People’s Bank of China allows commercial banks to hold less capital in reserve
China’s central bank has acted to pump more liquidity into the country’s economy in an attempt to prevent growth slowing in 2020.
The People’s Bank of China is allowing commercial banks to hold less capital in reserve, freeing up about 800bn yuan (£87bn) in new funds for loans. It will cut China’s banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points, to 12.5%, from 6 January.
Continue reading...Police detain 400 and fire teargas as anti-government protests continue into 2020
A huge New Year’s Day march in Hong Kong has ended in mass arrests and street clashes as the anti-government movement – now in its eighth month – continued into 2020.
Police detained about 400 people on charges including illegal assembly and possession of offensive weapons after the rally on Wednesday, which organisers said was attended by more than a million people. It was one of the largest numbers of arrests in a single day since the unrest began.
Continue reading...Marchers begin to gather after New Year’s Eve violence saw police fire teargas and activists set fire to barricades
Thousands have gathered in Hong Kong to take part in a what is expected to be a huge New Year’s Day march, hours after police fired teargas on pro-democracy protesters marking the start of 2020.
The city has been battered by more than six months of unrest with marches attended by millions, as well as confrontations in which police have fired teargas and rubber bullets – and protesters have responded with petrol bombs.
Continue reading...Papers question granting of bail, while reports suggest Ghosn met Lebanese president
The usually staid Japanese media have criticised Carlos Ghosn after the tycoon jumped bail and fled to Lebanon – reportedly inside a musical instrument case – to avoid what he called “political persecution” in Japan.
“Running away is a cowardly act that mocks Japan’s justice system,” said the Yomiuri Shimbun. By leaving the country, Ghosn had “lost the opportunity to prove his innocence and vindicate his honour”, the paper added, noting that the courts, his defence lawyers and immigration control officials also bore some responsibility in the affair.
Continue reading...Trump says he trusts leader to refrain from testing, despite Kim’s criticism of Washington’s ‘gangster-like demands’
Kim Jong-un has signalled that North Korea will lift its moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests in a move likely to anger Donald Trump.
The North Korean leader told a four-day meeting of party officials in Pyongyang that the test ban, which Kim agreed to in talks with the US president, was no longer needed, state media said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...By 2010, China was beginning to have an impact on the global consciousness in a new way. Prior to the western financial crisis, it had been seen as the new but very junior kid on the block. The financial crash changed all that. Before 2008 the conventional western wisdom had been that sooner or later China would suffer a big economic meltdown. It never did. Instead, the crisis happened in the west, with huge consequences for the latter’s stability and self-confidence.
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Continue reading...Prospect of agreement lifts stock markets but experts question impact on long-running tensions
Donald Trump has said he will sign the first phase of a long-awaited trade deal with China on 15 January, in a move that de-escalates the tariff war between the world’s two biggest economies.
In a tweet on Tuesday, the US president said “high-level representatives of China” would attend an official ceremony at the White House, adding he would also be travelling to Beijing for talks on the second phase of the deal.
Continue reading...His ‘big adventure’ reportedly involved his wife, a Gregorian band and ex-special services
Carlos Ghosn reportedly fled house arrest in Japan in a musical instrument case, in an audacious Hollywood movie-style escape masterminded by his wife, Carole, with the assistance of a Gregorian music band and a team of ex-special forces officers.
The escape began when the band arrived at his home in Tokyo, where Ghosn has been held under house arrest and strict police surveillance, according to Lebanese TV news channel MTV. At the end of the performance, as the musicians packed up their instruments, Ghosn – whose height is stated at 1.7m, or just under 5ft 6in, in his Wikipedia entry – apparently slipped into one of the larger cases and was taken to a small local airport.
Continue reading...Ghosn, who had been banned from leaving Japan, flies to Lebanon and says he will no longer be held in a rigged system
Carlos Ghosn, who is awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct, has left Japan and arrived in Lebanon to “escape injustice”.
The former Nissan chairman issued a statement on Tuesday morning in which he said he would “no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed”.
Continue reading...Chairman Eric Xu warns that hit from US sanctions means telecoms firm must ‘go all out’ to maintain sales
The embattled Chinese telecommunications company Huawei says “survival” is its first priority after announcing sales were hit hard by a boycott from western countries.
Eric Xu, the company’s chairman, said estimated sales revenue would reach 850bn yuan for 2019 (US$121bn) - up roughly 18% from the previous year, but much lower than initially expected.
Continue reading...Official issues stark warning to protesters planning to target shopping and business districts
Hong Kong will end 2019 with multiple protests planned for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day aimed at disrupting festivities and shopping in the Asian financial hub, which has seen a rise in clashes between police and protesters since Christmas.
Events dubbed “Suck the Eve” and “Shop with You” are set for New Year’s Eve on Tuesday in areas including the party district of Lan Kwai Fong, the picturesque Victoria Harbour, and popular shopping malls, according to notices on social media.
Continue reading...Leader of Early Rain Covenant, which is not sanctioned by Communist party, swept up in crackdown on religion under Xi Jinping
A Chinese court has sentenced the pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power and illegally operating a business.
Wang was among dozens of churchgoers and leaders of the Early Rain Covenant church detained by police in December 2018. Most were subsequently released.
Continue reading...Around the world people took to the streets in pro-democracy protests, while extreme weather, disease and violence wreaked havoc in some of the most vulnerable communities. But amid disaster, new grassroots leaders came to the fore, women fought to claim their rights and radical treatments for diseases were trialled
Continue reading...The biophysicist was guilty of illegal practice in trying to alter the genetic makeup of twins Lula and Nana
The scientist who created the world’s first “gene-edited” babies has been sentenced to to three years in prison by a court in China.
He Jiankui said in November 2018 that he had used gene-editing technology known as Crispr-Cas9 to change the genes of twin girls, causing a backlash in China and globally about the ethics of his research and work.
Continue reading...Contest is in effect a referendum on the future of the self-governed island’s relationship with China
Citizen groups in Taiwan are fighting a Russian-style influence and misinformation campaign that is believed to originate across the strait in mainland China with just weeks to go before it votes for its next president,
Taiwan goes to the polls on 11 January to decide between two main candidates, incumbent president Tsai-Ing-Wen of the Democratic People’s party (DPP) under whom ties with Beijing have become fraught, and Han Kuo-Yu of the Kuomintang party (KMT), which advocates closer engagement with China.
Continue reading...Experts say vessel was possibly travelling far out to sea for bigger catches
Seven badly decomposed bodies were found in a suspected North Korean fishing boat that washed up on a Japanese island, a coast guard official.
The remains were found on Saturday in a broken vessel on the shore of Sado Island, which lies around 900km from North Korea across the Sea of Japan.
Continue reading...Storm and flood warnings issued as category two cyclone moves east towards Tonga
One person was killed in Fiji and one was missing as tropical cyclone Sarai battered the country with strong wind and heavy rain, authorities said.
The Fiji National Disaster Management Office said one person was in intensive care and more than 2,500 people had been moved to 70 evacuation centres.
Continue reading...Six-week state of emergency is lifted after disease killed 81 people and sickened more than 5,600 others
Samoa has lifted a six-week state of emergency after the infection rate from a measles outbreak that has swept the country started to come under control.
The South Pacific nation has been gripped by the highly infectious disease, which has killed 81 people, most of them babies and young children, and sickened more than 5,600 others.
Continue reading...For over three years, Leo spent his days at the Qingpu prison in Shanghai silently packaging sticky notes, face masks, gift bags and labels while guards kept close watch. If he refused, he would be punished – barred from reducing his prison sentence, making phone calls home, or worse.
This Christmas, a cry for help from Leo and other foreign inmates of Qingpu was smuggled out, hidden in a Tesco greetings card. China has called the card and allegations of forced labour by foreign prisoners a “farce”.
Continue reading...Police used pepper spray and batons against protesters in a village on the border with mainland China and arrested dozens of people. More than 100 protesters marched through a shopping centre in rural Sheung Shui, part of a series of demonstrations intended to disrupt business that have been taking place since Christmas Eve
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