Day: August 9, 2022

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Philippines Logged 4,203 New COVID-19 Cases, 30 More Deaths

MANILA, The Philippines reported 4,203 new COVID-19 infections yesterday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 3,808,156.

The Department of Health (DOH) said, the number of active cases rose further to 37,942, and 30 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the death toll to 60,807.

The DOH reported over 4,000 daily caseload for the fifth straight day.

Guido David, a professor at the University of the Philippines and OCTA research fellow, said, the infections will continue until the next few months, citing a “very high” positivity rate of over 20 percent in several areas.

The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those who have been tested. The key rate hit record high at 47.9 percent in Jan this year.

The Philippines reported its highest COVID-19 single-day tally of 39,004 new cases on Jan 15. The country, with a population of around 110 million, has fully vaccinated over 71.5 million people.

Source: Nam News Network

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Russia-Ukraine conflict: Russia to launch Iranian satellite amid Ukraine war concerns

ALMATY (Kazakhstan), Russia is scheduled to launch an Iranian satellite into orbit on Tuesday, but Tehran brushed off fears that Moscow might use it in the war against Ukraine.

Iran’s “Khayyam” satellite is scheduled to take off from the Moscow-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0552 GMT, three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.

Iran has sought to deflect suspicions that Moscow could use Khayyam to improve its surveillance of military targets in Ukraine.

Last week, US daily The Washington Post quoted anonymous Western intelligence officials as saying that Russia “plans to use the satellite for several months or longer” to assist its war efforts before allowing Iran to take control.

But the Iranian Space Agency said on Sunday that the Islamic republic would control the Khayyam satellite “from day one.”

“No third country is able to access the information” sent by the satellite due to its “encrypted algorithm,” it said.

The purpose of Khayyam is to “monitor the country’s borders”, enhance agricultural productivity and monitor water resources and natural disasters, the space agency said.

Khayyam is being taken into orbit by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said last week.

As Moscow’s international isolation grows under the weight of Western sanctions over Ukraine, Putin is seeking to pivot Russia towards the Middle East, Asia and Africa and find new clients for the country’s embattled space programme.

Khayyam, apparently named after the 11th-century Persian polymath Omar Khayyam, will not be the first Iranian satellite that Russia has put into space — in 2005, Iran’s Sina-1 satellite was deployed from Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome.

Iran is currently negotiating with world powers, including Moscow, to salvage a 2015 deal aimed at reining in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The United States — which quit the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA under then-president Donald Trump in 2018 — has accused Iran of effectively supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine while adopting a “veil of neutrality”.

During his meeting with Putin last month, Iran’s Khamenei called for “long-term cooperation” with Russia, and Tehran has refused to join international condemnation of Moscow’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.

Iran insists its space programme is for civilian and defence purposes only, and does not breach the 2015 nuclear deal, or any other international agreement.

Western governments worry that satellite launch systems incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, something Iran has always denied wanting to build.

Iran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States.

Source: Nam News Network

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US returns 30 stolen antique artworks to Cambodia

NEW YORK, The United States returned 30 stolen works of art and antiquities to Cambodia that had been looted from the southeast Asian nation, including from an ancient Khmer city, and illegally trafficked around the world for decades.

Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams officially handed over the looted antiquities to Cambodia’s ambassador to the United States, Keo Chhea, in front of press.

“We celebrate the return of Cambodia’s cultural heritage to the Cambodian people, and reaffirm our commitment to reducing the illicit trafficking of art and antiquities,” Williams said.

Among the 30 works was a 10th-century sculpture of the Hindu deity Skanda, seated on a peacock, as well as a 10th-century sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesha. Both were stolen from Koh Ker, the ancient Khmer capital located 80km from the renowned temples of Angkor, Williams’s office said in a statement.

The antiquities, which range from the Bronze Age to the 12th century, had been stolen along with thousands of others during the wars in Cambodia in the 1970s and when the country reopened in the 1990s.

The federal prosecutor’s office said that thousands of Khmer statues and sculptures that were trafficked out of Cambodia over the course of decades to antique dealers in Bangkok, before being illegally exported to collectors, businessmen and even museums in Asia, Europe and the United States.

One of the dealers, American Douglas Latchford, was charged in 2019 with art trafficking, but the case was tabled after his death.

The New York prosecutor’s office is involved in the restitution of a vast array of works. From the summer of 2020 to the end of 2021, at least 700 pieces have been returned to 14 different countries, including Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Greece and Italy.

In 2021, American collector Michael Steinhardt returned about 180 antiquities stolen from around the world in recent decades as part of a deal with the government.

The pieces had a total value of US$70 million.

The agreement between the US judicial system and Steinhardt, 80, allowed him to escape an indictment but prohibits him from acquiring works on the legal art market for the rest of his life.

Angkor, which at 400 sq km is the largest archaeological site in the world, was the capital of the Khmer empire, which lasted from the ninth to 14th centuries.

The site, which recently reopened to tourists after a two-year pandemic-induced closure, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

Source: Nam News Network

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Ambassador of Thailand to the ROK visit to the ‘Busan Eco Delta Smart City’ project

On 3 August 2022, H.E. Witchu Vejjajiva, Ambassador of Thailand to the ROK visited the ‘Busan Eco Delta Smart City’ project in Busan, which the ROK government started building in December 2019 in cooperation with K-Water. At present, K-Water has selected residents to move into 56 households in the project’s Smart Village as a ‘smart living lab’ trial phase. Every household utilizes effective water management technologies to create a comprehensive renewable energy system in the Village. K-Water is also in the process of developing other smart systems in the city, such as transportation and healthcare systems which will use innovative technologies such as AI, city bots, and VR.

On this occasion, the Ambassador received a warm welcome from Mr. Kim Jin, General Director of K-Water’s Smart City Department, along with a team of executives from K-Water. The Ambassador informed that the Thai Prime Minister attended the groundbreaking ceremony of this project in November 2019, and since then has continually expressed interest in the progress of the project, in order to use it as a case study for developing smart cities in Thailand. Moreover, the Ambassador also discussed opportunities for collaboration between K-Water and Thai companies that are interested in diversifying their business areas into smart city technologies.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand

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ASEAN EMBASSIES IN NAIROBI COMMEMORATE ASEAN’S 55TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY

NAIROBI The 55th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was commemorated by the ASEAN Nairobi Committee (ANC) through a special flag-raising ceremony held at the residence of the High Commissioner of Malaysia in Nairobi on 05 August 2022.

Philippine Ambassador to Kenya Marie Charlotte G. Tang joined her counterparts from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand in welcoming guests from the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), led by Ambassador Moi Lemoshira, Director-General for Bilateral and Political Affairs; the ASEAN diaspora in Kenya; and the media. The ANC is composed of four ASEAN Member States (out of ten) that have resident embassies in Nairobi.

Ambassador Sasirit Tangulrat of Thailand, speaking on behalf of the ANC, cited ASEAN solidarity and collective efforts as having contributed to the increased visibility and understanding of ASEAN in Kenya. She expressed hope that ASEAN and Kenya can further advance common interests in the post-pandemic world.

In her remarks read by Director-General Lemoshira, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Raychelle Omamo expressed appreciation for the excellent cooperation between Kenya and ASEAN Member States both bilaterally and multilaterally. She added that ASEAN and the East African Community (EAC)–which Kenya is a part of—share similar aspirations for peace, economic growth and social progress, a strong foundation for cooperation between the two groupings.

Guests in the ASEAN Day event partook of favorite ASEAN dishes and delicacies including chicken adobo, nasi lemak, nasi goreng, pad thai, teh tarik, and maja blanca, while enjoying folk music from ASEAN Member States.

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs

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PH RAISES PRIORITIES IN ASEAN IN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETINGS

PHNOM PENH DFA Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro raised Philippine priorities, including the assertion of the Arbitral Award in the South China Sea, during the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meetings held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 30 July to 05 August 2022.

Undersecretary Lazaro represented Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo during the foreign minister-level meetings. She is the Philippine Leader to the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting.

The meetings allowed ASEAN Member States to discuss issues of common concern with each other and with external partners, including, among others, the situation in the South China Sea, the crisis in Myanmar, pandemic recovery, situation in Ukraine and cross-strait developments, as well as traditional and non-traditional security issues, such as climate change, terrorism and cybersecurity.

Apart from the 55th AMM, other foreign minister-level meetings included the Post-Ministerial Conferences with Dialogue Partners, the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 29th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Interface Meeting with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

During the 55th AMM, Undersecretary Lazaro reiterated that the Arbitral Award and the 1982 UNCLOS are the twin anchors of policy and actions of the Philippines on the West Philippine Sea.

She said that while the Philippines remains committed to efforts within ASEAN to resolve the South China Sea disputes, it is taking note of the growing list of countries supporting the Award.

Undersecretary Lazaro expressed hope that the new EAS Plan of Action (2023-2027), which was adopted during the EAS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, will continue the momentum of identifying concrete ways to address pressing regional and global challenges, such as public health emergencies, climate change, and emerging opportunities in digital technologies, among the new generation of issues.

She also announced the Philippine hosting of the EAS Workshop on Maritime Cooperation in Manila in September, underscoring that “Maritime cooperation will remain at the heart of Philippine initiatives in the East Asia Summit.”

As country coordinator for ASEAN-European Union (EU) Dialogue Relations, Undersecretary Lazaro co-chaired the Post-Ministerial Conference with the EU. The Meeting adopted the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-EU Strategic Partnership (2023-2027) and approved the convening of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit on 14 December 2022 in Brussels to mark 45 years of ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations.

She also delivered ASEAN’s Common Statement on ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations, which highlighted cooperation in cybersecurity, maritime security, trade, connectivity, COVID-19 pandemic response and post-pandemic recovery, environmental protection, and addressing climate change.

During the 29th ARF, Undersecretary Lazaro highlighted the importance of the forum as a platform for dynamic cooperation on global issues.

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs