ReportWire

Tag: southeast asia

  • G20 leaders’ declaration condemns Russia’s war ‘in strongest terms’ | CNN

    G20 leaders’ declaration condemns Russia’s war ‘in strongest terms’ | CNN

    [ad_1]


    Bali, Indonesia
    CNN
     — 

    Russia’s international isolation grew Wednesday, as world leaders issued a joint declaration condemning its war in Ukraine that has killed thousands of people and roiled the global economy.

    The Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, concluded Wednesday with a leaders’ statement that “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.”

    Speaking after the closing of the summit, Indonesian President and G20 host Joko Widodo told a news conference that “world leaders agreed on the content of the declaration, namely condemnation to the war in Ukraine” which violates its territorial integrity. However, some of the language used in the declaration pointed to disagreement among members on issues around Ukraine.

    “This war has caused massive public suffering, and also jeopardizing the global economy that is still vulnerable from the pandemic, which also caused risks for food and energy crises, as well as financial crisis. The G20 discussed the impact of war to the global economy,” he said.

    The 17-page document is a major victory for the United States and its allies who have pushed to end the summit with a strong condemnation of Russia, though it also acknowledged a rift among member states.

    “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy,” it said. “There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.”

    Jokowi said the G20 members’ stance on the war in Ukraine was the “most debated” paragraph.

    “Until late midnight yesterday we discussed about this, and at the end the Bali leaders’ declaration was agreed unanimously in consensus,” Jokowi said.

    “We agreed that the war has negative impact to the global economy, and the global economic recovery will also not be achieved without any peace.”

    The statement came hours after Poland said a “Russian-made missile” had landed in a village near its border with Ukraine, killing two people.

    It remains unclear who fired that missile. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used Russian-made munitions during the conflict, with Ukraine deploying Russian-made missiles as part of their air defense system. But whatever the outcome of the investigation into the deadly strike, the incident underscored the dangers of miscalculation in a brutal war that has stretched on for nearly nine months, and which risks escalating further and dragging major powers into it.

    Waking up to the news, US President Joe Biden and leaders from the G7 and NATO convened an emergency meeting in Bali to discuss the explosion.

    The passing of the joint declaration would have required the buy-in from leaders that share close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin – most notably Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who declared a “no-limits” friendship between their countries weeks before the invasion, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    While India is seen to have distanced itself from Russia, whether there has been any shift of position from China is less clear. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for a ceasefire and agreed to oppose the use of nuclear weapons in a flurry of bilateral meetings with Western leaders on the sidelines of the G20, but he has given no public indication of any commitment to persuade his “close friend” Vladimir Putin to end the war.

    Since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February, Beijing has refused to label the military aggression as an “invasion” or “war,” and has amplified Russian propaganda blaming the conflict on NATO and the US while decrying sanctions.

    When discussing Ukraine with leaders from the US, France and other nations, Xi invariably stuck to terms such as “the Ukraine crisis” or “the Ukraine issue” and avoided the word “war,” according to Chinese readouts.

    In those meetings, Xi reiterated China’s call for a ceasefire through dialogue, and, according to readouts from his interlocutors, agreed to oppose the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine – but those remarks are not included in China’s account of the talks.

    China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi later told Chinese state media that Xi had reiterated China’s position in his meeting with Biden that “nuclear weapons cannot be used and a nuclear war cannot be fought.”

    In a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov Tuesday, Wang praised Russia for holding the same position. “China noticed that Russia has recently reaffirmed the established position that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,’ which shows Russia’s rational and responsible attitude,” Wang was quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua.

    Wang is one of the few – if not only – foreign officials to have sat down for a formal meeting with Lavrov, who has faced isolation and condemnation at a summit where he stood in for Putin.

    On Tuesday, Lavrov sat through the opening of the summit listening to world leaders condemn Russia’s brutal invasion. Indonesian President and G20 host Widodo told world leaders “we must end the war.” “If the war does not end, it will be difficult for the world to move forward,” he said.

    Xi, meanwhile, made no mention of Ukraine in his opening remarks. Instead, the Chinese leader made a thinly veiled criticism of the US – without mentioning it by name – for “drawing ideological lines” and “promoting group politics and bloc confrontation.”

    Compared with the ambiguous stance of China, observers have noted a more obvious shift from India – and the greater role New Delhi is willing to play in engaging all sides.

    On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for leaders to “find a way to return to the path of ceasefire and diplomacy in Ukraine” in his opening remarks at the summit.

    The draft of the joint declaration also includes a sentence: “Today’s era must not be of war.” The language echos what Modi told Putin in September, on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan.

    “If the Indian language was used in the text, that means Western leaders are listening to India as a major stakeholder in the region, because India is a country that is close to both the West and Russia,” said Happymon Jacob, associate professor of diplomacy and disarmament at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

    “And we are seeing India disassociating itself from Russia in many ways.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Strike on Kyiv as Ukraine probes reports of Russian torture

    Strike on Kyiv as Ukraine probes reports of Russian torture

    [ad_1]

    KYIV, Ukraine — Strikes hit residential buildings in the heart of Ukraine‘s capital Tuesday, authorities said. Further south, officials announced probes of alleged Russian abuses in the newly retaken city of Kherson, including torture sites and enforced disappearances and detentions.

    Video published by a presidential aide showed a five-story, apparently residential building on fire in Kyiv. The city mayor said three residential buildings were struck and that air defense units shot down other missiles. Vitali Klitschko added on his Telegram social media channel that medics and rescuers are being scrambled to the sites of the attacks.

    The strikes followed air raid sirens in the capital and break what had been a period of comparative calm since previous waves of drone and missile attacks several weeks ago.

    The strikes also follow what have been days of euphoria in Ukraine sparked by the retaking of Kherson. The southern city, however, is without power and water and the head of the U.N. human rights office’s monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, on Tuesday decried a “dire humanitarian situation” there.

    Reports of abuses are also emerging in newly liberated Kherson areas now that Russian troops have gone.

    Speaking from Kyiv, Bogner said her teams are looking to travel to Kherson to try to verify allegations of nearly 80 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention it has turned up in the area and “understand whether the scale is in fact larger than what we have documented already.”

    The head of the National Police of Ukraine, Igor Klymenko, said authorities are to start investigating reports from Kherson residents that Russian forces set up at least three alleged torture sites in now-liberated parts of the wider Kherson region and that “our people may have been detained and tortured there.”

    “Mine clearance is currently underway. After that, I think, today, investigative actions will begin,” he said on Ukrainian TV.

    The retaking of Kherson was one of Ukraine’s biggest successes in the nearly 9-month-old Russian invasion and dealt another stinging blow to the Kremlin. But large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine remain under Russian control and fighting continues. Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday reported another civilian death, from Russian shelling, in eastern Ukraine — adding to the invasion’s heavy toll of many tens of thousands killed and wounded.

    The reports of abuse came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday likened the recapture of the Kherson to the Allied landings in France on D-Day in World War II, saying both were watersheds on the road to eventual victory.

    Speaking via video link to a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, Zelenskyy said Kherson’s liberation from eight months of Russian occupation was “reminiscent of many battles in the past, which became turning points in the wars.”

    “It’s like, for example, D-Day — the landing of the Allies in Normandy. It was not yet a final point in the fight against evil, but it already determined the entire further course of events. This is exactly what we are feeling now,” he said.

    The liberation of Kherson — the only provincial capital that Moscow had seized — has sparked days of celebration in Ukraine and allowed families to be reunited for the first time in months. But as winter approaches, the city’s remaining 80,000 residents are without heat, water or electricity, and short on food and medicine.

    Still, U.S. President Joe Biden called it a “significant victory” for Ukraine. Speaking on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Biden added: “We’re going to continue to provide the capability for the Ukrainian people to defend themselves.”

    In his address to the G-20, Zelenskyy called for the creation of a special tribunal to try Russian military and political figures for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, and the creation of an international mechanism to compensate Kyiv for wartime deaths and destruction.

    Zelenskyy referred to the G-20 meeting as “the G-19 summit,” adhering to Kyiv’s line that Russia should be excluded from the grouping.

    “Everywhere, when we liberate our land, we see one thing — Russia leaves behind torture chambers and mass burials. … How many mass graves are there in the territory that still remains under the control of Russia?” Zelenskyy pointedly asked.

    Zelenskyy made a triumphant surprise visit on Monday to Kherson. He hailed the Russian retreat from the southern city as the “beginning of the end of the war,” but also acknowledged the heavy price Ukrainian soldiers are paying in their grinding effort to push back Russia’s invasion forces.

    ———

    Joanna Kozlowska in London, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva, contributed to this story.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden steps into G20 aiming to unite leaders in opposition to Russia’s war on Ukraine | CNN Politics

    Biden steps into G20 aiming to unite leaders in opposition to Russia’s war on Ukraine | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]


    Bali, Indonesia
    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden is confronting competing issues at home and abroad while he’s at the Group of 20 Summit in Bali this week, using the moment on the world’s stage to lean into international support for condemning Russia’s aggression while also facing the prospect of hearing Donald Trump announce his next run for the presidency.

    Administration officials previewing Biden’s G20 summit activities have their sights set on the coalition’s efforts to voice its opposition against the war in Ukraine, which could send a powerful signal amongst a group that’s so far had fragmented approaches to the Kremlin’s aggression.

    This marks the first time the group has gathered in-person since the start of the invasion, and most G20 members are expected to sign onto a statement condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine “and the human suffering it has caused both for Ukrainians and for families in the developing world that are facing food and fuel insecurity as a result,” a senior administration official said.

    Such an expression of condemnation has been the work of months of diplomacy between G20 leaders. However, it’s not clear yet exactly which countries will sign onto the declaration.

    Although the G20 is comprised of world powers who have long backed Ukraine during the war, it also includes other nations that have been tepid in their response to Russia’s aggression – including India, China, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, the host of this year’s summit. The coalition, which is broadly focused on the global economy, also includes Russia itself. But Russian President Vladimir Putin is not making an appearance at the summit this year.

    Since the spring, US officials have anticipated a showdown at this year’s G20 over the war. Biden has stated Russia should no longer be a member of the bloc, though expelling Moscow would require support from all of the G20’s members.

    As of now, no official “family photo” is listed on a schedule, a sign of the deep acrimony within the G20 spurred by the war in Ukraine.

    The president’s diplomatic Tuesday – a day working alongside leaders that’s capped off with a gala dinner – is expected to precede a 2024 presidential campaign announcement by Biden’s predecessor, Trump, from the other side of the world. The prospective announcement would set the stage for a two-year battle for the American presidency, having the power to cast a shadow over Biden’s efforts to unify world leaders – some already personally stung by Trump’s nationalist approach.

    Biden and his team have already spent time during his multi-leg, cross-continental trip abroad addressing domestic politics, suggesting the issue has not only loomed on their minds, but also among their foreign counterparts in meetings throughout their travels.

    On Sunday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that “many leaders” at the ASEAN Summit addressed the midterms with Biden, that many leaders were “following them closely” and that the president now feels he has a strong position on the international stage.

    Vote counts for midterm races last Tuesday continue to trickle in, with Democrats only securing their continued majority in the US Senate this past weekend and the future of the US House of Representatives remaining up in the air. But Biden – who has frequently cast the US’ dynamic with other world powers as a global fight between democracy and autocracy – brought up the political headwinds working in his favor on Monday in Bali after he took part in a roughly three-hour meeting with Xi Jinping.

    At a news conference after his meeting with Xi, Biden sought to cast the election results seen so far as a victory for the future of American democracy – a matter he had said was at stake at the polls.

    “The American people proved once again that democracy is who we are. There was a strong rejection of election deniers at every level from those seeking to lead our states and those seeking to serve in congress and also those seeking to oversee the elections,” Biden said at the start of his remarks after the Xi meeting.

    On Tuesday, Biden will participate in working sessions and a luncheon with leaders at the summit. He’ll also co-host an event on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which the White House said “aims to mobilize $600 billion in the next five years with G7 partners to deliver sustainable infrastructure and advance U.S. national security and economic security interests.” The president will later meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy and end the night at a gala dinner.

    The meeting with Meloni will be Biden’s first chance to confer the new Italian prime minister in person since she took office in October – when she became the country’s most far-right leader since Benito Mussolini.

    The two leaders undoubtedly have differences on LGBT rights, abortion rights and immigration policies. But they’re expected to focus on shared interests – in particular, their support of Ukraine. According to the White House, Biden and Meloni will discuss “cooperation on shared global challenges, including those posed by the People’s Republic of China, and our ongoing efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.”

    The global infrastructure initiative event follows a launch in 2021 amongst G7 partners to better position the US and its allies to compete with China.

    China’s Belt and Road Initiative, first announced in 2013 under Xi, aims to build ports, roads and railways to create new trade corridors linking China to Africa and the rest of Eurasia. The Chinese-funded, cross-continental infrastructure initiative has been seen as an extension of the country’s sharp ascent to global power.

    At the summit, Biden is also expected to “speak to energy security as a core issue facing the global economy,” calling for a price cap as a “key way that we can help to preserve global energy security.”

    Other topics at the summit, the senior administration official said, include economic coordination, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic, with new announcements expected on digital infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific and solar power in Honduras.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Cambodian PM Hun Sen tests positive for COVID-19 at G-20, days after hosting world leaders at summit in Phnom Penh

    Cambodian PM Hun Sen tests positive for COVID-19 at G-20, days after hosting world leaders at summit in Phnom Penh

    [ad_1]

    Cambodian PM Hun Sen tests positive for COVID-19 at G-20, days after hosting world leaders at summit in Phnom Penh

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden huddles with Asian allies on NKorea threat, China

    Biden huddles with Asian allies on NKorea threat, China

    [ad_1]

    PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — President Joe Biden is set to meet Sunday with the leaders of Japan and South Korea to coordinate their response to North Korea’s threatening nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as to seek input on managing China‘s assertive posture in the Pacific region on the eve of his planned face-to-face with President Xi Jinping.

    Biden will hold separate meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The three leaders will then sit down together on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.

    The meetings come as North Korea has fired dozens of missiles in recent weeks, including an intercontinental ballistic missile 10 days ago that triggered evacuation alerts in northern Japan, and as the allies warn of a looming risk of the isolated country conducting its seventh nuclear test in the coming weeks.

    U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday that Biden aims to use the meetings to strengthen the three countries’ joint response to the dangers posed by North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

    “What we would really like to see is enhanced trilateral security cooperation where the three countries are all coming together,” he said. “That’s acutely true with respect to the DPRK because of the common threat and challenge we all face, but it’s also true, more broadly, about our capacity to work together to enhance overall peace and stability in the region.”

    Tensions on the Korean peninsula have skyrocketed in recent months as the North continues its weapons demonstrations and the U.S. and South Korea launched stepped-up joint defense exercises. Earlier this month, the South Korean military said two B-1B bombers trained with four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean F-35 jets during the last day of “Vigilant Storm” joint air force drills. It was the first time since December 2017 that the bombers were deployed to the Korean Peninsula. The exercise involved a total of roughly 240 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries.

    North Korea responded with its own display of force, flying large numbers of warplanes inside its territory.

    The Biden administration has said it has sent repeated requests to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions on constraining its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, but that Kim Jong Un’s government has not responded.

    Biden on Monday said he plans to press Xi to use China’s unique sway over North Korea to curtail its aggressive behavior, as part of what is expected to be a wide-ranging bilateral meeting on the margins of the Group of 20 gathering in Bali, Indonesia.

    China “has an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North Korea’s worst tendencies,” Sullivan said Saturday. “Whether they choose to do so or not is, of course, up to them.”

    Biden told reporters on Sunday that he’s “always had straightforward discussions” with Xi, and that has prevented either of them from “miscalculations” of their intentions. Their meeting comes weeks after Xi cemented his grip on China’s political system with the conclusion of the Community Party congress in Beijing that gave him a norm-breaking third term as leader.

    “His circumstances changed, to state the obvious, at home,” Biden said of Xi.

    Monday’s meeting will be the first in-person sit-down between the leaders since Biden was elected to the White House. U.S. officials in the past have expressed frustration that lower-level Chinese officials have proven unable or unwilling to speak for Xi, and are hoping the face-to-face summit will enable progress on areas of mutual concern — and, even more critically, a shared understanding of each others’ limitations.

    “I know him well, he knows me,” Biden said. “We’ve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us, going into the next two years.”

    As president, Biden has repeatedly taken China to task for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities, Beijing’s crackdowns on democracy activists in Hong Kong, coercive trade practices, military provocations against self-ruled Taiwan and differences over Russia’s prosecution of its war against Ukraine.

    Xi’s government has criticized the Biden administration’s posture toward Taiwan — which Beijing looks eventually to unify with the communist mainland — as undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese president also has suggested that Washington wants to stifle Beijing’s growing clout as it tries to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy.

    Biden also held a pull-aside meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has sought out his own meeting with Xi this week in an effort to ease Chinese sanctions against his country.

    Sullivan said Biden would also ask Japan and South Korea’s leaders which issues they want him to talk about with Xi, though it would not be the primary discussion at their trilateral meeting.

    “One thing that President Biden certainly wants to do with our closest allies is preview what he intends to do,” Sullivan said, “and also ask the leaders of (South Korea) and Japan, ‘What would you like me to raise? What do you want me to go in with?’”

    —

    Kim reported from Nusa Dua, Indonesia. AP writer Josh Boak contributed from Baltimore.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden arrives in Cambodia looking to counter China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia | CNN Politics

    Biden arrives in Cambodia looking to counter China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]


    Phnom Penh, Cambodia
    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden underscored the US partnership with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries on Saturday as “the heart of my administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy” as he seeks to counter China’s growing influence ahead of a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping set for Monday.

    The weekend of meetings in Cambodia comes ahead of the highly anticipated Group of 20 summit next week in Indonesia where Biden will meet with Xi for the first time in person since he took office. The ASEAN meetings – along with Sunday’s East Asia Summit, which is also being held in Phnom Penh – will be a chance for the president to speak with US allies before sitting down with Xi.

    In remarks to the summit, Biden announced “another critical step” toward building on the group’s progress as he detailed the launch of the US-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which, he said, “will tackle the biggest issues of our time, from climate to health security, defend against the significant threats to rule based order and to threats to the rule of law, and to build an Indo-Pacific that’s free and open, stable and prosperous, resilient and secure.” He touted existing US financial commitments to ASEAN as he noted a budget request for $850 million in assistance for Southeast Asia.

    “This is my third trip, my third summit – second in person – and it’s testament to the importance the United States places in our relationship with ASEAN and our commitment to ASEAN’s centrality. ASEAN is the heart of my administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy. And we continue to strengthen our commitment to work in lockstep with an empowered, unified ASEAN,” Biden said in brief opening remarks as the summit began.

    The president’s first order of business in Cambodia was a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as he looks to build on a summit between Biden and ASEAN leaders in Washington earlier this year.

    Biden, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One, “was intent on elevating our engagement in the Indo-Pacific” from the start of his presidency, and his attendance at the ASEAN and East Asia summits this weekend will highlight his work so far, including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework announced earlier this year and security partnership efforts.

    “He’s coming into this set of summits with that record of accomplishment and purpose behind him, and he wants to be able to use the next 36 hours to build on that foundation to take American engagement forward, and also to deliver a series of concrete, practical initiatives,” Sullivan said.

    Among those practical initiatives, Sullivan noted, are new ones on maritime cooperation, digital connectivity and economic investment. Biden is set to launch a new maritime domain effort “that focuses on using radio frequencies from commercial satellites to be able to track dark shipping, illegal and unregulated fishing, and also to improve the capacity of the countries of the region to respond to disasters and humanitarian crises,” Sullivan said.

    Biden will also highlight a “forward-deployed posture” toward regional defense, Sullivan added, to show that the US is on the front foot in terms of security cooperation.

    During his remarks, Biden also pointed to a new US-ASEAN electric vehicle infrastructure initiative.

    “We’re gonna work together to develop an integrated electric vehicle ecosystem in Southeast Asia, enabling the region to pursue clean energy, economic development, and ambitious emissions reductions targets,” he said of the initiative.

    There will also be a focus on Myanmar and discussions on coordination “to continue to impose costs and raise pressure on the junta,” which seized power from the country’s democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup.

    While in Phnom Penh, Biden will be meeting with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday following multiple weapons tests by North Korea, Sullivan said. The meeting is notable given the historic tensions between Japan and South Korea, and the relationship between the two staunch US allies has been one that Biden has attempted to bridge.

    The Japanese and the South Koreans find themselves united in concern about Kim Jong Un’s missile tests, as well as the prospect of a seventh nuclear weapons test. North Korea has ramped up its tests this year, having carried out missile tests on 32 days in 2022, according to a CNN count. That’s compared to just eight in 2021 and four in 2020, with the latest launch coming on Wednesday.

    Sullivan suggested the trilateral meeting will not lead to specific deliverables, but rather, enhanced security cooperation amid a range of threats.

    The trio of world leaders, Sullivan told reporters, will “be able to discuss broader security issues in the Indo-Pacific and also, specifically, the threats posed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.”

    Sullivan said Thursday that the administration is concerned about the North Koreans conducting a seventh nuclear test but can’t say if it will come during the weekend of meetings.

    “Our concern still remains real. Whether it happens in the next week or not, I can’t say,” Sullivan said earlier this week. “We are also concerned about further potential long-range missile tests in addition to the possibility of a nuclear test. And so, we’ll be watching carefully for both of those.”

    But the Monday meeting with Xi in Bali, Indonesia, will undoubtedly hang over the summits in Cambodia, and will be part of those trilateral conversations.

    “One thing that President Biden certainly wants to do with our closest allies is preview what he intends to do, and also ask the leaders of (South Korea) and Japan, ‘what would you like me to raise? What do you want me to go in with?’” Sullivan said, adding that it “will be a topic but it will not be the main event of the trilateral.”

    Biden and Xi have spoken by phone five times since the president entered the White House. They traveled extensively together, both in China and the United States, when both were serving as their country’s vice president.

    Both enter Monday’s meeting on the back of significant political events. Biden fared better than expected in US midterm elections and Xi was elevated to an unprecedented third term by the Chinese Communist Party.

    US officials declined to speculate on how the two leaders’ political situations might affect the dynamic of their meeting.

    The high-stakes bilateral meeting between Biden and Xi will center on “sharpening” each leader’s understanding of the other’s priorities, Sullivan told reporters.

    That includes the issue of Taiwan, which Beijing claims. Biden has vowed in the past to use US military force to defend the island from invasion. The issue is among the most contentious between Biden and Xi.

    Biden will also raise the issue of North Korea, with an emphasis on the critical role China can play in managing what is an acute threat to the region, Sullivan said.

    Biden has repeatedly raised the issue in his calls with Xi up to this point, but Sullivan underscored the US view that China plays a critical role – and one that should be viewed within its own self-interest.

    “If North Korea keeps going down this road, it will simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region,” Sullivan said. “And so (China) has an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North Korea’s worst tendencies. Whether they choose to do so or not is of course up to them.”

    Sullivan said Biden will detail his position on the issue, “which is that North Korea represents a threat not just to the United States, not just to (South Korea) and Japan, but to peace and stability across the entire region.”

    Sullivan suggested the meeting will focus on a better understanding of positions on a series of critical issues, but is not likely to result in any major breakthroughs or dramatic shifts in the relationship.

    Instead, “it’s about the leaders coming to a better understanding and then tasking their teams” to continue to work through those issues, Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden traveled to Cambodia.

    The meeting, set to take place on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, was the result of “several weeks of intensive” discussions between the two sides, Sullivan said, and is viewed by Biden as the start of a series of engagements between the leaders and their teams.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russia’s Putin won’t attend upcoming G-20 summit in Bali

    Russia’s Putin won’t attend upcoming G-20 summit in Bali

    [ad_1]

    JAKARTA, Indonesia — Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, an Indonesian government official said Thursday, avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over his war in Ukraine.

    Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for G-20 events, said Putin’s decision not to come was “the best for all of us.”

    U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to attend the two-day summit that starts Nov. 15. The summit would have been the first time Biden and Putin were together at a gathering since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is hosting the event on the island of Bali.

    “It has been officially informed that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit, and will be represented by a high-level official, and this has been discussed by President Joko Widodo and Putin in previous telephone conversations,” Pandjaitan said after meeting security officials in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.

    “Whatever happens with Russia’s decision, it is for our common good and the best for all of us,” added Pandjaitan, who is is also the coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment. He said earlier that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation.

    Pandjaitan did not know why Putin decided not to come but said “maybe it’s because President Putin is busy at home, and we also have to respect that.” Pandjaitan confirmed the same reasons may be keeping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at home as well.

    Widodo earlier this year travelled to Kyiv and Moscow in an effort to get the two leaders to sit down in Bali and make peace.

    Putin’s decision not to attend the G-20 comes as Russia’s forces in Ukraine have suffered significant setbacks. Russia’s military said it will withdraw from Kherson, which is the only Ukrainian regional capital it captured and a gateway to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

    Russia’s announced retreat from Kherson along with a potential stalemate in fighting over the winter could provide both countries an opportunity to negotiate peace, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday.

    He said as many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “well over” 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war, now in its ninth month. “Same thing probably on the Ukrainian side,” Milley added.

    The G-20 is the biggest of three summits being held in Southeast Asia this week and next, and it remained unclear if Lavrov will represent Russia at all of them. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit began Thursday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, followed by the G-20 and then the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

    Biden will attend ASEAN and the G-20 while Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to APEC. Biden is expected to meet with Xi in Bali.

    Biden had ruled out meeting with Putin if he had attended the summit, and said the only conversation he could have possibly had with the Russian leader would be to discuss a deal to free Americans imprisoned in Russia.

    Biden administration officials said they had been coordinating with global counterparts to isolate Putin if he had decided to participate either in person or virtually. They have discussed boycotts or other displays of condemnation.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Australian who sexually abused children in the Philippines given 129-year jail term | CNN

    Australian who sexually abused children in the Philippines given 129-year jail term | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    An Australian man already sentenced to life in prison in the Philippines for human trafficking and rape has been given an extra 129-year sentence for sexually abusing children as young as 18 months, according to prosecutors.

    Peter Gerard Scully, his Filipina girlfriend Lezyl Margallo, and two accomplices were charged with 60 offenses that included child abuse, trafficking, rape and syndicating child pornography, Merlynn Barola-Uy, a prosecutor in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, told CNN on Wednesday.

    Margallo was sentenced to 126 years in prison, while the two accomplices received prison terms of nine years each.

    All four were sentenced on November 3 after entering a plea bargaining agreement, Barola-Uy said, describing the convictions as a “sweet victory.”

    “The victim-survivors and their families together with the prosecution team have been, since day one, consistent in their resolve to fight Peter Scully and slay every (delaying) tactic he employed,” the prosecutor said.

    “They all want to bring closure to this dark phase of their lives and move on,” Barola-Uy added.

    The offenses date back to 2012 and are among dozens of charges filed against Scully after his arrest in 2015.

    In 2018, the Australian and his former live-in partner Carme Ann Alvarez were sentenced to life in prison for human trafficking and rape in six cases involving seven children – one of whom was killed and buried in one of the couple’s rented houses in Surigao City, according to state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).

    The cases against Scully have thrown the spotlight on the Philippines’ enduring struggle against the online sexual exploitation of children.

    In 2020, a report by the Washington-based International Justice Mission described the Philippines as a global dark spot for online sexual abuse, saying youths were vulnerable due to a combination of entrenched poverty, high internet connectivity and opaque international cash transfer systems.

    Two years later, a study by UNICEF, Interpol and ECPAT International, a global network of organizations against children sexual exploitation, found around 20% of Filipino children who used the internet and were aged between 12 and 17 had experienced some form of online sexual abuse.

    In August, members of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s cabinet told a news conference the country had declared “all-out war” on the sexual exploitation of children online.

    Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla vowed at the conference to prosecute and jail people who sexually exploited minors online, but did not detail how the law and its enforcement might be strengthened.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Founder of beloved Malaysian noodle snack Mamee dies at 92 | CNN Business

    Founder of beloved Malaysian noodle snack Mamee dies at 92 | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    Hong Kong
    CNN Business
     — 

    The founder of Mamee Monster, the iconic Southeast Asian noodle snack brand, has died, the company confirmed Tuesday.

    Mamee-Double Decker Group, a Malaysian food manufacturer, told CNN Business that Pang Chin Hin died on Saturday at the age of 92. Local media had given his age as 96, reflecting a traditional Chinese way of calculating age.

    “Without [him] many of our childhoods would be very different,” Group CEO Pierre Pang Hee Ta, Pang’s grandson, told CNN Business in a statement. “He is truly a legend, we have our utmost respect for him, and we are grateful for what he has done and will now continue his legacy.”

    Pang leaves behind a beloved brand that has become a pantry staple for consumers across the region. Mamee is best known for its colorful packets of crunchy, dry instant noodles, which are typically sold with savory powdered flavoring. Some have likened the image of a furry blue cartoon character on its packaging to Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster.

    Pang, a former used car dealer, founded the company in 1971, when he and a business partner set up an instant noodle factory in the Malaysian coastal state of Malacca.

    The company started off making traditional instant noodles, with packs of vermicelli sold under a brand called Lucky.

    About three years later, Pang’s son noticed laborers who worked as rubber tappers “eating uncooked instant noodles straight from the pack,” according to a company biography posted on its website. The family then decided to branch out into a new category: selling noodles as dried snacks.

    The Mamee line now has various powdered flavors, ranging from barbecue to chicken to black pepper. The company says the name of the snacks, which are popular with children, is a play on the word “Mummy.” The group sells its products in 86 countries.

    Today, the company’s product range has expanded to include a variety of snacks and beverages, including Double Decker crackers, Mister Potato chips and Boom+ vitamin drinks.

    In an interview this year, Pang’s grandson said that while Mamee was its most recognizable brand, Mister Potato crisps were its biggest moneymaker.

    Pierre Pang told Malaysian publication The Edge in March that the launch of those potato chips was “the single most important decision in our history, as the brand contributes more than 70% of our revenue and is exported to 18 markets.”

    He added that his father and grandfather, the now late Pang, were receptive to new ideas and supportive of his vision to grow the company in new directions.

    “I’m so fortunate that they are so open,” he said. “We are the product of two great, forward-thinking generations.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Philippine prisons chief charged in journalist’s killing

    Philippine prisons chief charged in journalist’s killing

    [ad_1]

    MANILA, Philippines — Philippine authorities filed murder complaints on Monday against the top prisons official and an aide, accusing them of masterminding the killing of a radio commentator in an elaborate crime they said showed that the country’s prisons system had been turned into a “criminal organization.”

    The complaints were filed against Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, who has been suspended from his post, prisons security official Ricardo Zulueta and other key suspects in the Oct. 3 fatal shooting of Percival Mabasa. The journalist had fiercely criticized Bantag and other officials for alleged corruption and other anomalies.

    Mabasa, who used the broadcast name Percy Lapid, is among the latest media workers killed in a Southeast Asian country regarded as among the most dangerous for journalists in the world.

    A joint statement read at a news conference by top justice, interior and police officials said three gang leaders locked up in the country’s largest prison under Bantag’s control were tapped to look for a gunman to kill Mabasa for a 550,000-peso ($9,300) contract.

    After the killing, however, the gunman, who was identified by police as Joel Escorial, surrendered in fear after government officials raised a reward for his capture. He then publicly identified an inmate, Jun Villamor, who he said was assigned by detained gang leaders to call him and arrange Mabasa’s killing. The gang leaders later killed Villamor inside the prison by suffocating him with a plastic bag allegedly on orders of Bantag and Zulueta, officials said.

    “Bantag had a clear motive to effect the murders,” officials said in the statement.

    Mabasa was shot to death for his critical exposes against the prisons chief, and Villamor was killed by gang leaders as a cover-up after he was publicly identified by the gunman as the inmate who arranged the killing behind bars, they said.

    Bantag has denied any involvement in the killings. He and Zulueta have also been charged for the killing of Villamor. No warrants have been issued yet for their arrests, officials said.

    The investigation of the killings bared “the unfortunate transformation of a pillar of justice – the correction pillar – into a deep, large-scale and systematic criminal organization,” officials said in their statement.

    “This will be the cause of many reforms in government and the strengthening of current mechanisms to ensure that nothing of this nature will happen again,” they said.

    As suspicions grew over Bantag’s involvement in the two killings, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered him suspended indefinitely and replaced with a former military chief of staff, Gregorio Catapang Jr.

    A recent search of the maximum-security prison complex under Bantag’s control yielded more than 7,000 cans of extra-strong beer, bladed weapons, cellphones, laptop computers and suspected drugs in a discovery that deepened long-held suspicions of prison anomalies involving officials and guards, Catapang said.

    “There are many crimes that we have to look into,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told a news conference. He cited the beer, drugs and other contrabands smuggled into prison and the deaths of 18 detained drug lords supposedly of coronavirus infection followed by their cremation in a span of 75 days.

    Aside from Bantag, Mabasa had also strongly criticized former President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw a deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. Duterte ended his turbulent six-year term in June.

    Duterte appointed Bantag as Bureau of Corrections chief in 2019 despite pending criminal complaints. Bantag had faced charges for a 2016 clash that killed 10 inmates when he was the warden in another detention center. A court later cleared him.

    Media watchdogs have condemned Mabasa’s killing, saying the attack underscores how deadly the Philippines remains for journalists.

    Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986, when dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown, according to the journalists’ union. The group led a protest Tuesday night and called on the government to do more to stop the killings.

    In 2009, members of a powerful political clan and their associates killed 58 people, including 32 media workers, in an execution-style attack in southern Maguindanao province that horrified the world.

    The mass killing, linked to a political rivalry, demonstrated the dangers journalists face in the Philippines, which has many unlicensed guns, private armies controlled by powerful clans and weak law enforcement, especially in rural regions.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Bus bomb kills 1, wounds 10 others in southern Philippines

    Bus bomb kills 1, wounds 10 others in southern Philippines

    [ad_1]

    COTABATO, Philippines — A homemade bomb went off in a bus and killed a passenger and wounded 10 others in a southern Philippine city on Sunday in an attack authorities suspect may be part of an extortion attempt, officials said.

    The bus with an unspecified number of passengers was approaching a transport terminal in Tacurong city in Sultan Kudarat province when the bomb went off at the back of the vehicle shortly before noon, police said.

    Investigators were trying to determine if the attackers were from the same armed group that had staged similar bombings in past years to extort money from the Yellow Bus Line, which operates in key southern cities, military and police officials said.

    Regional army commander Maj. Gen. Roy Galido said the bus company “has been constantly receiving extortion messages.” The military and police have been working with the bus owners to capture the extortionists, who may have been angered by the bus company’s refusal to pay off, Galido said.

    Police have blamed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a small rebel force that has aligned itself with the Islamic State group, for similar bus bombings in the past.

    In a separate attack, about 15 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters opened fire on soldiers guarding repair works on a flood-damaged bridge in Datu Hoffer town in southern Maguindanao province Friday night, Galido said. He condemned the attack, which killed a soldier and wounded two others.

    Troops were hunting down the attackers, he said.

    The group broke off years ago from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front when the latter entered into peace talks with the government and embraced an offer of Muslim autonomy in a five-province region in the south of the largely Roman Catholic nation.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Philippine death toll from storm Nalgae rises to 98, disaster agency says | CNN

    Philippine death toll from storm Nalgae rises to 98, disaster agency says | CNN

    [ad_1]

    Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set on Monday to fly over flood-submerged districts to inspect the damage after Tropical Storm Nalgae barreled across the Southeast Asian country over the weekend, killing at least 98 people.

    More than half the deaths were recorded in the southern autonomous region of Bangsamoro, often due to rain-induced landslides, the nation’s disaster agency said.

    Some 63 people were reported missing, while 69 people were injured, the agency said.

    The Bangsamoro region accounted for 53 deaths, with 22 people still missing, it said a bulletin.

    Damage to infrastructure due to heavy rains and strong winds was valued at nearly 758 million pesos (about $13 million), while losses in agriculture were estimated at more than 435 million pesos.

    Marcos is scheduled on Monday to conduct aerial inspections of submerged villages in Cavite province, near the capital Manila. The leader has expressed shock over the number of deaths, particularly in Maguindanao province in Bangsamoro.

    Nalgae, which made landfall five times, was expected to leave the Philippines later on Monday and head toward southern China.

    The Philippines sees an average 20 typhoons a year, with frequent landslides and floods blamed in part on the growing intensity of tropical cyclones.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Singapore jails man who posed as female gynecologist on Facebook to get intimate photos | CNN

    Singapore jails man who posed as female gynecologist on Facebook to get intimate photos | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    A man who fooled dozens of women into sending him photos of their genitalia by posing as a female gynecologist on Facebook has been sentenced to jail in Singapore.

    The state courts on Wednesday found Ooi Chuen Wei, 37, from Malaysia, guilty of “cheating by personation” and sentenced him to three years and four months in prison.

    Ooi used a fake Facebook profile to contact the women, asking them to fill out surveys that included questions about their genitals and sex lives, according to court documents seen by CNN.

    Over a period of four years, he tricked 38 women and received close to 1,000 intimate photos and videos in return.

    The offenses came to light last July when a woman, who had grown suspicious of Ooi and realized there was no such doctor, lodged a police report.

    The police then raided Ooi’s home and seized his devices. During the course of the police investigation, he admitted tricking the women, according to the court documents.

    Deputy public prosecutor R. Arvindren asked for a prison sentence of at least three years and eight months for Ooi, citing the large number of victims and how long Ooi had continued his deception.

    “The accused executed a carefully thought out scheme to satisfy his sexual desires,” Arvindren said.

    “(He) pretended that he was a female doctor and deceived several victims into sending various compromising photographs and videos of themselves. (He) has abused the trust the public has for doctors and he has exploited social media to commit the crimes,” he added.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Strong quake injures dozens, shuts north Philippine airport

    Strong quake injures dozens, shuts north Philippine airport

    [ad_1]

    MANILA, Philippines — A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of the northern Philippines, injuring at least 26 people and forcing the closure of an international airport and the evacuation of patients in a hospital, officials said Wednesday.

    The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Tuesday night’s magnitude 6.4 quake, which was set off by movement in a local fault, was centered 9 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of Lagayan town in Abra province at a depth of 11 kilometers (7 miles).

    The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said no warning or advisory was issued.

    The quake was felt across a wide area of the main northern Luzon region, including in some parts of metropolitan Manila, more than 400 kilometers (248 miles) south of Abra.

    At least 26 people were injured in Ilocos Norte, the home province of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., where the international airport in the capital city of Laoag was ordered to close temporarily Wednesday due to damage from the quake, police and civil aviation officials said.

    In Batac city also in Ilocos Norte, patients were moved out of the province’s largest hospital after parts of the ceiling in the intensive care unit fell as the building swayed. Medical consultation services were temporarily suspended as engineers assessed damage to the building, officials said.

    Marcos Jr, who was in Manila, said authorities were inspecting roads and buildings, and welfare officials were providing help to affected residents in northern provinces. “Everyone is advised to keep out of tall structures,” the president said in a tweet.

    In the town of La Paz in Abra, a century-old Christian church was damaged, with parts of its belfry collapsing and some walls cracked, littering the church’s grassy yard with debris, officials said.

    At least two towns in Cagayan province temporarily lost electricity due to damaged power lines. A number of bridges and roads in outlying provinces were damaged.

    In July, a magnitude 7 earthquake set off landslides and damaged buildings in Abra and other northern provinces, killing at least five people and injuring dozens.

    In 1990, a magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines and wrought extensive damage, including in the capital city of Manila.

    The Philippine archipelago lies on the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Myanmar military airstrikes kill about 50, Kachin rebels say | CNN

    Myanmar military airstrikes kill about 50, Kachin rebels say | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in military airstrikes at a celebratory event in Myanmar’s mountainous Kachin state on Sunday, drawing international condemnation of the junta that seized power in the country more than a year and a half ago.

    Victims had been attending an event organized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mark the 62nd anniversary of the armed ethnic rebel group’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), KIO General Secretary La Nan said on Tuesday.

    La Nan said both men and women were among about 50 people killed, though no children have been identified among the victims yet. Another 54 are injured, many with burns and shrapnel wounds, he added.

    CNN cannot independently verify the number of reported deaths.

    La Nan said the event, which included musical performances, was one of the group’s most significant annual festivities, with “hundreds, if not thousands” in attendance including artists, business owners and elders. Many had traveled from across the state to attend, he said.

    “We understand the intention of (the airstrikes) was largely to inflict chaos and massive pain to the public, in a large volume and with as much damage as they could inflict,” La Nan said.

    The military junta, which overthrew the government in a bloody coup last February, claimed on Monday that reports of civilian deaths from the airstrikes were “fake news.”

    It claimed the airstrikes had targeted the KIA’s military base, in response to the group’s earlier raids and attacks on passenger vessels along the Irrawaddy River. It also claimed it had followed international conventions “so as to ensure peace and stability of the region.”

    La Nan refuted the junta’s claim, saying the celebration had been held in the A Nang Pa region – a small area where travelers often stop by a market. It’s “nowhere close to military installations,” he said.

    Though KIO personnel were in attendance, “they were not there as military personnel but as entertainers,” helping welcome guests and performing, he added.

    Since the coup, rights groups and observers say freedoms and rights in Myanmar have deteriorated; state executions have returned and the number of documented violent attacks by the army on schools has surged.

    Numerous armed rebel groups have emerged, while millions of others continue resisting the junta’s rule through strikes, boycotts and other forms of civil disobedience.

    Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government – a group of ousted lawmakers, coup opponents and ethnic minority group representatives – condemned the attack in a statement on Monday, saying the military had “deliberately committed another mass killing.”

    The attack “clearly violates international laws as the provisions of the Geneva Conventions,” it said in the statement, urging the international community and United Nations to “take effective actions urgently.”

    The NUG operates undercover or through members abroad, seeking to gain recognition as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

    The attack on Sunday drew international condemnation, with the United Nations saying it was concerned over reports of more than 100 civilians impacted.

    “While the UN continues to verify the details of this attack, we offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of all those who were killed or injured. The UN calls for those injured to be availed urgent medical treatment, as needed,” it said in a statement on Monday.

    It added that the military’s “excessive and disproportionate” use of force against unarmed civilians was “unacceptable,” and called on those responsible to be held to account.

    La Nan, the KIO official, said the military had sealed off the roads surrounding A Nang Pa after the attack, imposed an internet and telecommunications blackout, and deployed plainclothes officers to local hospitals – meaning victims of the attack have little to no access to medical care.

    “They are taking refuge in nearby makeshift clinics and rudimentary medical facilities in the mining area. Most of their relatives are very worried because there is very little access to medicine,” he said, calling it a “deliberate blockade.”

    The KIO and local community is now trying to recover all the victims, and “have a proper burial according to our traditions and our religious rituals,” he said – adding that about 10 bodies were beyond identification.

    CNN cannot independently verify the current situation.

    On Monday, the ambassadors of Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States issued a joint statement condemning the strike.

    “This attack underscores the military regime’s responsibility for crisis and instability in Myanmar and the region and its disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law,” the joint statement read.

    Non-profit organization Amnesty International said in a statement the military’s actions – including executing pro-democracy activists, jailing journalists and targeting civilians – have been allowed to continue “in the face of an ineffective international response.”

    “As officials and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) prepare to host high-level meetings in the coming weeks, this attack highlights the need to overhaul the approach to the crisis in Myanmar,” the statement said, urging ASEAN leaders to take action when they meet for their annual summit in November.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Indonesia bans sale of all cough syrups after 99 child deaths | CNN

    Indonesia bans sale of all cough syrups after 99 child deaths | CNN

    [ad_1]


    Jakarta, Indonesia
    CNN
     — 

    Indonesia has halted the sale of all syrup and liquid medicines following the deaths of nearly 100 children and an unexplained spike in cases of acute kidney injuries.

    The ban, announced by the country’s Health Ministry on Wednesday, will remain until authorities complete an investigation into unregistered medical syrups suspected of containing toxic ingredients.

    Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said 99 deaths and 206 cases of acute kidney injuries in children, mostly under the age of 6, were being investigated.

    “As a precaution, the ministry has asked health workers in health facilities not to prescribe liquid medicine or syrup temporarily,” he said. “We also ask that drug stores temporarily stop all sales of non-prescription liquid medicine or syrup until our investigations are completed.”

    The ban comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) linked four Indian-made cough syrups to the deaths of up to 70 children suffering acute kidney failure in The Gambia, West Africa. Earlier this month Indian authorities shut down a factory in New Delhi where the medicines were made.

    WHO suspects that four of the syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited – Promethazine oral solution, Kofexmalin baby cough syrup, Makoff baby cough syrup and Magrip N cold syrup – contained “unacceptable amounts” of chemicals that could damage the brains, lungs, livers and kidneys of those who take them.

    The syrups being used in The Gambia were not available in Indonesia, according to the Southeast Asian country’s food and drugs agency.

    However, on Thursday, Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol – which are more usually found in products like antifreeze, paints, plastics and cosmetics – had been detected in syrups found in the homes of some child patients.

    “(The chemicals) should not have been present,” Budi said.

    He added that the number of acute kidney failure cases could be higher than reported and his ministry was taking a conservative approach by banning the sale of all syrups.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Mysterious breeding habits of aquarium fish vex experts

    Mysterious breeding habits of aquarium fish vex experts

    [ad_1]

    PENYABANGAN, Indonesia — It took a broken air conditioner for Tom Bowling to figure out — after nearly eight months of failure — how to breed the coveted pink-yellow tropical fish known as blotched anthias.

    Bowling, an ornamental fish breeder based in Palau, had kept the fish in cool water, trying to replicate the temperatures the deep-water creatures are usually found in. But when the air conditioner broke the water temperature rose by a few degrees overnight — with surprising results. “They started spawning — they went crazy, laying eggs everywhere,” said Bowling.

    Experts around the world tinker over water temperature, futz with lights, and try various mixes of microscopic food particles in hopes of happening upon the particular and peculiar set of conditions that will inspire ornamental fish to breed. Experts hope to steer the aquarium fish trade away from wild-caught fish, which are often caught with poisons that can hurt coral ecosystems.

    PROPER AMBIANCE REQUIRED

    Most of the millions of glittering fish that dart around saltwater aquariums in the U.S., Europe, China and elsewhere are taken from coral reefs in the Philippines, Indonesia and other tropical countries.

    Trappers often stun them using chemicals like cyanide. They are then transferred to middlemen and then flown across the globe, ending up in aquariums in homes, malls, restaurants and medical offices. Experts estimate “large percentages” die on the way.

    Part of the problem: only about 4% of saltwater aquarium fish can be bred in captivity, largely because many have elaborate reproductive cycles and delicate early life stages that require sometimes mysterious conditions that scientists and breeders struggle to reproduce.

    For decades experts have been working to unlock the secrets of marine fish breeding. Breakthroughs don’t come quickly, said Paul Andersen, head of the Coral Reef Aquarium Fisheries Campaign, which works to support sustainable coral reef aquarium fisheries.

    “It requires years of investment, research and development, oftentimes to make incremental steps,” he said. And then even longer, he said, to bring newly captive-bred species to market.

    The Moorish idol, a black-and-yellow striped fish with a mane-like dorsal fin spine, requires lots of space. Squiggle-striped green mandarins prefer to spawn just before the sun sets, requiring very particular lighting cycles to breed in captivity. As Bowling discovered in Palau, blotched anthias require very specific temperatures.

    “You’ve got to pay attention to all the parameters that will make a fish happy,” said Andersen. “Some species are really gentle, delicate and sensitive to these kinds of things.”

    FRAGILE EARLY DAYS

    After fish spawn, breeders often find themselves facing the most challenging part of the process: the larval period, which is the time just after the fish hatches, before it develops into a juvenile. The flow of water has to be just right, but they are so fragile they have to be protected from filters and even tank walls.

    The first feeding is also crucial, said Andrew Rhyne, a marine biology professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. During the first days many larval fish don’t have eyes or mouths, instead living off their yolk.

    “When they finally do form eyes or mouths it’s so important to have created an environment that allows them to get a first bite of zooplankton so they can get a little stronger and continue to grow,” said Rhyne. “That’s kind of been the magic for all of this.”

    Often that first bite is a critical part of the ocean food system that harbors its own mysteries: called copepods, they are microscopic crustaceans that provide vital nutrients to larval fish and are key for breeders around the world.

    At the University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Ruskin — where the blue tang “Dory” fish popularized by the movie Finding Nemo was successfully bred for the first time — associate professor Matt DiMaggio and his students have been working to produce copepods. But even the copepods haven proven to be difficult to raise.

    Mort than 10,000 miles away from the Florida lab, on the tropical northern coast of Bali, Indonesia, renowned fish breeder Wen-Ping Su walks between large cement fish tanks, his own zooplankton recipe churning in a circular tank nearby.

    Su said he has 10 different keys to success that he’s been developing for nearly two decades. Those keys have enabled him to breed fish that no one else has, including striped regal angelfish and frilly black-bodied, orange-rimmed pinnatus batfish.

    VALUABLE SECRETS

    But asking Wen-Ping Su if he’ll share details, his answer comes quickly, with his hands crossing to form an X in front of his big smile: “No.”

    It’s the same sentiment echoed by Bowling, who pauses when asked about sharing the secrets to his most high-profile successes. “That’s the part I really don’t want to tell you,” he laughs.

    Those secrets are their livelihoods. The blotched anthias Bowling bred after the broken air conditioner are listed for $700 on his company’s website. Fish bred by Su also sell for hundreds of dollars online.

    But in the past five years there are some organizations — such as Rising Tide Conservation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to developing and promoting aquaculture — that have worked to promote information sharing, said DiMaggio.

    “That’s helped to accelerate the number of species that we’ve been able to raise in during that time and the variety of species too,” he said, highlighting species such as wrasses, butterflyfish and tangs.

    Rhyne’s research lab — which includes breeding toothy queen triggerfish and red-striped yasha gobies— has been working to share his research with breeders as well.

    But Rhyne and other breeders concede that it’s unlikely all aquarium fish will be raised in captivity because some are just too difficult, while others are so abundant in nature.

    And breeding a fish doesn’t guarantee it will make it to or do well on the market, said Rhyne. Captive bred fish cost more, and experts in the fish industry recognize that it will take time to convince consumers should pay more for them.

    “How do we market aquaculture fish the way that we market organic foods, you know, and demand that premium price point?” said Andersen, from the Coral Reef Aquarium Fisheries Campaign. “The marketing is really important.”

    ———

    Associated Press video journalist Marshall Ritzel reported from Florida. Kathy Young contributed to this report from New York. Andi Jatmiko, Edna Tarigan and 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 Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How Covid prompted Asian startups to use tech in revolutionizing mental health support | CNN Business

    How Covid prompted Asian startups to use tech in revolutionizing mental health support | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    Singapore
    CNN Business
     — 

    Many Asian countries introduced tougher Covid-19 restrictions than in other continents, a reality that has caused concerns about elevated levels of stress, anxiety and isolation. Now, a number of young entrepreneurs are leveraging technology to provide greater access to mental healthcare there.

    In July, Singapore-based Intellect raised $20 million in its Series A funding, the largest amount raised by a mental health start-up in Asia.

    Founded in 2019, Intellect runs a mobile app that regularly checks in on users’ mood, provides rescue sessions and exercises that tailor to their needs, and allows them to connect with therapists in real time if needed.

    “The traditional form of therapy is in-person and on-on-one, and it is hard to scale,” said Theodoric Chew, the 26-year-old co-founder of Intellect. “When technology comes in, we can scale access to mental care to everyone.”

    The start-up now serves more than 3 million users across the Asia-Pacific region in 15 languages since services began in early 2020.

    Chew said he was inspired to try to popularize mental healthcare after battling a panic attack when he was 16 years old.

    “I saw first-hand how therapy and working with professionals helped me become better,” he said. “On the flip side, I saw a lot of people struggling across the region – not clinically, but not having the right tools or know-how to access care.”

    While Intellect was founded before the pandemic, it quickly grew in popularity as companies became aware of their employees’ mental health as Covid-19 related lockdown and quarantine measures were imposed.

    “A lot of people were thrown into an array of things – anxiety of the pandemic, being locked up, and getting stay-home notices,” he said. “What has changed fundamentally was that mental health is no longer just a nice-to-have element that companies should consider, it’s something that’s needed across the board today.”

    “It does benefit companies in very real ways … because if you’re not feeling well mentally, you tend to not perform as well,” he said.

    Justin Kim, CEO and co-founder of Ami, another digital mental healthcare start-up based in Singapore and Jakarta, agreed that there’s a need to scale mental health offerings.

    “Many companies are spending millions of dollars a year and paying for gym memberships. But why don’t people invest into their mental health the same way? It’s because there are no resources that are being offered to them, that’s just as accessible and affordable,” he added.

    Justin Kim is the CEO and co-founder of Ami. His start-up has received funding from Meta, the owner of Facebook.

    Since the start-up was founded in January this year, it has raised at least $3 million from a number of investors, including Meta, the owner of Facebook.

    Kim’s team has been working on developing an app that would allow users to text or call mental health coaches confidentially at any time – without having to make prior appointments. He said this allows users to seek professional help whenever they need it in the most efficient way.

    Both Chew and Kim are targeting employers in their business models – companies can pay for a subscription and workers will have unlimited access to their services, which are kept private from their bosses.

    Alistair Carmichael, an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, said employers will benefit from better mental health in their workforce. “The impacts of poor mental health outcomes are significant. … If we focus on the employment and organizational level, those impacts can be things like presenteeism, absenteeism, lost productivity, lost engagement and attrition,” he said.

    Depression and anxiety disorders have cost the global economy $1 trillion each year in lost productivity, the World Health Organization has estimated. And a report by the WHO in March showed the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% during the first year of the pandemic.

    Chew said Intellect is attempting to close the gap by proactively safeguarding mental wellbeing before symptoms get worse. When employees open the app, the system asks them how they feel at the moment. Mini “rescue sessions” are also provided to users who are experiencing a rough time, while live therapy sessions are also available for those who require them.

    The app that Intellect developed proactively asks users how they feel at the moment. Mini

    The app features numerous learning programs for users to overcome mental roadblocks, such as self-esteem issues, depression or procrastination. A journal function guides users through writing what’s on their mind, while a “mood timeline” keeps track of their stress levels.

    Since launching the app, Intellect has served a number of high-profile corporate clients such as Dell, Foodpanda, and Singaporean communications conglomerate Singtel, Chew said, which allowed Intellect to expand from a team of two to 80.

    Kim, whose start-up has been building a prototype, said employers could also benefit by identifying trends and general concerns among their workforces.

    “With employees’ consent, we do share aggregated levels of data. And that offers employers a birds’ eye perspective of what their employees are actually struggling with, that they need to deep dive on,” he said.

    “But we never identify who said that, because we don’t want employees to feel like this isn’t a safe space where they can freely address concerns they have.”

    Karen Lau, a Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist with mental health initiative Mind HK, said addressing mental health in Asia comes with unique challenges.

    “In Asian contexts, many cultures tend to uphold values such as honor, pride, and a concept of face,” she said. “Mental illness is usually viewed and judged as a sign of weakness and a source of shame for the family.”

    “I think when it comes to mental health, just like your physical health, every issue is easier to prevent than fixed,” Kim said. “If people get out there and admit and celebrate the fact that they’re receiving coaching or services to invest in their mental health, it’s going to normalize the practice.”

    Chew said one of his goals is to break social stigma and build a new mental healthcare system for the Asia-Pacific region.

    “Mental health has long had a stigma across Asia, whereby traditionally we’ve seen it as a clinical issue, a crisis,” he said. “We see mental health just as important as physical health. You and I face things like stress, burnout, sleep issues, and relationship struggle as well. That’s where actually a lot of us should start working on our mental wellbeing.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Philippines shuts 214 illegal online gambling operations

    Philippines shuts 214 illegal online gambling operations

    [ad_1]

    MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials say they have shut down at least 214 illegal Chinese offshore gambling operations and deported the first six of nearly 400 Chinese workers who have been detained under a renewed crackdown.

    A spate of crimes victimizing Chinese workers at illegal online gambling businesses, including kidnappings and sexual abuses, sparked the crackdown and calls for the banning of even legitimate operators in the lucrative industry.

    Called Philippine offshore gaming operators, or POGOs, the Chinese-run gambling firms are based in the Philippines, but their customers are overseas. They began growing rapidly in 2016, generating about 30 billion pesos ($508 million) in gambling revenues and fees from 2016 to this year, officials said.

    The current crackdown is directed against Chinese operators who have not paid taxes or revenue shares or have committed other violations of the law. The visas of their estimated 48,000 mostly Chinese workers will be canceled, and they can either leave on their own or face mass deportations, Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano said by telephone.

    “All of these illegal POGOs cannot operate in the country and the people who work for them are violating our laws and we should make sure that they leave our country,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters at Manila’s international airport, where the six deported Chinese workers boarded a commercial flight on Wednesday back to China.

    Beijing has backed the crackdown on online gambling operations, which cater to clients in China despite Beijing’s ban on gambling.

    “Crimes induced by and associated with POGO not only harm China’s interests and China-Philippines relations, but also hurt the interests of the Philippines,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement last week.

    “It is, therefore, widely believed that social costs of POGO far outweigh its economic benefits to the Philippines in the long run,” the embassy said.

    The six deported Chinese were among 372 mostly Chinese workers who have been detained by Philippine authorities starting in September from different offshore gambling sites, Clavano said.

    The identities of the other Chinese are still being verified with Chinese authorities in an often-tedious process prior to their deportation, Clavano said.

    Remulla said authorities are also checking how many of the more than 48,000 Chinese workers currently remain in the country because some may have left.

    More than 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese were believed to have worked in the online gambling operations when the business peaked starting in 2016, boosting real estate, transport and food businesses in cities where they were based. But a considerable number were forced to leave due to sporadic government crackdowns, a more stringent tax law and the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

    Philippine legislators have debated whether to ban the online Chinese gambling industry altogether.

    “It is true that they contribute to the coffers, but it comes at significant social costs, which in turn pose a reputational risk that can affect our business and investment climate,” Sen. Grace Poe told a Senate hearing on the issue early this month.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Indonesia gears up to start its first high-speed rail line

    Indonesia gears up to start its first high-speed rail line

    [ad_1]

    BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia is preparing to start Southeast Asia’s first high-speed rail service that will cut travel time between two cities from the current three hours to about 40 minutes.

    The railway line, which connects Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and Bandung, the heavily populated capital of West Java province, is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

    As the Jakarta-Bandung portion of the rail project approached 90% completion, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Thursday visited Bandung’s Tegalluar station — one of the railway’s four stations — where eight train cars and an inspection train that arrived from China in early September were parked.

    “We hope with the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, the mobility of goods and people can be faster and improved, and our competitiveness will also be stronger,” Widodo told reporters during the visit.

    Widodo also expected the bullet train to benefit other sectors.

    Earlier reports said Widodo would invite his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to ride on the China-made bullet train after the Group of 20 biggest economies summit in Bali next month. However, Widodo told reporters Thursday, the plan is still being discussed with Xi and “it is still not final yet.”

    The train cars were designed and built by China’s CRRC Qingdao Sifang railway company. September’s delivery was CRRC’s first export of high-speed trains in its 11-train contract for KCIC400AF eight-car trains and one KCIC400AF-CIT inspection train. The contract, worth $364.5 million, was awarded to CRRC in April 2017.

    The rail line construction that began in 2016 was originally expected to start operating in 2019 but was delayed until June 2023 due to disputes that involved land purchases and environmental issues.

    The 142.3-kilometer (88.4-mile) railway worth $7.8 billion is being constructed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, or PT KCIC, a joint venture between an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned companies and China Railway International Co. Ltd. The joint venture said the trains will be the fastest in Southeast Asia.

    The CRRC claimed that the KCIC400AF train can reach speeds up to 350 kilometers (217 miles) per hour, pass curves with a minimum radius of 150 meters (492 feet), and is equipped with electric motors, each with a power of 625,000 watts. The cars will be divided into three classes: VIP, first and second, and several cars with large spaces between seats will be allocated for passengers with limited mobility.

    The manufacturer said the trains are specifically modified to adapt to Indonesia’s tropical climate, and are equipped with an improved security system that has the ability to track earthquakes, floods and other emergency conditions. The length of the eight-car train is 208.9 meters (685.3 feet).

    The rail deal was signed in October 2015 after Indonesia selected China over Japan in competitive bidding, and financed by a loan from the China Development Bank for 75%. The remaining 25% is the consortium’s own funds.

    The project is part of a 750-kilometer (466-mile) high-speed train plant that would cut across four provinces on the main island of Java and end in the country’s second-largest city of Surabaya.

    Infrastructure improvement, Widodo’s signature policy, helped him win a second term in 2019 elections.

    Jakarta’s subway — a Japan-backed venture — was inaugurated in 2019 as part of the capital’s efforts to ease traffic congestion. Its second phase will soon be completed and the United Kingdom and Japan have offered the country soft loans for its third phase, said transportation minister Budi Karya Sumadi.

    The government has completed other rail projects, including light-rail transit services in Palembang and Jakarta, while five other cities, including on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali, have LRT plans in the pipeline.

    ____

    Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link