With a knife, a razor blade, scissors or a needle, half of Indonesia’s girls are circumcised, and a new study found that it is a tradition more rooted in family folkways than religion.“Cultural reproduction occurs in the household,” said Sri Purwatiningsih, a researcher of Center for Population and Policy Studies at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta. “Circumcised grandmothers tend to circumcise their daughter. A mother who was circumcised by the grandmothers will most likely circumcise their daughter.”Purwatiningsih presented her findings Thursday, the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, at the university, where the center refers to the procedure as female genital mutilation or cutting.Indonesia ranks third in the world, at 49%, for the rate of prevalence of female circumcision, after Mali, at 83%, and Mauritania, at 51%. According to an FILE – A man shows the logo of a T-shirt that reads “Stop the Cut” referring to Female Genital Mutilation during a social event advocating against harmful practices such as FGM at the Imbirikani Girls High School in Imbirikani, Kenya, April 21, 2016.UN definition Female genital mutilation refers to “any procedure involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genitals for nonmedical reasons,” according to the This picture taken in Bandung, Feb. 10, 2013, shows an Indonesian doctor preparing to circumcise a female child. The Indonesian government has come under fire after the UN General Assembly in November passed its first resolution condemning FGM.The survey also found that traditional Indonesian birth attendants were responsible for 45% of female circumcisions, midwives or nurses conducted 38%, female circumcision specialists performed 10%, and doctors performed 1%.Hamim Ilyas, a professor at the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Islamic National University Sunan Kalijaga in Yogyakarta told VOA Indonesia that only those who interpret Islam in the most literal way can find justification for female circumcision in its teachings.He considers the best approach to the issue to be “state based,” meaning families should obey Indonesia’s laws. He used traffic lights as an example, religion never taught a person to stop at a red light, but the signal represents a law that drivers know to obey.“The minister of health’s regulation has forbidden FGM. … However, the government seems to be hesitant under pressure,” from fundamentalist sectors of Indonesian society, he said. “If the government is determined, if the government is brave, the practice can be eradicated. But the government seems not ready yet [to enforce the law] because the people are not ready yet. We have to change our society, to be a society that anti-FGM. It is through the transformation of religious understanding — not [by] changing the teaching, but changing the understanding of it.”FILE – An Indonesian toddler waits to be circumcised in Bandung, Indonesia, Feb. 10, 2013.Indonesian lawIka Ayu, an activist at the Jaringan Perempuan Yogyakarta, or Yogyakarta Female Network, criticized the government’s indecisiveness on FGM, as even Majelis Ulama Indonesia, the country’s top Muslim clerical body, rejected the practice in 2008.Despite the Ministry of Health regulations, she said, “The government has not ever been clear in regulating FGM, while we know FGM has been listed as harmful practice as part of [the U.N.’s] Sustainable Development Goals.”She urged the government to be more decisive and added, “Today, we commemorate zero tolerance for female genital mutilation, but in practice, it is still being done. We should ask, ‘How can a country guarantee the fulfillment of every citizen’s rights?’ Female circumcision violates individual rights because it was done without the girls’ consent.”Dr. Mukhotib, a reproductive health activist who, like many Indonesians uses only one name, told VOA that the many reasons to reject female circumcision include the fact that it has no medical benefit, countering traditional beliefs.“There is no benefit to FGM. It does not make women healthier,” he said. “If there is no medical benefit, why bother?”Virginia Gunawan contributed to this report which originated in VOA’s Indonesian Service.
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Category: East
East news. East is the direction toward which the Earth rotates about its axis, and therefore the general direction from which the Sun appears to rise. The practice of praying towards the East is older than Christianity, but has been adopted by this religion as the Orient was thought of as containing mankind’s original home
Thai Gunman Shot Dead in Mall; 26 Killed, 57 Hurt in Rampage
A soldier with a grudge gunned down 26 people and wounded 57 in Thailand’s worst shooting spree before he was fatally shot inside a mall in the country’s northeast Sunday, officials said.Officials said the soldier was angry over a financial dispute, first killing two people on a military base and then went on a far bloodier rampage Saturday, shooting as he drove to the mall where shoppers fled in terror.It took police sharpshooters 16 hours to end the crisis.This is a photo of a wanted poster released by Crime Suppression Division of The Royal Thai Police, Feb. 8, 2020, showing the suspect in a mass shooting in northeastern Thailand.Authorities said Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma was behind the attack in Nakhon Ratchasima, a hub for Thailand’s relatively poorer and rural northeastern region. Much of the shooting took place at Terminal 21 Korat, an airport-themed mall filled with colorful Lego sculptures, a merry-go-round and huge replicas of landmarks from around the world.“This incident was unprecedented in Thailand,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters as he gave the final tally Sunday morning after visiting the wounded in hospitals.“I hope this is the only one and the last incident, and that it never happens again. No one wants this to happen. It could be because of this person’s mental health in this particular moment,” he said.Prayuth said he was worried that people inside the mall could be accidentally hit by bullets fired by police, but added, “I have checked, that didn’t happen.”Video taken outside the mall showed people diving for cover as shots rang out midafternoon Saturday. Many were killed outside the mall, some in cars, others while walking.A motorcycle and helmet that belong to a victim lie in front of the Terminal 21 shopping mall following a gun battle involving a Thai soldier on a shooting rampage, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2020.People flee in terrorNattaya Nganiem and her family had just finished eating and were driving away when she heard gunfire.”First I saw a woman run out from the mall hysterically,” said Nattaya, who shot video of the scene on her phone. “Then a motorcycle rider in front of her just ran and left his motorcycle there.”Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall in small batches by police while they searched for the gunman.Nakhon Ratchasima”We were scared and ran to hide in toilets,” said Sumana Jeerawattanasuk, one of those rescued by police. She said seven or eight people hid in the same room as her.”I am so glad. I was so scared of getting hurt,” she said.Shortly before midnight, police announced they had secured the above-ground portion of the mall, but were still searching for the shooter. About 16 hours later, officials held a news conference outside the mall to announce the gunman was fatally shot.The officials did not release any details.First victim: commanding officerDefense Ministry spokesman Kongcheep told Thai media that the first person killed was the commanding officer of the 22nd Ammunition Battalion, in which the suspect also served. He said the gunman had fired at others at his base and took guns and ammunition before fleeing in an army Humvee.City and neighborhood police officers, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to release information, said the man fired shots as he drove to the mall. Thai Rath television aired mall security camera footage showing a man with what appeared to be an assault rifle.The man also posted updates to his Facebook page during the rampage.”No one can escape death,” read one post. Another asked, “Should I give up?” In a later post, he wrote, “I have stopped already.”A photo circulated on social media that appeared to be taken from the Facebook page shows a man wearing a green camouflaged military helmet while a fireball and black smoke rage behind him. Jakrapanth’s profile picture shows him in a mask and dressed in military-style fatigues and armed with a pistol. The background image is of a handgun and bullets. The Facebook page was made inaccessible after the shooting began.Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha visits an injured man in a hospital following a gun battle involving a Thai soldier on a shooting rampage, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2020.Airport-theme mallMall Terminal 21 Korat, a multilevel glass and steel mall is designed to resemble an airport terminal, complete with a mock control tower and departure gates. A large model passenger jet dangles from wires beside one of the main escalators.Each of its seven retail floors is decorated to represent a different country. A giant replica of Paris’ Eiffel Tower soars to the ceiling, while a model of London’s Big Ben dominates another area, and a massive model of California’s Golden Gate Bridge spans an open courtyard. A two-story golden Oscar statue towers over a food court.Many malls in Thailand, including Terminal 21’s namesake in Bangkok, have metal detectors and security cameras at entrances manned by uniformed but unarmed security guards. Checks on those entering are often cursory at best.Mass shootings rare in ThailandGun violence is not unheard of in Thailand. Firearms can be obtained legally, and many Thais own guns. Mass shootings are rare, though there are occasional gun battles in the far south of the country, where authorities have for years battled a long-running separatist insurgency.The incident in Korat comes just a month after another high-profile mall shooting, in the central Thai city of Lopburi. In that case, a masked gunman carrying a handgun with a silencer killed three people, including a 2-year-old boy, and wounded four others as he robbed a jewelry store. A suspect, a school director, was arrested less than two weeks later and reportedly confessed, saying he did not mean to shoot anyone.
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Pyongyang Unprepared for Outbreak Like Coronavirus, Says North Korean Doctor Who Defected
North Korea’s medical system for coping with contagious diseases like the coronavirus is prioritized to protect the elites of the regime in Pyongyang and is unequipped to treat its local citizens, said a former North Korean medical doctor.Choi Jung-hoon, a North Korean defector who is now a research professor at Korea University’s Public Policy Research Institute in Seoul, said North Korea is making “a big fuss” about the virus because its medical care system is unfit to take necessary measures to contain it.Choi said instructions for taking sanitary and quarantine measures from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are handed down to local leaders. But, he said, there are problems implementing them at the provincial level because rudimentary medical facilities are ill-equipped and the medical infrastructure is focused on Pyongyang.In this image made from video, pedestrians brave the cold as the make their way through an open square, Jan. 30, 2020, in Pyongyang, North Korea.Priority Pyongyang“The purpose of fighting contagious diseases is different in North Korea compared to other countries,” Choi said. “In South Korea or the U.S., the measures are taken for the health and safety of its citizens. But in North Korea, priority is given to the leading members of the government in Pyongyang.”Choi was in charge of implementing measures to contain contagious diseases at the sanitation unit of the Chongjin Railway Bureau before defecting to South Korea in 2012.He began working there after studying clinical medicine at the Chongjin Medical University in North Korea’s third-largest city, Chongjin, which is in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong.Quarantine measuresNorth Korea has taken all-out measures to prevent the fatal coronavirus from entering the country as the number of confirmed cases and deaths rise quickly in China, where the fast-spreading respiratory disease was first reported in the city of Wuhan. As of Friday, there were no known confirmed coronavirus cases reported in North Korea.Calling its effort to keep the virus at bay a In this image made from video, North Korea’s Ministry of Health Director Kim Dong Gun talks about the country’s efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, at the Ministry of Health, Jan. 30, 2020, in Pyongyang, North Korea.Announcement vs. realityChoi said even though North Korea announces such measures when infectious diseases break out, what actually happens at local levels is altogether different.“When there is an outbreak of an infectious disease in North Korea, only Pyongyang is completely protected (quarantined),” Choi said.“All railroads and roads heading to Pyongyang are blocked. The regime does not take proper measures [to protect] North Korean residents who make their daily living by relying on these roads to travel to various regions, which places them in worse situations,” he added.Choi said North Korea is not equipped with tools to diagnose or treat outbreaks like the coronavirus might cause.“North Korea’s medical system is poor, as the world probably knows,” Choi said. “It does not have proper medical equipment, let alone reliable electricity or water supply facilities in hospitals and health centers.”As there is probably nothing that doctors could do to diagnose or treat those infected with a contagious disease like the coronavirus, people would be left on their own to cope with the outbreak, Choi said.Cases likely to be concealedIf there are cases of the virus, North Korea will try to conceal them, instead of seeking help from international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) or from the South Korean government, Choi said.“Because North Korea tries to put up an image of having the best ‘self-sufficient’ medical science to treat and prevent infectious diseases through propaganda, the regime is reluctant to announce any outbreak publicly,” he said.He believes that there could be a coronavirus outbreak in North Korea.“It is impossible to have closed off all roads connecting to China,” he said. “The new coronavirus could have entered the country through smugglers” traveling across the border as viruses arrived in the past.Choi said North Korea needs to seek help from the international community by sharing its health and medical information and focus on improving its medical science to help its people rather than focusing on developing nuclear weapons and missiles to maintain the regime security.Christy Lee contributed to this report which originated in VOA’s Korean Service.
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Thai Gunman Shot Dead in Mall; 21 Killed, 42 Hurt in Rampage
Thai officials said a soldier who went on a shooting rampage and killed at least 21 people and injured 42 others has been shot dead inside a mall in northeastern Thailand.Officials said the soldier angry over a financial dispute first killed two people and then went on a far bloodier rampage Saturday, shooting as he drove to a busy mall where shoppers fled in terror.This is a photo of a wanted poster released by Crime Suppression Division of The Royal Thai Police, Feb. 8, 2020, showing the suspect in a mass shooting in northeastern Thailand.Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich said Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma was behind the attack in Nakhon Ratchasima, a hub for Thailand’s relatively poorer and rural northeastern region. Much of the shooting took place at Terminal 21 Korat, an airport-themed mall filled with colorful Lego sculptures, a merry-go-round and huge replicas of landmarks from around the world.Video taken outside the mall showed people diving for cover as shots rang out midafternoon Saturday. Many were killed outside the mall, some in cars, others while walking.People flee in terrorNattaya Nganiem and her family had just finished eating and were driving away when she heard gunfire.”First I saw a woman run out from the mall hysterically,” said Nattaya, who shot video of the scene on her phone. “Then a motorcycle rider in front of her just ran and left his motorcycle there.”Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall in small batches by police while they searched for the gunman.Nakhon Ratchasima”We were scared and ran to hide in toilets,” said Sumana Jeerawattanasuk, one of those rescued by police. She said seven or eight people hid in the same room as her.”I am so glad. I was so scared of getting hurt,” she said.Shortly before midnight, police announced they had secured the above-ground portion of the mall, but were still searching for the shooter. About 16 hours later, officials held a news conference outside the mall to announce the gunman was fatally shot.The officials did not release any details.First victim: commanding officerDefense Ministry spokesman Kongcheep told Thai media that the first person killed was the commanding officer of the 22nd Ammunition Battalion, in which the suspect also served. He said the gunman had fired at others at his base and took guns and ammunition before fleeing in an army Humvee.City and neighborhood police officers, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to release information, said the man fired shots as he drove to the mall. Thai Rath television aired mall security camera footage showing a man with what appeared to be an assault rifle.The man also posted updates to his Facebook page during the rampage.”No one can escape death,” read one post. Another asked, “Should I give up?” In a later post, he wrote, “I have stopped already.”A photo circulated on social media that appeared to be taken from the Facebook page shows a man wearing a green camouflaged military helmet while a fireball and black smoke rage behind him. Jakrapanth’s profile picture shows him in a mask and dressed in military-style fatigues and armed with a pistol. The background image is of a handgun and bullets. The Facebook page was made inaccessible after the shooting began.A person runs from a shopping mall during a Thai soldier’s shooting rampage in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Feb. 8, 2020, in this still image obtained from social media video.Airport-theme mallMall Terminal 21 Korat, a multilevel glass and steel mall is designed to resemble an airport terminal, complete with a mock control tower and departure gates. A large model passenger jet dangles from wires beside one of the main escalators.Each of its seven retail floors is decorated to represent a different country. A giant replica of Paris’ Eiffel Tower soars to the ceiling, while a model of London’s Big Ben dominates another area, and a massive model of California’s Golden Gate Bridge spans an open courtyard. A two-story golden Oscar statue towers over a food court.Many malls in Thailand, including Terminal 21’s namesake in Bangkok, have metal detectors and security cameras at entrances manned by uniformed but unarmed security guards. Checks on those entering are often cursory at best.Mass shootings rare in ThailandGun violence is not unheard of in Thailand. Firearms can be obtained legally, and many Thais own guns. Mass shootings are rare, though there are occasional gun battles in the far south of the country, where authorities have for years battled a long-running separatist insurgency.The incident in Korat comes just a month after another high-profile mall shooting, in the central Thai city of Lopburi. In that case, a masked gunman carrying a handgun with a silencer killed three people, including a 2-year-old boy, and wounded four others as he robbed a jewelry store. A suspect, a school director, was arrested less than two weeks later and reportedly confessed, saying he did not mean to shoot anyone.
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As Death Toll From Virus Grows, More Chinese Voice Anger
Three months ago, Wuhan resident Zhang Yi was sitting next to two local Hubei province reporters at a restaurant. He overheard them talking about the Provincial Party Committee secretary, who was upset about a news story. The official told the reporters negative stories would no longer be published. A month later, a mysterious virus started spreading though Wuhan’s residents, causing pneumonia-like symptoms. In early January, Chinese officials called this new virus “preventable and controllable.” They said they had seen “no evidence of person-to-person transmission.” Throughout the week of January 11, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission published the same number of confirmed cases: 41. Those official statements failed to convince Zhang. In his mind, he kept hearing what he’d overheard the reporters talking about in the restaurant. Zhang talked to VOA right after authorities locked down Wuhan on January 23. That’s when the official number of confirmed cases and deaths was 571 in 25 provinces and 17 in Hubei province where Wuhan is the capital. Media reports on Saturday said the toll had topped 800. “When the epidemic first started, I knew the published statistics were not real,” he said. A worker measures the body temperature of people leaving a supermarket in Qingshan district following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Feb. 7, 2020.Zhang could see just how much the lockdown had upset people he knew. “They are relatively furious now. I was warned [by police] … but right now I must speak out. I must speak even if they are going to lock me up. If I don’t do it now, I may never get another chance.” On February 3, another Wuhan resident emailed VOA. He identified himself as Ming. Many people in China prefer to use pseudonyms online so they can speak without fear of being identified by authorities. Ming had just spent five days by his father’s bedside in a hospital in Wuhan. That was their last time together. According to Ming, his father was infected by the new coronavirus in mid-January after he checked in at Wuhan Union Hospital for a routine annual examination scheduled to take several days. The hospital is one of two dozen designated for coronavirus treatment. After a day or two Wuhan Union, Ming’s father began showing coronavirus symptoms and tested positive. Medical authorities transferred Ming’s father to the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital, where he died on January 29. “It’s so miserable that my dad just lost his life like that. It’s so tragic,” said Ming in a A worker measures the body temperature of a passenger inside a vehicle following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Feb. 7, 2020.Even though he wasn’t supposed to be in the virus ward, Ming was holding his father’s hand when he died. What happened next still worries Ming. Employees of the official crematorium whisked the body away. Ming was told to come and pick up the ashes 15 days later. Ming told VOA he’s worried the ashes won’t be his father’s remains because the crematorium is overwhelmed by the quickly escalating death toll. “There are many people like me in Wuhan. The virus killed many. I saw people die every day. Many families have fallen apart,” a devastated Ming said in the video. “My dad worked hard and contributed to the country for his whole life. Now he is dead, we didn’t see his body, we can’t hold a memorial service, nobody came for a farewell.” Online comments expressed sympathy for Ming and anger at government officials for their response to the outbreak. On February 4, Xu Zhangrun, a former law professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, published a long article about the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. The article, “Furious People No Longer Fear,” went viral online before censors removed it. In the article, Xu said the coronavirus epidemic was causing a nationwide panic. He criticized the authorities’ confusion and the time they lost in responding, which caused ordinary people to suffer and China to become “an isolated island in the world.” Xu said the Chinese people’s anger “has erupted like volcanos. Furious people are not scared.” Medical workers in protective suits are seen at the Wuhan Parlor Convention Center, which is serving as a makeshift hospital following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Feb. 7, 2020.This was not Xu’s first harsh condemnation of China’s leadership. In July 2018, he criticized President Xi Jinping’s strongman rule in an article published on the website of the Unirule Institute of Economics, a liberal think tank in Beijing. Tsinghua University suspended Xu in March 2019 and the government closed Unirule in September. As expected, censors pulled Xu’s article on the outbreak. Unexpectedly, screenshots of the article disappeared when shared. Even using WeChat, China’s most popular messaging app, the screenshots were not displayed on the receivers’ phones. Outside China, beyond The Great Firewall, many readers hailed the article. Others spoke of Xu’s courage. Some, however, wondered if Xu overestimated “the anger of Chinese people.” Or as one reader posted: “As long as it doesn’t hurt them directly, most Chinese people just repeat, ‘Wuhan, stay strong. China, stay strong,’ and go about their lives.” Chu Wu contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Mandarin service.
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Pompeo Warns US Governors of Risks of Dealing With China
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is warning American governors of the risks of doing business with China, saying competition with China is happening on a federal, state and local level and it has consequences for U.S. foreign policy and national security. Pompeo spoke Saturday to a National Governors Association meeting in Washington, telling the governors he knew they had likely been approached by people from China who wanted to invest in their states. He said economic ties with China could be mutually beneficial, just like in the first part of the trade deal President Donald Trump signed with China last month.But he warned that China had strategically assessed U.S. vulnerabilities and was seeking to exploit the openness of the American system to gain advantage over the U.S. at all levels.’They labeled each one of you’Pompeo told the governors that last year, a Chinese government-backed research institution in Beijing produced a report that assessed all 50 of America’s governors on their attitudes toward China.“They labeled each one of you friendly, hardline or ambiguous. I’ll let you decide where you think you belong. Someone in China already has,” he said.Pompeo said the report referenced many of the governors in the room by name, and he told them the Chinese Communist Party was “working” them and the teams around them. He said economic ties with China could be great and powerful, but also sensitive to national security, warning: “What China does in Topeka and Sacramento reverberates in Washington and Beijing and far beyond.”FILE – President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.Pompeo warned that in recent years China has not turned into a liberal democracy as many had hoped after the end of the Cold War. He said that under President Xi Jinping, China has gone in the opposite direction — more unfair business practices, more repression at home and more aggression in its military policy.He asked the governors meeting in Washington to be aware that China is important but is following its own strategic interests, and said he would deliver a series of speeches on China.Coronavirus aidPompeo said the U.S. was cooperating with China on many fronts, had sent nearly 18 tons of medical supplies to help fight the coronavirus and had offered to provide an additional $100 million in aid to China and other countries impacted by the virus. The secretary offered his condolences to the loved ones of a U.S. citizen who died in Wuhan, China, this week.Last Monday, the Chinese government accused the U.S. of overreacting to the coronavirus and not providing “any substantial assistance.”On Friday, Trump praised Xi’s response to the coronavirus, saying he was “sharp, strong and powerfully focused” on leading the counterattack against the virus, and he predicted that Xi would succeed.
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Myanmar Returns to China a Wuhan Woman Who Crossed Border
Myanmar police have apprehended and returned to Chinese authorities one of five people from the city of Wuhan, center of the deadly, fast-spreading coronavirus, who slipped across the porous border between the two nations earlier this week.The only woman in the group tested negative for the virus and was repatriated on Thursday. No information is available regarding what happened to her upon arriving in China. Her compatriots remain at large, according to police in Myanmar.Her return came a day after police in the border town of Ruili in Yunnan Province notified the chief of police in Myanmar’s Muse District to be on the lookout for four men and a woman “more than likely [carrying] the new coronavirus pneumonia,” according to a letter dated February 5, and obtained by VOA Burmese.On Friday, a Muse police officer, who did not want to be named, told VOA, “We are still in pursuit of four missing Chinese. … Yesterday, we looked for those five missing Chinese soon after we received notification and found one woman in Muse. After health workers from both our side and Chinese side checked, she was found to be in good health. We handed over her to the Chinese police yesterday.”
Dr. Tin Maung Nyunt, chief of the local public health department, told VOA, “We will inspect the places, wherever those missing Chinese might have stayed in Muse and whoever might have contacted with them will be checked. Our department alerted all health workers to be prepared to follow instructions.”
In their letter, Ruili police requested that Muse police “find out the whereabouts of the five Chinese citizens … as soon as possible, control them in time and inform us of the situation. In the process of searching, pay attention to self-protection to avoid virus infection.”The two jurisdictions often coordinate as members of the China-Myanmar Joint Anti-Trafficking task force to combat what Human Rights Watch calls the “booming business” of transporting “hundreds of women and girls from northern Myanmar to China and sell them to Chinese families struggling to find brides for their sons due to the country’s gender imbalance. Ruili police provided their counterparts in Myanmar with detailed information about the five, including photos, ID numbers and addresses.The men were all frequent visitors to Muse, according to Ruili police, who told Muse police the woman had “visited Ruili Kaunglar jetty recently.”Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, deputy director of Myanmar’s (Central) Contagious Disease Prevention and Eradication Sub-Department, told VOA there are two suspected coronavirus cases and four people being monitored. All are being tended to according to WHO guidelines, she said.
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Caronavirus Single-Day Death Toll Reaches New High
The coronavirus claimed 86 lives during a one-day period ending Saturday morning, the biggest single-day increase to date, as the virus continues to takes its toll in China and other parts of the world. Among the new fatalities are a U.S. citizen in Wuhan, China — the epicenter of the outbreak — officials at the American Embassy in Beijing said Saturday.The embassy said that the 60-year-old American died February 6. A Japanese citizen is also reported to have died in Wuhan of viral pneumonia, likely caused by the corona virus, although that has not been confirmed.The United States says it offering up to $100 million to China and other countries affected by the deadly coronavirus to combat its spread, as the death toll rises in China to 722.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the announcement Friday, saying, “This commitment – along with the hundreds of millions generously donated by the American private sector – demonstrates strong U.S. leadership in response to the outbreak.”Medical workers in protective suits receive a patient at the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, which was converted into a makeshift hospital to receive patients with mild symptoms of the coronavirus, in Wuhan, Feb. 5, 2020.Earlier Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts to combat the coronavirus as Xi faced mounting domestic criticism following the virus-related death of a physician who issued an early warning about the outbreak.After a Friday telephone conversation with Xi, Trump praised China’s response and said Xi was leading “what will be a very successful operation.” Trump continued to applaud Xi on Twitter Friday, describing him as “strong, sharp and powerfully focused.””Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!,” Trump added.Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but…— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) People wearing masks attend a vigil for late Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist who died of coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan, in Hong Kong, Feb. 7, 2020.The ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily wrote on Twitter, “We deeply mourn the death of Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang. … After all-effort rescue, Li passed away.”In response to the uproar in China over the government’s treatment of Li, the Communist Party announced Friday it would send a team to Wuhan to “fully investigate relevant issues raised by the public.”Officials in China said the death toll on the mainland by the end of Friday was 723 while new cases jumped to 34,546. The death toll has now surpassed the number of deaths from the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak in China and Hong Kong. The WHO said Saturday the coronavirus is on pace to surpass the 774 SARS deaths that were recorded worldwide.Chinese President Xi has declared a “people’s war” on the coronavirus outbreak, as the death toll grows by the day.”The whole country has responded with all its strength to respond with the most thorough and strict prevention and control measures, starting a people’s war for epidemic prevention and control,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying.World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday it would send an international team of investigators to China on Monday or Tuesday. Tedros did not name the team members, saying the organization will “publicize everything as soon as we’re ready.”The WHO said Friday it is too early to confirm one Chinese official’s belief the outbreak is about to peak.But WHO public health specialist Mike Ryan said Saturday the number of new cases in the Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, had stabilized over the last four days, “which may reflect the impact of control measures put in place.”There are more than 320 confirmed cases in at least 25 other countries, including one death in the Philippines — the first outside of China — and one death in Hong Kong.Three more new cases were confirmed by Japan aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, moored off Japan, raising the total to 64. The 3,700 passengers, who are confined aboard this ship, face a 14-day quarantine. Fourteen days is the virus’ incubation period.The cruise ship Diamond Princess, where 10 more people were tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, is seen at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 7, 2020.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said foreign passengers on another ship carrying about 2,000 people will not be allowed to enter Japan. Abe said virus-infected passengers may be on board, while the operator of Holland America’s Westerdam denied anyone was infected. The ship is currently near Ishigaki, an island of Okinawa.About 3,600 passengers are stuck aboard another ship remains off the Hong Kong’s coast, with three cases on board.Hong Kong has shut down nearly all land and sea border crossings with the Chinese mainland after more than 2,000 medical workers walked off the job earlier this week. The city announced it would quarantine arrivals from mainland China beginning Saturday.Taiwan announced Thursday it was banning all international cruise ships from docking at the island. Taiwan is also halting most flights between Taiwan and china, beginning Monday. All direct passenger and freight shipping between the island and China are also being suspended.
A U.S. State Department-charted plane carrying Americans who evacuated from Wuhan landed Friday morning at a military base in Southern California. A second chartered plane with Americans on board landed at a military base in Northern California later Friday. The returning Americans, about 530 in all, are being quarantined for 14 days and watched for signs of the illness.The WHO has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency and is appealing for $675 million to fight the virus.WHO Director Tedros said Friday the world is experiencing a “chronic shortage of personal protective equipment, such as masks and gowns. Ghebreyesus said he was searching for potential solutions.
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North Korea Refugee Journeys Complicated by China Coronavirus Lockdown
A vast transportation lockdown meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus in China is forcing many North Korean refugees to suspend their escape to freedom. That is leaving many would-be defectors stranded in a country that has long sent them back home to certain punishment. The development comes as the number of North Korean defectors to South Korea has already dramatically slowed, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul, South Korea.
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Myanmar Officials, Ethnic Leaders Monitor China Border for Coronavirus
Intent on preventing an outbreak of the FILE – A family wearing protective masks purchases food at a market in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2020.Zaw Win, the social affairs minister of Myanmar’s Sagaing region, told VOA Burmese on Thursday he had to contain widespread rumors of a coronavirus outbreak at a copper mine. That meant educating people that 34 Chinese workers there were under observation, not in quarantine. Health workers reported none of the Chinese mine workers had fevers, and none had been in Wuhan in the past 14 days.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, believes that symptoms of 2019-nCoV may appear in a person as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure to someone infected with the virus.Win Htay, the Myanmar labor team leader at the Chinese-owned mine, Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Limited, told VOA on Thursday that 300 workers on his team decided to stay away and not share the job site with Chinese workers who might be contagious. The Myanmar workers also wanted assurances from the company that there was no truth to the rumor that a Chinese worker had died of the virus.Dr. Thein Myo, chief health department officer in the Wynemaw district near the border with China, told VOA Burmese, “Kachin state health workers are on high alert to monitor incoming Chinese for not only 14 days, but also closely watching … the Chinese community.”Dr. Myint Kyaw, the health department chief of eastern Shan state, told VOA Burmese, “All health workers in my jurisdiction [are] to follow WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines to monitor Chinese entering to Myanmar and report back.” WHO guidelines for prevention include the instruction to wash hands frequently.The containment effort includes a public awareness campaign launched by the KIA-Kachin Armed Group, one of the largest anti-government EAOs.Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyColonel Naw Bu, its spokesperson, told VOA the EAO was also monitoring people passing through the territory it controls along the border with China.”There are no suspected cases in our territory, not even people with similar symptoms,” he said. “We follow WHO guidelines for public awareness. For example, use a mask, do not hold public assemblies, take care of personal hygiene. We use multi-media — TV, radio and social media — to advocate to the public to be aware of coronavirus.”U Nyi Yang, spokesman for the United Wa State Party (UWSA)-Wa Autonomous Region, posted on Facebook earlier this week that the EAO had deployed health workers at checkpoints along the border with China.Officials in the Shan state regions controlled by the EAO, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and in the Mong Lar Special Region, both areas outside control of the Myanmar government, imposed travel restrictions and banned the trade in wildlife along the border with China. Early in the outbreak, many patients in Wuhan had some link to a large seafood and live animal market selling wild animals. That suggested the coronavirus spread from animals to people, but person-to-person transmission has since been reported, according to the CDC.A statement from officials in Myanmar’s autonomous Mong Lar Special Region in Shan state said that travelers without health certificates would be fined from $28,565 to $71,412 and detained for 30 days.
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WHO: Too Early to Tell if Spread of Coronavirus Has Peaked
In just one day, the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in China grew by almost 4,000 and the death toll climbed by nearly 75. As the virus continued to spread Thursday, the World Health Organization said it’s still too early to tell if the virus outbreak has peaked, even though on Wednesday the overall number of new cases dropped for the first time. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo has more
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Doctor’s Death Unleashes Mourning, Fury at Chinese Officials
The death of a doctor who was reprimanded for warning about China’s new virus triggered an outpouring Friday of praise for him and fury that communist authorities put politics above public safety.
In death, Dr. Li Wenliang became the face of simmering anger at the ruling Communist Party’s controls over information and complaints that officials lie about or hide disease outbreaks, chemical spills, dangerous consumer products or financial frauds.
The 34-year-old ophthalmologist died overnight at Wuhan Central Hospital, where he worked and likely contracted the virus while treating patients in the early days of the outbreak.
“A hero who released information about Wuhan’s epidemic in the early stage, Dr. Li Wenliang is immortal,” the China Center for Disease Control’s chief scientist, Zeng Guang, wrote on the Sina Weibo microblog service.
Police in December had reprimanded eight doctors including Li for warning friends on social media about the emerging threat. China’s supreme court later criticized the police, but the ruling party also has tightened its grip on information about the outbreak.
Weibo users have left hundreds of thousands of messages below Li’s last post.
A post by one of Li’s coworkers, an emergency room nurse, said the freezing Wuhan weather was “as gloomy as my mood.”
“To you, we are angels and so strong. But how strong a heart can watch the people around me fall one by one without being shocked?” wrote Li Mengping on her verified account.
Others placed blame for the deaths on Chinese officials, not an animal species from where the virus might have spread, and said those who made trouble for the doctor should face consequences. The most pointed online comments were quickly deleted by censors.
The ruling party has faced similar accusations of bungling or thuggish behavior following previous disasters. They include the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, a 2005 chemical spill that disrupted water supplies to millions of people in China’s northeast, sales of tainted milk that sickened thousands of children and the failure of private finance companies after the global economic crisis.
In each case, officials were accused of trying to conceal or delay release of information members of the public said they needed to protect themselves.
The party often responds by allowing the public to vent temporarily, then uses its control of media and the internet to stifle criticism. Critics who persist can be jailed on vague charges of spreading rumors or making trouble.
On the streets of Beijing, the capital, residents expressed sadness and said that China should learn from Li.
“He is such a nice person, but still didn’t pull through,” said Ning Yanqing. “Those left do not dare to speak out. Alas, I don’t know what to say.”
Some online comments Friday hinted at broader dissatisfaction with the party and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has tightened controls on society since taking power in 2012.
The most powerful Chinese leader since at least the 1980s, Xi gave himself the option of remaining president for life by changing the Chinese constitution in 2018 to remove a two-term limit.
Referring to one of Xi’s propaganda initiatives, a message that circulated on social media said, “My `Chinese Dream’ is broken.”
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download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyIn Wuhan, local leaders were accused of telling doctors in December not to publicize the spreading virus in order to avoid casting a shadow over the annual meeting of a local legislative body.
As the virus spread, doctors were ordered to delete posts on social media that appealed for donations of medical supplies. That prompted complaints authorities were more worried about image than public safety.
Li was detained by police after warning about the virus on a social media group for his former classmates.
The latest episode is unusually awkward for the ruling party because Li was a physician, part of a group who are regarded as overworked, underpaid heroes who are China’s line of defense against a frightening new disease.
“He showed a responsible attitude toward the society,” said Cai Lin, a Beijing resident.
“He is honest and faithful. So I think the whole society should reflect on this.”
The World Health Organization, which has complimented China’s response to the outbreak, said in a tweet that “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did on” the virus.
The official propaganda apparatus tried Friday to mollify the public.
“Some of Li Wenliang’s experiences during his life reflect shortcomings and deficiencies in epidemic prevention and control”’ said state television on its website.
The Chinese ambassador to Washington, Cui Tiankai, said in Twitter, a service the ruling party’s internet censorship blocks the public from seeing, “Really saddened by the death of Dr. Li Wenliang. He was a very devoted doctor. We are so grateful to him for what he has done in our joint efforts fighting against (hash)2019nCoV.”
The government announced a team from Beijing would be sent to Wuhan to investigate “issues reported by the masses involving Dr. Li Wenliang.”
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Experts: Sanctions Relief Will Not Make North Korea Denuclearize
North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons even if sanctions are eased, according to experts who think increasing pressure and enforcing sanctions will lead Pyongyang to relent on its nuclear program.“I do not believe North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons if sanctions are lifted,” said Joseph Bosco, an East Asia expert at the Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS). “Instead, they would increase their demands.”Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement and Policy Enforcement Act in 2016, said, “If there is any chance of denuclearizing North Korea, it is to put so much pressure on Kim Jong Un that he or the generals around him decide that denuclearization is their only alternative to the collapse of the state.”As talks on denuclearization between Washington and Pyongyang remain stalled, the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) members are divided on whether sanctions imposed on North Korea should be relaxed.Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, permanent representative of Belgium to the United Nations, addresses a Security Council meeting, Sept. 18, 2019, at the United Nations, New York.Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, the Belgian ambassador to the U.N. who is currently serving as the president of the UNSC said Monday at a press conference that some Security Council members think sanctions on North Korea should be “a little bit eased.”At the same time, he said other members believe that sanctions “have to be maintained and really severely implemented in order to put pressure on North Korea to negotiate.”He did not name which member states support or oppose sanctions relief.Russia, China: Ease sanctionsIn December, FILE – This picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Jan. 1, 2020, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending a session of the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apparently gave up on that demand as he said in January the country will now focus on building its economy through self-reliance without expecting sanctions to be lifted.Experts think relaxing sanctions at this point would do more harm than good because Pyongyang has not made new offers to move toward denuclearization.“In the absence of steps by North Korea on its nuclear program, easing sanctions unilaterally could send the wrong signal to Pyongyang — that if it continues to hold out, the international community will loosen sanctions further,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Korea Economic Institute.Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief for Korea and current senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation said, “To ease sanctions without positive North Korean action would be to provide the regime with unique immunity for violating U.N. resolutions.”If sanctions are eased, Bosco thinks North Korea would pressure the U.S. for additional concessions such as a formal end to the Korean War, recognition of its status as a nuclear state, and increased aid to compensate for losses caused by sanctions.“They will conclude, as communist regimes always do, that Western concessions indicate weakness, and they become more adventurist and aggressive to extract more concessions,” Bosco said.Also, if sanctions were lifted, experts said re-imposing them would be difficult if North Korea refused to return to the negotiations.FILE – A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 1, 2020.“A better approach would be an agreement not to increase sanctions if North Korea refrained from further tests and engage in substantive talks,” Stangarone said.William Brown, former U.S. intelligence official who heads the Northeast Asia Economics and Intelligence Advisory, said “It would be hard to put tough sanctions, like we have now, back in place without some other larger North Korean provocations.”An argument for reliefKen Gause, director for the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, thinks sanctions relief could get North Korea to freeze its nuclear weapons program and does not see the U.S.-led pressure campaign leading to denuclearization.“I don’t see any way forward with a pressure-only campaign to bring about the intended goal of the UNSC of curbing North Korea’s nuclear program,” Gause said. “In an ironic way, it might actually accelerate the program.”Gause added that without China and Russia enforcing sanctions, it would be difficult to bring about a change in North Korea’s position on nuclear weapons.China in particular has been helping Pyongyang evade sanctions that restrict fuel export to North Korea and prohibit coal imports from the country. Despite sanctions, Chinese merchants have been smuggling goods such as automobile and machinery parts across the border.Klingner sees that illicit smuggling will likely be reduced because of North Korea’s response to the coronavirus scare.“This will, indirectly, increase enforcement of required sanctions and put greater pressure on the regime,” Klingner said. “Reduction in smuggled fuel and other imports will impact the North Korean economy.”North Korea closes borderNorth Korea has temporarily closed the border it shares with China and banned all train and air links to and from China in an effort to keep the coronavirus at bay. [[ ]] Pyongyang also imposed strict quarantine measures on foreigners entering and exiting the country, and set up medical checkpoints in the provinces that border China.Stangarone said China is an important source of food and intermediary goods for North Korea, and if North Korea is unable to import them from China for a prolonged time because the border is closed, its economy could be disrupted.“Reports indicate that cargo shipments have been stopped, which means that the closure could have a wider impact on the economy,” Stangarone said. “If it is closed for an extended period of time, and North Korea does not reopen its border to cargo shipments, the impact on the economy would be deeper.”Brown said if the epidemic continues, North Korean workers remaining in China, who were supposed to return home by Dec. 22, 2019, deadline, may end up staying there.“This may actually protect workers still in China for a short while,” Brown said. “But it may, in the end, make it harder for already returned workers to go back. So the net impact is likely to further push the North Korean and Chinese economies apart.”Oh Taek-song and Han Sang-mi contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Korean Service.
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China Coronavirus Lockdown Crippling Global Supply Chain
With more than 50 million people on lockdown, economists warn China’s efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak are reverberating through the global economy.For two weeks major airlines have either scaled back or outright cancelled service to China, and many global retailers, including coffee chain Starbucks and furniture giant Ikea, have announced that they are temporarily closing outlets there. Yum brands, the owner of well-known fast food chains including KFC and Pizza Hut, said that it had been forced to close nearly a third of its stores in the country.The impact is now growing outside China. This week, Hyundai Motor Company announced that it had been forced to suspend production at its plants in South Korea because parts made in China were no longer available. Nintendo announced that shipments of its popular Switch gaming platform would be delayed, and luxury brands including Estee Lauder, Coach, and Kate Spade have warned that the outbreak may have a significant negative effect on sales.Apart from company statements, there is little data available to assess the immediate impact of the virus on global trade. But among experts, there is no doubt that the economic fallout from the situation will be noticeable and potentially severe.GDP drop expected“When trade slows in China, that obviously means less income for other countries, and it will slow them down as well,” said economist Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “In other words, their growth rates are not independent of the Chinese growth rate.”Hufbauer said that a conservative estimate impact of the coronavirus epidemic on China alone might be to cut its annual growth rate by a percentage point. “I will be surprised if it is greater than 5%,” he said, citing a figure about a percentage point lower than the Chinese government’s official forecast released prior to the outbreak.While one percent may sound trivial, in an economy the size of China’s it represents about $153 billion in lost economic output over a full year, according to International Monetary Fund data.He added that without the aggressive measures the Chinese government has implemented to boost the economy, including immediate monetary stimulus and promised fiscal stimulus, the damage might be even greater.It is difficult to directly translate a slowdown in China into precise effects on other countries, but it is clear that an extended period of low productivity there will have impacts around the globe.About 17% of Chinese exports are considered “intermediate” goods, according to World Bank data, meaning that they are inputs that other manufacturers use to produce their finished goods. This includes electronic components, auto parts, steel, and more. In the U.S. alone, businesses purchased $37.3 billion in intermediate goods from China in 2018.Lunar New Year creates economic bufferFrom a global economic standpoint, the timing of the coronavirus outbreak had some advantages. The Chinese economy typically slows down dramatically during the lunar new year holidays. That annual lull is already included in companies’ expectations for supply chain performance, so the current disruption in manufacturing is causing less of a disturbance than it might otherwise have.“In an ideal economic calendar, China would still be on break until Feb 10th, which is when the New Year period ends,” said Rui Zhong, a program associate with the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center, a Washington, DC think tank. “So we won’t know for sure the impacts until a few weeks from now. Manufacturing facilities around Wenzhou, one of the harder-hit areas, might impact small consumer goods and electronics as it enters a quarantine period.”Zhong added, “As for global reverberations, supply chains for assembly in China and business travel slowdowns may impact the speed at which commercial activity is conducted until the coronavirus is adequately contained.”Peter Bolstorff, the executive vice president for corporate development with the Association for Supply Chain Management, agreed that “domestic Chinese businesses are just at the start” of the outbreak’s impact. However, he said, global companies are already looking for ways to avoid the expected disruption in China. Some, he said, may stand to profit by being better prepared than their competitors.Trade war may have prepared US businesses“We’ve had plenty of supply chain disruption in the last five years, and people are actually getting skilled at [thinking] about risk events and probabilities and starting to plan around them,” he said. “So, what I would predict in the future is, coming out of this particular disruption, organizations that have prepared for risk, are going to gain market share over those that did not.”Ironically, he pointed out, the damaging trade war between the United States and China, brought on by President Trump’s imposition of large tariffs on Chinese goods, may have served to inoculate many U.S. businesses against the impact of a major supply chain disruption focused in China.With the status of U.S.-China trade relations in doubt over the first years of the Trump administration, many U.S. businesses began to shift production and seek suppliers in other countries. To the extent that many of these, including Vietnam and Thailand, are less affected by the coronavirus than China, companies that rely on production there instead of China will suffer fewer disruptions.
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Enforcement of Malaysia’s Smoking Ban Sparks Controversy
At a popular Kuala Lumpur area open-air food court, Eiswary Thirumalai enjoys a meal with her family. She says in the past, secondhand smoke would sometimes ruin the atmosphere. “Actually, it’s really discomfortable for us because while we are eating we smell the smoke,” she says. “So it’s not healthy for us while we are eating.” A year ago, a new law prohibited smoking at all eateries in Malaysia. Previously, smoking was banned inside all air-conditioned restaurants. But the new law bans smoking within three meters of any table or chair at any indoor or outdoor eatery. There was a one-year phase-in period in which offenders were given warnings, but since January, violators have faced fines ranging from $35 to $85. During January, more than 5,000 tickets were issued nationwide. “If they come out with this penalty, maybe it will give the person a lesson,” says Thirumalai. Alex Lee runs a wonton noodle stall at a popular open-air food court in Kuala Lumpur. Lee, a smoker for two decades, supports enforcement of the smoking ban at all eateries nationwide. “People should have clean air while they eat,” he says.Alex Lee runs a wonton stall in the same food court. Lee has been smoking for two decades, but he supports the ban. “People should have clean air while they eat, so I think it’s good that they’re enforcing this smoking ban,” he says. It’s a point of view echoed by health advocates. “Twenty-thousand people die of smoking-related illness each year in Malaysia,” says Mandy Thoo of the National Cancer Society Malaysia, while explaining why the society supports strict enforcement of the law. “Smoking as well as passive smoking, which is secondhand smoke, causes 15 kinds of cancer, heart disease, and it worsens diabetes as well as mental illnesses.” Malaysian eateries are required to display no-smoking signs. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)The broadened smoking ban directly impacts the semi-enclosed open-air food courts that are common across Malaysia.Several eatery trade associations say some members have seen a drop in business by almost 20% since the ban started. “We request to have a small smoking zone for the convenience of the smokers,” says Chris Lee of the Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors General Association. Henry Wong doesn’t smoke but says he thinks the government is overreaching. “People choose to smoke,” he says. “It’s their life, it’s their health, so I don’t really agree with banning people from smoking.” Smokers caught lighting up at an eatery face fines ranging from the equivalent of $35 to $85 USD. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)Steven Wong, no relation to Henry Wong, openly smoked at an outdoor table at a food court one afternoon until other customers yelled at him. “A lot of people complain about secondhand smoking,” he says. “I have friends, ladies who are in their 80s who’ve been inhaling secondhand smoke for 50 years, maybe 60 years, and they’re still alive.” The National Cancer Society Malaysia points to studies that show secondhand smoke is very unhealthy. “For nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke in homes as well as offices, they increase their risk of smoking-related diseases by 20 to 30 percent,” says the society’s Mandy Thoo. “So it may be your choice to smoke but it’s not someone else’s choice to be exposed to secondhand smoke.”
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Universities Cancel Study-Abroad Programs amid Virus Fears
As concerns about China’s virus outbreak spread, universities are scrambling to assess the risks to their programs, and some are canceling study-abroad opportunities and prohibiting travel affecting hundreds of thousands of students.From Europe to Australia and the United States, universities in countries that host Chinese students have reconsidered academic-related travel to and from China. In the U.S., the cancellations add to the tension between two governments whose relations were already sour.The scare threatens to cause lasting damage to growing academic exchange programs that reached new heights over the last decade and a half, experts say.The travel restrictions also complicate planning for conferences and campus events in the U.S. that scholars from China might attend.“That door has been, if not slammed shut, certainly closed for the immediate future,” said Michael Schoenfeld, Duke University’s vice president for public affairs and government relations.After U.S. officials recommended against nonessential trips to China, many universities limited travel there, including Duke, which also operates a campus in China in a partnership with Wuhan University, which is in the city at the center of the outbreak.Duke Kunshan University closed its campus in Kunshan to nonessential personnel until Feb. 24. The school also helped students who had recently applied for Chinese residency get their passports from local officials so they could travel home and started developing online learning plans for them.One diagnosis iss confirmed at ASU and another at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, which said the infected student had recently traveled to Wuhan.Two of the 12 confirmed U.S. cases are linked to college campuses. One diagnosis was confirmed at Arizona State University and another at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, which said the infected student had recently traveled to Wuhan.The virus represents an unprecedented disruption for the academic ties between the U.S. and China, said Brad Farnsworth, vice president of global engagement at the American Council on Education.He recalled the SARS crisis in 2002 and 2003, when the severe acute respiratory syndrome that originated in China killed nearly 800 people.“The whole higher education relationship was not nearly as complex as it is now,” Farnsworth said. “We have many, many more students going in both directions.”Many academic collaborations could be rescheduled if the crisis is resolved quickly, but the longer it lasts, the deeper the damage will be, he added.China sends far more students to the United States than any other country _ more than 369,000 in the last academic year, according to the Institute of International Education. The U.S. typically sends more than 11,000 students to China annually. Lately, the relationship has been strained by visa difficulties, trade conflicts and U.S. concerns about security risks posed by visiting Chinese students.“This doesn’t help the current situation, which is very tense right now,” Farnsworth said. “This is a low point in U.S.-China higher education relations, there’s no question.”China’s consul general in New York, Huang Ping, said Tuesday at a news conference that students who returned to the U.S. from Hubei province, which includes Wuhan, should report to health officials so they can be monitored. He urged the international community to work together to combat the illness, saying the “virus is the enemy, not the Chinese.”In Germany, the Berlin Free University and Berlin Institute of Technology each said they would not allow visits from China or approve trips to China until further notice. Paderborn University said it was reviewing any China travel plans made by students or doctoral candidates.A spokesman for Silesian University in the Czech Republic said the school postponed exchange programs for 38 Chinese students. Several other schools issued similar cancellations, but Masaryk University in the Czech city of Brno said it was still ready to accept 24 students from China who are expected in two weeks.Tens of thousands of Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities are stranded in their home country. Monash University has extended its summer break to give students and staff more time to return. Classes had been scheduled to begin on March 2.Most Chinese students studying in the U.S. were already in place for classes when the virus emerged, but worries about the illness have led many schools to cancel plans to send Americans to China for an upcoming semester.At the University of Arkansas, where China has been a popular study-abroad destination, especially for business students, about 60 students who had been planning to travel there beginning in May saw their programs canceled.The university made the decision a week ago, before students had to make financial commitments, and it has been working to arrange opportunities in other parts of the world for the affected students, said Sarah Malloy, the university’s director of study abroad and international exchange.One Arkansas student, Lancaster Richmond, had been planning to visit Beijing and Shanghai to fulfill a requirement of her MBA program. Now the 24-year-old is planning to visit Chile this summer instead.“I was obviously disappointed, but I also understand the university is doing whatever they can in our best interest,” she said. “It made my parents a little more comfortable as well. They’d obviously been following the news.”Worries about the virus have altered some rhythms of campus life, including cancellations of Chinese New Year events at the University of Akron and the University of Arizona. But many universities say they are emphasizing precautions such as frequent hand-washing.Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center, said the university is monitoring the situation but trying not to be “over the top to the point that we’re causing more concern and fear than is warranted in the community.”The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which enrolls over 5,500 students from China, said some of its students from Wuhan who traveled home during winter break opted to self-quarantine or wear masks while going to class to protect others. Several institutions urged anybody returning from China to isolate themselves for two weeks as a precaution.At Northeastern University, graduate student Lele Luan said that while some fellow Chinese students have taken to wearing masks around campus in Boston, he does not feel the need.“They told me it’s very safe here,” he said. “So I don’t do anything special to protect myself.”At the University of California, Berkeley, the Tang Center for health services tried last week to share tips on managing anxiety about the virus. But it faced backlash for a list suggesting that “normal reactions” might include xenophobia and “fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia.”Asian Americans quickly expressed outrage on social media. The center apologized for “any misunderstanding it may have caused” and changed the wording.
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China Opens New Hospitals for Virus Patients, Deaths Top 560
China on Thursday finished building a second new hospital to isolate and treat patients of a virus that has killed more than 560 people and continues to spread, disrupting travel and people’s lives and fueling economic fears.A first group of patients was expected to start testing a new antiviral drug, as China also moved people with milder symptoms into makeshift hospitals at sports centers, exhibition halls and other public spaces.The health care system in the central city of Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected in December, has been overwhelmed with the thousands of ill patients. A new, 1,500-bed hospital specially built for virus patients opened days after a 1,000-bed hospital with prefabricated wards and isolation rooms began taking patients.Other treatment centers had tight rows of simple cots lining cavernous rooms. And Wuhan had another 132 quarantine sites with more than 12,500 beds, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.Chinese health authorities reported 563 deaths and another sharp jump in the number of confirmed cases to 28,018. Outside mainland China, at least 260 cases have been confirmed, including two deaths in Hong Kong and the Philippines.A security guard wears a face mask as he sweeps snow along a pedestrian shopping street during a snowfall in Beijing, Feb. 5, 2020.Hospital workers in Hong Kong demanding a shutdown of the border with the mainland were on strike for a fourth day. Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced a 14-day quarantine of all travelers entering Hong Kong from the mainland starting Saturday, but the government has refused to seal the border entirely.A Hong Kong medical union warned that its 20,000 members could resign en masse if the city’s Hospital Authority refuses to speak with them over their demands. It estimated 7,000 were on strike and said those who were working were worried about their safety.The outbreak of the new type of coronavirus has also ensnared two cruise ships, with the passengers and crew now quarantined on the docked vessels in Hong Kong and Japan.Officials in protective suits talk near the cruise ship Diamond Princess anchored at the Yokohama Port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Feb. 6, 2020.Ten passengers confirmed to have the virus were escorted off the Diamond Princess at a port near Tokyo, after 10 others were taken off the previous day. The group taken to hospitals Thursday are mostly passengers in their 60s and 70s, four of them Japanese, two Americans, two Canadians, one New Zealander and one Taiwanese. Tests are still pending on others on board who had symptoms or had contact with infected people.More than 3,600 passengers and crew on the Hong Kong ship, the World Dream, were being screened after eight passengers from a voyage that began Jan. 19 were diagnosed with the virus. Hong Kong health authorities said more than 5,000 passengers traveled on that cruise and two others before the ship was quarantined Monday.Xinhua said clinical trials for the antiviral drug Remdesivir have been approved and the first group of patients are expected to start taking the drug on Thursday. Word of the trials had boosted the stock price of the drug’s maker, American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences Inc.Antivirals and other drugs can reduce the severity of the virus, but “so far, no antivirals have been proven effective,” said Thanarak Plipat, a doctor and deputy director-general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department of the Health Ministry. He said there were a lot of unknowns, “but we have a lot of hope, as well.”China’s National Health Commission said the number of infected patients who were “discharged and cured” stood at 1,153 as of Thursday. Details weren’t given, but milder cases have been seen in younger, healthier people. The new virus is in the coronavirus family that includes MERS and SARS, and it causes fever, cough and shortness of breath, and in severe cases, pneumonia.China has strongly defended its epidemic control measures, including locking down several cities in central Hubei province, where the outbreak has been concentrated. More than 50 million people are under virtual quarantine in Hubei, but outlying cities, towns and villages have enacted varying restrictions and other countries have severely restricted travel to and from China.
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Top US Officials to Spotlight Chinese Spy Operations, Pursuit of American Secrets
An aggressive campaign by American authorities to root out Chinese espionage operations in the United States has snared a growing group of Chinese government officials, business people, and academics pursuing American secrets.In 2019 alone, public records show U.S. authorities arrested and expelled two Chinese diplomats who allegedly drove onto a military base in Virginia. They also caught and jailed former CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency officials on espionage charges linked to China.FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during an oversight hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 5, 2020 in Washington.On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr, FBI director Christopher Wray and U.S. counterintelligence chief William Evanina will address a Washington conference on U.S. efforts to counter Chinese “economic malfeasance” involving espionage and the theft of U.S. technological and scientific secrets.
China’s efforts to steal unclassified American technology, ranging from military secrets to medical research, have long been thought to be extensive and aggressive, but U.S. officials only launched a broad effort to stop alleged Chinese espionage in the United States in 2018.
“The theft of American trade secrets by China costs our nation anywhere from $300 to $600 billion in a year,” Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security
Center, said in advance of Thursday’s conference.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the U.S. allegation as “entirely baseless.”
“The people-to-people exchange between China and the U.S. is conducive to stronger understanding between the two peoples and serves the fundamental interests of our two countries,” it said in an emailed statement.
Of 137 publicly reported instances of Chinese-linked espionage against the United States since 2000, 73% took place in the last decade, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The think tank’s data, which excludes cases of intellectual property litigation and attempts to smuggle munitions or controlled technologies, shows that military and commercial technologies are the most common targets for theft.
In the area of medical research, of 180 investigations into misuse of National Institutes of Health funds, diversion of research intellectual property and inappropriate sharing of
confidential information, more than 90% of the cases have link to China, according to an NIH spokeswoman.
One main reason Chinese espionage, including extensive hacking in cyberspace, has expanded is that “China depends on Western technology and as licit avenues are closed, they turn to espionage to get access,” said James Lewis, a CSIS expert.
In late January alone, federal prosecutors in Boston announced three new criminal cases involving industrial spying or stealing, including charges against a Harvard professor.Prosecutors said Harvard’s Charles Lieber lied to the Pentagon and NIH about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan — a Chinese government scheme that offers mainly Chinese scientists working overseas lavish financial incentives to bring their expertise and knowledge back to China. They said he also lied about his affiliation with China’s Wuhan University of Technology.
During at least part of the time he was signed up with the Chinese university, Lieber was also a “principal investigator” working on at least six research projects funded by U.S. Defense Department agencies, court documents show.
A lawyer for Lieber did not respond to a request for comment.
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China to Cut Tariffs on $75 Billion of US Imports
China says it will cut tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. imports as part of a preliminary agreement between the economic giants to end their trade war. The Finance Ministry released a statement Thursday saying it will cut tariffs on some goods from 10% to 5%, and others from 5% to 2.5%, effective February 14 at 0501 GMT (midnight Washington).The tariff cuts will cover a range of goods from soybeans, pork, fresh seafood, auto parts. The cuts imposed by Beijing will take effect the same day Washington is expected to cut tariffs on $120 billion worth of Chinese imports.The tariff cuts are part of a “phase one” deal signed by negotiators from both nations last month that ended a series of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs that began in June 2018, sparked by President Donald Trump’s initial demand for changes in China’s trade, subsidy and intellectual property practices. The Trump administration says it won an expansion of American agricultural and energy exports to China under the truce agreement.The deal also includes a promise by Beijing to give more protection for American companies’ intellectual property, and halt the practice of forcing foreign companies to transfer technology. It remains unclear how those provisions will be enforced.The U.S. also wants Beijing to curb subsidies to state-owned enterprises and grant American companies greater access to China’s markets.
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North Korea Bars New Foreign Diplomats to Block Virus
North Korea barred new foreign diplomats from entering the country as it intensified efforts to contain the coronavirus.Pyongyang informed foreign embassies of the measure in a diplomatic letter, according to a Russian Embassy post on Twitter and Facebook accounts.“Entry to and exit from the country is forbidden for members of the diplomatic corps as well as for new staffers,” said the Facebook notice posted Tuesday.The Russian Embassy further noted that Pyongyang imposed a 15-day quarantine on foreign diplomatic personnel who need to enter North Korea for unspecified reasons of “necessity.” If they leave quarantine before serving 15 days, they will be requarantined, the embassy said.Intensified measuresKen Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, told VOA on Wednesday that North Korea is taking intensified measures to stop the virus from penetrating into the country because its medical system would not be able to handle the outbreak.“Their tendency is to clamp down and seal off the country,” Gause continued. He added that the response is typical of North Korea where the leadership “knows that if infection gets inside the country, it’s going to be hard to stop.”Quarantine measures imposedNorth Korea also imposed quarantine measures on diplomats and international organization staff working in the country by restricting them to their embassy buildings and residential complexes, according to the Russian news agency Tass. Tass also reported that Pyongyang barred foreigners from hotels and restaurants in North Korea.The new measures come after North Korea temporarily closed its border with China starting Jan. 22 and suspended all air and train links to and from China on Friday. Working with South KoreaIn consultation with South Korea on Jan. 30, Pyongyang closed the inter-Korean liaison office it shares with Seoul in North Korea’s border town of Kaesong. As of Wednesday, South Korea reported 19 confirmed cases of the virus. North Korea’s stepped-up measures come as the number of confirmed cases and deaths increase daily in China. There are no cases of the virus reported in North Korea“Autocratic countries usually have lousy medical infrastructure [and] it’s their natural tendencies to take an action like this,” Gause said.Call for ‘absolute obedience’North Korea has been ruled by three generations of the Kim dynasty that had strict control over its population since 1945. As the regime copes with the threat posed by the coronavirus, it has called on citizens to show “absolute obedience” to its efforts, the country’s official newspaper the Rodong Sinmun said Saturday. On Wednesday, North Korea’s state media Korean Central News Agency said passengers crossing into North Korea’s provinces of Jagang and North Hamgyong along its northern border are being examined at checkpoints. ‘Emergency anti-epidemic headquarters’The KCNA report said the government set up “emergency anti-epidemic headquarters” across the country and that “the Party organizations at all levels and officials in the public health sector are launching a campaign to arouse all the masses to the work for preventing the novel coronavirus infection.”Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said, “I think it is easier for autocratic regimes like North Korea to take swift, stringent measures.” He added, “But I think their efforts to respond to the pandemic are not that different from those of the U.S.”Christy Lee contributed to this report which originated in VOA’s Korean Service.
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White House Official: China Should Join Nuclear Arms Talks With Russia
U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Wednesday that China should join the United States in trilateral arms talks with Russia. “The president believes that it shouldn’t just be the U.S. and Russia. We think that China is going to need to become involved in any serious arms control negotiation, so we’re going to work on those talks in the coming months and year,” Robert O’Brien said in Washington. He told a group of 50 foreign ambassadors that U.S. officials would travel to Beijing to discuss reducing the “existential” threats of nuclear war and nuclear proliferation. “The days of unilateral American disarmament are over,” O’Brien noted in remarks that focused on the Trump administration’s foreign policy. Trump last year said he discussed a new accord on limiting nuclear arms with Russian President Vladimir Putin and hoped to extend that to China, but Beijing has so far refused to take part. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that Russia would take part in potential trilateral talks but that he wouldn’t “force China to change” its position. Eye on Chinese buildupWhile highlighting great-power competition as the top priority of the Trump administration, Trump’s national security adviser said the U.S. was keeping a wary eye on China’s military buildup in the Pacific and Indian oceans. O’Brien also pointed to Putin’s huge investment in the Russian military and Moscow’s continuing military involvement in countries like Ukraine, Syria and Libya. In his speech Wednesday, he also stressed the need for Russian and Chinese help in the denuclearization of North Korea. “The Chinese have to enforce the sanctions against North Korea. They’ve got to stop ship-to-ship transfers. … We need the Chinese to assist us with pressuring the North Koreans to come to the table,” O’Brien said. The national security adviser expressed hope that North Korea would meet with the U.S. again in Sweden. Last October, working-level nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang broke down in Stockholm.
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Malaysian Weight Loss Movement Tries to Combat Country’s Obesity Crisis
In Southeast Asia, Malaysia is dealing with an obesity crisis. The issue stems from unhealthy diets and inactive lifestyles. Dave Grunebaum has more on the problem and a program that’s helping people slim down.
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Mainland China Reports New Coronavirus Deaths, Cases
The number of new cases and related deaths from the new coronavirus rose Wednesday in mainland China, Chinese health officials said, while the discovery of new cases outside the mainland indicated the increasing spread of the outbreak.However, despite its increasing detection in numerous countries, the World Health Organization said the outbreak of the new coronavirus has not yet reached the level of a pandemic. Dr. Sylvie Briand, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic diseases, told reporters in Geneva Tuesday the outbreak is at the phase “where it is an epidemic with multiple foci.”As of Wednesday, at least 490 people, the majority in mainland China, have died from the coronavirus since it was first detected in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, with the total number of confirmed infections exceeding 24,000. There are about 150 confirmed cases in 23 other countries, including one death in the Philippines — the first outside of China.The epidemic has also been detected on the high seas. Japanese officials said 10 people tested positive for the coronavirus on a cruise ship quarantined at the Japanese port of Yokohama. They said the more than 3,700 remaining passengers and crew will remain quarantined on board Carnival Japan’s Diamond Princess for further testing.The U.S. Department of Defense said about 350 Americans left Wuhan on Wednesday aboard two charter planes that are scheduled to land later in the day at two military bases in the U.S. western state of California.The U.S. State Department said it may schedule more flights to China on Thursday but did not provide additional information.Two U.S. based airlines on Wednesday announced plans to temporarily suspend flights to Hong Kong. American Airlines and United Airlines said they were halting flights there through February 20.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a press conference held in Hong Kong, Feb. 5, 2020. Hong Kong
Meanwhile, medical workers in Hong Kong staged a second consecutive day of strikes Tuesday as the Chinese territory reported its first death from the coronavirus. Hong Kong shut down nearly all land and sea border crossings with the mainland at midnight local time after more than 2,000 medical workers walked off the job Monday demanding that all border crossings be closed completely. Hong Kong was hit hard by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-03.Hong Kong health authorities identified the victim as a 39-year-old male with a pre-existing illness who had recently visited Wuhan. Also Tuesday, the Chinese gambling territory of Macau said it will temporarily shut down all casino operations for two weeks to help curb the spread of the virus. Link to bats
A new study published Monday in the journal Nature said experts from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which specializes in the study of viruses, say the new virus is 96% genetically identical to one found in bats in southern China’s Yunnan province.The study said the new coronavirus is 80% genetically similar to the SARS virus that killed more than 800 people in 2002 and 2003.Chinese officials do not know exactly how the virus could have been transmitted from animals to people, but believe open-air markets in China, where wild and domesticated animals are sold, may be a contributor.WHO said it expects the number of cases to grow as test results are returned on thousands of pending cases.Chinese authorities have tried to stop the spread by instituting bans on movement in certain regions, and extending holidays to keep people away from schools and other large gatherings.Travel bans irk Beijing
Beijing, however, is upset that a number of countries are restricting travelers from China from crossing their borders.Government spokeswoman Hua Chunying accused the United States of spreading fear and not offering any substantial assistance in response to the outbreak.She said Washington has “unceasingly manufactured and spread panic,” noting that the WHO has advised against travel restrictions.U.S. President Donald Trump has offered to send experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to China, but Beijing has yet to accept the offer of help.The United States began mandatory 14-day quarantines Sunday for U.S. citizens who had been in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital. But non-U.S. citizens who have been in China over the past two weeks are barred. Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said Monday the United States is already prepared to provide housing for up to 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined. He also said the United States is “always planning for eventualities and how we may be asked by civilian partners to assist.”
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China Criticizes Australia’s Coronavirus Travel Ban
The Chinese embassy in Canberra has criticized Australia’s coronavirus travel ban. It is preventing entry to all foreigners traveling from mainland China for at least two weeks. An eight-year-old boy in Queensland state has become the 13th confirmed Australian case of the disease. Two Australians are among the 10 people who have tested positive for the virus onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan.Officers in protective gear escort a person (under the blue sheet) who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and was tested positive for coronavirus, in Yokohama, south of Tokyo in this photo taken by Kyodo, Feb. 4, 2020.More than 100,000 Chinese students will not be able to start their university and college courses in Australia because of the travel ban put in place to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. They will miss the opening weeks of classes for this semester, and will have to study online back home instead. The restrictions saw about 70 Chinese students detained at Australian airports at the weekend and their visas cancelled.Chinese diplomats say travelers were not given enough warning of the ban, with many already in the air when the ban came into effect on February 1.Wang Xining is the deputy head of mission at the Chinese embassy in Canberra.“We are not happy about the situation because they were not alerted. There is not enough time to be alerted about the restriction,” said Wang.Education for international students is Australia’s third largest export, and officials hope the ban is lifted soon. That depends on when the global spread of the coronavirus can be slowed, and eventually stopped.Dozens of Australians airlifted from the virus epicenter in Wuhan, China, remain in quarantine on the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island.A general view of the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre, where Australian citizens and residents flown out of Wuhan, Hubei province, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, will spend 14 days in quarantine, Feb. 4, 2020.A group of New Zealanders, and other foreign nationals, including those from Britain, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Samoa, have also been flown out of Wuhan on a 12-hour flight to Auckland, where they will be put into isolation for two weeks.The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global emergency.Mild cases of the virus can cause cold-like symptoms, while severe infections can cause pneumonia, kidney failure and death.
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