BEIJING (Reuters) -- China and India should help each other accomplish goals, instead of “draining each others’ energies”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday. Ties between the two Asian giants deteriorated after a fatal border clash in the Galwan valley in June 2020 left at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead. At an annual press briefing in Beijing, Wang acknowledged that ties with India had “met with some setbacks” in recent years. He said that “some forces” have tried to create conflict and division between China and India.

 

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SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Frustration swelled among many flood-hit residents in Australia’s east over slow relief and recovery efforts, as Sydney braced for more heavy downpours in the next two days that may trigger flash flooding and hamper current clean-up plans. Thousands were forced to flee their homes after torrential rains since late last month brought widespread destruction in the states of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW), cutting off towns, and sweeping away farms, livestock and roads. The death toll from the deluge rose to 18 after a man was found dead in a car swept away in floods in Queensland on Sunday. “These are terrible, terrible floods,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told radio station 2GB on Monday. More defense force personnel are being sent to flood-affected areas immediately to lead the recovery, said Morrison, who is trailing in polls ahead of a federal election due by May.

 

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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Rafiq Tarar, a former Pakistani judge who served as the country’s President from 1997 to 2001, died on Monday in the eastern city of Lahore after a prolonged illness at the age of 92. Tarar’s grandson, Azam Tarar, announced on Twitter that his grandfather had died. Pakistan’s President Arif Ali, Prime Minister Imran Khan and prominent politicians expressed their grief, along with the country’s military chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. Tarar was elected the country’s president after the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif backed him in the presidential election in 1997. Tarar was a close friend of Sharif, who won the parliamentary elections in 1997. Sharif was ousted from power by a former military dictator Pervez Musharraf in 1999 in a bloodless coup. However, Musharraf allowed Tarar to continue working as President until 2001 when he forced Tarar to resign and replaced him. Musharraf is currently living in self-imposed exiled in Dubai after being forced to resign in 2008 when politicians backing him lost parliamentary elections. Sharif, who was ordered out in 2017 by a court over charges of corruption, has been living in exile in London.

 

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BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Thailand is scrambling to encourage its people to have more babies to arrest a slumping birth rate, offering parents childcare and fertility centers, while also tapping social media influencers to showcase the joys of family life. The campaign comes as the number of births has dropped by nearly a third since 2013, when they started declining. Last year saw 544,000 births, the lowest in at least six decades and below the 563,000 deaths, which were also swelled by coronavirus-related fatalities. While Thailand’s demographic path is similar to other Asian economies like Japan or Singapore, as an emerging market relying on cheap labor and a growing middle class the implications for Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy are far more profound. Experts said it is hard to reverse a situation where social conditions have changed and attitudes towards having children are now colored by concerns over rising debt and elderly care.

 

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BEIJING (AP) — China is seeing a new surge in COVID-19 cases across the vast country, despite its draconian “zero tolerance” approach to dealing with outbreaks. The mainland on Monday reported 214 new cases of infection over the previous 24 hours, with the most, 69, in the southern province of Guangdong bordering on Hong Kong, which has been recording tens of thousands of cases per day. Another 54 cases were reported in the Jilin province, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the north, and 46 in the eastern province Shandong. In his annual report to the national legislature Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang said China needs to “constantly refine epidemic containment” but gave no indication Beijing might ease the highly touted “zero tolerance” strategy. 

 

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COLOMBO (AFP) -- Sri Lanka’s most sacred elephant passed away aged 68 on Monday, prompting an outpouring of grief and a presidential order for the huge cadaver to be stuffed and preserved for posterity. Nadungamuwa Raja was the most important among 100 elephants used in an annual pageant involving fire-eaters and drummers. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa decreed that the animal be declared a “national treasure” and ordered its remains be preserved “for future generations to witness,” his office said. Raja was due to be handed over to taxidermists later on Monday for stuffing, its owner said through a spokesperson. Raja was born in India and had been gifted to Sri Lanka by an Indian prince. Elephants are a protected species in Sri Lanka but many are kept as pets, because they are seen as status symbols. Laws have been tightened in recent years to ban the capture of wild elephants which is punishable with death. Animal rights campaigners say captive elephants are often maltreated.