Flights cancelled, businesses shut in Hong Kong, Guangdong as Typhoon Saola nears - CNA

HONG KONG: Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Friday (Sep 1) in China's populous Guangdong province and neighbouring Hong Kong ahead of Typhoon Saola's arrival, with the powerful storm forcing some mainland cities to close businesses, schools and even financial markets.

Three tropical cyclones have formed in the northwest Pacific Ocean and South China Sea. Saola and Haikui were labelled typhoons while Kirogi, the most distant from land, was still classified as a tropical storm.

Saola, packing winds of more than 200kmh, will make landfall in Guangdong, which encompasses Hong Kong. It could be among the five strongest typhoons to hit Guangdong since 1949, Chinese authorities warned on Thursday.

Saola could make landfall on Friday night or Saturday morning as a severe typhoon along the coast between the cities of Huidong and Taishan, China's National Meteorological Centre said. Hong Kong and Macau lie in the centre of that coastline.

Weather conditions will deteriorate rapidly as the typhoon makes landfall, the Hong Kong observatory said, with storm surge potentially reaching around 3m higher than the normal tide in some areas.

All schools in Hong Kong were closed on Friday, despite being the first day of term for many.

"We can see that the eye of the typhoon will pass very close to Hong Kong. I'm a bit concerned and hope it won't cause too many casualties," office worker Wai Yi said as she strolled by the sea with her husband in the city's eastern Heung Fa Chuen area.

In Hong Kong on Thursday, crowds were seen jostling at fresh food markets in downtown Wan Chai district with many vegetables already sold out. There were long queues at supermarkets as people stocked up ahead of the storm.

The city's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific said all flights in and out of Hong Kong between 2pm (0600 GMT) on Friday and 10am (0200 GMT) on Saturday have been cancelled.

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2023-09-01 08:26:00Z
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Thai King Commutes Former PM Thaksin's Jail Term to One Year - Bloomberg

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1. Thai King Commutes Former PM Thaksin's Jail Term to One Year  Bloomberg
2. Thailand’s ex-PM Thaksin has submitted request for royal pardon  Al Jazeera English
3. Thai king commutes former PM Thaksin's prison sentence to one year  CNA
4. Thai king reduces former PM Thaksin's eight-year jail sentence to one year  The Straits Times
5. Former Thai Premier Thaksin Submits Petition for Royal Pardon  Bloomberg
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-09-01 08:27:57Z
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PM rolls out New Industrial Master Plan 2030 - New Straits Times

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1. PM rolls out New Industrial Master Plan 2030  New Straits Times
2. Malaysia to allocate US$1.8 billion to fund national industrial masterplan  CNA
3. Malaysia unveils $20bn masterplan to transform industry by 2030  Nikkei Asia
4. NIMP 2030 will help grow SMEs and improve livelihoods, says PM  The Star
5. Anwar unveils RM95b New Industrial Master Plan  Malaysiakini
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-09-01 03:58:13Z
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Voting to proceed at Hong Kong overseas polling station amid Typhoon Saola - CNA

SINGAPORE: Voting for Singapore's Presidential Election will proceed at the overseas polling station in Hong Kong, despite the warning signal issued by the city's weather authority as Super Typhoon Saola draws closer.

The Elections Department (ELD) said on Friday (Sep 1) morning that it is aware that the Hong Kong Observatory issued a Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No 8 for the typhoon, its third-highest, which identifies it as a gale or storm.

Under this signal, members of the public are advised to complete all precautions in their homes, locking all windows and doors and inserting reinforced shutters and gates if they are available.

Cars should be parked in a safe place and people should avoid standing near windows on the exposed side of their homes.

Flights may also be affected by the weather.

Hong Kong Observatory also warned that the weather will "deteriorate rapidly" later on Friday, with heavy squally showers and violent winds expected. It added that it will assess the need to issue higher warning signals around the evening.

Voting at the polling station will open from 8am local time.

"Voters are also advised to vote early to avoid overcrowding, which might occur near to the closing of the poll at 8pm," ELD said.

"For their safety, voters should closely monitor the latest advice from the local authorities before planning to head outdoors."

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2023-09-01 00:33:00Z
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Super Typhoon Saola hurtles towards southern China, Hong Kong - CNA

HONG KONG: China issued its highest typhoon warning on Thursday (Aug 31) as Super Typhoon Saola drew closer to Hong Kong and the mainland's southern coast, with several cities delaying the start of the school year as a precaution.

Saola's wind speeds topped 200kmh by 6pm on Thursday, with the storm around 370km southeast of the Chinese finance hub, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

It will bring "heavy squally showers and violent winds" on Friday, the observatory said, adding that the threat level was expected to be upgraded to "T8" - the city's third-highest - early in the morning.

On the mainland, China issued the most severe warning in its four-tiered system, with the National Meteorological Centre predicting the typhoon would make landfall "somewhere in the coastal areas stretching from Huilai to Hong Kong" by Friday afternoon at the earliest.

But there was also a possibility it could move west and "pass through the waters of eastern Guangdong without making landfall".

Train services have been suspended across Guangdong, state news agency Xinhua said, while various cities in the southern province - including Shantou, Shanwei, Jieyang and Chaozhou - have pushed the start of the academic year to Monday.

Airline Cathay Pacific said it cancelled all flights in and out of Hong Kong between 0600 GMT Friday and 0200 GMT Saturday.

Its subsidiary, budget airline HK Express announced it was cancelling 70 flights in and out of Hong Kong on Friday and Saturday.

Hong Kong Airlines said it had cancelled more than 30 flights and start-up carrier Greater Bay Airlines said it was calling off 12.

Hong Kong's low-lying areas could see "serious flooding", its observatory said, and the storm surge may be similar to that seen during the 2018 Super Typhoon Mangkhut if Saola skirted the south of the territory.

Mangkhut - which triggered Hong Kong's maximum "T10" typhoon alert - caused severe damage to the city and injured more than 300 people.

Saola displaced thousands earlier this week as it passed the northern Philippines but no direct casualties have been reported from it so far.

Authorities in Hong Kong's neighbouring casino hub of Macau said they were eyeing the possibility of issuing its third-highest typhoon warning on Saturday.

Southern China is frequently hit in summer and autumn by typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines and then travel west.

While they can cause temporary disruption to cities like Hong Kong and Macau, fatalities have become much less common thanks to stronger building codes and better flood management systems.

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2023-08-31 17:22:00Z
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US envoy feasts on Fukushima fish, slams China water 'dumps' - CNA

SOMA: The US envoy to Japan feasted on fish from Fukushima on Thursday (Aug 31), saying that water discharged from the crippled nuclear plant was safer than that "dumped" by Chinese atomic facilities.

China banned all seafood imports from its neighbour last week after Japan began releasing wastewater from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean, accusing Tokyo of treating the ocean like a "sewer".

"Japan over the decade has done exactly the right things in the right way. International scientific rigour, fully transparent, and inviting the international community to monitor their progress cleaning the water," Ambassador Rahm Emanuel said as he visited the area devastated by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear catastrophe.

"Water from this area is safer than (the water which) the four plants in China dumps untreated into the ocean," he said.

The water being released from Fukushima has been filtered of all radioactive elements except tritium, according to plant operator TEPCO.

Tritium levels are within safe limits and below that released by nuclear power stations in their normal operation, including in China, TEPCO says.

Emanuel, 63, ate a plateful of raw slices of flounder, tuna and bass at a local restaurant before buying more fish and locally grown peaches from a supermarket.

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2023-08-31 13:44:10Z
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Thai ex-PM Thaksin applies for royal pardon: Minister - CNA

DIVISIVE  FIGURE

Thaksin is one of the most influential but divisive figures in modern Thai history.

Loved by millions of rural Thais for his populist policies in the early 2000s, he is reviled by the country's royalist and pro-military establishment, which has spent much of the past two decades trying to keep him and his allies out of power.

Hours after Thaksin landed in Bangkok to a hero's welcome from hundreds of supporters, Pheu Thai's Srettha Thavisin was confirmed as prime minister on Tuesday - the party's first premier since Thaksin's sister Yingluck was thrown out in a coup in 2014.

Just hours after being sent to jail, Thaksin was moved to a police hospital, with prison medical officers saying he needed close monitoring for various health problems, including heart trouble.

Thai media reported that Thaksin had been installed in a private VIP suite on the 14th floor of the Police General Hospital in downtown Bangkok.

A small anti-Thaksin group gathered in Bangkok Thursday afternoon to demand he serve his time.

Before last week Thaksin had not set foot in the kingdom since 2008, living mostly in Dubai to avoid criminal cases he long maintained were politically motivated.

But earlier this year he said he was willing to face justice in order to return home and see his grandchildren.

Parties linked to Thaksin dominated every Thai election since 2001 - until this year, when the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) won the most seats.

But new PM Srettha's coalition shuts MFP out - while bringing in parties linked to the coup-maker generals who ousted Thaksin and Yingluck.

MFP rode a wave of youth and urban discontent at nearly a decade of military-backed rule to win most seats in the May election.

But the party's push to amend royal defamation laws and tackle business monopolies spooked the kingdom's powerful elite, and leader Pita Limjaroenrat was blocked from becoming prime minister.

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2023-08-31 11:20:00Z
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