Hong Kong leader says will 'vigorously implement' security law


Issued on: 07/07/2020 -

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam denied allegations the security law would stifle freedoms 

ROFLMAO

Anthony WALLACE AFP

Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong's leader Tuesday defended Beijing's new security law for the financial hub, saying it would restore stability and confidence as she vowed to "vigorously implement" the controversial legislation.

Speaking at a press conference a week after China imposed the law on the semi-autonomous city, Chief Executive Carrie Lam combined warnings with assurances to Hong Kong's 7.5 million residents.

"The Hong Kong government will vigorously implement this law," she said. "And I forewarn those radicals not to attempt to violate this law, or cross the red line, because the consequences of breaching this law are very serious."


She denied allegations the law would stifle freedoms and hit out at what she said were "fallacies" written about its impact.

"Surely this is not doom and gloom for Hong Kong," Lam said.

"I'm sure with the passage of time... confidence will grow in 'One Country, Two Systems' and in Hong Kong's future," she added, naming the model that allows Hong Kong to keep certain liberties and autonomy from the mainland.

The national security law is the most radical shift in how Hong Kong is run since the city was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.

The content was kept secret from Hong Kongers until the moment it was imposed one week ago, bypassing the city's legislature.

It targets crimes under four categories: subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces, and gives China jurisdiction in some especially serious cases.

Legal analysts, critics and many western nations warn the broadly-worded categories criminalise many peaceful dissenting opinions.

The Hong Kong government has made clear that advocating independence or greater autonomy for the city is now illegal, and at least ten arrests have already been made under the new law.

Hong Kongers have scrubbed social media accounts, businesses have taken down protest displays while libraries and schools have removed certain books from their shelves.

Lam rejected suggestions the law had alarmed residents and said the legislation was designed to protect the freedoms of the majority.

"I have not seen widespread fears amongst Hong Kong people in the last week," she said.

"This national security law is actually relatively mild."

Her press conference came hours after the government unveiled vastly expanded powers to conduct warrantless raids and surveillance -- as well as issue internet takedown notices -- under the law.

These rules were announced in a document released after the inaugural meeting on Monday of a new national security commission, which is headed by Beijing's top envoy to the city.

On Tuesday Lam said all future workings of the committee would be kept secret.© 2020 AFP

China censors Hong Kong internet, US tech giants resist
Issued on: 07/07/2020 -

Certain political views, slogans and signs became illegal in Hong Kong overnight with the passage of China's new national security law for the city

ISAAC LAWRENCE AFP

Hong Kong (AFP)

China has unveiled new powers to censor Hong Kong's internet and access user data using its feared national security law -- but US tech giants have put up some resistance citing rights concerns.

The online censorship plans were contained in a 116-page government document released on Monday night that also revealed expanded powers for police, allowing warrantless raids and surveillance for some national security investigations.

China imposed the law on semi-autonomous Hong Kong a week ago, targeting subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces -- its wording kept secret until the moment it was enacted.


Despite assurances that only a small number of people would be targeted by the law, the new details show it is the most radical change in Hong Kong's freedoms and rights since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.

Late Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke out against "Orwellian" moves to censor activists, schools and libraries since the law was enacted.

"Until now, Hong Kong flourished because it allowed free thinking and free speech, under an independent rule of law. No more," Pompeo said.



- Restore stability -

Under its handover deal with the British, Beijing promised to guarantee until at least 2047 certain liberties and autonomy not seen on the authoritarian mainland.

Years of rising concerns that China's ruling Communist Party was steadily eroding those freedoms birthed a popular pro-democracy movement, which led to massive and often violent protests for seven months last year.

China has made no secret of its desire to use the law to crush that democracy movement.

"The Hong Kong government will vigorously implement this law," Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the city's Beijing-appointed leader, told reporters on Tuesday.

"And I forewarn those radicals not to attempt to violate this law, or cross the red line, because the consequences of breaching this law are very serious."

With pro-democracy books quickly pulled out of libraries and schools, the government signalled in the document released on Monday night that it would also expect obedience online.

Police were granted powers to control and remove online information if there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect the data breaches the national security law.

Internet firms and service providers can be ordered to remove the information and their equipment can be seized. Executives can also be hit with fines and up to one year in jail if they refuse to comply.

The companies are also expected to provide identification records and decryption assistance.

- Big tech unease -

However the biggest American tech companies offered some resistance.

Facebook, Google and Twitter said Monday they had put a hold on requests by Hong Kong's government or police force for information on users.

Facebook and its popular messaging service WhatsApp would deny requests until it had conducted a review of the law that entailed "formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts," the company said in a statement.

"We believe freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and support the right of people to express themselves without fear for their safety or other repercussions," a Facebook spokesman said.

Twitter and Google told AFP that they too would not comply with information requests by Hong Kong authorities in the immediate future.

Twitter told AFP it had "grave concerns regarding both the developing process and the full intention of this law".

Tik Tok, which is owned by Chinese company Byte Dance, announced it was pulling out of Hong Kong altogether.

"In light of recent events, we've decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong," TikTok told AFP.

Tik Tok has become wildly popular amongst youngsters around the world. However many Hong Kongers have distrusted it because of its Chinese ownership.

ByteDance has consistently denied sharing any user data with authorities in China, and was adamant it did not intend to begin to agree to such requests.

In less than a week since the law was enacted, democracy activists and many ordinary people have scrubbed their online profiles of anything that China may deem incriminating.

Police officers will be able to conduct a search without a warrant if they deem a threat to national security is "urgent".

"The new rules are scary, as they grant powers to the police force that are normally guarded by the judiciary," barrister Anson Wong Yu-yat told the South China Morning Post.

© 2020 AF

SHOOTING THE MESSENGER 

Malaysia probes Al Jazeera documentary about migrant arrests
Al Jazeera's documentary about migrant workers angered Malaysian authorities

Issued on: 07/07/2020 -

 AL-JAZEERA/AFP/File

Kuala Lumpur (AFP)

Malaysian police said Tuesday they are investigating an Al Jazeera documentary about the arrests of undocumented migrants during the coronavirus lockdown after officials denounced it for damaging the country's image.

The move comes after several activists, journalists and opposition figures have been put under investigation recently in what critics say is a bid to silence dissent.

The documentary by the Qatar-based broadcaster, "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown", focused on the detention of hundreds of migrants found without valid documents in areas under strict lockdowns.


Authorities defended the May arrests as necessary to protect public health, but rights groups warned that putting the foreigners in detention centres could increase the risk of infection.

National police chief Abdul Hamid Bador said an investigation had been launched after complaints were lodged about the 25-minute documentary.

Officials would examine whether the report "contains elements of sedition, or any other offences, under the laws of the country", he told a press conference.

"We will be calling them soon for questioning... We will decide on the charges after we question them."

Al Jazeera, which broadcast the documentary last week, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The programme sparked a backlash online, and ministers have lined up to criticise it -- with Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Monday demanding an apology from Al Jazeera.

He said the broadcaster had "reported incorrect things, accusing us of being racist".

Concerns about worsening freedom of expression have been growing in Malaysia since the collapse of a reformist government in February and the return of a scandal-plagued party to power.

One of the country's leading independent news portals, Malaysiakini, faces contempt of court proceedings next week over reader comments on its site that were critical of the judiciary.

Malaysia is home to large numbers of migrants from poorer countries -- including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar -- who work in industries ranging from manufacturing to agriculture.

© 2020 AFP

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM POISION FOR PROFIT

French firm accused of selling deadly diet pill faces millions in fines as trial ends
Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

French lawyer Martine Verdier (L) uses tissue after washing her hands with hydroalcoholic gel next to French pulmonologist Irene Frachon (R), at Paris' courthouse on June 9, 2020, prior to a hearing of the trial of France's medicines watchdog and pharmaceutical firm Servier on fraud and negligence charges linked to the deaths of hundreds of people who were prescribed a diabetes pill for weight loss despite safety concerns. © Philippe Lopez, AFPText by:NEWS WIRES
4 min

Accused of favoring profits over patients’ lives, French pharmaceutical company Servier Laboratories is facing millions of euros in potential fines and damages after a huge trial involving 6,500 plaintiffs who say the company allowed a diabetes drug to be widely and irresponsibly prescribed as a diet pill — with deadly consequences.
ADVERTISING


The popular drug, called Mediator, became one of France’s biggest modern health scandals, and the trial is wrapping up Monday after more than six months of proceedings targeting both Servier and France’s medicines watchdog. Servier says it didn’t know about the drug’s risks.

The trial was interrupted by another health crisis: the coronavirus, which has prompted new scrutiny of health authorities and of drugs being rushed out as treatments or vaccines.

In the 33 years that Mediator was on the market, it was suspected in 1,000-2,000 deaths among millions who took it as an appetite suppressant, according to a 2010 study. Doctors linked it to heart and lung problems.

One doctor flagged concerns as far back as 1998, and testified that he was bullied into retracting them. Facing questions about the drug's side effects from medical authorities in Switzerland, Spain and Italy, Servier withdrew it from those markets between 1997 and 2004.


But it took an independent investigation by another worried French doctor before the company suspended sales in its main market in France in 2009. It wasn't sold in the U.S.

'Deadly poison'

“There are men and women who put a deadly poison on the market,” the whistleblower, Dr. Irene Frachon, told the court. She published a book detailing her findings, and her efforts were profiled in a 2016 film, “The Girl from Brest.”

Servier is accused of manslaughter, involuntary injury, fraud, influence trading and other charges. Investigating magistrates concluded that Servier for decades covered up Mediator’s effects on patients. The national medicines agency is suspected of colluding in masking its dangers.

Lawyers for Servier argued that the company wasn't aware of the risks associated with Mediator before 2009, and said the company never pretended it was a diet pill. They argued for acquittal.

Prosecutors asked last week for nearly 15 million euros (around $16.9 million) in fines for Servier, and a three-year prison sentence and 278,000-euro fine for the only surviving Servier executive accused of involvement, Dr. Jean-Philippe Seta.

In addition, the 6,500 plaintiffs want a total of 1 billion euros in damages.

Lisa Boussinot, whose mother died after taking Mediator, wants more — she wants the company’s labs shut down. She said she wants a strong signal “that shows that our justice system protects us" from powerful companies that don't brook criticism.

Prosecutor Anne Le Guilcher asked for a fine of 200,000 euros against the French medicines agency, accusing it of failing to take adequate measures to protect patients and of being too close to Servier.

The agency, since reformed and renamed, is accused of manslaughter by negligence and causing unintentional harm. The agency's lawyers said it acknowledged some responsibility but said Servier misled medical authorities.

Also on trial are 12 representatives of the pharma giant and the medicines agency.

“Patient safety was not at the heart of Servier’s policy,” the prosecutor told the court last week, saying the drug should have been withdrawn in the 1990s. “The firm was only interested in money.”

The central witness in the extensive trial was Frachon, a pulmonologist in the western city of Brest who investigated Mediator's effects after treating an obese patient in 2007 who later died.

“What I did was not a scientific feat, it was just a clinical trial. As I did not have the correct information from Servier, I turned into an investigator, “ Frachon said. She maintains that Servier knew about problems with the drug since 1993.

After she spoke out, she said, “One of the drug agency experts said to me, you’re going to pay for this. He wanted to punish me ... Servier’s pressure was omnipresent. I become persona non-grata in many scientific events.”

She wasn’t the first to ask questions about Mediator.

In 1998, Dr. Georges Chiche, a cardiologist in Marseille, received an overweight colleague with heart problems who had been prescribing himself Mediator for weight loss.

Chiche filed a report expressing his concerns, and testified that two people from Servier pressured him to withdraw it. Then, Chiche told the court, a former professor told him the same thing, calling his report shoddy “nonsense.”

“After that, I didn’t report again,” he said.

He later learned that his former professor had organized jazz festivals paid for by Servier.

The company's CEO and founder, Jacques Servier, was indicted early in the legal process but died in 2014.


Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morningSubscribe

The exceptional trial was spread across five rooms at the Paris courthouse, connected by video link, and nearly 400 lawyers were working the case.

It’s expected to take several months to reach a verdict, expected early next year.

(AP)

Climate change blamed for surge in India's deadly lightning strikesIssued on: 06/07/2020  

 

Lightning strikes have killed 147 people in the last ten days in the north Indian state of Bihar local authorities said Sunday July 5, 2020. © AFP / FRANCE 24
Text by:FRANCE 24
Video by:Sam BALL

Lightning strikes have killed 147 people in just ten days in the north Indian state of Bihar, local authorities said Sunday, an unprecedented surge in deaths caused by lightning that has been blamed on climate change.
The latest deaths bring the number of those killed by lightning in the state to around 215 since late March, already surpassing the total number of deaths for the whole of last year.

Lightning strikes are common in India during the monsoon season but the season in Bihar, which typically runs from June to September, has only just begun and authorities have warned of more thunderstorms to come.

The deadly trend has been blamed on rising temperatures caused by climate change.

Elevated heat and excessive moisture are causing large-scale instability in the atmosphere, fuelling thunder and lightning storms, Bihar agrometeorologist Abdus Sattar told AFP.

The last decade was the hottest on record in India, with temperatures averaging 0.36 degrees above normal. The rising temperatures have been linked to increasingly frequent heatwaves followed by delayed but more intense monsoons.

A report last year from India’s Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council warned the changing weather patterns are making deadly lightning strikes “the new normal” in many parts of the country.

US lawmakers, ALL DEMOCRATS,press Colombia on killings of rights activists

Issued on: 06/07/2020

Women take part in a protest against violence in Medellin, Colombia, 

in June 2020 JOAQUIN SARMIENTO AFP/File
WITH THE DISBANDING OF FARC ALL VIOLENCE IS STATE VIOLENCE

INCLUDING DEATH SQUADS AND RIGHT WING MILITIAS
Washington (AFP)

Nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged President Donald Trump's administration to press Colombia over attacks on rights activists and warned that US assistance should not contribute to surveillance.

A UN report earlier this year found that 108 human rights defenders were killed last year in Colombia, with activists of indigenous and African descent hit especially hard.

"Colombia is now the most dangerous country in the world for human rights defenders," the 94 members of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

They called for pressure on conservative President Ivan Duque, a close US ally, to "stop this tragedy."

"We urge you, Mr. Secretary, to ensure that all agencies of the United States speak with one clear voice to condemn these ever escalating murders," said the letter spearheaded by Representatives Jim McGovern and Mark Pocan, leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The lawmakers called for the United States "to press the Duque administration to take the necessary steps to identify and prosecute the intellectual authors of these crimes and dismantle the criminal structures that protect them."

They also warned they were watching the nature of US aid, which amounts to $528 million in the current fiscal year, after accounts that Colombian intelligence has spied on activists and journalists.

US financial help must not "assist, aid or abet such illegal surveillance, now or in the future," they wrote.

Colombia in 2016 signed a landmark peace agreement with FARC rebels that end a half-century of conflict.

But security remains dangerously lax in impoverished areas formerly controlled by the rebels as they lay down their arms.

The lawmakers said that illegal arms groups were filling a vacuum amid the COVID-19 pandemic, "further increasing the vulnerability of targeted rights defenders and local leaders."

© 2020 AFP

Lockdown in Colombia leads to spike in domestic violence
WOMEN / CORONAVIRUS - 07/06/2020   

Screen grab of a video showing a man violently abusing a woman in Puerto Wilches, Colombia. The video was posted online on June 27.
Across Colombia people reacted in horror to two videos that circulated widely on social media in June, showing men violently abusing women. But the videos were just the tip of the iceberg: Statistics show a sharp increase in domestic violence since the country went into lockdown, making it even harder for women to escape or report abuse.

The first video shows a man entering a home and dragging a woman out by her hair and then, still gripping her hair, spinning her around him several times, her back on the ground. You can hear the woman screaming. When she eventually gets up, starts to hit her. The video was filmed in Puerto Wilches, in the northern Colombian department of Santander, and was posted online on June 27.

No sé cómo y por qué pasan estas cosas. Qué Ira ????
Esto fue en Santander. pic.twitter.com/p7oIl7THAo La Paz, Dijo Colombianito.???? ???????? ???? (@LaPazColombiani) June 27, 2020

This video was posted online on June 27.

People were shocked by the abuser’s violence. They also expressed anger that the person filming the scene did not intervene. A few days later, local authorities announced that the man in the video had been jailed and that he had had previous domestic violence convictions.

A few days before the video emerged, another video showing domestic violence circulated widely on social media in Colombia. This video, filmed in Pueblo Bello in the northern Colombian department of Cesar, shows a man sitting on the side of the road next to a parked car, holding a struggling woman across his knees.

???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????
Autoridades en Pueblo Bello, - Cesar ayuden a esta mujer victima de su marido, quien es un locutor de radio Edgardo José Carreño Pavajeau de esta región. @gobcesar @FiscaliaCol @DefensoriaCol @SismaMujer #NoMasFeminicidios pic.twitter.com/d4LXpfaYE3 Fiallo-Arake Nancy ???????????????????????????????????????????????? (@NancyFiallo) June 23, 2020
This video was posted online on June 23.
The office of the attorney general opened an investigation after the video was posted online and the authorities later said the man, a radio journalist, had been detained. According to a local media outlet, the woman was in a relationship with her abuser and did not want to speak out against him. But the police arrested him based on testimony by friends and family, the video and a photo of the woman with an injury to her face.

Increase in reports of domestic violence

Most domestic violence is not caught on camera, but such incidents have been on the rise since the country went into lockdown on March 25 in an attempt to limit the spread of Covid-19.

On June 26, Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez said that calls to a special hotline (155) for victims of domestic violence were up 150 percent from the same period last year. Ramírez added that calls reporting domestic violence to the traditional emergency number (123, for police, fire department, etc.) also increased by about 39 percent during lockdown.

However, the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal reported that at least 8,972 women were victims of domestic or sexual violence and 164 were killed between March 25 and June 23, 2020, which represents a decrease from the same period last year. But a close analysis of these numbers reveals a gradual increase in reports of violence in the weeks following lockdown. For example, statistics show that at least 1,241 women were victims of domestic violence during the first month of lockdown but that the number rose to 1,859 the next month.

"Incidents of violence against women during lockdown have been vastly underreported”
Carlos Fernando Galván Becerra works at the Organización Feminina Popular, a women’s rights organization based in Magdalena, northern Colombia.

We think that incidents of violence against women during the pandemic have been vastly underreported, firstly, because many women don’t report their abusers, especially because lockdown makes this process even more complicated than usual (even though lockdown restrictions have been loosened these past few months).

Lockdown makes it more difficult for women to leave the house. And while women can theoretically report domestic violence online or by calling a special number, this is not always possible. Many homes in Colombia don’t have internet access. And it isn’t easy to make a phone call reporting abuse if you live under the same roof with your abuser.

Moreover, if a woman lives with her abuser and she has to return to the home after reporting him, there is the risk that he might become even more violent if he finds out. This is especially dangerous because when women report domestic violence, institutions rarely respond immediately. There are also very few shelters where women can go stay.

“With Covid-19, help for victims of domestic violence is not really a priority”

This increase in violence can be explained by the fact that confinement can cause immense stress. Aside from physical violence, we’ve also recorded an increase in psychological violence.

Right now, the authorities are focused on the fight against Covid-19, so help for victims of domestic violence is not really a priority. Not to mention that there is historic, structural violence against women in Colombia.
In early May, an initiative called #ElTrapoAvisa (#ClothAlert) was launched to encourage victims of domestic violence to hang up a black piece of cloth in their window to indicate that they need help.



A similar initiative encouraged families who were going hungry to hang a piece of red cloth in their window to indicate that they needed food.

>> READ ON THE OBSERVERS: Out of work and hungry, Colombians protest during Covid-19 lockdown

In late June, the Colombian vice president announced that new measures would be introduced to fight the epidemic of violence against women. Colombian women’s rights organizations have consistently highlighted major failures in terms of prevention, care for victims and the response of the judicial system to these matters.

Article by Chloé Lauvergnier

Fewer medical graduates from Muslim countries entering US in Trump-era

CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACEIssued on: 06/07/2020 - 

Members of the New York Immigration Coalition hold a news conference in Foley Square, to talk about the US Supreme Court decision to uphold US President Donald Trump's Muslim ban, in June 2018 Don EMMERT AFP/File


Washington (AFP)

The number of foreign medical graduates from Muslim-majority countries coming to the US to become doctors has declined by 15 percent under the Trump administration, exacerbating shortages in America's physician workforce, a study said Monday.
International medical graduates represent about a quarter of practicing doctors in the United States, with countries like Pakistan, Egypt and Iran historically providing the bulk from Islamic nations.

Overall, citizens from Muslim-majority nations made up 4.5 percent of the US physician workforce in 2019.


The number of graduates from these countries applying for certification in the United States rose from 2009-2015, peaking at 4,244, before falling steadily to 3,604 in 2018 -- a decline of 15 percent.

The study appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association, and was led John Boulet, vice president of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates that oversees the certification process.

Boulet and colleagues said that recent US policies, such as the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries "affect the inflow of IMGs International Medical Graduates) by restricting travel to the country for citizens from specific nations."

They added: "Even a perceived immigration ban could affect who chooses to complete the requirements for... certification" while potential difficulty obtaining a visa could dissuade the program directors of medical residencies from making a job offer.

The US demand for physicians has long outstripped supply for a variety of reasons, from population growth and aging, to a federal cap on funding for residency training.

As a result, the US could see a shortage of as many as 122,000 doctors by the year 2032, according to a 2019 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Some economists also argue that the short supply of doctors has led to a surge in their wages; costs that are eventually passed down to patients.

"To the extent that citizens from some countries no longer seek residency positions in the US, gaps in the physician workforce could widen," the authors said.

The attractiveness of the United States as a destination may have also waned in comparison to other countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Britain, the authors wrote.
© 2020 AFP

US says foreign students must leave if classes go fully online due to Covid-19

Issued on: 07/07/2020 -

Students and pedestrians walk through the Yard at Harvard University, after the school asked its students not to return to campus after Spring Break and said it would move to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., March 10, 2020. © REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Text by:NEWS WIRES


The United States said Monday it would not allow foreign students to remain in the country if all of their classes are moved online in the fall because of the coronavirus crisis

"Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States," US Immigration and Custom Enforcement said in a statement.

"Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," ICE said.

"If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings."

ICE said the State Department "will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States."

F-1 students pursue academic coursework and M-1 students pursue "vocational coursework," according to ICE.

Most US colleges and universities have not yet announced their plans for the fall semester.

A number of schools are looking at a hybrid model of in-person and online instruction but some, including Harvard University, have said all classes will be conducted online.

Harvard said 40 percent of undergraduates would be allowed to return to campus but their instruction would be online.

There were more than one million international students in the United States for the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

That accounted for 5.5 percent of the total US higher education population, the IIE said, and international students contributed $44.7 billion to the US economy in 2018.

The largest number of international students came from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
(AFP)

Dalai Lama channels 'Inner World' in album to mark 85th birthday



Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

The Dalai Lama, shown here in 1996, has put out a music album to mark his 85th birthday David HANCOCK AFP/File

New Delhi (AFP)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama launched an assault on the music charts on Monday by releasing his first album to mark his 85th birthday.

"Inner World", in which the Dalai Lama chants meditations and Buddhist sayings, was inspired by New Zealand follower Junelle Kunin who spent five years working on the project after persuading him to take part.

The Dalai Lama went to her home in Auckland three times and she recorded some sessions at his residence in Dharamsala in India, where the Tibetan government in exile is based.

"He had a clear vision with this work and has been very committed to it," Kunin, who produced the music with her husband Abraham, told the Radio New Zealand programme Nine to Noon.

"It's not a religious project although they are mantras. It's really just a work to try and benefit people. So I thought about what we need day-to-day -- courage and healing and wisdom and so forth so that's the path we went down."

The Dalai Lama has won the Nobel Peace prize, is the best-selling author of a number of books and has been depicted in a number of Hollywood movies, but his involvement with music has been rare.

He appeared at the Glastonbury rock festival in England five years ago with US rock singer Patti Smith when she sang for his 80th birthday.

On a video to promote the album, the Dalai Lama was asked why he had agreed to take part, and answers: "I can say the very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can."

Lobsang Sangay, president of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala, said he hoped the album would "contribute in calming minds and nerves" of many people as the coronavirus pandemic rages around the world.

He also said the Dalai Lama was making the most of the lockdown and treating it like a "vacation of sorts".

"The lockdown is very good for him. He can now go into retreat, go through all his scriptures and daily prayers... He is a spiritual in heart. He is getting the needed rest, he is 85 years old," Sangay told AFP.

Hollywood star Richard Gere, British pop singer Annie Lennox and comedian Russell Brand were among international celebrities to join special birthday greetings in a video on Facebook.

© 2020 AFP