A Burmese photojournalist has been released on bail from a Bangladeshi prison, but he still faces charges and up to three years in prison.Bangladeshi authorities arrested Abul Kalam, Dec. 28 as he was photographing buses taking Rohingyas from the Kutupalong camp to a new camp on the island of Bhasan Char.In an appearance in court Dec. 31, officials charged Kalam, a Rohingya refugee, with assaulting and interfering with public officials, charges that could carry a three-year prison sentence, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported.RSF says the real reason for Kalam’s arrest was “the local authorities are annoyed by his coverage of their handling of the Rohingya refugee issue, in particular, the forced transfer of the refugees to Bhasan Char.”Bangladesh Begins Relocating 2nd Group of About 1,000 Rohingya Refugees Authorities moved the first group of more than 1,600 earlier this month to an island in Bay of Bengal The group is calling for all charges against Kalam to be dropped.In early December the Bangladesh government began sending some Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island, despite calls from human rights groups to halt the process.Government officials say relocating the Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char will ease overcrowding in the camps, which were set up to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim minority that fled violence in neighboring Myanmar in 2017. 
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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the government is considering declaring a state of emergency for Tokyo and three surrounding areas after an alarming uptick of new coronavirus infections. The health ministry recorded 3,150 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 51 deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 244,559, including 3,612 fatalities. The Japanese capital alone set a single-day record of 1,337 new cases last Thursday, New Year’s Eve. The emergency declaration would cover Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.   Then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally declared a 30-day state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures last April as coronavirus infections began rising during the early days of the pandemic.  The decree stopped short of imposing a legally binding nationwide lockdown, due to Japan’s post-World War Two constitution, which weighs heavily in favor of civil liberties. Prime Minister Suga also told reporters Monday the government has moved up the beginning of the national vaccination effort to late February, with frontline medical workers and the elderly given first priority.  Suga also vowed that the Summer Olympic Games, postponed from last year because of the pandemic, will be held as scheduled between July 23 and August 8.  He said staging the Games would serve as proof that people “have overcome the coronavirus.”
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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the government is considering declaring a state of emergency for Tokyo and three surrounding areas after an alarming uptick of new coronavirus infections. The health ministry recorded 3,150 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 51 deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 244,559, including 3,612 fatalities. The Japanese capital alone set a single-day record of 1,337 new cases last Thursday, New Year’s Eve. The emergency declaration would cover Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.   Then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally declared a 30-day state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures last April as coronavirus infections began rising during the early days of the pandemic.  The decree stopped short of imposing a legally binding nationwide lockdown, due to Japan’s post-World War Two constitution, which weighs heavily in favor of civil liberties. Prime Minister Suga also told reporters Monday the government has moved up the beginning of the national vaccination effort to late February, with frontline medical workers and the elderly given first priority.  Suga also vowed that the Summer Olympic Games, postponed from last year because of the pandemic, will be held as scheduled between July 23 and August 8.  He said staging the Games would serve as proof that people “have overcome the coronavirus.”
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Thai authorities January 1 made their 38th arrest of a pro-democracy activist in recent weeks under the country’s tough lèse majesté law as authorities crack down on the country’s unprecedented protest movement.That law, Section 112 of the Thai criminal code, forbids defamation of the king and provides for three to 15 years’ imprisonment for violations.The law had been dormant since King Maha Vajiralongkorn succeeded his father, King  Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016. The Thai government, though, is now using it to try to stamp out continuing protests calling for the government to resign, a new constitution and reform of the monarchy.Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, but 13 successful coups by the arch-royalist army have inflated the power of the palace over elected governments.The protesters who lit up Bangkok’s streets for most of last year accuse Vajiralongkorn of wading beyond the charter by shifting palace wealth and elite army units under his direct control – as well as moving the pieces on the Thai political chessboard from behind the scenes.They want the return of the crown’s multibillion-dollar wealth to the stewardship of the people rather than the king, the “112” law to be scrapped and the palace to be put firmly under the constitution.Authorities are now struggling to catch up with protesters whose attacks on the monarchy – and the law which shields it – are visible both on banners hung from bridges and across the internet in memes and hashtags.Authorities are hitting back at the protests with allegations protesters have been “threatening, defaming or insulting” the royal family, which is the behavior banned in the law.According to the human rights group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, the activist arrested January 1, whose name has been given only as “Nut,” was a Facebook administrator of a protest group and was bailed out January 2 after being charged under Section 112 for selling a calendar using the movement’s satirical rubber duck symbol to allegedly mock the monarchy.“In just a matter of weeks 112 charges have continued to surge,” the group’s tweet said.Some people have been arrested multiple times as the 112 law is used against protesters for perceived transgressions ranging from mocking the king’s fashion choices to urging Germany, where until recently Vajiralongkorn has spent much of his time, to probe the legality of his domicile there.“Even the slightest critical reference to the monarchy is now punishable,” Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch told VOA.The cascade of charges also points to problems with a nebulous law that allows any member of the public to bring charges with police, who routinely refer the complaints to the courts no matter how thin the case may appear.The police who filed the charge against the 38th person “couldn’t even answer to the lawyer how this violated Section 112. This was purely political,” said Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a law scholar at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.“This law [Section 112] is being used all over the place. Anyone can file this charge, and the Supreme Court has never once set a guideline as to how this law should be used. It’s still very much the Wild West,” he said.The charges under the law have caught the eye of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which last month condemned the crackdown on free expression, particularly the arrest of a 16-year-old after taking part in a catwalk satirizing the royal family’s fashion style.‘Stepping beyond fear’The lèse majesté  law is also, at least for now, failing to silence the protest leadership, most of whom have been bailed out of jail on multiple charges, and who say that every time the law is used it loses some of its power.“People do not fear 112 anymore,” said Attapon Buapat, a protest leader who has been charged under the law.“Everyone fighting this battle has been prepared for our freedoms and rights to be violated one day. We have stepped beyond that fear for quite some time now. Whatever will be, will be,” he said.Protesters paused their demonstrations before Christmas and a second wave of COVID-19 has hit Thailand, spurring partial lockdowns across much of the country.  It is not clear when protesters will mass in large numbers again.
 
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Civil society organizations and Cambodia’s banned opposition party have called on the government to release detailed information about revenue it is earning from the petroleum industry, days after the country struck oil following a decades-long quest.On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on social media that Cambodia had extracted its first drop of crude oil from fields in the Gulf of Thailand following 30 years of delays. The production, which began Monday, is the result of a joint venture between Singapore’s KrisEnergy Ltd. and the Cambodian government.The government, which owns a 5 percent stake in the venture, signed an agreement with KrisEnergy in 2017 to develop more than 3,000 square kilometers of the Khmer basin in the gulf, known as Block A. Development of the field, which was originally expected to begin production last year, will proceed in phases, both sides said.Anti-corruption groups and senior officials from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) applauded the milestone but were quick to demand transparent and efficient revenue management.Pech Pisey, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told RFA’s Khmer Service that revenue from the oil business will be a welcome source of government income in addition to agriculture, tourism, and other sectors.He said the revenue from the oil business must be used to strengthen education and health, as well as to expand infrastructure and access to water—projects he called “the foundations of building an economy for the next generation of Cambodians.”However, Pech Pisey said that several watchdog groups have expressed concerns over management of revenue from the oil business “because Cambodia has a bad reputation regarding corruption.”Hun Sen has removed his political opposition and hobbled independent media and civil society, removing any means of ensuring accountability in his de facto one-party state.“Because of the existing system of accountability, the integrity of the public sector is not yet strong,” Pech Pisey said.“Concerns have been raised about transparency and the ability to effectively manage oil-intensive budgets and prevent losses through corruption, and so on.”In his announcement on Tuesday, Hun Sen called the start of oil production “a blessing for Cambodia” and “an important first step” for the country towards building national capacity and the oil, gas, and energy industries.He said oil production would be a boon for Cambodia’s economy from 2021 onwards and that revenues from the sector would be used to improve education and health, although he did not provide any figures.“This oil revenue issue was raised 20 years ago … [but] I say do not determine which fish should be grilled, boiled or fried before catching them,” he said.“Now the fish are caught, so [observers] can ask questions. Ask the question, ‘If you get the money what will you spend it on?’ I will tell you that I will give priority to education and health.”Lining pocketsFormer CNRP lawmaker Um Sam An told RFA that Hun Sen will use the oil production to improve his popularity with the public amid a political stalemate in play since Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the opposition in November 2017 citing its role in an alleged plot to topple the government.The move to dissolve the CNRP marked the beginning of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in the country’s July 2018 general election.Um Sam An acknowledged that oil extraction will benefit Cambodia if the revenue from the sector is used properly but warned that much of the money could end up secreted away by officials and Hun Sen’s family.“Corruption in Cambodia is a problem,” he said. “Once the oil is pumped, large sums of money will go into the pockets of Hun Sen’s senior government officials and it will be a curse, just like with some African countries.”“So, I also ask Hun Sen how he can eliminate corruption and manage the income from the oil pumping effectively so there can be trust from the people. We hope that the money will be used to develop a real nation.”Heng Kimhong, a program officer at the People Center for Development and Peace, hailed the success of the oil rig, but said poor technical management could impact Cambodia’s marine resources. He said the government should reassure people that the extraction of natural oil is being done according to high safety standards and is free from corruption.“As Cambodians, as the owners of the country, we should know how our resources are being extracted or explored by companies and what kind of companies they are,” he said.“How much will these projects benefit the Cambodian people? To ensure that there will be no corruption, we need transparency and freedom of the media.”Public concernsConcerns over management of oil revenues were echoed by members of the public, who called for measures to be put in place that ensure the money will be used to benefit society as a while, instead of only the well-connected.Puy Lek, a resident of Siem Reap province, told RFA that the government must be fully transparent about how it allocates funds derived from the oil field.“I urge the government to carefully manage the project so that our Cambodian youth can benefit from the oil in our country,” he said.Sihanoukville province resident Son Sophat said the Ministry of Mines and Energy should issue monthly reports on the revenue from oil extraction and urged the government to carefully examine companies investing in the sector to avoid resource exploitation.“We are worried that if the government doesn’t announce these figures, the money will be spent in an opaque manner,” he said.Phnom Penh-based youth Komsat said he worries that if the government does not control corruption, the gap between wealthy and poor Cambodians will grow even wider.“I want the Royal Government to organize a program for the next generation because the oil is our property,” he said.Transparency International’s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Cambodia 162nd out of 198 countries, down from 161st a year earlier.Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.  
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Chinese supply of a COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesia and the Philippines is likely to strengthen Beijing’s image in those countries, despite current resentment of its expansion in the South China Sea, if the vaccines work, analysts say.Both countries have moved to order vaccines made by Sinovac Biotech, a Beijing-based pharmaceutical company, according to Asian media reports and the company’s website. China’s official Xinhua News Agency in October had called it “crucial” to distribute vaccines “around the world, not just the wealthy nations.”People in both countries resent Chinese expansion in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea where sovereignty claims overlap. China, with Asia’s strongest military, has built up islands that the Philippines claims and passed ships through waters that Jakarta says fall within an Indonesian exclusive economic zone. The sea is prized for fisheries and undersea energy reserves.China, keen to be seen as a good neighbor abroad and to minimize U.S. geopolitical influence, could gain favor in Southeast Asia’s two biggest countries if the vaccines work, reach remote parts of each archipelago in due time and don’t cost too much, analysts say. Indonesia and the Philippines have a combined population of 375 million.“If it turns out to be good, effective, safe, affordable, then I guess that might change to a certain extent the perceptions here,” said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila. China, he said, wants to “make up for their distorted image.”Anti-China sentimentFilipinos, including some in the armed forces, have distrusted China since a 2012 standoff over Scarborough Shoal in the contested sea. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to mend ties since he took office in 2016. He indicated last year that he would prioritize the Chinese vaccines along with possible shipments from Russia.The Philippines was aiming as of mid-December to end negotiations with Sinovac to get 25 million doses by March.For Indonesia, Sinovac has committed to supply a “bulk vaccine” so state-run vaccine maker PT Bio Farma can produce at least 40 million doses before March, the Chinese company says on its website. On December 6, Sinovac shipped 1.2 million doses to Jakarta for storage at a nearby PT Bio Farma warehouse, the Jakarta Post website reports.Indonesia has placed “firm” orders for about 160 million vaccine doses, 140 million of which are manufactured by Sinovac Biotech, the Post added.Anti-China sentiment flared up before the shipment and some Indonesians worry the vaccines will be unhealthy, said Paramita Supamijoto, an international relations lecturer at Bina Nusantara University in Jakarta.“At the beginning, there was a big debate on why we need to get [vaccines] from China, and there was big distrust among the people, and this kind of anti-China sentiment is still very strong,” she said.Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency plans to visit Sinovac facilities in Beijing to ensure “good manufacturing practice,” the Post says. Its report quotes PT Bio Farma officials defending an anticipated $13.57 price per dose.The Chinese state-supervised Global Times news website said in November that leaders around Southeast Asia had lauded Chinese vaccines as “accessible and affordable.”It might be the “most suitable” one for Indonesia’s condition, Supamijoto said. People there are spread across 13,000 islands.Effectiveness ratesDuterte, though, may be holding out for U.S.-made Pfizer Inc. vaccines in case Sinovac’s remedy only prevents COVID-19 half the time, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school. Research in Brazil showed last month that Sinovac’s product was at least 50% effective. Pfizer said in November its vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective.“I think Duterte is hedging that with a 50-50 rate, why would anyone choose the Sinovac if the Pfizer vaccine is also coming?” Araral said.Duterte threatened late last month to go ahead with a long-threatened cancellation of the U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement — which gives U.S. troops access to the Philippines with few restrictions — if the United States can’t deliver at least 20 million vaccine doses, the PhilStar.com news website said Dec. 27.His government said about a year ago it would cancel the 21-year-old pact, although that process has been suspended twice and analysts say Duterte wants to renegotiate the broader defense relationship with more focus on quelling armed rebel groups. The Philippines has looked to the United States as a key defense ally since the 1950s.Although coronavirus caseloads in the Philippines have fallen since a peak in August, discovery of a virus variant from Britain prompted quarantine orders in Metro Manila and nine other parts of the country through Jan. 30. The Philippines has recorded about 474,000 Cases and more than 9,244 deaths.Indonesia’s COVID-19 cases are still growing steadily. The country with Southeast Asia’s largest population reports around 743,000 cases and more than 22,000 deaths. Indonesia is also looking for vaccine sources outside China.
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In 2021, a more than 70-year-old mine in California’s Mojave Desert will become the center of an effort to revive an American mineral refining system that some say is critical to the country’s national security. At issue is the availability of rare-earth metals, which are needed for hybrid electric cars, smartphones and certain types of military equipment.  In fact, the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act directs most Pentagon systems to use rare earth metals that have been mined and refined outside of China within five years and dictates that the federal government give preference to U.S. suppliers of these materials in government acquisitions.As part of the U.S. government’s strategy to ensure safe and reliable supplies of critical minerals, the Defense Department has recently announced contracts and agreements with several rare-earth element producers. Among them is MP Materials, owner and operator of Mountain Pass mine, the only rare earth mining site in North America.Seventeen elements deemed critical to modern society were discovered at the Mountain Pass deposit, which, shortly after its discovery by American engineers in 1949, came to provide more than half of the world’s needs for rare earth minerals.FILE – Samples of rare earth minerals from left, Cerium oxide, Bastnasite, Neodymium oxide and Lanthanum carbonate are on display during a tour of Molycorp’s Mountain Pass Rare Earth facility in Mountain Pass, California, June 29, 2015.In recent decades, however, China has gradually gained a near-monopoly on these precious metals, controlling about 80% of the global supply chain even though it is home to only a third of the world’s rare earth reserves, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. That is largely due to the country’s domination in processing.As the U.S. has lost almost all its processing capacity to China, the ore mined in California must be sent to China for processing, making the mine essentially a supplier for the Chinese rare earths industry.Lost processing capacityAlthough they are called rare, these elements aren’t so uncommon on Earth. According to the USGS, the elements, while initially considered rare, “are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust.”In its 2020 annual report, the government agency said although some 20 countries worldwide are currently mining rare earths, the U.S., with its 1.4 million-ton reserve, remains home to one of the largest rare earth deposits in the world.While U.S. bedrock contains an estimated 100 years’ worth of deposits at its current annual consumption rate, China is home to nearly all the world’s processing capacity to convert the ores into materials that manufacturers can use.”The processing has always been the gap through which China has been able to kind of come to dominate rare earth metal production,” said Felix K. Chang, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.”The big bottleneck is the process capacity,” said Martijn Rasser, a senior researcher at the Center for New American Security in Washington.FILE – Matt Green, mining/crushing supervisor at MP Materials, displays crushed ore before it is sent to the mill at the MP Materials rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, Jan. 30, 2020.Mountain Pass revivalSince its 2002 closure as a result of environmental restrictions and competition from Chinese suppliers, there have been several attempts to revive the legendary Mountain Pass mine.In 2008, a privately held company called Molycorp Minerals was formed to reopen the site. For a few years the effort looked promising when Beijing restricted rare earth exports to Japan over a diplomatic dispute in 2010. The prices of rare earth on the international market were up and Molycorp’s stock soared.  However, after China started to increase rare earth exports in 2013, the company was struggling to stay solvent. By 2015, the company declared bankruptcy and was reorganized as the Toronto-based chemical manufacturing company Neo Performance Materials with processing facilities in the United States and six other countries, including four plants in China.The U.S., however, maintains high hopes for open-pit deposit on the southern flank of California’s Clark Mountain Range. Among grants worth roughly $13 million the Department of Defense awarded to the three companies, MP Materials, which acquired Mountain Pass in 2017, received the largest amount of approximately $9.6 million.On the other hand, the much-needed federal investment also could end up benefiting China as well as a Chinese rare earth manufacturer. Shenghe Resources Holdings owns about 10% of MP Materials. According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, one of the MP Materials’ businesses is to “sell its rare earth concentrate products to Shenghe for further distribution to various downstream refiners in China.”Dr. William A. Saxton, founder and chairman emeritus of the American NGO Citizens for National Security, says among the many problems that U.S. faces in reviving the industry are environmental concerns.”We can mine, but we cannot process it because there are several problems, one of which is the problem of toxic waste,” Saxton told VOA in a telephone interview. He said hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land were withdrawn from exploration, and increased regulations caused the granting of multiple permits to take from seven to 10 years.Improving on that timetable, he said, will require overcoming objections from environmental organizations and government agencies.This story originated in VOA’s Mandarin Service.
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Tough New Year’s Eve restrictions are being put in place as Australia’s biggest city struggles to contain growing coronavirus clusters.Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak has been described by health officials as “a bit of a roller coaster ride.” Australia’s biggest city accounts for most of the estimated 204 active infections across the country.Parts of its northern coastal suburbs, where a cluster of cases emerged about two weeks ago, remain in lockdown. Infections have been detected in other parts of the city.The authorities have banned large gatherings on New Year’s Eve to “avoid super spreading events.” Sydney’s famous fireworks display will go ahead, but crowds won’t be allowed to gather around the harbor to watch.Gatherings have been limited, and visits to nursing homes banned for at least a week to try to curb the spread of the virus.“Please, the last thing we want is to welcome in 2021 with a super-spreading event,” said New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian. “2021, all of us are hoping, will be easier on us than 2020 and let us start the year off on a positive foot by doing the right thing, by respecting the restrictions that are in place, but also demonstrating common sense.”Experts are calling for the state government to impose a citywide lockdown as infections grow.In response, other Australian states and territories are restricting travel for residents from Sydney.In Victoria, six coronavirus cases have been reported in the past two days, which authorities have linked to infections further north in Sydney.Residents in Victoria are being urged not to travel to neighboring New South Wales, and masks will become mandatory indoors. Residents are not required to wear a mask inside their own homes, but they must if they visit friends or go shopping.Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley said a swift response to the outbreak is needed.“Now that we have got links to the New South Wales outbreaks here in Victoria, we are having to respond really quickly to get on top of that, and a part of that is to make sure that as the situation seemingly continues to deteriorate in New South Wales that we respond appropriately,” he said.Australia has recorded 28,380 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Its just over 200 active estimated COVID-19 cases is small by many international standards, but in the context of Australia, a country that has taken a very cautious approach to the virus, the number is cause for alarm.With fewer than 1,000 deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic, Australia has fared better than many other developed nations.Health officials in Sydney have blamed “an avalanche of complacency” for recent outbreaks.
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In a year of declining press freedom amid the global pandemic, China took the lead in media repression. The world’s leading jailer of journalists censored and arrested those covering COVID-19, delayed visas and imposed restrictions on Chinese nationals working for foreign press outlets and introduced a national security law in Hong Kong that authorities used to detain high-profile journalists and pro-democracy activists. 
Producer:   Bronwyn Benito 
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Citing the alleged use of forced labor, the United States announced it has banned the import of palm oil from the Malaysian company Sime Darby Plantation Berhad.U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday released a statement saying it has issued a “withhold release order,” allowing it to impound shipments of Sime Darby’ Plantation’s palm oil products made with forced labor.“This Withhold Release Order demonstrates how essential it is for Americans to research the origins of the everyday products that they purchase,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Mark A. Morgan in the statement. “American consumers can help end modern slavery by choosing to buy products they know are ethically and humanely sourced.”Malaysia Palm Oil Producer Vows to Clear Name after US Ban US banned imports of its palm oil over allegations of forced labor and other abuses 
Palm oil is used in many products from food to cosmetics to biodiesel. Indonesia and Malaysia are principal exporters of palm oil, the production of which has been blamed for deforestation. The U.S. imported approximately $410 million of crude palm oil from Malaysia in fiscal year 2020, CNN reported.
 
“Palm oil is an ingredient in a lot of products that American consumers buy and use. And I think it’s important for manufacturers and importers to be aware of where they’re at higher risk of forced labor, and to demand that their suppliers are adhering to protecting human rights of their workers,” Ana Hinojosa, director of CBP’s Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, told CNN.
 
Sime Darby Plantation did not immediately respond to the ban announcement.
 
It is the third Malaysian company this year to be slapped with an import ban over allegations of using forced labor.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a politburo meeting on preparations for a rare Congress that is expected to set new economic and political goals as the country faces growing challenges, state media said Wednesday. The Eighth Congress comes amid the presidential transition in the United States, which North Korea has yet to comment on. President Donald Trump had engaged in a number of historic meetings with the leader of the reclusive state during his administration, and it is not yet clear what Joe Biden’s presidency will mean for relations between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea has faced a number of challenges in 2020 with COVID-19 and a series of typhoons putting more pressure on an economy already battered by international sanctions aimed at stopping its nuclear program. The politburo meeting on Tuesday approved agendas and proposals to be presented at the congress and adopted a decision on holding it early in January next year, state news agency KCNA reported, without specifying an exact date. In October, Kim called on his country to embark on an 80-day campaign to achieve its goals in every economic sector before the congress in January. The politburo meeting appreciated that innovative achievements and progress had been made in all fields during the 80-day campaign, KCNA said. “All the preparations for the Party Congress are going off smoothly,” KCNA reported. The congress last met in 2016, where Kim announced the first five-year economic plan since the 1980s and vowed to not use nuclear weapons unless the country’s sovereignty was violated by others with nuclear arms. It was also when Kim was officially elected to the position of chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party. North Korea has not reported any coronavirus cases, but the economy took a further hit when the country closed its borders to nearly all traffic in a bid to prevent coronavirus outbreak. 
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A court in Shanghai, China on Monday sentenced former lawyer and citizen journalist Zhang Zhan to four years in prison for her reporting on the coronavirus outbreak, a harsh sentence that legal scholars say is aimed at having a chilling effect on Chinese rights activists.Citizen-journalist Zhang Zhan is seen in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in this handout picture taken on May 3, 2020.Zhang, 37, was one of several citizen journalists who covered the initial outbreak in China’s central city of Wuhan. Their coverage painted a far more serious picture of conditions than the government’s official narrative of the spreading infection. Her reports included examples of the harassment of families of victims who were seeking accountability, according to human rights advocates.Zhang was detained by authorities in May and accused of spreading false information, giving interviews to foreign media, disrupting public order and “maliciously manipulating” the outbreak. She went missing in Wuhan on May 14, according to media reports, and a day later turned up under arrest in Shanghai, more than 640 kilometers away. In court, she was formally charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” an accusation frequently used against Chinese activists.Zhang’s lawyer, Zhang Keke, told VOA that Zhang Zhan has been on a hunger strike for nearly five months. She appeared in court in a wheelchair, all but refusing to speak — apparently using silence as a form of protest.“The only thing she said is that citizens have the right to freedom of speech, and they have no right to question her,” Zhang Keke said.According to the defense lawyer, the prosecutor during the trial accused Zhang of publishing so-called “problematic remarks” on China’s social media platforms including Weibo and WeChat. Yet the prosecution failed to provide any posts or videos as evidence.“She didn’t fabricate any reports, nor has she created any harm to the society,” Zhang Keke said, adding that Zhang will likely appeal the verdict.A Chinese human rights lawyer who asked to remain anonymous told VOA that the four-year sentence is extremely harsh. “Picking quarrels and provoking trouble usually leads to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than five years. For first time offense, the sentence is usually one year,” he said, adding that Zhang’s harsh sentence was aimed at instilling fear among citizen journalists and civil rights lawyers.Police attempt to stop journalists from recording footage outside the Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court, where the trial for Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was held, Dec. 28, 2020.Rights groups also condemned the ruling. Cédric Alviani, East Asia bureau head of the Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, (RSF), called on the international community to increase pressure on the Chinese government until Beijing releases Zhang and other detained press freedom activists in China.“Zhang Zhan was only serving the public interest by reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak, so, she should never have been detained, not to mention, received a four-year prison sentence. This trial is actually a parody of justice,” Alviani told VOA.The United Nations’ human rights office said in a tweet on Monday that it was troubled by the four-year sentence. “We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release,” the office said.#China: We are deeply concerned by the 4-year prison sentence imposed on citizen journalist Zhang Zhan. We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release.— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) December 28, 2020China has been accused of covering up the initial outbreak of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease and silencing whistleblowers, including the late Dr. Li Wenliang, and citizen journalists Fang Bing, Chen Qiushi, Li Zehua and Zhang Zhan, for exposing information that authorities did not approve for release. Dr. Li died of COVID-19 after Beijing silenced his attempts to warn the world about the coronavirus.China has fiercely denied these accusations and said the country has been highly successful in containing the virus, compared to Western countries including the United States.According to a survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists, China was the world’s leading jailer of journalists in 2020, with at least 47 people behind bars.On December 1, 2020, at least 274 journalists were behind bars worldwide. These are the worst jailers and how many journalists they have jailed:#China 47#Turkey 37#Egypt 27#SaudiArabia 24#Eritrea 16#Vietnam 15#Iran 15More: https://t.co/MgX9C81Qnk— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) December 27, 2020 
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