Former prisoner of conscience Dang Thi Hue plans to continue her campaign against toll booth operators who cheat motorists out of money, she told RFA. Vietnam’s controversial build-operate-transfer model gives concessions to private companies to build booths across the country and run them for a set period of time before returning them to public ownership. Protesters say unscrupulous operators have been building booths in locations that haven’t been approved by the Ministry of Transport. Hue was arrested on Oct. 16, 2019 after blocking the entrance to Hanoi’s North Thang Long-Noi…
Day: January 22, 2023
Lunar New Year: why a skit about lying-flat cadres is China’s Spring Festival gala hit
His approach is to avoid work and responsibility. “My motto is if I do more, I make more mistakes; if I do less, I make fewer mistakes; if I do nothing, I make no mistakes,” Hao says. Advertisement The approach works until Ms Ma, his new boss, falls into the pothole and then goes to Hao’s office in search of answers – all the while pretending to be a member of the public. Unaware of Ma’s identity, Hao tries to blame others for the pothole, saying Ma fell into the…
Chinese businesses expect gradual recovery in Lunar New Year sales amid a moderate pick up in consumption
The Sungang Toys and Stationery Wholesale Market, the largest of its kind in the city with 10,000 square metres of space in Shenzhen’s central Futian district, has been flush with buyers on weekends. Business owners and sales people, however, pointed out that the departure of some people for their hometowns for the holiday was offsetting sales. Millions of Chinese are finally able to head home after travel and quarantine restrictions were lifted late last year. 01:54 ‘No holiday mood’: China’s Covid-19 wave dampens spirits ahead of Lunar New Year In…
INTERVIEW: ‘The loneliest time is New Year’s Day and other major holidays’
As Lunar New Year approaches in South Korea, and people travel to spend the holiday with their extended families, the nation’s trains run over-capacity and entire highways slow to bumper-to-bumper traffic. Rural hamlets see a surge in population, and the capital of Seoul turns into a ghost town. The annual pilgrimage to the hometown can be a difficult journey, but honoring ancestors with heaps of delicious food for the jesa ceremony, feasting on it afterwards with the whole family, and having three days off from work makes all the hassle…
Bali Welcomes 1st Flight From China as COVID Rules Ease
Denpasar, Indonesia — A direct flight from China landed in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali for the first time in nearly three years Sunday after the route was suspended due to the pandemic. At least 210 people were on board the chartered plane operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air from Shenzhen in China’s southern Guangdong province. Some Chinese tourists who arrived at the airport in Bali said they were glad to have the chance to travel internationally again after China ended its strict COVID-19 restrictions. “I feel very happy and relaxed.…
Taliban Arrest Chinese Nationals for Allegedly Smuggling Afghan Lithium
Islamabad — Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have arrested five men, including two Chinese nationals, for allegedly trying to smuggle an estimated 1,000 metric tons of lithium-bearing rocks out of the country. The arrests and the seizure of the rocks were made in the eastern Afghan border city of Jalalabad. The Chinese nationals and their Afghan collaborators were planning to illegally transport the “precious stones” to China via Pakistan, said Taliban intelligence officials in comments aired Sunday by Afghan television channels. Mohammad Rasool Aqab, a senior official at the Afghan Ministry…
As Deepfakes Flourish, Countries Struggle With Response
Digital rights groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation are pushing legislators to relinquish deepfake policing to tech companies, or to use an existing legal framework that addresses issues such as fraud, copyright infringement, obscenity and defamation. “That’s the best remedy against harms, rather than the governmental interference, which in its implementation is almost always going to capture material that is not harmful, that chills people from legitimate, productive speech,” said David Greene, a civil liberties lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Several months ago, Google began prohibiting people from…
I.V.F. Offers Hope in China, Even to the Government
It was a cold and overcast morning in November, but one full of promise for Guo Meiyan and her husband: They would finally get a chance to start a family. As Ms. Guo, 39, was wheeled on a gurney into a hospital room where a doctor transferred her eggs, which had been harvested and fertilized, back into her uterus, she also felt a sense of dread. “If the transplant is not successful, all the money we spent will be wasted, all the pain I endured will be wasted, and we…
Ageing planet: the new demographic timebomb
In Japan even criminals are getting old. In the country’s notorious yakuza crime syndicates, more than half of members are now over 50, according to the national police agency. Veterans who have passed 70 outnumber those under 20 by two to one, even though teenagers are the groups’ traditional source of “muscle”. Japan is a pioneer in adjusting to the skewed demographics of an ageing society, with the impact of its low birthrates exacerbated by a fierce resistance to immigration. But its dilemmas are increasingly shared around the world. India…
China reports thousands of Covid deaths in 1 week, amid estimates 80 per cent of population has been infected
“The massive social mobility during Chinese New Year could accelerate the spread of the pandemic to a certain extent, and the number of infected people will increase in some areas,” Wu wrote in a post on the social media site Weibo on Saturday. Advertisement China has seen a tsunami of Covid infections since Beijing abruptly dropped its restrictive zero-Covid policies last month without making preparations for the shift. The official death toll was greeted with scepticism after the authorities narrowed the definition of Covid deaths, with concerns the true numbers…