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Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
Top 1 | Xi Jinping calls for confidence, efforts to secure a good start to new journey
According to the Chinese calendar and zodiac, 2022 – the Year of the Tiger – is coming to an end, and the Year of the Rabbit, an animal considered smart, agile, pure and kind in traditional Chinese culture, is just around the corner.
Over the past year, China has written a new chapter of socialist modernization, President Xi Jinping said during a speech at a reception in Beijing on Friday, two days before the Chinese New Year that falls on January 22.
Noting that 2023 will be the first year for fully implementing the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi said there will be hope and challenges.
Top 2 | Protests and worries as West pledges tanks to Kyiv
The latest promise by Western countries to send high-tech battle tanks to Ukraine has aroused not only protests and condemnation, but also worries that more advanced weaponry could be next.
The Russian side fired wave of missiles and self-exploding drones at nearly a dozen Ukrainian provinces early Thursday, killing at least 11 people, as the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the move to provide Ukraine with modern tanks reflected the West's growing involvement in the conflict.
Also on Thursday night, a protest against supplies of German tanks and weapons was held in the German city Munich.
Top 3 |** Chris Hipkins sworn in as New Zealand's 41st prime minister**
Chris Hipkins was sworn in as the 41st prime minister of New Zealand on Wednesday, after being appointed by Governor-General Cindy Kiro.
The swearing-in ceremony held in parliament saw Hipkins officially taking up the top job and Carmel Sepuloni becoming the deputy prime minister.
Prime Minister Hipkins will reshuffle the cabinet next week. Besides the top leadership role, Hipkins himself will be the minister of national security and intelligence.
Tackling inflation will be his priority, he said, as Stats NZ released on Wednesday the growth of New Zealand's consumers price index remained 7.2 percent in the 12 months to December 2022.
Top 4 | CELAC Summit concludes, issues joint declaration
The 7th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) concluded on Tuesday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where representatives from 33 member states signed and issued the "Buenos Aires Declaration".
The declaration stresses the commitment of CELAC member states to jointly safeguard the rights and interests of the people in the region and to accelerate the realization of regional integration.
It also pointed out that the blockade, isolation and sanctions imposed by the United States on Cuba, Venezuela and other Latin American countries violated international law and seriously damaged the rights and interests of the people of these countries, and called on the U.S. to stop its inappropriate behaviors as soon as possible.
Top 5 | Macron calls on France, Germany to become pioneers of European refoundation
France and Germany should together become "pioneers" in the refoundation of Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday in Paris during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of France-Germany reconciliation.
Macron pointed out that the first task of the two countries, as pioneers, should be building together a new energy model beyond their differences.
"We must encourage and accelerate at the European level necessary public and private investments for the ecological transition," he noted, adding that the two allies must complete the diversification of their sources and encourage the production of carbon-free energy in Europe.
Top 6 | Serbia agrees to consider Western proposal on Kosovo and Metohija
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic discussed the issue of his country's autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija on Friday with representatives of the European Union (EU), the United States (U.S.), France, Germany and Italy in an attempt to resolve the frozen conflict between Belgrade and Pristina amid frequent tensions in the province.
The meeting here was attended by the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak, the U.S.' Deputy Assistant Secretary overseeing policy towards the countries of the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar, the advisors on foreign and security policy to the French president and German chancellor, Emmanuel Bonne and Jens Plettner, respectively, and the diplomatic adviser to the prime minister of Italy, Francesco Talo.
"What we agree on is that a frozen conflict is not a solution and that when you have a frozen conflict, it is only a matter of time when someone will unfreeze it and when irresponsible individuals will collapse the peace and stability of the entire Western Balkans," Vucic said after the meeting, according to the press release of the president's office.
Top 7 | Israeli forces, Gaza militants trade missiles after deadly West Bank raid
Israel launched air strikes on Gaza Friday in response to militant rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave, as tensions rose following the deadliest army raid on the occupied West Bank in years.
Israel said it had carried out at least two rounds of strikes targeting Hamas militants, following waves of rocket launches towards southern Israel.
There were no reported injuries on either side and most of the Gaza rockets were intercepted by Israel's air defense system.
No Palestinian group in Gaza has claimed responsibility for the rockets, but Hamas had vowed to respond to Thursday's Israeli raid in the West Bank, which killed nine people.
Top 8 | Harris visits Monterey Park to meet with victims' families
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Monterey Park, California, on Wednesday to meet with victims' families days after a mass shooter there killed 11 and wounded at least nine others at a Lunar New Year celebration inside a dance studio.
Harris visited Star Dance Studio to mourn the loss of the victims of the Monterey Park shooting, expressing the administration's "deepest condolences and sorrows for the violent and tragic and useless thing that happened" there.
The vice president, carrying a large bouquet of Yellow lilies and white roses, took time looking at each of the 11 memorials set up at the dance studio in honor of the victims.
Top 9 | Donald Trump allowed back on Facebook and Instagram, Meta announces
Meta announced it is allowing former President Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram "in the coming weeks," ending a two-year suspension.
Trump was locked out of his accounts on Facebook and Instagram on Jan. 7. 2021, in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, over concerns that his posts were inciting violence. Facebook later said the suspension will hold for two years, at which point it would come under reassessment.
"The suspension was an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances," Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement Wednesday. "The normal state of affairs is that the public should be able to hear from a former President of the United States, and a declared candidate for that office again, on our platforms."
Top 10 | Garland pushes back on suggestion Biden has been treated better than Trump in documents probes
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday fielded his first questions on the Justice Department's handling of the investigation into classified documents found at President Joe Biden's Delaware home and a post-vice presidency think tank, responding in broad terms to criticism that Biden has faced fairer treatment than former President Donald Trump.
"The department has a set of norms and practices," Garland said. "These mean, among other things, that we do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or powerless, different rules for the rich or poor."
Garland addressed the questions during a meeting of the Justice Department's reproductive rights task force, which was founded following the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade last summer.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
