Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Moody’s cuts China credit outlook to negative as economy slows

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Rating agency says Beijing may need to bail out local governments as property sector collapses

China’s ability to repay its government borrowing has been downgraded by the credit rating agency Moody’s, which said the ripple effects from a crisis in the property sector would undermine efforts to revive its flagging economy.

Moody’s warned that Beijing would need to bail out local and regional governments and state-owned enterprises that were struggling with rising debts, hampering efforts to boost investment and growth.

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Mount Marapi eruption: 23 people confirmed or presumed dead in Indonesia

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Rescuers find more bodies, after second eruption halted search for missing climbers on Monday

Rescuers searching the hazardous slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano found more bodies among the climbers caught by a surprise eruption two days ago, raising the number of confirmed and presumed dead to 23.

More than 50 climbers were rescued after the initial eruption on Sunday, and 11 others were initially confirmed dead. Another eruption on Monday spewed a new burst of hot ash as high as 800 metres (2,620ft) into the air and temporarily halted search operations.

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‘Charles’ or ‘skin rash’? Māori MPs’ oath of allegiance to king sparks translation debate

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At the opening of parliament, lawmakers for New Zealand’s Māori party used a word for Charles that can also be used to describe skin conditions

Māori party MPs have departed from the traditional oath of allegiance to King Charles III at the opening of New Zealand’s 54th parliament, sparking a debate about whether the Māori word they used to describe him meant “Charles” or “skin rash”.

As part of the formalities to open parliament, MPs must swear allegiance to New Zealand’s head of state, something Te Pāti Māori, a Māori political party, has long protested against. MPs can say the oath in either English or Te reo Māori.

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New Zealand: thousands protest against new government policies that unravel Māori gains

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The new government recently announced it would dial back use of Māori language in government organisations, and scrap Māori Health Authority

Thousands of Māori protesters took to the streets across New Zealand on Tuesday morning, objecting to policies of the new government that Māori say will unravel decades of indigenous progress.

Protesters blocked traffic on key roads and lined streets in towns and cities while calling for the coalition to scrap plans to review the Treaty of Waitangi, the country’s 180-year-old founding document which was signed between the Crown and Māori leaders.

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Australia urged not to rely on ‘drug dealer’s defence’ for gas exports and help wean Japan off fossil fuels

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Diplomats for Climate group says if government wants to use that defence ‘it needs to be the dealer who takes their clients to rehab and supports them off their habit’

The Albanese government should do more to leverage its relationship with Japan – arguably the world’s most important energy partnership – to help its trading partner move away from gas and towards a rapid and ambitious decarbonisation, former diplomats say.

Diplomats for Climate, an organisation supported by more than 100 former Australian officials, says “the future of gas lies in the ground”, but that a ban on new fossil fuel developments – the focus of a growing community campaign backed by scientific evidence – would not cut global emissions unless international demand was reduced.

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US air force Osprey crash wreckage and remains of five crew found off Japan

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Aircraft crashed last week off south-western Japan carrying eight American personnel on training mission

US and Japanese divers have discovered wreckage and remains of five crew members from a US air force Osprey aircraft that crashed last week off south-western Japan, the air force announced on Monday.

The CV-22 Osprey carrying eight American personnel crashed last Wednesday off Yakushima island during a training mission. The body of one victim was recovered and identified earlier.

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China’s Evergrande wins more time to restructure debts

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Hong Kong court gives property developer until 29 January to formulate deal for creditors

The property developer Evergrande has been granted an extension until late January to try to restructure its debts and avoid liquidation in one of the most high-profile cases in China’s long-running property crisis.

Evergrande was once China’s biggest property developer, but a default on offshore debt obligations in 2021 started a lurch from one crisis to another. It has reported debts of more than $300bn (£237bn), much of it to individuals whose properties were never built.

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Mount Marapi eruption: 11 hikers found dead on Indonesian volcano

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Rescuers say dozens of hikers were on the volcano when it erupted on Sunday, with three found alive and at least 12 missing

Indonesian rescuers have found the bodies of 11 climbers after the eruption of the Mount Marapi volcano in West Sumatra.

A rescue official said three people were found alive on the volcano and at least 12 climbers were still missing. Another official put the number of missing at 22.

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Mount Merapi eruption: 11 hikers found dead on Indonesian volcano

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Rescuers say dozens of hikers were on the volcano when it erupted on Sunday, with three found alive and at least 12 missing

Indonesian rescuers have found the bodies of 11 climbers after the eruption of the Mount Merapi volcano in West Sumatra.

A rescue official said three people were found alive on the volcano and at least 12 climbers were still missing. Another official put the number of missing at 22.

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Bear attacks in Japan hit record high as hunger forces some to delay hibernation

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Six people have been killed and more than 200 injured since April, with warnings of more to come during winter

The number of people injured or killed in bear attacks in Japan this year exceeded 200 for the first time, as experts warned of more encounters during the winter, when the animals are supposed to hibernate.

The environment ministry said 212 people were attacked in the eight months from April, including 30 in November alone, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

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Former Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow flees territory for Canada

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Chow was one of nine people arrested in 2020 under the new national security law and says her mental health has suffered

Agnes Chow, a high-profile Hong Kong activist who was jailed over the 2019 pro-democracy protests and charged with foreign collusion, has moved to Canada and says she will probably never return to Hong Kong to meet her bail conditions.

In social media posts on Sunday, Chow said she had moved to Canada to study and was suffering mental health impacts as a result of the pressure and restrictions she was under in Hong Kong, awaiting trial on national security charges.

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Bombing of Catholic mass in southern Philippines leaves four dead

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Police say explosion at Mindanao State University gymnasium in Marawi could be revenge by pro-Islamic State militants

Philippine forces were on high alert after a bomb killed four people and wounded many more during a Catholic mass in a university gymnasium in the south of the country, an attack the authorities called Islamist terrorism.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists,” said the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.”

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Philippines earthquake: woman killed by collapsed wall as fleeing residents return home

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The magnitude 7.5 quake in Mindanao triggered tsunami warnings in Japan and more than 600 aftershocks

Philippine residents were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the country’s south, killing at least one person, with disaster officials reporting minor damage to some infrastructure.

The Saturday night quake shook parts of Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces, triggering coastal evacuations and tsunami alerts in the country and in Japan.

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Colombia joins international alliance calling for treaty to end use of fossil fuels

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Colombian president Gustavo Petro wants treaty to lay out plan to end era of coal, oil and gas

Colombia has formally joined an alliance of nations calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to prevent the “omnicide of planet Earth”, the country’s president announced at Cop28.

At the climate summit in Dubai, Gustavo Petro has said his country would join a group of nations calling for a new body to manage a global transition away from the primary driver of global heating, akin to previous treaties to reduce nuclear weapon arsenals and landmines.

Cop28: Can fossil fuel companies transition to clean energy?
On Tuesday 5 December, 8pm-9.15pm GMT, join Damian Carrington, Christiana Figueres, Tessa Khan and Mike Coffin for a livestreamed discussion on whether fossil fuel companies can transition to clean energy. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live

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South Korea launches first military spy satellite, intensifying space race with Pyongyang

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Seoul’s satellite was launched into orbit on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets

A SpaceX rocket has launched South Korea’s first military spy satellite, intensifying a space race on the peninsula after Pyongyang launched its own first surveillance satellite last week.

Seoul’s reconnaissance satellite, carried by one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, lifted off from the Vandenberg US Space Force Base in California at 10.19am local time on Friday.

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World’s biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor launched in Japan

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Joint project with EU involves more than 500 scientists and engineers and more than 70 companies

The world’s biggest operational experimental nuclear fusion reactor – a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity’s future energy needs – has been inaugurated in Naka, Japan.

Fusion differs from fission, the technique used in nuclear power plants, by fusing two atomic nuclei instead of splitting one.

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Exit from Edinburgh zoo may signal end to era of China’s panda diplomacy

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Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears

As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.

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Fears raised after Hong Kong journalist fails to return from China trip

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Minnie Chan has reportedly been out of contact since travelling to Xiangshan Forum a month ago

Friends and colleagues of a Hong Kong journalist have raised concerns after she failed to return from a defence and security forum in Beijing a month ago.

Minnie Chan, a reporter for the South China Morning Post, has not been in contact since she went to the Xiangshan Forum, Japan’s Kyodo News reported on Thursday. Chan filed several stories from the forum, the most recent of which was published on 2 November.

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Pharrell Williams takes Louis Vuitton to Hong Kong for his second men’s show

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Creative director targets east Asia’s luxury market as his preppy streetwear is given a tropical twist

For his first show as men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton in June, Pharrell Williams closed down the Pont Neuf in Paris, and counted mega-celebrities including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and Rihanna and A$AP Rocky as guests.

His second effort took place in Hong Kong and focused on local stars in the front row. The actors Zhu Yilong and Chow Yun-fat were joined by three members of the Cantopop band Mirror and the rapper Tyson Yoshi. There was also a take on celestial stars, with a light show at the end rendering the Louis Vuitton monogram in twinkling lights across the city’s harbour.

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‘We haven’t slept a wink’: families welcome freed Thai hostages home

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Tears and joy as 17 Thai nationals who were seized in Hamas attacks on Israel land in Bangkok

Pornsawan Pinakalo’s three great aunts would not have missed his return for the world. Kularb Pinakalo’s knees couldn’t quite get her up to the room in Bangkok airport where her nephew was meeting other family members for the first time since being taken hostage in Gaza. But after travelling for four hours by van to the Thai capital, the 63-year-old was ready and waiting for him to emerge in the arrivals hall, alongside 84-year-old Nangnoi Pattataysan and Noi Prakobkan, 82.

“I just want to give him a hug,” Kularb said. She was so overwhelmed that she could hardly think of what to say to him, she added.

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