Asia Pacific Daily News - Focus on Asia-Pacific Development, Daily News Express, Scholar Creation Center

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 | Suga wins party vote, all but assuring election as Japan PM

Yoshihide Suga was elected as the new head of Japan’s ruling party on Monday, all but assuring that he will become the country’s new prime minister when a parliamentary election is held later in the week.

Despite his low-key image, Suga, 71, has been an important figure in outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration, serving as the government’s top spokesperson in his role as chief Cabinet secretary. Abe announced last month that he would resign due to health problems.

Suga’s victory in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party vote virtually guarantees his election in a parliamentary vote Wednesday because of the majority held by the LDP’s ruling coalition. Suga, the son of a strawberry grower in northern Japan’s Akita prefecture, said he had come a long way. “I will devote all of myself to work for the nation and the people,” he said in his victory speech.

Top 2 | U.S.: WeChat users not to be penalized

WeChat users will not face civil or criminal penalties even if the United States bans the Chinese-owned messaging app through other actions next week, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.

In August, President Donald Trump unveiled a proposed sweeping ban on U.S. transactions with Tencent, owner of the popular Chinese mainland app. The executive order, which called WeChat and Bytedance's short-video app TikTok "significant threats" to national security, followed stepped-up U.S. efforts to purge "untrusted" Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is set to release regulations by Sunday clarifying what WeChat transactions will be prohibited. China's Foreign Ministry has said that it firmly opposes the U.S. ban on both companies, calling the U.S. move "blatant hegemonic acts," and vowed to defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses. The ministry also said it supports relevant companies in taking up legal weapons to safeguard their rights and interests.

Top 3 | Trump, struggling to define Biden, steps up Harris attacks

Donald Trump barely mentioned Tim Kaine when he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2016. But four years later, the president has plenty to say about Kamala Harris.

Trump said this week that “nobody likes” Harris, feeding into a standard of likability that is applied to women in leadership far more often than men. He told voters in North Carolina it would be “an insult to our country” if Harris became the first female president. And Trump and his allies repeatedly mispronounce Harris’ first name, a pattern her supporters say amounts to a deliberate effort to portray the daughter of immigrants as someone who does not belong at the top ranks of politics.

Trump is focusing on Harris as he has sometimes struggled to land on a consistent, coherent attack against Biden, who has built a reputation as a bipartisan deal-maker rather than a progressive ideologue. And the racism and sexism underlying Trump’s critique of the first Black woman and person of Asian descent on a major party ticket are part of an aggressive strategy to appeal to white suburban voters.

Top 4 | U.S. remembers 9/11 as pandemic changes tribute traditions

Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.

Around the country, some communities have cancelled 9/11 commemorations because of the pandemic, while others are going ahead, sometimes with modifications.

In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances Friday, one at the September 11 Memorial Plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner. The Pentagon's observance will be so restricted that not even victims' families can attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day. Trump and Biden are both headed, at different times, to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Top 5 | Fauci disagrees with Trump on coronavirus, cites disturbing U.S. data

Top government infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says he disagrees with President Donald Trump's assessment the United States has“rounded the corner” on the coronavirus pandemic, saying the statistics are disturbing.

Fauci, the outspoken director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the United States was starting the flu season with a high baseline of around 40,000 new COVID-19 cases a day and deaths are averaging around 1,000 daily.

Trump, who has admitted playing down the severity of the virus since it emerged early this presidential election year, said on Thursday he believed the United States was "rounding the corner” on the crisis."I have to disagree with that, because, if you look at the thing that you just mentioned, the statistics ... they are disturbing,”Fauci said on MSNBC.

Top 6 | Russians vote in local elections, ruling United Russia set for big win

Voting on Russia's single election day on Sunday was over with polling stations in the westernmost Kaliningrad region being closed at 9 p.m. Moscow Time, Tass reported.

Citizens elect governors and members of regional legislators, city mayors and city legislatures, as well as members of municipal representational bodies. By-elections to the State Duma, or the lower house of the national parliament, were also held in single-seat constituencies.

Reuters reported that official early results showed politicians from ruling United Russia set for election wins in the regions of Komi, Tatarstan, Kamchatka and more than a dozen others. Votes were still being counted. But opposition Navalny's supporters scored rare victories in city council votes in Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city by population, and the student town of Tomsk where United Russia, which dominates regional power, appeared to have lost its council majority.

Top 7 | Barbados seeks to replace Queen Elizabeth II as head of state

Barbados wants to remove Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and become a republic, according to the Caribbean nation's government.

The Caribbean island is a former British colony that gained independence in 1966 and Barbados has maintained a formal link with the British monarchy as have some other countries that were once part of the British empire.

If the plan goes ahead, the queen will leave her role as head of state for Barbados by November 2021. Buckingham Palace has said the issue is a matter for the people. Britain's Foreign Office also said the decision was one for Barbados to take. On the Royal Family's official website, it states that the queen has a "unique relationship" with Barbados, adding: "Her Majesty is The Queen of Barbados, completely separate from her role as Queen of the United Kingdom."

Top 8 | Commissioner's office: U.S. has no right to meddle in HKSAR affairs

A spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has expressed strong disapproval and firm opposition to "groundless" remarks made by some American politicians on a case still under investigation in the financial hub.

The U.S. has no right to meddle in the case, which involves Hong Kong residents suspected of illegal border-crossing, a statement issued on Saturday quoted the spokesperson as saying.

China is a country under the rule of law and its judicial organs handle cases in accordance with the law, the spokesperson added, and the relevant authorities protect the legitimate rights of criminal suspects and deal with cases involving the mainland and the HKSAR in strict accordance with the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.

Top 9 | UK PM Johnson says he doesn't believe EU is acting in 'good faith'

UK Prime Minister Johnson on Wednesday admitted that he did not believe that the EU was negotiating in good faith in the withdrawal negotiations.

Johnson was responding to a question on why the existing withdrawal agreement did not do enough to alleviate his fears and he required the Internal Market Bill. Johnson said the bill was "the only way" to provide the "certainty and the protections that we are talking about" when it comes to trade between the UK and its nations.

He was before the Liaison Committee on Wednesday, for the first time since May. However, later on, he added that he still believed the EU "will negotiate in good faith and will apply common sense and reasonableness." He added that he had 'every hope and expectation' of avoiding a no-deal result with the European Union.

Top 10 | Suga stresses further ties with U.S., stable ties with China, Russia

Yoshihide Suga became Japan's first new prime minister in nearly eight years on Wednesday, stressing that he will implement policies to beef up Tokyo's alliance with the United States, while hoping to establish stable relationships with China and Russia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to Suga, saying that long-term stable, friendly and cooperative Sino-Japanese relations are in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and in the interest of peace and stability in Asia and the world.

Developing a China-Japan relationship that features long-term stability and friendly cooperation conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the expectations of the international community, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.