Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Camera firm distances itself from Tiananmen Square advert

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Leica, whose biggest growth market is China, say short film was not officially sanctioned

Western companies trying to do business in China learned long ago that they must bow, at least in part, to the political demands of an authoritarian state. So when the German camera-maker Leica released an advert featuring perhaps the greatest political taboo in contemporary Chinese history, it looked like an unusually audacious gamble.

In fact the short film referencing the Tiananmen Square crackdown appears to have been an extraordinary – and potentially very expensive – mistake.

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Indonesian elections: Joko Widodo claims re-election victory

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President says he has won a second term, defeating challenger Prabowo Subianto

The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has announced he has won re-election after receiving an estimated 54% of the vote, backtracking on his promise to wait for official results after his challenger made improbable claims of victory.

Widodo, after meeting with parties in his coalition, told reporters the leaders of Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and other countries had congratulated him on securing a second term.

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Malaysia investigates women who discussed their ‘dehijabbing’

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Move by Islamic authorities condemned as attempt to ‘intimidate women activists’

Three women in Malaysia who held an event discussing their decision to stop wearing the hijab are being investigated by Malaysian Islamic authorities.

The event, hosted over the weekend at the Gerakbudaya bookshop in the Petaling Jaya area, was held to mark the launch of Unveiling Choice, a book documenting the author and activist Maryam Lee’s decision to stop wearing the hijab.

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Kim Jong-un to visit Russia to meet Putin for first time

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Summit between North Korean leader and Russian president to take place in late April

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will visit Russia in late April for his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, Moscow has said.

“Following an invitation from Vladimir Putin ... Kim Jong-un will visit Russia in the second half of April,” said the Kremlin in a statement on its website on Thursday.

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Indonesia election: Prabowo claims victory despite early counts showing loss

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Former army general say he is ‘the president of all Indonesians’ but credible surveys put Joko Widodo in the lead

Ex-army general Prabowo Subianto has controversially claimed victory in Indonesia’s presidential election, despite unofficial results from more than half a dozen credible pollsters indicating that incumbent Joko Widodo has comfortably won.

Speaking to supporters and journalists gathered outside his residence in South Jakarta on Wednesday evening, hours after the polls had closed, the fiery former special forces commander delivered a triumphant speech.

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‘Decades of denial’: major report finds New Zealand’s environment is in serious trouble

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Nation known for its natural beauty is under pressure with extinctions, polluted rivers and blighted lakes

A report on the state of New Zealand’s environment has painted a bleak picture of catastrophic biodiversity loss, polluted waterways and the destructive rise of the dairy industry and urban sprawl.

Environment Aotearoa is the first major environmental report in four years, and was compiled using data from Statistics New Zealand and the environment ministry.

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Kim Jong-un oversees first weapons test since failed US-North Korea summit

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Regime’s leader says test of tactical guided weapon would increase the ‘combat power’ of the country

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the testing of a new type of tactical guided weapon on Wednesday, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday.

It is North Korea’s first public weapons test since the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi ended with no agreement in February.

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Indonesia elections: Joko Widodo looks set for comfortable win

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Unofficial ‘quick count’ results show incumbent president nearly nine points ahead

Joko Widodo looks likely to have secured a comfortable win over his rival in Indonesian elections, according to unofficial “quick counts”.

The counts, conducted by several credible polling agencies, show the incumbent president ahead of his political rival, the former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, by almost 9 percentage points.

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Science professor allegedly taught students to make ecstasy

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Tatsunori Iwamura reportedly admitted getting students in his pharmaceutical class at Japanese university to make illegal drug

A Japanese university professor could face up to 10 years in prison after allegedly teaching his students how to produce MDMA to “further their knowledge” of pharmaceuticals, according to reports.

Tatsunori Iwamura, 61, has been likened to Walter White, the fictional chemistry teacher in the cult TV series Breaking Bad who starts manufacturing crystal meth after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.

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North Korea nuclear site shows signs of activity

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Satellite pictures show railcars at Yongbyon site, raising concern radioactive material is being transported

Week-old satellite images show movement at North Korea’s main nuclear site that could be associated with the reprocessing of radioactive material into bomb fuel, a US thinktank has reported.

Any new reprocessing activity would underscore the failure of a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in late February to make progress toward North Korea’s denuclearisation.

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New Zealand suffers egg shortage as farmers scramble to go free-range

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Supermarkets are struggling with supply as the nation’s hen flock decreases and demand for eggs soars

New Zealand is in the grip of an egg shortage as the industry undergoes a massive period of disruption while it transitions to free-range farming.

The shortage has also been caused by an increased appetite for eggs, with New Zealanders consuming 230 eggs per person last year, compared with 200 per person a decade ago.

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Jacinda Ardern and Red Cross lock horns over publication of nurse’s kidnap in Syria

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New Zealand prime minister unhappy that details of Lousia Akavi’s abduction were made public by the aid agency

The revelation that a New Zealand nurse has been detained in Syria for five years has prompted tensions between the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the New Zealand government, with the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, criticising the aid agency for releasing details of the woman’s abduction.

On Monday the New York Times, in conjunction with the ICRC, revealed that New Zealander Louisa Akavi, 63, had been abducted along with two Syrian colleagues on 13 October 2013.

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Game of Thrones: Chinese fans angry as censorship results in ‘castrated’ debut

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Full six minutes cut from premiere show of final season that was streamed online

While Game of Thrones fans worldwide were watching the premiere of the latest season on Monday, Chinese fans were disappointed by a censored version that streamed online in the country.

The fantasy epic on HBO is famed for its explicit content and bloody battle scenes, both known to draw the ire of China’s censors.

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One of last four giant softshell turtles dies in Chinese zoo

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Death of Yangtze giant softshell turtle came a day after artificial insemination attempt

The world’s rarest turtle has moved closer to extinction after a female died in a Chinese zoo, leaving just three known members of the species.

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle, believed to be more than 90 years old, died in Suzhou zoo on Saturday, according to the Suzhou Daily.

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Working nine to nine: Chinese tech employees push back against very long hours

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Staff at Alibaba, Huawei and other well-known companies have shared evidence of unpaid compulsory overtime

Chinese tech employees have pushed back against a wave of protest over the industry’s notoriously long hours, known as the “996” schedule of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

For months, former and current employees of some of the country’s most well-known companies had been posting evidence of unpaid, often compulsory or heavily encouraged overtime on the code-sharing platform Github.

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Fukushima: removal of nuclear fuel rods from damaged reactor building begins

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Workers begin to empty storage pool – but more critical removal of melted fuel from reactors themselves will be more challenging

Workers at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have begun removing fuel rods from a storage pool near one of the three reactors that suffered meltdowns eight years ago.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said on Monday that work had begun to remove the first of 566 used and unused fuel assemblies in reactor building No 3.

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Gordon Ramsay defends new restaurant in cultural appropriation row

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Restaurateur’s response criticised as being dismissive of Asian critic’s Lucky Cat review

Gordon Ramsay has hit back against accusations of cultural appropriation at his new “authentic Asian” restaurant after an east Asian food writer described it as “a real life Ramsay kitchen nightmare”.

In a review of a preview event for Lucky Cat this week, the food writer Angela Hui said that she was “the only east Asian person in a room full of 30-40 journalists and chefs”.

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Sultan of Brunei, who passed anti-LGBT laws, owns slew of luxury UK properties

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Hassanal Bolkiah, who believes gay people should be stoned to death, is assisted by leading City auditing firms

The architect of new laws mandating the stoning to death of gay people in Brunei has billions of pounds of property wealth in the UK, shares in a leading tech fund and gets assistance from City auditing firms, a Guardian analysis has found.

Hassanal Bolkiah, the sultan of Brunei, owns a slew of properties in the super-rich enclaves of Kensington and Ascot, including luxury hotels and polo parks. One property alone could be worth an estimated £500m in rent each year.

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