NEW ZEALAND
China must de-escalate: PM
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins yesterday urged China to help curb tensions in a “more contested, less predictable” Pacific, and to preserve access to critical trade routes. Nearly half of New Zealand’s trade passes through the South China Sea, Hipkins said. The way China exerts its clout in the world is a “major driver” in escalating strategic competition, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, Hipkins told the China Business Summit in Auckland. Unimpeded access to shipping and air routes is “vital” to New Zealand, he added. “New Zealand is concerned about a worsening strategic environment and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region in particular in places like the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait,” the prime minister said. “We have direct interests in these areas and are therefore focused on the need for tensions to be carefully managed and de-escalated in the wider interests of the Pacific, and we look to China to play its part in this regard,” he said.
MALAYSIA
Swatch Pride watches seized
Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group has filed a suit against the government and Ministry of Home Affairs officials challenging the seizure of Pride-themed rainbow watches, local media reported. Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn sought an order from the High Court to cancel the ministry’s seizure notices in May for the 172 watches worth 64,795 ringgit (US$14,272), and for the return of the confiscated pieces within five days of the order, MalayMail reported, citing the judicial review application filed by the company on June 24. Swatch said the ministry issued seizure notices stating the watches as promoting or having LGBT “elements,” and that the timepieces contravened the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) of 1984. Swatch said the seizures were illegal as the watches are not a publication that can be prohibited under the PPPA, the report said.
SOUTH KOREA
Deaths lead to Yoon pledge
President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday vowed to “completely overhaul” the country’s approach to extreme weather from climate change, after at least 40 people were killed by flooding and landslides during monsoon rains. Rescue workers waded through thick mud as they drained a flooded underpass in central Cheongju, searching for more victims after vehicles were trapped in the tunnel by flash floods, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said, with nine people still missing nationwide. “This kind of extreme weather event will become commonplace — we must accept climate change is happening and deal with it,” Yoon said at an emergency response meeting. The country would “mobilize all available resources,” including the military and police, to help with rescue efforts, he said. “The rainy season is not over yet, and the forecast is now that there will be torrential rain again tomorrow,” he added.
UNITED STATES
Death Valley hits 53.33°C
Long the hottest place on Earth, Death Valley put a sizzling exclamation point on a record warm summer that is baking nearly the entire globe by flirting with some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, meteorologists said. Temperatures in Death Valley, which runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada, reached 53.33°C on Sunday at the aptly named Furnace Creek, the National Weather Service said. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 56.67°C in July 1913 at Furnace Creek, Randy Ceverny of the World Meteorological Organization said.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
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