Conflict

New US push: Vaccine and Mekong
China, Conflict, World

New US push: Vaccine and Mekong

New US push: Vaccine and Mekong A mural depicting coronavirus frontline workers along a street in Hanoi. The US sent Vietnam 2 million Moderna vaccine doses on July 6. AFP US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the special session with Asean last week to shore up Washington's position in Southeast Asia. He touched on China, the disputes over the South China Sea, the situation in Myanmar and the response to Covid-19, amongst others. Strangely enough, the phrase "free and open Mekong" was introduced for the first time in the latest US position regarding the most important strategic area of mainland Southeast Asia. Most of the media reports focused exclusively on the US vitriol towards China related to the South China Sea conflict on what was, after all, the fifth anniversary of the Arb...
Ethiopia regions send troops to back fight with Tigray rebels
Business, Conflict, World

Ethiopia regions send troops to back fight with Tigray rebels

Ethiopia regions send troops to back fight with Tigray rebels Members of the Amhara militia in Ethiopia have mobilised en masse. DIS ABABA - Three Ethiopian regions previously untouched by the war in Tigray confirmed Thursday they were deploying forces to back military operations there, signalling a potential widening of the conflict. The reinforcements are coming from Oromia -- Ethiopia's largest region -- as well as the Sidama and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' (SNNP) region. The mobilisation follows Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's warning Wednesday that his forces would repel any attacks by its enemies, effectively tearing up a government-declared ceasefire on June 28. "Oromia and Sidama regional special forces have moved towards the front line. The Sidama special forces ...
Far South emergency ‘must end’
Business, Conflict, World

Far South emergency ‘must end’

A motorist drives through a security checkpoint set up along a road in Pattani, where many roads in areas which are prone to unrest are under heavy surveillance. Pornprom Satrabhaya Academics, legal experts and rights activists are calling on the government to lift the Emergency Decree which it had put in place to control the southern insurgency and Covid-19 crisis, saying the tough law is being misused to quash dissent despite it having little effect on controlling Covid-19 transmission as well as the simmering conflict in the South. The call to end the Emergency Decree's enforcement was reiterated in an online public discussion titled "16 Years of the Emergency Decree: From the Southern Border Provinces to Covid-19", which was organised by Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, along...
Any activity without permission the countries territory is Illegal: Vietnam
Asia, China, Conflict, World

Any activity without permission the countries territory is Illegal: Vietnam

Beijing, China: Vietnam said on the context of China conduction research in the Paracel Islands that every activity without their permission illegal. It has been reported that China plans to deploy one of its "largest-ever" oceanographic research and training vessels, named the Sun Yat-sen University, in October of this year, reported Vietnam News. Speaking at the press briefing on Thursday Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said, "As we have reiterated many times, Vietnam has sufficient legal grounds and historical evidence to assert its sovereignty over the Truong Sa (Spratly Islands) and Hoang Sa Islands (Paracel Islands). Vietnam has lawful rights over these waters which is provided by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)". Paracel Is...
China not opening Khunjerab trade border even after the promise
Asia, Business, China, Conflict

China not opening Khunjerab trade border even after the promise

ISLAMABAD: Even after the promise, China is still not agreeing to open the trade route connected to Pakistan in fear of COVID-19 Earlier, following Pakistan’s persistent requests, China had agreed to open the Khunjerab border for trade by May 1, 2021 with stiff conditions in view of the Covid-19 situation. However the neighboring country has yet not opened the border despite all arrangements made on Pakistan’s side of the border. “We have been informed that China may allow goods cross the border by July 10, 2021, but we are still uncertain about the development,” said Javed Hussain, head of Gilgit Baltistan Exporters, Importers Association, who had held a meeting with Chinese officials at Ministry of Commerce here in Islamabad on June 30. According to him, it was agreed in the me
Former US NSA: Pakistan responsible for Taliban’s return to power
Asia, Conflict

Former US NSA: Pakistan responsible for Taliban’s return to power

Kabul, Afghanistan: America gives responsibility of Taliban’s return to power to Pakistan. As Pakistan has always secretly supported most of the terrorist groups.He blamed Islamabad for supporting the Taliban and providing them safe havens in Pakistan during the past two decades. “Parts of the Pakistani government are directly responsible for the Taliban’s return to power”, Bolton said in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), reported The Khaama Press.Pakistan’s intelligence and other internal circles have been in contact with the Taliban for decades, Bolton added. As the deadline for the evacuation of the US troops approaches and the Taliban has overrun numerous districts across Afghanistan, Bolton blamed Pakistan for being “a safe haven for the Taliban” and supporting them
Pakistan accused of helping Taliban hide in-country
Asia, Conflict

Pakistan accused of helping Taliban hide in-country

Pakistan is being accused by John Bolton, the former White House National Security Advisor in order to provide Taliban a safe environment in the territory to live. “Parts of the Pakistani government are directly responsible for the Taliban’s return to power”, Bolton said in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA). Pakistan’s intelligence and other internal circles have been in contact with the Taliban for decades, Bolton added. As the deadline for the evacuation of the US troops approaches and the Taliban have overrun numerous districts across Afghanistan, Bolton blames Pakistan for being “a safe haven for the Taliban” and supporting them against the US and Afghan forces attacks. “I am concerned about the future consequences”, he expressed concern. At the same time, Bolto
Chinese domination in the South China Sea not acceptable.
Asia, China, Conflict, Politics, World

Chinese domination in the South China Sea not acceptable.

China claims over the regions of Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam but today, Manila and China captured region has also asking for sovereignty in the South China sea. Manila has repeatedly protested what it calls the "illegal" and "threatening" presence of hundreds of Chinese "maritime militia" vessels inside its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. Manila's Top Diplomat Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a statement: "The Award conclusively settled the status of historic rights and maritime entitlements in the South China Sea. "It declared as without legal effect claims that exceed geographic and substantive limits of maritime entitlements under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea." He added: "It dashed among others a nine-dash line; and any expectation t...
Palestinian refugees hope Gaza solidarity boosts cause
Conflict, Opinion, Politics, Singapore, World

Palestinian refugees hope Gaza solidarity boosts cause

Palestinian refugees hope Gaza solidarity boosts cause Palestinian student Mira Krayem, in the refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, where she has been busy protesting and gathering support for the Palestinian cause. SHATILA CAMP, Lebanon: From marching in rallies to posting live updates on social media, Palestinian refugee Mira Krayem has barely slept since conflict gripped her ancestral homeland earlier this month. But the 24-year-old university student, who lives in Lebanon, said she felt solidarity messages for the Palestinian cause from across the world have made her and fellow activists feel reenergised after years of crushing defeat. "It makes us feel like we have a voice," said Krayem, on a rooftop overlooking Shatila, the tightly packed refugee camp in Beirut where she was born, ...
Myanmar Covid-19 outbreak hits health system shattered after coup
Conflict, Opinion, Politics, Singapore, World

Myanmar Covid-19 outbreak hits health system shattered after coup

YANGON (REUTERS) - Breathless, fevered and without the extra oxygen that could help keep them alive, the new coronavirus patients at a hospital near Myanmar's border with India highlight the threat to a health system near collapse since February's coup. To help her tend the seven Covid-19 patients at Cikha hospital, day and night, chief nurse Lun Za En has a lab technician and a pharmacist's assistant. Mostly, they offer kind words and paracetamol. "We don't have enough oxygen, enough medical equipment, enough electricity, enough doctors or enough ambulances," Lun Za En, 45, told Reuters from the town of just over 10,000. "We are operating with three staff instead of 11." Myanmar's anti-Covid-19 campaign foundered along with the rest of the health system after the military seized power...