The son of a prominent lawyer facing charges in a driving accident that killed a gold medal-winning badminton player was being held in pre-trial detention after turning himself into authorities. Prohm Vicheth Sosakada, 23, was sent to PJ Prison in Phnom Penh on Sunday, according to Nuth Savana, the Interior Ministry’s spokesperson for the Department of Prisons. The announcement on Wednesday comes after numerous Cambodians posted messages on social media doubting whether authorities really had Prohm in custody. The Dec. 14 accident between a jeep and a motorcycle in Phnom…
Year: 2023
China deletes leaked stats showing plunging birth rate for 2023
Chinese censors deleted an article on Wednesday that reportedly leaked full-year population figures for 2023, revealing a plummeting birth rate despite ongoing efforts by the ruling party to encourage people to have families. While official figures won’t be confirmed until Jan. 17, the Mother and Infant Daily news service said 7.88 million babies were born across China 2023, 1.68 million fewer than in 2022. Given that 11 million people died this year, China’s population has therefore fallen by 3.12 million, the population of a medium-sized Chinese city, the report said,…
Crowd of Indonesians storms Rohingya shelter, demanding refugees be deported
Hundreds of students stormed a temporary shelter for Rohingya in Indonesia’s western Aceh province on Wednesday demanding they be deported, in an escalation of the campaign against the refugees, a U.N. agency and local media reported. The protesters then evicted the 137 shaken-up and distressed refugees from their basement shelter, forced them onto two trucks, and transported them to another location, the U.N. refugee agency, or UNHCR, said. The agency said it was “deeply disturbed to see a mob attack on a site sheltering vulnerable refugee families,” adding that many…
Indonesia: Workers protest at China-owned smelter after deadly fire
Dozens of workers on Wednesday protested at a China-owned nickel smelter complex in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province after a weekend fire killed 19 people, exposing safety issues in the fast-growing industry. About 100 workers demanded the closure of all smelters in the Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) until a full investigation into Sunday’s fire was completed, but the demand was rejected by an official at the industrial complex. “We demand a thorough investigation of the work accidents that have occurred at IMIP,” Rizky Akbar, the leader of the protesting workers at…
China sanctions US compliance firm over Uyghur research
Beijing has sanctioned Kharon, a U.S.-based company that helps businesses comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which bans the import of goods made using forced labor in China’s far-west. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Tuesday the sanctions were a “countermeasure” to hit back at sanctions imposed on Dec. 8 by the United States against two Chinese officials for their role in “serious human rights abuses” against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. “In accordance with China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, we will take countermeasures against American intelligence data company…
Nepal’s Himalaya Airlines is flying to Tibet’s capital – a first for foreign airline
Nepal’s Himalaya Airlines announced it will begin weekly flights between Kathmandu and Tibet’s regional capital of Lhasa this week, the first non-Chinese airline to receive permission to fly into Tibet. The move is aimed at bolstering tourism, an airline spokesperson told Radio Free Asia. “No other airline has received this permission,” she said. The inaugural flight by the Kathmandu-based airline – a joint venture between Nepal and China – to Lhasa is set to take off from Kathmandu on Thursday and is scheduled to operate once a week. China has…
Chinese gaming shares fall as regulators announce new proposals
China’s $45bn (£31.3bn) gaming industry has been dealt a blow by proposals to limit the time and money spent on the sector. New rules including spending limits for online games, a ban on games from rewarding players for logging in every day and a ban on lucky draw features from being offered to minors were announced by regulators last week, sparking panic among investors. Shares in Tencent fell by more than 12% on Friday, losing more than $43bn in market value, while NetEase shares fell by more than 24%. BiliBili,…
US House panel targeting Chinese influence makes its mark, to mixed reviews
Led by Representative Mike Gallagher, 39, a Republican China hawk from Wisconsin, the committee has been bold, singular and confrontational on issues related to its avowed adversary. US Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, leads the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Photo: AP “The CCP is laser focused on its vision for the future,” Gallagher said at the committee’s first hearing in February. “We may call this a strategic competition. But it’s not a polite tennis match. This is an existential struggle over what life will…
Indonesian Protesters Storm Refugee Shelter Calling for Deportation of Rohingya
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention center housing hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday, demanding they be deported, Reuters footage showed. A city police spokesperson in Banda Aceh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Footage showed the students, many wearing green jackets, run into the building’s large basement space, where crowds of Rohingya men, women and children were seated on the floor and crying in fear. The Rohingya were then led out…
Japan Lifts Operational Ban on Fukushima Nuclear Plant Owners
Japanese nuclear safety regulators lifted an operational ban Wednesday imposed on a nuclear plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, the operator behind the Fukushima plant that ended in disaster, allowing the company to resume preparations for restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after more than 10 years. At its weekly meeting, the Nuclear Regulation Authority formally lifted the more than two-year ban imposed on the TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant over its lax safety measures at the site, saying a series of inspections and meetings with company officials has shown sufficient improvement.…