China to stiffen spy law amid Western espionage fears

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China, claiming to have been targeted by various espionage activities from the West, is stepping up its anti-spy efforts.

According to a pending legal amendment expected to be approved on April 26, the coverage of spying charges will be expanded from theft of “state secrets” to “all data and items related to national security.” Cyber attacks will also be covered.

Some commentators say the strengthening of the anti-spy law raises fears of a crackdown on foreign companies and individuals in China.

The law change comes after Dong Yuyu, deputy head of the editorial department at Guangming Daily, faced spying charges for interacting with diplomatic and academic contacts from Japan and the United States.

Meanwhile, a senior employee of Japanese pharmaceutical firm Astellas Pharma was arrested last month on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities. And in a separate case, five Chinese staff of the Mintz Group, a United States due diligence firm, were also arrested in Beijing last month. 

On Monday, Chinese state media reported that “espionage activities” will be defined as following:

  1. To carry out or instigate or finance others to carry out activities that endanger the national security of the People’s Republic of China;
  2. To join, accept tasks from or take refuge in an espionage organization or its agents;
  3. To steal, spy on, buy and illegally provide state secrets and intelligence, as well as other documents, data, materials and items related to national security and interests or to instigate, lure, coerce, or bribe state staff to mutiny;
  4. To attack, intrude, interfere, control and damage the cyber facilities of state institutions, secret-related units or key information infrastructure;
  5. To indicate the target for the enemy to attack;
  6. To carry out other espionage activities.

New wordings include the parts about cyber-attack and “other documents, data, materials and items related to national security and interests.”

According to the government’s propaganda published last October, major espionage organizations include MI6, CIA, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (MOSSAD), Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) and Japan’s Defense Intelligence Headquarters (DIH).

People who are singled out for being easily instigated by espionage organizations include those who enjoy luxurious lifestyles; those who fantasize about the West and its thinking and derogate China’s systems; self-centric people who seek public attention; and people who have low morality.

Professional spying tools include traditional hidden cameras, clandestine listening devices and phone interceptors, as well as “umbrella guns” and spying glasses and headphones.

“Espionage activities are very close to us,” the government says in an anti-spy banner. “Retired officers, overseas students, high-school teachers, military fans and staff of military-industrial complex companies, national defense research institutions and government departments are major targets of espionage organizations.”

It says some young netizens may be used by foreign agents during online chats without knowing it. It says all people must stay alert and help build an iron wall to safeguard national security.

Making an example

Dong Yuyu, deputy head of the editorial department at Guangming Daily, faces charges. Photo: Jiefang Daily

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Dong Yuyu was arrested when eating lunch with a Japanese “diplomat” at a restaurant in a hotel in February last year.

Citing a statement from Dong’s family, the report said the diplomat was released after several hours but Dong has remained in detention. It said the family was told that Dong will be tried but the date is unclear.

Dong graduated from Peking University and received a doctorate degree in law. He was awarded a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University in 2006-07 and became a visiting fellow at Keio University in Japan in 2010. He also served as a visiting professor at Hokkaido University in Japan.

“Dong Yuyu is an accomplished journalist whose work as a newspaper reporter and author demonstrate a long record of pro-reform writing,” Nieman Foundation curator Ann Marie Lipinski says in a statement. “His Nieman classmates knew him as objective in life and in work, and any speculation that his journalism fellowship offers evidence of espionage is ill-founded.” 

More than 60 foreign academics and journalists signed an open letter supporting Dong.  Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment due to the sensitivity of the issue. 

From the commentariat

A Liaoning-based military columnist, called Shanshi, alleges in an article published on April 25 that Dong has had close relationships with foreign intelligence agencies and says the arrested man has been paid to go abroad many times using academic scholarships.

Shanshi says the arrest of Dong, a high-profile media worker, shows the seriousness of China’s anti-spy fight. He says Dong and some previously convicted people have certain things in common.

“They are enjoying the fruits of our country’s development but cannot see the clear fact that our country is constantly developing and progressing in all aspects,” he says. “They hold a completely negative attitude toward all aspects of our society and fully accept the bad ideas of the West.”

“Under the cover of their glamorous titles and prominent social status, these people are doing criminal activities to harm the country,” he adds. “They make the public very angry!”

Based on the 1993 National Security Law, China launched an anti-spy law in 2014.

Since the implementation of the counterespionage law in China in 2014, at least 17 Japanese nationals have been detained in China for alleged involvement in espionage activities, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Five of them are still being held in China.

In August and December 2022, the NPC Standing Committee held the first and second readings of the amendment bill.

“The current situation of anti-espionage struggle is extremely severe,” Zang Tiewei, spokesman of the legal affairs commission, NPC Standing Committee, said in a media briefing on April 21. “Traditional security threats and non-traditional ones are intertwined.”

“Espionage and intelligence activities are getting increasingly complex, with wider fields, more diverse targets and more covert methods,” he said.

A paramilitary policeman gestures under a pole with security cameras, US and China’s flags near the Forbidden City ahead of the visit by US President Donald Trump to Beijing, China November 8, 2017. Photo: Agencies

He said the amendment of the anti-espionage law will resolve problems such as the narrow definition of “espionage,” the incomplete security and prevention systems and the insufficient empowerment of law enforcement.

Zang said the NPC received 201 suggestions from 112 people during the public consultation period. Citing public opinion, he said cyber-spying should be curbed while the national security department should lead the country’s anti-espionage education.

The bill was submitted to the standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Monday and is expected to be passed on April 26.

Read: HK banks sweat fast execution of anti-sanctions law

Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3

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US sovereign risk soars as debt ceiling battle rages

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Insuring US Treasury notes against default now costs more than insuring Mexican debt, as House Republicans threaten to push the US into technical default rather than give the Biden administration more room for deficit spending.

If April tax receipts turn out to have been weaker than expected, default could hit as early as mid-June. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned of “catastrophe.”

The cost of five-year credit default swaps (insurance against US default) now exceeds the cost of similar protection against Mexican foreign debt – something that hasn’t happened previously in financial history.

Barring an actual default six to eight weeks from now, the jump in US credit default swap spreads is a technical bad in a small and illiquid market. Gold remains stuck in a trading range around $2,000 an ounce. If the world really thought America’s credit had turned bad, gold would break out to higher levels.

The wrangle over Treasury default, though, adds to uncertainty about the US economy and financial markets. Those markets took a body blow in mid-March when depositors fled regional banks, forcing the Fed and Treasury to provide emergency liquidity and guarantee bank deposits.

Tightening financial conditions are pushing the US into recession.

UPS stock plunged by nearly 10% on April 25 after the delivery company reported much lower-than-expected volume for the first quarter. Revenue fell to US$22.9 billion compared with $24.4 billion in the first quarter of 2022. The company blamed lower retail sales and falling consumer demand.

The Conference Board meanwhile reported on April 25 that consumer expectations fell to the lowest level in more than a year.

US commercial banks tightened lending standards and reduced new lending after the March run on regional banks. First Republic Bank, one of the banks that suffered March deposit runs, lost another 10% on April 25 after its first-quarter results revealed a bigger deposit loss than anticipated.

Survey data from regional Federal Reserve banks meanwhile showed that the US is on the edge of recession. The Philadelphia Fed’s index of nonmanufacturing business activity (shown in green on the chart below) fell to its lowest level since the 2020 Covid lockdowns.

The Philly Fed index is widely considered one of the best leading indicators of general business activity.

$6 trillion of consumer stimulus in response to Covid kept the US economy growing for the past two years, but retail sales have been falling for two years after deducting inflation.

Follow David P Goldman on Twitter at @davidpgoldman

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Tangaraju Suppiah: Singapore executes man for supplying cannabis

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Singapore death row inmate Tangaraju SuppiahTRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE COLLECTIVE
By Frances Mao & Joel Guinto
in Singapore

Singapore has executed a man for conspiring to traffic cannabis despite pleas for clemency from his family, activists and the United Nations.

Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was hanged at Changi Prison at dawn on Wednesday, his family said.

Activists said he had been convicted on weak evidence and had had limited legal access during his prosecution.

The authorities said he had received due process and criticised activists for questioning the courts.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, which it argues are a necessary deterrent to preventing drug crime.

Last year the country executed 11 people on drugs charges, including an intellectually impaired man for trafficking heroin.

On Wednesday, Tangaraju Suppiah’s family had gathered at the prison in the city’s east.

“The family said they weren’t going to give up on him until right until to the end. It has been such a harrowing experience for them,” anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han told the BBC on Wednesday.

“They still have a lot of unresolved questions about his case, and the evidence against him.”

Singapore’s stringent drug laws and use of capital punishment put it increasingly at odds with other countries in the region, activists say.

Its neighbour Malaysia abolished mandatory death sentences earlier this month, saying they were not an effective deterrent to crime. Cannabis has been decriminalised in many parts of the world including in neighbouring Thailand where its trade is encouraged.

On Tuesday, Singapore’s courts had rejected a last-minute appeal from Tangaraju Suppiah’s family against his 2018 conviction.

In recent days they and activists had delivered letters to Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob in a last-minute plea for clemency, while British billionaire Sir Richard Branson had called for a halt of the execution and a review of the case.

“I know that my brother has not done anything wrong. I urge the court to look at his case from the beginning,” the condemned man’s sister, Leela Suppiah, had told reporters on Sunday.

Tangaraju Suppiah was convicted of “abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic” about 1kg (35oz) of cannabis from Malaysia to Singapore in 2013.

He was not found with the drugs or during the delivery. But prosecutors said he had been responsible for co-ordinating it, and they traced two phone numbers used by a deliveryman back to him.

He claimed he was not the person communicating with others connected to the case. He said he had lost one of the phones and denied owning the second one.

Singapore law mandates the death penalty for drug trafficking and has lesser penalties for couriers.

In Tangaraju Suppiah’s last appeal, the judge agreed with the prosecution that he had been responsible for co-ordinating the delivery, which made him ineligible for a more lenient sentence.

Activists had raised concerns that he had not been given adequate access to a Tamil interpreter and had had to argue his last appeal on his own since his family was unable to secure a lawyer.

Singapore authorities say he requested an interpreter only during the trial, and not earlier. They add that he had access to legal counsel throughout the process.

Family of Tangaraju Suppiah, Singapore death row convict, hold letter appealing for clemency

EPA

Sir Richard, who had previously criticised the 2022 execution of intellectually impaired Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, said the latest case was “shocking on multiple levels”.

Rebutting his allegations, Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry accused him of “disrespect for Singapore’s judges and our criminal justice system”.

It said the death penalty was “an essential component” in a multi-pronged approach that had been “effective in keeping Singapore safe and secure”.

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Yoon, Biden kick off visit cementing US-South Korean ties

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US DEFENCE OF SOUTH KOREA A priority for Biden will be reassuring his guest over the US commitment to “extended deterrence” – the US nuclear and military umbrella South Korea falls under. “President Biden will reinforce and enhance our extended deterrence commitments to South Korea with respect to the threat”Continue Reading

Will Biden send US airpower for Ukraine offensive?

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As a practical matter, any modern military offensive launched without air cover is a suicide mission. 

Ukraine no longer has much of an air force, even with the addition of perhaps a dozen or so old MIG-29s acquired from NATO countries. Some of those are not flyable and others are being disassembled and used for parts. 

Ukraine’s operational fighter aircraft have to fly against more advanced Russian fighters including the formidable Su-35, and survive in combat against mobile Russian air defenses.

Whatever Ukraine has, its air force cannot be expected to last more than a few days in a major combat, if that. 

And yet, Ukraine is planning a new offensive. It is possible that US President Joe Biden is planning to provide air support to the Ukrainian army or at least has winked in the direction of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Biden already has said he won’t let Ukraine fall. But, even within the administration, some are questioning the wisdom of supporting a major offensive, citing fears that the Ukrainians don’t have the troops or the tactics to succeed.

This raises the question of whether Ukraine’s military leaders are going ahead knowing full well they are sending their land forces into a meat grinder, or whether they have been given assurances that the US will neutralize Russia’s air force and air defenses. Is there a possibility that Zelensky has been offered American planes and pilots with rebadged F-16s?

There is nothing new in the idea of “volunteer” air operators.  Remember the Flying Tigers of World War II or Russian pilots in Chinese uniforms flying rebadged MIGs in the Korean war, or Russian pilots pretending to be Egyptian flyboys in the Egypt-Israel War of Attrition (1967-1970).

The First American Volunteer Group of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps, and was commanded by Claire Lee Chennault.  Photo: Asia Times files

How well American aircraft would perform against layered Russian air defenses is not certain, but if the Russians are only half-successful, the US could lose many planes and pilots. Worse still, the Russians may attack American bases outside of Ukraine, including in Poland and Romania, vastly escalating the war in response to American escalation.

The strategy and tactics of the Ukrainian Army are clearly dictated at times by politics. Military leaders have made it known that they were told by Zelensky to stay in Bakhmut and other urban hot spots, resulting in huge casualties.

Attempts to relieve Bakhmut by sending in more troops and by a counteroffensive that Tass reports has been “thwarted,” have only helped a little because, with muddy secondary roads and fields and heavy rain, the relief operations have been limited to light equipment. 

In the last few weeks, President Zelensky appears to have somewhat moderated his posture, telling his army it only needs to hold out there until mid-May when the anticipated offensive in the south will begin. But then, Zelensky made another U-turn and said there will be no surrender in Bakhmut.   

Bakhmut does not have much to do with a planned Ukrainian offensive that will move tens of thousands of troops against Russian positions further south. So, it seems Zelensky’s order to hang in there makes no sense.  If Bakhmut is a lost cause, it would make sense for the Ukrainian army to pull out.

Ukrainian Brigadier General Sergey Melnik told Spain’s El Pais that Ukraine has already lost most of its professional soldiers and that Ukraine “will need ‘four to six times‘ as many troops as Moscow has fielded in its ongoing military campaign” if it is to break through the defenses built by the Russian forces in their current positions.

For its planned offensive, Ukraine is said to have assembled a force of 60,000 (if they operate fully staffed) consisting of 12 brigades, nine of which have some Western equipment including tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and artillery and rocket launchers.

Such a large force, even if it is broken into separate pincer-style operations, is going to be easily discoverable. Russia has drones and satellites, as well as ground observers. It has use of east-to-west road structures to move its equipment and men. Russia also is superior in artillery and rocket launchers.

As yet, Ukraine has done little in the way of offensive strikes. Instead, it has been fighting defensive battles in urban towns, cities and villages, digging in its forces in a manner reminiscent of the trench warfare of World War I.

Even in this conservative type of operation, Ukraine has heavy and increasing casualties.  While it is nearly impossible to get reliable numbers, the leaked Pentagon/CIA documents estimate that Ukraine is losing seven soldiers to every Russian.

Put these same forces on the offensive, and the casualties are likely to soar, perhaps ten to one or even 20 to one.  Ukraine cannot sustain losses on this scale. There are already units refusing to fight and the Russians say Ukrainian troops are walking across lines and surrendering rather than continue to be exposed to the Russian “meat grinder.” 

Take Russian comments as you will, but it is ironic that Western media, which had been emphasizing horrific Russian losses, seem to have turned to heavy Ukrainian casualties.

Trenches and fields near the Ukrainian roadway O0506 road past Khromove, north of Bakhmut. Notice how the trenches have been hit by artillery fire. Map: uacontrolmap.com

If Biden sees an imminent Ukrainian collapse, the possibility of American intervention cannot be ruled out. He does not need NATO for a decision to use “volunteers,” but if he does so, there is plenty of reason to think NATO will collapse anyway – not because NATO is attacked but because NATO was deceived.

Dragging Europe into a big war is something even the dumbest European leaders worry about, and they should. NATO has been skirting disaster for some time now, provoking the Russians beyond reason.

Why NATO is so keen on this course is hard to fathom: Probably it is intense pressure from the United States. Germans know just how reckless the Biden administration can be as they watch the bubbles rising to the surface in the Baltic Sea.

Does the Biden administration really want to take this immense risk? Does Zelensky, who could find a Russian response in a nuclear attack on Kiev, think this will assure his future?

Stephen Bryen is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and the Yorktown Institute. Follow him on Twitter @stevebryen.

Shoshana Bryen is senior director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly. She has more than 30 years experience as an analyst of US defense policy and Middle East affairs, and has run programs and conferences with American military personnel in a variety of countries.

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Japan firm fails in bid for historic moon landing

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He said the firm is currently developing two further attempts to land on the lunar surface and the setback would not change that. Still, the apparent crash will be a frustrating end to a mission that began with the lander’s launch last December aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. TheContinue Reading

Dems see Hat Yai as next Hong Kong

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MFP ‘orange shirts’ seen as ‘misguided’

Suchatvee Suwansawat and Ms Watanya Bunnag, key members of the Democrat Party, are warmly received when they help campaign for party candidate Pipat Udom-aksorn in Hat Yai, Songkhla on April 16. (Photo: Assawin Pakkawan)
Suchatvee Suwansawat and Ms Watanya Bunnag, key members of the Democrat Party, are warmly received when they help campaign for party candidate Pipat Udom-aksorn in Hat Yai, Songkhla on April 16. (Photo: Assawin Pakkawan)

The Democrat Party wants to woo investors by dusting off its plan to transform the commercial district of Hat Yai in Songkhla into an economic powerhouse.

Its economic team had initiated a plan to seek the enactment of a special law to upgrade Hat Yai into an economic boom town that can rival Singapore and Hong Kong, according to Nipon Boonyamanee, the party’s deputy leader and election director.

The party has pledged to implement the plan if it returns to government.

It also stressed the need for the government to generate revenue. A way to achieve this is to link up with major free trade areas (FTAs) as the party, which supervises the Commerce Ministry, negotiates deals through economic cooperation.

The Democrat Party’s goal is to engage with 27-30 countries through FTAs which will accelerate exports and create revenue streams for the country.

Increasing exports means more tax to be collected from exporters, which augments revenue to be injected into the economic system, said Mr Nipon.

The party also reiterated its campaign promises which include offering a two-million-baht cash infusion into every village and community nationwide.

Orange shirts

The “orange” political movement holds a misguided view on how to reform the country, according to a senior member of the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP).

In an apparent attack on the Move Forward Party (MFP), PPRP deputy leader Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn noted political conflicts have been more pronounced, especially in the lead-up to the May 14 election.

“The newcomer orange shirts are even worse than the red and yellow shirts,” he said, referring to the colour-coded conflict.

Red shirts are known to be mainly loyal supporters of the Pheu Thai Party, while the yellow shirts are monarchist groups. The “orange shirts”, meanwhile, support a liberal democratic cause, and orange is also the MFP’s colour of choice.

The “orange shirts” are eager to tackle the country’s problems by pushing for major changes right at their sources. However, Mr Chaiwut said he and the orange shirts see the roots of the problems differently.

“In my view, the sources of problems are corrupt politicians who fight for vested interests. The problems have nothing to do with the nation, religions, or the monarchy [the pillar institutions],” he said.

Opposing dissolution

Dissolving a political party over election-related undertakings benefits no one, said Bhumjajthai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul.

“Our party doesn’t support a dissolution of any party,” he said, explaining that election-related affairs are part and parcel of democracy.

Mr Anutin added a violation of election law is committed by an individual member or members of a party, so the entire party should not be held culpable and punished for it.

Responding to a recent statement by Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, chief strategist of the Seri Ruam Thai Party, that at least four major parties may face the prospect of dissolution, Mr Anutin said it was a matter of opinion.

Also yesterday, Chumsai Sriyapai, deputy secretary-general of the Pheu Thai Party, criticised activist Srisuwan Janya for petitioning the Election Commission (EC) to probe the party over the 10,000-baht digital wallet handout scheme.

He said the EC has been rather enthusiastic about speeding up its scrutiny of party election policies to see if they defy election restrictions, which may be grounds for dissolving some parties.

Electoral policies introduced by parties do not carry enough weight to warrant a party dissolution as they are pledges which, when executed, would serve people across the population.

Election pooper warning

Employers are liable for a jail term if they prevent their employees from going to vote on advance voting day or on Election Day, the EC warned yesterday.

Under the Election of MPs Act, employers who obstruct or refuse to allow their employees to vote at a general election are subject to a jail term of up to two years, a maximum fine of 40,000 baht, or both.

The legal condition is applicable for advance voting on May 7 and on Election Day on May 14.

Meanwhile, EC chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong explained the mix-up in campaign numbers of Pheu Thai Party and Thailand’s Future Party candidates on documents distributed to Thai voters in the United Kingdom has been rectified.

The EC has looked into the matter and found the mistake was made during document preparation by the EC’s Bangkok office before the documents were mailed to the Thai embassy in the UK for distribution.

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PPRP adds EEC adviser to economic team

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Jumping aboard: Kanit Sangsubhan, right, a former special adviser to the Eastern Economic Corridor office, is welcomed to the Palang Pracharath Party by its top executives, including party leader Prawit Wongsuwon.He has joined the party's economic team. (Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
Jumping aboard: Kanit Sangsubhan, right, a former special adviser to the Eastern Economic Corridor office, is welcomed to the Palang Pracharath Party by its top executives, including party leader Prawit Wongsuwon.He has joined the party’s economic team. (Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

The Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) has named Kanit Sangsubhan, a former special adviser of the Eastern Economic Corridor Office, as a member of its economic team to help boost the economy in the southern border provinces.

PPRP leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwon said yesterday he was glad to welcome Mr Kanit as a member of the PPRP to help develop the southern provinces, particularly those in the southernmost area.

Mr Kanit said he has worked with Gen Prawit in carrying out 20 of 30 projects on solving water problems in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), the government’s flagship policy, over the past several years.

“I resigned from the special adviser job at the EEC in order to join the PPRP on Monday. I hope I can make Gen Prawit’s dream of building Thailand into a great country come true,” said Mr Kanit.

“For six years, I worked in the EEC, which is a megaproject made successful by the support of many sectors,” he said, adding the EEC is expected to grow by at least 70% this year.

Mr Kanit said he was asked by Gen Prawit to help plan how to develop the economy in the southern borders, after the latter’s meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Bangkok recently to discuss pressing issues affecting the southern region.

After reviewing the plan, Gen Prawit agreed with Mr Kanit’s vision for the economic development of the South, which is reflected in the party’s campaign manifesto.

The PPRP has set its goal to garner support, especially in the predominantly-Muslim southern border provinces, and win House seats there in the May 14 election.

Mr Kanit insisted the country needed someone like Gen Prawit, who could overcome political and social conflicts and apply his skills to bring people together across political divides.

The plan to establish a special economic zone in the southern region aims to connect the five southern provinces of Songkhla, Yala, Satun, Pattani, and Narathiwat and turn them into a special development zone, much like the EEC, in the hope of boosting the living conditions of local people.

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The reality behind infertility: No single reason why a woman can’t get pregnant, multiple factors make it complex

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Often, there may be tell-tale signs in women who face complex infertility issues, said Dr Agarwal. 

For example, if your menstrual cycle extends beyond the average 28 to 30 days, if the bleeding is so heavy that you need to change your sanitary napkin every two hours or less, or if you experience severe pain during your period or while having sex, you may have endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome. 

Endometriosis is a condition where uterine tissue grows outside the uterus, while polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal disorder that affects egg development and release. Both gynaecological conditions have an impact on fertility.

Dr Agarwal added that some women, in addition to having either of these conditions, may also have blocked fallopian tubes, cysts in their ovaries, or problems with their uterine lining.  All of which make getting pregnant even more challenging.

Some of these issues, such as cysts and blocked tubes, may not have noticeable signs or symptoms as they are usually painless. They happen beyond the woman’s control, and she only finds out when she visits her gynaecologist for an assessment after having trouble getting pregnant.

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6 new cases of new subvariant found

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People get a Covid-19 jab at a vaccination centre managed by City Hall at the Thai-Japanese Youth Center in Din Daeng district on Jan 8. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
People get a Covid-19 jab at a vaccination centre managed by City Hall at the Thai-Japanese Youth Center in Din Daeng district on Jan 8. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)

The Department of Medical Sciences reported on Tuesday that Thailand has detected six new cases of the Omicron XBB.1.16 subvariant, while another patient is infected with XBB.1.16.1, which is descended from it.

That brings the total number of people infected with XBB.1.16 to date in the kingdom to 34, according to the department’s director-general, Supakit Sirilak.

He said XBB.1.16 accounts for 9.8% of all new cases detected so far this week.

He also confirmed that a migrant worker who died in Bangkok’s Sathon district on April 17 was infected with XBB.1.16.1, but said there was no cause for alarm.

“Don’t panic about the spread of XBB.1.16,” he said. “One of the reasons that caused the man’s death is that he had never received any Covid-19 vaccinations, so it is possible that any of the strains could have led to the same result in his case.”

Authorities reported two more deaths yesterday due to Covid-19.

Pol Lt Watcharakorn Srisawang, deputy inspector of Sutthisan police in Bangkok, said officers were alerted after a 52-year-old man, identified as Phakin Charoenjit, was found dead on his bed in his room at Chokchai Ruammit Condominiums in Chatuchak district at 7.33am.

The deceased’s wife told police she last saw him late Monday evening before discovering his body the next morning.

Meanwhile, at 8am, Pol Capt Suwat Deeponngam, deputy inspector of Nong Chok police, was notified that the body of a 22-year-old man, identified as Nawin Chaowarak, had been found in the man’s room at an apartment on Sakun Di Road in Nong Chok district.

An investigation found the man had been living there with his girlfriend and had developed a fever and chest pain three to four days ago. Police said Covid-19 tests returned positive for both of the deceased.

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