Maki Kaji, the creator of the popular numbers puzzle Sudoku whose life’s work was spreading the joy of puzzles, has died, his Japanese company said Tuesday. He was 69 and had bile duct cancer. Known as the “Godfather of Sudoku,” Kaji created the puzzle to be easy for children and others who didn’t want to think too hard. Its name is made up of the Japanese characters for “number” and “single,” and players place the numbers 1 through 9 in rows, columns and blocks without repeating them. Ironically, it wasn’t until 2004 when Sudoku became a global hit, after a fan from New Zealand pitched it and got it published in the British newspaper The Times. Two years later, Japan rediscovered its own puzzle as a “gyakuyunyu,” or “reimport.” Kaji was chief executive at his puzzle company, Nikoli Co., until July and died Aug. 10 at his home in Mitaka, a city in the Tokyo metro area. Maki traveled to more than 30 countries spreading his enjoyment of puzzles. Sudoku championships have drawn some 200 million people in 100 countries over the years, according to Tokyo-based Nikoli. Sudoku was also never trademarked except within Japan, driving its overseas craze, Nikoli said. “Kaji-san came up with the name Sudoku and was loved by puzzle fans from all over the world. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the patronage you have shown throughout his life,” the company said in a statement. Originally, Sudoku was called “Suji-wa-Dokushin-ni-Kagiru,” which translates to, “Numbers should be single, a bachelor.” In recent years, Sudoku, believed to be the world’s most popular pencil puzzle, has come out in digital versions. Born in the main northern island of Hokkaido, Maki started Japan’s first puzzle magazine after dropping out of Keio University in Tokyo. He founded Nikoli in 1983, and came up with Sudoku about the same time. Yoshinao Anpuku, who succeeded Kaji as Nikoli’s chief executive, said Kaji made friends easily and had a “unique and playful approach toward life.” “Our mission is to pursue Maki’s vision and possibilities,” Anpuku said. Nikoli has provided original puzzles to more than 100 media companies, 10 of them foreign ones. Major Japanese newspaper Mainichi in its obituary credited Kaji for starting the puzzle sections at bookstores, as well as introducing the word “Sudoku” into the Oxford English dictionary. Kaji is survived by his wife Naomi and two daughters. Funeral services have been held among close family. A separate memorial service is being arranged by Nikoli, but details were still undecided.
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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
Hong Kong Leader: Groups Crossing ‘Red Lines’ Should Disband
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday organizations that cross “red lines” and disregard national security should disband and the government would not hesitate to cut ties with professional groups that turn political.Authorities are conducting an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the city, arresting pro-democracy leaders and activists as Beijing seeks to keep Hong Kong in line after months of mass anti-government protests in 2019.Lam made her comments after the Civil Human Rights Front, known for organizing annual July 1 protests and a key organizer of some of the biggest protests in 2019, said Sunday it could no longer operate due to the imprisonment of its convenor Figo Chan and a loss of members.Hong Kong’s Largest Protest Group Disbands Civil Human Rights Front is the latest pro-democracy group to fold in Hong Kong Its dissolution also came as Hong Kong police were reportedly investigating the group for breaking the law, with a police commissioner saying in an interview with local media that the group had not formally registered with the government.Critics of Hong Kong’s security legislation say it rolls back freedoms promised to Hong Kong for 50 years when it was handed over by the British to mainland China in 1997.The legislation criminalizes subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, and has been used to arrest over 100 pro-democracy figures since it was implemented last June.“There is no absolute freedom of an individual anywhere in the world. You enjoy it in accordance with the law,” Lam said at a regular news conference, adding that there were many organizations who do not accept that their behavior and speech are regulated by the city’s national security law imposed last June.“In the past we have seen organizations and individuals crossing these red lines. In my opinion, the only choice is at this time is disbandment,” she said. “So, it’s nothing to do with exercising your right or your freedom.”Lam said that even if organizations disband their own volition, it does not absolve them of criminal liability if they are found to break the law. Law enforcement agencies will continue to collect evidence and investigate, and any breaches of the law will be prosecuted accordingly, she said.Professional groups who deviate from their original purpose and turn political will also be cut off from the Hong Kong government, she said.The government last month severed ties with the Professional Teachers’ Union, the city’s largest union for educators. The union later disbanded, citing a changing political climate.Lam warned that the Law Society — a professional association for solicitors in Hong Kong — could be next if they “let politics take over their professional mission.”
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Protest Veterans in Thailand Join Young Pro-Democracy Demonstrators
Thailand’s young protesters have been joined by the “Red Shirt” veterans of the kingdom’s pro-democracy battle. That brought tens of thousands out over the weekend calling on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to resign. But as violent clashes with police become a nightly ritual, experts say Prayuth is unlikely to bend to the protesters’ demands anytime soon. Vijitra Duangdee reports from Bangkok.
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Thai ‘Gen Z,’ Pro-democracy Veteran ‘Red Shirts’ up Ante on PM Prayuth
Thailand’s boisterous youth movement is linking up with the kingdom’s most enduring pro-democracy force — the “Red Shirt” protest veterans — posing the most serious threat yet from the street to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s grip on power.But experts say as long as the former army chief retains the support of Thailand’s core interest groups, the monarchy, the military and big business, he is unlikely to fall, no matter how many push for his removal from office.Almost daily protests, spurred by the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and an unprecedented economic crunch, are swelling. By dusk parts of Bangkok are covered in choking swirls of tear gas while fires rage, set by a hard core of young protesters clashing with police.Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha attends a family photo session at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, March 30, 2021.The violence, experts warn, could lead to the army coming out and a deepening of the political crisis engulfing the turbulent nation.Tens of thousands of people joined loud, colorful convoys of “car mobs” across the country Sunday, calling on Prayuth to resign. The convoys rode through Bangkok and the “Red Shirt” rural heartlands of north and northeastern Thailand.At the helm in the capital was Nattawut Saikuar, a former Red Shirt hero, who pulled out his old followers as leader of the new “Oust Prayuth Network” alongside thousands of young “Gen Z” protesters.“This is a synergy between two generations fighting a common enemy,” Nattawut told VOA.The Red Shirt movement began in 2008 in outrage at an appointed government which followed a coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.A few years later, their protests were put down with a bloody army crackdown led by Prayuth.In 2014 as army chief, Prayuth led another coup against another elected government, this time led by Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s younger sister. The Reds were forced into retreat.“These young people have taken up the baton,” Nattawut added.Police use a water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters taking part in a demonstration calling for the resignation of Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha.New political wisdomThailand’s Gen Z, angry, articulate and armed with social media, have challenged Thailand’s power pyramid like never before, calling for Prayuth to resign and a new constitution to unplug the army from politics for good and, crucially, reform of the all-powerful monarchy.“Frankly, before Prayuth’s coup I was just a normal school kid,” a 25-year-old protester who gave her name as Pop said, as she daubed “Prayuth Get Out” on a road in spray paint.“But as time goes by you realize politics affects us all. That’s when I took to the street and joined the movement demanding this government fall.”Experts say Thailand’s arch-royalist establishment sees Prayuth as an integral part of the hierarchy that has been carefully constructed to keep populist civilian leaders like the Shinawatras out, while leaving the monarchy above reproach and tycoons to dominate the economy.“Prayuth is now not only protecting his position, but also protecting the advantages of an establishment that has benefited from the past few years,” political scientist Kanokrat Lertchoosakul told VOA News.And that means, no matter how bad things get on the street — with a coronavirus pandemic claiming scores of lives each day, low vaccination rates and the economic growth forecast to be rubbed out for the year — Prayuth is unlikely to budge.“The elite need to keep him in power,” prominent historian Nidhi Eoseewong said during Sunday’s car mob.“Prayuth knows all too well that it’s not up to him to step down or not, it’s up to the powers behind him who will decide.”Undeterred, the young protesters have gone after him for more than a year.This picture taken on March 25, 2019, shows exiled former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra being interviewed by Agence France-presse in Hong Kong.They are also filling up rooms on the Clubhouse app, for chats hosted by the 72-year-old Thaksin from his self-exile abroad, even though most are too young to remember the enigmatic billionaire.His youth appeal has raised prospects of a remarkable comeback of sorts, especially as the economy sinks further and the government runs out of cash and ideas.But unlike the loyalties of the past, “Gen Z” has a “new political wisdom,” warns Kanokrat, explaining they will not back leaders who play old power games at the expense of their demands.“If we don’t listen and turn them into a very high potential human resource for the future, we are turning them into the state enemy,” Kanokrat said.
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Japan PM Extends COVID Emergency as Cases Surge
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the COVID-19 state of emergency for Tokyo and several surrounding regions will continue through September 12 rather than expiring at the end of this month after a surge in new cases over the past three days.Tokyo announced 2,962 new daily cases on Monday, after a record 5,773 on Friday. All of Japan saw a record 20,400 cases that day.Suga told reporters the surge in infections is reaching alarming levels. He said the state of emergency currently in effect for Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa will include three other areas – Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka, which are currently under a less severe COVID-19 status.The state of emergency began in July, just before the start of the Tokyo Olympics. With the latest extension, the emergency will remain in force during the Paralympics Games August 24 through September 5.Suga said the measures will become official Tuesday, following further consultations with experts. He also said hospital care was “a priority,” and people waiting at home to be hospitalized were getting checkups by phone. Critics say the government has not done enough to respond to the crisis in organizing the hospital system overall to accommodate those with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Japan’s state of emergency restricts commercial activity, with bars and restaurants told to close or stop serving alcohol, and movie theaters and karaoke parlors closed. Japanese laws limit how much the government can mandate, making the state of emergency declarations little more than requests for cooperation.Just over one-third of the nation’s population has been fully vaccinated, even while the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus is reportedly spreading. Japan’s vaccine rollout got off to a relatively late start and is proceeding at a pace that is one of the slowest among industrialized nations. Japan has had more than 15,000 COVID-19-related deaths, and worries have been growing about the health care system becoming increasingly stretched thin. Some of the information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Malaysian PM Muhyiddin Resigns After Chaotic 17-Month Tenure
Malaysia’s king will keep Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on as caretaker prime minister after Muhyiddin and his entire cabinet formally resigned Monday following months of political turmoil. Muhyiddin submitted his resignation and that of his ministers to King Al-Sultan Abdullah when he visited the royal palace shortly after holding an emergency cabinet meeting. He later said during a nationally televised address that he was stepping down because he had lost support of the majority of lawmakers. Muhyiddin also reassured Malaysians that he would not join with lawmakers he called “kleptocrats” or interfere with the judiciary’s independence to stay in power. The royal palace issued a statement explaining that King Al-Sultan is keeping Muhyiddin on in a caretaker role because it is not a good time to hold elections as Malaysia continues to struggle with rising COVID-19 infections. Muhyiddin’s tenure as prime minister is the shortest in Malaysian history. The king selected Muhyiddin as prime minister last March after then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s ruling coalition had collapsed a month earlier. But he has been beset by constant challenges to his leadership within his fragile coalition and rising anger over his government’s poor response to pandemic. Malaysia has one of the world’s highest COVID-19 infection rates and deaths per million, with 1.4 million total infections and 12,510 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Muhyiddin’s tenuous grip on power began unraveling when a group of lawmakers with the United Malays National Organization, the largest party in the coalition, withdrew their support. UMNO, once Malaysia’s long-serving ruling party dating back to the country’s independence in 1957, has a handful of politicians facing corruption charges, including former Prime Minister Najib Razak. Muhyiddin’s 17-month tenure as prime minister is the shortest in Malaysia’s history. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Pfizer Vaccines from Poland to Boost Australia’s Fight Against COVID-19
Poland is selling one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to boost Australia’s comparatively low COVID-19 inoculation rates. Australia has bought extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the Polish government for an undisclosed amount. The first shipment arrived in Sydney Sunday. Reports have said Poland has been trying to sell-on at least four million spare doses from its national stockpile. The deal is part of Canberra’s international hunt for extra doses to boost its vaccination rollout. With only about a quarter of its population fully inoculated, Australia has lagged behind many other countries. Half of the doses from Poland will go to 20-to-39-year-olds in the worst virus-hit suburbs in Sydney, where Australia’s harshest lockdown got even stricter on Monday with new regulations that limit the movement of millions of people. Many residents in areas with large numbers of delta variant infections are not allowed to move more than 5 kilometers from their homes as law enforcement agencies assume some of the most sweeping powers the country has ever seen. Almost 18,000 police officers and 1,800 soldiers are patrolling Sydney streets to enforce the lockdown. Health authorities in New South Wales Monday reported 478 new COVID-19 cases — a new daily record — and seven more fatalities. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison is urging people to obey the public health orders. “We have been seeing those case numbers rise in Sydney and New South Wales each day and that is terribly concerning. So, together we have got to get those numbers coming down and there are two things we can do. I need you to stay at home and you needed more vaccines from us. More vaccines are on their way, they will be there this week,” Morrison said.In Victoria, officials Monday extended a lockdown in Melbourne until at least September 2 as delta variant infections increase. A night-time curfew will be imposed from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. Lockdowns are also in place in the Australian Capital Territory — the region surrounding Canberra — and the Northern Territory. Travel into and out of Australia remains heavily restricted. Most foreign nationals were banned from entering in March 2020 to curb the spread of the virus. The policy continues to separate many families. Daniella May, a German-Australian woman, has written a song about not seeing her extended family overseas. “In different time zones we sit, and the uncertainty we breathe, we with our loved-ones freeze on ‘phone screens, cry and think, is this Australia?” May said. About 39,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Australia since the pandemic began, and 958 people have died, according to the Health Department.
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Malaysia PM’s Cabinet Resigns – Science Minister
Malaysia’s cabinet led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has tendered its resignation to the king, science minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Monday, after months of political turmoil that resulted in a loss of the premier’s majority. Khairy announced the news in a post on Instagram. Prime Minister Muhyiddin was earlier seen entering the national palace on Monday, after reports he would tender his resignation to the king. Muhyiddin’s office did not respond to Reuters requests for confirmation on Monday. Muhyiddin’s hand had weakened after months of infighting in his coalition. If confirmed, his resignation would end a tumultuous 17 months in office but could also hamper Malaysia’s efforts to reboot a pandemic-stricken economy and curb a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, as there is no obvious successor. Malaysia’s ringgit currency earlier fell to a one-year low and the stock market slipped. It was not immediately clear who could form the next government, given no one has a clear majority in parliament, or whether elections could be held during the pandemic. Malaysia’s infections and fatality rates per million people are the highest in Southeast Asia. The decision is likely to be thrust into the hands of constitutional monarch King Al-Sultan Abdullah, who can appoint a prime minister from among elected lawmakers based on who he thinks is most likely to command a majority. Muhyiddin, who had for weeks defied calls to quit, had informed party members that he would submit his resignation to the king on Monday, according to Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, a minister in the prime minister’s department, news portal Malaysiakini reported on Sunday. The minister did not respond to a request for comment. The prime minister convened a special cabinet meeting on Monday morning, state news agency Bernama reported. Reuters journalists saw Muhyiddin arrive at the national palace. His resignation could return the premiership to the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysia’s ‘grand old party,’ which was voted out in a 2018 election after being tainted by corruption allegations. The top two contenders for the premiership or interim prime minister’s post include deputy prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and veteran lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, both from UMNO. Muhyiddin’s grip on power has been precarious since he took office in March 2020 with a slim majority. Pressure on him mounted recently after some UMNO lawmakers — the largest bloc in the ruling alliance — withdrew support. Muhyiddin had said the recent crisis was brought on by his refusal to meet demands including the dropping of corruption charges against some individuals. UMNO politicians, including former premier Najib Razak and party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, are facing graft charges. They have denied wrongdoing and were among those who withdrew support for Muhyiddin this month.
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Ex-Khmer Rouge Official Appeals Genocide Verdict in Cambodia
The last living leader from the inner circle of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime launched his courtroom appeal Monday, seeking to convince a long-running international tribunal to overturn his conviction on charges of genocide. Khieu Samphan, 90, was the former head of state for the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist regime that ruled Cambodia with an iron fist from 1975-1979 and was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people. His defense team is seeking to overturn a 2018 verdict finding him guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, questioning the evidence and arguing there were procedural mistakes. Kong Sam Onn told the judges of the Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC, that his client had been given inadequate time to prepare an initial defense, and that the original panel failed to provide the grounds for its ruling in a timely fashion, among other things. “It should be null and void, and so I am requesting the Supreme Court chamber to … reverse the judgment,” he said. Khieu Samphan sat in a chair behind his attorneys, appearing to listen intently as they addressed the court. Kong Sam Onn said his client would address the chamber at the end of the four days of hearings. Observers say it’s unlikely for the conviction to be overturned, and even if it is, he is already serving a life sentence for a 2014 conviction of crimes against humanity connected with forced transfers and disappearances of masses of people. That conviction was upheld on appeal in 2016.Civic group members wait in queue before getting into the court room of the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 16, 2021.“The appeal hearing is quite important for both sides, the Cambodian victims and the accused,” said tribunal spokesman, Neth Pheaktra. The verdict won’t come until next year. Under the leadership of the late Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge sought to eliminate all traces of what they saw as corrupt bourgeois life, destroying most religious, financial and social institutions, and forcing millions out of cities to live in the countryside. Dissent was usually met with death in the Khmer Rouge’s notorious “killing fields” or elsewhere, while starvation, overwork and medical neglect took many more lives. Only when an invasion by Vietnam finally drove the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979 did the magnitude of the killings become truly known. Khieu Samphan’s 2018 conviction was largely connected to crimes committed against Vietnamese and Cham minorities in Cambodia. He was found not guilty of genocide against the Cham, a Muslim ethnic minority whose members had put up a small but futile resistance against the Khmer Rouge, for lack of evidence. But he was found guilty of genocide of the Vietnamese under the principle of joint criminal enterprise, under which individuals can be held responsible for the actions of a group to which they belong. His crimes against humanity conviction covered activities at work camps and cooperatives established by the Khmer Rouge. They included murder, extermination, deportation, enslavement, imprisonment, torture, persecution on political, religious and racial grounds, attacks on human dignity, forced marriages and rape. He was “found to have encouraged, incited, and legitimized criminal policies and to have made a significant contribution to crimes committed” by the Khmer Rouge. The breaches of the Geneva Convention governing war crimes included willful killing, torture and inhumane treatment. During his trial, Khieu Samphan claimed the allegations against him were “Vietnamese propaganda” and said that while he had been aware of accusations of suffering under the Khmer Rouge, “the term murderer I categorically reject.” After being ousted from power in 1979, the Khmer Rouge waged guerrilla warfare for another two decades before disintegrating. Pol Pot died in the jungle in 1998, and on Christmas Eve that year, Khieu Samphan surrendered along with Nuon Chea, the movement’s chief ideologue and its second-highest official. Nuon Chea was convicted alongside Khieu Samphan in 2018 and died the following year. The ECCC tribunal was established at Cambodia’s behest to bring to justice the leaders of the Khmer Rouge during its time in power. Since the first judges and prosecutors took up their duties in 2006, however, the court has only successfully convicted three people in prosecutions that have cost some $300 million. In addition to Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, the only other leader convicted was Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who as head of the Khmer Rouge prison system ran the infamous Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh. He died in 2020 while serving a life prison term for war crimes and crimes against humanity. After the conviction of Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea in 2018, the government of autocratic Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a midlevel Khmer Rouge commander before defecting while the group was still in power, declared no more cases would go forward, saying they would cause instability. Human rights attorney Theary Seng, who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide herself but lost her parents, criticized the trials as “political theatre” where Hun Sen and others have been “allowed, backed with U.N. insignia, to try themselves.” Still, she said she planned to attend the opening of the appeal to see the case against Khieu Samphan to its conclusion. “I have forgiven Khieu Samphan, as I have no intention for revenge, but that is not the same as holding him responsible,” she told The Associated Press in an email. “I hold Khieu Samphan directly responsible for the murders of my mom and dad, and for taking my childhood away from me in forcing me into a living hell.”
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Hong Kong’s Largest Protest Group Disbands
One of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy organizations has announced it will close immediately. The Civil Human Rights Front, or CHRF, has been responsible for some of the largest street demonstrations in the city’s history, especially during the 2019 anti-government protests. Since Beijing enacted a National Security Law for Hong Kong in June of last year, the government has repeatedly rejected applications from the CHRF to hold any rallies, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Rumors of the group disbanding had been reported in local media for days, but on Sunday it was confirmed. A post on the group’s page read that member groups have been “suppressed” and civil society has faced “serious challenges.” 香港人加油，人在希望在﹗
民間人權陣線（下稱民陣）自2002年起，一直擔任公民社會團體的溝通平台，旨在推動香港的人權民主自由，以合法、和平、理性及非暴力的原則籌辦大型遊行集會，讓廣大市民發聲。
…Posted by 民間人權陣線 Civil Human Rights Front on Saturday, August 14, 2021The group added the decision to dissolve was “unanimous,” while thanking its supporters. “The record of the marching of one million people and two million people, let the aspirations go through the whole city, let the world see Hong Kong, let the lights shine on the darkness, and let democracy and freedom plant in the hearts of people,” part of the announcement read. The National Security Law has acted as a catalyst for a political crackdown in the city, with dozens of political figures arrested and jailed. The regulation — enacted to bring stability to the city following the 2019 demonstrations — has been widely criticized as a threat to Hong Kong’s once-vibrant free press. Under the law, subversion and foreign collusion are prohibited. Previous CHRF convener Jimmy Sham is one of 47 political figures charged in February with conspiracy to commit subversion under the law. And in May, the front’s current convener, Figo Chan, was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to unauthorized assembly two years ago. The front admitted that no members were willing to step up to form a new secretariat after Chan was sent to jail. Founded in 2002, the CHRF was an umbrella group affiliated with the majority of pro-democracy political groups in the city. Loud and proud, the group was a vital cog during the widespread pro-democracy rallies two years ago and was responsible for Hong Kong’s largest street protest ever. The organizers claimed nearly two million people – a quarter of Hong Kong’s population – opposed a now-withdrawn extradition bill on June 16, 2019. The city’s authorities claimed the turnout was a lot lower. The extradition measure called for some criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Richard Tsoi, former secretary of civil society group the Hong Kong Alliance, told VOA the CHRF’s disbanding is a big blow to the pro-democracy movement. “From 2002 until now, the Civil Human Rights Front acted as the umbrella organization for the civil society to organize Hong Kong people through collective actions to protect human rights and fight to democracy. Without this civil society forum, it would be hard for large-scale collective actions fighting for democracy in the near future. It will definitely have [a] negative impact to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.” The announcement comes after a Hong Kong police chief said the group may have previously violated the National Security Law, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. Chow Hang-Tung is the vice president of the Hong Kong Alliance, a group which organizes an annual vigil to mark the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Chow told VOA in June that she believes the government is going after pro-democracy civil society groups. “Apart from media, I think they want to target civil society organizations, NGO’s and all these political parties and groups. And it looks like ours. A lot of people saying the Civil Human Rights Front or us [Hong Kong Alliance] are the authorities’ next target.” When asked for comment, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Security Bureau responded to VOA via email. “Any law enforcement actions taken by Hong Kong law enforcement agencies are based on evidence, strictly according to the law, for the acts of the persons or entities concerned, and have nothing to do with their political stance, background or occupation. It would be contrary to the rule of law to suggest that people or entities of certain sectors or professions could be above the law.” Political analyst Joseph Cheng, formerly of Hong Kong but who is now in New Zealand, told VOA via email the closure of the CHRF is “a severe blow…” “The closing is expected. Most of the leaders are detained or imprisoned. The majority of the constituent groups have left. There is no action program and no strategy ahead.” “It means that the Chinese authorities are not ready to tolerate any large-scale protest activities, so there’s no freedom of assembly. Any organizer will be arrested and prosecuted,” he said. Cheng praised the front, saying it was “respected and trusted” and that it served as a “broad spectrum” for all levels of political and social causes. The front’s announcement following the recent disbanding of Hong Kong’s largest teachers’ union. The union did so last week after the government cut ties with it, accusing the group of spreading anti-Beijing and anti-government sentiment. The Professional Teachers’ Union (PTU), a member of the CHRF, was founded in 1973 and was the city’s largest single-industry trade union. Up until its closure, it had 95,000 members. Largest Hong Kong Teachers’ Union Disbands Amid Crackdown The Professional Teachers’ Union is the city’s largest single-industry trade union, with 95,000 membersThe split came hours after Chinese state media called the union a “malignant tumor” and called out other pro-democracy groups in the city. Ronson Chan, chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) told VOA that the pressure on Hong Kong’s civil groups is mounting. “I think that the pressure from the north is very obvious and very strong. It seems that no civil community will exist,” he said.The HKJA was founded in 1968 and was another member with ties to the CHRF. Chan said the association remains defiant despite it reportedly being a target of authorities. “We have done nothing special or nothing different after the National Security Law has passed. We are trying to stand as (long) as possible as we can. But if you say, can you guarantee to be safe, I’m sorry; I cannot make this promise,” he added.
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Thai Riot Police, Anti-Government Protesters Clash in Bangkok
Thai riot police fired tear gas and sprayed water cannons Sunday as more than 100 anti-government protesters marched on an army base in the capital Bangkok where Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has his residence.The group of mainly young demonstrators pelted the police lines that blocked their way, hurling rocks, fireworks and small explosives known as “ping-pong bombs.”Televised images of a Thai police station showed a traffic control booth in flames.Sunday marked the fourth time in the past seven days that protesters and police have fought in the Din Daeng area of the city.Demonstrators are calling for Prayuth’s resignation over his perceived bungling of the government’s coronavirus vaccination program. Thailand has seen infection rates surge in the past few weeks while vaccination rates remain low.But the protests are also part of a wider push for sweeping political change that includes the resignation of the government, a new constitution and – most contentious of all – fundamental reform of the powerful but opaque monarchy.Elsewhere, Sunday saw thousands of protestors gather in vehicles and on motorbikes for a mobile anti-government rally. They met in three locations to hear speeches before slowly driving around the city. By staying in vehicles they hoped to minimize participants’ potential exposure to COVID-19.One of the main organizers, veteran activist Nattawut Saikua, appealed to those taking part to keep it peaceful, saying violence would alienate many potential supporters.
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Australia’s NSW Announces Snap Lockdown
The Australian state of New South Wales announced a snap lockdown Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the seven-day, statewide lockdown to begin Saturday evening. Schools will close for at least a week.“This is literally a war,” Gladys Berejiklian, the state’s premier, said. “The delta strain is diabolical.”Saturday was the state’s worst day of the pandemic, with 466 new cases and four deaths.Berejiklian said New South Wales is facing a “dire” situation.Earlier Saturday, Dr. Danielle McMullen, the Australian Medical Association’s New South Wales president, said in a statement, “We need to treat this virus like it’s everywhere, all the time. … Doctors from across NSW are exhausted and concerned for their community. Our already fragile rural and regional health system will be unable to cope with increases in cases.”United StatesAn advisory panel for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Friday in favor of recommending a third coronavirus vaccine dose to 2.7 million people with weakened immune systems. The decision comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized a third shot of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for extremely immunocompromised individuals, who represent less than 3% of the overall population. The FDA’s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in a statement late Thursday, “The FDA is especially cognizant that immunocompromised people are particularly at risk for severe disease.” “Other individuals who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected,” Woodcock said, “and do not need an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine at this time.” The CDC recommended that vulnerable Americans, including cancer patients, HIV patients and others with immunodeficiencies, get the booster shot after multiple studies showed that it could better protect their immune systems from the virus. According to the CDC, 40% to 44% of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 after being vaccinated are immunocompromised. The governor of Oregon said Friday she is deploying as many as 1,500 National Guard troops to hospitals in the state to help health care workers with the demands placed on them by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Kate Brown said the first group of 500 Guard members will be sent out Friday, August 20. Eventually the troops will be sent to 20 hospitals around the state that are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the delta strain, Brown said. The Oregon Health Authority said the delta variant of the coronavirus currently comprises 96% of all samples tested.Oregon reported Friday that there are 733 people in the state’s hospitals with the virus, with 185 in intensive care.“When our hospitals are full with COVID-19 patients, there may not be room for someone needing care after a car crash, a heart attack, or other emergency situation,” Brown said. “The harsh, and frustrating reality is that the delta variant has changed everything.”RussiaElsewhere in the world, Russia reported Friday a daily record of 815 COVID-19 deaths, the highest toll of the pandemic.Health officials blamed the increase on the more contagious delta variant.Officials also reported 22,277 new coronavirus cases Friday, down from a peak in July.Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said daily hospitalizations in the city had fallen by half since late June. Moscow reported 2,529 new infections on Friday.CanadaThe Canadian government announced Friday that it would require vaccinations for all passengers traveling between provinces by plane, train or cruise ship.Officials said the government would also require all federal public servants to be vaccinated.Canada said Wednesday that it was developing a digital COVID-19 vaccine passport for its citizens to use for international travel.Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said the federal government in Ottawa is working with provinces and territories, which are responsible for vaccinating residents, on a common approach in creating the passport, which should be available in the next few months.Mendicino said the vaccine passport is “a key step forward in ensuring Canadians will have the documents they need once it is safe to travel again.”US schoolsOn Friday, the Chicago school system, the third largest in the U.S., become the latest to require all its teachers and other employees to be fully vaccinated.The school system said all workers must submit proof that they are vaccinated by Oct. 15 unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption.On Thursday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced a universal indoors mask mandate for kindergarten through Grade 12.Earlier this week, California decided to require teachers and support staff to either be inoculated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing.California Governor Gavin Newsom said the new order applies to both public and private schools across the nation’s most populous state, and it includes teachers’ aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and volunteers.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Australia on COVID-19 Alert as Sydney’s Delta Crisis Intensifies
For the first time in Australia, a state government has said visitors from virus-hit parts of the country must be vaccinated to enter. The state of Western Australia has insisted the tough measures, imposed on travelers from New South Wales, are designed to curb the spread of the delta variant as a record number of infections were reported Saturday in Sydney.Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the delta outbreak in neighboring New South Wales is a threat to the entire country.“New South Wales needs to have a clear plan for containment,” Palaszczuk said. “This is of serious concern to the rest of the nation.”On Saturday, a record number of 466 new infections were reported in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state.The outbreak has prompted the state of Western Australia to impose its toughest-ever internal border controls. Entry to visitors from New South Wales now requires proof of a vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test.“This hasn’t been done before in Australia,” said Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan. “We haven’t actually ever said you have to be vaccinated to travel between the states, you have to be tested if you want to travel between the states. No one has ever done this before, but I think it is entirely fair.”Millions of Australians are in lockdown, including those in the city of Melbourne.Sydney, and surrounding regions, have been under strict stay-at-home orders since June 26. Authorities have said all of New South Wales will be locked down starting Saturday for a week to try to curb the spread of the virus.Sydney residents will need a permit to leave the city. Fines for people caught breaching lockdown orders are increasing from the equivalent of $735 to more than $3,600. Police will launch “Operation Stay at Home” Sunday with the support of 500 soldiers.Brad Hazzard, the New South Wales health minister, is urging people to obey the rules.“Delta is an extremely dangerous weapon, and some people are allowing it to be used as a weapon because of their ignorance, their stupidity,” he said.Australia has recorded 38,000 coronavirus cases and 948 deaths since the start of the pandemic.About a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated.
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1 Dead as Mudslides Hit Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture
A mudslide triggered by torrential rain in in Nagasaki prefecture in southwestern Japan killed at least one person, while two others are still missing.The mudslide hit two houses with four people in the city of Unzen, where one was presumed dead, another one was rescued, and two others missing, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.Ryuta Kurora, director of Forecast Division of the Japan Meteorological Agency, called on residents to follow government orders and evacuate as soon as possible.Japan has broadened its highest risk alerts to include more than 1 million people, as one area in Nagasaki recorded nearly 50 centimeters of rain in 48 hours as of Saturday morning, considerably more than the average for the month of August.More rain is expected.The agency also issued heavy rain and mudslide warnings in parts of Kyushu island in the south of the country and in Hiroshima in the west, which have experienced record amounts of rain this week.
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Philippine Court Tosses Libel Case Against Journalist Maria Ressa
A Philippine court has dismissed a libel case against Maria Ressa, one of several lawsuits filed against the journalist who says she has been targeted because of her news site’s critical reports on President Rodrigo Duterte.The plight of Ressa, who was named Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2018 for fighting media intimidation, has raised international concern about the harassment of journalists in the Philippines, a country once seen as a standard bearer for press freedom in Asia.Journalist Maria Ressa: ‘We’re Losing the Battle for Our Rights’ in Philippines Co-founder of the Philippines’ media site Rappler says online disinformation and hate is putting Philippines’ democracy at risk The cyber-libel case was filed by a college professor against Ressa and a reporter at her news site, Rappler, in October. It involved a story alleging that the professor gave students better grades in exchange for money, an accusation he denied.Ressa, a dual U.S.-Filipino citizen, and Rappler face several other legal cases, including alleged tax offenses and violation of foreign ownership rules in media.Theodore Te, Ressa’s lawyer, said Thursday the court dismissed the cyber-libel case this week after the professor said he was no longer interested in pursuing it.It is the second cyber-libel case against Ressa to be thrown out by a court after the complainant withdrew.In June of last year, however, Ressa was convicted in a cyber libel case filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng over a 2012 article that linked a businessman to illegal activities. Ressa faces up to six years in jail but has appealed the ruling.Duterte-Critic Journalist Ressa Convicted in Philippines Libel Case The verdict was handed down in a Manila courtroom against Ressa”It’s a temporary relief, but the ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation against me and Rappler continues,” Ressa said in a statement after the case was dismissed.”These ridiculous cases remind us all of the importance of independent journalism holding power to account.”Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has repeatedly said Duterte supports freedom of speech even as the leader has publicly lashed out at Rappler, calling it a “fake news outlet” sponsored by American spies.
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Japanese Defense Chief Visits Contentious War Shrine
Japan’s defense minister on Friday visited a Tokyo shrine viewed by China and both Koreas as a symbol of Japanese wartime aggression to pray for the war dead just days before the nation marks the 76th anniversary of its World War II defeat.Victims of Japanese actions during the first half of the 20th century, especially the Koreas and China, see the shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism because it honors convicted war criminals among about 2.5 million war dead.”It is only natural in every country to pay respects to the spirits of the war dead,” said Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, known for his denials of wartime atrocities.”I expressed my reverence and paid tribute to those who fought for the country and lost their lives in the last war,” Kishi said after offering prayers. “I also renewed my war-renouncing pledge and resolve to protect the lives and peaceful livelihood of the people.”He is the first serving defense minister to visit Yasukuni since Tomomi Inada, an Abe protégé, visited in December 2016.Abe stayed away from the shrine for seven years after a 2013 visit triggered outrage from China and the Koreas, but has regularly visited since he resigned as prime minister last year.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga donated a religious ornament during Yasukuni’s spring festival in April but avoided visiting the shrine.Economy and fiscal policy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, in charge of pandemic measures, visited the shrine separately on Friday.Kishi and Nishimura said they chose to visit the shrine to avoid crowds and pray quietly ahead of the Aug. 15 anniversary.South Korea and China criticize offerings or visits by Japanese leaders to the shrine, urging them to face up to and reflect on Japan’s wartime aggression.Many South Koreans hold strong resentment toward Japan for its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have sunk to their lowest levels in recent years due to disputes over compensation for Korean wartime forced labor and sexual abuse of so-called “comfort women” by the Japanese military.South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to protest Kishi’s visit to Yasukuni, a site it described as beautifying “Japan’s past colonial rule and war of aggression and honors war criminals.” Seoul’s Defense Ministry released a statement saying Kishi’s visit was “deplorable” and expressed its “serious concern and regret.”
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New Zealand Outlines COVID-19 Plan to Reconnect with World
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said her government will continue to pursue its ambitious COVID-19 elimination strategy indefinitely. On Thursday, she outlined a cautious and staged approach to reopening the country’s borders to some foreign travelers early next year.New Zealand, which has some of the toughest COVID-19 controls in the world, closed its borders to most foreign nationals in March of last year. The closure is part of a strategy to eliminate the virus that also includes strict lockdowns and mandatory hotel quarantine for New Zealanders returning from overseas.The borders will remain closed for the rest of this year, and their reopening depends on the success of New Zealand’s vaccination rollout. The government said this would represent a shift from the “collective armor” of travel restrictions to the “individual armor” of inoculations.No timetable has been set, but it is likely that next year, vaccinated visitors from low-risk countries — those considered to have COVID-19 under control — will not have to go into hotel quarantine in New Zealand. Unvaccinated travelers and all visitors from high-risk countries would face a mandatory 14-day hotel isolation.Ardern said it’s a cautious approach.“We cannot keep borders restrictions on forever, and to be absolutely clear, we do not want to do that, and neither do the experts we talk to,” she said. “Border closures were only ever a temporary measure in order to keep COVID out before vaccine was developed and administered. So long as the scientific evidence shows we can safely transition from a border defense to the individual armor of the vaccine, then that is the direction we will go.”Later this year New Zealand will test home isolation or shorter stays in hotel quarantine for selected travelers, including workers sent overseas by local businesses.The national vaccination program will also be accelerated, with everyone ages 16 or over eligible for their first vaccine dose starting Sept. 1.About 20% of New Zealanders are fully vaccinated.The South Pacific nation has recorded about 3,000 coronavirus cases and 26 deaths since the pandemic began.A quarantine-free travel corridor with Australia, which opened in April, has been suspended because of delta variant outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne.
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Fears About National Security Law Chill Hong Kong Media
One year ago this week, Hong Kong authorities raided Apple Daily’s offices and arrested the pro-democracy news outlet’s founder, Jimmy Lai.Lai’s arrest was one of the first under the new national security law. The regulation — enacted to bring stability to the city following the 2019 anti-government protests — has been widely criticized as a threat to Hong Kong’s once-vibrant free press.Under the security law, subversion and foreign collusion are prohibited. But the way in which the law has been interpreted is putting news outlets on tenterhooks. Some journalists say they are concerned that reporting seen as criticism of the Hong Kong or China government may result in prosecution.Apple Daily’s experiences have compounded those fears.After 26 years in business, the pro-democracy newspaper was forced to close June 24 after authorities arrested more of its top executives for alleged foreign collusion and froze the company’s financial access.Last Edition: Hong Kong’s Apple Daily Signs Off With Million-Copy RunPro-democracy newspaper prints its final edition at midnight after national security law case forces it out of businessAt least six Apple Daily executives and reporters have been arrested or charged under the national security law.Lai, who already is serving two sentences in relation to anti-government protests in 2019, is awaiting trial under the national security law. If convicted, the 73-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison.Since the closure, some reporters and at least one news outlet, Initium Media, have announced they are leaving.Initium Media didn’t directly link its move to Singapore to the law, but in a letter to readers last week said, “The road to freedom has become a harder and harder one.”Initium Media declined to comment when contacted by VOA. Hong Kong’s Security Bureau did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has defended the national security law, saying previously that it would target only a minority and that the Apple Daily case was about “a suspicious act of endangering national security” and not about media freedoms.So far, one person has been convicted and at least 100 people have been arrested under the law.Media hardshipAfter printing a final edition, all members of the Apple Daily newsroom staff lost their jobs.In a phone interview with VOA, former reporter Alvin Chan said he still could not come to terms with the situation. “Even now I can’t believe the whole company, the whole newspaper, disappeared,” he said.Chan said the closure has been a “trauma.” The media outlet employed up to 1,000 staff members, he said, and he is concerned that other news groups may be discouraged from offering them jobs because of whom they used to work for.So far, Chan has been provided some work at news website Stand News, but it’s only one day per week.“[I’m] jobless. Unemployed. I hope I can still be a journalist, but the actual situation in Hong Kong, in the media, after the Apple Daily shutdown, I believe there are only a few media companies that are willing to employ the reporter from the Next Media,” he said, referring to Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital.“It’s political,” Chan said. “Most of the Hong Kong media have different political views, different political agendas, and it’s quite against the journalists in Apple Daily, and I don’t believe they will try to employ some of our colleagues.”Ronson Chan, deputy assignment editor at Stand News, has said that isn’t the case for his company. “We have some new members from Apple Daily, around four to six persons. I don’t think we have any special consideration,” he said.Although the editor doesn’t get involved in hiring, he said, “I don’t think hiring any Apple Daily staff will take any risk.”Founded in 2014, Stand News describes itself as a pro-democracy news website.During the protests of 2019, several of its reporters were injured, including journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho. She was one of 47 people accused of subversion under the new law in February.Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists Charged The move follows recent news China is planning an overhaul of the electoral system in Hong KongThe media news site has been touted by some as another target for authorities, but Chan told VOA last month that Stand News’ editorial policy is sticking to its “mindset” and “principles.”“From my understanding of the law and the police operation, I don’t think we have a problem with our news reporting,” Chan said.Still, Stand News last month removed some commentaries, op-eds, blogs and reader contributions from the website, widely seen as a precautionary move.Long-term fearsHong Kong authorities have said 30 articles published by Apple Daily were evidence the publisher conspired with foreign countries by calling for sanctions against Hong Kong and China.Reporter Chan is concerned that former Apple Daily journalists may be targeted still if the authorities define their work as breaking the law.“If they try to redefine the news article as propaganda, then all of my work in the past is propaganda, not news,” he said.The shifting climate is affecting not just Hong Kong’s private media. Chief Executive Lam announced Monday that public broadcaster RTHK would partner with Chinese state media to “nurture a strong sense of patriotism.”RTHK Independence Called into Question Over Show Hosted by Hong Kong LeaderNew political series by Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam marks further shift in public broadcaster RTHK’s output, journalists and analysts sayMedia analysts previously have criticized changes implemented under the new government-appointed director of broadcasting, Patrick Li, including the axing of popular shows for alleged bias, contracts being terminated, and Lam’s being provided with her own TV segment.As pressure mounts on the media, a veteran journalist who hosted a former RTHK show and worked as a columnist for Apple Daily left the special administrative region, citing concerns about the reach of the security law.Steve Vines, who had moved to Hong Kong more than 30 years ago, told the Financial Times that “white terror” — a term used to describe periods of intense repression — is sweeping Hong Kong.
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Australian Capital in Lockdown after First New COVID-19 Infection Since 2020
The Australian capital of Canberra entered an immediate seven-day lockdown Thursday after posting its first confirmed COVID-19 infection in more than a year.Authorities said a man in his 20s tested positive Thursday after being infectious in Canberra since Sunday. Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman later announced that three other people, who had been in close contact with the man, also tested positive for COVID-19.Residents will not be able to leave their homes during the one-week lockdown except for essential reasons, including work, shopping, medical and vaccination appointments and outdoor exercise.Canberra joins the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, forced into lockdown due to the rapid spread of the delta variant of COVID-19. The latest outbreak began in June when an airport limousine driver in Sydney tested positive after transporting international air crews.Meanwhile, Russian authorities reported a new single-day record of 808 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, despite a decline in overall daily cases from an average of 25,000-per day in July to about 21,000 a day.Figures from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center have Russia at 6.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 164,413 deaths.(Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.)
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New Zealand to Leave Borders Closed Until 2022
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday the nation will not open its borders to non-residents until next year to preserve the success they have had against the coronavirus pandemic.The nation of five million people has been among the best in the world at containing the virus that causes COVID-19. The country has seen just 2,914 cases and 26 deaths, according to the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global outbreak. A large part of that success is due to New Zealand closing its borders for the past 18 months to non-residents.At a news conference in Wellington, Ardern told reporters the recent wave of infections around the world convinced her the country is doing the right thing. “While the pandemic continues to rage overseas, and the virus continues to change and mutate, the best thing we can do is lock in the gains achieved to date, while keeping our options open and giving ourselves choices,” she said.Ardern said vaccines are the “game changer” in the pandemic, and for them to be successful, the country needs to get as many people inoculated as possible. Perhaps because of their success in controlling the spread of the virus, New Zealand has seen a slow rollout of their vaccination program, with just 29% of the population having received one shot and 17% fully vaccinated.Ardern said the delay in opening the borders will allow the country to complete its vaccination program. And even then, she said the reopening will be “careful and deliberate.”Ardern said beginning in early 2022, the government will move to a new model for travel into New Zealand, establishing low-, medium- and high-risk pathways into the country.Fully vaccinated travelers from low-risk countries will be able to travel quarantine-free, while those from medium- and high-risk countries will have to go through a combination of measures ranging from self-isolation to spending 14 days in quarantine.The prime minister said New Zealand will also speed up its vaccination program with all eligible ages able to book their shot by September 1. It will also extend the gap between doses to six weeks to ensure more New Zealanders are at least partially vaccinated.Some information in this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
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Australian Researchers Find New Species of Flying Prehistoric Reptile
Australian paleontologists have discovered a new species of a prehistoric flying reptile in outback Queensland. The pterosaur, named Thapunngaka shawi, is the largest of its kind ever found in Australia, and dates back 100 million years.Researchers have said the pterosaur, a type of flying reptile, was the “closest thing we have to a real-life dragon.”With a spearlike mouth and a wingspan estimated at 7 meters, they have said it would have “soared like a dragon” above the vast inland sea that once covered much of outback Queensland.Paleontologists have said it was perfectly adapted to flight, with relatively hollow, air-filled bones. Pterosaur remains are rare and often poorly preserved.So, the discovery of a fossil of the creature’s jaw in a quarry in 2011 by a local fossicker is significant. For several years, it was left in a museum display cabinet before being analyzed by a University of Queensland team.Tim Richards, a researcher at the university’s Dinosaur Lab, says it would have been a savage prehistoric predator.“What we are able to do with the jawbone was compare it to closely related pterosaurs that are complete, and essentially just extrapolate from there,” he said. “So, we know that the jawbone that we are looking at is quite large compared to closely related pterosaurs. We assume obviously, and it is speculation, that the size of our pterosaur would have been roughly around about a 7-meter wingspan. The skull would have probably been about a meter long.”The new species belonged to a group of pterosaurs known as anhanguerians, which inhabited every continent during the latter part of the age of dinosaurs.The name of the new species — Thapunngaka shawi — recognizes the Indigenous peoples of the Richmond area where the fossil was found, using words from the now-extinct language of the Wanamara Nation in Queensland.The pterosaur has been described for the first time in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.Pterosaurs were flying reptiles but were not classified as dinosaurs, although they lived at the same time.Fossils have shown that Australia had a diverse range of dinosaurs that lived from about 65 million to 250 million years ago.
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Ship Sailing Under Panama Flag Runs Aground in Northern Japan, Oil Leaking
A Panamanian-registered ship ran aground in a northern Japanese harbor and was leaking oil, but there were no injuries among the 21 crew and the oil leak was being controlled with no signs it had reached shore, the Japan Coast Guard said.The 39,910-tonne vessel, the Crimson Polaris, was carrying wood chips when it ran aground on Wednesday morning in Hachinohe harbor. It managed to free itself, but due to poor weather was unable to move far and ended up anchoring about 4 kilometers out from the port.A crack developed in the hull and oil began leaking, with a slick 5.1 kilometers long by 1 kilometers wide visible by Thursday morning, the Coast Guard said, adding that containment measures were being taken by patrol boats.
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China Historian Yü Ying-shih, Whose Work Was Respected and Banned by Beijing, Dies at 91
When acclaimed China historian Yü Ying-shih accepted the inaugural Tang Prize in Sinology in September 2014, he used his speech to express support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement.In response, China promptly banned his books and articles.When Yü collected the $358,000 award, he was 13 years into retirement, which consisted of days spent researching and writing into the early hours of the morning. The routine resembled his working life in academia, where he was recognized as one of the leading historians in China studies.By backing the Umbrella Movement, Yü affirmed that he viewed himself “as a public intellectual in the traditional Chinese sense, taking on the responsibility of making the world a better place,” as the Yü Ying-shih’s original poem and calligraphy for Kang-I Sun Chang and her husband, C. C. Chang, written before Yü left Yale for Princeton in 1987. The original poem is now at the National Central Library in Taipei. (Kang-I Sun Chang)Yü was perhaps the most well-connected person who didn’t have email, according to Kang-I Sun Chang, a longtime friend and former colleague of Yü’s from his tenure at Yale. Yü, who didn’t use a computer, preferred communicating via fax, although he also used a landline phone.Chang, now a professor emeritus at Yale, recalls buying a fax machine for the sole purpose of staying in touch with him. “He had a gift for friendship,” she told VOA.To commemorate events and offer encouragement, Yü gave friends poems he composed in Chinese and wrote in calligraphy, a gesture traditional among China’s scholars centuries ago. A poem for Chang explained Yü’s reasoning for departing Yale for Princeton in 1987.He was also a generous scholar, said Willard Peterson, a friend and colleague of Yü’s at Princeton.Yü wrote so many prefaces for other scholars that he later published a collection of them. Academic colleagues appreciated his willingness to provide advice on their research and writing, and Chang was quick to add that while she was often among those who asked Yü for research advice, “he didn’t need any help.”Following Yü’s death, China scholars took to social media to recount the many ways he had helped them during their careers, often without Yü ever fully realizing the great impact he was having on them.Born in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin in 1930, Yü never received a formal education as a child. Growing up amid war with Japan, he largely studied on his own and received just one year of schooling under a private tutor before passing the high school exams that let him attend college.Civil war in China disrupted his higher education, but he continued his studies in Hong Kong, then a British colony, before later leaving to pursue a doctorate at Harvard. Yü emerged with an unparalleled ability to read classical Chinese, analyze and compile evidence, and write convincingly about Chinese history, his colleagues said.He also excelled at weiqi, “the game of encirclement,” an ancient, abstract Chinese board game.During his hiring process at Princeton, “we realized Professor Yü had published something substantial in the specialized field of each of us in Chinese studies,” Peterson told VOA.Yü’s legacy will be his historical approach to studying China that blended “empathy, sincerity and critical evaluation,” in contrast to the study of China through the lens of philosophy and religion, Tillman said.Yü Ying-shih’s calligraphy of a poem by the Tang poet Zhang Ji (张继), which he presented to his Yale colleague Edwin McClellan before Yü left for Princeton in 1987. (Kang-I Sun Chang)Throughout his career, Yü published dozens of books and more than 500 articles, most of which were written in Chinese. Yü never compiled a curriculum vitae of his publications, a usual academic endeavor, but he never needed one because his reputation preceded him, colleagues told VOA.When China banned those writings in 2014, Yü felt honored because it meant the Chinese government viewed his work as powerful and influential, according to Wang Fan-sen, a distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica who studied under Yü as a doctoral student at Princeton.That Yü’s writings are still available through underground back channels in China despite their prohibition is just another testament to their influence, Wang added.Censoring and banning material that is deemed sensitive or contrary to the official state narrative is common practice in China but being outlawed reflected Yü’s rarified embodiment of the traditional Chinese concept of the public intellectual.Yü felt it was his duty to raise issues in his scholarship that impacted and improved the world, said Peterson, who is now a professor emeritus at Princeton.“He understood — more than most of us in the history profession understand — that part of the purpose of history is to understand how we got to where we are, and what are we going to do about it going forward,” Peterson continued.A colleague, Perry Link, who is now a professor emeritus at Princeton, told VOA, “Yü Ying-shih was like an unmoving North Star, an always reliable point that could provide orientation for everyone else.”In a 17th-century Chinese tale, a bird flies over a flaming mountain, letting drops of water fall off its wings onto the conflagration below. The bird knows that it won’t quench the blaze, but it cannot bear to watch the mountain burn without doing something.Yü was like the bird, said Peterson. With each scholar that he advised, each book and article that he wrote, Yü sought to rescue a Chinese culture that he viewed as under threat, even if he alone couldn’t save it. In all his endeavors, said colleagues, it was that sense of mission that strongly guided him.
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Police, Anti-Government Demonstrators Clash in Bangkok
Demonstrators clashed with Thai police in Bangkok Wednesday amid ongoing protests over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Protesters fired slingshots and threw paint and firecrackers at police, who in turn used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them. The confrontation occurred as the crowd sought to approach the home of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.The protesters are demanding Prayuth resign for what they believe is his mismanagement of Thailand’s most serious outbreak of infections and its adverse impact on the economy. He refuses to resign.
Police said at least eight officers were injured and the Erawan Medical Center reported one demonstrator was hurt. This was the second consecutive day of protests over the government’s response to the pandemic.The U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University says on its coronavirus dashboard that Thailand currently has more than 795,000 confirmed cases and 6,588 deaths. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.
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