Tag: South&Central Asia

Global Study of Doping Cases Involving Minors Points to Russia, India, China

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Montreal —  A 10-year global study of positive doping tests by children and young teenagers showed most were tied to Russia, India and China, and in sports like weightlifting, athletics and cycling, the World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday. Diuretics, stimulants and anabolic steroids were the most commonly found substances in more than 1,500 positive tests involving more than 1,400 minors since 2012. The youngest athlete tested was 8 years old, and the youngest sanctioned in a doping case was a 12-year-old, WADA said in the Operation Refuge study. “Operation Refuge…

Earthquake Hits China-Kyrgyzstan Border

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Beijing —  A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck along the China-Kyrgyzstan border on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey reported, warning of potentially widespread damage. Local TV channels in the Indian capital New Delhi reported strong tremors in the city, about 1,400 kilometers away. The quake was registered just after 2:00 am [1800 GMT Monday] at a depth of 27 kilometers in China’s Xinjiang region, 140 kilometers west of the city of Aksu. Shortly after, three more earthquakes were recorded in the area, at magnitudes 5.5 and 5.1 and 5.0. The…

Toy Manufacturers’ Shift From China Not Child’s Play 

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london —  Toy makers grappling with surging costs in China are finding no easy options when it comes to shifting production to cheaper centers elsewhere. Six years ago, Monopoly maker Hasbro approached Indian durable goods and aerospace supplier Aequs to subcontract. “They said if you can get into toy manufacturing, now we’re looking to shift millions of dollars’ worth of product from China to India,” Rohit Hegde, Aequs’ head of consumer verticals, told Reuters. “We said: As long as we can get at least about $100 million of business in…

China Offers Help to Cool Pakistan-Iran Tensions

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Regional powerhouse China offered to play a “constructive role” Thursday in easing tensions between Pakistan and Iran, which have reached a boiling point following reciprocal airstrikes across their shared border, leaving civilians dead and raising fears of further escalation. On Thursday, Pakistani airstrikes in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan provinces killed several people, including four children and three women, Iranian officials said. Pakistan justified the airstrikes as targeting “hideouts used by terrorist organizations” in Iran, a claim strongly rejected by Tehran. The strikes took place two days after Iran bombed targets…

VOA Immigration Weekly Recap, Dec. 17–24

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Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com. Chinese Still Largest Group of Foreign Students in US Students from China retained their position in 2023 as the largest group of international students in the United States. Despite a slight dip, China is still the leading country of origin for foreign students pursuing an education in the U.S. VOA’s immigration reporter Aline Barros has more. As Holidays Approach, Migrants Face Eviction From New York City Shelters…

India, China Break Ranks at COP28 on Target for Renewables

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dubai, united arab emirates —  Widespread satisfaction over a pledge for the world to transition away from fossil fuels was tempered at COP28 by the failure of China and India — the world’s most populous nations — to endorse a related promise to triple their sources of renewable energy by 2030. Experts attending the global climate conference that concluded Wednesday in Dubai said China was reluctant to sign onto the pledge because it has already had a major expansion in renewables in the past few years, making the goal of…

Junta Spokesperson: Myanmar Military Meets Rebel Groups With China’s Help

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Representatives from Myanmar’s ruling military have held talks, facilitated by China, with three armed rebel groups leading an anti-junta offensive, state media reported a junta spokesperson as saying on Monday. Myanmar’s military is battling armed opponents on several fronts, in the fiercest challenge to its grip on the Southeast Asian country since it seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup. Rebel groups aligned with a pro-democracy parallel government launched a coordinated offensive in late October, taking control of several military posts and towns near the border with…

What Will It Take for Taliban to Gain Recognition From China, Others? 

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washington —  China’s recent decision to accept the credentials of the Taliban ambassador to Beijing, without having formally recognized Afghanistan’s new rulers as the legitimate government, is both paradoxical and transactional, experts say. The Taliban foreign ministry announced December 1 that the director-general of the protocol department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hong Lei, had accepted the credentials from Taliban Ambassador Asadullah Bilal Karimi. The following week, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said, “Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community.” But he reiterated long-standing…

US, Philippines Condemn Chinese Coast Guard’s ‘High-Seas Assault’

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manila, philippines —  The Philippines and its treaty ally, the United States, separately condemned a high-seas assault Saturday by the Chinese coast guard together with suspected militia ships that repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three Philippine fisheries vessels from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The noontime assault by Chinese ships off the Scarborough Shoal, one of the most aggressive this year, caused “significant damage” to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ships, Filipino officials said. They…

Afghan Taliban Says China Becomes First Nation to Accept Its Ambassador

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ISLAMABAD —  Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced Friday that China had formally accepted its ambassador to Beijing, hailing the move as an “important chapter” in growing ties between the two neighboring countries. The announcement, yet to be confirmed by China, would make it the first nation to host a Taliban ambassador since the Islamist group regained power from an American-backed government in Kabul two years ago. Neither China nor any other country has formally given recognition to the de facto Afghan administration. An official Taliban foreign ministry statement said that Hong…