#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/russia-central-asia/40022937

Russian opposition politician sentenced to 8.5 years in prison on ‘fake news’ charges

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced in court to eight-and-a-half years in prison on Friday on charges of spreading “false information” about the army.

Yashin, 39, was tried over a YouTube video released in April in which he discussed evidence uncovered by Western journalists of Russian atrocities in Bucha, near Kyiv, and cast doubt on the official Moscow version that such reports had been fabricated as a “provocation” against Russia.

Since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls its “special military operation”, it has intensified its clampdown on public dissent, with most prominent opposition figures either in jail or exile.

The legislation was passed days later, providing for jail terms of up to 15 years for disseminating “false information” about the military.

In a defiant post on his Telegram channel, Yashin urged his supporters to continue opposing the military operation.

“With this hysterical verdict, the authorities want to intimidate us all but, in fact, it only shows their weakness. Strong leaders are calm and confident. Only weaklings try to shut everybody up and scorch any kind of dissent,” he wrote.

“We have no reason to be sad – you and I have won this trial, friends …

“We told the truth about war crimes and called for the bloodshed to stop … Today, I can only repeat what I said on the day of my arrest: I am not afraid, and you must not be afraid. Changes are just around the corner.”

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny slammed the verdict as “shameless and lawless” in a post on his Twitter account, which is managed by his team in exile.

“Ilya Yashin, we are all proud of you. Russia will be free and so will you,” Navalny wrote.

Yashin, a longtime friend and ally of Navalny, rose to prominence during a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in 2011-12 and was elected head of a Moscow district council in 2017. He has been repeatedly blocked from standing for higher office.

As supporters chanted “Freedom for political prisoners!” outside the courtroom, Yashin’s lawyers told them he would appeal.

In his final statement to the court this week, Yashin had appealed directly to President Vladimir Putin, describing him as “the person responsible for this slaughter” and asking him to “look at the consequences of this monstrous war” and “stop this madness.”

“The words ‘death’ and ‘destruction’ are now firmly associated with your name,” he said.

“You have brought terrible misfortune to the Ukrainian people, who will probably never forgive us.”

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/pr-news/world/china/40022936

China’s newly-delivered C919 passenger jet sees 1,000 delivery orders

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2022

China has seen more than 1,000 orders on its first self-developed C919 passenger jet from 32 airline companies so far.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) delivered the first C919 large passenger aircraft to China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai on Friday morning.

The aircraft features a 164-seat configuration with a two-class cabin layout, including eight business class seats and 156 economy class seats. Cabin interiors, passenger seats, onboard entertainment systems and aircraft exterior livery are custom-designed.

China Eastern Airlines will carry out more than 100 hours of testing flights on this new aircraft to verify and confirm the operational safety, maintenance reliability and various operational support capabilities. The aircraft is expected to get an official operation license if all results and data of the testing flight meet the requirements of the China Civil Aviation Administration.

The plane conducted its successful maiden flight in 2017. It obtained the type certificate in late September, which indicates that the C919’s design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements.

The aircraft delivered on Friday is the basic type of the C919 series, and development on C919 aircraft will be continued in the future.

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40022927

Asean and South Korea pledge closer cooperation on vaccine security

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022

Neena M.L.

South Korea has pledged to contribute towards vaccine security in Southeast Asia as part of the South Korea – Asean partnership in the Indo-Pacific Region through cooperation and collectively responding to the challenges of Covid-19 and other diseases.

The South Korea – Asean solidarity initiative has been launched to expand the relationship not only for political, economic and social issues, but also to tackle global challenges such as the pandemic, health security and climate change.

Speaking at the the 2nd Vaccine Cooperation Forum in the Indo-Pacific Region, held in Seoul on December 7, South Korean Vice Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Hyun-dong said, “Over the past three years, we have experienced first-hand the importance of united action against the common threat of Covid-19. We have learned the effectiveness of joint response and the importance of equitable access to vaccines and treatments.”

Southeast Asia acted quickly and launched the Asean Covid-19 Response Fund and the Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies, making a rapid region-wide response possible. Asean also took leadership in the region’s recovery by adopting the Asean Comprehensive Recovery Framework. However, the South Korean vice minister stressed: “Further cooperation is still critical to deal effectively with possible future outbreaks. South Korea has provided strong support to Asean members for vaccine security, providing US$6 million [208 million baht] to strengthen detection capabilities. South Korea recognised the importance of sustained financing to prepare for future pandemics by pledging to donate $30 million to the World Bank’s Finance Intermediary Fund.”

Despite many countries currently treating the Covid-19 as an endemic, it continues to disrupt the world with its many variants and sub-variants. Dr Tore Godal, the founding CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance & Special Adviser to the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), emphasised that developing effective and safe vaccines that can tackle the issues is important in terms of sustainability and security, especially in the Indo-Pacific Region to prevent and protect against not just Covid-19 but other diseases that may arise.

Godal, the keynote speaker at the forum, said South Korea and Asean have high potential in this area. “South Korea has a lot to offer. The country has its unique vaccine institutes and companies that are internationally recognised, such as the KBIOHealth [Osong Medical Innovation Foundation] and SK Bioscience; Global Innovative Vaccine and Biotech Company. Both are internationally oriented. While, Asean is very active, for example, Indonesia has Biofarma, Thailand contributes and delivers with high commitment towards research while Vietnam also offers capacities as a good vaccine production base.”

Thailand, as a member of the forum, raised important issues in the global challenges on why vaccine security is crucial and how Asean and South Korea can create a sustained framework.

The representative from Thailand, Dr Sunate Chuenkitmongkol, deputy director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), talked about the importance of vaccine and immunisation that is well recognised as one of the most cost-effective public health measures in prevention and control of severe infectious diseases. The Covid-19 pandemic, which took millions of lives in the past three years, has raised the demand for vaccines while the world faces vaccine shortages.

Speaking on the issue of vaccine security, Sunate said that it must be conducted in a sustained and uninterrupted way to smoothly supply and ensure the quality of the vaccine.

“It doesn’t mean that every country has to produce vaccines on its own, but every country should be able to access the vaccine whenever it is in demand,” she said.

Thailand’s perspective on ensuring vaccine security involves several key factors:

• Work on vaccine policy in the country
• Strengthen research and development, infrastructure in the country
• Act as information and integrated vaccine knowledge and management centre in the country
• Networking and training vaccine experts

Among regional initiatives, Asean adopted the Leaders’ Declaration on Asean Vaccine Security and Self-Reliance on November 2, 2019, two months before the Covid-19 pandemic began. This initiative aims to integrate and develop collaboration on vaccine security amongst Asean members.

She said that during the pandemic, the demand far exceeded supplies. She said high-income countries are in a better position to access vaccines than middle- or lower-income countries.

Regarding implementation of the AVSSR Strategic and Action Plans 2021 – 2025, she said the NVI had received financial support last year from the Republic of Korea Mission to Asean and the Asean Secretariat to organise an “Asean-ROK Vaccine Webinar to support Regional Priorities and Advocacy on AVSSR” to find a constructive direction, solution for vaccine security and improve research in a sustained way so as to be prepared for future global challenges.

Related stories:

• Infection is as good as vaccine against Covid-19: virologist
• Thailand stops procuring Covid-19 vaccine
• Boosting with AstraZeneca’s vaccine provides high protection against Omicron, equivalent to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Neena M.L.

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40022922

Japan, UK, Italy get together to develop new fighter aircraft

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022

Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy plan to jointly develop a fighter jet for their air forces with the aim of deploying it around 2035. A joint statement was expected on Friday.

Japan’s aim is to introduce a successor to its F-2 fighter in the mid-2030s when the aircraft will be retired, and the UK plans to deploy the Tempest, successor to its mainstay Eurofighter Typhoon, in actual combat by 2035.

Since Japan and Britain have almost the same performance requirements, such as stealth features and high-performance radar, and their development periods overlap, governments decided to make final arrangements for joint development. The UK is joining hands with Italy to develop the Tempest.

The development team is expected to be led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd and BAE Systems, a major British aerospace and defence company. The team will oversee the overall design of the aircraft and system development, and the Japanese side has been able to secure the flexibility in modifications that they had been emphasising. Italy is expected to have Leonardo, another major aerospace and defence company, participate in the project, along with other companies.

The three countries aim to procure a total of about 300 aircraft for themselves and to export the finished product overseas.

In Japan, the Three Principles of Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology and operational guidelines have been a stumbling block to exports, and the government and ruling parties have been in close talks to review them.

The Japan News

Asia News Network