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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 | More than 4,000 Indians die of COVID-19 for second straight day
India recorded more than 4,000 COVID-19 deaths for a second straight day on Thursday, while infections stayed below 400,000 for a fourth day, although the virus has become rampant in rural areas where cases can go unreported due to a lack of testing.
Experts remain unsure when numbers will peak and concern is growing about the transmissibility of the variant that is driving infections in India and spreading worldwide.
Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, said most models had predicted a peak this week and that the country could be seeing signs of that trend.
Top 2 | Weary Gaza marks Muslim feast as violence spreads in Israel
Weary Palestinians on Thursday prepared for a somber feast marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as Gaza braced for more Israeli airstrikes and communal violence raged across Israel after weeks of protests and violence in Jerusalem.
The outburst of Mideast violence has reached deeper into Israel than at any time since the 2000 Palestinian intifada, or uprising. Arab and Jewish mobs are rampaging through the streets, savagely beating people and torching cars, and flights are being cancelled or diverted from the country’s main airport.
The last three wars between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers were largely confined to the impoverished and blockaded Palestinian territory and Israeli communities on the frontier. But this round of fighting — which like the intifada, began in Jerusalem — seems to be rippling far and wide, tearing apart the country at its seams.
Top 3 | School shooting in Russia kills 9 people; suspect arrested
A gunman attacked a school Tuesday morning in the Russian city of Kazan, sending students running out of the building as smoke poured from its windows. At least nine people were killed — seven eighth-grade students, a teacher and another school worker — and 21 others were hospitalized, Russian officials said.
Footage released by Russian media outlets showed students dressed in black and white running out of the building. Another video depicted shattered windows, billowing smoke and sounds resembling gunshots in the background. Dozens of ambulances lined up at the school’s entrance after the attack and police fenced off access to the building.
Russian media said while some students were able to escape, others were trapped inside during the ordeal. All students were eventually evacuated to nearby day care centers and collected by their families.
Top 4 | Trump administration officials to testify on Jan. 6 riot
Two senior Trump administration officials plan to defend their actions during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol when they appear before Congress, with former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller standing behind every decision he made that day.
Miller will tell the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that he was concerned before the insurrection that sending troops to the building could fan fears of a military coup and cause a repeat of the deadly Kent State shootings, according to a copy of prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press.
His testimony, in the latest in a series of congressional hearings centered on the riot, is aimed at rebutting broad criticism that military forces were too slow to arrive even as pro-Trump rioters violently breached the building and stormed inside.
Top 5 | Elderly make up 18.7% of Chinese mainland's population: 2020 census
The number of Chinese people aged 60 and above reached 264.02 million in 2020, or 18.7 percent of the population, up by 5.44 percentage points from 2010, according to data from the seventh national census released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.
At the same time, there were 253.38 million people in the age group of 0 to 14 in 2020, or 17.95 percent of the population, up by 1.35 percentage points from 2010, according to the newest census.
Meanwhile, the population on the Chinese mainland stood at 1.41 billion in 2020 after it grew at an annual growth rate of 0.53 percent in the past decade. The population posted a mild growth momentum in the past decade as the annual growth rate ticked down from 0.57 percent in the 2000-2010 period, the 2020 census added.
Top 6 | EU agrees potential 1.8 billion-dose purchase of Pfizer jab
The European Union cemented its support for Pfizer-BioNTech and its novel COVID-19 vaccine technology Saturday by agreeing to a massive contract extension for a potential 1.8 billion doses through 2023.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that her office “has just approved a contract for a guaranteed 900 million doses” with the same amount of doses as a future option.
The new contract, which has the unanimous backing of the EU member states, will entail not only the production of the vaccines, but also making sure that all the essential components should be sourced from the EU.
Top 7 | UK PM Johnson has unpaid 535 pound debt - court document
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose personal finances have come under the spotlight over the renovation of his Downing Street apartment, has an unpaid debt of 535 pounds ($756.12) court records showed on Wednesday.
The court judgement seen by Reuters did not name the other party in the case, but listed Boris Johnson and the address of his 10 Downing Street office.
The record was dated Oct. 26 2020, and listed as 'Unsatisfied' meaning it was wholly or partly unpaid. It was first reported in the "Private Eye" magazine.
Top 8 | German Catholics to bless gay unions despite Vatican ban
Germany’s powerful Catholic progressives are openly defying a recent Holy See pronouncement that priests cannot bless same-sex unions by offering such blessings at services in about 100 different churches all over the country this week.
The blessings at open worship services are the latest pushback from German Catholics against a document released in March by the Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which said Catholic clergy cannot bless same-sex unions because God “cannot bless sin.”
The document pleased conservatives and disheartened advocates for LGBTQ Catholics around the globe. But the response has been particularly acute in Germany, where the German church has been at the forefront of opening discussion on hot-button issues such as the church’s teaching on homosexuality as part of a formal process of debate and reform.
Top 9 | Amazon wins court fight against $303 mln EU tax order
Amazon on Wednesday won its fight against an EU order to pay about 250 million euros ($303 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg as Europe's second highest court dealt a blow to the bloc's efforts to make multinational corporations pay more tax.
The Luxembourg-based General Court said Amazon had not enjoyed a selective advantage in its tax deal with the Grand Duchy.
"The Commission did not prove to the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction of the tax burden of a European subsidiary of the Amazon group," the judge said.
Top 10 | Investors chide Toyota’s Toyoda for questioning combustion car ban
Some Toyota Motor shareholders have criticized its President Akio Toyoda for questioning Japan’s plans to ban conventional cars only days after the firm said it was reviewing its climate lobbying and aimed for carbon neutrality by 2050.
The five investors, who collectively have around $500 billion in assets under management and spoke exclusively to Reuters, said the carmaker risks falling behind competitors that are rolling out electric vehicles, while giving cover for other companies seeking to avoid big changes to meet climate goals.
Japan’s Toyota signalled a shift in its climate change stance last month when it said it would review its lobbying and be more transparent on what steps it was taking as it responded to increased activist and investor pressure.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
