On Wednesday, October 28, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested five agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government operating in three states across the United States. The agents were accused of targeting and coercing a former government employee and critic of the state.
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International human rights group Amnesty International recently announced that they are halting operations in India and laying off all staff due to the Government of India freezing the organization’s bank accounts and forcing all ongoing campaigns and research work to be paused. In their statement, the organization condemned this action, calling it the latest action in a continued “witch-hunt” of human rights organizations by the Government of India.
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China’s trans-national Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has hit a roadblock as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to flare. Al Jazeera reports that most construction has been halted to stop the spread of the virus, with 20 percent of projects being seriously impacted. Now, many countries fear they may not be able to pay back their loans to China or meet their deadline obligations.
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The governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia have approved a new temporary ceasefire agreement beginning on Saturday amid heightened tensions following weeks of shelling and bombing of civilians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Aljazeera reports.
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In November 2018, senior diplomat Jo Song-gil of North Korea disappeared from his post as acting ambassador to Italy with his wife without notice. AP News reports that his location had remained unclear until now. The two left just before Jo’s term as acting ambassador ended, and are now reportedly living in South Korea, states Al Jazeera.
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Kyrgyzstan, a small Central Asian country with a population of 6.3 million people, is currently in a state of emergency. Following the results of the parliamentary elections on October 4, protests broke out in the country and resulted in a recall of the votes on October 6, CNN reports
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As schools have shut down, India is facing an increase in child sex trafficking, child labor, and forced child marriages. To cope with the pressures of the pandemic, families have no option but to send their children to work. Children across India are working in a broad spectrum of fields such as “carpet-weaving, garment-making, domestic service, agriculture, fisheries, and mining,” Reuters says. This issue was already prominent in India and is only worsened by the pandemic.
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Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Bangkok last Saturday calling for democratic reforms. This comes after two months of demonstrations across the country. Protesters gathered at the Thammasat University campus and at Sanam Luang, a public square close to King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s official residence at the Grand Palace.
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Keith Krach’s recent visit to Taiwan has strained the already weakening Sino-American relationship and it has created tensions between China and Taiwan. The BBC explains that the U.S. and China have been engaged in a trade war since 2018. T The New York Times furthers this, explaining that the states have been challenging each other on a wide variety of issues, including military dominance in Asia. After the arrival of the senior U.S. envoy, Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that China sent out two anti-submarine aircrafts into the defense identification zone of the island.
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In early September, Bill Birtles, an Australian foreign correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and China correspondent for ABC, was advised by Australian officials to leave China after the arrest and detention of another foreign journalist, reports The Guardian. Two days later, Beijing state security broke down his door at midnight to tell him that he was part of a national security investigation, was banned from leaving the country, and that he would be contacted the next afternoon to answer questions, reports BBC.
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