Africa: WHO Recommends Life-Saving Interleukin-6 Receptor Blockers for Covid-19

Africa: WHO Recommends Life-Saving Interleukin-6 Receptor Blockers for Covid-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its patient care guidelines to include interleukin-6 receptor blockers, a class of medicines that are lifesaving in patients who are severely or critically ill with COVID-19, especially when administered alongside corticosteroids. These were the findings from a prospective and a living network meta-analysis initiated by WHO, the largest such…

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Malawi: Muted Cry of Stepdaughters of Dowa

Malawi: Muted Cry of Stepdaughters of Dowa

Jessica – a 14-year-old Standard 5 pupil at one of the public schools in Traditional Authority (T/A) Msakambewa in Dowa – is torn apart. Jessica, whose real name we have concealed on ethical grounds, wants to be a teacher when she completes her education. But now she faces a shattered future because her 45-year-old stepfather – whom she trusted and was supposed to protect her from preying and…

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Desperate Indonesians Search for Oxygen as Virus Cases Soar

Desperate Indonesians Search for Oxygen as Virus Cases Soar

ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia Hospitals are bursting beyond capacity and oxygen supplies are running out, leaving people desperate. A woman walks among the graves of COVID-19 victims at the Rorotan Cemetery in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana With his aunt gasping for breath at home from her COVID-19 infection, 17-year-old Ridho Milhasan took…

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The CCP Deserves Credit for China’s Phenomenal Economic Growth

The CCP Deserves Credit for China’s Phenomenal Economic Growth

The Debate | Opinion Yes, the CCP has many shortcomings. But it has also contributed significantly to the country’s economic miracle. Credit: Flickr/ d’n’c In an earlier Diplomat article, Bonnie Girard questions the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China’s economic development miracle. She argues that the private sector drives Chinese economic growth, and that the state does not…

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Afghan War Moves North

Afghan War Moves North

Flashpoints | Security | South Asia Taliban pressure in the north serves both military and narrative purposes, and didn’t come out of nowhere. Credit: Depositphotos For much of the last 20 years of war in Afghanistan, it was the country’s south that drew attention. Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city and capital of a vast southern province of the same name, was the last Taliban-held…

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What the Next South Korean President Can Learn From Moon’s Diplomatic Challenge

What the Next South Korean President Can Learn From Moon’s Diplomatic Challenge

The Koreas | Diplomacy | East Asia Every president will face the exact same difficulty: To advance North Korea policy, Seoul needs to have all the main players on its side. Credit: Cheong Wa Dae Last month, Time Magazine released a cover photo of its July edition, featuring a photo of South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. The title of the issue was announced to be “The Final Offer: South Korea’s…

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Madrassa Sex Abuse Case Shocks Pakistan

Madrassa Sex Abuse Case Shocks Pakistan

The Pulse | Society | South Asia More and more cases have been coming to light in the past years. Who will take on the country’s powerful clerics? Credit: Depositphotos For over a year, Sabir Shah, a madrassa student, was sexually abused by an influential religious cleric in Pakistan’s populous city of Lahore. In a video spread on social media and filmed by Shah himself, Mufti Azizur Rehman – a…

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China's hostility ensures the rise of a more antagonistic India

China’s hostility ensures the rise of a more antagonistic India

Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and author of nine books, including “Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan.” Chinese President Xi Jinping recently said that China should strive to “make friends” rather than enemies and be seen as a “credible, lovable and respectable” power. But Xi’s own draconian, expansionist actions at home and abroad continue to undermine China’s global…

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Analysis: Xi becomes 'Mao' in Tiananmen visual effect

Analysis: Xi becomes ‘Mao’ in Tiananmen visual effect

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He is the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize for international reporting. TOKYO — Tiananmen, or the Gate of Heavenly Peace, is a towering gate at the entrance to Beijing’s Forbidden City, the former…

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Nintendo ups its Switch game with big OLED screen

Nintendo ups its Switch game with big OLED screen

The new version of the Nintendo Switch features an OLED screen capable of displaying vivid colors. KENTO HIRASHIMA, Nikkei staff writerJuly 7, 2021 04:44 JST | Japan OSAKA — Nintendo announced Tuesday an improved Switch game system with a larger, better screen and more internal memory than the current versions. The so-called OLED model of the Switch is due out Oct. 8. It boasts a 7-inch screen,…

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What the Next South Korean President Can Learn From Moon’s Diplomatic Challenge

What the Next South Korean President Can Learn From Moon’s Diplomatic Challenge

The Koreas | Diplomacy | East Asia Every president will face the exact same difficulty: To advance North Korea policy, Seoul needs to have all the main players on its side. Credit: Cheong Wa Dae Last month, Time Magazine released a cover photo of its July edition, featuring a photo of South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. The title of the issue was announced to be “The Final Offer: South Korea’s…

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Uyghurs Around The World Mark Anniversary of Violent 2009 Crackdown

Uyghurs Around The World Mark Anniversary of Violent 2009 Crackdown

Uyghur groups around the world have held demonstrations commemorating a violent crackdown on Uyghurs by Chinese authorities 12 years ago in the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), while the top U.S. diplomat has discussed the deepening repression of the largely Muslim ethnic minority group in northwestern China. More than 200 Uyghurs, including many young people who came to…

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Re: Palestine: occupation soldiers close down agricultural union

Re: Palestine: occupation soldiers close down agricultural union

Israeli occupation forces raided the headquarters of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in the occupied West Bank city of Al-Bireh this morning. A military order was issued, forcing the office to close for six months. According to the UAWC, heavily-armed Israeli soldiers broke down the door before confiscating computers and memory drives. The union is one of the largest…

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Africa: Gambia Chairs Africa Group At the United Nations

Africa: Gambia Chairs Africa Group At the United Nations

BANJUL, 6 July 2021: The Republic of The Gambia has been nominated to chair the Africa Group of Permanent Representatives at the United Nations in New York for the month of July. The Africa Group at the United Nations is made up of 54 African Union Member States. The bloc coordinates efforts on various topics, ranging from health and migration to issues of peace and security. The Group holds…

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Ethiopia: Ethiopia Tells UNSC It Rejects 'Unwelcome Meddling' By League of Arab States

Ethiopia: Ethiopia Tells UNSC It Rejects ‘Unwelcome Meddling’ By League of Arab States

Addis Abeba — In a letter from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Demeke Mekonnen and sent to the United Nations Security Council, Ethiopia says it “rejects the unwelcome meddling by the League of Arab States on the matter of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).” The letter followed the Arab League’s “submission of a letter to the UN Security Council and UN General…

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Zambia: Kenneth Kaunda's Children Sue to Stop Burial By State

Zambia: Kenneth Kaunda’s Children Sue to Stop Burial By State

Lusaka — The funeral of Zambia’s founding President, Kenneth Kaunda, is in limbo as some of his children and other family members have rushed to court to stop the government from burying him at a site designated for the country’s heads of State. Kaunda died on June 17 aged 97. He had been admitted to Maina Soko Military Hospital in Lusaka and was being treated for pneumonia. Some of his family…

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Kenya: Kenyatta Commissions Five New Hospitals in Nairobi

Kenya: Kenyatta Commissions Five New Hospitals in Nairobi

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday night July 6, 2021, commissioned five new hospitals in Nairobi County and directed them to offer 24-hour services to residents. The new health facilities are part of 24 such hospitals being constructed by Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) as part of a broad Government plan to decongest Kenyatta National Hospital, Mama Lucy, Pumwani, and Mbagathi hospitals. The…

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