Asian Studies Blog

On Wednesday, a report came out saying that some North Korean hackers tried new ways and also old ways of stealing money. This is nothing new because in 2014 North Korean hackers attacked Sony Picture Entertainment. This kind of cyber fighting is something that goes on daily between the United Sates and North Korea. These cybercriminals are known for ransomware and also for stealing money by hacking into digital currency exchanges. They have stolen millions of dollars and have launched attacked on hospitals and companies.

In the midst of the social distancing effort in India, there has been chaos. When the government announced that the country would go under quarantine, it caused to react in chaos. Now hundreds of people have been fleeing their homes because landlords are demanding rent and if they don't pay they have to leave their homes. Hundreds are fleeing to rural areas and it has caused a lot of foot traffic, so the quarantine announcement has caused there to be an opposite affect. To keep everyone safe in rural areas, those who have been experiencing symptoms have been isolating in treehouse. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-52129158/coronavirus-why-some-people-with-symptoms-in-india-are-living-in-trees

In recent news, Pakistan has made new censorship guidelines that companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter are not happy about. In the past when other countries have created censorship rules the companies have cared but they haven't threatened to do such a thing as leave the country. With these new guidelines, the three companies threatened to leave the country as a form of rebellion. Well their threats worked, Pakistani officials have come to an agreement where they would review and come up with new guidelines. Pakistan does not have any data protection law, with that companies like Google, Facebook, etc. don't necessarily need to abide by those rules. Pakistani officials got a bit scared with threats from companies to leave the country and other people to file lawsuits. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/technology/pakistan-internet-censorship.html

This article in the New York Times talks about these 3 reporters working for the Wall Street Journal. These 3 men were working in mainland China and they came out with a headline that Chinese officials were unhappy about, it read "Chine is the Real Sick Man of Asia". A spokesperson said that their credentials would be revoked if they didn't get rid of the headline. They also wanted an apology. The three reporters were given a few days to leave the country as their visas would be revoked. The Secretary of State came out with a statement saying how successful countries should recognize freedom of speech.   Link

After already being shaken up, Thailand experienced yet another shooting. Thankfully this time it didn't injure anyone or kill any one. Thailand had already experienced a mass shooting in which 29 people were killed. This shooting lasted for 18 hours, as the shooter went off an a spree. This most recent shooting only lasted for 6 hours and the no one was harmed in any way. When authorities finally arrested the guy, he said his motive was stemmed from family problems. Now a days, its scary to see how many shooting occur, and sadly it's not only in America that we're experiencing this. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/14/world/asia/shooting-bangkok-gunman.html

For this weeks article I stumbled upon an interesting article in The New York Times. It is about these two men who run a bird hospital in Delhi. These two men specifically rescue Black Kite birds, which are apparently all over Delhi. They started the hospital after the Jains (a religion) opened an animal hospital that helped non-carnivorous animals. The owner of the hospital, Mr. Shehzad, opened up the hospital to help black birds because he felt it was unfair the they didn't receive any treated. These two men have been dedicated to treat wildlife animals. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/science/kites-birds-conservation-india.html