Hong Kong – Hong Kong hunkered down Monday as Typhoon Nida swirled towards the coast of southern China, with more than a hundred flights cancelled and schools closed.

Authorities are expected to raise a “T8” storm signal — the third-highest — in the evening as the storm edges closer to the city, packing winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour.

Flagship carrier Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Dragonair cancelled all of their flights in and out of the southern Chinese city for 16 hours.

“Typhoon Nida moves closer to Hong Kong,” a statement jointly issued by the two airlines said Monday.

“Flight departures and arrivals at Hong Kong International Airport Monday will be suspended from 10 pm until 2 pm” on Tuesday.

That will include more than 100 flights, a Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said.

List of CX and KA flights affected by Typhoon #Nida: https://t.co/8f1DLcyP16

— Cathay Pacific (@cathaypacific) August 1, 2016

Nida will be the first major storm of the season to hit Hong Kong, which is often battered by tropical cyclones during the summer.

The storm is expected to hit the coast of southern China after it brought strong winds and torrential rains to the northern Philippines over the weekend.

Typhoon #Nida approaching Hong Kong. Significant flight disruptions expected Tues., 2 Aug.https://t.co/39xW0OUAqE pic.twitter.com/6AafuXP2cY

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 1, 2016

Hong Kong authorities have shut kindergartens and special needs learning institutions on Monday.

“Local winds are expected to strengthen significantly around dusk,” said a typhoon bulletin on the city’s weather observatory website.

“There will be squalls, heavy rain and rough seas after sunset. There may be flooding in low-lying areas.”　

Typhoon shuts down Hong Kong with strong winds and rain

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AirAsia cancels flights

AirAsia has cancelled flights to seven destinations in China due to Severe Tropical Storm Nida.

“AirAsia would like to notify that flights operating in southern China from Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Johor Bahru for 1st and 2nd August 2016 will be cancelled due to Severe Tropical Storm Nida,” said the airline in a Facebook post on its official account on Monday.

It added that all affected passengers would be notified by AirAsia through email and SMS.

“The airline strongly encourages all guests to update their contact details at airasia.com to ensure that they are notified of any updates to their flights,” said AirAsia

The routes that are affected are:

1 August 2016:

Kuala Lumpur – Guangzhou – AK118

Kota Kinabalu – Guangzhou – AK1531

Kuala Lumpur – Shenzhen – AK128

Kuala Lumpur – Changsha – AK174

Changsha – Kuala Lumpur – AK175

Johor Bahru – Guangzhou – AK1394

Kota Kinabalu – Hangzhou – AK1574

Hangzhou – Kota Kinabalu – AK1575

Kota Kinabalu – Wuhan – AK2138

Wuhan – Kota Kinabalu -AK2139

2 August 2016:

Kuala Lumpur – Guangzhou – AK112

Guangzhou – Kuala Lumpur – AK113

Guangzhou – Kuala Lumpur – AK 119

Shenzhen – Kuala Lumpur – AK129

Guangzhou – Johor Bahru – AK1395

Guangzhou – Kota Kinabalu – AK1530

Kuala Lumpur – Macau – AK182

Macau – Kuala Lumpur – AK183

Kuala Lumpur – Shenzhen – AK126

Shenzhen – Kuala Lumpur – AK127

Kuala Lumpur – Hong Kong – AK138 and AK134

Hong Kong – Kuala Lumpur – AK139 and AK135

Kota Kinabalu – Hong Kong – AK237

Hong Kong – Kota Kinabalu – AK236

Kota Kinabalu – Shenzhen – AK1520

Shenzhen – Kota Kinabalu – AK1521

Hong Kong – Hong Kong hunkered down Monday as Typhoon Nida swirled towards the coast of southern China, with more than a hundred flights cancelled and schools closed.

Authorities are expected to raise a “T8” storm signal — the third-highest — in the evening as the storm edges closer to the city, packing winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour.

Flagship carrier Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Dragonair cancelled all of their flights in and out of the southern Chinese city for 16 hours.

“Typhoon Nida moves closer to Hong Kong,” a statement jointly issued by the two airlines said Monday.

“Flight departures and arrivals at Hong Kong International Airport Monday will be suspended from 10 pm until 2 pm” on Tuesday.

That will include more than 100 flights, a Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said.

List of CX and KA flights affected by Typhoon #Nida: https://t.co/8f1DLcyP16

— Cathay Pacific (@cathaypacific) August 1, 2016

Nida will be the first major storm of the season to hit Hong Kong, which is often battered by tropical cyclones during the summer.

The storm is expected to hit the coast of southern China after it brought strong winds and torrential rains to the northern Philippines over the weekend.

Typhoon #Nida approaching Hong Kong. Significant flight disruptions expected Tues., 2 Aug.https://t.co/39xW0OUAqE pic.twitter.com/6AafuXP2cY

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 1, 2016

Hong Kong authorities have shut kindergartens and special needs learning institutions on Monday.

“Local winds are expected to strengthen significantly around dusk,” said a typhoon bulletin on the city’s weather observatory website.

“There will be squalls, heavy rain and rough seas after sunset. There may be flooding in low-lying areas.”　

Typhoon shuts down Hong Kong with strong winds and rain

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

A Japanese citizen has been investigated on suspicion of endangering China’s state security, the Foreign Ministry told China Daily on Sunday.

The ministry’s spokesperson’s office did not elaborate on the identity of the detained Japanese, saying only that the investigation had taken place recently. It said the probe was carried out by government departments, and the Japanese embassy in China had been notified.

Japanese media reported on Thursday that the country’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga had confirmed that a Japanese man had been detained.

Some Japanese media speculated that the man had been detained on suspicion of espionage.

But Suga denied this at a news conference in Tokyo.

The Tokyo-based Jiji News Agency quoted unnamed sources as saying that the man, aged over 50, had been scheduled to visit China from July 11 to 15.

Japan News Network, a Chinese-language website that reports Japanese news, quoted unnamed sources as saying that the man was a member of the Japan-China Youth Association.

According to the association’s website, it is a group that helps to develop friendly relations between the two countries. However, the website is currently not accessible as it is “under maintenance”.

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said the case may have a negative effect on Chinese public opinion about Japan in the short term.

But he also said it will not deal a major blow to overall Sino-Japanese ties.

“Most of the time, it is no surprise that Tokyo chooses to deny suspected espionage if there are any allegations,” Zhou added.

More than half of married Korean men have had extramarital affairs at least once in their lives, while 40 per cent of them think “buying sex is not cheating,” a study showed on Monday.

The study was jointly compiled by Lina Korea — the Korean unit of US insurance giant CIGNA — and a local sexologist clinic, and surveyed some 1,100 Koreans aged 20 or older.

The study found that 50.8 per cent of the surveyed men, and 9.3 per cent of the surveyed women, have cheated on their legal spouses at least once.

The study also found that the surveyed Korean men in their 50s had extramarital affairs with an average of 12.5 partners.

At the same time, 53.7 per cent of the men in their 50s said they’ve cheated on their wives. Among surveyed women in their 50s, 9.6 per cent said they’ve had affairs while married. They on average had relationships with 4.3 partners.

The study also revealed that men and women have different views on whether or not paying for sex is cheating.

While 40.5 per cent of the surveyed men said they don’t consider buying sex as an act of infidelity, only 15.1 per cent of the women thought the same.

Notably, 43.3 per cent of the respondents that did not consider paying for sex as cheating had extramarital affairs at least once.

However, 20.9 per cent of those who considered buying sex as cheating — in the same way as having an affair — still pursued extramarital relationships.

Income level, on top of gender, also had an impact on his or her likelihood of cheating.

Among those whose household income is 5 million won (S$6,000) or more, 34.1 per cent of them have cheated on their spouses, while 25.4 per cent of those whose household income is 3.5 million won or less have engaged in extramarital relationships.

In terms of occupation, the highest proportion of those who have cheated, 40.6 per cent, were running their own businesses. The second largest group, accounting for 39.3 per cent, were office workers, followed by physical laborers who accounted for 33.8 per cent.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court legalized adultery last year, abolishing a 60-year-old law that made extramarital affairs illegal and punishable with a prison term. Prostitution still remains illegal.

Since 2004, the year South Korea passed its antiprostitution law, both buying and selling sex is considered a criminal activity and punishable with a maximum of one year behind bars.