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‘Winnie the Pooh’ Slasher Film Pulled from Hong Kong Cinemas

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Hong Kong — Public screenings of a slasher film that features Winnie the Pooh were scrapped abruptly in Hong Kong on Tuesday, sparking discussions over increasing censorship in the city. Film distributor VII Pillars Entertainment announced on Facebook that the release of “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” on Thursday had been canceled with “great regret” in Hong Kong and neighboring Macao. In an email reply to The Associated Press, the distributor said it was notified by cinemas that it could not show the film as scheduled, but didn’t know…

TikTok Updates Rules; CEO on Charm Offensive for US Hearing

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

LONDON — TikTok went on a counteroffensive Tuesday amid increasing Western pressure over cybersecurity and misinformation concerns, rolling out updated rules and standards for content as its CEO warned against a possible U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to appear Thursday before U.S. congressional lawmakers, who will grill him about the company’s privacy and data-security practices and relationship with the Chinese government. Chew said in a TikTok video that the hearing “comes at a pivotal moment” for the company, after lawmakers introduced measures…

Taiwan president heads to Latin America after partners switch ties to China

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Taiwan’s president will visit diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize next week while also making stopovers in the United States, as it aims to shore up ties in Latin America. Tsai Ing-wen will depart Taiwan on 29 March for the 10-day trip, stopping in New York and Los Angeles while en route to and from the Central American countries, the island’s ministry said on Tuesday. Belize and Guatemala are two of just 14 countries that officially recognise Taiwan over China, and Tsai’s trip comes after Honduras said earlier this month that…

Civilians in northern Myanmar face growing risks from landmines

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Dang Zalian was out looking for something to feed his goat earlier this month when he stepped on a landmine. The 25-year-old from Hakha township in northwestern Myanmar’s Chin state sustained serious injuries and is now recuperating in the hospital, said a member of his family who, like other sources interviewed for this story, spoke to RFA Burmese on condition of anonymity. “It happened only 200 or 300 feet away from his home. He stepped on the mine while looking for goat food, leaving both of his legs injured,” the…

Hun Sen says Cambodia doesn’t need EU trade preference to succeed

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Prime Minister Hun Sen declared that Cambodia does not need foreign aid or preferential trade agreements because its economy is strong enough to survive on its own. The remarks, which came at a ceremony Monday to launch the country’s fourth phase of its financial management reform program, which will last from 2023 to 2027, were in response to a European Union resolution. It called on Cambodia to release jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha, improve its human rights situation and hold free and fair elections this year – or risk further…

Vietnam authorities search homes of flight attendants caught with illegal drugs

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Vietnamese authorities have searched the homes of four flight attendants who say they unknowingly transported illegal synthetic drugs hidden in toothpaste tubes into the Southeast Asian country, Vietnamese state media reported Tuesday. But authorities did not find any illegal narcotics at the homes of Vietnamese Airlines flight attendants Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Vo Tu Quynh, Tran Thi Thu Nga and Dang Phuong Van, crew members on a plane from Paris that landed in Ho Chi Minh City on March 16, according to The Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper. The flight…

Putin, Xi touch on Ukraine in Moscow talks as Japan PM turns up in Kyiv

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held hours of talks in Moscow on Tuesday, vowing a deeper partnership between the two anti-western, nuclear-armed powers in meetings overshadowed by a surprise trip to Ukraine by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Wearing matching red ties on the second day of a state visit to show Chinese support for Russia in the face of Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, Xi and Putin held a dramatic ceremony in the Kremlin’s ornate St. George’s Hall, meeting on a long red…

Putin, Xi Call for Ukraine Peace Talks as Russian Leader Says West Not Ready

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday signed a new strategic partnership between their countries and called for a diplomatic solution to Moscow’s war against Ukraine, but Putin said he sees no indication that the Kyiv government and its Western allies are ready for peace talks. After two days of talks with Xi at the Kremlin, Putin accused the United States and Western countries of fighting “to the last Ukrainian,” but praised what he said was China’s “neutral position” on the war. China’s foreign ministry said…

Putin’s two-day charm offensive with Xi underlines who’s boss

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Standing alongside Xi Jinping in the 15th-century Chamber of Facets, one of the most historic ceremonial venues at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin raised his glass of white wine. He proceeded to make a toast to the “health of our great friend Xi and the deepening of the Russian-Chinese partnership”, before ending his speech with the phrase ganbei, Chinese for “empty glass”. Putin’s speech was a culmination of the Kremlin’s two-day charm offensive with China, aimed at cementing ties between the two countries amid Russia’s growing isolation from the west. From…

China’s graduates hit back as Communist Party tells them not to be picky over jobs

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Amid an ongoing shortage of graduate jobs, the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine has started telling young people they shouldn’t be too picky about the work they do, even if they hold high-level qualifications from top universities. A March 16 joint social media post from the Communist Party Youth League and state broadcaster CCTV hit out at growing online complaints from highly qualified graduates about a lack of employment opportunities, as more than 11 million young people graduate this year only to face the prospect of grueling shift work…