HANGZHOU: Chinese President Xi Jinping will declare the Asian Games open at a glittering ceremony in Hangzhou on Saturday, kickstarting a sporting behemoth that boasts more athletes than the Olympics.
After being delayed by a year due to China’s strict zero-Covid regime, more than 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories across Asia and the Middle East are in the eastern city to compete in 40 sports.
Xi is scheduled to open proceedings officially in one of the country’s most prosperous regions, in front of invited guests including Syrian President Bashar Assad.
But rain could put a dampener on the occasion, with persistent drizzle lingering.
Assad — on his first visit to China since war erupted in Syria in 2011 — will join leaders from ally Cambodia, Kuwait, and Nepal, among others at Hangzhou’s Olympic stadium, state media said.
The Games are “likely to be China’s post-pandemic soft power exercise in the fully packed stadium with the presence of political and business leaders in Asia,” Jung-Woo Lee, sport policy expert at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP.
But they have already been rocked by a row between New Delhi and China, with a trip to Hangzhou by India’s sports minister canceled on Friday.
It followed three women martial arts fighters from the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh claiming they were denied accreditation, a move China disputed.
The northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh is claimed almost in full by Beijing, which calls it “South Tibet.”
China’s status as a sporting destination took a severe hit during the first three years of the pandemic, when snap lockdowns and travel rules saw almost all international events canceled in the country.
The hosts are overwhelming favorites to top the medals table, boosting a nearly 900-strong delegation, with Japan and South Korea battling for second.
Notably, North Korea has sent a team to end nearly three years of isolation from the global sporting arena.
They will fight for medals in sports ranging from athletics, swimming and football to bridge, along with a host of regional specialities including dragon boat racing, Chinese martial art wushu and kabaddi, a popular contact sport on the Indian subcontinent.
Nine sports, among them boxing, break dancing and tennis, will serve as Asia qualifiers for next year’s Paris Olympics.
A sprinkling of world and Olympic champions adds some stardust, including India’s javelin king Neeraj Chopra, Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim and Chinese swimming royalty Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei.
Olympic Council of Asia honorary life vice president Wei Jizhong said having so many sporting disciplines was about giving opportunity to as many athletes as possible.
“We are open to all. This means our Games are not concentrated only for elite sportspeople,” he said.
“When developing countries’ athletes get medals their people are happy, their government is happy, and they support sport. Sport has a high social position. So I think this policy of OCA is successful.”
The Games will be staged at 54 venues — 14 newly constructed — mostly in Hangzhou but also extending to cities as far afield as Wenzhou, 300 kilometers (180 miles) south.
The centerpiece is the “Big Lotus” Olympic stadium with a capacity of up to 80,000 where athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies will be staged.
Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people an hour’s bullet train from Shanghai, is the unofficial home of China’s tech industry and the Games will feature driverless buses, robot dogs and facial recognition.
It is the first cashless Games, with Hangzhou a cashless city.
Organizers are also touting their environmental credentials, with a low-carbon policy in place that will see venues powered by ‘green’ electricity.
Xi to open biggest ever Asian Games, after a year’s delay
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Xi to open biggest ever Asian Games, after a year’s delay
- Over 12,000 competitors from 45 nations will compete in 40 sports during Asian Games
- Nine sports, among them boxing and tennis, will serve as Asia qualifiers for Paris Olympics
Top Modi opponent to return to jail after India vote ends
- Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key opposition leader, was detained in March over a long-running corruption probe
Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Modi in the polls, was detained in March over a long-running corruption probe.
He is among several leaders of the bloc under criminal investigation, with colleagues describing his arrest the month before general elections began as a “political conspiracy” orchestrated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
India’s top court granted him bail last month, giving a fleeting boost to the opposition’s quixotic campaign to oust Modi, but ordered him at the same time to return to custody once voting in the six-week poll concluded.
He will hand himself into Delhi’s Tihar prison on Sunday afternoon, he said.
“I came out for election campaign for 21 days... today I will surrender by going to Tihar,” he wrote on social media.
However, he said he would first visit a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, pray at a Hindu temple and visit his party office to “meet all the workers and party leaders.”
“All of you take care of yourselves,” he added. “I will take care of you all in jail. If you are happy, then your Kejriwal will also be happy in jail.”
Kejriwal’s government was accused of corruption when it implemented a policy to liberalize the sale of liquor in 2021 and give up a lucrative government stake in the sector.
The policy was withdrawn the following year, but the resulting probe into the alleged corrupt allocation of licenses has since led to the jailing of two top Kejriwal allies.
Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks set to win a third straight landslide election victory after voting ended on Saturday.
Exit polls showed he was well on track to triumph and Modi himself was certain he had prevailed, saying he was confident that “the people of India have voted in record numbers” to re-elect his government.
Results will be formally announced on Tuesday.
California firefighters battle wind-driven wildfire east of San Francisco
- Gusty winds have fueled the Corral Fire burning near the city of Tracy, 96 kilometers east of San Francisco
- The blaze grew to 18 square kilometers within hours, sending dark plumes of smoke high into the sky
SAN FRANCISCO: California firefighters aided by aircraft battled a wind-driven wildfire burning Saturday in an area straddling the San Francisco Bay Area and central California, authorities said.
Gusty winds have fueled the Corral Fire burning near the city of Tracy, 96 kilometers east of San Francisco, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the city of Livermore, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The blaze grew to 18 square kilometers within hours, sending dark plumes of smoke high into the sky. It was 40 percent contained, Cal Fire said.
Interstate 580, which connects the San Francisco Bay Area to San Joaquin County in central California, was closed in both directions from Corral Hollow Road to Interstate 5 due to the lack of visibility from the smoke, the California Department of Transportation said in a statement.
The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services issued an evacuation order, pinpointing the wildfire in an area east of Interstate 580. Residents between Corral Hollow Road and Tracy Boulevard were ordered to leave their homes, with residents south of Tracy Boulevard told to be prepared for evacuation.
North Korea sends 600 more trash balloons over border, South says
- Balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across Seoul overnight
- Military monitoring the starting point and conducting aerial reconnaissance to track down and collect the balloons
SEOUL: North Korea sent some 600 balloons carrying trash into South Korea overnight, Seoul said on Sunday, in Pyongyang’s latest move to rile its rival neighbor.
The balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across the capital from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. (1100 GMT on Saturday to 0100 GMT on Sunday), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It said the military was monitoring the starting point and conducting aerial reconnaissance to track down and collect the balloons, which have large bags of trash suspended beneath them.
North Korea on Wednesday sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement across the heavily fortified border as what it called “gifts of sincerity.” Seoul responded angrily, calling the move base and dangerous.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said during a meeting with US Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that the balloons violated the armistice agreement, according to South Korea’s military.
The two reaffirmed a coordinated response to any North Korean threats and provocations based on the South Korea-US alliance’s combined defense posture, it added.
Emergency alerts were issued in North Gyeongsang and Gangwon provinces and some parts of Seoul on Sunday, urging people not to come into contact with the balloons and to alert police.
South Korea’s National Security Council standing committee will meet on Sunday afternoon to discuss whether to resume blasting loudspeakers at North Korea in response to the trash balloons, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the presidential office.
South Korea stopped blaring propaganda across the border in 2018 after a rare summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
After South Africa’s historic election, what now for its global role on issues like the war in Gaza?
After South Africa’s historic election, what now for its global role on issues like the war in Gaza?
- South Africa is the most visible critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza by accusing it of genocide in a case at the world court
- The case has been largely driven by the ANC, which has long identified with the Palestinian cause
CAPE TOWN, South Africa: It was a historic day for South Africa. The political party that ended the racially divisive era of apartheid and sent global hopes soaring with a vibrant new democracy has lost its three-decade grip on power, according to election results Saturday.
For the first time, the African National Congress will have to form a coalition to govern South Africa, whose role on the global stage is growing as it takes Israel to court over its actions in Gaza and assumes the presidency of the Group of 20 nations late this year.
Here’s what might lie ahead for a leading voice for the developing world after the ANC lost its dominance at home.
Challenging Israel over Gaza
South Africa has become the most visible critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza by accusing it of genocide in a case at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court.
The case has been largely driven by the ANC, which has long identified with the Palestinian cause and sees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank uncomfortable parallels with the distant “homelands” created for South Africa’s Black people by the former white-controlled government under the brutal system of apartheid.
Israel vehemently denies the allegations of genocide. The ANC’s loss of its parliamentary majority in this week’s election made news in Israel.
The case at the world court could go on for years, meaning a new South African coalition government will inherit it. The ANC likely will form a governing deal with one or more of South Africa’s three main opposition parties — the centrist Democratic Alliance, the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters and the populist new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma.
The Democratic Alliance, which received around 21 percent of the vote, has said it doesn’t agree with the genocide case against Israel and would rather see South Africa push for a mediated settlement in the Israel-Hamas war. The EFF is seen to be at least as pro-Palestinian as the ANC and has also accused Israel of genocide. The position of the MK Party, formed late last year, is not clear.
G20 presidency lies ahead
South Africa has long been seen as a leading representative of the African continent in the world, and on Dec. 1 it assumes the prominent presidency of the Group of 20 nations — 20 leading rich and developing nations. South Africa will take over from Brazil, which is using its presidency to push for greater representation of developing nations on the global stage.
South Africa is the only African nation in the G20. The ANC and its new governing partner or partners will need to look beyond South African politics and find a common stance on pressing global issues such as climate change, conflict and reforms of international financial institutions.
“Regardless of the electoral outcome, deep-seated elements of South African foreign policy will persist, such as championing the rights of Palestinians and calling for international institutions to reform to better reflect the priorities of African states,” Michelle Gavin wrote last month for the Council on Foreign Relations.
And then there’s Russia
South Africa’s diplomacy under the ANC has drawn attention for its historic pro-Moscow stance that continued after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. While the United States and others in the West have long recognized the ANC’s ties to Russia — they go back to the fight against apartheid — the US-South Africa relationship was seriously strained when the ANC government allowed Russian and Chinese warships to conduct drills off its coast in early 2023.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance has been strongly critical of the ANC over its relationship with Russia, accusing it of betraying its claimed position of nonalignment and neutrality with regards to the war in Ukraine and the larger tensions between Russia and the West.
Gavin suggested that an “unstable” governing coalition could hurt South Africa as a gateway for foreign investors and “push the country even closer to Russia and China.”
A Chinese spacecraft lands on moon’s far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US
- China National Space Administration said the landing module touched down in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin
- The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess
BEIJING: A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.
The landing module touched down at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said.
The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.
The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the US — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.
The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so. America is planning to land astronauts on the moon again — for the first time in more than 50 years — though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.
US efforts to use private sector rockets to launch spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed. Last-minute computer trouble nixed the planned launch of Boeing’s first astronaut flight Saturday.
Earlier Saturday, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the moon because of uncertainty over the development of a mega rocket by SpaceX. NASA is planning to use the rocket to send its astronauts to the moon.
In China’s current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of surface and underground material for about two days.
An ascender atop the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the moon. The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.
Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
