A military plane carrying at least 85 people crashed in the southern Philippines on Sunday, the armed forces chief said.So far 15 people have been rescued from the burning wreckage of the C-130, which crashed as it tried to land on Jolo island in Sulu province, General Cirilito Sobejana told AFP.”Responders are at the site now, we are praying we can save more lives,” Sobejana said. 
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Rescuers in a Japanese holiday town hit by a deadly landslide searched for survivors Sunday, climbing across cracked roofs and checking cars thrown onto engulfed buildings as more rain lashed the area.Two people have been confirmed dead after the disaster at the hot spring resort of Atami in central Japan, with 10 others rescued and around 20 still missing, a local government official said.Torrents of mud crashed through part of the town on Saturday morning following days of heavy rain, sweeping away hillside homes and turning residential areas into a quagmire that stretched down to the nearby coast.”It’s possible that the number of damaged houses and buildings is as many as 130. I mourn the loss of life,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told ministers at an emergency meeting.”This rainy-season front is expected to keep causing heavy rain in many areas. There is a fear that land disasters could occur even when the rain stops,” he warned.Around 1,000 rescuers including 140 military personnel were involved in the relief efforts, a Shizuoka prefecture official told AFP.”We are trying our best to search for survivors as quickly as possible while carrying out the operation very carefully as it is still raining,” he added.Public broadcaster NHK later reported that rescue operations had been temporarily suspended due to the bad weather.”The big electricity pylons here were shaking all over the place, and no sooner had I wondered what was going on than the mudslides were already there and in the street below too,” said Chieko Oki, who works on a shopping street in the town.”I was really scared,” the 71-year-old told AFP.Another survivor told local media he had heard a “horrible sound” and fled to higher ground as emergency workers urged people to evacuate.On Sunday, dark water trickled past half-buried vehicles and buildings tipped from their foundations.An air-conditioning unit dangled from one devastated home, now perched above a thick slurry of mud and debris, as military personnel stuck poles into the ground to check for bodies.More landslides fearedAtami, around 90 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, saw rainfall of 313 millimeters in just 48 hours to Saturday — higher than the average monthly total for July of 242.5 millimeters, according to public broadcaster NHK.Much of Japan is currently in its annual rainy season, which lasts several weeks and often causes floods and landslides.Scientists say climate change is intensifying the phenomenon because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, resulting in more intense rainfall.Further downpours are forecast in the coming days across Japan’s main island.”Landslides can occur again and again at the same place even if the rain stops. Residents and rescuers should remain on alert,” Takeo Moriwaki, professor of geotechnical engineering at Hiroshima Institute of Technology, told AFP.NHK said on Sunday that at least seven other landslides had been reported across Japan.The highest evacuation alert, which urges people “to secure safety urgently,” was issued after the disaster in Atami, which has 20,000 households.At shelters in the town, survivors wearing masks were keeping their distance from other families due to fears of coronavirus infection, media reports said.Residents in many other cities in Shizuoka have also been ordered to evacuate. 
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A powerful mudslide carrying a deluge of black water and debris crashed into rows of houses in a town west of Tokyo following heavy rains on Saturday, leaving at least 19 people missing, officials said.Dozens of homes may have been buried in Atami, a town known for hot springs, said Shizuoka prefecture spokesperson Takamichi Sugiyama.Public broadcaster NHK gave the number of missing people at 20, but Sugiyama said the prefecture confirmed at least 19, although he said the number may grow.Torrential rains have slammed parts of Japan starting earlier this week. Experts said dirt had been loosened, increasing landslide risks in a country filled with valleys and mountains.Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu told reporters that the Coast Guard had discovered two people who had been washed into the sea by the mudslide. Their hearts had stopped, but their deaths were not yet officially declared, he said. Other details of their identity were not released.“I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who has suffered,” he said, adding that utmost efforts will be made to rescue lives.Both Kawakatsu and Sugiyama said it had been raining hard in the area all morning. Self-defense forces will join firefighters and police in the rescue operation, and a minister from the national government had also arrived, they said.Japanese media reports said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called an emergency meeting for his Cabinet.Evacuation warnings were issued for a wide area, including the so-called “Level 5,” which is the highest possible alert.The landslides appeared to have struck multiple times, about as fast as a car. Footage showed a powerful, black mudslide slither down a mountain, knocking over and crushing houses and sweeping away cars in its path. Helpless neighbors watched in horror, some recording on their phones.NHK TV footage showed a part of a bridge had collapsed.Atami is a quaint seaside resort area in Shizuoka prefecture, about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo. The area that was hit by the mudslide, Izusan, includes hot springs, residential areas, shopping streets and a famous shrine. 
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Indonesian police threw up roadblocks and more than 400 checkpoints on the islands of Java and Bali to ensure hundreds of millions of people stayed home on Saturday, the first day of stricter curbs on movement to limit the spread of COVID-19.As it battles one of Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, the world’s fourth-most-populous nation has seen record new infections on eight of the past 12 days, with Friday bringing 25,830 cases and a high of 539 deaths.”We are setting up (patrols) in 21 locations where typically there are crowds,” Istiono, the head of national traffic police, who goes by one name, told a news conference late on Friday. “Where there are street stalls and cafes, we will close those streets, maybe from around 6 p.m. until 4 a.m.”Saturday’s more stringent curbs, from tighter travel checks to a ban on restaurant dining and outdoor sports and the closure of non-essential workplaces, will run until July 20, but could be extended, if needed, to bring daily infections below 10,000.More than 21,000 police officers as well as military will fan out across Indonesia’s most populous island of Java and the tourist resort island of Bali to ensure compliance with the new curbs, a police spokesperson said.At the roadblocks and checkpoints on the islands, police will conduct random tests and enforce curfews. Vaccinated travelers with a negative swab test will be permitted to make long-distance journeys, however.The highly infectious delta variant first identified in India, where it caused a spike in infections, is spreading in Indonesia and pushing hospitals across Java to the brink.Indonesia is set to receive vaccines donated by foreign countries to help speed its vaccination drive, which has covered just 7.6% of a target of 181.5 million people by January.Until now, it has relied mainly on a vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech.Indonesia’s tally of infections stands at 2.2 million, with a death toll of more than 59,500.
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American researchers using commercial satellite imagery say China appears to be significantly expanding the number of launch silos for its arsenal of intercontinental range ballistic missiles, raising fears that nuclear weapons will become a new issue of contention between Washington and Beijing. Using images provided by the satellite imaging company Planet, two researchers from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (California) found that China is building 119 silos in the desert of the northwestern province of Gansu. Jeffery Lewis, one of the researchers, told VOA that development is likely for China’s DF-41 ICBM, which is believed to be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. With an estimated range of nearly 7,000 kilometers and possible capability to carry up to 10 warheads, researchers believe the FILE – Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China April 14, 2021.During the Cold war, the United States created a plan to build multiple launch shelters for each missile, 23 for one to be exact. The missiles were regularly moved among silos to make it impossible for the Soviet Union to target U.S. land-based ICBMs. The plan was adopted by the Carter administration but was later changed by the Reagan administration. Lewis agreed that that is a possibility. “China likely has similar concerns about the survivability of silo-based ICBMs, and may rotate a smaller number of ICBMs among a larger number of operational silos,” he added. Acton also pointed out that China still has a relatively small nuclear arsenal compared to the U.S.  According to the Pentagon, China has a warhead stockpile in the low 200s. “For comparison, the United States possesses around 3,800 nuclear warheads, of which around 1,750 are deployed,” Acton wrote. The U.S. has repeatedly reached out to China for negotiations on nuclear arms. In May, the U.S. disarmament ambassador, Robert Wood, said at a U.N. conference that China continues to resist discussing nuclear risk reduction bilaterally with the U.S.  China’s envoy, Ji Zhaoyu, responded by saying that Beijing is ready to engage, but only “on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”Heath, from the Rand Corporation, said that in view of the new developments, the U.S. may seek to press for arms control talks with China, but it’s doubtful China will accept such controls given the small size of its nuclear arsenal. “The U.S. may also need to build more anti-missile defenses,” he said. Acton said a quid pro quo might work. “If the United States wants to engage China in arms control, the kind of idea that I think is worth exploring is a quid pro quo, by which the U.S. agrees to limit its missile defenses, for example by agreeing not to develop or deploying missile defenses in space, in return for China agreeing not to produce any more nuclear material with which it could augment its arsenal,” he said in an analysis video posted by Carnegie.  
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Thousands of people were being evacuated from villages around a rumbling volcano near the Philippine capital Friday, but officials said they faced another dilemma of ensuring emergency shelters will not turn into epicenters of COVID-19 infections.The alert was raised to three on a five-level scale after Taal Volcano blasted a dark gray plume into the sky Thursday. The five-minute steam- and gas-driven explosion was followed by four smaller emissions, but the volcano was generally calm on Friday, volcanologists said.Level three means “magma is near or at the surface, and activity could lead to hazardous eruption in weeks,” according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Level five means a life-threatening eruption is occurring that could endanger communities.The agency asked people to stay away from a small island in a scenic lake where Taal sits and is considered a permanent danger zone along with a number of nearby lakeside villages in Batangas province south of Manila.An eruption of Taal last year displaced hundreds of thousands of people and briefly closed Manila’s international airport. However, the volcano agency’s chief, Renato Solidum, said it was too early to know if the volcano’s current unrest will lead to a full-blown eruption.The preemptive evacuations that began late Thursday involved residents in five high-risk villages in the lakeside towns of Laurel and Agoncillo.More than 14,000 people may have to be moved temporarily away from the volcano, said Mark Timbal, a spokesman for the government’s disaster-response agency.Town officials, however, faced an extra predicament of ensuring emergency shelters, usually school buildings, basketball gymnasiums and even Roman Catholic church grounds, would not become coronavirus hotspots. Displaced villagers were asked to wear face masks and were sheltered in tents set safely apart, requiring considerably more space than in pre-pandemic times. In Laurel town, Imelda Reyes feared for her and her family’s safety in their home near the volcano and in the crowded grade school-turned-evacuation center where they took shelter Friday.“If we stay home, the volcano can explode anytime,” Reyes told The Associated Press. “But here, just one sick person can infect all of us. Both are dangerous choices.”Reyes, who washes laundry and has four children, wept in desperation as she said she and her husband, a corn farmer, wanted to leave the evacuation camp for a friend’s house in northern Nueva Ecija province but lamented they did not have money for the bus fare.Most evacuation camps have set up isolation areas in case anyone began showing COVID-19 symptoms.“It’s doubly difficult now. Before, we just asked people to rush to the evacuation centers and squeeze themselves in as much as possible,” said disaster-response officer Junfrance De Villa of Agoncillo town.“Now, we have to keep a close eye on the numbers. We’re doing everything to avoid congestion,” De Villa told The Associated Press by telephone.A nearby town safely away from the restive volcano could accommodate up to 12,000 displaced Agoncillo residents in pre-pandemic times but could only shelter half of that now. A laidback town of more than 40,000 people, Agoncillo has reported more than 170 COVID-19 cases but only about a dozen remain ill. At least 11 residents have died, he said.The 311-meter Taal, one of the world’s smallest volcanoes, erupted in January last year, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and sending clouds of ash to Manila, about 65 kilometers to the north, where the main airport was temporarily shut down.Heavy ashfall also buried an abandoned fishing community, which thrived for years in the shadow of Taal on an island in Taal Lake, and shut down a popular district of tourist inns, restaurants, spas and wedding venues.The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.
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As China exuberantly celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, the mood and atmosphere for many in Hong Kong was different, as the territory marked the one-year anniversary of a controversial national security law critics say has significantly curtailed democratic freedoms. Ted Hui, a former pro-democracy lawmaker who fled to Australia after facing nine charges in Hong Kong, told VOA the city is “unrecognizable.” “In the past year I think the intensity is getting stronger and stronger and level of enforcement. It’s no doubt to me now, a year after the introduction of the NSL, 100% it is the death of ‘one country, two systems,’ a total collapse of Hong Kong’s freedoms. Not any autonomy at all,” he said.  Hui, was one of the 19 lawmakers who resigned from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in November in protest of the government’s decision to disqualify members of his party. China enacted the security law in response to widespread protests in 2019 over the enactment of a controversial extradition bill. Major protests ensued for six months, often turning violent.Among other things, the security legislation prohibits secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. At least 117 people have been arrested and 64 have been charged under the law, according to a A protester holding a U.K. flag is arrested by police officers during the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China at a street in Hong Kong, July 1, 2021.However, Chow Hang-tung, vice-chair of the nonprofit Hong Kong Alliance, said the security law means Hong Kong is now governed under a “dictatorship,” making it a city “under fear.”  “Before, we feel we have freedom of expression, we still have our opposition, we still have people running for primaries, and planning on taking the Legislative Council,” she told VOA.   “I think they [now] want to target civil society organizations, NGO’s and all these political parties and groups. And it looks like ours,” she added. Chow, who is also a lawyer, Fung Wai-kong, managing editor and chief opinion writer for shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily’s English website, who wrote under the pen-name Lo Fung, enters a waiting vehicle after leaving the police headquarters in Hong Kong on June 29.Apple Daily, the pro-democracy newspaper Lai founded, was forced to close last month after authorities arrested five executives, also for alleged foreign collusion. Hong Kong’s Security Bureau Four protesters carry a banner marching to the flag raising handover ceremony area in Hong Kong, July 1, 2021.However, just in case, a large police presence occupied the district Causeway Bay. Police stated 19 people were arrested during the day, including youth activist Wong Yat Chin, the convener of the pro-democracy political group StudentPoliticism. Jonathan Fritz, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, East Asian Pacific Affairs told reporters Thursday, “In spite of the ongoing, systematic crackdown, we are inspired to see the resilience of Hong Kongers in their pursuit of what the PRC promised them: a Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy, universal suffrage and genuine protection of fundamental freedoms.  We hope Beijing will realize the truth: Hong Kongers aren’t the problem; they are its greatest strength.  To dissent is to show your patriotism, and Hong Kongers are showing that they want their government to be better.  If the PRC can have the confidence to tolerate dissent and welcome diverse points of view, Hong Kong will flourish.”   
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A small volcano near the Philippine capital belched a dark plume of steam and ash into the sky in a brief explosion Thursday, prompting officials to start evacuating thousands of villagers from high-risk areas.Government experts said magmatic materials came into contact with water in the main crater of Taal Volcano in Batangas province, setting off the steam-driven blast with no accompanying volcanic earthquake. They said it’s unclear if the volcanic unrest could lead to a full-blown eruption.”It’s just one explosive event; it’s too early to tell,” Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said at a news conference. Three smaller steam-driven emissions occurred Thursday night, he said.The agency raised the alarm at 311-meter Taal, one of the world’s smallest volcanoes, to the third of a five-step warning system, meaning “magma is near or at the surface, and activity could lead to hazardous eruption in weeks.”Alert level 5 means a life-threatening eruption that could endanger communities is occurring.Mark Timbal, a spokesman for the government’s disaster-response agency, said officials started to evacuate residents from five high-risk villages. Up to 14,000 residents may have to be moved temporarily away from the restive volcano, he said.Officials reminded people to stay away from a small island in a scenic lake where Taal is located and is considered a permanent danger zone along with a number of nearby lakeside villages.The ABS-CBN network broadcast videos of some residents with their belongings in cars and motorcycles forming a line at a gasoline station. Residents said they did not feel any tremors but reported a volcanic sulfur smell.Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas said evacuation camps, trucks, food packs and face masks were ready in case the volcanic unrest escalated and more people needed to be moved to safety. There were concerns that crowding in evacuation camps might spread the coronavirus in a region that has seen a spike in cases in recent months.Taal erupted in January 2020, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and sending clouds of ash to Manila, about 65 kilometers to the north, where the main airport was temporarily shut down.The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.  
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The United States said Thursday that China’s rapid buildup of its nuclear forces was concerning and called on Beijing to engage with it “on practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilizing arms races.”The buildup has become more apparent, and it appears China was deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimal deterrence, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a regular news briefing.Price was responding to a question about a report in The Washington Post that said China had begun constructing more than 100 new missile silos in a desert area in the western part of the country.”These reports and other developments suggest that the PRC’s nuclear arsenal will grow more quickly, and to a higher level than perhaps previously anticipated,” Price said using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.”This buildup is concerning. It raises questions about the PRC’s intent. And for us, it reinforces the importance of pursuing practical measures to reduce nuclear risks,” he said.”We encourage Beijing to engage with us on practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilizing arms races, potentially destabilizing tensions.”Price added that this was why President Joe Biden had prioritized strategic stability in his engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he added: “The same rationale would apply to engagement with another nuclear power, the PRC.”Price also said that Washington had “taken note” of remarks by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday but was “not going to comment on the specifics.In his address, Xi warned that foreign forces attempting to bully China would “get their heads bashed” and pledged to build up its military. He also committed to the “reunification” of Taiwan and said social stability would be ensured in Hong Kong while protecting China’s security and sovereignty.The Washington Post report cited commercial satellite images and analysis from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California.It said the 119 nearly identical construction sites contained features that mirrored existing launch facilities for China’s existing arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.In a 2020 report to Congress, the Pentagon estimated China’s nuclear warhead stockpile in “the low 200s” and said it was projected to at least double in size as Beijing expands and modernizes its forces. Analysts say the United States has around 3,800 warheads, and according to a State Department factsheet, 1,357 of those were deployed as of March 1.Washington has repeatedly called on China to join it and Russia in a new arms control treaty and the U.S. disarmament ambassador said in May that Beijing was resisting this despite the buildup in its arsenal.Beijing says its arsenal is dwarfed by those of the United States and Russia and it is ready to conduct bilateral dialogs on strategic security “on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”Non-proliferation experts said this year China’s push to develop fuel for a new generation of nuclear power reactors will produce large amounts of materials that could be diverted to making nuclear weapons.  
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The suspicious death in December 2020 of a Uyghur plant biology researcher at a detention facility in Xinjiang has drawn attention on social media.Mihriay Erkin, 29, left her job at Japan’s Nara Technology and Science Institute in June 2019 and returned to China over concerns about the safety of her parents in Xinjiang. She was arbitrarily detained and sent to the Yanbulaq detention center in Kashgar in February 2020.Her relatives blame Chinese authorities for her death, which they say they learned about only recently. China denies all allegations pertaining to the persecution of Uyghurs and calls the internment camps “vocational institutes” that deradicalize extremists.“I learned the news almost six months after my niece Mihriay was killed by Chinese authorities, but I still don’t know if she has an actual grave or not,” said Abduweli Ayup,  Erkin’s uncle and a Norway-based Uyghur rights activist.Ayup launched a social media campaign last week with Uyghur activists to highlight Erkin and demand that China disclose the circumstances surrounding her death.Father, aunt detainedMihriay Erkin’s father, Erkin Ayup, a former Chinese government official, and her aunt, Sajidigul Ayup, a former high school teacher, had been detained by Chinese authorities for almost two years in Xinjiang when Mihriay decided to leave Japan in 2019.The oldest of two siblings, Erkin moved to Japan in 2014 to pursue a master’s degree in plant biology at Tokyo University.Abduweli Ayup said he warned Erkin against returning to Xinjiang, but she ignored the advice after local Chinese police used her mother to lure her back. Her last words to him before she left were, “If I die, if I have a grave, a bouquet of peonies will mark my grave.””My niece died in [a] detention center, and her father and aunt were sentenced to 12 and 14 years in prison,” he said. He added that it was unclear whether Erkin’s mother and brother were also detained, as he has lost contact with them.Beijing’s Persecution of Uyghurs Reaches Nearly 30 Countries, Report FindsNew study indicates Beijing has stepped up persecution of Uyghurs overseas since 2017According to a report July 10 by Amnesty International, China’s extreme measures toward Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang constitute “crimes against humanity.”“Chinese authorities have built one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance systems and a vast network of hundreds of grim ‘transformation-through-education’ centers — actually, internment camps — throughout Xinjiang,” the report said. During a news conference in Beijing on June 11, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the watchdog organization of misleading the public through “lies” about Xinjiang.“Its so-called report is like adding one more page to its ‘record of lies,’” Wang said about the Amnesty International report.Neither Wang nor any Xinjiang official has responded to Uyghur activists’ requests for information about how Erkin died in detention.Diaspora targetedRushan Abbas, an American Uyghur rights activist and executive director of the Washington-based Campaign for Uyghurs, told VOA that Erkin’s fate marked a growing push by Beijing to target Uyghur diaspora members who speak up about Xinjiang human rights violations.“My heart breaks for Mihriay, for Abduweli, and for the millions of Uyghurs around the world who are facing these same fears and trials,” Abbas told VOA.Her sister, Gulshan Abbas, a retired doctor in China, was arbitrarily detained and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019.“I am scared for my sister and pray that she is staying strong, but that love I have for my sister and for my people fuels me with strength to fight harder,” Abbas said.According to a joint report recently published by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and the Uyghur Human Rights Project, many diaspora Uyghurs have been encouraged to return home by the government via messages on WeChat or phone calls from relatives, only to be arrested upon arrival.
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It is one of the dining capitals of the world, but Bangkok’s foodie reputation is now hanging by a thread as the coronavirus devastates the city’s restaurant scene – the damage seen in for sale signs on the street and desperate Facebook posts from chefs lamenting closures.Bo.lan, Chu and Soul Food Mahanakorn are city favorites all wiped out by a virus which bit deep into restaurant revenue during the first lockdown in April 2020, but 15 months later has killed off the businesses, which struggled through relentless restrictions on the hospitality industry.On June 27, the Thai government banned all indoor dining in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, in a bid to stamp out the gravest round of the virus, which has left more than 2,000 dead and infected around 230,000 others since April.Just one week before, restaurants celebrated after being told they could extend opening hours until 11p.m. local time – although a months-long alcohol ban was still formally in place.  “First to be shot, last to be tended to,” Michelin-recognized chef Chalee Kader of 100 Mahaseth restaurant posted on Facebook in early May, referring to the instant damage of restrictions to the food and beverage sector – which has received little state aid amid the pandemic. A Michelin ranking refers to the rating given a restaurant on quality.“The service industry does not deserve to be left to bleed to death like this. We need help, REAL HELP, and we need it now.”The impassioned plea has echoed across an Asian city defined by its food, from roof-top fine dining to Michelin-starred crab omelettes dished out at street side stalls.  Across the country, 50,000 establishments were already in deep trouble before the latest round of restrictions took a toll on the economy in April, according to the Thai Restaurant Association.For Chirayu Na Ranong, chef and owner of downtown brunch spot Chu, the pileup of rent, the absence of customers and lack of government help meant closure of his flagship branch in the Asoke section of Bangkok.  “What could have saved my business is if the government had taken some responsibility during any of these lockdowns?” he said while speaking with VOA News.The food scene faces major changes, owners say, with big chains poised to pick up stricken businesses in prime locations and hollow out Bangkok’s eclectic and affordable mid-range restaurants.  “I think more businesses like ours will look to downsize and definitely move out of the big complexes with high rents,” Chirayu added.Employees are seen packing items inside Chu Chocolate Bar & Cafe, a day after it permanently closed, in Bangkok, Thailand, June 1, 2021.Last supper?
Restaurant owners have heaped scorn on the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha for failing to float a lucrative hospitality sector through the pandemic despite it accounting for around 20 percent of Thai GDP and providing hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.“We are pretty much left to fend for ourselves,” said Noomie Tiwutanond, co-owner of Bitterman in Bangkok’s Silom neighborhood.“You can’t plan your business… every time you open back up, you run your expenses, whether it’s cost of goods, overhead expenses, rent. But you’re never given enough time to recover.”Under a barrage of complaints, the government last week set aside the equivalent of $235 million to help ease the impact of the latest restrictions in place until at least the end of July.Staff will be compensated up to $233 for one month, while owners will receive about $90 per employee over the period.  Because they are limited to take-out with no alcohol sales, which account for one-third of revenue, restaurants are facing oblivion.Prayuth’s government has been accused of doing too little too late.  “If you can’t do your job then get out because real people and real lives are affected here” Noomie added.For U.S. state of Pennsylvania-born Jarrett Wrisley, owner of Soul Food Mahanakorn, which has closed, the halcyon days of a city that pulled talented chefs making high quality, affordable food have been brought to a brutal end by the new restrictions.“There’s been no economic stimulus package for restaurants. There has been no rent relief; they haven’t given any debt relief,” he told VOA.  “At the top of a political chain in Thailand, it’s extremely chaotic,” Wrisley added.
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Amid rising caseloads of coronavirus infections as it emerges from a strict COVID lockdown, Cambodia is pinning its hopes on a vaccination rollout that will help the nation reach herd immunity, even as the nation confronts unique challenges that could hamper that effort. Luke Hunt reports from the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.Camera: David Potter, Luke Hunt, Sarum Sreynat-Hardman 
Producer: David Potter 
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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday hailed a “new world” created by the country’s people as China’s Communist Party marked the centenary of its founding and warned that foreign forces attempting to bully the nation will “get their heads bashed.”In an hour-long televised address from Tiananmen Square after watching fighter jets form a “100” in a flyby, Xi pledged to build up China’s military, committed to the “reunification” of Taiwan and stressed the autonomy held by Hong Kong and Macau.”The people of China are not only good at destroying the old world, they have also created a new world,” said Xi, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. “Only socialism can save China.”Xi and the party are riding high as China recovers briskly from the COVID-19 outbreak and takes a more assertive stand on the global stage.But Beijing faces external criticism over its clampdown in Hong Kong and treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and contends with a worsening demographic outlook that imperils long-term economic growth.The people of China would never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate them, Xi said.”Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people,” he said, sparking applause from the audience gathered in the square in central Beijing.Thursday’s celebrations began with a flyby of fighter jets and helicopters observed by the nation’s leaders, seated at the southern ramparts of the Forbidden City.Xi said China had achieved its centenary goal of building “a moderately prosperous society.”Sovereignty China will build up its military to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development, elevating it to world-class standards, Xi said in his address.”We must accelerate the modernization of national defense and the armed forces,” said Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the country’s armed forces.No one should underestimate the resolve of the Chinese people to defend China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.A giant screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping singing the national anthem during a flag-raising ceremony at the event marking the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, July 1, 2021.Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete “reunification” is an “unswerving historical task” of the party, Xi said.”All sons and daughters of China, including compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, must work together and move forward in solidarity, resolutely smashing any ‘Taiwan independence’ plots,” he said.On Hong Kong and Macau, Xi said their social stability will be ensured, while protecting China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.”We will stay true to the letter and spirit of the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’, under which the people of Hong Kong administer Hong Kong, and the people of Macau administer Macau, both with a high degree of autonomy,” Xi said.Party growthThe Chinese Communist Party, which came to power in 1949 under Mao, initially recruited peasants and workers, but has evolved to embrace markets and entrepreneurship under “socialism with Chinese characteristics” while retaining a Leninist model of authoritarianism.Party ranks swelled by 2.43 million in 2020, the largest annual gain since Xi became president in 2013, to 95.15 million members now, data released on Wednesday showed.On Monday, Xi presided over theatrical performances at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium in a show attended by thousands and that state media described as “epic.”At the end, the audience rose to sing a song, “Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China.”Xi said any attempt to divide the party from the Chinese people or to set the people against the party was bound to fail.”The more than 95 million party members and the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will never allow such a scenario to come to pass,” Xi said.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping marked the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party Thursday with a warning that attempts to “bully” his country will end in bloodshed.   Hundreds of people gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to witness an elaborate ceremony on the landmark event, including an spectacular aerobatics show staged by dozens of helicopters and fighter jets.  A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping speak during a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party at Tiananmen Square in Beijing Thursday, July 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)Wearing a buttoned-up jacket similar to that worn by party founder Mao Zedong, Xi told the audience the party had achieved its primary goal of building a moderately prosperous society over its century of existence.  “The Communist Party of China and Chinese people solemnly declare to the world with their brave and tenacious struggle that the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up, gaining wealth, to growing strong, with the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation entering an irreversible historical process,” Xi said. The Chinese Communist Party at 100: Hopes and DisappointmentsFrom a small group of idealists, the party with 92 million members today oversees the world’s second-largest economy and the world’s biggest surveillance stateXi said the Chinese people “have never bullied, oppressed or enslaved the peoples of other countries, not in the past, not now, and not in the future,” an apparent rebuke of international accusations of Beijing’s brutal treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang and its increasingly stifling  grip on Hong Kong.   He warned, though, that China would also “never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave us,” adding that anyone who tried will end up with broken heads and bloodshed “in front of the Great Wall of steel” built by China’s 1.4 billion people.   Xi pledged to continue China’s massive military build-up and to seek peaceful reunification with self-ruled Taiwan, calling on “compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait” to work together and “resolutely crush any ‘Taiwan independence’ plots.” China’s Communist Party took over the mainland in 1949 when it forced Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces to flee to Taiwan to end the civil war.  Despite Taiwan’s self-rule, Beijing claims the island is part of its territory and even vowed to use force to bring it under its control.      Xi and the party are riding high as China continues its swift recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak and takes a more assertive stance on the global stage.  However, the government is facing a worsening demographic outlook that imperils long-term economic growth.  
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The international rights group Human Rights Watch says Chinese students in Australia have suffered bullying, harassment and intimidation from pro-Beijing peers.In a report released Wednesday, the group says the impact of a year-old, Beijing-imposed national security law restricting freedom of speech in Hong Kong has been felt thousands of kilometers away, on Australian university campuses.The non-government organization has investigated alleged reprisals against those who have spoken out on the political situation in Hong Kong.It interviewed about 50 students and academics about claims of intimidation, harassment and surveillance of Chinese and Hong Kong students in Australia.Its report claims that Chinese students in Australia have faced harassment and surveillance of their activities both on campus and online by pro-China activists. There appears to be no concrete evidence of direct involvement by Chinese authorities.Elaine Pearson, the Australia director of Human Rights Watch, said a small number of respondents even reported that their families in China have been visited by police.“A lot of the students are really terrified to talk about these issues because of the National Security Law, but we spoke to about 24 pro-democracy students, and all of them had had experiences of intimidation, harassment either by their classmates and in a few cases — a handful of cases — their family members back home were interrogated and in some cases they were interrogated if they went back either to Hong Kong or to mainland China,” she said.The Australian government said the Human Rights Watch report raises “deeply concerning issues.”Education minister Alan Tudge said in a statement that “any interference on our campuses by foreign entities cannot be tolerated.” He said Federal Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has already been probing risks to national security in Australian higher education.The Chinese Embassy in Canberra dismissed the report as “rubbish.” A spokesperson said the Human Rights Watch report has “decayed into a political tool for the West to attack and smear developing countries.”Australian university officials said they were talking with the federal government about addressing freedom of speech and political interference on campuses.Australia’s relations with China have deteriorated in recent years because of a long list of diplomatic, strategic and trade disputes.
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On July 1, the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its centennial, marking its dramatic rise from a small group of idealists to a party of 92 million members that now oversees the world’s second largest economy and the world’s biggest surveillance state.Internally, its policies color every sector of a nation with the world’s largest population, or 1.4 billion people. Externally, its model is having an impact and influence on distant economies and leaders worldwide not to mention the everyday shopper looking for a new pair of shoes.One hundred years ago, the party began with meetings in Shanghai of a dozen or so people, who represented, at most, five times their number.At the time, Shanghai was known for its cosmopolitan drive in an impoverished, divided country struggling to emerge from a string of humiliations by foreign powers that had controlled chunks of its territory for nearly a century.It wasn’t until October 1949, after years of political turmoil and civil war, that Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China, setting in motion more than 70 years of change.Getting to that moment in Beijing took the party decades of battles. In its early days, the party allied with the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, in an effort to reunify and modernize China so it could ward off further encroachment by Japan.The two parties also collaborated to “rid the nation of warlords that prevented the formation of a strong central government,” according to A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping speak during a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, July 1, 2021.On Oct. 1, 1949, Mao Zedong announced “The Chinese people have stood up” in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, ending the civil war and dispatching the Nationalists “backed by U.S. imperialism” to Taiwan.For some, the moment seemed like a new hopeful beginning. Chinese then living in the West, many of them intellectuals, professionals and scholars, returned to China to participate in its rebirth. According to Helicopters fly over Chinese flags at Tiananmen Square in the formation of ‘100’ during a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, July 1, 2021.Reporters and diplomats who witnessed the massacre estimated hundreds if not thousands were killed in what Chinese refer to as the June 4 Incident, or 6/4.It is this swing between openness and crackdown that has marked CCP policies since its founding and continues to this day. The most recent clampdown has been on massive and cash-strapped Chinese multinationals like Alibaba or the implementation of advanced surveillance methods deployed to control minorities such as the Muslim Uyghurs, dissidents and people in cities facing a sudden outbreak of COVID-19.Today, the CCP is preparing for its chairman, President Xi Jinping, to assume an unprecedented third term, even as the Party faces daunting problems FILE – Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong smiles and waves in 1969.“When asked about when he changed his perception of the party, he told me it was actually not because of his prosecutions. It was in 1979, when he first came to the United States. He had only been to the Soviet Union before and didn’t realize that the West was already so rich. He told me when he set foot on the American soil, he realized that socialism might not be working,” Li Nanyang said.“And the last straw was when the party removed the term limits on the presidency in 2018, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life. I think my father completely lost hope for the party at that point.”A party societyGuo Yuhua, a well-known sociologist in China famous for her criticism of the central government, was born to an elite military family in 1956. Because of her family’s army ties, Guo joined the military in 1971 at the age of 14. Enrollment at a young age was considered a privilege at the time. Four years later, she joined the Party.Guo Yuhua (1956- ) is one of the best-known sociologists in China and an outspoken critic of the CCP. As a professor at Tsinghua University, she focuses her research on vulnerable populations such as people living in rural China and migrant workers. Guo’s parents, both military officers, remained in senior posts in the central government until the Cultural Revolution, during which her father was persecuted and denied medical care for cirrhosis of the liver. Guo was 12 years old when he died.      “I didn’t really understand why. I guess if you are in the military and not a party member, it’s just weird. People would think you were either not hard-working, or you have some problem that needed to be fixed,” Guo told VOA Mandarin.At the time, Guo loved China and the CCP. “I was Red inside and out.”Over time, Guo’s view of the party changed, an evolution that began in 1980, when she was admitted to Beijing Normal University. She spent the next decade studying until she obtained a doctorate degree in 1990.“It was completely different back then. When we first entered university, we saw seniors running to be people’s representatives. There were university students and young teachers, delivering campaign speeches on campus. At that time, debates and discussions were active and welcomed, Western books were allowed, and we were hopeful,” she said.FILE – In this early June 4, 1989, photo, civilians with rocks stand on a military armored vehicle near Chang’an Boulevard in Beijing as violence escalated between pro-democracy protesters and Chinese troops, leaving hundreds dead overnight.“But that all ended on June 4, 1989,” she said referring to the massacre of protestors in Tiananmen Square by the government. “After that day, I realized that it was an illusion that the CCP would push for democratic reform. Now 30 years have passed, we still don’t see the government even admit its mistake. Then the only way to rule is through lies.”Guo officially quit the party in 2014. “In fact, I have never participated in any Party activities since I joined Tsinghua University in 2000. When they asked me to pay party dues, I gave them the receipt I got from donating to poor children in the countryside,” she told VOA.“Before we said China was a party state, now I think it is a party society,” Guo said in reference to how CCP control has gone beyond oversight of the government and seeped into every aspect of life. “China was once a party society during the Mao era, but are things better now? I don’t think it has changed fundamentally at all.”“We have a so-called market economy today, but who does this system work for? Take a look at the farmers and migrant workers. Take a look at the entrepreneurs whose assets have been taken away. The fundamental question is who has taken all the benefits?” she said. Answering her own question, Guo said the ruling elite of the CCP has benefited the most from the opening of China’s economy.I Thought China Was Happy“I remember when I was young, the school would organize us to watch parades punishing those liberal individuals, and we would sit in the public trial for them. Looking back, if you understand the concept of universal rights, China had an insane amount of human rights violations in all walks of life during the Cultural Revolution. But at that time, it was just daily life,” Akio Yaita told VOA Mandarin. Akio Yaita (1972-  )  is a Japanese journalist and current affairs commentator. From 2007-17, he was a reporter for the conservative Japanese newspaper, Sankei Shimbun, in Beijing. He now heads the newspaper’s Taipei branch. Yaita was born in 1972 during the Cultural Revolution in China’s coastal city of Tianjin where his family had business ties. Yaita received the same kind of “red education” as many Chinese at that time. It wasn’t until he returned to Japan during his teens that he realized most of what he had learned was CCP propaganda. In his book ‘I Thought China Was Happy,’ released in 2020 by Taiwan Gusa Publishing, he recorded personal observations on how the CCP has ruled China by distorting facts and defaming Western countries.     Yet after the Cultural Revolution, from the time he went to elementary school up until the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989, China was a country full of hope, according to Yaita.“Honestly, everything was slowly getting better. The country’s economy was opening up, people were encouraged to speak up, it was probably the best time in China in the past 100 years,” he said.He returned to Japan with his family at the age of 15 and was shocked by how different the two societies and political systems were.“I thought Japan was a utopia at that time. People were friendly and the government’s policy was geared to help those less fortunate. Most importantly, the media was completely different. All the news outlets served as watchdogs, they criticized politicians and held them accountable. Yet in China, all we heard was how great the leadership were, how heroic Chairman Mao was. It was very, very different,” he said.FILE – In this July 19, 1962, photo, smiling Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, chats with villagers in an agricultural co-op during an inspection tour in Henan Province, China.With a keen interest in international relations, Yaita embraced journalism and has spent most of his career covering China.In his eyes, the mission of a journalist is to expose unfairness in the system, dig out of the truth, and speak for those at the bottom of the society.“I feel so fulfilled in my career covering China, because unfairness is everywhere,” he told VOA Mandarin.“I have a friend, Xu Chongyang, a successful businessman who later lost all his assets from working with a few high-ranking CCP officials who defrauded him. So he begins to file petitions,” Yaita said.“When I first met him, he was full of energy and was convinced that he could bring justice back. He was then targeted by the authorities, he was beaten, he was locked up. … Every time I saw him, he became weaker. And every time he petitioned, he got a few more crimes (linked to) his name. He once told me, ‘In this country, you can’t really sleep easily no matter how rich you are. You just don’t know when the nightmare will come.’” Xu was just an example, said Yaita, who told VOA Mandarin that he has witnessed hundreds of stories. He believes these personal tragedies are caused by a system where no one has an incentive to speak for the weak.“The rights of the weak should be protected,” he said. “Any of us could possibly experience unfortunate incidents in life, so a strong social support system is essential. But in China, this is the group that suffers the most, so no, I don’t think China is a happy country at all.” New Chinese nationalismMeanwhile, a growing number of Chinese patriotic youth have taken defending the Chinese government and the CCP as their duty.These so-called “little pinks,” or xiao fenhong in Chinese, emerged on Chinese social media and became a popular term after the 2016 Taiwan election, when pro-independence leader Tsai Ing-wen won the race.Beijing views Taiwan as a wayward province belonging to “one and the same China,” and Chinese internet users flooded Taiwanese social media with nationalistic rhetoric. Today, they defend China’ position in the South China Sea, cheer for China’s so-called wolf warrior diplomacy, and support Beijing’s tough policies on Hong Kong.Chinese media outlet Sohu quoted literacy scholar Wang Xiaoyu as saying little pinks can be considered part of the “China’s rise” generation, who argue the global community is “demonizing” China and that China should take on a tougher attitude to defend itself.Gao Mei is a little pink. Born in 1992 in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province, she finished her bachelor’s degree in Hong Kong and obtained a master in international relations in New York.  She asked that VOA not use her real name because she feared online retaliation.During her time in Hong Kong and New York, she has access to information routinely censored in China. She has watched historical videos about Tiananmen Square, and discussed the incident with family and friends. Yet she thinks that while the Beijing government has made some mistakes, it has also brought China out of poverty and led the country to become the world’s second largest economy after the United States.”Yes, we have a one-party system. While we might have sacrificed democracy, it has improved efficiency,” she told VOA Mandarin. “The Western countries enjoy democracy, but they are slow, they are unable to move forward. I think the response to COVID-19 pandemic is a great example.”Gao and other Chinese who support the CCP say Beijing’s lockdowns in response to the pandemic limited its spread inside China, showcasing the Party’s highly effective governance.  Critics counter that Beijing’s continuing tight control over information during the pandemic’s early days has been an obstacle to international efforts to find out how it began.FILE – In this Oct. 18, 2017, photo, Chinese communists party cadres attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Party Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.Gao said she considers herself “a mild little pink. I think the term refers to those who like Chinese culture and support the current leadership. I think this way of thinking is pretty common among young people.”Compared to Gao, 23-year-old Li Liang is taking active actions to defend the CCP online. He told VOA that he has used VPN to leave negative comments on Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook. He asked that VOA not use his real name for fear of retaliation.This is his way of showing his patriotism, he said.As an electric engineer in a hi-tech company in China’s eastern Shandong Province, Li said he will sometimes use a VPN to access blocked content online, but he sees China’s state-owned CCTV and Xinhua News Agency as the most reliable. He supports wolf warrior diplomacy and hopes his favored Chinese news outlets take an even tougher stance to “spread out our own voice and regain our status on the world stage.”“I consider myself a little pink. Previously, the term had a negative connotation, referring to those who support the government without critical thinking. But now I think it just refers to those who are patriotic,” he said. “As a Chinese citizen, I love my country, it’s a must.”   
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A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and human rights lawyer was arrested for the second time in less than a month Wednesday, marking the city’s first year under the national security law. Chow Hang Tung, a vice chair for the nonprofit Hong Kong Alliance, was arrested for inciting illegal assembly, which was scheduled to take place July 1. She was also arrested June 4 for the same charge, according to Richard Tsoi, the group’s secretary-general.  Anniversaries in Hong Kong are common this time of year. June 4 marks Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989, while July 1 marks the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China, 24 years ago. July 1 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. Chow was initially arrested in early June for allegedly inciting unauthorized assembly to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown. She was released on bail two days later, but according to news reports, police have now revoked her bail. A FILE – Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, center, who founded local newspaper Apple Daily, is arrested under the new national security law by police officers at his home, Aug. 10, 2020.The law prohibits secession, subversion and foreign collusion. Since its enactment, it has been the catalyst for a political crackdown in the city. Dozens of activists have been charged under the law, including Jimmy Lai, the billionaire tycoon and founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. The newspaper was forced to close last week after authorities arrested several executives and froze the company’s financial assets. Next Digital, Apple Daily’s parent company, is set to close July 1. In an interview Wednesday with VOA, Chow, who anticipates more arrests and crackdowns, spoke candidly about her constant push for change in Hong Kong. “I believe that we should not dissolve or disarm ourselves just because of the political pressure,” she said. 
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Human Rights Watch says Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities have  been so intimidated by authorities back home they are self-censoring their actions and behaviors.The organization issued a report Wednesday highlighting incidents of harassment directed at Chinese students, based on interviews with 24 students from mainland China and Hong Kong, who expressed pro-democracy views. They said their pro-Beijing classmates threatened to expose their addresses and other personal information online, a process known as doxxing, or report their activities to the Chinese Embassy.The report also mentioned three cases where police in China warned family members about a student’s activities in Australia. It also revealed the students were threatened by their pro-Beijing classmates.Sophie McNeill, the author of the report, said the students curbed their activities out of fear for the well-being of their families back in China. McNeill says the students did not report the incidents to their universities because they believed officials cared more about maintaining their relationships with Beijing.McNeill also says more than half of 22 academics interviewed for the report say they have become more cautious about what they discuss about China during their lectures.Human Rights Watch is calling on the Australian government to issue an annual report on incidents of harassment and censorship faced by international students, and for universities to take action against any students who engage in such intimidation.The Chinese Embassy denounced the report as “rubbish” in a statement issued Wednesday. It said Human Rights Watch “has decayed into a political tool for the West to attack and smear developing countries,” and “is always biased on China.”Australian Education Minister Alan Tudge says the Human Rights Watch report raised “deeply concerning issues,” and that he was seeking advice from parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee, which was already investigating national security risks in the higher education sector.Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.  
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The freshest faces among South Korean influencers are no longer the usual, 20-something celebrities. Instead, entertainment and social media are focusing on a new generation: the elder generation.  
Older women were once invisible in South Korean entertainment as the industry stuck to rigidly conservative traditional female roles and cast them only as devoted mothers.  
But older women are front and center in recent advertising and entertainment series.  
A pioneer in the trend is Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung, the 74-year-old “Minari” actor who promotes Oriental Brewery beer and the Zig Zag shopping app in two recent ad campaigns.  
The beer video highlights the novelty of its spokesperson, who says: “For someone like me to be on a beer ad, the world has gotten so much better.” With a Cass beer in her hand, Youn says she makes friends by being her authentic self and alludes to the beer helping people to dissipate their social awkwardness.
South Korean producer Kim Sehee said Youn’s Oscar win earlier this year inspired his entertainment series, “Wassup K-Grandma.” He said South Korean young people have a new interest in their elders, birthing a new word “harmaenial” — a portmanteau of the South Korean word “harmoni,” or grandmother, and the English word “millennial.”
The series broadcast in May was one of the first Korean shows to feature grandmothers as main characters, according to Kim. It brought international guests to live as temporary sons-in-law with Korean grandmothers. The color of the series came from the grandmothers’ attempts to communicate with their foreign in-laws and share homemade meals and decades-old ginseng alcohol.
Park Makrye, a popular South Korean YouTuber, said the country’s attitude towards gender and age has been rapidly changing.
“Back in the days, people thought women were supposed to be only housewives cooking at home but that’s once upon a time. People must adapt to the current era,” she said.
Park, 74, is one of the leading lights in the South Korean frenzy. Her YouTube channel “Korea Grandma” has over 1.32 million subscribers. In her videos, Park throws expletives while reviewing a Korean drama and screams her lungs out while paragliding for the first time.
Park’s success has paved the way for others. Jang Myung-sook gives out fashion and lifestyles tips on her channel ” Milanonna,” a nonagenarian known as Grandma “Gganzi” raps and shares personal stories about living through the Japanese colonization, and a 76-year-old YouTuber flaunts her “single life” on ” G-gourmet. ”  
“I would like to tell grandmothers to try everything they want to do and not be concerned with their age,” Park told The Associated Press.
“For young people…You’ll be OK as long as you are healthy,” she said. “Please fight on and best of luck.”
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“Better than nothing.” That’s one infectious disease expert’s assessment of Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine, following reports that hundreds of Indonesian health care workers who had received the vaccine caught the disease anyway.  At least 10 doctors have died after getting both doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine, according to the Indonesian Medical Association. It’s unclear how widespread these “breakthrough” infections are. It’s also not clear how severe most of the infections are. Little peer-reviewed data on the vaccine are available. What information is available suggests that the vaccine is less potent than others, especially against the highly contagious delta variant that was first detected in India.  However, access to more effective vaccines is limited in much of the world, experts note. Indonesia is one of dozens of countries where the Chinese company’s vaccine makes up a substantial part of the available doses.  While the shortage of published peer-reviewed data makes it hard to evaluate the vaccine, a few available studies provide a glimpse.  The government of Uruguay FILE – Empty vials to be filled with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are seen at a production facility in Reinbek, near Hamburg, Germany, April 30, 2021.Pfizer-BioNTech
The Pfizer-BioNTech shot performed better against infections in general in the study, lowering rates by 78%. But hospitalizations and deaths were about the same.  It’s not clear what the dominant variant was during the study, however.  A key measure of vaccine potency is the level of neutralizing antibodies — the proteins the immune system produces that prevent the virus from infecting cells.  The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines produce very high levels of these antibodies, which help maintain protection against variants, said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine. “Yes, you’re getting some breakthrough infections with the delta variant, but they tend not to be serious infections,” he said. “People aren’t being hospitalized or losing their lives because of COVID-19.” “When you look at some of the data on the Sinovac vaccine,” he added, “the levels of virus-neutralizing antibody, even after two doses, can still be quite low.” The Sinovac vaccine produced lower levels of these antibodies than seven other vaccines, including those from Pfizer, Moderna, University of Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, according to a study in the journal Nature Medicine.The antibody response is even less effective against the delta variant, which has exploded in Indonesia and many parts of the world.  It’s not clear, however, exactly what that decline means for patients. The vaccine still offers protection against the most serious forms of the disease, a Chinese official told state media. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 4 MB480p | 5 MB540p | 7 MB720p | 13 MB1080p | 22 MBOriginal | 263 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn China’s first delta outbreak, in Guangdong province earlier this month, “none of those vaccinated infections became severe cases, and none of the severe cases were vaccinated,” said Feng Zijian, former deputy director at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  Meanwhile, supplies of other vaccines are arriving slowly in much of the world.   “Sometimes, that’s all people have access to,” Hotez said. “It’s better than nothing.” 
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The World Health Organization has certified China, the most populous country in the world, as malaria-free. It has taken China seven decades to reach this milestone. The country has gone from 30 million cases of malaria in the 1940s to zero cases today. Director of the World Health Organization’s Global Malaria Program Pedro Alonso tells VOA the achievement should act as an inspiration to other malaria endemic countries around the world. “China, that at one point had 30 million cases of malaria every year and I would place that country among the top two burdened countries in the world can actually drive down malaria and get rid of this scourge of mankind,” Alonso said.China is the first country in the WHO Western Pacific Region to be awarded a malaria-free certification in more than three decades. Other countries in the region that have achieved that status include Australia, Singapore, and Brunei. Globally, 40 countries and territories have been declared malaria-free. The most recent include El Salvador, Algeria, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uzbekistan. Eliminating malaria is a long, complex process involving many factors. Alonso says economic development, improvement in peoples’ living conditions and the implementation of measures aimed at preventing, controlling, and treating malaria are critical for success. “Vector control mostly through insecticide-treated bed nets will for the years to come remain the backbone of our prevention efforts. Artemisinin combination therapies will remain the backbone of our treatment efforts,” Alonso said.The WHO estimates there are still 229 million new cases of malaria annually, leading to more than 400,000 deaths. Africa is home to 94 percent of those cases and deaths. Alonso says the mosquito in Africa is very effective in the transmission of malaria. This he says is one of the many reasons why it is particularly challenging to rid the continent of the disease. “And of course, all of this is compounded by lack of economic and social development, difficulties in communication, poverty, housing, lack of electricity. So, it is a compounded effect. It is where China was 60 years ago…and, we are having a lot of difficulty, even to maintain the gains achieved over the last 20 years,” Alonso said.While substantial progress in the prevention and control of malaria is possible with today’s available tools, Alonso says only a highly effective vaccine can eradicate the disease. The WHO malaria chief says he is cautiously optimistic that such a vaccine is on the horizon. He notes a pilot project to develop the world’s first malaria vaccine, RTS,S, in three countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been shown to provide partial protection against malaria in young children. He says the vaccine, which was introduced in 2019, is likely not to be the hoped-for game changer everyone seeks. But he adds it is a very good start.
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For decades, Hong Kong was the only city in China where residents were allowed to publicly mark the anniversary of the bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Each year, one group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, organized several memorials for June 4, including the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park, which drew tens of thousands of people.  This year, the vigil was banned for a second time, after Beijing passed a sweeping national security law for the island last June. That did not stop Chow Hang Tung, the alliance’s vice chairwoman and a key person in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, from going to Victoria Park to commemorate June 4 on her own, despite the risks.She insisted her action was meant to preserve the dignity of the victims under China’s authoritarian rule. She was detained for more than 30 hours for violating the national security law before being released on bail.Hong Kong Police Thwart Tiananmen Square Vigil as Activist Arrested Event usually attracts thousands of people in memory of the Chinese government’s crackdown in Beijing in 1989 The former Cambridge researcher, now a lawyer actively defending people charged with national security law violations and other political crimes, spoke with VOA on the eve of the first anniversary of the law to discuss the mission of her organization and her hope for the port city. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.  QUESTION: How did you get into activism?  ANSWER: I was born and raised in Hong Kong. For college, I studied geophysics at the University of Cambridge. There, I met some social activists on campus, and that made me realize my true passion lies in human rights. In 2010, I gave up my original plan to join a doctoral program in Britain and returned to the University of Hong Kong to pursue a law degree. In 2015, I started working for the Hong Kong Alliance. Since then, I’ve been going back and forth between mainland China and Hong Kong, participating in labor rights movements.  Q: Your organization focuses on working to improve the situation in mainland China. Some local groups say there’s absolutely no need to engage people from the mainland. What’s your response?  A: I don’t think Hong Kong’s social movements should only focus on the Hong Kong government, because Beijing is the one that makes the ultimate decision. You have to understand how the Beijing government thinks and how it controls its own people in order to better cope with its tactics of repression. Therefore, I think it is very important to understand China’s society, politics, and how the people in China deal with their own government. There are not many organizations in Hong Kong that can do this, but the Hong Kong Alliance is one of them. The effort will allow Hong Kongers to better prepare when facing political repression from the Chinese Communist Party. Q: I understand that since the enactment of the national security law, these two Hong Kong factions are working better together.  A: The localist camp is motivated by the things that have been happening around them, but it does not mean that you cannot be friends with people like me, who are concerned about issues in mainland China. After the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law, we see that more people from the localist camp and people like us who focus on China issues have formed closer bonds. In the past, everyone (in the localist camp) tended to think simplistically — that since China is our enemy, PRC (People’s Republic of China) citizens (mainlanders) are our enemies. In fact, it should be the PRC government who is your enemy. As for the Chinese people, you should try hard to convince them to become your allies. Q: Let’s talk about the high-profile case of the 12 Hong Kong youths who were intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard at sea back in 2020. While mainland human rights lawyers tried their best to meet with the detainees, social activists in Hong Kong organized events for their families to speak to the media. Did that cooperation bring any change?A: This case has indeed changed the minds of many Hong Kong people. For them, it is the first time they see how the resistance movements in the two regions can actually support and complete each other. For example, when there is a movement in China, people in Hong Kong can show their support by petitioning to the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong. And when there is a movement in Hong Kong, people in mainland China may also show support in return by holding up placards. Through this case, we see that mainland China is not the enemy. We see many people in the mainland standing with Hong Kong. Q: June 30th marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of the national security law in Hong Kong. Since last June, we’ve seen the arrest of pro-democracy activists and the disqualification of opposition candidates from local elections, we’ve seen the closure of Apply Daily and the first trial without the presence of a jury. To you, what’s the main concern of this law?  With Hong Kong’s Apple Daily Closed, Media Question Security Law’s ReachClosure of pro-democracy paper accused of violating national security law could impact Hong Kong’s media scene, press experts sayA: The national security law is a clear violation of the judiciary’s independence. It gives the executive branch the power to appoint judges. The public gets the impression that they would choose pro-Beijing judges for cases related to the national security law. The public is not going to believe that the court is independent. The government also puts all kinds of pressures on the judges. How can there be judicial independence with such influence and pressure from the executive branch? Therefore, I believe judiciary independence of Hong Kong is indeed under great threat.  Q: Your organization has been through many obstacles under the national security law. What’s your vision for the future?  A: The Hong Kong Alliance is a sacred organization. … We have five operational goals: Release the dissidents, rehabilitate the 1989 pro-democracy movement, demand accountability of the June 4th massacre, end one-party dictatorship, and, finally, build a democratic China. Since the passing of the national security law, things are indeed harder, but we will keep going regardless of how the laws are manipulated or how the court is working against us. I believe that we should not dissolve or disarm ourselves just because of the political pressure. Personally, even if I go to jail, my position of calling for the end of one-party dictatorship remains. 
 
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says a “grave incident” has threatened his country’s coronavirus prevention efforts — a rare admission by Pyongyang, which claims to be free of COVID-19.During a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim chastised senior officials for unspecified carelessness related to the coronavirus pandemic, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday.The officials “have caused a grave incident that poses a huge crisis to the safety of the nation and its people,” KCNA said. The report provided no details about the “grave incident” or how it posed a threat.  FILE – A station employee checks the temperature of a passenger to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, in Pyongyang, in this undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 29, 2020. (KCNA via KNS / AFP)North Korea continues to insist it has found zero cases of COVID-19, a nearly impossible claim that is widely disputed by global health experts.  It is not clear whether Wednesday’s admission of failure reflects any wider change in North Korea’s approach to the virus or if it was a pretext for other domestic plans. The KCNA report said that several senior officials were replaced during the Politburo meeting, though it did not say if the moves were related to the coronavirus incident. “The regime may … be using the incident as a way to engage in a small purge, getting rid of unwanted elements and underscoring Kim’s rule by fear,” said Mason Richey, a professor at South Korea’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. “The public statement also provides a built-in excuse for future economic downturns.” Since January 2020, North Korea has closed its borders, restricted domestic travel and even cut off nearly all trade with its economic lifeline, China.  FILE – A health worker sprays disinfectant as part of preventative efforts against COVID-19, at the Okryu restaurant in Pyongyang, Oct. 21, 2020.Kim has repeatedly warned of a “prolonged” lockdown amid what he says is a worsening global pandemic. State media have warned vaccines produced overseas are no “panacea.”COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing program, had expected to send nearly 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to North Korea by the first half of this year. But that has been delayed in part because of ongoing negotiations between COVAX and Pyongyang. An outbreak in North Korea could be extremely dangerous because many parts of the country are impoverished and lack an adequate health care system.In a report last week, the World Health Organization said North Korea claimed it had conducted over 31,000 COVID-19 tests, all of which came back negative.Last July, North Korea seemed to briefly admit that COVID-19 might have entered its borders. State media blamed a North Korean “runaway” who had fled for South Korea but returned to the North.  North Korea said the man was “suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus” but later said his COVID-19 test results were “uncertain.” 
 
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Migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar are being asked to sign contracts they cannot read in order to work in Thailand’s fishing fleet, a new study has found, undercutting efforts to expunge abuses from a sector worth billions of dollars to the Southeast Asian country.Thailand is one of the world’s largest fish and seafood producers, boasting global brands that include John West and Chicken of the Sea.
 
Authorities have been scrambling for several years to clean up an industry riddled with abuses, though, after grim revelations of human trafficking of Thais and migrant workers, forced work, defaults on payments, beatings and even murders on fishing boats.
 
All of this contributed to the U.S State Department dropping Thailand onto the worst possible ranking — Tier 3 — of its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report in 2015, as well as threats by the European Union to suspend seafood imports for alleged illegal and overfishing.
 
However, Thai government efforts to register all workers with contracts, identity cards and e-payments to ensure salaries are paid rather than deferred — alongside wider prosecution of human traffickers — have helped the kingdom move into Tier 2.
 
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha has said he hopes his country will be elevated to the top tier — compliant with U.S. standards — after an extensive campaign to monitor the fishing sector, including spot inspections and electronic tags to track unscrupulous boat owners.
 
The latest TIP report is expected to be published in the coming weeks; but a survey by the ITF-Fishers’ Rights Network, shows that basic legal protections for workers are still not being met.    
Of 520 fishers surveyed at Thai ports between March-June 2021, the FRN said just a tiny fraction had even had their contracts translated into their native languages.
 
“A shocking 89 percent of fishers had not had their contract translated or explained to them in a language they could understand,” said Jon Hartough, ITF-FRN Thailand Project Lead.  
 
“Quite often fishers are recruited in rural areas of Myanmar and Cambodia … it’s a verbal contract when they are told what the terms and conditions will be. But when they sign the document, it’s unclear what the conditions are, they are signing,” he added.  
 
“This is important … because of how this manifests in working conditions.”  UN: Thailand’s Fishing Industry Fixing Some Abuses

        Thailand’s fishing and seafood industry has made some improvement in working conditions, including less physical violence, but problems such as unfair pay and deception in contracting persist, a survey conducted by the U.N.’s International Labor Organization found.The European Union in 2015 gave Thailand a “yellow card” on its fishing exports, warning that it could face a ban on EU sales if it didn’t reform the industry. 

 
Vulnerable fishers are often low-skilled and desperate for income — a condition worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as Myanmar’s economic collapse following a February 1 coup.
 
“Burmese and Khmer fishers still face serious issues such as wage theft, lack of adequate food or clean drinking water on board, debt bondage, document retention and other labor abuses,” according to Ye Thwe, FRN president and former fisherman.
 
“The Thai government commitments are as thin as the paper they’re written on. Labor violations are still rampant, and contracts are not being properly followed,” he said, adding fishers often report late or incomplete payments, dangerous conditions at sea and deliberately misleading contracts – where they exist at all.
 
The Department of Fisheries says it has translated government guidelines into fishers’ languages, so they know their rights under tightened Thai laws.  “The DOF has prepared a manual for commercial fishermen … in an easy-to-understand language and distributed it to fishermen, to build knowledge and understanding of legal guidelines,” Mesak Pakdeekong, director general of the Department of Fisheries, told reporters in early June.
 
Meanwhile, authorities have released a ‘PROTECT-U’ multilingual app to help victims of trafficking seek urgent help safely.  While not named in the FRN study, big seafood companies including Thai Union, which owns Chicken of the Sea, say they have made major strides to clean up their supply chains and adhere strictly to government rules.
But labor rights groups say the recruitment system is prone to abuses.
 
Brokers travel across poor rural areas of Southeast Asia persuading desperate workers to go to sea for long periods of time, often far from contact with authorities or their families.
 
As profit margins are squeezed in overfished seas, experts say boat owners or unscrupulous captains who marshal the workers hold out on agreed salaries or instead promise a percentage of the catch as payment that never materializes.
 
Yet the supply of labor has increased since the pandemic with whole communities left out of work for months on end.
 
One Thai fisherman from the landlocked northeastern farming region of Isaan, who has been cheated of his wages before but is preparing to go back out to sea, said the poorest have few options as the pandemic crushes their incomes.“The guys from my village still go out to sea,” the fisher told VOA news, requesting anonymity. “We know the risks, but we’re willing to gamble our lives. Staying home can be as bad; we can go hungry.”
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