Saturday, February 1News That Matters

Tag: china

11 Dead, 51 Hospitalised In China Building Fire
International news

11 Dead, 51 Hospitalised In China Building Fire

Eleven people have died and 51 have been sent to hospital after a fire tore through a building in northern China's Shanxi province on Thursday, state media said. The fire started at a four-floor building belonging to the Yongju coal company in Lishi District, Luliang City, Shanxi Province at around 6:50 am (2250 GMT on Wednesday), state media said, citing local authorities. "Eleven people have been confirmed dead and the specific number of casualties is still being counted," state broadcaster CCTV said. "A total of 63 people have been evacuated so far, 51 of whom were sent to the Luliang First People's Hospital for treatment", it added. "Rescue work is still in progress and the cause of the fire is under investigation," it added. Video footage posted on social media sit...
China Jails Two Prominent Human Rights Lawyers For Over Ten Years
International news

China Jails Two Prominent Human Rights Lawyers For Over Ten Years

Two prominent Chinese human rights lawyers, including one who had called for leader Xi Jinping to resign, have been jailed for over a decade, an advocacy group and one of the men's wives said Monday. Xu Zhiyong and fellow campaigner Ding Jiaxi were convicted of "subversion of state power" following closed-door trials. Both were leading figures in the New Citizens' Movement, a civil rights group that called for constitutional reform and criticised government corruption. Xu, who called for President Xi to step down over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, was jailed for 14 years after a closed-door trial in east China's Shandong province, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said. Ding was "jailed for 12 years and deprived of political rights for three years", his wife Luo S...
38 Killed In Central China Fire
International news

38 Killed In Central China Fire

Thirty-eight people were killed and two were injured after a fire at a plant in central China, state media said Tuesday, citing local authorities. The fire broke out at a plant in Anyang City in Henan Province on Monday afternoon, news agency Xinhua reported. State media said rescue services first received reports of a fire at 4:22 pm (0822 GMT) at Kaixinda Trading Co., Ltd. "After receiving the alarm, the municipal fire rescue detachment immediately dispatched forces to the scene," CCTV reported. "Public security, emergency response, municipal administration, and power supply units rushed to the scene at the same time to carry out emergency handling and rescue work," it said, adding the fire was extinguished by around 11 pm local time. Footage from the scene shared by ...
One Billion People In China Had Their Personal Data Leaked
International news

One Billion People In China Had Their Personal Data Leaked

A massive online database apparently containing the personal information of up to one billion Chinese citizens was left unsecured and publicly accessible for more than a year -- until an anonymous user in a hacker forum offered to sell the data and brought it to wider attention last week. The leak could be one of the biggest ever recorded in history, cybersecurity experts say, highlighting the risks of collecting and storing vast amounts of sensitive personal data online -- especially in a country where authorities have broad and unchecked access to such data. The vast trove of Chinese personal data had been publicly accessible via what appeared to be an unsecured backdoor link -- a shortcut web address that offers unrestricted access to anyone with knowledge of it -- since at l...
China donates military vehicles, equipment to KDF
local news

China donates military vehicles, equipment to KDF

Kenya Defence Forces' capacity for operations received a boost when China handed them an assortment of vehicles and engineering equipment. Cabinet Secretary for Defence Eugene Wamalwa received the wares as Military Aid Gratis to the Kenya Army at Kahawa Garrison in Nairobi. The wares include 20 multipurpose lorries and five water bowsers. He noted that the vehicles and engineering equipment will boost the capability of troops in the conduct of their mandate within and outside the confines of Kenyan borders. “The capacity of a defence force in protection of the sovereignty of any nation lies with its personnel and equipment. Further, a highly motivated soldier coupled with the requisite tools of the trade will endeavour to complete the assigned mission irrespective of the o...
China Firm Surrenders More SGR Functions to Kenya
local news

China Firm Surrenders More SGR Functions to Kenya

A Chinese firm that has been running the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has surrendered more functions to Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) ahead of the full handover May 2022. nitially, Kenya Railways was only tasked with handling ticketing, security, and fuelling functions that were handed to it in March 2021. This was done in accordance with the contract entered between the two parties. However, the Chinese firm, Africa Star Railway Operation Company (AfriStar), which has been at the centre of controversies over ownership, has surrendered the loading and offloading of the SGR passenger and cargo trains to Kenya Railways as part of a deal to fully offload the running of the multi-billion Chinese-funded project to Kenya.“The corporation (Kenya Railway) has now assumed the loading ...
China quietly locks down area near Beijing with Olympics a week away
Sports

China quietly locks down area near Beijing with Olympics a week away

Chinese authorities locked down an area neighbouring the capital city of Beijing this week following a handful of reported Covid cases, but made no public announcements about the fresh restrictions with just a week until the Winter Olympics. Around 1.2 million people in Xiong'an New Area -- a new economic zone 100 kilometres southwest of Beijing -- are no longer allowed to enter or leave their residential compounds, local virus prevention staff confirmed to AFP on Friday January 28. While recent lockdowns in China are publicly announced and widely reported by state media, the Xiong'an restrictions appear to have been introduced by stealth with no public announcements -- sparking confusion among some residents of the area. "We expect this (lockdown) to last around a week, but ...
Record rains kill 25 in central China
International news

Record rains kill 25 in central China

People look out at cars sitting in floodwaters after heavy rains hit the city of Zhengzhou in China's central Henan province on July 21, 2021. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT The military blasted open a dam to release floodwaters threatening one of its most heavily populated provinces, as at least 25 died in torrential rains in central China. Those who died include a dozen passengers trapped in a flooded subway. The dam was blasted late Tuesday night in the city of Luoyang, just as severe flooding overwhelmed the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, trapping residents in the subway system and stranding them at schools, apartments and offices.  President Xi Jinping described the situation as "extremely severe" with flood control measures entering a "critical stage"...
Chinese birth-control policy could cut millions of Uyghur births.
International news

Chinese birth-control policy could cut millions of Uyghur births.

Chinese birth-control policies could reduce the ethnic minority population in southern Xinjiang by up to a third over the next 20 years, according to new analysis by a German researcher. The analysis concluded that regional policies could cut between 2.6 and 4.5 million minority births in that time. China has been accused by some Western nations of genocide in Xinjiang, partly through forced birth-control measures. China denies the allegations, saying birth-rate declines have other causes. The new study, by researcher Adrian Zenz, is the first such peer-reviewed academic paper on the long-term population impact of China's crackdown on the Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang. It found that under China's birth-control policies in the region, the population of et...