Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Gunmen kill seven with more than a dozen missing after Papua New Guinea bus shooting

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Police say it is unclear if 17 missing passengers are still alive or wounded, and may be hiding in bushes or sheltering with neighbouring clans

At least seven people were killed and more than a dozen remain missing after gunmen ambushed a public bus and shot passengers in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province.

The shooting took place in Enga’s Lagaip district on Tuesday afternoon. More than 20 passengers were on the bus when men armed with high-powered weapons “set up an ambush and fired shots indiscriminately” into the vehicle, highland western end assistant police commissioner Joseph Tondop said in a statement on Wednesday.

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South Korea mulls aiding Ukraine amid reports North Korea to assist Russia

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Seoul signals its most proactive position towards arming Ukraine to date

South Korea is considering directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as evidence increases that North Korean soldiers are preparing to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine.

South Korea’s spy agency (NIS) said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia’s far east for training and acclimatising at local military bases for future combat alongside Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.

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Uyghur activist accuses Labour of failing to stand up to China

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Rahima Mahmut, in exile in the UK, ‘disappointed’ at failure to describe Beijing’s crackdown on minority as genocide

A leading Uyghur activist has accused the Labour government of “falling behind” its allies in failing to stand up to China, after ministers backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of the country’s treatment of the minority group as genocide.

Speaking after David Lammy’s first visit to China as UK foreign secretary, the human rights activist Rahima Mahmut, who has lived in exile in the UK since 2000, said she had hoped there would be a shift in UK policy once the party came into power, including following the US in declaring a continuing genocide in Xinjiang.

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Son of Singapore founder says ‘campaign of persecution’ forced him to seek asylum in UK

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Exclusive: Lee Hsien Yang says Singapore is no ‘paradise’ after fleeing authoritarian regime that his older brother inherited and still holds sway over through their revered father’s legacy

A senior member of the family that has dominated Singapore since independence has been granted asylum in the UK after fleeing what he says was a campaign of persecution.

In an exclusive interview, Lee Hsien Yang told the Guardian the authoritarian regime founded by his father turned on him as he endorsed the opposition following a family rift.

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North Korean arms more significant than troops in Russia’s war against Ukraine

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Intelligence builds that members of Pyongyang’s special forces are in Russia preparing for combat as munitions are also shipped

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, got to the point in his presidential address last night: “Another state,” he said, was “joining the war against Ukraine”. He was referring to the growing intelligence that shows elite soldiers from North Korea are in Russia preparing to join what has become a fight that, in effect, extends all the way across Asia.

The effect will be greater than the numbers believed to be involved. On Friday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that 1,500 members of Pyongyang’s special forces had crossed the border to Vladivostok in Russia’s far east to begin training and some degree of participation in the war in Ukraine.

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South Korea summons Russian envoy over North Korean troop deployment

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Seoul demands immediate withdrawal of elite soldiers reportedly helping Russia in its war against Ukraine

South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul to protest “in the strongest terms” about the reported dispatch of thousands of North Korean troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The first vice-foreign minister, Kim Hong-kyun, told the Russian envoy, Georgy Zinoviev, that the participation of North Korean troops in the war violated UN resolutions and demanded their immediate withdrawal, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

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New Zealand airport causes stir with sign capping goodbye cuddles to 3 minutes

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Dunedin airport boss says the move is designed to keep traffic flowing in drop-off zones and enable ‘others to have hugs’

Hugging your loved ones goodbye could land you in trouble at a New Zealand airport should your embrace linger too long.

The international airport in Dunedin, a city in the South Island, has introduced a three minute cap on cuddles, as part of a broader effort to improve safety and keep traffic flowing at its drop-off zone.

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‘You are next’: online posts show Islamic State interest in attacks on US ahead of election

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Internet chatter and Oklahoma arrest of alleged would-be IS attacker indicate terror group’s planning

After the FBI arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma planning an election day shooting on behalf of the Islamic State, the terrorist organization re-entered what has become one of the most chaotic news cycles leading up to a November vote.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City admitted to investigators he and a co-conspirator expected to die as IS martyrs as they opened fire on crowds on election day, according to charging documents.

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K-pop, K-movies, a Nobel prize … and now K-poetry: book of wise words adds to Korea’s cultural glory

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After Han Kang’s Nobel award and South Korean cinema hits, Penguin publishes new English edition of maxims by Lee Seong-bok in wake of US success

A collection of wise maxims written by a 72-year old poet, calmly setting out illuminating advice to other poets, is the latest and perhaps most unlikely book to benefit from a surge in demand for South Korean literature.

“Kick against words like you would kick back on a swing. You’ve got to feel as if the soles of your feet are touching the sky,” suggests Lee Seong-bok in his hit title Indeterminate Inflorescence.

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David Lammy raises human rights and Ukraine in Beijing talks

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Foreign secretary discussed China’s treatment of Uyghurs and support of Russia as well as ‘areas of cooperation’

David Lammy pressed his Chinese counterpart on human rights concerns and China’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during talks in Beijing, the Foreign Office has said.

The foreign secretary had been under pressure to take a tough line on a range of human rights issues with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, when the pair met on Friday during Lammy’s first visit to China since taking office.

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‘They refused to let me go’: Japanese workers turn to resignation agencies to quit jobs

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One in six workers has engaged a firm to hand in notice for them, as younger workers reject traditional work ethic

Mari was just two months into her new job when she decided she had had enough. The position at an online bank in Tokyo, found through a staffing agency, had looked like a perfect fit for the 25-year-old, a member of Japan’s legions of temporary workers.

But she quickly became despondent. “On my first day they gave me a thick manual to read, and when I went to my boss with questions he said: ‘What the hell are you asking me that for?’”

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North Korean troops have arrived in Russia to fight Ukraine, says Seoul

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Russian navy ships reportedly transferred 1,500 forces to Vladivostok, where they are being trained

South Korea’s intelligence agency said on Friday that North Korea had dispatched troops to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine, a development that could intensify the standoff between North Korea and the west.

In a statement on its website, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Russian navy ships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the port city of Vladivostok between 8 and 13 October who were now undergoing training.

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Philippines vice-president: I’ll dig up president’s father and throw him in sea

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Sara Duterte makes threat against remains of Ferdinand Marcos’s dictator father in searing verbal attack

The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has threatened to dig up the remains of President Ferdinand Marcos’s dictator father and throw them into the sea, launching a scathing attack on her rival.

Duterte was once allied with Marcos Jr, and ran on a joint ticket with him in the 2022 election, winning a landslide victory. However, she resigned from the cabinet in June and the two powerful dynasties are now engaged in a bitter struggle for power before next year’s midterm elections, with both also preparing for presidential polls in 2028.

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Body of ‘hero’ Australian found two days after saving German tourist from drowning in Bali

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Witnesses said Craig Laidley had almost reached safety when a wave dragged the 56-year-old back into heavy seas

Friends and family of Australian man Craig Laidley have paid tribute to a “hero” who drowned saving someone he didn’t know.

His body was found in Bali on Friday, two days after he was swept out to sea while assisting a struggling swimmer.

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China posts slowest economic growth in 18 months as optimism fades over stimulus

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Blistering sharemarket rally of recent weeks recedes as expectations cool towards long-awaited ‘bazooka stimulus’ for ailing property sector

China posted its slowest growth in a year and a half on Friday, as Beijing struggles to steady an economy shaken by sluggish consumer spending and persistent property sector woes.

Officials have in recent weeks unveiled a string of measures to reignite the world’s number-two economy, with an eye to achieving its official annual growth target of 5%.

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Labour backtracks on push for genocide ruling on China’s treatment of Uyghurs

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Exclusive: Party drops plan for formal recognition laid out last year by David Lammy, who will visit Beijing on Friday

Labour has backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide in the run-up to David Lammy’s trip to the country this weekend.

The foreign secretary is expected to arrive in Beijing on Friday for high-level meetings before travelling to Shanghai on Saturday.

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Duterte drug war back in ICC spotlight after parliamentary committee hears claims his office paid police $17,000 to kill suspects

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Accusation against former Philippines president increases pressure on successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr to allow access to international criminal court

A Philippines former police colonel has testified that Rodrigo Duterte’s office offered police up to $17,000 to kill suspects as part of his “war on drugs”, sparking calls for the evidence to be referred to the international criminal court.

Royina Garma, a former police colonel who had close ties to Duterte, gave the most damning evidence yet against the former president, when she told a parliamentary committee last week he had called her in May 2016, asking her to find a police officer capable of implementing a nationwide “war on drugs”.

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Louis Vuitton owner LVMH reports surprise sales drop amid China slowdown

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Shares in LVMH, which also owns Dior, Tiffany and Moët & Chandon, fell by as much as 7%, briefly hitting two-year low

Shares in luxury goods brands slumped after Louis Vuitton’s LVMH reported an unexpected fall in third-quarter sales amid China’s economic slowdown.

Shares in LVMH, which also owns Dior, Tiffany and Moët & Chandon, fell by as much as 7% in early trading, briefly hitting a two-year low, before regaining slightly, after it warned of an “uncertain economic and geopolitical environment”,with falling sales in Asia.

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David Lammy urged to raise human rights concerns on China trip

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Exclusive: Group of UK MPs says foreign secretary must ‘engage with China as it really is’ amid rapprochement drive

David Lammy must “engage with China as it really is under the leadership of Xi Jinping” and raise human rights concerns during his trip to the country, UK parliamentarians who have been hit with sanctions by Beijing have said.

The foreign secretary is expected to hold high-level meetings in China this week. The visit forms part of an effort by Labour to improve relations with China after they deteriorated under successive Conservative governments. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, plans to travel to the country next year and restart high-level economic dialogue.

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Taiwan to have satellite internet service as protection in case of Chinese attack

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Coverage with UK-European provider will be in place by end of month, says island’s main telecoms company

Taiwan is expected to have access to low earth orbit satellite internet service by the end of the month, a step the government says is crucial in case a Chinese attack cripples the island’s communications.

The forthcoming service is via a contract between Taiwan’s main telecoms company, Chunghwa, and a UK-European company, Eutelsat OneWeb, signed last year, and marks a new milestone in Taiwan’s efforts to address technological vulnerabilities, particularly its internet access, after attempts to get access to Elon Musk’s Starlink service collapsed.

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