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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 | Huawei CFO's extradition hearing closes in Canada
Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou's extradition hearing in Canada closed on Wednesday. The judge will set a date to announce the decision in October.
The court debate was presented by the prosecution, but the prosecution once again exposed contradictory statements.
"There are enough facts to show that the Meng Wanzhou incident is a political event through and through. The U.S.'s fraud accusations against Ms Meng Wanzhou are nothing but fabrication," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said earlier this week.
Top 2 | Indiana governor breaks with GOP peers, allows local mask mandates
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) broke with some of his Republican peers on Monday, telling reporters that schools implementing mask mandates are "making a wise decision when the facts warrant it."
A number of Republican governors have issued orders in recent weeks barring schools from enforcing mask mandates despite the surge of COVID-19 cases throughout the U.S., which is being driven largely by the highly infectious delta variant.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) recently gave parents a choice to opt-out of mask mandates, contending that parents should decide if their children need to wear face coverings in schools. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has also signed a similar executive order.
Top 3 | Chinese, Russian FMs vow to defend truth of history, WWII achievements
China and Russia should jointly defend the truth of history, human dignity and World War II achievements, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday in a phone talk with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Wang said that August 15 marked the day in history that Japan was defeated and unconditionally surrendered in World War II. It should also be the moment for the Japanese side to thoroughly reflect on its history of aggression, he added.
However, some Japanese politicians moved against the historic trend by overtly worshiping the Yasukuni Shrine which honors World War II Class-A war criminals, Wang said, calling the act a challenge to human conscience and international justice.
Top 4 | China, U.S. diplomats exchanged views on Afghanistan
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to exchange views about developments in Afghanistan on Monday, according to Chinese foreign ministry.
Wang Yi said that the United States should play a constructive role in helping Afghanistan to stabilize, prevent chaos, and rebuild peace. The sudden withdrawal of forces by the United States has already caused a serious negative impact on the situation in Afghanistan. If the next step is to create new problems, it is not a responsible attitude, Wang said.
Wang Yi also said that China is willing to communicate and dialogue with the U.S. on the situation in Afghanistan, so that the country will no longer have a new war or humanitarian disaster.
Top 5 | McConnell slams Biden's 'botched exit' from Afghanistan
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed President Biden's "botched exit" from Afghanistan on Sunday after the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul, having already taken control of the rest of the country.
"The Biden Administration's botched exit from Afghanistan including the frantic evacuation of Americans and vulnerable Afghans from Kabul is a shameful failure of American leadership," McConnell wrote in a statement.
The Taliban seized control of Kabul overnight on Sunday, marking a harrowing turning point in the insurgent group's military offensive in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country Sunday morning, and the U.S. is pulling all personnel from the embassy in Kabul.
Top 6 | Democrats look to state courts as redistricting battle heats up
Democrats are expected to lean heavily on state Supreme Courts in the upcoming fight over redistricting after key pathways to fighting maps gerrymandered by Republicans were cut off to them.
The starting gun for redistricting was fired Thursday with the release of detailed census data, which will inform the drawing of both congressional and state legislative districts in every state. Republicans have a yawning edge in the map-drawing process, having full control in states that will delineate 187 House districts, while Democrats will have full control to demarcate just 84.
Democrats already start the process on their back foot in the fight over the maps after a 2020 cycle of missed opportunities, when the party failed to flip a single state legislative chamber. And a 2019 Supreme Court decision ruling that lawsuits over partisan gerrymanders raise a political question outside of federal courts' purview leaves Democrats with one main recourse for challenging GOP maps drawn along partisan lines: state courts.
Top 7 | Death toll from Haiti earthquake rises to 724 -- civil protection authorities
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The death toll has risen to 724 in a strong earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday morning, the nation's civil protection authorities said in a statement on Sunday.
"The death toll of the earthquake rose at the start of the day on Aug. 15 to 724: 500 in the Sud (department), 100 in the Grand'Anse (department), 122 in the Nippes (department) and 2 in the Nord-Ouest (department)," said the statement.
According to Haiti's civil protection services, there are more than 2,800 injuries that have been recorded so far from the earthquake.
Top 8 | Trump and Biden Blame Each Other for Afghanistan Turmoil
Former President Donald Trump criticized President Joe Biden on Saturday for not "following the plan" that he left on Afghanistan after Biden blamed the former administration for empowering the Taliban, as the regime continued to take over cities and provinces across the nation.
Biden doubled down on his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in a White House statement earlier today, blaming the Trump administration for signing a deal with the Taliban that left them "in the strongest position militarily since 2001."
"When I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies' forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country's civil conflict," the president said, reiterating his long-standing reasoning for the decision to withdraw U.S. forces.
Top 9 | COVID-19 cases surge in Australian state with tougher restrictions announced
Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW), the worst-hit in the country's current COVID-19 outbreak, reported 466 new local cases on Saturday, a new peak and a nearly 20-percent jump from Friday's 390 cases.
The state also recorded four deaths, which brought the total number of COVID-related deaths in the latest outbreak to 43.
Facing the deteriorating situation, the authorities announced a couple of tougher restrictions.
From Monday, the radius of movement for residents in Greater Sydney and surrounding areas were reduced from 10 km to 5 km. From Aug. 21, people will need a permit to travel to regional NSW.
Top 10 | East Africa, India sign joint action plan to boost trade
The East African Community (EAC) trading bloc and India have signed a joint action plan to boost bilateral trade by ensuring faster clearance of goods, officials said during the virtual signing ceremony on Friday.
Both sides believed that the joint action plan will pave the way for a full mutual recognition agreement between the two sides.
The EAC is an intergovernmental organization composed of six countries, namely Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
