Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Chinese state media celebrates Trump’s cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia

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Global Times hails US president’s order to strip back government funding to news organisations he deems ‘radical’

Chinese state media has reacted gleefully to the Trump administration’s decision to slash government funding to media organisations such as Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA).

The Global Times, a daily English-language tabloid and Chinese Communist party mouthpiece, celebrated the cuts to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees broadcasters such as VOA and RFA.

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Once named world’s ugliest animal, blobfish wins New Zealand’s fish of the year

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Made up of blobby tissue and living deep in the ocean, the distinctive species beat the longfin eel and pygmy pipehorse in the annual contest

It was once crowned the “world’s ugliest animal” and now the disgruntled-looking gelatinous blobfish has a new gong to its name: New Zealand’s fish of the year.

The winning species of blobfish, Psychrolutes marcidus, lives in the highly pressurised depths off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia and has developed a unique anatomy to exist. Blobfish do not have a swim bladder, a full skeleton, muscles or scales. Instead, their bodies are made up of blobby tissue with a lower density than water that allows them to float above the seafloor.

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Chinese EV maker BYD says fast-charging system could be as quick as filling up a tank

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BYD unveils platform with charging power of 1,000 kW, which would be twice as fast as Tesla’s supercharging

The Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has unveiled a new charging system that it said could make it possible for EVs to charge as quickly as it takes to refill with petrol.

BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares gained 4.1% on Tuesday to hit a record high of 408.80 Hong Kong dollars, as investors bet that the company could strengthen its already commanding position as one of the world’s biggest electric carmakers.

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Melbourne residents receive letter offering $200k for information on Hong Kong pro-democracy activist

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Exclusive: The anonymous ‘wanted’ letter contained a photograph of Kevin Yam, a lawyer who has criticised the crackdown on dissent in the territory

A small number of Melbourne residents have received anonymous letters purporting to offer a police bounty of $203,000 if they inform on Kevin Yam, an Australian citizen and pro-democracy activist wanted for alleged national security crimes in Hong Kong, linking him to two nearby locations.

A spokesperson for the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told Guardian Australia the letter was “deeply worrying” and that the matter would be raised directly with officials from China and Hong Kong.

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China plans to ‘vigorously boost consumption’ to shore up economy

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Communist party aims to ‘promote reasonable wage growth’ and to reduce financial burdens amid Trump tariffs

China’s government has announced ambitious plans to “vigorously boost consumption” by putting up pay and reducing financial burdens, in its latest attempt to increase consumer confidence and lift its struggling economy.

The plans, announced by the ruling Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) central committee and state council on Sunday, include aims to “promote reasonable wage growth” and to improve the mechanisms for adjusting the minimum wage.

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Japan to deploy long-range missiles able to hit North Korea and China

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Planned missiles on Kyushu said to be part of ‘counterstrike capabilities’, as fears grow over US security pact

Japan is planning to deploy long-range missiles on its southern island of Kyushu amid concerns around the Trump administration’s stance towards its security pacts and continuing regional tensions.

The missiles, with a range of about 1,000km, would be capable of hitting targets in North Korea and China’s coastal regions, and are due to be deployed next year in two bases with existing missile garrisons. They would bolster the defences of the strategically important Okinawa island chain and are part of Japan’s development of “counterstrike capabilities” in the event it is attacked, according to reports from Kyodo News agency, citing government sources.

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Monday briefing: Is Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest a sign of the ICC’s strength or its limitations?

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In today’s newsletter: the former Philippines president was arrested and taken to The Hague after a tense standoff. It’s a much needed win for the international criminal court – but success is far from a given

Good morning.

Last Tuesday, chaos erupted at Manila’s main airport as authorities arrested the Philippines’ 79-year-old former president Rodrigo Duterte, who had arrived from Hong Kong. An arrest warrant issued in secret by the international criminal court (ICC) accused him of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in killings during his brutal “war on drugs”.

Benefits | Keir Starmer is to defy growing anger by driving through welfare cuts for some of the UK’s most severely disabled people, with an overhaul that could see more than 600,000 benefit claimants lose out on an average of £675 a month.

Ukraine | Donald Trump has said he plans to discuss ending the war in Ukraine with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and that negotiators have already discussed “dividing up certain assets”. “We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” Trump said, when asked about concessions.

Space | A pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station will be returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, Nasa has said. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut after a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft arrived at the ISS early on Sunday.

Business | Buy-to-let has become the largest single type of business in the UK – nearly four times as prevalent as fast food takeaways or hairdressers.

Healthcare | The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said he believes there is an “overdiagnosis” of some mental health conditions as well as “too many people being written off” – factors he said were key to the government’s welfare measures.

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British tourist missing after boat catches fire off Thai island

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Alexandra Clarke, 26, was on a diving excursion near Koh Tao when blaze broke out

A British tourist is missing in Thailand after the tour boat she was travelling on caught fire off the island of Koh Tao.

Alexandra Clarke, 26, from Lambeth, south London, was onboard the Davy Jones Locker for a diving excursion.

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Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte appears by video link in Hague accused of crimes against humanity – as it happened

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Duterte faces charges over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups say killed tens of thousands. This live blog is closed

Philippine ex-president Rodrigo Duterte is appearing by video link before judges at the international criminal court.

Duterte would follow the proceedings through a video link, a court spokesperson said.

To some Duterte’s arrest this week came as a sudden shock. But for years many brave Filipinos, from priests, politicians, pathologists, to relatives of the victims and journalists, have worked tirelessly, in and out of the spotlight, to expose the horrors of the deadly campaign and collect enough evidence to hold Duterte to account.

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China criticises Hong Kong firm’s sale of majority stake in Panama ports

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Commentary urged CK Hutchison to ‘think twice’ about ‘what position and side they are on’ in sale to US investors

China has criticised the sale of the business that controls ports in Panama to US investors, saying the Hong Kong-based parent company should “think twice” and that the $22.8bn deal is “power politics” that is not in the country’s national interest.

Shares in the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison fell more than 6% on Friday after a critical commentary appeared in the Beijing-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao in Hong Kong.

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UK hoping to work with China to counteract Trump’s climate-hostile policies

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Ed Miliband visits Beijing as part of plan to create global axis working in favour of climate action

The UK is hoping to shape a new global axis in favour of climate action along with China and a host of developing countries, to offset the impact of Donald Trump’s abandonment of green policies and his sharp veer towards climate-hostile countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Ed Miliband, the UK’s energy and net zero secretary, arrived in Beijing on Friday for three days of talks with top Chinese officials, including discussions on green technology supply chains, coal and the critical minerals needed for clean energy. The UK’s green economy is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy, but access to components and materials will be crucial for that to continue.

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‘All the birds returned’: How a Chinese project led the way in water and soil conservation

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The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming

It was one of China’s most ambitious environmental endeavours ever.

The Loess plateau, an area spanning more than 245,000 sq miles (640,000 sq km) across three provinces and parts of four others, supports about 100 million people. By the end of the 20th century, however, this land, once fertile and productive, was considered the most eroded place on Earth, according to a documentary by the ecologist John D Liu.

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Taiwan’s president labels China a ‘foreign hostile force’ and ramps up security measures citing ‘infiltration’

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Lai Ching-te’s speech – which included a proposal to set up military courts – prompted an angry reaction from Beijing, which called him a ‘creator of crisis’

Taiwan’s new president has formally labelled China a “foreign hostile force” and ramped up national security measures in the face of growing threats and a string of spying cases.

The new measures announced on Thursday include a controversial proposal to restore a military court system in Taiwan, which was under martial law until the late 1980s.

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‘Several people’ arrested in EU bribery investigation linked to Huawei

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Homes searched in inquiry into alleged corruption at European parliament relating to Chinese technology giant

Several people have been arrested and homes searched as part of an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption at the European parliament relating to the Chinese technology giant Huawei, Belgian prosecutors have said.

The investigating judge in charge of the case has asked for seals to be fixed to the offices of two European parliament assistants alleged to be involved.

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Rodrigo Duterte says he will accept responsibility after ICC arrest over ‘war on drugs’

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Former Philippines president filmed a video message en route to the Hague, saying ‘I will be responsible for everything’

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has said he will accept responsibility for his government’s so-called “war on drugs” in a video message filmed on board a plane shortly before he was taken into the custody of the international criminal court (ICC).

“Whatever happened in the past, I will be the front of our law enforcement and the military. I said this already, that I will protect you, and I will be responsible for everything,” he said.

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New Vanuatu PM says he will ‘revisit’ 2022 security agreement with Australia

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Exclusive: Jotham Napat said pact must be taken ‘back to the drawing board’ and should reflect climate change as security issue

Vanuatu’s new prime minister has said his government intends to “revisit” a security agreement with Australia, arguing it does not reflect his country’s priorities including climate change and travel mobility for its citizens.

Jotham Napat, who was elected in February, said the pact with Canberra had to be taken “back to the drawing board” as he sought a “win-win situation” in a renegotiated deal.

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Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest could be telling blow in the Philippines’ dynastic feud

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Former president was surrendered to The Hague amid a row between his family and that of the current president

Few expected things to move so quickly. Supporters of the Philippines’ former president Rodrigo Duterte barely had time to protest before he was jetted off to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his country’s so-called “war on drugs”. According to activists, this bloody crackdown has seen as many as 30,000 people killed since 2016.

The charges brought against the former leader are the culmination of years of work by activists, lawyers and victims, who documented abuses committed under his government, often at great personal risk. But Duterte arguably would not have been surrendered to The Hague if it weren’t for his family’s dramatic feud with that of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the current president.

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Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyers demand he is returned to the Philippines after ICC arrest

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Daughter accuses government of ‘kidnapping’ the former president as victims of his ‘war on drugs’ express jubilation over his arrest

Lawyers for the former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte have demanded that he be returned to Manila in a petition filed to the supreme court, as victims of the former leaders’ bloody “war on drugs” expressed jubilation.

Duterte, who was flown to The Hague on Tuesday night to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to anti-drugs crackdowns is the first former Asian leader to be served an arrest warrant filed by the ICC. Activists say as many as 30,000 people were killed in the “war on drugs”.

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Police launch new search for fugitive father and children missing in New Zealand wilderness for three years

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Over the next few days police will be ‘present’ in the remote Marokopa area where Tom Phillips and his three children are believed to be hiding

New Zealand police are launching a fresh operation in the rugged North Island wilderness to track down a fugitive father and his three children who have been missing for more than three years.

Just before Christmas 2021, Tom Phillips fled into a remote area of Waikato with his children Ember, thought to be now aged 9, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 11, following a dispute with their mother. Phillips does not have legal custody for his children.

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K-pop singer Wheesung found dead at home aged 43

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Tributes have been paid to singer who had a string of hits in South Korea including a cover of Craig David’s Insomnia

The South Korean singer Wheesung has died aged 43, with police reportedly planning to conduct an autopsy to determine his cause of death.

The singer, whose name was Choi Whee-sung, was found unconscious in his apartment on Monday night by emergency responders after his mother called for help, local media reported.

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