Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence.Before he was killed, Khet Thi’s poems railed eloquently against Myanmar’s sudden coup, joining a deluge of protest verse celebrating democracy demonstrators and defying the military’s brutal war on words.As soldiers unleashed a violent crackdown on resistance to the army takeover, he implored the public to stand firm against what he saw as an existential threat to the country’s future.”We have to fight to win this battle,” he wrote. “If we lose: North Korea. If we win: South Korea.”Last month, scores of police and soldiers surrounded the home he shared with his wife and family in the central city of Shwebo.They accused the poet — who baked cakes and made ice cream to support his family — of planning a series of bomb blasts, and demanded he give himself up.The next day his wife Chaw Su was summoned to a hospital in Monywa around 80 kilometers away.”I thought I would able to (bring) him some clothes,” she told AFP.But there was no need, according to a police officer, who told Chaw Su her husband was dead.”I got only the dead body back,” she told AFP.Myanmar has been in uproar since the February coup ended a 10-year experiment with democracy that had loosened the fetters of censorship and allowed for greater self-expression.As some protesters picked up hunting rifles and slingshots, poets like Khet Thi joined a fight against the coup staged by a population unwilling to surrender hard-won democratic freedoms.Along with violence in the streets, the junta has tried to stifle dissent with internet blackouts and by rounding up celebrities and civil servants who have called for rebellion.A video uploaded to Facebook soon in the weeks after the putsch showed a collage of defiant protesters reciting poems against the military.”With what conscience can you go to work while everyone goes out and protests?” asked one man, referring to a mass strike campaign launched to pressure the junta.’Overwhelmed with rage’Poetry played a prominent role in Burma’s struggle for independence against colonial power Britain and the decades of military rule that followed, when scores of writers were locked up as political prisoners.U.K.-based poet Ko Ko Thett believes the medium has struck a chord with ordinary people “overwhelmed with rage, disbelief and grief” at the junta’s takeover.He put his own writing on the back burner in order to concentrate on translating works by fellow poets writing from post-coup Myanmar — some of whom, like Khet Thi, have since been killed.Among them were Myint Myint Zin and K Za Win, both teachers, who died during a ferocious military assault on protesters in Monywa.Footage of security forces dragging away the body of K Za Win later went viral on social media.’A clear conscience’The transition to democracy “liberated” Burmese poetry, said Ko Ko Thett, making it “more diverse in form and content, also more openly political.”Many have mobilized online in their battle against the junta, including an underground collective of 30 bards from across the country spreading their verse on Facebook.”There is so much crime against humanity (in Myanmar). Poets in such situations live with tears in every single breath,” one poet, who asked to remain anonymous for security concerns, told AFP.”Our poems are hordes of screaming children.”Ko Ko Thett said he was “numb with grief” over the deaths of his fellow poets.All of them “should have been noted for their poetry (but) got noted in the international media only after they got killed,” he said.Khet Thi, the poet abducted in Shwebo, composed a verse two weeks after the coup to declare that he didn’t want to be a martyr or hero.”I do not want to be a supporter of (the junta’s) violence,” he wrote.”If there is only one minute left to survive I want to have a clear conscience even for that minute.”
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For the second year in a row, authorities have banned the annual Tiananmen Square vigil in Hong Kong that usually attracts thousands of people in memory of the Chinese government’s crackdown in Beijing in 1989. Thirty-two years ago, thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in Beijing demonstrating against the Chinese government and demanding economic and political reforms. After several weeks, China’s People’s Liberation Army occupied the area with tanks and opened fire against the student-led demonstrators, killing an unknown numbers of demonstrators. Thousands of mourners in Hong Kong have attended the annual remembrance vigil for decades, but authorities banned it for the first time last year, citing the global pandemic. The event is illegal in mainland China. People hold up their phones with the light on in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, June 4, 2021, after police closed the venue where Hong Kong people gather annually to mourn the victims of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.Up to 7,000 police officers were reportedly deployed Friday to handle potential gatherings, with 3,000 alone stationed at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, the usual location for the memorial. Authorities again pointed to COVID-19 and the current four-person cap on gatherings as this year’s reason the vigil could not go ahead. Police also warned that any protesters who defied the ban, chanted slogans or wore black — a color affiliated with anti-government protesters in 2019 — would be arrested. Swedish journalist Johan Nylander told VOA that although the park was nearly empty, the atmosphere was “hostile” Friday, saying the police warned him he would be arrested. Hong Kong police prevent protesters from gathering to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, June 4, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Johan Nylander)”Every street corner you had big groups of police. And also in the park, police everywhere. Five percent of the park was still open but was heavily guarded by police. “I was taking pictures, not in the off-limit area, and the police stormed up to me and said, no, you’re not allowed to take photographs. I had been there three to four minutes and it almost happened immediately.  “He was clearly threatening to arrest me if I didn’t leave,” Nylander added. Earlier in the day, Hong Kong police arrested pro-democracy human rights activist Chow Hang Tung for allegedly promoting unauthorized assembly. This video frame grab taken from AFPTV footage shows Chow Hang Tung, leader of the Hong Kong Alliance, being led away by plainclothes police officers after being detained in Hong Kong on June 4, 2021.Chow, a lawyer who had represented at least one defendant during the bail hearing for the 47 activists charged under the national security law earlier this year, is also the vice chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance, which organizes the annual vigil. Her arrest is believed to stem from a social media post that discussed the Hong Kong Alliance’s failed appeal for the vigil to go ahead, according to local reports. Her colleague, Lee Cheuk Yan, the Hong Kong Alliance chairman, is in jail following illegal assembly offenses dating back to 2019. Prior to his imprisonment, Lee was pessimistic on the possibility of large rallies being legally approved on sensitive dates in Hong Kong, including the Tiananmen Square vigil. “It can be very difficult, it’s not the Tiananmen Square vigil, it’s everything that has attraction for the masses,” the activist told VOA earlier this year. Police detain people near Victoria Park in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, June 4, 2021.Lee, who was born in mainland China, was one of the protesters who survived the events in Beijing. He was interrogated by Chinese authorities for his role in Beijing at the time but was released and escaped back into Hong Kong. Despite the gathering ban firmly in force, Hong Kong residents have found other ways to remember the date. Social media posts showed how individuals had attended the park the day before, on June 3, to show their respects. At Hong Kong University, a ceremony took place around Pillar of Shame of Hong Kong — a concrete sculpture depicting 50 twisted bodies as a representation of those who died during the Tiananmen Square protests. Others have told VOA they plan to attend Remembrance Mass, an event to commemorate the crackdown in churches across the city. University students observe a minute of silence in front of the Pillar of Shame statue at the University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China, June 4, 2021.Emily Lau, a former Democratic Party chairperson, is one prominent political figure who planned to attend mass in the evening. She told VOA, “The annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park shows many people will not forget the atrocities 32 years ago. “The banning of the Victoria Park gathering last year and this year shows the Chinese government, and the Hong Kong government, don’t want the people to remember. The Hong Kong people want the authorities to investigate what happened in 1989 and punish those responsible for the massacre,” she added. Wong Yat Chin, organizer of Hong Kong’s Student Politicism, a political group aiming to promote values of democracy, was to screen a documentary with an open forum about the crackdown, and about more recent events in Hong Kong.  “As we have officially descended into the age of one country, one system, any slight act of dissent has been sanctioned by the regime, which has caused the complete loss of fundamental freedom and rights, blatant violations of our human rights,” he said. Livestreams from local Hong Kong media showed Wong Yat Chin was later handcuffed and detained by police officers during his presentation. Authorities then raised a warning flag to alert gathering crowds to disperse or risk arrest.   Police officers disperse people mourning at Victoria Park on the 32nd anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, in Hong Kong, China, June 4, 2021.Last year’s vigil was canceled for the first time, but thousands of people turned up anyway, lighting candles and holding up lights from their phones. The night ended without incident in the immediate area. Twenty-four activists were charged in August for participating in or organizing the illegal rally. Joshua Wong was one of four activists jailed in May and given a 10-month sentence, but was already serving time for other offenses. The remaining 20 people are awaiting sentencing. Under the “one country, two systems” agreement signed by Britain and China in 1997, after the city was transferred back to Chinese rule, Beijing promised that Hong Kong would retain a “high degree of autonomy” until 2047.  After 2019’s pro-democracy protests, Beijing implemented a national security law for Hong Kong that prohibits secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, and its details can be widely interpreted.  
 
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Ray Cordeiro considers himself the luckiest radio DJ in the world.
 
In a storied career spanning over 70 years in Hong Kong, Cordeiro has interviewed superstars including the Beatles and Elton John, and even received an MBE — an order of the British empire for outstanding achievement or service to the community — from Queen Elizabeth.
 
Cordeiro, who holds the Guinness world record for the world’s longest-working DJ, retired last month at the age of 96.
 
“I’ve been talking all my life about music and all, and I’d never thought that I would retire. I never thought that I was getting older,” he said.
 
Cordeiro was born in 1924 in Hong Kong and is of Portuguese descent. His musical tastes as a child were influenced by his brother who was 10 years older and collected records from groups like the Mills Brothers and the Andrews Sisters.
 
Back then records were breakable, Cordeiro said.
 
“When he’s not home and I played his records, I had to be very, very careful, because if I broke it he would get awfully angry,” Cordeiro said. “I grew up with his music.”  
 
In his youth, Cordeiro worked as a warden at a local prison and a clerk at an HSBC bank. His love for music eventually led him to pursue a career in radio, where he joined public broadcaster Radio Hong Kong, now known as Radio Television Hong Kong.
 
It was during a three-month study course in London with the BBC in 1964 that Cordeiro landed the interview that kickstarted his career — with the Beatles, the biggest band in the world at the time.
 
He had some free time after the end of the course before he had to return to Hong Kong and didn’t want to “sit around for two weeks doing nothing.”
 
“So, I said, why don’t I grab the chance of finding some peeps, some pop groups or singers that I can interview and bring back (tapes) to Hong Kong,” he said.
 
During those two weeks, Cordeiro traveled to venues where groups were performing and interviewed them afterward.
 
The Beatles had become wildly popular and Cordeiro wanted to interview them the most. Armed with a notebook and a pen, he went to the offices of the band’s record label, EMI, to ask for an interview with the group.
 
By a stroke of luck, he was told to return the next day for an interview, with EMI loaning him a tape recorder for it. He bought a magazine with a picture of the Beatles on the cover and took it with him to the interview and got all the members to autograph it.
“Altogether I have some 26 signatures of all the Beatles, and it’s probably worth a fortune,” he said.
 
The interview was short because he didn’t have a lot of tape in the tape recorder, but Cordeiro managed to spend time with each member of the Beatles. He said John Lennon recounted the Beatles’ early days in Hamburg, Germany, where they lived in relative poverty and played in clubs.
 
He later interviewed the Beatles again when they visited Hong Kong. The interviews shot him to fame, and he quickly became Hong Kong’s top DJ, armed with interviews he had conducted in London with the popular music groups at the time.
 
“I had a career before that, because I was interviewing local pop stars, but when you compare them to the Beatles it is something quite different,” he said.  
 
As the city’s most recognizable DJ, he also got to know other stars such as Elton John and Tony Bennett.
 
Known for his deep, calm voice, flat cap and easy listening repertoire, Cordeiro garnered a loyal following of listeners who would tune in to his weekday radio show “All the Way with Ray,” which ran from 1970 until last month.  
 
“I fulfilled my work as a DJ, did what I had to do and the audience followed me, grew up with me, and they’re all over the world now,” he said. “They’re all over and they still listened to me on the internet.”
 
Asked if he were to do it all over again if he would pick being a DJ as a career, Cordeiro doesn’t hesitate.
 
“I don’t think I have to actually think about it, the answer is yes,” he said.
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Friday marks the anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in and around central Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when Chinese troops opened fire on their own people.The event remains a taboo topic of discussion in mainland China and will not be officially commemorated by the ruling Communist Party or government.Here are some landmark dates leading up to the demonstrations and the crackdown that followed:1988: China slides into economic chaos with panic buying triggered by rising inflation that neared 30%.April 15, 1989: A leading reformer and former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, dies. His death acts as a catalyst for unhappiness with the slow pace of reform, as well as corruption and income inequality.April 17: Protests begin at Tiananmen Square, with students calling for democracy and reform. Crowds of up to 100,000 gather, despite official warnings.April 22: Some 50,000 students gather outside the Great Hall of the People as Hu’s memorial service is held. Three students attempt to deliver a petition to the government, outlining their demands, but are ignored. Rioting and looting take place in Xian and Changsha.April 24: Beijing students begin classroom strike.April 27: Around 50,000 students defy authorities and march to Tiananmen. Supporting crowds number up to 1 million.May 2: In Shanghai, 10,000 protesters march on city government headquarters.May 4: Further mass protests coinciding with the anniversary of the May 4 Movement of 1919, which was another student and intellectual-led movement for reform. Protests coincide with meeting of Asian Development Bank in Great Hall of the People. Students march in Shanghai and nine other cities.May 13: Hundreds of students begin a hunger strike on Tiananmen Square.FILE – Students shout after breaking through a police blockade during a pro-democracy march to Tiananmen Square, Beijing, May 4, 1989.May 15-18: To China’s embarrassment, protests prevent traditional welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People for the state visit of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Students welcome Gorbachev as “The Ambassador of Democracy.”May 19: Party chief Zhao Ziyang visits students on Tiananmen Square, accompanied by the hardline then-premier Li Peng and future premier Wen Jiabao. Zhao pleads with the student protesters to leave but is ignored. It is the last time Zhao is seen in public. He is later purged.May 20: Li declares martial law in parts of Beijing. Reviled by many to this day as the “Butcher of Beijing,” Li remained premier until 1998.May 23: Some 100,000 people march in Beijing demanding Li’s removal.May 30: Students unveil the 10-meter-high “Goddess of Democracy,” modeled on the Statue of Liberty, in Tiananmen Square.FILE – Hundreds of thousands of people, seeking political and economic reforms, crowded Beijing’s central Tiananmen Square on May 17, 1989, in the biggest popular upheaval in China since the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.May 31: Government-sponsored counter-demonstration calls students “traitorous bandits.”June 3: Citizens repel a charge towards Tiananmen by thousands of soldiers. Tear gas and bullets used in running clashes a few hundred meters from the square. Authorities warn protesters that troops and police have “right to use all methods.”June 4: In the early hours of the morning tanks and armored personnel carriers begin their attack on the square itself, clearing it by dawn. About four hours later, troops fire on unarmed civilians regrouping at the edge of the square.June 5: An unidentified Chinese man stands in front of a tank convoy leaving Tiananmen Square. The image spreads around the world as a symbol of defiance against the crackdown.June 6: Chinese State Council spokesperson Yuan Mu says on television that the known death toll was about 300, most of them soldiers, with only 23 students confirmed killed. China has never provided a full death toll, but rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into the thousands.June 9: Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping praises military officers, and blames the protests on counter-revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the party.Sources: Reuters, Chinese state media  
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Thousands of Hong Kong police are expected to surround a central park and patrol the city’s streets on Friday to prevent people from gathering to commemorate the 1989 crackdown by Chinese troops in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.Critics say the heightened vigilance from authorities is a marked departure from Hong Kong’s cherished freedoms of speech and assembly, bringing the global financial hub closer in line with mainland China’s strict controls on society.The former British colony, promised a high degree of autonomy from Beijing upon its return to Chinese rule in 1997, has traditionally held the world’s largest vigil for the Tiananmen victims.Police have banned the vigil for a second year in a row, citing the coronavirus. It did not say whether commemorating Tiananmen would breach a sweeping national security law China imposed in 2020 to set its most restive city onto an authoritarian path.City leader Carrie Lam has not commented on commemorations, saying only that citizens must respect the law, as well as the Communist Party, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. June 4 commemorations are banned in mainland China.Last year, thousands in Hong Kong defied the ban, gathering in the downtown Victoria Park and lining up on sidewalks with lit candles across the city, in what was largely a solemn event, barring a brief scuffle with police in one district.Many plan to light candles again in their neighborhood, if safe to do so. Some churches will be open for prayers.Wong, a 60-year-old retiree who has been to more than 20 such vigils, said he will light a candle in a place other than Victoria Park.”The ban does not put out the candlelight in my heart,” said Wong, who only gave his last name due to the sensitivity.Prominent activist Joshua Wong was given a 10-month prison sentence last month after pleading guilty to participating in last year’s vigil, while three others got four- to six-month-sentences. Twenty more are due in court on June 11 on similar charges.Risking prisonPublic broadcaster RTHK, citing unnamed sources, reported police will have 7,000 officers on the streets on Friday, conducting stop-and-search operations throughout the day.Authorities have warned that taking part in unauthorized assemblies poses the risk of up to five years in prison, while “advertising or publicizing” illegal rallies may be punished by up to 12 months.The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the organizer of the annual vigil, has said it would drop calls for people to show up at Victoria Park and not run an online commemoration as in 2020.Its chairman Lee Cheuk-yan is in jail over an illegal assembly.On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s June 4th Museum said it would temporarily close after officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it did not have a public entertainment venue license.”For the past 32 years, during the existence of Hong Kong Alliance, we did nothing illegal to harm the country and Hong Kong,” Mak Hoi-wah, a founding member of the Alliance who has been helping run the museum recently in Lee’s absence, told Reuters this week.The gambling hub of Macau has also banned June 4 activities.In democratically ruled Taiwan, a memorial pavilion will be set up in Taipei’s Liberty Square, where people can lay down flowers while following social distancing rules. An LED installation of 64 lights will also be set up in the square.Taiwan called on China on Thursday to return power to the people rather than avoid facing up to the crackdown.China has never provided a full account of the 1989 violence. The death toll given by officials days later was about 300, most of them soldiers, but rights groups and witnesses say thousands of people may have perished.
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In the span of just five days last month, China gave out 100 million shots of its COVID-19 vaccines.After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. The rollout is far from perfect, including uneven distribution, but Chinese public health leaders now say they’re hoping to inoculate 80% of the population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year.As of Tuesday, China had given out more than 680 million doses — with nearly half of those in May alone. China’s total is roughly a third of the 1.9 billion shots distributed globally, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.The call to get vaccinated comes from every corner of society. Companies offer shots to their employees, schools urge their students and staffers, and local government workers check on their residents. That pressure underscores both the system’s strength, which makes it possible to even consider vaccinating more than a billion people this year, but also the risks to civil liberties — a concern the world over but one that is particularly acute in China, where there are few protections.“The Communist Party has people all the way down to every village, every neighborhood,” said Ray Yip, former country director for the Gates Foundation in China and a public health expert. “That’s the draconian part of the system, but it also gives very powerful mobilization.”China is now averaging about 19 million shots per day, according to Our World in Data’s rolling seven-day average. That would mean a dose for everyone in Italy about every three days. The United States, with about one-quarter of China’s population, reached around 3.4 million shots per day in April when its drive was at full tilt.It’s still unclear how many people in China are fully vaccinated — which can mean anywhere from one to three doses of the vaccines in use — as the government does not publicly release that data.Zhong Nanshan, the head of a group of experts attached to the National Health Commission and a prominent government doctor, said on Sunday that 40% of the population has received at least one dose, and the aim was to get that percentage fully vaccinated by the end of the month.In Beijing, the capital, 87% of the population has received at least one dose. Getting a shot is as easy as walking into one of hundreds of vaccination points found all across the city. Vaccination buses are parked in high foot-traffic areas, including in the city center and at malls.Residents line up outside a vaccination center in Beijing on June 2, 2021.But Beijing’s abundance is not shared with the rest of the country, and local media reports and complaints on social media show the difficulty of getting an appointment elsewhere.“I started lining up that day at 9 in the morning, until 6 p.m., only then did I get the shot. It was exhausting,” Zhou Hongxia, a resident of Lanzhou, in northwestern Gansu province, explained recently. “When I left, there were still people waiting.”Zhou’s husband hasn’t been so lucky and has yet to get a shot. When they call the local hotlines, they are told simply to wait.Central government officials on Monday said they’re working to ensure supply is more evenly distributed.Before the campaign ramped up in recent weeks, many people were not in a rush to get vaccinated as China has kept the virus, which first flared in the country, at bay in the past year with strict border controls and mandatory quarantines. It has faced small clusters of infections from time to time, and is currently managing one in the southern city of Guangzhou.Although there are distribution issues, it is unlikely that Chinese manufacturers will have problems with scale, according to analysts and those who have worked in the industry.Sinovac and Sinopharm, which make the majority of the vaccines being distributed in China, have both aggressively ramped up production, building brand new factories and repurposing existing ones for COVID-19. Sinovac’s vaccine and one of the two Sinpharm makes have received an emergency authorization for use from the World Health Organization, but the companies, particularly Sinopharm, have faced criticism for their lack of transparency in sharing their data.“What place in the world can compare with China on construction? How long did it take our temporary hospitals to be built?” asked Li Mengyuan, who leads pharmaceutical research at Western Securities, a financial firm. China built field hospitals at the beginning of the pandemic in just days.Security guards help masked residents to scan their health code as they line up to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at the Central Business District in Beijing, June 2, 2021.Sinovac has said it has doubled its production capacity to 2 billion doses a year, while Sinopharm has said it can make up to 3 billion doses a year. But Sinopharm has not disclosed recent numbers of how many doses it actually has made, and a spokesman for the company did not respond to a request for comment. Sinovac has produced 540 million doses this year as of late May, the company said on Friday.Government support has been crucial for vaccine developers every step of the way — as it has in other countries — but, as with everything, the scope and scale in China is different.Yang Xiaoming, chairman of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group, recounted to state media recently how the company initially needed to borrow lab space from a government research center while it was working on a vaccine.“We sent our samples over, there was no need to discuss money, we just did it,” he said.Chinese vaccine companies also largely do not rely on imported products in the manufacturing process. That’s an enormous benefit at a time when many countries are scrambling for the same materials and means China can likely avoid what happened to the Serum Institute of India, whose production was hobbled because of dependence on imports from the U.S. for certain ingredients.But as the availability of the vaccine increases so, too, can the pressure to take it.In Beijing, one researcher at a university said the school’s Communist Party cell calls him once a month to ask him if he has gotten vaccinated yet and offers to help him make an appointment.He has so far declined to get a shot because he would prefer the Pfizer vaccine, saying he trusts its data. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns he could face repercussions at his job at a government university for publicly questioning the Chinese vaccines.China has not yet approved Pfizer for use, and the researcher is not sure how long he can hold out — although the government has, for now, cautioned against making vaccines mandatory outright.“They don’t have to say it is mandatory,” Yip, the public health expert, said. “They’re not going to announce that it’s required to have the vaccine, but they can put pressure on you.”
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A tropical storm left at least three people dead and displaced thousands of villagers in the southern and central Philippines, where it triggered floods and landslides, officials said Wednesday.Forecasters said the storm Choi-wan was blowing off Victoria town in Oriental Mindoro province south of Manila on Wednesday afternoon with sustained winds of 65 kph and gusts of up to 90 kph. It was moving northwestward and may weaken as it blows toward the South China Sea on Thursday, they said.At least three people died, including a 14-year-old villager who rushed with her father to a riverbank to rescue their farm animals in intense rain but were swept away by strong currents in Norala town in South Cotabato province. The father remains missing, disaster response officials said.A baby died in a landslide that hit a mountainous town in southern Davao de Oro province and a 71-year-old man drowned in Davao del Sur province, also in the south, officials said.Coast guard personnel rescued villagers who were trapped in houses engulfed in rising floodwater, including in Southern Leyte province, where they carried 40 residents, including children, in waist-deep waters to a gymnasium.More than 2,600 people were displaced, mostly by floods, in 18 southern villages, including about 600 villagers who moved to evacuation centers. Thousands more were evacuated Tuesday from towns prone to floods and volcanic mudflows in Albay province, provincial safety official Cedric Daep said.Officials also suspended work in Albay and ordered shopping malls closed to prevent people from converging and increasing the risk of coronavirus infections, Daep said.More than 3,000 passengers and cargo handlers were stranded in central and southern seaports after sea travel was suspended by the coast guard due to stormy weather. A small cargo ship laden with sand and gravel was abandoned by its crew when it started to take in water near Albuera town in central Leyte province. The crew was safe, coast guard spokesperson Armand Balilo said.About 20 tropical storms and typhoons batter the Philippine archipelago each year. The Southeast Asian nation is also located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active region where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur frequently, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
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The United States on Wednesday condemned actions by Hong Kong authorities to stifle dissent, calling out attempts to erase memories of the Tiananmen Square massacre as the anniversary nears.U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration called the Chinese government’s violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, a massacre.”The United States condemns actions by Hong Kong authorities that prompted organizers to close the June 4th Museum that commemorates the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter during a telephone briefing.”Hong Kong and Beijing authorities continue to silence dissenting voices by also attempting to erase the horrific massacre from history,” Porter added.The State Department’s strong comments came as Hong Kong’s June 4th Museum said it would temporarily close because of a licensing probe by authorities.No venue licenseDays before the anniversary, Hong Kong’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said the museum had not obtained a public entertainment venue license and was potentially in breach of regulations.FILE – A small replica of the Goddess of Democracy is displayed at the June 4th Museum in Hong Kong, May 20, 2020.The museum said in a statement that it would close until further notice to protect the safety of staff and visitors, and that further legal advice was needed.Hong Kong police have cited COVID-19 restrictions in prohibiting an annual vigil to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre for the second consecutive year.Hong Kong’s Security Bureau also warned residents not to participate ​in this year’s June 4 vigil, citing  penalties of up to five years in prison for those attending and a year in jail for anyone “advertising or publicizing” it.”The relevant meetings and procession are unauthorized assemblies. No one should take part in it, or advertise or publicize it, or else he or she may violate the law,” the Security Bureau said Saturday.Corruption targetedMore than three decades ago, student-led pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, with corruption among the elite a key complaint of demonstrators. Protesters were also calling for political reforms and a more fair and open society.Human rights groups believe several hundred to several thousand people were killed when tanks rolled through Tiananmen Square to squelch the demonstrations.The Chinese Communist Party strictly bans commemorations of the event.
 
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Authorities in Australia’s southern state of Victoria have extended a one-week lockdown for its capital, Melbourne, to contain the spread of a new COVID-19 outbreak. The lockdown was initially imposed across the entire state last week after health officials detected a highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was rapidly spreading across Victoria state.  The latest outbreak has been linked to an overseas traveler who became infected with a variant first detected in India during his mandatory hotel quarantine phase. FILE – A mostly-empty city street is seen on the first day of a seven-day lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, May 28, 2021.Health officials announced six new locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 60.   “If we let this thing run its course, it will explode,” Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne.  “We’ve got to run this to ground because if we don’t, people will die.”   Although Melbourne’s 5 million residents will remain under strict restrictions until June 10, the lockdown measures have been lifted for residents in regional Victoria, with limits on public and private gatherings and restaurant capacity.   The new lockdown is the fourth one imposed on Melbourne and Victoria state since the start of the pandemic.  The most severe period occurred in mid-2020, which lasted more than three months as Victoria was under the grip of a second wave of COVID-19 infections that killed more than 800 people. Moderna seeking full FDA authorization
In the United States, Moderna said Tuesday it is seeking full authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccine for adults 18 years old and older. The Moderna two-shot vaccine is one of three coronavirus vaccines the FDA authorized for emergency use in the United States, playing a major role in the steadily declining number of new infections in the country.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say more than 150 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been distributed since the emergency use authorization was granted last December.   FILE – A nurse draws a Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, in Los AngelesModerna announced last week that it will apply for emergency use authorization this month to administer the vaccine to young people after discovering it was safe and effective for children between 12 and 17 years old.  If approved, it will join the two-shot vaccine developed by Pfizer and Bio N Tech that was authorized for use in 12 to 15 years old last month.   Brazil to host soccer tournamentBrazil confirmed Tuesday that it will host the troubled Copa America soccer tournament despite warnings of an upcoming new wave of new infections.   President Jair Bolsonaro said the tournament, which will take place from June 13 to July 10, will be held in the capital Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiaba and Goiania.   The tournament’s organizers, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), announced Monday it was moving the upcoming event to Brazil due to a surge of new COVID-19 infections in Argentina, which was co-hosting the tournament with Colombia, which is unable to stage the tournament because of massive anti-government street protests.   Scientists in Brazil are concerned about hosting a tournament in a nation with a more transmissible COVID-19 variant, with many predicting another wave of the disease to hit the country in a matter of weeks.  The opposition Workers Party has filed an injunction with the Brazilian Supreme Court to block the tournament.  FILE – Demonstrators shouts slogans during a protest against the government’s response in combating COVID-19, demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, in Rio de Janeiro, May 29, 2021.President Bolsonaro has come under heavy criticism for his apparently dismissive attitude toward the pandemic, and is the subject of a congressional investigation over his government’s management of the crisis.   Brazil trails only the United States and India in the total number of coronavirus cases with more than 16.6  million, and is second only to the U.S. in deaths at more than 465,199, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. will launch its plant-based food in select Asia-Pacific markets starting this month, as it looks to cash in on the burgeoning demand for meat substitutes in the region its rivals have set out to capture. Impossible Foods Inc., Nestle SA and Beyond Meat Inc. have already entered Asia with their plant-based meat products, expecting rising demand for the protein from consumers conscious about health, animal welfare and the environment. Retail sales of meat substitutes in Asia-Pacific reached $16.3 billion in 2020 and are expected to exceed $20 billion by 2025, according to data provided by Euromonitor to Tyson Foods. “The Asian market is a natural fit for this category with traditional plant-based products like tofu already entrenched in the culture,” Tan Sun, president of Tyson Foods Asia-Pacific, said in a statement. Tyson Foods, the biggest U.S. producer of animal meat by sales, said on Tuesday it would first roll out plant-based nuggets, strips and bites in Malaysia under its First Pride brand, with a view to expand into other markets. The Jimmy Dean sausage-maker launched its plant-based products late last year from its Raised & Rooted brand in Europe. 
 
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South Korea’s second largest city is using new, inclusive technology to bring down barriers to mobility for people who are blind.Park Hyoung-bae glides his long, white cane along a strip of raised yellow blocks that form a trail through an underground metro station. The tactile paving leads blind commuters from the street all the way to the train platform.But Park, who is walking arm in arm with his mother, says the tiles still don’t make him feel comfortable enough to travel far from his home on his own.Information boards, maps and other signage direct travelers to exits, restrooms and other station amenities, but all of these visual indicators are inaccessible for the 32-year-old.Without help from a family member or a hired guide, he explains Busan’s metro system can be overwhelming.“I’ve gotten lost in subway stations and asked people where I am, but sometimes they ignore me and I have no idea if they’ve walked away or not and that makes me feel isolated,” he said. “It’s hard to ask for help as someone who’s blind.”Cities across the globe are installing new ICT, or information and communications technology, that connect public infrastructure with the electronic devices of pedestrians, drivers and commuters. And some governments are using these systems to make public spaces more accessible for people with disabilities.In Busan, a new smart city initiative could help people with a vision impairment travel more independently.How it works
In March, Busan launched a mobility service called Dagachi Naranhi, or Side By Side, that uses GPS technology to provide localized directional information inside one of its metro stations via a smartphone app. Users select a destination within the facility, like the subway platform, elevator, or a way out, and the software sends meter by meter instructions that update in real-time as the traveler moves.Park is trying-out the app for the first time and uses his iPhone’s Voice-Over utility to turn the directions into speech that is read out loud. He picks one of two accessible kiosks and is told to walk straight for 98-meters.After getting used to the app’s interface, Park arrives at the machine, which receives data from Bluetooth beacons placed around the station and displays maps and other information on a large touchscreen or by voice in multiple languages.Park, who participated in some of the pre-launch testing of this device, says what he likes most about the kiosk is its Braille touchpad, which can transform into a tactile map.“When I select a destination, the Braille display lets me feel the layout of the station and then I can memorize where I need to go,” he said.Plans for expansion
City officials say they hope to eventually expand Dagachi Naranhi throughout the four-line, 114-station subway network.The Busan Transportation Corporation’s Jeon Byeong-jun explains that while the smart system could improve visually impaired metro riders’ independence, the app and kiosk can also benefit an even larger swath of the city’s nearly three and a half million residents.“It’s not just for people with disabilities, it can be convenient for pregnant women and the elderly, or even foreign visitors can use it,” he told VOA. “It’s for everyone.”As cities adopt these new systems, there’s concern that smart technology could in fact raise barriers for people with physical, sensory, or intellectual impairments. Some disability advocates say that is why it is essential to create electronic devices or apps with universal design principles — so they really can be used by everyone.Disabled people input
Go Mi-sook is a technology trainer and handles customer support for Dot, the Seoul-based firm that partnered with Busan to implement the Dagachi Naranhi program and created the accessible kiosks.She says ever since losing her vision as a teenager, assistive technology, such as screen-reading software on her computer or phone has “empowered” her. But not every company ensures that differently abled consumers can use their products.Roughly 250,000 South Koreans have a visual disability, according to the country’s Blind Union — a relatively small demographic in a nation of about 52 million.One way to ensure that the needs of this minority group is considered is to bring more designers with a vision impairment to the table, Go says.“There’s a difference in how people without a disability think about making products that can be used by someone who is blind,” said the 34-year-old. “It’s important that visually impaired people be part of the planning and design process.”Inside the Busan metro station, Park Hyoung-bae and his mother await the train back to their neighborhood. He says if Dagachi Naranhi were installed in more places, he would feel greater confidence about venturing-out without assistance.Park adds this inclusive technology does not just improve mobility. It could also reduce social barriers.“Non-disabled people don’t often see people with a disability using the subway,” Park said. “If this technology makes it easier for us to use public transportation, I think the overall all perception of people with disabilities will improve.”
 
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has insisted relations with close ally Australia are not going to be negatively impacted by China. The Ardern government has been accused of going soft on Beijing in order to profit from better trade relations with the East Asian nation.Ardern has also been holding annual talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to discuss trade, security and the challenges linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the New Zealand skiing and adventure sports resort of Queenstown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, have downplayed signs of division over relations with China. Earlier this year, New Zealand said it was “uncomfortable” using the 70-year-old Five Eyes intelligence grouping, which includes the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, to criticize China. That was widely interpreted as an attempt by Wellington to avoid damaging its lucrative trading relationship with Beijing. A television news documentary accused New Zealand of abandoning Australia “for a fast Chinese buck.” New Zealand was reluctant to sign joint statements from its alliance partners condemning China’s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and its treatment of its minority Uyghur Muslim population. The declarations have angered China’s government. But after annual talks Monday with the Australian prime minister, Ardern said she stood in solidarity with her trans-Tasman neighbor. “At no point in our discussions today did I detect any difference in our relative positions on the importance of maintaining a very strong and principled perspective on issues around trade, on issues around human rights, and you will see that Australia and New Zealand have broadly been positioned in exactly the same place on these issues consistently. So, I really push back on any suggestion that we are not taking a strong stance on these incredibly important issues,” Ardern said.New Zealand has also indicated it will support Australia in its ongoing trade dispute with China. Tensions between Canberra and Beijing have increased in recent years over geopolitical disputes and allegations of Chinese interference in Australian politics. Canberra’s call for a global investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, which first emerged in China in late 2019, sent the relationship into a tailspin, resulting in sweeping Chinese tariffs on many Australian exports, including wine, barley and coal. Morrison said his country’s relationship with New Zealand remained strong. “As great partners, friends, allies and indeed family, there will be those far from here who would seek to divide us, and they will not succeed,” Morrison said. There are, however, areas of disagreement.  Canberra’s controversial deportation of New Zealanders convicted of crimes, including children, has strained the two countries’ relationship. A senior Australian minister compared the policy to “taking the trash out.” In response, New Zealand officials said practice was “deplorable” and that the minister’s inflammatory remarks served only to “trash his reputation.” Both countries also discussed how to ease tough COVID-19 border controls to eventually reconnect with the rest of the world. In a joint statement, Ardern and Morrison urged China to respect human rights in Hong Kong and criticized its incarceration of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.  In response, China said that Australian and New Zealand leaders had made “irresponsible remarks” on its internal affairs and made groundless accusations against Beijing. China has been a subject of global condemnation over the treatment of a million Muslim Uyghurs held in internment camps, including a U.S. classification of Chinese policies toward Uyghurs as ‘genocide.’
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