Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 161

China fires ICBM into Pacific Ocean in first such public test in decades as regional tensions flare

China says it successfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, a rare public test that comes amid heightened tensions with the United States and its regional allies. An ICBM carrying a dummy warhead was launched at 8:44 a.m. Beijing time and fell into a designated area in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a

US to return a trove of nearly 300 history-spanning antiquities to India

The US is returning 297 history-spanning antiquities stolen or smuggled from India, many dating back centuries. Marking the handover, President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posed for a photo in front of several of the artifacts, during a recent meeting between the two leaders.In July, the US and India signed an agreement to protect cultural property by preventing illegal

Thailand’s king signs landmark same-sex marriage bill into law

Thailand’s landmark marriage equality bill was officially written into law Tuesday, allowing same-sex couples to legally wed. The law was published in the Royal Gazette after endorsement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and will come into effect in 120 days. This means LGBTQ+ couples will be able to register their marriage in January next year, making Thailand the third place in Asia, after Taiwan

U.S. seeking a ban on the sale of connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S. that are equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware

The Commerce Department said Monday it’s seeking a ban on the sale of connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S. that are equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware with the stated goal of protecting national security and U.S. drivers. While there is minimal Chinese and Russian software deployed in the U.S, the issue is more complicated for hardware. That’s why Commerce officials

UN Report Exposes Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders in China

As the United Nations Human Rights Council meets on September 26 to hear the latest reprisals report from the UN Secretary General’s office, the Chinese government will be named a violator. For the tenth consecutive year, it has relentlessly persecuted human rights defenders for their interactions with UN human rights bodies. UN member states should seize the opportunity to call for a special

‘What I’m Always Doing Is Escaping, Escaping, Escaping’ A Conversation with Liu Xia and Ai Weiwei

Let me give an example of how unfree I was in China. Every night, the outside door to the building Xiaobo and I lived in was chained closed with a great iron chain. Who could imagine living this way? Then when I came to Germany . . . well, before I got on the airplane I took a lot of medicine, so I was foggy at first, but I later discovered that, in my so-called freedom, I had become a debtor.

Liu Xiaobo: «Jeg har ingen fiender» - Nobelforedrag in absentia, 10. desember 2010

I mitt over 50-årige liv står juni 1989 som det største vendepunktet. Inntil da hadde jeg vært en av de første som fikk begynne på universitetet igjen etter at opptaksprøvene ved universitetet ble gjeninnført etter kulturrevolusjonen (77-kullet). Jeg gikk fra en bachelorgrad til en mastergrad og tok så en doktorgrad, og min akademiske karriere forløp helt uten problemer. Etter å ha fullført

In Retrospect: Deng Xiaoping - The Last Emperor

“Leaders are men, not gods,” said Deng Xiaoping. Mao Zedong, the man who would be a god, lies embalmed and displayed in his mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. Deng has asked that his eyes be donated to medicine, his ashes be cast into the sea and no monuments be built to him. Mao had resided in Zhongnanhai, the walled district of Beijing that is China’s new Forbidden City; Deng chose to live not

CHINA-TAIWAN WEEKLY UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

PRC officials have denied that the Taiwan Strait constitutes “international waters” and stressed the PRC’s jurisdiction over the entire strait, which may be intended to imply that foreign military ships should not sail there without Beijing’s permission. States, including the PRC, do not have sovereign rights to deny passage to foreign ships within their contiguous zone or Exclusive Economic

In Retrospect: The lessons to be learned from Edgar Snow’s ‘Red Star Over China’

Edgar Snow (1905-1972) is by far best remembered for Red Star Over China. However, his earlier life was also one of some adventure and excitement. From Kansas City, he attended the University of Missouri and looked set for a career in Manhattan in advertising — until the Wall Street Crash. The Depression set him off for China in the hope of more opportunity — he was to stay 13 years, know just