US hits China with new trade curbs over Uyghurs

The United States on Thursday unleashed a volley of actions to censure China's treatment of the Uyghur minority, with lawmakers voting to curb trade and new sanctions slapped on the world's top consumer drone maker. The United States has ramped up pressure on China, with President Joe Biden's administration a day earlier targeting producers of painkillers that contributed to America's addiction crisis. The US Senate unanimously voted to make the United States the first country to ban virtually all imports from China's Xinjiang region over forced labor concerns. An estimated 20 percent of garments imported into the US each year include some cotton from Xinjiang. Rights experts and the US government say more than one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are incarcerated in camps in an effort to root out their Islamic traditions and forcibly assimilate them into China's Han majority.

Malaysian ex-PM Mahathir admitted to hospital

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, 96, was admitted to hospital Thursday and will undergo a full medical check-up, the medical facility said. The National Heart Institute said Mahathir arrived at 7:00 pm and is expected to stay there for the next few days. It did not say why he had been admitted and his aides declined to give further details. Mahathir has had heart problems in the past, suffering several heart attacks and undergoing bypass surgery. He has been one of Malaysia's most dominant political figures in recent decades, serving twice as prime minister for a total of 24 years.

US Senate confirms Burns as China envoy after delay

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed veteran diplomat Nicholas Burns as ambassador to Beijing, filling a position vacant for more than a year despite Washington's growing focus on China. The Senate reached the key 50-vote threshold to approve Burns in an ongoing confirmation that took place after Senator Marco Rubio lifted objections. The final vote was 75-18. Burns, a former US ambassador to Greece and Nato, at his Senate hearing in October called China an "aggressor" in the region and vowed to "compete vigorously," while also seeking cooperation on areas such as climate change. The 65-year-old served as the State Department's number three official under former president George W. Bush and as the spokesperson of the department under Bill Clinton. Burns retired from the Foreign Service in 2008 and became a professor at Harvard University.