From 5h ago Sarah Basford Canales Marles will ‘make right decision in Australia’s interest’ over deploying navy vessels to Red Sea Earlier this morning, trade minister Don Farrell left open the possibility Australia could deploy navy vessels to the Red Sea amid ongoing attacks against commercial shipping from Iran-backed militia. This week the US asked Australia to send a warship to the region as part of its duties as a member of the international naval security taskforce, the combined maritime forces. It comes as the Yemen-based and Iran-backed Houthis warned…
Day: December 16, 2023
China’s super-small inhalable vaccine shows promise in fight against Covid-19, other viral diseases
A new powdered, inhalable vaccine could provide better protection against respiratory viral infections than traditional injectable vaccines, according to the Chinese researchers who developed it. The aerosol-based vaccine produces microscopic spheres that measure just 2.8 microns across, and was found to produce a long, sustained immune response when tested on mice, hamsters and monkeys, with a single-dose, the researchers said in a paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. To produce an aerosol vaccine capable of depositing microcapsules of vaccine into the lungs, the team, led by researchers at…
Amid US tech war, is China stuck in a middle-technology trap? Is it time to open its doors wider?
China’s top science academy has warned of a potential “middle-technology trap”, with the leading analyst who published the concept calling for the country to “open its doors” to avoid becoming stuck at a key stage needed to fuel sustainable economic growth through innovation. The Chinese Academy of Sciences report in early December came at a delicate time when the United States has stepped up technology curbs, while Chinese manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to move up value chains. “The countries that develop later usually have difficulties in industrial upgrading…
Hong Kong Publisher to Stand Trial This Week Under Beijing’s Dissident Crackdown
HONG KONG — The trial of Hong Kong’s most famous activist publisher who was arrested under China’s crackdown on dissidents will start Monday after being delayed for more than a year. Jimmy Lai, 76, broke into the city’s once freewheeling media world about three decades ago, armed with the belief that delivering information is equal to protecting freedom. Now, his own freedom is at stake as he faces a possible life sentence if convicted under a national security law imposed by Beijing following the 2019 pro-democracy protests. Lai is charged…
Hong Kong vows to pursue wanted overseas activists ‘to the end’
Hong Kong on Friday vowed to pursue overseas pro-democracy activists on its national security wanted list “to the end,” amid calls from U.S. Congress members for sanctions linked to transnational repression by the Chinese Communist Party. National security police on Thursday issued arrest warrants for former British consular employee Simon Cheng, who co-founded the advocacy group Hongkongers in Britain, Frances Hui of the U.S.-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, U.S. citizen and Hong Kong campaigner Joey Siu and overseas YouTube hosts Johnny Fok and Tony Choi. Police said they…
World watches as landmark Jimmy Lai trial set to begin in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s global reputation will be tested this week when the long-delayed trial of the pro-democracy activist and former media mogul Jimmy Lai gets under way. Lai, who turned 76 in jail this month, is charged with colluding with foreign forces under the national security law, as well as sedition. If convicted, which experts say is highly likely, the British national faces spending the rest of his life in prison. The trial starts on Monday, two weeks after another landmark hearing came to an end on 4 December. The Hong…
Why did Chinese provincial civilian officials appear in military uniform?
Dozens of Chinese civilian officials made a rare public appearance in military uniforms at provincial defence events recently in an effort to drum up support for the armed forces and promote military-civilian integration. Although such military reviews are regular events, one former cadre said the aim of such appearances was to keep people alert to security threats and warn civilian officials not to let their guard down. China sends upgraded uniforms for troops at South China Sea outposts Earlier this month, Wang Xiaohui, Communist Party secretary of Sichuan, and a…
Japan, Malaysia Sign $2.8M Maritime Security Deal to Counter China
tokyo — Japan and Malaysia signed a security assistance deal Saturday including a grant of 400 million yen ($2.8 million) to boost Malaysia’s maritime security, as Asian nations seek to counter an increasingly assertive China. Japan will provide equipment such as rescue boats and supplies under the official security assistance deal, signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers on the sidelines of a Tokyo summit marking 50 years of ties between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida welcomed the elevation of the…
Cambodia Welcomes Museum’s Plan to Return Looted Antiquities
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Cambodia has welcomed the announcement that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will return more than a dozen pieces of ancient artwork to Cambodia and Thailand that were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquity trafficking network out of Southeast Asia. This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the United States and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval. Fourteen…
Organizers of Deadly 2021 China Ultramarathon Sentenced to Jail
Beijing — Organizers of a 2021 ultramarathon in northwest China during which 21 runners died in extreme weather conditions have been sentenced to years in prison for their roles, state media reported. Five people involved in planning the ill-fated event were issued jail terms ranging from three years to five and a half years by a court in Baiyin, a city in Gansu province, where the deaths occurred, state news agency Xinhua reported late Friday. In May 2021, the 100-kilometer (62-mile) cross-country mountain race turned deadly as freezing rain, high…