Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has called the South Korean Supreme Court ruling extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable. South Korea’s top court on Thursday ordered Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate Korean men who say they were forced to work in factories in Japan during World War Two. Kono said in his statement on Thursday that the ruling obviously… Read more »
Xie said Trump’s decision to withdraw hurt the confidence and resolution of many other countries, but its impact was now beginning to wane, and China’s own commitments to clean, low-carbon development were unbending. China has already met a target to cut carbon intensity – the amount of CO2 emissions per unit of economic growth – by 40-45 percent from 2005… Read more »
HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) – China’s genetically-edited embryos are crying out to regulators. Shocking claims by a scientist who says he altered the genes of twin girls born in November have sparked a firestorm. Clearer guidelines are needed. He Jiankui, a Stanford-trained researcher, stunned the world when he claimed that he had successfully edited babies’ genomes in attempt to make… Read more »
China’s top cyber authority has scrubbed 9,800 social media accounts of independent news providers deemed to have posted sensational, vulgar or politically harmful content on the Internet, it said late on Monday. China’s strict online censorship rules have tightened in recent years with new legislation to restrict media outlets, surveillance measures for media sites and rolling campaigns to remove content… Read more »
More than 130,000 people marched on the streets of Taipei, calling for equal rights for LGBT people. The largest event of its kind in Asia is held every year in Taiwan’s capital. About 137,000 people from Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, the United States and elsewhere gathered for the 16th annual parade. Participants held rainbow flags that symbolize sexual diversity, and… Read more »
China’s top cyber authority has scrubbed 9,800 social media accounts of independent news providers deemed to have posted sensational, vulgar or politically harmful content on the Internet, it said late on Monday. China’s strict online censorship rules have tightened in recent years with new legislation to restrict media outlets, surveillance measures for media sites and rolling campaigns to remove content… Read more »
Australian counter-terrorism investigators were searching two properties in suburban Melbourne on Saturday morning, the day after a man killed one person in what authorities said was a terrorist attack in the city. Police identified the attacker as 30-year-old Hassan Khalif Shire Ali. They had earlier said he was 31 years old. Shire Ali had set fire to a pickup truck laden… Read more »
A woman has been charged after a “complex” investigation into an Australian strawberry scare where needles were found stuck into the fruit, police said Sunday, in a crisis that sparked nationwide panic. Queensland state authorities offered a large reward and the national government raised jail terms for such crimes after sewing needles were found in plastic boxes of the fruit… Read more »
Australia is considering moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Tuesday, following the lead of US President Donald Trump. Morrison called a press conference to say he was “open-minded” to proposals to formally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move his nation’s embassy to the holy city, a sharp break with the policy of… Read more »
Philip Wilson became one of the highest-ranked church officials convicted of covering up child sex abuse when he was found guilty in May of concealing crimes by priest Jim Fletcher in the Hunter region of New South Wales state.The Newcastle Local Court sentenced the 67-year-old to 12 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of six months, but also ordered that he be… Read more »