Tropical Storm Usagi is days away from making landfall, after Typhoon Toraji, Severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-rey
The Philippines issued new weather warnings on Tuesday as the fifth major storm in three weeks bore down on the archipelago, days after thousands were evacuated ahead of Typhoon Toraji.
Now a weakened tropical storm, Toraji blew out to sea overnight after causing relatively limited damage and no reported deaths.
Continue reading...Historic apology by PM Christopher Luxon comes after landmark report that exposed decades of abuse in state and faith-based care institutions
New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon has formally apologised to the more than 200,000 children and adults who suffered “horrific” and “heartbreaking” abuse and neglect while in state and faith-based institutions.
The historic apology follows a harrowing landmark report, released in July, which laid bare the scale of abuse that occurred across care institutions from the 1950s onwards. It was the most complex royal commission inquiry the country has held. The judge who chaired the inquiry, Coral Shaw, described the abuse as a “national disgrace and shame”.
Continue reading...Ishiba’s governing coalition lost majority and needs to find new partner or get consent from opposition to enact policy
Japan’s parliament re-elected the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, on Monday after his governing coalition suffered the worst election loss in more than a decade.
Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) and its junior partner, Komeito, together lost their majority in the 465-seat lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-house parliament, in the 27 October election amid voter outrage over financial misconduct by his party and its lukewarm response.
Continue reading...Seoul’s military says several vessels and dozens of civilian planes disrupted, a week after Pyongyang fired what it called its most powerful solid-fuel ICBM missile
North Korea staged GPS jamming attacks on Friday and Saturday, Seoul’s military said – an operation that was affecting several ships and dozens of civilian aircraft in South Korea.
The jamming allegations come about a week after the North test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel ICBM missile, its first such launch since being accused of sending soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.
Continue reading...Cash stops short of hoped-for ‘bazooka option’, with critics calling it ‘an accounting exercise’ that will not bolster growth
China has announced 10tn yuan in debt support for local governments and other economic measures, but stopped short of the “bazooka” stimulus package that many analysts had expected.
The fiscal package included raising debt ceilings for local governments by 6tn yuan (£646bn) over three years, so they could replace hidden debt, which authorities said stood at 14.3tn yuan by the end of 2023.
Continue reading...Former ambassador to US says president-elect’s vow to slap up to 60% tariffs on imports from China would have knock-on effects on Australian economy
Donald Trump’s threats of hefty tariffs on imports – especially from China – pose a “clear and present danger” to Australia that must be taken seriously, according to a former Australian ambassador to Washington, Arthur Sinodinos.
Speaking to Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast, the former Liberal senator and adviser to prime minister John Howard, who was ambassador through Trump’s final year in the White House, warned that the US president-elect’s talk of slapping tariffs of 10-20% on foreign goods and as much as 60% on goods from China cannot be dismissed as bluff.
Continue reading...Country’s foreign minister says UN climate summits have produced ‘no results’ as Pacific nation takes the rare step of withdrawing from upcoming Cop29
Papua New Guinea’s decision to pull out of an upcoming UN global climate summit due to frustration over “empty promises and inaction” has prompted concern from climate advocates, who fear the move will isolate the Pacific nation and put vital funding at risk.
Prime minister James Marape announced in August the country would not attend Cop29 in “protest at the big nations” for a lack of “quick support to victims of climate change”. Then last week, foreign affairs minister Justin Tckatchenko, confirmed Papua New Guinea would withdraw from high-level talks at the summit, which begins on 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, describing it as “a total waste of time”.
Continue reading...The historical series, Time in the Northwest, chronicles the life of Xi Zhongxun from peasant roots to Communist revolutionary in China
Xi Jinping’s father is the subject of a rousing new historical drama that premiered on Chinese state television on Tuesday.
Funded by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), Time in the Northwest chronicles the life of Xi Zhongxun, the father of the Chinese president, who was himself a CCP elder and key figure in the party under Chairman Mao Zedong.
Continue reading...Taipei says it is paying close attention to reported request by Elon Musk’s firm
Taiwan’s government says it is paying close attention to reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX asked Taiwanese suppliers to move manufacturing to other countries because of “geopolitical” concerns.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that SpaceX’s request to suppliers in Taiwan’s multibillion-dollar industry appeared to have prompted some to shift locations to Vietnam, Thailand and other places. In response, Taiwan’s economic affairs minister, JW Kuo, said the industry was strong and “should be able to cope”, but that the government was monitoring the situation.
Continue reading...The entry of North Korean troops risks a dangerous escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also puts Beijing in a tight spot
In October 1950, barely a year after the Chinese civil war ended, Mao Zedong sent the first Chinese soldiers to fight in the Korean war. Between 180,000 and 400,000 of Chairman Mao’s troops would die in that conflict, including his own son. But it was important to defend North Korea in that battle, Mao reportedly said, because “without the lips, the teeth are cold”.
That Chinese idiom has been used to described China and North Korea’s close relationship for more than seven decades. China sees North Korea as a strategic security buffer in the region, while North Korea relies on its superpower neighbour for economic, political and military support. But that relationship is now under strain thanks to another war which is drawing Communist-rooted countries into a common battle.
Continue reading...It is hoped ‘innovative’ 24-hour design will also cut carbon emissions, as demand for delivery services soars
Six decades after the bullet train first whisked passengers between Tokyo and Osaka, authorities in Japan are planning to do the same for cargo, with the construction of a “conveyor belt road”.
The automated cargo transport corridor, which will connect the capital with Osaka, 320 miles (515km) away, is seen as part of the solution to soaring demand for delivery services in the world’s fourth-biggest economy.
Continue reading...The widely criticised bill aims to redefine Treaty of Waitangi principles that guide relations between Māori and ruling authorities
A controversial bill that seeks to radically change how New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the Crown is interpreted in modern times will be introduced to parliament on Thursday, nearly two weeks ahead of its initial schedule.
The Treaty of Waitangi is considered New Zealand’s founding document and is instrumental in upholding Māori rights. The bill will be tabled in parliament by the libertarian Act party, a minor partner in New Zealand’s coalition government, which has regularly called for an end to “division by race”.
Continue reading...Pharmaceutical’s weight loss pill described as ‘underwhelming’, also piling pressure on share price
AstraZeneca shares tumbled on Tuesday wiping £14bn off the value of Britain’s biggest drug maker, after a report that dozens of senior executives at its China unit could be implicated in an insurance fraud case in the country’s pharmaceutical sector.
Also putting pressure on the share price, early data on AstraZeneca’s experimental weight loss pill published on Monday was described as “somewhat underwhelming” by analysts at Deutsche Bank, who reiterated their “sell” rating on the stock.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un says his army is the ‘strongest in the world’ but they are vulnerable to illness and none have seen combat before
Depending on whom you ask, they are the boost that Russian forces need to make a significant breakthrough in Ukraine, or they are simple cannon fodder, destined for repatriation in body bags.
After weeks of speculation, Nato and the Pentagon have confirmed that about 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, with most massing near Ukraine’s border in Kursk, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to repel a Ukrainian incursion.
Continue reading...Exclusive: UK rebuild of Beijing embassy held up as Angela Rayner faces fraught decision on Royal Mint Court site
China is blocking requests to rebuild the British embassy in Beijing while the fate of its controversial mega-embassy in east London is being decided, the Guardian can disclose.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, faces a politically fraught decision over whether to approve plans for a new Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.
Continue reading...Reports of vomit streaming down windows as more than 100 University of Canterbury students fall ill, with cause of stomach bug being investigated
A mass outbreak of suspected food poisoning has caused “carnage” across two university halls in New Zealand, with reports of early morning queues for toilets, vomit dripping down building windows and students abandoning exams to dash to the loo.
More than 100 students reported being struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea at two University of Canterbury student residences on Sunday night, the university confirmed on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Polls showing downward trend in kissing indicates a move away from ‘real physical sexual activity’ that could affect country’s birthrate, experts say
Just one in five of boys at senior high school in Japan have had their first kiss, according to the Japanese Association for Sex Education – the lowest figure since the organisation conducted its first survey of sexual behaviour among young people in 1974.
In its latest poll, which covers the 2023 academic year, the association found that girls in the same age group were similarly cautious, with 27.5% saying they had experienced their first kiss, compared with 22.8% among boys – down 13.6 percentage points and 11.1 points since 2017.
Continue reading...Pyongyang’s envoy to the United Nations says buildup is to counter threat from ‘hostile nuclear weapons states’
North Korea’s UN envoy has said Pyongyang will accelerate a buildup of its nuclear weapons programme just days after it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time this year at a moment of rising tensions with the west.
Kim Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, said during a security council meeting on Monday that Pyongyang would accelerate the programme to “counter any threat presented by hostile nuclear weapons states”.
Continue reading...Homes and a convent burn down as Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on island of Flores spews ash into the air
At least 10 people have died amid a series of volcanic eruptions on the Indonesian island of Flores, the country’s national disaster management has said.
The eruption at Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Monday night spewed thick brownish ash as high as 2km (1.24 miles) into the air and on to several villages, burning down houses including a convent of Catholic nuns, said Firman Yosef, an official at the Lewotobi Laki-Laki monitoring post.
Continue reading...Director of Save the Green Planet, which is getting US remake, says film industry suffering amid rise of streaming
When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema.
But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho’s international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.
The London Korean film festival takes place at BFI Southbank, Ciné Lumière and Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) 1-13 November. Echoes In Time: Korean Films of The Golden Age and New Cinema is at BFI Southbank until 31 December
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