China mourns passing of heroic pig that survived 2008 quake - CNA

SHANGHAI: A pig that became an unlikely national icon in China after surviving 36 days under rubble from a powerful 2008 earthquake has died at the age of 14, sparking an outpouring of emotion on Thursday (Jun 17).

"Zhu Jianqiang", or "Strong Pig", shot to fame after being discovered alive after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in south-western Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.

The earthquake left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing, and the pig's miraculous story, subsisting on a bag of charcoal and rainwater, was hailed as an inspiring symbol of the will to survive.

Witnesses said that the young Zhu Jianqiang had lost so much weight by the time it was pulled from the rubble that it looked more like a goat.

A local museum near the city of Chengdu had purchased the famous pig for 3,008 yuan (US$450) and kept it as a tourist attraction while it lived out its days.

Weibo users hailed it as "the most famous pig in history". (File photo: AFP/Johannes Eisele)

The pig was purchased by a museum and became a popular tourist attraction, seen as an inspiring symbol of the will to survive. (File photo: AFP/Johannes Eisele)

It succumbed to "old age and exhaustion" on Wednesday night, the museum said on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.

In human terms, it was 100 years old, the Global Times said, citing its breeder.

The celebrity porker was named China's animal of the year in 2008 because it "vividly illustrated the spirit of never giving up".

The Weibo hashtag "Strong Pig died" had drawn nearly 300 million views by midday on Thursday and was rising fast.

Weibo users hailed it as "the most famous pig in history".

"It is indeed a strong animal, not just for surviving the earthquake, but also for the 13 years of life afterwards," said one popular Weibo post.

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2021-06-17 08:00:18Z
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Hundreds of Indonesian doctors contract COVID-19 despite vaccination, dozens hospitalised - CNA

JAKARTA: More than 350 Indonesian doctors have contracted COVID-19 despite being vaccinated with Sinovac and dozens have been hospitalised, officials said, as concerns rise about the efficacy of some vaccines against more virulent virus strains.

Most of the doctors were asymptomatic and self-isolating at home, said Badai Ismoyo, head of the Kudus district health office in Central Java, but dozens were in hospital with high fevers and declining oxygen saturation levels.

Kudus is battling an outbreak believed to be driven by the more transmissible Delta variant which has pushed bed occupancy rates above 90 per cent in the district.

Designated as a priority group, Indonesian healthcare workers were among the first to be vaccinated when the inoculation drive started in January.

READ: 'We are worried,' say Indonesian healthcare workers as COVID-19 takes toll on medical system

Almost all have received the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac, according to the Indonesian Medical Association.

While the number of Indonesian healthcare workers dying from COVID-19 has decreased significantly – dropping from 158 deaths this January to 13 this May, according to data initiative group LaporCOVID-19 – public health experts say the Java hospitalisations are cause for concern.

"The data shows they have the Delta variant so it is no surprise that the breakthrough infection is higher than before because as we know the majority of healthcare workers in Indonesia got Sinovac, and we still don't know yet how effective it is in the real world against the Delta variant," said Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University.

READ: Indonesia warns COVID-19 cases may not peak until July as hospitals fill

A spokesperson from Sinovac and Indonesia's ministry of health were not immediately available for comment on the efficacy of Sinovac's CoronaVac against newer coronavirus variants.

Grappling with one of the worst outbreaks in Asia, with more than 1.9 million cases and 53,000 deaths, there has been a heavy toll on Indonesia's doctors and nurses with 946 deaths.

Many are now experiencing pandemic fatigue and taking an increasingly laissez-faire approach to health protocols after being vaccinated, said Lenny Ekawati, from LaporCOVID-19.

"That phenomenon happens quite often these days, not only within the community but also healthcare workers," she said. "They think because they are vaccinated that they are safe."

But as more cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant are identified in the world's fourth most populous nation, the data is starting to tell a different story.

Across Indonesia, at least five doctors and one nurse have died from COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, according to the data initiative group, although one had only received their first shot.

READ: 'No evidence' inactivated virus vaccines more efficacious against COVID-19 variants than mRNA ones: Singapore expert committee

In Kudus, one senior doctor has died, said the Indonesian Medical Association, although it is understood he had a comorbidity.

In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, radiologist Dr Prijo Sidipratomo told Reuters he knew of at least half a dozen doctors in the city who had been hospitalised with COVID-19 in the past month despite being vaccinated, with one currently being treated in the intensive care unit.

"It is alarming for us because we cannot rely on vaccinations only," he said, urging people to strictly adhere to health protocols.

Weeks after the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, Indonesia has experienced a surge in cases, with the positivity rate exceeding 23 per cent on Wednesday (Jun 16) and daily cases nearing 10,000, the highest since late February.

In its latest situation report the World Health Organization called for Indonesia to implement a stricter lockdown with increased transmission due to variants of concern and a "drastic increase in bed occupancy rates" necessitating urgent action.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

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2021-06-17 07:54:01Z
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Hong Kong police raid newspaper Apple Daily, arrest 5 including editor-in-chief - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police arrested five executives at the Apple Daily early Thursday (Jun 17) morning, including its editor-in-chief Ryan Law.

It was the second time in less than a year that the newspaper's office has been raided. More than 500 police officers were involved in Thursday's operation, which authorities said was sparked by articles Apple Daily had published "appealing for sanctions" against Hong Kong's and China's leaders. 

Police officers were seen sitting at computers in the newsroom after entering with a warrant to seize journalistic materials, including from reporters' phones and laptops. 

The warrant, which police said was aimed at gathering evidence for a case involving the national security law that Beijing imposed last year, raises further concerns about media freedom in the city.

Officials said the five executives were arrested for collusion with a foreign country or external elements "to endanger national security".

"They have overall responsibility for the content, style and principles of news reporting," senior superintendent Steve Li told reporters.

Authorities also confirmed HK$18 million (US$2.3m) in Apple Daily assets had also been frozen under the security law, the first time a seizure order has been made directly against a Hong Kong media company, rather than an individual.

Police officers gather outside the headquarters of Apple Daily in Hong Kong, Jun 17, 2021. (Apple Daily via AP)

Security Secretary John Lee described the newsroom as a "crime scene" and said the operation was aimed at those who use reporting as a "tool to endanger" national security.

"We are talking about a conspiracy in which these suspects try to make use of journalistic work to collude with a foreign country or external elements to impose sanctions or take hostile activities against Hong Kong and ... China," Lee said. 

He did not elaborate on which articles the police action was taking aim at.

"It is your choice whether you will regard them as part of you who go about your journalistic work lawfully and properly," he told reporters.

Senior superintendent Li said the tabloid published dozens of reports dating back to 2019 that "incited foreign countries to impose sanctions", without saying when the most recent articles in question were.

The legislation is not retrospective but prosecutors can use actions from before its implementation as evidence.

'BLATANT ATTACK'

The five people arrested were editor-in-chief Ryan Law, chief executive officer Cheung Kim-hung, chief operating officer Chow Tat-kuen, deputy chief editor Chan Puiman and chief executive editor Cheung Chi-wai.

"This is a blatant attack on the editorial side of Apple Daily. They are arresting editors. They're arresting the top editorial folks," Mark Simon, an adviser to Jimmy Lai, told Reuters.

The tabloid's billionaire owner Lai, 73, was charged with collusion after hundreds of officers searched the paper's newsroom last August. He is currently serving multiple jail sentences for attending various protests.

READ: Future sours for Hong Kong's brazen Apple Daily tabloid

The paper broadcast live footage of the police raid on Thursday on its Facebook account. Officers could be seen cordoning off the complex and walking through the building.

"They arrived around 7am this morning, our building is besieged," an unnamed reporter said in a live commentary with the broadcast. "Now we can see them moving boxes of materials onto their truck."

"Police are restricting us from using quite a lot of our equipment. But we can still keep this live camera on and our website will keep updating," the voice added.

Chief editor Law was seen walking in handcuffs, flanked by police officers. The Apple Daily paper's general news desk told reporters in a text message seen by Reuters to carry on with their assignments outside the building for the time being.

The move is the latest blow to Apple Daily after authorities last month directed Lai's shares in Next Digital, publisher of the newspaper, to be frozen.

The union representing Apple Daily's journalists described the operation as a "wanton violation of press freedom" that "displayed how much police power has inflated under the national security law".

READ: Jailed HK tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 14 months for Oct 1 illegal assembly

In an interview with AFP last month, Law struck a defiant tone. He admitted that the paper was in "crisis" since the jailing of its owner Lai but said his reporters were determined to press on with publishing.

At a recent townhall meeting, staff members asked Law what they should do if the police came back to arrest him.

He had a simple reply: "Broadcast it live."

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2021-06-17 06:45:00Z
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Rocket blasts off carrying first Chinese crew to new space station - CNA

JIUQUAN: The first astronauts for China's new space station blasted off on Thursday (Jun 17) for the country's longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power.

The trio launched on a Long March-2F rocket for the Tiangong station, where they will spend three months, in a blast-off broadcast live on state TV.

Lift-off happened at 9.22am local time from the Jiuquan launch centre in northwest China's Gobi desert, with the rocket lifting off in clouds of smoke against a blue sky.

After about 10 minutes it reached orbit and the space craft separated from the rocket, to loud applause in the control room among rows of blue-suited engineers.

State broadcaster CCTV showed a live feed from inside the spacecraft, with the three astronauts lifting their helmet visors and one smiling and waving at the camera.

Another floated a pen just off his lap in zero-gravity as he browsed the flight manual.

Cameras outside the craft broadcast live images of the Earth below.

"According to reports from the Beijing aerospace control centre, the Long March-2F rocket has sent the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft to the preset orbit," said Zhang Zhifen, director of the Jiuquan satellite launch centre.

"The solar panels unfolded successfully and now we declare the Shenzhou-12 mission a complete success."

At a ceremony before blastoff, the three astronauts already wearing their space suits greeted a crowd of supporters including family members and staff from the space station.

A crowd of space workers and their families had gathered for the ceremony and sang the patriotic song "Without the Chinese Communist Party, there would be no new China", waving Chinese flags and flowers.

The mission's commander is Nie Haisheng, a decorated air force pilot in the People's Liberation Army who has already participated in two space missions.

The two other members are also members of the military.

Nie Haisheng (C), Liu Boming (R) and Tang Hongbo will be the first crew on China's new space station AFP/GREG BAKER

READ: China to send three astronauts to space, including its oldest

SPACE LIFE

Their Shenzhou-12 spacecraft will dock with the Tianhe main section of the space station, which was placed in orbit on Apr 29.

The module has separate living spaces for each of them, a treadmill for exercise, and a communication centre for emails and video calls with ground control.

It is China's first crewed mission in nearly five years.

The launch represents a matter of huge prestige in China, as Beijing prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party on Jul 1 with a massive propaganda campaign.

To prepare for the mission, the crew has undergone more than 6,000 hours of training, including hundreds of underwater somersaults in full space gear.

The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 launches through to the end of next year, including three more manned missions which will deliver two lab modules to expand the 70-tonne station, and supplies and crew members.

The first crew will test and maintain the systems onboard, conduct spacewalks and undertake scientific experiments.

China's space ambitions have been fuelled in part by a US ban on its astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), a collaboration between the US, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.

It is due for retirement after 2024, even though NASA said it could potentially remain functional beyond 2028.

Tiangong will be much smaller than the ISS, and is expected to have a lifespan of at least 10 years.

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2021-06-17 02:15:00Z
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Myanmar footballer to seek asylum in Japan: Reports - CNA

TOKYO: A goalkeeper from Myanmar's national team who raised an anti-coup salute during a match outside Tokyo has refused to fly home and will seek asylum in Japan, local media reported.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, sparking huge protests and renewed clashes between the military and ethnic rebel armies in border regions.

Last month, substitute goalkeeper Pyae Lyan Aung raised the three-finger salute as the national anthem played before a World Cup qualifier against Japan.

Late Wednesday (Jun 16), he told a Japanese immigration officer at an airport in Osaka that he would not board a plane back to Myanmar, national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency reported.

"If I return to Myanmar, my life would be in danger. I decided to stay in Japan," footage broadcast by NHK showed him saying through a translator at the airport.

"The Japanese government and people must know Myanmar's situation. I call for your cooperation," he added.

READ: Football: Japan thrash Myanmar in World Cup qualifier after protests on and off pitch

The three-finger salute has frequently been used as a show of resistance by protesters during demonstrations that have been brutally repressed, with more than 800 people killed and thousands wounded, according to rights groups.

The footballer, whose teammates are believed to have returned home Wednesday, said he will not go back until ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi returns to power.

But he admitted worries about the consequences of his decision, adding: "if any danger happens to my teammates or family members, I would return to Myanmar to be arrested."

Japan's immigration agency could not immediately be reached for comment.

READ: At Miss Universe pageant, Myanmar's contestant pleads: 'Our people are dying'

Japan accepts just a handful of asylum applications each year, but in May the justice ministry said Myanmar residents already in the country would be able to extend their stays as an emergency measure, given the coup and resulting violence.

The decision comes just over a month before Japan hosts the Olympics, and could raise questions about whether other athletes might seek asylum during the Games.

Japan has longstanding ties with Myanmar and has described itself as the country's largest provider of economic assistance.

Following the coup, Tokyo froze new aid to Myanmar and the foreign minister has warned even existing projects could be halted if the military junta continues to use violence against protesters.

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2021-06-17 01:03:27Z
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Putin and Biden won't be friends but see path together - CNA

GENEVA: There was no talk of gazing into Vladimir Putin's "soul" and the Russian president didn't try to gaslight a rookie US leader.

Instead, Putin's first summit with the fifth US president of his tenure, Joe Biden, was about mutual respect - and the meeting in Geneva could, both of them said, lead to a more predictable, if still tense, relationship.

In contrast to his predecessors, Biden made no suggestion he expected to reset the relationship and he has already piled pressure on Russia over concerns including alleged election meddling, attacks by cybercriminals against the Colonial Pipeline and other US infrastructure and over the poisoning and jailing of dissident Alexei Navalny.

But after earlier remarks that included calling Putin "a killer", Biden on the eve of the summit described the Russian leader as "a worthy adversary" and at a news conference afterward said that they would see where they had common interests.

Putin, who at his 2018 summit with Donald Trump in Helsinki was widely seen as dominating the reality television star turned president, called Biden "a very experienced politician" who was able to speak in rare detail in the "very constructive" more than three hours of talks.

"Biden generally is someone who wants constructive relations. He doesn't consider Putin a friend," said Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group political risk firm.

Similar to his view of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden "doesn't trust them but he does expect Russia will act in its interest and the two countries have some interests that overlap and where we should work together," Bremmer said.

READ: Biden queries China's desire to find origin of COVID-19

Bremmer said the test of the relationship will come afterward.

"I want to see that in the next three months we have materially fewer ransomware incidents and nothing of the scale that we had against Colonial Pipeline that comes from Russia. That's absolutely critical."

GROUNDWORK FOR FUTURE

Putin made no promises at his news conference on cybercrime, appearing to deny Russian involvement, but Biden, signalling that he sent a warning, said that Putin "knows there are consequences" for Russian actions.

The leaders said they would return ambassadors to each other's capitals and that diplomats would work on the release of prisoners.

"I'm not sure how much better it could have gone but it could have gone much worse. This could have been name-calling, posturing, lecturing, talking past each other," said Yuval Weber, a Russia expert at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute and professor at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington.

Unlike in the Cold War, when US and Soviet leaders would come together to sign accords on major issues such as nuclear weapons, Biden and Putin never expected breakthroughs in Geneva, Weber said.

"What they were looking for was whether they can get along well enough in person to keep the conversation going," Weber said.

READ: Little warmth despite the heat at Biden-Putin summit

Weber said that Putin was "notoriously a very thin-skinned person" who was likely unsettled by Biden's initial comments on him.

By calling Putin a "worthy adversary" and speaking of Russia as a powerful nation, Biden is following a strategy of "saying things that Putin can then latch onto," Weber said.

US PARTISAN DIVIDE

Former president Barack Obama infuriated Putin by calling Russia, which backs separatists in Ukraine, a "regional power" acting "not out of strength but weakness".

But Obama, like previous presidents, took office hoping to restore relations with Russia. George W. Bush famously said after meeting Putin in 2001 that he could "get a sense of his soul."

Trump broke the mould by voicing admiration for Putin. After his 2018 summit in Helsinki, Putin drew criticism even within his own Republican Party when he appeared to take at face value Putin's denial of election interference - even as Putin also openly said he wanted Trump to be president.

Republicans quickly attacked Biden over the Geneva summit, saying he should have been more confrontational.

"Summits are about delivering results," said Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "To learn there was no tangible progress made with Russia on any issue is both unfortunate and disappointing."

But Senator Bob Menendez, the Democrat who heads the committee, praised Biden for "bluntly speaking truth" to Putin.

"This was a necessary reality check for Putin and a welcome departure from the past four years of Trump's coddling of the Kremlin," Menendez said.

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2021-06-16 23:05:29Z
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Biden, Putin hail positive talks, but US warns on cyberwar - CNA

GENEVA: Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin sought to cool tensions in the combustible US-Russian relationship at their first summit in Geneva on Wednesday (Jun 16), with the US president saying his Kremlin counterpart doesn't want a new Cold War.

The two leaders emerged cautiously positive after more than three hours of talks, including two hours alone with just the Russian foreign minister and US secretary of state.

"The conversation was absolutely constructive," Putin told reporters, adding they had agreed for their ambassadors to resume their posts in a gesture of diplomatic healing.

Biden called the session, conducted at an elegant villa on the shores of Lake Geneva, "good".

The US president, who was ending a gruelling diplomatic tour of Europe, said he and Putin explored working together on areas where the former superpower rivals have overlapping interests, including the Arctic, Iran and Syria.

Biden told a press conference that the two biggest nuclear powers "share a unique responsibility" on the world stage.

However, Biden emphatically warned the Kremlin against any cyberattacks on what he said were 16 clearly defined areas of US critical infrastructure.

Those areas, which he did not make public, "should be off limits". Violations, Biden warned, would lead to a US response in kind - "cyber".

READ: Biden and Putin shake hands, kicking off Geneva summit

Washington accuses Moscow of, at a minimum, harbouring cyber ransomware gangs and also conducting the SolarWinds cyberattack on US entities.

US intelligence has also claimed that Russian agencies conducted a dirty tricks campaign to try and disrupt the last two presidential elections.

But to suggestions that the world could witness a repeat of the 20th century's Cold War - when Washington and Moscow spent decades in a nuclear standoff before the Soviet Union finally collapsed - Biden said Putin knows his limits.

"I think that the last thing he wants now is a Cold War," Biden said.

DIPLOMATIC BREAKDOWN

Diplomatic relations between Moscow and Washington had all but broken down since Biden took office in January.

After Biden likened Putin to a "killer", Russia in March took the rare step of recalling its ambassador Anatoly Antonov. The US envoy, John Sullivan, likewise returned to Washington.

Those deep disagreements remain in place.

The summit got off to a good start, with the two leaders shaking hands for the cameras.

READ: Biden and Putin summit: Where they disagree and where they might compromise

But Putin later issued withering rejections of criticism over his human rights record and allegations of harbouring cyber criminals.

He claimed instead that "the largest number of cyberattacks in the world are carried out from the US".

Putin also sought to deflect criticism of his treatment of opponents - many high profile critics have been killed in Russia during his rule and the media is almost entirely muzzled - saying that the United States had bigger problems.

Biden called Putin's argument "ridiculous".

RESPECT

The offer of a more understanding US-Russian relationship - if not necessarily a more friendly one - went a long way toward what Putin is reportedly seeking: increased respect on the world stage.

Biden's reference to the United States and Russia as "two great powers" was sure to please the Kremlin leader, who has dominated his country for two decades, infuriating the West with invasions of Ukraine and Georgia, and often brutal crushing of political dissent.

READ: Putin backs prisoner swap with US ahead of Biden summit

Republican opponents back in Washington called Biden naive for his contention that reaching out to Putin will encourage him to bring Russia out of the diplomatic cold.

"It is clear to me that Putin could care less about how he's viewed by others," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted, saying Biden had "miscalculated".

COLD WAR SETTING

The choice of Geneva recalled the Cold War summit between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the Swiss city in 1985.

The summit villa, encircled with barbed wire, was under intense security. Grey patrol boats cruised along the lakefront and heavily-armed, camouflaged troops stood guard at a nearby yacht marina.

But in contrast with 1985, tensions are less about strategic nuclear weapons and competing ideologies than what the Biden administration sees as an increasingly rogue regime.

Putin came to the summit arguing that Moscow is simply challenging US hegemony - part of a bid to promote a so-called "multi-polar" world that has seen Russia draw close with the US's arguably even more powerful adversary China.

READ: Little warmth despite the heat at Biden-Putin summit

In a pre-summit interview with NBC News, he scoffed at allegations that he had anything to do with cyberattacks or the near-fatal poisoning of one of his last remaining domestic opponents, Alexei Navalny.

For Biden, the summit ended an intensive first foreign trip as president. He arrived in Geneva after summits with NATO and the European Union in Brussels, and a G7 summit in Britain.

Unlike in 2018, when Biden's predecessor Donald Trump met Putin in Helsinki, there was no joint press conference at the end of the summit.

The US side clearly wanted to avoid the optics of having Biden sharing that kind of platform with the Russian president.

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2021-06-16 20:15:00Z
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