Asia Heatwave Pushing Temperatures to Record Levels

Apr 19, 2023 | Laos is the latest country to set a new all-time record as Luang Prabang reached 42.7°C (109°F) Tuesday, according to weather historian Maximiliano Herrera. Over the weekend, Thailand topped 45°C (113°F) for the first time in its history, according to Herrera, using data from the Thai Meteorological Department. On Monday, more than 100 weather stations in 12 provinces broke their April temperature record, according to climatologist Jim Yang. In the tropics, which encompasses much of Asia, people could be exposed to dangerous heat most days of the year, the study found. Days of “extremely dangerous heat”

India | The Land of Jambu Trees

Asia and Australia Usher in New Year with Huge Firework Displays

Hong Kong welcomed the new year with a pyrotechnics show over Victoria Harbour, while Taiwan's capital held a firework display around the Taipei 101 skyscraper. In South Korea, a traditional bell-tolling ceremony was held near City Hall in Seoul, and North Koreans watched fireworks and a music performance in Pyongyang. Sydney Harbour in Australia held its biggest ever show. In New Zealand, colourful fireworks burst from the top of the Auckland Sky Tower

Is ISIL Expanding in Southeast Asia? | Inside Story

Indonesia's suffered a number of attacks in recent years. It has long struggled with rebel groups, particularly al-Qaeda affiliated Jemaah Islamiyah, and now ISIL, which has been recruiting in the region.

ISIL claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks on three churches. Police say the suicide bombings were carried out by one family, including two children aged 9 and 12.

At least 13 people died and more than 40 wounded. ISIL has lost territory in Syria and Iraq, but it's been active in other countries. Can the group be stopped?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom | Guests Rahima Abdulrahim - Executive director of the Habibie Center; Olivier Guitta - Managing Director of GlobalStrat consultancy firm; Greg Fealy - author of " Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Contemporary Sourcebook

Saudi Prince Cracks Down At Home and Abroad; Trump in Asia

On Asia Trip, Trump Met by Protests Calling on U.S. to Open Diplomatic Relations with North Korea

President Donald Trump continued his five-nation tour of Asia, landing in Vietnam today for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. This comes as Trump said on Thursday that he wants Russia’s help in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. In Korea, he attempted to visit the Demilitarized Zone, but his fleet of helicopters was turned back due to bad weather. We speak with Professor Bruce Cumings, who just returned from Seoul, South Korea, where Trump was met with protests. He is professor of history at the University of Chicago and the author of several books on Korea, including “Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History.”

Phillippines Unrest: ISIS Activity Spreading in Asia

France 24 speaks to Richard Heydarian about recent unrest in the Phillippines and the escalation of ISIS in the region

Australia Should "Cut the Tag" with American Foreign Policy after Trump Win Says Keating

Former prime minister Paul Keating says Australia should focus less on the alliance with the US and concentrate more on relationships within Asia.

Turkey Opens Tunnel Linking Europe and Asia

Dubbed the "project of the century" by the government, the ambitious railway link cost 3bn euros.

Global Crisis Moves East as China Suffers Rapid Downturn

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: China’s industrial output is contracting at the fastest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis, with knock-on effects spreading across the Far East.

“It just keeps getting worse,” said Alistair Thornton and Xianfang Ren from IHS Global Insight. “The government has underestimated the pace of the slowdown and is behind the curve.”

The HSBC/Markit manufacturing index for China fell to 47.6 in August, the lowest since the onset of Great Recession in late 2008. Inventories are rising. The index for new export orders fell to the lowest since March 2009. “Beijing must step up policy easing to stabilise growth,” said Hongbin Qu from HSBC.

China’s official PMI manufacturing index – weighted to big companies – also fell through the contraction line of 50, though services are holding up better.

Evidence of a hard landing over the summer is becoming clearer. Rail volumes fell 8.2pc in July from a year before. The Japanese group Komatsu said its exports of hydraulic excavators to China – a proxy gauge for Chinese construction – fell 48pc in August from a year before.

The twin effect of China’s downturn and Europe’s double-dip recession has turned into a full-blown shock for much of Asia. Hong Kong and Singapore both contracted in the second quarter and are probably in technical recession. Read on and comment » | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Monday, September 03, 2012

US Military Pact Raises Tensions at Summit
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AAP – The Chinese premier has warned against external interference in a dispute over the South China Sea, fuelled by Australia's new military pact with the US, as world leaders prepare to discuss the issue in Bali.

The meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will widen on Saturday into the East Asia Summit, which also takes in Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and, for the first time, the US and Russia.

But while existing priority areas of finance, education, environment, disaster management and health will feature in discussions, an increasingly tense dispute over sovereign rights in the South China Sea is set to steal much of the focus.

Maritime security is not formally on the summit's agenda, but it is expected to be discussed in a retreat session under what has been called "an exchange of ideas on regional and international issues".

China and four ASEAN countries - Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam - have staked territorial claims over the crucial sea lane, which handles more than a third of the world's seaborne trade and half its traffic in oil and gas.

The expected "exchange of ideas" on the long-running dispute comes after the issue was fuelled this week by the announcement that the US will use Australia as a base for an increased military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, viewed as a hedge against China's growing influence. » | Karlis Salna, AAP South-East Asia Correspondent | Friday, November 18, 2011

SPIEGEL ONLINE: China weist USA in die Schranken: Die USA wollen ihre Präsenz im Pazifik ausbauen, jetzt kommt die Replik aus China. Die Amerikaner müssten die Interessen der Volksrepublik respektieren, verlangt Premierminister Wen mit ungewöhnlich deutlichen Worten - und stellt klar: In Südostasien dürften "fremde Staaten" keinen Einfluss nehmen. ¶ Peking/Washington/Bali - Bis hier und nicht weiter: China reagiert scharf auf denStrategiewechsel der USA im Südchinesischen Meer. Peking respektiere zwar die "berechtigten Interessen" der Amerikaner in Ostasien, hieß es in einer Mitteilung des Außenministeriums. Doch im Gegenzug werde erwartet, dass Washington auch die Interessen Chinas berücksichtige, stellte der Sprecher Liu Weimin klar. » | als/Reuters/dpa | Freitag 18. November 2011

US Will Shift Focus from Middle East to Asia Pacific, Barack Obama Declares
Barack Obama has pledged to expand America's military in the Asia Pacific as a "top priority" as he declared the US intends to shift its focus from the Middle East.

Read the article and comment here | Jonathan Pearlman in Canberra | Thursday, November 17, 2011
My comment:

This declaration sounds like a provocation to China to me. It sounds like sabre-rattling. Further, where is broke America going to get the money from? – © Mark

This comment also appears here.

World AIDS Day Rallies Across Asia
Activists throughout Asia rally to promote awareness of HIV and AIDS on World AIDS Day. Video courtesy of Reuters.

Greek Debt Woes Ripple Outward, From Asia to U.S.
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The fear that began in Athens, raced through Europe and finally shook the stock market in the United States is now affecting the broader global economy, from the ability of Asian corporations to raise money to the outlook for money-market funds where American savers park their cash.

What was once a local worry about the debt burden of one of Europe’s smallest economies has quickly gone global. Already, jittery investors have forced Brazil to scale back bond sales as interest rates soared and caused currencies in Asia like the Korean won to weaken. Ten companies around the world that had planned to issue stock delayed their offerings, the most in a single week since October 2008.

The increased global anxiety threatens to slow the recovery in the United States, where job growth has finally picked up after the deepest recession since the Great Depression. It could also inhibit consumer spending as stock portfolios shrink and loans are harder to come by. >>> Nelson D. Schwartz and Eric Dash | Saturday, May 08, 2010

The Met Office Gives Us the Warmist Weather
The Met Office forecast an unusually mild winter, but snow fell on Britain to usher in 2010. Photo: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: The UK's official weather forecasters are determined that winters should be mild, in the face of the frozen facts, says Christopher Booker

Shortly after midnight on Friday morning, as 200,000 merrymakers were departing from the Thames after enjoying a spectacular fireworks show in sub-zero temperatures, flakes of snow began to fall on Whitehall. In light of the Met Office's prediction that this would be a "mild" winter, with temperatures above average, it seemed an apt way to start the New Year. But hasn't the time come for us to stop treating the serial inaccuracy of Met Office forecasts as just a joke and see it for what it is – a national scandal?

The reason the Met Office so persistently gets its seasonal forecasts wrong is that it has been hi-jacked from the role for which we pay it nearly £200 million a year, to become one of the world's major propaganda engines for the belief in man-made global warming. Over the past three years, it has become a laughing stock for forecasts which are invariably wrong in the same direction.

The year 2007, it predicted, would be "the warmest ever" – just before global tempratures plunged by more than the entire net warming of the 20th century, Three years running it predicted warmer than average winters – as large parts of the northern hemisphere endured record cold and snowfalls. Last year's "barbecue summer" was the third time running that predictions of a summer drier and warmer than average prefaced weeks of rain and cold. Last week the Met Office was again predicting that 2010 will be the "warmest year" on record, while Europe and the US look to be facing further weeks of intense cold. >>> Christopher Booker | Saturday, January 02, 2010

TIMES ONLINE: Cold snap in Britain will continue 'for next 10 days' >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Snow paralyses Beijing as China braces for deep freeze: Snow storms paralysed Beijing on Sunday, leaving hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled, keeping schools closed, and bringing forecasts of some of the lowest temperatures in decades. >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010

TIMES ONLINE: Transport paralysed in Asia's worst winter in 60 years >>> Richard Lloyd Parry | Monday, January 04, 2010

Watch BBC video: Severe winter weather over Europe >>> | Tuesday, January 05, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Britain braced for heaviest snowfall in 50-years: The heaviest snowfall in almost 50 years is hitting parts of Britain as Arctic weather brought nationwide chaos. >>> Martin Evans | Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Margaret Thatcher Complained about Asian Immigration to Britain
“People are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture. If we do not want people to go to extremes we ourselves must talk about this problem and we must show that we are prepared to deal with it. We are not in politics to ignore people’s worries. We are in politics to deal with them.” – Margaret Thatcher (World in Action)

THE TELEGRAPH: Margaret Thatcher thought it was "quite wrong" for immigrants to get council houses ahead of "white citizens", previously unpublished government papers show.

Files released to the National Archives show that soon after becoming prime minister, Lady Thatcher privately complained that too many Asian immigrants were being allowed into Britain.

The documents, which are published today under the “30 year rule”, shed further light on Lady Thatcher’s attitudes on race and immigration, political issues that have remained controversial ever since.

They show that in July 1979, Lady Thatcher met Lord Carrington, her foreign secretary, and William Whitelaw, then home secretary, to discuss the plight of hundreds of thousands of "boat people" fleeing persecution in communist Vietnam.

The prime minister, who had publicly said that she sympathised with fears that Britain was being “swamped” by immigrant cultures, reacted sharply to the ministers’ suggestions that thousands of the Vietnamese refugees should be welcomed.

Lord Carrington, who had visited refugee camps in Hong Kong where some of the boat people were being held, gave a "vivid account" of the conditions there, the minutes show.

He suggested that Britain take 10,000 of them over two years. Failure to take a significant number would lead to a "damaging reaction" at home and abroad, he said, and anything less than 10,000 would be "difficult to sustain" on the world stage.

But Lady Thatcher said that there were already too many people coming into Britain, according to the minutes. >>> Jon Swaine | Wednesday, December 30, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Files from 1979 too sensitive for release remain secret: Government files from 1979 regarded as too sensitive to release under the “30 year rule” were kept secret. >>> Jon Swaine | Wednesday, December 30, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Lady Thatcher attacked French president over Europe funding: The French president received a “handbagging” from Lady Thatcher over Britain's funding of Europe within weeks of her entering Downing Street. >>> Jon Swaine | Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Barack Obama Bows and Talks of Green Tea Ice Cream as He Pushes US Ties in Asia
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has bowed to the Emperor of Japan and revealed his childhood affection for green tea icecream as he pushes stronger US ties with Asia.

President Barack Obama is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arrival at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Photo: The Telegraph
There was talk of green tea ice cream, memories of a childhood visit to Japan and even a reference to the remote fishing town Obama as the US President set out his vision for US relations with Asia in a keynote speech.

He later bowed deeply to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, upon arrival at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo for a private lunch before he headed to Singapore on the next leg of his Asian tour.

Beneath the signature charm and rhetoric, President Barack Obama's message was clear: the US fully intends to deepen dialogue with China and pursue greater cooperation with countries across Asia.

Speaking before 1,500 people in a central Tokyo concert hall on the second day of his whistlestop tour of Asia, Mr Obama also pledged his "unshakeable" commitment to Asian security and insisted that the US would not be "cowed" by North Korea's nuclear tests.

Calling himself "America's first Pacific President" during a 40-minute address, Mr Obama said: "I want every American to know that we have a stake in the future of this region, because what happens here has a direct effect on our lives at home.

"This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods. And this is where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process."

The president reaffirmed the alliance between Japan and the US, which spans nearly five decades and has recently been overshadowed by a dispute over the relocation of American troops in the southern Okinawa region, and their continued presence in Japan overall. >>> Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo | Saturday, November 14, 2009

Broader Issues on Table in Pyongyang
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: While Negotiating Journalists' Release, Clinton and Kim Widened Talks to Security, Regional Concerns

WASHINGTON -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in more than three hours of discussions with Bill Clinton in Pyongyang, drew the former U.S. president into a wide-ranging discussion of security and regional issues.

Former U.S. officials and diplomats say the meetings, attended by the top ranks of Pyongyang's security establishment, were part of a renewed campaign by Pyongyang to stimulate direct negotiations with Washington over the country's nuclear program.

President Barack Obama and his aides stressed Wednesday that they weren't viewing Mr. Clinton's trip as anything more than a humanitarian mission focused on securing the release of two detained American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling.

Mr. Clinton returned to California Wednesday morning on a private jet with Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling, who had been arrested in March at the Chinese border and later sentenced to 12 years hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. Mr. Clinton's one-day visit secured their release.

"We were very clear this was a humanitarian mission," Mr. Obama said in an interview with MSNBC Wednesday. "We have said to the North Koreans there is a path for improved relations, and it involves them no longer developing nuclear weapons."

Mr. Clinton and his delegation were tight-lipped Wednesday about what transpired during a 75-minute meeting with Mr. Kim on Tuesday. They also attended a two-hour banquet hosted by the North Korean leader and his country's pre-eminent national-security body, the National Defense Commission.

U.S. officials briefed on Mr. Clinton's mission, however, are already outlining a broad discussion with Mr. Kim that focused on significantly more than just the two imprisoned Americans.

These U.S. officials indicated that Mr. Clinton expressed to Mr. Kim the necessity that his regime end a nuclear program that's feared to be stoking a broader arms race across Asia and the Middle East. >>> Jay Solomon | Thursday, August 06, 2009

Council Warns Staff Not to Use the Word 'British'
This must surely be Ron Davies’ second “moment of madness”! Why don’t these meddlesome politicians leave us all alone? - ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: A council is warning staff not to use the word "British" in case it upsets people from Scotland, Wales, Ireland or Asia.

New guidelines for town hall workers state that "many Scots, Welsh and Irish resist being called British" and says people from ethnic minorities should be called "British Asians" or "Chinese British".

Officials at Caerphilly in South Wales are warned that "the idea of 'British' implies a false sense of unity".

A guide on the use of the phrases has been drawn up for more than 9,000 council staff after being compiled by a race equality group led by shamed former Cabinet Minister Ron Davies.

It warns against using the word British as well as offensive words such as "negro", "spastic" and "half-caste".

The leaflet, called Equalities in the Delivery of Council Services, has been condemned as "political correctness gone mad" by Conservative MP for Monmouth David Davies.

It was drawn up by the Valleys Race Equality Council (Valrec) directed by former Caerphilly MP Ron Davies who resigned after what he called a "moment of madness" on Clapham Common.

Mr Davies, who is an Independent cabinet member on Caerphilly Council, said: "It's just for information, there's no advice or instruction.

"Of this council's employees, 3,900 describe themselves as white British, whereas 5,400 describe themselves as white Welsh.

"So this information is very much in accordance with the way that people in Caerphilly identify themselves."

The recommendations are contained in a document which advises staff how to deal with members of the public sensitively. >>> | November 11, 2008

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