Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Behrouz Boochani calls Christchurch welcome a ‘reminder of kindness’

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Official reception highlights New Zealand’s differences with Australia over immigration

The city of Christchurch has welcomed Behrouz Boochani with a civic reception and a traditional Māori mihi whakatau – a formal welcome – as his presence, and liberty, in New Zealand once again underscores the country’s political differences with Australia over immigration.

Boochani was formally greeted from the plane by the mayor of Christchurch and the city’s Māori leaders, who told him he was welcomed by the mountains, the rivers, and the people of the city.

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Burberry and Cathay Pacific profits dented by Hong Kong protests

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Retailer and airline report disappointing figures as anti-government rallies take toll

Two companies with substantial interests in Hong Kong have announced figures that underline the damage being inflicted on the economy by the continuing anti-government protests.

Burberry said its sales were down more than 10% and it had slashed £14m off the value of its 12 stores in the territory.

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Behrouz Boochani, voice of Manus Island refugees, is free in New Zealand

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Kurdish Iranian refugee and journalist – a multiple award-winner for documenting life in Australia’s offshore detention system – has left Papua New Guinea

•The story behind Behrouz Boochani’s flight to freedom

Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish Iranian refugee and journalist who became the voice of those incarcerated on Manus Island, has landed in New Zealand and says he will never return to Papua New Guinea or Australia’s immigration regime.

“I will never go back to that place,” he told the Guardian, shortly after leaving PNG. “I just want to be free of the system, of the process. I just want to be somewhere where I am a person, not just a number, not just a label ‘refugee’.”

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After Christchurch, kindness is the only way to live each day

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The mosque attacks rocked New Zealand but good deeds and generosity will help keep us together

The day of 15 March 2019 will stay with me forever. I was working in my bedroom, listening to radio and drawing. The on-air chat and music was interrupted as news of a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch began to filter through. How could this possibly be happening in our quiet little island tucked away at the bottom of the world?

I brushed it off as some sort of mistake, until news of a shooting at a second mosque emerged minutes later. While witnesses and locals reported the horror that had just unfolded, I scrolled online looking for some sort of explanation, a way to make sense of it – and found everyone was lost for words as I was.

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UK ministers threaten sanctions on Hong Kong officials

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Minister says planned new legislation could be used in response to rights violations

Foreign Office ministers have for the first time threatened to use new sanctions laws against individuals in Hong Kong found guilty of human rights abuses during the government’s efforts to suppress street protests.

The threat, picked up on social media by Hong Kong protesters, was made in a letter from the minister for Asia and the Pacific, Heather Wheeler, setting out the government’s response to the crisis.

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Peace more distant than ever in Hong Kong as battle grips universities

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Some accuse government of stoking unrest as pretext for delaying elections

A burst of violence in Hong Kong has pushed the city, gripped by more than five months of political unrest, even further away from the possibility of peaceful resolution.

After the death of a demonstrator on Friday and a weekend of clashes between police and protesters, Hong Kong woke up on Monday to live footage of a police officer shooting a 21-year-old student at close range in the stomach. Later, videos emerged of a 57-year-old construction worker being set on fire while arguing with demonstrators, and a police officer repeatedly driving his motorbike at a group of protesters.

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Two people diagnosed with pneumonic plague in China

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Authorities working to contain outbreak of disease that is worse than bubonic plague

Two people in China have been diagnosed with plague, the latest cases of a disease more commonly associated with historical catastrophe.

Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and can arise in three forms – a lung infection, known as pneumonic plague; a blood infection, known as septicemic plague; and a form that affects the lymph nodes, called bubonic plague.

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Grace Millane trial: suspect prepares to dispose of backpacker’s body – video

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A New Zealand jury has been shown CCTV of the man accused of murdering Grace Millane wheeling out a luggage trolley bearing two suitcases – one containing the 21-year-old’s body – into a hotel lift and loading them into a hire car. The man – whose identity has been suppressed by the court – is accused of strangling her in his apartment. He has pleaded not guilty to murder. Millane's body was found crammed inside a suitcase buried in scrubland outside the city

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Australia’s history with East Timor isn’t pretty but it must be told truthfully | Paul Daley

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Good history demands the full and uncomfortable story be in the official account

Suggestions that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is impeding or trying to censor an official history of Australia’s East Timor peacekeeping mission are disturbing but unsurprising.

They’re disturbing because good history must have as bedrock an independence from national reputation-shaping and political interference. The line between that and propaganda is fine.

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Protesters are pushing Hong Kong to brink of collapse, say police

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Riot police fire teargas and demonstrators throw petrol bombs as city is paralysed for second day

Police in Hong Kong have accused protesters of bringing the city to the “brink of total collapse” and urged residents not to support them as demonstrations paralysed the city for a second day in a row.

Riot police fired teargas on anti-government demonstrators gathered in Hong Kong’s central business district and several universities on Tuesday. Protesters built street barricades, set fires and threw petrol bombs, chairs and other objects at police during another day of strikes demanding greater democracy in the Chinese territory.

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Japan’s rising sun flag is not a symbol of militarism | Letter

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Ohtaka Masato of Japan’s foreign affairs ministry says his country’s flag should not be banned at the 2020 Olympics

Alexis Dudden’s opinion piece presents an argument on the rising sun flag based on the misunderstanding of Japan’s sincere dealings with the past (Japan’s rising sun flag has a history of horror. It must be banned at the Tokyo Olympics, 1 November).

Looking at Prime Minister Abe’s statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war – issued by cabinet consensus – it is clear that Japan has squarely faced the facts of history and repeatedly expressed feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war, which this opinion piece fails to recognise.

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Vietnamese families struggle to repatriate Essex lorry victims

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Relatives say they cannot afford return of bodies, but do not wish to accept ashes

The families of the 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex last month are facing financial difficulties over repatriating the bodies of their relatives.

Bui Huy Cuong, the deputy chairman of Can Loc district’s people’s committee in Ha Tinh province, where 10 of the victims are from, said local officials visited families and encouraged them to receive ashes instead of bodies, but “there was unofficial and incorrect information online saying that the British government will cover all costs [of bringing the bodies back to Vietnam]”, leading to confusion.

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Grace Millane trial: significant bruising on body typical of restraint – pathologist

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UK backpacker died from pressure to neck as police interview reveals suspect initially claimed he said goodbye to her in Auckland city centre

Grace Millane died from prolonged pressure to the neck, which took place during sex, a forensic pathologist has told a jury in Auckland, as it emerged the suspect initially lied to police about the last time he saw the British backpacker.

Dr Simon Stables told the high court injuries like Millane’s were extremely uncommon worldwide. “From my point of view it is incredibly rare, I have never heard of another case … in New Zealand.”

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Protester shot and man set on fire during Hong Kong clashes – video

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A student was shot by Hong Kong police on Monday, the third time a demonstrator has been hit with live ammunition. Police used teargas, pepper spray and firearms at multiple locations as demonstrators blocked roads, lit fires and hurled missiles. 

Later in the day, a man was doused in a flammable liquid and set on fire after arguing with protesters. Both the student and the man were said to be in a critical condition.

Another clip appeared to show a police officer on a motorbike driving at protesters.

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Mouse deer species not seen for nearly 30 years is found alive in Vietnam

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Silver-backed chevrotain caught on camera after it was feared lost to science

A distinctly two-tone mouse deer that was feared lost to science has been captured on film foraging for food by camera traps set up in a Vietnamese forest.

The pictures of the rabbit-sized animal, also known as the silver-backed chevrotain, are the first to be taken in the wild and come nearly 30 years after the last confirmed sighting.

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Hong Kong protests: man shot by police and burns victim in critical condition

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Police fire at unarmed student and middle-aged man set on fire in day of violent clashes

Two people are in a critical condition in Hong Kong after another day of protests and violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police that left more than 60 people injured.

A police officer shot an unarmed 21-year-old male university student in the stomach as demonstrators attempted to disrupt the Monday morning rush hour as part of a day of planned protests and strikes.

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Vanuatu has cancelled my work permit; it’s a dark day for media freedom | Dan McGarry

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Vanuatu’s Daily Post has always held the government to account and will continue to do so, with or without me as editor

On Thursday, the Vanuatu government issued instructions that after 16 years living here and, despite having a Ni Vanuatu spouse and children, I will have to leave the country.

As the media director and publisher of Vanuatu’s only daily newspaper, a newspaper that has repeatedly held the government uncomfortably to account, I believe the government refused my application to renew my work visa to silence me and warn other journalists in the country not to speak out.

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Helen Clark: ‘I’d like to think I was ahead of my time’

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Interviewed about her plans for retirement, the former Aotearoa New Zealand prime minister says the word is not in her vocabulary

Helen Clark, 69, is the second woman to hold the post of prime minister of Aotearoa New Zealand and fifth-longest serving prime minister. She was also the first female head of the United Nations Development Program.

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Senior Cambodian opposition figure Kem Sokha out of house arrest

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Founder of Cambodia National Rescue Party, charged with treason in 2017, cannot leave country or join political activities

Cambodia has freed a prominent opposition figure from house arrest more than two years after he was charged with treason, after attempts by his colleagues to return to the country were thwarted.

Kem Sokha was arrested in 2017 and accused of plotting to overthrow the government of strongman Hun Sen, who has ruled since 1985. He was sent to a remote prison, then confined to his house and the surrounding block and prohibited from talking to the media.

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Murder of two journalists leads to arrest of Indonesian palm oil boss

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Police say businessman masterminded killing of reporters who were helping local people in dispute with his company

An Indonesian palm oil executive has been arrested for allegedly ordering the killing two activist journalists who were mediating a land dispute between his company and local residents.

Maraden Sianipar’s body was found last week in a ditch near a palm plantation in Labuhan Batu in North Sumatra province. Police found the remains of his colleague Maratua Siregar in the same area a day later. Both had been stabbed multiple times.

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