Category Archives: Asia Pacific

‘Chaos’ in New Zealand as sea lion breeding season overlaps with summer holidays

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Animals have been popping up on golf courses and surfing contests in Dunedin as they reestablish a foothold on the south island

A growing population of sea lions in the New Zealand city of Dunedin is provoking “overlapping chaos” as their breeding season coincides with residents enjoying peak summer weather.

Two sea lions gave birth on a golf course, another swam alongside competitors in a surfing contest. Others have been spotted crossing roads as Dunedin’s sea lion “silly season”, which runs from mid-December to mid-January, is in full swing.

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Japan prosecutors make first arrest in financial scandal engulfing ruling party

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Tokyo district public prosecutors’ office says it has arrested Yoshitaka Ikeda, a former vice-education minister

Prosecutors in Japan have made their first arrest in a financial scandal that has engulfed the country’s ruling party and sparked speculation about the future of the prime minister, Fumio Kishida.

The Tokyo district public prosecutors’ office said on Sunday it had arrested Yoshitaka Ikeda, a former vice-education minister, who is suspected of failing to report cash he received from fundraising events organised through his faction in Kishida’s Liberal Democratic party [LDP].

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Snookered by China? Masters tournament owner plots Asia expansion

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World Snooker and PDC World Darts owner Matchroom weighs up India and south-east Asia amid feared overreliance on China

The owner of the Masters snooker tournament is plotting an expansion trail across Asia after the pandemic exposed the company’s reliance on China, its chair has revealed.

Steve Dawson, the chief executive of World Snooker Ltd, told the Guardian it was considering staging tournaments in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand, after its business was held back by three years of Beijing-imposed Covid lockdowns.

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Taiwan braces for ‘big deal’ presidential election as China’s shadow looms

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Corruption and the cost of living have trumped concerns about a belligerent neighbour in close race for the presidency

Deep in the mountains of Hsinchu county in north Taiwan, a few dozen residents of Smangus are holding their daily morning meeting in a weatherboard hut, overlooking the towering peaks nearby.

The remote Indigenous village, home to about 200 Atayal people, is preparing for Saturday’s presidential election. They take it very seriously, running their own polling station since 2008, and discussing candidates with all the residents.

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Woman in 90s pulled alive from rubble five days after Japan earthquake

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Boy, five, among 126 people dead, after boiling water spilled on him during Monday’s 7.6 magnitude quake

A woman in her 90s has been pulled alive from a collapsed house in western Japan, 124 hours after a major earthquake hit the region, killing at least 126 people, toppling buildings and setting off landslides.

The woman in Suzu city, Ishikawa prefecture, survived for more than five days after the 7.6 magnitude quake on Monday. Nationally broadcast news footage showed helmeted rescue workers covering the view of the area with blue plastic, and the woman was not visible.

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Thermo Fisher stops sale of DNA kits in Tibet after activists raised fears of rights abuses

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Campaigners say testing is among methods used to surveil people in the tightly controlled region

The US biotech company Thermo Fisher has halted sales of its DNA identification kits in Tibet, nearly five years after it made a similar commitment about the sale of its products in the neighbouring western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

It decided to stop sales in Tibet after months of complaints from rights groups and investors that the technology may be used in a way that abuses human rights. The company said that the decision was made in the middle of 2023, but it was only revealed to investors late last month.

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Japan earthquake death toll reaches 100 as more survivors pulled from rubble

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Number of missing lowered to 211 as thousands of troops join rescue effort and experts warn of disease risk at evacuation centres

The death toll from a major earthquake in western Japan reached 100 on Saturday as rescue workers fought aftershocks to carefully pull people from the rubble.

Deaths had reached 98 earlier in the day, but two more were reported in Anamizu, while officials in Ishikawa prefecture – the hardest-hit region – held their daily meeting to discuss strategy and damages.

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Weather tracker: Beijing experiences its coldest December since 1951

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Weather observatory records period of more than 300 hours in which temperatures remained below freezing

Beijing experienced its coldest December since records began in 1951, after a cold wave hit much of China. Temperatures fell below -10C, alongside heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions. Northern and north-eastern parts of the country experienced the coldest temperatures, as icy air moved south from the Arctic, with some areas plunging to -40C.

The Beijing weather observatory recorded a period of more than 300 hours in which temperatures remained below freezing, which is the longest for December since records began 72 years ago. The cold snap forced the closure of many schools and businesses in the Chinese capital, owing to travel disruption and the stress from added heating demands. Temperatures have risen into the new year but Beijing remains cold, with maximum temperatures reaching just above freezing so far.

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Wristwatch reflection led to ‘miracle’ sea rescue 23 hours after man went overboard

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Will Fransen was on a solo fishing trip south of Auckland in New Zealand when he was yanked into the water after hooking a big fish

A New Zealand man who survived more than 23 hours in cold waters and an encounter with a shark has been rescued after fishers spotted the reflection from his watch.

Will Fransen, 61, had set off on a solo fishing trip from Whangamatā on the Coromandel Peninsula, south of Auckland, on 2 January, but was yanked overboard after hooking what he suspected was a marlin.

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Kim Ju-ae likely heir to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, says South’s spy agency

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Intense speculation over future role for Kim Jong-un’s daughter, who is reportedly 10, comes as North Korea fires shells near South Korean islands

The young daughter of Kim Jong-un is seen as her father’s heir apparent, South Korea’s spy agency has said for the first time, after speculation that the North Korean ruler is grooming her to become the fourth member of the dynasty to lead the country since its foundation more than seven decades ago.

There has been intense international speculation about Kim Ju-ae, who is reportedly about 10 years old, since she made her first public appearance in November 2022 when she watched a long-range missile test launch with her father.

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Fears Russia using North Korea-supplied ballistic missiles to attack Ukraine

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Washington and Kyiv claim Moscow turning to other states under sanctions to sustain its war effort

Russia has started using ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea to attack Ukraine, Washington and Kyiv have claimed, in an indication that Moscow plans to further expand its arms deals with regimes under sanctions in order to sustain its war effort.

Washington also alleged Russia was in talks with Iran to buy short-range ballistic missiles. The US intelligence assessment is that Iranian missiles have not yet arrived in Russia, but that the deal will eventually be done.

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Courtroom drama is Hong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese-language film ever

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Analysts suggest popularity of A Guilty Conscience is down to portrayal of recent abuses in judicial system

Hong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese language film of all time is a courtroom drama exploring themes of power and justice in a city where many feel both have been abused in recent years.

A Guilty Conscience, the directorial debut of the Hong Kong screenwriter Ng Wai-lun, tells the story set in the city of a single mother wrongly accused of murdering her daughter and the legal battle to clear her name.

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Jimmy Lai lawyers file UN appeal saying there is evidence witness was tortured

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Hong Kong media mogul’s team raises concerns over testimony of former democracy activist who was imprisoned in China

The international legal team for the imprisoned media mogul Jimmy Lai, who is on trial for national security offences in Hong Kong, has filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations special rapporteur on torture regarding one of the key prosecution witnesses in Lai’s trial.

Lai’s lawyers say there is “credible evidence” that Andy Li, a 33-year-old former pro-democracy activist, was tortured while in prison in mainland China before he confessed to allegedly conspiring with Lai to collude with foreign forces. That is one of the two national security law offences that Lai has been charged with, along with a colonial-era sedition offence. Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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Japan Airlines pilots in Tokyo plane crash had to be told of fire by cabin crew – report

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Flight attendants needed permission from cockpit to open emergency exits, broadcaster reports

Pilots on a Japan Airlines plane that became engulfed in flames just after all 379 passengers and crew escaped were initially unaware the aircraft was on fire, according to fresh details reported in local media.

The airliner collided with a coast guard plane after landing at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening. All but one of the six people on the smaller aircraft were killed.

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Japan jet crash: passenger plane was cleared to land, say officials

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Smaller plane on runway was not cleared for takeoff, however, say authorities as investigations begin

A passenger jet that collided with a coastguard plane at Haneda airport in Tokyo had been given permission to land, but the smaller plane was not cleared for takeoff, Japanese authorities have said, as police reportedly prepared to investigate whether the crash involved professional negligence.

Five people on the coastguard aircraft died but all 379 passengers and crew escaped to safety down emergency slides minutes before the Japan Airlines Airbus was engulfed in flames on Tuesday.

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Japan earthquake: death toll rises to 62 amid warnings of landslides and aftershocks

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Ishikawa and its Noto peninsula, one of the worst affected areas, has been hit by more than 100 aftershocks

Japanese rescuers were scrambling to search for survivors as authorities warned of landslides and heavy rain after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 62 people.

The 7.5-magnitude quake on Monday that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, sparked a major fire and tore apart roads.

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Ocean Alley musician apologises for shoplifting after New Zealand shop shares CCTV footage

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Lachlan Galbraith says he feels ‘deep regret’ for stealing a drink bottle lid, but the Hunting and Fishing store in Queenstown says embarrassment ‘is punishment enough’

Ocean Alley keyboardist Lachlan Galbraith has publicly apologised after a shop in New Zealand shared CCTV footage of him shoplifting.

Hunting and Fishing Queenstown uploaded footage to Facebook and Instagram showing Galbraith placing a A$17.95 drink bottle lid in his bag on New Year’s Eve. The Australian rock band is currently touring New Zealand and is due to play in Wellington on Wednesday and Whangamatā on Friday.

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Japan: plane collision at Tokyo airport leaves five dead on coastguard aircraft but Japan Airlines passengers evacuate – as it happened

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Six coastguards were on plane, which was delivering earthquake relief supplies, which hit Japan Airlines plane at Haneda airport. This live blog is closed

Roughly 400 people on board a Japan Airlines plane that is now on fire at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport have evacuated, Reuters reports citing NHK.

Here’s what we know about the situation at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

A Japan Airlines plane appears to have struck a Japan Coast Guard plane as it was coming in to land at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.

Japan Coast Guard said it was looking into whether its plane collided with the airline flight.

Footage shows a Japan Airlines plane on fire and surrounded by smoke on the ground, with crews around it trying to extinguish the flames.

It is not yet clear if the coastguard plane had anything to do with rescue efforts for the quake or whether there are casualties.

A spokesperson for the airline said the plane carries more than 300 passengers, Reuters reports. It is unclear where the passengers are at the moment.

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Jimmy Lai pleads not guilty to all charges at Hong Kong national security trial

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Media tycoon and pro-democracy activist is accused of conspiring to commit foreign collusion and publish seditious material

Jimmy Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges at the resumption of his national security trial in Hong Kong.

The media tycoon and pro-democracy activist is facing up to life in prison if found guilty on the charges against him, brought under the 2021 national security law and a colonial-era sedition law.

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China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as top-selling electric car seller

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Build Your Dreams outsells rival in final quarter of 2023 figures for battery-only vehicles

Elon Musk’s Tesla has been overtaken by its Chinese rival, BYD, as the world’s top selling electric carmaker.

BYD, which has been backed by the US investment billionaire Warren Buffett since 2008, has beaten Tesla’s production for a second consecutive year.

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