Day: May 15, 2023

Fire at New Zealand Hostel Kills at Least 6 People, Prime Minister Says

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Wellington —  A fire ripped through a hostel in New Zealand’s capital overnight, killing at least six people and forcing others to flee the four-story building in their pajamas in what a fire chief on Tuesday called his “worst nightmare.” Fifty-two people had made it out of the building but firefighters were still trying to account for others, Wellington fire chief Nick Pyatt said. Loafers Lodge resident Tala Sili told news outlet RNZ that he saw smoke pouring through under his door and opened it find the hallway pitch black.…

US Charges Ex-Army Employee at South Korean Facility with Bribery, Fraud

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New York —  A former civilian employee at a U.S. Army facility in South Korea has been arrested on charges of receiving $400,000 in kickbacks from military contractors, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Monday. Young Beom Kim, 62, was responsible for overseeing construction contracts at the Army Garrison Yongsan-Casey from 2017 to 2021. Prosecutors said he made sure contracts for equipment such as blast doors designed to protect Army personnel from an attack went to companies that had paid him kickbacks. The Yongsan-Casey facility is located near the North Korean…

China, Myanmar criticized for attacks on religious freedom in annual U.S. report

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China came under harsh criticism for new restrictions on religious freedom in the U.S. State Department’s annual global report on religious freedom, released Monday.  Myanmar’s junta was also faulted for its troop’s attacks on religious sites amid the civil war there. The 2022 International Religious Freedom Report, which provides an overview of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world, highlighted how China is trying to “Sinicize” all religious practices in line with Communist Party doctrine. That includes requiring clergy members of all faiths…

G7 host Japan seeks unity on threat from China

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Leaders of the G7 gather in Japan this weekend amid global fears of a US debt default, deepening division over energy policy and no end in sight for the war in Ukraine. But for Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, the top challenge for the annual summit of advanced economies will be whether it can project a unified G7 response to China’s military ambitions and its use of “economic coercion” as US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen described it last week. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kishida has tried…

In Talks Over US Debt Ceiling, Biden May Cancel PNG, Australia Trips

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The White House —  As President Joe Biden heads into his second debt ceiling talks with congressional leaders on Tuesday, the White House said the U.S. leader is considering cutting short his three-country foreign trip later this week to continue talks and find ways to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that Biden will depart for Hiroshima, Japan, on Wednesday, as planned, to attend a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders.…

China’s Hidden Century review – how opium and Christianity demolished a civilisation

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In 1860 British and French troops pillaged and destroyed the Summer Palace of China’s Qing emperors, carrying off pieces of art and chunks of architecture – and a tiny, hairy dog who belonged to the emperor. Looty, as the dog was renamed with impeccable bad taste, was given to Queen Victoria and was the first “Pekinese” in Britain. A portrait of Looty is one of the many arresting images and facts in what must be the strangest blockbuster the British Museum has ever staged. In 2007, this museum put on…

Pacific Islanders Urge World to Put Aside Differences in Combating Climate Change

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Bangkok —  Pacific Island leaders criticized rich countries Monday for not doing enough to control climate change despite being responsible for much of the problem, and for making money off loans provided to vulnerable nations to mitigate the effects. Leaders and representatives from Pacific Island nations demanded at a U.N. climate change conference in Bangkok that the world make more effort to put aside differences in combating the environmental impact, especially as their countries emerge from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Mark Brown of the Cook…

Cyclone Mocha inflicts heavy damage on Myanmar’s Rakhine state

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Cyclone Mocha may have been less deadly than predicted, but it inflicted heavy damage on Myanmar’s Rakhine state, including the capital of Sittwe.  On Monday, a day after the storm slammed into the coast, images from the city and surrounding area showed flattened homes, roads blocked by fallen electricity pylons, splintered remains of trees and widespread flooding. Power was cut off to Sittwe, a city of about 150,000. “Ninety percent of Sittwe township … is damaged or under debris,” aid and relief groups told Radio Free Asia.  A precise death…

Cambodia’s top opposition party officially blocked from July elections

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Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party was officially rejected by the National Election Committee on Monday and won’t be allowed to compete in the July 23 parliamentary elections. The decision deals an enormous blow to opponents of Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which now looks like it will sail to an overwhelming victory in the vote. It also repeats what happened before the last election, in 2018, when the Supreme Court dissolved the previous main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which was perceived as a threat to Hun…