BBC World News senior journalist in London, prev in Singapore and Sydney covering Asia and Australia. frances.mao(@)https://xitter.cf/t.co/402SAPMyNq
London, prev Singapore, Sydney
Joined February 2011
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Frances Mao retweeted
'Situation is dire' - BBC returns to Gaza baby left hungry by Israeli blockade bbc.in/4k8B3iB
Frances Mao retweeted
Russia launches record drone attack on Ukraine overnight as US President Donald Trump says President Vladimir Putin has gone "absolutely crazy"
Follow latest bbc.in/3SYIZqJ
Frances Mao retweeted
Here's how Gary Lineker said goodbye to #MOTD after 25 years.
Frances Mao retweeted
Indian air strikes - how will Pakistan respond? Four key questions. Srinath Raghavan, @clary_co, @Ajaybis, @Umer_1967 and @Dr_Ejaz_ weigh in. bbc.com/news/articles/cd0207… #IndiaPakistanWar
After 50 nights of ceasefire, life in Gaza had settled into a rhythm of relative calm.
But then the rat-a-tat of gunfire began, and explosions. Then came the sound of people screaming.
Latest on the Israeli airstrikes: bbc.com/news/articles/c7785v…
Frances Mao retweeted
RFA does amazing reporting in the most difficult conditions in this region - especially Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia. We rely on them a lot - this is a real blow to us, to transparency accountability in Asia, to keeping people informed about what’s really going on. Very sad.
🧵 (1/3) The federal grants that fund Radio Free Asia and partner networks were terminated Saturday morning, according to a grant termination notice received by RFA.
rfa.org/english/china/2025/0…
Frances Mao retweeted
It’s been a very tumultuous 24 hours but the most harrowing thing is that many of my colleagues at Radio Free Asia who risk their lives and have sat in prison for daring to report on authoritarian regimes are at grave risk. Please raise awareness: rfa.org/english/china/2025/0…
Frances Mao retweeted
Oil tanker and cargo vessel collide in North Sea bbc.in/3FittCL
Frances Mao retweeted
I shouldn't have promised to "Stop the Boats" @RishiSunak has told me in a long wide-ranging conversation on my Political Thinking podcast. The former Prime Minister is candid about the mistakes he made; the disagreements he had with Boris Johnson; the trade-offs the country should now confront; the lessons he learned as Chancellor during Covid - as well his attitudes to race and faith and Englishness as the first British Asian prime minister.
Listen now on @bbcsounds
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9d…
MI5 lied to courts to protect one of its spies - a misogynistic neo-Nazi agent who attacked his girlfriend with a machete, the BBC can reveal. Great report from @DdesimoneDaniel
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cew5…
Frances Mao retweeted
BBC goes inside hospital battling unprecedented winter pressures - one of those who declared critical incident though later stood down bbc.com/news/articles/c2kxk7…
Frances Mao retweeted
Gaza babies dying from the cold as winter temperatures drop bbc.in/4fDReBF
Frances Mao retweeted
It’s bitterly cold in Gaza and rain is flooding the tents of displaced Palestinians. We worked with freelance cameramen to film some of the grieving parents who couldn’t keep their newborn babies warm.
Frances Mao retweeted
Six babies have died from hypothermia in under two weeks in Gaza - we've been speaking to some of the parents suffering from the anguish of not being able to keep their children warm bbc.com/news/articles/cd0ep0…
It's not all bad news. Lovely initiative from @BBCNews live team: a run-down on 100 good news stories from the year bbc.co.uk/news/live/c62z5p01…
Frances Mao retweeted
Awful scenes in Vanuatu. Full scale of disaster not yet clear, but:
- serious damage to multiple buildings in Port Vila
- footage shows several injured people carried to hospital
- Wong says Australia "ready to respond" - officials from Aus, NZ, France meeting this afternoon
There's pretty horrific damage to infrastructure in Port Vila, Vanuatu, after the 7.3 magnitude #earthquake today.
We're seeing flattened/collapsed buildings, rubble everywhere.
Thankfully though, the tsunami threat has been cancelled.
Thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu RN
Frances Mao retweeted
17/21 As for Yang, the term "spy" has been used today but I feel that word may be outdated here. That world remains active but geopolitics is changing: this is a wider challenge of PRC party-state dynamics in a transnational world. New rules, new conditions, & new vulnerabilities
Frances Mao retweeted
20/21 The previous UK case with Christine Lee in parliament also hinted at a changing landscape: a need to look not only at espionage but also examine political donations, business links, All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) etc. xitter.cf/METhorley/status/14816…
1/20 The news about "Chinese agent" Christine Lee broke today. I've been following her case for some time & in fact she featured in my PhD thesis on UK-China hidden relations. She's appeared in stories by @thetimes & @GuidoFawkes before. Yet there's still a lot more to this case.
This is good news: remaining Bali Nine members have been released. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89x… But is also a moment to remember Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, executed by the Indonesia government in 2015 despite being fully rehabilitated.
Their deaths were a major low point in Australia-Indonesia relations. Canberra recalled the ambassador, the then PM called it cruel and unnecessary. Chan's reported last words to his wife were that he hoped his death would change attitudes to the death penalty across the region.
