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Tag: Asia Pacific

  • Former Australian leader Kevin Rudd appointed US ambassador

    Former Australian leader Kevin Rudd appointed US ambassador

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    CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been chosen as the nation’s next ambassador to the United States.

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the appointment Tuesday, citing Rudd’s roles as leader and foreign minister as well as his academic background as a China scholar and previous work in the U.S. Albanese said Rudd would begin early next year.

    “Dr. Rudd brings unmatched experience to the role,” Albanese said.

    In a statement, Rudd said he was greatly honored to be chosen. He said Australia faces the most challenging security and diplomatic environment it has in decades.

    Rudd served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and again briefly in 2013 before his center-left Labor party lost a general election. He served as foreign minister from 2010 to 2012.

    Australia has a rough-and-tumble political style, and Rudd was abruptly replaced as prime minister by Julia Gillard in 2010, who was then herself abruptly replaced by Rudd in 2013.

    Rudd has often been a divisive figure in Australian politics, and reporters on Tuesday questioned Albanese about appointing somebody who had a reputation as a micromanager and who has been harshly critical of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former President Donald Trump.

    Albanese said Rudd was an “outstanding appointment” and the U.S. would view the choice of a former prime minister as “very significant.”

    “I am very pleased that Kevin Rudd is prepared to do this,” Albanese said. “He certainly doesn’t need to do this. He’s doing it out of a part of what he sees as his service obligation to the country that he loves. And I am sure that he will serve very well.”

    Rudd, who speaks Mandarin, is currently serving as president and chief executive of the Asia Society in New York.

    He has lived in the U.S. for most of the past decade, working first at the Harvard Kennedy School researching U.S.-China relations, followed by eight years in various roles at the Asia Society.

    “In some ways, my new position will not be dissimilar to the work I have been undertaking at Asia Society to support greater cooperation between the U.S. and the countries of our region — experience which should hold me in good stead for the challenge ahead,” Rudd said in his statement.

    Albanese said he plans to visit the U.S. at some point next year, and for President Joe Biden to visit Australia when it hosts a meeting of leaders from the four-nation Quad group, which also includes Japan and India.

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  • South Korea warns of deepening economic slump

    South Korea warns of deepening economic slump

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    Asia’s fourth-largest economy is widely expected to see growth fall below 2 percent next year.

    South Korea has warned of a deeper economic slowdown than expected next year, extending sales tax breaks on some fuel oil products and passenger cars by a few months.

    “Our economy’s growth is expected to slow next year due to the effects from a global economic slump, and the difficulty will be focused on the first half,” Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said on Monday at a meeting with the ruling party leadership, adding the economy was slowing at a more rapid pace than expected.

    The government is expected later this week to announce its economic policy strategies for next year, which will be the first full-year statement for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration since its launch in May.

    South Korea’s economy, the fourth-largest in Asia, relies heavily on exports ranging from cars and ships to chips and smartphones. It is widely expected to see growth fall below 2 percent next year, down from close to 3 percent this year.

    The central bank last month cut its projection for next year’s economic growth to 1.7 percent from the previous 2.1 percent in its scheduled revision, citing falling exports and the resultant reduction likely in corporate investment.

    As the economy has now to rely more on domestic consumption to offset cooling export demand, the finance ministry has extended by as much as six months tax breaks on fuel oil products and passenger car sales beyond their original end-2022 expiry.

    The ministry is due to unveil its 2023 economic projections and strategies on Wednesday.

    President Yoon, struggling against low approval ratings, says exports are the best choice for the manufacturing-heavy country to overcome its slump.

    China, South Korea’s top export market, is facing its own problems as its economy feels the effect of years of strict controls to fight COVID-19.

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  • What does Japan’s military expansion mean for the region?

    What does Japan’s military expansion mean for the region?

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    Video Duration 25 minutes 25 seconds

    From: Inside Story

    Tokyo announces its biggest military build-up since World War II.

    Japan says the strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest it has ever faced.

    Besides Beijing, Japan has two other nuclear-armed neighbours: North Korea and Russia.

    It has expressed concerns about intensifying Russian military activity in its far east, even as Moscow presses on with its war against Ukraine.

    And a North Korean missile flew over Japan in October.

    Japan wants to significantly increase its military spending, targeting $315bn in the next five years, or two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

    But Tokyo’s plans are a reminder of an imperial past, when it occupied the Korean peninsula and parts of China and seized all of East Asia during the second world war.

    So, what does the new military drive mean for Japan’s Pacifist Constitution?

    Presenter: Laura Kyle

    Guests:

    Kotaro Tamura – Adjunct Professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He is a former senator with Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party.

    Nancy Snow – Communications Director, International Security Industrial Council. She’s also a Foreign Policy Adviser to the Japanese Government.

    David Arase – Resident Professor of International Politics at The Hopkins-Nanjing Center of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

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  • India’s visa temples attract devotees aspiring to go abroad

    India’s visa temples attract devotees aspiring to go abroad

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    CHENNAI, India (AP) — Arjun Viswanathan stood on the street, his hands folded, eyes fixed on the idol of the Hindu deity Ganesh.

    On a humid morning, the information technology professional was waiting outside the temple, the size of a small closet – barely enough room for the lone priest to stand and perform puja or rituals for the beloved elephant-headed deity, believed to be the remover of obstacles.

    Viswanathan was among about a dozen visitors, most of them there for the same purpose: To offer prayers so their U.S. visa interviews would go smoothly and successfully. Viswanathan came the day before his interview for an employment visa.

    “I came here to pray for my brother’s U.K. visa 10 years ago and for my wife’s U.S. visa two years ago,” he said. “They were both successful. So I have faith.”

    The Sri Lakshmi Visa Ganapathy Temple is a few miles north of the airport in Chennai (formerly Madras), a bustling metropolis on the Coromandel Coast in southeast India — known for its iconic cuisine, ancient temples and churches, silk saris, classical music, dance and sculptures.

    This “visa temple” has surged in popularity among U.S. visa seekers over the past decade; they can be found in almost any Indian city with a U.S. consulate. They typically gain a following through word of mouth or social media.

    A mile away from the Ganesh temple is the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Navaneetha Krishnan Temple, where an idol of Hanuman – a deity who has a human body and the face of a monkey — is believed to possess the power to secure visas. Also known as “Anjaneya,” this god stands for strength, wisdom and devotion. In this temple, he has earned the monikers “America Anjaneya” and “Visa Anjaneya.”

    The temple’s longtime secretary, G.C. Srinivasan, said it wasn’t until 2016 that this temple became a “visa temple.”

    “It was around that time that a few people who prayed for a visa spread the word around that they were successful, and it’s continued,” he said.

    A month ago, Srinivasan said he met someone who got news of his visa approval even as as he was circumambulating the Anjaneya idol — a common Hindu practice of walking around a sacred object or site.

    On a recent Saturday night, devotees decorated the idol with garlands made of betel leaves. S. Pradeep, who placed a garland on the deity, said he was not there to pray for a visa, but believes in the god’s unique power.

    “He is my favorite god,” he said. “If you genuinely pray – not just for visa – it will come true.”

    At the Ganesh temple, some devotees had success stories to share. Jyothi Bontha said her visa interview at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai went without a hitch, and that she had returned to offer thanks.

    “They barely asked me a couple of questions,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”

    Bontha’s friend, Phani Veeranki, stood nearby, nervously clutching an envelope containing her visa application and supporting documents. Bontha and Veeranki, both computer science students from the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh and childhood friends, are headed to Ohio.

    Both learned about the visa temple on the social media platform Telegram.

    Veeranki said she was anxious because she had a lot riding on her upcoming visa interview.

    “I’m the first person in my family to go the United States,” she said. “My mother is afraid to send me. But I’m excited for the opportunities I’ll have in America.”

    Veeranki then handed over the envelope to the temple’s priest for him to place at the foot of the idol for a blessing.

    “We’ve been hearing about applications being rejected,” she said, her hands still folded in prayer. “I’m really hoping mine gets approved.”

    If she and Bontha make it to Ohio, they want to take a trip to Niagara Falls.

    “I’ve always wanted to see it,” Bontha said.

    Mohanbabu Jagannathan and his wife, Sangeetha, run the temple, which Jagannathan’s grandfather built in 1987. Their house is on a cul-de-sac, which is considered bad luck in several Asian cultures. In Chennai, it is common to find a Ganesh temple outside cul-de-sac homes due to the belief that the deity has the power to ward off evil. At first, only neighbors came to the temple, Jagannathan said.

    “But over the years it started earning a quirky reputation,” he said. “A lot of visa applicants who came to the temple spread the word that they found success after praying here.”

    In 2009, his father, Jagannathan Radhakrishnan, reconstructed the temple and added the word “visa” to the temple’s name. Jagannathan said the success stories are heartwarming; visitors sometimes stop by his home to thank his family for keeping the temple open.

    “I’ve never been bothered by it,” Jagannathan said. “We offer this as a service to the public. It’s a joy to see how happy people are when they come back and tell us they got their visa.”

    His wife said she was touched by the story of a man who came all the way from New Delhi to pray for a visa to see his grandchild after eight years apart. She remembers another time when a woman called her in tears, saying her visa application was rejected.

    “Sure, some don’t get it,” she said. “God only knows why.”

    Padma Kannan brought her daughter, Monisha, who is preparing to pursue a master’s degree in marketing analytics in Clark University. Kannan believes her daughter got her visa because of this powerful deity.

    “I found this temple on Google,” she said. “I was so nervous for her, and so I prayed here.”

    Monisha Kannan said she is not so sure she got her visa because of this temple, but she said she came to support her mom.

    “I’m skeptical,” she said. “I’m just someone who goes with the flow.”

    Her mother takes a more philosophical stance.

    “We pray for our children and things happen easily for them,” she said. “I think when they go through the rigors of life themselves, they will start believing in the power of prayer.”

    Viswanathan said he is not someone “who usually believes in such things.” When his brother got his British visa a decade ago after offering prayers here, Viswanathan chalked it up to coincidence. He became a believer when his wife got her U.S. visa two years ago, he said.

    The day after he visited the temple this time, Viswanathan’s employment visa was approved. He’ll head to New Hampshire in a few months.

    “It’s all about faith,” he said. “If you believe it will happen, it will happen.”

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Russia’s LGBTQI ‘Propaganda’ Law Imperils HIV Prevention

    Russia’s LGBTQI ‘Propaganda’ Law Imperils HIV Prevention

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    Russia’s new law banning any promotion of what is seen as “non-traditional sexual relations” could stigmatise the LGBTQI community and put HIV/AIDS prevention at risk.
    • by Ed Holt (bratislava)
    • Inter Press Service

    BRATISLAVA, Dec 16 (IPS) – A new law banning LGBTQI ‘propaganda’ in Russia will further stigmatise LGBTQI people in the country and could worsen what is already one of the world’s worst HIV/AIDS epidemics, critics have warned.

    The legislation, approved by President Vladimir Putin at the start of this month, bans any promotion of what authorities see as “non-traditional sexual relations”.

    Groups working with Russia’s LGBTQI community say the new law – an extension of 2013 legislation banning the positive portrayal of same-sex relationships to minors – will effectively make outreach work illegal, potentially severely impacting HIV prevention and treatment among what is a key population for the disease.

    It also comes amid intensifying anti-LGBTQI political rhetoric and a Kremlin crackdown on the minority and civic organisations helping it.

    “Since 2014, Russia has been purposefully driving HIV service organizations underground. The new law is another nail in the coffin of effective HIV prevention among vulnerable populations,” Evgeny Pisemsky, an LGBTQI activist from Orel in Russia, who runs the Russian LGBTQI information and news website parniplus.com, told IPS.

    Russia has one of the worst HIV epidemics in the world. For much of the last decade the country has seen some of the highest rates of new infection recorded anywhere – between 80,000 and 100,000 per year between 2013 and 2019, although this has fallen to 60,000 in the last two years.

    Officials figures for the total number of people infected range from between 850,000 cited by the Health Ministry and 1.3 million according to data from the Russian Federal AIDS Centre. The real figure though is believed to be much higher as the Russian Federal AIDS Centre estimates half of people with HIV are unaware of their infection.

    Experts on the disease have repeatedly criticised Russian authorities’ approach to HIV prevention and treatment, especially the criminalisation and stigmatisation of key populations, including LGBTQI people.

    Indeed, the new legislation is an extension of a controversial 2013 law banning the promotion of LGBTQI relationships to minors. This was denounced by human rights groups as discriminatory, but also criticised by infectious disease experts who suggested it further stigmatised gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM), affecting their access to HIV prevention and treatment.

    Organisations working with the LGBTQI community in Russia worry the new legislation could make the situation even worse.

    Gennady Roshchupkin, Community Systems Advisor at the Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity NGO, told IPS: “Practice in many countries has proved that increased stigma of marginalized populations leads to increased discrimination towards these groups, and, subsequently, these people increasingly frequently refuse to come forward for testing and help.

    “Formally, the new anti-LGBTQI law puts no limits on providing LGBTQI people with medical help and examinations. But, of course, the ban on sharing information with anyone about the specific characteristics of their sexual life may significantly decrease the quality and timeliness of testing and care.”

    Meanwhile, Pisemsky said outreach work was likely to stop in its current form as provision of some services will now be too risky.

    “All outreach work will go deep underground. Even online counselling will be dangerous,” he said.

    The law could also impact LGBTQI mental health – research showed LGBTQI youth mental health was negatively affected after implementation of the 2013 legislation – which could, in turn, promote risky sexual behaviours.

    “We cannot know what exactly will happen. Use of alcohol and practice of chemsex may increase, and there could be a rise in cases of long-term depression and suicides. But what we can say with certainty is that there will be a dramatic decrease in the use of condoms and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – unprotected sex with an unknown partner is also an indicator of mental and cognitive conditions in the age of HIV – sexual health literacy, and self-esteem among LGBTQI people,” said Roshchupkin.

    Meanwhile, international organisations heading the fight against HIV/AIDS have attacked the law, warning of its potentially serious impact on public health.

    “Punitive and restrictive laws increase the risk of acquiring HIV and decrease access to services… Such laws make it harder for people to protect their health and that of their communities,” UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement.

    But such warnings are almost certain to fall on deaf ears, at least among Russian lawmakers.

    Although homosexuality was decriminalised in the early 1990s after the fall of communism, LGBTQI people face widespread prejudice and discrimination in Russia. The country placed 46 out of 49 European countries in the latest rankings of LGBTQI inclusion by the rights group ILGA-Europe.

    These attitudes are fuelled by what many LGBTQI activists say is a systematic state policy to stigmatise and persecute the minority.

    Since the 2013 law was implemented, authorities have cracked down on NGOs campaigning for LGBTQI rights, using various legislation to force them to close. At the same time, politicians have intensified anti-LGBTQI rhetoric, and regularly attack the community.

    Indeed, the new legislation was overwhelmingly supported in parliament, with senior political figures rushing to defend it as a necessary measure against Western threats to traditional Russian values.

    Chairman of Russia’s federal parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said about the law: “We must do everything to protect our children and those who want to live a normal life. Everything else is sin, sodomy, darkness, and our country is fighting this.”

    International rights groups say it is clear the law has been brought in for a specific discriminatory purpose.

    “There is no other way of seeing it than as an extreme and systematic effort to stigmatise, isolate, and marginalise the entire Russian LGBTQI community. It is an abhorrent example of homophobia and should be repealed,” Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, told IPS.

    “This law has a characteristic similarity to other repressive laws adopted in Russia in recent years – the opportunity for its arbitrary interpretation. In an environment that is as repressive as Russia’s is right now, rather than deciding to take the risk of falling foul of the law and speaking openly about relationships or sexuality, people will just remain silent.

    “This law emerged in a climate of cumulative repression of human rights and repressive laws across the board, which seek to silence dissent, and, through the force of law, enforce conformism,” she added.

    Pisemsky agreed: “Laws like this one are designed to scare people. Fear needs to be constantly fed with something, otherwise it stops working. This law is not the last step in the escalation of homophobia in Russia.”

    The effects of the ban, which essentially makes any positive depictions of the LGBTQI community in literature, film, television, online, and other media illegal with stiff fines (up to 80,000 US Dollars for organisations) for breaches, have been immediately visible.

    Pisemsky described how HIV service organizations had altered their websites and social media pages to comply with the law, while Roshchupkin said LGBTQI community health centres were removing from their premises homoerotic posters and brochures with explicit depictions of same-sex sexual acts.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s first queer museum, in St Petersburg, had to close its doors just weeks after opening to comply with the law, bookshops have cleared their shelves of works dealing with LGBTQI themes and libraries have taken to displaying similar works with blank covers.

    It is unclear what other effects the law will have, but some LGBTQI organisations which spoke to IPS said people had been in touch with them asking for advice on emigrating.

    Nikita Iarkov, a volunteer with the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, an NGO which helps people with HIV in Russia, said that though he did not think there was yet widespread fear among LGBTQI people in Russia, he is realistic about what the future holds for many of them.

    “Unfortunately, this is not the first law discriminating . This kind of ban is sort of a regular practice now,” he told IPS.

    “I hope that clubs in Moscow and St Petersburg will remain safe spaces for queer people, but I think that it will be impossible to have openly queer parties and clubs.”

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • In Dallas suburbs, Friday Night Lights make way for cricket

    In Dallas suburbs, Friday Night Lights make way for cricket

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    FRISCO, Texas (AP) — With the ornate spires of the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple anchoring the skyline behind them, a cricket batsman and bowler eyed each other across a brown grass field. Amid gusty winds, players waiting to bat watched intently from nearby bleachers.

    No, this is not a scene in India, where cricket became a national obsession after arriving on the wings of British colonialism. Try North Texas, where Friday Night Lights have made way for weekend afternoons on the pitch.

    Welcome to the new Lone Star State, where cricket matches, a Hindu temple and Indian grocery stores co-exist with Christian churches, cattle ranches and Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys empire. More than a decade of expansion has given the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex the largest Asian growth rate of any major U.S. metro area, in the nation’s fastest growing state. According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, Indians account for more than half the region’s Asian population boom, with the Dallas suburb of Frisco alone experiencing growth to rival Seattle and Chicago.

    While some Texans still bleed football, these days a growing number bleed cricket.

    “In ’98, I came to the U.S. Then I stopped playing cricket because I didn’t have any availability here. Down the road four or five years later, I saw somebody playing cricket in Plano,” said Kalyan “K.J.” Jarajapu, a temple volunteer watching the Frisco-sponsored cricket league match. “I never imagined that there would be cricket for sure or there would be a cricket world like I saw back home in India here in (metro) Dallas.”

    The share of Asians among the foreign-born in the U.S. has risen recently, from 30.1% during the 2012-to-2016 period to 31.2% in the 2017-to-2021 period, as the share of immigrants from Latin America and Europe has fallen, according to the American Community Survey.

    Immigrants from South Asia believe they’ve found the best of East meets West in Frisco and other Dallas suburbs. They’re living a new and improved American dream, with access to their preferred houses of worship, authentic food and a community radio station. But the dream also comes with painful realities about racism, pressure to balance two cultures and the mental health challenges of finding your way in an unfamiliar world.

    Named in 1904 after the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, Frisco, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of downtown Dallas, started as a train stop and an agricultural hub. Today, it’s a global technology force. Companies including Toyota, FedEx and Goldman Sachs have drawn job seekers from afar, including a pipeline of IT workers from the tech hub of Hyderabad, India.

    Combine good jobs with reputable schools, affordable housing and warm weather, and the formula for growth is set.

    Texas-based disciples of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji came together in 2008 to purchase a 10-acre (4-hectare) plot in Frisco and build a modest Hindu temple. Within three years, it was hosting hundreds of worshippers.

    Jayesh Thakker, a temple trustee and joint treasurer for the India Association of North Texas, said they raised enough money to build a 33,000-square-foot (3,065-square-meter) temple in 2015. Nearly 30 artisan workers came on special visas to ensure every detail honored Indian Hindu architecture.

    “They built it first as an American structure and then they ‘Indianized’ it,” Thakker said.

    New housing and schools soon followed. Laxmi Tummala, trustee and temple secretary, is also a realtor. Many of her clients settle for less just to live nearby.

    ″‘All that other stuff I wanted, it doesn’t matter if it’s going to put me 25 minutes or 30 minutes away. I want my kids to have this exposure,’” Tummala said.

    Immigrants aren’t the only newcomers. Between 2015 and 2019, more than 17,000 people flocked to Frisco and surrounding Collin County from Dallas County and more than 8,000 from nearby Denton County, according to the Census Bureau.

    Outside Texas, the biggest sources of new Collin County residents were Los Angeles and Orange counties in California, with 1,600 residents and 1,000 residents respectively.

    But almost 6,000 new residents in the area came from Asia.

    The Islamic Center of Frisco has benefited, too. Its board is planning to more than double the size of the 18,000-square-foot (1,672-square-meter) mosque by 2024. With more than 3,500 people attending prayers and 460 children attending Sunday School, the board moved to acquire more space in 2019.

    Azfar Saeed, the center’s president, remembers that nearly two decades ago only 15 people came to pray in a 400-square-foot (37-square-meter) shopping center suite on any given day.

    “At that time, nobody knew Frisco. People were like, ‘Where are you going?’” said Saeed, who was born in Pakistan. By 2010, “people just started moving right and left here.”

    The pandemic brought another shift. Suddenly, people from California or Chicago were able to work remotely but live elsewhere. Houston saw a tremendous influx of Asians in the last decade, with the second-highest growth rate after Dallas among major U.S. metros.

    “The moment people went remote it felt like people were like, ’OK, I have a tiny house in California for $800,000 and I can buy a mansion here in Texas. Let’s go,’” Saeed said, chuckling.

    Where there is a large Asian population in the U.S., anti-Asian hate seems inevitable. In August, a woman’s racist rant against four Indian American women in Plano was caught on video. The unprovoked attack escalated as she hit and threatened to shoot them. She was later arrested.

    The incident caught the attention of people in India thanks to social media. South Asian groups here attended meetings with local law enforcement.

    “It was very sad and it was surprising,” said Tummala, the temple’s secretary. “But we definitely don’t take that and say ‘OK, everybody in Texas is like that.’”

    Some have found outlets for talking about their struggles, including on the region’s only South Asian radio station.

    The app-based Radio Azad, in Irving, was started by Azad Khan in 2011, five years after he immigrated from Pakistan. The station broadcasts music and current affairs. Multiple languages are represented, including Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Farsi and Telugu.

    As the area population has grown, so has Radio Azad’s listenership, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands.

    The anonymity of call-in radio shows on Azad — which means freedom in Hindi and Urdu — has allowed for difficult questions. Nearly three years ago, CEO Ayesha Shafi started monthly mental health segments, and listeners embraced them. They’ve tackled assimilation, bipolar disorder and domestic abuse.

    “You can talk about issues that you’re facing and actually hear somebody who’s like you, who understands where you’re coming from and will actually listen,” Shafi said.

    Depression rose to the forefront after the murder-suicide of a Bangladeshi family in April 2021 in Allen, roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Frisco. Two adult brothers fatally shot their parents, sister and grandmother before taking their own lives. One brother had written on Instagram of dealing with depression since 2016.

    “As parents, we find that anxiety has become so common and it’s not happening to just anybody’s kids,” Shafi said. “As we created awareness, as we shared our shows … they would realize, ‘Omigod, this is happening to our kids.’”

    Reena Yalamanchili dealt with the feeling of not belonging as a child, despite being born in the U.S. The 17-year-old, whose family lives in nearby Coppell and attends the Frisco temple, remembers kids making fun of the lunch her mother made.

    “It kind of made me feel embarrassed about my mom’s cooking, or like Indian food or my culture in general,” Yalamanchili said. “Obviously, I don’t feel like that anymore.”

    She thinks most children grow out of those attitudes, and there is strength in numbers.

    “There’s a lot of people in the same boat as me,” she said. “There’s a lot of shared traditions.”

    Everywhere you look, South Asian cultures are merging into the Texas zeitgeist. The movie theater in Frisco shows films in Telegu, Tamil and Hindi, while at Tikka Taco in Irving, diners can get tacos stuffed with tandoori chicken, lamb or paneer tikka.

    Sometimes Indian politics spill into the Dallas suburbs. Scores of people joined protests this week outside Frisco’s City Hall on behalf of Christians in India who claim a Frisco-based group supports Hindu nationalists threatening their churches.

    On a more festive front, Hanuman Temple now collaborates with the City of Frisco for Holi, an annual Hindu festival also known as the Festival of Colors. Celebrants daub each other with vividly colored powders. The temple also organizes food donations, health fairs and other community services.

    “We don’t want to just be here and be isolated,” Tummala said.

    You can find a Diwali celebration in several Dallas suburbs around October or November. The biggest holiday of the year in India, the commemoration of light over darkness was celebrated by more than 15,000 people in Southlake’s town square. Police even wrote a script for officers doing security to explain its significance if anyone asked.

    “Five years ago, they wouldn’t have known what it was at all,” Shafi said.

    Southlake Mayor John Huffman, who spoke at the event dressed in traditional Indian clothing, believes close to a fifth of the crowd were non-Asians. He credits its success to the Southlake Foundation, a nonprofit started in 2019 by Kush Rao, who immigrated from India. The organization oversees cultural events and community service activities such as trash clean-up and free lunches for city staff.

    “I feel like they’re setting the bar in a lot of ways and saying, ‘We’re going to give back to the Public Works Department not because we’re getting anything in return but because we appreciate what they do for the city,’” Huffman said. “They have been very intentional about telling their fellow South Asians to get out and engage in the community.”

    Back in Frisco during Diwali, blocks of homes near Hanuman Temple twinkled with lights through the pouring rain. Hanuman Temple’s majestic pyramidal gateway glowed red. And dozens of families didn’t let the wet weather stop them from worshipping and chanting mantras to deities.

    Cricket fan Jarajapu, directing cars in the water-logged parking lot, wasn’t surprised so many came.

    “I have seen the transformation of Frisco city,” Jarajapu said. “It has become very vibrant with diversity, culture and especially a lot of Asians. I’m very proud to be living in Frisco.”

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    Associated Press video journalist Noreen Nasir contributed to this story.

    ___

    Terry Tang is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: @ttangAP

    ___

    Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida. Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter: @ MikeSchneiderAP

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  • Afghanistan: Taliban urged to halt public floggings and executions

    Afghanistan: Taliban urged to halt public floggings and executions

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    These punishments began after Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada last month ordered judges to uphold aspects of Islamic law. 

    “We call on the de facto authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty, prohibit flogging and other physical punishments that constitute torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and guarantee a fair trial and due process in accordance with international standards,” the experts said in a statement. 

    Women overwhelmingly targeted 

    Since 18 November, more than 100 men and women have reportedly been publicly whipped in several Afghan provinces, including Takhar, Logar, Laghman, Parwan and Kabul. 

    The floggings took place in stadiums in the presence of Taliban officials and the public.   

    Each person received between 20 and 100 lashes for alleged crimes such as theft, “illegitimate” relationships, or violating social behaviour codes. 

    “While criminalisation of relationships outside of wedlock seem gender-neutral, in practice, punishment is overwhelmingly directed against women and girls,” said the experts. 

    Officials witness execution 

    Last week, Taliban authorities carried out what is believed to be the first public execution since they seized power in August 2021. 

    The UN human rights office, OHCHR, described it as a “deeply disturbing” development. 

    The man put to death had been charged with murder, and was shot by the father of his victim, according to media reports.  

    The execution took place on 7 December in a crowded stadium in Farah province, located in southwestern Afghanistan.  

    Senior Taliban officials, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Chief Justice, were in attendance. 

    ‘Distasteful and undignified’ 

    The UN experts said public floggings and executions began after the Supreme Leader on 13 November ordered the judiciary to implement Hudood (crimes against God) and Qisas (retribution in kind) punishments. 

    “Public floggings and public executions violate universal principles prohibiting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.,” they stated. 

    “The public spectacle of these punishments make them especially distasteful and undignified,” they added. 

    Fair trial doubts 

    The experts recalled that Afghanistan is a party to a UN covenant that prohibits torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment 

    “We are additionally raising doubts about the fairness of the trials preceding these punishments, which appear not to satisfy basic fair trial guarantees,” their statement continued. 

    “International human rights law prohibits the implementation of such cruel sentences, especially the death penalty, following trials that apparently do not offer the required fair trial guarantees,” they said. 

    About UN experts 

    The 10 experts who issued the statement were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. 

    Among them are several Special Rapporteurs, whose mandates cover the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, or issues such as discrimination against women and girls. 

    Experts appointed by the Council are independent of any government or organization, work on a voluntary basis, and operate in their individual capacity. 

    They are not UN staff and are not paid for their work. 

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  • Bali’s water crisis threatens local culture, UNESCO sites

    Bali’s water crisis threatens local culture, UNESCO sites

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    JATILUWIH, Indonesia (AP) — Far from Bali’s beaches and hotels, farmer I Ketut Jata stands on a mountainside, staring at terraced land that is too dry to grow the rice his family has long relied on for food and income.

    “It is no longer possible to work in the fields as a farmer,” he says.

    Bali’s water crisis is worsening from tourism development, population growth and water mismanagement, experts and environmental groups warn. Water shortages already are affecting UNESCO sites, wells, food production and Balinese culture and experts say the situation will deteriorate further if existing water control policies are not enforced across the island.

    A tropical, volcanic island in the center of Indonesia’s archipelago, Bali relies on water from three main sources: crater lakes, rivers and shallow groundwater. A unique traditional irrigation system, called the “subak,” distributes water through a network of canals, dams and tunnels.

    The subak, made a UNESCO site in 2012, is central to Balinese culture, representing the Balinese Hindu philosophy of “Tri Hita Karana”— harmony between people, nature and the spiritual realm.

    “This is one of the very special cases of living landscapes in Asia,” said Feng Jing, who works with UNESCO in Bangkok.

    Pressures are severely straining the subak and other water resources, says Putu Bawa, project manager for the Bali Water Protection program, led by a Bali-based nongovernment organization, the IDEP Foundation.

    The island’s population jumped more than 70% from 1980 to 2020, to 4.3 million people, according to government census data. Tourism growth has been even more explosive: Less than 140,000 foreign visitors came to the island in 1980. By 2019, there were more than 6.2 million foreign and 10.5 million domestic tourists.

    With the tourism boom, Bali’s economy has prospered — at a cost. Rice fields the subak once coursed through have been turned into golf courses and water parks, while forests that naturally collect water and are vital to the subak have been felled for new villas and hotels, Bawa said.

    Stroma Cole of the University of Westminster, who has researched tourism’s impact on Bali’s water supplies, says another issue is that the water table is dropping because of Bali’s residents and businesses rely on unregulated wells or boreholes for clean water, instead of government-owned piped supplies.

    “At the moment, it is the cheapest source of water for people to use,” Cole said. “So why wouldn’t you use that?”

    In less than a decade, Bali’s water table has sunk more than 50 meters (164 feet) in some areas, according to data provided by IDEP. Wells are running dry or have been fouled with salt water, particularly in the island’s south.

    Bali does have regulations — such as water licenses and taxes on water used — that are meant to manage the island’s water supplies, but there’s no enforcement, Cole said.

    “The rules which exist are excellent rules, but they are not enforced” she said.

    Bali’s municipal water agency and Bali’s department of public works did not respond to requests for comment.

    The dire impact of the water crisis can be seen in Jatiluwih, in northwestern Bali, where farmers tend to the island’s largest rice terraces.

    For generations lush green rice terraces have relied on the subak system for irrigation. But in the past decade, farmers have had to import and pump water through white plastic pipes to irrigate the fields.

    Back in central Bali, Jata said he tried planting cloves, which require less water. But the land — which is ideal for rice — and a lack of subak water thwarted that plan.

    “In the past, when the subak was active, the water was still good,” Jata said. “But so far there have been no results … all the cloves are dead.”

    Other Bali farmers say they can only get one rice harvest instead of two or three a year due to water disruptions, according to Cole’s research. That could reduce food production on the island.

    When Indonesia closed its borders at the height of the pandemic, Bali’s tourism dropped drastically. Environmentalists hoped the closure would allow the island’s wells to recharge. IDEP is currently installing sensors in wells across the island to better research monitor water levels.

    But development across the island has continued, including a new government-backed toll road that activists say will further disrupt the subak system. New hotels, villas and other businesses are adding to demand.

    Tourism is key to Bali but there also should be better enforcement and increased monitoring to protect the island’s water resources, Bawa said. “We need to do this together for the sake of the survival of the island.”

    ___

    Associated Press photojournalist Tatan Syuflana contributed from Indonesia.

    ___

    Follow Victoria Milko on Twitter: @thevmilko

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Taiwanese train for war after year of crises

    Taiwanese train for war after year of crises

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    Taichung, Taiwan – The noise from the jet engines reverberates across Taichung, drowning out the sounds from the congested traffic and continuing construction as a squadron of F-16 fighters roars past the rooftops of the city’s skyscrapers.

    The planes quickly disappear behind the light cover of smog that often shrouds the horizon around Taiwan’s second-largest city. The fighter jets are heading towards the sea in the west where a group of Chinese military aircraft has penetrated the Taiwanese air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in the Taiwan Strait.

    When United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2, tensions between the self-ruled island and China reached boiling point and Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own, in the months since has sent its military jets deeper and deeper into Taiwan’s ADIZ.

    Chef and former soldier Hsin Song, 27, has stopped on the street looking towards the hazy horizon for a glimpse of the F-16s. She is not bothered by the roaring of the jet engines above Taichung.

    On the contrary.

    “I feel more reassured seeing that our fighters are ready to stop the Chinese advances into our airspace,” she said.

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Hsin Song has been convinced China, which has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island, will do the same with Taiwan.

    Taiwan’s air force has often had to scramble jets to warn off mainland Chinese military aircraft in the self-ruled island’s air defence zone [File: Ann Wang/Reuters]

    She believes it is not just Taiwan’s air force that needs to be ready to counter China.

    “All Taiwanese need to be ready.”

    The threat of war

    Hsin Song is far from the only one worried about China’s plans for Taiwan.

    Polls show that both cross-strait experts and Taiwanese people share the same concern.

    The US Department of Defense in its annual China Military Power Report released in November classified China as “the most consequential and systemic challenge to national security and to a free and open international system”.

    Fang-Yu Chen is an assistant professor at Soochow University in Taipei, researching the political relations between Taiwan, China and the US. According to him, the growing unease surrounding China can be attributed to the increasingly heavy-handed Chinese approach directed at Taiwan.

    “Chinese intimidation of Taiwan rose markedly following the Taiwanese presidential election in 2016 and has increased since to reach a culmination so far this year, with the massive military exercises that took place around Taiwan following Nancy Pelosi’s visit in early August,” said Fang-Yu Chen.

    “At the same time, the undermining of Hong Kong’s free system in 2019 and 2020 as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the Taiwanese that certain events that previously were believed to be unthinkable can actually happen.”

    Fearing the unthinkable, private Taiwanese organisations and actors have taken matters into their own hands in terms of preparing Taiwan for war.

    One of these is the controversial business tycoon, Robert Tsao.

    Tsao is an outspoken China hawk who often criticises the Chinese Communist Party’s conduct towards Taiwan in harsh terms and regularly accuses Taiwanese politicians of being too weak on China.

    Leading up to the Taiwanese local elections last month, which resulted in a resounding defeat for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), he went so far as to warn that victory for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party could impede efforts to obtain advanced weapons for Taiwan’s defence from the US.

    But Tsao has not always been a China hawk.

    Cheng Hui-Ho giving a presentation to members of the public about the equipment carried by PLA soldiers. There's a slide on the wall showing a soldier with his gun lifted and writing in Chinese characters on the right hand side. Cheng is pointing at the slide, which is behind him
    Activist Ho Cheng-Hui founded the Kuma Academy with academic Puma Shen to train Taiwanese residents in civil defence. Here he teaches participants about the equipment carried by a typical People’s Liberation Army, Chinese soldier [Courtesy of Kuma Academy]

    He actually renounced his Taiwanese citizenship in 2011 and moved to Singapore in protest when Taiwanese government legislation prevented his semiconductor company, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), from investing in China. At that time, he was also an advocate for Taiwanese unification with China under the right circumstances.

    Changing attitudes

    The tycoon’s case reveals how much the mindset towards China has changed for many Taiwanese over the past 10 years – from an earlier focus on business and peaceful integration to a present one of decoupling and combatting coercion.

    During a press conference in early September, Tsao announced he had regained his Taiwanese citizenship. At the same time, he pledged to donate three billion Taiwanese dollars ($100.17 million) to bolster Taiwan’s defences as a response to the military drills the previous month which had effectively surrounded the island.

    Part of the donation went to the civil defence training group, Kuma Academy, founded by academic Puma Shen and activist Ho Cheng-Hui – two other private individuals taking steps to prepare Taiwan for war.

    Through Kuma Academy, Shen and Ho offer private classes with theoretical and practical lessons that teach participants basic skills such as how to combat online misinformation, how to identify a Chinese soldier, how to perform first aid and how to staunch bleeding.

    “The military repeatedly carries out exercises to practise a defence of Taiwan should a Chinese attack occur but most Taiwanese civilians don’t know how what to expect or what to do should such an attack materialise,” Ho explained to Al Jazeera.

    “We started Kuma with the aim of giving interested Taiwanese civilians some tools that help them act before, during and after a potential military engagement in Taiwan.”

    Four soldiers lining up for a photo in full combat uniform during the 'Minan' civil defence drills in Taiwan. There is a banner showing Taiwan flags with large Chinese characters behind them
    Taiwan has stepped up efforts to modernise and train its military because Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to take control of an island it considers its own [File: Ann Wang/Reuters]

    Additionally, Ho hopes the classes will instil a sense in Taiwanese people that countering China requires full mobilisation of the island’s entire society.

    “We do not teach or encourage violence but we do teach people how to defend themselves and each other so that if war breaks out, everyone knows that they have a part to play.”

    ‘Better to be ready’

    According to Soochow University’s Chen, demand from civilians for classes on war preparation has been rising. But until recently, there were few to choose from.

    Kuma Academy held its first training session in early September.

    “When we open for online booking to our classes these days, only a couple of hours pass before we are fully booked,” Ho said.

    As a result, they are planning to expand beyond their current base in Taipei to other big Taiwanese cities such as Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung.

    University student Yuchi Pao, 29, from Taichung, took part in Kuma Academy’s training at the beginning of November. She used to believe war was something that would never happen in her lifetime. But the continuing war in Ukraine changed her perception.

    “Since the Russian invasion [of Ukraine], I have felt that I should know more about what I can do for Taiwan’s defence if war breaks out.”

    After participating in the Kuma class, she says she feels more aware of the ways civilians can stand up to potential pro-Chinese online manipulation as well as how she can assist as a civilian in case of conflict.

    She thinks more Taiwanese people should consider their own readiness in the face of a potential Chinese attack.

    Back in Taichung, former soldier Hsin Song believes preparing civilians for war should not be left to private initiatives but should become a required civic duty for all Taiwanese.

    A woman wraps a bandage around another woman's wrist as they learn first aid on a civilian defence course. They are masked and look very intent on their work.
    Basic first aid, including how to treat minor injuries and deal with broken bones, is part of the training [Courtesy of Kuma Academy]

    The roar from the fighter jets is fading away and traffic commotion and construction noise once again dominate Taichung’s soundscape.

    But Hsin Song keeps her gaze fixed in the direction of the F-16s and the Taiwan Strait.

    “It is better to be ready for a war that never comes than to be unprepared for one that does,” she said.

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  • Police detain 4 in Guangzhou after COVID protests

    Police detain 4 in Guangzhou after COVID protests

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Police in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou have detained at least four people for more than a week after they attended protests against COVID-19 restrictions in late November, according to activists, family members and friends of the detained.

    While many who attended protests in cities across China last month were released after being held for 24 hours — the legal limit on detention before police must file charges — the four Guangzhou residents as of Wednesday have been held for a week and a half.

    The detentions came a week after a burst of nationwide protests in the last weekend in November where people demanded freedom from China’s strict pandemic restrictions across several cities in a rare display of direct defiance against the central government. Protesters took to the streets despite great personal risk, knowing that surveillance cameras were pervasive and their social media would be tracked by police.

    Now, what the protesters feared — that police would arrest them after the initial wave of action had passed — is happening in Guangzhou.

    Among the detained is 25-year-old Yang Zijing, who was at home with a roommate when police burst in on Dec. 4, said Yang’s mother, Gao Xiusheng.

    Yang, along with three other protesters in police custody, had all attended demonstrations against the government’s stringent COVID-19 policies in Guangzhou, according to one activist who declined to be named out of fear of retribution. Family members of the other three protesters declined to discuss their cases.

    Yang is being held in criminal detention on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” — a vague charge that is often used in political cases. According to a copy of the notice viewed by AP, Yang was being held under criminal detention.

    Guangzhou police did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

    Though Yang’s mother found a lawyer, police refused to let the lawyer meet with Yang citing pandemic safety, Gao said.

    “I said I wanted to take a jacket to my child. The temperatures in Guangzhou have fallen. They wouldn’t let me bring it,” said Yang’s mother, who worries Yang is being held at a police station instead of a pre-trial detention center, where she thinks there would be a bed and blanket.

    On the night of Nov. 27, hundreds of people gathered at Haizhu Plaza in the city, following protests in Urumqi and in Shanghai the days before. They were angered by the deaths of at least 10 people in an apartment building fire in Urumqi in China’s northwest that many believed was worsened due to COVID-19 prevention measures.

    People came after posts on social media called for a protest at a bridge in Guangzhou, one protester said, but because police were already there blocking the bridge, many wound up at the plaza just opposite.

    One person brought sheets of white paper and handed them out, a form of silent protest against state censorship that had come to symbolize the nationwide movement against COVID-19 restrictions that had materialized that weekend.

    “I didn’t even know what raising a piece of white paper meant,” Yang’s mother said.

    While there were many police officers at the scene and they cleared the crowd fairly quickly, the protesters said no one was detained that night to their knowledge.

    A week later, police started rounding people up. Many people were apprehended on Dec. 4, and after being detained for a little more than 24 hours were released, protesters said, echoing the experiences of protesters in Shanghai and Beijing.

    The four people, however, remain in police custody. Three of them were taken by police on Dec. 4 for participating in the Nov. 27 protest. Another was taken on Dec. 3 for participating in a separate demonstration.

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  • Squeezed between China and Russia, Mongolia’s herders feel pinch

    Squeezed between China and Russia, Mongolia’s herders feel pinch

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    Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – Dulamsuren Demberel, a 58-year-old herder who lives an eight-hour drive from Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, finds it harder each month to make the household budget work.

    Prices of flour and rice, among the basic staples Mongolia’s herders cannot produce themselves, have soared due to the war in Ukraine, with overall inflation running at an eye-watering 14.5 percent.

    Even worse has been the 40 percent jump in the price of coal, as well as shortages recent protests have blamed on corrupt officials’ alleged theft of 385,000 tonnes of coal for sale in China.

    In Mongolia, where winter temperatures often dip below -35°C, about 60 percent of the population lives in gers – traditional tents – that are not connected to the country’s Soviet-era heating and water grid, but instead heated using coal-powered stoves. More than one-quarter of households are made up of herders like Demberel, who relocate their flocks and gers several times per year.

    Mongolia, where winter temperatures often dip below -35°C, is grappling with skyrocketing energy prices [Courtesy of Antonio Graceffo]

    “Last time when I went to the soum, they weren’t even selling coal,” Demberel, who shares her ger with her husband, her second-eldest son and his wife and five children, told Al Jazeera, referring to the provincial district nearby.

    Meanwhile, Demberel, whose husband’s poor health leaves him unable to work, finds it hard to justify making the trek to Ulaanbaatar to sell sheep, wool and milk, the prices of which are in decline even as gasoline prices soar. Mongolia produces oil but, without a cost-effective means to refine it into gasoline, exports almost all of it to China.

    While exports to China have declined in recent months as Mongolia’s economy slows under strict COVID-19 curbs, gasoline prices have risen as much as 65 percent since Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February.

    “Unless you sell more than 30 sheep or something, it’s not worth it, even though we can sell in the city at a higher price,” Demberel said.
    “It’s too far. Paying for gas and other expenses would just make it the same as selling it in the soum, unless you sell a lot.”

    Mongolia, one of the world’s most sparsely-populated countries, is being squeezed economically by China and Russia, its two giant neighbours, which have historically dominated its vast landmass.

    While Russia’s war in Ukraine has caused energy prices to skyrocket, China’s weakening economy has dampened trade even as some Mongolians question their government’s export of coal and other valuable resources to their southern neighbour.

    ger stove
    Many Mongolian households are heated using coal-powered stoves [Courtesy of Antonio Graceffo]

    Mongolia depends on Russia for electricity, gasoline, aviation fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and diesel, about 60 percent of which comes from its northern neighbour.

    China accounts for more than 80 percent of Mongolia’s total exports, 60 percent of imports and more than 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Mongolia’s dependence on its bigger neighbours is immediately obvious on visiting any store, where packaging is covered with Chinese and Russian writing.

    “Of course, we’re fully dependent on China and Russia,” Narangerel, a 57-year-old businessman in Ulaanbaatar, told Al Jazeera.

    “We’re dependent on China in terms of our economy, and we depend on Russia for electricity. Also, we buy 90 percent of our coal and petrol from Russia. All other consumer goods come from China.”

    Mongolia gained independence in 1921, after nearly 300 years of rule by China’s Qing Dynasty. Until the collapse of communism in the early 90s, the socialist Mongolian People’s Republic operated as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

    Former Mongolian territories, Tuva, Buryatia and Altai are part of today’s Russian Federation, while China controls the geographic area of Southern Mongolia as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

    While Mongolia is independent, Moscow and Beijing continue to exert significant influence over the country. After the Dalai Lama’s visit to Ulaanbaatar in 2016, China punished Mongolia by closing off the border. Although he is the spiritual head of the Tibetan Buddhist faith, practised by the majority of Mongolians, the Dalai Lama has not been invited back.

    ger
    Herder Dulamsuren Demberel’s husband is unable to work due to poor health [Courtesy of Antonio Graceffo]

    Mongolians experienced a taste of what decoupling from China would look like in 2020 when the borders were closed as part of China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

    Mongolia’s economy shrank by 4.4 percent, prompting businesses to lay off tens of thousands of workers. Unemployment peaked at 8.5 percent in April of 2021 before declining to 5.4 percent in the third quarter of this year. Herders were not considered unemployed, although many could not get to the city to sell meat or milk during the height of the pandemic.

    While the economy has rebounded, the recovery remains shaky due to China’s economic slowdown and the uncertain global economic outlook.

    Mining revenue, which accounts for more than 20 percent of GDP, dropped by nearly one-quarter in the first two months of 2022, compared with the previous year.

    Despite rebounding since October, resource export revenues remain well below pre-pandemic levels, with iron ore exports to China, one of the biggest money-makers, down 38 percent in the first eleven months of this year.

    “We used to export fluorite to Ukraine, Russia and China. Now, we’ve stopped exporting to Ukraine. And because the border is closed with China, we can’t export to China,” M Uuganbaatar, a 40-year-old executive director at mining enterprise Bayan Jonsh Co, told Al Jazeera.

    Previously, China accounted for 70 percent of Uuganbaatar’s business.

    “Due to inflation, transportation and logistics, costs have increased,” he said. The one upside is that his exports are purchased in United States dollars, which he can use to hedge against a declining tugrik, the local currency.

    So far this year, the tugrik has lost about 18 percent of its value against the dollar.

    Oyuntsetseg Togoodorj, a kindergarten teacher in Ulaanbaatar who earns a salary of 800,000 tugriks ($234) a month, said feeding her four children is becoming increasingly difficult.

    “Two hundred thousand tugrik ($59) a month, was enough to buy all we needed before but now it should be at least 600,000 ($176) to make barely enough to survive,” Togoodorj told Al Jazeera. “For the whole winter, we used to spend 400,000 ($117) for meat. Now it is 800,000 ($235).”

    In addition to increased grocery bills, she is also dealing with higher school fees. “We’re paying four times what we used to pay last year.”

    Man holding horse as a boy on the ground pulls the reins towards him. There are another three horses. They are on grassland with sloping hills and some forest behind them
    More than one-quarter of Mongolian households are made up of herders [Courtesy of Antonio Graceffo]

    Anger and frustration over Mongolia’s dependence on its powerful neighbours is not hard to find.

    Many Mongolians believe China and Russia discourage the construction of power-generation plants and factories in Mongolia for fear of losing their influence over the country. In one notable source of tensions, Russia has opposed the construction of a dam and hydropower generation plant along the Uldza River, claiming it would damage the ecology of Lake Baikal, which lies on the Russian side of the border.

    While Moscow has protested the project on environmental grounds, many Mongolians believe its opposition is really motivated by a desire to keep their country subservient.

    “Historically Russia claims to be our brother but they seem to keep us under thumb,” Ariunjargal Andrei, a 52-year-old construction engineer, told Al Jazeera. “We buy our electricity from Russia, so it isn’t beneficial for them if we build a hydropower plant. Therefore, they’re not allowing us to build it, claiming it’ll have a negative effect on Lake Baikal.”

    “Russia is not allowing us to build the Enkh Gol power station,” Narangerel said. China is … we are getting so many loans that we are in really serious danger.”

    For many Mongolians such as Narangerel, the answer to the country’s economic troubles lies in achieving greater independence.

    “We’re not a producing country, we’re consumers,” he said.

    Batmunkh, a 43-year-old accountant at the country’s fifth largest bank, Khas Bank, who, like many Mongolians goes by one name, summed up the country’s economic problems simply: “The central cause of the success or failure of the Mongolian economy is the Chinese economy and China’s anti-COVID policy.”

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  • Hong Kong leader to press China anthem request with Google

    Hong Kong leader to press China anthem request with Google

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    HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Tuesday he will push Google to display China’s national anthem as the top result in searches for the city’s anthem instead of a protest song.

    The comments by John Lee, Hong Kong’s chief executive, followed several big sporting events — including a rugby tournament in South Korea and powerlifting event in Dubai — where the pro-democracy protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” was played as the city’s anthem instead of the Chinese national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.”

    “There are ways to do it, it’s a matter of whether a company acts responsibly and respect the importance of (a) national anthem in the global context,” Lee said in a briefing. He said he would continue to press Google to make that change.

    Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Lee’s comments come a day after the city’s security chief Chris Tang said a request for Google to replace the “Glory to Hong Kong” protest anthem with China’s national anthem as the top search result had been refused.

    According to Tang, Google had said that such results were generated by an algorithm and did not involve human input.

    “Glory to Hong Kong” became popular during months of anti-government protests in 2019. It is widely considered as banned now after a national security law was enacted, cracking down on political dissent.

    Authorities have said that the phrase “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” — a popular protest slogan that is part of the song’s lyrics — was considered separatist and subversive under the national security law.

    Hong Kong is a former British colony and semi-autonomous region of China, with its own customs territory and legal system. Chinese leaders pledged to respect its civil liberties and way of life for at least a half-century after the city was handed over to Beijing’s control in 1997. But the communist-ruled mainland has expanded its influence over the territory in the past several years, jailing pro-democracy activists and taking a harsh stance toward protests.

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  • New Zealand PM Ardern caught name-calling rival on hot mic

    New Zealand PM Ardern caught name-calling rival on hot mic

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was caught on a hot mic Tuesday using a vulgarity against a rival politician in a rare misstep for a leader known for her skill at debating and calm, measured responses.

    After five years as prime minister, Ardern faces a tough election campaign in 2023. Her liberal Labour Party won reelection two years ago in a landslide of historic proportions, but recent polls have put her party behind its conservative rivals.

    The comment came after lawmaker David Seymour, who leads the libertarian ACT party, peppered Ardern with questions about her government’s record for around seven minutes during Parliament’s Question Time, which allows for spirited debate between rival parties.

    As an aside to her deputy Grant Robertson, Ardern said what sounded like, “He’s such an arrogant pr———,” after sitting down. Her words are barely audible on Parliament TV but are just picked up in the background by her desk microphone as House Speaker Adrian Rurawhe talks.

    Ardern’s office said she apologized to Seymour for the comment. When asked by The Associated Press to clarify, Ardern’s office did not dispute the comment. In an interview with the AP, Seymour said she had used those words.

    “I’m absolutely shocked and astonished at her use of language,” Seymour said. “It’s very out of character for Jacinda, and I’ve personally known her for 11 years.”

    He said it was also ironic because his question to the prime minister had been about whether she had ever admitted a mistake as leader and then fixed it. “And she couldn’t give a single example of when she’s admitted she’s wrong and apologized,” Seymour said.

    Seymour said that in her text, Ardern wrote that she “apologized, she shouldn’t have made the comments, and that, as her mom said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it.”

    Seymour, who said he admired some of Ardern’s political skills immensely, said he’d written back to Ardern thanking her for the apology and wishing her a very Merry Christmas.

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  • BTS member Jin begins military duty at front-line boot camp

    BTS member Jin begins military duty at front-line boot camp

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    YEONCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, began his 18 months of mandatory military service at a front-line South Korean boot camp Tuesday as fans gathered near the base to say goodbye to their star.

    Six other younger BTS members are to join the military in coming years one after another, meaning that the world’s biggest boy band must take a hiatus, likely for a few years. Their enlistments have prompted a fierce domestic debate over whether it’s time to revise the country’s conscription system to expand exemptions to include prominent entertainers like BTS, or not to provide such benefits to anyone.

    With lawmakers squabbling at Parliament and surveys showing sharply split public opinions over offering exemptions to BTS members, their management agency said in October that all members would perform their compulsory military duties. Big Hit Music said that both the company and the members of BTS “are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment.”

    Jin, who turned 30 earlier this month, entered the boot camp at Yeoncheon, a town near the tense border with North Korea, for five weeks of basic military training together with other new conscript soldiers, the Defense Ministry said. After the training involving rifle shooting, grenade throwing and marching practices, he and other conscripts would be assigned to army units across the country.

    About 20-30 fans — some holding Jin’s photos — and dozens of journalists gathered near the camp. But a vehicle carrying Jin moved into the camp without him getting out. The BTS official Twitter account later posted photos showing Jin with other members, likely at the camp, with a message saying: “Our bro!! Have a safe service!! Love you.”

    One image showed smiling members touching Jin’s shaved head.

    “I want to wait (for) Jin and see him go into the military and wish him all the best,” Mandy Lee from Hong Kong said before Jin’s entrance to the camp.

    “Actually it’s complicated. I wanna be sad. I wanna be happy for him,” said Angelina from Indonesia. “Mixed feelings. He has to serve (for) his country.” Angelina, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.

    A couple dozen fans could be seen as a small turnout given Jin’s huge popularity. But Jin and his management agency had earlier asked fans not to visit the site and notified them there wouldn’t be any special event involving the singer, in order to prevent any issue caused by crowding.

    Authorities still mobilized 300 police officers, soldiers, emergency workers and others to maintain order and guard against any accidents. Strict safety steps were expected as South Korea is still reeling from the devastating Halloween crush in October in Seoul that killed 158 people.

    Jin — whose real name is Kim Seok-jin — wrote on the online fan platform Weverse earlier Tuesday that “It’s time for a curtain call.” He posted a photo of himself Sunday with a military buzz cut and a message saying, “Ha ha ha. It’s cuter than I had expected.”

    By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the military for 18-21 months under a conscription system established to deal with threats from North Korea. But the law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have won top prizes in certain competitions and enhance national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t given such benefits even if they gain worldwide fame and win big international awards.

    Jin had faced an impending enlistment because the law disallows most men from further delaying their military service after they turn 30.

    “Those in the pop culture sector experience little bit of disadvantages and unfairness, compared with those in the pure art sector or athletes,” Jung Duk-hyun, a pop culture commentator, said. “This will likely continue to be an issue of controversy so I wonder if it must be discussed continuously.”

    Exemptions or dodging of duties are a highly sensitive issue in South Korea, where the draft forces young men to suspend their studies or professional careers. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup previously said it would be “desirable” for BTS members to fulfill their military duties to ensure fairness in the country’s military service.

    Chun In-bum, a retired lieutenant general who commanded South Korea’s special forces, said the government must move to repeal any exemptions as the military’s shrinking recruitment pool is “a very serious” problem amid the country’s declining fertility rate.

    BTS was created in 2013 and has a legion of global supporters who call themselves the “Army.” Its other members are RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, who is the youngest at 25. The group expanded its popularity in the West with its 2020 megahit “Dynamite,” the band’s first all-English song that made BTS the first K-pop act to top Billboard’s Hot 100. The band has performed in sold-out arenas around the world and was even invited to speak at United Nations meetings.

    Hybe Corp., the parent company of Big Hit Music, said in October that each member of the band for the time being would focus on individual activities scheduled around their military service plans. In October, Jin released “The Astronaut,” a single co-written by Coldplay.

    Jung, the commentator, said solo projects could give BTS members much-needed time to develop themselves after working together as a group for many years. But Cha Woo-jin, a K-pop commentator, said it’s unclear if BTS would enjoy the same popularity as a group when they get together again after finishing their military duties in a few years.

    In August, Lee, the defense minister, said BTS members who are serving would likely be allowed to continue practicing and to join other non-serving BTS members in overseas group tours.

    Cha said K-pop’s global influence wouldn’t be hurt much because of BTS members’ enlistments as they “appear to represent K-pop but aren’t everything of K-pop.” Jung agreed, saying that other K-pop groups like BLACKPINK, Stray Kids and aespa could rise further.

    ___

    Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea.

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  • China students return home amid fears of COVID-19 spread

    China students return home amid fears of COVID-19 spread

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    BEIJING (AP) — Some Chinese universities say they will allow students to finish the semester from home in hopes of reducing the potential for a bigger COVID-19 outbreak during the January Lunar New Year travel rush.

    It wasn’t clear how many schools were participating, but universities in Shanghai and nearby cities said students would be given the option of returning home early or staying on campus and undergoing testing every 48 hours. The Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 22, is traditionally China’s busiest travel season.

    Universities have had frequent lockdowns in the past three years, occasionally leading to clashes between authorities and students confined to campus or even their dorm rooms.

    With so many people staying home, Beijing’s downtown streets were eerily quiet Tuesday, giving it the feel of a voluntary lockdown. Small lines formed outside fever clinics — which have recently increased from 94 to 303 — and at pharmacies, where cold and flu medications are harder to find.

    Restaurants were mostly closed or empty, as many businesses are having difficulty finding enough staff who haven’t gotten infected. Sanlitun, one of Beijing’s most popular shopping districts, was deserted despite having its anti-COVID fences taken down in recent days.

    Tuesday’s announcements came as China begins relaxing its strict “zero-COVID” policy, allowing people with mild symptoms to stay home rather than be sent to a quarantine center, among other changes that followed widespread protests.

    Starting Tuesday, China stopped tracking some travel, potentially reducing the likelihood people will be forced into quarantine for visiting COVID-19 hot spots. Despite that, China’s international borders remain largely shut and there has been no word on when restrictions will be eased on inbound travelers and Chinese wanting to go overseas.

    The move follows the government’s dramatic announcement last week that it was ending many of the strictest measures, following three years during which it enforced some of the world’s tightest virus restrictions.

    Last month in Beijing and several other cities, protests over the restrictions grew into calls for leader Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down — a level of public dissent not seen in decades.

    While met with relief, the relaxation also has sparked concerns about a new wave of infections potentially overwhelming health care resources in some areas.

    Despite a push to boost vaccinations among the elderly, two centers set up in Beijing to administer shots were empty except for medical personnel. Despite fears of a major outbreak, there was little evidence of a surge in patient numbers.

    At the Beixinqiao district vaccination center, 10 nurses waiting to give shots stood in an otherwise empty auditorium. The nurses declined interviews, saying they needed official permission.

    “With the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus as it spreads around the world, our country is coming under increasing pressure, and the epidemic prevention control situation is serious and complicated,” a sign outside the office said.

    “The whole world agrees that getting vaccinated is the most effective way of combating the epidemic. … Please, elderly friends, get vaccinated as quickly and as early as possible!”

    While first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have invested heavily in their medical systems, less-developed cities and the vast rural hinterland have far fewer resources and will likely spell the difference on whether China finds itself overwhelmed.

    Many residents of mainland China have taken to ordering medication from pharmacies in Hong Kong, which has already relaxed many restrictions.

    The government of the semi-autonomous southern city took a further step Tuesday, saying it would remove restrictions for arriving travelers that currently prevent them from dining in restaurants or going to bars for the first three days.

    It would also scrap the use of its contact-tracing app, although vaccine requirements to enter venues like restaurants will remain in place. Those going from Hong Kong to mainland China and Macao will no longer have to take a PCR test at border checkpoints, although they still face several days in quarantine on the mainland side. The new measures take effect Wednesday.

    Hong Kong will gradually reduce PCR testing, including the compulsory screening notices issued to residential buildings, and more rapid test kits will be given out in the community, according to the city’s health minister.

    The easing of controls on the mainland means a sharp drop in obligatory testing from which daily infections numbers are compiled, but cases appear to be rising rapidly, with many people testing themselves at home and staying away from hospitals.

    China reported 7,451 new infections Monday, bringing the nation’s total to 372,763 — more than double the level on Oct. 1. It has recorded 5,235 deaths — compared with 1.1 million in the United States.

    China’s government-supplied figures have not been independently verified and questions have been raised about whether the Communist Party has sought to minimize numbers of cases and deaths.

    The U.S. consulates in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang and the central city of Wuhan will offer only emergency services from Tuesday “in response to increased number of COVID-19 cases,” the State Department said.

    “Mission China makes every effort to ensure full consular services are available to U.S. citizens living in the PRC, but further disruptions are possible,” an emailed message said, using the initials for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

    Xi’s government is still officially committed to stopping virus transmission. But the latest moves suggest the party will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-COVID” strategy.

    Amid the unpredictable messaging from Beijing, experts warn there still is a chance the party might reverse course and reimpose restrictions if a large-scale outbreak ensues.

    The change in policy comes after protests erupted Nov. 25 after 10 people died in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Many questioned whether COVID-19 restrictions impeded rescue efforts. Authorities denied the claims spread online, but demonstrators gave voice to longstanding frustration in cities such as Shanghai that have endured severe lockdowns.

    The party responded with a massive show of force and an unknown number of people were arrested at the protests or in the days following.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Zen Soo and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong and Dake Kang in Beijing contributed.

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  • Philippines: Rights expert urges greater action to combat child sexual exploitation

    Philippines: Rights expert urges greater action to combat child sexual exploitation

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    Mama Fatima Singhateh, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, concluded an 11-day visit to the country on Friday, where she met with government officials, UN agencies, civil society representatives, faith-based leaders, diplomats, and local boys and girls. 

    She commended a recent law that requires social media platforms and internet service providers to step up efforts to counter sexual abuse of young people. 

    System for crime detection 

    Ms. Singhateh also was encouraged by good practices, such as the operation of a centre which provides one-stop medical, psychiatric and social welfare services, but highlighted the need for more action. 

    “The Philippines must set up a robust system for detection of crimes, complaint handling and enhancing capacities of officials and social workers involved in child protection, to provide meaningful support and rehabilitation to victims and survivors,” she said. 

    The rights expert urged the government and stakeholders to ramp up efforts to combat child trafficking, child marriage, the sale of children through illegal adoption, sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism, as well as teenage pregnancy. 

    Support vulnerable children 

    She noted, for example, that explicit legal provision is lacking in the laws to penalise the sexual exploitation of children within the travel and tourism industry.  

    “Officials in this sector do not appear to have adequate information on the issues, scope and manifestations of sexual exploitation in the context of travel and tourism, they will require extensive training and sensitisation on this issue,” she said in a statement. 

    Pointing to gaps and challenges, Ms Singhateh has recommended development of a centralised accurate disaggregated data on incidences, and cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation.  

    She added that greater attention must be given to the issue of sexual exploitation in the context of tourism and transactional sex. 

    The authorities also were urged to scale up support to vulnerable groups, including children with disabilities and those from indigenous, ethnic and minority communities.  

    “It is important to allocate adequate resources and adopt a child-centred, trauma-informed, age and gender-sensitive approach to mitigate amplified risks to vulnerable children,” she said.  

    About UN Rapporteurs 

    Special Rapporteurs like Ms. Singhateh are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.  

    These experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues.   

    They are independent of any government or organization, operate in their individual capacity, and are neither UN staff nor are they paid for their work. 

    Ms. Singhateh will present a report of her findings and recommendations to the Council in March.

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  • New Zealand’s Ardern eyes trade mission to China

    New Zealand’s Ardern eyes trade mission to China

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    New Zealand prime minister says she hopes to visit main trade partner early next year if border restrictions allow.

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her intention to lead a trade mission to China once the country reopens its borders.

    Ardern said on Friday she had expressed her hopes to visit to China’s President Xi Jinping during talks last month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, their first in-person meeting since 2018.

    “I do hope to return to China in person when the settings allow, and I discussed with the president our ambition of taking a trade mission into China early next year – a plan that was welcomed by the president,” Ardern told a meeting of the New Zealand-China Council in Auckland.

    Ardern said New Zealand’s trade and economic links with China have proven resilient despite the challenges of COVID. Her comments came just two days after China announced it was dismantling key parts of a strict “zero-COVID” policy, in a much-needed move to give momentum to a flagging economy.

    Delivering a speech marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Ardern said New Zealand’s relationship with China was important but complex and evolving.

    Ardern said, “We continue to recognise that there are areas where China and New Zealand do not agree, where our interests or world view differ.”

    She added that in those areas where New Zealand and China disagreed her government remained willing to engage but would always advocate for New Zealand’s interests and values, and speak out when needed.

    “We do this predictably, consistently and respectfully,” she said.

    During the talks in Bangkok Ardern discussed bilateral relations and areas of cooperation with Xi while also raising concerns about human rights and the Taiwan Strait.

    New Zealand has long been seen as the moderate, even absent, voice on China in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, but it adopted a tougher tone this year after China and the Solomon Islands struck a security pact.

    While Australia’s relationship with China has deteriorated, New Zealand and China’s interactions have remained largely cordial.

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  • Confusion and anxiety in China as draconian COVID curbs eased

    Confusion and anxiety in China as draconian COVID curbs eased

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    Beijing, China – It’s 3:30pm and I’m doing my best to stay calm. My husband is throwing a suitcase, brand new car seat and a bag of snacks into the back of a taxi while I wrestle a seat belt over my bulbous belly.

    The contractions are coming in thick and fast. My baby has decided to burst into the world two weeks ahead of schedule.

    Eyes closed I hear the “clack” of my husband’s seatbelt.

    “Please drive quickly!” he yells in anxious Chinese.

    The driver knows our destination, a hospital 20 minutes away, but is refusing to budge. “Sao jiankangbao!” or “Scan the health code!” he snaps.

    Irritated, my husband quickly takes out his phone, opens the Beijing Health App and scans the QR code taped to the back of the driver’s seat. “Her too!” the driver shouts. If I wasn’t focusing so much on controlling my heaving moans I would have laughed. I had no idea where my phone was.

    My husband proceeds to melt down, yelling: “She’s having a baby can’t you see?!?”

    “Scan the health code first,” is the stern emotionless reply.

    It’s funnier now than it was that June afternoon. We made it to the hospital eventually and after additional COVID-19 checks on arrival, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy just two hours later.

    China’s zero-COVID policy is based on the principle that one infection is one too many. It has not only created a bubble around China, isolating it from the rest of the world, it has also added layers of regulations and limitations to the lives of the 1.4 billion people living here. And while my medical emergency had a happy ending, the effects of the policy have been devastating and even fatal for many others.

    I started reporting on this “mysterious flu-like illness” in January 2020 when it first spread from Wuhan. Since then, there have been countless stories of people with urgent conditions, children, pregnant women, the elderly etc unable to access care because they didn’t have a recent negative nucleic acid test.

    Millions more have gone hungry, lost their livelihoods and suffered deteriorating mental health due to extensive lockdowns.

    Last month, 10 people living in the city of Urumqi, in China’s northwestern Xinjiang province, including three Uighur children, died in a residential fire – a tragedy widely believed to have been caused by a coronavirus lockdown that had blocked exits and prevented firefighters from reaching the site in time. The tragedy ignited a wave of disbelief and rage. How could a policy designed to protect people be responsible for such needless deaths? Enough was enough.

    What followed was a string of demonstrations in several cities across the country, the most serious acts of public defiance China has seen since the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989. “We want freedom, not COVID tests!” was a common cry. Some brave souls even demanded the resignation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, a call which could easily land them in jail or worse. A blank piece of A4 paper became a symbol of solidarity, mourning and criticism over government censorship.

    I was shocked watching it all unfold and even more shocked to see so many contacts posting messages in support of the demonstrations on Chinese social media. Would the opaque and seemingly immovable Communist Party listen? Chinese police nationwide quickly acted to suppress and prevent further large-scale protests and social media was swiftly scrubbed. That seemed to answer the question and we went on with our lives. In Beijing, that meant staying home, leaving only to get tested for COVID every few days.

    At the time, much of the city was under “soft lockdown” to control yet another Omicron outbreak. Restaurants were closed for dining in, non-essential businesses shut their doors and people were working from home. The capital of the most populated country in the world was a ghost town (a common occurrence since 2020).

    The appearance of the ‘Da Bai’ or ‘Big White’ pandemic prevention workers has been a source of alarm for many – signalling someone, somewhere has or might have COVID-19 [Thomas Peter/Reuters]

    But as I write this, one week later, I’ve been shocked again. This time by the authorities themselves.

    China’s strict COVID-19 policy is being loosened – or in their words, “optimised”.

    They’ve announced several key changes: Positive COVID-19 cases and close contacts will no longer be forced to quarantine at government facilities and test results won’t be needed for domestic travel or entrance into supermarkets, malls, office buildings or parks.

    If a lockdown is imposed it can’t be expanded to entire neighbourhoods, it must be targeted and lifted as soon as possible.

    All these changes are to be implemented as upwards of 10,000 infections are being recorded every day. China has finally surrendered to living with the virus.

    App-controlled life

    For almost three years our mobile phone health app has been our passport to venture beyond our homes.

    We whipped it out to scan codes at every building or store entrance. “Lu ma! He suan yi tian!” it audibly sounds to alert the security guard of your health status. “Green code! Covid test completed one day ago!” Scanning means your location and identity are also noted so authorities know who you are and where to find you.

    For almost three years we froze up at the sight of the dreaded “Da Bai” or “Big White” the not-so-affectionate nickname for people dressed head to toe in medical white suits and goggles. Their presence meant someone somewhere close was getting dragged to a central quarantine facility (often sparse and unsanitary places) where they would not feel the sun on their skin for days or weeks.

    For almost three years, we became used to long testing queues, stocking our freezers with weeks worth of food, stopping non-essential travel and fearing flu and colds because buying any fever-treating medicines was restricted (the rationale being that all people wanting to take Ibuprofen were clearly trying to hide their COVID-19 infection from the authorities).

    So how do we feel now that this draconian system is finally coming to an end? Excitement and relief. We’re even daring to dream about being able to fly and visit our family overseas without fuss or quarantine (which is so far still impossible).

    People demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions in the city of Urumqi. They are holding up pieces of paper with no writing on them. It's dark.
    The relaxations came after a series of protests in cities nationwide after 10 people died in a fire at a residential building that had been locked down because of COVID-19 [Thomas Peter/Reuters]

    But aside from that, there is a whole lot of confusion, chaos and anxiety. People are panic-buying medicines and Rapid Antigen Tests. Social media chat groups are flooded with questions. MRNA vaccines, proven to be more effective than Chinese-made jabs, are unavailable here. Millions of people feel totally unprepared to be exposed to the coronavirus for the first time in their lives. We are all hoping the Chinese health system fares better, otherwise, dark days could be ahead.

    And unlike international headlines imply, day-to-day life hasn’t dramatically changed yet.

    We still need a negative COVID-19 test to access restaurants, entertainment venues, gyms and hospitals, so this thrice-weekly ritual will continue.

    The only difference is I’ll be walking to my local testing site a little lighter; grateful that China is finally joining the world in accepting this new pandemic normal and knowing a mobile phone app now has less power over my life.

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  • Cambodia’s Mekong dolphin is dying despite efforts to save it

    Cambodia’s Mekong dolphin is dying despite efforts to save it

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    The fishing gangs visit the river by night and the rangers do nothing to stop them.

    Working in large groups, the boatmen use fishing methods that have long been outlawed in this part of the Mekong – one of Asia’s mightiest rivers – like gillnetting, which uses nets that hang like a curtain in the water and snag fish by their gills, and electrofishing.

    Normally, the rangers would intervene. But these days they hang back out of a mix of intimidation and sympathy for neighbours made desperate by the pandemic.

    Cambodia’s strict fishing rules, first imposed in 2006, are crucial to the fortunes of the Mekong dolphin, giving the rare but nationally beloved animal a chance at survival after decades of population decline.

    But while dolphin conservation is broadly popular in Cambodia’s poor river communities – and some make money from the visitors they bring – the economic stresses of the pandemic when borders were closed for months forced some into desperate measures to feed their families.

    “We are trying to protect dolphins but criminals are also catching them,” said 63-year-old Sun Koeung, who can earn up to $15 a day from taking people out onto the water to watch the dolphins.

    He says the illegal fishing crews take to the river at 11pm, an hour after the River Guards have completed their shift.

    “If we lose dolphins, no income at all,” he added.

    The illegal activity, hidden in plain sight, helps explain why Mekong dolphin populations are struggling despite nearly two decades of work to support them.

    People in the local community made money taking visitors out on the river but the pandemic ended tourism and many were forced to find new ways to feed their families [File: Heng Sinith/Reuters]

    The Mekong dolphin is a subgroup of the Irrawaddy dolphin, a species found throughout Asia. Its distinctive mouth gives it the appearance of smiling and its intelligence and playfulness have charmed humans for generations. River communities in Laos and Cambodia revere the dolphins as reincarnated ancestors.

    Thousands of these dolphins once lived in the waters of the Mekong, which flows from China down through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Today an estimated 89 dolphins in Cambodia are all that remain.

    High death rates, especially among baby dolphins, have conservationists fearing for their future. There is little margin for error as the dolphins only reproduce every two to three years.

    “Back in 2009, we thought we were actually going to make a difference,” said Randall Reeves, a scientist affiliated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and an adviser to the Cambodia programme. “I don’t feel we really have.”

    The dolphin’s story is just one of millions that make up the global biodiversity crisis as governments sit down this week to thrash out new biodiversity targets at the long-delayed COP15 in Montreal. Without action a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades, scientists warn.

    However, the recovery of some iconic species, such as bald eagles in the United States, pandas in China and tigers in South Asia show that targeted, politically supported plans can deliver results.

    It was in that spirit that Cambodia and Laos teamed up with the IUCN and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) to save the Mekong dolphin more than 10 years ago.

    Early conservation efforts

    In Cambodia, the dolphins had a powerful champion in Touch Seang Tana, a career fisheries expert who called them symbols of “national heritage” and made their protection a personal cause.

    Once a rock star in a popular Cambodian band, the colourful Tana rose through the bureaucratic ranks to join the Council of Ministers, the cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

    In 2006, he assumed a prestigious role, head of Cambodia’s Dolphin Commission, with responsibility for overseeing the recovery plan.

    Tana framed dolphin conservation as a fishing problem and he favoured a stern hand to control it.

    That year, Cambodia banned gill nets in the dolphins’ preferred areas. To enforce the ban, it established the River Guards, a team to patrol the water and confiscate illegal fishing gear. With the help of overseas funding, the team expanded to 72 rangers equipped with motorboats, smartphones, night-vision goggles and a drone.

    By 2017, the measures appeared to be working: The dolphin population had risen from 80 to 92.

    But there were problems, too.

    Some river communities had come to resent the enforcement of the strict rules on fishing in the absence of any attempt to develop alternative livelihoods, said Isabel Beasley, a scientist who began fieldwork on the Mekong dolphin in 1997.

    To feed their families, some bribed the River Guards to look the other way, she said.

    Some even buried the dead dolphins they found, for fear of punishment, according to two former WWF officials.

    According to a joint report by the project partners, the programme failed to record a number of deaths in 2009, 2012 and 2014.

    But in Cambodia’s hierarchical political culture, to point out these issues would have been seen as undermining Tana who insisted the main issue was the gill nets, even as poverty – the root cause of illegal fishing – persisted.

    A fisherman throws his net out on the Mekong. He is silhouetted against a dawn sky and is standing at the bow of his small boat
    Fishing with a net was banned as part of an attempt to save the dolphin [File: Chor Sokunthea/Reuters]

    In an interview with Al Jazeera, Tana said people living in river villages were given tractors and water pumps so they could supplement their incomes with farming.

    “I gave satellite TVs to every village, two to three of them so they can get together to watch media. They were happy,” he said. “You can’t just use regulations and law. You have to strongly do social negotiation, that’s the most important.”

    He accuses foreign NGOs of sometimes exaggerating dolphin deaths and estimated that in 2014, the year he retired, the population was 220.

    He denies dolphin deaths were missed, pointing to strong monitoring by WWF and researchers.

    “NGOs are good. Like WWF,” Tana said. “But the people who work for NGOs are human,” he said. “Some people want to be a big man. ‘I’m the big global NGO or organisation. I have to control everything, you have to follow me.’ No. This I can’t accept.”

    Development is king

    At the Laos-Cambodia border, where the Mekong broadens into a sweeping river pool, the dolphins’ situation was even direr.

    By 2012, this “transboundary” population had fallen to six, a group so small it could only survive through intense protection.

    Lao officials supported dolphins in principle. Lao’s own endangered species list gave Mekong dolphins the highest level of protection under the law.

    But in practice, Lao officials “seemed hesitant to make a commitment” to match Cambodia’s tough fishing controls, said Somany Phay, an official with the Cambodia Fisheries Administration who tried to coordinate strategy with Laos.

    “People in Laos considered it a sensitive issue,” he said.

    The dolphin habitat overlapped with a resource of national interest: energy.

    In 201, Laos approved the Don Sahong dam, a project to send energy to Cambodia. Laos has built dozens of dams as part of a national strategy to export electricity.

    WWF begged Laos to reconsider, saying dam construction would batter the dolphins’ sensitive hearing structures, “almost certainly” killing the last six.

    Regardless, the dam became operational in 2020.

    Last February, WWF-Laos confirmed the death of the last survivor, which some called “Lone George”.

    For some, it was a harsh reminder that while conservation was important, ultimately development was king.

    “They’re proud of the dolphins,” sighed one official involved on the Lao side. “But they won’t put resources into it.” The source declined to be named for fear of repercussions in the closely-controlled country.

    A wall of placards and posters targeting Mega First, the Malaysian company that built the Don Sahong dam. The posters include big red 'stop' signs and words such as 'face your responsibilities' and 'mega disaster'. An activist on the right is holding up a giant fish and one on the left has a giant Mekong dolphin
    The Don Sahong dam was completed despite a vocal campaign to stop its construction during which a quarter of a million people signed a petition against it [File: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP]

    The mystery of the dead dolphins

    While Cambodia’s policies have kept adult dolphins alive, high infant deaths continue to baffle scientists.

    In 2020, eight calves were born but four died, according to a report.

    The dolphins’ typical lifespan is 27-30 years. Of the current population, 70 percent are over 20, according to WWF.

    Over the years, newborn corpses have been found with signs scientists deem ambiguous or even mysterious: skull fractures, blue lesions around the throat and sometimes no visible signs of harm.

    Tooth and tissue samples were sent to labs in the US, dozens of bodies were necropsied and genetics and bacterial cultures were analysed, among the many efforts to solve this mystery.

    None has delivered a clear answer, said Frances Gulland, chair of the US Marine Mammal Commission and a longtime adviser to the Cambodia programme.

    Gulland pointed to small sample sizes – just two to seven specimens a year – and inadequate local infrastructure to receive fresh, undisturbed bodies and analyse them. “These animals are sometimes liquid” by the time they reach the lab, she said.

    Next month she and a small team of scientists will visit Cambodia to shore up lagging aspects of the programme and begin work on a new population estimate.

    But critics say the dolphin project is emblematic of the IUCN’s weaknesses.

    IUCN scientists are unpaid volunteers and they can generally only commit small amounts of time to field visits.

    “What are their achievements? Just workshops,” said Verné Dove, a field veterinarian who participated in the programme from 2006 to 2011 and has just published a dissertation attributing infant deaths to disease.

    “There just comes a time when you have to do something.”

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  • Polynesian pride: Three-day canoe voyage in mid-Pacific

    Polynesian pride: Three-day canoe voyage in mid-Pacific

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    RAPA NUI, Chile (AP) — The causes are worthy, the course is daunting – almost 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) across a stretch of the Pacific Ocean in a large canoe.

    It’s the Hoki Mai Challenge, which started Saturday in Rapa Nui, a territory in the Pacific that is part of Chile and is better known as Easter Island.

    The event consists of a canoe voyage in which nine Rapanuis, two Chileans and one Hawaiian seek to raise awareness about the importance of women in the world, urge protection of the environment, and celebrate the union of the islands of Polynesia.

    The 12 athletes have been training six days a week since mid-September, preparing for a voyage that will take them from Rapa Nui to Motu Motiro Hiva, another island in the mid-Pacific that belongs to Chile.

    “It won’t be easy,” said Gilles Bordes, coordinator of Hoki Mai. “Three days and three nights.”

    Bordes moved to Rapa Nui earlier this year, but he has lived in Polynesia for three decades, devoting much of his time to rowing.

    “I am very grateful to all the Tahitians for teaching me their culture and how to row,” he said. “I came from France, but they accepted me and allowed me to share this with them.”

    Hoki Mai pursues three goals. The first is to honor canoeing in Polynesia, which has been practiced for centuries. The second relates to the environment. Motu Motiro Hiva –also called Salas y Gómez– is an uninhabited island, but its land and the surrounding waters have been affected by pollution.

    The third purpose relates to gender equality. The team will carry a small female moai – one of the ancient statues that Easter Island is famous for — to raise awareness about the importance of women in the world. A bigger statue — carved by a local artisan for Hoki Mai — will be taken to Motu Motiro Hiva in March.

    During the voyage, rowing will be done in relays: groups of six will row for about four hours, then be replaced by the next shift. Those who need to rest will do so in a Chilean navy ship escorting the canoe.

    “The training has been hard, especially for those of us who are less experienced,” said Konturi Atán, a 36-year-old historian.

    Atán said a crewmember invited him to join a few months ago while he was out paddling a one-person canoe.

    “He told me: I need you to come on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help us; we’re lacking enough people to train,” said Atán, who rowed with them, shared a meal, then said “yes” to joining the challenge.

    On training days, they often started before dawn to get accustomed to the darkness they will face during much of the Hoki Mai.

    “We practiced rowing at night, we practiced getting little sleep, we practiced training every day. Gym, rowing, gym, rowing, gym, rowing. Except for Sunday, when we rest,” Atán said.

    Spirituality and sacredness are pervasive in Rapa Nui, including with cooking rituals and songs about their history. Sports also incorporates spirituality.

    Several days before the trip, the canoe built for Hoki Mai was blessed with a “umu”, which involves cooking underground with hot stones in a sacred ceremony.

    “We did it with a white chicken,” Atán said. “It is something spiritual. Eating a piece is a connection to our roots.”

    Their cultural legacy is also linked to the moai, like the one they’ll carry with them to Motu Motiro Hiva.

    The moai are perhaps the most recognizable symbols of Rapa Nui.

    Carved in volcanic stone between 1000 and 1600 AD from the slopes of the Rano Raraku volcano, they represent the ancestors of the various clans whose descendants still inhabit Rapa Nui. They were placed on ceremonial platforms called “ahus” with their torsos facing the island to provide protection. They attracted international attention in October after a fire damaged dozens of them.

    Ahus were built in some other places in Polynesia, but moais are exclusive to Rapa Nui. The bond between neighboring islands is still strong. Rapa Nui, Tahiti, Hawaii and even New Zealand share language similarities and other features.

    Now, with Hoki Mai, there’s also an expectation that those ties expand beyond Polynesia. That’s why the Rapanui and the Hawaiian will row with two “continental” Chileans, as the locals identify those who come from the Chilean mainland in South America.

    “The idea of the canoe is also union,” said Gilles Bordes. “Six people doing the same thing to go forward. The union of cultures. That is why people from Chile are going to row, to show that together we can move towards a better future.”

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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