Month: March 2024

Why Russia Killed UN Panel That Monitors North Korea Sanctions

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Seoul, South Korea —  The future of international efforts to restrain Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program is in question after Russia voted on Thursday to dismantle a body meant to monitor the implementation of United Nations sanctions against North Korea. Since its creation in 2009, the so-called “Panel of Experts” has played a key role in attempts to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions against North Korea. Most notably, the eight-member panel produced regular reports outlining alleged violations of U.N. sanctions, keeping the issue in the public eye and prompting follow-up reporting…

How religion became entwined with politics

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. This weekend, millions of people will celebrate Easter. For Christians, the passion of the Christ signifies redemption through divine self-sacrifice. But non-believers, too, may find it worth pondering a story of a spiritual leader who said his kingdom was “not of this world”, refusing the political role many supporters expected of him and his detractors feared. Religion today can seem to be taking the opposite course. Not long ago, societies…

China Presses Pakistan to ‘Eliminate Security Risks’ to Its Nationals After Deadly Attack

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ISLAMABAD —  China joined a Pakistan probe Friday into the killing of five of its nationals in a suicide car bombing. That attack has led to the suspension of work on a multibillion-dollar Chinese-funded hydropower project. Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s office said that he met with a “special investigation team from China” at Beijing’s embassy in Islamabad and “briefed them on the investigation so far” into Tuesday’s deadly attack. According to a statement, they also discussed efforts to enhance the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan during the meeting.…

Hong Kong lawmaker deletes Facebook posts under new security law

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Hong Kong lawmaker Paul Tse, who was among dozens of pro-government legislators who voted in favor of the city’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance last week, has removed posts from his Facebook page for fear that comments he had posted there earlier could be used to prosecute him under the law. Tse’s Facebook account was unavailable when checked by RFA Cantonese on March 27. The move came after Tse, who represents the tourism sector in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, was criticized by Chief Executive John Lee in January for sounding like…

Migrant Workers Who Helped Build Modern China Have Scant or No Pensions, and Can’t Retire

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BEIJING —  At 53, Guan Junling is too old to get hired at factories anymore. But for migrant workers like her, not working is not an option. For decades, they have come from farming villages to find work in the cities. Toiling in sweatshops and building apartment complexes they could never afford to live in, they played a vital role in China’s transformation into an economic powerhouse. As they grow older, the first generation of migrant workers is struggling to find jobs in a slowing economy. Many are financially strapped,…

China-led team seeking elusive quantum of gravity finds first evidence of particles behaving like gravitons

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A China-led team has detected the first experimental evidence for particles that behave like a graviton, a long-sought-after particle that gives rise to gravity, a fundamental force in our universe. By putting a thin layer of semiconductor under extreme conditions and exciting its electrons to move in concert, researchers from eastern China’s Nanjing University, the United States and Germany found the electrons to spin in a way that is only expected to exist in gravitons. Although the experiment did not confirm the existence of gravitons directly, it was the closest…

Huawei shrugs off US sanctions with fastest growth in four years

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Chinese telecoms firm Huawei grew faster in 2023 than it has for four years, as it shrugged off the impact of US sanctions. Revenues rose by nearly 10% to 704.2bn yuan (£77bn) as the Shenzhen-based company enjoyed a rebound within its consumer segment, which includes smartphone handsets. The performance meant Huawei defied the effect of sanctions imposed by the US in 2019, when Donald Trump’s White House accused the firm of being a security risk, something Huawei denies. The UK also vowed in 2020 to remove Huawei from 5G infrastructure…

China’s central bank keeps ‘cautious’ in bond trade despite Xi Jinping’s mandate

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Despite instructions from President Xi Jinping to resume the trading of central government bonds, China’s central bank is expected to take a cautious approach to mitigate unexpected consequences for inflation and the exchange rate, analysts said. At the twice-a-decade financial work conference, held last October, Xi requested the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) gradually increase the buying and selling of central government bonds in the secondary market – a tactic that has gone unused for more than two decades – as a way to enrich the monetary policy toolbox. The…

Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto to visit China

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However, his two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, have asked the constitutional court to re-run the poll by the end of April and disqualify him from the ballot. China not expected to let past overshadow ties with Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo currently serves as Indonesia’s defence minister, and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka is the son of President Joko Widodo. The losing candidates accused the outgoing president, commonly known as Jokowi, of interfering in the election by tacitally supporting Prabowo and using the state apparatus to help his…

RFA Departs Hong Kong, Citing Press Freedom Concerns

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WASHINGTON —  After nearly three decades in Hong Kong, VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Asia has closed its physical bureau in the city and no longer has full-time staff there due to the declining press freedom landscape, the outlet announced in a statement Friday. “Concerns about the safety of RFA staff and reporters in Hong Kong have led us to restructure our on-the-ground operations there. While RFA will retain its official media registration, at this time we no longer have full-time personnel in Hong Kong and have closed our physical…