Canadian diplomats have received consular access to the second of two men detained by China over the past week, Canada’s foreign ministry has said. John McCallum, Canada‘s ambassador to Beijing, met Michael Spavor, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Spavor and Michael Kovrig were both picked up after Canada arrested a senior Chinese executive on a US extradition request. Canadian Prime… Read more »
Malaysia has said it filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two of the US bank’s former employees, in connection with a corruption and money-laundering probe at the state fund 1MDB. Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping raise funds through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which is the subject of investigations in at least six… Read more »
North Koreans are marking the seventh anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Il with visits to statues and vows of loyalty to his son and successor, Kim Jong Un. As snow fell Sunday, tens of thousands of people offered flowers and paid respects to the late leader at Mansu Hill Grand Monument in central Pyongyang, the location of huge… Read more »
Tech giant rejects accusations it is controlled by China’s Communist Party or designs equipment to facilitate spying. The chairman of Huawei has challenged the United States and other governments to provide evidence for claims the Chinese tech giant is a security risk as the company launched a public relations effort to defuse fears that threaten its role in next-generation communications…. Read more »
It came to light that medical schools in Japan were discriminating against women applicants when Tokyo Medical University admitted to manipulating test scores so it was easier for males to be accepted into their medical school. Now, two more medical schools, Juntendo University and Kitasato University, are also admitting that men with lower test scores were being accepted while women… Read more »
A sexism row engulfing Japan’s medical schools has deepened after two more universities admitted discriminating against female applicants, months after it was revealed that Tokyo Medical University had manipulated exam scoresto favour male candidates. Juntendo University and Kitasato University, both in Tokyo, said this week that they had set a lower pass mark for men than for women in order to secure a… Read more »
Chang’e-4 is second spacecraft in Chinese mission to land on far side of the moon China’s lunar lander Chang’e-4 has successfully entered orbit around the moon. After a voyage of 240,000 miles (385,000km) that lasted 110 hours, the spacecraft fired its retrorockets on 12 December while just 80 miles above the lunar surface. This placed it in a stable elliptical… Read more »
Pacific countries vulnerable to climate change have urged Australia to abandon coal power generation within 12 years, and to prohibit new coal plants or expansion of existing plants. The call from 15 small Pacific island states came one day after the Australian government called for expressions of interest in new power generation projects, indicating it would be prepared to use taxpayer… Read more »
North Korean officials informally expressed their regret to Vietnam that a Vietnamese national was charged with killing Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean government source has told CNN.Kim Jong Nam was killed in February 2017 when he was exposed to VX nerve agent at an airport in the Malaysian capital… Read more »
A top Chinese tech executive was recently arrested at the request of the Trump administration. This is seen by many as an attempt to block China’s rise as the world superpower, by the United States. This is being done by imposing high tariffs on chinese goods, $250 billion last year. The arrest was countered by arresting a Canadian official in… Read more »