Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Australia’s bushfires mean New Zealand has become the land of the long pink cloud | Jim Salinger

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The impact of smoke on New Zealand’s environment, health and tourism raises the legal issue of trans-boundary air pollution

Kiwis have been shocked in recent weeks to discover their pristine glaciers turning pink, with apocalyptic orange skies covering New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland. So much so that police have been deluged with emergency calls asking what is going on, as the land of the long white cloud is turning pink (kikorangi māwhero).

The catastrophic bushfires in Australia have also affected New Zealand. Because of the impact of trans-boundary air pollution (and its effects on other countries), there are legal implications to be considered.

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Japan issues arrest warrant for Carlos Ghosn’s wife

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Carole Ghosn accused of perjury, as Nissan says it will pursue former chairman who fled to Lebanon

Prosecutors in Japan have issued an arrest warrant for the wife of Carlos Ghosn for alleged perjury, as Nissan vowed to pursue its former chairman over his “serious misconduct” while head of the carmaker.

Tokyo prosecutors’ special investigation squad said Carole Ghosn – a vocal supporter of her husband during his long detention in Japan – was suspected of making a false statement during testimony to the Tokyo district court last April, according to Kyodo news agency. Details of the allegation were not immediately available.

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Thailand hit by record number of human trafficking cases

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About 60% of those rescued last year were women, often trafficked for seafood industry or sex trade

Thailand rescued a record 1,807 victims of human trafficking last year, according to data that campaigners on Monday said raised concerns about the nation’s ability to support survivors.

The number of victims soared from 622 in 2018, while the previous high was 982 in 2015, the government data showed.

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Australia, Fiji’s prayers are with you but we know they aren’t enough to fight the climate crisis | Frank Bainimarama

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The summer has seen another cyclone in Fiji and terrible fires in Australia. We don’t need to be scientists to know that something is very wrong here

As the world rang in a new year, for Oceania, the images that marked the beginning of the decade weren’t ones of champagne and fireworks. Instead we were left with photos and headlines that merit not celebration, but mourning.

The skies of Sydney were stained an eerie blood-red by apocalyptic bushfires, as desperate Australians gathered by the ocean, waiting to be rescued by boat – conditions that threaten to worsen still. Glaciers in New Zealand were covered by a brown dusting of ash that had travelled thousands of kilometres across the Pacific. And in Fiji, we were left reeling by rushing floodwaters and howling, gale-force winds.

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Carlos Ghosn ‘caught bullet train’ during escape from Japan

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Border controls tightened as Japan investigates how ex-Nissan boss skipped bail

Reports have emerged about how the fugitive former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn managed to jump bail in Japan, as the country’s justice minister said border controls would be bolstered after the audacious escape.

The 65-year-old executive skipped bail nearly a week ago, fleeing Japan where he had been awaiting trial on multiple counts of financial misconduct, which he denies.

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New Zealand sends troops to help with Australian bushfires as Pacific nations offer support

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Jacinda Ardern says country ready to repay Australia for its help through a tough 2019 as Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu offer money and troops

Australia’s neighbouring countries, including New Zealand, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, have offered support as the country continues to fight massive bushfires burning in New South Wales and Victoria.

Members of the New Zealand military are en route to Australia to assist with the efforts, adding to the 157 New Zealand firefighters already deployed in Australia, some of whom have been assisting their Australian colleagues since October.

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Mystery illness in Chinese city not Sars, say authorities

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Fears of new epidemic after people taken to hospital in Wuhan with viral pneumonia

A mysterious respiratory illness that has infected dozens of people in a central Chinese city is not Sars, local authorities have said.

The 2002-03 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome started in southern China and killed more than 700 people. Fears of a recurrence arose this month after a number of people were taken to hospital with unexplained viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

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Dozens held in Hong Kong after violence at parallel trading march

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Protests target mainlanders’ practice of bulk-buying goods to sell at profit in China

Petrol bombs have been thrown at a Hong Kong police station and dozens of people arrested after a march against parallel trading near the Chinese border.

The Democratic party said about 10,000 people marched peacefully in Sheung Shui district on Sunday, but violence erupted after police ordered protesters to disperse.

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Fukushima unveils plans to become renewable energy hub

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Japan aims to power region, scene of 2011 meltdown, with 100% renewable energy by 2040

Fukushima is planning to transform itself into a renewable energy hub, almost nine years after it became the scene of the world’s worst nuclear accident for a quarter of a century.

The prefecture in north-east Japan will forever be associated with the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 11 March 2011, but in an ambitious project the local government has vowed to power the region with 100% renewable energy by 2040, compared with 40% today.

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Carlos Ghosn: an arrest, an escape, and questions about justice in Japan

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The feted car executive had railed against the motives behind his detention since the day he was arrested

Carlos Ghosn’s dramatic escape from Japan to Lebanon last week has raised many questions over how he pulled off such an audacious act, but his motives are not in doubt. With four months to go before his financial misconduct trial was due to begin, the net was closing in on the former auto executive, and he knew it.

Nissan’s one-time saviour had not been permitted to speak to his wife over Christmas, and was disturbed by news that Japanese prosecutors had questioned his son and daughter in the US in early December. For Ghosn, according to sources close to him, it amounted to an attempt to force him to confess.

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China replaces top Hong Kong official as protests enter eighth month

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Beijing offers no explanation for appointing of Luo Huining to head its liaison office

China has replaced a top official in Hong Kong as anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous territory enter their eighth month.

Luo Huining, the former Communist party chief for Shanxi province, has been appointed head of China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, the official Xinhua news agency said.

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Death toll rises in Indonesia’s sinking capital as flood defences struggle

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Torrential rain has devastated the greater Jakarta region with dozens dead and tens of thousands evacuated from their homes

The death toll from floods caused by torrential rains in the Indonesian capital rose to at least 53 as rescuers found more bodies, disaster officials said on Saturday.

The worst monsoon rains in more than a decade deluged Jakarta this week and rising rivers submerged at least 182 neighbourhoods while landslides on the city’s outskirts buried at least a dozen people.

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Mystery viral outbreak in Hong Kong revives fears of SARS epidemic

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City initiates ‘serious response’ level as sickness recalls deadly respiratory syndrome that killed 700 people


Hong Kong authorities has moved to “serious response” level as fears spread about a mysterious infectious disease that may have been brought back by visitors to a mainland Chinese city.

Five possible cases have been reported of a viral pneumonia that has also infected at least 44 people in Wuhan, an inland city west of Shanghai and about 900km north of Hong Kong.

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Building collapse in Cambodia kills at least 10 and injures 23

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An unknown number of workers are still trapped in rubble in the latest construction disaster to hit the country

At least 10 people have been killed and 23 injured after a building in Cambodia collapsed, trapping workers under rubble, officials said on Saturday.

The seven-storey concrete building collapsed on Friday in the coastal town of Kep, about 160 km (100 miles) south-west of the capital Phnom Penh.

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Japan’s warship deployment could push a pacifist country into conflict | Jeff Kingston

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Prime minister Shinzo Abe is trying to keep Donald Trump on side, but the Japanese people are watching with worry

Since the end of the second world war and the enactment of its pacifist constitution, Japan has deployed its forces overseas mostly on peacekeeping operations under UN auspices – and almost never to places where its troops are in harm’s way. But next month, the country will send a naval destroyer to the Middle East. On what is being described as an intelligence-gathering mission, the warship will patrol the Gulf of Oman, the northern part of the Arabian sea and a portion of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, following a series of attacks on oil tankers in the region – including one that was Japanese-operated.

In 2015, Abe passed unpopular legislation allowing Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defence

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Want to lose weight? Lose the car

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A long-term resolution to leave the car at home could help waistlines as well as the environment

Since 2011 Beijing has controlled traffic growth by allocating new licence plates in a bimonthly lottery. There is less than a one in 500 chance of getting a plate in each draw but winning might not be as wonderful as it first seems.

The impact of increased motorised travel extend beyond air pollution. In the UK the total distance walked each year dropped by 30% between 1995 and 2013, and the distance cycled in England and Wales in 2012 was just 20% of that in 1952 – but these changes have been slow and are difficult to study.

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Japan issues Interpol wanted notice for Carlos Ghosn

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Move follows tycoon’s dramatic flight to Beirut to escape corruption charges

Japanese authorities have issued an Interpol wanted notice for Carlos Ghosn, as the former Nissan and Renault chairman released a statement denying his wife or family were involved in his dramatic flight from corruption charges in Japan.

The international policing organisation’s “red notice” alerts forces around the world that a person is wanted, in this case by Japanese police.

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Taiwan military chief among eight killed in helicopter crash landing

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Air force general Shen Yi-ming died when aircraft carrying 13 people went down near Taipei

Taiwan’s top military official was among eight people killed when a helicopter crash-landed on Thursday in a mountainous area near the capital, Taipei, the defence ministry has said.

The chief of general staff, air force general Shen Yi-ming, died in the incident while five of the 13 people onboard survived, the military.

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Carlos Ghosn prepares to speak as Japan comes to terms with saviour who fled

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Wife dismisses reports husband escaped inside an instrument case as world awaits full explanation from fugitive

The world will have to wait until next week for what could be the only definitive account of how Carlos Ghosn managed to leave Japan months before he was due to stand trial for alleged financial misconduct.

The former Nissan chairman who fled the country to Lebanon while out on bail, will speak to the media in Beirut next Wednesday, media reports said, in a public appearance that could provide answers to myriad questions swirling around his daring escape.

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Jakarta floods leave 21 dead and 30,000 homeless

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Torrential rain triggers emergency in Indonesian capital with thousands moved into temporary shelter and more downpours forecast

Torrential rain has caused flash floods to inundate large parts of Indonesia’s capital and nearby towns, killing at least 21 people and forcing thousands more to evacuate.

Deaths were caused by hypothermia, drowning and landslides, while four died after being electrocuted by power lines, the country’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said on its website on Thursday morning.

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