Day: December 26, 2022

China’s antitrust body fines academic database platform owner CNKI US$12.6 million for monopolistic practices

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The controversy of CNKI came under spotlight when the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the country’s top natural science research institution, said in April it would suspend its use of the country’s largest online academic database because of its hefty annual fees. 07:30 Why China is tightening control over cybersecurity Advertisement The SAMR investigation showed that the academic database fees have been increasing at an annual rate of over 10 per cent since 2014, with price hikes over 30 per cent for certain clients. Yet, its costs of acquiring academic…

More Rohingya Refugees Reach Indonesia After Weeks at Sea

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PIDIE, Indonesia —  A second group in two days of weak and exhausted Rohingya Muslims landed on a beach in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Monday after weeks at sea, officials said. At least 185 men, women and children disembarked from a rickety wooden boat at dusk on Ujong Pie beach at Muara Tiga, a coastal village in Aceh’s Pidie district, said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name. “They are very weak because of dehydration and exhaustion after weeks at sea,” Fauzi said. They were…

North Korea’s Kim Kicks Off Key Party Meeting Ahead of New Year

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SEOUL —  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has kicked off a key meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, state media reported on Tuesday, a venue he has often used to announce major policy decisions marking the New Year. The Sixth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) was convened on Monday, the official KCNA news agency said. The dayslong gathering of party and government officials caps a year when the isolated country fired an unprecedented number of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles…

China’s potentially grim Covid death toll is avoidable, new study says

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However, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant became dominant, China’s zero-Covid strategy became unsustainable. Earlier this month, authorities announced a policy U-turn to ditch pandemic curbs amid growing numbers of outbreaks and nationwide protests against restrictions. Those changes could see Covid-related deaths soar, according to previous modelling studies. 01:31 Body bags fill corridors at Chongqing funeral parlour as China battles Covid surge The new study, which has not been peer reviewed, aimed to evaluate the overall effectiveness of China’s prevention measures by establishing an Omicron transmission model based on pandemic…

Rohingya Refugees Adrift for Weeks at Sea Land in Indonesia

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Bangkok —  A broken-down boat ferrying over 180 ethnic Rohingya men, women and children landed Monday afternoon on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh province after weeks adrift with more than a dozen reported deaths, two rights groups that have been tracking the vessel told VOA. It comes on the heels of a boat of 57 Rohingya men that also landed in Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago’s far west, on Sunday. Relatives of those on board the boat that landed Monday afternoon say it…

China gives up reporting COVID-19 figures as virus rips through population

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China’s National Health Commission has announced it will no longer be publishing daily COVID-19 infection figures, as the virus rips through the population with the abandonment of rolling lockdowns, mass tracking of citizens and compulsory testing. “As of today, we will no longer be releasing daily statistics on the pandemic, with any data released by the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevent for the purposes of reference and research,” the health ministry said on its official website. The announcement came as China said Monday that beginning on Jan. 8,…

Second boatload of Rohingya arrives in Indonesia in as many days

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About 185 gaunt and bone-tired Rohingya refugees landed on the coast of Pidie regency in Indonesia’s Aceh province Monday, police said, as reports emerged that another boatload of Rohingya may have sunk at sea.   Two NGOs confirmed to BenarNews that the new arrivals were from a boat that was at sea for about a month and stranded as food and water supplies dwindled. As many as 20 of the passengers perished, NGO sources said, while the refugees journeyed south across the Andaman Sea as they fled refugee camps in Bangladesh.…

China to Drop Covid Quarantine for Incoming Travelers

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China on Monday announced that travelers from overseas would no longer be required to enter quarantine upon arrival, in one of the country’s most significant steps toward reopening since the coronavirus pandemic began. From Jan. 8, incoming travelers will be required to show only a negative polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., test within 48 hours before departure, China’s National Health Commission said. Limitations on the number of incoming flights will also be eased. The travel restrictions had isolated the world’s most populous country for nearly three years. Foreigners were essentially…

China starts to drop quarantine requirement for overseas passengers

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China will drop Covid-19 quarantine requirements for passengers arriving from abroad from 8 January, its National Health Commission has announced in the latest easing of the country’s once-strict virus-control measures. Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. At one stage there was a requirement to quarantine for three weeks. The scrapping of the measure is a major step toward fully reopening travel with the rest of the world, which the government severely curtailed in a bid to keep the virus…

Thailand Prays for ‘Miracle’ for Gravely Ill Princess

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Bangkok, Thailand —  Thai royals, celebrities and members of the public have led prayers for Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, the oldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who remains gravely ill after collapsing December 14 while training her dog for a contest. The 44-year-old princess, better known to the Thai public as Princess Ong-Bha, is a senior member of Thailand’s royal family, which sits at the top of the country’s hierarchy of power. She was hospitalized after losing consciousness early in the morning while in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province. The most…