HONG KONG, Oct 6, 2023 (AFP) – A Hong Kong man was sentenced to jail on Friday after importing “seditious” children’s books that portrayed the city’s democracy supporters as sheep defending their village from wolves. Following massive democracy protests in the Chinese city in 2019, authorities have revived a colonial-era sedition offence to jail dozens of residents, which critics have decried as political suppression. Finance company worker Kurt Leung, 38, was sentenced to four months […]
Asia
Japan climate group urges ban on power company’s ‘CO-2 free’ ads
TOKYO, Oct 6, 2023 (AFP) – A Japanese climate group has filed a petition to stop advertisements by the nation’s biggest power company using the phrases “zero-emissions thermal power” and “CO2-free fire.” Jera, Japan’s largest coal-fired power generation company, plans to use ammonia alongside fossil fuels to generate power at its existing plants and reduce its carbon emissions. But NGO Kiko Network has said the company’s ad campaign fails to mention that the production of […]
Social media giants removed ‘anti-state’ posts in Vietnam: state media
HANOI, Oct 6, 2023 (AFP) – Social media giants YouTube, TikTok and Facebook removed nearly 800 “anti-state” or “false” posts in Vietnam over the course of a month at the request of the communist government, state media said Friday. Around 380 YouTube videos, 364 Facebook posts and 33 TikTok links were taken down or blocked between mid-August and mid-September, state-controlled Thanh Nien newspaper said in a report, quoting the Ministry of Information and Communications […]
Bomb threat sparks security alert at 42 Philippine airports
MANILA, Oct 6, 2023 (AFP) – Security patrols and sniffer dogs were deployed at dozens of Philippine airports Friday, after the aviation regulator received a bomb threat against commercial planes. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said it was investigating the threat received via email on Wednesday warning that aircraft at Manila airport and four others would “explode”. The regulator said in a statement Friday that 42 commercial airports “are on heightened alert” and […]
Chinese firm sold satellites for intelligence to Russia’s Wagner: contract
PARIS, Oct 5, 2023 (AFP) – Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2022 signed a contract with a Chinese firm to acquire two satellites and use their images, aiding its intelligence work as the organisation sought to push Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a document seen by AFP. The contract was signed in November 2022, over half a year into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in which the Wagner group under its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was […]
Fukushima wastewater release resumes, despite China’s condemnation
By Tomohiro OSAKI TOKYO, Oct 5, 2023 (AFP) – Japan began releasing the second batch of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday, an incremental step in a decades-long process that has drawn strong condemnation from China. The discharge, a small portion of the 1.34 million tonnes of wastewater built up since a tsunami struck the facility in 2011, began at 10:18 am (0118 GMT), a spokesman for operator TEPCO told AFP. While […]
Taiwan to probe firms over Huawei chip plants in China
TAIPEI, Oct 5, 2023 (AFP) – Taipei has said it will investigate if Taiwanese firms that helped Huawei build semiconductor factories violated US sanctions against the Chinese tech giant. Huawei, a leader in 5G telecom equipment, has been at the centre of the intensifying US-China rivalry over advanced tech in recent years. The United States and its allies have curtailed its access to major markets and advanced tech — including chip making — over fears […]
Climate change worsens Bangladesh dengue outbreak, with record deaths
By Shafiqul ALAM DHAKA, Oct 5, 2023 (AFP) – In the crowded fever ward in Bangladesh’s Mugda hospital, every bed is taken, as the country struggles in the grip of its deadliest dengue outbreak. More than 1,000 people have died this year in the nation’s worst recorded spate of the mosquito-borne disease, which scientists say is increasing in frequency due to climate change. In the worst cases, intense viral fevers trigger bleeding, internally or from […]
One person dead in Taiwan from Typhoon Koinu’s record winds
By Sean Chang and Amber Wang in Taipei PINGTUNG, Taiwan, Oct 5, 2023 (AFP) – Typhoon Koinu left at least one person dead on Thursday as it grazed Taiwan’s southern tip, lashing the island with the strongest winds it has ever recorded and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes. Koinu made landfall on the island’s southernmost Cape Eluanbi Thursday morning and was weakening as it moved into the Taiwan Strait by 3 […]
Philippine government vows to take steps to address rising food costs
MANILA, Oct 5, 2023 (AFP) – High food prices in the Philippines have pushed inflation to a five-month peak, officials said Thursday, increasing pressure on the government to stop the country’s neediest going hungry. Farming subsidies and food stamps for the poor are among government efforts to rein in or mitigate price increases, which have dented the popularity of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “The government is committed to providing targeted assistance to affected vulnerable segments […]
UN probe finds Myanmar army using forced labour
GENEVA, Oct 4, 2023 (AFP) – A United Nations investigation into Myanmar on Wednesday urged the country’s military rulers to end forced labour in the army and to halt all violence against trade unionists. A probe launched by the UN’s labour agency found far-reaching violations of international forced labour and freedom of association conventions in the southeast Asian nation. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted the democratically-elected civilian leader Aung San Suu […]
Typhoon Koinu approaches Taiwan, second major storm in a month
TAITUNG, Taiwan, Oct 4, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan cancelled flights and closed schools in parts of its southern region on Wednesday ahead of Typhoon Koinu’s expected landfall, the second major storm to make a direct hit on the island in a month. Taiwan experiences frequent tropical storms from May to November but last month’s Typhoon Haikui was the first to slam into it in four years — unleashing torrential rains, high winds and forcing nearly […]
