Hundreds of whales stranded on sandbar off Australian island


CBSNews

© AAP Image/The Advocate Pool/Brodie Weeding/REUTERS Whales are seen stranded on a sandbar near Strahan

© Provided by CBS News A pod of whales, believed to be pilot whales, is seen stranded on a sandbar at Macquarie Harbour, near Strahan, Tasmania, Australia, September 21, 2020. / Credit: AAP Image/The Advocate Pool/Brodie Weeding/REUTERS

Sydney — At least twenty-five whales have died and scientists are trying to rescue 250 more that are stranded in a remote bay on the Australian island of Tasmania, officials said Monday. Tasmania's environment department said the whales had become stuck on a sandbar in Macquarie Harbor, on the island's rugged and sparsely populated west coast.

Nic Deka, who is managing the incident response, said two large pods were stranded on sandbars a few hundred yards apart inside the harbor.


"They are in water but it's very difficult to see how many of those whales are deceased or what condition they're in," he told reporters in the nearby town of Strahan.

They are believed to be pilot whales but the environment department is yet to confirm the species

.

© Provided by CBS News Stranded whales are seen in Macquarie Heads, Tasmania, Australia, September 21, 2020, in a picture obtained from social media. / Credit: RYAN BLOOMFIELD/REUTERS

Police are on site and marine experts are assessing the situation ahead of plans to launch a rescue mission early Tuesday morning.

"In terms of the tides, when we start making an effort tomorrow it will be with an outgoing tide, so that'll be in our favour, but obviously tides go up and come down so we'll be aiming to make the most of the windows that we have," Deka said.

© Provided by CBS News Dead whale detectives 01:57

Mass whale strandings occur relatively often in Tasmania, but the large numbers involved present a daunting rescue prospect.

Authorities may call on a network of local volunteers to assist but have cordoned off the area to the general public.

The latest stranding comes as a humpback whale that was stuck in a tropical river in Australia's north finally returned to the ocean after more than two weeks.

Public broadcaster ABC reported the creature, which spent 17 days in the crocodile-infested waters of Kakadu National Park, has been spotted in open seas off Darwin.

Scientists had been weighing options for guiding the humpback to safety after it became the first known whale to travel up the muddy river, but were relieved when it returned to sea on its own.

Guterres on World Peace Day: We face 'common enemy' in COVID-19

The flags of the United Nations and United States are seen outside of the U.N. building in New York City on Monday, one day before the start of the assembly's 75th General Debate. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The United Nations General Assembly on Monday preceded the first day of high-level debate in New York City with a call by leaders for world peace amid the global health crisis.

Peace between nations has been challenged during a time of COVID-19, Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in a message to celebrate the International Day of Peace on Monday, which came ahead of Tuesday's opening of the assembly's annual General Debate session.

"Our world faces a common enemy," Guterres said. "A deadly virus that is causing immense suffering, destroying livelihoods, contributing to international tensions and exacerbating already formidable peace and security challenges."

The focus of this year's day of peace is "Shaping Peace Together."

"In that spirit, and to mark our 75th anniversary, the United Nations is bringing people together for a global conversation about shaping our future and forging peace in trying times," Guterres added.

Guterres said he will ask the assembly to vote on a cease-fire measure he introduced in March.

Earlier Monday, the secretary-general spoke of the birth of the United Nations in 1945 when governments agreed to form the body to prevent a response at the end of World War II.

"It took two world wars, millions of deaths and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law," Guterres said. "A Third World War -- which so many had feared -- has been avoided. Never in modern history have we gone so many years without a military confrontation between the major powers."

With climate crises and public health threats worldwide fraying relationships, it's even more important to work together, he added.

"No one wants a world government -- but we must work together to improve world governance."

H.E. Volkan Bozkir, president of the U.N. General Assembly, said the global body was built on three pillars -- peace and security, development and human rights. Those three concepts, he added, "are equally important, interrelated, and interdependent.

"One cannot advance without the other."

International Peace Day, also known as World Peace Day, was established in 1981 and is dedicated to world peace, largely through the absence or war or violence. It used to be held on varying dates in September, but was permanently moved to Sept. 21 in 2001.

Calls to block DoJ official from court seat over role in Trump’s family separations


Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Eugene García/EPA

Immigrant rights groups are calling on New York senators to oppose the judicial nomination of a top Department of Justice official because of her role in the Trump administration’s child separation policy.

A letter to the senators signed by Families Belong Together (FBT), a campaigning group that opposes the Trump administration’s separation policies, said Iris Lan’s “involvement in and facilitation of” the administration’s policy made her unfit to serve on a lifetime seat as a federal judge in the southern district of New York.

Senate rules require district court judges to be informally approved by the state’s two home senators in order to proceed with their confirmation, in a secretive process that is known as giving judicial nominees a “blue slip”.

If Lan’s nomination were to be blocked by the two senators – Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand – it would mark the first time that a longtime career official who had knowledge of and involvement in the Trump administration’s separation policy would be blocked from career advancement.

The letter from Families Belong Together follows a report in the Guardian that described how Lan, who serves as an associate deputy attorney general, had played a role in the 2017 removal of a junior prosecutor in Texas after he had raised concerns with his superiors about migrant children who were going missing after their parents had been arrested for allegedly entering the US illegally.© Photograph: Eugene García/EPA Protest against immigrant family separations in Los Angeles in June 2018.

The Guardian also reported that Lan was present on a 2018 conference call in which her then boss, the now former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, instructed US attorneys in border states that there would be no exception to a “zero tolerance” policy to arrest all migrants who entered the US illegally, including families with children under the age of five.

In effect, the instruction meant that no child was too young to be separated from their parents.

“The family separation policy has led to profound emotional and psychological harm to these children, as well as lasting damage to the human rights leadership of the United States on the global stage,” the letter said. “Ms Lan’s involvement in and facilitation of the policy demonstrates her lack of fitness for the bench, and we urge you to oppose her confirmation.”

The letter was also signed by Demand Justice, a progressive advocacy group that campaigns against “extreme” judicial nominees.

Neither Schumer nor Gillibrand’s office responded to a request for comment.

The activist opposition Lan is facing raises questions about hurdles other longtime career officials may face when they are asked about the role they played in implementing the Trump administration’s most controversial – and sometimes illegal – public policies.

The Department of Justice has said it never espoused a “child separation policy”. It has also said that Lan did not have a role in making policy in her role as a career official.

But the department’s 2018 decision to implement a “zero tolerance” policy did, according to other former senior Trump administration officials, force the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to execute mass arrests of migrants who were then criminally prosecuted by US attorneys in border states for committing misdemeanor border crossing violations.

In previous administrations, families were either allowed to await their immigration trials on bail or were held together, except in circumstances when migrant children were seen as being in danger. But under the Trump administration, thousands of minors were separated from their parents under the new policy, including at least 105 children who were under the age of five, and 1,033 who were under the age of ten.

Asked about whether it was fair to target a career official who was not personally responsible for the administration’s policy, FBT director Paola Luisi, said she believed that focusing on Lan’s reputation for being “apolitical” was a “cop-out”.

“I don’t need to go to Harvard Law to understand that you shouldn’t rip a child out of a parents arms, and I don’t need to say that I’m ‘apolitical’ to take a stand. Across the board we’re seeing heroes standing up, who have the backbone to stand up to this sort of thing,” Luisi said.

“It is frankly pathetic to hide behind words like ‘I was just doing my job’. This goes beyond that. It is basic human dignity and compassion,” she added.

It took, she said “a whole bureaucracy” to enact the Trump administration policies that have come under fire.

Lan was nominated to serve on the court, one of the most prestigious judicial postings in the US, in December 2019 and was then renominated in May 2020.

The DoJ did not respond to a request for comment.

CANADA 

Federal Court hears certification arguments this week in MMIW lawsuit

© Provided by The Canadian Press

REGINA — A mother who alleges the federal government and RCMP took a a "negligent" and "lackadaisical" approach to investigating missing and murdered Indigenous women will attend a hearing this week that will determine if her lawsuit moves forward, her lawyer says.

Anthony Merchant says Diane BigEagle, whose daughter Danita Faith has been missing since 2007, will be there for the Federal Court certification hearing in Regina for the proposed class-action lawsuit by families of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Merchant says families of other murdered or missing Indigenous women will be there, too.

"We know the wrongs, we had the murdered and missing inquiry had a whole series of recommendations. The government said they were going to follow the recommendations but nothing has happened," Merchant said on Sunday.

The suit, which was launched in 2018, alleges systemic negligence on the part of the RCMP in investigating cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and says family members have been forced to endure mental anguish because of the RCMP's failure to properly investigate and prosecute the disappearances.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said in an emailed statement that the government opposes certification of the lawsuit "for legal reasons that are specific to this case, as it is unprecedented in its breadth, is inconsistent with previous rulings surrounding private duty of care, and contains cases where the RCMP is not the police of jurisdiction."

"This decision in no way lessens the findings of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, nor our commitment to ending this national tragedy," Blair said.

The national inquiry delivered its final report in June 2019, concluding that decades of systemic racism and human rights violations played a role in the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of Indigenous women and girls.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki apologized to the affected families when she appeared before the inquiry in 2018.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said last week the national action plan is coming soon. But he said the plan also requires input from provinces, territories, civil society groups and Indigenous organizations in order to form a thorough, cohesive report.

BigEagle met with the RCMP more than 50 times about her daughter's disappearance, but investigators did not pay attention or take notes during the meetings, the documents in the lawsuit allege. When she first disappeared, police allegedly dismissed BigEagle's complaint, saying her daughter would probably come home.

"It's still concerning that so much time has gone by and nothing has happened," Merchant said.

Blair, while acknowledging more needs to be done to strengthen trust with Indigenous people, noted the government has taken steps such as eliminating gender discrimination in the Indian Act, enacting legislation to protect Indigenous languages, and investing in housing, shelters, and programs to end gender-based violence.

He added the RCMP is working to attract Indigenous applicants and is implementing new initiatives for missing persons investigations.

"We remain committed to honouring those who have been lost, helping their families find peace and ensuring that Indigenous Women, Girls and LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit people are safe where they live."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2020.

M A B O N AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

 

Amazon land grabbers assail ecotourism paradise in Brazil

IMPERIALISM THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM


EXCERPT
PHOTO ESSAY 
By MAURICIO SAVARESE  

ALTER DO CHAO, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Alter do Chao, a sleepy village that blends rainforest and beaches, bet on tourism and scored big. Visitors flocked here to eat Amazonian river fish while gazing out over the water, and to take day trips offering the chance to meet Indigenous people and see pink dolphins.

But this once pristine place is discovering that the perils of becoming a can’t-miss destination extend beyond hordes of weekend warriors sapping its unspoiled charm. Problems rife throughout the Amazon region — land grabbing, illegal deforestation and unsanctioned construction — are plaguing this ecotourism hot spot.

By 2018, land grabbing had grown so pervasive that one of Brazil’s environmental protection agencies said Alter do Chao needed “urgent interventions against the rise of invaders” so it could preserve 67% of its protected areas.

https://apnews.com/81d47a6a632bddba8f9fd9082768d867

  

A bulk carrier is loaded with corn at the Cargill port in Santarem, Para state, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

 

MASONS FAVORITE SEASON

 

Thai protesters install plaque symbolizing democracy
By TASSANEE VEJPONGSA

1 of 18

Pro-democracy student leaders install a plaque declaring "This country belongs to the people" at the Sanam Luang field during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. Anti-government demonstrators occupying a historic field in the Thai capital on Sunday installed a plaque symbolizing the country's transition to democracy to replace the original one that was mysteriously ripped and stolen three years ago, as they vowed to press on with calls for new elections and reform of the monarchy. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)


BANGKOK (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators occupying a historic field in the Thai capital on Sunday installed a plaque symbolizing the country’s transition to democracy to replace the original one that was mysteriously ripped out and stolen three years ago, as they vowed to press on with calls for new elections and reform of the monarchy.

The mass student-led rally that began Saturday was the largest in a series of protests this year, with thousands camping overnight at Sanam Luang field near the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

A group of activists drilled a hole in front of a makeshift stage and, after Buddhist rituals, laid down a round brass plaque in cement to commemorate the 1932 revolution that changed Thailand from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.

“At the dawn of Sept. 20, here is where the people proclaim that this country belongs to the people,” read part of the inscription on the plaque. In April 2017, the original plaque vanished from Bangkok’s Royal Plaza and was replaced by one praising the monarchy.

“The nation does not belong to only one person, but belongs to us all,” student leader Parit “Penguin” Chirawak told the crowd. “Therefore, I would like to ask holy spirits to stay with us and bless the people’s victory.”

Another activist, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, said their demands do not propose getting rid of the monarchy. “They are proposals with good intentions to make the institution of the monarchy remain graciously above the people under democratic rule,” Panusaya said.

Still, such calls took the nation by surprise. Protesters’ demands seek to limit the king’s powers, establish tighter controls on palace finances and allow open discussion of the monarchy. Their boldness was unprecedented, as the monarchy is considered sacrosanct in Thailand, with a harsh law that mandates a three- to 15-year prison term for defaming it.

The protesters later attempted to march toward the Grand Palace to hand over a petition seeking royal reforms to the head of the Privy Council, the king’s advisers, but were blocked by police barricades. One of them, Panusaya, was allowed to deliver the petition, which was addressed to the king. It was received by a police official, who promised to forward it to the council.

Just before the rally ended, Parit called for a general strike on Oct. 14, the anniversary of a popular student uprising in 1973 that ended a military dictatorship after dozens were killed by police. He also urged people to withdraw their funds and close their accounts at Siam Commercial Bank, in which the king is the biggest shareholder. Calls for comment to the bank, also known as SCB, and several of its corporate communications executives went unanswered or did not connect.

Parit also called for another protest Thursday outside parliament to follow up on the protesters’ demands.

Organizers had predicted that as many as 50,000 people would take part in the weekend protest, but Associated Press reporters estimated that around 20,000 were present by Saturday evening.

Tyrell Haberkorn, a Thai studies scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that by holding their protest at Sanam Luang, a longtime “site of recreation and protest for the people, taken over in recent years by the monarchy,” the protesters “have won a significant victory.”

“Their resounding message is that Sanam Luang, and the country, belong to the people,” he said in an email.

The crowd were a disparate batch. They included an LGBTQ contingent waving iconic rainbow banners while red flags sprouted across the area, representing Thailand’s Red Shirt political movement, which battled the country’s military in Bangkok’s streets 10 years ago.

There were skits and music, and speakers gave fiery speeches late Saturday accusing the government of incompetence, corruption in the military and failing to protect women’s rights. At least 8,000 police officers were reportedly deployed for the event.

“The people who came here today came here peacefully and are really calling for democracy,” said Panupong Jadnok, one of the protest leaders.

Their core demands were the dissolution of parliament with fresh elections, a new constitution and an end to intimidation of political activists.

They believe that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army commander led a 2014 coup toppling an elected government, was returned to power unfairly in last year’s general election because the laws had been changed to favor a pro-military party. Protesters say a constitution promulgated under military rule is undemocratic.

The students are too young to have been caught up in the sometimes violent partisan battles that roiled Thailand a decade ago, said Kevin Hewison, a University of North Carolina professor emeritus and a veteran Thai studies scholar.

“What the regime and its supporters see is relatively well-off kids turned against them and this confounds them,” he said.

The appearance of the Red Shirts, while boosting the protest numbers, links the new movement to mostly poor rural Thais, supporters of former populist billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. Thaksin was opposed by the country’s traditional royalist establishment.

The sometimes violent struggle between Thaksin’s supporters and the conservative foes left Thai society polarized. Thaksin, who now lives in exile, noted on Twitter on Saturday that it was the anniversary of his fall from power and posed the rhetorical question of how the nation had fared since then.

“If we had a good government, a democratic government, our politics, our education and our healthcare system would be better than this,” said protester Amorn Panurang. “This is our dream. And we hope that our dream will come true.”

Arrests for earlier actions on charges including sedition have failed to faze the young activists. They had been denied permission to enter the Thammasat University campus and Sanam Luang on Saturday, but when they pushed, the authorities retreated, even though police warned them that they were breaking the law.

 

Thousands infected with disease after leak at China factory

PUBLISHED

SEP 19, 2020,

BEIJING • Thousands of people in north-west China have tested positive for a bacterial disease after a leak from a state-owned biopharmaceutical plant making animal vaccines last year.

Health officials in Lanzhou city said 3,245 people had contracted brucellosis, a disease often caused by close contact with infected animals or animal products that can bring about fevers, joint pain and headaches. Another 1,401 people had an early positive test result for the disease, and the health authorities said there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission so far.

The Chinese authorities found that a biopharmaceutical plant had used expired disinfectant in its production of brucella vaccines for animals between July and August last year - meaning the bacteria was not eradicated in its factory exhaust.

Contaminated gas from the China Animal Husbandry Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Factory in Lanzhou formed aerosols containing the bacteria and this was then carried by wind to the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, infecting nearly 200 people there as at December last year.

More than 20 students and faculty members of Lanzhou University, some of whom had been to the institute, subsequently tested positive as well, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Lanzhou's health commission said yesterday that sheep, cattle and pigs were most commonly involved in the spread of the bacteria.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, person-to-person transmission of brucellosis is "extremely rare", but some symptoms may reoccur or never go away. These include recurrent fevers, chronic fatigue, swelling of the heart and arthritis.

The factory - which apologised earlier this year - has had its brucellosis vaccine production licence revoked, the Lanzhou authorities said.

Compensation for patients would start in batches from next month, according to the local authorities.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/09/more-than-3000-test-positive-in.html

WW3.0 

TOP OF THE WORLD MA
India and Pakistan Clash on Border As China Conflict Looms Heavy
Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi: India Created 'Very Dangerous Situation' In Kashmir

India has engaged in new clashes across its long-disputed border with Pakistan, while it remains locked in another standoff on its border with China, one that threatens to erupt into a new regional conflict in Asia.

Early Friday, the Indian Army told Newsweek that "Pakistan initiated an unprovoked Ceasefire Violation" with attacks by mortars and other weapons at the village of Kanzalwan in the Gurez sector of Bandipora district, located along the Line of Control (LOC) that divides the two rivals in Kashmir.

The official communication from India was terse.

A "befitting response is being given," the military said.

There are reports of recurring exchanges of fire in the tense region, including an earlier incident two days ago. Islamabad blamed the confrontations on New Delhi, arguing that in both cases the "Indian Army resorted to unprovoked fire in Nekrun Sector, targeting military posts and civilians alike across the Line of Control with automatic weapons, rockets and heavy mortars," a Pakistani official told Newsweek.


"These unilateral provocations were responded [to] appropriately by [the] Pakistan Army," the official said.

"Indian Army persistently targets civil population residing on its side of the LOC while they are busy in routine chores," the official added. "Such unprofessional and unethical acts are confounded by allegations of sponsoring terrorism across LOC."

A member of the Indian security forces stands guard during clashes between protesters and government forces in the Batamaloo area of Srinagar, India-administered Kashmir on September 17. Indian authorities are contending with riotous gatherings of hundreds of angry residents in the wake of a firefight that left three suspected rebels and a young woman dead, as well as worsening unrest with both Pakistani and Chinese forces on two separate fronts.TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry also accused India on Thursday of wounding three civilians at the village of Andrala Nar in cross-border shelling against the Hotspring and Jandrot Sectors. A senior Indian diplomat was reportedly summoned in response to that incident, which the ministry argued was intended to distract from a deteriorating humanitarian and security situation in India-administered Kashmir.

The territory has been in an effective state of lockdown since August of last year, when a constitutional change removed Jammu and Kashmir State's semi-autonomous status and flooded it with paramilitary forces. The restive state hosts an insurgency that New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing, resulting in numerous infiltration attempts and street battles.

Such confrontations have often proven controversial.

In another statement sent to Newsweek on Friday, the Indian Army acknowledged preliminary evidence indicating its personnel "exceeded" their powers and "contravened" their disciplinary code in a July incident that resulted in the deaths of three Kashmiri men whose families have argued they were laborers with no affiliation to militant groups.

"Their involvement with terrorism or related activities is under investigation by the police," the statement said. "Indian Army is committed to ethical conduct of operations. Further updates on the case will be given periodically without affecting due process of the law of the land."

But Islamist mujahideen groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed do continue to operate throughout Kashmir, eliciting criticism not only from India, but its increasingly close major power partner, the United States.


In a joint statement adopted on the eve of the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against the U.S., Washington and New Delhi "underlined the urgent need for Pakistan to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks, and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks."

Members of the Pakistani and Chinese naval forces participate in the Sea Guardians 2020 exercises in the Arabian Sea in January. Pakistan has become a hub in China's Belt and Road Initiative and has security ties between the two have grown considerably as well.CHINESE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY NAVY

In a statement sent to Newsweek, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said it "strongly rejects the unwarranted references" to the country, which it said is "most affected by cross-border terrorism, sponsored and supported by India.


The Pakistani statement emphasized its struggle had global support.

"The international community also recognizes Pakistan's efforts, sacrifices and successes in the fight against terrorism," the statement said.

Backing up Islamabad in this argument was Beijing, where Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian used similar language in asserting last week that "Pakistan's tremendous efforts and sacrifice in fighting terrorism should be recognized and respected by the international community."

China's weigh-in is no coincidence.

Deep economic and security ties between the People's Republic and the Islamic Republic have boosted what China refers to as its "all-weather strategic cooperative partnership" with Pakistan. At the same time, a series of bloody clashes between Chinese and Indian troops in the Himalayan highlands means Beijing and New Delhi's relations have been put to their biggest test in decades.

India's past with China may not be as bloody as its history with Pakistan, with which it fought four deadly wars since their 1948 partition. India and China too, however, fought over disputed territory in 1962 and this bitter experience threatened to repeat this year, with both sides cheered on my nationalist tides at home.


The two militaries have engaged in a series of skirmishes at their disputed Line of Actual Control since May, with casualties on both sides inflicted in June. Both sides have poured in reinforcements, and mutual rising tensions led earlier this month to the first gunfire erupting at this frontier in nearly half a century.

An Indian Air Force fighter jet flies over a mountain range in Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh bordering China, on September 15. India and China have agreed to disengage from their four-month standoff but both sides appear to have stood their ground.MOHD ARHAAN ARCHER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The defense chiefs and top diplomats of the two countries have since met in Russia, a mutual partner, in an effort to ease the precarious situation. While Chinese and Indian officials continue to accuse one other of trying to "change the status quo" at the poorly marked divide between India's Ladakh and China's Aksai Chin, they have agreed to a five-point de-escalation plan.


The plan calls for boosting bilateral ties, withdrawing troops, adhering to previous deals, maintaining communication and establishing new confidence-building measures to avoid future incidents.

But in the immediate aftermath of the latest incident, the Indian Army told Newsweek that as of last week there was "no change on the ground," and both sides were sticking to their stories.

"The Chinese border troops have always strictly observed the relevant agreements between the two countries and are committed to safeguarding China's territorial sovereignty and maintaining peace and stability in the border areas," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a press conference Thursday.

Wenbin claimed that India was solely responsible for the dispute.

"What is pressing now is that the Indian side should immediately correct its mistake, disengage on the ground as soon as possible and take concrete actions to ease the tension and lower the temperature along the border," he said.