Feb 14 (Reuters) - Times Neighborhood Holdings Ltd :
* HUANG SINING WILL BE APPOINTED AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
A Chinese diplomat in Brazil has mocked Mike Pompeo on Twitter, calling him the best US secretary of state ever, as he prepares to leave office.“You made great contributions in dividing US people and uniting Chinese people, destroying US image and making China greater!” Li Yang, the Chinese consul general in Rio de Janeiro, tweeted on Tuesday, adding that he hated to say goodbye to him.Zhao Lijian, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman and an outspoken Wolf Warrior diplomat, liked the tweet.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.> Mike, You are the best secretary of state ever in the US history. You made great contributions in dividing US people and uniting Chinese people, destroying US image and making China greater! I hate to say goodbye to you! @SecPompeo, @mikepompeo> > — Li Yang (@CGChinaLiYang) January 19, 2021Li, who has 1,900 followers, has begun the year with a barrage of tweets attacking the United States and occasionally Britain, including gloating about the failures of both nations’ coronavirus containment efforts.Two days before his Pompeo tweet, he wrote of US President Donald Trump: “Donald, look at your graduation results: trade war: failed; economy recovery, failed; fighting against coronavirus: failed; re-election campaign: failed; MAGA: question mark!”Joe Biden will replace Trump when he is inaugurated as the 46th president of the US on Wednesday.Li’s tweets continued the harder line adopted by Chinese diplomats towards the US with ties between the nations at their lowest point in decades, for which they have been described as Wolf Warriors. Wolf Warriors in the West: how China’s diplomats are taking to TwitterAhead of the change of president, Biden’s secretary of state nominee Antony Blinken said Trump had been right to take a tougher approach to China.Blinken’s comments came hours after Pompeo on Tuesday announced the Trump administration’s new assessment that China was committing crimes against humanity and genocide against Uygurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups in China’s far-western Xinjiang region.The secretary of state had himself posted a barrage of tweets over the weekend lambasting China’s ruling Communist Party for matters including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and the initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak.Nationalistic Chinese tabloid Global Times hit back at Pompeo on Sunday, branding him a “lunatic”, after Chinese state media previously called him evil and insane for repeating the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus came from a laboratory in Wuhan, where the outbreak was first reported.Li, the diplomat in Brazil, had previously made headlines for writing an article making an unsubstantiated accusation that the Covid-19 outbreak in the US could be linked to a military lab in Maryland.Liu Weidong, a US affairs expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the war of words may be toned down in the early days of the Biden administration.“China won’t anger the Biden administration at a time when bilateral relations might be adjusted for better,” Liu said. “And without Pompeo, the Biden administration would not be that aggressive towards China, even though containing Chinese influence is still their primary goal.”More from South China Morning Post: * US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang * US sanctions Chinese officials, executives over ‘coercive behaviour’ in South China Sea * Want to be a Chinese diplomat? Developers have a program that emulates China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ rhetoricThis article ‘Mike Pompeo was the best ever’: China’s Wolf Warriors are tweeting again first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 40 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on Wednesday (20 January), taking the country’s total case count to 59,197.
Zinedine Zidane insisted his players still believe in him after Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing defeat by third-tier side Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Wealthy investors rushed to offload stock in Alibaba Group Holding after China began an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at Jack Ma’s internet giant, according to Citigroup Inc.’s private bank.
The man molested the woman, pressing his body to her and rubbed her belly several times after she told him she was pregnant.
When the quest for a coronavirus vaccine began, China invested big in what it saw as the safest bet – inactivated vaccines.State-owned Sinopharm and private company Sinovac worked with government-affiliated labs to work around the clock to design inactivated viruses while construction started on biosecure facilities to meet anticipated demand.But then came the results from developers of an alternative technology called mRNA.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.The stellar efficacy data from clinical trials by mRNA vaccine pioneers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna sent shock waves through the industry, prompting a reassessment of the approach.A top Chinese health official has since urged companies to look again at the new technology while other domestic players are already making the pivot to embrace what they say is a new vaccine era. What are the coronavirus mRNA vaccines and how do they work?In November, soon after Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna announced an interim efficacy rate of more than 90 per cent for their candidates, the head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told the country’s vaccine executives that mRNA technology could revolutionise the industry and they should be ready.Addressing the 4,000 people at the China Biological Products Annual Conference in Zhuhai in southern China, George Gao Fu said it was highly likely that mRNA vaccines would have the ultimate power to fight the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.“The technology is fast, potent and induces longer immunity, from cellular to humoral immunity,” Gao said, referring to anitbody-mediated immunity.“You are the heavyweights of the industry. I hope you will give thought tonight about whether your company should make a transition and whether you should start to make arrangements to work on mRNA vaccines.”Until the United States approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use last month, the shots used on people were mostly a safely weakened version of the virus, which triggered the human body to make antibodies to fight the disease proper.More advanced vaccines revolved around injecting part of the pathogen, such as a protein or sugar, to induce an immune response.The mRNA vaccines take a different approach altogether – delivering instructions to cells to make useful proteins.These formulas rely human cells decoding genetic material from the virus and making proteins to fight it. The material, synthetic mRNA, is wrapped in an oily bubble coating made of lipid nanoparticles to be delivered into the human body.Once in the body, the material fuses to cells and the cell’s molecules decode the genome sequence to build spike proteins, which train the human body to launch an immune response. The mRNA from the vaccines degrades in about 72 hours so it will not combine with human DNA. We can’t rule out risks with Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, top Chinese health official saysThe idea of using mRNA has been around for decades, but had got little beyond early stage human trials for cancer treatment or vaccines for the flu, Zika and rabies.Then Covid-19 happened and developers looked to unlock the power of mRNA.Xiang Zuoyun, chief strategy officer with Chinese vaccine developer Walvax Biotechnology, said this was the start of something new.“[mRNA] is excellent technology for developing viral vaccines in the future and it is very likely that, in 20 or 30 years, all vaccines will use it. The trend is quite obvious,” Xiang said. “I feel we are witnessing the beginning of a new vaccine era.”Xiang said biological companies should either acquire or foster the technical ability to seize the business opportunities presented by mRNA technology.One of the big advantages of synthetic mRNA is that it is much easier and quicker to produce in the lab than it is to inactivate or attenuate a virus. Moderna took only two months to design an mRNA vaccine and launch trials after Chinese scientists released the genome sequence of the coronavirus. And, in theory, mRNA can be directed to produce any protein, opening the door to make all kinds of vaccines for infectious diseases or even cancer.China has a handful of biotech start-ups specialising in mRNA vaccines and drugs, most of which were founded by scientists who gained their expertise overseas.One start-up is Stemirna Therapeutics, which has been given the green light for Covid-19 vaccine trials.Two other mRNA candidates jointly designed by Jiaotong and Fudan universities in Shanghai are in preclinical studies.Walvax is working on its ARCoVax vaccine with the Academy of Military Science and Suzhou Abogen Biosciences. Its candidate entered a phase 1B clinical trial in October and construction started on a factory for it in Yuxi, Yunnan province, last month. The goal is to be in production within eight months with an initial capacity of 120 million doses.Walvax has tried to shift more of its resources to mRNA vaccines by selling off some stakes in a company in the process of registering its HPV vaccine but this has been blocked by shareholders keen to reap the rewards of the earlier investment.Other companies are also trying to forge ahead. Last month Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products bought 10 per cent of Shenzhen Shenxin Biotechnology, one of China’s few start-ups developing mRNA vaccines for rare diseases, to increase its core competitiveness.Zhang Linqi, professor of medicine at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said mRNA was pushed to the forefront for the first time when clinical trials proved it to be safe and effective.“It has the advantage of being safe, quick to respond and precise in targeting the pathogen,” Zhang said. “If there is a future disease X, the mRNA technology will have a big advantage on the front line in fighting it.”However, mRNA developers still need to find ways to scale up production, reduce side effects and stablise the mRNA molecules, which can fall apart at room temperature and have to be transported under very cold conditions, according to Zhang.Heavyweights like Moderna and BioNTech have a head start in this area. Moderna established an mRNA-based pipeline for various infectious diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and rare genetic diseases before the Covid-19 pandemic. It announced earlier this month that the company would start evaluating three candidates for seasonal flu vaccines and two candidates for HIV vaccines, and another as a vaccine against the Nipah virus. BioNTech also has a research pipeline of about 21 cancer drugs. Coronavirus: China breaks ground on mRNA vaccine plantPeng Yucai, founder of Zhuhai Lifanda Biotechnology, a biotech start-up specialising in mRNA vaccines and drugs, said good data from large trials of mRNA vaccines in other countries would have a positive influence on drug regulators in China, raising confidence in the new technology and increasing the prospects for such vaccines to be approved in the future.But the industry needs the government’s help to overcome a possible production bottleneck.“It’s a burgeoning industry, from the supply of raw materials to the supply of production equipment and it’s the case not only in China but also for the whole world,” Peng said. “The production chain will improve if the government is keen to develop the industry. It’s achievable.”More from South China Morning Post: * China’s coronavirus success shows it has caught up with West in some areas of innovation, Nobel laureate Paul Romer says * Coronavirus: Norway raises concern over Pfizer vaccine jabs for elderly as Australia seeks information * Coronavirus: experts say no reason for alarm over reports elderly people died after being given vaccine * US coronavirus deaths top 400,000 as Donald Trump leaves office * Chinese scientist’s spike protein research paves way for Covid-19 vaccineThis article Coronavirus: is China ready for the mRNA vaccine revolution? first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
An Israeli non-governmental organisation has accused the Jewish state of "apartheid" in its treatment of Palestinians -- a taboo-breaking move that has seen its representatives banned from speaking in schools.
President-elect Joe Biden will issue an executive order after taking office, aimed at reinstating White House ethics standards that were diminished or disregarded by the Trump administration. The new ethics rules, which were described by an official on Biden's transition, aim to not only restore Obama-era practices but strengthen them.
These three laggards may end up surprising investors by performing better than the market. The post Could These 3 Blue-Chip Stocks Outperform the Market? appeared first on The Smart Investor.
The Philippines has allowed China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. to hold clinical trials in the Southeast Asian nation for its coronavirus vaccine, which President Rodrigo Duterte prefers to be inoculated with, officials said.
Two separate tuberculosis clusters involving 18 people who had prolonged exposure at the Singapore Pools Bedok Betting Centre have been identified.
Luxury fashion house Prada has cut ties with a popular Chinese actress amid claims that she abandoned her children born to surrogates abroad after breaking up with her boyfriend.
China said Wednesday it was sanctioning more than two dozen members and ex-officials in former president Donald Trump's government, including his secretary of state Mike Pompeo, for violating the country's "sovereignty" by making "crazy" policy moves.
The cast and crew of a popular streaming series starring Bollywood megastar Saif Ali Khan have agreed to "implement changes" to the show after ruling party politicians accused it of insulting Hindu gods.
What is SIBOR? How does it compare to Fixed Deposit Home Rate (FHR) loans? Here’s a summary to help you compare between housing loans in Singapore and decide which is better. There are several types of home loans in the Singapore market today, namely Singapore […] The post Home Loans: SIBOR Rate vs Fixed Deposit Home Rate (FHR) Loans appeared first on SingSaver Blog - We Compare, You Save.
Paul Pogba produced a moment of magic as Manchester United came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 and reclaim the Premier League lead on Wednesday, ending Manchester City's short stay at the top.
Outside a centuries-old stone church in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar, a drama troupe performed skits hailing the military defeat of the former leaders of the country's Tigray region.
The outgoing US government’s assessment that China has committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang was among the last acts of the Donald Trump administration that observers said could cement its legacy on Beijing and reduce Joe Biden’s ability to change course.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has used his final days in office to define the ruling Chinese Communist Party as the “central threat of our time”, crediting the Trump administration for “changing the global conversation on China”.Pompeo announced on Tuesday that Beijing’s policies against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang constituted genocide, following days of placing sanctions on mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials for the political crackdown in Hong Kong, restricting visas for Chinese individuals responsible for militarisation of the South China Sea, and removing restrictions on US officials engaging with Taiwanese counterparts.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.Beijing has bristled at Pompeo’s statements, with Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying calling his legacy one of “lying diplomacy” that has “not only bankrupted his own reputation but also rendered irreversible damage to the national image and interests of the United States”.Hua on Wednesday dismissed the Xinjiang designation as a “waste of paper and a lie” and described Pompeo as a “doomsday clown”.China’s embassy in the United States said on Wednesday that Pompeo had “disregarded facts, groundlessly attacked and deliberately smeared China’s policies”, insisting Beijing’s actions targeted ethnic separatists, religious extremism and terrorism rather than ethnic minorities.Observers said the final salvoes fired by Trump’s administration would push Biden to take stronger action on issues such as Xinjiang after he is inaugurated as president on Wednesday, but that he would still have room to reshape China policy to address its failings.As the strategic rivalry has intensified between China and the US, a bipartisan consensus in Washington has grown for a tougher China policy, albeit through differing methods.Antony Blinken, Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, said at a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday that he was “very much in agreement” with Pompeo’s determination that Beijing’s abuses against Uygurs and other minorities in its Xinjiang region amounted to genocide.He said that the US needed to ensure it was not importing goods made with forced labour in Xinjiang, avoid exporting technologies to further Chinese repression, and ensure Taiwan had the ability to defend itself.“I also believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China,” Blinken said. “I disagree very much with the way that he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think that’s actually helpful to our foreign policy.”Scott Kennedy, senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a commentary on Tuesday that although the Trump administration sought to “intentionally handcuff its successors”, Biden’s government had room to reshape policy around its belief that US-led multilateralism was needed to meet the challenge of China.This would mean working more closely with allies on China, as well as reversing certain Trump actions by rejoining the World Health Organization and rolling back tariffs, while maintaining and expanding others such as delisting Chinese firms and sanctioning China over human rights abuses, he said.“Although the departing team deserves credit for loudly sounding the alarm bells on the dangers presented by a Xi Jinping-led China, on many issues but particularly on economic ones, it did not address that challenge with effective policies that changed the facts on the ground in America’s favour,” Kennedy wrote.“A China that ignores the rules, does not provide reciprocity, and is a threat to the international order requires a clear-eyed and firm response from the United States, but it does not justify policies that do not work simply because they can be labelled ‘tough’.“The transition from one administration to the next should not simply add up to more or less decoupling with China but [involve] potentially a new conception of the relationship and how it fits into the larger plans the administration has for the country and the world at large.”On Xinjiang, analysts said that the new US designation would help the US to lobby other countries to work more closely against Beijing’s treatment of its ethnic minorities.Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said the Biden administration could hit the ground running, including by sanctioning more individuals and entities for human rights violations in Xinjiang, designating Uygurs as a priority group for refugee status, and working to combat forced labour in Xinjiang.“They can move straight to next steps for US policy,” Enos said. “Now China knows that there are consequences for its actions, and should it consider taking similar moves against other ethnic and religious minorities, it will not be without foreign policy and national security consequences.”Genocide and crimes against humanity are both serious crimes codified under international law after World War II.Darren Byler, a researcher at the Asian studies centre at the University of Colorado, said the genocide assessment would probably be used in legal actions to force multinational firms to assess their supply chains to Xinjiang, but that the impact for Uygurs in the region was not yet clear.“I expect to see other nations such as Canada and the United Kingdom make similar determinations,” he said.“It is a bit too soon to tell what other ramifications might come from it down the line. It will certainly make Uygur asylum claims stronger and I anticipate calls to relocate the 2022 Winter Olympics [from Beijing] will grow in the coming months, but I don’t know what it will mean for Uygurs in China.”Additional reporting by Catherine WongMore from South China Morning Post: * China sanctions US lawmakers, officials over Hong Kong, Taiwan moves * Mike Pompeo’s curiously timed Taiwan shift turns focus on Biden’s approach * China calls Xinjiang camps training centres, but government’s own documents say otherwise, researcher findsThis article How Mike Pompeo’s ‘genocide’ label for China over Xinjiang may set tone for Joe Biden first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
Hong Kong no longer has the busiest airport for international traffic in Asia after the coronavirus pandemic wiped out travel, leaving South Korea’s Incheon International Airport in top spot.
Wife and Health DG Noor Hisham clarify burnout rumors after photo of doctor snoozing at his desk spread online. This article, Pandemic doctor died of acute respiratory distress, not fatigue or COVID, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company.
