Conversations on Vietnam Development
Global drug policies need an overhaul, new report says. Credit: Jonathan Gonzalez/Unsplash
BRATISLAVA, Dec 5 2023 (IPS) – A major advocacy group has demanded an overhaul of global drug policies as a landmark report is released showing how governments’ complacency has perpetuated a failed ‘war on drugs’ despite its devastating consequences for millions of people around the world.
Tiếp tục đọc “‘War on Drugs’ Failed and Policies Need Major Overhaul – Report”More than 8mn people are blacklisted by authorities after missed payments on mortgages and business loans
Under Chinese law, defaulters are blocked from a range of economic activities, such as purchasing aeroplane tickets and making mobile phone payments, representing a drag on the economy © Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Sun Yu in Beijing DECEMBER 3 2023
Defaults by Chinese borrowers have surged to a record high since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the depth of the country’s economic downturn and the obstacles to a full recovery.
A total of 8.54mn people, most of them between the ages of 18 and 59, are officially blacklisted by authorities after missing payments on everything from home mortgages to business loans, according to local courts. That figure, equivalent to about 1 per cent of working-age Chinese adults, is up from 5.7mn defaulters in early 2020, as pandemic lockdowns and other restrictions hobbled economic growth and gutted household incomes.
The soaring number of defaulters will add to the difficulty of shoring up consumer confidence in China, the world’s second largest economy and a crucial source of global demand. It also throws a spotlight on the country’s lack of personal bankruptcy laws that might soften the financial and social impact of soaring debt.
Under Chinese law, blacklisted defaulters are blocked from a range of economic activities, including purchasing aeroplane tickets and making payments through mobile apps such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, representing a further drag on an economy plagued by a property sector slowdown and lagging consumer confidence. The blacklisting process is triggered after a borrower is sued by creditors, such as banks, and then misses a subsequent payment deadline.
“The runaway increase in defaulters is a product of not only cyclical but also structural problems,” said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China. “The situation may get worse before it gets better.” The personal debt crisis follows a borrowing spree by Chinese consumers. Household debt as a percentage of gross domestic product almost doubled over the past decade to 64 per cent in September, according to the National Institution for Finance and Development, a Beijing-based think-tank. But mounting financial obligations have become increasingly unmanageable as wage growth has stalled or turned negative in the midst of the economic malaise.
As a growing number of cash-strapped Chinese consumers have struggled to make ends meet, many have stopped paying their bills. More Chinese residents are also struggling for work: youth unemployment hit a record 21.3 per cent in June, prompting authorities to stop reporting the data. “I will pay my Rmb28,000 ($4,000) credit card balance when I have a job,” said John Wang, a Shanghai-based office worker who defaulted on his payments after being laid off in May. “I don’t know when that will happen.” China Merchants Bank said this month that bad loans from credit card payments that were 90 days overdue had increased 26 per cent in 2022 from the year before.
Tiếp tục đọc “Chinese borrowers default in record numbers as economic crisis deepens”
By ZHAO LEI | China Daily | Updated: 2023-12-06 23:09
China has unveiled a conceptual design for what could potentially become the world’s largest nuclear-powered container ship.
The vessel, which has yet to be named, will be powered by molten salt reactors and will have the capacity to carry 24,000 standard containers. In other words, it will be able to hold more than 1 billion boxes of Apple iPhones.
The conceptual design, made by China State Shipbuilding Corp’s Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, was published on Tuesday, as the four-day Marintec China 2023 exhibition opened in the city.
The ship’s design earned an Approval in Principle certificate from the DNV, one of the world’s leading classification societies, at an unveiling ceremony.
A senior researcher at Jiangnan Shipyard, who asked to be identified only as Hu, told China Daily on Wednesday that the idea for a nuclear-powered container ship was the result of the shipyard’s endeavor to seek clean energy solutions for its products.
“Shipbuilders around the world have been under huge pressure from shipping businesses, investors and environmentalists to find cleaner fuel solutions. It is only natural for us to take nuclear power into consideration,” he said.
According to industry statistics, shipping operations account for about 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The International Maritime Organization has repeatedly pledged to reduce the emissions caused by shipping businesses.
Tiếp tục đọc “China: Design for nuclear-powered ship unveiled”APnews.com BY SYLVIA HUIUpdated 4:23 PM GMT+7, December 5, 2023
Britain’s polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough has crossed paths with the world’s largest iceberg as it was drifting out of Antarctic waters. (Dec. 5)Photos
BY SYLVIA HUIUpdated 4:23 PM GMT+7, December 5, 2023Share
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s polar research ship has crossed paths with the largest iceberg in the world — a “lucky” encounter that enabled scientists to collect seawater samples around the colossal berg as it drifts out of Antarctic waters, the British Antarctic Survey said Monday.
The RRS Sir David Attenborough, which is on its way to Antarctica for its first scientific mission, passed the mega iceberg known as the A23a on Friday near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Tiếp tục đọc “British research ship crosses paths with world’s largest iceberg as it drifts out of Antarctica”Raz Segal, an Israeli expert in modern genocide, calls Israel’s assault on Gaza a textbook case of “intent to commit genocide” and its rationalization of its violence a “shameful use” of the lessons of the Holocaust. Israeli state exceptionalism and comparisons of its Palestinians victims to “Nazis” are used to “justify, rationalize, deny, distort, disavow mass violence against Palestinians,” says Segal.
Meet the youngsters in Israel who are refusing to serve in the army and are speaking out against their government’s fascist tendencies.
Chủ tàu cá Trần Văn Luyến đã bị khởi tố hình sự do tuyển hàng chục ngư dân lên 2 tàu cá qua vùng biển Malaysia đánh bắt hải sản trái phép.
Tuyển hàng chục ngư dân đi khai thác cá trái phép
Giữa tháng 10/2023 Cơ quan An ninh điều tra – Công an tỉnh Kiên Giang đã ra Quyết định khởi tố bị can, thực hiện Lệnh bắt tạm giam đối với Trần Văn Luyến (sinh năm 1981 – ngụ phường Vĩnh Bảo, TP. Rạch Giá) và Phạm Chí Dũng (sinh năm 1965, ngụ xã Mỹ Lâm, huyện Hòn Đất, tỉnh Kiên Giang) về tội “Tổ chức cho người khác xuất cảnh trái phép” theo khoản 3 Điều 348 Bộ luật Hình sự.
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| Trần Văn Luyến (bên trái) bị bắt giữ và khởi tố |
Theo cơ quan Công an, để điều tra xử lý vụ việc nêu trên, Cục Cảnh sát hình sự- Bộ Công an đã cử một tổ công tác gồm những cán bộ, điều tra viên nhiều kinh nghiệm phối hợp với Công an tỉnh Kiên Giang tổ chức điều tra. Ban chuyên án xác định việc các đối tượng đưa tàu, thuyền viên ra vùng biển nước ngoài đánh bắt hải sản có dấu hiệu hành vi “Tổ chức, môi giới cho người khác xuất cảnh trái phép”.
Tiếp tục đọc “Lần đầu tiên một chủ tàu cá đánh bắt hải sản trái phép bị khởi tố”‘I would think that you would notice that you’re dragging an anchor behind you for hundreds of kilometers,’ says minister.
BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA AND PIERRE EMMANUEL NGENDAKUMANA
DECEMBER 1, 2023 4:32 PM CET
BRUSSELS — As the investigation into damage to Baltic Sea critical infrastructure continues, Finland’s Minister of European Affairs Anders Adlercreutz said it’s hard to believe sabotage to the undersea gas pipeline was accidental — or that it happened without Beijing’s knowledge.
“I’m not the sea captain. But I would think that you would notice that you’re dragging an anchor behind you for hundreds of kilometers,” Adlercreutz said in an interview Thursday in Brussels. “I think everything indicates that it was intentional. But of course, so far, nobody has admitted to it.”
Finland and Estonia have been investigating the rupture of the Balticconnector, a 77-kilometer-long gas pipeline that connects the two NATO members beneath the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was damaged around October 7-8, along with two telecoms cables connecting Estonia to Finland and Sweden.
An investigation by Finnish authorities identified as the main suspect Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear, which is believed to have dragged its anchor across the Baltic Sea seabed, cutting through the cables and gas lines. The anchor — which weighs 6,000 kilograms — was retrieved a few meters from the site of the damage.
Finland and Estonia have since been in touch with Chinese authorities seeking their cooperation with the investigation. The Baltic Times reported earlier this week that the two European countries have asked to send representatives to Beijing to investigate the vessel, which is currently en route to a Chinese port.
Adlercreutz said he can’t speculate on whether the action was approved by the Chinese government. But the vessel’s imminent return to China raises some questions, he said.
“If I as a captain would have done something that the Chinese government wouldn’t approve of, then I would be concerned about returning with my boat to China,” he said.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur expressed similar sentiment in an interview with Swedish public broadcaster SVT last month, saying the captain of the ship surely “understood that there was something wrong” after dragging an anchor for over 180 kilometers.
Coming more than a year after the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia to Germany were damaged by several explosions, the Balticconnector incident raises more concerns over the safety of undersea critical infrastructure and possible measures to protect them from external sabotage. No culprit has been identified for the Nord Stream attack despite an international investigation.
Adlercreutz said there should be “more protection” of these types of infrastructure, for example in terms of better surveillance of suspicious ships. But there are limitations to what can be done, he added.
As of December 4:
- 63 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead: 56 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese.
- 11 journalists were reported injured.
- 3 journalists were reported missing.
- 19 journalists were reported arrested.
- Multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of family members.
Committee to Protect Journalists
December 4, 2023 4:09 PM EST
Editor’s note: The list below is CPJ’s most complete account of journalist deaths in the war. Our database will not reflect many of these casualties until we have fully investigated the circumstances surrounding them. For more information, read our FAQ.
The Israel-Gaza war has taken a severe toll on journalists since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7 and Israel declared war on the militant Palestinian group, launching strikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip.
CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, or missing in the war, which has led to the deadliest month for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
As of December 4, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 63 journalists and media workers were among the more than 16,000 killed since the war began on October 7—with more than 15,500 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank and 1,200 deaths in Israel. The deadliest day of the war for journalist deaths was its first day, October 7, with six journalists killed; the second-deadliest day occurred on November 18, with five killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Reuters and Agence France Press news agencies that it could not guarantee the safety of their journalists operating in the Gaza Strip, after they had sought assurances that their journalists would not be targeted by Israeli strikes, Reuters reported on October 27.
Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli ground assault, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages and extensive power outages.
Tiếp tục đọc “Gaza war is the deadliest for journalists since 1992”
theguardian.com Saltwater damage could see precious historical Buddhist artworks dating back hundreds of years slowly fade entirely from view
by Rebecca Ratcliffe and Navaon Siradapuvadol in NonthaburiWed 29 Nov 2023 02.37 GMT
If you look closely, you can just about see the characters and scenes that once stretched across the walls of Wat Prasat, a temple in Nonthaburi. There’s the dark shape of an elephant’s head, a figure slouching on its back; outlines of swords pointing upwards to the centre of the display; patches of curved roofs.
“The mural used to be more vivid,” says Phra Maha Natee, the abbot of Wat Prasat. Even when he was a novice monk, 20 years ago, the image – which shows one of the jātakas stories that recall the Buddha’s past lives – was easier to understand. “The colour was brighter and sharper,” he says.
The murals offer a glimpse into a past era – a time of prosperity but also social upheaval, when a more empowered nobility had emerged, as did a desire, say historians, for Buddhism to play a more stronger role in reinforcing discipline in society. They date back to the mid or later years of the Ayutthaya kingdom in Siam, which existed from 1351 to 1767, in what is now Thailand and are a treasured early example of the art form.
Tiếp tục đọc “History fades as rising sea levels slowly destroy Thailand’s temple murals”
vnexpress.net By Ngoc Tai December 1, 2023 | 06:20 am GMT+7
Two Phu Quoc Ridgebacks at a conservation center in Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc TaiLe Quoc Tuan, 59, has spent nearly 30 years looking for and protecting the Phu Quoc Ridgeback, and now runs a conservation center with over 400 of the dogs.
Ever since he was young, Tuan, who lives in Kien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, has been going into the buffer zone of the U Minh forest to look for plants and animals and support his family. One day, when he got lost in the forest, he climbed on top of a tree to sleep, and his dog refused to leave his side.
Since then he has been dreaming about finding rare dog species to conserve them.
Once after completing college he went on a business trip to Phu Quoc and learned about the Phu Quoc Ridgeback and its unique characteristics like webbed feet, dorsal ridges and great swimming expertise, and decided to protect this species.
In 1999 he bought 2,000 m2 of land in Phu Quoc for VND200 million (US$8,270) to set up a farm and looked for purebred puppies.
Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam’s largest conservation center for rare dog species thrives”theconversation.com Published: December 1, 2023 2.24am GMT
Day one of the COP28 climate summit saw the first big breakthrough: agreement on a “loss and damage” fund to compensate poor states for the effects of climate change.
Met with a standing ovation in Dubai, the agreement means wealthy states and major polluters will put millions of dollars towards a fund that will in turn distribute funds to poor states harmed by climate change. The fund will be administered by the World Bank. Initial commitments amount to US$430 million.
It will come as a huge relief to the United Arab Emirates, the summit’s host. The country was under pressure even before talks began about its fossil fuel expansion plans and the fact the president of the climate talks is chief executive of a national oil company. This undoubtedly featured in the UAE’s decision to commit US$100 million to the fund.
Other countries to make initial commitments to the fund include the United Kingdom ($75 million), United States ($24.5 million), Japan ($10 million) and Germany (also US$100 million). Pressure will now build on other wealthy countries, including Australia, to outline their own commitments to the fund.
Tiếp tục đọc “COP28 climate summit just approved a ‘loss and damage’ fund. What does this mean?”
UN.org Originally prepared for the International Year of the Ocean, 1998
A Historical Perspective
Tiếp tục đọc “The Ocean and the Law of the Sea – History of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)”reuters.com By Sudarshan Varadhan
November 29, 202312:52 PM GMT+7Updated 5 days ago
SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Cambodia has abandoned plans to build a $1.5 billion 700 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power project in a protected reserve along the southwestern coast and will build an 800 MW natural-gas fired plant instead, its energy minister told Reuters.
As part of the project, Cambodia is exploring construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to import the super-chilled fuel and re-gasify it for use in the power plant, Energy Minister Keo Rottanak told Reuters.
The planned LNG terminal, likely to be a fixed land-based facility, would be Cambodia’s first and would make it a new import market in Southeast Asia. Vietnam and the Philippines took their first shipments this year.
“The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet will announce on Nov. 30 the cancellation of the 700 MW coal power plant project in Koh Kong and the plan to replace it with an 800 MW LNG to be commissioned after 2030,” Rottanak told Reuters.
Tiếp tục đọc “Cambodia scraps coal power project to build gas-fired plant, import LNG”
CVD 