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Yangtze River fishermen to be retrained amid fishing ban

(Xinhua)08:54, August 05, 2020

Chinas Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has called for tailored vocational training for those fishermen affected by a 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River basin that came into force this year.

At least one vocational training course will be offered, free of charge, to fishermen who request it, along with training subsidies for the duration of the course, according to a circular issued by the ministry.

For senior fishermen whose skill-set is limited, training on aquaculture and aquatic products processing will be given. They may also obtain training in areas such as household management, elderly care, and security-guard work. Middle-aged and young fishermen, meanwhile, will receive training in online retailing, auto repairs and electrical work.

The ministry also advised giving full play to new occupations, such as live-streaming salesperson, delivery personnel for online orders and express-delivery person.

In January, China began a 10-year fishing moratorium in 332 conservation areas in the Yangtze River basin, which will be expanded to all the natural waterways of the countrys longest river, and its major tributaries from no later than January 1, 2021.

The full-scale ban is likely to affect more than 113,000 fishing boats and nearly 280,000 fishermen in 10 provincial-level regions along the river, according to earlier estimates.

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Chinese mainland reports 27 new confirmed COVID-19 cases

(Xinhua)08:59, August 05, 2020

Chinese health authority said Wednesday that it received reports of 27 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Tuesday, including 22 locally-transmitted ones.

All locally-transmitted cases were reported in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.

On Tuesday, five new imported cases were also reported. Of the cases, two were reported in Shanghai and one each in Beijing, Sichuan and Shaanxi, the commission said.

No deaths related to the disease or suspected COVID-19 cases were reported Tuesday, the commission said.

On Tuesday, 17 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, the commission said.

By the end of Tuesday, a total of 2,103 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Of them, 2,007 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 96 remained hospitalized, with two in serious conditions. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported.

As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland had reached 84,491, including 810 patients who were still being treated, with 36 in severe conditions.

Altogether 79,047 people had been discharged after recovery, and 4,634 had died of the disease on the mainland, the commission said.

There were still three suspected COVID-19 cases, it added.

According to the commission, 23,018 close contacts were still under medical observation after 408 were discharged on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, 24 new asymptomatic cases, including 10 from outside the mainland, were reported, and no asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed ones.

The commission said 272 asymptomatic cases, including 114 from outside the mainland, were still under medical observation.

By Tuesday, 3,669 confirmed cases, including 42 deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 476, including seven deaths, in Taiwan.

A total of 2,141 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 46 in the Macao SAR, and 441 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.

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HK virologist Whistleblower or Western propaganda puppet?

By MdEnamulHassan (Peoples Daily Online)12:18, July 19, 2020

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

American conservative cable television news channel, Fox News, broadcast an exclusive interview of a virologist from Hong Kong Dr. Li-Meng Yan on July 13. In the interview, the virologist has accused China of covering up coronavirus cases and claimed to have fled from Hong Kong to the United States (US) for her life.

In the wake of airing the interview, some Western politicians and media have created quite an uproar around the world as if they were waiting for such an interview. They have bought no time to label the Hong Kong virologist as a whistleblower.

Western media have given the interview such uncritical coverage that they even havent felt the need for cross-checking her statements. However, after going through the interview, many questions have popped up in my journalistic mind about the authenticity of her claims.

I would like to share a few of them with my readers in this article. For example, the virologist has said, She believes the China knew about the coronavirus well before it claimed it did. I have found this statement untrustworthy. Because she couldnt or didnt cite any evidence for the verification of her claim. It appears to be a repetition of the accusation oft-made by some of the Western forces against China.

Dr. Yan also claimed that she was one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus. She was allegedly asked by her supervisor at the University/WHO reference lab, Dr. Leo Poon, in 2019 to look into the odd cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of the Chinese mainland at the end of December 2019.

Her claim to be one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus is also contradictory to her own statement. Because she later in the interview said, The Chinese government refused to let overseas experts, including ones in Hong Kong, do research in China. If the government didnt allow any Hong Kong experts, how she, despite being a Hongkonger, could study the coronavirus.

Besides, in an official statement, her university, Hong Kong University (HKU), has clarified that Dr. Yan never conducted any research on the human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus at the university during December 2019 and January 2020.

Dr. Yan has apparently made another dubious claim of fleeing Hong Kong. Its an absurd claim because no Hongkonger is barred from traveling to the US. The virologist also told Fox News that she landed in Los Angeles on April 28 and told customs officials at the airport that she wanted to reveal the so-called truth about China.

Her statement has raised a question of why she has taken around two and a half months to appear before the camera, that too from an undisclosed location. I think it wont be strange to ask if she had been being groomed by any agency during the period to face the media to reveal her so-called truth!

The virologist also expressed that she believes her life is in danger saying she knows how China treats whistleblowers. But I think she has forgotten or might not be allowed to talk about how Western governments treated Edward Joseph Snowden and Julian Paul Assange for revealing the real truth.

Putting aforesaid analysis into perspective, I have enough reasons to consider the virologist a Western propaganda puppet instead of a true whistleblower.

Moreover, the interview of the virologist has reminded the world of Nayirah testimony once again. It was a false testimony given before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus of the US in 1990 by a 15-year-old girl who provided only her first name, Nayirah. The testimony was widely publicized and was cited numerous times by US senators and then-president George H. W. Bush in their rationale to back Kuwait in the Gulf War.

But in 1992, it was revealed that Nayirahs last name was al-峁ba岣?and that she was the daughter of Saud Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US. Furthermore, it was revealed that her testimony was organized as part of the Citizens for a Free Kuwait public relations campaign, which was run by the American public relations firm Hill Knowlton for the Kuwaiti government. Following this, al-Sabahs testimony has come to be regarded as a classic example of modern atrocity propaganda.

It is crystal clear that the virologist is used as a Western propaganda puppet. Her interview is very similar to the Nayirah testimony. Because the testimony was used to justify the US invasion in Iraq, while Dr. Yan鈥檚 interview might be orchestrated to help President Donald J Trump confirm his second term at the White House by blaming China to cover up his failures in the fight against the coronavirus. The interview has again proved that Western imperium can stoop to any lower for withholding their opponents and attaining their ulterior motives.

The author is the China Correspondent of the Bangladesh Post.

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Greek parliament approves purchase of French-made fighter jets

(Xinhua)08:47, January 15, 2021

ATHENS, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — Greeces parliament approved on Thursday the purchase of 18 French-made Rafale fighter jets (6 new ones and 12 used) to the tune of 2.5 billion euros (3.04 billion U.S. dollars), national news agency AMNA reported.

The draft bill on the defense procurement deal was supported by the ruling party, as well as several opposition parties.

The delivery of the first planes will be made this year and the program will be completed in 2023, according to the timetable.

The agreement is part of a wider 11.5-billion-euro plan to modernize Greek armed forces by 2025.

Addressing the plenary shortly before the vote, Minister of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos said the program sends a strong signal that Greece will do everything possible to defend its sovereign rights with increased deterrent capabilities of its armed forces.

The minister added that this was an effort which became imperative due to the current situation with the many and complex challenges in the wider region.

The arms deal came as tensions between Greece and Turkey over energy sources in the Mediterranean heated up in the past several months.

Greece and Turkey have long disagreed on overlapping claims on hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, with both sides holding conflicting views of how far their continental shelves extend in waters. Tension in the region has increased in recent months over maritime boundaries and rights to energy resources.

Earlier this week Greece and Turkey announced that they will resume exploratory talks on Jan. 25 in Istanbul on the delimitation of their maritime zones, after a four-year break.

The previous round of exploratory talks between the two sides had taken place in 2016. (1 euro = 1.22 U.S. dollars)

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DPRK holds military parade to celebrate party congress

(Xinhua)10:23, January 15, 2021

PYONGYANG, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — A military parade to commemorate the eighth party congress of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) was held at Kim Il Sung Square in central Pyongyang on Thursday evening, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers Party of Korea (WPK) who was re-elected at the party congress, appeared at the tribune of the square together with members of the partys central leadership body and commanding officials of the military.

During the military parade, the worlds most powerful weapon, submarine-launch ballistic missile, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the might of the revolutionary armed forces, said the report.

There was also formation flying to pay respect to the Party Central Committee and fireworks were set off to brighten the sky, it added.

Apart from the military parade, art troupes on Wednesday gave a performance titled We Sing of the Party at an indoor stadium in Pyongyang to celebrate the congress.

The eight-day congress of the ruling WPK of the DPRK opened on Jan. 5 and closed on Tuesday.

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Chinas WJ-700 UAV makes maiden flight

(Xinhua)10:05, January 14, 2021

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — Chinas WJ-700, a high-altitude, high-speed and long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of conducting reconnaissance and strike, has performed its maiden flight, its developer announced Wednesday.

Developed by an institute under the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, the WJ-700 has adopted a number of advanced technologies. Its key indicators such as endurance, range and carrying capacity reached the advanced level.

The UAV will target both the domestic and international markets in the next five to 10 years, according to the company.

The success of the maiden flight will provide important support for the innovation and development of Chinas unmanned equipment, sources with the company said.

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Australian Open faces big names positive COVID-19 tests

(Xinhua)13:07, January 15, 2021

SYDNEY, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Athletes and their teams began arriving in Melbourne from Thursday ahead of next months Australian Open (AO), despite several big names testing positive for COVID-19.

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray was unable to board one of the designated charter flights to Australia after testing positive for the virus, casting serious doubt on whether he will appear at the tournament.

After receiving the positive result, AO officials revealed that the three-time grand slam champion and five-time AO finalist was isolating at his home near London.

Unfortunately this means he will be unable to join the official AO charter flights arriving in Australia in the coming days to go through the quarantine period with the other players, AO officials said in a statement.

Shortly after, U.S. star Madison Keys revealed she too had tested positive for COVID-19 prior to boarding her flight to Melbourne and was self-isolating at home.

I unfortunately tested positive for (COVID-19) before I was supposed to fly to Australia, Keys wrote on social media.

Im very disappointed to not be able to play in the coming weeks after training hard in the off-season and knowing Tennis Australia and the tours did so much to make these events happen.

Meanwhile, fellow-American Tennys Sandgren was granted special approval to travel to Australia for the event despite returning a positive result, having already been diagnosed and recovering from the disease last November.

Under the current rules, players are only allowed to enter Australia after returning a negative COVID-19 test taken just prior to departure, or with specific approval to travel as a recovered case.

Tennys Sandgrens positive result was reviewed by health experts and determined to be viral shedding from a previous infection, so was given the all-clear to fly, Victorias Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Lisa Neville said.

No one who is COVID positive for the first time – or could still be infectious – will be allowed in for the AO.

Upon arrival, players and their teams are subject to the same two weeks of mandatory quarantine as other international arrivals, however players are allowed to undertake five hours of training per day at designated facilities which form part of a quarantine bubble.