspects, after controversial security laws were imposed on the city by the Chinese central government.
The powers allow for the confiscation of property related to national security offences, and allow senior police to order the takedown of online material they believe breaches the law. The city’s chief executive can grant police permission to intercept communications and conduct covert surveillance. Penalties include HKD$100,000 (£10,300) fines and up to two years in prison.
Continue reading...Forty-nine individuals and organisations from four nations are accused of rights abuses
The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced sanctions against 49 individuals and organisations accused of human rights abuses from four different countries.
Continue reading...Protesters have held up blank pieces of white paper to avoid using slogans banned under a new national security law in Hong Kong on Monday.
The law, which was imposed by China after anti-government protests last year, has made it illegal to shout slogans or hold up banners and flags calling for the city's independence. Hong Kong police cleared the group of demonstrators who gathered in a shopping centre in the central business district
City at centre of coronavirus outbreak faces new crisis as China suffers weeks of flooding
People living in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that bore the brunt of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, have been told stay indoors once more after record rainfall prompted authorities to raise the city’s emergency response to the second highest-level.
A prolonged period of heavy rain is the latest disaster to strike China, where people are only just recovering from the coronavirus outbreak.
Continue reading...The recent seizure of the biggest shipment of illegal fins in Hong Kong history shows the taste for shark is still going strong
In the narrow streets of Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood, the centre of Hong Kong’s dried seafood trade, most window displays give pride of place to a particular item: shark fins. Perched on shelves, stuffed in jars and stacked in bags, shark fins are offered in all shapes and sizes. Several shops even include “shark fin” in their name.
Fins are lucrative, fetching as much as HK$6,800 (£715) per catty (604.8g, or about 21oz), and the trade is big business. Hong Kong is the largest shark fin importer in the world, and responsible for about half of the global trade. The fins sold in Sai Ying Pun come from more than 100 countries and 76 different species of sharks and rays, a third of which are endangered.
Continue reading...Professor had been under house arrest after writing an essay lambasting the president over his response to coronavirus
Chinese professor Xu Zhangrun, known for his scathing and public criticisms of China’s leader Xi Jinping, has been detained, according to friends of the legal scholar.
Two friends of Xu, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals, told the Guardian that he had been detained on Monday morning. According to one, around 20 police officers and 10 vehicles arrived at his home in Beijing and took Xu away.
Continue reading...Figures show 65% rise in Americans thinking of emigrating to land where coronavirus has been effectively eliminated
American interest in moving to New Zealand has spiked during the coronavirus crisis, with the number of people seeking information on how to emigrate climbing by 65% during May.
New Zealand went into lockdown on 25 March and by May was beginning to loosen restrictions, with the disease effectively eliminated by shutting the borders to non-New Zealanders and enforcing strict stay-at-home orders.
Continue reading...At least 50 people have been killed after the river Kuma in Kyushu burst its banks, triggering floods and mudslides
Rescue workers were combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in Japan after extreme weather left more than 50 people dead or missing on the southern island of Kyushu.
The Kyodo news agency said 40 people had died in the floods and at least 11 were missing. Among the dead were 14 residents of an elderly care home in Kuma village, Kumamoto, where the nearby Kuma river flooded. More torrential rain is forecast for coming days.
Continue reading...Company says it has ‘paused’ its relationship with the social media company as part of global movement against hate speech
New Zealand’s largest newspaper group has temporarily quit Facebook in a bold “experiment” aligning itself with a global boycott of the social media site, which has been condemned for failing to crack down on escalating hate speech.
Stuff is the biggest news media website in New Zealand and owns dozens of newspapers around the country, employing more than 400 journalists.
Continue reading...Bayan Nur has forbidden the hunting and eating of animals that could carry plague and asked the public to report fever with no clear causes
Authorities in a city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia have issued a warning after a hospital reported a case of suspected bubonic plague.
The health committee of the city of Bayan Nur issued the third-level alert, the second lowest in a four-level system, on Sunday.
Continue reading...Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, stranding hundreds
Deep floodwaters and the risk of further mudslides have hampered search and rescue operations after heavy rain in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen residents died and scores were left stranded.
Helicopters and boats rescued more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. More than 40,000 troops, the coastguard and fire brigades took part in the operation.
Continue reading...The city’s bars, clubs and even massage parlours are beginning to buzz again but the absence of tourists is taking its toll
A mix of K-pop, sweet Thai love ballads and 90s music reverberates along the corridor of one of Bangkok’s popular karaoke spots. In private rooms, parties of friends strike poses and bellow into microphones.
After three months of silence, Thailand’s nightlife was allowed to reopen on 1 July – provided venues follow government rules to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “You can dance, as long as you keep a distance from your friends,” explains Planisara Suksit, branch manager of Yes!! R&B Karaoke in Thonglor, her voice muffled by a face mask and plastic shield.
Continue reading...Record heavy rain in western Japan has caused widespread flooding and landslides, forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for more than 76,000 residents. Television footage shows homes and vehicles in Kumamoto prefecture partly submerged, and several bridges have been washed away
Residents use wordplay including repurposed Chinese Communist party dogma to express frustration
Hongkongers are finding creative ways to voice dissent after Beijing blanketed the city in a new security law and police began arresting people displaying now forbidden political slogans.
Faced with the sudden threat of prosecution for anything that might promote greater autonomy or independence for the restless city, residents are using wordplay and even subverting Chinese Communist party dogma to express their frustration.
Continue reading...Guardian readers in or from Hong Kong share their views on the new national security law
In late May, a week after Chinese officials announced a plan to impose a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, the Guardian issued a callout to people who believed they would be affected. We wanted to hear how people felt about the law, how it might change their lives, and how they felt about the last year of protests.
The response was overwhelming. Within days we had received more than 30,000 messages from people inside and outside Hong Kong – the most for any Guardian community callout.
Continue reading...