Hundreds of Hong Kong protesters sang God Save the Queen and waved the union flag as they rallied outside the British consulate on Sunday to demand the UK ensures China honours its commitments to the city’s freedoms. The Sino-British joint declaration, signed in 1984, laid out a ‘one country, two systems’ formula
‘We will not surrender’: Hongkongers rally for support outside UK consulate
Continue reading...Fish play a big role in the lives of people in Melanesia; coastal fisheries are not just a source of food and income, they are also central to cultural identity. The Wan Smolbag Theatre Company, from Vanuatu, travels to small fishing villages and performs a play called Twist mo Spin, which tells villagers about the challenges fisheries face across the region and about sustainable fishing
Rival groups of protesters clash in the Amoy Plaza mall in another weekend of mass demonstrations after months of political unrest. Dozens of protesters scuffled at the shopping district in Kowloon Bay, where they traded blows and some used umbrellas to hit their opponents. Police detained several people
Continue reading...Pro-democracy demonstrators clash with Beijing supporters as riot police subdue protesters
Rival groups of demonstrators clashed in Hong Kong and police made arrests in another weekend of mass protests after months of political unrest.
Dozens of pro-Beijing protesters waved Chinese flags and chanted “support the police” at a mall in Kowloon Bay on Saturday, as pro-democracy demonstrators gathered, clad in black and wearing masks. After a standoff, members of the two sides began to fight, throwing punches and hitting each other with umbrellas before police separated them. At least one man was seen bleeding from the head.
Continue reading...Australia’s funding cuts force hundreds of homeless refugees to plead to be taken into immigration detention
Once a military command post, the two-storey lime green building in Kalideres, West Jakarta, is now essentially a refugee camp.
More than 400 refugees are temporarily housed here in small dome tents squashed into every room and spilling out into the concrete car park. There is no running water, electricity, bathroom facilities or any certainty of food. A few days ago someone delivered biscuits, but there has been nothing since.
Continue reading...‘Fundamental flaws’ in £32bn takeover proposal mean LSE board sees no merit in it
The board of the London Stock Exchange has “unanimously rejected” an approach by its Hong Kong rival after the Asian bourse made a surprise £32bn bid to take over the 321-year-old City institution earlier this week.
In an uncompromising response to the approach, which the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) described as a “significant backward step”, the UK firm said it saw “no merit in further engagement” with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX).
Continue reading...New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s credentials at home and abroad as a new kind of leader all hang on her next move
It’s just shy of a year ago that Jacinda Ardern stood in the UN general assembly and spoke in support of the #MeToo movement. There was spontaneous applause from the floor for that small part of a much longer speech – it felt like a significant moment.
The New Zealand leader’s trip to New York attracted the usual grumbles here at home – those who could not quite get their head around the very idea of a 38-year-old unmarried woman as prime minister carped about her decision to take her three-month-old daughter along – but the result was the blossoming of an international media love affair. Baby Neve’s appearance at the back of the UN chamber was just the icing on the cake.
Continue reading...The Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing’s images record China’s rise from self-imposed ruin to today’s superpower. His new book presents scenes of hope, hardship and change under Communist party rule. A Life in a Sea of Red is published by Steidl
Continue reading...National agencies granted greater power to enforce existing laws banning practices such as shackling
Indonesia is stepping up efforts to protect people with mental health conditions by affording national agencies new powers to monitor and close down institutions found to be abusing patients.
The country’s human rights commission and its witness and victim protection unit are among the agencies empowered to monitor facilities to check they don’t contravene a 1977 government ban on “pasung” – shackling or detaining patients in confined spaces.
Continue reading...Labor renews calls for embattled MP to explain alleged links to Chinese Communist party
Labor has renewed calls for Liberal MP Gladys Liu to explain links to Chinese associations despite Scott Morrison labelling the tactic “grubby”.
On Friday the controversy around the member for Chisholm grew after the Herald Sun reported that Liu had failed to file a return declaring a $39,675 donation to the Victorian Liberal party in 2015-16.
Continue reading...Firefighters in New Zealand have paid tribute to the first responders to the September 11 attacks in New York by performing the haka, a ceremonial Māori dance, in honour of the victims. The video was shared on social media by the US ambassador to New Zealand, Scott Brown, who wrote: 'An appropriate and uniquely Kiwi way to remember the bravery and sacrifice of 9/11 first responders'
Continue reading...New Zealand prime minister facing questions as to when she first found out about claims
Pressure is growing on Jacinda Ardern to explain when she was made aware of serious sexual assault allegations in her party after the staffer at the centre of the furore resigned.
The individual remains unnamed but is known to have worked in a senior role in Parliament House and had regular interaction with senior Labour ministers.
Continue reading...Health ministry calls for greater efforts to deal with mosquito-borne disease at village level as death toll reaches four figures
The Philippine health ministry has urged local officials to ramp up efforts to combat dengue fever after the death toll from the epidemic reached 1,021.
The young have born the brunt of the outbreak, with children under the age of 10 accounting for more than a third of the deaths recorded in the eight months up to August, when a national epidemic of the mosquito-borne disease was declared.
Continue reading...Shinjiro Koizumi says: ‘We will be doomed if we allow another accident to occur’
Japan’s new environment minister has called for the country’s nuclear reactors to be scrapped to prevent a repeat of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Shinjiro Koizumi’s comments, made hours after he became Japan’s third-youngest cabinet minister since the war, could set him on a collision course with Japan’s pro-nuclear prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
Continue reading...Airline accused of lack of respect for indigenous language by seeking to protect image of the greeting, also the name of its in-flight magazine
New Zealand’s national carrier, Air New Zealand, has offended the country’s Māori people by attempting to trademark an image of the words “kia ora”; the greeting for hello.
The airline applied in May to trademark the image showing the greeting, which is also the name of its in-flight magazine.
Continue reading...Proposal to LSE board will only proceed if deal for Refinitiv is terminated or voted down
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has made a surprise £32bn bid approach to take over the London Stock Exchange Group.
It comes weeks after LSE agreed a $27bn (£22bn) all-share deal to take control of Refinitiv, a move the company said would transform it into a UK-headquartered, global rival to Michael Bloomberg’s financial news and data business.
Continue reading...Lee Meng-chu from Taiwan held on state security charges after going missing weeks ago
China has detained a Taiwanese man on state security charges after he reportedly distributed photos of Chinese troops massing equipment on the Hong Kong border.
Lee Meng-chu was being investigated after he “allegedly engaged in illegal activities that endanger state security”, said a spokesman for mainland China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, without elaborating.
Continue reading...Trump’s anti-interventionist instincts likely to come to the fore in flashpoint countries
Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton, his national security adviser, may reflect the near breakdown in personal relations between the two men, as well as Bolton’s rivalry with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, but it will also have implications for US foreign policy in a range of flashpoints.
Related: John Bolton fired as Trump's national security adviser – live news
Continue reading...Beijing criticises German foreign minister over meeting with Joshua Wong
The Chinese government has expressed its anger with Germany’s foreign minister over his meeting with the Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong, saying the encounter was “disrespectful” of Beijing’s sovereignty.
Wong tweeted a picture of himself and Heiko Maas following his arrival in Berlin, saying the two had discussed the “protest situation and our cause”.
Continue reading...Ambassador Liu Xiaoming says politicians free to express their opinion – within limits
China’s ambassador to the UK has accused British politicians of exhibiting a “colonial mindset” when they express support for demonstrators in Hong Kong or raise concerns about Huawei or freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Liu Xiaoming said British MPs were free to express their opinion about the Hong Kong crisis but needed to recognise there were limits. Critical comments were not a problem “as long as you do not interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs,” he said.
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