Day: October 20, 2023

Thousands in Middle East, Beyond Rally for Palestinians

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Tens of thousands of people in Muslim countries held demonstrations in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, calling on Israel to stop its airstrikes on the territory in response to an attack by Hamas militants. Protesters gathered in Arab nations and beyond, including Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Morocco, Malaysia and Indonesia. In Egypt, where the military usually bans public gatherings, thousands took to the streets of Cairo and other cities in a public outpouring of anger. Demonstrators chanted, “The people want the fall of Israel,”…

How US curbs on China may revive its rust belt – the former industrial powerhouse near Russia

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Xi’s trip had come two months after a major shareholder of the robotics giant – the Shenyang Institute of Automation – was added by the US government to its export blacklist. But even amid Washington’s heightening efforts to block China from the global hi-tech supply chain that supports the production of advanced military equipment, for China’s northeast rust-belt region, the economic opportunities could be on the rise. Having fostered the country’s heavy industrial and military development in the 1950s, the region that boasts fertile lands and abundant energy resources is…

Israel’s ‘intelligence failure’ holds a lesson for Taiwan’s defence planners

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The apparent failure of Israeli intelligence exposed by the Hamas attack underlines the importance of accurate information in keeping the island’s defences prepared, Chiu said. Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng addresses the Taiwanese Parliament’s national defence committee on October 12 about the lessons to be learned from the Israel-Gaza conflict. Photo: AFP “This is the first lesson we can draw from the Israel-Hamas conflict,” Chiu told the island’s legislature on October 12, as lawmakers considered the implications of being caught off guard by a similar offensive from the Chinese mainland. “No…

Anthony Albanese urged to halt Daniel Duggan’s US extradition during meeting with president

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Showing that their home-baked cake had made it safely to school was important in itself, but the Duggan family had little inkling of the happy snap’s broader significance. The photograph of Daniel Duggan with his kids outside their country New South Wales school captured one of his last moments of freedom. “That (cake photo) is the last photo of Dan with us,” his wife, Saffrine, said, ahead of Saturday, the day which marks a year since her husband was arrested. “Every photo that I take or have since, there is…

China, US Swap Trade Sanctions on Semiconductors, Graphite 

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The Chinese government announced Friday that it would tighten export controls on graphite, a material essential to the construction of batteries used in electric cars and other green energy systems and of which China is the world’s preeminent supplier. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce described the new restrictions as “conducive to ensuring the security and stability of the global supply chain and industrial chain, and conducive to better safeguarding national security and interests.” The move came days after the Biden administration announced that the United States would widen the list…

China’s economic ‘risks will intensify’ in 2024, with EVs, property market, local government debts clouding prospects

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Overcapacity in the electric vehicle and other sectors, the ailing property market and mounting local government debts are likely to compromise economic recovery efforts and cloud China’s prospects in 2024, leading economists and academics warned on Friday. China could kick off the new year with a bigger bounce, but momentum may taper off later as risks weigh heavier on economic growth, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics president Liu Yuanchun told a webinar. Thanks to a slew of supportive measures to stem downturn risks since July, China’s economy rebounded modestly…

Russia Dismisses US Claims of North Korea Supplying Munitions to Moscow 

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moscow —  Russia’s top diplomat shrugged off U.S. claims that North Korea transferred munitions to Russia, saying Washington had failed to prove the allegation. Russian state television broadcast Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comments on Friday. Lavrov made a two-day trip to Pyongyang this week for talks on ways to boost the two countries’ ties following a September summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House said last week that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and weapons…

Uyghur News Recap: Oct. 13-20, 2023

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WASHINGTON —  Uyghur Prisoners Forced Into Labor for Chinese Businesses in Xinjiang Uyghur inmates at Keriye Prison in Xinjiang endure grueling forced labor, toiling for extended hours in fields and factories, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. The labor benefits Chinese businessmen who lease the prison’s farmland and is also meant to reform the inmates through labor, according to prison employees who spoke to RFA. The prison conditions are part of wider allegations of abuses in Xinjiang, with the U.S. and other countries labeling it a genocide, a…

In China policy, Albanese’s hands are tied by Australia’s populist forces

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This is despite the fact that the visit will mark the 50th anniversary of a very grand gesture, the visit to China in 1973 of Albanese’s fellow Labor prime minister, Gough Whitlam. That visit signalled a more independent Australian foreign policy. It created the conditions for half a century of mutual prosperity, with Australia becoming a key supplier to China of resources and food, and an attractive education, tourism and immigration destination. Things have changed in recent years. The Australia-China relationship took a nosedive after a series of provocative words…

Jia Bei Zhu, Chinese owner of lab caught up in US bioweapons rumours, arrested for breaking health rules

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The Chinese owner of an unauthorised central California lab that fuelled conspiracy theories about China and biological weapons has been arrested on charges of not obtaining the proper permits to manufacture tests for Covid-19, pregnancy and HIV, and mislabelling some of the kits. Jia Bei Zhu, 62, was arrested on Thursday after an investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. He is also charged with making false statements. The charges deal with federal health regulations, nothing related…