President Trump on Friday repeated the theory that the novel coronavirus will die out as temperatures rise in the spring, but scientists insist it’s just too soon to say for sure. Infectious disease experts studying the virus say it may have a seasonal variation, or it may not. Several tell CNN it’s too early to tell, and nobody knows enough… Read more »
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering punishing Chinese journalists and state-run news organizations — as well as Chinese intelligence agencies — because of China’s decision to expel three Wall Street Journal reporters, American officials said on Monday. Those actions could be partly aimed at limiting Chinese intelligence collection efforts in the United States by expelling journalists who have contact… Read more »
NEW DELHI — In one part of New Delhi, President Trump was sightseeing and talking about his warming relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In another, a neighborhood was ripping apart in flames, along religious lines. A mob of Hindu men, their foreheads marked by a saffron stripe, angrily patrolled the streets carrying iron bars, clubs and a bright blue… Read more »
NEW DELHI — President Trump said on Tuesday that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India had made progress toward what he hopes will be a landmark trade agreement between the two economic giants. But there was no breakthrough to announce after formal talks on the second and final day of the president’s visit, as Mr. Trump complained about… Read more »
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday acquitted the country’s third-largest political party of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in another legal case highlighting political divisions in the Southeast Asian nation. The court ruled that the Future Forward Party showed no intention of committing sedition and that the complaint had not been filed correctly. The party still could… Read more »
PENANG, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has sent back 150 containers of plastic waste to 13 mainly rich countries since the third quarter last year, with the environment minster warning on Monday that those who want to make the country a rubbish bin of the world can “dream on.” Shipments of unwanted rubbish have been rerouted to Southeast Asia since China… Read more »
DHAKA,Bangladesh (AP) — A top United Nations official who deals with human rights in Myanmar said Thursday that the international community must continue to put pressure on the Southeast Asian nation to follow any decision by the International Court of Justice regarding its treatment of minority Rohingya Muslims. U.N. Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee spoke in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, ahead of… Read more »
(Asia Times) Australia’s New South Wales police have disproportionately targeted Aboriginal children under a repeat offender monitoring scheme, a report has said. The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) looked into the cases of 429 children in 2016-18 under the Suspect Target Management Plan (STMP). It found that 72% of the children, aged nine to 17, were “possibly Aboriginal and Torres… Read more »
(The Atlantic) The US Justice Department announced indictments of four members of China’s People’s Liberation Army for alleged involvement in the massive 2017 hack of the database of giant US credit rating agency Equifax. The Justice Department raised eyebrows on Monday when it unveiled charges against four members of China’s People’s Liberation Army for hacking into the credit-reporting agency Equifax and stealing… Read more »
(Asia Times) The US may become the first country to pull its diplomats and expatriates out of Hong Kong after reports that staff at its consulate general can choose to return home if they feel the coronavirus in the city may affect them. The consulate stressed in a reply to media inquiries that the measure was merely a “precautionary one”… Read more »