Category Archives: Asia Pacific

China-US standoff escalates as Beijing expels major US media staff

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New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post journalists among staff ordered to stop reporting and leave

China will expel US reporters of three major US news outlets, in a hugely damaging attack on foreign media coverage of the country – and an escalation of the showdown over the press between Washington and Beijing.

The decision, announced just after midnight Beijing time, requires US citizens working for the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to halt reporting and hand in their press cards within 10 days, if their credentials expire before the end of 2020.

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TikTok ‘tried to filter out videos from ugly, poor or disabled users’

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Documents from the Incercept show social media app put pressure on moderators

TikTok moderators were told to suppress videos from users who appeared too ugly, poor or disabled, as part of the company’s efforts to curate an aspirational air in the videos it promotes, according to new documents published by the Intercept.

The documents detail how moderators for the social video app were instructed to select content for the influential “For You” feed, an algorithmic timeline that is most users’ first port of call when they open the app. As a result, being selected for For You can drive huge numbers of views to a given video, but the selection criteria have always remained a secret, with little understanding as to the amount of automation involved.

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Trump sparks anger by calling coronavirus the ‘Chinese virus’

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China’s foreign ministry says US president should ‘stop this despicable practice’

Donald Trump has referred to the coronavirus as “the Chinese virus”, escalating a deepening US-China diplomatic spat over the outbreak.

After giving an address on Monday warning of a possible recession, the US president posted on Twitter: “The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!”

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New Zealand’s coronavirus stimulus leaves the working poor most exposed | Brad Olsen

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Though significant, Jacinda Ardern’s measures will not avert a downturn, and lower-income workers will be hardest hit

The New Zealand government’s announcement of a NZ$12.1bn spending package is massive – that’s undeniable. But the economic downturn that New Zealand faces will be even larger. The downturn is going to cause economic chaos, and it will see job losses. The key to limiting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy is supporting employment and businesses, and although the package assists these aims, it doesn’t go far enough.

The stimulus package mirrors similar measures around the world, with wage support and paid self-isolation leave. It boldly focuses on businesses, with support for employment as we enter a downturn – and that’s exactly the right area to be targeting. In New Zealand, increased payments to those already out of work have been announced, as have measures to free up business cashflow. It also includes a suite of additional measures. However, there is a glaring gap, with little support for lower-income workers themselves.

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Samoan chief found guilty of enslaving villagers in New Zealand over 25 years

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Joseph Auga Matamata, who brought people to Hastings where they were forced to work without pay and subjected to abuse, also convicted of slavery

A New Zealand-based Samoan chief has been found guilty of human trafficking and using 13 of his countrymen as slaves over a 25 year period.

Joseph Auga Matamata, 65, also known as Villiamu Samu, was found guilty on 10 counts of trafficking and 13 counts of slavery following a five-week trial at the High Court in Napier.

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Markets plunge despite coordinated action by central banks

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Sharp losses recorded after US interest rate cut, as Bank of England hints at further support to combat turmoil

The FTSE 100 fell below 5,000 points on Monday and trading on Wall Street was suspended for the third time in a week as markets were gripped by mounting concerns over the threat of a global recession, despite a coordinated effort by central banks to protect growth and jobs.

In an escalation of the worst turmoil since the 2008 financial crisis, stock markets suffered further sharp losses on Monday despite dramatic action taken by the US central bank late on Sunday in an attempt to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Coronavirus: cruise passengers stranded as countries turn them away

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Thousands in limbo around the world as vessels seek a port at which to dock

As countries scramble to close their borders in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of cruise ship passengers are stranded on the high seas while their vessels seek a port at which to dock.

The Norwegian Jewel, sailing under the flag of the Bahamas, has been refused permission to dock in French Polynesia, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, and is piloting to American Samoa to refuel.

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West Saharan group takes New Zealand superannuation fund to court over ‘blood phosphate’

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Independence movement lodges documents in high court arguing $45bn fund invests in illegally mined fertiliser

The Western Sahara liberation movement has taken New Zealand’s superannuation fund to the country’s highest court over its investments in farms that use phosphate illegally mined in the occupied territory.

New Zealand is one of the few remaining countries – and last western nation – that accepts imports from the contested territory in West Africa, forcibly occupied by Morocco since 1975. Morocco’s claims to the territory are largely unrecognised internationally.

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Write a diary, take action: Hubei residents on fighting coronavirus anxiety

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As Covid-19 spreads worldwide, the people of Hubei explain how they dealt with the lockdown

In the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, where millions have been under lockdown for the last two months, Hubei residents have been coping with uncertainty, anxiety and stress.

As the virus spreads around the world, people living in the province spoke to the Guardian about how they coped with prolonged confinement, isolation and panic, and the strategies they used to protect their mental health.

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Abe insists Olympics to go ahead as planned despite Covid-19

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Japan’s prime minister say country will host the Games ‘without problem, as planned’

Japan is still preparing to host the Olympics, Shinzo Abe has said, despite growing concern about the viability of the summer Games because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Japan’s prime minister and his government have been adamant that the Olympics will go ahead, even as other global sporting events have been put on hold. Speculation about a delay of the July start date has grown since the Donald Trump said organisers should consider a one-year postponement.

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‘Do not let this fire burn’: WHO warns Europe over coronavirus

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Europe now centre of pandemic, says WHO, as Spain prepares for state of emergency

The World Health Organization has stepped up its calls for intensified action to fight the coronavirus pandemic, imploring countries “not to let this fire burn”, as Spain said it would declare a 15-day state of emergency from Saturday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said Europe – where the virus is present in all 27 EU states and has infected 25,000 people – had become the centre of the epidemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined apart from China.

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Mass monkey brawl highlights coronavirus effect on Thailand tourism

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Fewer visitors mean less food for troops of wild monkeys at Prang Sam Yod

The coronavirus outbreak has left Thailand’s hotels empty, its tour guides without work and its markets unusually quiet. The country’s wildlife may also now be noticing the lack of visitors.

A video filmed this week in Lopburi, north-east of Bangkok, showed large crowds of monkeys brawling in the streets, apparently fighting over a yoghurt pot. Residents in the city, which is famed for its monkey population, say the fall in tourist numbers means there are far fewer people offering food.

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First Covid-19 case happened in November, China government records show – report

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Earliest case detected on 17 November, weeks before authorities acknowledged new virus, says Chinese media

The first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data.

The report, in the South China Morning Post, said Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus last year and who came under medical surveillance, and the earliest case was 17 November – weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new virus.

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Has Malaysia’s new PM inherited a poisoned chalice?

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Muhyiddin Yassin faces big challenges – and some say he may be bad news for minorities

When Malaysia’s government plunged into chaos last month, some believed the country’s veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad was likely to emerge an even more powerful political force. Instead, it was Muhyiddin Yassin, a much quieter figure, who was eventually appointed prime minister.

Muhyiddin, a conservative Malay nationalist, is a low-profile and cautious politician, say analysts.

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Chinese officials push conspiracy theory coronavirus originated abroad

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Theory is gaining traction online in China that Covid-19 came from the US

One of the most popular topics on the Chinese microblog Weibo on Thursday was a one-minute clip of a US congressional hearing this week on how the country was dealing with the coronavirus.

In the video posted by the People’s Daily, Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is asked whether there may have been deaths attributed to influenza that could actually have been the result of Covid-19. Redfield responds in the affirmative: “Some cases have been actually diagnosed that way in the United States today.”

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Advice from a country with regular shortages: stop hoarding toilet paper, get ready for boredom | Dan McGarry

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In Vanuatu, where cyclones regularly interrupt trade, we are watching the west’s collective panic with bemusement

I’ve lived in the south Pacific island nation of Vanuatu for 16 years. Tropical weather regularly interrupts trade. Even when they’re hundreds of kilometres away, cyclones wreak havoc on shipping. Isolation and deprivation define our lives. We know better than most how to cope.

So imagine our bemusement when we see ranks of empty shelves in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, denuded by people who pretty clearly have never dealt with a shortage before.

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England rugby players’ ex-soldier father stuck in Fiji because of immigration rules

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Ilaitia Cokanasiga, who was prevented from watching his son Joe play in the World Cup last year, says he feels betrayed

A former British army sergeant whose two sons are English rugby internationals is stuck in Fiji, prevented by immigration rules from returning to the UK to rejoin his wife as she undergoes cancer treatment.

Ilaitia Cokanasiga, who over almost 14 years in the armed forces served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, told the Guardian that his immigration difficulties had stopped him from travelling to see his 22-year-old son, Joe Cokanasiga, play for England in the World Cup in Japan last year. He is devastated at being stranded 10,000 miles away from his family, unable to support his wife as she waits for an operation on a brain tumour.

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Far-right extremists still threaten New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks

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I worry we don’t have enough resources and skills locally to adequately monitor threats in our community

In the hours after the Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15 last year, I wrote that I hoped New Zealand would finally stop believing it was immune to far-right extremist violence. A year on, I’m not sure enough has changed.

I’ve researched far-right extremism for decades – and I would argue it remains a high-level threat in New Zealand, not just overseas.

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Wuhan closes last makeshift coronavirus hospital as China’s infection rate falls – video

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The last of a dozen makeshift hospitals in Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak began, officially closed on Tuesday in a sign that authorities' efforts to curb the virus are working.

On Tuesday, China reported 19 new coronavirus infections, down from 40 a day earlier.

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‘We always get an A’: Fukushima strives to prove food safety before Tokyo Games

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Stringent testing continues in prefecture to counter reputational damage from triple disaster

Knives are wielded in silence as chunks of meat are sliced up and placed in containers, the reputation of an entire region resting on every step of the process being completed without a hitch.

Staff at the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Centre are dissecting samples of beef neck; on other days it could be batches of cucumbers and peaches, or fish from the nearby Pacific Ocean.

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