Even before his jailing, Jimmy Lai knew he faced a grim future, but insisted on fighting his cause. “Without fighting, we don’t have hope. We don’t know when we’ll win, but we’re so sure we’re on the right side of history, and time is on our side,” the founder of the vocal pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily told the Guardian in August 2020 while on bail, five days after his arrest over allegations of foreign collusion. Beijing’s national security law had come into effect two months earlier. Police had…
Day: December 15, 2022
Biden Courts African Leaders, but Some Are Skeptical of Big Promises
The African Union chairman, President Macky Sall of Senegal, enumerated Africa’s priorities including fighting terrorism, boosting democracy and negotiating “a just and fair energy transition” with the West. He also called out the United States on two issues. He pushed for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe, and he criticized a proposed American law that seeks to limit illicit Russian activities in Africa, such as supporting mercenaries. If the bill passed into law, he warned, “could gravely harm the relationship between Africa and the United States.” In addition to planning…
Grisly discovery: Six civilians brutally slaughtered in Myanmar’s Mandalay region
Residents in central Myanmar made a grisly discovery on Wednesday when they stumbled upon the corpses of six civilians who worked at a local motorbike repair shop. Their bodies bore signs of torture and their hands had been tied behind their backs, apparently executed by junta troops. “It appeared as if [the soldiers] struck their necks with a sword. We found that their throats were cut,” said a resident of Ywar Thit village in the Mandalay region who was among those that found the bodies. He spoke to Radio Free…
New Strategic Weapon Coming Soon, North Korea’s Kim Says
seoul — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the successful test of a “high-thrust solid-propellant” engine to be used in a new weapon, state media said Friday. Pictures from the Korean Central News Agency showed Kim holding a cigarette and smiling as white smoke emerged from a horizontal test engine stand at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in western North Korea. “The crucial test provided a firm scientific and technological guarantee over the development of another new-type strategic weapon system,” said an English report in the state-run Voice…
Punishment for supporting protests: Philosophy lecturer sent to psychiatric hospital
Chinese authorities have sent a university lecturer to a psychiatric institution after she spoke out in favor of nationwide anti-lockdown protests at the end of November, her students and a person at the university told Radio Free Asia. Nankai University philosophy lecturer Wu Yanan was taken by authorities to the Tianjin Sheng’an psychiatric hospital on the pretext of COVID-19 testing after she accused the university authorities of betraying the ideals of its founder Zhang Boling by clamping down on the widespread protests, according to the students who asked to remain…
US Monitors New Variants from China as Beijing Relaxes Zero-COVID Approach
The United States is monitoring for new coronavirus variants as it braces for a potential outbreak of COVID-19 infections following Beijing’s easing of strict controls that kept the pandemic at bay in China. “We have a very robust surveillance program that we use for travelers as people come in, in terms of identifying people who are infected, tracking variants,” Ashish Jha, White House coronavirus response coordinator, told VOA during a briefing with reporters on Thursday. “And if there are new variants that emerge, I’m confident that we will be able…
China and India trade accusations at special UN Security Council meetings after recent border clash
Jaishankar on Thursday said multilateral platforms were being “misused to justify and protect perpetrators”. The Indian foreign minister believed China was blocking his country’s efforts to list as terrorists certain Pakistani nationals whom New Delhi identified as involved in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Advertisement The attacks on November 26 of that year killed 166 people, including 26 foreign nationals. Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was accused of perpetrating them. During a special UN Security Council meeting on counterterrorism on Thursday, Jaishankar criticised “some members” of the council for putting on…
Australia news live: body found in search for missing teen; 26 January citizenship ceremonies no longer mandated for local councils
From 2h ago Immigration minister scraps rule forcing local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day Local councils will no longer be forced to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, after Labor has reversed a Morrison government ruling. SBS’s Finn McHugh reports: Rules introduced in 2019 under then-prime minister Scott Morrison forced local governments to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January or be stripped of their right to conduct them. Mr Morrison at the time said compelling local councils to do so would stop them from “playing politics with…
Author: Negative View of China Increases as Beijing’s Media Try to Boost Image Overseas
washington — Over the past decade, China has invested billions of dollars in state media, hiring foreign journalists and partnering with local newsrooms to try to boost its image overseas. That investment has yielded some success, but global views of China have become increasingly negative over the past five years. In 2022, according to the Pew Research Center, negative views of China remained at historic highs in the 19 countries it surveyed. Beijing’s human rights record and military power were cited as the biggest concerns, Pew found. Joshua Kurlantzick, a…
China expected to keep its distance from Middle East conflicts, focus on cooperation
China’s ambassador to Iran, Chang Hua, was summoned by the Iranian government after the summit to hear its side of the islands dispute, and Iranian cabinet official Mohammad Jamshidi directly addressed his “Chinese colleagues” in a tweet that said: “When Saudi Arabia and America supported Isis and al-Qaeda terrorist groups in Syria and destroyed Yemen with brutal military aggression, it was Iran that fought the terrorists to establish stability and security in the region.” Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua visited both Iran and the UAE this week. In a meeting with Hu…