China has resorted to all types of propaganda techniques to shift the blame for the origin of the COVID-19 using different conspiracy theories through political statements, state-run news media, social media as well as using rap songs.

The latest conspiracy story blames lobsters from the US. A news article claimed a cargo containing 55 boxes of Boston lobsters, which had landed in Shanghai on November 11, 2019, maybe responsible for the origin of COVID-19. The news portal named Sina said the traceability of coronavirus pointed at the cold chain of US seafood products, The HK Post reported. “Therefore, it is entirely possible for the virus to attach to the cold chain packaging of this batch of seafood products in the United States and enter the South China seafood market,” reads the article.

China has been denying the reports that coronavirus leaked from the laboratory in Wuhan. Meanwhile, in November 2020, Chinese authorities had claimed that coronavirus was found on the shrimps imported from Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, China also suspended beef imports from Brazil. The state-run Global Times said the Brazilian beef sent to the Wuhan market was found with active coronavirus, The HK Post reported.

Beijing has even blamed the US military for leaking coronavirus into China.

Zhao Lijian spokesperson for the Chinese foreign affairs ministry said “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”, The HK Post reported.

It further reported that another such spokesperson Hua Chunying demanded that a team of international experts including the World Health Organisation (WHO) be allowed to inspect the biological lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland.

The propaganda to frame the US was aimed at diverting blame from China as most of the world population believed Wuhan was the origin of the coronavirus. “Right after the Wuhan lab leak became a credible hypothesis in the US, official media in China basically doubled down on allegations that a US military lab could be the origin point of the pandemic,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow at New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. The Wuhan Lab is very close to the Wuhan wet market, which is considered as the source of COVID-19, The HK Post reported.

A former senator of Pakistan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has accused Islamabad of joining hands with the Taliban to “destroy” Afghan identity and its culture.

In an interview with the Amsterdam-based European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), Afrasiab Khattak, who is also a Pashtun rights activist said,

“Pakistan expanded into Afghanistan through its strategic depth policy. During the Afghan civil war, the Pakistani military establishment, aided by the US and the Arab Gulf States, enrolled Afghan refugees in Pakistani madrassas to brainwash them with extremist Islamist ideologies”. Khattak believes that these measures were aimed at ultimately emphasising the Afghans’ Muslim identity over their identity as Afghans and Pashtuns, and thereby deconstructing the Afghan/Pashtun component of their communal identity.

The Taliban, according to Khattak, were thus programmed to destroy Afghan identity and thereby serve the Pakistani military establishment’s aim of ultimately transforming Afghanistan into a cultural extension of Pakistan.

From the late 1980s onwards, this strategic depth policy was also expanded towards India’s Jammu & Kashmir. Here too, the identity of Kashmiris as Muslims was and is prioritised over other identity markers.

However, as Khattak argued, this is a “suicidal policy” for Pakistan, because while Pakistan invests all its efforts in militarisation, its economic development eventually deteriorates. While Pakistan has the potential of becoming even a regional economic power, this strategic policy of Talibanisation has hindered its socio-economic development.

He further criticised Pakistan for historically using Afghan refugees as a political tool and turning these refugees into members of the Taliban against Kabul when relations with respective Afghan governments were strained. India and Pakistan, he argued, must reconcile as the staunch anti-Indianism in Pakistan legitimises military rule that in turn undermines democracy.

The same was said for Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan: Pakistan’s high military expenditures, Khattak argued, curtail Pakistan’s political and economic development. The historical role of the Pakistani military establishment embodies the empowered role of the armed forces under colonial rule.

At least 15 people have been injured in a blast that took place on Friday in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, reported local media.

Locals said that the blast was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in a mosque during prayers at the Shadal Mosque in eastern Nangarhar, Pajhwok Afghan News reported citing a source. Three of the people injured in the blast are in critical condition, Syed Qayum Shinwari, a resident of the area, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The developments came days after three people were killed and several others sustained injuries in twin blasts in the capital of Nangarhar province.

Meanwhile, Two armed men on Friday killed one person and injured another in an attack in the capital of the northern Kunduz province in Afghanistan.

The armed men attacked shop owners in Kunduz city on Friday, killing one on the spot and injuring another, Xinhua news agency reported citing locals. A provincial government official has confirmed the incident, saying a probe has been initiated into the case.

Separately, another blast was reported in Nangarhar province on Friday, Pajhwok Afghan News reported citing a source

Two explosions went off in Jalalabad city in Nangarhar followed by a shooting incident, Russian news agency Sputnik reported citing an eyewitness on Sunday.

A Myanmar military court has sentenced US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison, media reports said on Friday.

37-years-old Fenster has been detained in Myanmar for more than five months and denied bail, CNN reported. Fenster, who hails from Michigan is being held in Insein Prison in Yangon city, since his May 24 arrest.

The American broadcaster said charges on Fenster include visa breaches, unlawful association with an illegal group and incitement.

He was also given a fine in the local currency equivalent to USD 50. The American journalist is one of about 100 scribes detained since the coup. Around 30 remain behind bars, the CNN report said.

“There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges. His legal team clearly demonstrated to the court that he had resigned from Myanmar Now and was working for Frontier from the middle of last year,” said Thomas Kean, editor-in-chief of Frontier Myanmar, one of the country’s top independent news outlets.

“Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family.”

According to his lawyer, Fenster was hit with two new criminal charges under the country’s sedition and terrorism laws, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

China has been using “immoral” and “unethical” tactics to influence the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking in its bid to become the unambiguous hegemon by 2049.

As per The HK Post, in a recent attempt, the Chinese has manipulated the World Bank Doing Business Ranking and influenced the administrators of international financial institutions to comply with Chinese sensibilities which have global investment ramifications affecting investment flow towards countries like India, Japan and Australia in Indo-Pacific theatre. The World Bank has suspended the publication of its most sought-after Doing Business ranking immediately subsequently an external audit revealed unwarranted interference from senior World Bank staff in varying rankings of different countries especially under pressure from China, said The HK Post.

World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Directory is among some global indices where India’s rank post-2014 has improved significantly. The World Bank assessment did not find any deception in India’s position.

Indian position upgraded from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019, with the Indian government determined exertions to advance the country’s business attractiveness standing. India was targeting to be amongst the top 50 rankings by 2021.

The sudden disruption will support shifting manufacturing supply chains to India. The striking feature is no wrongdoings have been seen in Indian data. India has been continuously the favoured investment destination for the world and a reliable, dependable destination, while China is sliding in appeal, reported The HK Post.

Deception by China will prompt multilateral enterprises for instance the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) to transfer manufacturing to India. India, Japan along with Australia officially launched SCRI World Bank Group to Discontinue Doing Business Report.

Throughout the complex capital-raising year of 2017, China used its clout and coercive measures to influence the World Bank’s highest administration into retreating the fall from 78 to 85 of their standing in the rankings.

On commands from then-president Jim Yong Kim and chief executive officer Kristalina Georgieva, the Ease-of-Doing Business team was directed to re-examine China’s statistics to retain their position at 78, reported The HK Post.

The complete incident again exposes the widespread fraud on which Chinese data is based and on the other hand, the valid and verified Indian statistical depiction. China has vigorously deceived the world’s investors to cover up their deteriorating investment environment.

India is observing closely the ongoing huge scam discovered in the investigation findings, of the Doing Business assessment by the World Bank that claims great pressure from China to improve its ranking, ultimately this drives to support manufacturing shift of chains towards India.

Amidst the World Bank uproar over its linking to favouritism towards China, IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva is under scrutiny for her role in the alleged rigging of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings when she was a chief executive there. In particular, it was alleged that the EoDB rankings were tweaked to inflate the ranks for China (in EoDB 2018), reported The HK Post.

Doing business in China can be a problematic and combative proposition for corporations from many countries. Until now there are charges of intellectual property stealing, enforced partnerships, constricted limitations on doing business and other unethical practices, yet China ranks 31st out of 190 nations in the world for the overall ease of doing business ranking of World Bank.

In addition, undertaking business in China can be politically perilous as consultations with the Communist-led government can be hard in a political system without transparency and understanding for dissent. Prevalent corruption harms foreign investors from all around the world in China, reported The HK Post. China is creating a web of dependencies for smaller countries with unsustainable finance mechanisms and flouting standards of fair trade.

Amid the rising inflation in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that the country has managed the situation ‘much better’ than other countries.

He said that “while an unprecedented rise in commodity prices internationally has adversely affected most countries in the world as a result of Covid lockdowns, Pakistan MashaAllah has fared relatively much better”.

Imran Khan’s remarks came a day after the alliance of major opposition parties in Pakistan, also known as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), decided to hold ‘mehngai’ march in provincial capitals before going ahead with a long march towards Islamabad.

Meanwhile, inflation has been predicted to remain high in Pakistan for the next six months and the Pakistan rupee is likely to continue on a depreciatory path despite a support package from Saudi Arabia, local media reported citing the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The EIU’s assessment comes after data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that the Consumer Price Index — a key marker of inflation — surged 9.2 per cent year-on-year in October, reported Geo News.

An advocate from Pakistan’s Lahore on Saturday challenged the federal government’s recent hike in fuel prices after the Imran Khan government drastically increased the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 8.03 and Rs 8.14.