Day: June 16, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia— OREO, a much-loved brand under Mondelēz International continues to inspire delightful snacking moments with its iconic cookie sandwich. This June, OREO is dialling up the fun with the return of its limited-edition embossed cookies, brought back due to popular demand, as shown on social media last year when enthusiastic fans shared their creative fun moments with OREO embossed cookies. This year, fans will be extra excited that the new limited-edition letters and emojis embossed cookies now feature more designs, 23 unique varieties to be exact. This sets the stage for OREO to spark playful snacking experiences, encouraging consumers to express themselves and ‘Say It With OREO’, beyond the usual words and written text.

 

“In the current situation where many consumers are keeping safe at home, spending more time with their loved ones and enjoying snacking time together, we hope to energise them with playful ideas while discovering fun ways to ‘Say It With OREO’ with this limited-edition embossed cookies. You can get creative with these OREO cookies to send a message to your loved ones, create a creative acronym such as “JOM”, “WALOA”, or share your message in local lingos – a simple yet exciting ways that ignites playful moments and meaningful connections,” says Arpan Sur, Head of Marketing, Mondelez International, Malaysia and Singapore.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned of “prolonged” anti-coronavirus measures, the latest indication his country’s strict lockdown will not end anytime soon.

During a meeting of ruling party leaders, Kim discussed the need to maintain a “perfect anti-epidemic state,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.

Kim said the measures were necessary since “the world health crisis is becoming worse and worse due to the malignant virus,” KCNA reported.

The statement did not specify how long the lockdown would last, but said party leaders were preparing for its “prolonged nature.”

North Korea, which has a population of more than 25 million, continues to insist it has not found a single COVID-19 case. It was one of the first countries to seal its borders due to the coronavirus.

The country has given few signs of opening back up. Last month, state media warned that vaccines produced overseas were “no universal panacea.”

COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing program, had expected to send nearly 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to North Korea by the first half of this year. But that has been delayed due to global supply shortages and ongoing negotiations between COVAX and Pyongyang.

In April, North Korea appeared to temporarily loosen its border restrictions. The Seoul-based NK News website reported foreign food items, such as chocolate, dried fruit, and Coca-Cola, began appearing in Pyongyang stores following months of shortages. The website also identified a border facility it said was designed to disinfect imports.

“But all signs currently point to this modest opening being 100% reversed,” tweeted Chad O’Carroll, the founder of NK News, which maintains sources in the country.

Kim’s latest comments suggest “the border will be FULLY closed for much longer than we thought,” O’Carroll added. “This means vital imports like fertilizer and industrial inputs will be lacking, compounding problems.”

On Tuesday, NK News reported that the price of some imported goods increased dramatically, with a kilogram of bananas selling for as much as $45 in Pyongyang shops.

Fears of a bad harvest are also mounting. During this week’s Workers’ Party meeting, Kim Jong Un acknowledged “the people’s food situation is now getting tense,” saying the North’s agricultural sector failed to fulfill its grain production plan due to the damage by typhoons that hit the country last year.

North Korea has faced what some analysts call the “triple whammy” of extreme weather, the coronavirus pandemic, and U.S.-led sanctions, which attempt to cut off North Korea from the global economy as punishment for its nuclear weapons program.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he is open to talks with North Korea, but Pyongyang has so far rejected the offer, saying the United States needs to drop its “hostile policy.”

North Korea experienced a devastating 1990s famine that killed at least hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of people. Kim has repeatedly warned citizens that they must now overcome serious hardship, at times even evoking the same language used to describe the 1990s famine. However, there is virtually no way to know the country’s current situation, since most foreigners, including aid workers and diplomats, have departed because of the pandemic.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

Taiwan’s defense ministry said China flew 28 warplanes within its airspace Tuesday.

The formation of several fighter jets and bombers entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the ministry added. Taiwan’s air force deployed several planes and initiated its air defense systems in response.

China has repeatedly deployed warplanes and naval vessels near Taiwan over the last few years as part of a pressure campaign on the self-ruled island. Beijing sent 25 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone back in April.

A Chinese government spokesman said it carried out the mission in response to a statement issued at the end of the G-7 summit Sunday calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-Taiwan Strait tensions. The spokesman accused the G-7 leaders of interfering in China’s internal affairs.

Beijing considers the island as part of its territory even though it has been self-governing since the end of China’s civil war in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communists. China has vowed to bring the island under its control by any means necessary, including a military takeover.

Washington officially switched formal diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but the Trump administration angered China as it increasingly embraced Taiwan, both diplomatically and militarily, after taking office in 2017 and throughout its four-year tenure.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations reassured Congress Wednesday that she is working to monitor and rein in what she called China’s “malign influence” at the world body.

“China has been aggressive and coercive in using its power at the United Nations,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

She said Beijing promotes an “authoritarian approach to multilateralism.”

The ambassador pointed to an array of actions, including its influence at three U.N. technical organizations where their nationals are in charge, and Beijing’s use of COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy to pressure some poorer nations.

“We will be pushing hard against those efforts,” she said.

She urged lawmakers to invest in the United Nations to restore U.S. influence there, which declined during the Trump administration.

“Our adversaries and competitors are investing in the United Nations. We can’t expect to compete unless we do, too,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

More than 40 legislators questioned the veteran diplomat over more than four hours during a hearing on the Biden administration’s priorities for engagement with the United Nations. Many expressed concerns about China’s persecution of minority Uyghur Muslims in the autonomous Xinjiang province.

Human rights groups accuse China of sending more than a million Uyghurs to detention camps. China says the compounds are “vocational education centers” intended to stop the spread of religious extremism and terrorist attacks.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul asked Thomas-Greenfield if she agrees with the committee that the Chinese government is carrying out a genocide and crimes against humanity on the Uyghurs.

 

“Yes, genocide is being committed against Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” she said. “And the PRC government is committing crimes against humanity. We have called the Chinese out on this.”

Lawmakers also expressed concern about China’s sway over the World Health Organization, some charging that Beijing’s influence had made the WHO fail in its duty to warn the world of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thomas-Greenfield made clear that the Biden administration supports “a robust and transparent” investigation into the origins of the pandemic. As for the WHO, she noted it has appointed an independent committee headed by former Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to review WHO’s response.

“I am confident in their abilities to get to the bottom of this, and I know they are working hard,” she said. “Their reputations are attached to this, and we are looking forward to seeing the results.”

U.S. Representative Mark Green asked if Taiwan should participate at the United Nations. China has used its influence over the years to prevent its recognition.

“We support Taiwan,” she said. “We want to see Taiwan recognized for the extraordinary democracy that it is.”

Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. continues to push at the U.N. for Taiwan’s participation in programs that do not require member state status, such as the recent World Health Assembly. However, that effort failed.

Thomas-Greenfield took up her post as U.N. ambassador and a member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet in February. The posting is the culmination of a wide-ranging, 35-year State Department career.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

Hong Kong police raided the offices of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on Thursday and arrested five executives, including its chief editor.

The raid and arrests were conducted under the nearly 1-year-old national security law imposed on the semi-autonomous city by Beijing last year. Police said five executives of a company were arrested on suspicion of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.

Apple Daily said its chief editor, Ryan Law, and four other executives with the newspaper and its parent company Next Digital were arrested.

More than 200 police officers took part in Thursday’s raid on Apple Daily’s offices. Streaming video posted on the newspaper’s Facebook page showed officers cordoning off the building and walking through the newsroom. Police said the warrant authorizing the raid was aimed at gathering evidence of violating the national security law.

Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee told reporters afterward that the raid was aimed at those using journalism “as a tool to endanger national security.”

Steven Butler, the Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the raid and corresponding arrests of the five executives “destroy any remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press.” Butler added that China’s actions to eliminate the paper will come “at a steep price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades of free access to information.”

This is the second time Apple Daily’s headquarters have been raided by police since the new law took effect. A raid last August came just hours after Jimmy Lai, Next Digital’s founder and owner, was arrested at his house on suspicion of foreign collusion.

Trading in Next Digital’s shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange was suspended Thursday after the raid.

The 73-year-old Lai is currently serving a 14-month prison sentence for taking part in separate unauthorized assemblies in 2019. His assets in Next Digital were frozen by the government last month.

The national security law was imposed by Beijing in response to the violent anti-government protests in 2019. Anyone believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted under the law.

 

 

Source: Voice of America