TOKYO (Kyodo) — Two of the Japanese citizens evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday were found to have developed pneumonia after being hospitalized in Tokyo, the metropolitan government said.
A government-chartered plane brought home the first group of 206 people from the city at the center of a deadly virus outbreak early in the morning.
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TOKYO (Kyodo) — The government confirmed three more cases in Japan of the new coronavirus on Tuesday, including a tour bus driver who has never been to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak of the deadly virus began in a seafood and poultry market.
The bus driver in his 60s became the first Japanese to be infected with the virus in Japan, the health ministry said. He drove two groups of Chinese tourists from Wuhan earlier this month.
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LONDON (AP) — The pressure on Britain’s disgraced Prince Andrew increased Tuesday after the revelation by U.S. authorities that he has failed to cooperate with the FBI’s investigation into his ties with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyer Lisa Bloom, who represents five of Epstein’s alleged sexual trafficking victims, said Tuesday that it’s time for Andrew “to stop playing games and to come forward to do the right thing and answer questions.”
Bloom said her clients were “outraged and disappointed at Prince Andrew’s behavior.”
Andrew remained out of the public eye Tuesday. Buckingham Palace and his legal team maintained a “no comment” policy one day after U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said Andrew has provided “zero cooperation” to the FBI and the U.S. prosecutors seeking to speak with him about Epstein.
The statement Monday by Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was the first official confirmation that the leading U.S. law enforcement agency had sought — and failed — to obtain evidence from Andrew, third child of Queen Elizabeth II, despite his pledge in November that he would cooperate with legitimate law enforcement agencies.
The U.S. decision to make the 59-year-old prince’s silence public may be part of a strategy to increase public calls for him to cooperate.
Andrew is being sought for questioning as a witness who may be able to shed light on the illegal activities of Epstein, who died in a New York prison in August while awaiting trial on sexually abusing teenage girls. There’s no indication that U.S. officials are pursuing criminal charges against the prince.
The FBI only has limited ways to try to convince Andrew to give evidence.
U.S. officials have not provided details, so it’s not clear if the FBI made an informal request through Andrew’s lawyers or went through formal police channels, which if successful would have led to an interview conducted by UK police, possibly with an FBI agent present.
“They can’t compel him to do any of those things,” said British lawyer Ben Keith, a specialist in extradition and law enforcement. “The next stage after that is to issue a formal Mutual Legal Assistance Request, which would go through the Foreign Office and be dealt with in the court system.”
That could lead, Keith said, to the prince giving evidence via video link to U.S. investigators.
Andrew has been accused by a woman who says that she had several sexual encounters with the prince at Epstein’s behest, starting when she was 17.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre says after meeting Epstein as a teenager in Florida in 2000, he flew her around the world and pressured her into having sex with numerous older men, including Andrew, two senior U.S. politicians, a noted academic, and the attorney Alan Dershowitz, who is now part of President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team.
Giuffre has said she had sex with Andrew three times, including once in London in 2001 at the home of Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre claims that she was paid by Epstein for her sexual encounters.
Andrew and Dershowitz have denied any wrongdoing. But the royal family forced Andrew to step down from his royal duties and charity patronages in November after giving a disastrous television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein and failed to express sympathy for the girls and women who Epstein abused.
Andrew is also being pursued by several lawyers representing Epstein victims who are pushing civil suits against Epstein’s estate.
Those lawyers could choose to bring their request to a British high court, seeking to have an examiner take a statement from Andrew or pursue other ways to obtain his evidence. So far they are only making public calls for him to make himself available and threatening to subpoena Andrew if he travels to the U.S.
The complex legal situation may make Andrew reluctant to visit the U.S., where his evidence is sought on both criminal and civil cases, but lawyers say it’s unlikely to restrict his travel to other countries.
New York criminal defense lawyer Ron Kuby says it’s unlikely the prince will ever voluntarily agree to an interview and said the FBI doesn’t have the means to force him to.
“The likelihood of him participating is very, very small,” Kuby said. “Why would he? The last time Prince Andrew spoke on the relevant topic he was yanked from public life and universally ridiculed.”
Andrew, eighth in line to the throne, has been seen at occasional royal family events since November but has not commented on Epstein since his TV interview backfired.
GENEVA (Xinhua) — The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that it will send international experts to China as soon as possible to increase understanding of the novel coronavirus outbreak situation and guide the global counter-epidemic efforts.
The announcement came after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met with the Chinese leaders in Beijing earlier in the day.
The two sides agreed that the WHO will send international experts to China to work with its Chinese counterparts to enhance understanding of the epidemic and guide the global counter-epidemic efforts, the WHO said in a statement.
“Stopping the spread of this virus both in China and globally is WHO’s highest priority,” said Tedros, appreciating China’s serious attitude towards the epidemic, especially the commitment from top leaders and the transparency demonstrated, including sharing data and genetic sequence of the virus.
The WHO is working closely with the Chinese government to take measures to understand the virus and limit its spread, he said, adding that the organization will continue to work side-by-side with China and other countries to protect people’s health and safety.
The WHO delegation highly appreciated China’s actions in response to the outbreak, including its swiftness in identifying the virus and openness to sharing information with the WHO and other countries, according to the announcement.
Though much remains to be understood about the novel coronavirus, including its source of infection and spreading extent in China, most cases reported so far have been relatively mild, with around 20 percent of the infected people experiencing severe illness, the WHO said.
There is an urgent need to better understand the transmissibility and severity of the virus to guide other countries to take appropriate counter-measures, it added.
LONDON (AP) — Britain decided Tuesday to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to supply new high-speed network equipment, ignoring the U.S. government’s warnings that it would sever intelligence cooperation if the company was not banned.
Britain’s decision is the first by a major U.S. ally in Europe, and follows intense lobbying from the Trump administration and China as the two vie for technological dominance.
It sets up a diplomatic clash with the Americans, who claim that British sovereignty is at risk because the company could give the Chinese government access to data, an allegation Huawei denies.
“We would never take decisions that threaten our national security or the security of our Five Eyes partners,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, referring a security arrangement in which Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, share intelligence. “We know more about Huawei and the risks that it poses than any other country in the world.″
The decision was awkward for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who risks the fury of one of Britain’s closest allies at just the moment it needs Trump’s administration to quickly strike a trade deal after Brexit. Britain is also loath to insult China, which it likewise needs for future trade deals.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit London on Wednesday to meet with Johnson and Raab to reaffirm the tran-Atlantic relationship.
A senior Trump administration official said the U.S. is disappointed by the decision, adding that the U.S. government would work with the U.K. on a “way forward” that leads to the exclusion of “untrusted vendor components” from 5G networks. The official was not authorized to comment on the sensitive diplomacy between longstanding allies and spoke on condition of anonymity.
In its decision, the British government said it was excluding “high risk” companies from supplying the sensitive “core” parts of the new fifth-generation, or 5G, networks. The core is the brain that keeps track, among other things, of smartphones connecting to networks and helps manage data traffic.
But Britain will allow high risk suppliers to provide up to 35% of the less risky radio access network of antennas and base stations.
The announcement did not mention any companies by name but said “high risk vendors are those who pose greater security and resilience risks to U.K. telecoms networks” – a clear reference to Huawei.
By giving Huawei limited access, Johnson’s government is attempting to thread a path between the U.S. and China.
Huawei said it was “reassured” by the British decision.
“This evidence-based decision will result in a more advanced, more secure and more cost-effective telecoms infrastructure that is fit for the future,” Vice-President Victor Zhang said. “It gives the U.K. access to world-leading technology and ensures a competitive market.”
The 5G technology is expected to drive the next wave of innovation, transmitting massive amounts of data from more objects and locations. It would, for example, help make possible self-driving cars or allow telemedicine, in which doctors control robots in remote surgery on patients miles away.
Huawei is the top global supplier of mobile networks, with its gear often considered cost-effective and high-quality.
The United States says that China’s communist leaders could, under a 2017 national intelligence law, compel Huawei to carry out cyberespionage. The U.S. has threatened repeatedly to cut off intelligence sharing with allies that use Huawei.
“Here’s the sad truth: our special relationship is less special now that the U.K. has embraced the surveillance state commies at Huawei,″ said U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence . “During the Cold War, Margaret Thatcher never contracted with the KGB to save a few pennies.″
With 5G, U.S. officials also worry that because the “core” will run extensively on software, it could be nearly impossible to spot an accidental vulnerability or a malicious “backdoor” among millions of lines of computer code. Huawei denies the allegations, saying there’s never been any evidence it is responsible for a breach.
For Britain, the 5G infrastructure program is considered critical as it leaves the European Union and aims to position its economy to benefit from technological innovation.
The government said Tuesday it is taking some steps that will allow it “to mitigate the potential risk posed by the supply chain and to combat the range of threats, whether cyber criminals, or state sponsored attacks.″
The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre will issue guidance with practical steps on how to mitigate the risks to wireless operators, some of whom have have already started installing Huawei 5G gear into their networks. They were reluctant to rip it out and replace it with equipment from rivals including Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson.
British carrier Vodafone, which doesn’t use Huawei in its core, said that using multiple suppliers “is the best way to safeguard the delivery of services to all mobile customers.”
Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this story.
BANGKOK — Foreign affairs minister Don Pramudwinai said there is no immediate plan to evacuate Thai nationals stranded in Wuhan, which has been placed under lockdown by the Chinese government in a bid to contain the new coronavirus contagion.
Don’s comment came amid rising public anger over the government’s alleged negligence to fly the citizens back from Wuhan, despite calls for action from some. The fury was also fed by revelations that the navy has quietly flown its personnel back from the Chinese city two days ago.
“The Prime Minister understands that this issue takes time,” Don said. “As long as the Thai nationals are safe and receiving assistance, that’s our highest goal … Thais must be safe. They must be freed from any [harm].”
Read: Thailand Reports 6 More Cases of Coronavirus, Bringing Tally to 14
Don said Thai consular staff and Chinese officials are already assisting Thai residents in Wuhan.
The military announced last week a C-130 transport plane was made ready to evacuate Thai citizens from Wuhan, only to later admit that it had no authority to enter the Chinese airspace. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in a televised broadcast on Monday that China has not yet authorized a flight there.
Although Japan and South Korea announced they have secured permission to fly chartered planes to China and evacuate some of their citizens, Don said today he had no knowledge of an evacuation by other countries.
“To this moment, no country could fly its aircraft to bring back its citizens,” Don said. “It’s still under discussion with the Chinese authorities.”
Japan says its first flight will leave on Tuesday evening, while South Korea’s evacuation is due to start on Thursday.
At least 106 people had died from the novel strain of coronavirus, which is believed to have originated in Wuhan. The city has been placed in a “lockdown” – no travel allowed inside or out – since Jan. 23, stranding a number of Thai nationals there.
Yet a media mouthpiece for the armed forces said 20 navy officers who had been overseeing construction of Thailand’s brand-new submarine in Wuhan had already returned home.
In an online post published yesterday, military reporter Wassana Nanuam said the 20 men returned to Thailand via civilian flights on Jan. 26, but the navy’s high command kept their return a secret to avoid “causing panic.”
“The Royal Thai Navy has a policy of refraining from presenting news that could cause panic or confusion in the society,” Wassana quoted the navy commander as saying.
Medical inspection concluded that all 20 officers were cleared of the virus, she added.
Following backlash from social media, the navy said today in a statement that the 20 officers already left Wuhan for personal trips before the city was placed in lockdown, and that they separately traveled back to Thailand on their own.
BANGKOK — Yet another public commemoration of a 1932 revolt that ended absolute monarchy in Thailand was removed without any explanation.
A statue of revolt co-leader Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsongkram at the army-run National Defense College has gone missing when a reporter visited the site on Tuesday. Two other statues associated with the 1932 coup, which installed parliamentary democracy in Thailand, were also removed in recent days.
“I will not give you the information,” an staff member at the college – founded by Pibulsongkram himself 64 years ago – said when questioned where the statue of its founder went to. The man declined to give his name.
Even a wall-size plaque bearing the Field Marshal’s biography was also taken down and painted over.
Another employee at the academy insisted the statue is being kept somewhere inside the facility.
“It’s not gone, just being kept inside but I can’t answer whether it will be returned to the same place,” the man said. He added that only his commanding officers are authorized to give detailed answers, but they are out of the college today.
When reached by a reporter, army spokesman Winthai Suvaree and defense ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich declined to comment.
“I don’t know. You must ask those at the organization,” Col. Winthai said after a laugh.
The college described itself on its website in English as “the national premier institution on strategy and security interdisciplinary studies.”
Officers who hold a minimum rank of colonel, as well as executives from the private sector, are routinely trained there on the subject of national defenses, though critics say the academy is an incubator for nepotism and networking among the up-and-coming elites.
Among its alumni is the current deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.
BANGKOK — The Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday it discovered six more cases of coronavirus infection in Thailand, bringing the total number to 14 so far since the outbreak in December.
Ministry perm-sec Sukhum Kanchanapimai said all of the six new patients were Chinese nationals; one from the city of Chongqing and five others are members of a family from Hubei province. Their age ranges from 6 to 60, Sukhum told reporters.
The additional cases place Thailand as the country with the largest number of confirmed coronavirus infection outside mainland China.
All of the patients were visiting Thailand as independent travelers and not part of any tour group, the official said. He added that they are not in serious condition.
Five of the 14 infected individuals had already recovered and left hospital, health officials said.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Mr. Sukhum’s surname.
BANGKOK — His Majesty the King expelled two former deputy police commanders from the royal police bodyguard corps, the palace announced on Tuesday.
The order, which was dated Jan. 25 but only unveiled today, said Gen. Wirachai Songmetta and Gen. Chaiwat Ketworachai were fired from the royal guards by King Vajiralongkorn. It did not mention any reason. The removal was effective Jan. 21 onward.
A separate announcement also forbid the two men from wearing medals that bear the emblem of the royal guards.
Gen. Wirachai and Gen. Chaiwat served as second-in-command to the national police commissioner until the force abruptly removed them on Jan. 24, and transferred them to civilian posts under the Prime Minister’s Office.
The two were also placed under an inquiry per suspicions that they were responsible for a leaked phone conversation between Wirachai and police commissioner Chakthip Chaijinda earlier this month.
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