id stringlengths 32 32 | url stringlengths 31 1.58k | title stringlengths 0 1.02k | contents stringlengths 92 1.17M |
|---|---|---|---|
4faeb54d7f316a209d2abeeffa5c3857 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45351356 | Trump accuses China of stalling progress with North Korea | Trump accuses China of stalling progress with North Korea
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at China for undermining its work with North Korea, as criticism over progress on denuclearisation mounts.
In a series of tweets he also said he saw no reason to resume the joint war games with South Korea that have angered North Korea.
Days ago his own defence secretary said military exercises might continue.
China has accused Mr Trump of "shifting blame" in his comments on its relations with North Korea.
A summit between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June ended with a pledge from the North to work towards "the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". Soon after Mr Trump announced there was "no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea".
But since then many observers say North Korea is not moving fast enough to dismantle its nuclear or rocket sites.
Mr Trump's tweets appear to place the blame for these challenges squarely on China, but he also goes on to praise his personal ties with the leaders of both North Korea and China.
The confusing blend of criticism, praise and veiled threat comes as Washington faces mounting pressure to deliver results following those unprecedented talks.
Just days ago,
Washington called off a trip to North Korea by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
with the president arguing that insufficient progress had been made in dismantling the North's nuclear programme.
In his latest comments on Twitter, Mr Trump says North Korea was "under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese government".
Beijing is Pyongyang's only significant ally and is thought to have significant influence over its decisions. Beijing is also Washington's most powerful long-term strategic rival in the region.
The US and China are locked in an increasingly tense trade battle and each side has imposed tariffs on one another's goods.
Mr Trump has complained about the size of the US trade deficit with China and what Washington sees as other unfair trade practices.
Despite his strong words, Mr Trump's latest tweet concluded with some optimism, saying the trade issue could be resolved by himself and China's "great President Xi Jinping".
China has attacked Mr Trump's remarks as "irresponsible" and difficult to understand.
"To solve the problem, it should look at itself instead of shifting blame," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
Since the June summit, North Korea has halted its missile tests, claimed to have dismantled a nuclear testing site and returned remains that are believed to be of US soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
But
Mr Trump has called out Pyongyang for what he said was insufficient progress
on their broad agreement on denuclearisation.
A recent report by Vox suggests that
Pyongyang is reluctant to proceed
because Mr Trump failed to live up to his alleged promise to Mr Kim that he would sign an official declaration to end the Korean War.
After
a UN report found that North Korea was continuing to work on its nuclear programme
, the US urged the international community to maintain sanctions and economic pressure on Pyongyang.
In his latest series of tweets, Mr Trump accused Beijing of providing North Korea with "considerable aid", suggesting China was softening the blow of sanctions.
"This is not helpful!" Mr Trump said.
The joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul have long angered Pyongyang.
Following the summit in June, Mr Trump made what has widely been seen as a concession to Kim Jong-un and agreed to cancel the drills.
In his latest tweets, US president insisted his personal relationship with Mr Kim remained "a very good and warm one" and that there was no reason to restart the "war games" with the South.
But he added that if they did restart, the exercises would be "bigger than ever".
Mr Trump's tweets appear to contradict his defence secretary, who on Tuesday said the suspension of several joint exercises was a "good faith measure" and that "we have no plans to suspend any more."
Since the end of the Korean war, when Washington fought alongside Seoul against the North, the US has had troops stationed in South Korea.
About 29,000 US soldiers are based in the South, under a security agreement reached after the war ended in 1953.
|
e4e1814f6e80813d624c02dffd53446e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45819730 | Indonesia arrests four for 'selling babies on Instagram' | Indonesia arrests four for 'selling babies on Instagram'
Four Indonesians have been arrested over an alleged baby-selling operation using Instagram.
An account, now removed, which claimed to be a family welfare agency posted images of pregnant women, ultrasound scans and babies.
A telephone number was provided so potential buyers could make contact via WhatsApp, said police in Surabaya.
They said they managed to intercept one transaction but were still searching for at least one baby that was sold.
"People who want to adopt children use that account and the transaction is completed through WhatsApp," Col Sudamiran, Surabaya's chief detective, was quoted by Detik as saying.
According to news website Detik, the account was posing as a consultation service
, offering to solve family problems.
The Instagram account, with more than 700 followers, features pictures of babies with their faces blurred out, along with details of their age, location and religion.
The account also features screenshots of alleged conversations between the operator and clients.
In one, a woman says she is seven months pregnant and does not want her family to find out.
In another post, a picture of a pregnant woman is shown along with details of her location. The caption of the photo states that she is pregnant and those who want to adopt can contact a telephone number that is listed.
None of the posts explicitly mention the buying or selling of children.
Police said at a news conference on Wednesday that they had arrested four people after intercepting a transaction that was due to have taken place on 3 September.
A 22-year-old woman, identified only as LA, had attempted to sell her 11-month-old baby, they said.
The buyer was due to pay 15m rupiah ($985, £750) to LA, 5m rupiah to a broker and 2.5m rupiah to Alton Phinandita, the alleged owner of the Instagram page.
All four allegedly involved in the transaction have been arrested and Mr Sudamiran said they could be jailed for up to 15 years for violating child protection laws.
Instagram told the BBC on Friday that it had removed the content as soon as it was made aware of the situation.
"The safety of our community on Instagram is our absolute priority. Our policies clearly prohibit people from engaging in criminal activity and coordinating harm on our platform, which includes the sale of humans," said a spokesman.
Rita Pranawati, vice-chairman of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), a government agency, told the BBC that there had been cases of baby-trafficking before in Indonesia.
"But it's very rare to happen through Instagram. It's a new modus," she said.
While the motives of the buyers were not clear, Ms Pranawati said some people wanting to adopt may do so illegally if they did not fulfil the criteria to do so officially.
But she said there had also been cases before where children had been "illegally adopted for underage sex work".
|
59bef0d78c9755158a1bfeaec22bd1ef | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45987533 | Singapore trader denies laundering millions for North Korea | Singapore trader denies laundering millions for North Korea
A Singaporean trader wanted by the FBI for allegedly helping North Korean entities evade US sanctions has flatly denied "all charges" against him.
Tan Wee Beng told the BBC that he had only learned of criminal charges against him via news reports.
"Nobody has contacted me. The FBI has not called me, the Singapore police have not called me," he said.
US Federal Prosecutor Geoffrey Barman on Thursday called Mr Tan "a fugitive from American justice".
In the same justice department statement, FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said the Singaporean "conducted illicit transactions totalling millions of dollars in support of North Korean entities in blatant violation of a host of economic sanctions the United States has established against North Korea and North Korean entities".
The US Treasury has now placed sanctions on Mr Tan and two companies he is connected to - Wee Tiong (S) Pte Ltd and WT Marine Pte Ltd.
He is a director of Wee Tiong (S) and the managing director of WT Marine.
Mr Tan, a high-profile businessman, has over several years "fulfilled millions of dollars in commodities contracts for North Korea", the treasury department said.
An US federal arrest warrant was issued for Mr Tan on 29 August but
the Department of Justice announced its indictment against him on Thursday
.
He has been charged with conspiring to violate US sanctions, as well as bank fraud and money laundering.
"I found out only today through the internet. It came as a shock to me," the 41-year-old told the BBC in a phone call on Friday morning in Singapore. He said he denied all the accusations.
"We are an international trading company, and not a front [for laundering]," he said, adding that he had instructed lawyers to defend him.
Mr Tan also disputed claims by the FBI that he was "at large". A request for comment has been sent to Singapore police.
The US and Singapore have an extradition treaty but it only covers specific offences and does not include money laundering.
Mr Tan was once seen as a leading young Singaporean entrepreneur having been named an entrepreneur of the year in 2011 by leading accounting firm EY.
Under his stewardship, annual revenue at Wee Tiong increased by 131 percent in a decade to more than $460 million Singapore dollars ($330m), the Straits Times reported in 2015.
|
738edb39adcaa1bb3eec95e0980a7092 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46106393 | North Korea's Kim Jong-un gets 'first official portrait' | North Korea's Kim Jong-un gets 'first official portrait'
North Korea has unveiled what's thought to be the first official painting of Kim Jong-un, lifting the leader to a new level of personality cult.
While his predecessors' portraits are all across the country, Kim Jong-un has long been styled as a successor rather than a leader in his own right.
His role has seen a gradual change over time though, very much helped by a string of international visits in 2018.
The huge new picture was on display during a visit by Cuba's president.
Nope. If you remember seeing pictures of Mr Kim then those would have been photographs, not paintings, or unofficial fan art.
The new larger-than-life artwork shows him smiling, looking slightly to his left, while wearing a Western style suit and tie.
"That a painted portrait of Kim Jong-un has appeared in this style is a strong hint that the regime could be beginning to take steps to develop the Kim Jong-un personality cult," Oliver Hotham, managing editor with NK News, told the BBC.
The style of the painting is so evocative of the ever-present portraits of the older Kims, that "North Koreans will certainly understand the symbolism of this move".
Symbolism and imagery are all-important in North Korea: portraits of Kim Jong-un's father and grandfather portraits hang in every building in the country.
Since assuming power in 2011, the current leader has been styled more like a successor and disciple of his two overbearing predecessors, rather than an equal yet.
Kim Jong-un moved to the helm of the country rather abruptly when his father died unexpectedly in 2011.
He was relatively inexperienced and had not yet been built up as a future leader.
Over time though, his image has changed, explains Andray Abrahamian from the Griffith Asia Institute.
"The most important markers have included a raft of songs and cultural products celebrating Kim Jong-un and his family - referred to as the Paektu bloodline - reorganising the government so that a new institution is at its heart, and having a new strategic line, separate to his father's."
While his father pursued a military-first agenda, Kim Jong-un has pushed for a two-track policy to develop nuclear weapons as well as the economy.
"Everything that's happened in 2018 has also worked to solidify his image," says Mr Hotham.
"Eight summit with foreign heads of state have been a delight for Pyongyang's propagandists, helping them paint the leader as an internationally respected statesmen on par with Xi Jinping and Donald Trump."
So far it's only been on shown on TV during the state visit to Pyongyang of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Cane.
It's not yet clear how Pyongyang will handle the display in the future or whether it will make a regular appearances.
For now, the painting will likely end up in tightly guarded storage, said Mr Abrahamian, to be rolled out only on special occasions.
Whether it will indeed become a propaganda staple like the portraits of the father and grandfather remains to be seen.
|
a82e2ff5664c20f04f12c578d7826637 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46148217 | Imelda Marcos faces Philippines arrest after guilty verdict | Imelda Marcos faces Philippines arrest after guilty verdict
A court in the Philippines has sentenced former first lady Imelda Marcos to prison for corruption.
Imelda Marcos, 89, was the wife of late president Ferdinand Marcos, and famous for owning 1,000 pairs of shoes.
The charges relate to alleged illicit financial dealings with Swiss-based NGOs while serving in her husband's government in the 1970s and 80s.
The ruling permanently barred Marcos, who is currently a member of parliament, from holding public office.
The corruption court found Marcos guilty of seven counts of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. She was sentenced to between six and 11 years in prison for each count.
Marcos was not present at the court but a warrant has now been issued for her arrest.
The case has been pending with the anti-graft court for 27 years.
Marcos, who is currently a member of the House of Representatives, is running for a governor post in next year's general election.
Prosecutor Ryan Quilala told local media she would still be able to run in elections until she has exhausted the appeals process. She is allowed to apply for bail.
|
95d145b54fd0968ac522a317962e5010 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46163094 | Rappler: Philippines to charge critical news site with tax evasion | Rappler: Philippines to charge critical news site with tax evasion
The Philippines says it will charge the major news site Rappler, which has been critical of President Rodrigo Duterte, with tax evasion.
Prosecutors said on Friday they also have grounds to indict founder Maria Ressa for violating tax laws after not declaring gains made in tax returns.
Rappler has denied the charges, calling the case a "clear form of continuing intimidation and harassment".
If found guilty Ms Ressa could be fined and jailed for up to 10 years.
The government accuses Rappler and its chief executive of failing to pay tax on 2015 bond sales which resulted in 162.5 million pesos ($3 million; £2.3 million) in gains.
The English-language outlet's lawyer told journalists the case "has no legal leg to stand on" because Rappler did not evade any tax obligation.
A justice department official told news agency AFP the charges would be filed in court next week.
Earlier this year,
the site had its licence revoked by the state
, igniting a national debate about press freedom.
Founded in 2012 by Ms Ressa, a former CNN journalist, Rappler has grown a reputation for its hard-hitting, investigative journalism.
The online news site is one of the few Philippine media organisations openly critical of the country's leader, questioning his public statement's accuracy and particularly his deadly war of drugs.
The president has labelled the site's reports as "twisted" and banned its reporter from covering his official activities.
"It is meant for maximum impact of intimidation," Ms Ressa told The New York Times on Friday after receiving an award from the International Center for Journalists in Washington, DC.
The Philippines has had one of the strongest records of press freedom in Asia, but observers say this has changed in Mr Duterte's presidency.
In 2016,
Mr Duterte was criticised for saying some of the many journalists killed in the country deserved to die
.
Since 1986, 176 journalists have been killed in the country, making it one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters.
|
00797888acd0ff76e5e460924296d051 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46196979 | Sri Lanka crisis: Supreme Court suspends dissolution of parliament | Sri Lanka crisis: Supreme Court suspends dissolution of parliament
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has suspended the president's move to dissolve parliament, as a political crisis in the island nation deepens.
President Maithripala Sirisena shocked the nation by sacking parliament and calling snap elections on Friday.
The dramatic decision came two weeks after Mr Sirisena fired his prime minister and replaced him with the country's former leader.
But his actions have been called unconstitutional.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the ousted PM, had refused to give way to his named successor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and had called for MPs to vote on who they believed was the rightful premier.
Correspondents said the president and Mr Rajapaksa decided to called the snap election because they did not have enough support in parliament for their new government.
Mr Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) said the move was illegal and it and other parties filed petitions with the Supreme Court.
Its order means that elections, announced for 5 January, have been put on hold.
Hundreds of heavily-armed police had been deployed to the court ahead of Tuesday's decision and UNP supporters set off firecrackers in celebration as news of the order filtered out.
"The people have won their first victory. Let's go forward and re-establish the sovereignty of the people in our beloved country," tweeted Mr Wickremesinghe.
Namal Rajapaksa, an MP and son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, responded by saying the court had not made a "final decision".
Mr Sirisena, the president, and Mr Wickremesinghe, the sacked prime minister, joined forces in the 2015 election to defeat the then long-time president, Mr Rajapaksa.
But their uneasy coalition has since fractured and on 26 October Mr Sirisena announced he was sacking the PM and replacing him with Mr Rajapaksa.
The pair had reportedly clashed in cabinet recently over government plans to lease a port to India.
The sacking left the country with two people claiming to run the government, and Mr Wickremesinghe refused to leave his residence, Temple Trees.
President Sirisena had agreed to convene parliament on 14 November but then dramatically reversed course last Friday, when he said he was dissolving parliament.
It's unclear if parliament will now convene on Wednesday as originally planned but senior UNP officials have told the BBC that its MPs will show up.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a popular but controversial figure. As president, he ended the decades-long civil war in 2009, but faced criticism for the means by which he achieved victory - many thousands of Tamil civilians are thought to have been killed by government forces in the final months of the fighting.
The military has always denied this, but it has remained a bitterly contentious issue and been the subject of intense scrutiny.
Mr Rajapaksa also signed several large infrastructural deals with China when he was in office - saddling Sri Lanka with billions of dollars in debt.
The former president and his inner circle are also accused of corruption, which they deny.
|
f9f3fc95924316a185f3247856fa12e7 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46204594 | BTS: K-pop band's management apologises for Nazi-inspired hat | BTS: K-pop band's management apologises for Nazi-inspired hat
The management of K-pop stars BTS have apologised after a photo emerged of a band member wearing a hat with a badge resembling Nazi insignia.
It comes immediately after a furore over a different band member wearing a T-shirt with a picture of an atomic bomb on it.
Bit Hit Entertainment said both incidents were "in no way intentional" and not the fault of the band members.
BTS have a huge following online and many fans consider them role models.
"We would like to offer our sincere apologies for inadvertently inflicting pain and distress to anyone affected by totalitarian regimes in the past... [and] those affected by the use of atomic weapons," said
Big Hit Entertainment, the agency representing the band.
BTS are arguably the world's most popular K-pop group. Thousands had criticised them for the fashion faux pas, though many more fans defended the group's actions.
In October, social media users began sharing a picture of band member Jimin wearing a shirt depicting the US atomic bombing of Japan and a Korean liberation slogan.
It's unclear when the photo was taken, but that did not stop it from going massively viral - leading
Japanese channel TV Asahi to cancel an appearance by the group.
At the time BTS issued a statement saying they were sorry to miss the performance, but not addressing the T-shirt.
Social media went on to find old photos of band member RM wearing a hat bearing what looked like a Nazi symbol.
The photos started to go viral, prompting
criticism by the Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Centre,
which said the symbol depicted on the hats were of the Nazi SS Death Head logo.
"It is clear that those designing and promoting this group's career are too comfortable with denigrating the memory of the past... the management should publicly apologise," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a director at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
Big Hit told the centre that the hat which had caused offence had been given to the singer to wear by a stylist at a magazine photo shoot in 2014.
In its lengthy Facebook apology, Big Hit Entertainment stressed that it "does not support any organizations or groups oriented towards political extremism and totalitarian beliefs including Nazism" and that the band were "in no way responsible for any of the issues outlined".
The agency said it had contacted associations in Japan and Korea that represented victims affected by the atomic bombs, and that it had also delivered a letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
The centre said it "welcomed an apology" from the group
, adding that they were "reaching out to BTS to urge they harness their international fame to celebrate the good not serve the forces of evil."
|
55dbf38d943398a53b9722176bc9961e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46231372 | North Korea 'tests new high-tech weapon' | North Korea 'tests new high-tech weapon'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has supervised the successful test of a new "high-tech" tactical weapon, state-run media say.
The KCNA news agency gave no details on the type of the weapon, saying only it had been developed over a long period.
This is North Korea's first official report of a weapons test in a year.
In a summit in June Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump
agreed the Korean peninsula should denuclearise
, but a detailed plan was never set out.
North Korean state media have provided no details as to what kind of weapon this was, but it comes shortly after
a report based on satellite imagery identified the extent of North's complex network of missile bases around the country.
South Korea says it is in the process of analysing what the weapon is, but many have pointed out that the North made no commitment to halt any weapons development or shut down its missile bases.
Responding to the inspection, a US State Department spokesman said the US "remained confident that the promises made by President Trump and Chairman Kim will be fulfilled".
"Kim Jong-un inspected the testing of a newly developed high-tech tactical weapon at the Academy of National Defence Science," the KCNA reported.
"The testing of the high-tech tactical weapon has been carried out successfully."
The news agency added that Mr Kim expressed "great satisfaction" over the "state-of-the-art" weapon that "builds impregnable defences of our country and strengthens the fighting power of our people's army".
Meanwhile, South Korea's unification ministry said it was Mr Kim's first known inspection of a testing site since he was present at the launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental missile in November 2017.
The ministry said it believed this time Mr Kim was supervising the test of a traditional weapon because the term "strategic weapon" was not used by the KCNA.
Yes and no. At the Singapore summit in June, both Mr Trump and Mr Kim agreed to work towards denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.
But the agreement did not include any timeline, details or mechanisms to verify the process. Both countries have also never agreed on the goalposts of "denuclearisation".
Pyongyang has been clear from the start that it would not unilaterally disarm. But the US has also made it clear that there will be no sanctions relief until "complete denuclearisation".
Talks appear to have stalled since then, and discussions aimed at setting up a second summit between both leaders failed to materialise.
Last week Mr Kim's aide, Kim Yong-chol, was supposed to travel to New York and meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
But the BBC understands that the meeting was cancelled after the State Department discovered that the North Koreans did not get on the plane as planned.
However, the US still maintains that another summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump will take place early next year.
|
b9e0743cede1e87ca4dc2a356dc73f0e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46232879 | North Korea to expel detained US citizen, state media say | North Korea to expel detained US citizen, state media say
North Korea says it will deport a US citizen who was detained in October after entering illegally from China.
State news agency KCNA said the man, whom it named as Bruce Byron Lowrance, had told officials he was "under the command" of US spy agency the CIA.
A man of the same name was deported from South Korea in November 2017 after being found wandering near the highly fortified border with the North.
There has been no official confirmation of the man's identity.
"While being questioned, he said he had illegally entered the country under the command of the US Central Intelligence Agency," KCNA reported.
"Relevant authorities have decided to expel him from the country."
US authorities have not yet commented on the report.
Last year, US media said the man expelled from South Korea - who has also been named as Lawrence Bruce Byron - had claimed he wanted to help resolve tensions between North Korea and the US.
He is originally from Michigan, the Los Angeles Times reported
, and was arrested in a restricted area near the border with the North in Yeoncheon county, about 40 miles (64km) north of the capital Seoul.
North Korea released three US detainees in May
ahead of a summit between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore.
In 2017, the North released a US student who had been arrested a year earlier for stealing a propaganda sign.
Otto Warmbier was returned to the US in a comatose state and later died, worsening tensions between the two countries.
His parents say his death was the consequence of torture
but North Korea says he contracted botulism during detention.
|
81b8364794a35682dcdce72c9ccdf374 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46233582 | Khmer Rouge verdict: 'I live next to my torturer' | Khmer Rouge verdict: 'I live next to my torturer'
After 12 years in operation, the UN-backed Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia on Friday delivered what will likely be its final verdict. But away from the courtroom, some survivors of one of the 20th Century's greatest horrors are ambivalent about the tribunal's legacy, reports George Wright from Phnom Penh.
Like many 60-year-old men in rural Cambodia, Srei Than can often be found relaxing and drinking beer with friends outside his home. But when he locks eyes with Soy Sen, who lives a short motorcycle ride away down a dusty lane, he quickly looks away.
"Whenever I see him, he walks away," Sen says.
There's good reason for this.
In 1974, when Sen was just 14, Khmer Rouge guerrillas took control of his hometown in Takeo province, to the south of the capital, Phnom Penh. It was a year before they would topple the US-backed government and unleash a four-year reign of terror across the country.
Sen was sent to Kraing Ta Chan prison by the radical communists. He believes it was down to his father being a local official in the district they had just captured.
Upon entering the prison, Sen quickly realised the horrors that were unfolding there, including murder, torture and cannibalism.
"I was climbing a palm tree in the afternoon and from the top I could see two children being taken away," Sen told the tribunal in 2015.
"They usually waited for me to bring down the palm juice, but that day I heard… the sound of the cracking of children against a palm tree."
One of the most brutal guards at the prison was Than, better known by his alias "Small Duch". His namesake, a man known as Duch, ran the infamous Tuol Sleng torture prison in Phnom Penh and was sentenced to life by the tribunal in 2012.
He recalls an event that has stuck in his mind ever since. One day, Sen says, Than ordered him to clear up an area after he had just committed a horrific attack on two female inmates.
"He was so cruel... he tortured me," Sen said on Friday. "One day he raped two women with an M-79 missile by putting it inside them."
Kraing Ta Chan was a prison focused on during the second trial of Khmer Rouge second-in-command Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan. Due to the defendants' old age, the litany of charges against them were split across sub-trials to ensure a verdict on some crimes could be reached.
On Friday, the pair were convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide. Both were given new life sentences to add to those they were already serving after the first trial, which concluded in 2014.
Some victims' groups and the court's international backers speak of the importance of the tribunal in bringing leading Khmer Rouge to justice over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians. But the tribunal has faced widespread criticism over government interference, the length of the trials and the fact only three people have been prosecuted in more than a decade.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, has been outspoken in his opposition to further trials of mid-ranking cadre, claiming it could result in a return to civil war.
One of the common frustrations among victims is the fact lower-level Khmer Rouge like Srei Than have never faced any kind of justice for the crimes they allegedly committed, with victims and perpetrators often living alongside each other.
Speaking just after seeing Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan sentenced, Sen - who was a civil party at the court and travelled to Phnom Penh for the verdict - was fairly apathetic about the decision.
"It's taken a long time. Now the verdict has come out but I'm not satisfied," he said. "We do not see any compensation for the victims. They had already been sentenced to life once, what's the point?
"It's not going to heal the deep wounds they inflicted upon us."
However, Sen did say that testifying at the court had released much of the anxiety he harboured regarding former Khmer Rouge still living near his home.
"Before, I felt scared for my safety but not anymore. Before, I did not dare to point fingers because of my worries but after the [tribunal], I have stopped worrying.
When I interviewed Than in 2014 about the heinous crimes he stands accused of committing at Kraing Ta Chan, he denied them point blank. When he appeared at the tribunal in 2015 - the only witness to require his face be blurred on camera due to the accusations against him - Than rejected Sen's claims that he was responsible for raping women and killing children. But he did appear to show signs of remorse.
"At that time, I was young and I do not remember… the activities or any bad things that happened," Than told the court. "I don't remember everything and that's why I feel hopeless in myself."
Sen is in no doubt that he would have liked to see his former tormentors at Kraing Ta Chan face justice for the crimes they committed - including Than and another guard responsible for the murder of his father. However, this is a hope he gave up on a long time ago.
"We really want this but it's never going to happen."
|
4922cbff2249bce8f8c681eed2e789c1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46269504 | Maldives-China deal 'one-sided', says ex-president Nasheed | Maldives-China deal 'one-sided', says ex-president Nasheed
The new Maldives government is considering pulling out of a free trade agreement with China, a top leader from the islands' governing alliance says.
"The free trade agreement is very one-sided... the numbers don't match," ex-president Mohamed Nasheed told the BBC.
The Maldives' parliament would not approve the law required for the trade deal to come into force, he added.
The comments come days after Mr Nasheed's ally Ibrahim Mohamed Solih became the Maldives' new president.
Mr Nasheed - a senior advisor to President Solih - was barred from contesting the September elections.
There has been no immediate response from China to the latest comments, but a week ago the Chinese embassy in the capital Male rejected a statement by Mr Nasheed in which he said his country risked falling into a debt trap with Beijing.
The previous president, Abdulla Yameen, preferred close links with China and signed the free trade agreement during a visit to Beijing last December.
China and Chinese companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in various infrastructure projects in the Indian Ocean nation, known for its luxury resorts and coral islands.
But Mr Nasheed's comments are seen as the latest sign of a backlash against Beijing in the Maldives.
The Indian-Ocean archipelago is among a number of small countries where China has invested billions of dollars building highways and ports as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, to promote trade between Asia and parts of the rest of the world.
Mr Nasheed also said China and Chinese companies have taken over a number of islands in the Maldives on leases ranging from 50 to 100 years.
"If any of these investments (in the islands) are not commercial then we must review it… Nothing was made public in the last five years," the former president said.
Mr Nasheed prefers close ties with India, which has been trying to regain its influence in the Maldives.
The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was among the guests who attended the swearing-in of President Solih in the capital Male on Saturday.
Mr Solih is also expected to make his first state visit to India next month.
|
272e57b528ef128405705c8ba2ee3a1e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46568975 | Japan medical schools 'rigged women's results' | Japan medical schools 'rigged women's results'
At least nine Japanese medical schools manipulated admissions, in part to exclude female students, a government investigation has found.
The inquiry was launched in August, after the prestigious Tokyo Medical University (TMU) was found to have tampered with the scores of female applicants from as early as 2006.
Reports cited concerns that many women would not go on to practise medicine.
Japan's education minister said the scandal was "deeply disappointing".
"I want the universities to make immediate and courteous responses regarding the situation of the applicants," Masahiko Shibayama was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency after the report was published on Friday.
Japan's government has been trying to boost women in the workforce and especially into senior positions. The medical schools' sexism scandal has come as a setback.
The revelations about TMU in August sparked a national outcry, and in response the education ministry looked at the entrance exams of 81 medical schools.
According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper - 10 universities were identified has having held "inappropriate entrance exams" - meaning students were treated different based on characteristics including their age or sex.
It said nine universities, including TMU, Kitasato University and Juntendo University, were guilty of such practices. A tenth, the St Marianna University School of Medicine, was also named but has denied any wrongdoing.
"Each university must deal with the matter swiftly and thoroughly," Mr Shibayama said, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
The investigation found other improper practices, including universities favouring the children of alumni and being biased against those who had sat the entrance exam multiple times.
Back in August the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper quoted an unnamed source saying officials at TMU had adopted a "silent understanding" to reduce the number of female entrants over concerns female graduates were not going on to practice medicine in employment.
"Many female students who graduate end up leaving the actual medical practice to give birth and raise children," the source told the newspaper.
Earlier this week
Juntendo University said it set the bar higher for women because they were better at communication than men
and would have an advantage in the face-to-face interview component.
Twenty-four women are calling for the TMU to pay them 100,000 yen ($880; £700) in compensation. More than 40 applicants from the 2017 and 2018 entry rounds have now been accepted for entry after the university made contact with 101 candidates, AFP news agency reports.
|
68f05a271991f69076ebce3ab196a42e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46585573 | North Korea condemns latest US sanctions | North Korea condemns latest US sanctions
North Korea has denounced the latest US sanctions, saying they could "block the path to denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula forever".
Washington said it put the sanctions on three top officials, after a report threw up a raft of human rights abuses.
A historic summit between the nations' leaders this summer appeared to point the path towards better relations.
The period since then has seen North Korea engage both in angry exchanges and actions that have reduced tension.
There have been suggestions of a second leaders' summit. Although President Donald Trump has indicated he is open to the idea he said this week that he was in no hurry.
In a statement, the North Korean administration expressed "shock and indignation" at the new US sanctions.
The statement carried by the North Korean news agency KCNA accused the US state department of being "bent on bringing... relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire".
In the verbal exchanges last year, President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "little rocket man" whose threats would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen". Among the North's many rebukes, it called Mr Trump an "old lunatic".
The latest North Korean statement said the US policy of "maximum pressure" would be its "greatest miscalculation" and that it should instead return to the confidence building that was hoped for following the leaders' summit in Singapore.
They followed a state department report on the North that is regularly required by Congress.
The US vowed to seize the US assets of Mr Kim's right-hand man, Choe Ryong-hae, and two others, security minister Jong Kyong-thaek and propaganda official Pak Kwang-ho.
State department spokesman Robert Palladino said: "Human rights abuses in North Korea remain among the worst in the world and include extrajudicial killings, forced labour, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence."
At the June summit, the two leaders signed an agreement to work towards the denuclearisation of the peninsula. But it did not include a timeline, details or any mechanisms to verify the process.
Since the summit, there have been some successes, but most notably in inter-Korean relations.
Only this week,
North and South Korean soldiers made several friendly crossings
into each other's territory for the first time since the countries were divided, checking the dismantling of guard posts in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
US-North Korea relations are more stalled.
Working-level talks between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea's Kim Yong-chol were cancelled abruptly in November and have not been rescheduled.
Personal ties between the leaders appear relatively unaffected, if somewhat unpredictable.
In September, Mr Trump
praised a "very warm" letter from Mr Kim
on a follow-up summit.
But, as the BBC's Laura Bicker in Seoul points out, the insurmountable obstacle remains - the North's nuclear weapons.
The US maintains it will never allow an agreement to formally end the Korean war, nor will it lift economic sanctions imposed upon the North, while the Kim administration poses a nuclear threat.
|
5f91588685cd43cd50c1af694cdf7719 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46669420 | Indonesia tsunami: Rock band Seventeen swept away by waves | Indonesia tsunami: Rock band Seventeen swept away by waves
One of the most shocking and heart-rending stories to emerge from the Indonesian tsunami is that of rock band Seventeen, who were performing in a marquee on the beach when waves came crashing through and swept them away.
If a lot of the soul-searching and commentary in Indonesia right now is about how there was absolutely no warning for the killer waves, this is the starkest illustration of that.
The footage of the event is startling for how quickly a scene of about 200 people gathered around tables listening rapt to the band, became one of surging waves as the singing turned into screams.
Three members of the band - the bassist, road manager, guitarist - and a crew member have been killed. The band's drummer remains missing.
The lead vocalist of the band is the only known survivor from the band so far and has been posting heartfelt updates on his Instagram account.
"We lost Bani [bassist] and Oki Wijaya [road manager]," said Riefian Fajarsyah in an Instagram video as he held back tears.
"Please pray that my wife Dylan and Herman [guitarist], Andi [drummer] and Ujang [crew] will be found soon."
One day later, he posted another picture to Instagram - with an update. Herman and Ujang had been found dead.
"Rest in peace Herman and Ujang," he said in the caption. "Andi, hurry back. I'm living alone... bro, please..."
Mr Fajarsyah's wife - Dylan Sahara - still remains missing.
"Today is your birthday, I want to be able to wish you [face-to-face]," said Riefian in an Instagram post on Monday. "Hurry back darling."
Others also posted about the ordeal with one crew member, named as Zack, reportedly describing his struggle underwater on Instagram Stories, saying he survived by clinging onto the stage that had been washed out by the wave.
Seventeen were well known on the Indonesian rock scene with several popular songs. Tributes have been pouring for the band who are originally from Yogyakarta, including from other Indonesian music celebrities such as Tantri, vocalist of the band Kotak.
The band had been performing on Tanjung Lesung beach in West Java on Saturday night. They were hired by state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to perform for 200 company employees and their loved ones for an end-of-year party. According to Mr Fajarsyah they were two songs into the set when the waves came.
Some 29 PLN employees and their relatives were killed and 13 remain missing, PLN said in a news conference.
"The water washed away the stage which was located very close to the sea," the band said in a statement to news agency Reuters.
At least 281 people are dead and 1,106 injured after coastal towns on the islands of Sumatra and Java were hit by the tsunami on Saturday night.
It is believed that undersea landslides from the Anak Krakatau volcano had triggered the tsunami. Anak Krakatau erupted again on Sunday - and there are fears that it could trigger a new tsunami.
|
ff5f1c3ad4e4d0f49ed09282ba8cfe26 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46951072 | Afghanistan: Deadly Taliban attack on military compound | Afghanistan: Deadly Taliban attack on military compound
A Taliban attack on a military compound in central Afghanistan has killed at least 20 security personnel and injured many more, local officials say.
Militants rammed a vehicle laden with explosives through a military checkpoint in Wardak province, before detonating it.
Some media reports put the death toll much higher.
The Taliban's power and reach has surged since foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014.
That year US-led combat operations against the Taliban, the main insurgent group in Afghanistan, officially ended, but some American troops remain in the country to provide training and assistance to Afghan forces, which do most of the fighting.
Some media reports say the attack, which targeted members of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), resulted in more than 100 deaths, although this has not been officially confirmed.
If the death toll does reach this figure, it will be among one of the single deadliest attacks against Afghan intelligence services in nearly two decades.
Local officials told the BBC that at least 30 people had been wounded.
The Taliban said they had carried out the attack.
Earlier, officials said Afghan security forces had prevented a second attempted car bombing at the same base after killing three attackers.
Last year, President Ashraf Ghani said more than 28,000 Afghan police and soldiers had been killed since 2015.
US and Afghan officials had previously withheld such information as it was deemed too sensitive, the New York Times reported.
In November, Russia hosted a landmark international meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow aimed at kick-starting peace talks.
It was the first time that Taliban militants attended such an event.
The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, shortly before the demise of the Soviet Union.
The militants went on to rule Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, until they were driven from power by US-led troops following the 9/11 attacks, which the US blamed on al-Qaeda militants who were hosted by the Taliban.
The Taliban's power and reach have surged since foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014.
They say their international status will be further strengthened by attending peace talks hosted in Moscow.
|
a5160b53d79b5860433afecba6d4f9d0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47221943 | Thailand's Princess Ubolratana 'sad' about election fallout | Thailand's Princess Ubolratana 'sad' about election fallout
The sister of Thailand's king has said she is "saddened" by the reaction to her attempted bid to become the country's next prime minister.
Princess Ubolratana was disqualified by the country's Election Commission - who are now also seeking to dissolve the party that nominated her.
Her unprecedented nomination broke with the tradition of the Thai royal family publicly staying out of politics.
King Vajiralongkorn had called her bid "extremely inappropriate".
Posting on her private Instagram account, the princess wrote: "I am sad that the sincere intention to work for the country and us Thais has created a problem that shouldn't happen in this day and age."
The photo she posted - of a scenic garden - also included the hashtag #HowComeItsTheWayItIs.
The announcement that Princess Ubolratana would stand for election sent shockwaves through Thai politics
last Friday.
The US-educated Thai princess relinquished her royal title when she married an American man in 1972.
She returned to Thailand in 2001 after they divorced and has maintained a quasi-celebrity status since - appearing on the entertainment circuit and in music videos.
She was nominated as a candidate for the upcoming general election by Thai Raksa Chart last week - a party allied to divisive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The March vote will be the first since the current Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, took power in a 2014 military coup - overthrowing the democratically-elected government.
The royal family and electoral officials condemned her candidacy almost immediately after it was announced.
The country's election panel said it had excluded Princess Ubolratana because "every member of the royal family comes within the application of the same rule requiring the monarch to be above politics and to be politically neutral".
The stance echoed a palace statement, which said the "involvement of a high-ranking member of the royal family in politics... is considered extremely inappropriate".
The row over the princess has reignited old rivalries.
Royalists have come out to accuse Mr Thaksin of once again trying to exploit the monarchy for his own ambitions.
Frustrated supporters of the pro-Thaksin camp, who have been waiting for five years to demonstrate their voting power, fear their side will be tarnished once again as a threat to the monarchy, in order to keep a military-dominated government in power.
This is now bound to be a more heated election campaign.
Read more from Jonathan
here
.
Thai Raksa Chart's leader, Preechaphol Pongpanit, has said his partydid everything "sincerely, with good intentions", but added: "Above us is His Majesty and the monarchy. We are ready to be investigated."
The electoral commission confirmed on Wednesday that it was seeking to punish Thai Raksa Chart for violating electoral law.
It described the party's nomination of the king's sister as "antagonistic toward the constitutional monarchy" and said it will ask the country's Constitutional Court to consider dissolving them.
Princess Ubolratana's latest post on Instagram will appear to some as a quiet rebuke of the events of the past week.
It's difficult to know just how much direct communication she has had with her brother about this since the fallout - but it's likely she will now have to retreat from political life, no matter how she feels about it.
|
0483c0f92aec5177ff82dc3df0e7e50a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47351369 | Afghan peace talks: Taliban co-founder meets top White House envoy | Afghan peace talks: Taliban co-founder meets top White House envoy
The top US envoy seeking to broker peace in Afghanistan has met one of the Taliban's co-founders for the first time, as the latest round of talks get under way in Qatar.
Special representative Zalmay Khalilzad said he held a working lunch with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar before "moving on to talks".
Mullah Baradar was recently released from a Pakistani prison.
His presence in Qatar is thought to improve the chances of a deal.
Last month's US-Taliban talks in Qatar made progress in ending 17 years of conflict in Afghanistan, the US said.
US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said the January talks had been "more productive than they have been in the past" but added there were a number of issues still to work out.
He said a "draft framework" of a peace deal had been agreed, based on commitments by the US to withdraw international forces from Afghanistan, and from the Taliban not to allow jihadist groups to operate in the country.
The Taliban also said progress had been made in the negotiations. However, a spokesman added that talks about "unsolved matters" would continue.
The Taliban have so far refused to hold direct talks with Afghan officials, whom they dismiss as "puppets". They say they will only begin negotiations with the government once a firm date for the withdrawal of US troops has been agreed.
Mullah Baradar, a deputy to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhunzada, was put in charge of the Taliban political office in Qatar in January but until now has remained in Pakistan and has not made any public appearances.
He served in a number of key roles within the Taliban, until he was detained by Pakistani authorities in 2010.
A senior Taliban figure told the BBC that Mullah Baradar's authority within the group to make decisions could help "speed up the peace process".
Mr Khalilzad has suggested this is the case. He tweeted that he was this time meeting "with a more authoritative Taliban delegation", adding that it "could be a significant moment".
After last month's talks, Taliban sources told the BBC that the two sides had agreed to form committees to address two key issues in detail: the withdrawal of foreign forces and how the Taliban would in turn implement a commitment to prevent groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State from using Afghanistan as a base in future.
by Secunder Kermani, BBC Afghanistan correspondent, in Doha
Mullah Baradar isn't the only senior figure from the group attending the talks in Doha for the first time. Also here is Amir Khan Motaqi, chief of staff to the Taliban supreme leader. Their presence seems to indicate how seriously the Taliban are taking these discussions.
But there are still major obstacles ahead.
It seems Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's administration is being deliberately sidelined by the Taliban who have so far refused to talk to them. Yet it's hard to see how a deal could be done without their involvement.
The absence of talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government also means there's been no official discussion of what a post-peace Afghanistan would look like. Would it be a democracy? Would women have the same rights they have now?
There's an argument that while progress has been made, so far the Taliban are yet to make any major concessions. Their promise not to allow other jihadists to operate in Afghanistan isn't new. American officials will hope this beefed up Taliban negotiating team will have the authority and willingness to show some flexibility.
The Taliban's power and reach have surged since foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014.
Last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said
more than 45,000 members of the country's security forces had been killed
since he became leader in 2014.
It is estimated that about 15 million people - half the Afghan population - are living in areas either controlled by the Taliban or where the militants are openly present and regularly mount attacks.
On Sunday
UN figures showed that more civilians were killed last year in Afghanistan than at any time
since records began.
In December, reports emerged that
the US was planning to withdraw about 7,000 troops
- roughly half the remaining US military presence in the country.
Analysts warned that such a withdrawal could offer the Taliban a propaganda victory.
The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, shortly before the demise of the Soviet Union.
The militants ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, imposing a brutal version of Islamic law that included public executions and amputations, and the banning of women from public life.
They were driven from power by US-led troops following the 9/11 attacks which Washington blamed on al-Qaeda militants sheltered by the Taliban.
|
cdf9e7181cd1ca1ff2744223dfbad7dd | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47353504 | Okinawa: Tokyo to overrule referendum on US base | Okinawa: Tokyo to overrule referendum on US base
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said plans to relocate a US military base on the island of Okinawa will continue, despite a referendum rejecting the move.
Some 72% of voters in the non-binding poll opposed the construction of a new base to replace the one at Futenma.
In recent years, a number of accidents and crimes have led to growing local opposition to the base.
Okinawa hosts the bulk of US military facilities in Japan.
On Monday, Mr Abe told journalists the government took the referendum result seriously, but could not delay the 20-year-old plan to move US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a new location.
"We cannot avoid the necessity of moving Futenma, said to be the most dangerous base in the world," the prime minister said. "We can't put this off any longer."
Mr Abe said he hoped local residents would understand why he had to overrule their preference.
"We have spent many years holding dialogue with people in the prefecture. We will continue our dialogue so that we can gain their understanding."
There were three options on Sunday's ballot paper: to support the move, oppose the move, or neither.
According to officials, 72% of those who voted opposed the relocation, compared to 19% in favour and around 9% voting for neither. Turnout was 52%.
Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki, who was voted in on a promise to fight the relocation, urged the government in Tokyo to "accept the resolute intention" of voters and "immediately halt the construction work".
Under a local ordinance, the governor is obliged to notify Tokyo and Washington and "respect the outcome" because more than a quarter of all registered voters opposed moving the base.
Local media said he would visit the prime minister's office and the US embassy in Tokyo later this week. However, Japan's central government retains the right to ignore the vote result.
The Futenma base is located in an urban part of Okinawa, and Washington wants to move it to a more remote location.
The US presence on the island is a key part of the post-war security alliance between Japan and the US, but many locals tolerate it reluctantly and would like the base relocated outside Okinawa.
More than half of the approximately 47,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan are on Okinawa.
Resentment at the US presence rose exponentially after the 1995 gang-rape of a 12-year-old girl by US troops.
In 2016, an ex-Marine employed at one of the bases was found guilty of assaulting and killing a 20-year-old local woman and jailed for life.
After his arrest, the US base imposed a temporary ban on alcohol and a midnight curfew.
|
e022804284fa066221b0255afea74fff | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47704199 | Nawaz Sharif: Pakistan ex-PM granted bail for health reasons | Nawaz Sharif: Pakistan ex-PM granted bail for health reasons
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been granted bail for six weeks to receive medical treatment.
Sharif is serving a seven-year term imposed last year for investments beyond his declared assets. He denies any wrongdoing and has appealed.
The 69-year-old reportedly has a heart condition and kidney problems.
The Supreme Court says he will not be allowed to leave the country and needs to surrender to prison authorities at the end of the bail term.
Sharif's lawyers claimed that he needed urgent medical attention that could not be provided in jail.
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa says if he does not surrender voluntarily he faces being arrested.
A bail appeal last month was rejected by the High Court because they said that reports of his condition did not "
suggest that continued incarceration... in any way, would be detrimental to his life
".
Sharif was prime minister from 1990 to 1993, and again from 1997 until a bloodless coup in 1999.
He was then elected for a third term in 2013, which was marred by upheavals and corruption allegations.
The Supreme Court removed him from office in July 2017, claiming he had failed to disclose part of a salary drawn from his son's company.
He was then convicted in two other separate corruption cases for not disclosing sources of income. Sharif denies any wrongdoing and claims the charges are politically motivated.
The first of those related to the ownership of high-end properties in London. He was convicted in July 2018 but in September he was granted bail. His 10-year sentence was suspended until the final decision on his appeal.
But in December, in the second case, he was jailed for seven years and fined $25m (£19m). The anti-corruption court in Islamabad had said he was unable to show where he obtained the money he used to buy the Al-Azizia steel mill in Saudi Arabia.
Sharif has appealed against both convictions, accusing the military and the courts of conspiring to end his political career and destabilise his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
The appeals process in both cases is ongoing.
|
7c8ab06e6852e422b89b340fbc92e875 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47733079?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/ckgj731eel1t/taliban&link_location=live-reporting-story | Afghanistan war: What could peace look like? | Afghanistan war: What could peace look like?
For the first time in 18 years, the US government seems serious about withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan and winding up the longest war in its history.
Since October, US officials and representatives of the Taliban have held seven rounds of direct talks - aimed at ensuring a safe exit for the US in return for the insurgents guaranteeing that Afghan territory is not used by foreign militants and won't pose a security threat to the rest of the world.
A US-led military coalition drove the Taliban from power in 2001 for sheltering al-Qaeda, the militant group behind the 9/11 attacks.
A rare consensus about resolving the conflict peacefully, both inside and outside Afghanistan, means peace has never been so close. During a visit to Afghanistan in late June, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration was aiming for "a peace deal before September 1st".
But the US-Taliban talks in Qatar's capital, Doha - as well as intra-Afghan dialogue involving the insurgents and some Afghan officials - are only the first phase of a complicated process with an uncertain outcome - and there are many hurdles to overcome.
While the US has reversed its refusal to talk directly to the Taliban, intense fighting and unprecedented numbers of airstrikes by the US and Afghan militaries are still going on all over the country. And while the Taliban negotiate they now control and influence more territory than at any point since 2001.
The war in Afghanistan is now the deadliest conflict in the world, causing more casualties than the fighting in Syria, Libya or Yemen.
Patterns of violence have changed dramatically in recent years. The vast majority of those being killed and injured now are Afghans - civilians, police and soldiers, and Taliban fighters.
In January, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said
more than 45,000 members of the country's security forces had been killed
since he became leader in late 2014. Over the same period "the number of international casualties is less than 72", he said.
In February, the UN said civilian deaths reached a record high in 2018. It said more than 32,000 civilians had in total been killed in the past decade.
Taliban fighters are also regularly killed in large numbers in airstrikes, night raids and ground fighting.
Given the continued stalemate with the insurgents, US President Donald Trump is keen to end the war, which, according to US officials, costs about $45bn (£34bn) annually. His indication to withdraw most or all of his 14,000 forces in the near future caught everyone by surprise, including the Taliban.
There are also nearly 1,000 British troops in Afghanistan as part of Nato's mission to train and assist the Afghan security forces.
But even if the US and the Taliban resolve their major issues, the Afghans themselves will need to sort out a number of key internal issues - including a ceasefire, dialogue between the Taliban and the government, and most importantly, the formation of a new government and political system.
Ideally, a ceasefire would precede presidential elections later this year and the Taliban would take part - but the latter seems unlikely.
Without a full or even partial ceasefire, there are fears that poll irregularities and a possible protracted political turmoil over the results could undermine any peace process and may increase political instability.
There are a number of options and scenarios.
First of all, a decision will need to be taken by all major players on whether presidential elections, already postponed to late September, take place as planned.
If they do, a new government in Kabul could negotiate terms with the Taliban, unless a peace deal had been reached before the vote. Whether that government served a full term or held power on an interim basis while intra-Afghan power-sharing options were discussed is unclear.
But elections could also be further delayed or suspended - and the current government's term extended - while a mutually agreed mechanism to establish a new government, acceptable to all sides including the Taliban, is sought.
Creating a temporary neutral government or a governing coalition, that could even include the Taliban, is another option being looked at in this scenario.
A loya jirga - or grand assembly - of Afghans could also be called to choose an interim government which would hold elections once US troops have left and the Taliban has been reintegrated.
An international conference similar to the one in Bonn, Germany, in 2001 is another suggestion to help chart a future course for the country.
It would include Afghan players, major powers and neighbouring states - but this time also with the participation of the Taliban.
Several Taliban leaders have told me they need time to enter mainstream Afghan society and prepare for elections.
There will be very difficult issues to surmount after a conflict that has left hundreds of thousands of casualties on all sides, including government forces, insurgents and civilians.
For example, the Taliban do not accept the current constitution and see the Afghan government as "a US-imposed puppet regime".
So far President Ghani's administration has not been involved in direct talks with the insurgents who refuse to talk to a government they don't recognise.
Therefore, given the internal rivalries and diverse agendas of various local actors, the intra-Afghan phase of the peace process might prove more difficult than the US-Taliban talks.
However, there are positive signs.
Two rounds of intra-Afghan dialogue took place in Moscow earlier this year when Afghan politicians including ex-president Hamid Karzai, former commanders and civil society members, including women, met Taliban representatives to discuss ending the war.
A third such meeting took place in Doha in July
, in which several officials currently serving in the Afghan government also participated, albeit in a "personal capacity". It is hoped that such meetings will eventually pave the way for formal peace talks between the Taliban and other Afghans, including the government.
A number of Afghans fear that sharing power with the Taliban could see a return to the group's obscurantist interpretation of Islamic justice. They are concerned that various freedoms, notably certain women's rights, could be lost.
The Taliban banned women from public life when they were in power in the 1990s, and their punishments included public stoning and amputations.
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, there has been a long list of unfulfilled agreements and failed attempts aimed at ending the war in the country.
Several scenarios from the past could be repeated this time round.
A US pullout, with or without a peace deal, might not automatically result in the sudden collapse of the government in Kabul.
The war could continue and the government's survival would largely depend on financial and military assistance from foreign allies, especially the US, and the unity and commitment of the country's political elite.
When Soviet forces withdrew in 1989, the Moscow-backed government in Kabul lasted for three years.
But its collapse in 1992 ushered in a bloody civil war, involving various Afghan factions supported by different regional powers.
If issues are not handled with care now, there is a risk of a re-run of these two scenarios.
The Taliban, who emerged out of the chaos of the civil war, captured Kabul in 1996 and ruled most of Afghanistan until the US-led invasion removed them from power in 2001.
They could try to capture the state again if a deal is not reached this time round, or one fails.
The current peace efforts could see the Taliban participating in a new set-up in Afghanistan.
This would mean the end of fighting and the formation of an inclusive Afghan government - a win-win for Afghans, the US and regional players.
But the alternative is dire - a probable intensification of conflict and instability in a country strategically located in a region with a cluster of major powers including China, Russia, India, Iran and Pakistan.
Another round of chaos could well result in the emergence of new violent extremist groups.
Afghans and the rest of the world would have to deal with a possible security vacuum in which militant groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State found fertile ground.
Increased production of drugs and the overflow of refugees would pose serious challenges not only to Afghanistan but also to the whole region and the rest of the world.
History shows that starting negotiations and signing deals does not guarantee that conflicts will be peacefully resolved.
These steps are only the beginning of a complicated and challenging process - implementation of what's on paper is even more important.
The biggest challenge for Afghanistan would be the creation of verifiable enforcement mechanisms in any post-deal scenario.
Given the history of conflict in the country, the current opportunity could be easily squandered if the process is taken in the wrong direction by one or more of the local or foreign actors.
Therefore, international guarantors and a framework involving the region and the key international players are needed to co-ordinate efforts for peace and deter and prevent spoilers from sabotaging the process.
There's a rare opportunity to resolve four decades of war - handle it with care, or risk facing the consequences.
The 14-member Taliban negotiating team also features the "Guantanamo Five" - former high-ranking officials captured after the fall of the regime and held for nearly 13 years in the controversial US detention camp.
They were sent to Qatar in a 2014 prisoner exchange involving
Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier captured by insurgents
in 2009.
They are (clockwise from top left in photo above):
Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a senior Taliban political figure and former head of its political office in Qatar, is leading the group's negotiating team.
In an interview with the BBC in February, he said
a ceasefire would not be agreed until all foreign forces were withdrawn
from Afghanistan.
Also present in Qatar is
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's deputy head for political affairs and one of the group's co-founders
, who was released from prison in Pakistan last October after spending nearly nine years in captivity.
|
d978c1b3d885c0377ea0373ab426ebdc | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47863061 | Hong Kong 'Umbrella' protesters found guilty of public nuisance | Hong Kong 'Umbrella' protesters found guilty of public nuisance
Nine pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have been found guilty of public nuisance charges for their role in a civil disobedience movement that called for free elections in the city.
Among them are three prominent activists, seen as figureheads of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.
They could be jailed for up to seven years for their part in the "Umbrella Movement" protests of 2014.
Thousands marched demanding the right for Hong Kong to choose its own leader.
Those convicted include the so-called "Occupy trio" - sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 60, law professor Benny Tai, 54, and Baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, 75.
They are seen as the founders of the movement that galvanised protesters in their campaign of civil disobedience.
"No matter what happens today... we will persist on and do not give up," Mr Tai told reporters ahead of the verdict.
Mr Tai, Mr Chan and five others were found guilty of two charges of public nuisance
, and Mr Chu and one other of just one charge.
A large crowd gathered outside the court on Thursday to support them. It is not yet clear when they will be sentenced.
By Martin Yip, BBC News Chinese, Hong Kong
The nine defendants walked into the court building looking refreshed and in high spirits. All but one said a few words in what might have been their last hours of freedom before their predicted jail term.
Delivering his verdict, Justice Johnny Chan said the defendants had caused a nuisance - by occupying major roads - leading to injuries among civilians. The nine looked calm and not particularly emotional. They were later released on bail. Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming smiled as they passed me, as if it was just another day.
They are yet to say if they will appeal. The court was adjourned for the day as the lawyers are yet to finish their mitigation submissions. The sentences have yet to be announced.
The broader pro-democracy camp already has bad relations with Beijing. Activists and politicians did express their anger but political analysts also warn that people might simply leave the movement out of frustration.
"Some people might feel dispirited and helpless. I hope they can see that other people haven't given up," Benny Tai told BBC News Chinese ahead of today's verdict.
Seventy nine days of sit-in protests have already changed Hong Kong a lot. But today's verdict might serve more as a reminder that this city remains divided.
At the trial Judge Johnny Chan rejected the idea that this would have a substantial impact on society.
"It cannot be reasonably argued that a charge of conspiracy to cause public nuisance would generate a chilling effect in society," he wrote in his ruling.
But rights groups criticised the ruling, with Humans Rights Watch saying the court was "sending a terrible message".
"[This] will likely embolden the government to prosecute more peaceful activists, further chilling free expression in Hong Kong," said researcher Maya Wang in a statement to the BBC.
Lord Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, released a statement saying that it was "appallingly divisive to use anachronistic common law charges in a vengeful pursuit of political events which took place in 2014".
This verdict comes after a string of frustrations for pro-democracy activists. In the last few years the courts have removed six lawmakers for changing their swearing in oaths to include protest phrases. Others have also been disqualified from running for office.
The protests started in reaction to a decision made by China that it would allow direct elections in 2017, but only from a list of candidates pre-approved by Beijing.
Beijing is highly sensitive about Hong Kong's status and any calls for more autonomy from China.
The former British colony was handed back in 1997 on condition it would retain "a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs" for 50 years.
Many people in Hong Kong believe they should have the right to elect their own leader.
In 2014, the three activists' calls for non-violent civil disobedience joined with student-led protests and snowballed into the massive demonstrations.
Tens of thousands of people camped in the streets and demanded the right to fully free leadership elections.
The protests became known as the "Umbrella Movement" after people used umbrellas to shield themselves from pepper spray fired by police to disperse the crowd.
Protesters accused the Chinese government of breaking its promise to allow full democracy in Hong Kong, and of encroaching more and more on the region.
But the number of protesters dwindled to just a few hundred as the weeks dragged on and they ultimately failed to achieve their goal.
|
65daf4f0241d55043f281ddae4d5cb2f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48016994 | Sri Lanka attacks: Authorities face scrutiny over advance warnings | Sri Lanka attacks: Authorities face scrutiny over advance warnings
Scrutiny fell on rifts in Sri Lanka's leadership on Monday after it emerged that authorities were warned about the group accused in Sunday's bombings.
Attacks on churches and hotels killed 310 people and wounded nearly 500.
Security agencies had been watching the National Thowheed Jamath jihadist group, reports said, and had notified police about a possible attack.
But the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the cabinet were not informed, ministers said.
On Tuesday, the country is observing a day to "mourn the senseless loss of innocent lives,"
Mr Wickremesinghe said in a statement posted to Twitter.
"It is imperative that we remain unified as Sri Lankans in the face of this unspeakable tragedy," he added.
The prime minister was not privy to security briefings following a rift last year with President Maithripala Sirisena, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told a press conference.
Mr Sirisena sacked Mr Wickremesinghe and his cabinet in October and tried to install another prime minister, prompting a full-blown constitutional crisis.
He was forced to reinstate Mr Wickremesinghe under pressure from the nation's supreme court, but apparently kept the prime minister from security briefings.
Mr Senaratne said intelligence agencies had begun issuing warnings about the group on 4 April, after which the defence ministry sent a detailed warning to the chief of police; and on 11 April a memo was sent to the heads of several security divisions.
He said information passed to police included a warning from a foreign intelligence agency about possible attacks by the group, as well as names of members.
US media quote Sri Lankan officials as saying both Indian and US intelligence had warned the country about a threat in early April.
It was not clear on Monday whether Mr Sirisena had been made aware of the warnings. "Our understanding is that it was correctly circulated among security and police," Shiral Lakthilaka, a senior adviser to Mr Sirisena, told the BBC.
He said that the president had appointed a special committee led by a supreme court judge to investigate what had happened.
Rauff Hakeem, the minister for town planning, called the attacks a "colossal failure of intelligence".
"It is shameful for all of us. We are all ashamed of this," he said.
Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando tweeted: "Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence. Therefore there was a delay in action. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored."
Sri Lankan authorities declared a state of emergency which came into effect at midnight (18:30 GMT) on Monday.
The declaration gives police and the military sweeping powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders - powers that were last used during the nation's civil war.
A curfew also came into effect at 20:00, leaving armed security forces patrolling largely deserted streets in Colombo on Monday night.
The government blocked access to Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram after the attacks.
Police arrested 24 suspects in a series of raids just hours after the blasts, and later said 87 bomb detonators had been found at the Bastian Mawatha private bus station in Petta.
On Monday, another blast rocked a street in the capital, Colombo, when a bomb went off while police attempted to defuse it, although no-one was hurt.
The first reports of explosions came at about 08:45 local time on Sunday with six blasts reported within a small space of time.
Three churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo's Kochchikade district were targeted during Easter services. Blasts also rocked the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand hotels in the country's capital.
Police did not release a breakdown of how many people were killed and wounded at each location.
All the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers, officials said.
Police then carried out raids on two addresses and there were explosions at both.
One was in Dehiwala, southern Colombo, and the other was near the Colombo district of Dematagoda, where three officers were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a device.
An improvised explosive device - a 6ft-long [1.8m] plastic pipe packed with explosives - was also found and defused near the airport in Colombo.
National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) has been named by a government spokesman as the main suspect.
The group has no history of large-scale attacks but came to prominence last year when it was blamed for damaging Buddhist statues.
However, neither NTJ, nor any other group, has admitted carrying out Sunday's bombings.
Most of those who died were Sri Lankan nationals, including scores of Christians attending Easter Sunday church services.
The ministry of foreign affairs said it had identified 31 foreign nationals among the dead, with 14 unaccounted for. The death toll included at least eight British citizens and at least eight citizens of India.
They include three of the children of Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen
, a family spokesman confirmed to the BBC. Mr Povlsen owns the Bestseller clothing chain and holds a majority stake in clothing giant Asos.
British lawyer Anita Nicholson died alongside her two children, Alex, 14, and Annabel, 11, when a suicide bomber detonated a device in the breakfast queue at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.
Her husband, Ben Nicholson, survived and praised his "wonderful, perfect wife" and "amazing, intelligent" children.
China on Tuesday issued an advisory to its citizens not to travel to Sri Lanka in the near future while the US State Department had already on Sunday warned of possible further attacks in a travel advisory.
|
53500143db21879c056ceb221373dd89 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48197260 | Pakistan Data Darbar: Bomber kills nine outside Sufi shrine in Lahore | Pakistan Data Darbar: Bomber kills nine outside Sufi shrine in Lahore
At least nine people have been killed in an explosion outside a major Sufi Muslim shrine in the Pakistani city of Lahore, officials said.
Five police officers are reportedly among the dead. A police van was the prime target, authorities said.
Police have described the blast as a suicide attack.
It has been claimed by the Hizbul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban.
The explosion occurred at 0844am local time (0344 GMT) near the Data Darbar Sufi shrine, one of the oldest Sufi shrines in South Asia.
The bloodshed comes as Pakistani Muslims mark the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
A security operation is still under way in the area, with a heavy police presence at the blast site.
Footage from the scene shows a badly damaged police vehicle surrounded by debris near a security checkpoint at the shrine.
Prime Minister Imran Khan denounced the attack.
Located near the Bhati Gate inside the ancient Walled City of Lahore, Data Darbar is one of the largest Sufi shrines in South Asia.
Built in the 11th Century, it is where Sufi saint Abul Hassan Ali Hajveri - also known as Data Ganj Baksh - was laid to rest.
It is considered to be one of the most sacred sites in Lahore.
It is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year from both Sunni and Shia traditions of Islam.
In 2010,
dozens died in two suicide blasts at Data Darbar
.
Police said, although there was no specific threat against the shrine, worshippers should remain vigilant during the month of Ramadan.
Sufism is a form of Islamic mysticism that exists across the Islamic world, and includes both Sunnis and Shias.
Its followers in Pakistan have been attacked by militants in the past.
Some extremists view Sufis as heretics for not adhering to their fundamentalist form of Islam.
Pakistan has cracked down on a number of extremist groups - including Pakistani Taliban factions - in recent years.
But while security has improved the country still grapples with attacks by militants who are opposed to the government.
In 2016, at least
72 people were killed in Lahore
in a bombing targeting Christians on Easter Sunday.
|
258980710421dc50d38f0d26e102f771 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48290957 | North Korea suffers worst drought in decades | North Korea suffers worst drought in decades
North Korea has said it is suffering its worst drought in 37 years and called on its citizens to "battle" against the crop damage caused by it.
It comes after the UN said that up to 10 million North Koreans were "in urgent need of food assistance".
North Koreans had been surviving on just 300g (10.5 oz) of food a day so far this year,
the UN report said.
In the 1990s, a devastating famine is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of North Koreans.
There is no indication as yet that this drought will be as severe, but it follows a slew of warnings about poor harvests and crop damage across the country.
"As yet it's not really clear how bad things are as, with everything related to North Korea, the data is hardly transparent," Oliver Hotham from NK News told the BBC.
But, he points out, that if official data is accurate, their research suggests North Korea would need to import as much as 1.5 million tonnes of food to make up for the shortfall in production.
North Korea's state media outlet KCNA said 54.4mm (2 in) of rain fell throughout the country in the first five months of the year. It said this was the lowest level recorded since 1982.
The country's leading newspaper Rodong Sinmun added that "water is needed now more than ever", saying the country was in a "fierce battle" to prevent drought damage.
"Workers in the agriculture sector must... storm to thoroughly protect farm fields from drought damage," it said.
Last month, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and its Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a joint report that North Korea's crop output in 2018 hit the lowest level since 2008.
It estimated that 10 million people - 40% of the country's population - are in urgent need of food.
The report added that "the situation could further deteriorate during the lean season from May to September" if action wasn't taken.
Sanctions against North Korea have been boosted since 2006, in an effort to choke off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
These have greatly reduced the country's exports - and it's unclear how much foreign currency North Korea currently has to buy food imports.
Although this is a narrative favoured in state media, it is unclear how much of an impact sanctions have actually had.
"[North Korea] want to make it sound like sanctions equals starvation so the U.S. should really be benevolent and give them up,"
Benjamin Silberstein, co-editor of North Korean Economy Watch and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute told Reuters.
Sanctions do not ban humanitarian aid and even prevent North Korea from exporting food that could be used to feed its population.
But only a handful of approved groups can deliver aid to North Korea and reports say those groups working inside the country are
facing an increasingly difficult environment because of the complex web of sanctions.
In 2017, NGO Save the Children left North Korea because it said sanctions had made it too difficult to operate.
In 2017, North Korea suffered from a serious drought, which decimated its production of staple crops such as rice, maize, potatoes and soybean.
It is not known exactly what impact this had, but reports then said many faced malnutrition and death.
"North Korea is highly vulnerable to these kinds natural disasters, due to the backwardness of a lot of its farming technology and the pre-existing public health and food issues in the country," Mr Hotham said.
In the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are said to have died following a serious famine.
That famine forced North Korea to seek help from international bodies for the first time.
Relations between the US and North Korea have taken a turn for the worse, following a breakdown in talks between both countries.
A second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement in February, with the US insisting North Korea give up its nuclear programme and Pyongyang demanding sanctions relief.
Last week, the US seized a North Korea cargo ship for the first time, saying that it breached sanctions - North Korea has demanded its return.
North Korea has in the past weeks also resumed weapons testing, widely seen as an attempt to increase pressure on the US.
|
f9a878948a24da99e29ade2004718695 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48395241 | Everest: Three more die amid overcrowding near summit | Everest: Three more die amid overcrowding near summit
Three more climbers have died on Mount Everest, taking the death toll to seven in a week - more than the total for the whole of last year.
The three died of exhaustion while descending on Thursday.
It comes amid traffic jams near the summit as record numbers make the ascent, despite calls to limit the number of climbing permits.
Nepal has issued 381 permits at $11,000 (£8,600) each for the spring climbing season at the world's highest peak.
Two Indian climbers - Kalpana Das, 52, and Nihal Bagwan, 27 - died while scaling back down the mountain on Thursday.
Local tour organiser Keshav Paudel told AFP news agency that Bagwan had been "stuck in the traffic for more than 12 hours and was exhausted".
A 65-year-old Austrian climber died on the northern Tibet side of the mountain.
An Indian and an American lost their lives on the mountain on Wednesday, while an Irish professor, Séamus Lawless, is presumed dead after falling on 16 May.
Conditions this year have also been worse than usual, with high winds leaving a large number of climbers a narrow time frame to reach the summit.
Five people are known to have died on Everest and one in Lhotse in the spring season last year.
The number of people climbing Everest in 2019 could exceed last year's record of 807 people reaching the summit.
The rising numbers of people climbing - and dying - on Everest has led for calls for permits to be limited.
Ben Fogle, the adventurer and television presenter who climbed the mountain last year, called for "London Marathon style lottery for climbing permits" in a Twitter post.
Mountaineer Nirmal Purja's photo of queues at Mount Everest has attracted attention around the world this week.
The photo shows the last ridge Mount Everest's summit, from the southern, Nepali side. Climbers can also reach the summit via the northern, Tibetan side, but the southern route is much busier.
Sources: Wild Yak Expeditions; Seven Summits Treks
Read more:
Why Everest's summit gets so crowded
|
c9e88ef92be09677bf14c11fb122bf11 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49559493 | Afghanistan war: US-Taliban deal would see 5,400 troops withdraw | Afghanistan war: US-Taliban deal would see 5,400 troops withdraw
The United States would withdraw 5,400 troops from Afghanistan within 20 weeks as part of a deal "in principle" with Taliban militants, Washington's top negotiator has said.
Zalmay Khalilzad revealed details of the long-awaited deal for the first time in a TV interview after briefing Afghan leaders on the agreement.
But he said final approval still rested with US President Donald Trump.
A huge blast rocked Kabul as the interview aired.
The Taliban said it was behind the attack, which used a bomb strapped to a tractor to kill at least 16 people and injure at least another 119.
The target was a residential compound housing foreigners, just outside the city's heavily-fortified Green Zone.
However, it was Afghan civilians who paid the highest price. By morning, about 400 foreigners had been escorted out of the area as anger bubbled over onto the streets. Locals set fire to tyres and blocked a main road, demanding foreigners leave the area for good.
"This is not the first time we suffer because of them," resident Abdul Jamil told news agency AFP. "We don't want them here any more."
The attack - the third in as many days - highlights fears that US negotiations with the Taliban won't end the daily violence in Afghanistan and its terrible toll on civilians.
The militants now control more territory than at any time since the 2001 US invasion and have so far refused to talk to the Afghan government, whom they deride as American puppets.
Ejaz Malikzada, a researcher at the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies in Kabul, told the BBC he had little hope of change.
"As far as the Taliban are concerned: we can hear them in Doha, we can hear them in Facebook, we can hear them in media, they have not changed, they will keep bombing," Mr Malikzada said.
"They say: 'we'll fight even if we sign an agreement with the Americans we'll keep fighting and we'll kill, no matter what'. So the Taliban have not changed, the only change that I can see is their bombs have got bigger."
The deal outlined by Mr Khalilzad in an interview with Tolo News is the product of nine rounds of peace talks that have been held in the Gulf state of Qatar.
In exchange for the US troop withdrawal, the Taliban would ensure that Afghanistan would never again be used as a base for militant groups seeking to attack the US and its allies.
"We have agreed that if the conditions proceed according to the agreement, we will leave within 135 days five bases in which we are present now," Mr Khalilzad said.
The US currently has about 14,000 troops in the country.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed in a text message to the BBC that the details of the troop withdrawal as outlined by Mr Khalilzad were correct.
A pullout of the remaining forces would depend on conditions, including the start of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban as well as a ceasefire, reports the BBC's Lyse Doucet from Kabul.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will study the deal before giving any opinion, his spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said earlier on Monday. He said the government still needed proof the Taliban were committed to peace.
Many in Afghanistan fear that a US-Taliban deal could see hard-won rights and freedoms eroded. The militants enforced strict religious laws and treated women brutally under their rule from 1996 to 2001.
It began when the US launched air strikes one month following the 11 September 2001 attacks and after the Taliban had refused to hand over the man behind them, Osama Bin Laden.
The US was joined by an international coalition and the Taliban were quickly removed from power. However, they turned into an insurgent force and continued deadly attacks, destabilising subsequent Afghan governments.
The international coalition ended its combat mission in 2014, staying only to train Afghan forces. But the US continued its own, scaled-back combat operation, including air strikes.
The Taliban have however continued to gain momentum and last year the BBC found they were active across 70% of Afghanistan.
Nearly 3,500 members of the international coalition forces have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, more than 2,300 of them American.
The figures for Afghan civilians, militants and government forces are more difficult to quantify. In a February 2019 report, the UN said that more than 32,000 civilians had died.
The Watson Institute at Brown University
says 58,000 security personnel and 42,000 opposition combatants have been killed.
|
64798444f89e74e239e21ac5c0622075 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49589620 | New Zealand measles outbreak rises above 1,000 cases | New Zealand measles outbreak rises above 1,000 cases
New Zealand's ongoing measles outbreak has hit the milestone of more than 1,000 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,051 people were affected between 1 January and 5 September, 2019, the ministry of health said.
Measles is a highly contagious and potentially fatal illness that causes coughing, rashes and fever.
Although effective and safe vaccination is available, some developed countries have seen a measles resurgence in past years.
Worldwide,
the number of cases has quadrupled
in the first three months of 2019 compared with the same time last year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The New Zealand outbreak is largely concentrated around the country's biggest city Auckland, with 877 of the confirmed cases seen there.
The Health Ministry has issued a statement
calling for everyone aged 12 months to 50 years old to get vaccinated if they have not been already.
Immunisation Advisory Centre director Dr Nikki Turner told New Zealand's Newshub it is a "very sad" milestone to reach.
"This was entirely predictable and preventable, so it is very disappointing for us."
Authorities are urging anyone who feels sick to "stay away from work, school or public places, to prevent putting other people at risk".
The ministry has also put out a travel advice to get vaccinated at least two weeks before visiting Auckland.
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued advice
to get measles vaccination before visiting New Zealand
.
A viral illness spread by coughing and sneezing, measles is one of the world's most contagious diseases.
Although most people who catch it will recover, it can lead to life-threatening complications.
Before the introduction of a vaccine in 1963 and widespread vaccination, "major epidemics occurred approximately every 2-3 years and measles caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year", according to the WHO.
Numbers of measles cases were steadily declining worldwide until 2016, when the illness saw a resurgence.
Earlier this year, the WHO said
four European countries, including the UK, were no longer seen as measles-free
.
In 2018, there were 991 confirmed cases in England and Wales, compared with 284 cases in 2017.
The rise in developed nations is in part due to some parents shunning the vaccines for philosophical or religious reasons, or concerns, debunked by medical science, that vaccines are linked to autism.
|
5f9bdcb4ad313175642681a8e75037f0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49596113 | Rohingya crisis: Villages destroyed for government facilities | Rohingya crisis: Villages destroyed for government facilities
Entire Muslim Rohingya villages in Myanmar have been demolished and replaced by police barracks, government buildings and refugee relocation camps, the BBC has found.
On a government tour, the BBC saw four locations where secure facilities have been built on what satellite images show were once Rohingya settlements.
Officials denied building on top of the villages in Rakhine state.
In 2017 more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar during a military operation.
The UN has described it as "textbook ethnic cleansing". Myanmar (also called Burma) has denied large-scale killings by its forces.
Myanmar, a majority Buddhist country, continues to deny its troops carried out ethnic cleansing and genocide. It now says it is ready to take some refugees back.
But last month,
a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya refugees failed
, after none of the 3,450 people approved by Myanmar to return agreed to do so. They cited the lack of accountability for atrocities committed in 2017, and uncertainty over whether they would get freedom of movement or citizenship.
Myanmar blamed Bangladesh, and said it was prepared to receive large numbers of returnees. To demonstrate this they invited journalists, including the BBC, to see their facilities.
Access to Rakhine is normally tightly restricted. We travelled in a government convoy, and were not allowed to film or interview people without police supervision.
But we were able to see clear evidence of the deliberate eradication of Rohingya communities.
The
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
, which has been analysing satellite images, estimates that at least 40% of Rohingya villages damaged by the 2017 violence have since been completely demolished.
The government took us to Hla Poe Kaung transit camp, which it says can house 25,000 returnees, who would stay for two months before moving to permanent housing.
The camp, which was completed nearly a year ago, is in poor condition; the communal toilets have fallen apart. It was built on the site of two Rohingya villages, Haw Ri Tu Lar and Thar Zay Kone, demolished after the 2017 violence.
When I asked the camp administrator Soe Shwe Aung why they had destroyed the villages, he denied any had been demolished. But when I pointed out that satellite images showed otherwise, he said he had only recently taken the job and was not able to answer.
We were then taken to Kyein Chaung, a relocation camp, where houses have been built with Japanese and Indian government funding as long-term accommodation for returning refugees. But a Rohingya village called Myar Zin was bulldozed to clear land for this camp, which lies close to a massive new barracks for the Border Guard Police - a unit of the security forces accused by Rohingyas of serious abuses in 2017. Speaking off-camera, officials there confirmed the demolition of Myar Zin.
Just outside the main town, Maungdaw, was Myo Thu Gyi, which once had a population of more than 8,000 Rohingyas.
In September 2017, I filmed Myo Thu Gyi while driving past it in another government convoy. Many of the houses had been burned, but larger buildings were still intact, and the trees that usually surround Rakhine villages were still there. But now, passing where Myo Thu Gyi used to be, there is a large government and police complex. The trees have gone.
We were also taken to Inn Din,
a village notorious for a massacre of 10 captured Muslim men in September 2017
, and one of the few atrocities the Myanmar military has admitted to.
About three quarters of the population of Inn Din was Muslim, the rest Rakhine Buddhist. Today, no trace of the Muslim quarter remains. The Rakhine quarter is quiet and peaceful. But when you reach where the Rohingya houses used to be, the trees have gone, replaced by barbed-wire fences enclosing an extensive new Border Guard Police barracks.
The Rakhine Buddhist residents told us they would never accept Muslims living next to them again.
The extensive and continuing destruction of Rohingya communities long after the violent military campaign of 2017 had ended means few of the refugees would be able to go back to their old lives and communities.
The only visible preparations for a large-scale refugee return are dilapidated transit camps like Hla Poe Kaung, and relocation camps like Kyein Chaung. Few refugees are likely to overcome the trauma they suffered two years ago for that kind of a future. It raises questions over the sincerity of Myanmar's public commitment to take them back.
I was able to meet a young displaced Rohingya on my way back to Yangon. We had to be discreet; foreigners are not allowed to meet Rohingyas without permission. He has been trapped with his family in an IDP camp for seven years, after being driven out of his home in Sittwe, one of 130,000 Rohingyas displaced in a previous outbreak of violence in 2012.
He is unable to attend university, or to travel outside the camp without permission. His advice for the refugees in Bangladesh was not to risk coming back, and finding themselves similarly confined to guarded camps.
We approached the Myanmar government's spokesman for a response to our findings in Rakhine, but have not received a reply.
Officially, the government is committed to a phased return of the refugees, in collaboration with Bangladesh. But ministers still refer to the Rohingyas as Bengalis, who they say arrived in waves of illegal immigration over the past 70 years. There is little evidence of such immigration.
This reflects a widespread belief in Myanmar that they do not belong. The government has refused Rohingya requests for citizenship and guaranteed freedom of movement. It is willing to give them what are called National Verification Cards, which it says could be a step towards eventual citizenship. But most Rohingyas reject these cards because they would be required to identify themselves as Bengalis.
At the height of the military campaign against the Rohingyas in early September 2017, the commander of the Myanmar armed forces General Min Aung Hlaing said they were taking care of what he called "unfinished business" left from 1942.
He was referring to the fighting then between Japanese and British forces in Rakhine, in which Rohingyas and Rakhine Buddhists backed opposing sides, often killed each other, and caused large-scale movements of displaced civilians. The commander said Muslims had flooded into northern Rakhine state over what is today the border with Bangladesh.
The two districts of Maungdaw and Buthidaung on the border, where the great majority of villages destroyed since 2017 were located, was the only region of Myanmar with a Muslim majority. Since the Rohingya exodus the remaining Muslims, perhaps only 10% of the original population, may now be in a minority.
The government's refusal to allow a credible investigation, to offer freedom of movement or a clear path to citizenship, will deter most refugees from returning. That would leave the balance between Muslims and non-Muslims as it is; perhaps the "unfinished business" is now finished.
|
9c928647cff29c17c8fd126316777fe3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49628290 | Afghan peace deal: Taliban says US has most to lose from cancelled talks | Afghan peace deal: Taliban says US has most to lose from cancelled talks
The Taliban says Americans have the most to lose from cancelling peace negotiations that sought to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan.
In a statement, the group claimed all was going well until the last moment.
US President Donald Trump fired off a series of tweets on Saturday night, calling off the secret meeting at his Camp David retreat the following day.
He said his decision came after the Taliban admitted to being behind a recent attack that killed a US soldier.
In an unexpected move, Mr Trump had arranged to meet with senior Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Maryland retreat.
The meetings were likely to have been kept separate, as the Taliban refuses to talk directly with the Afghan government, insisting they are American puppets.
In 2001, US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan because the militants had given safe haven to the al-Qaeda network to plan the attacks on the US on 11 September.
On Fox News on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the intention to host the Taliban on US soil, days ahead of the attacks' anniversary.
He said Camp David was chosen because it has held difficult peace negotiations in the past. "It's almost always the case that you don't get to negotiate with good guys," he added.
Nine rounds of talks had already taken place between the US and Taliban representatives in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.
On 3 September,
the top US negotiator announced a peace deal "in principle"
.
As part of the proposed deal, the US would withdraw 5,400 troops within 20 weeks, in return for Taliban guarantees that Afghanistan would never again be used as a base for terrorism.
The US currently has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan.
In the statement, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also accused the US of lacking maturity and experience, after pulling out of talks over one incident.
He also said that the Taliban and the Afghan government had agreed to talks on 23 September. The Afghan government has not confirmed this.
In a news conference in Kabul, a spokesperson for President Ghani simply repeated a long-standing wish for direct negotiation with the group.
"We strongly believe in a process that can be led and owned by Afghan government and Afghan people," said Sediq Sediqqi.
On Thursday, a Kabul car bombing carried out by the Taliban killed 12 people, including a US soldier. A Romanian soldier serving with the Nato-led mission was also killed.
But the Taliban had never agreed to end their violent campaign against Afghan and foreign forces while the peace talks were taking place. Sixteen US troops have been killed this year.
A recent escalation of violence had deepened fears that a looming US-Taliban agreement would not end the daily fighting in Afghanistan and its toll on civilians.
Yet Kabul residents on Sunday questioned why the death of one US soldier should scupper prospects for peace.
"So, the Afghans who have been losing their sweet lives during all these years, is their blood worthless?" asked one grocery shop owner who spoke to the BBC's Pashto language service.
Ever since the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Kabul a week ago with news of "a deal in principle", there have been almost daily Taliban attacks, with a growing chorus of anger in Afghanistan - and the US.
The Taliban say they're targeting foreign forces. But time and again, Afghan civilians are suffering.
The new agreement is said to only include a commitment to reduce violence. A senior US diplomat explained they'd accepted the Taliban argument that a ceasefire was their main bargaining chip for Afghan talks set to follow the US negotiations.
A senior Afghan official angrily told me "a ceasefire is our bargaining chip too", insisting the government would not accept the current deal. Afghan leaders accuse the US of bestowing legitimacy on the Taliban, which has only emboldened them.
There is also mounting scepticism, now voiced by President Trump, that any commitments made by Taliban negotiators in Doha won't be upheld by commanders in the field
Mr Trump pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign that he would end the US war in Afghanistan.
But he recently said that he wanted to get troop numbers down to 8,600 - about the same as the level when he entered office - and then "make a determination from there". He said the US would maintain a military presence in Afghanistan.
Many in Washington fear that a full US pull-out would leave the country deeply unstable and vulnerable to militant groups that could use it as a base to attack the West.
The Taliban militants now control more territory than at any time since the 2001 US invasion. They have insisted that they will not talk formally to the Afghan government until a timetable for the US troop withdrawal is agreed.
The initial US-Taliban deal was meant to pave the way for intra-Afghan talks on a broader political solution.
Some in Afghanistan fear that any deal could see hard-won rights and freedoms eroded and the Taliban back in power. The militants enforced strict religious laws and treated women brutally during their rule from 1996 to 2001.
Nearly 3,500 members of the international coalition forces have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, more than 2,300 of them American.
In a February 2019 report, the UN said that more than 32,000 Afghan civilians had died.
The Watson Institute at Brown University says 58,000 Afghan security personnel and 42,000 opposition combatants have been killed.
|
1e21effc2c073c8239059e134c853919 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49970353 | Asim Umar: Al-Qaeda's South Asia chief 'killed in Afghanistan' | Asim Umar: Al-Qaeda's South Asia chief 'killed in Afghanistan'
A top al-Qaeda leader was killed in a joint US-Afghan military operation last month, says Afghanistan's intelligence agency.
Asim Umar, the head of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), died in a raid on a Taliban compound in Helmand province on 23 September, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said.
At least 40 civilians were reported to have been killed in the same operation.
The US and al-Qaeda have not confirmed Umar's death.
But the Taliban denied the news. A spokesman dismissed it as "enemy-fabricated propaganda", instead alleging that the raid "only caused heavy civilian losses".
In a statement shared on Twitter on Tuesday, the NDS said the joint US-Afghan raid took place at a compound in the "Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala" district, where Umar and other AQIS members "had been embedded".
It said six other AQIS members were also killed, "most" of whom were Pakistani. Abu Raihan, said to be Umar's "courier" to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, was named as one of those killed.
The NDS shared pictures purportedly showing Umar both alive and dead alongside the statement.
Further details of the operation and what happened to the bodies were not immediately clear.
The presence of a senior al-Qaeda leader in a Taliban compound raises questions about the militant group's willingness to cut ties with jihadists as part of peace talks with the United States.
The US launched its war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 because the Taliban, which then ruled the country, refused to hand over then-al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
Until US President Donald Trump broke off peace negotiations last month
, Washington and the Taliban appeared close to an agreement that would see US troops begin to withdraw in exchange for the Taliban renouncing and severing ties with groups like al-Qaeda.
The Taliban have been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign troops since it was toppled in 2001 and now controls large areas of the country.
Officials in Helmand have confirmed that the operation killed many civilians attending a wedding party in the vicinity.
American officials have said they were investigating reports of dozens civilian casualties.
But they suggested that most of the dead may have been killed in secondary explosions or by suicide vests worn by militants. Both US and Afghan forces often accuse the Taliban of using civilians as shields.
CBS News has reported that US special forces were also involved in the operation.
Umar has headed AQIS since its formation in September 2014.
Little is known about him but he is said to be originally from India, and spent years in the town of Miranshah, a former militant stronghold in Pakistani tribal areas near the Afghan border.
He is also reported to have worked with Kashmir-focused groups such as Harkatul Mujahedeen and Jaish-e-Mohammad prior to joining al-Qaeda.
|
8e894e42b8f50b2c0b40a0391197ecb5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49996166 | Japan ninja student gets top marks for writing essay in invisible ink | Japan ninja student gets top marks for writing essay in invisible ink
A Japanese student of ninja history who handed in a blank paper was given top marks - after her professor realised the essay was written in invisible ink.
Eimi Haga followed the ninja technique of "aburidashi", spending hours soaking and crushing soybeans to make the ink.
The words appeared when her professor heated the paper over his gas stove.
"It is something I learned through a book when I was little," Ms Haga told the BBC. "I just hoped that no-one would come up with the same idea."
Ms Haga has been interested in ninjas - covert agents and assassins in medieval Japan - since watching an animated TV show as a child.
After enrolling at Mie University in Japan, the first-year student took a class in ninja history, and was asked to write about a visit to the Ninja Museum of Igaryu.
"When the professor said in class that he would give a high mark for creativity, I decided that I would make my essay stand out from others," she said.
"I gave a thought for a while, and hit upon the idea of aburidashi."
Ms Haga, 19, soaked soybeans overnight, then crushed them before squeezing them in a cloth.
She then mixed the soybean extract with water - spending two hours to get the concentration right - before writing her essay with a fine brush on "washi" (thin Japanese paper).
Once her words had dried, they became invisible. But, to ensure her professor didn't put the essay in the bin, she left a note in normal ink saying "heat the paper".
The professor, Yuji Yamada, told the BBC he was "surprised" when he saw the essay.
"I had seen such reports written in code, but never seen one done in aburidashi," he said.
"To tell the truth, I had a little doubt that the words would come out clearly. But when I actually heated the paper over the gas stove in my house, the words appeared very clearly and I thought 'Well done!'
"I didn't hesitate to give the report full marks - even though I didn't read it to the very end because I thought I should leave some part of the paper unheated, in case the media would somehow find this and take a picture."
As for the essay itself, Ms Haga said it had more style than substance.
"I was confident that the professor would at least recognise my efforts to make a creative essay," she said.
"So I wasn't really worried about getting a bad score for my essay - though the content itself was nothing special."
Additional reporting by the BBC's Hideharu Tamura in Tokyo
|
57fd510753f02be8b3d7ebc7de628bd4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50009944 | Thai elephant deaths: Do elephants risk their lives to save each other? | Thai elephant deaths: Do elephants risk their lives to save each other?
Last week, Thailand suffered one of its biggest ever single elephant tragedies, when 11 animals in one family died in a swollen river.
At first only six elephants were thought to have died - days later
another five were spotted downstream
.
The initial theory from park rangers in Khao Yai National Park was that they died in a rescue mission. As they crossed the treacherous 150m-tall Haew Narok - or Hell's Falls - a baby slipped and the others fell trying to save it.
Though the loss of 11 elephants isn't catastrophic to the species, there is something about them that draws us in, and this apparent self-sacrifice struck a chord around the world -
millions of you read our story alone.
But emotions aside, how plausible is it that elephants would have both the empathy and skill to risk their lives for a baby? And perhaps more importantly now, what does this mean for the survivors?
Dr Joshua Plotnik, assistant professor of psychology at Hunter College City University of New York, has been studying elephants in Thailand for more than a decade.
He told the BBC that with no witnesses, we can't assume what happened. But he says it's "certainly reasonable to suspect that when an elephant in a family group is in danger the other elephants might do everything they can to go help".
There is well documented evidence of elephants recognising danger and co-ordinating their actions to stage a rescue.
But Dr Plotnik says it seems unlikely that they would "actively all go over a waterfall in a dangerous situation like that".
It was more likely a terrible accident.
Dr Rachel Dale, an elephant behaviour specialist at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, agrees that elephants will unquestionably help an elephant in danger, "even if it's at a cost to themselves".
But they're also "smart animals, really smart", she says, so probably have the ability to carry out a kind of perfunctory risk assessment before rushing in.
Bhichet Noonto leads the Thailand Human-Elephant Coexistence Project at the office of Thailand Science Research and Innovation, studying patterns of elephant behaviour.
He said conditions in the park were miserable at the time of the accident, and Haew Narok was already a known hazard to elephants in the monsoon season.
In 1992, eight elephants died after tumbling over the same falls - park officials have said they witnessed a mother on that occasion jump in after a baby. A calf is also suspected of having fallen off a cliff there in 1987.
To prevent further accidents, park officials constructed miles of concrete pillars to steer them away from hazardous places.
But they couldn't cover everywhere, and the rangers have seen footsteps indicating this group had followed one fence all the way up the falls until they found a way through, right at the top.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP) said the elephants may have been looking for a particular local plant, which only grows in that area once a year, and they may have taken a risk to reach it. Alternatively, they may have gone out of their way to avoid interacting with humans.
"There are many types of elephants: polite, naughty, and nice just like humans. When some of them walk outside of the routes that they are used to, they have a high risk of falling," said DNP director Songtham Suksawang.
In another emotional twist, two elephants are known to have survived the fall - a mother and calf. They were trapped by the slippery rocks at the bottom, but with the help of park officials made it to safety.
If elephants do indeed have the empathy and intelligence to understand when one of their kind is in danger and try to save them, what does that mean for these survivors?
"This is a large-brained, intelligent, social, empathetic animal," says Dr Plotnik. "I would argue they would suffer the same kind of trauma we would suffer."
The exact relationship between the family members is not yet known, but if their matriarchal leader was among the dead, they'll have lost decades of vital knowledge about their jungle home.
Because elephant lives are about as long as ours and they rely on generational knowledge, Dr Dale explains, it could take a very long time to see the effect of this kind of loss and whether it changes their behaviour or traditional routes.
But park officials are confident the pair have the skills to survive and will learn from their experience to avoid the falls.
Mr Noonto says reports from the area suggest there may be more family members elsewhere that the two survivors can reunite with. Failing that, they may be taken in by another family group - studies of captive elephants being returned to the wild have shown this is possible, he says.
"They can survive, they can adapt," he says. "Perhaps they will even encounter males to rebuild the family."
There is undeniably an allure about elephants, an animal humans have built a relationship with over millennia. Despite their vast size, they are mostly gentle, live in families like us, appear to have fun, and we can watch them apparently mourn. It's easy for us to empathise after a disaster like Khao Yai.
Dr Dale argues that anthropomorphism doesn't ultimately help the elephants, though.
"Humans are good at certain things that help us survive," she says. "What helps us survive doesn't always help other animals to survive. So seeing things always through the human lens doesn't help us to understand other species and what other animals need to thrive."
By setting emotion aside and dispassionately assessing what makes them think and act the way they do, scientists can better determine how to prevent disasters like this.
Cases like this might be rare, says Dr Plotnik, but they are a reminder that even for an animal as huge as the elephant, "the wild is not a friendly place".
The bodies of this group will be recovered and examined, then buried at the park. They will be remembered every year, in the park's memorial services for its beloved lost elephants.
"It's very sad for [park officials] because they didn't want this to happen again," says Mr Noonto. "This is very emotional for Thai people."
|
ef101e3307b60c28875f157686865bc5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50026451 | In pictures: Powerful Typhoon Hagibis lashes Japan | In pictures: Powerful Typhoon Hagibis lashes Japan
Typhoon Hagibis has brought deadly flooding and landslides to large parts of Japan.
Hagibis - meaning "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog - is Japan's biggest typhoon in six decades.
It hit the Izu Peninsula, south-west of Tokyo, shortly before 19:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Saturday, before continuing to move up the eastern coast of Japan's main island.
The storm has affected the Rugby World Cup games and the Formula One Grand Prix.
Torrential rain caused water levels to rise in a number of rivers, including the Arakawa.
A railway bridge across the swollen Chikuma river collapsed in Ueda.
Residents in Kawasaki were faced with a huge cleaning up operation as the floods receded.
Several people were killed and others are missing. Here a rescue worker checks a residential area inundated by the floods.
As the storm approached on Saturday, usually crowded tourist spots were almost completely deserted, including Harajuku - one of Tokyo's most famous shopping areas.
Those caught in the rain struggled to make their way back indoors as the typhoon approached.
The typhoon brought transport systems to a standstill. Metro and train services in Tokyo were suspended and flights grounded.
Many in Tokyo tried to protect their homes and businesses from the incoming storm.
Firefighters were later seen patrolling the city's flooded streets.
Some evacuated residents took shelter in a sports hall in Tokyo.
Hotel guests in the district of Sengokuhara were also forced to seek shelter, while the typhoon left roads in the area covered in debris.
People's homes and businesses were caught in heavy flooding in Ise, central Japan.
And a tornado prompted by the typhoon destroyed homes and dismantled electrical poles in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.
All images subject to copyright
|
5b9d752be128cab345a7a7271d40d0b5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50315100 | Many dead in Tajikistan 'firefight with IS' | Many dead in Tajikistan 'firefight with IS'
At least 17 people died after Islamic State (IS) group militants attacked a checkpost on Tajikistan's border with Uzbekistan, Tajik authorities said.
The 20 fighters launched their attack at 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT), killing a border guard and a police officer but losing 15 men in the ensuing firefight, they said.
IS has not confirmed its involvement.
Police have closed roads in the area, while Uzbek border authorities are reportedly watching the situation.
Five of the militants were captured after the attack, which took place 60km (37 miles) south-west of the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
Photographs from the scene released by Tajikistan's interior ministry show bodies - some badly burned - lying around a number of cars.
The state-run Khovar news agency said the attackers crossed into the country from Afghanistan on 3 November.
The attack came a day after Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reportedly agreed to settle a long-running border dispute, with the aim of signing a deal before the end of the year.
IS has claimed several attacks in Tajikistan in the past.
In May,
IS militants killed dozens in a prison riot
east of Dushanbe, while
a group of attackers who pledged allegiance to IS
killed four foreign cyclists last year.
|
8ba292085babbfffa8bdb45facc60ef0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50710998 | White Island: The privately owned New Zealand volcano that is always active | White Island: The privately owned New Zealand volcano that is always active
Moments before New Zealand's most active volcano erupted on Monday, tourists were seen walking inside its rim.
The privately-owned White Island, or Whakaari, is a popular destination for day tours and scenic flights. It has been dubbed by some tour operators a "living, breathing, geological giant" and "the world's most accessible active marine volcano".
Six people have been confirmed dead since Monday's eruption
and eight are still missing on the island - though police say they are also likely to have died.
The incident has raised questions over the safety of the White Island tourism industry and the reliability of volcanic warning systems.
Here, two experts explain the background of the volcano and its latest eruption.
The volcano is located in the Bay of Plenty, about 48km (29 miles) from the east coast of New Zealand's North Island.
GeoNet, New Zealand's geological hazard information site, says White Island has been classified as New Zealand's most active volcano since 1976, when it began 24 years of almost continuous eruption. A second "eruptive episode" started in 2011 and continues today.
Jan Lindsay, a professor at the University of Auckland, said White Island was "persistently active in the sense that it has a very active hydrothermal system".
Rather than having lots of eruptions involving magma, she said this meant it saw periodic ash explosions and had lakes "churning over with gases".
"The spectacular thing about White Island is that there is so much gas coming out of the volcano and lots of minerals crystallising," said Ben Kennedy, a professor of physical volcanology at the University of Canterbury.
"What that also means is that there are minerals crystallising deeper down and creating blockages - that allows pressure to build, and the volcano needs to periodically clear its throat."
He said there had been six small eruptions in the past eight years, but that on previous occasions there had been no tourists on the island "mostly due to the time or weather conditions".
In 1914, a landslide destroyed a mining village on the island and killed 10 workers.
There was a warning of unusual activity at the volcano ahead of Monday's eruption.
In November, the alert level was raised from one - meaning minor volcanic unrest - to two, indicating moderate to heightened volcanic unrest.
"There was a heightened level of unrest and everyone was aware," Prof Lindsay said. But, she added, "even though there was increased activity, there was no sense of what was going to happen."
An eruption can occur at any volcanic alert level, but there are also times when a volcano alert is raised to level two and there is no subsequent eruption, according to GeoNet.
Prof Lindsay said it was possible there was no magma involved in Monday's eruption, which may have made it harder to detect.
"If you have something that's being driven by the hydrothermal system it's... not like when you have a magma chamber building beneath the volcano and you get lots of seismic activity," she said. "If it's a shallow burp, you may not see that."
Prof Kennedy noted that the volcano had been in a "state of heightened activity" for the past eight years and that "the type of volcano it is means small eruptions can happen at any time" with little to no warning.
But, he said, high levels of sulphur dioxide were the "tell-tale sign" that prompted the raised alert in November.
Monday's eruption was classified as "moderate" on the volcanic alert system, according to GeoNet.
Prof Kennedy said this was because it only affected the crater area.
About 70% of the volcano is underwater, with the crater and surrounding peak standing some 321m (1,053ft) above sea level.
Including its underwater base, White Island is the largest volcanic structure in New Zealand.
Officials said some 47 people from around the world were on the White Island when it erupted on Monday. Thousands of tourists visit the volcano every year.
It was bought by Auckland stockbroker George Raymond Buttle in 1936. He later refused to sell it to the government but agreed in 1952 to have it declared a private scenic reserve. The island is today still owned by the Buttle Family Trust.
According to the New Zealand Tourism Guide, the owners of White Island Tours were appointed as the official guardians of the island and access is only granted through designated tour operators.
The BBC has contacted White Island Tours for comment.
Government agency GNS Science "put out their alert bulletins and have good communication with tour companies and they know what the risk is", Prof Lindsay said.
"They go out so often and are used to the volcano's behaviour, but something like this - it happens and it has happened in the past, but you can go years without it happening. It may change the way they do things in the future."
People nearby a phreatic eruption - an eruption driven by superheated steam and gas - are typically killed by "hot steam and water and what we call ballistic projectiles - blocks being thrown out of the vent", Prof Lindsay told the BBC.
Prof Kennedy compared the incident to the 2014 eruption of Japan's Mount Ontake, where most people hurt were hit by flying rocks ejected out of the volcano.
"There also tends to be a cloud of ash and gas and rocks that might be moving sideways out of the crater," he said.
White Island reportedly got its English-language name from explorer Capt James Cook in 1769 because it always appeared to be in a white cloud.
A number of stories have been written about the volcano and in more recent years it has provided a backdrop to movies including the third instalment of The Chronicles of Narnia series.
"It's a spectacular, otherworldly place," said Prof Kennedy.
"It's an environment that you should wear gas masks on because of strong sulphuric gases. You can hear the noise of the gas coming out of the volcano. It's quite an intense but beautiful experience if you do a little circuit and then get off pretty quickly."
|
bf9b9d3cb5e8c59b0915a0fc51e96daf | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50715047 | New Zealand volcano: Five dead and eight missing after eruption | New Zealand volcano: Five dead and eight missing after eruption
New Zealand police have confirmed that five people have died and eight are missing after White Island volcano erupted on Monday as tourists visited.
Thirty-four people survived, with 31 still receiving treatment in hospital.
Two British women were among those receiving treatment, said the UK High Commissioner to New Zealand, Laura Clarke.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he "feared" three of the five confirmed dead were Australian.
Mr Morrison said that 24 Australians were on board a cruise ship exploring the island in the Bay of Plenty when the volcano erupted. Of those, 13 people had been hospitalised and 11 were unaccounted for, he said.
"This is a terrible tragedy, a time of great innocence and joy interrupted by the horror of that eruption," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Also among those listed as missing or injured were US, Chinese, Malaysian and New Zealand citizens.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a press conference on Tuesday that she shared the "unfathomable grief" of those who had lost loved ones.
Tourists were seen walking inside the crater of White Island volcano moments before it erupted. Ms Ardern said further rescue efforts for the missing were now "very sadly a recovery operation".
The survivors of the eruption were taken off the uninhabited island by boat or by helicopter. Emergency services have so far been unable to search the area because of dangerous conditions, with plumes of smoke and ash continuing to rise above the volcano on Tuesday.
Ms Ardern acknowledged the apparently high number of Australian victims. "Can I say to our Australian family, there are no two countries closer and we are devastated at what has happened here and particularly want to acknowledge those from Australia who have been caught up in this horrific, horrific incident," she said.
White Island, also called Whakaari, is the country's most active volcano. Despite that, the privately owned island is a tourist destination with frequent day tours and scenic flights available.
Simon Atkinson, BBC News, Whakatane
At sunrise in Whakatane, smoke could be seen rising from White Island or Whakaari - 50km across the ocean.
The waterfront was eerily quiet - save for the Australian and New Zealand TV networks (along with the BBC) sombrely conveying the latest updates on the dead, the missing and the injured.
None of those hurt remain in the local hospital which was a hive of activity less than 24 hours earlier.
Three patients have been discharged. Others - too sick for this small town facility - have been sent to specialist burns departments across the country. Many of them are critically ill.
Earlier, as we drove to Whakatane through the night from Auckland we passed the illuminated outline of the Ovation of the Seas - the cruise ship which should have been continuing its tour around New Zealand.
Instead it remains moored, as its passengers - some of them the friends and families of those hurt, killed and missing - try to fathom how this happened.
Police confirmed that a total of 47 people had been on the island when the disaster happened on Monday afternoon local time.
Rescuers will only go to the island when it is safe to do so, said Superintendent Bruce Bird. But reconnaissance flights detected no signs of life there.
"We will be relying on advice coming from the scientific and technical committee in Wellington who are currently meeting at the moment and hope to hear further advice on when we may potentially return to the island," Supt Bird said.
Speaking at the same news conference, Prime Minister Ardern paid tribute to helicopter crews who had flown to the island on Monday to bring people out despite the dangers.
"I want to acknowledge the courageous decision made by first responders and those pilots who in their immediate rescue efforts made an incredibly brave decision under extraordinarily dangerous circumstances in an attempt to get people out," she said.
White Island erupted at around 14:11 (01:11 GMT) on Monday, sending up a thick plume of ash and smoke which was filmed by visitor Michael Schade.
Mr Schade, who was on a boat leaving the island after a morning tour, told the BBC he had been at the crater just 30 minutes before the disaster.
"We had just got on the boat... then someone pointed it out and we saw it," he said.
"I was basically just shocked. The boat turned back and we grabbed some people that were waiting on the pier."
Another witness, Brazilian Allessandro Kauffmann, said in an
Instagram post in Portuguese
that his boat had left five minutes before the eruption.
"This other tour that arrived right after, unfortunately they did not manage to leave in time, and there were some people that suffered serious burns," he added.
A live feed from the volcano showed a group of visitors inside the crater before the stream went dark.
There are few details about those caught in the eruption. Some who had gone to the island were passengers from the Ovation of the Seas, a cruise ship owned by Royal Caribbean.
It left Sydney last week and stopped near Auckland on New Zealand's North Island before arriving in the city of Tauranga, near White Island, on Sunday.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australians had "been caught up in this terrible event" and the authorities were "working to determine their wellbeing".
A web page has been set up by the New Zealand Red Cross for families to register missing loved ones.
The island, also known as Whakaari, is privately owned and is typically visited by thousands of tourists every year, despite the fact that it has been erupting in some form since 2011.
Geological hazard monitors GeoNet pass on information about the volcano's activity to tour operators and the police, but tourists make their own decisions about whether to visit.
Visitors are supplied with hard hats and gas masks
to protect against sulphurous steam and must have suitable footwear to make the tour, according to New Zealand website Stuff.
The owners of Whakatane-based company White Island Tours are the official guardians of the island, which was declared a private scenic reserve in 1952, and they grant access through designated tour operators.
According to the New Zealand Herald, White Island Tours warned on its website that visitors "should be aware that there is always a risk of eruptive activity regardless of the alert level", while stating it followed a "comprehensive safety plan which determines" its activities on the island "at the various levels".
Company chairman Paul Quinn said the event on the island had been a "terrible tragedy" and the company's "thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been impacted".
The BBC has contacted White Island Tours for comment.
Last Tuesday GeoNet warned of a heightened level of activity at the site, but also said that "the current level of activity does not pose a direct hazard to visitors".
White Island has seen several eruptions over the years, most recently in 2016 but no-one was hurt in that event.
|
cffc8ae28221babcd192c4198f113874 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50805822?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cz5yly292eyt/michelle-obama&link_location=live-reporting-story | Barack Obama: Women are better leaders than men | Barack Obama: Women are better leaders than men
If women ran every country in the world there would be a general improvement in living standards and outcomes, former US President Barack Obama has said.
Speaking in Singapore, he said women aren't perfect, but are "indisputably better" than men.
He said most of the problems in the world came from old people, mostly men, holding onto positions of power.
He also spoke about political polarisation and the use of social media to spread falsehoods.
Speaking at a private event on leadership, Mr Obama said while in office he had mused what a world run by women would look like.
"Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you're better than us [men].
"I'm absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes."
When asked if he would ever consider going back into political leadership, he said he believed in leaders stepping aside when the time came.
"If you look at the world and look at the problems it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way," he said.
"It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self importance or your own power."
Mr Obama served as US president from 2009 until 2017.
Since leaving the White House, he and former first lady Michelle Obama have set up a foundation mentoring young leaders around the world.
The pair were in Kuala Lumpur last week for an Obama Foundation event.
|
ae637a74b6ca55062e22dc46597dff3f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50815439 | Sri Lankan worker at Swiss embassy arrested over kidnap claim | Sri Lankan worker at Swiss embassy arrested over kidnap claim
A Sri Lankan employee of the Swiss embassy in Colombo, who says she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and forced to disclose information, has been arrested.
Sri Lankan officials allege she made a false accusation.
She said she was taken on 25 November - a day after a police chief reportedly sought asylum in Switzerland.
He had been probing alleged political killings when the newly elected president was defence secretary.
Switzerland summoned the Sri Lankan ambassador at the time of the alleged kidnapping and demanded an inquiry.
Swiss officials said unidentified men detained the woman against her will last month and tried to force her to "disclose embassy-related information".
They said at the time this was "a very serious and unacceptable attack on one of its diplomatic representations and its employees".
The abductors allegedly forced her to unlock her mobile phone data, which contained information about Sri Lankans who have recently sought asylum in Switzerland, and the names of Sri Lankans who aided them as they fled the country because they feared for their safety after Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency,
the New York Times reports
.
The woman was subsequently questioned over several days by police and subjected to medical tests.
The attorney general's department told the criminal investigations department on Monday that there was no evidence to support her allegation that she had been abducted, subjected to coercion or sexual harassment, Associated Press reports.
Mr Rajapaksa had said the alleged abduction was "a total fabrication".
"Irrefutable evidence such as Uber reports, telephone conversations and CCTV footage point to this fact. The embassy official must have been compelled by some interested parties to bring myself and my government into disrepute. It is not clear why the alleged victims acted in such a manner," he told the Swiss ambassador, according to the presidential office.
Later on Monday, the Swiss foreign ministry (FDFA) criticised what it called a "lack of due process in the case".
"In particular, the FDFA has criticised the 30-hour interrogation to which the employee was subjected over three days despite being in poor health and the public statements by senior Sri Lankan officials questioning her account before the investigations had been completed,"
it said in a statement
.
The ministry called on Sri Lanka's judicial authorities to "ensure better protection of its employee's personal rights in any further proceedings, and compliance with national law and international standards".
It said the Swiss ambassador in Colombo had met Mr Rajapaksa on Monday to discuss the case.
Leading police officer Nishantha Silva had fled the country last month, reportedly to seek Swiss asylum. It is widely believed he feared for his safety after the election of Mr Rajapaksa. Mr Rajapaksa, a former wartime defence chief, is accused of human rights abuses, which he denies.
Mr Silva had earlier been involved in official investigations into criminal allegations, including some against Mr Rajapaksa, which he also denies.
The allegations date to the 2005-2015 presidency of Mr Rajapaksa's brother, Mahinda, who was a key figure in the election campaign and has since been appointed prime minister.
The Rajapaksa family is one of the most powerful in Sri Lanka.
Supporters hail Gotabaya Rajapaksa for playing a crucial role in crushing the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels and bringing to an end Sri Lanka's long-running civil war in 2009, when he was defence secretary.
Opponents fear the return of the dynasty could spark a new crackdown on critics.
|
48cdd1eeaa80fd8d301ebeebadf4d03b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50826419 | Kashmir crisis 2019: Between a rock and a hard place | Kashmir crisis 2019: Between a rock and a hard place
The year 2019 has been one of dramatic political eruptions in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between and disputed by Pakistan and India.
A climax of sorts came in August when the Indian government amended its laws to annex the part of Kashmir it controls, leaving the world in shock.
But Kashmir is a region used to upheaval: India and Pakistan fought three wars here since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947, and a Pakistan-backed Islamist insurgency has been raging across the region in undulating waves since the 1980s, leaving more than 70,000 people dead.
This year started with an attack linked to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group. In February, a 22-year-old resident of Pulwama district in Indian-administered Kashmir, who had gone missing a year earlier, drove an explosives-laden vehicle into an army convoy, killing more than 40 Indian soldiers and himself.
JeM's soon claimed the attack and posted a video of the bomber online.
The Pulwama attack led to India's first cross-border strike on Pakistani territory since the two countries' 1971 war. On 26 February, Indian jets flew into the Balakot region and bombed what they described as a JeM training centre.
The air skirmishes that followed led to the downing of at least two Indian jets, and the capture of one Indian fighter pilot by Pakistan. It was good optics for Pakistan, leading some international observers to conclude that it had come out on top in the Balakot conflict.
However, Islamabad was quick to return the captured pilot as a "goodwill gesture", appreciated by some quarters abroad, but seen by many in Pakistan as an attempt to prevent further escalation for which the country's military was not prepared.
Pakistan went a step further and launched what it said was a move to shut down offices of militant groups in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, apparently to appease international opinion in the face of a rising threat from India.
Meanwhile, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi - a right-wing Hindu nationalist - used both Pulwama and the Balakot strikes to mobilise electoral support at home, winning a landslide victory in elections three months later.
His move in August to annex Kashmir came on the wings of that victory, which gave him an unassailable majority in parliament.
But once again, there has been no comparable response from Pakistan. The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has confined itself to holding rallies and issuing statements expressing support for Kashmiris.
The country's military spokesman, meanwhile, reported on the high morale of Pakistani troops on the borders, while publicising visits of top military officers to troops deployed on the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
The government has, however, moved to frustrate attempts by nationalist groups seeking to mobilise popular support against the Indian move.
This was in evidence in early October when Pakistani forces stopped nationalist protesters from crossing into Indian-administered Kashmir despite the protesters' argument that their right to free movement across Kashmir was protected under the UN resolutions.
"We are caught between a rock and a hard place," says Zulfiqar Ali, a former journalist and campaigner for Kashmiri rights. "India was always an enemy to the Kashmiri people, but Pakistan too hasn't done them right."
Before Indian independence in 1947, Kashmir was a Muslim-majority state ruled by a Hindu prince. But when India was partitioned to create the Muslim state of Pakistan, the prince was reluctant to join either, preferring to stay independent.
The first battle came shortly afterwards, when Pakistan sent in armed tribal proxies from the north-west to overthrow the prince. Pushed into a corner, the prince then signed accession to India.
The conflict led to a territorial division of Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Pakistan later ceded a small portion of it to China.
India, which was then ruled by the secular, left-of-the-centre Congress party, did not take the Maharaja's accession for granted and in June 1948, it went to the United Nations to arrange for a plebiscite - or vote - so the Kashmiri people could decide which of the three options granted under the 1947 agreement they wished to take.
However, the post-partition acrimony between India and Pakistan prevented them from agreeing on several points essential to hold a plebiscite.
Meanwhile, as parliamentary democracy continued in India, the process of political decision-making in Pakistan slipped into the hands of the military, which had repercussions for the Kashmir dispute.
In 1965, Pakistan sent thousands of regulars dressed as Kashmiri villagers to incite an anti-India uprising. The move triggered the second India-Pakistan war, which ended in a Pakistani defeat.
During the 1980s, Pakistan pumped in thousands of hardened Islamist militants to conduct a decade-long terror campaign, which it had to bring under control following the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
On a smaller scale and in less visible modes, Islamist militancy continues to have a footprint in Kashmir.
Dr Nazir Gilani, a Kashmiri lawyer who heads a Kashmiri advocacy group based in the UK, blames the Pakistani leadership for undermining chances of a UN-led resolution due to its failure "to understand the jurisprudence of the Kashmir issue".
But others say the Pakistani establishment made up its mind a long time ago that the only solution acceptable to it would be Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. The country's vision of Islamic nationhood collided with the idea that Kashmiris should be allowed to seek independence on grounds of secular nationalism.
"When Pakistan introduced adult franchise in its part of Kashmir back in 1970s, it made it incumbent on contesting candidates to sign a pledge of loyalty to Pakistan, which still remains a standard procedure," says Afrasiab Khattak, a lawyer, politician and former head of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
This has effectively shut the doors of political process in Pakistani-administered Kashmir on nationalists who support Kashmir's independence from both India and Pakistan.
"During the 1980s, Pakistan initially backed a secular Kashmiri nationalist group, the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF], to start a popular uprising against Indian rule. But this was a calculated move. They had failed in 1965 to achieve this aim, and believed they had nothing to lose," he added.
"But when the uprising spread, Islamabad started having second thoughts and sent in its Islamist proxies to hit both the Indian interests and the JKLF ranks."
So what lies in store for India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris over the next year?
The outburst of anger in Kashmir, and the way it has been sustained over the last four months, is significant.
Mr Khattak believes that post-annexation, a new phase of Kashmiri nationalism is likely to surge. Its success will depend on the extent to which these nationalists can rid their movement of its jihadist legacy, he says.
Zulfiqar Ali agrees: "Kashmiris have come to realise that they cannot depend on external powers to win freedom. There's also a realisation that the movement should be totally indigenous and non-violent.
"As most of the nationalist leadership is either in Indian jails or abroad, a new leadership from among the youth is likely to emerge. This has already been happening since the 2016 killing of Burhani Wani, which sparked spontaneous protests and which have sustained."
|
947aadc24a70ed3bdd293356fffa5e47 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50943442 | South Korea to pardon 1,800 conscientious objectors | South Korea to pardon 1,800 conscientious objectors
South Korea will grant pardons to 1,879 men who refused to do military service for religious or personal reasons.
It comes after a court last year recognised "conscience or religious beliefs" as a justifiable reason to turn down military service.
All able-bodied men in South Korea are required to serve for up to 24 months by the time they are 28.
Conscientious objectors faced 18 months in prison and often struggled to find employment.
One objector who is on parole will be exempt from the remaining penalty.
All the others have already been freed, and the pardon allows them to correct their criminal records.
Rights groups say conscientious objectors face social stigma in Korea - and struggle to find employment after their jail sentence.
An "alternative" non-military service - lasting three years and taking place in prisons or "correctional facilities" - is being
introduced next year.
Monday's announcement was the third round of special pardons since President Moon Jae-in was elected in 2017.
More than 5,000 people were pardoned in total, including 267 who breached election law, and three political and labour activists, the justice ministry said.
The government said the move would help convicts return to society.
South Korea shares a tense relationship - and one of the world's most heavily-fortified borders - with North Korea, and conscription is seen as key to the country's defence.
Able-bodied Korean men are required to serve in the army for 21 months, the navy for 23 months, or the air force for 24 months.
Male conscription has been law for decades, and conscientious objectors have been arrested and subject to punishment. They face 18 months in jail.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that pop group BTS
would not be exempt
- despite fans calling for special treatment.
South Korea's footballers - including Tottenham forward Son Heung-min - received exemptions after
winning the Asian Games tournament
.
In 2018, a landmark court ruling recognised the need for an alternative service - that did not involve the use of firearms or other weapons - for those with faith-based objections.
After the ruling, charges against hundreds of men, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to serve, were dropped.
The government released from prison hundreds of men who were already serving jail time and had exhausted all their appeals.
Last week, parliament passed a new law that allows conscientious objectors to do alternative service - but it was criticised by rights group
Amnesty International.
"Confining people to work in a prison - and for almost twice as long as the typical military service - does not respect their right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief," said Arnold Fang, their east Asia researcher.
|
b7c81978f269f2b075a71f146845c10f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50987703 | Carlos Ghosn escaped with help of rogue employee - jet firm | Carlos Ghosn escaped with help of rogue employee - jet firm
A Turkish private jet firm says a rogue employee acted alone to help former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan using its aircraft.
Mystery surrounded how Ghosn, who faces criminal charges in Japan, travelled to Lebanon via Turkey at the weekend.
But the MNG jet firm now says one of its employees falsified records and arranged two flights for Mr Ghosn under different names.
The firm said it had filed a criminal complaint over the matter.
Mr Ghosn, who holds Brazilian, French and Lebanese nationalities, was living under strict bail conditions when he left Japan.
When he turned up in Lebanon, his own lawyer in Japan told reporters that he was "dumbfounded".
One story, reported by the Lebanese media and widely circulated online but denounced as "fiction" by the Ghosn family, claimed he had escaped his house in a musical instrument case.
But on Thursday, Japanese broadcaster NHK quoted "investigative sources"
as saying that surveillance video showed Mr Ghosn leaving his home in Tokyo
, alone, at noon on Sunday.
The installation of security cameras was reportedly a condition of his bail, but it is not clear if they were constantly monitored.
Mr Ghosn is believed to have flown from the Japanese city of Osaka to Istanbul, in Turkey, and then to Beirut in Lebanon.
After the stop in Turkey became known, seven people were arrested in connection with the case - four pilots, a cargo company manager, and two airport workers.
On Friday, MNG Jet announced it was making a criminal complaint in Turkey over the "illegal use of its jet charter service".
The company leased two private jets, it said, to two different clients - one going from Dubai to Istanbul, via Osaka; and another from Istanbul to Beirut.
"The two leases were seemingly not connected to each other," the company said in a statement, adding that "the name of Mr Ghosn did not appear in the official documentation".
"One employee of the company, who is under investigation by the authorities, has admitted having falsified the records," MNG Jet said. The suspect, it said, admitted he had acted without the company's knowledge,
Mr Ghosn is now a fugitive in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan.
Interpol has filed a "red notice" for his arrest
with authorities there.
Lebanese officials have said Mr Ghosn entered Beirut using a French passport in his name even though his Japanese lawyers told reporters after he appeared in Lebanon that they still had possession of all three of his passports - French, Brazilian, and Lebanese.
But NHK on Thursday also reported that it had learned that Mr Ghosn had a duplicate French passport.
French officials can issue a second passport for citizens who may need to surrender theirs for visa applications or similar matters
, but also need to travel at the same time. They can also issue them to travellers going to countries who would deny entry to those with another specific country's visa stamp in their passport.
NHK cited unnamed sources as saying that since May last year, "the need arose" for
Ghosn to have access to a passport
, which was kept in a locked case to which his lawyers held the key.
But Japanese media reports also say that there was no record in the country's immigration database of him leaving Japan.
In another report, NHK said that a plane matching the reported origin and destination of Mr Ghosn's trip underwent immigration and customs checks at a terminal of Osaka's Kansai airport that is only used by private jets.
"I think I would recognise Ghosn if I took a good look at his face, but we don't really look at people's faces," one security guard at the private terminal told Reuters news agency. "It would be harder to spot him if he was wearing a disguise or was in a group."
"He would have had to go through as a passenger, perhaps in disguise," said airport spokesman Kenji Takanishi, adding that privacy was a big attraction for the wealthy travellers who used the terminal.
|
b48063bd5c6f0b260740973753e3ed45 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51087672 | Taal: The 'very small but dangerous volcano' | Taal: The 'very small but dangerous volcano'
Taal is one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes.
Over the past few days, it's begun spewing lava, triggering earthquakes and emitting huge plumes of ash that have spread across the island of Luzon and beyond.
Scientists fear a bigger "hazardous eruption" is imminent.
Taal is tiny, as volcanoes go, but it has been deadly before. And according to Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippines' Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) , it is "very small but a dangerous volcano".
So what is it about Taal that has got people so worried?
Taal is defined as a "complex volcano" - it doesn't have just one main vent or cone but several eruption points that have changed over time.
"Taal volcano is a baby volcano sitting within a much bigger caldera volcano," said Ben Kennedy, associate professor of physical volcanology at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
These new eruptions are taking place on Volcano Island, which sits inside Lake Taal, a 234 sq km lake formed in the caldera of an earlier massive eruption.
Volcano Island alone has 47 craters and 4 maars - volcanic craters that form when hot magma comes into contact with shallow ground water, producing a violent steam explosion. Other vents and eruption points are underneath Lake Taal.
The entire Volcano Island has been marked as a permanent danger zone by Phivolcs.
At least 35 eruptions have been reported within the last few hundred years - the most recent was in 1977.
A "very violent" eruption in 1911 from the main crater caused rock particles and fragments to shoot out of the volcano, according to news outlet Rappler. That event killed more than 1,300 people.
US-based volcanologist Jess Phoenix says Taal has "a history of multiple eruption styles", so it creates threats on the ground in the form of lava and in the air through ash.
There's also the risk of a "volcanic tsunami", she adds, which can be trigged by falling debris after an eruption generating waves in the lake.
"Any of these types of threats would be a major hazard for people nearby," says Ms Phoenix.
The lake is also "potentially dangerous", as water could interact with the magma, making it "more explosive", said Mr Kennedy.
"If water gets to the exploding lava surface it flashes to steam and rapidly solidifies the lava it interacts with, making a very fine ash that explodes higher into the atmosphere and can travel further," he told the BBC.
One of the main reasons people are worried is Taal's proximity to millions of people.
"Metro Manila is a few tens of kilometres away with a population of over 10 million, and there are multiple cities within 30km that have more than 100,000 people in each, not counting the smaller towns in between," James White, head of geology at the University of Otago, told the BBC.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that more than 450,000 people are estimated to live within the newly designated 14km danger zone.
Thousands have already been evacuated but many remain behind.
Despite the danger posed by volcanoes, many choose to live near them due for various reasons - one of them being the fertile volcanic soil that can be found in these parts.
On Tuesday, Phivolcs said Taal had generated "500 metre tall lava fountains, topped by dark gray steam-laden plumes reaching approximately 2km tall that dispersed ash".
Ms Phoenix told BBC News that in general a lava fountain of that size would be substantial, but would not necessarily be "super vigorous or strong".
Mr White said a 500m tall fountain would mean "a lot of magma being erupted".
Heavy ash from Taal continues to fall on nearby municipalities and a total of 212 volcanic earthquakes have taken place so far.
"The seismic activity seems to indicate that there is more magma under the volcano and the eruption may continue," said Mr Kennedy. "However volcanoes can just as easily quiet down as become more explosive."
Earthquakes and volcanic activity are not uncommon in the Philippines, which lies along the Ring of Fire - a zone of major seismic activity, which has one of the world's most active fault lines.
|
106178515fa9dad2dd62ae4c04949e8c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51222261 | Kashmir avalanche: 'My baby's toy torch saved me from death' | Kashmir avalanche: 'My baby's toy torch saved me from death'
"There was nothing but horrible signs of death under the snow," Shakila recalls. "My 11-month-old daughter was on one side of me, and the dead body of my sister-in-law on the other."
Shakila's village, Surgun, was the worst hit in a series of deadly avalanches which killed more than 75 people in the Neelum valley in Pakistani-administered Kashmir in January. Dozens of others were injured and hundreds lost their homes. It was the remote valley's heaviest snowfall in a century.
Shakila spent more than six hours buried under snow - there was little warning the avalanche was coming.
"It was loud, like sudden thunder. I was sitting with my daughter in the open courtyard with a toy torch in my hand," she told BBC Urdu.
"My mother-in-law was inside with grandchildren; my sisters-in-law were busy doing house chores while children were playing. Nearby, my father-in-law was busy collecting wood. Suddenly, with a gust of wind, a huge heap of snow covered everything in sight."
Shakila was buried, along with her daughter Muqadas.
"Initially I couldn't work out what had happened, or if I was alive or not. I kept screaming, calling people to get me out. For an hour or so, I could also hear my other family members doing the same.
"Everyone was screaming. Children were crying. My parents-in-law were reciting verses from the Koran. But then gradually it all went quiet," says the 32-year-old.
She is being treated for multiple fractures in both her legs and her spine at a hospital in Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, about 100km (65 miles) away from Surgun.
It took rescuers up to three days to reach some of the villages hit by the avalanches in the Neelum valley, which lies next to the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing disputed Kashmir between Pakistan and India. By that time, most of the dead had already been buried and people were waiting with their injured relatives for helicopters.
Most of those killed in the avalanche that hit the village of Surgun were women and children. The weather forces children to stay at home at this time of year and schools were shut for the winter holiday.
Shakila says it was like being "in a grave" under the snow.
"It was so quiet."
Then she started hearing people above - but they couldn't hear her, or work out where she was. "Gradually I was suffocating. I knew I wouldn't survive."
She felt totally hopeless.
"It had turned dark. The electricity had already been cut off in the village. I felt like I'd spent ages under the avalanche but I couldn't move. My legs were pressed hard against a piece of wood.
"I thought my daughter was lying unconscious next to me but I didn't dare touch her, fearing the slightest movement might harm her. Everyone had gone silent by then. There was no sound. I also stopped screaming and weeping and knew I would die at any moment."
At that point, she says, she stopped feeling cold or pain.
"I started thinking about my parents, and whether they were alive. I thought about my village - was it all gone?
"And I thought about my husband who was in Karachi. How would he know about us all? All these memories and thoughts were going round in my head."
It was then she remembered the toy torch she and Muqadas had been playing with when the avalanche struck. It was still next to her. She turned it on, and pointed it upwards.
"In the pitch dark, the torch light made its way through the snow, signalling to the villagers who pulled us out of the rubble."
Shakila lost consciousness at that point.
"When I came round, I was being put on an army helicopter. I asked about my daughter. Everyone told me she was asleep.
"The next day when my husband Amjad visited me in hospital after arriving from Karachi, he had already buried his parents, nephews and nieces.
"He told me then that Muqadas was no longer with us."
In all, Shakila lost 11 members of her family.
Amjad, who works as a driver in Karachi at the other end of Pakistan, headed home as soon as he heard about the avalanches. He got as far as the nearest town to Surgun, but then spent 22 hours walking the last part of the journey because there was so much snow that roads to the villages were closed.
There's been more snow since the avalanche and many locals are now camping in freezing conditions, surviving on government rations. Rescue operations are over now all the dead have been buried, although one body is still missing.
Amjad and Shakila, who have no other children, had only recently moved to the village. With Muqadas gone, Shakila says she won't go back - the memories are too traumatic.
"I shall leave that village where my family was destroyed and I will never return."
|
e42328a6d707fc19e0939e1d2b893194 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51224468 | Indonesian needlefish boy: 'A fish jumped out of the sea and stabbed my neck' | Indonesian needlefish boy: 'A fish jumped out of the sea and stabbed my neck'
An Indonesian teenager has described - for the first time - his terrifying swim to safety after a fish leapt out of the sea and speared him through the neck.
Muhammad Idul revealed how the force of the needlefish impaling itself in his neck threw him from his boat and into the water, prompting a desperate swim to shore and a sprint to hospital some 90 minutes' drive away.
The fact the 16-year-old is still alive, smiling and able to tell his tale is thanks to his quick-thinking friend, a bit of luck - and some very careful surgeons.
The injury has turned Muhammad into a bit of a star, after pictures of the fish in his neck went viral and were shared around the globe.
But, speaking exclusively to BBC Indonesian five days after the shocking accident, he says it was just meant to be a late-night fishing trip with a school friend, Sardi.
"Sardi's boat sailed off first, and I went later in another boat," he recalled. "About 500 metres (a third of a mile) off the beach, Sardi turned on the flashlight.
"A needlefish suddenly jumped out of the water and stabbed my neck."
Muhammad fell off the boat into the dark water below. The fish's long, slender - and sharp - jaws pierced right through his neck, from just under his chin to the base of his skull.
What's more, the fish was still thrashing, pushing the teenager around in the water as it tried to escape.
Muhammad grabbed the fish and held it tight, hoping he could stop it making the injury worse.
"I asked Sardi to help - he stopped me from trying to remove the fish to prevent bleeding," he said.
The boys somehow managed to swim back to the beach with Muhammad holding the 75cm-long fish clasped in his arms and still stuck in his neck.
Muhammad's father Saharuddin rushed him to a hospital in Bau-bau, about an hour-and-a-half from their village in South Buton, South East Sulawesi.
But while doctors there were able to cut the fish so just its head remained in his body, they could not remove the beak from Muhammad's neck because they did not have the right equipment.
For that, they needed to travel further afield, to a provincial hospital in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi.
Even at the bigger Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, however, staff were stunned at what they had been presented with.
Its director Khalid Saleh said it was the first case of its kind, and required five specialists to carefully remove what remained of the fish in an hour-long surgery.
Five days later, Muhammad is keen to get home: his neck is bandaged, and it doesn't hurt any more. He still can't move it to the right, but he is smiling.
He could have to wait a little longer, however.
"We're monitoring his condition. He might be discharged in a few days but he can't go back to his village yet because he needs more check-ups," Khalid Saleh explained.
The incident has also not dampened Muhammad's love of fishing.
"I just need to be more careful next time. Needlefish can't tolerate light - that was why it jumped out of the water and stabbed me," he said.
|
cbaff50bc34e56acda981d506c2d1e58 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51229796 | Myanmar Rohingya: Government rejects ICJ ruling | Myanmar Rohingya: Government rejects ICJ ruling
Myanmar has responded defiantly to a ruling by the UN's top court ordering measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims.
The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it presented a "distorted picture of the situation".
Thousands of Rohingya died and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh during an army crackdown in 2017.
The measures imposed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are binding and not subject to appeal.
However the ICJ has no way of enforcing them.
The case was lodged by the African Muslim majority nation of The Gambia. The ruling warned that genocidal actions could recur.
Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its own commission, the Independent Commission of Enquiry, found that there had been no genocide in Rakhine state. However it did say that war crimes had occurred, and were being investigated and prosecuted by Myanmar's national criminal justice system.
It also blamed condemnation by "human rights actors" for affecting Myanmar's bilateral relations with some countries.
"This has hampered Myanmar's ability to lay the foundation for sustainable development in Rakhine," it added in a statement.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, has always insisted that its military campaign was waged to tackle an extremist threat in Rakhine state.
During her defence statement at the court in The Hague, Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi described the violence as an "internal armed conflict" triggered by Rohingya militant attacks on government security posts.
The panel of 17 judges at the ICJ on Thursday voted unanimously
to order Myanmar to take "all measures within its power" to prevent genocide
, which they said the Rohingya remained at serious risk of.
These include the prevention of killing and "causing serious bodily or mental harm" to members of the group, as well as preserving evidence of possible genocide that has already occurred.
Presiding judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said Myanmar should report back within four months on how it was implementing the ruling.
By Nick Beake, Myanmar correspondent, BBC News
This judgment has surely obliterated any remnants of Aung San Suu Kyi's international reputation.
Remember, she didn't have to go to The Hague and become the embodiment of Myanmar's defence. She chose to argue, in person, there was no mass murder, rape or arson.
Even her biggest critics used to acknowledge she doesn't control the still powerful Burmese army, but now she has destroyed the firewall between her and the generals by trying - and failing - to justify their actions.
So far, Myanmar has played by the rules of the International Court of Justice. But will it abide by these emergency measures?
Rohingya groups have welcomed the decision.
"Today's ruling by the ICJ is a crucial moment for Rohingya justice, and vindication for those of us who have lived through this genocide for decades," tweeted Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.
"The court's decision clearly shows that it takes the allegations of genocide seriously, and that Myanmar's hollow attempts to deny these have fallen on deaf ears."
Human rights organisation Amnesty International said the decision sent a message that the world would not tolerate Myanmar's "atrocities".
Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou, who led the prosecution, said he was "very, very pleased".
But some Burmese people responding to a BBC Facebook live broadcast were scathing of the court and its judges.
"This is not a fair and just ruling. I would like to speak on behalf of the Myanmar people that those judges are blind. They are deaf. They do not know the real situation in the country," said Nu Yimwin.
Kyaw Myint Oo described the ruling as a tragic day for the country: "Our situation is like being a prey gradually strangled by a python and eventually we will be forced to give in to all their demands."
Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said: "We hope good sense will prevail in Myanmar and they will take back all the Rohingya refugees and provide them security."
The Rohingya, who numbered about one million in Myanmar at the start of 2017, are one of the many ethnic minorities in the country. Rohingya Muslims are the largest community of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in Rakhine state.
But Myanmar's government denies them citizenship, refusing to recognise them as a people and seeing them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Waves of Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh over the decades but their latest exodus began on 25 August 2017 after militants from a Rohingya insurgent group called Arsa launched deadly attacks on more than 30 police posts.
Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh said they had fled after troops, backed by local Buddhist mobs, responded by burning their villages and attacking and killing civilians.
The government claims that "clearance operations" against the militants ended on 5 September 2017, but analysis of satellite imagery by Human Rights Watch suggests hundreds of villages were destroyed after August that year.
|
fd4546950e25c40513fb9b9cc52157c1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51349154 | Coronavirus: Hong Kong hospital staff strike to demand closure of China border | Coronavirus: Hong Kong hospital staff strike to demand closure of China border
Hundreds of hospital workers in Hong Kong have gone on strike, demanding the border with mainland China be completely closed to reduce the risk of the coronavirus spreading.
Hong Kong has suspended cross-border rail and ferry services, but health workers want a total border closure.
Authorities say closing the border completely would go against advice from the World Health Organization.
There have been 15 confirmed cases of the virus in the city.
"If there is no full border closure, there won't be enough manpower, protective equipment, or isolation rooms, to combat the outbreak," Winnie Yu, chairwoman of the newly-formed Hospital Authority Employees Alliance said.
Hundreds of "non-essential" medical workers went on strike on Monday. The union said frontline workers - including doctors and nurses - would follow on Tuesday if their demands were not met.
Hong Kong - which has a population of seven million - is part of China but retains significant autonomy. The border functions in much the same way as a normal international checkpoint.
As well as transportation closures, China has also stopped issuing visas for individual travellers to Hong Kong.
There have been more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 361 deaths in mainland China alone.
Outside China, there are more than 150 confirmed cases of the virus with one death, in the Philippines.
Various countries have imposed travel restrictions to a varying degree.
Other countries have seen their national carriers temporarily suspend all flights to mainland China. These include Egypt, Finland, Indonesia, the UK, and Italy amongst others.
Global health officials have advised against the bans.
"Travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains and harming economies," the head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday.
The WHO recommends introducing screening at border crossings. It has warned that closing borders could accelerate the spread of the virus, with travellers entering countries unofficially.
China has criticised the wave of travel restrictions, accusing foreign governments of ignoring official advice.
A new hospital built in just eight days to treat people with the virus began taking patients on Monday.
Wuhan's 1,000-bed Huoshenshan Hospital is one of two dedicated facilities built to help tackle the outbreak.
A second hospital at Leishenshan is due to be finished on Wednesday.
Hospitals in the province of Hubei - where Wuhan is located - are reportedly overwhelmed and struggling to treat the growing number of patients.
Latest figures from China's National Health Commission on Monday revealed:
The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has overtaken that of the similar Sars epidemic, which spread to more than two dozen countries in 2003.
But the mortality rate of the new virus is much lower, suggesting it is not as deadly.
Hospitals in the province are reportedly understaffed and overburdened, as the number of infections rises sharply.
According to the Washington Post, some hospital workers have begun wearing nappies because they don't have time to use the bathroom.
Hospitals are also dealing with a shortage of medical supplies. The Wuhan Children's Hospital posted on social media: "Medical supplies are in short supply - help!"
Videos on social media showed long queues outside hospitals.
In one video, a man with a Wuhan accent at a local hospital said it could take "as long as 10 hours" for patients to be seen by a doctor.
More than 75,000 people may have been infected in the city of Wuhan, which is at the epicentre of the outbreak, experts say.
But estimates by the University of Hong Kong suggest the total number of cases could be far higher than the official figures.
A report on the early stages of the outbreak by the Lancet medical journal said most patients who died from the virus had pre-existing conditions.
The report found that, of the first 99 patients treated at the Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, 40 had a weak heart or damaged blood vessels. A further 12 had diabetes.
The virus causes severe acute respiratory infection and symptoms seem to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough.
But most people infected are likely to fully recover - just as they would from a normal flu.
An expert at China's National Health Commission (NHC) said that one week was sufficient for a recovery from mild coronavirus symptoms.
Do you have any information to share? Get in touch by emailing
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
|
18218631aeeee03e7476701ab1232c68 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51382816 | Coronavirus: Couple live-streams into own wedding amid fears | Coronavirus: Couple live-streams into own wedding amid fears
Weddings don't always go exactly to plan, but as coronavirus infections continue to rise, one celebration went ahead without the bride and groom.
Singapore couple Joseph Yew and his wife Kang Ting returned from a trip to China just days before their wedding.
When guests expressed concerns about attending, the couple found a way to allay their fears.
The bride and groom stayed away, instead live streaming themselves into a venue full of friends and family.
The wedding couple made their toasts and their speeches entirely over the video call, to the amusement of their guests seated in the wedding hall.
The coronavirus has killed 550 people in China and has spread to about two dozen countries.
Singapore has reported 28 cases of the infection so far - making it the country with the second highest number of confirmed cases of the virus outside China after Japan.
On 24 January, Mr Yew and Ms Kang - who is from Hunan province - flew back to spend Lunar New Year with her family.
Hunan province borders Hubei - the province where the coronavirus originated.
Mr Yew told the BBC that there had been no sense of panic when they were back in Hunan, especially since the area they were visiting was quite rural.
They returned on 30 January, with their wedding due to take place on 2 February at M hotel in central Singapore.
The couple actually got married in China in October, but this second wedding - a grand dinner banquet - was held for all of Mr Yew's family and friends who were unable to make it to China.
It is not uncommon in Asian culture for two weddings to be held, especially when both bride and groom come from different countries.
But when guests found out the couple had just returned from China, they started to get worried.
"Some of them said they were not coming," he said.
"We wanted to postpone the wedding but the hotel was not willing to. They said everything had been arranged and it was non-negotiable. So we felt like we had no choice but to proceed with the wedding."
The couple decided they would not attend the wedding to allay their guests' fears.
"We told the guests we would video conference in... some of them were shocked," he said. "I think if we had been there, the atmosphere would be different. People would have been wary.
"My parents were not [happy about it] at first but they eventually agreed."
Ms Kang's parents were also unable to attend the wedding as multiple travel restrictions have been put in place amid fears of the virus spreading.
In the end, only 110 of 190 guests made it - with some still skipping the event for various other reasons.
On the evening of 2 February, the couple dialled into the wedding from where they were staying - one of the rooms at M hotel where the wedding was held.
"We thanked the guests for coming and told them to enjoy the dinner," said Mr Yew.
The hotel also delivered champagne to the couple. They popped the cork in their room after giving their celebratory toasts and speeches, which was all live-streamed for guests at the wedding.
"We were not sad but a bit disappointed," said Mr Yew of his wedding.
"I think there were no other option so [I have] no regrets."
Reporting by the BBC's Yvette Tan
Have you been affected by any of the issues raised? You can share your experiences by emailing
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
|
2c7a4d84840ce0089e1e19e419182e37 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51439899 | Parasite: Thrilled Koreans hail historic Oscars 2020 win for Bong Joon-ho | Parasite: Thrilled Koreans hail historic Oscars 2020 win for Bong Joon-ho
Thrilled South Koreans are celebrating the best picture win for Parasite at this year's Oscars.
The comedy-thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho is the first non-English language film to win best picture.
"Can't believe I am hearing Korean language at the Oscars," said a user on the South Korean web platform Naver.
The film, a vicious social satire about two families from very different classes, also won three other awards - including best international feature.
Many of the comments online focused on the director.
On Naver, the most searched term was "Bong Joon-ho", as more and more South Koreans celebrated the "historic victory".
"Congratulations Mr Bong, you are South Korea's pride," said one user. Another observed that "Korean films, dramas and music have taken over the globe".
The congratulations continued on Instagram.
"Congratulations Director Bong" #SweepingTheOscars," said one Korean comment.
"Hurray Bong Joon-ho! Hurray Korea! Hurray Oscars!" another added.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in was also quick to join in, tweeting that he was thankful to Bong for giving "pride and courage" to the country's people.
"An amusing yet sad movie, Parasite also conveys social messages in a novel, outstanding and successful way," President Moon said. "It reminds us of how touching and powerful a movie can be."
He also promised that the government "will stand with those in the film industry so that they can stretch their imagination to the fullest".
Meanwhile, Bong paid tribute to his country in his speech saying: "We never write to represent our country, but this is very personal to South Korea."
He added that he was "very ready to drink tonight until next morning".
Jeongmin Kim, Seoul correspondent for NK News, responded with: "Okay we should all really break out all the soju and makgeolli [Korean alcoholic drinks] to celebrate with Bong."
Korean pride was also in full flow, even spilling on to Twitter, which is more commonly used by South Koreans overseas.
"I am proud to be Korean," said one comment - while another user said they "screamed so hard my throat hurts".
One person said hearing so much Korean on stage had turned them into "mess". And the actress Sandra Oh - star of Grey's Anatomy and Killing Eve - said she was "so so proud to be Korean".
Many people also pointed out how significant it was that an Asian movie became a major success at the Academy Awards.
"Watching Bong Joon-ho winning the #Oscars with a non-English film is an incredibly empowering experience for Asians, esp. those who work in creative fields," Jun Michael Park wrote on Twitter.
"Not only do we have to work extra hard for representation, but we also have to fight with our families to pursue our paths."
The government in the South Korean capital Seoul was also quick to react, sending
a tweet advertising
the filming locations.
Many cinemas across South Korea have decided to screen the 2019 film again, starting Monday evening.
Parasite has already won a string of awards including the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film festival and at the Bafta.
Bong's previous films include Snowpiercer and Okja, a film about a girl who raises a genetically modified superpig.
|
cb91a143d32ac56d70df0e1858b7c7b1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51484625 | Coronavirus: 'Pariah' cruise ship rejected by five ports docks at last | Coronavirus: 'Pariah' cruise ship rejected by five ports docks at last
A cruise ship that was stranded at sea, because ports were worried about passengers bringing coronavirus, has been allowed to dock in Cambodia.
The MS Westerdam had been turned away by five places in Asia in recent days.
Another cruise ship in quarantine in Japan has more than 200 infections - but the Westerdam, with more than 2,000 crew and passengers, has none.
Only on Tuesday, the cruise liner attempted to dock in Bangkok but was denied permission.
A Thai Navy ship escorted her out of the Gulf of Thailand, from where she set course for Cambodia.
On Thursday morning, the ship finally arrived at an anchoring point in the port city of Sihanoukville.
"This morning, just seeing land was such a breathtaking moment," passenger Angela Jones from the US told Reuters. "I thought: is this real?"
According to the English-language Khmer Times, the ship will allow passengers to disembark on Friday, after 20 people on board who had fallen ill tested negative for coronavirus.
The Westerdam, run by the US-based Holland America Line, departed Hong Kong on 1 February with 1,455 passengers and 802 crew on board.
The cruise had been scheduled to run for two weeks - and with those 14 days running out, there were worries about fuel and food supplies.
As well as Thailand, it was also turned away by Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, and Japan.
"We've had so many near moments - we thought we were going home only to be turned away," Ms Jones said.
The ship's captain Vincent Smit said the ship would anchor outside Sihanoukville to allow authorities to conduct health checks on board.
Passengers will then be able to leave the ship and return to their home countries from the country's capital Phnom Penh.
The US embassy in Cambodia said it had sent a team to assist its citizens with planning their journey.
Cambodia's decision to welcome the MS Westerdam was praised by the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO).
It was "an example of the international solidarity we have consistently been calling for", Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said.
There have been regular health checks for all passengers on board the Westerdam, and there have been no cases so far.
The ship in Japan, quarantined in the port of Yokohama, currently has more than 200 confirmed cases - making the Diamond Princess the largest coronavirus cluster outside China.
Not all passengers have been tested, and the number of cases may continue to rise. Another 44 were added to the tally on Thursday.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said elderly passengers who test negative for the virus would be allowed to leave on Friday, five days before the scheduled end of the quarantine.
About 80% of the ship's passengers are aged 60 or over. Japanese media reports that 215 passengers are in their 80s, and 11 are in their 90s.
Another cruise ship was quarantined for several days off Hong Kong, because a previous guest had been diagnosed with the virus.
All passengers have now been allowed off.
|
5c297446b257afe4185d7927fe9d6a83 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51526625 | Crash Landing on You: The defector who brought North-South Korean romance to life | Crash Landing on You: The defector who brought North-South Korean romance to life
An implausible love story in which a (literally) high-flying South Korean heiress accidentally paraglides into North Korea, lands on a soldier and falls in love with him has become the latest Korean drama smash hit.
Crash Landing on You is in many ways a typical K-drama romance, but has been widely praised for its well-researched and nuanced portrayal of North Korea, something it achieved by having a real-life North Korean defector on its writing team, as BBC Korean's Subin Kim explains.
With his broad shoulders and thick torso, Kwak Moon-wan has all the appearance of a bodyguard.
That's probably because until 2004, he served with the Supreme Guard Command, the elite security force which protects North Korea's ruling Kim family.
He was so trusted that he was assigned to work overseas too, for a North Korean trade company in Moscow which was bringing in much needed foreign currency.
Only a select few North Koreans are permitted to work outside the country, and to ensure their continued loyalty the leaders have measures in place - Kwak had to leave his wife and son behind in North Korea.
In 2004, he was ordered to return to Pyongyang. During a stopover in Beijing, he found out one of his friends in Moscow had reported to their bosses in Pyongyang what he had said in private conversation.
He knew immediately that what he'd said would cause huge trouble when he got home.
During our conversation in a coffee shop in Seoul, Kwak kept glancing around to check who might be nearby. He speech is straightforward, if not blunt, but Kwak wouldn't repeat to me what he said. He'd only say he had talked about what he saw while escorting members of the Kim family back then.
So he decided to defect. Alone. And he has lived in South Korea without his family ever since.
"I only have one shadow when the sun comes up," Kwak said. "That's my life in South Korea."
After arriving in South Korea, Kwak, like thousands of North Korean defectors, began the process of building a new life. And it took a remarkable twist of fate for Kwak to find his way into the booming world of Korean entertainment.
Before entering the military, Kwak had spent time learning about film. Back in the 1980s, the North Korean film industry was booming, because of then leader Kim Jong Il's well-known love of the art.
At that time, Kwak was about to embark on further education, and he ended up being accepted to study film directing in Pyongyang University of Dramatic and Cinematic Arts.
Shortly after Kwak arrived in South Korea, a famous filmmaker who was working on a North Korea-themed film project approached South Korea's spy agency asking for some advice.
Kwak had just finished his interrogations, part of the resettlement process new defectors go through, in which he'd talked about his film skills.
The agency put him in touch with the filmmaker, who offered him a job at his film company. Kwak accepted it right away.
He went on to work as an adviser and a screenwriter on a number of films and dramas, and in 2018 a former colleague introduced Kwak to Park Ji-eun, the head writer of the drama.
She had come up with an idea of a romantic comedy featuring a North Korean officer and a South Korean heiress, but her lack of intimate knowledge of Northern life was a pressing concern.
Kwak joining the team kick-started the Crash Landing on You project.
The series has become one of the most successful Korean dramas of all time. It tells the story of heiress and businesswoman Yoon Se-ri and North Korean army captain Ri Jeong-hyuk.
While out paragliding one day, Se-ri gets caught up by freak winds, and pushed over the border into North Korea. She is found by the dashing Jeong-hyuk, who instead of turning her in agrees to keep her safe and help her return home. Inevitably, they fall in love.
Kwak's intimate knowledge of how North Korean officials operate meant he was able to contribute ingenious plot devices.
For example, at one point, secret police come across Se-ri hiding in a village. Jeong-hyuk quickly comes up with the line that she is a spy with Division 11, the military unit which works undercover in the South.
That helps explain her Southern accent, her lack of paperwork and her appearance, and gave the character the freedom to explore the village and interact with others, while refusing to answer their questions about her life on security grounds.
Throughout the show, there are depictions of life which could be made credible through the insights of someone like Kwak.
Trains are shown abruptly stopping because of power cuts, homeless children on the streets, and fridges used to store books and clothes instead of food.
Kwak also helped create a subplot in the drama, of another pair of star-crossed lovers from the North and South, Gu Seung-joon and Seo.
After embezzling a huge amount of money from Se-ri's brother, Seung-joon goes on the run, and decides to seek refuge in North Korea.
"North Korea is the only place the Interpol can't reach," Kwak says.
Is it true that North Korea offers protection for wanted criminals in exchange for a hefty amount of money? "It is indeed plausible," Kwak says. "That's all I'd like to say."
Some have accused Crash Landing on You of glamorising North Korea. For example, villagers seem to have plenty of food - but in reality food shortages are a recurring problem.
But these nuanced details are rarely seen by South Koreans, and the drama has even got other defectors excited.
Chun Hyo-jin, who defected when she was 19, said the drama does deviate from reality but that does not dent her enthusiasm for it. Most of her family are now living in the South, and the drama has become a weekly topic.
"Every time it's on air, we call each other on the phone and talk about the drama," Chun says.
"It has made the people interested in North Korea. It gets my friends to ask me about North Korea and I'm really grateful for it."
It's also won praise from people like Sokeel Park, who works with defectors through Liberty in North Korea.
"Its portrayal of various aspects of North Korean society have clearly been thoroughly researched, resulting in the most three-dimensional portrayal of North Korean society of any film or drama to date," he told the BBC.
"It is refreshing how it portrays various aspects of North Korean society without unnecessarily passing judgement, and shows North Koreans as complex people who are ultimately relatable and even lovable, even if they are culturally different."
It's well known that North Koreans, especially the young ones, are fans of K-drama too - and as Crash Landing on You accurately depicts, a lot of South Korean films and dramas are smuggled into North Korea.
Kwak says he hasn't heard of any North Korean who has watched the drama.
"I'm sure they will be very interested. It's their story. It's about them.
"And I guess that especially North Korean men would feel very grateful to have a handsome guy like Hyun Bin to play one of them," he chuckled.
|
5ea84d60ce397cf4b55b125dede274d4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51542241 | Coronavirus: How did Cambodia's cruise ship welcome go wrong? | Coronavirus: How did Cambodia's cruise ship welcome go wrong?
A former passenger on the cruise ship MS Westerdam who tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Malaysia having left the vessel has led to fears that other passengers who have also moved on might have been exposed to the virus.
Efforts are now being made to track down those who have left the ship and Cambodia's decision to let the vessel dock - a move praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) - is now being questioned.
An outbreak on another cruise ship, the Diamond Princess which is quarantined off Japan, is
the biggest infection cluster outside China
with more than 600 confirmed cases.
The Westerdam was taking 1,455 passengers and 802 crew on a cruise around Asia.
It was heading to Japan, but was turned away. No-one on board was feeling unwell but the ship had previously docked in Hong Kong, which has been badly hit by the virus. That was enough to spark worries the virus could have found its way on board.
The cruise ship was then turned away by four other countries, but
last Thursday it was finally allowed to dock in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
. The WHO called it an "example of international solidarity".
About 20 passengers had clinical tests on board because they were ill. But the vast majority had their temperature taken and filled out a form. Most of these passengers then left the boat.
One passenger - an 83-year-old US woman - took a plane to Malaysia along with 144 other passengers. She recorded a high temperature on landing in Kuala Lumpur and tested positive for the virus.
Only after that were the remaining passengers quarantined and clinically tested - but by then hundreds had already left.
Dr Asok Karup from the Infectious Diseases Care clinic in Singapore says all passengers should have been clinically screened and quarantined. He described the process of self-certifying on a form that they were symptom-free as "completely inappropriate".
Spending two weeks aboard the vessel did not count as a proper quarantine because passengers could have come into contact with an infected person at any point during that period, he added.
Westerdam's operator Holland America Line said there had been "no indication of COVID-19 on the ship" during its voyage. During the quarantine period it said it carried out temperature checks and health screenings.
But "ships are not designed for quarantine," Dale Fisher, professor in infectious diseases at the National University of Singapore and chair of the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, told the BBC.
"If passengers are allowed to socialise, then it is possible that the virus would continue to transmit during this period of quarantine. In a typical quarantine set-up there are basic comforts, regular temperature taking, and questioning, but no mixing of those quarantined."
"In my view quarantining on board a ship is suboptimal - it would be useful to keep details of all the travellers in case, there is a case later then people can be easily contacted."
In Sihanoukville - a city with strong economic ties to China - the disembarking passengers were met with flowers and traditional Cambodian scarves by Prime Minister Hun Sen himself.
Neither the country's authoritarian leader nor anyone else in the welcoming party was wearing any protective gear, such as face masks.
Hun Sen had already expressed scepticism about the risks posed by the virus and offered to go personally to the Chinese city of Wuhan - the centre of the outbreak - to tell frightened Cambodians living there that they must stay put for the sake of relations with China, a vital ally for his country.
After that ostentatious welcome, some of passengers then began to be moved to the capital, Phnom Penh, from where some then continued their journeys.
Jonathan Head, BBC South East Asia Correspondent
Cambodia's Hun Sen saw the Westerdam as an opportunity. As an authoritarian ruler who has held office for 35 years, he did not have to worry about public criticism over allowing it to dock.
Also, by attracting so much attention to his offer he not only appeared generous, but also diverted media attention from the European Union decision the same week to withdraw vital trade privileges from Cambodia over the government's suppression of the political opposition.
Most of all it gave Hun Sen something he has wanted for a long time; a chance to repair relations with the US. These were badly frayed three years ago when the opposition leader Kem Sokha, who looked on course to beat Hun Sen in the 2018 election, was arrested and accused of plotting, with US backing, to overthrow the government.
Independent media were shut down, journalists arrested, and the US pro-democracy organisation NDI forced to close.
The current US ambassador Patrick Murphy has worked hard to improve ties since he was appointed in August last year. The need to get 650 Americans home off the Westerdam offered a chance to do that.
On Tuesday Holland America confirmed that all passengers still on board had tested negative.
The Westerdam would stay in port
"for at least a few more days until testing is complete on the 747 crewmembers", the company said.
Of the several hundred passengers in hotels in Phnom Penh, some have already had negative tests returned and are free to leave, others are awaiting results.
It is thought that about 650 of the guests on board the ship were from the US, 270 from Canada, 130 from the UK, 100 from the Netherlands, 50 from Germany and several passengers from Australia.
The crew consisted largely of Indonesians and Filipinos.
Holland America says it has shared information on the passengers with the respective countries who can now try to get in touch with them.
The UK said it was offering consular assistance to British Westerdam passengers, asking them to get in touch.
Canada is asking all its citizens returning from the vessel to self isolate for 14 days once back home, local media report.
Malaysia has since said all other passengers from the Westerdam transiting in Kuala Lumpur had left the country and that it would not allow any more of the ship's guests to enter or transit.
Thailand has also barred Westerdam passengers from entering - but only after several had already arrived to Bangkok where they were being screened again.
Other countries such as Singapore have also said they won't allow any former Westerdam passengers to enter except for two of its citizens who have already returned and are in home quarantine.
|
a6bf59f0f32c44058963c82b32b597be | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51555420 | Coronavirus: Passengers leave Diamond Princess amid criticism of Japan | Coronavirus: Passengers leave Diamond Princess amid criticism of Japan
Hundreds of passengers who tested negative for the new coronavirus have begun leaving a quarantined cruise ship in Japan amid heavy criticism over the country's handling of the outbreak.
One Japanese health expert who visited the Diamond Princess at the port in Yokohama said the situation on board was "completely chaotic".
US officials said moves to contain the virus "may not have been sufficient".
Passengers have described
the difficult quarantine situation on the vessel
.
At least 621 passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess have so far been infected by the Covid-19 virus - the biggest cluster outside mainland China.
The ship was carrying 3,700 people in total.
Several nations are evacuating their citizens from the ship
as the number of confirmed cases continues to rise.
Hundreds of American passengers were removed and placed in quarantine on Sunday.
Britons on the vessel have been told by the UK Foreign Office to stay onboard
but register for an evacuation flight expected later this week.
A British couple on the ship - who had been giving regular updates to journalists via social media - confirmed on Wednesday they had tested positive for the virus.
The US, Canada, Australia and the UK will place all those released from the ship in another 14 days' quarantine when they return home.
Several experts have questioned the effectiveness of the quarantine measures on the Diamond Princess.
Kentaro Iwata, professor at the infectious diseases division of Japan's Kobe University, described the situation on board as "completely inadequate in terms of infection control".
After visiting the ship, Prof Iwata posted a video to YouTube stating that
the quarantine measures he witnessed failed to separate the infected from the healthy
.
He reported:
The expert said he was more afraid of catching the virus on board than he had been working in the field in Africa during the Ebola epidemic and in China during the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak.
US health officials also criticised the steps
taken by Japanese officials.
"[The quarantine measures] may not have been sufficient to prevent transmission among individuals on the ship," the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned.
"The rate of new infections on board, especially among those without symptoms, represents an ongoing risk," it said in a statement, adding that travel restrictions had been imposed on "all passengers and crew" preventing them from entering the US.
Japanese officials have defended their approach, saying that the majority of infections likely occurred before the quarantine period.
About 500 people who tested negative and who are not showing any symptoms were expected to disembark the Diamond Princess on Wednesday, with more leaving in coming days.
The released passengers made their way onto waiting coaches or into taxis, reports the BBC's Laura Bicker, who is at the port in Yokohama.
They will be allowed to return to life as normal, but will be contacted over a period of several days to check on their health, Japan's health ministry said.
Those who tested negative but had shared cabins with infected people will have to remain on board for additional quarantine.
The passengers come from more than 50 countries, raising concerns the ship could become the source of a fresh wave of global infections, our correspondent says.
South Korea, which reported 15 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, said it would ban entry to any foreign passengers of the Diamond Princess.
The cruise ship was put in quarantine in Yokohama in early February after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was found to have the virus.
Passengers were initially isolated in their cabins and later allowed to sporadically go out on deck.
Despite the quarantine measures, day by day the number of people to test positive for the Covid-19 virus grew rapidly.
Covid-19 has now claimed more than 2,100 lives in China, according to Chinese data released on Thursday.
There have been more than 75,000 confirmed infections recorded in mainland China and more than 1,000 cases in other countries.
South Korea reported 31 new cases, bringing the country's total to 82.
Iran says two people infected with the virus have died in the city of Qom - the first reported deaths in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong said a 70-year-old man with underlying illnesses became the territory's second fatality. France, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan have each had one death attributed to the virus.
China on Monday released a detailed study of more than 44,000 confirmed cases
indicating that the overwhelming number of deaths occur among the sick and elderly.
|
d6120aab8c973a0544e2b19d03ac779a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51609360 | Coronavirus: North Korea quarantines foreigners | Coronavirus: North Korea quarantines foreigners
North Korea has quarantined 380 foreigners in an attempt to stop the coronavirus from breaking out.
The foreigners are mostly diplomats stationed in the capital Pyongyang, state media reported.
About 200 foreigners had already been confined to their compounds for the past 30 days - but as that came to an end, the quarantine has been extended.
North Korea has not reported any cases of Covid-19, but several other countries did so on Monday.
Afghanistan and Dubai said they had detected their first cases, and Kuwait said three people returning from Iran had been infected.
In South Korea, seven people have died with 763 people infected. Around 7,700 troops have been quarantined after 11 military members were infected.
The virus, which emerged in China, has spread to at least 29 countries. Italy has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe, with 152.
Around 50,000 people in two northern "hotspot" regions - Veneto and Lombardy - have been put under quarantine for two weeks.
Iran has also confirmed 43 cases of the virus and eight deaths.
In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged, the authorities earlier announced that some non-residents would be allowed to leave if they showed no symptoms of the virus.
However, local officials now say that order was made without authorisation and has been revoked.
The city has been in lockdown since January 23, with authorities cutting off transport links in and out of the city.
More than 2,500 people have died from the virus in mainland China, with some 77,150 cases confirmed cases reported.
North Korea has not confirmed any cases but the country shares a long and often porous border with China. There are concerns that North Korea, which is subject to international sanctions, lacks the health infrastructure to test and treat those infected and that any outbreak could quickly spread unchecked.
At the moment, all foreigners coming into the country must be quarantined for 30 days.
There are relatively few foreigners in North Korea, and only around 200 Westerners, according to one expert.
North Korean authorities have also cancelled the annual Pyongyang marathon, which typically sees people from all over the world participating.
Around 3,000 people in North Pyongan province - a north-western region bordering China - are also now under monitoring for reportedly showing suspected symptoms, said state media.
South Korea has the largest number of confirmed cases outside China, after a huge spike in the past week.
Before last Wednesday, the country had recorded just 31 cases. That number has now jumped to 763.
Eight new cases of the virus have been reported in the army, and one in the navy, air force and marine corps - bringing the number to 11.
But the biggest virus clusters have been linked to a hospital and a religious group near the south-eastern city of Daegu.
A handful of South Korea airlines, including Korean Air Lines - the country's biggest airline - has suspended flights going to Daegu, which has a population of around 2.5m.
Korean Air says the suspension will last until March 27.
Italian officials have introduced sweeping measures to control what is now
the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe
- at least three people have died and more than 150 cases confirmed.
In the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, a lock-down is in place in several small towns. For the next two weeks, 50,000 residents will not be able to leave without special permission.
Even outside the zone, many businesses and schools have suspended activities, and sporting events have been cancelled - including several top-flight football matches.
Officials have yet to find the first carrier of the virus in the country.
Analysis by Fergus Walsh,
medical
correspondent
The combined situation in South Korea, Iran and Italy points to the early stages of pandemic. This means a global outbreak, with the coronavirus spreading in the community in multiple parts of the world.
In each of these countries we are seeing spread of the virus with no connection to China. The lockdown efforts in Italy mirror those that have happened in China.
The situation in Iran is especially worrying, because the health authorities have reportedly said the virus has spread to multiple cities, and it appears the first case in Lebanon is linked to a traveller from Iran.
If we have a pandemic, it will still be important to limit the speed of spread of the virus.
If countries could hold it somewhat at bay until the end of winter, there is a hope that warmer temperatures will reduce the time the virus can survive in the air, as we see with seasonal flu. But this may not be certain.
Iran said on Sunday it had 43 confirmed cases of the virus, most of them in the holy city of Qom. Eight of those infected have died, the highest number of deaths outside China.
Iraq, Pakistan, Armenia and Turkey have closed their borders with Iran, and Afghanistan has suspended air and road travel to and from Iran.
China's President Xi Jinping has described the outbreak as the "largest public health emergency" in the country's recent history.
Speaking on Sunday, he acknowledged "shortcomings" in China's response and said lessons must be learned.
China reported 409 new infections on Monday, the bulk of which were from Wuhan.
But outside China, cases with no clear link to that country or other confirmed cases continue to rise, prompting concern from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Have you been affected by the latest developments around Covid-19? Share your experiences by emailing
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
|
8c95d298d82de382e1f604fe4bb07b5d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51610974 | Mahathir Mohamad: Malaysian prime minister in shock resignation | Mahathir Mohamad: Malaysian prime minister in shock resignation
Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad has resigned in a surprise move that could unravel the ruling coalition.
The resignation of Mr Mahathir, 94, comes amid rumours that he may form a new coalition without his designated successor, Anwar Ibrahim.
The world's oldest elected leader returned to power in 2018.
In a surprise victory, he ousted then-prime minister Najib Razak, who is on trial charged with taking millions of dollars from a government wealth fund.
The Prime Minister's Office said the letter of resignation to the king was submitted at 13:00 local time (05:00 GMT). No other details were included in the statement.
It is not clear who will be the next prime minister.
No group of parties has sufficient MPs to form a government - so Malaysia's constitutional monarch will play an important role now, either inviting a political leader to form a new administration, or if that fails, calling a fresh general election.
Mr Mahathir has also resigned from Bersatu, the political party of which he was chairman.
Bersatu had been part of the governing Pakatan Harapan alliance, which he joined in 2018 together with Mr Anwar, and which won the 2018 vote, ending more than six decades of rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
On Sunday, Mr Anwar accused some of Mr Mahathir's party and his own camp of being "traitors", saying they had plans to form a new government, presumably without him.
Jonathan Head, BBC News
Mahathir Mohammad has played the role of reluctant leader, dragged out of comfortable retirement by the needs of his country, unconvincingly. No-one is fooled.
Until now he has remained the master manipulator in Malaysian politics at the remarkable age of 94. So was he ever sincere about handing over power to Mr Anwar, as agreed, after two years?
He certainly doubted his one-time protégé's abilities to lead a heterogeneous coalition, and he was not alone in that view.
The country's ethnic Malay voters, whose support helped Mr Mahathir win the historic 2018 election, have been drifting back to Umno, the dominant party in the previous ruling coalition.
The idea of forming a new coalition and bringing Umno back in has gained momentum, although the extent to which Mr Mahathir is still pulling the strings is not clear. If that now happens, the hopes reformers had of reshaping Malaysia's notoriously corrupt and patronage-driven politics will be shattered.
The on-again off-again feud between Mr Anwar and Mr Mahathir is one that has dominated Malaysian politics for decades.
Mr Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, and was part of the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).
Mr Anwar was his deputy but the relationship soured when Mr Anwar was sacked in 1998 after a leadership dispute.
He was later jailed on corruption and sodomy charges, which were widely regarded as politically motivated.
But in 2018, Mr Mahathir shocked the country when he announced that he was teaming up with Mr Anwar and joining Pakatan Harapan. He said he was doing so to oust the government of Mr Najib, who had become embroiled in the 1MDB corruption scandal.
Mr Mahathir and Mr Anwar's alliance won - and Mr Mahathir agreed to eventually hand power over to Anwar.
But Mr Mahathir repeatedly refused to say when he would transfer power - stoking tensions within the opposition alliance.
|
0363894cdae54d9c8e429d6a5b023650 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51658141 | Asia Bibi: I always believed I would be freed | Asia Bibi: I always believed I would be freed
Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, says she always believed she would be freed.
Now living in Canada, she told the BBC that she hoped she would be able to return to Pakistan one day.
Ms Bibi has released a memoir, Enfin Libre! (Finally Free), written with French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet.
In it, she recounts her time in jail and her brutal treatment by guards.
In one of the most disturbing incidents she recounts how she had her neck put in a brace that was tightened with a key, and was pulled about on a chain by guards.
Pakistani authorities have dismissed the allegations, saying her claims of torture were "not plausible".
Ms Bibi spoke to the BBC during a visit to France where she is promoting her new book.
She recalled how, in 2009, a longstanding dispute with neighbours culminated in a group of local women accusing her of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
"My husband was at work, my kids were in school, I had gone to pick fruit in the orchard," she said. "A mob came and dragged me away. They made fun of me, I was very helpless."
In her book, Ms Bibi tells how she feared for her life in prison, with other inmates calling for her to be hanged. She also recalled mistreatment at the hands of the prison guards.
"I can't breathe," she writes. "My neck is compressed by a neck brace that the guard can tighten as much as he wants with a big key. A long chain drags on the dirty floor; it links my throat to the guard's handcuffs that drags me like a dog."
Ms Bibi told the BBC that her Christian faith helped her through the ordeal.
"They said change your faith, and you'll be freed. But I said no. I will live my sentence. With my faith," she said.
"I found out from my husband that the whole world was praying for me. And that even the Pope had prayed for me. That made me happy. And I found out the whole world was praying for my misery to end.
"That made me feel that their prayers would definitely free me."
Ms Bibi called on Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to free anyone unjustly accused or convicted of blasphemy and to ensure that the charges are investigated properly.
"Innocents should not be punished for no reason and people who are innocent, in prison, should be freed," she said.
"During the investigation, both parties should be questioned properly because there are a lot of problems in our investigative procedures. And it is hard to tell who is on whose side."
Despite her ordeal, Ms Bibi said she still felt positively about Pakistan and hoped to return there one day.
"It was my country that freed me. That makes me proud," she said.
"I left of my own volition because I was in danger there. Anything could have happened to me at any point. So that's why I left my country. But I have the same love for my country in my heart now. I still respect my country and I want to see the day when I'm able to go back."
She also recalled her sorrow at hearing while in jail that
two politicians who tried to help her - Shahbaz Bhatti and Salman Taseer - had been murdered
.
"I cried a lot. I cried for more than a week for them. Even today, my heart is full of sadness for them and I miss them," she said.
But, she says she feels no bitterness to those who called for her to be killed.
"I'm not angry at all, I've forgiven everyone from my heart and there is no hardness in me, there is patience in me because I learned how to be patient after having to leave my children behind," she said.
What are Pakistan's blasphemy laws?
The vast majority of those convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan are Muslims or members of the Ahmadi community who identify themselves as Muslims but are regarded as heretical by orthodox Islam.
Since the 1990s scores of Christians have also been convicted. They make up just 1.6% of the population.
The Christian community has been targeted in numerous attacks in recent years, leaving many feeling vulnerable to a climate of intolerance.
Data provided by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) shows a total of 720 Muslims, 516 Ahmedis, 238 Christians and 31 Hindus have been accused under various clauses of the blasphemy law from 1987 until 2017.
Pakistani authorities say blasphemy laws exist in many parts of the world and that all such cases in Pakistan are brought before the courts and follow due process.
Ms Bibi says in her book that the Christian community is despised and bullied and discriminated against.
But Pakistan says it attaches high importance to the protection of rights of minorities, which are guaranteed under its constitution.
Enfin Libre! By Asia Bibi is out now in French and other languages, and an English translation of the book will be available in September.
|
2fc37cc7def1098764b70ded98f5861a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51689443 | Afghan conflict: US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war | Afghan conflict: US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war
The US and the Taliban have signed an "agreement for bringing peace" to Afghanistan after more than 18 years of conflict.
The US and Nato allies have agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal.
President Trump said it had been a "long and hard journey" in Afghanistan. "It's time after all these years to bring our people back home," he said.
Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are due to follow.
Under the agreement, the militants also agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.
Speaking at the White House, Mr Trump said the Taliban had been trying to reach an agreement with the US for a long time.
He said US troops had been killing terrorists in Afghanistan "by the thousands" and now it was "time for someone else to do that work and it will be the Taliban and it could be surrounding countries".
"I really believe the Taliban wants to do something to show we're not all wasting time," Mr Trump added. "If bad things happen, we'll go back with a force like no-one's ever seen."
The US invaded Afghanistan weeks after the September 2001 attacks in New York by the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda group.
More than 2,400 US troops have been killed during the conflict. About 12,000 are still stationed in the country. President Trump has promised to put an end to the conflict.
The deal was signed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a witness.
In a speech, Mr Pompeo urged the militant group to "keep your promises to cut ties with al-Qaeda".
Mr Baradar said he hoped Afghanistan could now emerge from four decades of conflict.
"I hope that with the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan the Afghan nation under an Islamic regime will take its relief and embark on a new prosperous life," he said.
Meanwhile US Defence Secretary Mark Esper was in the Afghan capital Kabul alongside Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani - whose government did not take part in the US-Taliban talks.
Mr Esper said: "This is a hopeful moment, but it is only the beginning. The road ahead will not be easy. Achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan will require patience and compromise among all parties." He said the US would continue to support the Afghan government.
Mr Ghani said the country was "looking forward to a full ceasefire". The government said it was ready to negotiate with the Taliban.
Within the first 135 days of the deal the US will reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600, with allies also drawing down their forces proportionately.
The move would allow US President Donald Trump to show that he has brought troops home ahead of the US presidential election in November.
The deal also provides for a prisoner swap. Some 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan security force prisoners would be exchanged by 10 March, when talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are due to start.
The US will also lift sanctions against the Taliban and work with the UN to lift its separate sanctions against the group.
In Kabul, activist Zahra Husseini said she feared the deal could worsen the situation for women in Afghanistan.
"I don't trust the Taliban, and remember how they suppressed women when they were ruling," the 28-year-old told AFP.
"Today is a dark day, and as I was watching the deal being signed, I had this bad feeling that it would result in their return to power rather than in peace."
This historic deal has been years in the making, as all sides kept seeking advantage on the battlefield.
The agreement is born of America's determination to bring troops home and a recognition, at least by some Taliban, that talks are the best route to return to Kabul.
It's a significant step forward, despite deep uncertainty and scepticism over where it will lead. When the only alternative is unending war, many Afghans seem ready to take this risk for peace.
Taliban leaders say they've changed since their harsh rule of the 1990s still seared in the memory of many, and most of all Afghan women.
This process will test the Taliban, but also veteran Afghan leaders of the past, and a new generation which has come of age in the last two decades and is hoping against hope for a different future.
Since 2011, Qatar has hosted Taliban leaders who have moved there to discuss peace in Afghanistan. It has been a chequered process.
A Taliban office was opened in 2013
, and
closed the same year
amid rows over flags. Other attempts at talks stalled.
In December 2018, the militants announced they would meet US officials to try to find a "roadmap to peace". But the hard-line Islamist group continued to refuse to hold official talks with the Afghan government, whom they dismissed as American "puppets".
Following nine rounds of US-Taliban talks in Qatar, the two sides seemed close to an agreement.
Washington's top negotiator announced last September that the US would withdraw 5,400 troops from Afghanistan within 20 weeks as part of a deal agreed "in principle" with Taliban militants.
Days later, Mr Trump said the talks were "dead", after the group killed a US soldier. But within weeks the two sides resumed discussions behind the scenes.
A week ago the Taliban agreed to a "reduction of violence" - although Afghan officials say at least 22 soldiers and 14 civilians have been killed in Taliban attacks over that period.
It began when the US launched air strikes one month following the 11 September 2001 attacks and after the Taliban had refused to hand over the man behind them, Osama bin Laden.
The US was joined by an international coalition and the Taliban were quickly removed from power. However, they turned into an insurgent force and continued deadly attacks, destabilising subsequent Afghan governments.
The international coalition ended its combat mission in 2014, staying only to train Afghan forces. But the US continued its own, scaled-back combat operation, including air strikes.
The Taliban has however continued to gain momentum and in 2018 the BBC found they were active across 70% of Afghanistan.
Nearly 3,500 members of the international coalition forces have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.
The figures for Afghan civilians, militants and government forces are more difficult to quantify. In a February 2019 report, the UN said that more than 32,000 civilians had died.
The Watson Institute at Brown University
says 58,000 security personnel and 42,000 opposition combatants have been killed.
There are many reasons for this. But they include a combination of fierce Taliban resistance, the limitations of Afghan forces and governance, and other countries' reluctance to keep their troops for longer in Afghanistan.
At times over the past 18 years, the Taliban have been on the back foot. In late 2009, US President Barack Obama announced a troop "surge" that saw the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan top 100,000.
The surge helped drive the Taliban out of parts of southern Afghanistan, but it was never destined to last for years.
The BBC World Service's Dawood Azami says there are five main reasons the war is still going on now. They include:
There's also the role played by Afghanistan's neighbour, Pakistan.
There's no question the Taliban have their roots in Pakistan, and that they were able to regroup there during the US invasion. But Pakistan has denied helping or protecting them - even as the US demanded it do more to fight militants.
|
141127a813997fc76731c2747a02f559 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51691967 | Coronavirus: Nasa images show China pollution clear amid slowdown | Coronavirus: Nasa images show China pollution clear amid slowdown
Satellite images have shown a dramatic decline in pollution levels over China, which is "at least partly" due to an economic slowdown prompted by the coronavirus, US space agency Nasa says.
Nasa maps show falling levels of nitrogen dioxide this year.
It comes amid record declines in China's factory activity as manufacturers stop work in a bid to contain the coronavirus.
China has recorded nearly 80,000 cases of the virus since the outbreak began.
It has spread to more than 50 countries but the vast majority of infections and deaths are in China, where the virus originated late last year.
Nasa scientists said the reduction in levels of nitrogen dioxide - a noxious gas emitted by motor vehicles and industrial facilities - was first apparent near the source of the outbreak in Wuhan city but then spread across the country.
Nasa compared the first two months of 2019 with the same period this year.
The space agency noted that the decline in air pollution levels coincided with restriction imposed on transportation and business activities, and as millions of people went into quarantine.
"This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event," Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement.
She added that she had observed a decline in nitrogen dioxide levels during the economic recession in 2008, but said that decrease was more gradual.
Nasa noted that China's Lunar New Year celebrations in late January and early February have been linked to decreases in pollution levels in the past. But it said they normally increase once the celebrations are over.
"This year, the reduction rate is more significant than in past years and it has lasted longer," Ms Liu said.
"I am not surprised because many cities nationwide have taken measures to minimise spread of the virus."
|
3f1a9b13fa65a34c958540b3ec146fa7 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51735315 | Afghan conflict: US conducts first air strike on Taliban since deal | Afghan conflict: US conducts first air strike on Taliban since deal
The US military has conducted an air strike against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, just hours after President Donald Trump said he had had a "very good talk" with a leader of the group.
The US signed a deal with the Taliban on Saturday aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan after years of war.
But a US forces spokesman said it launched an air strike on Wednesday in response to Taliban fighters attacking Afghan forces in Helmand province.
The Taliban called for de-escalation.
In a post on Twitter, spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the group "plans to implement all parts of the agreement one after another to prevent conflict escalation".
"The opposite side should also remove the obstacles in implementing all parts of the agreement so the way is paved for comprehensive peace and for the Afghans to have their basic rights," he added.
It was not clear if there were any casualties.
Wednesday's strike was the first by the US against the Taliban in 11 days, when a reduction in violence agreement began between the two sides in the lead-up to Saturday's pact.
In a statement on Twitter, Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan, said it was a "defensive strike" to disrupt an attack on an Afghan National Security Forces checkpoint.
The spokesman added that the US was still "committed to peace" but had a responsibility to defend its Afghan partners. He said Afghans and the US had complied with their side of the agreement, while the Taliban appeared intent on "squandering" the opportunity.
On Tuesday alone, he said, the Taliban had launched 43 attacks on checkpoints belonging to Afghan forces in Helmand.
"We call on the Taliban to stop needless attacks and uphold their commitments. As we have demonstrated, we will defend our partners when required," he wrote.
The Taliban has so far declined to confirm or deny responsibility for any of the attacks.
Secunder Kermani, Pakistan/Afghanistan correspondent
US and Afghan officials had both said they expected the partial truce or "reduction in violence" that led up to the agreement in Doha would continue afterwards. But the text of the agreement makes no mention of this. That ambiguity seems partly responsible for the confusing situation developing on the ground.
The current spate of attacks by the Taliban could be seen as an attempt by the insurgents to pressurise the Afghan government into releasing thousands of their prisoners. They're demanding that before beginning "intra-Afghan" talks with the government and other Afghan political leaders. But so far President Ashraf Ghani has refused to agree to this.
However, it's also possible that the Taliban plan to continue fighting throughout the "intra-Afghan talks" in order to improve their negotiating position, and to keep their fighters mobilised.
On Saturday the US and the Taliban signed an "agreement for bringing peace" to Afghanistan after more than 18 years of conflict.
The US and its Nato allies agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants upheld the deal.
But violence surged in Afghanistan just days after the agreement was signed, with the Taliban ending a partial truce and resuming fighting with Afghan government troops.
Central to the obstacles facing the deal is the disagreement over prisoner swaps.
Under the accord, some 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan security force prisoners are meant to be exchanged by 10 March, when talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are due to start.
But Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that his government had agreed to no such release. And on Monday the militants said talks would not take place if their prisoners were not released first.
Although the US-Taliban deal provides for the prisoner swap, a separate US-Afghan declaration commits the government in Kabul only to participating in talks on the "feasibility" of such a release.
Following reports of numerous Taliban attacks on Tuesday, Mr Trump shared a phone call with a leader of the group, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, about keeping peace efforts on track.
The US president said it was a "very good talk", while the Taliban said Mr Trump had pledged to ask his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to talk with Mr Ghani to make sure negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban went ahead as planned.
The Taliban have previously refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, so Saturday's deal was just with the US.
The US attacked Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, whom they said were harbouring Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban were removed from power but became an insurgent force that by 2018 was active in more than two-thirds of the country.
|
418f6222cd7c2ff75195ee250b6e8377 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51766602 | Kabul attack: Abdullah Abdullah escapes deadly attack | Kabul attack: Abdullah Abdullah escapes deadly attack
Gunmen have killed at least 32 people during a ceremony attended by top Afghan politicians in Kabul.
The country's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, escaped unharmed, but dozens of others were wounded.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. It targeted the same event, which commemorates the death of an Afghan Shia leader, in 2019.
The attack was the first major one in Kabul since a deal was signed between the US and the Taliban last Saturday.
That agreement aims to bring peace to Afghanistan. However, IS were not involved in negotiations.
The ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of ethnic Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari's death at the hands of the Taliban was being broadcast live, and people were seen fleeing as the sound of gunfire rang out.
The shots were fired from a nearby building under construction, police say.
About 60 people were injured, according to government officials.
Special forces rushed to the scene. The two attackers have now been killed, according to the interior ministry.
This was the first major attack on the capital since the deal between the US and Taliban was agreed last Saturday.
Under the terms of the agreement, the US and its Nato allies will withdraw their troops within 14 months. In return, the Taliban will hold talks with the Afghan government.
The militants also agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.
The US invaded Afghanistan weeks after the September 2001 attacks in New York by the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda group.
More than 2,400 US troops have been killed during the conflict. About 12,000 are still stationed in the country. President Trump has promised to put an end to the conflict.
|
31f9f558bb711bc5ed00d6bfbb3bec53 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51836898 | Coronavirus in South Korea: How 'trace, test and treat' may be saving lives | Coronavirus in South Korea: How 'trace, test and treat' may be saving lives
In a car park behind a hospital in Seoul, 45-year-old Rachel Kim rolls down her car window and sticks out her tongue. She travelled to Daegu last week, the area with the highest number of coronavirus cases in South Korea.
Now she's developed a bad cough and a fever. Fearing the worst, she decided to get a Covid-19 test at one of the dozens of drive-through centres. Two people dressed head-to-toe in white protective clothing, clear goggles and surgical face masks are ready for her.
A long swab stick is rummaged around the back of her mouth and throat and then placed carefully into a long test tube.
Then comes the tough bit. The swab goes right up her nose. She screws up her eyes in discomfort, but the whole thing is over in minutes. She rolls up her car window and off she drives. She will get a call if the result is positive, or a text if it's negative.
Nearly 20,000 people are being tested every day for coronavirus in South Korea, more people per capita than anywhere else in the world.
Rachel's sample is quickly shipped off to a nearby laboratory where staff are working 24 hours a day to process the results.
In the battle to contain the contagion, these labs have become the front line. South Korea has created a network of 96 public and private laboratories to test for coronavirus.
Health officials believe this approach may be saving lives. The fatality rate for coronavirus in South Korea is 0.7%. Globally the World Health Organization has reported 3.4% - but scientists estimate that the death rate is lower because not all cases are reported.
I turned up at Green Cross laboratories just outside Seoul as a new batch of samples arrived to be tested. Dr Oh Yejin gave us a tour until she stopped at a door and made it clear we were not allowed through.
"The tests are carried out in this negative pressure room," she told me. "It prevents any droplets from the samples escaping."
Inside, two doctors in bright yellow protective clothing are moving around the sealed room. They lift up a number of test tubes and get to work.
Beside us dozens of machines are whirring away and processing results. These are PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests - in very basic terms it is searching for the presence of Covid-19 in the sample.
The whole process from test tube to test result is about five to six hours.
Professor Gye Cheol Kwon, the chairman of the Laboratory Medicine Foundation, calls this the Korean "bali bali" gene. Bali means quick in Korean. He says this because the South Koreans managed to design and create a test, set up a network of labs across the country and get it all to work in 17 days.
But this has come from bitter experience.
"We learned the risk of new infection and its ramifications from the experience of the Middle East Respiratory syndrome (Mers) back in 2015," he told me. Thirty-six people died in South Korea during the Mers outbreak.
It forced the country to reassess its approach to infectious diseases. South Korea's Centres for Disease Control even set up a special department to prepare for the worst. In this case, that preparation appears to have paid off.
"I think that early patient detection with accurate tests followed by isolation can lower the mortality rate and prevent the virus from spreading," said Prof Kwon. "To learn from the past and prepare systems in advance… that might be the true power to overcome this new kind of disaster."
It had been quite quiet for the team at Green Cross until early February when a patient - now known in South Korea as "patient 31" - with no known history of travel and no contact with previous cases tested positive for the virus.
She belonged to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious sect with over 200,000 members. It led to a race to find the source of the outbreak and trace everyone affected. South Korea's labs were put to the test. Fatigue among staff has been an issue. Now they work shifts and Dr Oh tells me, delightedly, that she is finally able to get some sleep.
There is no shortage of testing kits in South Korea. Four companies have been given approval to make them. It means the country has the capacity to test 140,000 samples a week.
Prof Kwon believes the accuracy of South Korea's Covid-19 test is around 98%. The ability to test so many people has made the country a role model as others look to battle their own coronavirus outbreaks.
But there have been missteps too.
At least two patients died waiting for a hospital bed in Daegu, the worst affected city. The initial reaction was to quarantine everyone infected with the virus in a hospital bed, but now the doctors have learned to treat those with mild symptoms in residential centres and leave the clinical beds for those needing critical care.
"We can't quarantine and treat all patients. Those who have mild symptoms should stay home and get treated," Dr Kim Yeon-Jae, an infectious disease specialist from the Korea National Medical Centre told me.
"We should change our end goal strategy to lower death rates. So other countries like Italy, that see huge numbers in patients, should also change their strategies as well."
Wherever the virus hits in large numbers - makeshift test centres follow.
This week in Seoul, there was a mass infection at a call centre. Medics set up outside and quickly took swabs from hundreds of staff in the building.
The blood of recovered patients is also being monitored and analysed. Scientists have developed a "unique" protein that can detect antibodies - the hope is that it will help create a vaccine in the future.
One of the former patients undergoing weekly blood tests is Mr Lee. (He did not wish to give his first name). He was working in Wuhan, China in December when the virus struck the city. He was flown home by the South Korean government and tested positive for Covid-19 while in quarantine near Seoul.
His mum was upset.
"People around me were very worried," he said. "I heard my mum cried every night."
But she did not need to worry. The 28-year-old only had a mild case of the virus.
"I felt fine and almost had no symptoms. Just a little cough. Speaking from my own experience, it's really important to still be cautious and safe, but I wish people would have less fear of the virus itself.
"For me at least, the virus felt weaker than a regular cold. I know those who are older need to be careful. But for young people like me who are healthy, they shouldn't be too worried. Of course, it is important to take preventive measures though."
The preventative measures being taken in South Korea have so far involved no lockdowns, no roadblocks and no restriction on movement.
Trace, test and treat is the mantra. So far this country of over 50 million people have been doing their bit to help. Schools remain closed, offices are encouraging people to work from home, large gatherings have stopped.
However, slowly, day by day, more people are creeping back onto the streets of the capital city, Seoul. Restaurants, buses and subways are beginning to get busy again.
Dealing with the threat of coronavirus is the new normal. Most people wear masks (if they can get hold of one). There are thermal imaging cameras in the entrances to major buildings.
Bottles of hand sanitisers have been placed in lifts. There are even people dressed in costumes at subway entrances reminding you to wash your hands.
This may be the new normal for South Korea and elsewhere. But health officials are still on edge and warning there is no room for complacency. One large outbreak at a church, office, exercise class or apartment block can change everything.
And as for Rachel Kim, she got a text the day after her test. She doesn't have coronavirus. But she's glad she got tested.
"Better to know", she said, "and that way I am not a danger to others."
|
0be08906ebe9b40cdce98a337efebb5d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51866342 | Mount Everest: Nepal's government shuts off mountain amid virus outbreak | Mount Everest: Nepal's government shuts off mountain amid virus outbreak
Mount Everest has shut down for the rest of the expedition season because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Nepal's government announced that it would cancel all climbing permits from 14 March until 30 April.
China had already cancelled expeditions from the northern, Chinese-controlled, side of the mountain.
According to the Kathmandu Post, Nepal earns $4m (£3.1m) by issuing Everest climbing permits every year, aside from wider tourism revenue.
"We have decided to halt all tourist visas until 30 April," said Narayan Prasad Bidari, Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office.
"As of now, all issued permits and permits yet to be issued for the 2020 Everest season will be cancelled."
It also advised foreigners who were unable to avoid coming to Nepal from 14 March to stay in quarantine for 14 days.
Most climbers come from the US, India, China, UK, Japan, and South Korea - and are a major source of revenue for the Nepalese government.
Typically, anyone who wants to climb Everest needs to pay the government $11,000 (£8,700), though there were talks by the government to raise this figure.
And that's not including fees that are typically paid to the travel companies, which can also run up tens of thousands.
Local sherpas who work as mountain guides will also be affected.
"My nine Chinese clients and a Japanese client have cancelled already. Many trekking teams are not coming, which is a big loss for sherpas like us who make most of our money during this time," Lakpa Sherpa, managing director of Pioneer Adventure, told BBC Nepali.
There is currently one confirmed virus case in Nepal, but the country borders India which has more than 70 cases.
Nepal's government has asked its citizens to avoid mass gatherings including marriages and public functions.
More than 125,000 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in 118 countries around the world, according to the World Health Organization. The total number of deaths is more than 4,600.
|
d867b14288430d3a6046cbee367e5e8d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51903289 | Satoshi Uematsu: Japanese man who killed 19 disabled people sentenced to death | Satoshi Uematsu: Japanese man who killed 19 disabled people sentenced to death
A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for a stabbing rampage in 2016 which resulted in the death of 19 disabled people at a care home.
Satoshi Uematsu said people with disabilities who were unable to communicate well had no human rights, said broadcaster Kyodo.
The 30-year old had once worked in the care facility, located near Tokyo.
The case is one of Japan's worst mass killings and has shocked people in a country where violent crime is rare.
In an earlier interview with Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, Uematsu had said there was "no point in living" for people with mental disabilities and that he "had to do it for the sake of society".
The Yokohama District Court on Monday ordered him to death by hanging.
Uematsu previously said he did not plan to appeal against any verdict or sentence.
During the trial earlier this year, the former employee of the Sagamihara care home did not dispute that he stabbed his victims.
But his defence team pleaded not guilty, citing their client's mental state. They said he had been under the influence of drugs at the time.
"He abused marijuana and suffered from mental illness," his lawyer said.
"He was in a condition in which either he had no capacity to take responsibility or such a capacity was significantly weakened."
There were traces of marijuana found in his blood after the attack.
Prosecutors though insisted Uematsu was mentally competent and that the rampage was "inhumane" and left "no room for leniency".
The attack has also raised the issue of how disabled people are treated in Japan.
The identities of most of those killed have not been revealed by their families, reportedly because some do not want to reveal they had a disabled relative.
Before the start of the court hearing, however, one mother whose 19-year old daughter was killed in the attack revealed that her first name was Miho.
"Even the most extreme penalty is light for you," the mother said according to public broadcaster NHK. "I will never forgive you."
"Please bring back my most precious daughter... you're still alive. It's not fair. It's wrong. I demand capital punishment," she added.
On 26 July 2016, Mr Uematsu drove to the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care facility outside of Tokyo, armed with several knives.
He entered one of the buildings by breaking a window and began attacking sleeping residents one by one in their rooms, according to the prosecution.
His 19 victims were aged between 19 and 70, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo. Another 25 people were wounded, 20 of them seriously.
Soon after the attack, Mr Uematsu handed himself in at a police station.
The facility, set in extensive grounds, had about 150 residents at the time of the attack, according to local officials. Nine staff members were on duty at the time.
It later emerged that a few months before the attack Mr Uematsu had taken a letter to Japan's parliament saying he would kill 470 severely disabled people if authorised.
"I want Japan to be a country where the disabled can be euthanised," he said.
He was subsequently taken to hospital but released after two weeks. Since his arrest, he had shown no remorse.
|
d16327ebdc3f575f2f09f650de83d429 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51938035 | China to restrict US journalists from three major newspapers | China to restrict US journalists from three major newspapers
China has effectively expelled journalists from three US newspapers in retaliation for restrictions on its news outlets in the US.
Its foreign ministry ordered reporters from the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal to return media passes within 10 days.
The papers criticised the move, which will affect at least 13 reporters.
The Times said it was a mistake for China to cut itself off, while the WSJ called it an attack on press freedom.
"We unequivocally condemn any action by China to expel US reporters," said Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron. He said the decision was particularly regrettable because it came during the global crisis over the coronavirus.
At a press briefing in Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman called the move a legitimate response to the restrictions placed on Chinese journalists in the US.
China's action is part of a swiftly escalating row between Beijing and Washington, and correspondents say the departure of the reporters will have a major impact on what the world knows about China as they do some of the most in-depth reporting about the country.
The measures were in response to "unwarranted restrictions on Chinese media agencies" in the US, the foreign ministry said.
It also demanded information about the papers' operations in China.
China's action also prohibits the newspapers' journalists from working in the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau, where there is greater press freedom than on the mainland.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed limits on the number of Chinese citizens who could work as journalists in the US – the latest move in a tit-for-tat row over press freedoms.
“What the US has done is exclusively targeting Chinese media organisations, and hence driven by a Cold War mentality and ideological bias,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Beijing to reconsider its decision, calling the move “unfortunate”.
“I regret China’s decision today to further foreclose the world’s ability to conduct the free press operations that, frankly, would be really good for the Chinese people in these incredibly challenging global times where more information, more transparency, are what will save lives,” Mr Pompeo said.
Zhaoyin Feng, BBC Chinese
All foreign correspondents in China are required to renew their press credentials annually, which usually happens at the year end.
This means most American reporters of the three US major publications have an expiring visa and will need to leave China under the new rules. We don't know the exact number of affected journalists yet, but it's believed to be close to a dozen.
The expulsions will lead to a major personnel loss in these three media organisations' China operation, especially for the Wall Street Journal, which had already seen three reporters expelled from China last month.
Critics say it's an even greater loss for China, as the draconian measures come at a time when the country and the rest of the world need high-quality journalism on China more than ever.
It's still unclear whether the US publications can send new correspondents, American citizens or not, to fill in the positions in China.
In the midst of a dangerous pandemic, the world's two superpowers are locked in an escalating war with multiple fronts. By fighting over media, the origin of the coronavirus, and technology and trade, the US and China are competing to prove the superiority of their own political model.
At the beginning of March, the US state department said five media outlets, including China's official news agency Xinhua, would be required to reduce their total number of staff to 100 from 160.
The move was seen as retaliation for China's expulsion of two US journalists for the Wall Street Journal over a coronavirus editorial in February.
The row over media access is the latest episode in an increasingly acrimonious dispute between China and the US.
Disagreements over trade, intellectual property rights and 5G networks have damaged relations in recent years.
The coronavirus pandemic has been a source of tension too, with Washington and Beijing both accusing each other of spreading misinformation.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump angered China by referring to the coronavirus as “Chinese”.
A foreign ministry spokesman accused the US of stigmatising China, where the first cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.
However, last week a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman shared an unfounded conspiracy theory, alleging the US Army had brought the virus to the region.
The unfounded accusation led Mr Pompeo to demand China stop spreading “disinformation” as it tried “to shift blame” for the outbreak.
|
0de8a9770c931aee06874df31cd3a0ad | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51939911 | Coronavirus: Asian nations face virus battle amid WHO warning | Coronavirus: Asian nations face virus battle amid WHO warning
Many Asian nations are facing an increasing battle to stem the spread of coronavirus, amid a World Health Organization warning that some needed to take "aggressive measures".
Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines are among nations imposing strict border controls.
Cases in the South Asian subcontinent are still below 500 but there are fears a spike could overwhelm health systems.
There are 185,000 cases globally, with 7,500 confirmed deaths.
Some nations and territories that had seen success in controlling the virus or slowing its arrival, including South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, have seen new spikes, amid fears people returning from abroad are importing the virus.
Asian stocks have continued to fall
as worries about the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes that major stimulus plans would ease the impact of the outbreak.
It was issued for the organisation's South East Asia region, although this contains 11 nations spread widely, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh and North Korea.
Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of the WHO South East Asia region, said on Tuesday that "more clusters of virus transmission are being confirmed".
"We need to immediately scale up all efforts to prevent the virus from infecting more people," Dr Khetrapal Singh said. "We clearly need to do more, and urgently."
The WHO said the numbers in its South East Asia region showed that "some countries are clearly heading towards community transmission of Covid-19".
It called for continued efforts to "detect, test, treat, isolate and trace contacts".
Dr Khetrapal Singh said "practising social distancing [could] not be emphasised enough... this alone has the potential to substantially reduce transmission".
"We need to act now," she said.
Many regional countries inside and outside the WHO's definition of South East Asia have had a slow response to the outbreak, only taking drastic measures in recent weeks or days as the number of cases continue to grow.
Almost all nations are seeing increases, although the rates vary widely.
China still has the highest number of confirmed cases, with more than 80,000, but its new infections are almost exclusively from people arriving from abroad and are very low.
South Korea has also been praised for its attempts to control the virus and its 8,413 cases have seen it fall below Germany to sixth in
the running list of cases compiled by Johns Hopkins University
.
It has been ahead of other nations by testing thousands of people and had seen a downward trend in new infections.
But there are now small clusters breaking out across the country, with 93 more cases in the past 24 hours. Dozens of sick and elderly patients in a hospital in Daegu were infected.
Taiwan announced its largest single-day increase in new cases - 23 - bringing the total to 100.
The trend was mirrored in Hong Kong - 14 cases in a single day is the highest in the territory, all but one brought in from abroad.
Indonesia on Wednesday also announced its biggest daily rise, 55 more cases taking the total to 227, with 19 deaths.
Pakistan's cases have now risen to 245, with the total of reported cases for the South Asian subcontinent reaching 482.
Thailand reported 35 new cases on Wednesday, taking its total infections to 212, officials said. Four of the cases were linked to an entertainment venue and 13 to a boxing bout, both in Bangkok.
Malaysia has warned of a fresh spike in cases, saying there is only a "slim chance" of breaking the chain of infections.
A mass Muslim gathering last month is linked to nearly two-thirds of its infections and thousands of attendees are yet to be tested.
Myanmar and Laos have both not reported any cases - though experts have seriously doubted the credibility of this.
A spokesperson for Myanmar's government claimed that people's "lifestyle and diet" had protected them from the virus. But it has imposed restrictions on arrivals and the UK government is now advising against all but essential travel there.
There are also no reported cases of the virus in Timor-Leste.
From Wednesday, Malaysia is preventing citizens from travelling overseas and visitors from entering until 31 March at least.
Many Malaysians who commute to work in Singapore had to queue to cross the border before the midnight deadline, and will have to stay there.
Streets in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur were largely empty and supermarket chains are enforcing limits on purchases of staples.
Thailand has closed schools, bars, cinemas and other entertainment centres.
The Philippines, which has 202 cases and 17 deaths, has imposed some of the toughest movement controls, effectively quarantining about half of its 107 million population.
But it reversed a decision to ban all international flights, and foreign nationals may now fly out, although arrivals will face strict quarantine protocols.
Taiwan will on Thursday ban foreigners from entering, apart from in some exceptional cases. Everyone arriving, including Taiwanese, will have to go into quarantine for 14 days.
Japanese media report that visas issued to European travellers will be invalidated and people arriving from 38 nations will have to self-quarantine.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan urged calm in a TV address, saying: "There is no need to worry. We will fight this as a nation. And God-willing, we will win this war."
From the weekend, all air passengers arriving in Pakistan from abroad will need to show a certificate declaring them free of coronavirus.
Sri Lanka is banning all incoming flights for two weeks from Wednesday and will apply price controls on staple products.
Nepal is banning arrivals from a number of countries, include all European.
India, which Johns Hopkins says has 142 cases, has shut nearly two dozen long distance train services.
Indonesia has unveiled an $8bn (£6.6bn) stimulus package to boost economic growth, including tax breaks, and police have ordered shops to ration purchases of staple foods amid reports of panic buying.
President Joko Widodo admitted recently that he had deliberately held back information about the spread of the virus to prevent panic.
A 57-year-old man in Japan who had threatened to "scatter" his disease after testing positive has reportedly died.
|
56d36155a3983f72bee01392d33eb176 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51955148 | New Zealand passes law decriminalising abortion | New Zealand passes law decriminalising abortion
New Zealand's parliament has passed a bill decriminalising abortion and allowing women to choose a termination up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy.
Voting to remove the procedure from the country's Crimes Act changes a law that has been in force since 1977.
Previously, two doctors were required to approve an abortion - and this could only happen if there was a "serious danger" to the pregnant woman's health.
The bill passed on its third reading by 68 votes to 51.
An earlier plan to put the issue to a public referendum was abandoned during the proceedings.
"From now abortions will be rightly treated as a health issue," Justice Minister Andrew Little said in a statement following the vote on Wednesday.
"The previous law required a woman seeking an abortion to go through many hoops," he said, adding: "The changes agreed to by parliament will better ensure women get advice and treatment in a more timely way."
For more than 40 years, abortion was the only medical procedure considered a crime in New Zealand - unless it was performed under exceptional circumstances.
The legislative vote in parliament was labelled a "conscience issue", meaning that MPs did not have to vote along party lines.
The reform bill, issued by Jacinda Ardern's government, means that a woman no longer has to be assessed by a health practitioner for mental or physical wellbeing before 20 weeks.
Women would be able to refer themselves to an abortion service provider and would have to be made aware of counselling services.
|
c9679ead6c50e8f5e7d6f383def51f59 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51970379 | Coronavirus: What could the West learn from Asia? | Coronavirus: What could the West learn from Asia?
The number of coronavirus cases in the West is skyrocketing, and countries have announced drastic measures, including school closures and lockdowns.
The outbreak hit many countries in Asia several weeks earlier - and some places have been praised for containing the number of infections. For example, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan all kept case numbers relatively low - despite their proximity to mainland China.
What did they do differently - and are there any lessons for other countries?
Health experts agree on the same measures for containing the outbreak - test widely, isolate those infected, and encourage social distancing. Such measures are being adopted to varying degrees in the West now - but a key difference is that many countries didn't act as quickly.
"The UK and US lost an opportunity," says Tikki Pangestu, a former director of research policy at the World Health Organization (WHO). "They had two months from what happened in China, yet there was this perception that 'China is very far away and nothing's going to happen'."
China first reported cases of "mysterious Sars-like pneumonia" to the WHO on 31 December. At this point there was no confirmed human-to-human transmission, and little was known about the virus, but within three days Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong had all stepped up screening at border points - Taiwan even checked passengers on flights from Wuhan before they got off the plane.
As scientists learned more about the virus, it became apparent that people without symptoms could still be contagious. So testing would be crucial.
Cases in South Korea spiked initially. However, it swiftly developed a test for the virus - and
has now tested more than 290,000 people
. It conducts about 10,000 tests daily for free.
"The way they stepped up and screened the population was really remarkable," says Ooi Eng Eong, a professor in emerging infectious diseases at the National University of Singapore.
South Korea had a rapid approvals system in place for infectious disease tests, following an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory syndrome in 2015 that left 35 dead.
By contrast, testing in the US was delayed - initial test kits were faulty, and private laboratories found it hard to get their tests approved. Many people struggled to get a test, and they were expensive. Eventually, free testing for everyone was passed in law.
Meanwhile, the UK has said that only those in hospital will be routinely tested. That makes it harder to identify cases with milder symptoms.
Prof Pangestu recognises that in some countries there aren't enough test kits. However, he describes extensive testing as "the most important priority", adding that "testing those who are symptomatic but not necessarily hospitalised and still spreading the virus is perhaps even more important".
It's not enough to just test those with symptoms - tracing those with whom they were in contact has been key.
In Singapore, detectives have contact-traced more than 6,000 people - locating individuals with CCTV footage, testing them, and ordering them to self-isolate until their results are clear. In Hong Kong, contact tracing goes back to two days before someone develops symptoms.
They have also adopted intrusive ways of ensuring that those ordered to self-isolate actually stay at home. In Hong Kong, new arrivals from abroad are required to wear electronic bracelets to track their movements, while in Singapore those self-isolating are contacted several times a day, and required to send photographic proof of their whereabouts.
Singapore has hefty penalties - including jail terms - for anyone who breaks a "stay at home" order. It stripped one offender of his residency rights.
Many countries in the West will find it hard to adopt such measures due to their larger populations, and greater civil liberties.
"We can do what we did because we're small," says Prof Ooi. "To replicate what we're doing in its entirety would not make sense, it has to be adapted to suit each country."
Social distancing is considered one of the best ways of containing an outbreak.
But the later the measures are introduced, the more extreme they need to be to work. In Wuhan, China, where the virus is thought to have started, five million people had left the city before the shutdown began. This led to the government imposing the biggest quarantine in human history.
Both Italy and Spain were forced to introduce national lockdowns after their case numbers rose to the thousands. New York and California have ordered residents to stay at home, except for essential trips like buying groceries.
By contrast, schools are still running in Singapore, although large public gatherings have been cancelled. In Hong Kong, schools have been closed and workers encouraged to work from home - but restaurants and bars remain open.
Prof Ooi believes the difference is down to how quick governments were to implement social distancing.
"By the time a lot of countries had stepped up control measures, the number of cases was so large" that drastic steps were needed, he says.
Social distancing is affected by government decisions to ban gatherings or close schools, but it also depends on people being willing to take part. That's why public messaging - and individual attitudes - matter.
"Unless you get the co-operation of the public, your policies may not be adhered to, and enforcement only goes so far," says Prof Pangestu. "The important thing is to show that policies are based on scientific evidence."
China came under fire for being slow to acknowledge the outbreak. It allowed a large political gathering to take place in Wuhan even as concerns grew. The authorities also punished doctors who tried to warn others - sparking fury after one died from the virus.
It has since been praised for effectively slowing the spread of the virus, after imposing a massive lockdown and upscaling its hospital capacity. But critics say such extreme measures were only required because its initial response was slow.
In the US, President Donald Trump has often contradicted health officials about the severity of the outbreak and the number of test kits available. The government has also been unable to provide information on the number of people who have been tested, as many private laboratories have not been feeding data to the CDC.
"Outbreak response involves being transparent - that stops people panicking and hoarding things," says Prof Ooi.
Some governments have used technology to update residents in great detail. Hong Kong provides an online dashboard of all cases - which includes a map that shows the individual buildings where cases were found. South Korea issues mobile alerts letting people know if they were in the vicinity of a patient.
In Singapore, the government has been praised for its clear communications on coronavirus, including a speech by the prime minister which encouraged people to stop panic buying. Its measures have had widespread public support - helped by the fact Singapore has a long history of emphasising collective responsibility for national security. And Singaporean media does not tend to challenge the official line.
It's far too simplistic to say, as some have, that Asians are more likely to comply with government orders. In Hong Kong, public trust in the government is low - and there have been months of anti-government protests. But, in one of the densest cities in the world,
many have voluntarily socially distanced themselves
- with some even avoiding Lunar New Year gatherings, the equivalent of skipping Christmas events.
Prof Pangestu believes that while Hong Kongers do not trust the government, "they are very proud of Hong Kong, and see the outbreak as a threat to [the territory's] identity".
Meanwhile, Karin Huster, a Seattle-based nurse and emergency field co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders, spent a month in Hong Kong working on coronavirus training. She noticed many there had a strong "individual sense of responsibility" because they remembered the 2003 Sars outbreak that hit the territory particularly hard.
That's also seen in the prevalent use of masks in part of Asia, which Ms Huster says is seen as a sign of "respect towards others".
She noticed that occasionally people would avoid getting into a lift with her because she was not wearing a mask. By contrast,
in much of the West, people have specifically been told not to wear masks
unless they are ill, and many Asians have experienced harassment while wearing one.
Experts in Asia agree that masks are far less effective than measures like hand washing, and that where supplies are limited, they should be left for healthcare workers. But there are different opinions over whether wearing a mask is worthwhile.
Benjamin Cowling, an epidemiology professor at the University of Hong Kong, argues: "Masks are not a magic bullet against coronavirus… but if everybody wears face masks, it probably can help, along with all the other measures [like hand washing and social distancing], to reduce transmission.
"The evidence base is quite thin, but we presume they have some effect, because that's the protection we give to healthcare workers."
When it comes to social distancing, Ms Huster says: "I think in America, people are so individualistic - it's going to be a little harder for us to sacrifice our 'freedom'."
She previously worked on the Ebola outbreak, where people were also required to wash hands more frequently and socially distance, and says the biggest challenge "was making people understand the need to change the way they were doing things".
Experts believe the more aggressive measures being put in place in Western countries will successfully slow the rate of transmissions over time. But, to get a sense of their next challenge after that, they could also look ahead to Asia. Despite having contained the virus,
China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong are now facing a second coronavirus wave
, fuelled by people entering their borders.
And it's not clear how long this outbreak could go on for.
Prof Ooi is optimistic, as new infection numbers started falling within two to three weeks of lockdown in Hubei province. While China's shutdown was "drastic", he believes countries with softer measures should also be able to contain the outbreak within weeks.
"It should serve as inspiration for other countries right now - it's painful but it can be done."
By contrast, Prof Cowling worries that if a lockdown ends too early, local transmissions could start again.
"I don't know if social distancing can be sustained for the kind of time they need to be sustained. We can't really relax until there's a vaccine - which could take about 18 months," but "people in Hong Kong are already a bit tired after two months."
"Prolonged lockdowns are damaging for the economy, while an epidemic is damaging to public health… there's not a lot of good choices."
|
836ca9c91f84857ea5a17da6851333ed | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51984344 | North Korea fires two projectiles into sea | North Korea fires two projectiles into sea
North Korea has fired two projectiles into the sea, according to South Korea's military.
It said the projectiles appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles.
They were launched early on Saturday from Pyongan province towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
North Korea launched multiple missiles as part of firing drills earlier this month. The US and China have called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes.
On Saturday, South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff said it was monitoring the situation in case there are additional launches.
It described the actions as "extremely inappropriate" at a time when the world was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The projectiles flew for 410km (255 miles) with a maximum altitude of around 50km, the South Korean military said.
Japan's coast guard confirmed a missile had landed outside the waters of its exclusive economic zone.
It comes as North Korea announced it would be holding a session of the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's parliament, on 10 April. Analysts say the meeting will involve almost 700 of the country's leaders in one spot.
Rachel Minyoung Lee, from North Korea monitoring website NK News said on Twitter that the meeting would "be the ultimate show of (North Korea's) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation".
There have been no reported cases of coronavirus in North Korea, though some experts have cast doubt on this.
North Korea borders China, where the virus emerged, and South Korea, where there has been a major outbreak.
A top US military official said last week he was "fairly certain" there were infections in North Korea.
North Korea quarantined around 380 foreigners - mostly diplomats and staff in Pyongyang - in their compounds for at least 30 days. The restrictions were lifted at the beginning of March. Around 80 foreigners, mainly diplomats, were
flown out of the capital on 9 March
.
|
b9c8f26f5b72304a188f72f9ab65f340 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52001837 | Coronavirus: South Korea reports lowest number of new cases in four weeks | Coronavirus: South Korea reports lowest number of new cases in four weeks
South Korea has reported the lowest number of new coronavirus cases since infection rates peaked four weeks ago, fuelling hope Asia's worst outbreak outside China may be abating.
The country recorded 64 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8,961 with 111 deaths.
But health officials warn against complacency, saying the country still faces a long war against the infection.
Europe is currently at the centre of the pandemic.
Italy reported 651 new deaths on Sunday,
bringing the total there to 5,476, while Spain added another 462 deaths in the past 24 hours for a total of 2,182.
In New York, the city mayor warned of a worsening outbreak
, with damage accelerated by shortages of key medical supplies.
And the expectation that the battle against the virus will be a long one was reinforced by news from Japan that its prime minister has admitted for the first time that
the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games could be postponed
.
Nearly 20,000 people are tested every day for coronavirus in South Korea, more people per capita than anywhere else in the world.
The country has created a network of public and private laboratories and provides dozens of drive-through centres where people with symptoms can check their health status.
South Korea developed its approach after an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) in 2015, when 36 people died in the country, which had the second-largest number of Mers cases after Saudi Arabia.
Mers forced the country to reassess its approach to infectious diseases and its Centres for Disease Control set up a special department to prepare for the worst, a move which appears to have paid off.
Laws on managing and publicly sharing information on patients with infectious diseases changed significantly after Mers and could be seen in action this year when the government used phone alerts to tell people if they were in the vicinity of a patient.
This weekend, the government stepped up preventative action by sending out emergency alerts urging people to stay away from places which encourage mass gatherings such as churches, karaoke rooms, nightclubs and gyms.
It also asked religious leaders to check the temperature of followers and keep them at least two metres apart during any services they deemed necessary.
A number of churches are now facing legal action after violating the guidelines.
The country has seen two waves of infections
, Yonhap news agency reports, the first beginning on 20 January with the first confirmed case, and the second with mass infections among a religious group.
Now there are fears that imported cases could fuel a third wave.
The government plans to install around 20 phone booth-style test facilities inside Incheon Airport to speed up the process of testing all arrivals from Europe.
The new entry procedures started on Sunday. So far 152 people have arrived in the country showing symptoms of the virus and they are awaiting their test results.
South Korea is at a critical juncture. Yes the aggressive use of technology to trace the virus and the mass testing of all who've been in contact with the infection appears to be a strategy that has worked but the question doctors across the country are asking themselves is - what comes next?
The aim is to reopen schools in two weeks' time. That is why the government is sending out urgent messages calling on the population to maintain social distance measures for the next 15 days to avoid any spike in infections. Spring has arrived and people are eager to enjoy themselves. The sense of solidarity that this is a battle to be won together is crumbling slightly. Health officials are hoping the stark warning that this is a prolonged war will encourage them to hold the line and stay away from mass gatherings.
Doctors, meanwhile, are discussing the next possible steps. The trace, test, treat approach will continue. But it will also need to be thought through. For instance, what happens when classrooms become infected? Do they isolate the entire school? Shut down all schools again? Continue to disrupt normal life?
At a press conference, the head of the National Medical Committee, Dr Oh Myoung-don, told reporters there could be another spike in infections once schools re-opened. He is also concerned about a possible resurgence of the virus this coming winter. He raised the possibility that it may be time to allow part of the population to get sick. The "herd immunity" theory. He acknowledges the risk but also believes now is the time to be having these conversations and warn the public.
The paradox of South Korea's success is that having worked so hard to lower infection rates, their medics have to keep going. It's a bit like climbing a steep mountain without knowing how high the peak will be or what obstacles may be in the way. The dire situation in Europe also has many here anxious that if they let up just a little, that too could be their fate.
What's happening elsewhere?
|
01a9488f42922644ad77f951c91d23cb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52013572 | British travellers stranded in New Zealand and Australia | British travellers stranded in New Zealand and Australia
British travellers in Australia and New Zealand are calling for help to get home - as travel lockdowns mean hardly any normal flights remain.
In New Zealand, international travel is closing down - sparking panic among British visitors who fear they are stranded.
Some of the affected have told the BBC they feel they've been "abandoned" after struggling to get official help.
Many have urged the UK government to send chartered flights.
The travellers' problems have been compounded by Singapore - a common transit point - closing its borders to all visitors.
New Zealand will enter a full lockdown from the end of Wednesday, when only essential services will be open.
UK officials in the nation told the BBC they are "in touch daily" with the travel industry. On Tuesday, they advised British people to register their details online.
"We recognise how stressful this situation is to the Brits who have had their New Zealand plans upended by this pandemic," said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
According to an online database started by a British woman in New Zealand and viewed by the BBC, more than 1,000 British nationals have registered for help, with the majority in Auckland and Christchurch.
Lara Suleyman, from Kent, started the list on Monday, after sharing a plea on Facebook to connect with other stranded citizens.
She told the BBC she has since been contacted by holiday makers, backpackers, students, those on longer-term work visas and many more.
"I've heard from doctors who are keen to get back to the NHS to help out their colleagues, tourists facing eviction from their hotel rooms, as well as pretty unwell cancer patients who are running low on their medicine and can't get through to the UK Consulate," she said.
The situation is more alarming in New Zealand than Australia she says, because the nation is due to plunge into a rigorous lockdown.
On Tuesday, Australia announced it would extend its transit window for international passengers coming from New Zealand to 12:00 local time on 26 March.
With border restrictions announced in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore in the past week, commercial airlines had already begun cancelling flights and announcing end dates for routes.
In New Zealand, those affected say it has become almost impossible to find a flight, while in Australia seats have become highly limited and increasingly restricted to business class.
Carl Curran told the BBC that he and his family's planned flight to the UK from Sydney via Singapore on Tuesday became "impossible for us", as Singapore has shut its doors to transit passengers.
Other transit hubs, such as Doha and Kuala Lumpur, are still allowing UK travellers but the prices of tickets can be prohibitive.
On Monday, UK authorities called on all British people travelling abroad to return immediately.
Louis Verkaik, 19, told the BBC he had been travelling alone on a gap year and had managed to get one of the last flights from NZ to Australia.
He has found last-minute accommodation with family friends outside of Sydney but will need to quarantine for 14 days as per Australia's rules.
"I'm not getting any real support. Everyone passes me off to the high commission who have shut their lines," he told the BBC.
"I've sent an email stating that the British government should send over an emergency flight for people such as myself stuck. I don't have enough money to sustain myself for very long."
The UK High Commissioner in Australia, Vicki Treadell has said officials are speaking with airlines to find "workable solutions".
|
df1bae4a883d180dd144af6c7585c475 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52029571 | Afghanistan conflict: Militants in deadly attack on Sikh temple in Kabul | Afghanistan conflict: Militants in deadly attack on Sikh temple in Kabul
At least 25 people have been killed in a militant attack on a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital Kabul.
The interior ministry said a gunman had burst into the complex early in the morning, firing on worshippers.
He was killed in an exchange of fire lasting six hours with security forces. Earlier reports said a group of assailants had carried out the attack.
About 150 people were trapped in the complex in the Shorbazar area. The Islamic State group claimed the attack.
IS has targeted Sikhs and other religious minorities before in Afghanistan. The country's main militant group, the Taliban, denied any involvement.
Nato in Afghanistan called it an outrage.
IS is less powerful than the Taliban in Afghanistan and has lost much of the territory it once controlled - but it has not been part of recent negotiations with the US and retains the ability to carry out deadly attacks, reports the BBC's Secunder Kermani.
About 150 people were inside the temple, which houses families and regularly hosts morning prayers, said Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, a Sikh MP in the Afghan parliament.
People switched off their phones and tried to hide when the attack began, she said.
Another Sikh MP, Narender Singh Khalsa, put the number of people inside at 200.
"Three suicide bombers entered a dharamsala [sanctuary area]," he told Reuters. "The gunmen started their attack at a time when the dharamsala was full of worshippers."
Photos from the scene show security forces carrying people away on stretchers.
Afghanistan's dwindling Sikh population, now said to number fewer than 10,000, has long complained of discrimination and harassment by the Muslim majority.
In July 2018,
IS said it had bombed a gathering of Sikhs and Hindus
in the eastern city of Jalalabad, killing 19 people and injuring 20.
Awtar Singh Khalsa, one of the country's best-known Sikh politicians at the time, was among those killed.
|
dd7d14de6a53f7b4fbbb645006b91140 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52043224 | Pakistan coronavirus: 'We can't see it, but everyone is terrified' | Pakistan coronavirus: 'We can't see it, but everyone is terrified'
When 50-year-old Saadat Khan returned to his village outside the northern Pakistani city of Mardan from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, a feast was thrown in his honour.
According to his son Haq Nawaz, about 600 people attended.
"We cooked rice, meat and chicken," he told the BBC. The "whole village" came and congratulated him, he added.
It's traditional in Pakistan to celebrate the achievement of performing such an important religious ritual.
Just days later, however, Mr Khan would become the first person in the country to die from coronavirus, and his entire local district would be placed under a strict lockdown.
Out of 46 people tested for the disease in the community so far, 39 have been confirmed as positive. Two friends who flew back with him from Saudi Arabia also contracted coronavirus.
Mr Khan's death highlights the challenges of fighting the infection in developing countries like Pakistan, where large extended families live together, often in crowded conditions, and where healthcare systems are already struggling. One health expert warned the country was heading for "disaster" if adequate preventions were not implemented.
There have been about 1,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and eight deaths in Pakistan. A substantial portion are people who were travelling back from neighbouring Iran, which has been particularly badly affected, but there are growing fears about how the virus is spreading.
Professor Javed Akram, vice-chancellor at the University of Health Sciences in Lahore, told the BBC "domestic transmission" within Pakistan was now his main concern.
Mr Akram added that the true number of cases in the country, as elsewhere in the world, was likely to be far higher than had been recorded, because of a lack of testing capacity. So far, about 6,000 tests have been performed, while Pakistan's population is over 207 million.
The teeming port city of Karachi is Pakistan's commercial hub, and has been home to a rising number of coronavirus infections. Amongst the patients is Saeed Ghani, the education minister for Sindh Province.
Speaking to the BBC on the phone whilst in isolation, Mr Ghani said it was unclear how he became infected and he had not developed any symptoms.
He said officials were aware that reported figures were not necessarily an "accurate reflection" of the reality on the ground, and that led the local Sindh government to implement a strict lockdown earlier this week. All non-essential travel outside the home has been banned, while only food and medical stores are allowed to stay open. Similar measures are now also in place across the country.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, however, has appeared out of step with local provincial governments. He had previously said a "lockdown" would not be sustainable in Pakistan, as it would cause too much harm to those on low incomes.
After provincial governments went ahead and introduced measures tantamount to a "lockdown" anyway, Mr Khan attempted to explain he only opposed what he described as a "curfew," while also outlining some measures to protect the poorest in society, who are dependent on daily wages to feed their families. Unlike other Muslim countries, his government has not ordered an end to congregational prayers on Fridays.
For Prof Akram, implementing preventative measures in Pakistan is crucial, as he says "curative care is not an option". Given that richer countries such as Italy had struggled to cope with the outbreak, the more "primitive" health facilities in Pakistan would be quickly overwhelmed, he said.
Outlining the challenges faced by health professionals in the country, one of the seven confirmed deaths of coronavirus patients in Pakistan so far was that of a young medic. Dr Usama Riaz, 26, was working in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, screening pilgrims returning from Iran, when he contracted the disease and died.
Medical professionals have criticised the lack of protective clothing provided to frontline staff. One of Dr Riaz's colleagues told the BBC they had now been provided with full protective suits, but he was concerned other doctors elsewhere had not.
"Life and death are in the hands of God," he said, "but to work without protective equipment is suicide."
Officials say they are urgently attempting to improve the resources available to healthcare workers.
Back in the village of Saadat Khan, Pakistan's first coronavirus fatality, residents are trying to come to terms with the crisis.
One relative of Mr Khan's, who had tested positive too, despite not having any symptoms, told the BBC he couldn't understand how the disease could be so deadly, so quickly.
"We can't see it, but everyone is terrified of it."
|
cba9cf55cc1a8826b9b335454df47982 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52044013 | Christchurch shootings: Brenton Tarrant pleads guilty to 51 murders | Christchurch shootings: Brenton Tarrant pleads guilty to 51 murders
A man accused of deadly attacks on mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch a year ago has pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder.
Brenton Tarrant, 29, also admitted the attempted murder of another 40 people, and one terrorism charge.
He had previously denied the charges and was due to go on trial in June.
The gun attacks at two mosques sent shockwaves around the world. In the wake of the killings, New Zealand brought in stricter gun laws.
New Zealand is in a state of lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak and the plea was made at a scaled-down court hearing in Christchurch High Court on Thursday.
No members of the public were allowed in to the hearing and Tarrant, from New South Wales, Australia, and his lawyers appeared via video link.
A representative of the two mosques that were attacked was allowed to attend the hearing to represent the victims and their families.
Judge Justice Cameron Mander said: "It is regrettable that the Covid-19 restrictions that presently apply do not permit victims and their families to travel to be present in the courtroom when the defendant entered his pleas of guilty."
Sentencing on the 92 charges will take place at a date yet to be set. Tarrant was remanded in custody until 1 May when the court hopes to be able to set a sentencing date.
Justice Mander added: "There is no intention to sentence the defendant before the court returns to its normal operations and at a time when the victims and their families can attend court in person."
Farid Ahmed, who lost his wife Husna in the attack on Al Noor Mosque (Masjid An-Nur), told TVNZ that many would be relieved they did not have to go through the trial, but others would feel very sad, still thinking about their loved ones.
Speaking of the gunman, he said: "I have been praying for him and he has taken the right direction. I am pleased he is feeling guilty, it is a good start."
Analysis by Simon Atkinson, BBC News
Minutes after Brenton Tarrant changed his plea, families of mosque attack victims began finding out on the rumour mill.
And to everyone it seems to have been a huge shock and surprise.
I was in Christchurch just a couple of weeks ago for the first anniversary of the attacks. The trial looming in early June was something many told me they were dreading.
Witnesses being forced to revisit what happened; graphic CCTV and the head-mounted camera of the attacker being played frame by frame.
But a few said they were - in a way - looking forward to it, to seeing justice being done. It gave them a focus.
One father told me he had learned that his son's actions in Al Noor Mosque had been heroic. He had wanted to see and hear that in court for himself - and for the world to see and hear it.
People like him will no longer have the opportunity to get that level of detail to what happened to their loved ones.
And, because of the Covid-19 lockdown, they did not even get the chance to hear the guilty pleas in person.
But not having a trial takes away one real fear: that Tarrant would use the occasion as a platform to push his right-wing agenda of hate, something the justice system, the media and most importantly the Muslim community were desperate to avoid.
The shootings on 15 March 2019 began when the gunman drove to the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, entered the building and began shooting.
Less than 30 seconds later, he returned to his car, picked up another weapon, then re-entered the mosque and resumed his attack.
Footage from a headcam he was wearing showed him pass from room to room, killing as he went. The shootings were broadcast on Facebook Live.
He then drove to the Linwood mosque where he shot two people outside and then shot at the windows.
A man from inside the mosque came outside, picked up one of the attacker's shotguns, and chased him away.
Two police officers then chased and arrested the suspect.
Speaking on the first anniversary of the massacre, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand had "fundamentally changed" because of the attacks.
She acknowledged that "much more" needed to be done to stop radicalisation in the country.
"The challenge for us will be ensuring in our everyday actions, and every opportunity where we see bullying, harassment, racism, discrimination, calling it out as a nation," she said.
"That is when we'll show we each individually have a role to play in making sure that New Zealand has changed fundamentally for the better."
Immediately after the attacks, Ms Ardern said the government would bring in laws to make it harder for New Zealanders to access firearms.
In April, less than a month after the shootings, parliament voted by 119 to 1 to change the gun laws.
Military-style semi-automatic weapons were banned, as were parts that could be used to build prohibited firearms.
In June, a buy-back scheme began, where the government would compensate owners of newly-illegal weapons.
|
f0711cecf787ec34055e01f5de1adb66 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52126156 | Aung San Suu Kyi opens Facebook account | Aung San Suu Kyi opens Facebook account
Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has opened a Facebook account.
In her first message posted on Wednesday, the leader said she had joined in order to "communicate faster and more efficiently" about the coronavirus pandemic.
Facebook has admitted that its platform was used to incite deadly violence that killed thousands of Rohingya Muslims in 2017.
Hundreds of thousands more were forced to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Ms Suu Kyi noted in her message that she had previously been reluctant to join the social media site. Within hours the post had received around 310,000 likes.
Her account has since gained more than 700,000 followers and been verified by Facebook.
Ms Suu Kyi's first post came as rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that an estimated 350,000 people across Myanmar were "sitting in the path of a public health catastrophe" amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Waves of communal violence in Myanmar have displaced tens of thousands of people, including many from the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
Once seen as a human rights icon, Ms Suu Kyi's reputation has been damaged by her defence of the military over allegations of genocide against the Rohingya.
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the country to take measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims, although the verdict was rejected by Myanmar and cannot be enforced.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, has always insisted that its military campaign was waged to tackle an extremist threat in Rakhine state.
|
c8407e92565bb034e1178fd809f8d9d6 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52130557 | Daniel Pearl: Pakistan overturns convicted man's death sentence | Daniel Pearl: Pakistan overturns convicted man's death sentence
Pakistan has overturned the death sentence of the man convicted of killing US journalist Daniel Pearl, defence lawyers have told reporters.
British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, imprisoned since 2002, has had his sentence reduced to seven years for kidnapping, said lawyer Khawaja Naveed.
Three other men given life sentences over the killing have been acquitted by the Sindh High Court and released.
The Sindh chief prosecutor says he will lodge an appeal in the Sheikh case.
The province's prosecutor general Fiaz Shah told the BBC he expected Sheikh to remain in jail pending the appeal, which would be heard by the Supreme Court.
A group of US journalists, including former colleagues of Pearl, said in 2011 that they believed Sheikh had not carried out the beheading
. The Pearl Project alleged the killer was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is being held in Guantanamo Bay, accused of being behind the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Naveed said he expected his client to be released "in a few days".
Pearl, who worked for the Wall Street Journal, went missing in January 2002.
He had been researching links between Islamist militant activity in Karachi and Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a passenger plane using bombs hidden in his shoes.
According to prosecutors, Omar Saeed Sheikh lured him to a meeting with an Islamic cleric. The two had built a relationship discussing concerns about their wives, who were both pregnant at the time.
Almost a month later, a video showing the 38-year-old's beheading was sent to the US consulate in Karachi.
Pearl's son, Adam, was born in May 2002.
Sheikh was convicted of Pearl's murder in July 2002 by an anti-terrorism court, and has been on death row since.
Sheikh was born in London in 1973, where he attended public school before going on to study at the London School of Economics. He did not graduate, failing to return after driving aid to Bosnia after his first year.
He was arrested for being involved in the kidnapping of four tourists - three British and one American - in Delhi in 1994.
He was released from prison as part of demands by militants who hijacked a plane in 1999.
According to news agency Reuters, police in India later accused him of transferring money to one of the militants who flew a plane into the World Trade Center on 9/11.
By M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad
The main argument of the defence lawyers was that the prosecution had failed to prove their case beyond doubt. They may have a point. There have been questions over whether the four had any direct role in Daniel Pearl's murder, though there was some evidence to show Sheikh's involvement in his kidnapping.
Sheikh was widely seen as having links to Pakistan's top intelligence service, the ISI, as well as al-Qaeda, and had a role in forming the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group that carried out attacks in Indian Kashmir during the 1990s.
His arrest and conviction in 2002 came in quick succession, at a time when Pakistan was under severe pressure from the United States to eliminate terror networks operating on its soil.
But the Pakistani judiciary has sat on his appeal for nearly two decades, and some observers believe the present ruling has come at a time when the mood in the US and the rest of the world has changed and nobody seems to be worried about the terrorists of the past.
|
3c8a906c27ee2f54db31fadc2b775bea | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52146989 | Coronavirus: North Korea claims to be 'totally free' of virus | Coronavirus: North Korea claims to be 'totally free' of virus
North Korea's claim that "not a single person" in the country has been infected with the coronavirus is facing growing scepticism.
It has credited strict containment measures and the shutting down of its borders for this success.
But the top US military commander in South Korea has said this is "untrue", calling it an "impossible claim".
A North Korean expert told the BBC it was likely there were cases but unlikely a mass outbreak had happened.
There are currently more than one million coronavirus cases across the world and 53,069 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
Pak Myong-su, a director at North Korea's Central Emergency Anti-epidemic headquarters, told news agency AFP on Friday: "Not one single person has been infected with the novel coronavirus in our country so far."
"We have carried out pre-emptive and scientific measures such as inspections and quarantine for all personnel entering our country and thoroughly disinfecting all goods, as well as closing borders and blocking sea and air lanes."
US General Robert Abrams, head of the US military forces in South Korea, has said it is untrue that North Korea has no virus cases.
"I can tell you that is an impossible claim based on all of the intel that we have seen," he said in a joint interview with news sites CNN and VOA.
However, he said he could not say exactly how many cases there were, not confirm where the information came from.
Oliver Hotham, managing editor of specialist news site NK News, agreed that North Korea has probably had cases.
"It's very unlikely that it has seen no cases because it borders China and South Korea. [Especially with China], given the amount of cross border trade and the economic relationship I really don't see how its possible they could have prevented it," he said.
However, he adds that it is "unlikely" there is a full scale outbreak.
"They really did take precautions early. I think it's possible they've prevented a full on outbreak."
North Korea has indeed moved much more quickly against the virus than many other countries in the region.
In late January, it sealed off its borders and later quarantined hundreds of foreigners in the capital Pyongyang. During that time, the number of cases in China were growing exponentially.
An NK News report also suggests that up to 10,000 citizens had been placed under isolation in the country - around 500 still remain in quarantine.
Most people in North Korea are "really aware" of what's going on, says Mr Hotham.
"There's been so much media coverage. Almost every day you have a whole page about the efforts the country is taking domestically and also the international situation," he told the BBC.
Fyodor Tertitskiy, a senior researcher at Kookmin University, also adds the country is currently running an "ongoing propaganda campaign teaching people how to prevent the spread of the virus".
The answer is, according to experts - better than you would think - depending on where in North Korea you are.
Mr Tertitskiy says the North's healthcare system is "much, much better than other countries with a similar GDP per capita".
"What they did was to train a large number of doctors who, although less qualified and infinitely paid less than their colleagues in the West, can still provide basic healthcare to the population," he told the BBC.
Mr Hotham agrees, but says that the number of doctors in North Korea enables the country to deal with basic illnesses, but perhaps not so much more serious illnesses which also need more healthcare equipment.
Sanctions have also restricted North Korea's ability to obtain advanced medical equipment.
Mr Hotham adds that the care you receive largely depends on where you are. The capital, Pyongyang, for example, has various medical facilities, but those in rural areas might not be so lucky.
"Some provinces are desperately underfunded, where you'll have hospitals with no running water or stable power."
For North Korea to admit they have cases now could be a sign of "defeat".
"The state has put a lot of stock into its response and there has been so much propaganda about how well they're doing," said Mr Hotham.
"I think for them to admit now that there were cases is essentially to admit defeat. I think it would also cause panic and people would freak out. If you have large movements of people trying to get away, that could create instability and even more infections."
Mr Tertitskiy also puts this down to North Korea trying to preserve its self-image.
"The country is very paranoid about giving away any information that may make it look bad. Their basic rule is to say nothing unless there is a good reason to do otherwise."
|
f0636cda65739093c48509f277063243 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52178510 | Coronavirus: Singapore quarantines 20,000 migrant workers | Coronavirus: Singapore quarantines 20,000 migrant workers
Singapore has told 20,000 foreign workers to stay in their dormitories for 14 days as coronavirus cases increase in the city state.
Two dormitories have been isolated: one with 13,000 workers and 63 cases, and one with 6,800 workers and 28 cases.
They are typically home to men from South Asia who work in construction.
The workers will be paid and given three meals a day - but some have complained of overcrowded and dirty conditions.
Although Singapore was praised for its
proactive response to the virus
, the number of locally-transmitted cases is increasing - and a "lockdown" begins on Tuesday.
Two places are being sealed off - the S11 Dormitory at Punggol and the smaller Westlite Toh Guan dormitory.
The government said
cases in the dormitories were rising, and that isolation would "keep the workers safe [and] protect the wider community from widespread transmission".
Workers are banned from leaving their blocks, and have been told not to mix with people who don't live in their room or floor.
The number of people in a room varies between dormitories, but in 2015 the BBC visited a new complex which had 12 people per room.
The workers will get their salaries, and their employers are entitled to claim S$100 a day (£57, $67) to cover their wages.
They will get three meals a day, plus masks, hand sanitisers, and thermometers. Temperatures must be recorded twice a day and there will be "on site medical support".
But six workers in the Punggol dormitory told the Straits Times their centre already had
cockroaches, overflowing toilets, and queues for food.
Foreign worker dormitories are privately-run
but must be licensed
if they have more than 1,000 occupants. There are around 40 such places in Singapore.
Singapore has recorded more than 1,300 cases and six deaths.
Although most cases were initially imported, local transmission is rising and on Sunday, 120 new cases were confirmed - the highest daily rise so far.
On Friday, the government announced a so-called "circuit breaker" policy, similar to the lockdowns seen in other countries.
Schools and non-essential businesses are set to close this week, and people have been encouraged to stay at home.
Some 5.7m people live in the tiny city-state, including 1.4m foreign workers (as of June 2019).
Of the foreign workers, 284,000 are there under "construction work permits".
Employers can apply for construction permits for workers from 12 places, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
|
1b72113f2e3ff5319baee660d469b930 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52184375 | Coronavirus: Japan to declare emergency as Tokyo cases soar | Coronavirus: Japan to declare emergency as Tokyo cases soar
Japan is to declare a state of emergency in the capital Tokyo and six other regions in an attempt to tackle the rapid spread of coronavirus.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the move could come as early as Tuesday.
He also announced a huge stimulus plan to help the economy weather the virus.
Japan has a relatively small number of infections compared to other countries, but there are concerns a sudden surge in cases in Tokyo could lead to a major outbreak in the world's biggest city.
So far Japan has confirmed 85 deaths. In Tokyo there are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases, more than double the number a week ago.
The state of emergency would last about a month, Mr Abe said. It will cover Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures.
The governors of the prefectures will have the powers to close schools and businesses, but the authorities will not have the legal authority to order citizens to stay at home.
"In Japan, even if we declare a state of emergency, we will not close cities as seen in foreign countries. Experts have told us that there is no need for such a step," said Mr Abe.
He said his government was preparing a $990bn package to help Japan's economy cope with the effects of the virus.
Both the German and US governments have been highly critical of Japan's failure to enforce social distancing measures, or to do widespread testing for Covid-19.
Some local medical experts are saying this order has come too late, and that the outbreak in Tokyo is already beyond the point where it can be easily controlled.
On Monday, children returned to school in parts of Japan for the first time in a month, reflecting big differences among officials on how to proceed.
Last week it was announced the
Tokyo Olympic Games would start on 23 July, 2021
after being postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
|
9c67a1234756d21e4bf809437dacfac7 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52186521?at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_medium=custom7&at_campaign=64&at_custom3=%40BBCWorld&at_custom2=twitter&at_custom4=A76233A0-7868-11EA-8A08-21E04744363C | Coronavirus: Why has Turkmenistan reported no cases? | Coronavirus: Why has Turkmenistan reported no cases?
As the Covid-19 map gets covered by growing red circles, several countries still haven't registered a single case of infection, including one of the most repressive states in the world - Turkmenistan. Many experts are concerned its government may be hiding the truth, which could disrupt attempts to end the pandemic.
While the world battles coronavirus and more and more countries lock down their populations, Turkmenistan is holding a mass cycling rally to mark World Health Day on Tuesday.
The Central Asian country claims it still has zero coronavirus cases. But can we trust the figures provided by a government renowned for censorship?
"Official health statistics from Turkmenistan are notoriously unreliable," said Professor Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who has studied the Turkmen healthcare system.
"For the past decade they have claimed to have no people living with HIV/Aids, a figure that is not plausible. We also know that, in the 2000s, they suppressed evidence of a series of outbreaks, including plague."
Many in Turkmenistan are even afraid of suggesting Covid-19 may already be in the country.
"My acquaintance who works in a state agency told me that I shouldn't say that the virus is here or that I heard about it, otherwise I may get into trouble," said a resident of the capital Ashgabat, who asked to remain anonymous.
The Turkmen authorities are, however, working on tackling a possible outbreak.
Together with UN agencies in the country, they are discussing a plan of action.
The UN Resident Co-ordinator, Elena Panova, told the BBC that this plan included country level co-ordination, risk communication, case investigation, laboratory diagnostics and other measures.
When I asked her whether the UN trusted the official figures showing Turkmenistan had no confirmed Covid-19 cases, Ms Panova avoided giving a straight answer.
"We are relying on official information because this is what all countries are doing," she said. "There is no question of trust because that's the way it works."
Ms Panova said early measures on restricting travel might have contributed to lack of confirmed cases.
Turkmenistan did indeed close most of its land border crossings more than a month ago.
It also cancelled flights to China and some other countries in early February and started diverting all international flights from the capital to Turkmenabat in the north-east, where a quarantine zone was created.
However, according to several residents, some people were able bribe their way out of the zone and avoid two weeks of isolation in a tent.
Ms Panova said everyone arriving in the country and those showing symptoms were being tested for Covid-19. However, she could not give exact figures of how many tests were conducted a day and how many test kits Turkmenistan had overall.
"What we understand in talking to government officials is that they have sufficient tests."
But how ready is the health system to deal with a coronavirus outbreak?
"We don't know," Ms Panova admitted. "We've been told that they have a certain level of preparedness and we don't doubt it... as the hospitals here are very well equipped."
"However, if there is an outbreak that's a huge pressure on the health system like in any other country. So, irrespective of how much you've prepared, it usually is insufficient. That's why we're already talking to them about procuring ventilators, and also other types of equipment."
There is some sense of awareness of the outbreak among the public. Movement between cities has been restricted and those who enter Ashgabat must now have a doctor's note.
Markets and offices are being fumigated with smoke from a type of grass called yuzarlik, used in herbal remedies, after President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said burning it would ward off the virus - despite there being no evidence.
But unlike most of the world, daily life in Turkmenistan continues as normal.
Cafes and restaurants are open. Crowds gather for weddings. Nobody wears masks and mass events are going ahead.
It appears the country is in denial about admitting the major threat posed by coronavirus.
Why might that be? The World Health Day mass cycle may provide an explanation.
President Berdymukhamedov is the biggest star and the main focus of the annual event.
The image of health is part of his cult of personality. State TV regularly shows him lifting weights in the gym, or cycling on his bike. He is the main driver of "health and happiness" campaigns in which state employees wearing identical uniforms do their morning exercises.
The main message of all these events is that the nation is healthy, and thus happy, thanks to the president.
Mr Berdymukhamedov proclaimed his presidency as the "era of might and happiness". And an outbreak of Covid-19 could expose how hollow his messages are.
It is for this reason the Turkmen government might try to conceal an outbreak, even if its citizens do get infected.
And that is what worries Prof McKee.
"We have seen how the Covid-19 infection moved rapidly from China to all parts of the world. In this globalised economy that we now live in, every country is only as secure as the weakest country in the world," he said.
"Even if other countries manage to get the epidemic under control, there is a risk of continued seeding of infections from those countries that have failed to. It seems that Turkmenistan may well be another example."
|
652ec709ea8dbc5327877ff0686f6e85 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52194407 | Coronavirus: NZ health minister breaks lockdown at beach | Coronavirus: NZ health minister breaks lockdown at beach
New Zealand's health minister has called himself an "idiot" after breaking the country's lockdown by driving his family to the beach.
David Clark admitted the 12-mile (20km) drive was "a clear breach of the lockdown principles".
He offered his resignation to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but kept his job because of the ongoing crisis.
But he has been demoted in cabinet rankings and also lost a secondary position of associate finance minister.
On Sunday, Scotland's chief medical officer
resigned for making two trips to her second home
during the lockdown.
New Zealand went into its highest state of lockdown, level four, late on Wednesday 25 March.
But on the first weekend, Mr Clark drove his family from their home in Dunedin to Doctor's Point beach.
Mr Clark admitted the trip to Ms Ardern after being criticised for another breach of the rules.
Last week, he drove a shorter distance to a mountain bike trail - and his van, featuring a picture of himself on the side, was
photographed at the trail.
"People can go outside to get fresh air and drive short distances if needed, but we have asked people to avoid activities where there is a higher risk of injury," said Ms Ardern last week in response to the trail ride.
"The minister should have followed that guidance."
Mr Clark said he had offered to resign.
"As the health minister it's my responsibility to not only follow the rules but set an example to other New Zealanders," he said.
"At a time when we are asking New Zealanders to make historic sacrifices I've let the team down. I've been an idiot, and I understand why people will be angry with me."
Ms Ardern said "under normal conditions", Mr Clark would be sacked.
"We cannot afford massive disruption in the health sector or to our response," she said.
"For that reason, and that reason alone, Dr Clark will maintain his role. But he does need to pay a price. He broke the rules.
"While he maintains his health portfolio, I am stripping him of his role as associate finance minister and demoting him to the bottom of our cabinet rankings.
"I expect better, and so does New Zealand."
The level four guidance says people should be quarantined or isolated at home except for "essential personal movement".
Outdoor exercise is allowed, but not that which "exposes participants to danger".
New Zealand has had over 1,100 confirmed cases, but only one death - a 70-year-old woman who died late last month.
|
58504eceb5b240bdd06ce0a113bb90cd | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52199398 | Afghanistan peace deal: Taliban walk out of 'fruitless' talks | Afghanistan peace deal: Taliban walk out of 'fruitless' talks
The Taliban have walked out of landmark talks which were supposed to help pave the path to peace in Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the militant group said the first face-to-face discussions with the government had proved "fruitless".
Talks have broken down over a prisoner swap agreed between the US and Taliban.
It was meant to be a step towards ending the war, but the Taliban say Afghan officials are trying to delay the release, while officials say the militants' demands are unreasonable.
According to Matin Bek, a member of the government's negotiating team, the Taliban wanted the release of 15 commanders believed to be involved in what were referred to as big attacks.
"We cannot release the killers of our people," he said.
But the Taliban spokesman accused President Ashraf Ghani's administration of delaying the prisoner release "under one pretext or another".
The government says it's willing to release up to 400 low-threat Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture in return for a considerable reduction in violence.
The prisoner swap - which formed part of the US-Taliban deal signed in February that did not involve the government - was supposed to be a gesture of trust between the two sides.
However, Mr Ghani refused to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners under the terms of the US deal, saying the Afghan government had made no such agreement. Instead, he offered the conditional release of 1,500 prisoners.
Arguments over the swap - which would also have seen 1,000 pro-government forces released by the Taliban - delayed the start of the talks, due to begin on 10 March, until 1 April.
The agreement signed by the US and the Taliban aims to bring peace to Afghanistan, ending 18 years of war since US-led forces ousted the Islamist group from power.
Under the agreement, US President Donald Trump announced 5,000 US troops would leave the country by May and he would meet leaders of the Taliban in the near future.
US and Nato troops will withdraw from the country within 14 months, as long as the Taliban uphold their side of the deal.
The US also agreed to lift sanctions against the Taliban and work with the UN to lift its separate sanctions against the group.
In return, the Taliban said they would not allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.
But US officials also agreed to the prisoner swap as a first step in talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban - who are still technically at war. The Afghan government was not included in the talks.
|
7be367163d1e80f0342581b26fde04f0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52227735 | Bangladesh overfishing: Almost all species pushed to brink | Bangladesh overfishing: Almost all species pushed to brink
Overfishing off the coast of Bangladesh is creating a "fishless" zone in one of the world's largest marine ecosystems, scientists are warning.
Most fish species are in decline, with some nearing extinction, a report on fish stocks in the Bay of Bengal says.
"Some seas in the world, like the Gulf of Thailand, have run out of fish," one of the authors of the report, Sayedur Rahman Chowdhury, told BBC Bengali.
"We don't want our Bay of Bengal to end up like that."
Hundreds of large vessels are overfishing at an unsustainable rate, monitors suggest. Local fishermen say the government is turning a blind eye as the trawlers target key fish species they rely on.
Bangladesh is one of the most densely-populated countries on Earth, with its population crammed into a delta of rivers that empty into the Bay of Bengal.
At least 1.5m people in the country are dependent on fishing for their livelihoods and fish remains the most important source of animal protein for the population overall.
But a three-year report commissioned by the government shows the largest and most valuable species, like tiger prawns and Indian salmon, are almost completely gone.
Jasim is a fisherman who's worked out of the port of Chittagong for 35 years. He says until a few years ago he only had to sail for a couple of hours to catch fish but now he and his colleagues travel for up to 20 hours before they find anything.
"There are many species of fish we used to catch before but we can't find nowadays," Jasim says.
He and the other artisanal, or small-scale, fishermen blame the scarcity on the presence of large trawlers in the bay.
There are about 270 trawlers off the coast of Bangladesh, the biggest of which can catch up to 400 tonnes of fish each trip, 20 times the amount of the largest artisanal vessel.
"We are truly worried that if the fishing effort is not substantially reduced, we may lose this resource for generations to come," Mr Chowdhury says.
The fees the government receives from trawler licences are a small fraction of the profit made by the handful of companies which own the industrial fleet.
These companies sell and trade fishing licences that were issued by the government years ago, making it difficult for the department of fisheries to control the amount of vessels operating.
New legislation that will give the department the power to cancel old licences is currently making its way through parliament.
But enforcement officers from the department are often taken to court by operators over their attempts to enforce existing regulation and risk being held personally liable if they lose.
A senior official at the Naval Trade Department, Captain Mohammad Giasuddin Ahmed, said no new licenses should be issued to trawlers until there is concrete information about stocks.
"If this carries on then our fishing ground will become fishless,'' he says.
With fish increasingly scarce, trawlers have begun targeting hilsa, a species crucial to the livelihoods of artisanal fishermen and the food security of Bangladesh.
The hilsa, a kind of herring and Bangladesh's national fish, is the only species showing some signs of recovery.
For several years now, the government has implemented a 22-day annual ban on hilsa fishing that takes effect every October.
The seasonal ban allows the hilsa time to migrate from the bay into river estuaries to spawn.
As compensation, the government gives artisanal fishermen a subsidy of around 44 pounds of rice per household not to fish.
But many say they struggle to feed their families and face financial ruin during this time.
When the government announced in May last year that it was adding a further 65-day ban for all fishing activity without the benefit of subsidies, hundreds of fishermen took to the streets to protest.
The bans have helped hilsa stocks recover but artisanal fishermen aren't the ones reaping the rewards, according to Mr Chowdhury.
"Although hilsa conservation affects millions of poor fishers, a large proportion of the benefit is going towards the industrial trawl operators who are catching thousands of tonnes of hilsa without providing much social benefit or revenue to the government," he says.
The hilsa recovery has also begun attracting "'super-trawlers" from abroad that are fitted with equipment to track and target the hilsa schools.
Super trawlers have double the capacity of existing industrial vessels.
Their size and engine power makes them quick enough to catch the fast-moving hilsa and they are fitted with sonar equipment to help them locate the shoals.
Four of these huge vessels arrived in Chittagong from abroad last year.
Bangladeshi operators bought the four super trawlers moored in the port and claim they have rights to use them to fish.
Two of the four vessels, Sea View and Sea Wind, originally of Thai origin, are subject to an Interpol notification for illegally fishing in Somalia.
International monitoring organisations OceanMind and the International Justice Mission (IJM) have been following the super trawlers since 2018 and confirmed, using satellite imagery, the presence of both vessels in Chittagong port.
Under international law Bangladesh must notify the government of Somalia about the presence of Sea View and Sea Wind in its waters.
When asked about the blacklisted vessels, Capt Giasuddin Ahmed said: "We are not aware of the presence of Sea View and Sea Wind vessels.
"They first entered Bangladesh with the excuse of repair work, but they were later expelled."
The BBC approached the Bangladeshi government for comment and was told the fisheries department was closed because of the coronavirus outbreak and the minister was unable to respond.
But Mr Chowdhury is worried about the impact the super trawlers could have on fish stocks and the future of fisheries management in Bangladesh.
"These super trawlers are a threat to marine resources,'' he says.
"If such illegal vessels can enter Bangladeshi waters and get registered without any obstacles, then it could be suggested that Bangladesh has become a safe haven for blacklisted vessels."
|
029dc7c06546d4a1067f28d85e855d88 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52227924 | Coronavirus: Bangladesh locks down a million in Rohingya camps | Coronavirus: Bangladesh locks down a million in Rohingya camps
Bangladesh has imposed a lockdown on a southern district, home to refugee camps housing more than a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing from Myanmar, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Officials said no-one was allowed to enter or exit Cox's Bazar district.
No cases are confirmed in the camps, but aid agencies fear an outbreak could overwhelm poor medical facilities.
Most refugees arrived in the camps following a military crackdown in the neighbouring state in 2017.
Almost 750,000 crossed the border, joining hundreds of thousands of refugees already living there.
Last week
Human Rights Watch warned that 350,000 people within Myanmar itself were especially vulnerable
to coronavirus.
Cox's Bazar district head Kamal Hossain announced the measures late on Wednesday following a rise in cases in the country as a whole.
The number of infections in Bangladesh has doubled to more than 200 in the last five days, with 20 dead.
"Entry and exit from Cox's Bazar district is prohibited from now on," Mr Hossain said in a statement, adding that "stern action" would be taken against those who violated the order.
Movement of aid workers has been severely restricted.
"Only emergency food supply and medical services can continue work in the camps by maintaining extreme caution," Refugee Commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukder said, quoted by AFP news agency.
Anyone who had arrived in the country recently would have to go into quarantine before visiting the camps, he added.
Aid agencies have expressed fears about the spread of the virus in the camps, because of their cramped living conditions and limited medical provisions including intensive care beds.
Police and soldiers have set up roadblocks on main roads around the district and are patrolling in and around the camps.
|
c4bb08a0c6dbd95180b30e0f91540dca | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52230371 | Coronavirus: How South Korea is teaching empty classrooms | Coronavirus: How South Korea is teaching empty classrooms
The school bell was chiming as I walked into Miss Ha's English class. It was a cheery melody to mark the start of a new day, the beginning of a new school year.
But there were no students to heed its call.
Instead, alone in an empty classroom, Miss Ha called out names into her laptop.
"Subin, are you there," she asks hopefully. Eventually, Subin responds.
"I've been spending my vacation social distancing," the 16-year-old tells her. "And since we've still been staying home for the last few weeks, my lifestyle has become more slack and lazy."
He smiles. He's being very honest with his new teacher considering this is their first meeting and his first day of high school.
Miss Ha, head of the English department at the Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies, admitted to me that she was nervous before the class. "Scared even, because I've never used this technology before, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. It can never be like a proper class, but in a situation like this, it's the best option."
Downstairs, after her English Culture class, Miss Yoo is more candid. "It's overwhelming," she said. "We have to adapt to so much change - it's so fast it feels like a tsunami."
For teachers, the technology is one more thing to worry about on top of an already packed set of lesson plans.
For students, the delay and uncertainty over the start of the school year is adding to anxiety about their future.
South Korea has one of the toughest education systems in the world. Students will often study late into the night at special cram schools, especially those who have to sit the notoriously difficult college entrance exam. The Collegiate Scholastic Aptitude Test is a gruelling eight-hour marathon of back-to-back tests which is seen as a pivotal moment in your life in the country.
The Ministry of Education has moved the test date by a few weeks to December, but 18-year-old Choi Yoon-jung is still feeling under pressure.
"I was really happy when the start of school was postponed by a week. It soothed my nerves about my final year. But as the start date got pushed back again and again, it dawned on me - what would happen to our mid-terms and finals? These tests are the final stage to prep for our college entrance exam and what could happen if we can't take these exams?"
Her friend, Yu Su-ha jumped in with her concerns.
"Yeah, they started talking about substituting some mid-terms with a progress review. Then I was really panicking. I mean our school is notorious for being cut-throat on progress reviews. I was thinking, what if we can't go to college because of all this?"
This is not what the South Korean government had planned. In fact, this is what health officials had hoped to avoid.
For the last two weeks from the daily briefing room, the Korean Centre for Disease Control had urged the population to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Think of the children and their education, was the message.
But small clusters of Covid-19 infections still crept through the country. An outbreak at a hostess bar in Seoul, more cases confirmed within hospitals near Daegu, infections among those returning from the US and Europe - they all added to the nation's coronavirus tally .
The start of the school year had already been delayed by five weeks. It could not be put off any longer.
Teaching online was the only way. It will be a disappointment for a government that has been widely praised for its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. Its aggressive approach to tracing and testing appears to have paid off. But even with all those measures and all that hard work, the risk was still too great to open classrooms.
"Resuming school online is a new road we've never walked, we are in fact opening a new road," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a press briefing.
"Extending the school closure would be the way to evade responsibility and numerous difficulties... but we opted for online classes as this is the second best plan.
"We will aim to make sure remote learning goes well but ultimately we'll do our best to stabilize the Covid-19 pandemic so our children can go to school."
Logistically, even in technologically savvy South Korea, enrolling an entire country of children in virtual school has proved a challenge. Luckily, the government already helps out low income families with their internet bills, but there was still the issue of whether pupils had enough smart devices to connect with their teachers.
A roll call was taken; 223,000 pupils said they did not have the tech they needed to start online school, prompting the Ministry of Education to start a lending service.
A number of charities have also helped out donating tablets, portable internet devices and offering their tech know-how. In Seoul, the charity Good Neighbors has stepped in to support thousands of students from low-income families. They're even handing out food parcels to help students concentrate. For many, school can be a place of stability and a daily home cooked meal.
As he packs another box with noodles and rice, Kim Sun-hong tells me that parents are less worried about access to smart devices and more concerned about their children's ability to learn without a teacher's supervision.
"For many low-income, single-parent, or grandparent-children families, the biggest worry is about having to leave their children at home when they have to go to work. We try to help these families by either calling the children by phone to check up on them or by checking in by sending these food packages, and asking if they need any help."
Others are concerned about long hours in front of a computer.
"Even thinking about watching the monitor for seven hours makes me worried," said Choi Yoon-jung.
"It really hurts eyes. My younger brother goes to Bae-Jae high school and everything is interactive. Korean, English, Maths, all interactive, all the time. Even PE! He told me his eyes were popping out and hurting as he looking at a small screen while chatting too."
But Yu Su-ha decides to be more upbeat.
"I would like to tell my fellow third-year high-schoolers that we can concentrate our minds and we can control our anxiety and work at our own pace.
"We can all do this," she says, ending with the famous Korean rallying call: "Fighting!"
The government admits this is an experiment and there will be trials along the way. They are once again urging the public to maintain social distancing guidelines until 19 April. If the number of new cases of the virus stays below 50 per day, then they may try to open some schools - or at least some classrooms.
In many ways, and I feel guilty writing this, life feels very normal in Seoul. But it is what I would call the "new normal" in this year of Covid-19. Masks are a part of daily life, hand sanitiser is on every corner and every restaurant counter, some are even taped to lampposts. My phone is bombarded daily with emergency alerts warning me to be vigilant and not complacent.
So the school bell will continue to chime through empty hallways. Online classes are as close to normal as the country's students are going to get, for now.
|
b969e29a86b950cff5e9f88754adf781 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52230833 | Coronavirus: WHO chief and Taiwan in row over 'racist' comments | Coronavirus: WHO chief and Taiwan in row over 'racist' comments
A row has erupted after the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) accused Taiwan's leaders of spearheading personal attacks on him.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had been subjected to racist comments and death threats for months.
But President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan opposed any form of discrimination, and invited Dr Tedros to visit the island.
Taiwan said it had been denied access to vital information as the coronavirus spread. The WHO rejects this.
Taiwan is excluded from the WHO, the United Nations health agency,
because of China's objections to its membership
.
The Chinese Communist Party regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and claims the right to take it by force if necessary.
The WHO has also been criticised by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw US funding to the agency.
Dr Tedros said he had been at the receiving end of racist comments for the past two to three months.
"Giving me names, black or negro," he said. "I'm proud of being black, or proud of being negro."
He then said he had received death threats, adding: "I don't give a damn."
The WHO chief said the abuse had originated from Taiwan, "and the foreign ministry didn't disassociate" itself from it.
But Ms Tsai said Taiwan was opposed to discrimination.
"For years, we have been excluded from international organisations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated," Reuters news agency quoted her as saying.
"If Director-General Tedros could withstand pressure from China and come to Taiwan to see Taiwan's efforts to fight Covid-19 for himself, he would be able to see that the Taiwanese people are the true victims of unfair treatment."
Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the comments were "irresponsible" and the accusations "imaginary". The ministry said it was seeking an apology for "slander", AFP news agency reported.
Correspondents say Taiwan has been proud of its measures to contain the virus, with just 380 cases and five deaths so far.
Last month, the WHO said it was monitoring the progress of the virus in Taiwan and learning lessons from its efforts.
The UN agency has come under continued fire from Mr Trump, who
accuses the WHO of being "very China-centric"
and has threatened to end funding.
Speaking on Wednesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO's work and called for an end to the politicisation of Covid-19.
The disease first emerged last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has just ended an 11-week lockdown. An advisor to the WHO chief earlier said their close work with China had been "absolutely essential" in understanding the disease in its early stages.
Mr Trump's attacks on the WHO come in the context of criticism of his own administration's handling of the pandemic, especially early problems with US testing.
The WHO approved a coronavirus test in January - but the US decided against using it, developing its own test instead. However, in February, when the testing kits were despatched, some of them did not work properly, and led to inconclusive results.
Public health experts say the delay enabled the virus to spread further within the US.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had earlier added his voice to the defence of the WHO. He described the outbreak as "unprecedented" and said any assessment of how it was handled should be an issue for the future.
Dr Tedros has also received support from the African Union, with current chairman and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for "solidarity, unity of purpose and better co-ordination to ensure that we are able to overcome this common enemy".
"We should avoid the temptation to apportion blame," he added.
|
44158010d2210a1400f372bfc68eaec1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52240251 | Coronavirus: Teachers in Singapore stop using Zoom after 'lewd' incidents | Coronavirus: Teachers in Singapore stop using Zoom after 'lewd' incidents
Singapore has suspended the use of video-conferencing tool Zoom by its teachers, after a "very serious incident" during a home-based lesson.
Singapore closed its schools on Wednesday in response to a
rising number of coronavirus cases
.
But one mother
told local media
that, during her daughter's geography lesson, obscene images appeared on screen, before two men asked girls to "flash".
Zoom told the BBC the company was "deeply upset" about the incidents.
Zoom recently changed its default settings for home-based learning, and issued a guide for teachers to secure their "virtual classrooms".
Parents told local media the incidents happened in a geography class for first-year secondary school pupils.
About 39 children were in the class when the stream was hacked, before "two Caucasian men" appeared and made lewd comments. The class was stopped immediately.
"Home-based learning is supposed to be a safe space," one parent
told the Straits Times.
"I know it's difficult to manage but as a parent I feel very concerned."
It's not known how the hackers gained access. Zoom meetings have nine-digit IDs and can, in theory, be joined by any user if they are not protected by the organiser.
"These are very serious incidents," said Aaron Loh of the government's educational technology division.
"The Ministry of Education is currently investigating both breaches and will lodge a police report if warranted.
"As a precautionary measure, our teachers will suspend their use of Zoom until these security issues are ironed out."
Mr Loh said the government had "spelt out to all our teachers the security measures they must adhere to", including secure log-ins.
"We have been deeply upset to hear about these types of incidents," a spokesperson said.
"Zoom strongly condemns such behaviour and we encourage users to report any incidents of this kind directly to Zoom so we can take appropriate action."
The company said it had "changed default settings", to "enable virtual waiting rooms and ensure only hosts can share their screens by default".
It has also set up a guide for
setting up and securing virtual classrooms.
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that went live to the public in 2013.
But since the Covid-19 pandemic has caused lockdown around the world, usage of Zoom has "ballooned overnight",
the company recently said.
Until last year, its highest number of daily users was 10 million. In March this year, it reached more than 200m daily users.
But that rapid growth has caused problems, with meetings hijacked around the world.
A video conference at a US school was recently disrupted by racist remarks, and a
local government meeting in Pennsylvania
was targeted with pornography
In response to the so-called "Zoom-bombing",
the company said
: "The first rule of Zoom Club: don't give up control of your screen.
"You do not want random people in your public event taking control of the screen and sharing unwanted content with the group."
More recently, the company said it would spend 90 days "dedicating the resources needed to better identify, address, and fix issues proactively".
|
b1ca0dac6f07ec17bc40fc23f3b0eb51 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52275993 | Coronavirus: South Korea holds elections in masks and clinics | Coronavirus: South Korea holds elections in masks and clinics
South Korea has been holding an election unlike any other.
Voters wore masks and stood at least 1m apart. They had their temperature taken, disinfected their hands and wore plastic gloves.
Only then were they given their voting slip and allowed to head into the booth to cast their ballot.
These are just some of the measures taken to allow the scheduled National Assembly election to take place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Three hundred seats at the National Assembly are being contested. Thirty-five parties have registered candidates, but the race will be between the ruling Minjoo (Democratic) Party and the main opposition, the conservative United Future Party.
The government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak has dominated all discussions during this election. It has eclipsed fears of a struggling economy and a number of corruption scandals involving presidential aides.
The National Assembly elections are seen as a bit of springboard to test candidates and party popularity ahead of the presidential elections in 2022.
After voting closed on Wednesday, exit polls published by the three main broadcasters suggested President Moon Jae-in's ruling Democratic party had won the majority of seats and increased its majority.
The full results will take time to count, but polling also suggests that the North Korean defector and Pyongyang's former deputy ambassador to the UK, Thae Yong-ho, could win a seat in Gangnam, the capitalist heart of Seoul. If confirmed, he will be the first defector from the North to win a seat in the South.
Some critics feared the vote would be chaos. Instead, all I observed on the days of early voting was calm.
People quietly stood in line at the designated mark, patiently waiting their turn.
"I thought maybe the election should be postponed because people wouldn't turn up," one young female voter told us. "But now that I'm here and see so many others, I'm not worried."
The fear of infection didn't keep people away. Overall the turnout was 66% - the highest in 16 years.
More than 11 million people, about 26% of the population, cast their votes in advance. Some by post, but most travelled to early polling stations which were set up around the country on Friday and Saturday.
It was also the first time that 18-year-olds were allowed to vote. We met a number of them at Seoul Station all excited to take part. The pandemic did not put them off.
"This is about our right to vote," said one waiting in a queue.
"Voting is something we must do," said another first-time voter. She admitted that the plastic gloves were a little bit "inconvenient" but they made her feel safe.
South Korea has never postponed an election. Even during the Korean War in 1952, the presidential elections went ahead.
The challenge for officials was how to avoid the risk of infection.
They decided that if someone had a temperature above 37.5C, they would be taken to a separate voting area and kept separate from other people.
Patients being treated for coronavirus were given the option of mailing their ballot.
But polling booths were also set up outside residential centres, which care for hundreds of people with mild symptoms. We watched as one woman in a mask emerged from a facility in her hospital gown and was handed her ballot by staff in full protective clothing.
The booth was outside to help prevent the spread of infection.
"At first thought I couldn't vote and I was disappointed," she told the news agency Reuters. "But once I heard we would be able to vote as well I was thankful for this opportunity."
One of the biggest issues has been how to allow the 60,000 people in quarantine across the country to head to the polls.
They have been under strict instructions to only vote at certain times and in designated polling stations. They could leave their homes from 17:20 until 19:00 on the day of polling, they couldn't use public transport and could only walk or use their own car. They had to call health officials when they returned to their homes, otherwise, we were told, police officers would be despatched to find them.
A number of people have already broken quarantine rules in South Korea in the last month, which is why the authorities are monitoring this so closely.
It took an army of 550,000 staff to prepare the polling booths and ensure things went smoothly on election day. They disinfected about 14,000 voting stations and marked lines so queuing voters avoided standing too close to one another.
It all took a bit more time and effort, but it seemed most people were happy to put up with the short delay for the sake of democracy.
"Everyone recognised the seriousness of the situation and showed mature citizenship by encouraging electoral officials rather than complaining," the mayor of Seoul's Yongsan district, Sung Jang-hyun, told the BBC.
The virus had an impact on campaigning. In South Korea, election times can often be raucous and rowdy affairs. Vans with loud speakers blasting outside your window. Politicians and their staff shouting from every corner.
But this year, masked encounters from a distance have replaced mass rallies and there are fist and elbow bumps instead of handshakes.
At one point during a briefing, Dr Jung from the Korean Centre for Disease Control urged politicians to simply "smile with their eyes".
It hasn't stopped some from getting creative. The North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho who is running for office for the first time in South Korea decided to make his own rap video. "Drop the beat" are his opening words.
The virus has also changed the content of the campaign. In January, political discussions were dominated by the slowing economy, job creation and stalled talks with North Korea.
But now it is about South Korea's response to Covid-19.
Health officials controlled the spiralling number of cases in February and March quickly and effectively by aggressively tracing and testing infected patients. The infection peaked in February when around 900 people a day were infected.
Now the number of new cases each day is under 50 and more than 7,000 people have recovered from the illness.
It has given President Moon Jae-in's embattled Democratic Party a boost. His opponents in the United Future Party give credit to the thousands of health professionals on the frontline.
There are fears that holding an election could trigger a second wave of infections across the country.
But for now, South Korea is once again determined to prove what is possible during this pandemic.
|
0d3032b25f5cc7d669904302a79abf30 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52305931 | Starving Rohingya refugees rescued off Bangladesh after two months at sea | Starving Rohingya refugees rescued off Bangladesh after two months at sea
The coast guard of Bangladesh says it has rescued at least 382 starving Rohingya refugees who had been drifting at sea for nearly two months.
More than two dozen people died on the boat, which was trying to reach Malaysia, officials said.
Some reports said the boat had been turned back by Malaysia because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is unclear whether the refugees had left from Bangladesh or from Myanmar, where they are originally from.
In 2017, a crackdown by the Myanmar military left thousands of Rohingya Muslims dead and drove more than 700,000 to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
"We have rescued at least 382 Rohingya from a big overcrowded fishing trawler and brought them to a beach near Teknaf," coast guard spokesman Lt Shah Zia Rahman told AFP news agency.
"They were starving. They were floating for 58 days and over the last seven days [the boat] was moving in our territorial waters."
Lt Rahman said authorities launched a three-day search for the boat after receiving a tip-off and found it at night off the south-east coast.
Pictures on social media showed groups of emaciated people, mostly women and children, standing on a beach.
"We have cordoned off the place where they have landed. We could not question them because of the fear they could be infected with the coronavirus," Lt Rahman said.
In a separate development, leading aid agencies called on the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to restore internet access for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
The charities, which include Save the Children, Action Aid and the International Rescue Committee, say access is essential for obtaining life-saving information about the pandemic.
The Bangladeshi government blocked internet access in its biggest camp last year, citing security concerns. The charities also want Myanmar to restore mobile internet access to nine communities close to the border.
Rohingya Muslims are the largest community of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in Rakhine state.
But Myanmar's government denies them citizenship, seeing them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Over the decades, waves of Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh but their latest exodus began after the 2017 army crackdown.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, has always insisted that its military campaign was waged to tackle an extremist threat in Rakhine state.
|
eed9c75e976c87897504114be22edceb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52336388 | Coronavirus: Japan doctors warn of health system 'break down' as cases surge | Coronavirus: Japan doctors warn of health system 'break down' as cases surge
Doctors in Japan have warned that the country's medical system could collapse amid a wave of new coronavirus cases.
Emergency rooms have been unable to treat some patients with serious health conditions due to the extra burden caused by the virus, officials say.
One ambulance carrying a patient with coronavirus symptoms was turned away by 80 hospitals before he could be seen.
Japan, which initially appeared to have the virus under control, passed 10,000 confirmed cases on Saturday.
More than 200 people have now died with Covid-19 and the capital Tokyo remains the worst-affected area.
Groups of doctors at GP surgeries in the city are assisting hospitals with the testing of potential coronavirus patients in order to ease some of the pressure on the health system, officials say.
"This is to prevent the medical system from crumbling," Konoshin Tamura, the deputy head of an association of GPs, told Reuters news agency.
"Everyone needs to extend a helping hand. Otherwise, hospitals would break down," he added.
Analysis by Michael Bristow, BBC World Service Asia editor
This is a stark warning.
Two medical associations said the coronavirus outbreak was reducing the ability of Japan's hospitals to treat other, serious, medical emergencies.
Hospitals are already turning away patients, and all this while the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 remains relatively low compared with other countries.
Doctors have complained of a lack of protective equipment, which suggests Japan has not prepared well for the virus. This is despite the fact it was the second country outside China to record an infection, way back in January.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been criticised for not introducing restrictions to deal with the outbreak sooner for fear they could harm the economy.
His government has argued with the governor of Tokyo, who wanted tougher measures introduced more quickly.
Only on Thursday did Mr Abe extend a state of emergency to the whole country.
The government is also working to increase the rate of testing by introducing drive-through facilities. In recent weeks, Japan has conducted far fewer tests than in other countries and experts say this has made it more difficult to track the spread of the disease.
Last month it conducted just 16% of the number of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests that South Korea did, according to data from Oxford University.
And unlike South Korea - which has brought its outbreak largely under control through a programme of large-scale testing - the Japanese government said that carrying out widespread testing was a "waste of resources".
Testing is also governed by local health centres, not on the national government level - and some of these local centres are not equipped to carry out testing on a major scale.
But, on Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated that the government was shifting its policy on testing and rolling it out more widely.
"With help from regional medical associations, we will set up testing centres," he told a news conference.
"If home doctors have decided testing is necessary, test samples are taken at these centres and sent to private inspection firms" he said. "Thus, the burden on public health centres will be lessened."
His comments came shortly after he announced a nationwide state of emergency due to the worsening outbreak.
The move allowed regional governments to urge people to stay inside, but without punitive measures or legal force. It will remain in force until 6 May.
After the initial state of emergency came into force on 8 April, a number of other regional governors called for the measures to be extended to their areas, saying that cases were growing and their medical facilities were overwhelmed.
Japan's two emergency medical associations also issued a joint statement warning that they were "already sensing the collapse of the emergency medical system".
And the mayor of Osaka appealed for people to donate their raincoats, so they could be used as personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers whom he said were being forced to fashion PPE out of rubbish bags.
In other global developments:
|
c721c270fb3e2e024291e50a1cab170a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52511812 | Kim Jong-un and the brutal North Korea rumour mill | Kim Jong-un and the brutal North Korea rumour mill
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has appeared at a fertiliser factory, looking remarkably cheerful for a man killed off by rumour and some of the world's media last week. These will be carefully staged and timed photos, but what can we learn about the North Korea rumour mill from this and past episodes?
TMZ - among others - had him for dead; Chinese social media whispered that his doctors were too scared to operate and so he died before a Chinese medical team arrived - an apparent cautionary tale of being a casualty of your own fearsome power.
This is not the first time the North Korean leader has disappeared from public view. In February, he was absent for almost three weeks without wild speculation. In 2014, he was absent for 40 days - then the rumours went that he had been ousted in a political coup.
He turned up with a walking stick. It was not a coup, but perhaps gout.
South Korean intelligence later reported that he had undergone surgery on his ankle. Obviously none of this was confirmed by the North. They just kept pumping out the jocular photo opportunities from inspections and other public events seemingly untouched by rampant rumours - just as they have done today.
So what was it about this absence that allowed him to die in speculation?
There were three phases to the escalation. First, he missed a key anniversary on 15 April, the day of the sun, and incredibly important commemoration of the birthday of his grandfather, North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-un is known to model himself on his grandfather's image, so missing this was reasonably seen as a sign that something was amiss.
Then a well-regarded defector website, Daily NK, which is funded by a US think tank, but which clearly also provides credible reports through its network, published a single-sourced story that he had undergone some sort of heart procedure and was recovering.
Stage three was when the world's media pounced on that report and ferreted out their own unnamed sources in intelligence communities and elsewhere - and a combination of these ended up with formulations of Kim being "gravely ill" or even dead.
Even as South Korea said they had not seen any unusual activity and even denied reports of this death, the rumours kept growing and the echo chamber grew louder. Chinese social media began playing its role with rumours circulating there too.
In none of this was there any actual evidence: there were some very insightful analyses of train movements and activity around the resort of Wonsan that seemed to weigh on the side that he might not have expired - yet.
So where do these sources who fuel speculation that spirals in the media actually come from? Surely there must be a North Korean origin somewhere? And are we seeing more than we used to?
Rumours have always happened and there is historical record going back 30 years on this. There are a couple of places from within North Korea they can originate.
In the past, what is known as the foreign trade sector in North Korea has been thought to be the source of some leadership rumours. The secretive Office 39 - the department that funnels cash and luxuries back to the leadership - is staffed by overseas operatives to travel back and forth from the DPRK. There is some level of communication to the inner sanctum and its coffers, and it has long been thought that some rumours originate from some of the extensive network of operatives we know exist- as testified by defectors who have worked there. Some then make their way into Japanese and South Korean media.
But that doesn't change much about the nature of the information - it's gossip.
If somebody works in the central party complex, there will be water cooler conversation. There is intense interest in the lives of the Kims - we know from accounts of people who have left. The equivalent of a water cooler chat based on one-third of a story can make its way out of North Korea more easily than people might assume.
Rumour and gossip are very prevalent in totalitarian systems like this. One example is recounted in the memoir entitled Wisteria House by Song Hee-rong, the maternal aunt of Kim Jong-nam - Kim Jong-un's estranged half-brother who was murdered in 2017. She talks about coming back to the Kim family compound and how one member of staff gave her information that Kim Jong-un's family was the branch currently in favour. Notably, she makes a point of saying her source was "reliable."
Again, in an information black hole you take what you can get and that is how it works with North Korea. In the fog of war there are not that many options. So the legitimacy conferred onto North Korean gossip is disproportionate.
Intelligence agencies around the world will also look at open-source information and use their methods to try to test hypotheses.
South Korea has its ways of monitoring the North - sometimes these involve satellites - and the Unification Ministry last week said they were actively monitoring the situation and had not seen anything unusual. It's an open secret that the US sends surveillance planes - this time it was reported in the world's media. They were checking things out.
So if some of this just comes from rumour - and remember it is very easy to call South Korea from the North (not vice versa) why doesn't the regime crack down on the rumours?
In 2008 conversations about Kim would happen in a closed room. Nowadays, the game changer is mobile technology. North Koreans who gossip about their leader will certainly be being tracked, but may not be cracked down on until a further opportunity arises. Kim is unlikely to be able to control this information flow - but if rumours are connected to people close to him or tied to him - one can expect consequences.
It's important to remember that most ordinary North Koreans know nothing. In his testimony to the US Congress in 2017 high profile defector Thae Yong-ho said most North Koreans would not even know their leader was educated in Switzerland. He advocated using satellites and smuggling chips the other way across the border to give ordinary North Koreans access to information.
In reality the people with access to accurate information about Kim's health are likely to be just a handful. That doesn't mean rumours can't slip out - but it does mean they may not be correct.
It's always been that way. In 1986 Kim Il-song was rumoured to have had a heart attack - it was fake even though it was reported at the time.
In 1990- 1992 Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il were shot to death on a train platform by the military - so said the rumour - that was clearly not the case.
There are three different accounts of a coup in North Hangyong province - of the sixth army corps - a company that has since been disbanded. We believe something happened, but the details are not clear. Then there is the rumour that Kim Jong-il died in 2003 and the country was being led by a body double.
Like everywhere else in the world, gossip still happens and rumours still circulate. Unlike everywhere else, we are left to the whim of the North Korean state to confirm or deny whatever they so wish.
|
0a07cdbff99e75df18811b40e0b1bbfe | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52518015 | Daniel Pearl: Parents of murdered journalist launch appeal in Pakistan | Daniel Pearl: Parents of murdered journalist launch appeal in Pakistan
The parents of murdered US journalist Daniel Pearl have filed an appeal with Pakistan's Supreme Court to reverse a ruling overturning the convictions of four men in the case.
Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded in 2002 while investigating Islamist militants in Karachi, Pakistan.
Last month a court in Karachi overturned the death sentence of the man convicted of masterminding the killing, and acquitted three others.
The ruling was widely condemned.
Pearl was the Wall Street Journal's Asia bureau chief when he was abducted and killed. A graphic video of his killing was sent to the US consulate a month later.
In a video statement, his father Judea Pearl said: "We have filed an appeal of this decision to the Pakistan Supreme Court.
"We are standing up for justice not only for our son, but for all our dear friends in Pakistan so they can live in a society free of violence and terror and raise their children in peace and harmony."
Their petition adds to one already filed by prosecutors.
The accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is being held at Guantanamo Bay detention centre, has said he personally beheaded Pearl.
Mohammed told US interrogators he killed the journalist with his "blessed right hand", according to the Pentagon. The confession was made under torture and Mohammed - whose trial date for the 11 September 2001 attacks has been set for next year - has not been charged with Pearl's murder.
Shortly after their acquittal the four men - including the convicted mastermind Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh - were re-arrested. They will be held for at least three months as the appeals play out.
Sheikh's death sentence had been reduced to seven years in prison for kidnapping.
The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced its support for the appeal, and said that releasing the four men in the case "would only add to the threats facing journalists in Pakistan and deepen Pakistan's reputation as a haven for terrorists".
Pearl went missing in January 2002.
He had been researching links between Islamist militant activity in Karachi and Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a passenger plane using bombs hidden in his shoes.
According to prosecutors, Sheikh lured him to a meeting with an Islamic cleric. The two had built up a relationship discussing concerns about their wives, who were both pregnant at the time.
Almost a month later, a video showing the 38-year-old's beheading was sent to the US consulate in Karachi.
Pearl's son, Adam, was born in May 2002.
Sheikh was convicted of Pearl's murder in July 2002 by an anti-terrorism court, and has been on death row since.
Sheikh was born in London in 1973, where he attended public school before going on to study at the London School of Economics. He did not graduate, failing to return after driving aid to conflict-wracked Bosnia after his first year.
He was arrested for involvement in the kidnapping of four tourists - three British and one American - in Delhi in 1994.
Sheikh was released from prison as part of demands by militants who hijacked a plane in 1999.
According to news agency Reuters, police in India later accused him of transferring money to one of the militants who flew a plane into the World Trade Center on 9/11.
|
e210f251ceef73ed8876dbfc368f5489 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52696032 | Pakistan girls murdered over phone video footage | Pakistan girls murdered over phone video footage
Two teenage girls have been murdered in a so-called "honour killing" in north-west Pakistan following a video circulated on the internet.
They are said to have been shot dead by family members earlier this week in a village on the border of the North and South Waziristan tribal districts.
The murders came after a video appeared on social media showing the girls with a young man, police said.
Two men were reportedly arrested on Sunday in connection with the case.
The two men were the father of one of the victims and brother of the other victim, police officials told BBC Urdu.
The incident is said to have taken place on Thursday afternoon at Shamplan village, in Garyom region on the border between North and South Waziristan districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to police.
The reason behind the killings of the two girls, aged 16 and 18, is believed to be a video, provided to the BBC, which shows a young man recording himself with three young girls in a secluded area outdoors.
It appeared the video was shot nearly a year ago and most probably went viral on social media a few weeks ago, a senior police official told Dawn newspaper.
"At the moment, our topmost priority is to secure the life of the third girl and the man before taking any action," the officer said.
Human Rights Watch says that violence against women and girls remains a serious problem in Pakistan.
Activists believe about 1,000 such "honour killing" murders are carried out across the country every year.
It is the killing of a member of a family who is perceived to have brought dishonour upon relatives.
Pressure group Human Rights Watch says the most common reasons are that the victim:
But killings can be carried out for more trivial reasons, like dressing in a way deemed inappropriate or displaying behaviour seen as disobedient.
|
180eaa16ac482d0f849f1ed82b649e8e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53021852 | Li Wenliang: Widow of Chinese coronavirus doctor gives birth to son | Li Wenliang: Widow of Chinese coronavirus doctor gives birth to son
The widow of Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who raised the alarm about the country's coronavirus outbreak, has given birth to their son.
Fu Xuejie shared a picture of the boy on the messaging app WeChat, calling him a "final gift" from Dr Li.
Dr Li was arrested by authorities for "spreading rumours", and later died after catching the virus.
After a public outcry over his death, he was exonerated and honoured as a hero by the government.
His widow, Mrs Fu, now has two sons with her late husband. In her message she wrote: "Husband, can you see this from heaven? You have given me your final gift today. I will of course love and protect them."
Mrs Fu told local news outlet Litchi News that after her husband's death she suffered from health problems brought on by grief and had to be temporarily hospitalised to keep the unborn baby safe.
She described Dr Li as a responsible doctor and loving husband, and said her family initially hid his death from their other child, saying that "Dad went abroad."
Her baby photo has been commented on by thousands of users on the Chinese social network Weibo, many offering well-wishes. Others left comments asking the media to not bother the family.
Dr Li was an eye doctor at a hospital in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak. In December he sent a message to fellow doctors saying that he had noticed seven cases of a virus he thought looked like Sars - a disease that spread globally in 2003. He warned them in a group chat to wear protective gear to avoid infection.
Days later, he was told by police to "stop making false comments" and was investigated along with eight other doctors for "spreading rumours." Soon after Dr Li contracted coronavirus from a patient and shared his experiences on social media before he died in February.
His death prompted a wave of public anger over the government's handling of the outbreak, with accusations that it downplayed the severity of the virus and initially tried to keep it secret. A BBC search of social media at the time showed thousands of critical remarks on Weibo were censored.
After an investigation, Chinese authorities apologised to Dr Li's family and admitted to "shortcomings and deficiencies" in their response.
Along with 13 other frontline workers, Dr Li was commended as a "martyr" in April for sacrificing his life to fight coronavirus. As a result, under Chinese law it is now an arrestable offence to criticise him.
Analysis by Kerry Allen, BBC China analyst
The government wants people in China to remember Dr Li Wenliang as a "martyr" in China's epidemic fight - the highest honour anybody can be granted posthumously.
Anyone who makes negative comments about a "martyr" can actually be held criminally accountable under China's "Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law".
But the Chinese public have not forgotten how the local authorities in Wuhan initially tried to punish Dr Li himself from sharing his concerns in December about the virus.
When he died in February, there was widespread anger across China. Furious comments poured in from social media users on Sina Weibo and WeChat criticising the state, on such a scale that government censors struggled to take them all offline.
Many still perceive that his muzzling could have prevented thousands of lives, including his own, from being lost, and feel personally affected by his death. "More should have been done at the time," wrote one user on the Weibo social media network today.
Other users asked that the state found a way to make amends by ensuring the safety and protection of his widow and his children. "It is all of our responsibility to educate future generations on Wenliang," wrote one.
|
32251646df04490a3780633d3d0a5597 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53062484?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D | India-China dispute: The border row explained in 400 words | India-China dispute: The border row explained in 400 words
Relations between India and China have been worsening in recent months. The two world powers are facing off against each other along their disputed border in the Himalayan region.
In 400 words, here's some background to help you understand what's going on.
What
'
s the source of tension?
The root cause is an ill-defined, 3,440km (2,100-mile)-long disputed border.
Rivers, lakes and snowcaps along the frontier mean the line can shift, bringing soldiers face to face at many points, sparking a confrontation.
The two nations are also competing to build infrastructure
along the border, which is also known as the Line of Actual Control. India's construction of a new road to a high-altitude air base is seen as one of the main triggers for a
clash with Chinese troops in June that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead
.
Despite several military-level talks, tensions continue.
The most recent skirmish - on 20 January -
left troops on both sides injured
. It took place along the border in India's Sikkim state, which is sandwiched between Bhutan and Nepal.
The year 2020 was particularly violent. The June clash in the Galwan Valley - fought with sticks and clubs, not guns - was the first fatal confrontation between the two sides since 1975.
India acknowledged its deaths. China did not comment on reports it also suffered fatalities.
In August,
India accused China of provoking military tensions at the border
twice within a week. China denied both charges and blamed India for the stand-off.
In September,
China accused India of firing shots at its troops
. India accused China of firing into the air.
If true, it would be the first time in 45 years that shots were fired at the border. A 1996 agreement prohibited the use of guns and explosives near the border.
The two countries have fought only one war, in 1962, when India suffered a humiliating defeat.
But simmering tensions involve the risk of escalation - and that can be devastating given both sides are established nuclear powers. There would also be an economic fallout as China is one of India's biggest trading partners.
The military stand-off is mirrored by growing political tension, which has strained ties between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Observers say talks are the only way forward because both countries have much to lose.
|
d7fcce1df241a840a971daf645b38848 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53274152 | Coronavirus in North Korea: Kim Jong-un claims 'shining success' | Coronavirus in North Korea: Kim Jong-un claims 'shining success'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hailed his country's "shining success" in dealing with Covid-19, according to state news agency KCNA.
Speaking at a politburo meeting, Mr Kim said the country had "prevented the inroad of the malignant virus and maintained a stable situation".
North Korea closed its borders and put thousands into isolation six months ago as the virus swept across the globe.
It claims that it has no virus cases, though analysts say this is unlikely.
Mr Kim is said to have "analysed in detail the six month-long national emergency anti-epidemic work" at a politburo meeting on Thursday. He said the success in handling the virus was "achieved by the far-sighted leadership of the Party Central Committee".
But he stressed the importance of maintaining "maximum alert without... relaxation on the anti-epidemic front", adding that the virus was still present in neighbouring countries.
"He repeatedly warned that hasty relief of anti-epidemic measures will result in unimaginable and irretrievable crisis,"
said the KCNA report on Friday.
Has coronavirus spread through North Korea? No-one really knows. The country has been closed off since 30 January. Very few people have made it in or out.
The International Federation of the Red Cross had volunteers in the border area working on virus prevention measures and there have been a number of unconfirmed reports of cases within the country.
But most accounts of life in the capital in recent weeks appear to show life carrying on as normal.
Whatever the reality of the situation, Pyongyang wants to appear confident that it has crushed Covid-19.
Domestically this is a strong message that the strict measures Kim Jong-un took to keep the virus at bay have worked.
The rest of the world may be in the grip of a pandemic and Mr Kim wants his people to know he has saved them from that.
But it has come at a cost. All border traffic has been cut off. That means getting essential supplies into the impoverished state have been impossible.
Diplomatic sources have told me that there are stockpiles of PPE and medical supplies, including vaccines built up at the border unable to get through.
There were numerous reports of panic-buying of international goods at department stores in Pyongyang. Shelves being stripped bare as produce is restricted.
It's also worth noting that only 12 defectors have made it to South Korea between April and June this year - the lowest number on record.
The North Korean people may not be suffering from coronavirus, but they are now even more cut off from the outside world.
In late January, North Korea moved quickly against the virus - sealing off its borders and later quarantining hundreds of foreigners in the capital, Pyongyang.
It also put tens of thousands of its own citizens into isolation and closed schools.
North Korea has now reopened schools, but has kept a ban on public gatherings and made it compulsory for people to wear masks in public places, said a Reuters report on 1 July quoting a World Health Organization official.
The WHO also reported that the country has now tested just 922 people for the virus - all of whom have reportedly tested negative.
North Korea, which shares a long border with China, has long maintained that it has not suffered from a single case of the virus.
However, Oliver Hotham, managing editor of specialist news site NK News, told the BBC earlier this year that this was probably not true.
"It's very unlikely that it has seen no cases because it borders China and South Korea. [Especially with China], given the amount of cross border trade... I really don't see how it's possible they could have prevented it," he said.
"[But] they really did take precautions early [so] I think its possible they've prevented a full on outbreak."
|
112cee46f8248878389c263316fcb0eb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53831063 | Ten countries kept out Covid. But did they win? | Ten countries kept out Covid. But did they win?
Covid-19 has infected almost every country in the world – apart from 10. So what do they do now?
The Palau Hotel opened in 1982, before mass tourism arrived here. But since then, this tiny nation, surrounded by the sky-blue Pacific Ocean, has enjoyed something of a boom.
In 2019, 90,000 tourists came to Palau, five times the total population. In 2017, IMF figures
showed
, tourism made up 40% of the country’s GDP.
But that was pre-Covid.
Palau's borders have been, in effect, closed since late March. It is one of the only 10 countries in the world with no confirmed cases (counting only countries that are full UN members, and excluding North Korea and Turkmenistan).
Yet, without infecting a single person, the virus has ravaged the country.
The Palau Hotel has been closed since March, and it’s not alone. The restaurants are empty, the souvenir shops are shut, and the only hotel guests are returning residents in quarantine.
“The ocean here is much prettier than any other place in the world,” says Brian Lee, manager and co-owner of the Palau Hotel.
It is the sky-blue ocean that kept Brian busy. Before Covid, his 54 rooms had an occupancy rate of 70%-80%. But when the borders closed, there was nothing to fall back on.
“It’s a small country, so local people won’t stay in Palau,” says Brian.
He has around 20 staff, and has kept them all on, albeit with reduced hours. “I try to find jobs for them – maintenance, renovation, and so on,” he says.
But empty hotels cannot be maintained and renovated for ever. “I can stay for another half-a-year,” says Brian. “Then I may have to close.”
Brian doesn’t blame the government, which has offered financial support to residents, and has, after all, kept the virus out.
“I think they did a good job,” he says. And yet, if Palau’s first hotel is to survive, something has to change soon.
The president recently announced that “essential” air travel could resume by 1 September. Meanwhile, an “air corridor” with Taiwan, which would allow tourists to visit, has been rumoured.
For Brian, it can’t come soon enough.
“I think they have to start reopening again – maybe have travel bubbles with New Zealand and countries like that,” he says. “Otherwise, no one can survive here.”
Some 2,500 miles (4,000km) east, across the vast Pacific Ocean, the Marshall Islands also remain Covid-free. But, like Palau, no infection does not mean no impact.
The Hotel Robert Reimers sits on a ribbon of land on the main atoll, Majuro, with a lagoon on one side, and ocean on the other. Before Covid, the 37 rooms had an occupancy rate of 75%-88%, with guests mainly from Asia, the Pacific, or “the Mainland” (the United States).
Since the borders closed in early March, that rate is has been 3%-5%.
“We’ve had a few coming from the outer islands,” says Sophia Fowler, who works for the hotel group. “But not a lot.”
Nationally, the country is
expected to lose more than 700 jobs
in the Covid downturn, the biggest fall since 1997. Of those, 258 will be in the hotel and restaurant sector.
But self-isolation affects more than tourism – and the Marshall Islands are much less dependent on holiday-makers than Palau. A bigger problem is the fishing industry.
To keep the country Covid-free, boats that have been in infected countries are
banned from entering
the country’s ports. Other boats, including fuel tankers and container ships, must spend 14 days at sea before entering. Fishing licences are unsold, and cargo flights have been cut.
The effect is clear. The Marshall Islands specialise in aquarium fish – the most popular is the flame angel fish – but exports fell by 50%, according to one US report. The shore-based shipment of sashimi tuna fell by the same amount. Other fishing industries expect a 30% fall during the year.
In short, you can keep the virus out, but you can’t beat it. Covid-19 gets you one way or the other.
Sophia “hopes” things return to normal for the country, and Hotel Robert Reimers, next year. But if they don’t?
“Then it’s just not feasible for us,” she says.
But while closing borders has made Covid-free countries poorer, not everyone wants them reopened.
Dr Len Tarivonda is the director of public health in Vanuatu, population 300,000. Though he works in the capital, Port Vila, he is from Ambae, an island of 10,000 people around 170 miles north.
“If you talk to them [in Ambae], the majority say keep the border closed for as long as possible,” he says. “They say: ‘We don’t want the sickness – otherwise we’re doomed, basically.’”
Some 80% of people in Vanuatu live outside towns and the “formal economy”, Dr Tarivonda says.
“And my observation is they don’t necessarily feel the pinch yet. They are subsistence farmers, they grow their own food – they depend on the local, traditional economy.”
Nonetheless, the country will suffer. The Asian Development Bank expects GDP to fall by almost 10% – Vanuatu’s biggest drop since independence in 1980.
That slump is not just down to Covid’s closed borders. In April, Tropical Cyclone Harold battered much of the country, killing three people and affecting more than half the population.
“We had a daily health emergency operation briefing,” Dr Tarivonda remembers. “First we would discuss Covid, then TC Harold. Two disasters going on at the same time.”
Yet Covid will have the longer-lasting impact.
In July, the government announced plans to reopen the border to other “safe” countries by 1 September. Then cases grew in Australia, and New Zealand, and the plan was pushed back.
Dr Tarivonda, who sits on the border task force along with government, tourism, and airline officials, admits they are “almost back to square one”, with no new date for reopening.
Smaller, specific cross-border travel may help Vanuatu. The government recently allowed 172 workers to travel to the Northern Territory in Australia for six months to pick mangoes. While the remittances will help, they are not enough in a country where 35% of GDP comes from tourism.
But, despite that need for open borders, Vanuatu will not rush to reopen. Dr Tarivonda looks at Papua New Guinea, which was almost Covid-free until a sharp increase in late July, with concern.
“If the virus comes, it will probably be like wildfire – and what we are seeing in Papua New Guinea is a reflection of why we are worried,” he says.
“Given our [health care] limitations, the context we have in the Pacific, the best bet is to keep the virus out for as long as possible.”
So is there anything the Covid-free countries can do?
There are short-term measures, such as payments to workers and business. And there is one long-term measure: wait for a vaccine.
Until then, travel bubbles remain the best hope. Yet, as Rommel Rabanal from the Asian Development Bank points out, they sound simpler than they are.
“These arrangements have prerequisites,” he says. “A common set of testing standards, contact tracing, and quarantine facilities, in case outbreaks happen. They are under discussion but there has been slow progress – or perhaps cautious progress.”
And – as seen with Vanuatu’s “September plan” – the bubbles can burst quite easily, too.
“Australia and New Zealand have made it clear the first country they’ll test it with is each other,” says Jonathan Pryke, director of the Pacific islands programme at the Lowy Institute.
“And before that can happen, you need to remove community transmission. So I think the prospects of a travel bubble are off the cards for this year.”
Mr Pryke says that, as the months pass, the desperation is mounting in the closed-off Pacific countries.
He is, however, in no doubt that the only option for these countries was self-isolation on an international scale.
“Even if they kept their borders open, their major tourism markets of Australia and New Zealand wouldn’t be open, as they’ve locked down their own borders," he says.
"So you would have the worst of both worlds – a health crisis and an economic crisis. We’re going to have years and years to look at what the right decisions were.
"But looking back, no one’s going to doubt that locking down was the right move by these Pacific nations.”
|
10a4c1b750056efc8d794e48347e964f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55083491?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D | North Korea defectors: Loose screws at border blamed for gymnast crossing | North Korea defectors: Loose screws at border blamed for gymnast crossing
South Korea says a loosened screw in its border sensors is to blame for a defection from the North going undetected.
Earlier this month, authorities captured a man who said he'd escaped from the North by jumping over a border fence.
The man in his late 20s reportedly said he was a former gymnast.
South Korea's military announced it would now check every sensor at the inter-Korean border.
The system was installed in 2015 and is supposed to alert guards if there is some impact on the fence.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday said that because of loose screws, sensors had not worked properly.
The gymnast defector was later picked up by surveillance cameras.
There has been strong criticism over the issue in the South as it's seen as a failure to respond to a potential North Korean infiltration.
After the defector had been tracked down, an inspection of the fence showed it had been pressed down - which should have in turn triggered the sensors, had they been working.
According to South Korean media, authorities also had the young North Korean jump several times to verify his story of how he crossed the border.
About 1,000 people defect from North Korea each year, fleeing a repressive state that has faced numerous accusations of human rights abuses.
|
ee13a9bbdc35f5df93fc1337018e6428 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55362461 | Covid: How the war on the virus attacked freedom in Asia | Covid: How the war on the virus attacked freedom in Asia
Safoora Zargar was more than three months pregnant when she was arrested in the Indian capital Delhi for participating in a protest against a controversial citizenship law.
It was 10 April, and the pandemic was just beginning to take root in India.
The government's own advice said pregnant women were particularly vulnerable to infection, but for more than two months she was held in the overcrowded Tihar jail.
"They'd tell other prisoners not to talk to me. They'd told them I was a terrorist who'd killed Hindus. Now these people didn't know about the protests, they didn't know I was jailed for participating in a protest," she told the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi after her release.
Her crime had been taking part in widespread protests against the law which critics say targets the Muslim community. The demonstrations had captured the imagination of the country and attracted global attention.
But there were no protests in the street demanding her release. There couldn't be: India was under one of the world's strictest lockdowns, with people confined to their homes. Her arrest was one of many which took place during this time.
And it was not just India. Activists say numerous governments across Asia used the cloak of coronavirus to implement laws, carry out arrests, or push through controversial schemes which otherwise would have sparked a backlash, both at home and abroad.
But instead of a backlash, many governments have seen their popularity increase as people turned to them for direction during the crisis.
"The virus is the enemy and people are put on a war footing. This allows governments to pass oppressive laws in the name of 'battling' the pandemic," Josef Benedict of Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists, told the BBC.
"This has meant that human and civic rights have taken a step back."
Indeed, Civicus's latest report, "Attack on people power", says the Asia Pacific region has seen "attempts by numerous governments to stifle dissent by censoring reports of state abuses, including in relation to their handling of the pandemic".
It cites increased surveillance and tracking - currently used for contact tracing - as well as the imposition of strict laws intended to stifle any criticism as some of the ways in which this happens. Given that many of these measures are introduced as a response to the pandemic, there is little to no resistance against them.
The Civicus report states that at least 26 countries in the region have seen harsh legislation, while another 16 have seen human rights defenders prosecuted.
In India, apart from Safoora, other human rights defenders and activists - including a 83-year-old Jesuit priest with Parkinsons - have been charged and arrested with sedition, criminal defamation and under anti-terrorism laws which make it nearly impossible to get bail.
The situation has prompted several organisations to raise an alarm. Five UN special rapporteurs expressed concern saying the arrests seemed "clearly designed to send a chilling message to India's vibrant civil society".
Maitreyi Gupta, legal advisor India for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), told the BBC that they had consistently called on the government to release political prisoners.
However, despite international pressure, arrests have continued unabated, and to little protest.
The government has consistently maintained that those they have arrested have been acting against the interests of the country and denied charges that they were engaging in a witch hunt.
In the Philippines, the arrest of 62-year-old activist Teresita Naul - who has a known heart condition and asthma - on charges of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, and destructive arson led to an outcry.
But Naul, who was paraded in front of the media as a top "Communist leader", was just one of more than 400 people accused of these crimes, largely activists and journalists. Others, like Zara Alvarez and Randall Echanis, have been attacked and killed.
Meanwhile, the forced shutdown of the country's biggest media network ABS-CBN in May also deprived many of access to crucial information during the pandemic.
And yet, President Rodrigo Duterte's popularity remains high.
Bangladesh has also shut down several websites critical of the government for spreading "misinformation" on Covid.
And in Nepal, Bidya Shreshta, an activist from the indigenous Newar community, told the BBC that the government has used the pandemic as a means to persecute the group.
During the pandemic, Ms Shreshta says, officials violated a Supreme Court order and or went ahead with the demolition of 46 houses in the Newar's traditional settlements in the Kathmandu valley, making way for a new road.
Officials ignored protest, some of which were dispersed forcibly. The government says that the locals need to communicate their concerns through "proper channels" and has vowed that the building of the highway will go ahead because it's for the "public good".
The Civicus report also cites Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam as countries of concern as they have all seen the targeting of individuals with disproportionately harsh penalties - many of which were handed down for spreading allegedly false information about the pandemic.
And countries like Myanmar have been criticised for using "terrorism" as an excuse to justify restrictions on freedom of expression.
Sometimes though, government action is not directly related to the pandemic - but whether it could have happened without it will never be known.
In Hong Kong, the passage of the national security law in June - after the virus virtually ended the almost daily protests seen across the city - has had a chilling effect on its pro-democracy movement.
Other things are definitely related to the pandemic but, on the surface, benign.
The employment of surveillance technologies in countries like South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, has proved immensely effective in controlling the virus, but the ICJ has expressed concern that they may continue to be used even when the pandemic ends.
Mr Benedict feels that in many of these countries, civil society organisations have stepped up to fill the gaps entered by the government. And he also takes heart that protests are still continuing in many countries such as the anti-monarchy protests in Thailand and the "omnibus" job creation law in Indonesia.
However, the impact of many of the laws passed and arrests made this year are likely to last long after the pandemic is over.
|
c03fa33753545a2e0df8efba1d2e39be | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55472446 | The couples accused of destroying Japan's families | The couples accused of destroying Japan's families
Mari Inoue is a 34-year-old English professor in Tokyo. She got engaged to her boyfriend Kotaro Usui three years ago. A wedding, they say, is out of the question.
It's not the pandemic that is preventing them, but an archaic Japanese law that requires married couples to adopt the same surname.
Theoretically either partner could give up their family name. In practice it is almost always the woman who loses hers:
one study found it's them who change it 96% of the time.
"I find this very unfair," said Ms Inoue. "We should have the choice (to retain both)."
Her fiancé agrees. He considered becoming an Inoue but some relatives were unhappy. "I don't want to make any family sad," said Mr Usui. "We would like to be able to choose whether to change or keep one's name."
Japan is thought to be the only advanced economy to stop couples holding separate surnames after marriage
- through a law that explicitly discriminates against women, according to a UN committee.
Six years ago two high-profile lawsuits aimed at changing the rules failed. But the movement for reform - joined by Ms Inoue and Mr Usui - has only grown.
Surnames have long been contested territory.
In England a woman's desire to retain her maiden name was linked with unseemly "ambition" as early as 1605, wrote Dr Sophie Coulombeau.
Those who challenged the patriarchal practice met angry resistance, some eventually winning the right to use their names via landmark court cases starting in the late 1800s.
A similar battle was waged by suffragettes in the US. It took until 1972 for a string of legal judgments to confirm women could use their surnames however they liked.
More than 40 years later many in Japan were poised for their own watershed moment.
Kaori Oguni was one of the five plaintiffs who launched cases against the government, arguing that the law on surnames was unconstitutional and violated human rights.
But in 2015 Japan's Supreme Court decided it was reasonable to use one surname for a family, upholding the 19th Century rule. Only Japanese nationals who marry a foreigner continue to be exempt from the law, and can choose to hold separate surnames.
"It felt like an arrogant teacher was scolding us," said Ms Oguni, still using her birth name informally. "I'd hoped the court would respect individual rights."
Instead the judge said it was parliament that should decide on whether to pass new legislation.
The political sphere, like most workplaces in Japan, is dominated by men. Entrenched cultural expectations view childcare and housework as women's work even if they are employed outside the home. Sexism is rife.
Unsurprisingly then the country has a poor gender equality record, ranking 121st of 153 nations in the last World Economic Forum report.
The government says it wants more women to enter the shrinking workforce but the gender gap seems to be growing - Japan slipped 11 places from the previous equality study.
Since 2018, Naho Ida, a PR professional in Tokyo, has taken up the challenge of changing minds in parliament, lobbying MPs to back separate surnames through her campaign group Chinjyo Action.
For Naho, who prefers to go by her given name on second reference, the naming convention "feels like the proof of (women's) subordination".
Ida is in fact her ex-husband's name. When they married, in the 1990s, he told her he felt too ashamed to take her surname. Both her parents and his agreed the change was hers to bear. "I felt like I was invaded by my new surname," she said.
The 45-year-old has resigned herself to using Ida professionally, having published under it for decades, while remarriage has foisted on her a third unwanted legal surname.
"Some people are happy (to change), but I feel it is a social death," she told the BBC.
The advent of Yoshihide Suga as Japan's new premier last year briefly raised hopes among activists like Naho, as he has openly backed surname reform.
But in December the government reneged on its goals for women's empowerment with a watered-down gender equality plan that omitted the surname issue.
It "may destroy the social structure based on family units", warned Sanae Takaichi, a former minister, at the time.
Just last week, Japan's newly appointed minister for women's empowerment and gender equality, Tamayo Marukawa, said she was opposed to a legal change allowing women to keep their birth name.
For many "a woman who doesn't want to take her husband's name disrupts much more than a nuclear family, she disrupts the whole idea of family", said Linda White, a professor in Japanese Studies at Middlebury College in the US.
She explained how Japan's traditional koseki (family registry) system, based on single-surname households, has helped preserve patriarchal control everywhere from government to big business.
Japanese society itself seems open to change. Recent polls suggest a majority favour allowing married couples to keep separate surnames.
An October survey by Chinjyo Action and Waseda University showed that 71% supported giving people a choice.
In this changing landscape nine new legal challenges are in progress. Unlike last time, when all but one of the plaintiffs were women, nearly every lawsuit involves a man too.
It appears to be a conscious strategy in a movement where many of the leading figures are framing the debate in terms of human rights rather than women's rights or feminism.
"It's more an individual identity and freedom issue" than a feminist one, said lead lawyer Fujiko Sakakibara, 67. "We wanted to show that it impacts men as much as women."
Of the 18 plaintiffs now locked in surname disputes, half are men. One is a prominent CEO of a Tokyo-based software firm who legally took his wife's surname upon marriage.
Another is Seiichi Yamasaki. The retired civil servant has been in a de-facto relationship with his partner for 38 years as they thought it was unfair for either to change names.
At the age of 71, Mr Yamasaki wants the next generation to have a choice while showing "there is demand among older people too".
In December three of the ongoing legal cases were referred to the grand bench of the Supreme Court, a move lawyers are viewing positively as it may indicate the court will make a fresh judgement on the surname rule this year.
"That male voice has made a big difference," reflected Naho, acknowledging the role of male allies in ending a patriarchal norm.
The fallout of a name change on a career is a big driver for many of the women advocating reform. The burden of changing names on dozens of official documents in paperwork-heavy Japan is another.
Those who opt not to marry because of the law also cite problems in situations such as hospital care where only legally married spouses can make decisions on each other's behalf.
What it ultimately comes down to for many women though is identity.
Izumi Onji, an anaesthetist in the city of Hiroshima, took the unconventional step of divorcing her husband to get her name back. It's called a "paper divorce" in Japan as they are still living together decades later.
"That's me. That's my identity," says the 65-year-old plainly.
Dr Onji, who is also challenging the surname rule in court, knows she is one of a small minority who would actually use a revised law.
The overwhelming majority of Japanese women, like their counterparts in the UK and US, will still drop their surnames on marriage.
As Mihiko Sato (a pseudonym), a mother-of-two in her late 20s explained, adopting her husband's surname was a "natural" decision to feel "more united" as a family.
Many married British women might concur - almost 90% abandoned their names after getting wed, suggested a 2016 survey.
That the name change custom has persisted is a matter of surprise for some researchers in an era of greater gender consciousness and more women identifying as feminists.
Even those who don't, like many in Japan, say that tradition should not be used to stifle choice.
"Everyone should have the right to select their own surname," said Mrs Sato.
|
93fa9cf8bd0308301256cf682e5caa83 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55666152?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bjb.press%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bjapanese%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D | US has conceded too much to Taliban, says Afghan vice-president | US has conceded too much to Taliban, says Afghan vice-president
With the US due to complete the withdrawal of another 2,000 troops from Afghanistan, the Afghan vice-president tells the BBC the US made a mistake in conceding too much to the Taliban.
Amrullah Saleh says the American mission, which began 20 years ago, is not yet accomplished.
Last year President Donald Trump made a peace deal with the Taliban and agreed to drastically reduce US troops.
Mr Saleh says the pull-out risks more violence in the unstable country.
The Afghan government has been battling the Taliban, a hard-line Islamic movement, as the group tries to tighten its grip on parts of the country.
The current US presence in Afghanistan dates to 2001 when soldiers invaded to remove the Taliban from power, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But the movement regrouped and by 2018 was active in more than two-thirds of Afghanistan, threatening the elected government.
Thousands have been killed, including 2,400 US soldiers. Mr Trump has been clear that he is determined to withdraw all US troops from the country.
Vice-President Saleh told the BBC that US talks with the Taliban were not a mistake in themselves, but that Mr Trump's administration made an error in giving the group a "massive concession".
The deal signed in February 2020
said that the US and its Nato allies will withdraw all troops in 14 months if the Taliban upholds its promise to stop attacks. The Taliban also promised not to allow al-Qaeda or other militants to operate in areas it controls.
As a condition of starting negotiations with the Afghan government, the Taliban demanded that 5,000 of their men be released from Afghan prisons.
The final 400 prisoners
were set free in August last year.
Following the historic agreement, attacks by Taliban insurgents on international forces stopped, but fighting with Afghan security forces continued.
"I am telling them [US] as a friend and as an ally that trusting the Taliban without putting in a verification mechanism is going to be a fatal mistake," Mr Saleh said.
"The US delegation came to us and swore on every Holy Scripture that if you release these 5,000 Taliban prisoners there will be no violence. We told them at the highest level that our intelligence indicated otherwise, and if we do this violence will spike. Violence has spiked," he added.
He said that the group had not separated itself from terror group al-Qaeda whose leaders are "embedded" inside the Taliban. In October senior UN officials agreed with the assessment that al-Qaeda and the Taliban remain close allies.
"You want to negotiate with terrorism, it's your choice. But we are telling you, don't be deceived," the vice-president says.
"The Taliban were terrorists. They are terrorists today. They are killing women, activists, civil rights activists," he said.
But, he added, Afghanistan is not begging US soldiers to stay and the government accepts America's decision:
"We remain grateful for their assistance. But the fate of my country does not lie with the last US military helicopter."
At the peak of the war, there were 88,000 US troops in Afghanistan. After the completion of the latest withdrawal on Friday,
that number will be down to about 2,500.
The Taliban has told the BBC if all foreign troops do not withdraw by spring, as agreed by the Trump administration, they will resume attacks on international forces.
The Afghan government has been in talks with the Taliban, but it's unclear if and when they will sign a peace deal.
Many fear that if foreign militaries withdraw before a lasting agreement is reached, the Taliban might be back in power.
Mr Trump's successor, Joe Biden, takes office on 20 January and one of his tasks will be to decide what happens to the final American soldiers remaining in Afghanistan.
By Yogita Limaye, BBC News, Afghanistan
There are now estimated to be three times as many Nato troops in Afghanistan as there are US soldiers. Afghan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh told me he believes the mission that foreign troops came here for has not been accomplished, and that the West should be "very worried" about the threat of al-Qaeda if their group is allowed to strengthen its base here.
Many Afghans I've spoken to fear that the Taliban will come back to power if international forces leave without a sustainable peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Women in particular are worried about what rights they would have.
On the ground, violence has surged, killing dozens of Afghans every day. And the humanitarian situation is perilous - according to the UN, half of all Afghan children under the age of five are facing malnutrition.
In the country's only children's hospital, I met Farishta, the mother of two-year-old Subhan, who can no longer walk because she is malnourished. Farishta told me there are days when they go entirely without food. She blames the war for their suffering. The UN says that six times as many people are in need of life-saving support in Afghanistan than just four years ago.
People here are asking - if foreign troops pull out now, what lasting gains will have been made in 20 years of US-led war?
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.