Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
August 18, 2014
Chinese journalist, lawyer win Magsaysay awards
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — A Chinese investigative journalist whose
work has led to the ouster of corrupt officials and a Chinese environmental
lawyer are among this year’s six recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards,
often regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize. Hu Shuli was recognized as
editor-in-chief of the Beijing-based, multi-platform Ciaxin Media Group that
has exposed corporate fraud and government corruption, including the
sale-for-adoption of children who were seized by family planning officials in
Hunan province, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation in the Philippines
announced. Hu’s “unrelenting commitment to truthful, relevant, and
unassailable journalism” has defied China’s restrictive media environment, the
foundation said. Wang Canfa is the other Chinese award recipient. He founded
the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, which has offered free legal
services to thousands of people and provided environmental law training to
lawyers and others. Among other awardees were Indonesian anthropologist
Saur Marlina Manurung, who put up a “Jungle School” program for children of
Indonesia’s Orang Rimba, or forest people; and Filipino teacher Randy Halasan,
for serving the indigenous Matigsalug tribe. In addition, Omara Khan Masoudi
of Afghanistan was honored for his courage in protecting Afghan cultural
heritage, and the Citizen Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Pakistan
founded by six business leaders, was recognized for building 1,000 schools over
hundreds of cities and towns in the country with the world’s second-highest
number of children who are out of school. The awards are named after a popular
Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash.
China tightens control over mobile internet
BEIJING (AP) — In the cat-and-mouse game of free flow and control of
information, China has made its move against the latest information-sharing
technology. China’s Internet Network Information Office announced new rules
on public accounts for instant messaging services, which say that only
established media companies and news portals can release and repost political
and social news. According to a South Korean official who asked not to be named
because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, China also has informed
South Korea that it has blocked Kakao Talk and Line, two mobile messaging
services popular among Asian smartphone users, on the grounds that they were
used to exchange terrorism-related information. The moves were widely
expected following Beijing’s crackdown on microblogging services after their
popularity caught authorities by surprise.
Myanmar reports largest heroin seizure of year
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A Myanmar drug squad seized more than 300
pounds of heroin in a town near the Thai border in the country’s largest
confiscation this year, according to state media. The state-owned Kyemone
newspaper reported that the anti-drug squad seized 404 heroin blocks worth
$2.3 million from a car and arrested two suspects in the Shan state border town
of Tachileik. In addition to the 311 pounds of heroin, officers also found assault
rifles, ammunition, hand grenades, and 31,000 Thai baht ($970) in the vehicle,
which was travelling from a Shan village to the Thai border. The newspaper said
both the driver and passenger will face drug charges. Myanmar is the world’s
second-largest producer of opium, the main ingredient of heroin, after
Afghanistan, accounting for about 25 percent of global poppy production.
According to an opium poppy survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar increased from 107,700 acres in
2010-2011 to 142,800 acres in 2012-2013. In 1999, Myanmar declared that it
would be opium poppy-free by the year 2014, but the deadline has been
extended by five years as the impoverished nation struggles to stem its narcotics
problem.
PANDA-MONIUM. Triplet panda cubs rest in an incubator at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou in south China’s
Guangdong province. China announced the birth of extremely rare panda triplets in a further success for the country’s arti-
ficial breeding program. The three cubs were born July 29 in the southern city of Guangzhou, but breeders delayed an an-
nouncement until they were sure all three would survive, according to the official China News Service. (AP Photo)
China announces birth
of rare panda triplets
BEIJING (AP) — China has announced the
birth of extremely rare panda triplets in a
further success for the country’s artificial
breeding program.
The three cubs were born July 29 in the
southern city of Guangzhou, but breeders
delayed an announcement until they were
sure all three would survive, the official China
News Service said.
The mother, Ju Xiao, and the three
as-yet-unnamed cubs are healthy, the news
agency said. Photos showed the three sleeping
and standing in their incubator, their bodies
pink and mostly hairless. Ju Xiao was
impregnated in March with sperm from a
panda living at a Guangzhou zoo.
Ju Xiao was under round-the-clock care for
the final weeks of her pregnancy, according to
the report. The triplets were born within four
hours of each other and weigh between eight
ounces and 12 ounces.
The report said the triplets were only the
fourth set known to have been born in the
world through artificial breeding programs,
but it wasn’t clear how many had survived
from such births.
China has devoted major resources to
increasing the numbers of the country’s
unofficial national mascot and regularly
announces the birth of pandas born at zoos and
at the Wolong breeding center in the
southwestern province of Sichuan, where most
wild pandas are found.
There are about 1,600 giant pandas in the
wild, where they are critically endangered due
to loss of habitat and low birth rates. More
than 300 live in captivity, mostly in China’s
breeding programs.
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Korean Air to halt flights to Kenya
By Youkyung Lee
AP Business Writer
S
EOUL, South Korea — Korean Air
Lines Co. will suspend flights to Kenya
in what it said is a measure to prevent
the spread of Ebola.
The South Korean flag carrier will stop
operating flights between Incheon and Nairobi
from August 20, it said in a statement.
No Ebola cases have been reported in Kenya
or other parts of East Africa, but the South
Korean airline has a history of taking risk
minimization measures before other airlines.
Ebola has killed more than 1,000 people and
sickened nearly 2,000 in its current West
African outbreak that has hit Guinea, Liberia,
Sierra Leone, and Nigeria.
Korean Air flies to Nairobi, which is the
main gateway for East Africa, three times a
week. It did not say when it would resume its
service.
The carrier’s statement said the suspension
of flights would help prevent the spread of the
Ebola virus.
Strong undersea earthquake hits Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong, shallow earthquake shook the seas off
eastern Indonesia this month, but it did not cause major damage. The U.S.
Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.1 quake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles
and was centered 244 miles south of Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.
Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency official, Tri Handayani, said
the quake was felt in many parts of the province and some parts of Dili, the
capital of neighboring East Timor, but there was no danger of a tsunami. She
said the earthquake did not cause any major damage and there were no
immediate reports of injuries. The world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is
prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of
volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. In 2004, a monster temblor off
Aceh shores triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
Most of the deaths were in Aceh.
McCain says it’s time to ease arms sales ban on Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — U.S. senator John McCain says it’s time for the
United States to ease restrictions on arms sales to Vietnam, citing progress the
communist country has made on human rights. McCain told reporters in Hanoi
that he hopes the easing could begin as early as next month. The sales would be
limited to arms with defensive capabilities. The Republican and Vietnam War
veteran said the easing of arms sales restrictions has nothing to do with the
recent Chinese placement of an oil rig in a disputed part of the South China Sea.
Closer military ties between Vietnam and the United States could anger China,
which has been more assertive on its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
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6.1471
1.8491
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11678
25985
102.68
8059.1
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21200