Asia news

• World Bank under pressure to release frozen Afghan funds

  23-01-2022 20:00 via ft.com
  Charities call for support for public sector salaries to prevent collapse of essential services
  
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• World Bank under pressure to release Afghan funds

  23-01-2022 20:00 via ft.com
  Charities call for support for public sector salaries to prevent collapse of essential services
  
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• ‘We had to mimic to everyone to run’: how Tonga’s volcano and tsunami disaster unfolded

  23-01-2022 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Journalist Marian Kupu recounts the moment of the eruption and the panic that followedTonga is used to natural disasters, but they have never experienced anything like the last week.“We’ve experienced tropical cyclones, but this is so new and no one will ever forget this, ever,” says Marian Kupu, a journalist for BroadCom Broadcasting FM87.5 in Tonga. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Houses are just gone’: Tonga emerges from volcano and tsunami disaster

  23-01-2022 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The eruption was unlike anything ever seen by Tongans, who are trying to rebuild their lives and devastated communitiesTonga is used to natural disasters, but they have never experienced anything like the last week.“We’ve experienced tropical cyclones, but this is so new and no one will ever forget this, ever,” says Marian Kupu, a journalist for BroadCom Broadcasting FM87.5 in Tonga. Continue reading...
  
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• Briton killed and another injured in ‘sickle’ attack in Thailand

  23-01-2022 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Marcus Evans named as victim and second man taken to hospital following incident in KanchanaburiA British man who died in Thailand is believed to have been the victim of an assault involving a sickle.Marcus Evans, 49, from Berrow, near Burnham-on-Sea, in Somerset, was killed in the early hours of Saturday in Kanchanaburi province, in the west of the country. A second British man was taken to hospital after the incident. Continue reading...
  
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• The Biden doctrine: Ukraine gaffe sums up mixed year of foreign policy

  23-01-2022 15:05 via theguardian.com
  
  On Russia and Putin, the president said the quiet part loud. Re-engagement has been welcomed but the exit from Afghanistan was a disaster. Analysts see much to do to rebuild US credibilityJoe Biden marked his first anniversary in office with a gaffe over Ukraine that undid weeks of disciplined messaging and diplomatic preparation.The president’s suggestion that a “minor incursion” by Russia might split Nato over how to respond sent the White House into frantic damage limitation
  
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• Surrendered Hong Kong hamster tests positive for Covid as cull continues

  23-01-2022 14:41 via theguardian.com
  
  The case is the first involving a hamster in the care of an owner following pet shop outbreakA hamster surrendered to authorities by its owners has tested positive for Covid-19 and more than 2,200 hamsters have been culled, Hong Kong officials have said, as the city grapples to contain an outbreak of the virus.On Tuesday officials ordered the killing of hamsters from dozens of pet shops after tracing a Covid-19 outbreak to a worker and asked people to surrender any of the animals bought on or af
  
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• Don’t write off Hong Kong as a financial centre just yet

  23-01-2022 11:57 via ft.com
  Despite a political crackdown, people who want to move capital into China will continue to use the territory to do so
  
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• UK’s propaganda leaflets inspired 1960s massacre of Indonesian communists

  23-01-2022 10:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Pamphlets attacked the president and foreign ministerShocking new details have emerged of Britain’s role in one of the most brutal massacres of the postwar 20th century.Last year the Observer revealed how British officials secretly deployed black propaganda in the 1960s to incite prominent Indonesians to “cut out” the “communist cancer”. Continue reading...
  
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• Beijing authorities conduct mass Covid testing as cases rise before Olympics

  23-01-2022 08:29 via theguardian.com
  
  All residents of Fengtai district told to get nucleic acid tests as China’s capital rushes to contain Omicron outbreakSee all our coronavirus coverageBeijing’s local government has ordered more Covid-19 tests on Sunday as China’s capital continued to report new cases, less than two weeks before the start of the Winter Olympic Games.Nine locally transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms were found in Beijing on 22 January, down from 10 a day earlier, the National Health Commissi
  
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• Jacinda Ardern cancels wedding as New Zealand prepares for Omicron surge

  23-01-2022 08:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Prime minister says variant is now circulating in the community but ‘we’ll do everything that we can to slow the spread’Get our free news app; get our morning email briefingOmicron has breached New Zealand’s borders and started spreading in the community, Jacinda Ardern has said, meaning the entire country will be placed on the highest level of restrictions.The outbreak has also forced the prime minister to cancel her wedding to Clarke Gayford, which was due to take place
  
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• Covid: New Zealand PM Ardern cancels wedding amid Omicron wave

  23-01-2022 06:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New restrictions are set to be introduced after nine Omicron cases were confirmed in the country.
  
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• Russia and China’s plans for a new world order

  23-01-2022 06:00 via ft.com
  For Moscow and Beijing, the Ukraine crisis is part of a struggle to reduce American power and make the world safe for autocrats
  
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• Myanmar junta’s air strikes force thousands of people to flee to Thailand

  23-01-2022 03:10 via ft.com
  Conflict in east of country reveals how violence after coup is widening and intensifying
  
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• Chinese officials arrested for concealing true scale of flood death toll

  23-01-2022 02:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Beijing government says officials in Henan province were found to have deliberately underreported the disasterOfficials in a Chinese province deliberately underreported or concealed 139 deaths from last year’s devastating flood disaster, the country’s central government has said, amid arrests of some of those involved.Record-breaking rainstorms hit Henan province in central China between 17 and 23 July, overflowing reservoirs, breaching riverbanks, and overwhelming public transport s
  
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• Chinese provincial officials concealed scores of deaths from flood disaster

  23-01-2022 01:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Beijing government orders arrest of some officials in Henan province found to have deliberately underreported the tollOfficials in a Chinese province deliberately underreported or concealed 139 deaths from last year’s devastating flood disaster, the country’s central government has said, amid arrests of some of those involved.Record-breaking rainstorms hit Henan province in central China between 17 and 23 July, overflowing reservoirs, breaching riverbanks, and overwhelming public tra
  
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• Red alert: PM cancels wedding as New Zealand prepares for thousands of Omicron cases a day

  23-01-2022 01:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Prime minister Jacinda Ardern says Omicron is now circulating in the community but ‘we’ll do everything that we can to slow the spread’Get our free news app; get our morning email briefingOmicron has breached New Zealand’s borders and started spreading in the community, Jacinda Ardern has said, meaning the entire country will be placed on the highest level of restrictions.The outbreak has also forced the prime minister to cancel her wedding to Clarke Gayford, which was du
  
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• Red alert: New Zealand prepares for thousands of Omicron cases a day with community spread

  23-01-2022 00:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Prime minister Jacinda Ardern says Omicron is now circulating but ‘we’ll do everything that we can to slow the spread’Get our free news app; get our morning email briefingOmicron has breached New Zealand’s borders and started spreading, Jacinda Ardern has said, meaning the entire country will be placed on the highest level of restrictions.The prime minister on Sunday said the country would try to slow the spread of Omicron but it was expected New Zealand would reach 1,000
  
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