Online Chinese retailer Shein has apologised for selling Muslim prayer mats as decorative mats after people on social media criticised it for religious insensitivity.
In an apology note, posted to social media, the brand said: “We offer our sincerest apology to all those whom we have hurt and offended, and hope we can earn your forgiveness.”
The brand informed its customers that the product was instantly removed from its website and that other retailers were also ordered to stop selling the products to others.
“We have also formed a product review committee with staff from different cultures and religions so a mistake like doesn’t happen again,” read the post.
A Himalayan border standoff between old foes India and China was triggered by India’s construction of roads and airstrips in the region as it competes with China’s spreading Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Indian observers said on Tuesday.
Soldiers from both sides have been camped out in the Galwan Valley in the high-altitude Ladakh region, accusing each other of trespassing over the disputed border, the trigger of a brief but bloody war in 1962.
About 80 to 100 tents have sprung up on the Chinese side and about 60 on the Indian side where soldiers are billeted, Indian officials briefed on the matter in New Delhi and in Ladakh’s capital, Leh, said.
Both were digging defences and Chinese trucks have been moving equipment into the area, the officials said, raising concerns of a long faceoff.
“China is committed to safeguarding the security of its national territorial sovereignty, as well as safeguarding peace and stability in the China-India border areas,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s office said in a statement.
“At present, the overall situation in the border areas is stable and controllable. There are sound mechanisms and channels of communication for border-related affairs, and the two sides are capable of properly resolving relevant issues through dialogue and consultation.”
There was no immediate Indian foreign ministry comment. It said last week Chinese troops had hindered regular Indian patrols along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
But interviews with former Indian military officials and diplomats suggest the trigger for the flare-up is India’s construction of roads and airstrips.
“Today, with our infrastructure reach slowly extending into areas along the LAC, the Chinese threat perception is raised,” said former Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao.
“Xi Jinping’s China is the proponent of a hard line on all matters of territory, sovereignty. India is no less when it comes to these matters either,” she said.
After years of neglect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pushed for improving connectivity and by 2022, 66 key roads along the Chinese border will have been built.
One of these roads is near the Galwan valley that connects to Daulat Beg Oldi airbase, which was inaugurated last October.
“The road is very important because it runs parallel to the LAC and is linked at various points with the major supply bases inland,” said Shyam Saran, another former Indian foreign secretary.
“It remains within our side of the LAC. It is construction along this new alignment which appears to have been challenged by the Chinese.”
China’s BRI is a string of ports, railways, roads and bridges connecting China to Europe via central and southern Asia and involving Pakistan, China’s close ally and India’s long-time foe.
Four individuals have tested positive out of the 19 Chinese nationals who were tested for the coronavirus at Lahore’s Services Hospital late on Sunday.
According to Dunya News, the Chinese nationals were working on various projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The patients were shifted to an isolation ward of the hospital.
According to hospital administration, the Chinese nationals will be kept in the isolation ward for a period of 14 days to stop the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country rose to 892 after Punjab and Sindh reported new cases in the province on Tuesday.
According to Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar, there are 176 confirmed cases of the virus in Dera Ghazi Khan, 51 in Lahore, five in Gujrat, six in Gujranwala, three in Jhelum, two each in Rawalpindi and Multan and one case each in Faisalabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha.
Sindh remains the worst affected province by the coronavirus in the country so far, with a total of 399 coronavirus cases. In Karachi alone, the numbers of cases of the virus are 130, with the majority said to be cases of “local transmission”.
According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Department, the number of cases in the province stands at 38 after four new patients were reported earlier this week, while the number of reported cases in Gilgit-Baltistan (GM) is 80.
Balochistan has reported 108 cases, while one case has been reported from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). In Islamabad, 15 patients have been confirmed to have contracted the virus, Geo reported.
The country has also reported six deaths from the virus.
As many as eight Chinese nationals have been deported from the Islamabad International Airport as coronavirus fear grips the entire world following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration of a global emergency over the spreading virus and Chinese authorities increasing the toll to 213 dead and nearly 10,000 infections.
According to reports, a flight from Dubai with eight Chinese passengers on board landed in Islamabad on Friday. The Chinese nationals — five men and three women — were screened and later sent back to Dubai after being disallowed from boarding a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from the federal capital to Beijing.
All eight individuals, reports said, were deported through a private airline carrier.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has partially suspended all direct flight operations between Pakistan and China amid fear of the deadly coronavirus. According to a notification issued by CAA, the direct flight operations between two countries will remain suspended till February 2.
CORONAVIRUS:
In mid-December, some people in the central Chinese city of Wuhan began complaining of flu and pneumonia-like symptoms. Some had a high fever. Doctors were perplexed. To find out what might be causing their illness, geneticists analysed the DNA of the virus that had infected them.
At once, the scientists realised the virus was new to science.
As of January 23, experts at WHO in Switzerland estimated that at least 557 people have contracted the rapidly spreading disease. All countries have since been taking precautionary measures to curb the menace of the deadly disease.
