World

US slaps sanctions on Chinese paramilitary body in Xinjiang
24Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
World

US slaps sanctions on Chinese paramilitary body in Xinjiang

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday (Jul 31) imposed sanctions on a major paramilitary group with vast interests in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, accusing it of facilitating widespread abuses against Uighur Muslims. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has been seen as a state within a state, running its own towns, universities and media geared overwhelmingly toward China's Han ethnic majority. The Treasury Department said it will freeze any US assets held by the body, known locally as the Bingtuan, and prohibit transactions with it. Calling China's actions toward minorities "the stain of the century," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Bingtuan was "directly involved" in mass incarceration of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim communities in Xinjiang...
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After border clash with China, India to continue strengthening ties with U.S., others, experts say
24Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

After border clash with China, India to continue strengthening ties with U.S., others, experts say

An Indian army convoy drives towards Leh, on a highway bordering China, on June 19, 2020 in Gagangir, India. As many as 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a "violent face-off" with Chinese troops on Tuesday in the Galwan Valley along the Himalayas. Yawar Nazir | Getty Images India's border clash with China in June is likely to accelerate a trend where New Delhi continues to build and strengthen strategic partnerships with the United States and others to protect its national interests, experts told CNBC. The stand-off in the Himalayas began in May and a violent June face-off killed 20 Indian soldiers, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to respond. China did not disclose if there were casualties on its side. Former diplomats and political commentators have said the...
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Cannot mediate in Pakistan-India water dispute: World Bank
24Aug mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Cannot mediate in Pakistan-India water dispute: World Bank

In the long outstanding water dispute between India and Pakistan, the World Bank has refused to take an independent decision on appointment of a neutral expert or court of arbitration saying the two countries will have to bilaterally choose one option.The World Bank’s former Country Director of Pakistan, Patchamuthu Illangovan said, “Both India and Pakistan should come together as to which option to take forward.”Pakistan had made a request for appointment of a Court of Arbitration (COA) while India had sought a neutral expert to resolve their dispute on two hydroelectric projectsHowever, Illango said because of two conflicting positions under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, the World Bank was facilitating the two governments to find ways in resolving differences and move forward.“There is n...
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Japan and Cambodia to ease COVID-19 travel restrictions in September
24Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
Singapore, World

Japan and Cambodia to ease COVID-19 travel restrictions in September

Japan and Cambodia agreed Saturday to reopen borders to their expatriates as early as next month on condition they self-quarantine for 14 days and take other precautions against the novel coronavirus. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi agreed on the policy with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during a meeting in Phnom Penh, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. It is the third such agreement Japan has struck this month as Tokyo looks for ways to gradually relax immigration restrictions imposed on nearly 150 countries to slow the pandemic. The other two deals were reached with Singapore and Malaysia. Motegi aims to clinch similar travel resumption agreements with Laos and Myanmar, which he will visit on the final two stops of his four-nation tour through Tuesday. Before Cambodia, ...
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Eyeing big China box office, Hollywood bows to censorship: Report
24Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Eyeing big China box office, Hollywood bows to censorship: Report

WASHINGTON: The lure of the massive Chinese market has led Hollywood to readily self-censor its films to please Beijing, according to a new report by Pen America, an anti-censorship group. Screenwriters, producers and directors in the huge US film industry are changing scripts, deleting scenes and altering other content, afraid of offending Chinese censors who control the gateway to the country's 1.4 billion consumers, according to the report released Wednesday. The actions include everything from deleting the Taiwanese flag from Tom Cruise's bomber jacket in the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, to removing China as the source of a zombie virus in 2013's World War Z. But it also means completely avoiding sensitive issues including Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong politics, Xinjiang and the portr...
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Singapore’s exports down 15.2% in Q2 2020, forecasts adjusted upwards
24Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
Singapore, World

Singapore’s exports down 15.2% in Q2 2020, forecasts adjusted upwards

SINGAPORE: Total merchandise trade in Singapore declined by 15.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, following a slight growth of 0.5 per cent in the previous quarter. Official data by Enterprise Singapore also showed on Tuesday (Aug 11) that non-oil trade declined by 3.3 per cent, after the previous quarter’s 4.4 per cent increase. Oil trade fell sharply in the second quarter, by 61.9 percent, compared to the 15.9% drop in the first quarter. (Graphic: Enterprise Singapore) On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, total merchandise trade decreased by 14.3 per cent in Q2 2020, after the previous quarter’s 0.1 per cent growth. Non-oil trade declined by 7.7 per cent, while oil trade contracted by 50.6 per cent. On a year-on-year basis, non-oil exports (NOX), which inc...
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Endless first wave: How Indonesia failed to control COVID-19
24Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Endless first wave: How Indonesia failed to control COVID-19

JAKARTA: Only last week Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s maritime minister and close confidant of the country’s president, touted herbal mangosteen juice as a coronavirus remedy. His suggestion was the latest in a string of unorthodox treatments put forward by the president’s Cabinet over the past six months, ranging from prayer to rice wrapped in banana-leaf to eucalyptus necklaces. The remedies reflect the unscientific approach to battling the coronavirus in the world’s fourth-most populous country, where the rate of testing is among the world’s lowest, contact tracing is minimal, and authorities have resisted lockdowns even as infections spiked. Indonesia has officially reported 6,346 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, the highest overall toll in Southe...
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Hong Kong will suspend some legal cooperation with US, China says
23Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Hong Kong will suspend some legal cooperation with US, China says

BEIJING: Hong Kong will suspend an agreement on mutual legal assistance with the United States, China's foreign ministry said on Thursday (Aug 20), in a tit-for-tat response to Washington ending some agreements with Hong Kong. The US State Department notified Hong Kong on Wednesday that Washington had suspended or terminated three bilateral agreements with the semi-autonomous city following China's imposition of a sweeping national security law. "China urges the US to immediately correct its mistakes," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing on Thursday as he announced the suspension of the agreement on legal assistance. The agreement, signed in 1997 before Britain returned Hong Kong to China, specified that the United States and Hong Kong governments would help ...
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Turkey’s COVID-19 cases up more than 1,000 in ‘severe’ rebound
23Aug By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Turkey’s COVID-19 cases up more than 1,000 in ‘severe’ rebound

ISTANBUL: Turkey's new coronavirus cases jumped above 1,000 for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday (Aug 4) in what the government called a troubling rise during peak holiday season, raising concerns among top doctors about insufficient testing. Ankara, which lifted a partial lockdown in June and has lobbied hard for countries to allow tourists to visit, has called 1,000 a critical threshold to possibly reconsider rules. The 1,083 new COVID-19 cases reflect a "severe" rise after a four-day holiday weekend, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter, urging Turks to avoid contact and prevent vacations from having grave consequences. The virus has killed 5,765 and infected 234,934 in the country, putting it seventeenth globally based on total cases, according to a Reuters ta...
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China’s presence in Arctic poses military threat to West
23Aug mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

China’s presence in Arctic poses military threat to West

Melting ice in Arctic Circle has raised the focus for Donald Trump's administration over the presence of china’s navy and its effort to strengthen its knowledge of the Arctic. According to the 2020 Nordic Report, China has made efforts to lay the necessary diplomatic groundwork to justify future military activities but creation of new sea due to melting ice could offer china’s submarines a clear path which could pose a military threat to the West.US forces commander, Admiral James Foggo, said: "The diminishing ice coverage is causing competition to emerge in this new area”.“The High North is attracting global interest with abundant natural resources and opening maritime routes that have not been navigable before", Admiral Foggo added.Pentagon in its warning also said: "The diminishing ice ...
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