Most Asian Americans view their ancestral homelands favorably, except Chinese Americans
July 19 | https://bit.ly/43yz7H9
About nine-in-ten Taiwanese and Japanese Americans say their opinion of their ancestral homelands is very or somewhat favorable, as do large majorities of Korean, Indian and Filipino adults. A smaller majority of Vietnamese Americans (59%) say they have a favorable view of Vietnam, while fewer than half of Chinese Americans (41%) hold a favorable opinion of China.
Xi says China will follow its own carbon reduction path as US climate envoy Kerry meets top officials in Beijing
July 19 | https://bit.ly/3PZdmxd
CNN — China will follow its own path to cut carbon emissions, leader Xi Jinping vowed Tuesday, as US climate envoy John Kerry called for faster action to confront the climate crisis in a high-profile visit to Beijing.
Xi told a national conference on environmental protection that China’s commitment to its duel carbon goals – reaching a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 – is “unwavering,” according to state news agency Xinhua.
US deploys nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea in show of force against North Korea
July 17 | https://bit.ly/46OFw41
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea on Tuesday for the first time in four decades, as the allies warned North Korea that any use of the North’s nuclear weapons in combat would result in the end of its regime.
China and Russia to hold joint military drill in strategic waters near Japan
July 15 | https://bit.ly/44vzB2d
Moscow will send its air force and navy to the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, to take part in exercise to maintain security of key maritime corridors
Defence experts say drills seen as a response to Washington’s attempts to work more closely with Tokyo and Seoul to prepare for possible Taiwan conflict
Extreme heat sweeps the world from Europe to the US and Japan
July 15 | https://bit.ly/46VhHr1
Record heat is forecast around the world from the United States, where tens of millions are battling dangerously high temperatures, to Europe and Japan, in the latest example of the rising threat from global warming.
Italy faces weekend predictions of historic highs with the health ministry issuing a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence.
ASEAN leaders condemn continued violence in Myanmar, reaffirm commitment to peace plan
July 14 | https://bit.ly/3O1LHc7
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held a foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday in the capital city of Indonesia to form a consensus over how to deal with the situation in Myanmar. In a statement issued after the completion of the meeting, ASEAN foreign ministers said:
We strongly condemned the continued acts of violence, including air strikes, artillery shelling, and destruction of public facilities and urged all parties involved to take concrete action to immediately halt indiscriminate violence, denounce any escalation, and create a conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue.
Blinken meets Wang Yi in Indonesia. But the region remains wary of the US-China rivalry
July 14 | https://bit.ly/43w0XUy
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China’s top diplomat to discuss thorny issues as part of efforts to nurture talks on the sidelines of regional diplomatic meetings in Indonesia, whose president called on rival powers Friday to avoid turning the region into a “competition arena.”
Biden: NATO alliance ‘more united than ever in its history’ in support of UkraineJuly 12 |
July 12 | https://bit.ly/3DDDSoB
President Biden closed out a major NATO summit in Lithuania on Wednesday by touting the alliance’s staying power and asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin badly misjudged the alliance’s unity and strength when he invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The summit provided high points for Mr. Biden and NATO officials — including a breakthrough deal with Turkey allowing Sweden to join — and some trickier moments, including a last-minute effort to finesse Ukraine‘s hopes for a clear date for membership. But Mr. Biden emphasized the positive in his closing remarks in Vilnius.
Fukushima: Anxiety and anger over Japan’s nuclear waste water plan
July 5 | https://bit.ly/3rEEreJ
Since the 2011 tsunami which severely damaged the plant, more than a million tonnes of treated waste water has accumulated there. Japan now wants to start discharging it into the Pacific Ocean.
The UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has published a report endorsing Japan’s plan.
Lawsuit alleges Harvard gives preferential treatment to legacy admissions, who are ‘overwhelmingly’ White
July 3 | https://bit.ly/3K09W9F
CNN— Three minority advocacy groups are suing Harvard University’s governing body, accusing the school of discrimination by giving preferential treatment to children of wealthy donors and alumni, and are citing the recent US Supreme Court ruling that gutted affirmative action to bolster their lawsuit.
Sudan rejects African peace bid and ‘enemy’ peacekeeping forceJuly
July 11 | https://bit.ly/3OiD0f8
Sudan’s army-aligned foreign ministry has rejected a regional summit proposal to consider deploying peacekeeping forces to protect civilians, dashing tentative hopes it might help efforts to end the country’s three-month war.
CIA Director Burns says the Wagner uprising’s fallout ‘will play out for some time’
July 1, | https://bit.ly/44tBuMX
CIA Director William Burns said that the repercussions of the recent aborted revolt in Russia led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin won’t blow over any time soon and offer a reminder of the damage President Putin’s regime has inflicted on Russia.
Supreme Court Rejects Affirmative Action Programs at Harvard and U.N.C.
Jun 29 | https://bit.ly/44xwarR
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful and sharply curtailing a policy that had long been a pillar of higher education.
The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s liberal members in dissent.
Chinese Cybercrime Syndicates in Myanmar Now Target Victims Worldwide
Jun 28 | https://bit.ly/44wmjlQ
Organized criminal groups from China operating on the Thai-Myanmar border are threatening internet users worldwide with online scams and financial fraud, using trafficked “cyber slaves” to carry out their crimes, according to a new report by the congressionally established United States Institute of Peace in Washington.
Jun 26 | https://bit.ly/44s5KHQ
UNHCR warns that with a deepening refugee crisis and the emergence of new displacement situations, urgent action is required to address the escalating challenges faced by millions of refugees and displaced individuals worldwide.
The UN refugee agency notes that the Asia region tops the list of estimated needs in 2024, with nearly 730,000 refugees requiring resettlement support, representing 30 per cent of global needs. Refugees from Afghanistan are estimated to have the second-highest resettlement needs, followed by refugees from South Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Iran Remains on FATF Blacklist
Jun 24 | https://bit.ly/3K4ISpK
The international money-laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force said Friday that it had made no changes in its blacklist, which for the moment includes three countries Iran, Myanmar and North Korea. The announcement came on the final day of the FATF plenary meeting in Paris.
FATF also said in a press release on its website that it had put Cameroon, Croatia and Vietnam on its “grey list” of countries under increased monitoring.
Rich nations pledge to unlock hundreds of billions of dollars for climate fight
Jun 23 | https://bit.ly/45as9tp
PARIS, June 23 (Reuters) – Multilateral development banks like the World Bank are expected to find $200 billion in extra firepower for low-income economies by taking on more risk, a move that may require wealthy nations to inject more cash, world leaders said on Friday.
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