Day: February 22, 2024

China’s stealth military device, Singapore’s grant for Taylor Swift, Hong Kong talent scheme earners: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

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The median monthly income of professionals recruited under Hong Kong’s leading talent admission scheme is HK$50,000 (US$6,390), more than double what locals are earning, the city’s leader has revealed. 3. ‘Smart’ move: Singapore’s grant for Taylor Swift earns praise and brickbats Singer Taylor Swift performs at her concert for the international “The Eras Tour” in Tokyo on February 7. Photo: Reuters Singapore’s decision to pay American pop star Taylor Swift a grant to perform in the city state allegedly on an exclusivity clause has divided online users. 4. As China…

Chinese and US astronomers make lunar history in collaboration to study the moon, the Milky Way and the universe

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The collaboration is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between NAOC and the Hawaii-based non-profit International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) back in 2012, which allowed Hawaiian astronomers to use an ultraviolet telescope on China’s Chang’e 3 moon lander to capture images of the Pinwheel galaxy from the moon’s surface for the first time two years later. “ILOA was honoured to have participated in the first China-America cooperation on the moon with a Chinese instrument. Now we are pleased to announce the plan to reciprocate on the long-standing…

UNRWA Chief Says Israeli Pressure, Funding Freeze Threaten Agency

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United Nations —  The head of the embattled U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees warned Thursday that it is at a “breaking point,” and its ability to assist millions of Palestinians is “seriously threatened.” “It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that the Agency has reached breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle UNRWA and the freezing of funding by donors at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza,” Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a letter to the president of the U.N. General…

Abduction Issue May Preclude Resumption of Japan-North Korea Talks 

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washington —  For a possible summit between Pyongyang and Tokyo to be successful, it would have to address the issues of abduction and North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, said analysts. Although Pyongyang refuses to engage in talks with Washington and Seoul, it is showing a rare openness to talks with Japan, which has been working closely with South Korea in a tripartite pact with the U.S. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang is open to improving relations with Tokyo…

China can learn from Russia to beat Western sanctions as ‘de-risking’ pressures mount, says foreign affairs expert

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Ding’s assessment comes as the war in Ukraine enters its third year with no end in sight. Soon after the war began in 2022, the US and its key allies imposed unprecedented export controls, financial sanctions and oil price caps on Russia. They also banned Russian banks from using global financial messaging system Swift, short for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, freezing hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian central bank assets and curbing the flow of military technology to Moscow. But the Russian economy did not crash…

Investors eye further gains after Nikkei breaks through 1989 high

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In late 1989, when the Japanese stock market hit its previous record high, the country was in the grip of one of the biggest asset price bubbles in history and its newly minted millionaires were buying trophy assets around the world. But this week, as the Nikkei 225 finally broke through that peak after a 34-year wait, investors said that a lack of such exuberance is a sign that the market could have much further to climb. “It is completely different from the bubble era,” said Seiji Nakata, president of…

Why is Hungary Strengthening Ties with Russia and China?

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While many Western nations have cut economic ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Hungary continues to buy billions of dollars of Russian oil and gas. It also has sought to strengthen ties with Beijing, bucking Western efforts to reduce dependence on China. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Budapest, analysts say Hungary’s leader is seeking to exploit global tensions. Voice of America

Former prisoner says Vietnamese police took his money

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Former prisoner Le Van Sinh has accused the police in Vietnam’s Ninh Binh province of taking 400 million VND (US$16,260) that he’d stashed in the trunk of his motorbike before his arrest. Sinh, 59, was arrested on February 15, 2019 on charges of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 of the criminal law and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. Before his arrest he fought with neighbors over land and accused Hoa Lu district officials of issuing improper land rights certificates to local households. He also posted comments on…

Exiled Cambodian opposition leader quits party to lead new organization

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Exiled opposition leader Mu Sochua announced her resignation from the banned Cambodian National Rescue Party and said she will lead the newly formed Khmer Movement for Democracy, an organization aimed at promoting democracy and the rule of law in Cambodia. “We are very worried about the critical situation in Cambodia such as the Chinese military presence, cybercrime, corruption, forced evictions, territorial integrity, lack of court independence,” the former parliamentarian told Radio Free Asia from Japan, where she met with Cambodians living there.  “We must seek solutions and this movement is…

Chinese business leader urges Beijing to ‘let common sense prevail’ amid private sector struggles

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A prominent business leader has called on China’s leadership to respect market rules, improve relations with enterprises and safeguard the nation’s business environment – echoing areas of widespread concern as a recovery in the nation’s embattled private sector continues to lag behind that of state-owned peers. Michael Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental Education & Technology, one of China’s largest private education conglomerates, made the blunt appeal as he addressed this year’s Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum in the northernmost province of Heilongjiang on Wednesday. China’s foreign firms fear golden era…