The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday it was providing more than $50 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar citizens who are coping with a humanitarian crisis sparked by a February 1 military coup.The coup in the Southeast Asian country, formerly known as Burma, has led to deadly anti-junta protests and clashes between several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta. This has caused shortages of essential goods and services, and it has forced thousands to flee their homes.“This aid will enable our international and non-governmental organization partners to provide emergency food assistance, life-saving protection, shelter, essential health care, water, sanitation and hygiene services to the people of Burma, including those forced to flee violence and persecution,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced in the statement that the U.S. also was providing $5 million to help Thailand contain the spread of COVID-19.“Today’s announcement of additional COVID-19 assistance to Thailand will support health care workers administering vaccines and will strengthen the vaccine supply chain to help ensure that they reach the most vulnerable populations.”Demonstrators reportedly were protesting in the streets of Bangkok again Tuesday to denounce the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Police fired water cannons at protesters who increasingly are angry about Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s handling of the country’s most serious outbreak of infections and its adverse impact on the economy, according to Reuters.(Reuters provided some information for this report.) 
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Australia’s New South Wales state reported another 356 new COVID-19 infections Tuesday.   The new infections are the highest number for the southern state and its capital, Sydney, since a new surge that began in June, when a Sydney airport limousine driver  tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant after transporting international air crews.  Medical staff work in the waiting area at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Bankstown Sports Club as the city experiences an extended lockdown, in Sydney, Australia, Aug. 3, 2021.The latest infection numbers announced Tuesday in Sydney include at least three deaths.   New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that the farming town of Tamworth and the coastal tourist spot of Byron Bay have been placed under an immediate seven-day lockdown after at least one person traveled there from Sydney.   A resident receives a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Australia’s first drive through vaccination center in the outer Melbourne suburb of Melton, Aug, 10, 2021.Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 through aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 37,010 total confirmed cases and 943 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The national government has come under fire for a glacial vaccination effort that has led to just 18 percent of all Australians fully vaccinated.   Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged Tuesday that the country was in a “tough fight” against the delta variant, but pledged that all Australians over 16 years old will be offered a vaccine by the end of the year, saying he wants “everybody around that table at Christmas time.” High-risk destinations
In the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monday added seven new destinations to its highest risk level of its COVID-19 travel advisory list.   The CDC has designated Aruba, Eswatini, France, French Polynesia, Iceland, Israel and Thailand as Level 4 locations, which signifies a “very high” risk of contracting COVID-19.  The federal health agency says anyone who must travel to those nations should be fully vaccinated.   The latest figures from Johns Hopkins show 203,443,396 million people around the world have tested positive for COVID-19, including 4.3 million deaths.  The United States leads in both categories with 35.9 million total confirmed cases, including 617,321 deaths.   India has nearly 32 million total cases, Brazil is third, with 20.1 million.  Brazil is second in COVID-19 fatalities with 563,562, followed by India with 428,682.   Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP. 
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A leading epidemiologist and an adviser to the World Health Organization is calling for a nighttime curfew and daily testing for workers to bring Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak under control. With a lockdown not producing the desired results in Australia’s largest city, it’s time to implement even stricter restrictions. That’s the opinion of professor Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist from the University of New South Wales. She is also a member of a World Health Organization expert panel on COVID-19. The state government in New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital city, has said that higher rates of vaccination, up to 80 percent of the population, are the key to the gradual easing of restrictions. But McLaws says the benefits of mass inoculations will take time to reduce the spread of the delta variant.  “We are not going to get out of this with the vaccine. We’re certainly going to prevent deaths and hospitalizations, and then eventually we will start seeing a wonderful public health impact on reduced spread. But we do need more testing at the worksite, daily testing. We need night curfews to stop people wanting to sneak out at night and go and visit friends or extended families,” McLaws said.State authorities in New South Wales concede they may be forced to abandon the policy of trying to eliminate the virus because the spread of infections in Sydney is proving hard to stop, despite Australia’s strictest lockdown. Instead of trying to crush the virus, officials say Australia might have to live with it and hope the population would be protected by mass vaccinations. Indeed, New South Wales set a new daily record Tuesday with 356 recently diagnosed COVID-19 infections. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian is pleading with residents, especially those in Sydney’s virus hot spots, to get vaccinated.COVID-19 lockdown restrictions affect vulnerable communities in southwest Sydney, Aug. 10, 2021.“Those that are unvaccinated of any age continue to be vulnerable, and with case numbers where they are, unfortunately if you live in those local government areas of concern there is a high chance now you could get the virus. Please protect yourself, your family, your loved ones, your community by getting vaccinated,” Berejiklian said.Australia’s inoculation rates are much lower than other countries. About 22 percent of eligible Australians older than 16 have been fully inoculated. There have been problems with supply, but, crucially, there have been widespread concerns in the country about possible side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine.  A third vaccine, Moderna, has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods  Administration, Australia’s official medical regular.  One million doses are expected to arrive in September of the 10 million doses ordered. The AstraZeneca and Pfizer treatments were approved earlier this year. Australia has recorded 36,330 coronavirus cases and 936 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center.  The country’s virus strategy includes the closure of its international borders to most foreign travelers, strict lockdowns and mass testing. A lockdown that began last Thursday in Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city, continues.  
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China’s anti-sanctions law will be implemented in some form in Hong Kong, the city’s leader confirmed Tuesday, a move that will add fresh regulatory pressure on international companies in the finance hub. Beijing’s rubber-stamp legislature passed the law in June in response to Western penalties that were imposed following crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Its powers include denying visas, deportation, or seizing assets of those who formulate or comply with sanctions against Chinese businesses or officials. Foreign companies can be sued in Chinese courts for applying sanctions and the law can also be wielded against family members. Rumors that China was planning to extend the law to Hong Kong have swirled for days ahead of next week’s meeting of the Chinese legislature after state media said some unidentified new measures were being planned for Hong Kong and Macau. On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, confirmed Beijing had consulted her on adding the law to the city’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law. “The purpose of the Anti-Sanctions Law is to defend our country’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” she told reporters. Lam said her advice had been for Hong Kong to pass its own legislation. But she said Beijing could also impose the measures directly like it did with a sweeping national security law last year that snuffed out dissent. “Some foreign forces, foreign governments and Western media will definitely stir up this issue, hoping to weaken our status as a financial center or the outside world’s confidence in Hong Kong,” she said. “Local legislation can allow us to better clarify the law’s framework and procedures and fit it better to Hong Kong’s legal system,” she added. Relations between China and major Western powers have deteriorated in recent years, squeezing companies that operate in both markets. The United States has imposed a series of sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials, including Lam. China has responded with its own reciprocal measures. International companies face being punished by each side if they adhere to either sanctions regime. A bank that refuses to implement U.S. sanctions, for example, could find itself cut off from access to the dollar. But those that adhere could find themselves in hot water with Beijing.  Hong Kong’s new national security law makes it illegal to comply with foreign sanctions. So far prosecutors have not brought any national security cases against international companies in Hong Kong. Expanding China’s anti-sanctions law to Hong Kong would increase the suite of tools at the disposal of both prosecutors and Chinese companies to pursue international companies deemed to be complying with foreign sanctions. 
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Giant pumps whir deep underground at a plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean people can drink it while reducing ocean pollution. The tiny island nation has little in the way of natural water sources and has long had to rely principally on supplies from neighboring Malaysia. To boost self-sufficiency, the government has developed an advanced system for treating sewage involving a network of tunnels and high-tech plants. Recycled wastewater can now meet 40% of Singapore’s water demand, a figure that is expected to rise to 55% by 2060, according to the country’s water agency. While most is used for industrial purposes, some of it is added to drinking water supplies in reservoirs in the city-state of 5.7 million people. And the system helps reduce maritime pollution, as only a small amount of the treated water is discharged into the sea. This is a contrast to most other countries: 80% of the world’s wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to United Nations estimates. “Singapore lacks natural resources, and it is limited in space, which is why we are always looking for ways to explore water sources and stretch our water supply,” Low Pei Chin, chief engineer of the Public Utilities Board’s water reclamation department, told AFP. One key strategy is to “collect every drop” and “reuse endlessly,” she added. This is in addition to the city-state’s other main approaches to securing water supplies: importing it, using reservoirs and desalinating seawater. At the heart of the recycling system is the high-tech Changi Water Reclamation Plant on the city’s eastern coast. Parts of the facility in land-scarce Singapore are underground, some as deep as 25 stories, and it is fed by wastewater that flows through a massive, 48-kilometer (30-mile) tunnel, linked to sewers. The site houses a maze of steel pipes, tubes, tanks, filtration systems and other machinery, and can treat up to 900 million liters (237 million U.S. gallons) of wastewater a day — enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 24 hours for a year. In one building, a network of ventilators has been installed to keep the air smelling fresh, although a putrid odor still hangs in the air. Sewage that arrives at the plant undergoes an initial filtering process before powerful pumps send it flowing to facilities above ground for further treatment. There, the treated water is further cleansed, with impurities like bacteria and viruses removed through advanced filtration processes and disinfected with ultraviolet rays. The end product, dubbed NEWater, is mainly used in microchip manufacturing plants, which are ubiquitous in the city-state and require high-quality water, and for cooling systems in buildings.  But it also helps boost drinking water supplies. During the dry season, it is sent to top up several man-made reservoirs and, following further treatment, flows to people’s taps. Singapore is expanding its recycling system.  It will add an extra underground tunnel and a major water reclamation plant to serve the western half of the island, which should be completed by 2025. Singapore will have spent Sg$10 billion (U.S. $7.4 billion) on upgrading its water treatment infrastructure by the time the expansion is finished.  One impetus to seek greater self-sufficiency are the city-state’s historically fractious relations with Malaysia, its key water source. The neighbors have had stormy ties since Malaysia ejected Singapore from a short-lived union in 1965, and they have in the past had disagreements over water supplies. Stefan Wuertz, a professor of environmental engineering at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, stressed the importance for other countries to treat wastewater more effectively, warning of serious long-term impacts otherwise. “There is a limited amount of water on the planet,” he told AFP. “If we were to keep polluting the freshwater, at some stage we would reach the point where … treatment becomes extremely expensive.” 
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North Korea has condemned U.S.-South Korea military exercises that begin this week, saying the drills show the need for Pyongyang to develop more of its own military capabilities.  The U.S. and South Korea on Tuesday kicked off preliminary training ahead of the annual summer military drills, according to the Yonhap news agency.  The computer-simulated exercises are being scaled back amid the coronavirus pandemic and fears they could upset North Korea, which recently hinted it is interested in dialogue with South Korea. But no matter the size or form, North Korea views the military training as an act of aggression, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Tuesday. The drills, she said, exacerbate the “instable situation” on the Korean Peninsula, according to a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency. In order to cope with the “ever-growing military threats from the U.S.,” North Korea will further advance its “national defense” and “powerful preemptive strike” capabilities, she added without elaborating. North Korea routinely complains about the annual military exercises, viewing them as rehearsals for invasion.  Mixed messages Over the past several weeks, North Korea has given mixed messages about its stance toward the U.S. and South Korea. Last month, the two Koreas announced that Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had recently exchanged letters. The two men also decided to reopen several inter-Korean hotlines as a first step toward improving relations.  The moves raised hopes North Korea was pivoting toward engagement, following nearly two years of refusing to talk with Washington or Seoul. But just days later, Pyongyang warned that the U.S.-South Korea military exercises could lead to tensions.  It’s not a new strategy for North Korea, which has long tried to create rifts in the U.S.-South Korea alliance. As part of that strategy, North Korea often uses both provocations and the promise of talks – often simultaneously. In June, Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be prepared for both “dialogue and confrontation” with the United States.U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, center left, and South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young, center right, discuss issues concerning North Korea, at the unification ministry, June 22, 2021, in Seoul, South Korea.Under U.S. President Joe Biden, officials have repeatedly said they are open to talks with North Korea. But both the U.S. and North Korea appear reluctant to make the first move. Conflicting priorities for South The situation is complicated for South Korea’s President Moon, who has less than a year left in office.  By going ahead with the exercises, Moon risks upsetting chances for inter-Korean talks, which are a main priority of his left-leaning administration.  But Moon must hold the drills to advance another of his key goals: the transfer of wartime operational control of the South Korean military from the U.S. to South Korea.  The so-called OPCON transfer is not supposed to take place unless numerous benchmarks are met, including South Korea’s performance during military exercises.  The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea, a remnant of the 1950s-era Korean War, which ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty. Under the current arrangement, the U.S. would control the South Korean military if war broke out.  Talks stalled The U.S. and South Korea have repeatedly scaled back or canceled exercises during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as during the talks between Kim Jong Un and former U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump and Kim met three times, including in June 2018, when they agreed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.  Talks later broke down after the U.S. refused North Korea’s offer to abandon part of its nuclear program in exchange for the U.S. relaxing most sanctions against Pyongyang.  Domestic problems Since then, North Korea has threatened to resume longer-range missile launches or nuclear tests.  But more recently North Korea has been focused on domestic issues, such as major floods, a heat wave and the coronavirus.  North Korea continues to insist to the World Health Organization that it has detected no coronavirus infections.  In its latest report published this week, the WHO said North Korea has found zero infections among the 35,254 COVID-19 tests it has conducted.  A coronavirus outbreak could be devastating in North Korea, which is impoverished in many areas and has an uneven health system.  
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An elephant herd that fascinated locals and people around the world by making a yearlong journey into urbanized southwest China, raiding farms and even a retirement home for food, appears finally to be headed home.Local authorities have deployed trucks, workers and drones to monitor the elephants, evacuated roads for them to pass safely and used food to steer them away from populated areas. Despite their entrance into villages and a close approach to the Yunnan provincial capital of Kunming, no animals or humans have been injured.The 14 Asian elephants of various sizes and ages were guided across the Yuanjiang river in Yunnan on Sunday night and a path is being opened for them to return to the nature reserve where they lived in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.FILE – A migrating herd of elephants roam through farmlands of Shuanghe Township, Jinning District of Kunming city in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province, June 4, 2021.The elephants left the reserve more than a year ago for unknown reasons and roamed more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) north. After reaching the outskirts of Kunming, a center for business and tourism, they turned south again, but still are far from the reserve.One male that separated from the herd was subsequently tranquilized and returned to the reserve.Asian elephants are among the most highly protected animals in China and their population has grown to around 300, even while their habitat has shrunk because of expanded farming and urban growth.As of Sunday night, the herd was still in Yuanjiang County, approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the reserve.However, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said the animals were in a “suitable habitat” after crossing the river.A notice issued by provincial government said the herd’s progress was significant and it would continue to work on getting the elephants back in their natural habitat soon.
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Nagasaki Monday marked the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city with its mayor urging Japan, the United States and Russia to do more to eliminate nuclear weapons.     In his speech at the Nagasaki Peace Park, Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Japan’s government to take the lead in creating a nuclear-free zone in Northeast Asia rather than staying under the U.S. nuclear umbrella – a reference to the U.S. promise to use its own nuclear weapons to defend allies without them.     Taue also singled out the United States and Russia – which have the biggest arsenals by far – to do more for nuclear disarmament, as he raised concern that nuclear states have backtracked from disarmament efforts and are upgrading and miniaturizing nuclear weapons.      “Please look into building a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Northeast Asia that would create a ‘non-nuclear umbrella’ instead of a ‘nuclear umbrella’ and be a step in the direction of a world free of nuclear weapons,” Taue said as he urged Japan’s government to do more to take action for nuclear disarmament. At 11:02 a.m., the moment the B-29 bomber dropped a plutonium bomb, Nagasaki survivors and other participants in the ceremony stood in a minute of silence to honor more than 70,000 lives lost.     The Aug. 9, 1945, bombing came three days after the United States made the world’s first atomic attack on Hiroshima, killing 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II.     The mayor also called Japan’s government and lawmakers to quickly sign the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that took effect in January.  Tokyo renounces its own possession, production or hosting of nuclear weapons, but as a U.S. ally Japan hosts 50,000 American troops and is protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella. The post-WWII security arrangement complicates the push to get Japan to sign the treaty as it beefs up its own military while stepping up defense cooperation with other nuclear-weapons states such as Britain and France, to deal with threats from North Korea and China, among others. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the security environment is severe and that global views are deeply divided over nuclear disarmament, and that it is necessary to remove distrust by promoting dialogue and form a mutual ground for discussion.  Taue also called for a substantial progress toward nuclear disarmament made at next year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference, “starting with greater steps by the U.S. and Russia to reduce nuclear weapons.”     He asked Suga’s government to step up and speed up medical and welfare support for the aging atomic bombing survivors, or hibakusha, whose average age is now over 83 years. 
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A loud convoy of luxury cars cruised through Bangkok’s richest neighborhood Sunday calling for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to resign, as Thailand’s pro-democracy protesters are boosted by old political foes who have switched sides.Thailand’s government is contending with the dual crisis of a raging pandemic and political protests.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Tanat Thanakitamnuay reconciles with Red Shirts in Bangkok on Aug. 8, 2021. (VOA/Vijitra Duangdee)Vaccine angst  Experts say the anger of the Bangkok middle and upper classes, once believers in the stability narrative promised by Prayuth, is new and could spell trouble for the prime minister.Much of the resentment among the urban elite is driven by fear of a pandemic and a lack of vaccines beyond the Chinese-made Sinovac — which the government procured early but is widely mistrusted in Thailand.“For the first time the upper class, who thought they were at the top of the society, now can’t even find hospital beds or good quality vaccines for themselves,” Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a law scholar of Chulalongkorn University told VOA.  “So now they realize they’ve been living in this bubble for far too long that doesn’t protect them unless they’re at the very top of the social hierarchy.”Prayuth still has his supporters. The strongest are arch royalists who see him and the army as a buffer between the angry pro-democracy camp and King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who sits at the top of Thai power.“What you’re seeing on the streets only represents 20% of the population,” said Warisanun Sribawontanakit who runs a Facebook fan page for Prayuth which has 244,000 followers.“The majority of Thais are still united behind the monarchy and support Prayuth,” she said. “The way out for this country is to make sure that these 80% are taken care of, vaccinated, their beloved monarchy is left untouched, and the mob movement destroyed. Then we will go back to where we were.”But a year after they emerged, the protests continue. They are now pulling in a cross-section of “Gen Z” youth, older rural Red Shirts and remorseful former fans of Prayuth.In a country whose politics often produces unexpected outcomes, analysts say it is hard to read what is more likely to come next. Possibilities include a coup to take out the protesters, another election to challenge Prayuth, or a long, bitter stalemate.“Who’s winning, who’s losing? It depends on the battle. If we’re talking about the cultural revolution — the revolution of the mindset — the pro-democracy protesters are winning,” says Voranai Vanijaka, a prominent political commentator.“If we’re talking about the battle for the government … the battle for the election that may come next year, then Prayuth’s regime still has the advantage because they hold power over every single facet of government.”
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Espionage between Taiwan and China has grown more sophisticated because of fewer people-to-people exchanges and more use of cyber tools, as relations between the two remain chill, analysts in Taipei say.China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that the two sides eventually unify, by force if needed. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, bolstered by domestic opinion polls, rejects unification and relations have soured since she took office in 2016. Analysts say those conditions make each side want to know more. Attention has riveted on spying over the past week as Taipei prosecutors evaluate whether former Deputy Defense Minister Chang Che-ping and others made contact with a representative of the Central Military Commission — China’s national defense organization — and if so, whether the contact constituted spying.Chang and his wife traveled to China, expenses paid, after he met a Hong Kong businessperson who the commission sent to Taiwan in 2012, Taiwan-based United Daily News reports.  The former deputy minister’s case would follow the 2019 flap over Chinese national Wang Liqiang, who defected to Australia and said he had secretly helped China in relation to Taiwan affairs. Earlier this year, a Taiwan court gave jail sentences to two former Taiwanese legislative aides for setting up a network of Chinese spies. On the other side, Chinese security agencies say they have “foiled” hundreds of espionage cases involving spies from Taiwan and arrested several of them, China’s party-run Global Times news website reported in October.  “This is not an isolated operation, as the mainland carries out similar actions every year, given that the rising number of spying operations by Taiwan authorities in the Chinese mainland over the years,” the Global Times says.   Spying takes place now, as always, through business transactions and academic exchanges, as well as through use of cyber tools, the experts say.  Intelligence gathering through hacking or mining public data can avoid the risk of detection that actual agents on the ground face. Such online methods are more important now because COVID-19 and cooled Taiwan-China relations have reduced face-to-face cross-border exchanges, the analysts add.    “In that sense, I think maybe the espionage is decreasing but the intensity may increase too,” said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “The variety of espionage activity probably will be more diverse,” he said, adding that diminished personal contact reduces the odds of spies being caught, he added. Chang’s case would stand out because of his rank, said Chen Yi-fan, assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “The former deputy defense minister’s case if true would be the highest-ranking military personnel who is involved in espionage cases,” he said.   Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the government body handling mainland China affairs, said in a November statement that in “recent years” China had “maliciously extended to overseas espionage” its effort to protect national security. The council had protested a month before over China’s “framing” of Taiwanese citizens to become spies.   FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou during a summit in Singapore November 7, 2015.The signing of 23 transit, trade and investment deals with China under Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou had increased contact, expanding the pool of people who could buy and sell secrets.    Today’s tense relations have reduced the number of Chinese entrepreneurs and university students in Taiwan while cutting back academic visits by Taiwanese to China, meaning fewer in-person meetings presenting an opportunity for espionage.    From 2010 to 2016, Taiwan unearthed least 33 cases involving citizens who sold sensitive defense-related information to China, Hawaii-based Asia researcher and author William Sharp told VOA at the time. Taiwan Readies for Fresh Wave of Espionage by China

        Taiwan’s incoming ruling party is signaling its intention to get tougher on espionage by China as cross-strait relations sour and increased contact between the two sides makes spying easier.The Democratic Progressive Party government of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen intends to raise the military budget and experts said it may add a cyber-espionage unit to the defense ministry. 

Cyber-spying poses a particular threat now, some experts say.  Chinese spies had used the internet for at least a decade before 2015, said Russell Hsiao, executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute policy incubator, on his blog. Hackers from a Chinese city “infiltrated” computers in Taiwan in one 2011 case and installed programs that “stole a large trove of data,” Hsiao said, citing local media reports. The attack infected 42 government websites and 216 computers.   Today’s hacker-spies are hard to differentiate from Chinese “nationalists” who use the internet on their own to spite Taiwan, said Sean Su, an independent political analyst in Taipei.  China may be “ramping up”, he said. Although more reports of spying are likely to emerge as Western countries focus harder on China’s activities directed at foreign countries, Su said, actual levels of the crime will probably hold constant. “We will think that there’s more spying but in reality, it feels like it’s just the same old, same old all this time,” he said. 
 
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Espionage between Taiwan and China has grown more sophisticated because of fewer people-to-people exchanges and more use of internet technology, as relations between the two countries remain chilled Taipei analysts say.  China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that the two sides eventually unify, by force if needed. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, bolstered by domestic opinion polls, rejects unification and relations have soured since she took office in 2016. Analysts say those conditions make each side want to know more. Attention has riveted on spying over the past week as Taipei prosecutors evaluate whether former Deputy Defense Minister Chang Che-ping and others made contact with a representative of the Central Military Commission — China’s national defense organization — and if so, whether the contact constituted spying.Chang and his wife traveled to China, expenses paid, after he met a Hong Kong businessperson who the commission sent to Taiwan in 2012, Taiwan-based United Daily News reports.  The former deputy minister’s case would follow the 2019 flap over Chinese national Wang Liqiang, who defected to Australia and said he had secretly helped China in relation to Taiwan affairs. Earlier this year a Taiwan court gave jail sentences to two former Taiwanese legislative aides for setting up a network of Chinese spies. On the other side, Chinese security agencies have “foiled” hundreds of espionage cases involving spies from Taiwan and arrested several of them, China’s party-run Global Times news website reported in October.  “This is not an isolated operation, as the mainland carries out similar actions every year, given that the rising number of spying operations by Taiwan authorities in the Chinese mainland over the years,” the Global Times says.   Spying takes place now, as always, through business transactions and academic exchanges, as well as through use of internet tools, the experts say.  Intelligence gathering through hacking or mining public data can avoid the risk of detection that actual agents on the ground face. Such online methods are more important now because COVID-19 and cooled Taiwan-China relations have reduced face-to-face cross-border exchanges, the analysts add.    “In that sense, I think maybe the espionage is decreasing but the intensity may increase too,” said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “The variety of espionage activity probably will be more diverse,” he said, adding that diminished personal contact reduces the odds of spies being caught, he added. Chang’s case would stand out because of his rank, said Chen Yi-fan, assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “The former deputy defense minister’s case if true would be the highest-ranking military personnel who is involved in espionage cases,” he said.   Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the government body handling mainland China affairs, said in a November statement that in “recent years” China had “maliciously extended to overseas espionage” its effort to protect national security. The council had protested a month before over China’s “framing” of Taiwanese citizens to become spies.   FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou during a summit in Singapore November 7, 2015.The signing of 23 transit, trade and investment deals with China under Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou had increased contact, expanding the pool of people who could buy and sell secrets.    Today’s tense relations have reduced the number of Chinese entrepreneurs and university students in Taiwan while cutting back academic visits by Taiwanese to China, meaning fewer in-person meetings presenting an opportunity for espionage.    From 2010 to 2016, Taiwan unearthed least 33 cases involving citizens who sold sensitive defense-related information to China, Hawaii-based Asia researcher and author William Sharp told VOA at the time. Taiwan Readies for Fresh Wave of Espionage by China

        Taiwan’s incoming ruling party is signaling its intention to get tougher on espionage by China as cross-strait relations sour and increased contact between the two sides makes spying easier.The Democratic Progressive Party government of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen intends to raise the military budget and experts said it may add a cyber-espionage unit to the defense ministry. 

 Cyber-spying poses a particular threat now, some experts say.  Chinese spies had used the internet for at least a decade before 2015, said Russell Hsiao, executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute policy incubator, on his blog. Hackers from a Chinese city “infiltrated” computers in Taiwan in one 2011 case and installed programs that “stole a large trove of data,” Hsiao said, citing local media reports. The attack infected 42 government websites and 216 computers.   Today’s hacker-spies today are hard to differentiate from Chinese “nationalists” who use the internet on their own to spite Taiwan, said Sean Su, an independent political analyst in Taipei.  China may be “ramping up”, he said. Although more reports of spying will emerge as Western countries focus harder on China’s activities directed at foreign countries, Su said, actual levels of the crime will probably hold constant. “We will think that there’s more spying but in reality, it feels like it’s just the same old, same old all this time,” he said. 
  
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Australia will compensate some survivors of a former assimilation policy that separated Indigenous children from their families.Members of the so-called Stolen Generations in the Australian Capital Territory, the region surrounding the capital, Canberra, and the Northern Territory will receive a one-time payment of $60,000.It’s part of an $800 million program to address the disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a result of the continued trauma of historic family separations.Most Australian states have their own reparation plans, but authorities in Queensland and Western Australia are being urged to do more to compensate survivors of the Stolen Generations.Tens of thousands of Indigenous Australian children were removed over several decades until the early 1970s. It was a deliberate policy to assimilate often mixed-race children into white society.Eileen Cummings, who taken as a child from her family in Australia’s Northern Territory, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that her memories are still vivid.“My mother was watching them take me away in the truck, but she could not say anything,” she said. “Here I am, this 4½-year-old kid on the back of a truck with a patrol officer, and where did they take me? To the Maranboy police station. When they took me away, I just kept crying because I wanted my mother and my people.”In February 2008, the Australian government formally apologized for forcibly taking Indigenous children from their families.Australia’s original inhabitants make up just over 3% of the population and suffer high levels of disadvantage.The government in Canberra last year said it would reset its efforts to improve Indigenous life expectancy, which is about 10 years less than the general population, as well as inequalities in education. 
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According to local press reports, Kenya has opted out of banning imported Chinese fish, a prohibition that had been considered to protect the local industry, because the African nation is facing a fish shortage.Kenya’s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, Kenya has more than 600 kilometers of coastline on the Indian Ocean, and it claims 22 kilometers of territorial waters, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Beyond that, Kenya, like many other nations, claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 370 kilometers.An EEZ is reserved to a coastal country under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to UNCLOS, the coastal country retains “special rights to exploration and use of marine resources, but the water’s surface remains international territory.”Kenya’s “marine fisheries can be classified into two subsectors: the coastal artisanal fishery, and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) fishery,” according to the U.N.’s FAO website. “A basic feature of the coastal fishery is the largely subsistence and artisanal nature of the fishers who operate small craft propelled by wind sails and manual paddles. The EEZ fishery, on the other hand, is characterized by distant-water fishing vessels which exploit target species mainly with purse-seines and long-lines.”China has the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, which it says it will cap at 3,000 vessels, according to VOA reporting. But a U.S. Coast Guard report says an additional fleet of 3,000 ships of the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia “actively carries out aggressive behavior on the high seas and in sovereign waters of other nations” in pursuit of China’s maritime interests.A British research center estimates China’s total fleet size is nearly 17,000 vessels when Chinese ships that fly the flags of other nations are included.The U.S. Coast Guard report, citing a U.N. statistic, says 93% of the world’s marine fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited or significantly depleted.  
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The Brunei diplomat appointed by a Southeast Asian regional bloc as its special envoy to Myanmar said Saturday he should be given full access to all parties when he visits the strife-torn country, where the military overthrew an elected government.The Battle for Myanmar Six Months After the CoupMyanmar’s future is unclear despite junta leader’s promise of new electionsSpeaking days after his appointment by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Erywan Yusof gave no date for his visit to Myanmar, whose civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials have been detained since the February 1 coup.Erywan has been tasked with overseeing humanitarian aid, ending violence in Myanmar and opening dialogue between the military rulers and opponents, whose protests and civil disobedience campaign have been met with violence.”The planned visit to Myanmar is in the pipeline, and what we need to do is make sure we’re well prepared when we go there, unlike the visit I had in June,” Erywan, Brunei’s Second Foreign Affairs Minister, told reporters in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the tiny sultanate of Borneo.Erywan said he would seek a more substantive discussion during his next planned ASEAN visit to Myanmar, while stressing it was important that he be given full access to all parties.Brunei Calls for ASEAN Meeting to Discuss Myanmar SituationProtesters remain defiant, gather in streets to clap for opposition leadersMyanmar civil society groups have rejected his appointment, saying ASEAN should have consulted opponents of the junta and other parties.The United Nations and many countries have urged ASEAN, whose 10 members include Myanmar, to spearhead diplomatic efforts to restore stability.Singapore’s foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, said it was too early to say how long the ASEAN effort to foster talks would take, saying “political solutions, whilst essential, are difficult, and will take, in my view, prolonged negotiations and discussions.”He added: “Therefore, I would avoid trying to put unrealistic timelines.”Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing, who has assumed the post of interim prime minister, this week pledged to hold elections by 2023.His government says it acted within the constitution to remove Suu Kyi’s government, and objects to it being called a coup, and it also rejects the description of itself as a junta.
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More than a thousand Thai anti-government protesters clashed with police Saturday, as they demonstrated against the government’s failure to handle coronavirus outbreaks and its impact on the economy.About a hundred police officers in riot gear sealed off a road near Victory Monument in the capital Bangkok with containers and used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to stop a march toward Government House, the office of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.A demonstrator walks during clashes with police at a protest against what they call the government’s failure in handling the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 7, 2021.”Tear gas and rubber bullets were used for crowd control. Our goal is to maintain order,” Krisana Pattanacharoen, a police spokesman, told reporters.The demonstrators threw ping pong bombs, stones and marbles, he added.Dozens of protesters were seen being carried away on motorcycles and in ambulances. The Erawan Emergency Medical Center said at least two civilians and three officers had been injured.”We want Prayuth to resign because people aren’t getting vaccines,” said a 23-year-old male protester, who only gave his first name “Aom,” for fear of repercussions.”We don’t have jobs and income, so we have no choice but protest.”
Some 6% of Thailand’s population of more than 66 million has been fully vaccinated and most of the country including Bangkok is under lockdown with a night-time curfew. Gatherings of more than five people are currently banned.Nonetheless, street protests against the government have been held in recent weeks by several groups, including Prayuth’s former political allies, as frustrations mount over its management of the health crisis.
Thailand reported Saturday a record of nearly 22,000 new COVID-19 infections in a single day and the highest deaths, 212 fatalities.The Southeast Asian country has reported 736,522 total cases and 6,066 deaths from the coronavirus since the pandemic began last year.
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A COVID-19 outbreak in Australia is worsening according to official figures released Saturday, while state authorities in New South Wales now concede they may have to abandon the long-held policy of trying to eliminate the virus as delta variant infections surge in Sydney. More than half of the population in Australia’s three biggest cities, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, are in lockdown. State authorities in Victoria have recorded 29 new coronavirus cases in the past day, while Queensland confirmed 13 new infections on Saturday. An outbreak of the delta variant in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, is worsening.  Three hundred nineteen new cases were diagnosed in the last 24 hours.  This is the first time the state has recorded more than 300 infections in a day since the pandemic began.  Eighty-four people have died since the outbreak was detected in mid-June.  Australia Records Worst Day of COVID-19 InfectionsThe White House reported Friday that 50% of all Americans are fully VaccinatedThese statistics might seem small compared to other countries, but in the Australian context they are significant.Australia has had a policy of trying to crush the virus through international border closures and strict lockdowns, but officials have suggested that eliminating the contagion, and whatever form it could take next, might not be possible given the highly infectious nature of the delta variant.   Instead, they believe Australia might have to learn to live with COVID-19.Brad Hazzard, the New South Wales health minister, though, remains optimistic cases numbers can be sharply reduced if lockdown restrictions are obeyed.”Look, I still harbor hope that we’ll get back to zero, but delta is a pretty wild variant of the virus. It is wreaking havoc across the world,” Hazzard said. “It is almost a level of self-entitlement to think that you don’t have to have the vaccine, but your neighbors do. Well, no, you all do. We all do. Every one of us, and if you don’t get the vaccine and we don’t follow the rules, well, it makes it more difficult to get back to zero but I’m still hopeful we’ll get there.” Vaccination rates remain low in comparison to many other countries because of a lack of supply and community concerns about possible side effects.  Only about 20% of Australians are fully inoculated.  Authorities say those vaccination rates need to be between 50% and 80% for lockdown restrictions to be relaxed.Georgie Harman, the head of the mental health charity Beyond Blue, says the virus is inflicting immense psychological distress.”We have been saying since the pandemic started here in Australia that the aftershocks and the long tail of the mental health impacts will be not just long, but actually really deep,” Harman said.About 36,000 coronavirus cases have been detected in Australia since the pandemic began.  Nine hundred thirty-two people have died, according to the Health Department.
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A handful of Vietnamese interviewed during U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent visit here expressed support for the apparently warming relations between the two countries.Austin met with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc during his visit, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Vietnam and Singapore this month on a trip, the White House said, during which she “will engage the leaders of both governments on issues of mutual interest, including regional security, the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and our joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order.”Thanh Thanh, who studies international relations in Hanoi, said that in the 25 years since normalization, Vietnam-U.S. relations have generally been stable and developed, and said she expected that to continue.“In the context of Vietnam and Southeast Asia in general playing an important role in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, I think, looking forward, the two countries will continue to try to maintain peace to ensure the interests of both sides,” she told VOA on July 29.For those who benefit from the bilateral ties, a good relationship between Vietnam and the U.S. makes sense.Duong Thi Thu Thuy, a Vietnamese who was born in the 1970s and now works with a U.S. medical technology firm that is developing a laser therapy clinic system in Vietnam, looked forward to Austin’s visit with anticipation.“Through social media and my friends, I knew that the U.S. secretary of defense, Mr. Lloyd Austin, would visit Vietnam. I was very excited waiting for the day he was to come because this would be a good sign of expanding and deepening the Vietnam-U.S. relationship. Surely this is a good sign because it has been so long since the visits of former U.S. presidents,” she said.Thuy, formerly an English teacher during the 1990s and now based in Ho Chi Minh City, has reasons to support a good relationship between Vietnam and the U.S.“I have cooperated and developed products for an American factory in Vietnam. The Vietnam-U.S. relationship therefore has a good impact on our business environment. For example, it facilitates my trips to visit manufacturing factories in America, and easily learn about the American market,” she said.Many here are confident about the future of bilateral relations.“I think the relationship will develop more and more, and benefit the two countries and the people of the two in economy, culture, education and training, science and technology, etc.,” said a medical staff member, who asked not to be further identified.  In addition, she said she expects her children would benefit from improved U.S.-Vietnam relations, enjoying the results of Vietnam’s international integration, such as studying in the United States or elsewhere, making friends and traveling abroad more easily.“The relationship between Vietnam and the U.S. in the past years has had a positive impact on both countries, especially when the U.S. has supported Vietnam in training high-quality health workers and providing aid to the health sector in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.A retired worker in publishing industry also lauded the benefits of cooperation with the U.S.“U.S. technology companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Google have come to Vietnam. They helped the citizens, especially the youth, even in remote areas, access world civilization,” he said.In addition, he said, the presence of a Vietnamese community in the U.S. would be a reason for him to support a stronger relationship between Hanoi and Washington.“Remittances sent by Vietnamese people in the U.S. every year are significant, helping the domestic economy. We also have relatives living in the U.S., so I have realistic feelings and a deep understanding of this,” he said.Most of those people who spoke to VOA also spoke favorably about U.S. presidents, especially those who visited Vietnam, or took a specific role in important milestones in Vietnam-U.S. relations, such as former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.Asked about President Joe Biden, interviewees credited him with COVID-19 vaccine donations and the recent move to resolve currency disputes with Vietnam.However, they also agreed that it is hard to comment about Vietnam-U.S. relations this early in his administration.“The relationship is stable, and there are not many significant developments,” Thanh Thanh said.Some others even see the relationship as “not much changed,” or say they are “not impressed yet.” 
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While Ukraine’s president prepares for a visit to Washington, Kyiv is accepting COVID-19 vaccines from China and has signed a major infrastructure agreement with Beijing to cooperate on roads, bridges and railway projects. Some experts worry China is attaching strings to the ventures, as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Authorities in the U.S. have arrested two Myanmar citizens residing in New York in connection with an alleged plot to kill their country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, federal prosecutors say.According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, Phyo Hein Htut concocted a plan with an arms dealer in Thailand who sells weapons to the Myanmar military. Under the plan, Phyo Hein Htut would “hire attackers to hurt the Ambassador in an attempt to force the Ambassador to step down from his post. If the Ambassador did not step down, then the Arms Dealer proposed that the attackers hired by Htut would kill the Ambassador.”The second defendant, Ye Hein Zaw, allegedly was going to send money to Phyo Hein Htut to finance the attack, which was to take place near New York City.Each defendant is charged with one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.Myanmar’s military, which overthrew the government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, has been trying to remove Kyaw Moe Tun, who opposes the military junta, from his post at the U.N. and replace him. Kyaw Moe Tun told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that his life had been threatened and that he was given additional security.In late February, Kyaw Moe Tun spoke passionately before the U.N.”We will continue to fight for a government which is of the people, by the people, for the people,” Kyaw Moe Tun said, his voice cracking. He then spoke briefly in his native Burmese to address his fellow citizens listening in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.”I would like to request to all of you to keep on fighting,” he urged his countrymen, according to a translation of his remarks. “The revolution must succeed.”Messages seeking comment from the suspects’ lawyers were not immediately returned, The Associated Press said, and a message and phone call seeking comment were sent to the Myanmar mission to the U.N.Nearly 950 people have been killed, more than 7,000 have been arrested and 5,502 are still detained since the coup began on February 1, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a human rights organization based in Thailand and Myanmar.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
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The World Food Program is appealing for $86 million to provide help over the next six months to two million people in Myanmar facing acute hunger and the ravages of COVID-19.U.N. officials say the people of Myanmar are facing poverty, acute hunger and an economic crisis made worse by political instability and repression following the February 1 military coup.Additionally, COVID-19 is spreading widely and ravaging the country. The World Health Organization confirms nearly 320,000 cases, including 11,000 deaths. Unofficial reports said those figures are greatly underestimated.World Food Program’s country director in Myanmar, Stephen Anderson, speaking via a video link from the country’s capital, Naypyidaw, said a second wave of COVID-19 last year had a devastating impact on peoples’ livelihoods.“And now, the third wave is practically like a tsunami that has hit this country,” Anderson said. “It is hitting all aspects and creating major havoc in terms of peoples’ health, but we know also it will have a very, very severe impact on peoples’ livelihoods.”In this photo taken on June 10, 2021 people carry food aid distributed by a volunteer group in Pankai village in Kutkai township in Myanmar’s eastern Shan state.In April, WFP estimated 3.4 million more people could be short of food between May and October. In response, the U.N. agency is scaling up assistance to reach some two million people in the country’s poorest townships. It also is stepping up operations for people newly displaced by clashes and insecurity in recent months.Anderson said the WFP is distributing food to people in conflict-affected areas in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan states. In Rakhine state, he noted thousands of Rohingya depend on international aid for survival.Nearly one million Rohingyas fled to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh in August 2017 to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar. Some 600,000 remained behind in northern Rakhine state.Anderson said the WFP provides monthly rations for 240,000 Rohingya who have been living in camps since 2012. His agency, he said, also is assisting thousands of others living in villages, who are short of food.He noted people have difficulty surviving by farming because of government restrictions that limit their access to markets to sell their goods.“We have been providing food assistance,” Anderson said. “We also have been trying to support activities such as school meal programs and community development type projects which help people get back on their feet. So, we are doing everything we can to try to support these people.”Anderson said the people of Myanmar are facing their most difficult moment in living memory. He said people are struggling to put food on the table amid job losses, rising food and fuel prices, political unrest, violence, and displacement.He said it is critically important that the WFP receives the funding it requires to help those in need. 
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Millions of people in Myanmar are facing food insecurity, and the world’s largest humanitarian organization warned Friday that a lack of funding is preventing it from providing adequate aid.The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) needs $86 million, which represents 70 percent of its funding needs, to continue operations in Myanmar, the organization said.According to the WFP’s latest estimate, 6.2 million people in Myanmar could face food insecurity by October, a crisis that is compounded by ongoing political unrest and a third wave of the coronavirus sweeping the country.“We have seen hunger spreading further and deeper in Myanmar,” WFP Myanmar Country Director Stephen Anderson said in a statement. “Nearly 90 percent of households living in slum-like settlements around Yangon say they have to borrow money to buy food.”FILE – A boy walks on a bamboo bridge by his home in a poor community on the outskirts of Yangon, May 21, 2021.Since the country’s military took over the government in a February coup, an estimated 1.2 million jobs have been lost in Myanmar when compared to the final quarter of 2020, representing a six percent drop in employment.The economic fallout comes as citizens have gone on labor strikes to protest the military junta and COVID-19 continues to run rampant. Job losses have hit every sector of the economy and worsened the pre-existing poverty in the country.The WFP has reached 1.25 million people in Myanmar with food, cash and nutrition assistance during 2021, but emphasizes that maintaining operations over the next six months without more funding is uncertain.“Now more than ever, the people of Myanmar need our support,” Anderson said. “We are deeply grateful for the backing of the international community – the people of Myanmar will never forget your generosity and solidarity.”In February, the Myanmar military responded to a landslide election win from the National League for Democracy party by forcibly overtaking all three branches of government.The military had backed the NLD’s political opponent, the Union Solidarity and Development Association party, which claimed the election was rigged in the NLD’s favor.The military junta immediately sparked mass protests in Myanmar and condemnation from world leaders. The ruling military responded by killing hundreds of protesters and arresting thousands of activists and journalists. More than 200,000 people have been displaced as they’ve fled the violence.The junta’s leader recently declared himself the country’s prime minister and extended military rule for two more years, promising to hold a new multi-party election in 2023. 
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Japan on Friday marked 76 years since the world’s first atomic bomb attack, with low-key ceremonies and disappointment over a refusal by Olympics organizers to hold a minute’s silence.Survivors, relatives and a handful of foreign dignitaries attended this year’s main event in Hiroshima to pray for those killed or wounded in the bombing and call for world peace.Virus concerns meant the general public were once again kept away, with the ceremony instead broadcast online.Participants, many dressed in black and wearing face masks, offered a silent prayer at 8:15 am (2315 GMT Thursday), when the first nuclear weapon used in wartime was dropped.An estimated 140,000 people were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima, which was followed three days later by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.On Friday, Hiroshima’s mayor called for leaders to visit the cities, and warned “experience has taught humanity that threatening others for self-defense benefits no one”.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also delivered a speech in the city, but was later forced to apologize for skipping part of the text — reportedly on Japan’s support of international nuclear disarmament — apparently by accident.International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach made a trip to Hiroshima before the Games began, to mark the start of an Olympic truce that urges a halt to fighting worldwide to allow the safe passage of athletes.But organizers stopped short of granting a request from bomb survivors and the city for a minute of silent prayer on Friday morning.In a letter, Bach said the Olympic closing ceremony would include time to honor victims of tragedy throughout history.”His letter didn’t say anything about our request,” Tomohiro Higaki from Hiroshima’s peace promotion division told AFP.”It is disappointing, even though we appreciate that Bach visited Hiroshima to learn the reality of bomb victims,” he said.Bach’s controversial visit saw more than 70,000 people signing a petition opposing the trip and accusing him of seeking to “promote the Olympics” despite opposition to the Games.Yoko Sado, 43, strolling through the peace memorial park with her seven-year-old son, said the lack of visitors because of the pandemic had robbed Hiroshima of a chance to spread a message of peace.”I’m a bit disappointed,” she told AFP. “It would have been a great opportunity.”This year’s ceremony is the first since an international treaty banning nuclear weapons entered into force last year when a 50th country ratified the text.Japan Marks 75th Anniversary of Hiroshima Atomic BombingCeremony to observe world’s first  atomic attack scaled down from years past due to coronavirus pandemicThe treaty has not been signed by nuclear-armed states, but activists believe it will have a gradual deterrent effect.Japan has also declined to sign it, saying the accord will carry no weight without buy-in from nuclear-armed states.But the country is also in a delicate position as it is under the US nuclear umbrella, with US forces responsible for its defense.
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China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo said on Friday it would take down an online list that ranks celebrities by popularity after state media said social media platforms ought to rein in the promotion of celebrity culture to protect children.The announcement came hours after the state-owned People’s Daily published an editorial criticizing platforms that prioritize traffic and create celebrities out of “unworthy” individuals, who can draw attention and money from fans.It did not name any companies.Weibo said its decision to take down the “star power list,” which ranked celebrities based on the popularity of their social posts and number of followers, was partly due to the “irrational support” some fans were showing for celebrities.”The list cannot comprehensively and objectively reflect the social influence of stars” and discourages healthy interaction between stars and fans, the company said in the statement.The list was no longer visible online on Friday.The People’s Daily opinion piece is one of several editorials published this week calling for crackdowns on industries such as gaming and alcohol, which have prompted investors to dump stocks in targeted sectors.The article argued that teenagers’ cultural experience, self-awareness and consumption habits were all influenced by new media and technology, while the type of celebrities they followed and admired were closely related to online platforms.The editorial comes after Chinese Canadian pop singer Kris Wu was detained by police amid allegations of seducing underage women. Wu has denied the accusations.Wu’s case has been widely followed in China and seen as a sign of excesses in China’s entertainment industry and timely in the wake of the global #MeToo movement.Online platforms should “strictly control idol development programs and strengthen management of talent show programs” by controlling reviews, voting mechanisms and comments, the article said.Popular platforms in China on which fans interact with celebrities, besides Weibo, include Bilibili Inc,  Kuaishou Technology, and ByteDance-backed Douyin. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong have discussed efforts to engage with North Korea, including the prospect of humanitarian aid, their offices said Friday.While the allies both want North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and end its missile program, they have at times disagreed on the approach, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in keen to build economic ties between the two Koreas while the United States has long insisted on action on denuclearization as a first step.South Korea’s foreign ministry, in a statement on the call between Blinken and Chung, said they had agreed to hold detailed discussions on ways to cooperate with North Korea, including humanitarian cooperation, and continue to make efforts to engage with it.”The secretary and the minister agreed to continue the coordinated diplomatic efforts … to make substantial progress toward the goal of complete denuclearization and establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the ministry said.Blinken confirmed U.S. support for dialogue and engagement between North Korea and South Korea, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement.Last week, the two Koreas restored hotlines that North Korea severed a year ago and South Korean officials said Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were seeking to repair strained ties and resume summits.According to South Korean lawmakers, North Korea is seeking some easing of international sanctions before it resumes negotiations with the United States. But the United States has shown little inclination to ease sanctions before talks over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.Nevertheless, South Korea officials have been encouraged by a declaration by the Biden administration, which earlier this year concluded a review of North Korea policy, that it would pursue “practical” diplomacy with North Korea.Blinken plans to call on Southeast Asian counterparts in a virtual meeting later Friday to fully implement sanctions on North Korea, state department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday.About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. 
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