Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 289

North Korea sends cargo planes to China as country fights pandemic

Three North Korean cargo planes flew to China and back on Monday, as the country battles an fast-spreading outbreak of Covid-19, according to a South Korean government official with knowledge of the matter. The planes traveled to Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, in China's northeast Liaoning province, the official said. It's unknown what the planes were carrying, but the rare trip came

Cave discovery in Laos could unlock more about human evolution's biggest mystery

A tooth unearthed from a remote cave in Laos is helping to sketch an unknown chapter in the human story. Researchers believe the tooth belonged to a young female who lived at least 130,000 years ago and was likely a Denisovan -- an enigmatic group of early humans first identified in 2010. The lower molar is the first fossil evidence placing Denisovans in Southeast Asia and may help untangle a

Indian court frees killer of ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi

India's top court on Wednesday granted the release of a man convicted of killing former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, 31 years after his imprisonment. The Supreme Court invoked extraordinary powers to release A. G. Perarivalan, his attorney told CNN. Perarivalan was arrested a few weeks after Gandhi was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack on May 21, 1991, in the southern state of Tamil

Yellen warns Europeans about working with China, urges unity

Even as Western allies grapple with how to counter Russia’s assault on Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday that they also must take a wary and united approach to checking China and its business practices. “We have a common interest in incentivizing China to refrain from economic practices that have disadvantaged all of us,” Yellen said in a speech to the Brussels Economic

Students protest, discontent grows over China’s COVID policy

Administrators at an elite Beijing university have backed down from plans to further tighten pandemic restrictions on students as part of China’s “zero-COVID” strategy after a weekend protest at the school, according to students Tuesday.Graduate students at Peking University staged the rare, but peaceful protest Sunday over the school’s decision to erect a sheet-metal wall to keep them further

Afghanistan: Inside a secret school for girls

Hidden away in a residential neighbourhood is one of Afghanistan's new "secret" schools - a small but powerful act of defiance against the Taliban. Around a dozen teenage girls are attending a maths class. "We know about the threats and we worry about them," the sole teacher tells us, but she adds, girls' education is worth "any risk". In all but a handful of provinces in the country, girls'

Climate change swells odds of record India, Pakistan heatwaves

Climate change makes record-breaking heatwaves in northwest India and Pakistan 100 times more likely, a Met Office study finds. The region should now expect a heatwave that exceeds the record temperatures seen in 2010 once every three years. Without climate change, such extreme temperatures would occur only once every 312 years, the Met Office says. The report comes as forecasters say

Set opp minnesmerke av Tiananmen-massakren i Oslo

Statuen «Skamstøtta», eller «Pillar of Shame», blei set opp utanfor universitetet i Hongkong i 1997. Det åtte meter høge monumentet var eit minnesmerke etter massakren på Den himmelske fredsplass 4. juni 1989. I desember i fjor blei statuen fjerna av universitetet på oppmoding frå kinesiske myndigheiter. 25. mai blir ein annan versjon av statuen avduka ved Det juridiske fakultet i Oslo. Her skal

Eventually, China’s Borders Will Reopen. Will Foreigners Return?

Longtime Shanghai resident Alex Shoer’s life path typifies that of many foreigners living in China. He arrived, in 2011, for what was supposed to be a short period. And then he just didn’t want to leave. “I really liked it and then decided to stay for one year,” Shoer, who is American, told Sixth Tone. “Every year after that I stayed for one more year.” He eventually started his own consultancy

China’s Youth Are Changing. The Party’s Message Must Too.

For a century, China’s Communist Youth League has been a central pillar of the Communist Party’s power. Party leaders proposed setting up a socialist youth league to train up potential future members at the very first National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. The organization began operating a year later. After the Communist Revolution, the League wove itself into the