Trial to be held in May 2020 for Australian man who faces 51 murder charges, 40 of attempted murder and one terrorism charge
Australian Brenton Tarrant has pleaded not guilty to all charges in relation to the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.
Tarrant, 28, is facing 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of engaging in a terrorist act. The trial, estimated to take six weeks, will go ahead on 4 May, 2020.
Continue reading...Chrystia Freeland said move would set a dangerous precedent while Meng Wanzhou will challenge extradition request
Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, has dismissed a suggestion that Ottawa block the extradition of a top executive from China’s Huawei to the US, saying it would set a dangerous precedent.
Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested on US fraud charges in Vancouver last December, will challenge Washington’s extradition request at hearings that are set to begin next January.
Continue reading...The ninth of June 2019 was a Sunday. Any other Sunday in summer at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, old men and women would do their usual walkabouts and maids would gather, spread out groundsheets, cover them with spicy delicacies and listen to Filipino pop songs. But it was not like any other Sunday, at least not for me. Filled with anxiety, hope and anger, I joined the protest against Hong Kong’s proposed extradition law, alongside three classmates from my evening Spanish class. We were hopeful because perhaps there was a slim chance that our government would listen to us, for once. We were angry because our government had repeatedly lied to us.
Related: What are the Hong Kong protests about?
Continue reading...More than 100 rivers and canals flow beneath Tokyo, but from the ground it’s hard to notice them. Why has the city turned its back on water?
Of the near-endless flow of people over the busy Shibuya scramble crossing every day, few realise that beneath their feet is something else flowing, unseen and unnoticed: the crossing of two ancient rivers, the Uda and the Onden.
Beneath all the concrete and neon, Tokyo is a city built on water. It is the reason the Japanese capital’s 37 million citizens are here at all. From fishing village to seat of political power, canny water management was a key driver of the city’s extraordinary growth.
Continue reading...People urged to continue protests after day of violent clashes with police
Activists in Hong Kong have called for a march on Sunday and a boycott of work and classes on Monday in protest against an extradition bill that could result in suspects being sent to mainland China.
On Thursday, a day after a demonstration by thousands of people was violently cleared, a group of pro-democracy politicians and activists tried to march on the residence of Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, but were stopped by police.
Continue reading...Japan has a 27.5% gender pay gap and ranks just 110th in the world for gender equality – but social change is slowly happening
Last week, after Yumi Ishikawa’s petition against being forced to wear high heels at work went viral around the world, responses ranged from solidarity – with some cheering Ishikawa and denouncing “modern footbinding” – to surprised disappointment. In 2019, in a liberal democracy such as Japan, could the issue of women’s rights still be stuck on stilettos?
But the global spotlight on the hashtag #KuToo (a pun on a word for shoes and a word for pain) may have obscured what’s really happening in Japan. “It’s so trivial,” says one senior female publishing executive, who wished to remain anonymous. After all, on the streets of Tokyo, there is a growing movement for real change for women, not merely more comfortable footwear.
Continue reading...Incense burners found at 2,500-year-old cemetery suggest intentional use of to get high
Scorched wooden incense burners unearthed at an ancient burial ground in the mountains of western China contain the oldest clear evidence of cannabis smoking yet found, archaeologists say.
Residues of high potency cannabis found in the burners, and on charred pebbles placed inside them, suggest that funeral rites at the 2,500-year-old Jirzankal cemetery in the Pamir mountains may have been rather hazy affairs.
Continue reading...The demonstrators are less idealistic than in 2014, and the police respond more forcefully
At the end of pro-democracy protests that paralysed central Hong Kong for 79 days in 2014, demonstrators left behind glitter bombs and stickers with the outline of an umbrella and the message: “We’ll be back.”
More than four years later, they have made good on that promise. Since Tuesday evening, thousands of protesters have poured into the streets, surrounding their government. They blocked roads, built barricades, and occupied many of the same areas that were under siege during the Occupy protests, also known as the “umbrella movement”, a campaign for “genuine democracy” in elections. Like in 2014, they have clashed with riot police and suffered rounds of teargas.
Continue reading...Short tour allowed inside Japanese prison accused of keeping suspects in conditions designed to ‘break’ them for confessions
The forbidding outline of Tokyo detention centre is impossible to miss, even on a dark, wet afternoon in early June. The X-shaped building dominates the skyline of the unfashionable Kosuge neighbourhood in the city’s north-east.
Aside from brief eruptions of media interest when a high-profile killer is led to the gallows, for much of the time there is little public scrutiny of its occupants – more than 1,600 inmates and about 800 staff.
Continue reading...These bartenders, sushi chefs and sweetshop owners are still working in their 80s and 90s, running family businesses and maintaining traditional crafts as the city changes around them
Continue reading...Debate on bill temporarily abandoned after tens of thousands surround Legislative Council building
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Hong Kong as politicians debate controversial extradition legislation
An extraordinary image from Hong Kong of police officers using a water cannon on a single protester.
Police officers use a water canon on a lone protestor near the government headquarters in Hong Kong
@AntAFP pic.twitter.com/jFxKZhSVx8
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the protests in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered as politicians debate controversial extradition legislation.
Early on Wednesday, major roads were blocked by masses of protesters, who began systematically barricades set up by police near the legislative council building and chanting “retract, retract!” Demonstrators are protesting laws that critics fear would let China spirit its critics across the border.
#LIVE: Police earlier unfurled an orange flag with the words "disperse or we fire" on Tim Mei Avenue, which briefly heightened tension with protesters https://t.co/fpKl8rH1bn #extraditionbill pic.twitter.com/aBRHklS890
Continue reading...Major roads blocked and citywide shutdown expected on Wednesday as hundreds of businesses call for a boycott
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Hong Kong, blocking major roads and sporadically clashing with police as politicians prepared to debate extradition legislation that critics fear would let China spirit its critics across the border.
Protesters gathered around the legislative council building, dismantling and pushing down barricades set up by police and chanting “retract, retract!” Large numbers of riot police have been deployed, using pepper spray on protesters and holding up signs warning they were prepared to use force on the crowds.
Continue reading...Activists accuse censors of ‘selective morality’ in nation where transgender women are widely accepted
The banning of Rocketman, a biographic film about the life of musician Elton John, in Samoa has prompted criticism by human rights activists of “selective morality” in a country where transgender women are widely accepted.
The public found out about the ban through the cancellation of a screening by the only theatre in the country, Apollo Cinemas Samoa, on Monday.
Continue reading...Xデーと呼ばれる日－世界で最も過密な都市の直下で大地震が起きれば、第二次世界大戦以来の甚大な被害が予想される。先端技術は東京を救えるか。
東京都港区。毎日午後5時になると、区内のスピーカーから童謡「夕焼け小焼け」のやさしいメロディーが鳴り渡る。人口3700万人を抱えるこの巨大都市では学校や公園など至る所にこうしたスピーカーが設置され、その数は数百台にものぼる。
毎日鳴るこのメロディーには、夜の訪れを知らせる以上の意味がある。人類史上最悪となりうる自然災害から東京都民を守るためのシステムをテストしているのだ。その災害とは、地球上最も過密な都市を直撃する地震だ。
Continue reading...They call it X Day – a major earthquake striking the heart of the world’s most populous city in the most calamitous event since the second world war. Can hi-tech solutions save Tokyo?
Every day, at 5pm, the gentle melody of the children’s song Yuyake Koyake chimes across the Minato area of Tokyo from a loudspeaker – one of hundreds dotted across schools and parks throughout this megacity of 37 million people.
The daily jingle does more than signify the arrival of evening. It is a test for the system that is designed to save Tokyoites from what would be one of the worst natural disasters in recorded human history: an earthquake striking the centre of the most populous city on Earth.
Continue reading...Infectious disease, pollution and water poisoning among suspected causes of deaths
It was in May that the mysterious illness first took hold.
In their isolated rainforest home in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, members of the Batek tribe, the country’s last indigenous nomadic community, began experiencing a fever and breathing difficulties. Then, one by one, they started dying.
Continue reading...Pacific nation’s censor says homosexual activity depicted on screen violates its laws
The Pacific nation of Samoa has banned the Elton John biopic Rocketman because of its depictions of homosexuality.
About 97% of people in Samoa identify as Christian, and the society is generally considered conservative and traditional. Under Samoa’s 2013 Crimes Act, sodomy is deemed an offence punishable by up to seven years in prison, even if both parties consent.
Continue reading...Had the creators of the underground skyscraper had their way, the Japanese capital might have looked very different indeed
Protected by cylindrical walls of reinforced concrete, the steel and glass “depthscrapers” extend hundreds of metres underground. Only a single floor of each inverted 35-storey skyscraper is visible at ground level.
Giant mirrors mounted directly above the central wells reflect sunlight to the apartments below. Prismatic glass ensures even light throughout the day, while fresh, conditioned air is pumped down from the surface.
Continue reading...Humane killing practices are virtually unknown in the majority of Thailand’s abattoirs, say campaigners, with millions of pigs dying in pain
All photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals
Warning: this article includes some graphic images that some readers may find distressing
Photos of shirtless workers clubbing pigs with bats in a Thai slaughterhouse have prompted campaigners to call for wider training and monitoring of humane welfare practices.
Undercover images taken in the central Thailand abattoir and shared with the Guardian also shows workers stunning the animals on their eyes with what appear to be homemade stunning machines, contrary to equipment recommendations.
Continue reading...