List of countries that mandate COVID-19 tests for China travelers

List of countries that mandate COVID-19 tests for China travelers
Canada require people flying from China, Hong Kong and Macao to test negative for COVID-19 before leaving for Canada, starting on Thursday, Jan. 5. (AP)
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Updated 06 January 2023

List of countries that mandate COVID-19 tests for China travelers

List of countries that mandate COVID-19 tests for China travelers
  • WHO’s latest report showed 22,416 new hospitalizations for mainland China in the week to Jan.1 versus 15,161 the previous week

BEIJING/SHANGHAI: China defended on Thursday its handling of its raging COVID-19 outbreak after US President Joe Biden voiced concern and the World Health Organization (WHO) said Beijing was under-reporting virus deaths.
The WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said on Wednesday in some of the UN health agency’s most critical remarks to date, that Chinese officials were under-representing data on several fronts.
China scrapped its stringent COVID-19 controls last month after protests against them, abandoning a policy that had shielded its 1.4 billion population from the virus for three years.
Authorities around the world are imposing or considering curbs on travelers from China as COVID-19 cases there surged following its relaxation of “zero-COVID” rules. China has rejected criticism of its COVID-19 data.
PLACES IMPOSING CURBS
United states
The United States will impose mandatory COVID-19 tests on travelers from China beginning on Jan. 5. All air passengers aged two and older will require a negative result from a test no more than two days before departure from China, Hong Kong or Macau. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said US citizens should reconsider travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau.
EU
European Union government officials recommended on Wednesday that passengers flying from China to the EU should have a negative COVID-19 test before they board. They also suggested all passenger on flights to and from China should wear face masks, that EU governments introduce random testing of passengers arriving from China and that they test and sequence wastewater in airports with international flights and planes arriving from China.
Sweden
Sweden will require travelers from China to show they have tested negative for COVID before they can enter the country, the government said.
UK
The UK will require a pre-departure negative COVID-19 test for passengers from China as of Jan. 5, the Department of Health said on Friday. However, a report in The Independent on Monday said passengers from China who arrive in the United Kingdom next week will not face compulsory COVID-19 tests on arrival.
France
France will require travelers from China to provide a negative COVID test result less than 48 hours before departure. Starting Jan. 1, France will carry out random PCR COVID tests upon arrival on travelers coming from China, a government official told reporters.
France has urged all 26 other European Union member states to test Chinese travelers for COVID.
Australia
Travelers from China to Australia will need to submit a negative COVID-19 test from Jan. 5, Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said on Sunday.
India
The country has mandated a COVID-19 negative test report for travelers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Passengers from those countries will be quarantined if they show symptoms or test positive.
Canada
Air travelers to Canada from China must test negative for COVID-19 no more than two days before departure, Ottawa said.
Japan
The country will require negative coronavirus test results within 72 hours of passengers boarding direct flights from China, the prime minister said on Jan 4. That is in addition to an existing regulation that passengers who had been in China in the seven days prior to their flight will be subject to a COVID-19 test on arrival in Japan. Those who test positive will be required to quarantine for seven days.
Italy
Italy has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travelers from China. Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, has already started testing passengers arriving from Beijing and Shanghai.
Spain
Spain will require a negative COVID-19 test or a full course of vaccination against the disease upon arrival for travelers from China.
Malaysia
Malaysia will screen all inbound travelers for fever and test wastewater from aircraft arriving from China for COVID-19.
Taiwan
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center said all passengers on direct flights from China, as well as by boat at two offshore islands, will have to take PCR tests upon arrival, starting on Jan. 1.
South Korea
South Korea will require travelers from China, Macau and Hong Kong to provide negative COVID-19 test results before departure, health authorities said.
Morocco
Morocco will impose a ban on people arriving from China, whatever their nationality, from Jan. 3.
Qatar
Qatar will require travelers arriving from China from Jan. 3 to provide a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 48 hours of departure, state news agency QNA said.
Belguim
Belgium will test wastewater from planes arriving from China for new COVID-19 variants as part of new steps against the spread of the coronavirus, the government announced on Monday.
Israel
Newly appointed Health Minister Aryeh Deri announced new COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections, according to the Times of Israel.

Places monitoring situation
Philippines
The Philippines sees a need to intensify monitoring and implementation of border controls for incoming individuals especially from China, Manila’s health ministry said.


Across globe, women battle ‘gendered disinformation’

Across globe, women battle ‘gendered disinformation’
Updated 17 sec ago

Across globe, women battle ‘gendered disinformation’

Across globe, women battle ‘gendered disinformation’
  • Researchers say “gendered disinformation” has relentlessly targeted women around the world, tarnishing their reputations, undermining their credibility and, in many cases, upending their careers
  • Facebook has acknowledged that online abuse of women was a “serious problem” and pledged to work with policymakers on their concerns

WASHINGTON: Fake photos showing Ukraine’s first lady sunbathing topless, incorrect video subtitles defaming Pakistani feminists for “blasphemy,” slow-motion clips falsely depicting “drunk” female politicians — a barrage of disinformation targets women in the public eye.
Researchers say “gendered disinformation” — when sexism and misogyny intersect with online falsehoods — has relentlessly targeted women around the world, tarnishing their reputations, undermining their credibility and, in many cases, upending their careers.
AFP’s global fact-checkers have debunked falsehoods targeting politically active women, or those linked to prominent politicians, exposing online campaigns that feature fake information or manipulated images that are often sexually charged.
Last year, a fake image of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska lying topless on a beach in Israel was shared widely on Facebook, triggering criticism that she was having fun while her war-torn country was suffering.
A reverse image search by AFP showed the woman in the photo was, in fact, a Russian television presenter.
Former American first lady Michelle Obama and current French first lady Brigitte Macron have also been targeted in false online posts that claimed they were born as men. The disinformation sparked an avalanche of mockery and transphobic remarks.
New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, who announced her resignation as prime minister in January, is another prominent figure that faced a torrent of disinformation about her sex.
“Women — especially those in positions of power and visibility — are unduly targeted by online disinformation,” Maria Giovanna Sessa, a senior researcher at the nonprofit EU DisinfoLab, wrote in a report last year.

In another tactic that raised alarm in 2020, a slowed-down version of a video of Nancy Pelosi, the then US House Speaker, went viral. The effect made her speech slurred and gave the false impression that she was drunk.
“Building on sexist stereotypes and disseminated with malign intent, gendered disinformation campaigns have a chilling effect on the women they target,” Lucina Di Meco, a gender equality expert wrote in a study published last month.
The disinformation often leads to “political violence, hate and the deterring of young women from considering a political career,” said the study titled “monetizing misogyny.”
In disinformation tactics typically deployed by political opponents, female politicians are sometimes framed as inherently undependable, too emotional or promiscuous to hold office.
When Germany’s current foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was running for chancellor in 2021, she was the subject of frequent disinformation campaigns which raised questions about whether she was fit for the job.
One of them featured images of a nude model purporting to be of her, alongside suggestions that she had engaged in sex work.
Gendered disinformation represents a national security threat as it can be exploited by autocratic states such as Russia to exercise foreign influence, according to multiple researchers.
It can also be used to subdue the opposition.
“When autocratic leaders are in power, gendered disinformation is often used by state-aligned actors to undermine women opposition leaders, as well as women’s rights,” Di Meco’s report warned.

Women around the globe battle falsehoods that reinforce stereotypes that they are unintelligent or inefficient.
In 2021, Egyptian sports shooter Al-Zahraa Shaaban faced false social media posts that she had been excluded from the Tokyo Olympics because she had shot the referee.
That sparked a wave of comments that ridiculed women and questioned their ability to pursue such sporting activities.
Similar questions were raised about their ability to take on military jobs following last year’s crash of an F-35 fighter jet on the deck of a US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea.
False social media posts held the world’s first woman to fly an F-35 responsible for the crash. The pilot, in fact, was a man.
Such humiliating falsehoods, researchers say, can have a silencing effect on women, who are drawn to disengage, censor themselves and even avoid male-dominated professions, including politics.
That was a concern raised in a letter by dozens of US and international lawmakers in 2020 to Facebook, which along with other platforms has been blamed for the algorithmic amplification of false and hateful content targeting women.
In a statement to US media at the time, Facebook acknowledged that online abuse of women was a “serious problem” and pledged to work with policymakers on their concerns.
“Make no mistake, these tactics, which are used on your platform for malicious intent, are meant to silence women, and ultimately undermine our democracies,” the letter said.
“It is no wonder women frequently cite the threat of rapid, widespread, public attacks on personal dignity as a factor deterring them from entering politics.”
 


US senate votes to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror

US senate votes to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror
Updated 32 min 36 sec ago

US senate votes to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror

US senate votes to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror
  • Passed in October 2001, the congressional authorization s still used to this day to justify US military action against terror groups that are deemed to be a threat against America

WASHINGTON: The US Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to continue congressional authorization for the use of military force in the global fight against terror, turning back an effort by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul to repeal the 2001 measure.
Senators rejected the amendment 86-9 as they are debating a separate repeal of two authorizations of military force in Iraq. There is broad bipartisan support to withdraw that congressional approval granted in 1991 and 2002 for military strikes against Saddam Hussein’s regime.
While those two authorizations are rarely used and focused on just one country, Iraq, the 2001 measure gave President George W. Bush broad authority for the invasion of Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism, approving force “against those nations, organizations, or persons” that planned or aided the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Passed in October 2001, it is still used to this day to justify US military action against terror groups — including Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, such as Daesh and Al-Shabab — that are deemed to be a threat against America.
The 2002 measure that launched the invasion of Iraq 20 years ago this week has been used much less frequently, and supporters of repealing it say it is vulnerable to abuse. President Joe Biden has said he supports that repeal.
Senators in both parties said they might be open to eventually replacing the 2001 authorization for the war on terror and narrowing its authority, but they argued that it should not be fully repealed. “We have not yet had that substantive discussion,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., ahead of the amendment vote.
Paul said that by repealing only the Iraq authorizations, Congress is “missing the point” since Hussein’s regime no longer exists. By leaving the 2001 measure in place, Congress is keeping the authorization that approves “war everywhere, all the time,” he said.
The Senate is expected to vote next week to repeal the two Iraq measures. In a test vote this week, 19 Republicans voted with Democrats to move forward on the legislation.
It’s unclear whether leaders in the Republican-controlled House will bring the bill up for a vote, even if it passes the Senate. Forty-nine House Republicans supported the legislation repealing the Iraq authorities when then-majority Democrats held a vote two years ago, but current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., opposed it then.
McCarthy signaled this week that he is open to supporting the measure, but it’s unclear whether House Republicans will move the Senate bill without any changes. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said he is interested in replacing the two Iraq authorizations instead of just repealing them, a move that is unlikely to have support in the Senate.
McCaul met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday on the authorizations of military force and other issues.
“I’m going to be for replacement,” he said coming out of that meeting. “I’ll see what the leadership does.”
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the lead Democratic author of the Senate bill to repeal the Iraq authorizations, said he believes bipartisan support in the House could move votes. Noting McCarthy’s new openness, he said he views the House as “getting better and better every day” on the issue.
Kaine and Indiana Sen. Todd Young, the Indiana Republican who is also leading the push, have argued that repeal will help the United States’ strategic partnership with Iraq.
“That relationship I think is not lost on some of the members who were now willing to vote for repeal,” Kaine said.


UK police link attacks where men set on fire after leaving mosques

UK police link attacks where men set on fire after leaving mosques
Updated 22 March 2023

UK police link attacks where men set on fire after leaving mosques

UK police link attacks where men set on fire after leaving mosques
  • Rayaz’s family told the Daily Mail that he is being treated in hospital for serious burns to his chest, face and arms
  • The attacks have caused panic in Birmingham, prompting officers to ramp up patrols

LONDON: British police on Wednesday said a man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a man was set on fire on his way home from a mosque in central England had also been arrested for a similar incident in London last month.

In the first incident, an 82-year-old victim was engaged in conversation by a man as they both left the West London Islamic Centre before he was doused in a liquid, believed to be petrol, and set alight. Police said the injured man suffered burns to his face and arms.

The second victim, 70-year-old Mohammed Rayaz, was walking home from a mosque in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham on Monday evening when he was approached by a man who sprayed him with a substance and then set his jacket alight. He remains in hospital with severe injuries.

“At this stage we cannot speculate around the motive for the attacks, this is a live investigation and our main aim is to make sure communities are safe and that we bring justice for the victims,” West Midlands Police said in a statement.

On Tuesday, West Midlands Police said counterterrorism officers were supporting their investigation. 

Rayaz’s family told the Daily Mail that he is being treated in hospital for serious burns to his chest, face and arms, and is in “extreme pain.”

His nephew told the Mail: “I’ve been to visit him and he looks in a very bad way. He’s not able to speak much and can’t see anything at all.”

The 27-year-old added: “He’s wrapped up in a lot of bandages and we are just praying that he recovers and that there (are) no long-lasting effects from this horrible attack.

“We don’t want to reveal the name of the hospital where he’s being treated but my uncle is in the intensive care unit and is being well looked after. We’re all praying for him.”

Sources told the Mail that the attacker had approached Rayaz and asked him: “Do you speak Arabic?” The pensioner replied: “I only speak Punjabi.”

Seconds later, Rayaz was sprayed with an unknown substance and set alight.

“We are all very upset and angry by what’s happened but it’s positive that the police took immediate action and responded to this attack very seriously,” Shahbo Hussain, a lawyer acting as a spokesman on behalf of the Rayaz family, told the Mail.

“This attack was dealt with by the UK’s counterterrorism unit and we’ve been meeting with them on a regular basis.

“The whole community is united in their condemnation of what happened. Our priority at this time is to support Mr. Rayaz and his family.”

Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, on Wednesday said she had spoken to Rayaz on a video call.

“The victim and his family have been known to me for many years,” she said. “He is such a well-known, well-loved member of our community and it is very upsetting to see him bandaged up, unable to use or move his hands. 

“He can’t see anything at the moment because his eyes are very badly swollen. As we know he does have very serious injuries to his face.

“He was able to speak and the first thing he said was thank you to the community for helping him and helping the police with their inquiries and getting an arrest so quickly.

“It was a real testament to his character and wasn’t thinking about himself even though he was in immense pain.

“The family are very touched with how everyone helped and got the evidence together for the police and we were able to chase minute by minute the movements of the attacker which must be of immense use to the police as they continue their investigation.”

The attacks have caused panic in the area, prompting officers to ramp up patrols. Meanwhile, Muslim leaders told the Mail that they fear copycat attacks.

Mohammed Khalil, a 68-year-old living near the Birmingham mosque, told the Mail: “I didn’t know the victim well but when we passed in the street, he was always a lovely guy.

“I have lived on this road for 46 years with my wife and nothing bad has happened here before.

“Since the incident everyone is living in fear. How do we know there aren’t more people going to do it or another attack is planned?”

Another resident echoed Khalil’s comments, adding: “There is a genuine fear amongst people about copycats doing this. In a video I have seen, it appears the attacker looked like he held up a phone and took a picture of the man on fire.

“If that is the case then I am frightened about this starting a horrible online craze. You already have people kicking doors for TikTok videos, what is next? Setting Muslims on fire and filming them as they burn?”

(With Reuters)

 


At least nine dead in Russian air strikes on two Ukrainian cities

At least nine dead in Russian air strikes on two Ukrainian cities
Updated 22 March 2023

At least nine dead in Russian air strikes on two Ukrainian cities

At least nine dead in Russian air strikes on two Ukrainian cities
  • The attack left a gaping hole in the top floor of a five-storey dormitory
  • Regional police chief Andrii Nebytov said an ambulance driver who went to the scene was among the dead

RZHYSHCHIV, Ukraine: Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities on Wednesday killed at least nine people in attacks that President Volodymyr Zelensky said showed Moscow was not interested in peace.
In a series of early-morning drone strikes, at least eight people were killed and seven were injured when two dormitories and a college were hit in Rzhyshchiv, 40 miles (64 km) south of the capital Kyiv, emergency services said on Facebook.
One person was rescued from the site and four people were believed trapped under rubble. Rescue operations were continuing on Wednesday night.
The attack left a gaping hole in the top floor of a five-story dormitory. A pile of rubble marked where part of another building had stood, a Reuters witness said.
Regional police chief Andrii Nebytov said an ambulance driver who went to the scene was among the dead.
Hours later, two residential buildings were damaged in a missile strike on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. One person was killed and 33 taken to hospital, officials said.
The Ukrainian military said it knocked out 16 of 21 Iranian-made Shahed drones fired by Russia.
“Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given there for such criminal strikes,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter in an apparent reference to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia, which ended on Wednesday.
Zelensky described the attack on Zaporizhzhia an act of “bestial savagery.”
Russia invaded its neighbor Ukraine 13 months ago and has carried out waves of air attacks. Russia says it is targeting infrastructure as part of what it calls a “special military operation” to remove what it says is a threat to its own security. Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked war to grab territory.
“The majority of people (at the dormitories) were saved because they ... were in bomb shelters,” police chief Nebytov said.
Viktoria, a town resident, said she heard the first explosion at 2 a.m.
“I woke up from that first explosion and went outside, where I heard another Shahed. It flew very low,” she said. “And then there was another explosion, from the first explosion there had already been a fire ... And a third time something flew by.”
A Rzhyshchiv College employee, who gave her name as Svitlana, said the students clearly knew what to do after the explosions occurred.
“Well, the children called us, we came here and took them to our homes ... Then, we sent them home,” she said. “The children were in the shelter, they did everything right.”
Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said Russia probably carried out the Zaporizhzhia attack with high-speed rockets fired from the Tornado-S multiple rocket launch system.


Shamima Begum’s former friend who inspired her to join Daesh ridicules her as ‘non-believer’

Shamima Begum’s former friend who inspired her to join Daesh ridicules her as ‘non-believer’
Updated 22 March 2023

Shamima Begum’s former friend who inspired her to join Daesh ridicules her as ‘non-believer’

Shamima Begum’s former friend who inspired her to join Daesh ridicules her as ‘non-believer’
  • BBC tracked Sharmeena Begum after escaping from Syria’s Camp Hol
  • Former London schoolgirl discovered to be raising money to help Daesh regroup

LONDON: Shamima Begum’s best friend, whom she claims inspired her to join Daesh, was tracked down by the BBC after escaping from a Syrian detention camp. 

Sharmeena Begum, no relation, was Shamima Begum’s schoolmate in Bethnal Green, east London. In December 2014, she fled to join Daesh in Syria, with Shamima and two other friends following her two months later.

The BBC tracked Sharmeena down after she escaped from Camp Hol prison for women who were with Daesh and their children.

A journalist from the “Shamima Begum Story” podcast, posing as a sympathizer, contacted Sharmeena online after receiving a tip-off about a social media account she was using.

In her exchanges with the BBC, Sharmeena ridiculed Shamima as a failure and a non-believer, claiming she had tainted the reputation of the women who had joined Daesh. 

Sharmeena also said her former friend was “just another individual, living off the benefits” who did not contribute at all.

Sharmeena, still in Syria, is in hiding and going by a different identity.

A former Daesh member told the BBC that she is fanatical even according to the extremist group’s standards. 

When asked if she regretted joining Daesh, Sharmeena dodged the question, saying only that she did not want to return to the UK and be sent to prison. 

The BBC also discovered Sharmeena illegally fundraising for Daesh members while in hiding. She has been posting about detention camp conditions on social media while appealing for cryptocurrencies. 

Although it is unclear how much money she has raised in total, one account revealed 29 transactions totaling $3,000. 

The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces who guards detainees at Camp Hol expressed concern that money like this is assisting Daesh in regrouping, purchasing weapons, and planning escapes and attacks. 

“If we...look at the camps, there are little children who are a few years old and are being raised on the ideology of how to kill,” Gen. Newroz Ahmed told the BBC, saying that her people are among those being targeted and killed.

Camp Hol hosts over 65,000 people of 57 different nationalities. Guards say they have discovered grenades, guns and explosive belts smuggled in and that 50 people have been murdered there over the last six months, the BBC reported.

For her part, Shamima said Sharmeena played a big role in influencing her to run away to Syria to join the extremist “caliphate.” 

Shamima told the BBC: “I was being manipulated into thinking this was the right thing to do and I was being manipulated with lies about where I would be going and what I would be doing. 

“I mean, in my opinion, even though Sharmeena probably is still radical, I will say she was also a victim of (Daesh),” she added.