World Archives - Page 343 of 345

Palestinian leader declares end to agreements with Israel, U.S.

15Jun

By Online DeskNo Comments

Palestinian leader declares end to agreements with Israel, U.S.

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK—Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday declared an end to all agreements and understandings with Israel and the United States, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Abbas’ statement came in response to Israeli plans to annex settlements and the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, which could move forward quickly after Israel’s new government was sworn in. “The Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments,” Wafa cited Abbas as saying at an emergency meeting. The leader added that this would include security arrangements. Abbas has threatened similar moves in the past, but has not implemented them. He added that Israel wou

Modi’s popularity soars as India weathers COVID-19 pandemic

15Jun

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Modi’s popularity soars as India weathers COVID-19 pandemic

NEW DELHI—Just before the coronavirus arrived in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced serious challenges, perhaps the biggest of his tenure. Anti-government protests roiled the country. Hindu-Muslim riots exploded in the capital just as U.S. President Donald Trump was visiting. And India’s once-hot economy was slumping, shedding millions of jobs and casting a pall over the entire country. Since then, as the world has been walloped by the coronavirus pandemic, many of these problems in India, especially the economic ones, have only got worse. But once again, India has rallied around Modi. Recent opinion polls show that in the past few months Modi’s already high approval ratings have soared even higher, touching 80 per cent, even 90 per cent. Unlike two of the populist leaders to who

Fearful Hong Kongers rush to secure limited British passports

13Jun

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Fearful Hong Kongers rush to secure limited British passports

As China continues with its plan to roll out the new Security Law, Hong Kongers are in a rush to avail the citizenship offered by Britain and leave the troubled territory.Shortly before Hong Kong was handed back to China, Simon Ng applied for a British National (Overseas) passport, a document he never thought he would need.His predicament is not new for the people in that region, as thousands of Hong Kongers rush for British passports with China tightening its grip on the territory.China's plan to impose a sweeping national security law on the city in response to huge pro-democracy protests has Ng mulling the prospect of leaving, the first time he has contemplated such action since Britain returned the former colony in 1997."Back then, like many of my peers, I thought China would reform an...

China’s ‘repression against all religions continues to intensify’, says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

12Jun

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China’s ‘repression against all religions continues to intensify’, says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of seeking to “infuse communist dogma” into faith groups’ teachings, saying that the state of religious freedom in China has further deteriorated over the past year.China’s “state-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify”, Pompeo told reporters at the release of the “2019 International Religious Freedom Report”.“The mass detentions of Uygurs in [the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region] continues, so does the repression of Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians,” said Pompeo.Last year began with China’s formal adoption of a five-year plan to “Sinicise” Islam, a strategy to bring the religion and its practitioners in line with Party doctrine.In 2019, the Chinese government

Coronavirus has exposed ‘US-style human rights’ crisis, says Chinese report

11Jun

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Coronavirus has exposed ‘US-style human rights’ crisis, says Chinese report

The China Society for Human Rights Studies issued a report on Thursday terming the US response to the coronavirus pandemic as “self-interested, short-sighted, inefficient, and irresponsible,” saying that it exposed the long-existing problems within the country.In the report titled, “The COVID-19 Pandemic Magnifies the Crisis of US-Style Human Rights”, the Rights group said “inequality within the US society was being fully exposed during the pandemic."“The US response to the pandemic has not only caused the tragedy in which about 2 million Americans became infected with the virus and more than 110,000 have died from it, but also caused the exposure and deterioration of the long-existing problems within the United States, such as a divisive society, the polarization between the rich and the

Hong Kong cannot tolerate any more ‘chaos’, says Carrie Lam

9Jun

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Hong Kong cannot tolerate any more ‘chaos’, says Carrie Lam

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday said that the city could not afford further "chaos" as it marked the first anniversary of the start of rolling mass protests against the extradition legislation by her government.A year ago, more than a million people flooded the streets of Hong Kong to protest a Bill by Lam's government that would have allowed people to be extradited to mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party, for trial.Lam later withdrew the Bill but the legislation triggered widespread concern that the central government in Beijing was stifling freedoms in the global financial hub."All of us can see the difficulty we have been through in the past year, and due to such serious situations we have more problems to deal with," Lam said during her w

Lawmakers in eight countries form new global coalition to counter China

5Jun

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Lawmakers in eight countries form new global coalition to counter China

A group of 19 MPs from eight countries and the European Parliament, representing a swathe of parties from across the political spectrum have launched a new cross-parliamentary alliance to help counter what they say is the threat China's growing influence poses to global trade, security and human rights.The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said it aims to "construct appropriate and coordinated responses, and to help craft a proactive and strategic approach on issues related to the People's Republic of China."The decision comes as the US struggles to muster a cohesive alliance to take on China's growing economic clout and as it leads foreign governments in condemning Beijing's move to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong.US Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democrat Bob Me...

Mind your own ‘Covid’ business, France tells China

4Jun

By Online DeskNo Comments

Mind your own ‘Covid’ business, France tells China

China learned the hard way, that you never, ever tell the French what to do — you will only end up with egg on your face. On Wednesday, French officials shrugged off China’s warning over a weapons sale to Taiwan, telling the communist country to mind its own business. In fact, China was told to keep its focus on fighting the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, according to a report in Taiwan News. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) demanded that France cancel an arms deal with Taiwan saying that it had “expressed deep concern to France,” reported Agence France Presse. Zhao stated that China opposes “all weapons sales or military and security exchanges with the Taiwan region.” The arms deal in question is Taiwan’s purchase of Dagaie MK2 decoy launcher u

Chinese team to measure Everest with BeiDou-3 tech

4Jun

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Chinese team to measure Everest with BeiDou-3 tech

The mission to measure Mount Everest in 2020 is on its way. A team of over 30 Chinese surveyors left the base camp on its arduous and potentially deadly journey to the peak Wednesday as part of the country’s mission to remeasure the height of the world’s highest mountain, China Daily reported. China has launched a campaign to measure the height of Mount Everest, which is known in China as Mount Qomolangma, the Ministry of Natural Resources announced. The re-measurement of the peak’s height is a part of China’s latest large-scale comprehensive scientific survey of Everest, and the project is jointly organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Administration of Sports of China and the regional government of the Tibet autonomous region, Chin

23May

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

Latin America named new epicenter for virus

Live version of coronavirus map The World Health Organization declared Latin America “a new epicenter” of the coronavirus pandemic Friday as US President Donald Trump demanded churches reopen despite the ongoing Covid-19 threat. China meanwhile warned that its economy will suffer an immense hit from the coronavirus and Beijing’s communist rulers for the first time […] The post Latin America named new epicenter for virus appeared first on Asia Times.