Month: May 2023

Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai Loses Bid to Terminate National Security Trial

Media Library

hong kong —  A Hong Kong court on Monday rejected an application to terminate a landmark national security trial against media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a case that could see him spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. Lai, 75, is the founder of now shut pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and one of the most prominent Hong Kong critics of China’s Communist Party leadership, including President Xi Jinping. Lai and his three of his companies, Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited, faced a…

Thai Police Seize 1.2 Tons of Crystal Meth Bound for Australia

Media Library

BANGKOK —  Law enforcement officials in Thailand said Monday they seized more than a ton of crystal methamphetamine in a southern province last week that they believed was bound for Australia. Officials from police and the Narcotics Control Board announced that the 1.2 metric tons (2,646 pounds) of the drug, also known as “ice,” likely came from Thailand’s northern border region, which is part of the Golden Triangle where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. Myanmar is a major producer of methamphetamine, which over the past decade has…

China says US must ‘correct its mistaken actions’ before top defence chiefs can meet

Media Library

The US should also “take concrete actions to create necessary conditions for conversation between both sides”, Mao added in response to a question on whether the refusal was due to the US sanctions. Analysts had expected that Li would refuse a meeting with his US counterpart as long as he remained sanctioned by Washington. Advertisement The rejection comes as high-level bilateral talks in recent weeks appeared to have gained momentum. Those talks included Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao’s meetings last week with US trade representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary…

Your Tuesday Briefing: Uganda Enacts an Anti-Gay Law

Media Library

Uganda’s harsh new anti-gay law The president of Uganda signed a punitive anti-gay bill yesterday that includes the death penalty as a punishment, enshrining into law an intensifying crackdown on L.G.B.T.Q. people in the conservative East African nation. It calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could be liable for up to a decade in prison. The law also decrees the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” which is partially defined as acts of same-sex relations with…

China Says Will Land Astronauts on Moon Before 2030, Expand Space Station

Media Library

Beijing —  China’s burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country’s orbiting space station, officials said Monday. Monday’s announcement comes against the backdrop of a rivalry with the U.S. for reaching new milestones in outer space, reflecting their competition for influence on global events. That has conjured up memories of the space race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, although American spending, supply chains and capabilities are believed to give it a significant edge over…

British minister raised Jimmy Lai case with China’s vice president but to no avail

Media Library

British foreign minister James Cleverly raised the case of jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai with a top Chinese official recently to no avail after a court in the city rejected Lai’s judicial review over the hiring of a top British lawyer, according to a government report published on Thursday. “I raised [Lai’s] case with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng earlier this month, and we have raised it at the highest levels with the Hong Kong authorities,” Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly said…

UN: Pledged Fund to Support Rohingya Refugees Grossly Insufficient

Media Library

DHAKA, Bangladesh —  Bangladesh should not bear the burden of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees alone while the agencies of the United Nations are facing challenges to feed them, an official of the United Nations said Monday. Olivier De Schutter, a U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, made the statement after ending a 12-day trip to Bangladesh, where he visited camps sheltering the refugees from Myanmar. He said the response from the international community to support the refugees against the fund needed is “grossly insufficient.” About…

G7 must stop meddling in other nations’ affairs – including China’s – and accept it is no longer relevant

Media Library

As the G7’s slice of the world economy has shrunk, so has its relevance. Today’s G7 has neither the ability nor the will to solve any global political, economic or security problem, and its leaders must adjust to the reality that the group’s influence is waning. The G7’s charge of “economic coercion” against China is without merit. The US – which resorts to unilateral sanctions, long-arm jurisdiction, decoupling, breakage of supply and industrial chains, and politicising and weaponising economic and trade ties – is in fact the origin and main…

Chinese Barge Suspected of Looting WWII British Warship Wrecks

Media Library

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —  Malaysia’s maritime agency said Monday it found a cannon shell believed to be from World War II on a Chinese-registered vessel and was investigating if the barge carrier was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea. Malaysian media reported that illegal salvage operators were believed to have targeted the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales, which were sunk in 1941 by Japanese torpedoes, days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A total of 842 sailors perished, and…

China’s C919 timeline 2008-23: first commercial flight 15 years in the making

Media Library

January 2009: Comac to develop C919 Comac announces it will develop the C919 narrow-body passenger jet. State media reports the C919 is expected to have its maiden flight in 2014 and will be delivered to airlines in 2016. September 2009: Comac unveils C919 Comac unveils a model of the C919 aircraft for the first time at the Asian Aerospace Expo in Hong Kong. A model of a commercial C919 jumbo jet is displayed at the Asian Aerospace International Expo in Hong Kong in September 2009. Photo: AP December 2009: Comac…