Protesters against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and occupied West Bank targeted three business sites accused of being “complicit” in Aotearoa New Zealand today.

The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s “End Rocket Lab Genocide Complicity” themed protest picketed Rocket Lab’s New Zealand head office in Mt Wellington.

Simultaneously, protesters also picketed a site in Warkworth where Rocket Lab equipment is built and Mahia peninsula where satellites are launched.

• READ MORE: UN expert calls on world to end trade with Israel’s ‘economy of genocide’
• Palestine solidarity group lawyers refer NZ prime minister Luxon, 3 ministers to ICC over Gaza
• Other Israeli war on Gaza reports

In a statement on the PSNA website, it was revealed this week that the advocacy group’s lawyers have prepared a 103-page “indictment” against two business leaders, including the head of Rocket Lab, along with four politicians, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

They have been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for investigation on an accusation of complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Rocket Lab chief executive Sir Peter Beck is one of the six people named in the legal brief.

“Rocket Lab has recently launched geospatial intelligence satellites for BlackSky Technology,” said PSNA co-chair John Minto in a statement.

High resolution images
“These satellites provide high resolution images to Israel which are very likely used to assist with striking civilians in Gaza. Sir Peter has proceeded with these launches in full knowledge of these circumstances”

“When governments and business leaders can’t even condemn a genocide then civil society groups must act.”

The other business leader named is Rakon Limited chief executive officer Dr Sinan Altug.

“Despite vast weapons transfers from the United States to Israel since the beginning of its war on Gaza, Rakon has continued with its longstanding supply of crystal oscillators to US arms manufacturers for use in guided missiles which are then available to Israel for the bombing of Gaza, as well as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran with consequential massive loss of life,” Minto said.

“Rakon’s claims that it has no responsibility over how these ‘dual-use’ technologies are used are not credible.”

Rocket Lab and Rakon have in the past rejected claims over their responsibility.

Speakers at Mount Wellington included the Green Party spokesperson for foreign affairs Teanau Tuiono; Dr Arama Rata, a researcher and lecturer from Victoria University; and Sam Vincent, the legal team leader for the ICC referral.

Law academic Professor Jane Kelsey spoke at the Warkworth picket.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, leading international scholars and the UN Special Committee to investigate Israel’s practices have all condemned Israel’s actions as genocide.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The recent series of high-level agreements between Papua New Guinea and France marks a significant development in PNG’s geopolitical relationships, driven by what appears to be a convergence of national interests.

The “deepening relationship” is less about a single personality and more about a calculated alignment of economic, security, and diplomatic priorities with PNG, taking full advantage of its position as the biggest, most strategically placed island player in the Pacific.

An examination of the key outcomes reveals a partnership of mutual benefit, reflecting both PNG’s strategic diversification and France’s own long-term ambitions as a Pacific power.

• READ MORE: Other France in the Pacific reports

A primary driver is the shared economic rationale. From Port Moresby’s perspective, the partnership offers a clear path to economic diversification and resilience.

But many in PNG have been watching with keen interest and asking: how badly does PNG want this?

While Prime Minister James Marape offered France a Special Economic Zone in Port Moresby (SEZ) for French businesses, he also named the lookout at Port Moresby’s Variarata National Park after President Emmanuel Macron drawing the ire of many in the country.

The proposal to establish a SEZ specifically for French industries is a notable attempt to attract capital from beyond PNG’s traditional partners.

Strategically coupled
This is strategically coupled with securing the future of the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project.

Macron’s personal undertaking to work with TotalEnergies to keep the project on schedule provides crucial stability for one of PNG’s most significant economic ventures.

For France, these arrangements secure a major energy investment for its national corporate champion and establish a stronger economic foothold in a strategically vital region between Asia and the Pacific.

In the area of security, the relationship addresses tangible needs for both nations.

PNG is faced with the immense challenge of monitoring a 2.4 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone, making it vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The finalisation of a Shiprider Agreement with France provides a practical force-multiplier, leveraging French naval assets to enhance PNG’s maritime surveillance capabilities. This move, along with planned defence talks on air and maritime cooperation, allows PNG to diversify its security architecture.

For France, a resident power with Pacific territories like New Caledonia and French Polynesia, participating in regional security operations reinforces its role and commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Elevating diplomatic influence
The partnership is also a vehicle for elevating diplomatic influence.

Port Moresby has noted the significance of engaging with a partner that holds permanent membership on the UN Security Council and seats at the G7 and G20.

This alignment provides PNG with a powerful channel to global decision-making forums. The reciprocal move to establish a PNG embassy in Paris further cements the relationship on a mature footing.

The diplomatic synergy is perhaps best illustrated by France’s full endorsement of PNG’s bid to host a future UN Ocean Conference. This support provides PNG with a major opportunity to lead on the world stage, while allowing France to demonstrate its credentials as a key partner to the Pacific Islands.

This deepening PNG-France partnership does not exist in a vacuum.

It is unfolding within a broader context of heightened geopolitical competition across the Pacific.

The West’s view of China’s rapid emergence as a dominant economic and military force in the region has reshaped the strategic landscape, prompting traditional powers to re-engage with renewed urgency.

increased diplomatic footprint
The United States has responded by significantly increasing its diplomatic and security footprint, a move marked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Port Moresby to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Similarly, Australia, PNG’s traditional security partner, is working to reinforce its long-standing influence through initiatives like the multi-million-dollar deal to establish a PNG team in its National Rugby League (NRL), a soft-power exercise reportedly linked to security outcomes.

This competitive environment has, in turn, created greater agency for Pacific nations, allowing them to diversify their partnerships beyond old allies and providing a fertile ground for European powers like France to assert their own strategic interests.

A strong foundation for the relationship is a shared public stance on environmental stewardship. The agreement on the need for rigorous scientific studies before any deep-sea mining occurs aligns PNG’s national policy with a position of environmental caution.

This common ground extends to broader climate action, where France’s commitment to conservation in the Pacific resonates with PNG’s status as a frontline nation vulnerable to climate change.

This alignment on values provides a durable and politically important basis for cooperation, allowing both nations to jointly advocate for climate justice and ocean protection.

For the Papua New Guinea economy, this deepening partnership with France is critically important as it provides high-level stability for the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project and creates a direct pathway for new investment through a proposed SEZ for French businesses.

Vital economic resource
Furthermore, by moving to finalise a Shiprider Agreement to combat illegal fishing, the government is actively protecting a vital economic resource.

For Marape’s credibility in local politics, these outcomes are tangible successes he can present to the nation as he battles a massive credibility dip in recent years.

Securing a personal undertaking from the leader of a G7 nation, gaining support for PNG to host a future UN Ocean Conference, and enhancing national security demonstrates effective leadership on the world stage.

This allows him to build a narrative of a competent statesman who, through “warm, personal relationships”, can deliver on promises of economic opportunity and national security while strengthening his political standing at home.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The recent series of high-level agreements between Papua New Guinea and France marks a significant development in PNG’s geopolitical relationships, driven by what appears to be a convergence of national interests.

The “deepening relationship” is less about a single personality and more about a calculated alignment of economic, security, and diplomatic priorities with PNG, taking full advantage of its position as the biggest, most strategically placed island player in the Pacific.

An examination of the key outcomes reveals a partnership of mutual benefit, reflecting both PNG’s strategic diversification and France’s own long-term ambitions as a Pacific power.

• READ MORE: Other France in the Pacific reports

A primary driver is the shared economic rationale. From Port Moresby’s perspective, the partnership offers a clear path to economic diversification and resilience.

But many in PNG have been watching with keen interest and asking: how badly does PNG want this?

While Prime Minister James Marape offered France a Special Economic Zone in Port Moresby (SEZ) for French businesses, he also named the lookout at Port Moresby’s Variarata National Park after President Emmanuel Macron drawing the ire of many in the country.

The proposal to establish a SEZ specifically for French industries is a notable attempt to attract capital from beyond PNG’s traditional partners.

Strategically coupled
This is strategically coupled with securing the future of the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project.

Macron’s personal undertaking to work with TotalEnergies to keep the project on schedule provides crucial stability for one of PNG’s most significant economic ventures.

For France, these arrangements secure a major energy investment for its national corporate champion and establish a stronger economic foothold in a strategically vital region between Asia and the Pacific.

In the area of security, the relationship addresses tangible needs for both nations.

PNG is faced with the immense challenge of monitoring a 2.4 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone, making it vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The finalisation of a Shiprider Agreement with France provides a practical force-multiplier, leveraging French naval assets to enhance PNG’s maritime surveillance capabilities. This move, along with planned defence talks on air and maritime cooperation, allows PNG to diversify its security architecture.

For France, a resident power with Pacific territories like New Caledonia and French Polynesia, participating in regional security operations reinforces its role and commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Elevating diplomatic influence
The partnership is also a vehicle for elevating diplomatic influence.

Port Moresby has noted the significance of engaging with a partner that holds permanent membership on the UN Security Council and seats at the G7 and G20.

This alignment provides PNG with a powerful channel to global decision-making forums. The reciprocal move to establish a PNG embassy in Paris further cements the relationship on a mature footing.

The diplomatic synergy is perhaps best illustrated by France’s full endorsement of PNG’s bid to host a future UN Ocean Conference. This support provides PNG with a major opportunity to lead on the world stage, while allowing France to demonstrate its credentials as a key partner to the Pacific Islands.

This deepening PNG-France partnership does not exist in a vacuum.

It is unfolding within a broader context of heightened geopolitical competition across the Pacific.

The West’s view of China’s rapid emergence as a dominant economic and military force in the region has reshaped the strategic landscape, prompting traditional powers to re-engage with renewed urgency.

increased diplomatic footprint
The United States has responded by significantly increasing its diplomatic and security footprint, a move marked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Port Moresby to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Similarly, Australia, PNG’s traditional security partner, is working to reinforce its long-standing influence through initiatives like the multi-million-dollar deal to establish a PNG team in its National Rugby League (NRL), a soft-power exercise reportedly linked to security outcomes.

This competitive environment has, in turn, created greater agency for Pacific nations, allowing them to diversify their partnerships beyond old allies and providing a fertile ground for European powers like France to assert their own strategic interests.

A strong foundation for the relationship is a shared public stance on environmental stewardship. The agreement on the need for rigorous scientific studies before any deep-sea mining occurs aligns PNG’s national policy with a position of environmental caution.

This common ground extends to broader climate action, where France’s commitment to conservation in the Pacific resonates with PNG’s status as a frontline nation vulnerable to climate change.

This alignment on values provides a durable and politically important basis for cooperation, allowing both nations to jointly advocate for climate justice and ocean protection.

For the Papua New Guinea economy, this deepening partnership with France is critically important as it provides high-level stability for the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project and creates a direct pathway for new investment through a proposed SEZ for French businesses.

Vital economic resource
Furthermore, by moving to finalise a Shiprider Agreement to combat illegal fishing, the government is actively protecting a vital economic resource.

For Marape’s credibility in local politics, these outcomes are tangible successes he can present to the nation as he battles a massive credibility dip in recent years.

Securing a personal undertaking from the leader of a G7 nation, gaining support for PNG to host a future UN Ocean Conference, and enhancing national security demonstrates effective leadership on the world stage.

This allows him to build a narrative of a competent statesman who, through “warm, personal relationships”, can deliver on promises of economic opportunity and national security while strengthening his political standing at home.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The recent series of high-level agreements between Papua New Guinea and France marks a significant development in PNG’s geopolitical relationships, driven by what appears to be a convergence of national interests.

The “deepening relationship” is less about a single personality and more about a calculated alignment of economic, security, and diplomatic priorities with PNG, taking full advantage of its position as the biggest, most strategically placed island player in the Pacific.

An examination of the key outcomes reveals a partnership of mutual benefit, reflecting both PNG’s strategic diversification and France’s own long-term ambitions as a Pacific power.

• READ MORE: Other France in the Pacific reports

A primary driver is the shared economic rationale. From Port Moresby’s perspective, the partnership offers a clear path to economic diversification and resilience.

But many in PNG have been watching with keen interest and asking: how badly does PNG want this?

While Prime Minister James Marape offered France a Special Economic Zone in Port Moresby (SEZ) for French businesses, he also named the lookout at Port Moresby’s Variarata National Park after President Emmanuel Macron drawing the ire of many in the country.

The proposal to establish a SEZ specifically for French industries is a notable attempt to attract capital from beyond PNG’s traditional partners.

Strategically coupled
This is strategically coupled with securing the future of the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project.

Macron’s personal undertaking to work with TotalEnergies to keep the project on schedule provides crucial stability for one of PNG’s most significant economic ventures.

For France, these arrangements secure a major energy investment for its national corporate champion and establish a stronger economic foothold in a strategically vital region between Asia and the Pacific.

In the area of security, the relationship addresses tangible needs for both nations.

PNG is faced with the immense challenge of monitoring a 2.4 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone, making it vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The finalisation of a Shiprider Agreement with France provides a practical force-multiplier, leveraging French naval assets to enhance PNG’s maritime surveillance capabilities. This move, along with planned defence talks on air and maritime cooperation, allows PNG to diversify its security architecture.

For France, a resident power with Pacific territories like New Caledonia and French Polynesia, participating in regional security operations reinforces its role and commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Elevating diplomatic influence
The partnership is also a vehicle for elevating diplomatic influence.

Port Moresby has noted the significance of engaging with a partner that holds permanent membership on the UN Security Council and seats at the G7 and G20.

This alignment provides PNG with a powerful channel to global decision-making forums. The reciprocal move to establish a PNG embassy in Paris further cements the relationship on a mature footing.

The diplomatic synergy is perhaps best illustrated by France’s full endorsement of PNG’s bid to host a future UN Ocean Conference. This support provides PNG with a major opportunity to lead on the world stage, while allowing France to demonstrate its credentials as a key partner to the Pacific Islands.

This deepening PNG-France partnership does not exist in a vacuum.

It is unfolding within a broader context of heightened geopolitical competition across the Pacific.

The West’s view of China’s rapid emergence as a dominant economic and military force in the region has reshaped the strategic landscape, prompting traditional powers to re-engage with renewed urgency.

increased diplomatic footprint
The United States has responded by significantly increasing its diplomatic and security footprint, a move marked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Port Moresby to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Similarly, Australia, PNG’s traditional security partner, is working to reinforce its long-standing influence through initiatives like the multi-million-dollar deal to establish a PNG team in its National Rugby League (NRL), a soft-power exercise reportedly linked to security outcomes.

This competitive environment has, in turn, created greater agency for Pacific nations, allowing them to diversify their partnerships beyond old allies and providing a fertile ground for European powers like France to assert their own strategic interests.

A strong foundation for the relationship is a shared public stance on environmental stewardship. The agreement on the need for rigorous scientific studies before any deep-sea mining occurs aligns PNG’s national policy with a position of environmental caution.

This common ground extends to broader climate action, where France’s commitment to conservation in the Pacific resonates with PNG’s status as a frontline nation vulnerable to climate change.

This alignment on values provides a durable and politically important basis for cooperation, allowing both nations to jointly advocate for climate justice and ocean protection.

For the Papua New Guinea economy, this deepening partnership with France is critically important as it provides high-level stability for the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project and creates a direct pathway for new investment through a proposed SEZ for French businesses.

Vital economic resource
Furthermore, by moving to finalise a Shiprider Agreement to combat illegal fishing, the government is actively protecting a vital economic resource.

For Marape’s credibility in local politics, these outcomes are tangible successes he can present to the nation as he battles a massive credibility dip in recent years.

Securing a personal undertaking from the leader of a G7 nation, gaining support for PNG to host a future UN Ocean Conference, and enhancing national security demonstrates effective leadership on the world stage.

This allows him to build a narrative of a competent statesman who, through “warm, personal relationships”, can deliver on promises of economic opportunity and national security while strengthening his political standing at home.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The recent series of high-level agreements between Papua New Guinea and France marks a significant development in PNG’s geopolitical relationships, driven by what appears to be a convergence of national interests.

The “deepening relationship” is less about a single personality and more about a calculated alignment of economic, security, and diplomatic priorities with PNG, taking full advantage of its position as the biggest, most strategically placed island player in the Pacific.

An examination of the key outcomes reveals a partnership of mutual benefit, reflecting both PNG’s strategic diversification and France’s own long-term ambitions as a Pacific power.

• READ MORE: Other France in the Pacific reports

A primary driver is the shared economic rationale. From Port Moresby’s perspective, the partnership offers a clear path to economic diversification and resilience.

But many in PNG have been watching with keen interest and asking: how badly does PNG want this?

While Prime Minister James Marape offered France a Special Economic Zone in Port Moresby (SEZ) for French businesses, he also named the lookout at Port Moresby’s Variarata National Park after President Emmanuel Macron drawing the ire of many in the country.

The proposal to establish a SEZ specifically for French industries is a notable attempt to attract capital from beyond PNG’s traditional partners.

Strategically coupled
This is strategically coupled with securing the future of the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project.

Macron’s personal undertaking to work with TotalEnergies to keep the project on schedule provides crucial stability for one of PNG’s most significant economic ventures.

For France, these arrangements secure a major energy investment for its national corporate champion and establish a stronger economic foothold in a strategically vital region between Asia and the Pacific.

In the area of security, the relationship addresses tangible needs for both nations.

PNG is faced with the immense challenge of monitoring a 2.4 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone, making it vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The finalisation of a Shiprider Agreement with France provides a practical force-multiplier, leveraging French naval assets to enhance PNG’s maritime surveillance capabilities. This move, along with planned defence talks on air and maritime cooperation, allows PNG to diversify its security architecture.

For France, a resident power with Pacific territories like New Caledonia and French Polynesia, participating in regional security operations reinforces its role and commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Elevating diplomatic influence
The partnership is also a vehicle for elevating diplomatic influence.

Port Moresby has noted the significance of engaging with a partner that holds permanent membership on the UN Security Council and seats at the G7 and G20.

This alignment provides PNG with a powerful channel to global decision-making forums. The reciprocal move to establish a PNG embassy in Paris further cements the relationship on a mature footing.

The diplomatic synergy is perhaps best illustrated by France’s full endorsement of PNG’s bid to host a future UN Ocean Conference. This support provides PNG with a major opportunity to lead on the world stage, while allowing France to demonstrate its credentials as a key partner to the Pacific Islands.

This deepening PNG-France partnership does not exist in a vacuum.

It is unfolding within a broader context of heightened geopolitical competition across the Pacific.

The West’s view of China’s rapid emergence as a dominant economic and military force in the region has reshaped the strategic landscape, prompting traditional powers to re-engage with renewed urgency.

increased diplomatic footprint
The United States has responded by significantly increasing its diplomatic and security footprint, a move marked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Port Moresby to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Similarly, Australia, PNG’s traditional security partner, is working to reinforce its long-standing influence through initiatives like the multi-million-dollar deal to establish a PNG team in its National Rugby League (NRL), a soft-power exercise reportedly linked to security outcomes.

This competitive environment has, in turn, created greater agency for Pacific nations, allowing them to diversify their partnerships beyond old allies and providing a fertile ground for European powers like France to assert their own strategic interests.

A strong foundation for the relationship is a shared public stance on environmental stewardship. The agreement on the need for rigorous scientific studies before any deep-sea mining occurs aligns PNG’s national policy with a position of environmental caution.

This common ground extends to broader climate action, where France’s commitment to conservation in the Pacific resonates with PNG’s status as a frontline nation vulnerable to climate change.

This alignment on values provides a durable and politically important basis for cooperation, allowing both nations to jointly advocate for climate justice and ocean protection.

For the Papua New Guinea economy, this deepening partnership with France is critically important as it provides high-level stability for the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project and creates a direct pathway for new investment through a proposed SEZ for French businesses.

Vital economic resource
Furthermore, by moving to finalise a Shiprider Agreement to combat illegal fishing, the government is actively protecting a vital economic resource.

For Marape’s credibility in local politics, these outcomes are tangible successes he can present to the nation as he battles a massive credibility dip in recent years.

Securing a personal undertaking from the leader of a G7 nation, gaining support for PNG to host a future UN Ocean Conference, and enhancing national security demonstrates effective leadership on the world stage.

This allows him to build a narrative of a competent statesman who, through “warm, personal relationships”, can deliver on promises of economic opportunity and national security while strengthening his political standing at home.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The recent series of high-level agreements between Papua New Guinea and France marks a significant development in PNG’s geopolitical relationships, driven by what appears to be a convergence of national interests.

The “deepening relationship” is less about a single personality and more about a calculated alignment of economic, security, and diplomatic priorities with PNG, taking full advantage of its position as the biggest, most strategically placed island player in the Pacific.

An examination of the key outcomes reveals a partnership of mutual benefit, reflecting both PNG’s strategic diversification and France’s own long-term ambitions as a Pacific power.

• READ MORE: Other France in the Pacific reports

A primary driver is the shared economic rationale. From Port Moresby’s perspective, the partnership offers a clear path to economic diversification and resilience.

But many in PNG have been watching with keen interest and asking: how badly does PNG want this?

While Prime Minister James Marape offered France a Special Economic Zone in Port Moresby (SEZ) for French businesses, he also named the lookout at Port Moresby’s Variarata National Park after President Emmanuel Macron drawing the ire of many in the country.

The proposal to establish a SEZ specifically for French industries is a notable attempt to attract capital from beyond PNG’s traditional partners.

Strategically coupled
This is strategically coupled with securing the future of the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project.

Macron’s personal undertaking to work with TotalEnergies to keep the project on schedule provides crucial stability for one of PNG’s most significant economic ventures.

For France, these arrangements secure a major energy investment for its national corporate champion and establish a stronger economic foothold in a strategically vital region between Asia and the Pacific.

In the area of security, the relationship addresses tangible needs for both nations.

PNG is faced with the immense challenge of monitoring a 2.4 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone, making it vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The finalisation of a Shiprider Agreement with France provides a practical force-multiplier, leveraging French naval assets to enhance PNG’s maritime surveillance capabilities. This move, along with planned defence talks on air and maritime cooperation, allows PNG to diversify its security architecture.

For France, a resident power with Pacific territories like New Caledonia and French Polynesia, participating in regional security operations reinforces its role and commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Elevating diplomatic influence
The partnership is also a vehicle for elevating diplomatic influence.

Port Moresby has noted the significance of engaging with a partner that holds permanent membership on the UN Security Council and seats at the G7 and G20.

This alignment provides PNG with a powerful channel to global decision-making forums. The reciprocal move to establish a PNG embassy in Paris further cements the relationship on a mature footing.

The diplomatic synergy is perhaps best illustrated by France’s full endorsement of PNG’s bid to host a future UN Ocean Conference. This support provides PNG with a major opportunity to lead on the world stage, while allowing France to demonstrate its credentials as a key partner to the Pacific Islands.

This deepening PNG-France partnership does not exist in a vacuum.

It is unfolding within a broader context of heightened geopolitical competition across the Pacific.

The West’s view of China’s rapid emergence as a dominant economic and military force in the region has reshaped the strategic landscape, prompting traditional powers to re-engage with renewed urgency.

increased diplomatic footprint
The United States has responded by significantly increasing its diplomatic and security footprint, a move marked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Port Moresby to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Similarly, Australia, PNG’s traditional security partner, is working to reinforce its long-standing influence through initiatives like the multi-million-dollar deal to establish a PNG team in its National Rugby League (NRL), a soft-power exercise reportedly linked to security outcomes.

This competitive environment has, in turn, created greater agency for Pacific nations, allowing them to diversify their partnerships beyond old allies and providing a fertile ground for European powers like France to assert their own strategic interests.

A strong foundation for the relationship is a shared public stance on environmental stewardship. The agreement on the need for rigorous scientific studies before any deep-sea mining occurs aligns PNG’s national policy with a position of environmental caution.

This common ground extends to broader climate action, where France’s commitment to conservation in the Pacific resonates with PNG’s status as a frontline nation vulnerable to climate change.

This alignment on values provides a durable and politically important basis for cooperation, allowing both nations to jointly advocate for climate justice and ocean protection.

For the Papua New Guinea economy, this deepening partnership with France is critically important as it provides high-level stability for the multi-billion-dollar Papua LNG project and creates a direct pathway for new investment through a proposed SEZ for French businesses.

Vital economic resource
Furthermore, by moving to finalise a Shiprider Agreement to combat illegal fishing, the government is actively protecting a vital economic resource.

For Marape’s credibility in local politics, these outcomes are tangible successes he can present to the nation as he battles a massive credibility dip in recent years.

Securing a personal undertaking from the leader of a G7 nation, gaining support for PNG to host a future UN Ocean Conference, and enhancing national security demonstrates effective leadership on the world stage.

This allows him to build a narrative of a competent statesman who, through “warm, personal relationships”, can deliver on promises of economic opportunity and national security while strengthening his political standing at home.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

In recent weeks, the Vietnamese government has rolled out a sweeping campaign to crack down on counterfeit goods and to enforce a new tax collection regime. The primary targets have been small businesses.

The prime minister issued a directive on May 24 urging all levels of government to “step up the fight against counterfeit goods.” The government also introduced Decree 70, requiring small businesses to install electronic cash registers connected directly to tax authorities.

The steps appeared sensible, to tighten up protections on intellectual property and move toward greater fairness in tax collection that could boost state revenues.

But there have been negative consequences as many shop owners have chosen to shut down their businesses rather than comply with the government’s measures.

Authorities across the country are launching surprise raids on small businesses to enforce the new regulations, targeting everything from social media-driven enterprises to household market vendors. Businesses which are unable to provide documentation proving the origin of their goods face penalties.

The abrupt and aggressive enforcement has sent shockwaves through the small business community, prompting a wave of mass closures as panicked shop owners shut their doors in protest or in fear.

“I will close my store, I cannot continue like this!” a sobbing store-owner in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s main commercial center, says in a self-filmed video where she talks about the effect of the new policies. The video, which shows dozens of shuttered businesses, was later posted on Facebook and has attracted more than 3 million views.

Local officials in the north-central province of Nghe An say that 80 percent of shops in the region’s largest market have shut down, highlighting the scale of the disruption.

(VTV)

Family-run businesses are a cornerstone of Vietnam’s economy, accounting for 39 percent of all jobs and contributing roughly a quarter of the country’s GDP, according to official government data.

The mass shutdown of household businesses is expected to take a significant toll on the economy, disrupting local employment and supply chains across the country.

While the campaign against counterfeit goods has instilled fear among small business owners, it is the enforcement of a new tax regime that is fueling the most resentment within the business community.

Under the old system, small businesses paid a fixed monthly amount known as presumptive tax, calculated by authorities based on the income reported by the business owners.

But that’s not the only burden they face. There are other ‘unofficial’ payments that are viewed as the cost of doing business in Vietnam, where corruption is deeply entrenched.

A grocery shop owner in Ho Chi Minh City told Radio Free Asia that every month he has to hand over an envelope with 2.5 million Vietnamese dong (or US$100) to local officials who run the market - and that’s even before he gets a visit from police.

“The police drop by from time to time—sometimes asking for a few hundred thousand (dong), sometimes taking things without paying, saying it’s a ‘donation from the shop.’ Whenever their agencies go on trips, training sessions, or attend congresses, they call and ask us to ‘contribute’," said the shop owner, who in common with other business people RFA spoke to for this article, requested anonymity for safety reasons.

A businesswoman operating in one of the major wholesale markets in the capital Hanoi told RFA that “tax evasion is a matter of survival” for many shop owners. Burdened by regular bribes to local officials, she said the only way to keep her store afloat and avoid raising prices is to skirt taxes.

In response to the wave of small business closures, state-run media have depicted shop owners as greedy and irresponsible, accusing them of choosing to shut down rather than fulfill their tax obligations. Those reports have largely ignored the underlying issue of chronic corruption.

“Before demanding transparency from small business owners, the government should first clean up its own house, starting with the local police,” the grocery shop owner in Ho Chi Minh City told RFA.

Translated and written by Truong Son. Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Du Lan for RFA Vietnamese.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Zambia sued privately owned News Diggers after the outlet shared a May 20 teaser on Facebook for its film, “Chinese Investment in Zambia: The Good, The Bad and The Dangerous,” according to a copy of the court order, reviewed by CPJ, and News Diggers Editor-in-Chief Joseph Mwenda, who spoke to CPJ. 

“The prior censorship of News Diggers’ documentary is a stark reminder that press freedom is imperiled in Zambia,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “Zambian authorities should stand vigilant against efforts to silence the media and should support, rather than undermine, public interest journalism.”

The Lusaka High Court issued the gag order on May 22, the day before the film was due to be broadcast. The film’s trailer included images of alleged labor abuses and violence.

In a letter to News Diggers, reviewed by CPJ, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce said the teaser was aimed at “disparaging, demeaning and tainting” the image of Chinese investments and asked to have its formal response included in the film.

The court said the outlet could be guilty of contempt of court if it aired the documentary in breach of the injunction, which carries a penalty of a six-month jail term or a fine of up to 300 kwacha (US$12).

CPJ’s calls to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Zambia’s president Tie Li and an email requesting comment did not receive any replies.

CPJ has documented numerous attacks and arrests of journalists in Zambia and April’s new cyber laws further threaten press freedom.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

President Trump vows to “make America wealthy again” as he pursues a global trade policy that favors new, sweeping tariffs, a price hike on foreign-made goods arriving for sale in America. Invoking his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, he will impose a 10% tariff on all countries to begin April 5. Further, the U.S. president will impose an individualized reciprocal higher tariff on the countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits. All other countries will continue to be subject to the original 10% tariff baseline, effective April 9. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-declares-national-emergency-to-increase-our-competitive-edge-protect-our-sovereignty-and-strengthen-our-national-and-economic-security/

What do some small business owners think about the impacts of more Trump trade tariffs on their enterprises and the U.S. economy generally?

We turn to Frank Knapp Jr., head of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.

“These tariffs are the prelude to stagflation,” he said, “rising inflation and a weak economy, which can result in a deep recession. The tariffs, taxes on imported goods paid by American businesses and consumers, will bring in $6 trillion over 10 years, according to the Trump administration. That’s $6 trillion pulled out of consumers’ pockets, money that Americans won’t be able to spend on goods and services, which slows the economy.”

Consumption spending accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy. It is worth mentioning that the federal government, which has a $6.75 trillion annual budget now, collects tariffs. On a related note of tax policy, the president also wants to extend his 2017 tax cuts. That would remove an estimated $5 trillion from the federal treasury over 10 years. 

What of the president’s claim that goods made in America will become more price-competitive for businesses and consumers stateside? Knapp doubts that outcome. 

“All products will rise in price,” according to him, “even if they are 100% made in America, because when foreign products go up in price, the price on all competitor products will rise. It’s the way the market works.  The consumers, small businesses, and the economy will all be losers.”

Walt Rowen owns Susquehanna Glass Company in Columbia, Pennylvania. “These unpredictable tariffs threaten the very existence of family businesses like mine,” he said. “I’m already concerned about Christmas, which I start planning months in advance. I’d normally hire 20 to 30 seasonal workers, but with potential price increases, I can’t even plan production. 

“When costs suddenly spike and planning becomes impossible, we’re left with impossible choices. Small businesses need predictable, smart economic policies that will help us thrive, not policies that could end our family legacy.”

Gabe Hagen, owner of Brick Road Coffee in Tempe, Arizona, is upset with the Trump trade tariffs. “Earlier this year we began construction on our second location,” according to him, “but these tariffs have forced us to adjust the budget for the expansion. With coffee and tea grown exclusively overseas, we have no choice but to import and absorb these increased costs. 

“Small businesses like Brick Road Coffee employ almost half of America’s workforce, yet we’re the ones who feel these tariff changes the most because we lack the buying power of large corporations.”

It is no secret that firms with more capital than competitors can lose money longer and outlast the competition. In this way, the big fish can and do eat up the smaller fish. This market dynamic is not rocket science, folks.

Gladys Harrison owns Big Mama’s Kitchen & Catering in Omaha, Nebraska. “My mother’s vision for the Big Mama’s Kitchen was to do more than just serve food,” she said. “Through our scholarship programs for local students and our commitment to hiring those seeking second chances, we’ve created something much bigger than a restaurant, but that could be in jeopardy. 

“These tariffs will increase costs for our imported spices, and like 71% of small business owners, I’ll likely have to pass these price increases on to customers. We all are going to pay more for everything, which is going to affect all of us.”

The post Trump’s Trade Tariffs and America’s Small Businesses appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Seth Sandronsky.

The companies, Ableton Prestige Global Limited and Amiga Entertainment Limited, operate in the island’s online gambling industry.

Both featured in a Radio Free Asia report last February, which uncovered evidence they were being used for money laundering. The report was the second installment in a three-part investigation that uncovered allegations that the Prince Group, a sprawling conglomerate with deep ties to the Cambodian government, was involved in large-scale money laundering and human trafficking.

The Prince Group has long denied having anything to do with Amiga and Ableton. But corporate records showed that the companies are owned by the group’s chairman, Chen, through a trust. According to insider testimony given to RFA, millions of dollars in likely illicit funds were disguised as invoices paid to Amiga Entertainment before being returned to Southeast Asia.

“[Amiga Entertainment] is the one they used for laundering money,” the person told RFA. “They pumped in all the money through here.”

Wednesday’s raid followed an announcement by the Isle of Man government last Friday that the island statelet of some 80,000 people has been subject to attacks by “transnational organized criminals” from Southeast Asia seeking to “bypass the Island’s controls against financial crime and immigration.”

(Image from Amiga Entertainment website)

Dozens of Chinese nationals working at Amiga and Ableton were stripped of their visas following the raid, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the press.

That law enforcement on the Isle of Man was investigating Amiga and Ableton was first revealed last year. A judgment in their appeal against a production order – a sort of search warrant – was published by the island’s Chancery Court in August, revealing that the companies were under investigation and that property freezing orders had been sought against them.

Ableton held a license from the Isle of Man’s Gambling Supervision Commission to operate online casinos from 2018 until April of last year, when it surrendered its license almost half a year prior to its expiry date.

A lawyer for the companies had not responded to a request for comment as of publication.

Prince Group spokesman Gabriel Tan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the conglomerate has previously distanced itself from Amiga and Ableton, despite the group’s chairman having a controlling interest in the trust that owns both. It has also called RFA’s reporting on the group inaccurate.

Confirming the raids to Isle of Man Today newspaper, which broke the news, a spokesman for the Isle of Man’s Constabulary said: “The Isle of Man authorities continue to work in partnership, responding robustly to prevent, identify and disrupt any criminal activity of this nature.

“It is imperative that the Isle of Man authorities and industry across all sectors remain vigilant and mitigate vulnerabilities that can be exploited by criminals.”

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jack Adamović Davies for RFA Investigative.

The United States has imposed tariffs of 20% on Chinese goods since President Donald Trump took office –- 10% last month and a further 10% coming into effect on March 4.

“Export volume has shrunk, and business has been snatched away by competitors from other countries,” according to the head of an electronics trading company in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, who gave only the surname Ge for fear of reprisals.

China’s exports grew 2.3% year-on-year in January and February, lower than the expected 5% rate, according to the latest government figures. That’s down from the 5.4% growth rate for all of last year.

Previous tariffs imposed during the first Trump administration from 2017-2021 have already prompted many businesses to move production to other countries such as Vietnam.

‘Workshop of the world’ is quieter

Once the “workshop of the world,” Guangdong province in the south has become quieter and is now home to fewer factories and more trading companies, which handle orders but don’t actually make anything, Ge said.

“There are no factories in Guangdong hiring workers right now, and many factories have moved to Vietnam, Thailand and other places,” she said.

(Reuters)

“Trading companies mainly receive orders and place them with factories, which then fulfill them, so the operating costs aren’t too high, but the factories are in the most trouble,” she said.

“It’s hard for them to keep going with no orders, because they have so many fixed costs like their premises, equipment, wages and materials.”

The United States is still the biggest market. “There are orders from Europe, but demand isn’t as high as from the United States,” Ge said.

Zhu Zhiqiang, an exporter based in the eastern city of Jiangsu, said China’s manufacturing industry relies on exports, particularly from the United States, he said. “If we don’t resolve this problem, we are doomed.”

Guizhou-based economist Wang Ting said manufacturers are still reeling from the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods during the first Trump administration.

“The increase in tariffs in his second term has made things worse, accelerating the relocation of manufacturing outside of China,” Wang said.

“China’s economy is now in recession, the unemployment rate remains high, and all sectors are in a state of internal competition,” he said.

Meanwhile, business confidence remains at a low ebb.

“Most Chinese people are waiting and watching,” Wang said.

The impact of tariffs is two-fold, according to Wang, with manufacturers of furniture, electronics and clothing likely to raise prices to cover the cost of tariffs, reducing their appeal for consumers in the United States.

E-commerce companies could also seek to reduce their reliance on the American market and expand into Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America via platforms like Lazada and Shopee.

“This trend could accelerate in future,” Wang said.

(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Even in e-commerce, former business owners are staying on the sidelines in the hope that things improve.

“This year, a friend of mine stopped doing [e-commerce] and is now just staying home,” Zhu said. “Some e-commerce operators can no longer sell their products overseas because of the increase in tariffs.”

He said part of the problems is that Chinese exporters have typically competed on price rather than quality.

“Increasing tariffs eliminates that advantage, making us unable to compete,” he said.

Financial commentator Cai Shenkun said the tariffs come amid a boom in cross-border e-commerce from China.

“Once a trade war breaks out, including the cancellation of the tax-free quota for small packages in the future, this will have a huge impact, and mid- and low-end manufacturing will be affected,” Cai said.

He said e-commerce businesses typically run on profit margins of less than 10%.

“If tariffs rise to 25%, e-commerce will no longer be profitable,” he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

Pham Minh Chinh told about 40 representatives of U.S. companies that Vietnam was taking steps to cut its large trade surplus, considering imports of aircraft, arms, natural gas, pharmaceuticals and other goods, Vietnam’s state-run Tuoi Tre news site reported.

Vietnam wants to escape the fate of neighbor China, which faces 20% tariffs on its exports to the United States, imposed by the U.S. president in response to a trade imbalance and China’s illegal exports of synthetic opioids. Vietnam’s trade surplus with the U.S. rose to a record US$124 billion in 2024 and the U.S. remains its largest export market this year.

Vietnam already faces U.S. tariffs on its sizable steel and aluminum exports. From March 12, the U.S. will raise the 10% tax on imports of the metals to 25%, after a February executive order from Trump. Vietnam is the fifth-largest exporter of steel to the U.S. and America is Vietnam’s third biggest buyer.

Licensing Musk’s Starlink

Prime Minister Chinh told Saturday’s meeting in Hanoi that he wanted to fast track a license for Trump adviser and billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service in Vietnam under a pilot scheme.

“The PM has directed the Ministry of Science and Technology to quickly issue a license to Starlink internet on a trial basis,” the government said on its website after the meeting.

(Markus Schreiber/AP)

Starlink’s parent company, SpaceX, repeatedly expressed its intention to invest in the market of 100 million people but hadn’t succeeded because of rules forbidding foreign companies from owning more than 49% of shares in joint ventures.

Last month, Vietnam’s parliament approved a temporary scheme allowing internet companies operating in Vietnam to retain full control of their local subsidiaries, according to state media. Executives attending Saturday’s meeting with the prime minister said they were hopeful Hanoi would relax investment rules for more business sectors.

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Separately, on Sunday, Chinh met European business leaders, asking them to invest more in Vietnam, VoVWorld reported. The prime minister suggested EU enterprises focus on growth areas such as the digital and green economies and healthcare.

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the 27 European Union members rose to US$35 billion last year with exports rising nearly 19% compared with 2023. A free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European bloc came into force in 2020 helping Vietnam to become the top Southeast Asian trading partner with the EU.

Edited by Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mike Firn for RFA.

Sitting on the roof of the barn as visitors enter the property is a 23kW array of solar panels that power the farm’s operations. While solar originally was low on Schultz’s investment priority list, it became financially feasible once he took advantage of grants from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America, or REAP, program. This federal initiative provides grants and loans for projects like his. REAP funded about 40% of the two solar installations that now provide most of Stoney Acres Farms’ power. 

The panels cut his monthly power bill from $800 to $200 or less per month, Schultz says. He’s surprised solar companies aren’t getting the word out better, but he wants fellow rural business and farm owners to know about the grants. “Even if you don’t care about your carbon footprint, it’s an easy investment,” Schultz said. “My initial cost has already been repaid and then some because of the REAP grants. It’s something that gives back.”

Harvesting energy savings in rural communities

REAP is a federally funded program that provides grants and loans to help rural businesses put in a wide variety of clean and energy-efficient technologies. The program partially funds projects that can range from solar panels and battery storage to efficient greenhouse HVAC systems and produce refrigerators.

REAP was initially funded through the Farm Bill, which allocated $50 million per year to support renewable energy and efficiency projects for small farms and rural businesses. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 quadrupled that amount, adding $2 billion over 10 years. Farmers and rural small business owners can now apply for grants of up to $500,000 for energy efficiency projects and to $1 million for renewable energy systems.

The REAP grants can break down financial barriers to renewable energy, said Emma Searson, a policy & advocacy campaigner with Solar United Neighbors (SUN), a national nonprofit dedicated to helping people access solar. SUN provides guidance and support to farmers and rural small business owners applying for REAP funding. “With that funding, those projects suddenly make more sense for a small farmer or rural business owner,” Searson said. “And it’s a powerful equity tool. Rural areas often have limited access to clean, affordable energy technologies, but the REAP program gives extra weight to applications from underserved rural communities.” 

Beyond the obvious financial advantages, solar projects can come with a host of other unplanned benefits, Searson said. Energy security and resilience are crucial for farmers, who risk major losses if the power fails during weather events. Many in rural areas also value independence — producing energy on-site aligns with their values of self-reliance. It also helps demonstrate environmental stewardship to customers.

Generating energy can also promote financial stability, which can allow businesses to invest back in their business. In some cases, it can even create extra income by allowing them to sell power back to the grid. When solar-hosting businesses produce more energy than they need, the excess electricity is sent back into the power grid for use by others, and the businesses can credit on their utility bill for the energy they contributed.

For Schultz, while the cost savings of solar was his initial motivator, he’s also noted other unexpected perks. “People are impressed when they see our solar panels — they’re part of our identity,” he said. “Our solar installation validates Stoney Acres as a sustainable family farm.”

Avoiding outages, selling energy back 

Near Sedona, Arizona, vintner and winery owner Eric Glomski creates wines that reflect the Verde Valley at Page Springs Cellars. He’s also proud that the winery is now completely powered by renewable energy, thanks to solar arrays and Tesla commercial battery storage funded by REAP grants. The grants covered roughly 25% of the system’s cost, and Glomski said that after just six years, the winery has already recouped the investment.

Energy independence was a huge motivator for the transition to solar. “The weekends are our biggest revenue generators at the winery,” Glomski said. “If we lose power and need to close for a day during the high season, the business loses almost $15,000.” He also appreciates the energy flexibility — the batteries allow him to store energy to use during peak hours when rates are high, and the winery often sells energy back to the grid.

The most tangible benefits of the solar implementation were on the winery’s bottom line, Glomski said. But it’s also had intangible benefits for the vineyard’s revenues and reputation. “People want to put their dollars with businesses that take sustainability seriously,” he said. “And we’ve gotten so much visibility from our focus on renewable energy — we’ve had newspaper and magazine features, even won awards.”

Other unexpected benefits have included the increased sense of pride that employees take in the business. Glomski highlights the story of an employee who educated herself about the winery’s sustainability practices and now gives eco-tours of the winery to visitors. “The solar panels were a big part of that,” he said.

As Page Springs Winery enjoys the benefits of the REAP program, Glomski hopes that other farmers in his region will follow suit. “I know farmers who spend $30,000 [or] $40,000 a year on pumping water,” he said. “If they could use the REAP program to fund solar as their energy source, it would make a big difference in their bottom line.”

Even though REAP has become more popular and grants more competitive, Searson still emphasizes that the program is a critical resource. “REAP is a remarkable and impactful opportunity for farmers and rural small businesses,” she said. “It can make solar or other energy efficiency projects financially attainable. These technologies can make a huge difference for your business or farm in the long term.”

Solar United Neighbors (SUN) has developed a 10-week program that helps walk farmers and rural small business owners through the REAP application process. Those interested in assistance can join online: Ready, Set, Solar!

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline For farms and rural businesses, a fresh and funded harvest includes the sun on Nov 12, 2024.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Grist Creative.

Philippine authorities have arrested a Chinese national suspected of running an extensive network of criminal fronts in the country, a special task force said Friday.

The suspect, identified as Lin Xunhan, and 12 others were caught as part of a government crackdown against businesses such as illegal Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs). Such businesses serve as fronts for criminal activities, including human trafficking and prostitution, officials said.

“He is… the kingpin of the POGOs in our country,” Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, the commission’s executive director, told reporters. “He came here in 2016. Since then, he’s set up POGOs in the regions and here in Metro Manila.”

Lin and the others were nabbed during a Thursday evening raid in Biñan, a town south of Manila. Nine Filipino security escorts of Lin’s group were also arrested, according to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).

Lin (also known as “Boss Boga” and Lyu Dong) was among those wanted for allegedly operating Lucky South 99, a POGO hub in Pampanga province that was raided and shut down in June.

Authorities said they arrested Lin based on an immigration order issued after the raid on Lucky South. Officials did not provide details about the charges against Lin and the other 12.

Lin’s group was under intense surveillance for the past eight months, with police describing his criminal enterprise as spanning multiple regions in the Philippines, Cruz said.

Apart from Lucky South, Lin also operated in Manila and an area south of the Philippine capital, the commission said. It also said that since 2016, Lin built a network of scam operations that were often fronted by legal businesses.

The successful operations of these scam businesses employed a “sophisticated operational strategy” to evade police crackdowns, it said.

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POGOs are online gambling firms that cater to foreign customers, especially nationals from China, where gambling is illegal. But some POGOs, authorities said, are illegal and serve as fronts for criminal operations, including human trafficking, scams, and other activities.

Such operations are very similar to scam businesses widely reported in other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Cambodia.

POGOs were encouraged by the government of former President Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022), who opened the Philippine economy to Chinese investors. In July, Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., ordered all POGOs shut down after several of the companies were allegedly involved in scams, torture and other crimes.

At their peak, POGOs hired more than 300,000 Chinese workers, government statistics showed.

The crackdown on criminal fronts has gained prominence lately, through last month’s high-profile arrest of Alice Guo, the dismissed mayor of a town in he northern Philippines where one of these gaming hubs operated.

Guo had fled the country for Indonesia to evade grilling by the Senate, which had been investigating the illegal activities of POGOs but was later arrested and extradited to the Philippines.

Gerard Carreon and Jeoffrey Maitem contributed to this report from Manila and Davao City, southern Philippines. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By BenarNews.

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Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company.

The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee.

These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified.

Significant changes to a staffer’s work situation, such as bonuses, pay raises, firings or promotions, can be evidence of a crime if they come outside the normal course of business. To prove witness tampering, prosecutors would need to show that perks or punishments were intended to influence testimony.

White-collar defense lawyers say the situation Trump finds himself in — in the dual role of defendant and boss of many of the people who are the primary witnesses to his alleged crimes — is not uncommon. Their standard advice is not to provide any unusual benefits or penalties to such employees. Ideally, decisions about employees slated to give evidence should be made by an independent body such as a board, not the boss who is under investigation.

Do you have any information about Trump’s campaign or his businesses that we should know? Robert Faturechi can be reached by email at robert.faturechi@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 213-271-7217. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at justin@propublica.org or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.

Even if the perks were not intended to influence witnesses, they could prove troublesome for Trump in any future trials. Prosecutors could point to the benefits to undermine the credibility of those aides on the witness stand.

“It feels very shady, especially as you detect a pattern. … I would worry about it having a corrupt influence,” Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said after hearing from ProPublica about benefits provided to potential Trump witnesses.

But McQuade said these cases are difficult to prove, even if the intent were actually to influence testimony, because savvy defendants don’t explicitly attach strings to the benefits and would more likely be “all wink and a nod, ‘You’re a great, loyal employee, here’s a raise.’”

In response to questions from ProPublica, a Trump campaign official said that any raises or other benefits provided to witnesses were the result of their taking on more work due to the campaign or his legal cases heating up, or because they took on new duties.

The official added that Trump himself isn’t involved in determining how much campaign staffers are paid, and that compensation is entirely delegated to the campaign’s top leaders. “The president is not involved in the decision-making process,” the official said. “I would argue Trump doesn’t know what we’re paid.”

Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement that “the 2024 Trump campaign is the most well-run and professional operation in political history. Any false assertion that we’re engaging in any type of behavior that may be regarded as tampering is absurd and completely fake.”

Trump’s attorney, David Warrington, sent ProPublica a cease-and-desist letter demanding this article not be published. The letter warned that if the outlet and its reporters “continue their reckless campaign of defamation, President Trump will evaluate all legal remedies.”

It’s possible the benefits are more widespread. Payments from Trump campaign committees are disclosed publicly, but the finances of his businesses are mostly private, so raises, bonuses and other payments from those entities are not typically disclosed.

ProPublica did not find evidence that Trump personally approved the pay increases or other benefits. But Trump famously keeps close watch over his operations and prides himself on penny-pinching. One former aide compared working for the Trump Organization, his large company, to “a small family business” where every employee “in some sense reports to Mr. Trump.” Former aides have said Trump demands unwavering loyalty from subordinates, even when their duties require independence. After his Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to recuse himself against then-President Trump’s wishes, paving the way for a special counsel to investigate his campaign’s ties to Russia, Trump fumed about being crossed. “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Trump asked, referring to the notorious former aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy who later served as Trump’s faithful fixer long before Trump became president.

Trump campaign adviser Benefit: Pay more than doubled

Head of Trump campaign Benefit: Payments to firm spiked, campaign hired her daughter

Trump aide Benefit: Received a roughly 20% raise

Trump aide Benefit: Appointed to board of Trump Media

Trump attorney Benefit: Payments to her law firm dramatically increased

Trump lawyer Benefit: Payments to his law firm dramatically increased

Trump Organization executive Benefit: Lucrative severance package

In addition to the New York case in which Trump was convicted last week, stemming from hidden payments to a porn star, Trump is facing separate charges federally and in Georgia for election interference and in another federal case for mishandling classified documents.

Attempts to exert undue influence on witnesses have been a repeated theme of Trump-related investigations and criminal cases over the years.

Trump’s former campaign manager and former campaign adviser were convicted on federal witness tampering charges in 2018 and 2019. The campaign adviser had told a witness to “do a ‘Frank Pentangeli,’” referencing a character in “The Godfather Part II” who lies to a Senate committee investigating organized crime. Trump later pardoned both men in the waning days of his presidency. (He did not pardon a co-defendant of the campaign manager who had cooperated with the government.)

During the congressional investigation into the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a former White House staffer testified that she got a call from a colleague the night before an interview with investigators. The colleague told her Trump’s chief of staff “wants me to let you know that he knows you’re loyal and he knows you’ll do the right thing tomorrow and that you’re going to protect him and the boss.” (A spokesperson for the chief of staff denied that he tried to influence testimony.)

Last year, Trump himself publicly discouraged a witness from testifying in the Georgia case. Trump posted on social media that he had read about a Georgia politician who “will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury. He shouldn’t.”

One witness has said publicly that, when he quit working for Trump in the midst of the classified documents criminal investigation, he was offered golf tournament tickets, a lawyer paid for by Trump and a new job that would have come with a raise. The witness, a valet and manager at Mar-a-Lago, had direct knowledge of the handling of the government documents at the club, the focus of one of the criminal cases against the former president. “I’m sure the boss would love to see you,” the employee, Brian Butler, recalled Trump’s property manager telling him. (The episode was first reported by CNN.)

In an interview with ProPublica, Butler, who declined the offers, said he looked at them “innocently for a while.” But when he added up the benefits plus the timing, he thought “it could be them trying to get me back in the circle.”

One Trump aide who plays a key role in multiple cases is a lawyer named Boris Epshteyn, who became an important figure in Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

A college classmate of one of Trump’s sons who worked on the 2016 campaign and briefly in the White House, Epshteyn was involved in assembling sets of false electors around the country after Trump lost the 2020 election, and Epshteyn’s emails and texts have come up repeatedly in investigations.

In 2022, he testified before the Georgia grand jury that later indicted Trump on charges related to attempts to overturn the election. The FBI seized his phone, and in April 2023 he was interviewed by the federal special counsel.

In early August 2023, the special counsel charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election. A couple weeks later, the Georgia grand jury handed down an indictment accusing Trump of racketeering as part of a plot to overturn the election results in the state. From November 2022 to August 2023, the Trump campaign had paid Epshteyn’s company an average of $26,000 per month. The month after the indictments, his pay hit a new high, $50,000, and climbed in October to $53,500 per month, where it has remained ever since.

Epshteyn is a contractor with the campaign and the payments go to his company, Georgetown Advisory, which is based at a residential home in New Jersey. The company does not appear to have an office or other employees. Campaign filings say the payments are for “communications & legal consulting.”

Kenneth Notter, an attorney at MoloLamken who specializes in white-collar defense, said that a defendant should have a good explanation for a major increase in pay like Epshteyn’s. “Any change in treatment of a witness is something that gets my heart rate up as a lawyer.”

Already in early 2023, months before the pay bump, a Trump campaign spokesperson described Epshteyn to The New York Times as “a deeply valued member of the team” who had “done a terrific job shepherding the legal efforts fighting” the investigations of Trump. The Times reported then that Epshteyn spoke to Trump multiple times per day.

Timothy Parlatore, an attorney who left Trump’s defense team last year citing infighting, found Epshteyn’s large raise baffling. He questioned Epshteyn’s fitness to handle high-stakes criminal defense given his scant experience in the area. “He tries to coordinate all the legal efforts, which is a role he’s uniquely unqualified for,” Parlatore said.

The Trump campaign official told ProPublica that Epshteyn got a pay raise because Trump’s legal cases intensified and, as a result, Epshteyn had more legal work to coordinate. The official declined to say if he started working more hours: “All of us are working 24/7, ... every second of the day.” Epshteyn declined to comment on the record.

Even after the major pay increase, Epshteyn has not devoted all of his working time to the Trump campaign. He has continued to consult for other campaigns in recent months, disclosure filings show. And in November, he got a new role as managing director of a financial services firm in New York called Kenmar Securities, regulatory filings show.

Other employees in Trump’s political orbit have followed a similar pattern — including his top aide.

Trump campaign head Susie Wiles, a Florida political consultant, was present when Trump allegedly went beyond improperly holding onto classified documents and showed them to people lacking proper security clearances.

When Trump was indicted on June 8, 2023, over his handling of the documents, the indictment described Wiles as a “PAC representative.” It described Trump allegedly showing her a classified map related to a military operation, acknowledging “that he should not be showing it” and warning her to “not get too close.”

That June, Right Coast Strategies, the political consulting firm Wiles founded, received its highest-ever monthly payment from the Trump campaign: $75,000, an amount the firm has equaled only once since.

Wiles had been a grand jury witness before the indictment. News reports indicated Wiles had told others that she continued to be loyal to Trump and only testified because she was forced to. (And, according to Wiles, Trump was told she was a witness sometime before the indictment’s June release.)

The Trump campaign official told ProPublica that the spike in payments was largely because Wiles was billing for previous months.

She also got a 20% raise that May, from $25,000 to $30,000 per month. “She went back and redid her contract,” the official said, adding that her role as a witness was not a factor in that raise.

A few months later, the Wiles family got more good news. Wiles’ daughter Caroline, who had done some work for Trump’s first campaign and in the White House, where she reportedly left one job because she didn’t pass a background check, was hired by his campaign. Her salary: $222,000, making her currently the fourth-highest-paid staffer. (The Trump campaign official said her salary included a monthly housing stipend.)

Susie Wiles said she and another campaign official were responsible for hiring her daughter, who she said has an expertise in logistics and was brought on to handle arrangements for surrogates taking Trump’s place at events he couldn’t attend. Wiles said Trump wasn’t involved in the hire.

Caroline Wiles told ProPublica her mother’s position in the campaign played no role in her getting a job, but she declined to describe the circumstances around the job offer. “How did I get the job? Because I have earned it,” she said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with Susie.”

The indictment suggests Susie Wiles herself has been aware of efforts to keep potential witnesses in the fold. Soon after the FBI found classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, a Trump employee was asked in a group text chat that included Wiles to confirm that the club’s property manager “was loyal.”

Wiles told ProPublica she couldn’t talk about the details of the case, but she called the text message exchange “a nothing.”

More generally, she said she was unaware of the need to ensure employees who are witnesses do not appear to be receiving special treatment. “It’s the first time I’ve heard that’s best practice,” she said. “I don’t mind telling you I conduct myself in such a way that I don’t worry about any of that.” Trump, she said, had never talked to her about her role as a witness.

Less powerful aides who are witnesses have also enjoyed career advances.

Margo Martin, a Trump aide who, like Wiles, allegedly witnessed Trump showing off what he described as a secret military document, got a significant raise not long after the classified documents case heated up with the search at Mar-a-Lago.

According to the indictment, Trump told Martin and others the military plan was “secret” and “highly confidential.” “As president I could have declassified it,” he allegedly told the group. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

A few months before her grand jury appearance, she moved from the payroll of a Trump political committee to a job with the campaign as it was launching. Martin was given a roughly 20% pay raise, from $155,000 to $185,000 per year, according to the Trump campaign. Campaign finance filings show a much larger pay increase for Martin, but the Trump campaign said the filings are misleading because of a difference in how payroll taxes and withholdings are reported by the two committees.

Because of that quirk, it’s impossible to know who else got raises and how big they were. The campaign official said that at least one other witness also got a pay raise but did not provide details about how much and when.

Dan Scavino is a longtime communications aide who Trump once called the “most powerful man in politics” because he could post for Trump on the president’s social media accounts. Scavino was among the small group of staff who had an up-close view of Trump during the final weeks of his presidency — a focus of the congressional inquiry into the Jan. 6 insurrection and the criminal probe into election interference.

In August 2021, a month after the congressional investigation began, securities filings show that the parent company behind Truth Social, Trump’s social media company, gave Scavino a consulting deal that ultimately paid out $240,000 a year.

The next month, lawmakers issued a subpoena to Scavino to ask him what the White House knew about the potential for violence before the attacks and what actions Trump took to try to overturn the election results. The panel gave Scavino a half-dozen extensions while negotiating with him, but he ultimately refused to testify or turn over documents and was held in contempt.

In September 2022, Scavino received a subpoena to testify before the criminal grand jury in the federal election interference probe. This time, he wasn’t able to get out of it and was seen leaving the Washington, D.C., courthouse in May 2023.

Bits of Scavino’s testimony were reported by ABC News, citing unnamed sources. Though his recollections of Trump from Jan. 6 painted the former president unfavorably, his reported testimony didn’t include significant new information. He testified Trump was “very angry” that day, and, despite pleas from aides to calm the Capitol rioters, Trump for hours “was just not interested” in taking action to stop it. When the testimony was reported, Trump’s spokesperson said Scavino is one of the former president’s “most loyal allies, and his actual testimony shows just how strong President Trump is positioned in this case.”

Between getting the subpoena and testifying, Scavino was given a seat on the board of the Trump social media company.

Scavino was also granted a $600,000 retention bonus and a $4 million “executive promissory note” paid in shares, according to SEC filings. The company’s public filings do not make clear when these deals were put in place.

As one of the few aides who Trump was with on Jan. 6, Scavino is likely to be called if Trump’s election interference cases go to trial.

Reached by ProPublica, Scavino declined to answer questions about how he got the board seat and other benefits from the Trump media company. “It has nothing to do,” he said, “with any investigation.”

A Trump Media spokesperson declined to answer questions about who made the decision to give Scavino the benefits and why, but said, “It appears this article will comprise utterly false insinuations.”

When Atlanta attorney Jennifer Little was hired to represent Trump in his Georgia election interference case, it marked the high point of her career.

A former local prosecutor who started her own practice, she had previously taken on far more modest cases. Highlights on her website include a biker who fell because of a pothole, a child investigated for insensitive social media comments and drunk drivers with “DUI’s as high as .19.” Little had made headlines for some higher profile cases, like a candidate for lieutenant governor accused of sexual harassment, but everything on her resume paled in comparison to representing a former president accused of plotting to reverse the outcome of an election.

Then in May 2022, her job got even more complicated when Trump pulled her into his brewing showdown with the Justice Department over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Despite multiple requests, Trump had not returned all of the documents he had brought with him from the White House to his Florida club. The Justice Department had just elevated the matter by subpoenaing Trump for the records, and Trump wanted her advice.

Little told him, according to news reports, that unlike the government’s prior requests, a subpoena meant he could face criminal charges if he didn’t comply.

When Trump ultimately did not turn over the records and the criminal investigation intensified, Little’s involvement in that pivotal meeting got her called before a grand jury by federal prosecutors.

Some of her testimony before that grand jury, which determines whether someone will be indicted, may have been favorable for Trump. In one reported instance, Little’s recollections undermined contemporaneous documentary evidence that was damaging to Trump. Investigators had obtained notes from another lawyer at the May 2022 meeting indicating Trump suggested they not “play ball” with federal authorities: “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”

Little told the grand jury she remembered the question more benignly, according to an ABC News story that cited anonymous sources, and said she couldn’t recall Trump recommending they not “play ball.”

Trump has since been indicted over his handling of the classified documents. If the case goes to trial, Little’s testimony could prove crucial as the two sides try to make their case about Trump's consciousness of guilt and whether he purposely withheld documents. (Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case and has said he did nothing wrong.)

Just after Little was forced to testify before the grand jury in March 2023, a Trump political action committee paid her $218,000, by far the largest payment she’d received while working for Trump. In the year after she became a witness, she has made at least $1.3 million from the Trump political committee, more than twice as much as she had during the year prior.

Little told ProPublica the large payment she received soon after she was compelled to testify was due to a lengthy motion she filed around then to block the release of the Georgia grand jury’s findings and prevent Trump from being indicted. Her hourly rate did not change, she said, the workload increased. The elevated payments in the year after she became a witness did coincide with the Georgia case heating up and Trump getting indicted.

The Trump campaign official said the spike in payments to Little after she became a witness was the result of her billing for multiple time periods at once.

A similar pattern played out for the other Trump lawyer present at the Mar-a-Lago meeting about the subpoena.

Evan Corcoran, a former federal prosecutor who specializes in white-collar criminal defense, was new to the team at the time. And it was his notes, obtained by investigators, that memorialized Trump suggesting they not “play ball.” His notes also included a description of Trump seeming to instruct him to withhold some sensitive documents from authorities when the former president made a “plucking motion.”

“He made a funny motion as though — well okay why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out,” Corcoran’s notes read, according to the indictment.

Like Little, Corcoran tried to fight being forced to testify before a grand jury, asserting that as Trump’s lawyer, their communications were protected. But prosecutors were able to convince a judge that the protection didn’t apply because their legal advice was used to commit crimes.

Corcoran’s notes from his conversations with Trump formed the backbone of the eventual indictment, and his descriptions of those meetings are expected to be a critical component at trial. The lawyer made an initial appearance before the grand jury in January 2023 and appeared again in another session in March.

Around the time he was forced to be a witness, Corcoran recused himself from the classified documents case, but he continued to represent Trump on other matters. Nevertheless his firm’s compensation shot up for a few months.

Just days after his March grand jury testimony, the Trump campaign sent two payments to his firm totaling $786,000, the largest amount paid in a single day in his almost two years working for Trump. The firm brought in a total of $1.4 million in that four-week span, more than double its payments from any other comparable period during Corcoran’s time working for Trump.

Corcoran did not respond to questions from ProPublica. The Trump campaign official said the spike in payments came because the firm was billing for more hours of work as Trump’s cases ramped up. The official added that the number of lawyers from the firm working on the case may have increased but could not provide specifics.

The issue of witnesses who have received financial rewards from Trump has already come up at both of the former president’s New York trials.

In the civil fraud case last year, prosecutors questioned the Trump Organization’s former controller about the $500,000 in severance he had been promised after retiring earlier in the year. During his testimony, the former controller broke down in tears as he complained about allegations against an employer he loved and defended the valuations at the center of the case as “justified.” At the time of the testimony, he was still receiving his severance in installments.

Former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg got a $2 million severance agreement in January 2023, four months after the New York attorney general sued Trump for financial fraud in his real estate business. The agreement contains a nondisparagement clause and language barring Weisselberg from voluntarily cooperating with investigators.

It came up in Trump’s hush money trial last month when prosecutors told the judge that the severance agreement was one of the reasons they would not call Weisselberg . He was still due several payments.

“The agreement seems to preclude us from talking to him or him talking to us at the risk of losing $750,000 of outstanding severance pay,” one prosecutor said.

In last year’s fraud trial, the judge wrote of the severance agreement, “The Trump Organization keeps Weisselberg on a short leash, and it shows.”

A Trump Organization spokesperson said in a statement that after Weisselberg and the controller announced their retirement plans, “the company agreed to pay them severance based on the number of years they worked at the company. President Trump played no role in that decision.” Weisselberg’s severance agreement was signed by Trump’s son Eric.

Another witness from the civil trial last year, longtime Trump friend and real estate executive Steve Witkoff, was called as an expert witness by Trump’s defense team, and he defended the Trump Organization real estate valuations at the heart of the case.

Two months after Witkoff’s testimony, Trump’s campaign for the first time started paying his company, the Witkoff Group, for air travel. The payments continued over several weeks, ultimately totalling more than $370,000.

The Trump campaign official confirmed the campaign used Witkoff’s private jet for multiple trips, including Trump’s visit to a stretch of the Texas border in February, saying it “appropriately reimbursed” him for the flights. The official said it sometimes used commercial charter jet services but opted for Witkoff’s plane because of “availability, space, and convenience.”

Witkoff and The Witkoff Group did not respond to requests for comment.

Do you have any information about Trump’s campaign or his businesses that we should know? Robert Faturechi can be reached by email at robert.faturechi@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 213-271-7217. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at justin@propublica.org or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.

Headshot photos of Allen Weisselberg by Curtis Means/Daily Mail/Bloomberg/Getty Images; Evan Corcoran by Nathan Howard/Bloomberg/Getty Images; Dan Scavino by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Susie Wiles by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images; Jennifer Little by Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images; Boris Epshteyn by Mandek Ngan/AFP/Getty Images; and Margo Martin by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images.

Agnel Philip contributed data analysis.

Graphics by Lena Groeger.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski.

“We want grants and not concessional loans,” is the crisp message from Papua New Guinea businesses directly affected by the Black Wednesday looting four months ago.

The businesses, which lost millions after the January 10 rioting and looting, say they need grants as part of the government’s Restock and Rebuild assistance — and not more loans.

This is the message delivered by the PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday after news that the national government has so far given K7 million (NZ$3.2 million) in funding to several affected companies to pay staff salaries.

• READ MORE: The Black Wednesday riots

President Ian Tarutia said the business coalition representing impacted businesses would be meeting with the Chief Secretary and his inter-agency team this week to find out when the assistance will be given.

Their message at this crucial meeting will be the same — no loans!

“The real impact assistance that is truly beneficial is rebuilding and restocking,” Tarutia said.

“We will meet with the chief secretary hopefully this week to get an update on this component of the government’s relief assistance to affected businesses.

Concessional rate loans
Tarutia explained that an initial National Executive Council decision was to provide loans at concessional rates and managed through the National Development Bank.

“Business Coalition’s response was grants and not loans are the preferred assistance. Meeting with the Chief Secretary this week hopefully can resolve this.”

He also indicated that in the initial impact by businesses compiled in late January, the estimated cost for rebuild and restock covering loss of property, cost of clean up, loss of goods was K774 million.

“This was for 64 businesses mainly in Port Moresby but a few in Goroka, Rabaul, Kundiawa and Kavieng,” he said.

“Out of this K774 million, an amount of K273 million was submitted as needed immediately.

“Business Coalition met last Saturday morning. Business houses are looking forward to meeting Chief Secretary Pomaleu and his inter-agency team this week to find out when the assistance for rebuilding destroyed properties and restocking looted inventory will be given.”

Tarutia acknowledged that so far, the government had paid out approximately K7 million in wage support for businesses which includes eight businesses including CPL.

Businesses acknowledge the wage support to date and are appreciative on behalf of their affected staff.

Dale Luma is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Meanwhile, far-right Republicans like Texas Congressman Chip Roy have made comments like, "Everyone that I know and trust about the border, about overall spending, see it as a complete and total failure and a capitulation by Republicans. And leadership worked the deal, so it's on leadership."

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) not only opposed the package but also filed a motion to vacate, hoping to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—which would only require a simple majority if it came up for a vote.

House Republicans elected Johnson to the leadership role in late October, after ousting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)—who then opted to leave office at the end of last year—and rejecting three other candidates for the post: Reps. Tom Emmer (D-Minn.), Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Noting that Greene filed a regular motion rather than a privileged one, meaning it could be referred to a committee, "where it would likely languish," NBC Newsreported Friday:

Greene told reporters that her motion to vacate was "more of a warning than a pink slip," saying she does not want to "throw the House into chaos," like the three and a half weeks that the chamber was without a speaker when McCarthy, her close ally, was ousted.

"I'm not saying that it won't happen in two weeks or it won't happen in a month or who knows when. But I am saying the clock has started. It's time for our conference to choose a new speaker," she said.

Johnson's October election led Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)—who filed the motion to vacate targeting McCarthy—to declare that "MAGA is ascendant," a reference to the "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for the November election.

While Gaetz voted against the spending package on Friday, he also said that "if we vacated this speaker we'd end up with a Democrat. You know, when I vacated the last one, I made a promise to the country that we would not end up with a Democrat speaker and I was right. I couldn't make that promise again today."

Asked if he thinks Johnson's job is safe, Gaetz responded, "It is."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) also responded dismissively when questioned about Greene's motion on Friday, tellingPunchbowl News, "She's a joke."

A spokesperson for Johnson, Raj Shah, toldPolitico that the speaker "always listens to the concerns of members, but is focused on governing. He will continue to push conservative legislation that secures our border, strengthens our national defense, and demonstrates how we'll grow our majority."

However, Johnson's limited control over the House is dwindling. Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who backed the spending bill, revealed that he is resigning from his seat effective April 19 after previously saying that he would not seek reelection. Friday was also the last day of Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who announced earlier this month that he would step down from his seat.

The Washington Post noted Friday that "Buck and Gallagher are the sixth and seventh members of the House who are quitting midterm simply to leave for the private sector, a trend we dubbed 'the Great Resignation' last weekend. It's also the highest number of lawmakers quitting public service altogether in at least 40 years."

Responding to Gallager's announcement on social media, HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery said that "House Republicans are imploding in plain sight."

In yet another disruption to the chamber's GOP leadership, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)—who announced last year that she wouldn't seek reelection—wrote in a Friday letter to Johnson that she plans to step down as chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Granger told the speaker she would stay in the post until the Republican Steering Committee chooses her replacement and then remain on the panel through the end of her term to offer "advice and counsel for my colleagues when it is needed."

The Texas Tribunepointed out that "the Appropriations Committee will need to pass another set of federal funding bills before the end of September to keep the government funded. Congress has failed to meet that deadline for nearly 30 years, and Granger acknowledged in her letter that election years in particular often distract Congress from passing spending bills on time."

GOP members of the upper chamber were also accused of sowing chaos on Friday, as the midnight shutdown deadline loomed.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said on social media, "Well, it looks like we're headed for a shutdown at the hands of Senate Republican gremlins who (1) know that amendments can't pass because there's no House to send an amended bill back to (they adjourned) and (2) want amendments anyway."

"And (3) can't decide amongst themselves what won't-pass amendments they want," Whitehouse added. "I sure hope I'm wrong. But the Republican Senate caucus is a rudderless ship right now, so the gremlins are running the show."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

More school uniforms are necessary because authorities are pushing development of STEM education nationwide, and new schools to train new teachers are opening in each province. Students attending the new schools must wear uniforms that match their peers, and there simply are not enough to go around.

One such factory was completed in October in the northeastern port city of Chongjin.

“It is true that  the construction of a school uniform factory is a measure for students, but some residents are anxious,” a resident of Chongjin’s surrounding North Hamgyong province told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. 

“There are many people in Chongjin who make money by making various clothes using Chinese fabric,” she said. "They hire several women to process clothes. It’s like running a small factory.”

North Korea had state-run clothing factories that produce school uniforms in the past, but following the 1994-1998 famine and economic collapse, many of these factories lacked the raw materials and labor necessary to make the uniforms. 

Since that era, rapid inflation meant that most families could not survive on the salary provided by government-assigned jobs, so many North Korean families had to start businesses trading goods and services in the local marketplace. These days, most families make their livelihood this way.

With school uniforms no longer being pumped out in factories, entrepreneurial residents took it upon themselves to fill the void in the market.

But now the government’s new factories threaten to kill their market share.

Anxious outlook

It isn’t only the small business owners that are worried about the new factories. Their workers are also afraid.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, imported fabrics and zippers from China were hard to come by, and the uniform makers had to temporarily shut down their operations.

“Women who used to work steadily [making uniforms] have been unable to make money because their work has stopped for the past three years when the border was blocked,” the resident said. “They are afraid of the completion of the school uniform factory.” 

The new factories will make more than only uniforms. So people making other kinds of cloth goods are also worried, the resident said.

“Last year, the Chongjin Bag Factory was also opened,” she said. “Many people will lose their livelihood due to the school uniform factory and the bag factory.”

In addition to the Chongjin uniform factory, another school uniform factory was recently completed in the city of Rason, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.

“They were built by the province itself without central support,” a resident there told RFA. “Clothes processing equipment, such as cutting machines, sewing machines, and ironing machines, were brought in from China by the provincial trade bureau.”

He said that the province rushed to open these factories and they are not yet completely finished. 

“This is because the completion is delayed compared to other provinces,” he said. “Everything is a regional competition.”

Clothing produced by the state-run factories is generally lower quality, so residents may still want to buy their uniforms from the private makers, the he said.

In April, at the start of the school year, students were given factory-made uniforms said to be gifts from the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, the second resident said.

“[They] looked good, but the quality was pathetic,” he said. "Although there are school uniforms given by the government, there are many parents whose children are begging them to buy the nicer school uniforms sold at the market,” the source pointed out.

Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Ahn Chang Gyu for RFA Korean.

The post Yes, Trump’s Lies on Financial Statements Did Cost Businesses Money appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.

More than 300 companies operating in Papua New Guinea are facing penalties and will be issued infringement notices for not adhering to the country’s labour laws, Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso has announced.

He said on Thursday that pending the official release of the full report of the National Capital District (NCD) Combined Labour Inspection Programme (CLIP), 431 companies were inspected and the findings were:

• about 18 companies were identified as paying 444 workers below the K3.50 (NZ$1.57) an hour minimum wage in the wholesale and retail industry, and
• 228 companies were not remitting Nasfund contributions affecting 2457 employees with about 20 of them non compliant.

Within 51 days, 431 companies or establishments were covered.

Out of the 431 companies, only 425 companies provided information of their total number of employees within their establishment, which comprised of the overall total of 13,410 employees covered.

Out of the 431 companies, only 421 companies provided their minimum wage information.

And out of the 421 responses, 403 responded to have their employees paid on and above K3.50 the national minimum wage, while only 18 companies paid below the national minimum wage of K3.50, which in total affects 444 employees.

Industries varied
“For companies that have been issued infringement notices of non-compliance and charged under OSH and OWC, we are yet to receive the amount charged, and also to confirm which companies have paid and those that are yet to pay or remit respectively,” Rosso said.

The number of industries varied, but a high number of wholesale and retail industries totaling to 249 companies under this industry were covered to confirm that “we have a high number of this industry that operates within the nation’s capital city”.

Others included trade, hotels and restaurants (27), transport, storage and communication (9), manufacturing (15), primary production (3), building and construction (11) and security (6).

The inspections in NCD in the last two months also collected statutory fees from occupational, safety and health regulations, and workers compensation insurance policy payments.

Rosso released this during the handover takeover ceremony of the Labour Ministry to Rai Coast MP Kessy Sawang on Thursday.

“All of these offending companies were issued notices to comply with the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations requirements, and other government statutory requirements such as the Bank of Papua New Guinea regulations on Nasfund contributions,” he said.

“This proves a point I have made many a time, that the department has the potential to generate revenue in the non-tax regime, provided sufficient recurrent funding is made available in the DLIR annual allocations,” Rosso said.

Strengthening laws
He said that in his capacity as the Deputy Prime Minister, he would work with Minister Sawang to ensure DLIR was adequately supported to continue this exercise and others.

“Strengthening to the existing legislature and fees and fines are also areas I focused on, and Minister Sawang is tasked with carrying on this activity and similar, like, freeing up 10,000 jobs presently held by foreign workers through up-skilling of local talent.

Other notable achievements during his time with the department include the launching of the National Training Policy 2022 to 2023 and the Labour Market Information Policy 2022-2023, and the ratification of three important International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions which were the Violence and Harassment Convention 2019 (No. 190), the Tripartite Consultation Convention 1976 (No. 144), and the Labour Inspection Convention 1974 (No. 81).

Rosso congratulated Sawang on her appointment as minister, and said he looked forward to her leadership of the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations for a smart, secure, fair and decent work environment for PNG.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

RNZ News

Prominent environmental groups in Aotearoa New Zealand are less than impressed with what they describe as underwhelming budget investments in climate, but an expert says the government has taken a multifaceted approach.

Among the announcements yesterday was $402.6 million to expand the duration and scope of the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme, $120 million to expand EV charging infrastructure, $100 million fund to help councils invest in future flood resilience, $24.7 million to improve data on impacts of climate change and adaptation and mitigation, and $167.4 million in building resilience to future climate events.

It came on the same day the World Meteorological Organisation said global temperatures were now more likely than not to breach 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming within the next five years.

• READ MORE: NZ’s Budget 2023 at a glance: What you need to know — full climate and science, research and technology investments
• Other NZ Budget 2023 reports

Forest and Bird said the budget did little to tackle climate change and turn around biodiversity loss.

“Keeping New Zealanders safe is clearly a ‘bread and butter’ issue, yet the government’s lack of investment in nature-based solutions is putting us all at risk,” chief executive Nicola Toki said.

“What we looked for but have not found, is meaningful investment in nature-based solutions to climate impacts. And our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture, has not yet been priced more than 30 years after New Zealand promised the world it would cut emissions.”

The government’s $6 billion infrastructure-focused National Resilience Plan needed to prioritise investment in areas like river catchments, forests, and wetlands — otherwise it might even affect people’s ability to get insurance in the future, Toki said.

Insulation and heating retrofits
Electricity Networks Aotearoa chief executive Richard Le Gros said the association, which represents New Zealand’s 27 electricity distribution businesses (EDBs), supported the focus in the budget on decarbonisation initiatives as well as insulation and heating retrofits.

“We welcome the government’s greater investment in public EV charging infrastructure throughout the country,” Le Gros said, adding it would help reduce household energy bills and encourage a green transition.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Christine Rose was critical of the government for missing the chance to implement radical change in farming, climate solutions, transport, and energy.

“While it’s positive to see that half-price fares remain for some, we needed bolder and more visionary strategies, including significant investment in expanding rail and making public transport fares free for all,” Rose said.

“We welcome the funding boost for home insulation and heat pumps, but are disappointed not to see significant investment in locally-owned renewable energy.

“This would end our dependence on oil, gas and coal, and also reduce the power bills of everyday New Zealanders, addressing both the cost of living and climate crisis.”

Long-term behaviour change
University of Canterbury professor Bronwyn Hayward said the budget appeared “deceptively simple” but, for example, allowing children to use public transport for free was not just about increasing bus use, it would also ease family budgets and instigate long-term behaviour change.

“Critics of the government will rightly point out there is now less money available to spend on climate resilience due to the crash in carbon pricing, and yet a sizable new spend of $1.9 billion has been allocated in this budget for climate resilience alongside the $1 billion pledged for cyclone recovery,” Hayward said.

“This, together with spending on retrofitted housing, new homes, prescription charges and school lunches all contributes to the social infrastructure that communities will badly need when facing ongoing climate risk.

“We need to join the dots when we talk about climate budgets and see how many of the wellbeing initiatives are also very real investments in climate resilient futures too.”

While making transport more equitable was important, University of Auckland School of Architecture and Planning senior lecturer Timothy Welch said the focus should also be on the infrastructure’s resilience as more intense and frequent weather events could be expected.

“New funding for maintaining public transport service and workforce development is important, but we need more funding to expand our public transport networks and help drive down transportation emissions.”

Research, science, and tech
Universities New Zealand welcomed the announcement of $55 million for research fellowships and an applied doctoral training scheme, as well as the allocation of $451 million for multi-institutional research collaboration hubs in the Wellington region focused on health and wellbeing, oceans, climate and hazards, advanced manufacturing, biotech and energy futures.

However, it said it was unfortunate to see funding for the Centres for Asia-Pacific Excellence had been discontinued.

Professor Hayward said integrating science agencies based in Wellington was important, but it omitted “arts and imagination”.

“The climate crisis will bring repeated, cascading and compounding weather events that will test our resolve and tear at the fabric of our society. These are not challenges which can be fixed by science or investment in infrastructure alone,” Professor Hayward said.

“We need the arts, alongside sciences to help imagine a low-carbon economy in fair and just ways,” she said.

“While government could justifiably argue its attention to digital screen industries is a creative investment in ‘a high-wage low emissions and creative economy’ we also need a wider vision for the deeper integration of arts and sciences, one which helps us imagine new ways we might yet flourish in a climate challenged world.”

Addressing inequities
Environmental consultant Andrea Byrom said it was heartening to see some of the tertiary investment addressing long-recognised inequities, with dedicated fellowships and awards for Māori and Pacific people and a boost to provision of Mātauranga Māori in the tertiary sector, and applied postdoctoral fellowships.

Byrom also applauded trialling apprenticeship training in the tech sector and boost to research fellowships and PhDs.

“The historical gap in funding for these types of fellowships, particularly at postdoctoral level, has resulted in much of Aotearoa New Zealand’s best and brightest talent heading offshore — sometimes never to return.

“Hopefully these fellowships will stem that flow.”

Malaghan Institute director Graham Le Gros said the investment in science and innovation recognised the sector’s value to the country’s resilience and prosperity.

“From building resilience in the face of future pandemics to investing in biotech, innovation and talent to help move New Zealand to a high-wage economy, we can rejoice in some much needed infrastructure so that all New Zealand scientists have a place to really focus their energy and attention,” Le Gros said.

“The multi-institutional research hubs will increase collaboration and productivity, allowing us to work together to tackle some of New Zealand’s most pressing challenges and opportunities.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

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Over the past quarter-century, former NFL player Kenny Hansmire has leaned on government officials across the country to grow the National Child Identification Program. The Texas-based company sells kits that it claims help track down missing kids.

A ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation found that politicians have committed millions of dollars to purchasing the fingerprinting kits despite little evidence of their effectiveness and the company’s use of exaggerated missing-child statistics. Numerous Texas law enforcement agencies told the news organizations they couldn’t recall using a kit to help find a runaway or kidnapped child.

For Hansmire, NCIDP stands out as a success amid a decadeslong string of troubled business ventures, from municipal debt collection to college all-star football games. In some cases, he has recognized politicians who supported the company with awards at NFL games and other events.

Hansmire has formed or been involved with at least a dozen Texas businesses in the past three decades. Many of them have faced lawsuits from creditors, lenders or contractors for unpaid bills, or they lost the right to operate in the state after failing to pay taxes or file tax returns, according to a ProPublica and Tribune analysis of business filings and court and tax records.

In raising money for some of his businesses, Hansmire linked up with a Connecticut securities broker to persuade at least 10 investors to lend some of his companies $1.9 million, according to public records. The effort drew scrutiny from the Connecticut Department of Banking, which found that the men defrauded or misled investors in the sale of securities. Hansmire reached a settlement with the Banking Department and agreed to stop seeking investments and to pay an undisclosed amount in restitution.

Hansmire did not respond to detailed questions from the news organizations about the legal and financial challenges his companies have faced. Instead, he issued a broad statement to the news organizations saying that he’s “always taken responsibility and paid debts entirely.”

“I have always been an entrepreneur with both ups and downs,” Hansmire said in the statement. He added that he believes that “most businesses” face legal disputes and noted that the lawsuits against him “have been properly resolved, closed, and are completely unrelated to the National Child ID Program.”

Hansmire said his company’s kits have been lauded by law enforcement leaders for helping during the “first and most critical minutes of a search for a missing child.”

He didn’t provide proof that he had paid off his debts, and publicly available records show that numerous state and federal tax liens against him and his companies remained in place as of early May. A public IRS filing shows that Hansmire and his wife had at least $2 million in outstanding tax liens as of October 2022, though the agency would not confirm if that’s how much they still owe to the federal government.

Little information is available on Hansmire’s more recent companies. They have no websites, and we found no liens or lawsuits against them. Others appear frequently in court records, news reports, business filings and other public documents. Below is an accounting of those ventures.

Company name: Capital Assistance Group When it was active: 1990s Status: Unclear Hansmire’s role: President, according to news coverage from the time What it did: The collections agency landed contracts with cities across the state to recover unpaid traffic tickets that had resulted in warrants. During a 1991 meeting, Hansmire promised officials in White Settlement, a municipality near Fort Worth, that the company would “at least double the amount you pay us or we will write you a check for the difference.” Legal and financial issues: Tax records show that the IRS and the state of Texas filed four liens against Capital Assistance Group in the early and mid-1990s that totaled more than $31,000. The state ones are still outstanding, according to Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson Angela Woellner, who said the liens were for unpaid unemployment insurance taxes. In 1993, a county court judge ordered Hansmire and Capital Assistance to pay $9,850 plus $3,283 in attorneys fees to an 87-year-old East Texas widow, Ruby Flournoy, who has since died. According to court records, Flournoy loaned Hansmire the money, which he promised to pay back with “certain funds to be paid over to him by the city of Forest Hill,” a suburb of Fort Worth that had hired Capital Assistance, according to news coverage. Flournoy’s son, Robert Flournoy, an attorney who represented his mother in the case, said in an interview that Hansmire never paid. In 1995, Hansmire was sued by the city of Arlington for “unpaid collection fees.” A judge subsequently ordered Hansmire to pay the city $5,000 plus attorneys fees, court records show. Arlington Assistant City Attorney Ursula Monroe Patterson said the office couldn’t confirm if Hansmire paid because records are no longer available and none of its current employees are familiar with the case. Hansmire did not directly address questions about the lawsuits or specific liens.

Company name: Inkless Image Security Corp. When it started: 1996 Status: Voluntarily terminated Hansmire’s role: Secretary, treasurer and president What it did: Hansmire partnered with Peter A. Pyhrr, a Dallas-area inventor, to form the company. The men were granted a patent in 1999 for an “inkless fingerprint methodology” that could be used to verify the authenticity of written medication prescriptions or to confirm the true identity of airline passengers “for security purposes in case something illegal happens to the plane (bombing or hijacking).” To do this, doctors and airlines would use paper coated with an invisible chemical solution that pharmacists and boarding agents would check by applying another chemical solution. Pyhrr could not be reached for comment. Legal and financial issues: In 2004, a justice of the peace ordered Hansmire and the company to pay Riddell Inc., a manufacturer of professional football gear, nearly $5,000 plus interest and fees. It’s unclear why Riddell filed suit, as the case file is not available online and the court ignored repeated requests to provide it. Available records indicate Hansmire paid. He did not directly address questions about the case. A Riddell spokesperson said that the company couldn’t comment because its general counsel wasn’t around at the time of the lawsuit and its prior general counsel had died.

Company name: Identaprint Texas Inc. When it started: Registered in 1996 Status: Forfeited existence Hansmire’s role: Hansmire’s lawyer at the time, Carl Barnhart, was listed on the Texas secretary of state website as the registered agent. The company’s incorporation filing isn’t available online, but court records from a 1996 lawsuit against the company state that Hansmire was its president. What it did: The company sold inkless fingerprint materials to individuals and businesses, including in the area of child identification, according to court records. Legal and financial issues: In 1996, a contract sales employee who also had invested in the company sued Hansmire in a Dallas state district court, alleging the company failed to pay her commission on the sale of inkless fingerprint materials. She also alleged that Hansmire failed to repay loans for $9,205 and $1,880 that she gave him in exchange for 10% of company stock, as well as an undisclosed security interest and the rights to any future patent for “Inkless Fingerprint Tamperproof Tape,” a product designed for use by the drug testing industry. The parties reached a settlement that required Hansmire to pay more than $40,000 to the employee-investor, who did not respond to requests for comment. It is unclear if it was paid. Hansmire did not directly address questions about the case.

Company name: Overtime Sports Pacific Inc. When it started: 2004 Status: Forfeited existence Hansmire’s role: Chair, CEO, co-director and registered agent What it did: In late 2004, Hansmire bought a majority share of a 58-year-old college football all-star game in Hawaii with his longtime friend and business partner Mark Salmans and his wife, Mindy. Local news coverage stated that, before the sale, the Hula Bowl had struggled with attendance, sponsorships and debt. Legal and financial issues: In January 2006, less than two years after purchasing the game, the company sold it following a string of public controversies centered on naming rights, relocation of the game and ongoing struggles with attendance. Later that year, the company that Overtime Sports had hired to handle promotion and advertising sued Hansmire’s company and the bowl’s new owner for $103,000, claiming it hadn’t been fully paid. The new owner blamed Overtime Sports, according to news coverage, but Hansmire asserted that his company “left Hawaii without any debts.” Court records and news coverage indicate the parties were working toward a settlement, though it’s unclear if they reached one. Hansmire did not directly address questions about the case, and none of the other parties responded to requests for comment. Mark and Mindy Salmans also did not respond to requests for comment. The case was dismissed in October 2008.

Company name: Overtime Marketing LLC When it started: 2005 Status: Voluntarily dissolved Hansmire’s role: President, CEO and director What it did: Overtime Marketing LLC did business as the National Child Identification Program, according to federal tax liens and court records. It’s unclear if running NCIDP was the entity’s primary purpose, but Hansmire moved to terminate the company in September 2015, citing an intent to restructure the business. Two days later, he formed Stillwater Solutions 23 LLC, which does business as NCIDP. Legal and financial issues: In April 2009, the IRS filed a lien against the company for nearly $9,000 in unpaid employment taxes. Records show Hansmire paid the full amount later that year. In 2012, the IRS, which declined to comment, filed additional liens against the company for unpaid unemployment taxes totaling more than $73,000. Nearly $45,000 of that was still outstanding at the time of publication, according to publicly available records. In 2014, a district court judge in Dallas ordered Overtime Marketing, which was doing business as Texas vs. The Nation, to pay almost $35,000 to a sports radio station that had sued the company, alleging it was not compensated for on-air advertisements. Two years later, Frost Bank sued Overtime Marketing and Hansmire for overdrafting his business accounts by nearly $50,000. A county court judge approved a settlement agreement that required him to reimburse the bank. A Frost spokesperson confirmed that Hansmire paid but declined to comment further. Hansmire did not directly address questions about the case.

Company name: Overtime Sports Southwest LLC When it started: 2006 Status: Forfeited existence Hansmire’s role: Member and president What it did: After leaving Hawaii, Hansmire launched a new bowl game in El Paso called Texas vs. The Nation, which pitted the state’s top college football players against their peers from across the country. According to local news coverage from the time, he recruited the University of Texas at El Paso’s football coach to lead the state team and persuaded local officials to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the venture on the promise that it would turn the city into an important destination for NFL scouts and have a multimillion-dollar economic impact. After a few years, attendance fell. Hansmire blamed El Pasoans for not showing up to the fourth game, on Feb. 6, 2010, describing turnout as a “big disappointment,” and threatened to relocate. He later apologized, but the City Council scaled back El Paso’s financial commitment. He moved the game to San Antonio the following year and later the Dallas suburb of Allen, where it was played a final time. Legal and financial issues: Overtime Sports Southwest was later renamed Overtime Sports Southeast. In 2014, Hansmire and Overtime Sports Southeast filed a lawsuit against Dethrone Royalty Holdings Inc., the title sponsor for the final game, which resulted in a settlement that allowed Hansmire to pay outstanding bills from the game. A year later, California-based Direct Access Fund LLC, which had lent Overtime Southwest money, sued Hansmire for failing to repay. The parties settled that year, but in July 2016, Direct Access Fund asked that the case be removed from the dismissal docket because Hansmire still hadn’t paid. A settlement later awarded Direct Access Fund, whose attorney did not respond to requests for comment, $213,750 plus $13,000 in attorneys fees. It’s unclear if Hansmire paid. “I am very proud of what Texas vs. The Nation accomplished in El Paso,” Hansmire said in his statement. “The game was instrumental in furthering numerous football careers.”

Company name: Safety Blitz Foundation Inc. When it started: 2015 Status: In existence Hansmire’s role: No formal role is listed in state records, but in an interview with ProPublica and the Tribune, Hansmire said that Safety Blitz, a nonprofit, was formed so that the for-profit National Child Identification Program could accept donations. Mark Salmans, who is director of operations for NCIDP, is listed as the foundation’s registered agent. What it does: According to its federal tax filings, Safety Blitz’s mission is “to provide child ID safety kits that allow parents to collect specific information by easily recording the physical characteristics and fingerprints of their children on identification cards that are kept by the parent or guardian.” In Texas and South Carolina, the millions of dollars that lawmakers have approved for kit purchases went to the foundation, which then used the money to purchase kits from the National Child Identification Program. Legal and financial issues: A review of IRS records found that the foundation didn’t file its required annual tax form for the first three years of its existence. That resulted in the loss of the organization’s tax-exempt status. A letter from the IRS to Safety Blitz shows its exemption was reinstated in 2019. “I have no position with the Safety Blitz Foundation,” Hansmire said in a statement. Salmans did not respond to questions about the organization.

Company name: Stillwater Solutions 23 LLC, doing business as the National Child Identification Program When it started: 2015 Status: In existence Hansmire’s role: Registered agent and manager What it does: The company sells child identification kits to governmental entities and schools across the country, according to contracting records. Federal records show the company spent more than $200,000 on lobbyists since 2019 to push legislation in Congress that would support taxpayer-funded purchases of the company’s kits. Legal and financial issues: In November 2021, Stillwater temporarily lost its legal right to operate after a tax forfeiture but was reinstated in January 2022. Tax forfeitures can occur when a company fails to pay taxes, but Hansmire said in this case it was because the company didn’t file its franchise tax return on time. “Stillwater missed a mundane filing deadline,” Hansmire said in a statement to the news organizations. “This was corrected, and we are in good standing.”

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Jeremy Schwartz contributed reporting.

This content originally appeared on Articles and Investigations - ProPublica and was authored by by Kiah Collier and Lexi Churchill.

When China reopened its borders to outbound international travel in early January ahead of the arrival of the Lunar New Year, Thai entrepreneurs and shopkeepers expected that a rush of Chinese tourists would revive their businesses ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Lately, however, investors from mainland China have intervened and pounced on the outbound tourist market. They have been pouring cash into Bangkok and going around stricter investment rules for foreigners by persuading Thais to act as nominees on applications for business licenses, locals complain.

They say shops and eateries backed by Chinese entrepreneurs have sprouted up as a result in Yaowarat and Huai Khwang districts, home to the two Chinatowns in Thailand’s capital. 

New hotpot restaurants and supermarkets, which sell everything from Ma La, a mouth-burning sauce made of Sichuan peppercorns and chili, to instant noodles imported from China, are squeezing local businesses by driving up commercial rental rates by four times higher, Chinatown vendors and others say.

A similar trend is happening at Thailand’s largest wholesale flower market along the Chao Phraya River, the main waterway in Bangkok.

“Local businesses can’t afford to pay the rentals that start from 200,000 baht per month [U.S. $5,860]. In the past, it was around 50,000 to 100,000 baht a month only,” a local man, who has run a gift shop in Yaowarat for seven decades, told BenarNews. He requested anonymity for fear his comments could turn off potential customers. 

“It’s difficult for local people to operate their businesses due to the lack of funds.”

The tourism industry is an engine of Thailand’s economy but relies heavily on dollars spent by visitors from the Chinese mainland. Thailand is among the world’s most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. 

In 2019, the year before the pandemic struck, more than a quarter of the nearly 40 million tourists were from China, according to Thai tourism officials. That year alone, Chinese tourists spent close to 522 billion baht ($15.3 billion). In 2023, the Thai Tourism Authority predicts, as many as 8 million Chinese tourists out of 30 million foreigners will visit Thailand.

Thais complain

Known as Chinatown 2, Huai Khwang in recent months has seen more than 60 new hotpot restaurants with links to Chinese nationals set up shop along Pracharat Bamphen Street, according to Prapret Hankijjakul, a member of the Bangkok Metropolitan Council who represents the district.

A survey conducted by his office found that about 3,000 Chinese nationals were living in the neighborhood.

“They return to China and come back to Thailand again with business funds. They ask Thais to join their business because it’s easier to use Thai names to operate it,” Prapret told BenarNews.

“In Huai Khwang, they don’t have a problem with commercial documents because the district administration encourages all business operators to comply with the law,” he said. “However, it’s unclear whether everybody has work permits.”

A Chinese hotpot restaurant operator in Huai Khwang who identified himself only as Wang, said he did not know how to obtain a work permit even though he opened the business with his Thai partners in early February. He declined to give his full name because he lacks a permit.

Wang, who has a Thai girlfriend, in fact has lived in Thailand for more than 14 years. He has a 46% stake in the new hotpot joint venture with his Thai partners.

“Ma La is a hotpot formula originated in China. I want all customers to taste the authentic Chinese food. It’s more like an alternative option for Thais. I don’t intend to compete with Thais,” Wang, 40, said.

But Lek, a 52-year-old Thai owner of a grocery store who grew up in Huai Khwang, is wary about the influx of Chinese money.

He recalled that he bristled when Thai realtors brought potential Chinese buyers to see his house, a prime business location, and when they asked how much money he wanted for it.

“I insisted I would never sell it to those Chinese businessmen, for sure,” Lek said. “There were so many times that the Thai agents took Chinese to my house, asking if I wanted to sell it. They thought it’s worth the business and they wanted it.”

On the other hand, he said, the injection of money into the district by Chinese investors promises to juvenate the area and make it more lively, as well as create more revenue opportunities for local people. 

Realtors in the Chinatown districts declined to be interviewed for this report.

Authorities investigate complaints

Thailand’s foreign business law stipulates that restaurants and businesses selling agricultural products are reserved almost exclusively for Thais. If foreigners want to invest in such businesses, they have to hold a minority stake in a joint venture with Thai partners. However, Chinese investors lately have been circumventing the rules by using Thai “nominees” to hold a majority stake on their behalf and providing their Thai partners with the investment money.

Earlier this year, some Thais filed a complaint to local authorities about the influx of Chinese funds, leading to investigations and a few arrests.

“As a result, immigration police, tourist police, special branch police, work with local police and relevant agencies, including the labor ministry and commerce ministry, to inspect the business and enforce the rule of law,” said Police Maj. Gen. Achayon Kraithong, spokesman for the Royal Thai Police.

In late January, Achayon said, officers from the Immigration Bureau searched Chowchan O-cha, a Chinese restaurant in Huai Khwang, and arrested three Chinese nationals who allegedly worked there without proper papers.

Officers took them and the owner into custody. The Chinese nationals were charged with working in Thailand without permits and were to be deported to China after their trial, officials said.

In addition, the Ministry of Commerce said recently that it was investigating some 200 businesses and companies in Yaowarat and Huai Khwang on suspicion of having unauthorized links to Chinese investors.

‘Thai flowers are more beautiful’

Apart from Bangkok’s Chinatowns, vendors at Pak Khlong Talat, the wholesale flower market on the Chao Phraya River, say they are also being pinched by negative aspects from money from Chinese investors coming in. 

Thanks to a new high-speed railway, which runs from China to the Laos border, flowers, fruits and vegetables from China are flooding Thai fresh markets at competitive prices, a local flower vendor said.

A florist nicknamed “Namwaan” said she saw dozens of shops owned by Chinese being established in the past months at the market.

“Flowers from China flood Thailand since China reopened the borders. Thai flowers are more beautiful but customers prefer imported flowers due to the size. They are bigger and can stay longer at the similar price. It’s very difficult for Thais to stay strong,” Namwaan told BenarNews.

BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia (RFA), produced this report. 

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Wilawan Watcharasakwet for BenarNews.

Unions in New Caledonia have secured a 4.2 percent increase of the lowest salaries from January 1, 2023.

The concession by the employers’ organisation MEDEF was announced as a large crowd rallied for a general strike outside its offices in Noumea.

According to police, 1500 people had gathered to press their demands while the unions said they mobilised 5000 members.

The unions had sought an across-the-board pay increase of six percent in the private sector to offset the impact of inflation, which in November was 4.4 percent.

The wage hike applies to those earning between the monthly US$1440 minimum pay and those earning up to US$1775.

MEDEF said inflation has hit businesses hard as production costs are rising faster than product prices, in particular with the rise in the cost of energy.

MEDEF said the social partners became aware early on of the negative impact of imported inflation on the purchasing power of New Caledonians.

It said that as early as May it and the unions unanimously and jointly asked the government to hold a conference on wages.

MEDEF said since April there had been proposals for tax reform which combined economic recovery and resetting of net wages.

It said raising wages had therefore always been a key aspect of the planned tax reform.

The government plans to hold a conference next week to discuss reforms in view of the crisis facing public finances.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Wage theft includes a range of illegal practices, such as paying less than minimum wage, withholding tips, not paying overtime, or requiring workers to work through breaks or off the clock. It impacts service workers, low-income workers, immigrant and guest workers, and communities of color the most, according to the Center for Public Integrity’s “Cheated at Work” series, published from May 2021 to March 2022. An Economic Policy Institute study from 2017 found that just one form of wage theft—minimum wage violations—costs US workers an estimated $15 billion annually and impacts an estimated 17 percent of low-wage workers.

Based on their independent analysis of fifteen years of reports from the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, Campbell and Yerardi concluded that companies engaging in wage theft “have little incentive to follow the law.” In 2019 alone, the Department of Labor cited more than 8,500 employers for stealing approximately $287 million from workers. Major US corporations—including Halliburton, G4S Wackenhut and Circle K Stores—are among “the worst offenders,” Campbell and Yerardi reported.

The labor department’s Wage and Hour Division, which is charged with investigating federal wage-theft complaints, “rarely penalizes repeat offenders,” Campbell and Yerardi explained. Between October 2005 and September 2020, the agency fined “only about one in four repeat offenders.” In just 14 percent of the documented cases, companies were ordered to pay workers cash damages, and since 2005, the agency has allowed more than 16,000 employers to avoid paying more than $20 million owed in back wages.

Lack of resources at the federal level is blamed for lax enforcement. As of February 2021, the Wage and Hour Division employed only 787 investigators, a proportion of just one investigator per 182,000 workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, Campbell and Yerardi noted. For comparison, in 1948 the division employed one investigator per 22,600 workers, or eight times the current proportion. Insufficient federal enforcement is “especially problematic” for workers in states that lack their own enforcement agencies: some fourteen states “lack the capacity to investigate wage theft claims or lack the ability to file lawsuits on behalf of victims,” according to the 2017 Economic Policy Institute report.

Strong state and local laws can help to protect workers and could offset weak federal enforcement. Campbell and Yerardi’s report mentioned local successes in Chicago (2013), Philadelphia (2016), and Minneapolis (2019), for example. But, as the reporters also noted, workers’ rights advocates continue to seek federal reforms, appealing to Congress to allocate funding to double the number of federal investigators. Terri Gerstein observed in May 2021, writing for the Economic Policy Institute, that in lieu of federal enforcement, and in response to “widespread, entrenched, and often egregious violations of workplace laws, an increasing number of district attorneys and state attorneys general have been bringing criminal prosecutions against law-breaking employers.”

Nonetheless, wage theft appears to be on the rise. A September 2021 study by One Fair Wage and the University of California, Berkeley, Food Labor Research Center found that 34 percent of workers in the service sector reported experiencing more violations of their rights—including wage theft—in 2021, compared to 2020. Some 35 percent of surveyed service workers reported that tips plus additional wages did not bring them up to their state’s minimum wage, and 46 percent reported that employers did not compensate “time and a half” for working overtime.

Since May 2021, a handful of corporate news outlets, including CBS News, covered or republished the Center for Public Integrity’s report on wage theft. Corporate coverage tends to focus on specific instances involving individual employers, but otherwise pays little attention to wage theft as a systemic social problem or to anemic federal enforcement. For example, a September 2021 NBC News report framed wage theft cases as “disputes” involving “dueling claims that are difficult to verify.” Verifying systemic wage theft has become easier, however, thanks to the Center for Public Integrity’s March 2022 decision to make the data and code used in their yearlong “Cheated at Work” investigation available to the public.

The story may gain more traction now that Congress is starting to pay attention. In May 2022, US House lawmakers introduced H.R. 3712, known as the “Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act of 2022,” which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to protect workers from wage theft, according to Ariana Figueroa of the Virginia Mercury. Minnesota congressperson Ilhan Omar said, “It is clear more DOL [Department of Labor] funding and additional federal reforms are needed in our localities in order to protect our most vulnerable workers.”

Alexia Fernández Campbell and Joe Yerardi, “Ripping off Workers without Consequences,” Center for Public Integrity, May 4, 2021.

Student Researcher: Annie Koruga (Ohlone College)

Faculty Advisor: Robin Takahashi (Ohlone College)

The post #2 Wage Theft: US Businesses Suffer Few Consequences for Stealing Millions from Workers Every Year appeared first on Project Censored.

This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Project Censored.

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Adam Bychawski.

And then, this goes way beyond greenwashing, etc. I have had students wanting to get a BS in engineering, say, to do work on drones, which back then (ohe, 20 years ago) was one way to help mitigate climate heating’s negative effects on people, communities, land, crops, ecosystems. You know, all that great work to get satellites into space because satellites will help scientists save the world.

But now? Drones? They are everywhere on the battle field, in the cops’ toolbox, everywhere, and not for the good of humankind, unless that good includes bombing wedding parties, and dropping viruses and other poisons on people.

We looked at many seemingly benign companies, like GE, and back then there was this green component of GE, you know what I am talking about: wind turbines, efficiency, solar panels. So, keeping those engineers working on turbines while creating some existential firewall between the war machines GE makes, that was also a topic we looked into.

So, it was possible you could come out of college with a BS, and end up in GE’s green energy arena, without ever touching base with the military arm of the company. That is the silo of old.

General Electric’s (NYSE: GE) aviation subsidiary secured a nearly $284 million contract with the Defense Logistics Agency to provide helicopter engine supplies to the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. (2021). General Electric Aviation, Lynn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $149,693,969 firm-fixed-price, requirements-type delivery order against a five-year subsumable basic ordering agreement (SPE4AX-22-D-9409) for T700 engine supplies. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulations 6.302-1. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Sept. 30, 2026, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2022 through 2026 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded GE a $1.58 billion firm-fixed-price contract to supply F110 engines for the Boeing F-15EX Eagle II. This selection makes GE the sole propulsion provider for the U.S. Air Force’s entire planned F-15EX fleet. GE is currently delivering Lot 1 engines for the F-15EX, including two test aircraft currently undergoing flight testing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Again, jobs, jobs and more jobs, but at what price, and how far will young people go in trying NOT to perpetuate the war machine, the killing machines, and then, of course, how easy is it to go to school, debate philosophies and cultures and politics, and then attempt to apply some humane ethics to one’s course in life, but then to get a job that is not in any way, shape or form part of the matrix, part of the ugly corporate world of exploitation, penury, and profits at any cost, ethics be damned?

One main point of education, in my humble opinion, is to dig under the surface of everything, and in the English writing classes I taught — once mandatory for an undergraduate degree — included working on argumentative papers, and research papers with all the elements of rhetoric covered: classification, cause and effect, process, solutions, and more. To question the profession you might be entering into: the work ethics, the companies’ profiles, what the challenges are, what sort of negative and possible illegal things the companies might be involved in. You know, what is the problem in the nursing profession, or education field, or architecture profession, or marketing company? The idea is to find the dirt and find the issues tied to a profession a student might think she or he is going to pursue.

Education now is floundering like it never has floundered, and with the higher ups there as MBAs, institutional managers, those who go take executive courses/seminars to learn how to NOT be educators, and how to learn how to cut personnel costs, and how to be more efficient and what to inject into more and more watered down curriculum to satisfy the CEOs bottom line business needs, they are part of the downfall. Just what do those drone companies want from a student graduating? The masters at the top of higher education will submit to the corporations.

What involvement did GE have in nuclear weapons production?

Kelle Louaillier (KL): In 1984 in the United States, thousands of companies were involved in some way in producing parts for nuclear weapons systems. GE produced more parts to more major nuclear weapons systems than any other corporation. GE was involved in the promotion of nuclear weapons to the government and in production since day one, with its role in the Manhattan Project.

Specifically, GE was responsible for the critical components, including, for example, the neutron “trigger” for every US nuclear bomb. Notably, before becoming president, Ronald Regan was a spokesman for GE. (Source)

These are the companies profiting most from war.

1. Lockheed Martin 

• Arms sales 2010: $35.73 billion
• Total sales 2010: $45.80 billion
• Arms sales as pct. of total sales: 78 percent
• Total profit: $2.93 billion
• Total employment: 132,000
• Sector: Aircraft, Electronics, Missiles, Space

2. BAE Systems

• Arms sales 2010: $32.88 billion
• Total sales 2010: $34.61 billion
• Arms sales as pct. of total sales: 95 percent
• Total profit: $1.67 billion
• Total employment: 98,200
• Sector: Aircraft, Artillery, Electronics, Missiles, Military vehicles, Small arms/ammunition, Ships

3. Boeing 

• Arms sales 2010: $31.36 billion
• Total sales 2010: $64.31 billion
• Arms sales as pct. of total sales: 49 percent
• Total profit: $3.31 billion
• Total employment: 160,500
• Sector: Aircraft, Electronics, Missiles, Space

4. Northrop Grumman 

• Arms sales 2010: $28.15 billion
• Total sales 2010: $34.76 billion
• Arms sales as pct. of total sales: 81 percent
• Total profit: $2.05 billion
• Total employment: 117,100
• Sector: Aircraft, Electronics, Missiles, Ships, Space

5. General Dynamics

• Arms sales 2010: $23.94 billion
• Total sales 2010: $32.47 billion
• Arms sales as pct. of total sales: 74 percent
• Total profit: $2.62 billion
• Total employment: 90,000
• Sector: Artillery, Electronics, Military vehicles, Small arms/ammunition, Ships

6. Raytheon (NYSE: RTN)
> Arms sales 2010: $22.98 billion
> Total sales 2010: $25.18 billion
> Arms sales as pct. of total sales: 91%
> Total profit: $1.88 billion
> Total employment: 72,400
> Sector: Electronics, Missiles

Those are 2010 stats, and even then the numbers were hiding other routes from US taxpayers to make the Lords of War, well, Gods. Try looking at the stats for 2022; additionally, there are fewer and fewer young people even attempting to play the thought experiment of what if we could stop the war machines, stop paying our taxes for their criminality, and then, to do this: connect every bolt and wire and coat of paint to anything made to produce death, either directly as munitions, or their delivery systems, or even the logistics and intel around war war war.

This is verboten in schools, colleges, truly in many venues, as it is verboten to question the mRNA’s, forced innoculations, forced social distancing, forced mRNA proofs to enter college. Questioning the military murdering machines pushing for more weapons for a Nazi Ukraine? You’ll be tarred and feathered. There are no more discussions about the true price we pay for USA policy targeting Russia and China. No true discussions about what theft is, grand theft, stealing gold reserves from places like Russia, Iran, Venezuela.

This has all been normalized, especially the past 15 years. Support this country, but still fight for the culture wars, the right to be all or nothing you can be. You have to be pronoun neutral, pro-Anything LGBTQA+ conjures up, and the Amnesia has to be deep.

This is the image (below, and it is a sad sack of crap) that also creeps into students’ brains going to college. This is sick, and alas, multimillionaires like Ellen who complained about being discriminated against early in her career, well, she is rubbing elbows with a war criminal:

Or take it to a non-LGBTQA+ multimillionaire’s absurdity, and go for the Black Absurdity, that Black Misleadereship class.

Thus, all of the cultural wars invented by the Liberal and Neoliberal media, and their sleeper cells — higher education liberal arts fools — get us here, really. But I have shown the power of another war criminal to infect all administrations:

So, forget about it, as they say in Mafia land. You can’t criticize a media darling, a war criminal like Kissinger. Never, and to attempt to bring him up now, in 2022, when you can’t get students to think or rethink or think for the first time the crimes of Ukraine under Zelensky and then way back, too. They don’t know who Kissinger is, in the regular schools, and then in those Ivy League ones, Kissinger is a real dream, a hero.

You will be kicked out of your part-time job, big time. Most college teachers are part-time, at the beckon call of perverse chairs and administrators.

And why not? College is for corporations telling worthless VPs and Presidents and the phalanx of administrators and deans working the college scam what needs to be taught.

Of course, this quote (below) is from 2009, and the numbers are, well, way low ball. Think of the deaths caused by depleted uranium, all the pollution, the PTSD, the cultural chaos, all of it. The murdering by Bush, even while he hangs out with liberals like Ellen and Obama, well, it keeps on delivering, that death and carnage. How to put a price on a country destroyed by USA bombs bursting in air and economic bombs and CIA bombs never not going off?

Why is a “gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to” the worst war criminal of the 21^st Century? [Noam Chomsky has said the Bush administration’s invasion and occupation of Iraq was the worst war crime of the 21^st Century] President Bush lied about Saddam Hussein having threatening weapons of mass destruction to justify invading defenseless Iraq. “Be kind to everyone?” President Bush’s unnecessary war against Iraq resulted in a reported “1 million dead” Iraqis, “4.5 million displaced, 1 million to 2 million widows, 5 million orphans. (“Bush’s War Totals,” By John Tirman, The Nation, January 28, 2009)

So here we are, now, the crux of the blog — “Background Checks, Algorithms, and the Re-making of the Abnormal” over at Dissident Voice by Mike Templeton. It’s good, of course, and looks at pre-crime, looks at how AI determines who will be in and who will be out. Mixed up with data and then personality tests and profiles, the Kings of AI have us all by the short-hairs. Templeton looks at credit scores, criminal records, evictions, those things. He doesn’t go far enough in terms of other factors the AI Kings can deploy to get us kicked out of civilization. In fact, as you read this, a prospective employer is too, and then, wham, I am pigeon holed for non-compliance, for nasty revolutionary zeal, which makes me a bad worker. Here, a quote, a long one, from his essay, contextualizing Templeton’s words/essay:

A great deal of attention has been paid to the problems of carceral injustice and the increasing use of AI for things such as predictive policing. Much of this research has revealed that these digital technologies serve to recreate economic disparities, racism, and other forms of social discrimination while removing the stain of human agency toward a flawed ideal of objectivity. Less attention has been paid to the use of these digital technologies in pre-employment background checks. This essay examines the use of AI and algorithmic data analysis and the ways these technologies and procedures create a caste of humans who are barred from employment and rendered economically invalid. In the final analysis, AI and algorithmic data analysis in the service of pre-employment background checks reproduces Foucault’s human monster in a contemporary form, a human monster that bears the stigmata of digital unpredictability.

More than 90 percent of all new hires are subjected to some type of background check prior to employment. These background checks search criminal history and records, including non-convictions, debt history, credit ratings, and other data that can offer a picture of the financial health of a potential new hire.¹ The idea behind background checks is to ensure the safety of employees and, in the case of schools and hospitals, students and patients. While many states have laws that limit both the reach and use of background checks, the practice of investigating a potential employee’s background is now standard and widespread. In a short piece in the journal Academe, Ann D. Springer explains that universities might be looking for information that would indicate a potential hire’s “character, general reputation, personal characteristics or mode of living.”² A university may deem it important to determine exactly what kind of person they are considering, and this may include that person’s “character.”³ While the point of Springer’s article is to reveal the potential dangers of background checks, she also pins down one of the main issues in performing such checks: “What if an employee commits a crime or breaks the law? An employer who knew of such past bad acts may be held responsible for failing to act on that knowledge, even if future actions were and are difficult to predict.” Liability can consist of many things like the risk of theft in the case of people with a criminal history of crimes against property or people who are so financially unstable they pose a theft risk. Liability could also be physical danger from people who have a history of violent offenses. In terms of how to predict potential danger and liability, this has been elusive, and companies have generally decided to err on the side of caution and refuse to hire anyone whose background check reveals something that could be seen as dangerous. But prediction is the key to understanding how background checks function in contemporary culture.

It is the digital realm that finds the invalid intolerable because the invalid present the type of unpredictability that is intolerable to digital systems. While companies, organizations, and universities advertise the justification that the background check is in the interest of safety, it is in fact the intolerable danger of the unpredictable that must be ferreted out by the background check. The primary reason for adding algorithmic technology to background checks can only be toward the elimination of unpredictability, otherwise a simple rap sheet would suffice. The reason a simple rap sheet is insufficient is that a human being must look a list of past offences and make a judgment call as to the likelihood of future danger, and this would only compound the levels of unpredictability with the addition of a secondary human consciousness. Above all else, the system must control, neutralize, and lockout any threats to absolute predictability. Thus, we have a caste of people who are determined to be invalid by a system that is no longer bound by human consciousness. Since no human makes this determination, the status of invalidity is the fault of the invalid who have only themselves to blame for their behavior, be it bad credit or a felony conviction. In the final analysis, we are left with a caste of untouchables who will forever remain both economically externalized, in that they are forbidden entry into economic viability, yet completely captured and internalized since they are digitally quantified and categorized. Their status as invalid is dependent on a detailed record of their failures and transgressions. It is the invalid who have taken over as the abnormal, the moral degenerates, and the human monsters.

Yep, those felonies hobbling millions, and I was one of those social workers, helping just released prisoners to get back on their feet: housing, email, safety nets, probation officers, jobs. Yep, felony friendly, or second chance employers are few and far between. My take is that felonies and misdemeanors should all be expunged once a person does his or her time.

Again, nuance is what I teach, and to be realistic, there are literally tens of millions of Americans who have interfaced with the Law somehow and those intersections have a computer and written record — speeding tickets, civil cases, and even as witnesses and even those family members of accused or convicted of a crime. All of those records the Man, The Man, the Boss, is privy to. And, think about another nuance — My Word Press blog, and this Dissident Voice — “a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and justice.” Anything published here, including this, will be part of my profile, my who, what, why, when, where and how of my personality, my pre-employment profile.  Look up “Paul Haeder and Anti-Higher Education” on Google CIA. The first page hit on Google, well, enough to get anyone who might be considering me for a job as an educator to think twice about me, and that’s Google, not the Checkr and other sources that can track down my name and then any term tied to it to see what I have written about, say, against the fields of education, social work, journalism, teaching, environmental movement, the US systems of, well, suppression and oppression. (About 154,000 results –0.44 seconds — Paul Haeder and Anti-Education).

Now, if you put my name into Orbitt.net, then “all” the dirty laundry is exposed, or at least, some percentage of the laundry or articles out there since there are 24 pages of my work, only dating back to 2017. If you look me up over at Dissident Voice, well, you can go back to before 2010 and find any number of my commentaries-polemics-rants covering any number of topics with my anti-authority, anti-capitalism filter applied.

Templeton looks at the tools at the Man’s disposal for delving into official records, but there are other aspects of this culture in America where we are pigeon-holed and monitored. The very nature of how the worker has no rights, really, at work. CCTV in the workplace? Badges and photos. Reports on the job. Evaluations. Forced urine tests? Haircut codes? Is it fair or correct or ethical for anyone thinking of hiring me to even dive into all the journalism I’ve done, all the Op-eds I’ve written, all the Dissident Voice pieces I’ve penned? Of course not, but in today’s world, and even the world I was debating with, say, 20 years ago, the Americans — and unfortunately, this is the attitide for most people in the world — are perfectly fine with the employer or agency or government looking into your past. Sort of this shit idea of, “If you don’t have anything to hide, then why not let the employer or agency or government use that information. If it’s out there, and you posted it or wrote it, then you have to live with it.”

Some parts of your internet history are public record. This includes your social media profiles that you haven’t set to “private,” personal blog sites and any other information that you post publicly and share online. Because this information is public, anyone can read it, including a would-be employer. The employer doesn’t have to disclose that he’s looking at your public digital footprint, either. Under the Fair Credit Reporting laws, an employer only has to tell you that he’s going to run a background check when he uses a company in the business of compiling background information. If he checks you out himself, he can do it without telling you. (source)

That’s a more mellow quote, really, for what the American believes, both the Republican Leaning and the Democratic Party leaning. Hell, just yesterday, I was disagreeing with the guy working on my house, and he’s 69, broken body big time, and he can’t afford medical care for a bad knee and spinal disc issue, and he said his home he and his wife had down here was ripped out from under him after falling for Bush’s loan modification deal in 2008. Foreclosure, and now the place is listed at $750,000. All that equity down the drain. In the end, though, he constantly berates Trump, DeSantis, but he nary says a negative word against Biden or Pelosi. Every time a screw breaks on the job, he blames China, and he still believes Putin has entered our electoral system. I told him that the constant rant against Trump goes nowhere with me, since the rant is equally deserving for the Biden Bumbler. I told him that as a communist, err, socialist for most audiences, I have studied my position and politics and US domestic and international positions long enough to know a corrupt system when I see it or live under it. He said, “Well, then, why don’t you move to Russia if you’re communist.”

That is the penetrating and lubricating oil of this country. A 69 year old, broken down guy who thinks Russia is communist; working odd jobs, and he’s a musician, too, who lost that gig because of, well, greedy capitalist owner not able to keep a cook on at night; and he gives me the old heave ho, “Love it or Leave it.”

I reminded him that if Trump gets in, in 2024, that’s his country, his democratic party’s doing, the media’s doing, and with this love it or leave it mentality, well, the voters — his fellow citizens — have spoken and voted in their parasite, Trump. What then? Is he going to love it (Trump, the system) or leave it? He said he go to DC and kill Trump if he gets in in 2024. Literally go after him. More bluster from a Democrat.

There it is, though, this is AmeriKKKa. This place in 2022 is despicable, more so than I thought possible even in my lifetime. Truly, on many levels, and alas, I’m not 105 years old or ninety-something like Kissinger is, but at 65, with a robust anti-establishment and anti-government bent from a socialist POV, I know why we are here. At this late stage capitalism running the 80 percenters into the ground, we have the youth going for more brainwashing. Wacky.

There are many reasons you might blog about your job. You may want to brag about your accomplishments, vent about your cheese-moving coworkers or sociopathic boss, reveal whom you caught with whom on the floor of the server closet or simply recount the day’s events as a way of decompressing.

Whatever your reasons, if you blog, you take on all the liability and employment security risks that come with publishing to a potential readership of a billion people — even though the actual size of your audience may be just a handful of people or no one.

Work Blogging Risks

How is blogging different from just putting up a personal Web site? “The difference is that the easy-to-use tools available for blogging take away the barriers to getting online,” says Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a civil liberties advocacy group.

The danger to blogging about your job comes when you allow no-brainer publishing technology — together with a mistaken sense of anonymity — to embolden you to record observations more appropriate for a private, paper-based journal than a global electronic network.

“People need to think long and hard about whether they’re comfortable blogging about work in an unprotected way,” Jeschke says.

One workplace blogger puts it even more plainly: “When you start a blog, you have to assume you’re going to be found out,” says the anonymous author of Waiter Rant, which chronicles the trials and tribulations of a New York City restaurant server.

Being fired for blogging, which is known as “getting dooced” in the blogosphere, really happens — and when it does, it often gets lots of news coverage. Delta Air Lines, Google, Ladies Home Journal, Wells Fargo and an Ohio congressman are among the employers that have reportedly terminated workers over their blogs. (Monster dot com)

So, all my work going up against many employers, filing appeals to denied unemployment, and then filing with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries several different cases of discrimination for being sacked for being old, a male, and radical, those future employers can tap into official files using middlemen surveillance services. All the words, all the articles, and some interviews of me in print and on video on the Internet, they too can be found and USED against me. All of that is just fine for prospective employers to scan and skim and to utilize in order to decide if I am a viable candidate for the job.

I’ve written about millions of Americans who have lost their driver’s license privileges because of debts, not because of driving while intoxicated or for other driving infractions. Because they owe for court costs, owe for back child support. Their job prospects are pretty grim without a license.

Suspending driver’s licenses as a penalty for non-payment of fines and fees unrelated to public safety is a self-defeating policy. It intensifies pressure on individuals already struggling with job loss and financial hardship, and it adds strain to relations between police officers and the public they serve. It makes the slope of failure even more slippery for millions of the most vulnerable Americans. And it’s the law of the land in 42 states.

So, that means the prospective employer can fish through another set of data bases — suspended licenses — and eliminate more people from the workforce. Most jobs require transportation, as they call it, reliable transportation with proof of auto insurance.

Predictable algorithms, and all that soft shoe, again, part of the shifting baseline, now accepted, DNA tests, blood tests, urine test, complying with any “background” check, then, of course, proof of mRNA, and, there you have it. We’ve gone from a majority of people coveting their privacy to a society that doesn’t care.

A society that doesn’t push back against their own “party,” since whichever manure party they may be backing is the right manure party. And, then, love it or leave it.

All of the conversations today are dead, since most Americans are colonized by bad education, patriotism, by really bad entertainment, by Legacy Mainstream Propaganda, by the entire hubris of exceptionalism.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Paul Haeder.

Former prime ministers, an opposition leader, and an ex-central bank governor have added their voices to a growing chorus of concerns about the Fiji government’s “close association” with a Korean doomsday Christian cult that has reportedly benefited from millions of dollars from a state-backed institution.

Award-winning investigative journalism organisations, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Korean Centre for Investigative Journalists (KCIJ), published a major exposé this week, that zeros in on the rapid expansion of the controversial Grace Road Church business empire through Prime Minister Voreqe  Bainimarama’s FijiFirst government’s help.

The two groups have revealed that Grace Road, whose leader Ok-joo Shin is in a Korean prison for “assault, child abuse, and imprisoning church members” and whose top executives remain under international police warrants, has received at least FJ$8.5 million (NZ$6.1m) in loans from the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) since 2015.

• LISTEN T0 RNZ PACIFIC WAVES:  The Grace Road cult investigation
• South Korean cult leader who held 400 people captive in Fiji jailed for six years

The FDB is a government-backed institution established to develop the country’s economy by providing finance to local small and medium agricultural enterprises. But Grace Road, which established as a foreign investor in 2014, started getting FDB loans just a year after it began operations.

According to the OCCRP-KCIJ, that money has helped the sect propel itself into a major entity in the Fijian economy, spreading its footprint throughout the main island of Viti Levu, with plans to develop further.

“The sect now operates the country’s largest chain of restaurants, controls roughly 400 hectares of farmland, owns eight supermarkets and mini marts, and runs five Mobil petrol stations. Its businesses also provide services such as dentistry, events catering, heavy construction, and Korean beauty treatments,” the two investigative groups report.

‘Red carpet treatment’
The investigations also uncovered Fijian police’s failure to investigate and charge the top leaders of the sect who were arrested four years ago on allegations of human rights abuses of its followers, but were released soon after when “a local court temporarily blocked their deportation”.

“The South Korean police said that the Fijian police had released the Grace Road members after a high-level meeting that included Fiji’s late immigration chief, the prime minister’s personal private secretary, the solicitor-general, and the country’s top prosecutor,” according to OCCRP-KJIC.

OCCRP’s Pacific editor, Aubrey Belford, told RNZ Pacific the core issue with Grace Road in Fiji was the perception it had been given the red carpet treatment by the government.

“They showed up in the country less than 10 years ago and in that time they have managed to build what is now one of the biggest business empires in the country,” Belford said.

“We counted 54 business establishments currently running in the country — 55 If you count the huge farm they have in Navua. They’re really everywhere.”

He said the OCCRP was able to uncover “that no one knew” that FDB provided Grace Road millions of dollars in loans to finance its business aspirations.

Belford said the police investigation into the alleged abuses of its members in Fiji had been ongoing for several years but had “gone nowhere” despite Fijian police officers travelling to Seoul to collect victim statements from key witnesses.

Former church member Yoon-jae Lee with two Fiji police officers. Image: Yoon-jae Lee

Government dismisses claims
“There is no conspiracy or cover-up here,” Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecution Christopher Pryde told OCCRP-KCIJ.

OCCRP-KCIJ said the South Korean Embassy in Suva declined to be interviewed, citing “the sensitive issues of the matter on Grace Road Church and ongoing Korean-Fijian law enforcement cooperation”.

Fijian authorities have remained quiet about the claims made in the report, but Attorney-General and Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Kahiyum deflected media questions on Tuesday, telling reporters the investigations were “done by some organisation who we have never heard about”.

RNZ Pacific has contacted Grace Road for comment.

But with an election looming, Fijian political leaders are calling for Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum to “come clean” about their dealings with the Korean group.

Former prime ministers Sitiveni Rabuka and Mahendra Chaudhry, who lead the People’s Alliance and the Labour Party respectively; the leader of the major opposition SODELPA, Viliame Gavoka; as well as former Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Savenaca Narube are all calling for an official inquiry.

Rabuka has labelled the close links between the government and Grace Road a “disgrace”.

“It is a disgrace that this foreign sect whose founder is serving jail time in Korea for abusing its adherents has been given the red carpet treatment by the FijiFirst government,” Rabuka said.

“What equity did they bring as part of the deals to justify the $8.5m lending?” he asked, adding: “It seems that this government will willingly leave Fijians behind for the sake of assisting their own rich foreign friends.”

Rabuka said his People’s Alliance would launch an investigation into the operations of Grace Road Church if the alliance formed a government after the 2022 election.

Chaudhry said he hoped the findings uncovered by OCCRP would “bring out the truth”.

“Many here have questioned whether the Fiji police investigations into the complaints against the group have been hamstrung by political interference,” Chaudhry said.

“It is believed that a number of powerful people may have personally benefited from the activities of the Grace Road group in return for favours extended to it.”

Chaudhry said the Fiji police investigation was “just a joke”.

“We have raised this issue many times before but without results, because the group appears to have the backing of the government top brass who have not hesitated to defend them even in Parliament,” the Labour leader added.

‘Gravely concerned’
SODELPA’s Gavoka said he was “gravely concerned with revelations” of the investigations.

“There have been unspoken concerns among our people with respect to the fast-growing expansion of the Grace Road business in Fiji, while many are aware of past reports alleging gross abuse of human rights and workers’ rights,” he said.

“SODELPA demands the FijiFirst Government and local authorities act and come clean; and put all these to an end.”

Gavoka is calling on Bainimarama’s government to “declare its interest on Grace Road”.

“We cannot allow such incidences on allegations of criminal conduct on gross violations of human and workers’ rights on our land.”

Former Reserve Bank of Fiji governor and leader of the Unity Fiji party Narube said they had “watched with great concern” the friendly relations between the Bainimarama government and the sect.

“We have seen the rapid expansion of Grace Road into sectors that are reserved for the Fiji citizens and companies,” Narube said.

“We have been informed of the rapid processing of their business applications compared to others. We have seen many foreign workers in jobs that would be easily filled by locals. We are concerned about the allegations of physical and mental abuses within the sect.”

With a general election looming, Narube said a Unity Fiji government would apply the laws fairly and uniformly.

“A Unity Fiji government would therefore investigate the ties between the government and Grace Road to clear all the allegations and perceptions.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Aotearoa New Zealand will enjoy a new official public holiday on June 24, with the country marking Matariki — the start of the Māori New Year. But with it comes the temptation for businesses to use the day to drive sales.

Some Māori have already expressed concern that businesses were positioning themselves to market Matariki as a shopping event.

On the back of those concerns, Skye Kimura, chief executive of Māori cultural marketing and communications agency Tātou, launched a campaign called “Matariki is not for sale”.

• READ MORE: Australia Day, Invasion Day, Survival Day: a long history of celebration and contestation
• Matariki: reintroducing the tradition of Māori New Year celebrations
• Other Matariki reports

“No one wants to see a Matariki Big Mac,” she argued.

But those trying to defend Matariki from mass commercialisation could be fighting a difficult battle.

Few public holidays, either in New Zealand and elsewhere, have been immune to commercial interests. In the United States, for example, businesses are facing criticism for attempting to make money from Juneteenth, a holiday to celebrate the emancipation of slaves.

Human tendency to mark the change
One of the difficulties facing critics of the commercialisation of public holidays is that they may be fighting deep habits born out of capitalism and human nature.

A lot of our special occasions are structured around various parts of the year and changes in the pattern of life. The earliest pagan rituals were about the change in seasons and to mark what was different from one period of life to the next.

From a social and possibly evolutionary perspective, we are already primed to do something different from our day-to-day activities to mark the significant changes we see around us.

When we have these seasonal celebrations, it doesn’t take much of a nudge for retailers to say, hey, people are looking to mark the change and shopping is a really good way to enact that transition between two phases — an “out with old, in with the new” message.

Shopping to celebrate is what we do
Each year is already punctuated with several cultural celebrations that have, over time, become shopping events. The most classic example is the commercialisation of Christmas.

Even though there is the Christian tradition of the three wise men giving gifts at the birth of Christ, establishing the ritual of gift giving, the three months leading up to December 25 have become about sales and opportunities to spend.

Easter, Valentine’s Day, Queen’s Birthday weekend and even Labour Day have all become sales events for retailers.

Matariki also lands in a quiet time of the year for retail — right in the middle of winter and between the big shopping weekends of Queen’s Birthday and Labour Day.

Potential for blowback against retailers
But when businesses commercialise anything there is always the question of whether they have the legitimacy to do so, or whether they’re bastardising the event for commercial gain.

There is the potential for significant blowback for businesses looking to cash in on Matariki. And they only need to look at Anzac Day as an example of commemoration that remains off limits to blatant commercialisation.

Yes, it’s fine to sell poppies or to have a donation box at your point of sale. It’s even okay to advertise with a “thank you for your service” banner. But if a business tries obviously to make money on the back of Anzac Day, people start to get a little upset.

That doesn’t mean businesses don’t try to get around public sentiment. Every year there is an element of “Anzac washing”, where companies try to make it look like they’re supportive of veterans, even if they have otherwise done nothing to support former and current military personnel.

It is likely that how we handle Anzac Day will provide a baseline for critics assessing businesses that try to use Matariki as a way to drive sales.

Businesses could be judged by whether or not they have Matariki sales, or whether there is some sort of attempt to “Matariki-wash” their other commercial offerings.

Businesses should tread carefully
It is an area full of potential landmines, with little clear benefit at this stage.

Not only is there the commercialisation of a public holiday, which some people find annoying already, but there’s also the debate about cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation.

Companies need to realise the potential for blowback and controversy is multiplied above other, more established public holidays. There are those who are annoyed about another public holiday adding labour costs for businesses. And there even are those objecting to the supposed “wokeness” of celebrating Matariki.

At a bare minimum, then, businesses determined to use Matariki as part of their sales pitch need to understand what the celebration is really about and its significance within the community.

It will be interesting to see if any are willing to risk the minefield for the sake of sales that come from an extra three-day weekend, or whether they’ll wait and see what happens to those who take the risk first.

Dr Mike Lee is associate professor of marketing, University of Auckland. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Advocates for independently-owned businesses warned that restaurants, gyms, and other Main Street businesses across the U.S. will be forced to close in the coming months after Republicans in the Senate on Thursday blocked a $48 billion package to provide relief to owners who have struggled to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

The bipartisan Small Business Covid Relief Act (S. 4008), which was meant to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) passed last year, was cosponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), but still failed to get more than five Republican senators to support it.

The vast majority of GOP lawmakers claimed that helping locally-owned restaurants and bars to stay open and continue employing people in their communities would worsen inflation and contribute to the deficit, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) saying on the Senate floor that "dumping more money in the economy is simply pouring $5-a-gallon gas on an already out-of-control fire."

As a result, said Erika Polmar of the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC), "we estimate more than half of the 177,300 restaurants waiting for an RRF grant will close in the next few months."

The bill would have given $40 billion to independent restaurants left out of the restaurant relief program which passed last year but ran out of funds in just three weeks, with only one in three applicants receiving grants.

"Ironically, this filibuster followed a vote to stand in solidarity at a similar level of funding with a group of European allies that handled some of the worst effects of the past two years with far more grace and unity."

"Local restaurants across the country expected help but the Senate couldn't finish the job," said Polmar. "Neighborhood restaurants nationwide have held out hope for this program, selling their homes, cashing out retirement funds, or taking personal loans in an effort to keep their employees working."

The RRF bill would also have given $2 billion for gyms and fitness centers, $2 billion for live event companies, $2 billion for bus and ferry operators, $1.4 billion for companies near border crossings which have shut down during the pandemic, and $500 million for minor league sports teams.

The Community Gyms Coalition told The Hill that although an RRF replenishment bill passed in the House, the Senate "failed to invest in fitness and exercise despite their obvious benefits for Americans' mental and physical health."

"After hanging on for another year, hurting restaurants and bars throughout America, especially in rural communities, may not see any relief despite the House passing a bill just last month to put more money into the RRF," said Didier Trinh, policy and political impact director for Main Street Alliance (MSA). "The fate of these small businesses—including ones owned by women and people of color that were left behind—will be tied to those senators who voted down this lifeline today."

Along with Wicker, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) were the only Republicans who joined Democrats in voting for the bill. The Democrats needed at least 10 Republicans to support the legislation to reach 60 votes required by the legislative filibuster.

"Senators who ensured this fate instead of providing the relief small business needs now must be held accountable," tweeted MSA.

Tyler Akin, a board member of the IRC and a chef in Wilmington, Delaware, noted that the GOP's rejection of the bill immediately followed a vote approving $40 billion of military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine—more than $7 billion than President Joe Biden had requested.

"Ironically, this filibuster followed a vote to stand in solidarity at a similar level of funding with a group of European allies that handled some of the worst effects of the past two years with far more grace and unity," Akin told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's clear that those who aligned with Senator [Pat] Toomey today have little or no desire to support small businesses."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Julia Conley.

Laos’ economy is likely to still feel the effects of the pandemic, however, as China, a major economic partner, is keeping its borders closed after a resurgence of the virus in many of the country’s major cities.

The Lao Prime Minister’s Office issued a notice May 7 indicating that it would lift nearly all restrictions, including reopening all international border checkpoints and entertainment venues in the country.

Everyone aged 12 and over who is not vaccinated, including Lao citizens, have to show negative COVID-19 tests within 48 hours of their departure for Laos. But they do not need to submit to tests following their arrival, and vaccinated people do not have to be tested at all, the notice said.

“As the notice indicated, we’re now wide open,” an official of the Information Culture and Tourism Department of the Lao capital Vientiane told RFA’s Lao service Monday on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“All the Lao-Thai friendship bridges are open and everybody is free to enter or exit Laos and can travel all over the country,” the official said.

A Thai immigration officer at a bridge between Laos’ Savannakhet province and Thailand’s Mukdahan province told RFA on Monday that traffic has already picked up.

“They’re required to have only their passport and a proof of vaccination,” the Thai officer said. “Many Thais and Laotians have crossed the bridge today.”

That is welcome news to many Laotians who have struggled to keep businesses afloat without the benefit of tourism.

“We’re happy because we’ve been struggling for more than two years,” a restaurant owner in Vang Vieng, a popular tourist town in Vientiane province, told RFA. “We all hope that the tourists come to our town and our country soon, so that we can have some badly needed income.”

That sentiment was shared by a hotel employee in Vientiane.

“I’m happy that we have the opportunity to receive more foreign tourists,” the source said. “The country is completely open like before the pandemic, and I am happy to return to my job and see all the night clubs and karaoke bars open again.”

Laos relies heavily on its tourism industry: the 4.8 million foreign visitors it welcomed in 2019 accounted for 5.9% of its gross national product (GNP). Tourism fell off a cliff in 2020 when the pandemic hit. Only 886,400 visitors arrived in Laos that year, the latest data from the World Tourism Organization, generating just 1.2% of GNP.

Tourism from Thailand is especially important to Laos, accounting for more than 2 million of the 2019 visits.

But more than 1 million Chinese also visited Laos that year, and until China relaxes its border restrictions, tourism is unlikely to reach pre-pandemic levels. Exports to China will also remain limited, further delaying a full economic recovery.

“We’ve been open since yesterday, but the Chinese side hasn’t opened yet because China hasn’t lifted their COVID-19 restrictions,” a Lao border official stationed at Boten, the main crossing point between China and Laos in Luang Namtha province, told RFA on Tuesday. “They are only allowing a maximum of 300 trucks a day into their country.”

Trucks from Laos must wait more than a week to get into China, a Lao trucker said.

"They’re not open. It’s getting more difficult to get into China and it takes at least seven days to cross the border,” he told RFA.

An official at Luang Namtha’s Public Works and Transport Department told RFA that the Chinese authorities are overly strict.

“When are they going to open their border? The answer is ‘I don’t know,’ because the number of COVID-19 cases in China is still on the rise, several thousand a day,” the source said.

In the most recent outbreak, newly confirmed daily cases in China peaked in late April at more than 30,000. But major cities across the country remain under strict lockdowns as part of the country’s zero-COVID policy.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Laos is in decline, with only 110 new cases on Monday. About 67 percent of the country’s population of 7.2 million are fully vaccinated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the country confirmed 208,535 cases and 749 deaths, according to statistics from the health ministry.

Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA’s Lao Service.

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