Asian Sports Headlines at 3:34 a.m. GMT
Cricket Australia mulls 3rd, 4th test swap after COVID spike
Cricket Australia mulls 3rd, 4th test swap after COVID spike
The Chinese government said Wednesday that actions like its warplanes flying near Taiwan last weekend are a warning against both foreign interference in Taiwan and any independence moves by the island. Asked about the flights, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said China's military drills are to show the nation's resolution to protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. "They are a stern warning against external interference and provocation from separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence,” she said at a regular briefing, giving the Chinese government's first official comment on the recent flights.
About 1,200 participants were allowed to fly to Australia for the summer of tennis as thousands of its citizens are unable to return home due to travel restrictions. Players are serving 14 days of isolation during which they are allowed five hours outside their rooms each day to train for the year's first Grand Slam, which has been delayed by three weeks and will be played from Feb. 8-21. But 72 players have been confined to their rooms after passengers on the charter flights that carried them to Australia tested positive to the virus.
A Cricket Australia probe Wednesday concluded Indian players were racially abused during the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but cleared six people who were kicked out of the stadium.
The Taliban militant movement gave its backing on Tuesday for a coronavirus vaccination campaign in Afghanistan that has received a $112 million pledge from the World Health Organization’s COVAX programme. The immunisation drive will have to take place amid relentless violence in the country despite the government and the Taliban insurgents opening peace talks in September. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that the group would "support and facilitate" the vaccination drive conducted via health centres.
Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Wednesday with a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) down its slopes. It was the Mount Merapi’s longest lava flow since authorities raised the volatile volcano's danger level in November, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.
IPOH, Jan 27 ― Chinese New Year has always been the busiest period for lion-and-dragon head maker Teh Wing Liang. But not this year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 46-year-old's business has...
IPOH, Jan 27 — Arnee Ahamad Pazir, who earns RM30 a day, could be fined far above his daily wage, jailed up to 10 years, and even whipped, after he found himself on the wrong side of the law today....
Presented with a movie, meal, medicines and a $20 cash handout, Cambodia's cyclo taxi drivers received a rare treat at the weekend, and a brief distraction from hard times as the coronavirus takes a toll on tourism. Hundreds of drivers who are struggling to make ends meet were seen sprawled out in their pedal-driven vehicles during the special screening on Saturday, when a makeshift movie theatre sprang up in a grassy yard in the capital Phnom Penh. They were shown the new film "Fathers" by local director Huy Yaleng, about a cyclo driver's daily battle to support his family.
GEORGE TOWN, Jan 27 — The Penang Port Commission (PPC) has agreed to gift one of its iconic ferries to the Penang state government. PPC chairman Datuk Tan Teik Cheng said PPC made this decision due...
Three LGBT rights protesters have been arrested in Singapore after taking part in a tiny, rare demonstration triggered by the government's alleged mistreatment of a transgender student, police said Wednesday.
US President Joe Biden reaffirmed US commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, setting the stage for renewed transatlantic ties after his predecessor Donald Trump accused European members of not paying enough for the Western defence alliance. Biden spoke by phone on Tuesday with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to convey that Washington intended to work with Nato allies on shared security concerns such as in Afghanistan, Iraq and Russia. Biden said the United States was committed to collective defence under the North Atlantic Treaty and “underscored his commitment to strengthening transatlantic security”, the White House said in a statement. Stoltenberg, who has invited Biden to Brussels for a Nato summit on an unconfirmed date this year, said the two had stressed the need to “maintain the momentum for increased defence spending to keep our nations safe in an unpredictable world”, according to a Nato statement. The Nato readout said the two also addressed “the implications for our security of the rise of China”, a matter which was not mentioned in the White House statement.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. Biden has conducted a series of phone calls with close US partners since his inauguration last Wednesday, including with the leaders of Canada, Britain, France and Germany, in a bid to repair relationships that were strained under the “America First” approach of the Trump administration. But observers have warned that it will be difficult for Biden’s administration to reassure US allies, with lingering concerns that Washington’s security priorities might change yet again the next time a new president assumes office. Nato has joined US in seeing China as a risk to security, US envoy says During his presidency, Trump repeatedly accused Nato allies, including Germany, of not “paying their fair share”, and threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance. His administration took actions that ran counter to Nato positions, including the withdrawal of the US from the Treaty on Open Skies – a decades-old pact allowing unarmed surveillance flights over other member countries – and cutting the number of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq at the end of his term. Last year, Trump also announced he would pull back 12,000 American troops from Germany – where the US has maintained a significant security presence since 1945 – although the move has since been halted by bipartisan lawmakers. Also on Tuesday, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin spoke with his Australian counterpart Linda Reynolds to reaffirm the “enduring strength” of the alliance between the US and Australia and the importance of “maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific founded on existing international law and norms in a region free of malign behaviour,” the US Department of Defence said in a statement. Reynolds said in a statement that the two had stressed that the Indo-Pacific was a key focus for their alliance to ensure the region was “secure, prosperous, inclusive and rules-based”. Neither statement named China directly, but the reference to a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific by both the US and Australia was a clear nod to Beijing’s growing influence in the region, including through its belt and road development initiative and in its more aggressive approach to vast claims in the resource-rich South China Sea.More from South China Morning Post:Britain’s G7 ‘democracy summit’ not an anti-China coalition with Joe Biden, says EU diplomatJoe Biden makes first calls to Canada, Mexico amid strained US ties with North American neighboursJoe Biden seeks to bring normalcy back to White House after tumultuous 4 yearsJoe Biden to seek full 5-year extension of New START nuclear pact with RussiaWorld powers hopeful for reset with US under Joe BidenThis article Biden extends US commitment to Nato, with both to work on security concerns for stronger Western alliance first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — The Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) Residents’ Association today reaffirmed its commitment to resolving the housing issue of the longhouse residents living near Taman Rimba...
Economic profiteering is fueling the catastrophe in Yemen, where a six-year war has involved attacks on civilians, forced disappearances and other violations of human rights and international law, U.N. experts said in a new report. The experts estimate Houthi rebels diverted at least $1.8 billion in 2019 that was supposed to go to the government to pay salaries and provide basic services to citizens. The report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press describes a deteriorating situation in Yemen, where the panel said the Houthis and the government “appear to be indifferent” to the devastating impact of the economy's downfall on its people while continuing to divert the country’s economic and financial resources.
The number of positive COVID-19 tests linked to the Australian Open has been downgraded to eight after authorities reclassified one of the results as a previous infection, health officials said on Wednesday. "One case has been reclassified due to evidence of previous infection, meaning there is now a total of eight positive cases related to the AO cohort," COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) said in a statement. CQV, the government agency overseeing the quarantine of tennis players and officials ahead of the Grand Slam, said the reclassified case was a man in his 40s who was not a player.
Demand for Xiao's skills has soared since he graduated in 2014 with a computer engineering degree but now he just ignores the offers, having recently joined TikTok owner Bytedance after several years with Southeast Asia's Grab. Singapore is aiming to become a regional tech hub but faces a severe talent crunch as more firms move in, interviews with more than a dozen recruiters, companies and workers show. China's Tencent, Bytedance, U.S.-based Zoom Video Communications and unicorn Grab and Sea Ltd are among companies expanding in Singapore, fueling a war for tech talent in the city-state, where the jobless rate had reached a 16-year high due to a coronavirus-induced recession.
Global coronavirus cases surpassed 100 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as countries around the world struggle with new virus variants and vaccine shortfalls. Almost 1.3% of the world's population has now been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and more than 2.1 million people have died. COVID-19 vaccination programmes in China and India will stretch until late 2022 due to the sheer size of their population, and more than 85 poor countries will not have widespread access to vaccines before 2023, a study showed on Wednesday.
Police lines and barricades surrounded the Parliament building in Tunisia's capital on Tuesday, as hundreds protested social inequality and police abuses. This was the largest rally since demonstrations began earlier this month on the 10th anniversary of Tunisia's2011 revolution, which first brought democracy to the North African nation. On Tuesday, Tunisia's parliament approved a Cabinet reshuffle aimed at injecting new blood into the government. That's according to Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, who said, "Young people protesting outside parliament reminds us of our priorities. Their protests are legitimate and the government will listen to the angry youth." Mechichi, appointed last year, named 11 new ministers, but President Kais Saied said on Monday he would reject the Cabinet reshuffle. He criticized the absence of women among the new ministers and said some are likely tied to corruption. Some demonstrators outside of parliament said they still don't trust the government's decisions. "We are here today in protest of the ruling system, against the oppression, the injustice and the corruption. They have been making calculations and adjustments but only for the benefit of power and only power." Chanting "The people want the fall of the regime," protesters echoed the demands of the Tunisian revolution ten years ago, which later inspired the Arab Spring uprising across the region. Little has improved since then, at least according to one protester, as political paralysis and economic decline still persist. "Today, ten years after the so-called revolution, we still have the same demands, the same slogans. This is the proof that what is called a revolution did not happen… today, we protest to bring back the path of the revolution." Some opposition lawmakers even joined the protests. It's unclear when the President will make his decision on the reshuffle.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — Malaysia is targeting the administration of 75,000 Covid-19 vaccination jabs daily and is looking to hire over 10,000 workers to carry out the programme, Science, Technology...
Concern is growing about the potential long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic on prisoners in England and Wales, even though jails have avoided the worst predictions about infections.
Indian police imposed heavy security and closed several main roads around New Delhi on Wednesday, a day after farmers went on the rampage in the capital, leaving one person dead and dozens injured.