Day: January 6, 2024

Woman in Her 90s Rescued Alive 5 Days After Japan’s Deadly Earthquake

Media Library

WAJIMA, Japan —  A woman in her 90s was pulled alive from a collapsed house in western Japan late Saturday, 124 hours after a major quake slammed the region, killing at least 126 people, toppling buildings and setting off landslides. The woman in Suzu city, Ishikawa Prefecture, had survived for more than five days after the 7.6 magnitude quake that hit the area Monday. Nationally broadcast news footage showed helmeted rescue workers covering the view of the area with blue plastic, and the woman was not visible. Chances for survival…

‘Liberation through reading’: All Sages Bookstore finds new location but keeps unique place among Beijing intellectuals

Media Library

And yet the bookshop, which has been open for more than 30 years in Haidian, Beijing’s technology and education hub, still thrives selling academic books on political science, history and sociology, including many translated works of Western ideas. On the last day of 2023, All Sages Bookstore was given new life in its most recent relocation to a major shopping centre, surrounded by prestigious universities, research institutes and tech companies. 01:54 Shanghai bookshop brings light to people with vision impairment and other disabilities Shanghai bookshop brings light to people with…

Life on the Border: Fear, Camaraderie on South Korean Island

Media Library

Yeonpyeong, South Korea —  When a North Korean artillery shell slammed into his house and burned it to the ground in 2010, Jung Chang-kuan thought that war had broken out again. That attack — a North Korean artillery barrage on Jung’s home, on the remote South Korean border island of Yeongpeong — killed four people in the first such incident since the 1950-53 Korean War. And Friday, that previous attack was on Jung’s mind as he fled to a shelter with his family after North Korea fired artillery shells near…

China’s court database reform stokes fears for transparency in legal sector

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. A new Chinese legal database is stoking fears among legal experts about declining data transparency against the backdrop of a wider government clampdown on access to information under President Xi Jinping. China’s Supreme People’s Court on Monday launched the National Court Judgements Database, a record of legal judgments that the government says will “be open to experts, scholars [and] lawyers”. But the country’s top court has not clarified…

China’s youth shun diamonds in favour of gold, seeking safe-haven investment amid economic downturn

Media Library

In China today, many identify with Huang’s consumption mentality, with domestic gold prices reaching new highs last year, and the retail market witnessing a gold rush. 01:31 Chinese consumers sell off old jewellery amid record high gold prices Chinese consumers sell off old jewellery amid record high gold prices And as China’s stock market struggles to recover, denting investor expectations, consumers with limited access to overseas investment products have turned to gold as a safe-haven investment, even though purchasing bars or jewellery at retail outlets would incur extra processing fees.…

Why Taiwan arms sales, in place for decades, will remain a source of US-China tensions

Media Library

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China, to be reunited by force if necessary. The United States, like most countries, does not recognise self-governed Taiwan as independent, but is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force. Washington is also legally bound under its 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help the island protect itself, by providing “arms of a defensive character”, and is its top international supporter and weapons supplier. The act, passed three months after Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in January 1979, aimed to demonstrate…

World Elections 2024

Media Library

World Scroll Down to Advance Map The past several years saw a dangerous backslide in democracy as wars, coups and restrictions on speech eroded civil liberties around the world. Yet in 2024, a record-setting 2 billion voters in 50 countries will head to the polls. Ranging from hotly contested races to carefully stage-managed affairs, many of these elections may drastically affect the shape of global politics for years. Bangladesh Bangladesh’s election, scheduled for January 7, faces a boycott from the main opposition party. The Bangladesh National Party, or BNP, many…

‘Kids start to ask themselves who they are and where they come from’

Media Library

As families leave Hong Kong in droves in a bid to remove their kids from an education system that is increasingly steeped in Chinese Communist Party propaganda, they are building new lives in democratic societies like Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Many middle-class parents, asked why they chose to leave their home amid an ongoing crackdown on public dissent in Hong Kong, say it’s for the kids. Yet the challenges for children uprooted from friends, school, family and the city they once called home are far from insignificant. Three years…

China Steps Up Myanmar Contacts on Border Stability, Phone Scams

Media Library

SHANGHAI —  Senior Chinese officials have held talks with Myanmar, the government said Saturday, as Beijing grows increasingly concerned about border security and telecoms scams with rebel groups pressing their campaign against Myanmar’s junta. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Myanmar from Thursday to Saturday, meeting junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to discuss topics that included border stability and the crackdown on the telecom scams, China’s foreign ministry said. China’s minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong, had a video call with Myanmar’s home affairs minister, Lieutenant-General Yar Pyae, on…

Taiwan: Chinese Balloons are Harassment, Threat to Air Safety

Media Library

TAIPEI, TAIWAN —  Taiwan’s Defense Ministry accused China on Saturday of harassment and trying to affect public morale by repeatedly sending balloons over the self-governing island. A ministry analysis found that the paths of the balloons posed a serious threat to international passenger flights, according to a report by Taiwan’s official Military News Agency. The ministry called for an immediate end to the activity to ensure flight safety. “The ministry urged the people [of Taiwan] to clearly understand the Chinese Communist Party’s cognitive combat methods and face it rationally and…