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Xi’an are straining under a strict coronavirus lockdown, with difficulties finding food

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Xi’an are straining under a strict coronavirus lockdown, with difficulties finding food

Stringent measures to stem outbreaks are common in China, which still maintains a policy of stamping out every COVID-19 case long after many other countries have opted to try to live with the virus. But the lockdown imposed Dec. 23 in Xi’an is one of the harshest in the country since a shutdown in 2020 in and around Wuhan, after the coronavirus was first detected there.

According to AP, residents of the Chinese city of Xi’an are straining under a strict coronavirus lockdown, with some complaining of difficulties finding food, despite assurances from authorities that they are able to provide necessities for the 13 million people largely confined to their homes.

The Chinese have largely complied with the tough measures throughout the pandemic, but complaints have cropped up over tough policies, despite the risk of retaliation from Communist authorities. The Xi’an lockdown, however, comes at a particularly sensitive time, as China prepares to hold the Beijing Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 4, and therefore is under especially intense pressure to contain this outbreak.

“Can’t leave the building, and it’s getting more and more difficult to buy food online,” said one resident of Xi’an, who posted on the social media platform Weibo under the name Mu Qingyuani Sayno. The post was from a verified account, but the person did not respond to a request for further comment.

The lockdown in Xi’an originally allowed people to leave the house every two days to shop for basic goods, but it has since been tightened, though the rules vary according to the severity of the outbreak in each district. Some people are not allowed to go out at all and must have goods delivered to them. People can only leave the city with special permission.

In recent days, people in Xi’an could be seen shopping at pop-up markets, served by workers in head-to-toe white protective suits. Community volunteers also visited people’s homes to ask what they needed.

Yet the strain is beginning to show, with residents increasingly complaining on Weibo of being unable to source necessities. In one widely shared video, guards could be seen attacking a man who had tried to deliver steamed buns to family members. The guards later apologized to the man and were each fined 200 yuan ($31), according to a Xi’an police statement posted on Weibo.

Five of the world’s largest nuclear powers pledge to avoid nuclear war

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Five of the world’s largest nuclear powers pledge to avoid nuclear war

Five of the world’s largest nuclear powers pledged on Monday to work together toward “a world without nuclear weapons” in a rare statement of unity amid rising East-West tensions.

“A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” said the joint statement, which was issued simultaneously by the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France. “As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons — for as long as they continue to exist — should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.”

The statement also stressed the importance of preventing conflict between nuclear-weapon states from escalating, describing it as a “foremost responsibility.”

The statement comes as tensions between the world powers have risen to heights rarely seen in recent decades. In Europe, Russia is massing troops along its border with Ukraine, raising alarms in Washington, London and Paris. And in Asia, increased Chinese military activity around the self-governed island of Taiwan has spiked tensions between Beijing and Washington and its Pacific allies.

Russia is believed to have the world’s biggest stockpile of nuclear warheads, with 6,255, followed closely by the United States at 5,550, according to the Arms Control Association (ACA). China (350), France (290) and the UK (225) round out the top five.

Pakistan (165), India (156), Israel (90) and North Korea (40-50) also have nuclear weapons, according to the ACA, but are not party to the Nonproliferation Treaty.

The five pledged to adhere to the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) which obligates them “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.”

Some of the text of the statement, including the pledges to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons, echoes a statement issued by the five nations after a December conference in Paris that laid the groundwork for the since delayed review of the treaty.

And the statement that a nuclear war cannot be won was identical to language that the US and Russian Presidents, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, used after their June summit in Switzerland.

It was also the same language used by then-US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after their 1985 summit in Geneva.

The director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, Fu Cong, said that Beijing remained committed to a policy of no first use and deterrence, despite modernizing its nuclear capabilities.

“Nuclear weapons are the ultimate deterrence. They are not for war fighting. By saying that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought shows that this is an understanding shared by all the P5. So it is important that we have this in mind while we talk about the tension,” said Fu when asked about tensions over Taiwan.

“This applies everywhere and it applies with our bad relations with the US … This is something that we hope could reduce tension, and it would help clarify certain misunderstandings,” he added.

Cambodia activist briefly detained after protest in ankle shackles

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Cambodia activist briefly detained after protest in ankle shackles

Theary Seng is an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen who has been in power for 36 years and has kept a tight leash on all political activity in the country.

According to AP, Cambodian security forces on Tuesday briefly detained a Cambodian-American lawyer who is a prominent rights activist as she walked barefoot near the prime minister’s residence in Phnom Penh, wearing a prison-style orange outfit and Khmer Rouge-era ankle shackles.

Theary Seng was on her way to a court hearing and was livestreaming her progress via social media when a number of uniformed men surrounded her and blocked her way.

Journalists at the scene say security forces then put her into a car and took her away.

She was released, shortly afterwards, and arrived at Phnom Penh Municipal Court for the resumption of her trial on treason charges. She was still wearing the orange outfit, but court officials asked her to remove the ankle shackles.

The Cambodian-American lawyer has previously used clothing to make symbolic points, during the current legal proceedings against her. On Dec. 7, she attended court dressed as a classical Cambodian Apsara dancer, telling reporters she was expressing her belief that the trial was “political theatre”.

Theary Seng lived through the brutal Khmer Rouge era as a child, during which she lost both her parents. She left for America where she qualified as a lawyer, then returned to Cambodia in 1995.

She did not immediately clarify the reasons for her physical appearance on Tuesday, but the use of the ankle shackles is likely a reference both to the repression of the Pol Pot period and to current Prime Minister Hun Sen’s past as a mid-level Khmer Rouge commander.

“I’m wearing shackles from my childhood prison during the Khmer Rouge. During the Khmer Rouge, I was detained as a child with my mom, with my four brothers,” she told The Associated Press before she was detained. “These are not the exact shackles that I wore, possibly, but they’re from the prison where I was detained and it’s the shackles from that era.”

At least 1.7 million Cambodians are estimated to have died under the brutal rule of the ultra-Maoist movement during its almost four-year rule, from April 1975 to January 1979.

Theary Seng is facing charges of conspiracy to commit treason and incitement to commit a felony, which together carry a maximum jail sentence of 12 years. They arise from a failed attempt by leading opposition figure Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia in November 2019, after a period of self-exile. Cambodian authorities allege Theary Seng was involved in the trip’s organization. She says she has no political affiliation.

44 other people are being tried on the same charges, but last month a judge ordered Theary Seng’s trial split off from the others.

Hun Sen says he intends to stay in office until 2028. Last December, he endorsed one of his sons to be his successor.

N.Korea defector returned home last week struggled to resettle in South

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N.Korea defector returned home last week struggled to resettle in South

According to Reuters, A former North Korean defector who made a risky and rare cross-border return home last week had struggled in South Korea, officials and media reports said on Tuesday, sparking fresh debate over how such defectors are treated in their new lives.

South Korea’s military identified the man who crossed the heavily armed Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas on Saturday as a North Korean who defected to the South in a similar area just over a year ago.

The man’s plight shed new light on the lives of re-defectors and raised questions about whether they had received adequate support after making the dangerous journey from the impoverished, tightly controlled North to the wealthy, democratic South.

The re-defector was in his 30s and making a poor living while working as a janitor, a military official said.

“I would say he was classified as lower class, barely scraping a living,” the official said, declining to elaborate citing privacy concerns.

Officials, who said they saw little risk of the man being a North Korean spy, have launched an inquiry into how he evaded guards despite being caught on surveillance cameras hours before crossing the border.

The man had little interaction with neighbours, and was seen throwing away his belongings a day before he crossed the border, Yonhap reported.

“He was taking out a mattress and bedding to garbage dumps on that morning, and it was strange because they were all too new,” a neighbour was quoted by Yonhap as saying. “I thought about asking him to give it to us, but ended up not doing that, because we’ve never said hi to each other.”

As of September, around 33,800 North Koreans had resettled in South Korea, daring a long, risky journey – usually via China – in pursuit of a new life while fleeing poverty and oppression at home.

Since 2012, only 30 defectors are confirmed to have returned to the North, according to the Unification Ministry. But defectors and activists say there could be many more unknown cases among those who struggled to adapt to life in the South.

About 56% of defectors are categorised as low income, according to ministry data submitted to defector-turned-lawmaker Ji Seong-ho. Nearly 25% are in the lowest bracket subject to national basic livelihood subsidies, six times the ratio of the general population.

Psalms 21:2

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Psalms 21:2

You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. – Psalms 21:2, NIV

Prices for used vehicles blow: it’s 39% more than 1 year earlier

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Prices for used vehicles blow: it’s 39% more than 1 year earlier

As prices for used vehicles blow past any seemingly rational level, it is the kind of scenario playing out at many auto dealerships across the country. Prices have soared so high, so fast, that buyers are being increasingly priced out of the market.

According to AP, consider that the average price of a used vehicle in the United States in November, according to Edmunds.com, was $29,011 — a dizzying 39% more than just 12 months earlier. And for the first time that anyone can recall, more than half of America’s households have less income than is considered necessary to buy the average-priced used vehicle.

The days when just about anyone with a steady income could wander onto an auto lot and snag a reliable late-model car or buy their kid’s first vehicle for a few thousand dollars have essentially vanished.

The blame can be traced directly to the pandemic’s eruption in March of last year. Auto plants suspended production to try to slow the virus’ spread. As sales of new vehicles sank, fewer people traded in used cars and trucks. At the same time, demand for laptops and monitors from people stuck at home led semiconductor makers to shift production from autos, which depend on such chips, to consumer electronics.

When a swifter-than-expected economic rebound boosted demand for vehicles, auto plants tried to restore full production. But chip makers couldn’t respond fast enough. And rental car companies and other fleet buyers, unable to acquire new vehicles, stopped off-loading older ones, thereby compounding the shortage of used vehicles.

Bleak as the market is for used-car buyers, the computer chip shortage has also driven new-vehicle prices higher. The average new vehicle, Edmunds.com says, is edging toward $46,000.

5-year-old boy was killed after tree falls on DeKalb County home

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5-year-old boy was killed after tree falls on DeKalb County home

“When they arrived they heard a person screaming, they were able to rescue a mother virtually unharmed,” Capt. Jaeson Daniels told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She complained of no injuries, but the child was deceased.”

A 5-year-old boy was killed Monday morning when a tree fell on his DeKalb County home, splitting the residence in two, officials said.

His mother was rescued and was not injured, but the boy became trapped after the tree came down in the 3400 block of Glenwood Road, according to a DeKalb County fire spokesman. Crews arrived shortly after 5 a.m. and found the child dead inside.

Daniels said the tree fell on the center of the home, making recovery efforts difficult. Crews have been called to secure the structure before they can remove the child’s body.

“There is so much destruction,” Daniels said. “It really just split the house in half.”

Another Hong Kong news site shuts : US condemned diminishing media and civil freedoms

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Another Hong Kong news site shuts : US condemned diminishing media and civil freedoms

Hong Kong welcomed its newest batch of pro-Beijing lawmakers in the Legislative Council Monday, after an election held without opposition candidates, as the editors of one of the city’s last remaining pro-democracy news outlets announced their impending closure.

It was the latest moment in a long series of events in the past year that showed how the local government was reshaping Hong Kong, with Beijing’s backing, in an effort to stamp out opposition and dissent in a city once renowned for its freedoms of expression.

The founders of news outlet Citizen News said Monday that although they had not been contacted by the Hong Kong national security police, the current environment in the financial hub is such that they are unclear if their reporting could be considered as violating the law. The news site will stop publishing on Jan. 4.

“We all love this place, deeply. Regrettably, what was ahead of us is not just pouring rains or blowing winds, but hurricanes and tsunamis,” Citizen News said in a statement on Sunday, when it originally announced their impending closure.

The U.S. and other Western government have condemned diminishing media and civil freedoms that Beijing promised to uphold for 50 years following Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from Britain.

But Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam last week defended the raid on Stand News, telling reporters that “inciting other people … could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting.”

The only remaining pro-democracy news outlets in the city is Hong Kong Free Press, an English-language news outlet, and Initium, a Chinese-language news outlet which had moved its headquarters to Singapore in August, but still has staff in the city.

Citizen News likened itself to a small dinghy in rough waters.

“At the centre of a brewing storm, we found (ourselves) in a critical situation. In the face of a crisis, we must ensure the safety and well-being of everyone who are on board.”

Citizen News is the third news outlet to close in recent months, following pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and online site Stand News.

The outlet was founded five years ago in 2017 by a group of veteran journalists. While small, they focused on political news and analysis pieces, as well as investigations.

The space for doing those type of stories has shrunk since China’s central legislature imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in 2019 following massive anti-government protests. As authorities stepped up arrests of political activists, civil rights groups and unions disbanded, and some activists fled. Independent media has been one of the more prominent casualties of the ongoing crackdown.

“What we understood about press freedom has changed a lot,” said Chris Yeung, founder and chief writer at Citizen News. “What’s the line between, say, freedom and what the government has always emphasized responsibilities or obligations like upholding national security, public order, etc.”

The impending closure of Citizen News came days after authorities raided Stand News and arrested seven people — including editors and former board members — for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious material. Stand News announced on the same day that it would cease to operate.

Two of Stand News’ former editors who were arrested were later formally charged with sedition.

In the summer, authorities forced the closure of Apple Daily, the newspaper owned by media tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Lai is currently in jail and was newly charged with sedition last week.

The world’s oldest living person turns 119

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The world’s oldest living person turns 119

Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest living person, turned 119 years old on Sunday, according to a Twitter post published by her great-granddaughter, Junko Tanaka.”Great achievement. (Kane Tanaka) reached 119 years of age,” Junko tweeted, with a photograph of her great-grandmother, whom she saw in December. “I hope you’ll continue to live life cheerfully and to the fullest.”

Born in 1903, Tanaka married a rice shop owner at the age of 19, and worked in the family store until she was 103.

Tanaka has lived through a multitude of historical events, surviving two world wars and the 1918 Spanish flu. Her life has spanned 49 Summer and Winter Olympic Games.”I don’t remember her talking much about the past … She’s very forward thinking — she really enjoys living in the present,” Tanaka’s grandson, Eiji Tanaka, told CNN last year.

Tanaka is living in a nursing home in Fukuoka prefecture. Her family said keeps her mind and body engaged by doing math, and remaining curious.

The Guinness Book of World Records recognized her as the world’s oldest living person in 2019.

Unidentified person crosses fortified border into North Korea

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Unidentified person crosses fortified border into North Korea

According to AP, South Korea’s military said Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea.

The person was earlier spotted by surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, but avoided capture by South Korean troops on Saturday night. The surveillance later detected the person crossing the border, Joint Chiefs of Staff officers said.

South Korea sent a message to North Korea on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of the person, but the North hasn’t responded, the officers said requesting anonymity citing department rules.

It was unclear if this was a rare case of a South Korean hoping to defect to the North, or it could be a North Korean who briefly entered the South Korean territory for some reason before returning to the North.

Earlier in 2020, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un placed a border city under total lockdown after a North Korean defector with COVID-19-like symptoms sneaked back home. The fate of that defector, who had lived in South Korea, is not known.

On Saturday, North Korea announced it had decided to place top priority on strict virus restrictions at a high-profile ruling party meeting last week.

The two Koreas are split along the world’s most heavily armed border, called the Demilitarized Zone. An estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.

Defecting via the DMZ is rare. At the height of their Cold War rivalry, both Koreas sent agents and spies to each other’s territory through the DMZ, but no such incidents have been reported in recent years.

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