As Covid hit, thousands of Filipinos were left trapped in the capital without work. Many ended up on the street and are still waiting to rebuild their livesLike so many others before her, Michelle Sicat, a 28-year-old single mother from the province of…
‘It was a nice break from everything’: two men rescued after 29 days lost at sea
Surviving on oranges they’d packed, coconuts from the sea and rainwater they collected, they floated about 400km in the Solomon Sea before being rescuedTwo men from Solomon Islands who spent 29 days lost at sea after their GPS tracker stopped working h…
China’s noisy ‘dancing grannies’ silenced by device that disables speakers
Many people are too scared to confront the groups of middle-aged and older women who take over public parks and sports grounds to exercise along to music Across China’s public parks and squares, in the early hours of the morning or late in the afternoo…
Hong Kong plans megacourt to deal with protest arrests backlog
City’s leader announces initiative as thousands still await trial, and also reveals project for new metropolisHong Kong will build a new megacourt to address a shortage of space as it works through a backlog of the thousands arrested during the 2019 ma…
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to hold virtual meeting this year – White House
Biden administration announces plan after meeting between US national security adviser and China’s top diplomat The US president, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are planning to meet by video link before the end of the year, a senio…
‘Dystopian world’: Singapore patrol robots stoke fears of surveillance state
Trial of robots to police ‘undesirable’ behaviour such as smoking or breaching social-distancing rulesSingapore has trialled patrol robots that blast warnings at people engaging in “undesirable social behaviour”, adding to an arsenal of surveillance te…
China could mount full scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025, island’s defence minister says
Comments come as Biden and Xi agree to stick to Taiwan agreements amid rising tension in the Indo-PacificChina will be capable of mounting a full scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025, the island’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has said, describing curren…
‘Perfect storm’: how Covid is compounding New Zealand’s existing social crises
Experts say the pandemic is multiplying longstanding problems linked to housing and racial inequalityLike clay pressed into a mould, Covid outbreaks tend to conform to the contours of a country’s existing inequalities and cracks, replicating them over …
The west sees China as a ‘threat’, not as a real place, with real people | Yangyang Cheng
The worst abuses of my birth country’s government are used to advance domestic agendasYangyang Cheng is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law SchoolI was at dinner with a friend, and she asked about my work. “Name one thing you wish Americans knew about Ch…
Taiwan president warns of ‘catastrophic consequences’ if island falls to China
Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan will ‘do whatever it takes to defend itself’ against an increasingly assertive BeijingTaiwan is committed to defending its democracy against an increasingly aggressive China, the island’s president has vowed, warning of “catast…