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Preview: OrbusNeich élargit sa gamme avec un ballon de scoring coronaire de nouvelle génération
Nov 21, 2016, 05:30 ET
Preview: OrbusNeich presenta el nuevo COMBO Plus Dual Therapy Stent

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Human rights in Hong Kong are at their worst since it was handed back to China by Britain 20 years ago, activists said Wednesday, as Beijing stands accused of tightening its hold on the semi-autonomous city.
A new report by Amnesty International Hong Kong looking back at 2016 said rights in the city had rapidly deteriorated and had «failed on many fronts».
The report cited the lack of investigation over the mysterious disappearances of five booksellers who peddled materials critical of Beijing’s elites, a saga it said had raised alarm over whether the physical safety of Hong Kong people is sufficiently guaranteed.
All five of the missing men resurfaced on the mainland.
Amnesty said the government’s failure to probe the disappearances despite pressure from rights groups contrasted to previous years when they said Hong Kong authorities had been more responsive.
A rare interpretation by Beijing of Hong Kong’s constitution which prompted the disqualification of two pro-independence lawmakers also raised questions about the autonomy of the city’s judiciary, which is protected under the «One Country, Two Systems» agreement with China, the report said.
Attacks on journalists by police officers without a criminal investigation and attempting to deter residents from exercising their rights to freedom of assembly were further challenges, it said.
«It’s the worst year since the handover in terms of rule of law and freedom of expression,» Amnesty International Hong Kong’s director Mabel Au told AFP.
«The government has a responsibility to ensure that citizens can express their views freely without fear,» the report added, saying authorities should not invoke «obscure laws» to intimidate the public.
It noted the high levels of mistrust in the government and suspicions that politicians are selling out the public for political gains as the city enters a tense election season for its leader.
«The Hong Kong government and civil servants should make defending the rights of Hong Kong people their first priority,» the report said.
It also raised concerns after current leader Leung Chun-ying floated the possibility that the city might seek to opt out of the United Nations convention against torture that requires it to protect refugees who would face persecution if returned home.
That suggestion came after criticism from some lawmakers and sections of the public that Hong Kong was receiving too many asylum seekers.

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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines won’t raise its recent arbitration victory against Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea during Asian summit talks that it will host this year, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said Wednesday.
Yasay said pressing last year’s ruling at the annual meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations «is just simply counter-productive. »
The Philippines intends to raise the ruling, which invalidated China’s historic claims under a 1982 U. N. treaty, in bilateral talks with Beijing in the future, Yasay said, stressing that the arbitration decision is final and won’t be changed by discussions at international conferences.
«We are not going to raise this issue … because there is really no useful benefit,» Yasay said at a news conference. «This is a matter that we will be raising with China at some future time in bilateral talks and to do and involve others in the discussion of this decision is just simply counter-productive for our purposes. »
«Now if any country would like to pursue their respective claims against China with respect to a disputed territory in the South China Sea, they can do so and perhaps use the decision of the arbitral tribunal as a precedent-setting case in pursuing the matter,» he said.
The Philippines was previously one of the most vocal critics of China at the annual ASEAN meetings as Beijing asserted its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea.
After China took control of disputed Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and blocked Filipinos from the rich fishing area, then President Benigno Aquino III brought his country’s territorial disputes with Beijing to international arbitration. China ignored the Philippine case and refused to recognize the outcome, which was heavily in favor of the Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who succeeded Aquino in June, has taken dramatic steps to mend strained relations with China. He has also taken an antagonistic stance against the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama after the U. S. leader criticized his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.
As host of the ASEAN meetings this year, the Philippines is in a position to influence their focus and the joint communiques issued at the end of the conferences. China, the U. S. and Russia and other Western and Asian nations will join expanded meetings later in the year.
Yasay said the Philippines will push for the faster completion of a long-delayed «code of conduct» between China and ASEAN to discourage aggressive actions that could ratchet up tensions in the South China Sea, a busy waterway for world trade.
The Philippines wants the framework of the nonaggression pact to be completed within the first half of this year, Yasay said. The prospects for the signing of a legally binding regional code remain unclear.
Philippine diplomats have said negotiations over the code have been stalled in the past by China while it covertly turned disputed reefs into artificial islands which can now be used by Beijing to better defend its territorial claims.

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Chinese officials are blaming global warming for the pollution-induced smog currently enveloping their cities.
Chinese officials claim that unusually warm winter weather and high rainfall contributed to the buildup of smog over most of the country, but independent scientists don’t agree.
“Looking at the long-term global warming trends, meteorological conditions are becoming an increasingly important factor in the formation of fog and smog,” Song Lianchun, the director of China’s Meteorological Administration, told Reuters . “In fact, our country’s overall climate and weather conditions are not very conducive for the dispersal of fog and smog – that is based on science.”
China officially blamed “unfavorable weather conditions” for the extreme levels of air pollution that hit large parts of northern China in late December. This created a smog that left more than 460 million gasping for air across most of northeast China.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Joint Program on the Policy of Global Change think China’s pollution woes are largely due to the country’s reliance on coal power. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, and is planning to double down on it. Of the 2,400 coal-fired power plants under construction or being planned around the world, 1,171 will be built in China.
MIT scientists recommended that China solve its smog problem by replacing coal power with natural gas. Natural gas emits about half the carbon dioxide (CO2) and pollutants of coal power, and is already cheaper than coal in many locations in the U. S. due to fracking.
The smog forced China to implement an emergency anti-pollution plan for the 10.7 million who live in the city of Shijiazhuang. School was cancelled due to the pollution. Chinese government officials used emergency plans to shut down factories and take cars off the road to slightly abate the issue.
China even created an environmental police force earlier in January to crack down on open-air barbecues, garbage incineration and burning wood, to reduce pollution. The green police will enforce school and business closures on smoggy days, and can cancel plane flights and shut down highways to reduce pollution.
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