VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

photo : BBC

China has vowed to retaliate after the US ended Hong Kong's preferential trade status and imposed sanctions on officials who crack down on rights. President Donald Trump said he was acting because China had taken away Hong Kong's freedom after it imposed a new security law. Beijing condemned Mr Trump's decision, saying it would impose sanctions on relevant people and entities in the US. US-China ties have become increasingly strained over a wide range of issues. Apart from Beijing's actions in Hong Kong, Mr Trump has criticised China over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic as well as its military build-up in the South China Sea, its treatment of Muslim minorities and massive trade surpluses.

PresidentTrump's decision means the end of Hong Kong's special trade status with the US, agreed in 1984 when the territory was still a British colony. Hong Kong is expected to be treated the same as mainland China, meaning its goods could be subjected to additional tariffs. The controversial security law - which effectively outlaws criticism of China's government - is the most sweeping change to the political landscape of Hong Kong since the UK handed back sovereignty to Beijing in 1997. Trump also said he had signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which passed unanimously in Congress earlier this month and penalises banks doing business with Chinese officials who implement the security law//BBC

photo : techtime

Huawei UK believes that the UK government's decision to remove the Chinese tech giant from the development of 5G networks is politicized and has nothing to do with security issues. Earlier in the day, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden said that the government would ban Huawei-produced equipment for 5G networks beginning at the end of the year. In addition, UK mobile providers will have to completely remove Huawei equipment from the country's 5G networks by 2027. According to Dowden, this decision was made over national security considerations and sanctions imposed by the US against Huawei. Huawei UK spokesman Ed Brewster called the decision bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. According to him, connections will become slower and tariffs will rise. The decision marks a significant u-turn for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who previously stated that the Chinese company would be allowed to work on non-sensitive parts of the UK’s 5G network//sputnik

photo : JP

The United Arab Emirates –UAE has postponed to July 17 the launch of its mission to Mars due to weather conditions at the launch site in Japan, the United Arab Emirates government communications office said on Tuesday (July14). The UAE's Hope Probe was due to set off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center at 12:51am UAE time on Wednesday (2051 GMT Tuesday) for a seven-month journey to the red planet where it was due to orbit and send back data about the atmosphere. The government communications office tweeted that the UAE’s space mission, the Arab world's first interplanetary mission, will launch on Friday July 17, 2020 at 12:43am UAE time (July 16, 2020 at 8:43pm GMT) from Tanegashima Space Center. The United Arab Emirates, an oil-exporting nation, first announced plans for the mission in 2014 as part of efforts to diversify away from hydrocarbons and develop a knowledge economy, aiming to reach the planet by 2021//JP

photo : press

The rearranged Tokyo Olympics are likely to be a pared-down version of recent editions of the four-yearly Games, Japanese Olympic Committee chairman Yasuhiro Yamashita said on Tuesday (July14). Japan and the International Olympic Committee postponed the Tokyo Games until 2021 in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, organizers have spoken of trying to simplify the event - which had been due to start in 10 days' time - to reduce costs and ensure athletes' safety//JP