NEW ZEALAND
Cyclist legislator gives birth
Lawmaker Julie Anne Genter got on her bicycle early on Sunday and headed to the hospital — where she gave birth an hour later. “Big news! At 3.04am this morning we welcomed the newest member of our family. I genuinely wasn’t planning to cycle in labour, but it did end up happening,” the Greens politician wrote on Facebook a few hours later. The island nation has a reputation for down-to-earth politicians. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern famously brought her then-three-month-old to a UN meeting as she was still breastfeeding. Genter — who is her party’s spokesperson for transport issues — also biked to the hospital in 2018 to give birth to her first-born, local media said.
AUSTRALIA
Online bullying law mulled
The government would introduce legislation to make social media giants provide details of users who post defamatory comments, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday. The government has been looking at the extent of the responsibility of platforms for defamatory material published on their sites, he said. The announcement comes after the country’s highest court ruled that publishers can be held liable for comments on online forums, which led to some news outlets, such as CNN, to deny Australians access to their Facebook pages. “The online world should not be a Wild West where bots and bigots and trolls and others are anonymously going around and can harm people,” Morrison said. The new legislation would introduce a complaints mechanism, so that if somebody thinks they are being defamed on social media, they would be able to require the platform to take the material down. If the content is not withdrawn, a court process could force the platform to provide details of the commenter.
CHINA
N Korean escapee captured
Police have captured a North Korean prisoner who last month staged a daring escape from jail and had been on the run for more than forty days, authorities said yesterday. Officials were offering a US$23,000 bounty for the recapture of the escapee, sparking massive interest on social media. The 39-year-old prisoner escaped the facility in Jilin City by scaling a shed and vaulting the outer wall on Oct. 18. A one-line statement from Jilin police said he had been remanded at about 10am yesterday morning, without giving more details. Videos shared by state-run Beijing News showed an emaciated-looking man being carried by several officers and a photograph of him with his hands behind his back. The man was convicted of illegal entry into China, larceny and robbery, and was due for release and deportation back to North Korea in 2023, prompting online speculation that he broke out to avoid being sent back.
CHINA
WTA reiterates concerns
Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chairman Steve Simon has said he remains “deeply concerned” about the whereabouts of tennis player Peng Shuai (彭帥) and her ability to “communicate freely, openly and directly” after allegations that a powerful politician forced her to have sex. The three-time Olympian and former doubles champion has dropped out of public view after accusing former vice premier Zhang Gaoli (張高麗) of sexual abuse in a Nov. 2 social media post that was quickly taken down. “Steve Simon has reached out to Peng Shuai via various communication channels,” the WTA said in a statement on Saturday. “He has sent her two e-mails, to which it was clear her responses were influenced by others.”
RE-EDUCATION: The ambassador to Australia told reporters that he understood there ‘might be a process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China’ China’s ambassador to Australia yesterday said that Beijing is prepared to use “all necessary means” to prevent Taiwan from being independent, saying there can be “no compromise” on its “one China” principle. Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian (肖千) repeatedly told the National Press Club in Canberra that the US was to blame for the recent escalation in tensions, adding that China’s decision to launch ballistic missiles in live-fire exercises in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was “legitimate and justified.” Xiao said that after a “good start” with the new government of Australian Prime Minister
Newly married and with his first child on the way, auto worker Wang (王) wanted to move into the apartment he bought in Wuhan three years ago, but those hopes were dashed by China’s ballooning property crisis. Saddled with nearly US$300,000 in debt and with his unit nowhere near completion, the 34-year-old decided he had enough and stopped making mortgage payments. He is among numerous home buyers across dozens of cities in China who have boycotted payments over fears that their properties will not be completed by cash-strapped, debt-laden developers. “They said construction would resume soon,” Wang said, only giving his surname. “But
PROPAGANDA LEAFLETS: Seoul voiced ‘strong regret’ as Kim’s sister threatened to eradicate South Korean authorities for sending the virus across the border North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suffered from a “high fever” during a recent COVID-19 outbreak, his sister Kim Yo-jong said yesterday, as she vowed to “eradicate” South Korean authorities if they continued to tolerate propaganda leaflets the regime blames for spreading the virus. Kim Yo-jong blamed “South Korean puppets” for sending “dirty objects” across the border in leaflets carried by balloons, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The revelation of her brother’s illness marked an unusual admission for a regime that rarely comments on the leader’s health — and then only to show that he shares the struggles of
A landmark sexual harassment case in China yesterday returned to court after an earlier ruling dealt a blow to the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement. Zhou Xiaoxuan (周曉璇) stepped forward in 2018 to accuse state TV host Zhu Jun (朱軍) of forcibly kissing and groping her during her 2014 internship at the broadcaster. While the case of Zhou, now 29, inspired many others to share their experiences of sexual assault publicly and sparked a social media storm, a court ruled last year there was insufficient evidence to back her allegation. Zhou appealed, and returned to court for another hearing yesterday in Beijing. “I still feel
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