“The unwarranted seizure of Batumelebi and Netgazeti’s bank accounts confirms what has been clear from the start of Mzia Amaglobeli’s trumped-up trial – that authorities’ goal is to silence two of Georgia’s most respected news outlets and the courageous woman who runs them,” said CPJ Chief Global Affairs Officer Gypsy Guillén Kaiser. “Georgian authorities should lift all undue restrictions on media outlets’ accounts, release Amaglobeli, and end their campaign against the independent press.”

Batumelebi reported that Georgia’s Revenue Service seized the accounts of the outlets’ legal entity, Gazeti Batumelebi, on July 17, after previously giving it just five days to pay accumulated tax debts, interest, and penalties totaling around US$100,000.

CPJ and international partners monitored the July 14 trial of Amaglobeli, who was jailed over an altercation with a local police chief, and denounced the charges against her as “disproportionate and politicized.” A verdict is expected on August 1, with the prominent media manager facing between four and seven years in prison and declining health.

The measures “appear aimed at breaking [Amaglobeli] personally and, ultimately, destroying the media organization she founded,” Batumelebi said in its statement.

The outlet, which is known for its coverage of human rights issues and scrutiny of authorities, said it had been paying off the debt and pointed to the much higher arrears of pro-government media as a “telling example” of “the selectivity of this pressure.”

The Revenue Service said in a July 22 Facebook post that the seizure of Gazeti Batumelebi’s accounts was carried out “automatically” and it was ready to lift the measure and allow the company to cover its debts “in the event of a tax agreement.” 

Batumelebi said the Revenue Service repeatedly declined its proposed payment plans both before and after the seizure.

In recent weeks, two independent broadcasters have reported similar account seizures over tax arrears, alleging political pressure. The moves come amid an unprecedented media crackdown and authoritarian turn by the ruling Georgian Dream party, with a series of repressive new laws on the press and extensive police violence against journalists. 

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

Hui’s assets--funds totaling more than US$300,000--were frozen by court order on Feb. 17 after an application by the city’s Department of Justice, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

Hui had transferred this amount to his wife and mother prior to leaving the country in 2020, while he was out on bail.

The move comes amid an ongoing crackdown by Beijing on public dissent in Hong Kong under two security laws.

The statement said Hui had committed “numerous heinous crimes,” including “conspiring with foreign politicians in 2020 to forge documents and deceive the court with false information in order to obtain the court’s permission to leave Hong Kong while he was on bail,” and added that he had “jumped bail and absconded overseas.”

But Hui is also accused of committing offenses “endangering national security” overseas, the statement said, adding that he stands accused of “inciting secession” and “inciting subversion of state power,” as well as “colluding with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.”

Hui said the confiscation order was “absurd and a blatant violation of my human rights,” and a form of political retaliation amid the crackdown.

According to the government, Hui had transferred nearly $2.5 million Hong Kong dollars (US$321,500) in personal assets as gifts to his mother and wife before he skipped bail.

Under Hong Kong law, if a defendant benefits from committing an offense endangering national security and makes a gift at any time from six years before the date of prosecution onwards, the property held by the recipient of the gift may be regarded as the defendant’s property and confiscated, the spokesman said.

Laws against dissent

Since Beijing imposed the two national security laws banning public opposition and dissent in the city and blamed “hostile foreign forces” for the resulting protests, hundreds of thousands have voted with their feet amid plummeting human rights rankings, shrinking press freedom and widespread government propaganda in schools.

Some fled to the United Kingdom on the British National Overseas, or BNO, visa program. Others have made their homes anew in the United States, Canada, Australia and Germany.

Many are continuing their activism and lobbying activists, yet they struggle with exile in some way, worrying about loved ones back home while facing threats to their personal safety from supporters of Beijing overseas

Hong Kong’s leaders have vowed to pursue activists in exile for life.

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Hui said in a post to his Facebook page that the money he had given to his mother and wife had been intended as living expenses in his absence.

“That works out at 10,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$1,286) a month over the six years since I left Hong Kong,” Hui said. “Some people might not even think that’s very much.”

“The people of Hong Kong can see all too clearly what is happening, and they’ll be sure to take their money overseas.”

He told RFA Mandarin in a later interview: “Luckily, my parents sold their home in Hong Kong a few years ago and transferred the proceeds elsewhere.”

‘No Money left in Hong Kong is safe.’

He said the authorities had already frozen his bank accounts in Hong Kong after he fled the city amid a crackdown on dissent and political opposition.

“What they confiscated on this occasion was our only asset left in Hong Kong,” he said. “This has shown us that our concerns were reasonable.”

“A regime that violates human rights will do anything, and no money left in Hong Kong is safe,” Hui said.

The government has also hit back at criticisms of the move.

“The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has noted the unfounded smear and malicious attacks online regarding the actions taken by the Court in accordance with the law,” the statement said. “The HKSAR Government strongly condemned and opposed this.”

The authorities “will do everything possible and use all legal means to pursue and combat criminals who endanger national security,” he said.

Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the authorities' claim that Hui’s writings on Patreon had somehow paid for the money given to his wife and mother were ridiculous.

“Now this precedent has been set, as long as they can attach a ‘national security’ label to it, everyone’s assets and personal freedom are under threat,” Sang said.

Taiwan-based Hong Kong activist Fu Tong said the move on Hui’s assets is very worrying for Hong Kongers in exile.

“I’m worried because their methods are escalating,” Fu said. “Anyone who continues to speak out overseas will find they can go after people you care about back in Hong Kong, to silence you.”

But he said he would continue to protest and advocate for the return of Hong Kong’s former freedoms.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Eugene Whong.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alice Yam for RFA Cantonese, Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and unelected adviser to President Donald Trump, is asserting control over much of the federal bureaucracy and sensitive government computer systems despite lacking clear authority. The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department was pushed out after refusing to hand Musk’s team the keys to the government’s entire payment system and the $6 trillion in payments the system processes annually, including Social Security checks, tax refunds and Medicare benefits. Musk and his team have also seized control at the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, key institutions that function as the central nervous system of the U.S. government. “In any other situation, this would be called state capture, and people around the world would be condemning it,” says Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, who writes in a new blog post that Elon Musk is staging a coup. We also speak with Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, who warns that Musk could be laying the groundwork for major tax cuts Republicans have promised that will disproportionately benefit corporations and wealthy people like him. “Elon Musk is going to pay for his tax cut with your Social Security,” says Owens.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“The seizure of Sudanese journalist Ashraf Omer Ibrahim’s home by the RSF in Nyala is completely unacceptable, especially during a time of war when the safety of all civilians is already at heightened risk,” said CPJ Interim MENA Program Coordinator Yeganeh Rezaian. “The RSF must immediately return Ibrahim’s home and cease targeting journalists for their political beliefs.”

In an October 17 statement on Facebook, the Sudanese Journalists’ Union called the seizure of Ibrahim’s home a crime against journalists and “free voices,” accusing the RSF of targeting homes of those they perceive as opponents, and demanded the return of Ibrahim’s home.

Ibrahim learned about the seizure of his home while living in eastern Port Sudan, where he relocated for safety after Nyala fell under the control of the RSF last year, according to a local journalist familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.

The RSF has been engaged in a civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023, killing thousands, displacing millions, and resulting in grave threats to the media.

CPJ’s email to the RSF about the seizure of Ibrahim’s home received no reply.

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

Contrary to a false report in the NY Times, the plane was not “owned by Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro”. It is owned by the Venezuelan government and used for travel by various Venezuelan officials in addition to the president.

The NYT article claims, “The Biden administration is trying to put more pressure on Mr. Maduro because of his attempts to undermine the results of the recent presidential election.” This is another inversion of reality. The US government is trying to undermine the results determined by the Venezuelan National Election Council (CNE) and ratified by their Supreme Court.

Contrary to Western claims, the Supreme Court and Election Council are not synonymous with the government. They are approved by Venezuela’s elected national assembly. While one opposition member of the Election Council criticized the results, he did not attend the count or meetings.  He does not ordinarily live in Venezuela and has returned to his home in the USA. Meanwhile, another opposition member of the Election Council, Aime Nogal, participated and approved the council’s decision.

Before the election, polls showed vastly different predictions. The US-funded polling company, Edison Research, showed the Gonzalez/ Machado opposition winning. Other polls showed the opposite. Polls are notoriously unreliable, especially when the poll is funded by an interested party. A better indication was the street demonstrations where the crowd in support of the coalition led by Maduro was near one million people. In contrast, the crowd for Gonzalez was a small fraction of that.

Increasingly, countries throughout the Global South are rejecting and criticizing Washington’s intervention in other nations’ internal affairs. On August 28, the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro Zelaya, terminated the long standing extradition treaty with the United States and denounced US meddling after the US Ambassador commented negatively on Honduran – Venezuelan discussions.  Along with many other Latin American countries but the dismay of the U.S., Honduras  recognized the results of the Venezuelan election.

For over twenty years, the US has been trying to overturn the Bolivarian revolution. In 2002, the US government and elite media supported a coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez. To their chagrin, the attempt collapsed due to popular outrage. Since then, there have been repeated efforts with the US supporting street violence, assassination attempts, and invasions. Under Obama, Venezuela was absurdly declared to be a “threat to US national security”. This was the bogus rationale for the economic warfare which the US has waged ever since. Multiple reports confirm that tens of thousands of Venezuelans have died as a result of  hunger and sickness due to US strangulation of the economy. Again, the truth is the opposite of what Washington claims: the US is a threat to Venezuela’s national security.

Unknown to most U.S. residents, in December 2020 the U.N. General Assembly declared US unilateral coercive measures (sanctions) are “contrary to international law, international humanitarian law, the Charter of the United Nations and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States.”

Illegal U.S. measures were used to justify the kidnapping and imprisonment of Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab. They have now been used to justify the theft of a et plane needed by Venezuelan officials.

Previously, sanctions were used to justify the seizure of Venezuela’s CITGO gas stations and freezing gold reserves in London. It comes after the U.S. and allies pretended for several years that an almost unknown politician, Juan Guaido, was the president of Venezuela.

The reasons for Washington’s repeated efforts to overturn the Bolivarian revolution are clear: Venezuela has huge oil reserves and insists on its sovereignty. Under Chavez and Maduro, the Bolivarian revolution has sought to benefit the vast majority of Venezuela’s people instead of a small elite of Venezuelans and foreigners. Washington cannot tolerate the idea that those resources are used to benefit the Venezuelan people instead of billionaires like the Rockefeller clan, which made much of its wealth from Venezuela.

Under the Bolivarian revolution, Venezuela insists on having its own foreign policy. In 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced the U.S. invasion of Iraq and compared U.S. President Bush to the devil. In May this year, Venezuelan President Maduro denounced Israel’s genocide in Gaza and accused the West of being “accomplices.”

The cost of seizing Venezuela’s plane on foreign soil was probably greater than the $13 million value of the plane. So why did the Biden administration do this now? Perhaps it is to garner the votes of right-wing Cubans and Venezuelans in Florida. Perhaps it is to distract from their foreign policy failures in Gaza and Ukraine.

Whatever the reason, the theft of the Venezuelan jet plane is an example of U.S. foreign policy based on self-serving “rules” in violation of international law. It shows who is the rogue state.

President Xiomara Castro of Honduras is representative of the wave of disgust with US interference, crimes, and arrogance. In the past, Honduras was called a “banana republic” and known as “USS Honduras”.  Now its president says, “The interference and interventionism of the United States … is intolerable. They attack, disregard and violate with impunity the principles and practices of international law, which promote respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, non-intervention and universal peace. Enough.”

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Rick Sterling.

The push to the southern border with Ayeyarwady region is the latest advance for the Arakan Army, or AA, which ended a truce with the military in November and has gone on to control nine townships and three sub-townships in Rakhine state, as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state to the north.

The AA’s advance south into areas traditionally on the edge of its influence could signal the army wants to establish a foothold in more central Myanmar, so that it could claim it is a national resistance force instead of a marginal ethnic armed group.

On Wednesday, the AA captured two military camps and a police station in Gwa’s coastal Kyeintali town after launching an offensive two days earlier, according to residents.

The two camps had only recently been established after the AA pushed junta troops south amid heavy fighting in neighboring Thandwe township, and the military was forced to retreat to Gwa township’s Ka La Pyin village on the outskirts of Kyeintali “with high casualties,” they said.

As the AA entered Kyeintali, the military countered with airstrikes and shelling from naval vessels, said one of the town’s residents who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke to RFA Burmese on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

“They [the AA] attacked the police station on the hill, and two junta outposts in Ward 1 and 3,” he said. “About 30 artillery shells exploded in the town near schools and on the roads. Some buildings were destroyed.”

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The resident said that some civilians were forced to flee, while others were “trapped in their houses” during the clash.

The town of Kyeintali is home to around 10,000 people – most of whom have relocated to Thandwe township and Ayeyarwady region as fighting in Gwa intensified, other sources in the region told RFA.

Those who remained trapped in Kyeintali said they feared further bombardment from the military.

AA pushes on

A resident of Ka La Pyin village, who also declined to be named, said that fierce clashes continued Thursday as the AA pursued junta troops.

“Junta forces retreated from Kyeintali town to regroup with reinforcements from Gwa township and the AA continued to attack them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Arakan Army continued its assault on the junta’s Maung Shwe Lay naval base in Thandwe after occupying the township, residents said.

The AA has yet to release any information about the seizure of Kyeintali and attempts by RFA to contact the army’s spokesperson, Khaing Thu Kha, went unanswered Thursday, as did efforts to reach the junta’s attorney general and spokesperson for Rakhine state, Hla Thein.

Veteran Rakhine politician and former lawmaker Pe Than told RFA that the AA would undoubtedly continue its assault on Gwa township.

“The AA have already declared that the entirety of Rakhine state must be liberated from the junta,” he said. “They have a military goal and they will continue to pursue it.”

Military analysts have noted that the junta only controls one camp each in Rakhine’s Maungdaw and Thandwe townships, and suggest the two regions are likely to soon fall under AA control.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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

The coast guard’s deputy director-general, Hsieh Ching-chin, told a press briefing in Taipei that the boat was detained at a location northeast of Kinmen on Tuesday evening. 

The Penghu-registered boat Da Jin Man 88 with six crew, most of them Indonesian migrant workers, was fishing for squid outside Taiwan-controlled waters when the Chinese coast guard boarded it and forcibly diverted it to a port in mainland China.

The Taiwanese coast guard dispatched three ships in an attempt to rescue the fishing boat but had to stop to avoid escalating tensions as more Chinese ships approached the scene, the coast guard said earlier.

Kinmen is less than 10 km (6.2 miles) from China’s Fujian province.

Despite some tacit boundaries between the two sides, Chinese and Taiwanese fishermen often operate in the area without problems.

However, as tension rises between Beijing and the government of Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te, the presence of Chinese law enforcement vessels around Kinmen has increased.

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Beijing noticeably stepped up patrols in the area after an incident in February, when two Chinese fishermen drowned while being chased by Taiwan’s coast guard.

China has also announced a unilateral fishing moratorium in the waters it claims.

Hsieh said that China should clarify details surrounding the Da Jin Man 88’s detention. Normally, if caught during fishing bans, fishermen are released after paying a fine.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and the Fisheries Agency are communicating with relevant Chinese authorities to secure the fishing vessel’s release, the Taiwanese coast guard said in a statement.

The island’s defense minister, Wellington Koo, said last month that China was trying to normalize its increased incursions into the waters around Taiwan’s outlying islands.

The Chinese coast guard has reportedly adopted a new model of conducting law enforcement near Kinmen, by expanding its scope and intensity, as well as making it “all-weather enforcement.”

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

In Rafah, we speak with Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri about Israel tightening restrictions on humanitarian aid, refusing a ceasefire deal and planning to invade the city where over a million Palestinians are sheltering. Israel’s military seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, blocking humanitarian aid from entering the besieged territory, and trapping Palestinians under heavy Israeli bombardment. This comes after Israel also closed the Karem Abu Salem crossing in southern Gaza this weekend after a Hamas attack killed four Israeli soldiers. “Israel is not allowing the entry of the humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is perceived as a lifeline,” says al-Satarri, who reports Palestinians are “in despair” as Israel orders a third of Rafah’s population to move ahead of their invasion. “They understand that more destruction, more devastation, more death and deprivation is coming for them.” Al-Satarri also speaks about Israel banning Al Jazeera, one of the only international outlets with reporters in Gaza. “I think they want to silence Al Jazeera and they want to silence all the free media for the sake of preventing any further exposure of the things that are happening on the ground.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Myanmar’s military junta, which seized all major governmental seats in a 2021 coup d’etat, invited a Chinese envoy to Naypyidaw on Monday to discuss the Kachin Independence Army’s mass seizure of military camps and subsequent fighting on the border. Some border gates in Kachin state have still not been reopened, political analysts and residents told RFA. 

The rebel group has captured 60 junta camps since fighting began on March 7 and now controls portions of two major trade routes in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state, one of which runs along China’s border. 

The Kachin Independence Army, headquartered in border town Lai Zar, captured another major city nearly 160 kilometers (100 miles) south on Thursday. Rebel troops have occupied the city since March 29, but were not able to negotiate the junta’s surrender until Thursday, Lwegel residents said. 

All administration departments under the junta have been sealed off and their staff have left the city, a resident told RFA on Friday, adding that Kachin troops are now deployed throughout the city.

"The city has been seized. Kachin Independence Army troops have arrived in the city,” he said. “All administrative departments have been closed, and Kachin national flags were seen in some places. Soldiers and the police are still trapped.”

In addition to Kachin national flags hanging on the General Administration Department, market and hospitals in the city, they have also issued notices that only authorized personnel will be allowed at border gates and administrative departments, he added. Soldiers and other military personnel in Lwegel have been relegated to a junta base nearby. 

RFA contacted Kachin state’s junta spokesperson Moe Min Thein for comment on the military’s surrender, but he did not respond by the time of publication.

Kachin Independence Army information officer Col. Naw Bu told RFA that although the former administration staff had left, the anti-junta group’s administrative processes had not yet started in the city’s 21 government offices.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

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

During an offensive, the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, captured encampments under junta Battalion 366 near Kachin state’s Momauk township. The seizure also gave the ethnic armed group partial control of a China-Myanmar border trade road after the Thursday offensive.

Since Myanmar’s February 2021 coup, fighting between the KIA and junta forces has raged for weeks at a time over the state’s lucrative jade mines and the rebel army’s historical stronghold near its headquarters on the Myanmar-China border.

The KIA now controls portions of two major trade roads in the state since its partial capture of the domestic Myitkyina-Bhamo highway in early March, in addition to a junta camp under Battalion 142 in Momauk township. A battle further north in Lai Zar caused shells to land in China, burning down several houses, residents said. 

One resident told RFA that the junta retaliated with air strikes after Yaw Yung Artillery and Hpaleng Hill camps were captured Thursday.

“Yaw Yung was entirely captured and Hpaleng camp was also captured yesterday,” he said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “The junta’s air force came to open fire while KIA troops were confiscating things in these camps after the captures.”

Yaw Yung is an important strategic camp because of the high-level commander stationed there and its proximity to trading posts with China, residents living near the captured camps said. 

Kachin army troops are currently stationed in Lwegel city, about 11 kilometers (seven miles) from Yaw Yung Artillery camp, residents said, adding that they are negotiating with junta troops and administration staff on their exit from the city.

RFA contacted Kachin state’s junta spokesperson Moe Min Thein and KIA spokesperson Col. Naw Bu on the junta’s surrender, but neither responded.

A statement on the KIA's Facebook page on March 28, said three camps were captured on the 27th and two on the 28th, namely Shan Tai, Bang Yau, Law Mun, Hpaleng and Yaw Yung.

The KIA and joint guerilla armies have captured over 40 junta camps in Momauk and Waingmaw townships near the KIA’s headquarters in Lai Zar city in Kachin state as of Thursday. 

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.

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

The question is how far each side might go in carrying out their warnings without drawing Tehran into a broader Middle East conflict in defense of the Huthis, whose sustained attacks on maritime shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden led to its redesignation as a terrorist organization by Washington last week.

"Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea," the United States and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement following their latest round of air strikes on Huthi targets in Yemen on January 21. "But let us reiterate our warning to [the] Huthi leadership: we will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats."

The Huthis responded with vows to continue their war against what they called Israel's "genocide" of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

"The American-British aggression will only increase the Yemeni people’s determination to carry out their moral and humanitarian responsibilities toward the oppressed in Gaza," said Muhammad al-Bukhaiti, a senior Huthi political official.

"These attacks will not go unanswered and unpunished," said Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.

On cue, the two sides clashed again on January 24 when the Huthis said they fired ballistic missiles at several U.S. warships protecting U.S. commercial vessels transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen. U.S. Central Command said three anti-ship missiles were fired at a U.S.-flagged container ship and that two were shot down by a U.S. missile destroyer while the third fell into the Gulf of Aden.

With the stage set for more such encounters, Iran's open backing and clandestine arming of the Huthis looms large. While continuing to state its support for the Huthis, Tehran has continued to deny directing their actions or providing them with weapons. At the same time, Iran has showcased its own advanced missile capabilities as a warning of the strength it could bring to a broader Middle East conflict.

The United States, emphasizing that the goal is to de-escalate tensions in the region, appears to be focusing on preventing the Huthis from obtaining more arms and funding. In addition to returning the Huthis to its list of terrorist groups, Washington said on January 16 that it had seized Iranian weapons bound for the Huthis in a raid in the Arabian Sea.

The United States and United Kingdom also appear to be focusing on precision strikes on the Huthis' military infrastructure while avoiding extensive human casualties or a larger operation that could heighten Iran's ire.

On January 24, the Pentagon clarified that, despite the U.S. strikes in Yemen, "we are not at war in the Middle East" and the focus is on deterrence and preventing a broader conflict.

"The United States is only using a very small portion of what it's capable of against the Huthis right now," said Kenneth Katzman, a senior adviser for the New York-based Soufan Group intelligence consultancy, and expert on geopolitics in the Middle East.

Terrorist Designation

The effectiveness of Washington's restoration on January 17 of the Huthis' terrorist organization label and accompanying U.S. sanctions -- which was removed early last year in recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen and to foster dialogue aimed at ending the Yemeni civil war involving the Huthis and the country's Saudi-backed government forces -- is "marginal," according to Katzman.

"They don't really use the international banking system and are very much cut off," Katzman said. "They get their arms from Iran, which is under extremely heavy sanctions and is certainly not going to be deterred from trying to ship them more weapons by this designation."

But the strikes being carried out by the United States and the United Kingdom, with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, are another matter.

The January 21 strikes against eight Huthi targets -- followed shortly afterward by what was the ninth attack overall -- were intended to disrupt and degrade the group's capabilities to threaten global trade. They were a response to more than 30 attacks on international and commercial vessels since mid-November and were the largest strikes since a similar coalition operation on January 11.

Such strikes against the Huthis "have the potential to deter them and to degrade them, but it's going to take many more strikes, and I think the U.S. is preparing for that," Katzman said. "You're not going to degrade their capabilities in one or two volleys or even several volleys, it's going to take months."

The Huthis have significant experience in riding out aerial strikes, having been under relentless bombardment by a Saudi-led military collation during the nine-year Yemeni civil war, in which fighting has ended owing to a UN-brokered cease-fire in early 2022 that the warring parties recommitted to in December.

"They weathered that pretty well," said Jeremy Binnie, a Middle East defense analyst with the global intelligence company Janes.

"On the battlefield, airpower can still be fairly decisive," Binnie said, noting that air strikes were critical in thwarting Huthi offensives during the Yemeni civil war. "But in terms of the Huthis' overall ability to weather the air campaign of the Saudi-led coalition, they did that fine, from their point of view."

Since the cease-fire, Binnie said, the situation may have changed somewhat as the Huthis built up their forces, with more advanced missiles and aging tanks -- a heavier presence that "might make them a bit more vulnerable."

"But I don't think they will, at the same time, have any problem reverting to a lighter force that is more resilient to air strikes as they have been in the past," Binnie said.

Both Binnie and Katzman suggested that the Huthis appear willing to sustain battlefield losses in pursuit of their aims, which makes the group difficult to deter from the air.

The Huthis have clearly displayed their intent on continuing to disrupt maritime shipping in the Red Sea, which they claim has targeted only vessels linked to Israel despite evidence to the contrary, until there is a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

This has brought the Huthis' complicated relationship with Iran under intense scrutiny.

'Axis Of Resistance'

The Huthis have established themselves as a potent element of Iran's so-called "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States, as well as against Tehran's regional archrival, Saudi Arabia.

But analysts who spoke to RFE/RL widely dismissed the idea that the Huthis are a direct Iranian proxy, describing the relationship as more one of mutual benefit in which the Huthis can be belligerent and go beyond what Tehran wants them to.

While accused by Western states and UN experts of secretly shipping arms to the Huthis and other members of the axis of resistance, Iran has portrayed the loose-knit band of proxies and partners and militant groups as independent in their decision-making.

The grouping includes the Iran-backed Hamas -- the U.S. and EU designated terrorist group whose attack on Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip -- and Lebanese Hizballah -- a Iranian proxy and U.S. designated terrorist group that, like the Huthis, has launched strikes against Israel in defense of Hamas.

"The success of the axis of resistance ... is that since Tehran has either created or co-opted these groups, there is more often than not fusion rather than tension," between members of the network and Iran, explained Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

But the relationship is not simply about "Iran telling its proxies to jump and them saying how high," Taleblu said. "It’s about Iran’s ability to find and materially support those who are willing to or can be persuaded to shoot at those Tehran wants to shoot at."

Iran's interest in a certain axis member's success in a given area and its perception of how endangered that partner might be, could play a crucial role in Tehran's willingness to come to their defense, according to Taleblu.

Middle East observers who spoke to RFE/RL suggested that it would take a significant escalation -- an existential threat to Tehran itself or a proxy, like Lebanese Hizballah -- for Iran to become directly involved.

"The Islamic republic would react differently to the near eradication of Hizballah which it created, versus Hamas, which it co-opted," Taleblu said. "Context is key."

"Iran is doing what it feels it can to try to keep the United States at bay," Katzman said, singling out the missile strikes carried out on targets this month in Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan that were widely seen as a warning to Israel and the United States of Tehran's growing military capabilities. Iran is "trying to show support for the Huthis without getting dragged in."

Iran is believed to have members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the ground in Yemen. Tehran also continues to be accused of delivering arms to the Huthis, and at the start of the year deployed a ship to the Gulf of Aden in a show of support for the Huthis before withdrawing it after the U.S.-led coalition launched strikes in Yemen on January 11.

"So, they are helping," Katzman said, "but I think they are trying to do it as quietly and as under the radar as possible.

A U.S.-led ground operation against the Huthis, if it came to that, could change Iran's calculations. "Then Iran might deploy forces to help them out," Katzman said.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Authorities seized boxes of the dessert pastry with a sweet or savory filling from the luggage of trade officials returning from China for the autumn harvest festival, sources in the region told Radio Free Asia.

“This morning, I received a call from a trading company official who returned home … saying that customs had confiscated the mooncakes he had bought in China,” a North Korean trade worker stationed in China told RFA Korean Wednesday on condition of anonymity for security reasons. 

“The reason why they are preventing the inflow of Chinese mooncakes is because they are a traditional Chinese food, not a traditional food of our people,” he said.

This was the first time such steps have been taken, he said.

North Korean trade workers stationed in China’s Liaoning province began the big rush home on Wednesday to celebrate Chuseok, the autumn harvest festival, and they will spend the next 10 days at home before returning to China, a source working at a trade agency in North Korea’s North Pyongan province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“Many trade workers returning home are officials from trade organizations in Pyongyang and Sinuiju,” a North Korean city that lies opposite the Yalu River border from China’s Dandong, he said “Among them are officials who returned home this morning with Chinese mooncakes.”

Korean Thanksgiving

Chuseok is one of the most important holidays on the Korean peninsula and has drawn comparisons to Thanksgiving in the United States. It is the Korean version of the autumn holiday celebrated throughout Asia, falling on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, or Sept. 29 this year.

On Chuseok, Koreans travel to meet their extended family and honor their ancestors with a large feast that typically includes a jesa table heaping with meat and fish, neatly stacked piles of fruit, pickled vegetables and handmade rice cakes called songpyon.

But in the years that preceded the pandemic, mooncakes from China’s version of the holiday began making an appearance in lieu of songpyon, as food shortages made the rice cakes impractical, the trade worker stationed in China said. 

He said that another reason they want to keep the mooncakes might be to try to get the people to buy more locally made snacks and breads.

As mooncakes began spreading through North Korea just prior to the pandemic, they became more and more popular, including among families living in Pyongyang, according to the North Pyongan source. Mooncakes therefore began to be seen as a typical Chuseok food there.

“Demand for mooncakes has increased, so since last week trade workers stationed in China began to ship large amounts of them [across the border] for sale in the Pyongyang markets,” he said. “The authorities finally began cracking down on it.”

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Son Hyemin for RFA Korean.

Kenwyn Caranna, a government reporter for the News & Record, was covering a juvenile court hearing on July 28, 2023, when a North Carolina judge seized her notes and told her she was under a gag order.

News & Record Executive Editor Dimon Kendrick-Holmes wrote that Caranna had been observing proceedings in the Greensboro courtroom most of the day, the only exception being a closed hearing when all observers were ordered to leave the courtroom.

District Court Judge Ashley Watlington-Simms reportedly asked Caranna to identify herself later in the day. When Caranna did so, the judge denied the reporter’s request to speak with an attorney and left the courtroom to consult with Chief District Court Judge Teresa Vincent.

When she returned, Watlington-Simms told Caranna she was under a gag order. The judge then directed bailiffs to seize Caranna’s notes from the day’s proceedings, telling the journalist she could appeal the decision on a later date.

Watlington-Simms entered a formal protective order on Aug. 2, which stated that the prior restraint was necessary to protect confidential information from the juvenile court cases, according to the News & Record. The order also sealed Caranna’s notes and barred her from disclosing information from the cases she observed.

The News & Record has requested a hearing to vacate the gag order as well as unseal and return Caranna’s notes.

When reached by email, Caranna directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to a newsletter about the ruling, but declined to comment further. The newsletter reported that a district trial court coordinator refused to release a copy of the protective order, stating that it is confidential.

This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

Italian authorities on Sunday seized a migrant aid ship financed by renowned British street artist Banksy after the vessel allegedly violated a decree by Italy's far-right cabinet by refusing to head to port following a rescue operation.

Reutersreports the Italian coast guard instructed the MV Louise Michel—named after the French "grande dame of anarchy"—to dock at Trapani in Sicily after rescuing migrants in the Libyan search and rescue zone. Instead, the ship went to aid distressed migrants in Malta's search and rescue area. The 30-meter vessel, painted bright pink and white, ultimately docked in Lampedusa Saturday with 178 rescued migrants aboard.

Louise Michel's Twitter account said Monday that the ship's crew "received official notification that the ship is detained for 20 days due to violation of the new Italian decree law" and that "we will take all necessary steps to fight this detention."

Last month, Italy's parliament codified a December 2022 decree by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her neo-fascist Brothers of Italy cabinet requiring ships to proceed immediately to an assigned port after a rescue instead of providing aid to other distressed vessels, as is commonly done. Critics say humanitarian vessels are being assigned to distant ports in order to keep them from rescue zones for as long as possible.

Under the new law, migrants must also declare while aboard a rescue ship whether they wish to apply for asylum, and if so, in which European Union country. Captains of civilian vessels found in violation of the law face fines of up to €50,000 ($53,900) and confiscation and impoundment of their ships. Migrant rights advocates have slammed the new legislation as "a call to let people drown."

Following the drowning of more than 60 migrants whose boat broke apart just off the Calabrian coast last month, Meloni's cabinet approved another decree establishing a new crime—death resulting from people smuggling—punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

On Sunday, Tunisia's coast guard said it recovered the bodies of at least 29 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa who were attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy when three boats capsized. There has been an increase in violence against Black people and spike in migrant departures from the North African nation since its president, Kais Saied, delivered an inflammatory speech earlier this month blasting what he called "hordes of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa" who bring "violence, crime, and unacceptable practices" to Tunisia and threaten its "Arab and Islamic" character.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

The seizure took place after customs officers and local police found the elephant tusks in a 20-foot shipping container shipped en route to Vietnam via Singapore at Nam Hai Dinh Vu Port in Haiphong, a city in northeastern Vietnam, according to a report in state-run Bao Chinh Phu newspaper.  

The containers were declared to be carrying peanuts.

Vietnam is a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, or CITES, which bans international trade in ivory. 

Nevertheless, wildlife trafficking remains rampant with the smuggling of ivory, pangolin scales, rhino horns and tiger parts, used for charms, decorations and traditional medicine throughout the region and in China. 

Most of the ivory illegally smuggled into Southeast Asia ends up in the hands of Chinese customers due to lax enforcement, though Beijing banned the sale of elephant ivory at the end of 2017.

Authorities at the same port seized 7.5 tons of elephant ivory and pangolin scales hidden in steel barrels in a shipping container in June 2019, according to Vietnamese media. The shipment was headed to a logistics company in Haiphong, but no one claimed it. 

Translated by An Nguyen for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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

As a military column entered the villages on the eastern side of Khin-U township at around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, more than 2,000 households from Thi Ha Taw, Shwe Min Gan, Thin Paung, Ka Bwet, Koke Tet and Yone Pin villages abandoned their homes.

“Early in the morning, before dawn, we all ran away with carts,” a local told RFA.

“Both children and elderly people were suffering. I heard that they [junta troops] entered Yone Pin village this morning and two local residents were arrested.”

Villages in western Khin-U also targeted

Residents said that in the western part of Khin-U township another military column was raiding villages forcing nearly 3,500 locals to flee. Three locals were arrested in Ywar Thit village, they said.

The State Administration Council (SAC) has not released any statement on the raids.

People’s Defense Force (PDF) members said they resisted the military council troops using landmines on Monday and Tuesday causing heavy casualties on the junta side. The troops have started raiding villages as a consequence, they said.

Northwestern Sagaing region has seen some of the fiercest fighting between junta forces and PDFs since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, authorities in Myanmar have killed 2,299 civilians and arrested 15,571 since last year’s coup.

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

As a military column entered the villages on the eastern side of Khin-U township at around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, more than 2,000 households from Thi Ha Taw, Shwe Min Gan, Thin Paung, Ka Bwet, Koke Tet and Yone Pin villages abandoned their homes.

“Early in the morning, before dawn, we all ran away with carts,” a local told RFA.

“Both children and elderly people were suffering. I heard that they [junta troops] entered Yone Pin village this morning and two local residents were arrested.”

Villages in western Khin-U also targeted

Residents said that in the western part of Khin-U township another military column was raiding villages forcing nearly 3,500 locals to flee. Three locals were arrested in Ywar Thit village, they said.

The State Administration Council (SAC) has not released any statement on the raids.

People’s Defense Force (PDF) members said they resisted the military council troops using landmines on Monday and Tuesday causing heavy casualties on the junta side. The troops have started raiding villages as a consequence, they said.

Northwestern Sagaing region has seen some of the fiercest fighting between junta forces and PDFs since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, authorities in Myanmar have killed 2,299 civilians and arrested 15,571 since last year’s coup.

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

Congressional Republicans on Monday wasted no time seizing on President Joe Biden's widely criticized claim that the "pandemic is over" to demand a slew of policy changes with potentially disastrous public health implications, including Medicaid funding cuts that could result in millions losing coverage.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, wrote in a letter to Biden that he "watched with great interest" the "60 Minutes" interview in which the president said that while the United States still has "a problem with Covid," the pandemic has come to an end.

"Saying the pandemic is 'over' is likely to eliminate the possibility of any additional Covid response funding from Congress."

If that's the case, the North Carolina Republican asked Biden, "how do you justify spending tens of billions to keep people on Medicaid who would otherwise make too much money to qualify for the program and already have employer-sponsored insurance?"

Burr was referring to a provision of the 2020 CARES Act that gives states a 6.2-percentage-point boost in Medicaid funding for the duration of the federally declared public health emergency, which is currently set to end on October 13.

In exchange for the funding increase, states are barred from dropping people from Medicaid without their consent—a rule that has allowed millions of people across the U.S. to maintain continuous health coverage amid mass layoffs and other pandemic-induced turmoil.

Recent increases in Medicaid coverage helped drive an overall decline in the number of Americans without any health insurance last year.

If the Biden administration were to formally declare an end to the public health emergency—as Burr and other Republicans have made clear they want—the funding boost would end, the continuous coverage requirement would lapse, and around 15 million people could be kicked off Medicaid, including millions of children.

Biden's Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has estimated that nearly half of the 15 million set to lose coverage could be stripped of Medicaid benefits by states despite still being eligible for the program. According to HHS, that's because of "administrative churning... which can occur if enrollees have difficulty navigating the renewal process, states are unable to contact enrollees due to a change of address, or other administrative hurdles."

In addition to the pandemic-related Medicaid provisions, Burr also targeted a slew of other measures, including masking and vaccination guidance as well as "policies that prevent manufacturers of Covid-19 countermeasures from selling their products within the commercial market."

Burr also asked whether the Biden administration plans to "rescind [his] student loan forgiveness decision" given that the legal justification for the move rests on emergency powers.

The president's comments, which aired Sunday, reportedly caught top members of his administration off guard, particularly given that they came as the White House is pushing Congress to approve billions of dollars in additional funding for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.

Republicans who have long opposed the Biden administration's push for more coronavirus funding signaled after the president's remarks aired Sunday that they intend to block new pandemic money.

"Saying the pandemic is 'over' is likely to eliminate the possibility of any additional Covid response funding from Congress (granted, chances were already low)," tweeted Josh Michaud, associate director of global health at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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

New reporting from The Washington Post on Monday laid out the increasingly dire conditions across Afghanistan amid drought and in the wake of the Taliban takeover and disastrous U.S. withdrawal last year following nearly two decades of war.

"Sometimes all we have is donated stale bread and tea."

"We were poor before the takeover. Now we have nothing," Ahmed Shah Jamshidi told journalist Susannah George, who reports that the 42-year-old Afghan borrows money from shopkeepers to buy potatoes and cooking oil so his wife can make his family a watery stew.

When the family has no food, "the children scream from the hunger at night," Jamshidi explained. "Sometimes all we have is donated stale bread and tea. And when we run out of tea, I just gather grass to boil with the water."

George's accounts from struggling families come as members of the former Afghan government, diaspora groups, and relatives of 9/11 victims call on U.S. President Joe Biden to help end the suffering after freezing $7 billion in the nation's central bank funds.

In a move that The Intercept's Austin Ahlman called "tantamount to mass murder," Biden in February signed an executive order to evenly split the central bank assets held in the Federal Reserve between a trust "for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan" and American families of 9/11 victims who have taken legal action in the U.S. court system.

Various reports from United Nations and humanitarian organizations in recent months have found about 20 million people in Afghanistan, roughly half the population, face acute hunger.

"Unprecedented levels of humanitarian assistance focused on bolstering food security have made a difference. But the food security situation is dire," Richard Trenchard, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization representative in Afghanistan, said last month.

"Humanitarian assistance remains desperately important, as do the needs to rebuild shattered agricultural livelihoods and reconnect farmers and rural communities to struggling rural and urban markets across the country," he added. "Unless these happen, there will be no way out of this crisis."

George at the Post spoke with Madina Noori, who traveled over 250 miles to seek help for her daughter, Sahar, in the malnutrition ward at a children's hospital in the capital Kabul:

"She was fine when she was born, but after a few days I began to worry something was wrong," said Noori, who didn't have enough milk to sustain her. "Her skin started turning yellow, and she was very weak."

Sahar's health deteriorated quickly. By the time Noori got her to the hospital, the baby couldn't swallow liquids. Even after a week of treatment, Sahar hadn’t improved. Her hands and feet were gaunt, her skin a pale gray.

"They told us she may need to stay here for weeks, but I don't know if we can stay that long," said Noori, who is quickly running out of money. She and her mother sleep on the hospital floor beside Sahar's bed because they can't afford a place to stay.

The newspaper noted that the U.S. State Department's "refusal to recognize the Taliban also made it impossible for the country's new rulers to access billions of dollars in foreign assets. Parallel moves by the World Bank and the European Union brought Afghanistan's economy crashing down."

Although the U.S. government and others have recently begun to "funnel money through the United Nations and groups that bypass Taliban leadership," the Post continued, "these hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid are a small fraction of the billions that once kept the country afloat."

NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid praised George's reporting and the article's accompanying photographs, taken by Lorenzo Tugnoli.

"This story. And these images—absolutely devastating," Khalid said, thanking the journalist "for keeping an eye on Afghanistan... as so much of the world looks away."

George's coverage came a week after The Intercept's Murtaza Hussain detailed calls for the Biden administration "to take urgent steps to help the Afghan economy," highlighting the impact of the $7 billion seizure and that lawyers are likely to be key beneficiaries of the February order.

Kelly Campbell, co-founder of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, told Hussain about what she saw while leading a delegation to Afghanistan and her view of Biden's actions.

"There are people waiting in bread lines and very poor children with malnutrition visible in public, but there are also many middle-class people rapidly falling into poverty," she said. "This is being driven in part because there's no longer a functioning banking system and people are unable to access their salaries. It's a problem that humanitarian aid alone is not going to be able to solve."

"The fact of the matter is that these reserves are the Afghan people's money. The idea that they are on the brink of famine and that we would be holding on to their money for any purpose is just wrong," Campbell added. "The Afghan people are not responsible for 9/11, they're victims of 9/11 the same way our families are. To take their money and watch them literally starve—I can't think of anything more sad."

Highlighting Hussain's article last week, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) noted the rising hunger as well as a reported increase in child marriages.

"It's happening all over and in different social economic spheres," said Cornelius Williams, head of child protection for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in April. "What we are seeing is a commodification of girls and child marriages becoming more of a transaction. Children in general are becoming an economic commodity in the household."

According to CEPR, "The U.S. has a moral duty to end its inhumane economic policy and return what rightfully belongs to the people of Afghanistan."

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

Russian military activity near Ukraine’s nuclear sites have raised alarm, as triggering any of the volatile reactors around the country could cause nuclear catastrophe for the entire European continent. Russian troops have seized the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and have reportedly taken staff hostage, raising fear that any disturbance could rerelease deadly radiation that has been sealed off for years. As Ukraine relies on nuclear power for 50% of its electricity, shutting down active nuclear reactors would alleviate the potential for nuclear catastrophe at the cost of leaving many deprived of electricity during the war. “This is the first time that we’ve ever seen a war zone in a location where there are operating nuclear power plants,” says Linda Pentz Gunter, international specialist at Beyond Nuclear. “Any manner of situations could lead to a catastrophic meltdown.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.