As police secure the sites of shootings in Christchurch, residents leave tributes to victims, including the 49 killed
Continue reading...Category Archives: Asia Pacific
Jacinda Ardern says Christchurch mosque shootings were terrorist attack – video
New Zealand's prime minister has issued 'the strongest possible condemnation of the ideology of the people who did this' after mass shootings at two mosques. The country's terrorism threat level has been raised and flights in and out of Christchurch were cancelled as intelligence agencies worked to secure the city
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: China shows how political will can take on air pollution
Sulphur dioxide in Beijing was reduced by 70% and particle pollution by 36% in just four years
It’s been a while since we saw images of smog-obscured Beijing landmarks in the news. A United Nations report explains this.
In four years, sulphur dioxide in the city was reduced by 70% and particle pollution by 36% by tackling the problem at source. Initially, old coal-powered industry and power stations were fitted with air pollution abatement systems before being replaced by cleaner facilities built to run on natural gas.
Continue reading...Cao Shunli died five years ago. She stood up to China on human rights, and so must we | Frances Eve
Cao died after making claims of torture and detention. The world must remember her spirit in facing up to Beijing
Five years ago today, Chinese activist Cao Shunli died in a Beijing hospital surrounded by police.
Her ordeal began in September 2013, when she tried to fly to Geneva to attend a session of the UN human rights council (UNHRC). Cao had submitted information on extralegal detention and torture in China to the UN and expressed the hope that if she could get even “50 or 100 words” into a UN report, “many of our problems could start to get addressed”.
Continue reading...New Zealand in shock after climate change minister attacked in park
PM Jacinda Ardern says access to politicians could be in doubt after James Shaw was assaulted on his way to Parliament House
The New Zealand climate change minister has been attacked while walking to Parliament House, the first physical assault on a politician in the country in more than 10 years.
James Shaw, who is also the joint leader of the Greens party, was outside the Botanic Gardens in the capital Wellington at 7.30am on Thursday when he was assaulted by an unknown man.
Continue reading...China is ‘in a league of its own’ on human rights violations, Pompeo says
Pompeo singled out Beijing for detaining members of Muslim minority groups as he unveiled annual human rights report
China is “in a league of its own” when it comes to human rights violations, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said on Wednesday as he unveiled the state department’s annual report on human rights around the world.
Related: 'If you enter a camp, you never come out': inside China's war on Islam
Continue reading...The Monlam great prayer festival in Tibet – a photo essay
Monlam, or the great prayer festival, is the most important prayer event for many Tibetans. It was banned during the Cultural Revolution in China but is now celebrated in many areas.
Considered the most important event for Tibetan Buddhists, the Monlam great prayer festival starts three days after the lunar new year in western China’s ethnic Tibetan region and is held for almost two weeks. During Monlam, millions of pilgrims travel to monasteries to pray for good fortune in the new year and make offerings to their late relatives.
Continue reading...‘Social disaster’: South Korea brings in emergency laws to tackle dust pollution
Air quality has become a key political issue after record pollution levels hit the country last week
South Korea has passed emergency measures to tackle the “social disaster” being unleashed by air pollution, after record levels of fine dust blanketed most of the country in recent weeks.
The national assembly passed a series of bills on Wednesday giving authorities access to emergency funds for measures that include the mandatory installation of high-capacity air purifiers in classrooms and encouraging sales of liquified petroleum gas vehicles, which produce lower emissions than those that run on petrol and diesel.
Continue reading...Xinjiang detention camps may be phased out, governor suggests
Top Uighur official says there will be fewer and fewer students at centres thought to house a million people
Top officials in Xinjiang have hinted that the system of internment centres used to hold a million Muslim minorities may one day be phased out.
Researchers say huge numbers of people, mostly Uighurs, are being held in detention and re-education camps in the far western territory as part of a huge security crackdown in the name of counter terrorism efforts.
Continue reading...K-pop scandal widens as singer admits sharing secretly filmed sex videos
Jung Joon-young apologises and says he will retire, one day after singer Seungri was charged with running a prostitution ring
A sex scandal swirling around South Korea’s K-pop industry has deepened after a singer and TV celebrity admitted he had secretly filmed himself having sex with women and sharing the footage online without their consent.
Jung Joon-young, who rose to fame after coming second in a TV talent show, said he would retire from show business and admitted he had shared footage of several women in a group chatroom.
Continue reading...‘A good day’: New Zealand adds area half the size of Auckland to national park
Environmentalists ‘stoked’ by expansion they say will protect blue duck, native kaka bird, bats and giant land snails
A national park in New Zealand has been expanded by 64,000 hectares – the largest gain for a national park in the country’s history.
Kahurangi national park is situated in the north-west corner of New Zealand’s South Island, and is already the second-largest national park in the country.
Continue reading...‘K-pop’s Great Gatsby’: Seungri charged over prostitution ring
Big Bang singer Seungri retires to clear his name, saying ‘scandal is too big’
Seungri’s taste for the high life earned him the nickname the Great Gatsby of Korea. But now the singer, a member of one of South Korea’s biggest K-pop bands, is facing charges that he procured prostitutes for businessmen in some of Seoul’s most fashionable nightclubs.
The youngest member of Big Bang has announced he will retire to fight the charges and to spare his management agency, YG Entertainment, and fellow band members further embarrassment, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The decision came after news of the scandal spread on social media on Monday.
Continue reading...Andrew Robb blames Turnbull and Joyce for ‘toxic’ relationship with China
Former trade minister delivers scathing criticism of Coalition colleagues for souring relations
The former trade minister Andrew Robb, who took an $880,000 job with a Chinese company as soon as he left parliament, has blasted his former party room colleagues and Australia’s security agencies for creating a “toxic” relationship with China.
Robb confirmed he had left Landbridge, which holds the lease over the Darwin port, late last year, after a health precinct project he had been working on was rejected by Beijing.
Continue reading...Fukushima grapples with toxic soil that no one wants
Eight years after the disaster, not a single location will take the millions of cubic metres of radioactive soil that remain
Not even the icy wind blowing in from the coast seems to bother the men in protective masks, helmets and gloves, playing their part in the world’s biggest nuclear cleanup.
Related: Eight years after Fukushima, what has made evacuees come home?
Continue reading...Kazakh police arrest activist who campaigned for human rights in Xinjiang
Serikjan Bilash, who has fought for victims of China’s Muslim internment camps, detained in Almaty
Kazakh police have arrested an activist who has campaigned for victims of China’s internment camps in Xinjiang, sealing his group’s office and taking its computers.
Serikjan Bilash, who has led a high-profile awareness drive centred on ethnic Kazakh victims of China’s crackdown in the region, was arrested in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty and flown to the capital Astana, his partner told AFP.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-nam murder: suspect Siti Aisyah released after charge dropped
Indonesian woman had been accused of killing estranged brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Malaysia in 2017
The case against Siti Aisyah, one of two women who were charged with the murder of the estranged brother of Kim Jong-un, has been dropped by a court in Malaysia.
She was released from custody after the decision in Kuala Lumpur on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Ethiopian Airlines crash: China grounds Boeing 737 Max 8 jets in wake of disaster
Chinese aviation regulator suspends operation of aircraft after second tragedy involving the new plane in four months
China’s aviation authorities have ordered the country’s airlines to ground their Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after a crash in Ethiopia killed 157 people.
The disaster was the second involving the new aircraft in the last four months. In October, a Lion Air plane crashed into the sea off the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, killing all 189 onboard.
Continue reading...North Koreans go to polls in ‘rubber-stamp’ election
There is one candidate on each ballot for vote held every five years for Supreme People’s Assembly
North Koreans have voted in an election in which there can be only one winner.
Leader Kim Jong-un’s Workers’ party has an iron grip on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea but every five years it holds an election for the rubber-stamp legislature, known as the Supreme People’s Assembly.
Continue reading...Japanese woman, 116, named world’s oldest living person
Kane Tanaka, born in 1903, recognised by Guinness World Records
A 116-year-old Japanese woman who loves playing the board game Othello has been named the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records.
Kane Tanaka was recognised in a ceremony on Saturday at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka, in Japan’s south-west.
Continue reading...Chinese school under fire for buying tracking bracelets for students
Smart devices will be used to record students’ health data and when they raise their hand
A high school in southern China has come under fire for buying “smart bracelets” to track its students.
Guangdong Guangya High school has purchased 3,500 bracelets that would record students heart rate and physical activity, as well as the number of times a pupil raised his or her hand in class, according to local media reports. The bands have a location function and can be used to pay for items as well as track attendance.
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