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China gets new route to Indian Ocean through Myanmar
China's special envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang visited Myanmar last week for talks with its military rulers, as a new route spanning the Southeast Asian nation opened up connecting Chinese trade flows to the Indian Ocean. Separately, China's embassy in Myanmar announced the opening of the new trade route linking Yangon's port on the Indian Ocean to the Chinese border province of Yunnan and by rail onwards to Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
Defamation case: Singapore PM awarded $275,000
Singapore's prime minister was awarded more than a quarter of a million dollars in damages yesterday after winning defamation suits against a news website editor and writer, the latest libel cases brought by the leader. Critics say such lawsuits are among a range of tactics employed by the tightly regulated city-state to silence dissent. Terry Xu, chief editor of the Online Citizen Asia, and a writer for the site were accused of defaming Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in two separate lawsuits. The writer, Rubaashini Shunmuganathan, had penned an article in 2019 about a bitter feud that has rocked the premier's family.
Pollution likely to cut 9 years of life expectancy of 40% of Indians
Air pollution is likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40% of Indians by more than nine years, according to a report released by a US research group yesterday. More than 480 million people living in the vast swathes of central, eastern and northern India, including the capital, New Delhi, endure significantly high pollution levels, said the report prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). Lauding India's National Clean Air Program (NCAP), launched in 2019 to rein in dangerous pollution levels, the EPIC report said "achieving and sustaining" the NCAP goals would raise the country's overall life expectancy by 1.7 years and that of New Delhi 3.1 years.
Number of female journos in Kabul has plunged: watchdog
The number of female journalists working in Kabul has dwindled to below 100 since the Taliban took power, compared with 700 before, a media watchdog said yesterday. Reporters Without Borders said that as Taliban forces took over Kabul, women journalists were increasingly told to stay home, harassed, prevented from going on reporting assignments, or even beaten. Last year, RSF said it had counted 108 media operating in the Afghan capital, employing 700 female journalists.
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