Australian and U.S. officials are closely monitoring a contentious plan to upgrade a World War II-era airstrip on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Kiribati is a remote country of 33 scattered coral atolls that straddle the equator. It has a population of about 100,000 but it is at the center of a geopolitical intrigue between China on the one hand, and the United States, and its allies, including Australia, on the other.
The Kiribati island of Kanton is a narrow strip of land with a rich military history. In World War II, the U.S. Navy built a 2-kilometer airstrip there to boost the campaign against Japanese forces in the Pacific. It was used into the 1970s for missile and space research, but is now rundown and rarely used.
Kiribati now has a plan to potentially upgrade the dilapidated runway and China has funded a study to see if it is feasible.
Authorities in Kiribati have insisted the project would be for civilian and nonmilitary use only and would help Kanton become a “high-end niche tourism destination.”
Given the island’s strategic location midway between Asia and the Americas, though, there are concerns in Australia and beyond that Beijing could be planning a new military base in the region.
Anna Powles, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at New Zealand’s Massey University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Chinese involvement in the runway is causing unease.
“Kanton sits across major sea lanes between America, Australia and New Zealand and Asia. It is around 3,000 kilometers southwest of Hawaii, where the United States Indo-Pacific command is headquartered, which is part of that strategic anxiety,” Powles said.Kiribati has few natural resources and is one of the least developed countries in the Pacific.
In 2019, it severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing.
The islands’ government has said speculation linking the runway project to Chinese military expansion in the region was unfounded. Opposition politicians in Kiribati have said they do not trust China’s government, though.
Australia has indicated it would be willing to help pay for an upgrade to the Kanton Island airstrip.
Kiribati was formerly the Gilbert Islands that became a British colony in 1915. They were captured by the Japanese during World War II in 1941, before being liberated by Allied forces.
The archipelago became independent from Britain in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati.
China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has said previously that Beijing was exploring plans for upgrading and improving the airstrip on Kanton Island at the invitation of the Kiribati government.
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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
160 Million of World’s Children Forced to Work During Pandemic, UN Says
A new report finds 160 million children or nearly one child in ten is involved in child labor globally, an increase of 8.4 million since 2016. AFILE – Children work with relatives to load a brick kiln for firing in Tobati, Paraguay, Sept. 4, 2020.The picture that emerges from this study varies by region. The report finds child labor is continuing to decrease in Asia and the Pacific, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, child labor has risen substantially in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. ILO Director General, Guy Ryder, says in Africa as a whole, 20 million more children are in child labor today than they were four years ago. Of those, he says 16.6 million are in sub-Saharan Africa. “So, if you look at that in percentage terms, it means that almost one in five African children are in child labor, one in four in the sub-Saharan sub region. They are losing out on their education. They are working at a young age. They are working too many hours. They often are working in hazardous occupations,” he said. Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta Fore expresses concern at the alarming rise in younger children who are toiling in child labor. She says half of all children in child labor around the world are aged 5 to 11 years. She says the COVID-19 pandemic is making this terrible situation even worse. “Faced with job losses and rising poverty, families are forced to make heartbreaking decisions. We estimate that nine million more children could be pushed into child labor by the end of next year, a number that could rise as high as 46 million if social protection coverage falls victim to countries’ austerity measures,” she said. To reverse the upward trend in child labor, the ILO and UNICEF are calling for adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits and for quality education and increased spending in getting children back to school. They say decent work for adults must be promoted so children do not have to be sent out to work to help support their families.
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Aung San Suu Kyi Facing New Corruption Charges
News reports out of Myanmar say authorities have filed new corruption charges against deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Thursday the Anti-Corruption Commission has uncovered evidence the 75-year-old Suu Kyi has committed “corruption using her rank” in relation to previous charges that she accepted illegal payments of $600,000 in cash plus gold, as well as new accusations involving misuse of land for her charitable foundation. The report said Suu Kyi has been charged under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, which calls for a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison if convicted. Suu Kyi has been detained since the military overthrew her civilian government on February 1. She is also facing multiple criminal charges for possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies, violating COVID-19 restrictions, breaching telecommunication laws and incitement to cause public unrest. The Nobel Peace laureate is due to go on trial on two of those charges next Monday in, the capital, Naypyidaw. Suu Kyi’s civilian government was overthrown nearly three months after her National League for Democracy party won parliamentary elections in a landslide. The junta has cited widespread electoral fraud in the November 8 election as a reason for the coup, an allegation the civilian electoral commission denied. The junta has threatened to dissolve the NLD over the allegations. The coup triggered a crisis in the Southeast Asian country that led to deadly anti-junta demonstrations and clashes between several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta. In a campaign to quell the protests, the government has killed more than 800 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks casualties and arrests.
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Pentagon Launches Effort to Better Address China Challenge
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rolled out a departmentwide effort Wednesday aimed at more effectively addressing China as the “pacing challenge” for the U.S. military.While some of the initiatives will remain classified, defense officials told reporters the effort puts new organizational structures in place to better prioritize competition with China and to make sure the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region are “gaining the attention they deserve.”The effort is not a “new strategy or change of direction from where the Biden administration has been to date,” according to one defense official who spoke to reporters Wednesday.“This directive from the secretary is ultimately about getting the department’s house in order, ensuring that the department lives up to the stated prioritization of China as the number one pacing challenge,” the defense official said.The initiatives are based on the Pentagon’s China Task Force, which was established in February to review the department’s China-related policies and spotlight top priorities. The group reviewed thousands of pages of documents, interviewed current and former defense officials, and consulted other government agencies along with Congress, according to officials.FILE – Ensign Grayson Sigler of Corpus Christi, Texas, watches from the pilot house as the USS John S. McCain conducts operations in the Taiwan Strait, Dec. 30, 2020. China accused the U.S. of staging a show of force in the strait. (U.S. Navy)’Ascending power’During his confirmation hearing in January, Austin told lawmakers China is an “ascending power” and “the most concerning competitor that we’re facing.”U.S. officials have consistently raised concerns about what they say is China’s industrial espionage, its theft of biomedical information and the potential manipulation of technology, like 5G cellular networks.Bradley Bowman, a defense expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA that anything the Pentagon does “to bring a more laser focus” on resourcing and strategy on China is a good thing.However, he criticized the Pentagon effort for lacking “the simple things” such as “giving the Indo-PACOM [Indo-Pacific] commander what he says he needs.”“Unfortunately, in the budget request that just went to [Capitol] Hill a short while back, many of the things that Indo-PACOM said that it needs were either absent or underfunded,” Bowman said.VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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UN Agencies Commend Indonesia’s Rescue of Rohingya Refugees at Sea
U.N. agencies have commended the Indonesian government for offering a safe haven to dozens of Rohingya refugees who have been stranded at sea for months.Ninety Rohingya embarked on their ill-fated journey from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in the first week of February. Nine refugees reportedly had died by the time their harrowing four-month odyssey came to an end last Friday. Spokesman for the U.N. Migration Agency Paul Dillon said the boat ran into trouble almost immediately after it set sail. He said the engine broke down leaving the group adrift at sea and putting the refugees’ lives at risk.“They ran into engine trouble again near East Aceh last week. Local fishermen discovered their stranded vessel and brought them to safety. Upon disembarkation, the local government of Aceh officials immediately conducted rapid COVID-19 tests and COVID-19 vaccinations were subsequently provided to all of the arrivals,” he said.Dillon said his agency is providing food, drinking water and medical support to the 81 Rohingya who survived the journey. He said the group consists of 45 women, 17 men and 19 children.U.N. refugee spokesman Babar Balloch said the UNHCR and humanitarian partners also are onsite to provide additional support and to ensure that refugee needs are met.Rohingya Muslims rest on a beach after their boat was stranded on Idaman Island in East Aceh, Indonesia, June 4, 2021.He notes this is not the first time Rohingya refugees at sea have been rescued by the communities and local authorities in Aceh, Indonesia. He praises them for providing a lifeline to the desperate people, noting not all nations are as humane.“It is both a humanitarian imperative and an international obligation to provide vessels in distress with life-saving assistance and disembarkation to a place of safety…Vulnerable women, children and men should not be left to the mercy of the high seas,” said Balloch.Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar in 2017. Human rights officials say thousands of refugees flee the overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar every year in hopes of achieving a better life in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.The International Organization for Migration says roughly 1,400 Rohingya found themselves stranded at sea during the 2020 sailing season, which ended with the arrival of the monsoons in early June. It says at least 130 Rohingya are reported to have died.
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Australian Scientists Confirm Discovery of New Dinosaur Species
Officials in Australia have confirmed the discovery of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur, the largest ever found on the continent, and one of the largest to have ever lived.A study published Monday in the scientific journal Paleontology and Evolutionary Science describes how bones originally discovered in 2006 have been officially designated as Australotitan Cooperensis, a giant sauropod, a type of long-necked plant-eating dinosaur.Queensland Museum paleontologist Scott Hocknull told reporters Tuesday the animal stood five to six-and-a-half meters high and was 25 to 30 meters long from head to tail.The dinosaur is known as Australotitan for short, and affectionately as “Cooper” by the members of the team that conducted the study. The bones were originally discovered on a family farm in 2006 about 1,000 kilometers west of Brisbane in the Eromanga Basin.The team of paleontologists, geologists and volunteers spent 15 years studying the bones using 3-D digital scanning technology to compare the dinosaur with its close relatives, to determine and confirm what they had found. Hocknull said, “We compared Australotitan’s bones to all of these gigantic sauropods and it’s in the top 10 to 15.”The bones had been on display in the museum since 2007 pending the results of the study.That part of the titanosaur family lived about 100 million years ago. The Queensland Museum says they were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs and the largest known land-dwelling animals to have ever lived.
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UN Human Rights Warns of ‘Massive Loss of Life’ in Eastern Myanmar
A United Nations official says Myanmar’s eastern Kayah State is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, with thousands of people facing starvation after fleeing their homes to escape fighting between security and ethnic rebel forces. Tom Andrews, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, issued a statement Wednesday saying more than 100,000 people in Kayah State, which lies along the border with Thailand, have been forced to flee their homes and villages to escape “bombing raids and artillery fire” by security forces, with many forced into nearby forests without food, water or shelter. Andrews said he’s received reports of junta forces setting up blockades in Kayah State to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the refugees, even going so far as to lay landmines on public roads. He warns that “mass deaths from starvation, disease and exposure” could occur in Kayah State “without immediate action,” and called on neighboring countries to do “everything possible to support the movement of cross-border aid into Myanmar.” Myanmar has descended into chaos since the military’s February 1 overthrow of the civilian government and its leader, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta has launched a bloody crackdown in response to daily nationwide protests against the takeover. A human rights monitoring group estimates that at least 850 protesters have been killed since the coup, though the army disputes that figure.
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Why Malaysia, Normally Calm, Is Upset with China over a Maritime Dispute
Analysts say a rare burst of anger from Malaysia over the flight of Chinese air force planes near its airspace and a coast guard vessel spotted in a disputed waterway indicates Beijing has crossed a line with Kuala Lumpur in its slow maritime expansion. Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a June 1 statement it would summon the Chinese ambassador over 16 People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes that flew over a Malaysian “maritime zone.” Malaysia’s air force scrambled its own jets to push China’s planes out. Days later, a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency official said a Chinese coast guard ship had been seen 156 kilometers from shore, according to the Borneo Post domestic news website. Malaysia normally keeps quiet or protests out of public view when the militarily stronger China passes ships into waters Kuala Lumpur sees as its own. Aircraft sightings are less common. It “bends over backwards to accommodate” China because of their deep economic relationship, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. China has been Malaysia’s top trading partner for the past 12 years and a source of investment in domestic infrastructure. Steady coast guard presence But Malaysian officials have long simmered privately as Chinese coast guard ships frequent waters in their exclusive economic zone north of Borneo, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. The coast guard has kept a regular presence there since 2013, he estimates. Malaysia drills for natural gas in those waters, which are part of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea. China says 90% of the sea, including the tract that its coast guard patrols, falls under its flag. The two Asian nations entered into a standoff in November after a Chinese coast guard ship stationed itself near Luconia Shoals north of Borneo, the same tract where the vessel appeared this month. Malaysia says those waters belong to a maritime exclusive economic zone.China and Malaysia, Usually Friends, Land in Another Maritime Standoff The Royal Malaysian navy is tailing a Chinese coast guard vessel that sailed unusually close to Malaysia, analysts say Malaysian statements June 8 about the Chinese coast guard show the frequency of those vessels is “getting a bit too much,” Oh said. Domestic media outlets quoted the maritime enforcement agency official saying his agency and the Malaysian navy were “monitoring the situation closely.” Malaysia cannot do much against China militarily because Chinese forces are stronger, analysts agree. “What can they do?” said Shariman Lockman, senior foreign policy and security studies analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia. This month’s tiffs will mark a “really bad patch” in relations, he said.
“Those Chinese ships are always there,” Lockman said. “They come and go but they have a permanent presence at Luconia Shoals. Obviously, this is an irritant in the relationship. It is not appreciated by the Malaysian government.”
Exercises with a U.S. carrier groupChina is probably giving Malaysia a “stress test” after it joined the United States, Beijing’s rival superpower, for military air exercises in April, Oh said. The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group carried out the exercises in the South China Sea alongside Malaysia’s air force. “This is the Chinese simultaneously signaling their unhappiness to Malaysia and also flexing muscle to the U.S.,” Oh said. China hopes to take more control over the wider sea bit by bit, Vuving said. “I think it’s another slice in the salami,” he said. “China’s end goal in the South China Sea is to control the water and the skies, so every day they advance a little.” Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the same sea as well. They prize the waterway for its undersea fuel reserves and rich fishing grounds. China has alarmed the others by landfilling tiny islets over the past decade for military installations. Vietnam and the Philippines speak out against China when its ships, planes or oil rigs overlap their offshore economic zones. The United States has no claim in the South China Sea but counts Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan as allies. U.S. officials regularly pan China over its expansion in the waterway, sparking angry rebuttals from Beijing. The United States passed navy ships through the sea 10 times in 2019 and another 10 times last year.
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Journalists Who Fled Myanmar Find Third-Country Refuge
Three journalists from military-ruled Myanmar who were convicted of illegal entry after they fled to Thailand have been sent to a third country where they are safe, their employer said Monday.The three staff members of the Democratic Voice of Burma, better known as DVB, were arrested on May 9 in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai along with two other people from Myanmar described as activists. On May 28, they each were fined $128 (4,000 baht) and sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment, suspended for a year.Rights groups and journalists’ associations had urged Thai authorities not to send them back to Myanmar, where it was feared their safety would be at risk from the authorities. Thailand’s government has relatively cordial relations with Myanmar’s military regime.Myanmar’s junta seized power in February by ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, and has attempted to crush widespread opposition to its takeover with a brutal crackdown that has left hundreds dead. The junta has tried to silence independent news media by withdrawing their licenses and by arresting journalists.All five people convicted in Chiang Mai of illegal entry left Thailand recently for the third country, DVB’s executive director and chief editor, Aye Chan Naing, said in an emailed statement. Without elaborating, he said he could not mention where they had been sent “as the entire case remains very sensitive.”
He expressed gratitude to “everyone in Thailand and around the world that helped to make their safe passage possible and for campaigning for a positive outcome,” and he said the employees would resume their duties in the near future after “recovering from their ordeal.”At least two other DVB journalists have been sentenced to prison for their reporting. DVB, an independent broadcast and online news agency, was among five local media outlets that were banned in March from broadcasting or publishing after their licenses were canceled. Like other banned media outlets, it continued operating.According to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, about 90 journalists have been arrested since the takeover, with more than half still in detention, and 33 in hiding. Those still being held include two U.S. citizens, Danny Fenster and Nathan Maung, who worked for Myanmar media.Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has had contact with Maung in detention but has not yet had consular access to Fenster. “We are pressing this in every way that we can,” Blinken said in congressional testimony Monday in Washington.He reiterated the U.S. was working on trying to bring the detained journalists home.Fenster, the managing editor of the news and business magazine Frontier Myanmar, was detained at the Yangon airport while trying to head to the Detroit area to see his family.Maung is editor in chief of the Myanmar news website Kamayut Media. New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, citing accounts in Myanmar media, said Maung was arrested in March.
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N. Korean Leader Kim Jong-un Discussed Economic Policy with Senior Advisors
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gathered his senior advisors Monday to discuss his economic policies ahead of a key meeting of the North’s ruling party. State-owned Korean Central News Agency released a statement and said Kim laid out a plan to usher in “tangible change in stabilizing” the state economy and people’s living conditions. The statement did not provide any specifics of Kim Jong Un’s plans. The ruling Workers’ Party powerful Central Committee is set to meet in early June to review overall state affairs for the first half of 2021 and to determine what measures to enact to solve pending economic issues. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, an unnamed official in the South’s Unification Ministry says Monday’s meeting marked the first time the North has held such a consultative meeting under the current leader. North Korea’s economy has been crippled by decades of mismanagement, U.S.-led economic sanctions over the North’s nuclear weapons program, and strict border controls it imposed at the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The secretive regime has yet to confirm any COVID-19 cases.
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More than 200 Suspects Arrested Across Australia in Crackdown on Organized Crime
More than 200 people were arrested in Australia Tuesday as part of a major crackdown on an organized crime ring that stretches across several continents. A joint three-year operation called Operation Ironside conducted by the Australian Federal Police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation involved the monitoring of a once-secret encrypted app called ANOM which was popular with members of organized crime. Agents uncovered vast information while monitoring the site about the global illicit drug trade across Asia, South America and the Middle East and Australia, as well as 20 plots to commit murder. Australian officials announced Tuesday in Sydney that 224 people were arrested the day before on a total of 526 charges in each state. More than 4,000 Australian federal, state and local police officers also seized nearly four metric tons of drugs, more than 100 weapons and nearly $35 million in cash during the nationwide raids. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Operation Ironside delivered “a heavy blow” that will “echo around organized crime around the world.” “This is a watershed moment in Australian law enforcement history,” Morrison said. In neighboring New Zealand, 35 people were arrested Tuesday as part of Operation Ironside.
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Trial Begins for Professor Accused of Hiding Ties to China
A jury trial began Monday in the case of a University of Tennessee professor charged with hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving research grants from the federal government.The trial in Knoxville federal court is scheduled to continue Tuesday.Anming Hu, an associate professor in the department of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering at the university’s flagship Knoxville campus, was charged in February 2020 with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements.After the indictment was announced, the university said Hu had been suspended and that school officials had cooperated with authorities.Hu has pleaded not guilty. In a court filing, Hu’s attorney, Philip Lomonaco, said the Department of Justice “wanted a feather in its cap with an economic espionage case, so they ignored the facts and the law, destroyed the career of a professor with three PhDs in nanotechnology and now expects the court to follow their narrative.”The charges are part of a broader Justice Department crackdown against university researchers who conceal their ties to Chinese institutions, with a Harvard chemistry professor arrested in the past on similar charges. Federal officials have also asserted that Beijing is intent on stealing intellectual property from America’s colleges and universities, and have actively been warning schools to be on alert against espionage attempts.Prosecutors say Hu defrauded the National Aeronautics and Space Administration by failing to disclose the fact that he was also a professor at the Beijing University of Technology in China. Under federal law, NASA cannot fund or give grant money to Chinese-owned companies or universities.According to the indictment, as the University of Tennessee was preparing a proposal on Hu’s behalf for a NASA-funded project, Hu provided false assurances to the school that he was not part of any business collaboration involving China.In addition, prosecutors say, a curriculum vitae that Hu submitted when he applied for a tenured faculty position with the university omitted any affiliation with the Beijing university.The indictment said Hu sent emails stating he was a professor at the Beijing school and taught special seminars for graduate students in laser engineering. Hu knowingly caused the Tennessee university to falsely certify to NASA and the agency’s contractors that the university was complying with the funding restriction, the indictment said.”NASA would not have awarded NASA-funded projects to Hu,” the indictment said.NASA wired UT nearly $60,000 in 2016 and 2017 for a project involving the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, the indictment said. NASA would pay another $50,000 in 2019 for a project involving the Marshall Space Flight Center, the indictment said.
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Blinken Slams China’s Lack of Transparency Amid Review of COVID-19 Origins
The United States renewed its call to “get to the bottom of” the origins of COVID-19, singling out China for bending international organizations to its worldview as the U.S. restores its annual contributions to the World Health Organization.On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the FILE – Secretary of State Antony Blinken, June 3, 2021.”What we’ve seen, more than unfortunately, from the PRC (People’s Republic of China) since the beginning of this crisis is a failure to meet its basic responsibilities in terms of sharing information and providing access,” Blinken said, stopping short of elaborating on what the U.S. would do to pressure China for a full-access investigation. “WHO is in need of reform,” he added, stressing that the U.S. is reengaging in the WHO in hopes to “prevent, detect and mitigate” the next pandemic.In Geneva, a senior WHO official said the organization cannot force the Beijing government to provide more information on the origins of the coronavirus.”WHO doesn’t have the power to compel anyone in this regard,” said Mike Ryan, executive director of the organization’s emergencies program, at a press conference on Monday, Reuters reported.Ryan said the organization will propose necessary studies to take the understanding of COVID-19 origins to the “next level.”While not weighing in on the origins of COVID-19, Blinken pointed out there are “two possible and likely scenarios”: one is that “it emerged from the laboratory; the other is that it was naturally occurring.”The U.S. is distributing the first 25 million doses of its committed 80 million excess doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Asia, Africa and Latin America, while China is actively pushing Beijing’s “vaccine diplomacy,” positioning itself as the dominant provider of COVID-19 vaccinations to other countries. “We are moving out as expeditiously as we possibly can in getting the vaccines out there, including to Taiwan,” Blinken said. The U.S. promised to give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.On Sunday, a bipartisan trio of U.S. senators — Democrat Christopher Coons of Delaware, Democrat Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska — visited Taiwan, signaling Washington’s support to secure vaccines for the self-ruled democracy as it battles a spike in domestic coronavirus cases.US Donates 750,000 COVID Shots to TaiwanBoris Johnson to ask world leaders to ‘vaccinate the world’ by end of 2022In Beijing, Chinese officials pushed back, accusing the U.S. of politicalizing the coronavirus origins investigation.”Tracing the origin of the virus is a scientific matter that should be studied by scientists worldwide in collaboration, rather than be politicized,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.“The WHO released the report of the WHO-China joint study of the origins in March. Compiled in line with WHO procedures and following science-based methods, it was an authoritative and scientific report,” Wang said Monday during a briefing.In late May, Biden instructed U.S. federal agencies to “redouble” efforts to collect and analyze information that “could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion” amid growing speculation that COVID-19 might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory.U.S. officials have stressed for months that a lack of cooperation from the government in Beijing hinders outside efforts to learn more about the origins of the coronavirus that has killed at least 3.4 million people worldwide, including nearly 600,000 in the United States.Biden Orders Fresh Intelligence Report on COVID-19 OriginAmid growing speculation that COVID-19 might have leaked from Chinese laboratory, president tells US intelligence community to report back to him in 90 daysThe United States is proposing $2.8 billion in foreign assistance to advance human rights, fight corruption and strengthen democracies. The State Department has requested $300 million for the National Endowment for Democracy.Last week, Biden signed an executive order to ban American investments in 59 Chinese companies that undermine the security or democratic values of the U.S. and its allies. The move expands a Trump-era list of Chinese companies blacklisted for their alleged ties to the country’s military. Biden Expands List of Sanctioned Chinese Firms A new executive order signed Thursday will take effect August 2On Monday, Blinken told American lawmakers that the Biden administration is building more resilient and diversified supply chains, including those of 5G and surveillance technology.The U.S. is also consulting with allies on a “shared approach” to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing amid calls to boycott the Chinese Communist Party over human rights abuses.”More on that in weeks to come,” Blinken said during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.China is scheduled to host the next Winter Olympics in February 2022. But the CCP is under international scrutiny over crushing the democratic opposition in Hong Kong and using practices that the U.S. deems genocide against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, an allegation that China has rejected.VOA’s White House correspondent Steve Herman contributed to this story.
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Thailand Debuts Locally Made AstraZeneca, But Supplies Are Tight
Health authorities in Thailand began their much-anticipated mass rollout of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines on Monday, but it appeared that supplies were falling short of demand from patients who had scheduled vaccinations for this week. Hospitals in various parts of the country have been posting notices for several days that some scheduled appointments would be delayed, adding to existing public skepticism about how many doses Siam Bioscience would be able to produce each month. The government has said it will produce 6 million doses in June, then 10 million doses each month from July to November, and 5 million doses in December. “The vaccines will be delivered as planned,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters Monday morning as he paid a visit to a vaccination station at an indoor stadium in the capital, Bangkok. Prayuth’s government has come under fierce criticism for failure to secure timely and sufficient vaccine supplies. It also faces criticism for its reliance on Siam Bioscience, which is owned by the country’s king and had no previous experience in vaccine production. A person receives the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as Thailand starts a mass inoculation at a gymnasium inside the Siam paragon Shopping center, Bangkok, Thailand, June 7, 2021.Prayuth said the Health Ministry had confirmed that vaccinations could begin Monday in every province, and vaccines would be allocated according to the infection rate in each area. Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, reported that 143,116 people nationwide had received vaccinations Monday by midday, about half of them 60 years of age or older. The stadium vaccination station Prayuth visited can provide 1,500 shots a day, said Mongkon Wanitphakdeedecha, director of Vichaivej International Hospital, who was supervising the operation. He said they have three days’ supply on hand, but he did not know if other sites had enough for more than one day. One of the people getting vaccinated there was Kanokarn Chueboonchart, who said afterward that she felt no side effects. “I am working at a bank and I must meet with customers,” she said. “So now that I have received the shot, I feel a bit better, knowing that the vaccine will give me some protection.” Thailand last year had been considered a success story in containing the spread of the virus and limiting the number of related deaths. It had originally planned to obtain supplies to cover just 20% of the country’s 69 million people, with most available only in the second half of this year. However, a surge of the coronavirus beginning in April has been devastating and underlined the need for a more ambitious vaccination campaign. The surge has accounted for 84% of the 179,886 total confirmed cases in Thailand since January 2020, and 92.5% of the total of 1,269 related deaths. The government has now targeted vaccinating 70% of the population this year, a figure believed to confer herd immunity against the disease. As of Monday, Thailand had reported giving a total of 4.22 million vaccinations, with just more than 4% of the country’s 70 million people receiving at least one jab. The government has been scrambling to obtain additional supplies to supplement the Chinese-made Sinovac it has been using so far and the AstraZeneca now coming onstream. It has said it has been in negotiations with Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. China has supplied 6.5 million doses of Sinovac to Thailand, including 500,000 doses that arrived Saturday. Siam Bioscience was reported to have delivered its first 1.8 million doses to AstraZeneca’s local office last Wednesday, which were then turned over to the Health Ministry on Friday. Up-to-date data on how much had been delivered by Monday to the various provinces was not available.
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Roaming Herd of Elephants Continue Journey Through Southwest China
Chinese state media reported Monday that authorities are continuing to monitor the wandering herd of 15 wild Asian elephants that has been in the suburbs of Kunming, Yunnan province, in southwestern China, since last week.State broadcaster CCTV reported rain and cooler temperatures kept the elephants from moving far and confined them in a small area in Xiyang Township in the Jinning District.The broadcaster reported that one of the herd’s adult male elephants left the others Sunday and headed northeast to an area that was 1.5 kilometers away from the rest of his companions and has not yet returned. His departure prompted local authorities to restudy the herd’s possible travel routes and update contingency plans.Meanwhile, local authorities have been monitoring the elephants with a task force of hundreds of people, vehicles and a dozen drones. The elephants have not harmed any people but caused considerable damage. CCTV aired video of yards trampled and some buildings damaged by the elephants foraging in neighborhoods.State media report more than $1 million in crops have been damaged, as well.To prevent the elephants from entering residential and business areas, local officials have blocked roads, using heavy industrial trucks. They have been trying to guide the elephants to move west or southwest to avoid populated areas.Experts are not sure why the herd — composed of six female and three male adults, three juveniles and three calves — left their home in southern Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.
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Seoul Court Rejects Slave Labor Claim Against Japanese Firms
A South Korean court on Monday rejected a claim by dozens of wartime Korean factory workers and their relatives who sought compensation from 16 Japanese companies for their slave labor during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea.
The decision by the Seoul Central District Court appeared to run against landmark Supreme Court rulings in 2018 that ordered Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate Korean forced laborers.
It largely aligns with the position maintained by the Japanese government, which insists all wartimes compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations between the two nations.
A total of 85 plaintiffs had sought a combined $7.7 million in damages against 16 Japanese companies, including Nippon Steel, Nissan Chemical and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
The court dismissed their civil lawsuit after concluding the 1965 treaty doesn’t allow South Korean citizens to pursue legal action against the Japanese government or nationals over wartime grievances. Accepting the plaintiffs’ claim would violate international legal principles that countries cannot use domestic law as justification for failures to perform a treaty, the court said.
Some plaintiffs told reporters outside court they planned to appeal. An emotional Lim Chul-ho, 85, the son of a deceased forced laborer, said the court made a “pathetic” decision that should have never happened.
“Are they really South Korean judges? Is this really a South Korean court?” he asked. “We don’t need a country or government that doesn’t protect its own people.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it respects the decisions by domestic courts and is willing to engage in talks with Tokyo to find “rational” solutions that can satisfy both governments and the wartime victims.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the ruling would affect diplomacy between the estranged U.S allies, which have faced pressure from the Biden administration to repair relations that sank to post-war lows during the Trump years over history and trade disputes.
The Seoul court in April had issued a similar ruling on a claim by Korean victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery and their relatives, another sticking point in bilateral relations. The court in that ruling denied their claim for compensation from Japan’s government, citing diplomatic considerations and principles of international law that grant countries immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign courts.
Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained since the Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate Korean forced laborers. Those rulings led to further tensions over trade when Japan put export controls on chemicals vital to South Korea’s semiconductor industry in 2019.
Seoul accused Tokyo of weaponizing trade and threatened to terminate a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo that is a major symbol of their three-way security cooperation with Washington. South Korea eventually backed off and kept the deal after being pressured by the Trump administration, which until then seemed content to let its allies escalate their feud in public.
South Korea’s tone on Japan has softened since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, who has been stepping up efforts to bolster three-way cooperation between the countries that declined under Donald Trump’s “America first” approach, to coordinate action in the face of China’s growing influence and North Korea’s nuclear threat.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a nationally televised speech in March said his government was eager to build “future-oriented” ties with Japan and said that the countries should not allow their wartime past to hold them back.
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China Hosts Southeast Asian Ministers as it Competes With US for Influence
China is hosting foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations this week amid heightened competition between Beijing and Washington for influence in the region. Chinese state media said the meeting Tuesday in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing will cover issues from restoring tourism and other economic exchanges battered by COVID-19, to more coordinated efforts in fighting the pandemic and the feasibility of creating a vaccine passport to allow freer travel among them. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to meet separately with each of his counterparts on the sidelines of the conference. Beijing has been building influence with the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, despite frictions with some of them over rival territorial claims in South China Sea.The Philippines has complained repeatedly over the presence of Chinese boats moored at a reef that it claims and Malaysia last week protested over an intrusion by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace, calling the incident a “serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety.” Chinese economic and diplomatic heft have helped override such concerns, however, while the bloc has been unable to form a unified stand in the face of opposition from Chinese allies within, primarily Cambodia. “Over the past three decades, China-ASEAN cooperation has grown in leaps and bounds, becoming the most successful and dynamic example of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Sunday in announcing the meeting. “The fact that the two sides agreed to hold a face-to-face special foreign ministers’ meeting despite the ongoing grim COVID-19 situation reflects how countries attach great importance to and hold high expectations of China-ASEAN relations under the new circumstances,” Wang said. FILE – U.S. Navy sailors move aircraft from an elevator into the hangar bay of aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in South China Sea, Apr. 8, 2018. (US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Michael Hogan/Handout via Reuters)The U.S., which maintains an active naval presence in the South China Sea and strong relations with the region, has expressed concerns over China’s growing presence, particularly its impact on security and Beijing’s political influence over fragile democracies. In a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman focused on China’s construction of new facilities at Ream Naval Base and urged Cambodia’s leadership to maintain an independent and balanced foreign policy, “in the best interests of the Cambodian people.” China, meanwhile, calls the U.S. naval presence the biggest threat to security in the region, particularly its insistence on sailing close to Chinese-held features in what are termed freedom of navigation operations. Beijing also strongly objects to strengthened relations between the U.S. and Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by China, which threatens to use military force to bring it under its control. Washington sent a strong message of support on Sunday when three senators flew to Taipei on an Air Force transport plane to announce the U.S. will give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine after the island complained that China is hindering its efforts to secure vaccines as it battles an outbreak.Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen meets U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Chris Coons (D-DE) in Taipei, Taiwan, June 6, 2021. (Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters)Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who made a three-hour stop in Taiwan with fellow Democrat Christopher Coons of Delaware and Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska, said their visit underscores bipartisan U.S. backing for the democratic island.
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China Blocks Several Cryptocurrency-related Social Media Accounts Amid Crackdown
A slew of crypto-related accounts in China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform were blocked over the weekend, as Beijing stepped up a crackdown on bitcoin trading and mining. More actions are expected, including linking illegal crypto activities in China more directly with the country’s criminal law, according to analysts and a financial regulator. Last month, China’s State Council, or cabinet, vowed to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading, escalating a campaign against cryptocurrencies days after three industry bodies banned crypto-related financial and payment services. Over the weekend, access to several of widely followed crypto-related Weibo accounts was denied, with a message saying each account “violates laws and rules.” “It’s a Judgment Day for crypto KOL,” wrote a Weibo bitcoin commentator, or key opinion leader (KOL), who calls herself “Woman Dr. bitcoin mini.” Her main account was also blocked on Saturday. “The government makes it clear that no Chinese version of Elon Musk can exist in the Chinese crypto market,” said NYU Law School adjunct professor Winston Ma, referring to the Tesla founder and cryptocurrency enthusiast. Ma, author of the book “The Digital War,” also expects China’s supreme court to publish a judicial interpretation soon that may link crypto mining and trading businesses with China’s body of criminal law. The view was echoed by a financial regulator, who said that such an interpretation would address the legal ambiguity that has failed to clearly identify bitcoin trading businesses as “illegal operations.” All the rules against cryptocurrencies so far in China have been published by administrative bodies. The Weibo freeze comes as Chinese media have stepped up reporting against crypto trading. The official Xinhua News Agency has published articles that exposed a series of crypto-related scams. State broadcaster CCTV has said cryptocurrency is a lightly regulated asset often used in black market trade, money laundering, arms smuggling, gambling and drug dealings. The stepped-up crackdown also comes as China’s central bank is accelerating testing of its own digital currency.
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Man With Knife Kills 6 in China
A man armed with a knife killed six people and wounded 14 others in a city in eastern China, state media reported Sunday.The attack occurred Saturday afternoon in the streets of Anqing, Anhui province, 430 kilometers west of Shanghai, state television CCTV said.The suspect was arrested, and an investigation is under way to determine the circumstances of the attack that unfolded in a pedestrian shopping street, Anqing Public Security Bureau said in a statement released on the Weibo social network.Quoting the bureau, CCTV said the suspect was 25 years old, unemployed and “angry.”The authorities had earlier reported five dead. A badly injured victim died in hospital on Saturday, CCTV said.Knife attacks are not uncommon in China, which heavily restricts access to firearms.In April, a man with a knife killed two children and injured 16 others at a nursery school in southern China.In 2018, a man who stabbed nine children to death and wounded another 11 in northern China was sentenced to death.Violent crime has risen in China in recent decades as the country’s economic boom has created a bigger gap between rich and poor.Studies have also described a rise in the prevalence of mental disorders.
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Thailand Concerned by Myanmar Violence
Thailand is concerned by the violence in many parts of Myanmar and wants to see the implementation of steps agreed by Southeast Asian leaders with the military junta to help end the turmoil since the Feb. 1 coup, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.Myanmar’s junta has shown little sign of heeding the five-point ‘consensus’ agreed among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in April – which calls for an end to violence, political talks and the naming of a regional special envoy.”We have been following developments in Myanmar closely with much concern, especially incidents of violence in many parts of the country,” foreign ministry spokesperson Tanee Sangrat said in a statement.He reiterated a call for an end to the violence, the release of all detainees and the “concrete implementation of the Five-Point Consensus” as soon as possible.The junta has failed to impose control since seizing power from elected leader Aug San Suu Kyi, who is among more than 4,500 people detained since the coup. At least 847 have been killed, a rights group says. The army disputes that figure.Meanwhile, daily protests against the military have evolved in parts of Myanmar into armed insurrections while decade old ethnic conflicts have flared anew.Opponents of the junta have voiced frustration at the lack of tough action by ASEAN and say the meeting of two representatives of the group with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on Friday gave him greater legitimacy but brought no benefit.Thailand has a longer border with Myanmar than any other country and fears the conflict could bring a flood of refugees.Its government is itself led by a former army chief who seized power in a coup before holding elections.”Much of what Thailand has done may not have been made public as we believe that quiet and discreet diplomacy between neighbors would be more effective and in line with traditional Thai diplomacy,” Tanee said.
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Cambodian Circus Adopts ‘No Pain, No Gain’ Attitude in Bid to Break Record
Choub Kanha, started her circus career at age 9, recently performed for more than 24 continuous hours in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the single longest circus performance.The goal — drawing post-pandemic tourists to a long-running attraction in Siem Reap, which is best known for the nearby Bou Ratha, circus artist of Kampuchea Phare Circus. (Image provided)So on March 7, some 200 Phare Ponleu Selpak performers and backstage helpers began physically and mentally preparing themselves for the circus marathon. After a week of rehearsing, the performers were united as one and ready to perform.The troupe rehearsed until just before the clock started ticking. They held hands. They focused themselves. They erupted in a loud cheer and began their circus marathon, knowing it would continue into the next day with cameras capturing every feat of circus artistry.Phare Ponleu Selapak, which has trained and produced artists for more than 27 years, spun off the Phare Performing Social Enterprise in Siem Reap eight years ago to provide jobs for artists. But when the coronavirus pandemic shut off the flow of tourists in the spring of 2020, the two endeavors hit tough times.Bo Ratha, 30, found himself delivering construction materials for a store in his hometown of Battambang, known throughout Cambodia as an arts center. His boss gave him a week off to rehearse before the marathon and donated to the fundraising effort linked to the live-streaming.“His gift was a big motivation for artists,” Bo Ratha said of the donation from Reaksmey Construction Material. Mentioning the amount given would be considered impolite, so Bo Ratha declined.In the marathon, Bo Ratha and his circus partner, Choub Kanha, performed five big segments. The opening one, Sor Kreas (Eclipse), started at 8 a.m. and lasted an hour.One of their favorite vignettes is Same Same but Different, which is about foreign travelers visiting Cambodia. In it, Bo Ratha and Choub Kanha, playing a Western couple, encounter Cambodian villagers during a sudden downpour.The Cambodians perform a fishing dance and by the time the rain ends, everyone feels connected.“It is a beautiful and romantic scene,” Choub Kanha said.Kampuchea Phare Circus. (Image provided)The marathon performance, however, presented new challenges. Everything demanded focus — applying makeup, changing costumes, entering and exiting the stage.Choub Kanha worried about the troupe’s safety.“We got very little rest. The performance was tough, and it is a 24-hour show marathon,” she told VOA Khmer via a phone call from Battambang province. “I was afraid we could not perform the difficult tricks well, or our artists would face dangers while performing.”Khuon Det, co-founder of Phare Ponleu Selpak, told VOA Khmer, “We, as organizers, had to keep eyes on timing, transition of each scene, and the safety and well-being of our artists and team.”Khuon Deth, co-founder of Phare Ponleu Selpak, said Phare had foreseen the obstacles and prepared the alternatives. Phare reserved the understudies for each skill and trick, arranged first-aid kits, a team of medical personnel was on standby in case of emergency or to assist the artists with muscle aches or ankle, wrist or other joint sprains.Preparations included menu planning so snacks, water and places to nap would be available during the marathon.“One chopstick is easily to be broken, while a bundle of chopsticks is not,” Bo Ratha said, comparing the collaborative spirit of the marathoners to a Cambodian proverb.“We were so united altogether. One stage is done, we have to be ready to set another stage,” he said. “It’s five minutes. What else do you think we can do in five minutes behind the scenes, if without unity?”Huot Dara, CEO of Phare Social Enterprise, said the Guinness requirements included having a 50-person audience throughout the marathon and paying the artists. Going for the record cost $15,000.The marathon performance integrated new material with older crowd-pleasers for a succession of acrobatics, magic, dance, clowning, contortion, singing, puppetry, breakdancing, live painting, unicycling and fire acts, each accompanied by live performances of classical or contemporary Cambodian music.Each act contained a chapter in a longer story reflecting Cambodian society, tradition and culture.Throughout the performance, fans lined up by the hundreds, waiting for access.“The audiences were queued in long rows, so we set up a white-cloth projection screen in an open field the Phare campus. They sat, keeping [social] distancing. Some breastfed their children and some shooed mosquitoes away to get their children to sleep as they watched our performance,” Bo Ratha said.“When I see this, I do not know where my heart is hiding,” he added. “It was heart-melting.”
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Myanmar Forces Clash With Villagers in Delta Region; Media Report 20 Dead
Myanmar’s security forces clashed Saturday with villagers armed with catapults and crossbows during a search for weapons in the Ayeyarwady River delta, and local media reported as many as 20 people had been killed.State television news said three “terrorists” had been killed and two arrested at the village of Hlayswe as security forces went to apprehend a man accused of plotting against the state.A junta spokesman did not answer calls from Reuters to request comment on the violence at the village in the Kyonpyaw township of Ayeyarwady Region. Reuters was unable to confirm the toll independently.The army has struggled to impose control since February 1 when it overthrew the elected leader, Aug San Suu Kyi, after a decade of democratic reforms had opened up the once isolated state.A meeting Friday between junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) drew anger in parts of Myanmar on Saturday.Clashes broke out before dawn Saturday at Hlayswe, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the main city of Yangon, when soldiers said they had come to search for weapons, at least four local media outlets and a resident said.’A lot of casualties'”The people in the village only have crossbows and there are a lot of casualties on the people’s side,” said the resident, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.Khit Thit Media and the Delta News Agency said 20 civilians had been killed and more wounded. They said villagers had tried to fight back with catapults after soldiers assaulted residents.MRTV state television said security forces had come under attack with compressed air guns and darts. After the shootout, the bodies of three attackers had been found, it said.If confirmed, the toll given by the local media would be the highest in one day in nearly two months. An activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, reports that about 845 people have been killed by the army and police since the February 1 coup. The junta disputes that figure.The Ayeyarwady region is an important rice-growing area that has large populations of both the Bamar majority ethnic group, from which much of the army is drawn, and the Karen minority.Since the coup, conflicts have flared in the borderlands where about two dozen ethnic armies have been waging insurgencies for decades. The junta has also faced daily protests and paralyzing strikes.The anti-junta Shwegu People’s Defense Force said it had attacked a police station in northern Shwegu late Friday together with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).Reuters was unable to reach the KIA for comment.In eastern Myanmar, the MBPDF (Mobye People’s Defense Force) said it had clashed with the army on Friday and four “terrorist soldiers” had been killed.Protesters against Myanmar’s junta burn the flag of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Mandalay, Myanmar, June 5, 2021.Army stands firmDespite the turmoil, Myanmar’s army has shown little sign of heeding calls from its opponents to relinquish its hold.This week, the junta received its first high-profile foreign visitors, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the two ASEAN envoys.An underground opposition government set up by opponents of the junta said after the envoys’ visit Friday that it had lost faith in ASEAN’s attempts to end the crisis, the main international effort to resolve it.Protesters in Myanmar’s second city of Mandalay burned an ASEAN flag on Saturday and accused the group of giving legitimacy to the junta. One placard said, “ASEAN way just means standing by uselessly.”
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China Port City Imposes COVID-19 Restrictions
China’s Guangzhou city, a port city of more than 13 million people, on Saturday ordered more restrictions due to a rise in COVID-19 cases that began in late May.Of the 24 new cases of COVID-19 reported in China on Saturday, 11 were transmitted in Guangzhou province, where the city is located.Authorities had imposed restrictions earlier in the week but sought additional limits on business and social activities. Authorities closed about a dozen subway stops, and the city’s Nansha district ordered restaurants to stop dine-in services and public venues, such as gyms, to temporarily close.Officials in the districts of Nansha, Huadu and Conghua ordered all residents and any individuals who have traveled through their regions to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported.Also, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID-19 cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastagir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.
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Chinese Scientists Developing Inhalable COVID Vaccine
Chinese state media report that scientists are developing an inhalable, fine-mist COVID-19 vaccine. The Chinese Food and Drug Administration has approved the vaccine for expanded clinical trials and is applying for emergency use of the vaccine.Also in China, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesperson Ghulam Dastigir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news Friday and said he will wait for clinical advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization regarding how the vaccine should be administered. He said Britain should have enough supply of the vaccine to inoculate the nation’s adolescents.Meanwhile, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday urged parents of adolescents in the United States to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible, following the release of a CDC report showing a spike in hospitalizations among 12- to 17-year-olds between January and April.The study indicated one-third of those hospitalizations were intensive care patients and 5% of those patients had to be put on ventilators. Walensky said the figures saddened her and show that even young patients can get seriously ill from the virus that causes COVID-19.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.
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