UPDATES: By Cole Martin in Occupied Bethlehem

Fifty six Palestinians were killed by Israel in Gaza today, 38 of them while seeking aid, while five were killed and 20 wounded in an Israeli attack on aid workers northwest of Gaza City.

Al-Qassam Brigades reportedly blew up a house in southern Gaza where a number of Israeli soldiers were operating from.

Israel’s forced starvation and indiscriminate targeting of civilians continues.

• READ MORE: Attack on Iran’s state media – Israel bombs IRIB building in new war crime
• Why Israel’s ‘humane’ propaganda is such a sinister facade
• Other Israeli war on Iran reports

Israeli media report that Iranian missile strikes on Haifa oil refinery yesterday killed 3 people and closed down the installation.

The Israeli death toll has risen to 24, with 400 injured and more than 2700 people displaced.

Israeli authorities report 370 missiles fired by Iran in total, 30 reaching their targets. Iranian military report they have carried out 550 drone operations.

224 killed in Iran
Two hundred and twenty four people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Iran, with 1277 hospitalised.

The state radio and television building was targeted by Israeli strikes twice — while broadcasting live — with the broadcast back online within 5 minutes despite the attack.

In response, Iran has issued a warning to evacuate the central offices of Israeli television channels 12 and 14.

An Israeli attack on a Red Crescent ambulance in Tehran resulted in the deaths of two relief workers.

Israel’s Finance Minister Belazel Smotrich, who is accused of being a war criminal and the target of sanctions by five countries including New Zealand, claims they have hit 800 targets in Iran, with aircraft flying freely in the nation’s airspace.

In the West Bank, the tension continues, with business continuing at a subdued level, everyone waiting to see how the situation will unfold.

Israel’s illegal siege continues, cutting off cities and villages from one another, while blocking ambulances and urgent medical access in several locations today.

Israeli and Iranian strikes are expected to continue, and potentially escalate, over the coming days.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues.

Cole Martin is an independent New Zealand photojournalist based in the Middle East and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

The closure of China Labor Bulletin, announced Thursday, came as authorities launched a new national security investigation into six unnamed people and one organization suspected of “colluding with a foreign country.”

Shortly after officials launched the probe, China Labor Bulletin – which receives funding from various foundations based outside China – announced its closure, saying: “The company is no longer able to maintain operations and has decided to dissolve and initiate the relevant procedures.”

Radio Free Asia could not immediately reach Han, a long-time contributor to RFA’s Mandarin Service, producing radio segments focusing on workers’ issues in China.

But Han, who founded China Labor Bulletin in 1994, told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that the shutdown was his decision and that he would remain in Hong Kong.

The bulletin advocated for the rights of Chinese workers and provided them legal support. It has served as a source of information for activists, journalists, and scholars on worker issues and unrest in China.

In its statement, the bulletin said: “As of today, our website will stop updating content and other social media platforms have also been removed,” the statement said.

RFA found that China Labor Bulletin’s website appeared to have been shut down on Friday, displaying a host error message, and its social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram have been deactivated.

(Anthony Wallace/AFP)

The development came as China’s National Security Office in Hong Kong ordered Hong Kong authorities to “interview” and investigate six individuals and one organization suspected of “colluding with a foreign country or external forces to endanger national security” between November 2020 and June 2024.

Authorities on Thursday executed court-approved searches of the homes of the six people and an office, located in Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung district, of the organization under investigation, seizing bank documents and equipment. All six individuals were required to surrender their travel documents.

The authorities did not provide the names of the six people or the organization under investigation.

The development underscores Beijing’s systematic dismantling of Hong Kong’s once-vibrant civil society, as authorities continue using broad national security provisions to investigate suspected foreign collaboration and force long-established organizations to shutter operations.

Since the implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law in 2020, at least 58 civil society organizations have been forced to disband.

Written by Tenzin Pema. Edited by Mat Pennington.

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

The move fulfills a campaign promise of the new South Korean president who favors engagement with Pyongyang.

In his inaugural address last week, President Lee Jae-myung – who replaced ousted conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol – promised to improve inter-Korean relations and restart dialogue with Pyongyang, in sharp contrast to Yoon who adopted a more confrontational stance toward the North.

Under Yoon, the South Korean military resumed its loudspeaker “Voice of Freedom” broadcasts to North Korea in June last year, ending a six-year hiatus, in retaliation for the North’s campaign to send balloons laden with trash and human waste to the South.

Lee, meanwhile, had promised during his presidential campaign to stop these broadcasts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the suspension of the loudspeaker broadcasts into North Korea was part of efforts to “restore trust in inter-Korean relations and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Earlier this week, South Korea’s Unification Ministry also called on activists to stop sending propaganda leaflets into North Korea, saying these activities “could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula and threaten the lives and safety of residents in border areas.”

The broadcasts have a long history. South Korea began using loudspeakers to pump propaganda messages into North Korea in 1963, and the North set up its own loudspeakers shortly after, with both sides broadcasting their messages every day across the border until 2004, when they agreed to stop after negotiations.

But the South started them up again in 2015 after South Korean soldiers were injured by a North Korean landmine inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

In 2018, the two governments again agreed to halt the broadcasts after a rare summit between their leaders, until the South resumed them last June while the North blared ominous noises – howling wolves, clanging gongs and other irritating sounds – from speakers within their half of the DMZ.

(Kim Hong-ji/AP)

In the past, North Korea’s loudspeakers had broadcast propaganda, insulting the government in Seoul as a “puppet” of the United States or encouraging South Korean soldiers to defect to the “paradise” in the North.

In a press briefing on Monday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the decision to completely stop the broadcasts would hinge on North Korea’s actions, and that a comprehensive review would be needed.

The military’s decision to halt the broadcasts was also driven partly by the fact that North Korea had also stopped sending its trash-laden balloons across the border since late last year.

North Korea has yet to comment on the South’s suspension of its loudspeaker broadcasts across the border. But regardless of the Lee government’s softer approach, analysts expect North Korea to show continued hostility toward the South.

In particular, Pyongyang’s move to eliminate ‘puppet’ – a derogatory term used in North Korean propaganda to describe South Korea – from its state publication Rodong Sinmun suggests a fundamental shift in its approach toward the South, say analysts.

“This can be interpreted as suggesting North Korea’s abandonment of its will to unify the Korean Peninsula,” Lim Su-jin, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, argues in a June 10 report.

In addition, North Korea’s recent reports on South Korea are shifting from direct criticism to “strategic indifference,” focused primarily on its relations with the United States, with the word ‘America’ showing the largest increase in all South Korea-related coverage by Rodong Sinmun from January to March, Lim said.

Edited by Mat Pennington and Tenzin Pema.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mok Yong-jae for RFA Korean.

More than 1,000 reporters, editors and administrative staff from state-controlled Vietnamese broadcasters, including Voice of Vietnam’s VTC Digital Television, lost their jobs on Wednesday as the channels were taken off the air, state media reported.

VTC’s 13 channels, along with others unconnected to Voice of Vietnam such as People’s Television and Vietnam News Agency Television, stopped broadcasting on the morning of Jan. 15. National Assembly Television had already shut down on Jan. 1. While regional broadcasters are still on air, the goal is to make Vietnam Television the country’s only channel.

The closures are part of a plan by the Communist Party’s top decision making body the Politburo to streamline the political system and cut costs as outlined in Resolution 18, which aims to eliminate overlap in government enterprises and reduce the number of civil servants by a fifth.

VTC Digital Television was established in 2004 and became a non-business unit under the Ministry of Information and Communications in 2014. The following year, it was merged into the state Voice of Vietnam news agency.

VTC, Vietnam’s second most-watched station behind Vietnam Television, broadcast nationwide, disseminating party propaganda.

One staff member, who worked for VTC for 20 years, told Radio Free Asia she and her colleagues were shocked and confused by its abrupt closure.

“They don’t know where to go and what to do,” said the woman, who didn’t want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. “Employees haven’t been informed about any [compensation] policies. Any decision should consider workers’ interests.”

“ We have dedicated many years to the job, are financially independent, and are not paid by the state budget. Why do they shut down our channels so abruptly without a proper roadmap?”

(Nhac Nguyen/AFP)

Administrative staff described the closure of VTC as “destructive,” wasting millions of dollars of machinery and equipment – state assets now idle.

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Ho Chi Minh City-based independent journalist Nam Viet said he wouldn’t miss the propaganda channels, often considered the “lifeblood of the government.”

“Quite a few reporters have taken to social media to lament and regret that they have dedicated many years [to the state]. Now they’re being forced out but their sharing is more ironic than pity-inducing, because they have been the henchmen of a propaganda system that is nothing to be proud of … not journalists who dared to speak up for people’s suffering and fight for justice.”

Academic Nguyen Hoang Anh, who has worked on programs for VTC and other broadcasters, said relying on a single channel would likely lead to many important issues being overlooked.

“Shutting down VTC will scale down the dissemination of information and leave viewers with fewer choices,” she said, adding that Vietnam Television mainly focuses on politics, whereas VTC covered social issues such as women’s rights and education.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn.

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

The restrictions are centered on three border crossings, two of which have been recently shut down, in the northeastern town of Muse, which lies across the border from China’s Ruili,

Video posted on social media showed fresh fruit sellers in China giving their product away because they could not get it across the border before it spoils.

More than 2 million residents in northern Shan state rely on Chinese foodstuffs and goods. The closures have resulted in price hikes.

At the Muse border, the price of one liter (.26 gallons) of gasoline has risen to more than 10 thousand kyats ($4.76), while a bag of low-quality rice has almost doubled, a resident there told RFA.

“Every item has been expensive due to the closure of border gates. Business is not good,” he said. “People are facing various challenges in their daily lives.”

The restrictions have increased in the wake of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing’s recent visit to China, but it isn’t immediately clear if the two are linked.

During his visit, he met with Premier Li Qiang and discussed control of border trade between the two countries, according to junta reports.

Junta spokesperson Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun stated during a press conference following the military chief’s return from China that both sides discussed border stability and agreed not to allow opponents of the junta regime to operate on Chinese territory, and vice versa.

Vehicles stuck

The government announced closure of one of Muse’s three border gates last week, but now there are two gates closed.

The closures have blocked the crossing of more than 300 vehicles, including grocery trucks headed for Myanmar, and these vehicles are now stranded, a border trade merchant said.

Additionally, private vehicles hoping to cross the border with goods have become stranded, a Chinese driver told RFA.

“The traffic-police from the Chinese side have recorded the number plates of vehicles stranded at Mang Wein gate,” he said.

“We do not see any significant development until now. Frozen seafood has been unloaded from the cars into garages. About 60 percent of trucks are loaded with potatoes. While Chinese officials allowed the use of Mang Wein gate, the junta officials do not allow the use of this gate on their side”

RFA attempted to contact the junta’s spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce but he was not available.

RFA emailed the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar on Thursday seeking comments on the further restrictions on small-scale informal cross-border trade. However, no response was recieved.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

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

The power plant came to the end of its life in line with the government’s world-leading policy to phase out coal power which was first signaled almost a decade ago.

The closure marks the end of Britain’s 142-year history of coal power use which began when the world’s first coal-fired power station, the Holborn Viaduct power station, began generating electricity in 1882.

The shutdown has been hailed by green campaigners as a major achievement for the government in reducing the U.K.’s carbon emissions, providing international climate leadership, and ensuring a “just transition” for staff in Britain’s coal industry.

On Monday, Michael Shanks, the minister for energy, said: “Today’s closure at Ratcliffe marks the end of an era and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country for over 140 years. We owe generations a debt of gratitude as a country.”

The U.K. became the first country to set an end date for coal power from 2025 after putting in place increasingly stringent green regulations to reduce the running hours of its coal plants.

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Ministers strengthened the U.K.’s leadership on phasing out coal by calling for the deadline to come forward by a year, shortly before the U.K. hosted the U.N.’s COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in late 2021.

Ratcliffe’s 170 remaining staff were invited to gather in the canteen on Monday where a livestream from the power plant’s control room showed the moment that its generating units were turned off for the last time.

Peter O’Grady, Ratcliffe’s plant manager, said: “This whole year has been a series of poignant moments. I’m sure there will be a few tears as the whole thing stops and as people leave.”

The coal plant once employed 3,000 engineers but its workforce has declined in line with its power output over recent years. Coal power made up 80 percent of the U.K.’s electricity in the early 1980s, and 40 percent in 2012, before petering out in the last decade due to costly carbon taxes and the rise of cheaper renewables.

“This is the final chapter of a remarkably swift transition from the country that started the industrial revolution,” said Phil MacDonald, managing director of global energy think tank Ember.

A report by Ember found that coal power has halved among member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, since reaching a peak in 2007. Coal power made up 17 percent of electricity generated by OECD countries last year, according to Ember, but 27 of the 38 member states have pledged to be coal-free by the end of the decade.

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Ed Matthew, a director at climate crisis think tank E3G, said: “The U.K. was the first country to build a coal-fired power station. It is right that it is the first major economy to exit coal power. This is true global leadership, lighting the path for other countries to follow.”

Tony Bosworth, a campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said: “The priority now is to move away from gas as well, by developing as fast as possible the U.K.’s huge homegrown renewable energy potential and delivering the economic boost that will bring. But this vital green transition must be fair, by protecting workers and benefiting communities.”

Staff were first told in 2021 that the plant would close in late 2022, but Ratcliffe’s owner, the German energy company Uniper, later said it would keep the plant running during the Europe-wide gas crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine under an agreement with the government.

Uniper has worked with unions to help many engineers into new jobs at the company’s other power plants or into training which could lead to work in other areas of the energy industry. More than 100 are expected to remain at the plant to carry out decommissioning work over the next two years.

Michael Lewis, Uniper’s chief executive, said: “For me, Ratcliffe has always been more than just a power station — it has been a pillar of the U.K.’s energy security for decades. Built during a time when coal was the backbone of industrial progress, Ratcliffe powered over 2 million homes and businesses — equivalent to the entire East Midlands region. It played a crucial role in boosting economic growth and supporting the livelihoods of thousands of people.

“This will be the first time since 1882 that coal has not powered Great Britain. As we close this chapter, we honor Ratcliffe’s legacy and the people working here, while embracing the future of cleaner and flexible energy,” he said.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The end of an era: Britain’s last coal-fired power plant shuts down on Oct 5, 2024.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Jillian Ambrose, The Guardian.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, or TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and is closely monitored by traders and the broader industry for any possible disruption to supply chains.

TSMC said it had activated routine typhoon alert preparation procedures at all its fabs and construction sites, adding it did not expect any significant impact on its operations.

Heavy winds and rain unleashed by Krathon killed two people, while two others were missing and 102 were injured as of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the island’s Central Emergency Operation Center.

The typhoon disrupted traffic and forced the suspension of flights for a second day on Thursday. Power was cut to nearly 55,000 homes, authorities said.

As well as the stock market, schools, government offices, many private businesses and other financial institutions were closed. 

People flocked to supermarkets and convenience stores to stock up, emptying the shelves in produce sections, according to media.

As of 10 a.m. on Thursday, Krathon was  30 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of the city of Kaohsiung moving north-northeast at a speed of 8 kilometers per hour (5 mph), data from Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration showed. 

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 126 kph (78 mph), with gusts of up to 162 kph (100 mph). 

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

“Chinese authorities must restore journalist Gao Yu’s internet connection and phone services and stop harassing her with physical and digital surveillance,” said Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative. “Beijing’s excessive need to control dissent is a reflection of its cowardice and fear of critical reporting.”

Authorities have asked Gao to shut down her account on the social platform X for years, she told CPJ, adding that she believes that her posts, including ones sharing her articles, are the reason for turning off her internet and phone access. Gao told CPJ that she must go to a friend’s house or a restaurant to access the internet.

Beijing police also asked Gao to leave the capital from August 29 to September 9 while the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a state-level economic conference between African countries and China, took place. Gao said that after she refused, the police told her that they would take turns guarding her house to ensure she wouldn’t leave. This is a common practice against dissidents in China.

CPJ’s email requesting comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a message sent via the webpage after office hours to the Government of Beijing Municipality did not immediately receive any responses.

Authorities sentenced Gao to six years in 1994 for “leaking state secrets;” she was released in 1999 on medical parole after serving part of the sentence. Gao was sentenced to seven years in 2015 on the same charge. The sentence was later reduced to five years, which Gao served outside of prison due to her deteriorating health.

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

The Gangjong Sherig Norling school in Golog county, or Guoluo in Chinese, is in the historical Amdo region of Tibet. It was founded in 1994 by Ragya Jigme Gyaltsen, the principal, and is renowned for its modern and traditional education on Tibetan culture, philosophy and religion. 

In an announcement in both Tibetan and Mandarin dated July 14, Gyaltsen said the school was closing because it was not in compliance with standards set by the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee for vocational schools. However, no specifics were provided.

The 30-year-old school is the latest in a series of private schools forcibly closed in recent years, sparking concern among Tibetans over efforts by Chinese authorities to eradicate Tibetan language and culture.

Tenzin Lekshey, spokesperson for the Central Tibetan Administration — the Tibetan government-in-exile — expressed disappointment over the school’s closure and condemned the Chinese government’s actions, stating that the move highlights Beijing’s disregard for the wishes of the Tibetan people. 

“The forced closure of Tibetan schools underscores the Chinese government's escalating policy to eradicate and undermine Tibetan language and culture,” he said.

Gyaltsen also announced the closure of the school at a graduation ceremony for 110 students on July 12. 

In tears

Videos of the graduation showed students in tears upon hearing news of the closure. The students, dressed in traditional Tibetan attire, were seen carrying the traditional Tibetan white ceremonial scarves as a mark of respect and gratitude for the school.

During the past three decades, the school has served as a vital hub of learning for Tibetan cultural and linguistic studies, drawing youth from across Tibet, Mongolia and Inner Mongolia.

The school’s rigorous curriculum also includes English, computer science, engineering, medicine, filmmaking and physical education.

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In all, nearly 2,300 students have graduated from the institution where distinguished Tibetan scholars such as Berza Tsultrim, Dong Younten Gyatso and Mangri Gyadol have served as professors.

Graduates have gone on to become researchers, doctors, civil servants, teachers, monastery leaders and administrators.

At the time of its closure, the school is reported to have had 1,400 students and 58 faculty and staff. 

Hub for Tibetan studies

The school’s closure has sparked concern both inside and outside Tibet, with many former students and Tibetan language activists expressing disappointment and outrage on social media. 

A former student posted a short video on social media in which he said the shutdown of a “homeland school fully engaged in preserving the language and culture of the Tibetan race makes me feel very sad.”

“Today, a black snowfall has fallen on Tibet and the light of Tibet has gone out,” wrote one Tibetan netizen on Chinese social media. 

Another wrote: “The school is regarded as the pride and shining beacon of the Tibetan people, a great star in our society. Without it, we would not be aware of the state of our language. In a way, our people are truly unfortunate.” 

However, a former school employee now living in the United States said she wasn’t surprised about the school’s closure because rumors about it had circulated for some time.  

“The local government has been trying to shut down schools that are not under their control, especially independent Tibetan language private schools,” said the woman who requested anonymity for fear of backlash. 

“Many students and teachers I know are heartbroken and in despair,” she added.

Restrictions

Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong, or political leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, told RFA that the Kashag, or Cabinet of the government-in-exile, is concerned about the school’s closure, which has helped Tibetans preserve their identity. 

“It is clear that the Chinese government instead of improving the conditions in Tibet, rather they are worsening the situation day by day,” he said, adding that the Kashag fears Beijing will take similar action in other parts of Tibet. 

According to the Central Tibetan Administration, repeated attempts had been made in the past by Chinese authorities to shut down the school, including levying lawsuits against Gyaltsen by falsely accusing him of accepting bribes while serving as chairman of the Snow Land Pastoral Association and the Qinghai-Tibet Trade Association. 

After a trial, the charges against the school were dismissed, and Gyaltsen was acquitted of any wrongdoing. However, he was temporarily suspended from his role as a member of the Tibetan Nationalities Council.

Since 2020, the Chinese government has imposed stricter restrictions on language rights in Tibet, resulting in the closure of private Tibetan schools and a heightened emphasis on Chinese-language education in the name of standardizing textbooks and instructional materials.

In 2021, authorities also began banning Tibetan children from attending informal language classes or workshops during winter breaks. 

Activists warn that these measures could threaten the survival of the Tibetan language in the region and undermine its viability nationwide.

Nyima Woser, a researcher at the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, told RFA that the forceful closure of the school violates China’s own constitution, autonomous regulations and international laws. 

The school’s shutdown coincided with the signing into law U.S. legislation on Tibet that urges the Chinese government to address the aspirations of the Tibetan people concerning their unique historical, cultural, religious and linguistic identity.

Additional reporting by Tashi Wangchuk, Lhuboom, Sonam Lhamo, Rigdhen Dolma and Lobsang Gelek for RFA Tibetan. Translated by Dawa Dolma and edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lobe Socktsang, Tenzin Dickyi and Dickey Kundol for RFA Tibetan.

President Biden has issued one of the most restrictive immigration policies ever declared under a recent Democratic administration. It will temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border, deny asylum to most migrants who do not cross into the U.S. via ports of entry, and limit total asylum requests at the southern border to no more than 2,500 per day. The ACLU has threatened to sue the Biden administration over what reporter John Washington, who covers immigration in Arizona, calls an “excruciating and likely deadly” decision. “An illegal asylum seeker is a contradiction in terms,” Washington continues. “People have the right, according to U.S. law, to ask for asylum irrespective of how they crossed the border or where they are or what their status is. And this rule really flies in the face of that.”

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

On Tuesday, the Media Complaints and Rights Violations Commission banned the two broadcasters for violating “national and Islamic values,” without giving further details, according to media reports.

On Tuesday, Taliban intelligence forces stormed the headquarters of Noor TV in the capital, Kabul, disconnected the electricity, and sealed the premises, a former staffer told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.

Barya TV also was taken off air, according to a journalist familiar with the situation who also spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. Sources could not confirm whether its offices were also sealed.

“The Taliban must immediately and unconditionally reverse its ban on Noor TV and Barya TV and allow the two channels to resume broadcasting,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Taliban are misusing the Media Complaints and Rights Violations Commission to stifle the press in Afghanistan, arbitrarily closing media houses, without regard for freedom of speech.”

Ministry of Information and Culture spokesman Khubaib Ghufran told Agence France-Presse news agency on Thursday that the channels had programs “creating confusion among the public” and their owners had “taken stands as opponents” of the Taliban government.

Hafizullah Barakzai, a member of the commission, told ABC News that a court would investigate files on the two stations, which could not operate until the court gave its verdict.

Pressure had been mounting on Barya TV from Taliban intelligence since late 2023, forcing the broadcaster to lay off most of its staff, CPJ’s journalist source said. The journalist source said that the Taliban’s pressure increased on Barya TV because of Hizbe Islami leader’s criticism of the group’s policies and the TV channel’s broadcast of these criticisms.  

Both of CPJ sources indicate that the specific violations and issues brought before the court have not been disclosed by the Taliban.

Noor TV was established in 2007 by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was assassinated in 2011. It is currently owned by his son, Salahuddin Rabbani, an exiled former foreign minister and leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami party.

Barya TV was founded in 2019 by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former warlord and leader of the Hizb-e-Islami party. Its programming focuses on politics and news about Hekmatyar,

The founder’s son, Habiburrahman Hekmatyar, said on X, formerly Twitter that the channel was shut down because its religious values differed from those of the Taliban.

Barya TV editorial manager Qazi Shabir Ahmad rejected the commission’s claim that Barya TV violated Islamic and national interests and said that the April 16 ban was a “pretext” for stopping its operations. He told CPJ that the Taliban did not communicate any specific issues concerning their broadcasts, either in writing or verbally, prior to the ban, which he described as “politically motivated”.

Since the Taliban took over in 2021, they have shut down local broadcasters, including Radio Nasim in central Daikundi Province, Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV in eastern Nangarhar Province, and Radio Sada e Banowan in northeastern Badakhshan Province. In 2022, the group also banned international broadcasters such as the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America.

CPJ’s text messages to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid requesting comment did not receive a response.

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

It’s the latest example of how Myanmar’s three-year civil war has taken a huge toll on hospitals and schools, which have also been forced to close. 

A woman said she’s worried her pregnant sister and other women won’t be able to safely deliver their babies.

“The nurses wrapped all the medical devices and equipment at the hospital,” she said, requesting anonymity for security reasons. “The next day, all the doctors and nurses left the hospital.”

The March 1 notice in Maungdaw township comes amid intense fighting between junta troops and the rebel Arakan Army, or AA, which has attacked positions in junta-controlled Maungdaw and neighboring Buthidaung township in recent months.

All patients at Maungdaw’s public hospital were discharged after the order, a hospital official said. One infant has since died during a delivery that took place outside the hospital, he said.

Rakhine state has been the center of intense clashes since the AA ended a ceasefire in November in place since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat. 

Junta troops have suffered heavy losses on the battlefield while the AA has captured a half dozen townships since November – some of them near the fortified administrative and military hub of Sittwe, where residents have been preparing for possible fighting inside the city. 

‘No safety guarantee’

There wasn’t an official written notice; medical personnel were given a verbal order by junta authorities, sources close to the health care workers told RFA. No specific reason for the move to Sittwe was given, they said.

Three days after the closure, junta authorities announced that the hospital could reopen. But doctors and other medical staff haven’t returned due to security concerns and the facility has remained closed, the sources close to the health care workers said.

“No one has gone inside the closed hospital because there’s no safety guarantee,” the hospital official said. “No medical treatment is provided and medicines aren’t available. Even the private clinics outside have all closed due to a lack of doctors.”

RFA attempted to contact Kyi Lwin, the director of Rakhine state’s Public Health Department, and Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesperson for Rakhine state, to ask why all medical staff were told to relocate to Sittwe, but they couldn’t be reached on Wednesday.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

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

In the more than two-hour interview, released on Carlson’s website early on February 9, Putin again claimed Ukraine was a threat to Russia because the West was drawing the country into NATO -- an assertion the military alliance has called false -- while avoiding topics such as his brutal crackdown at home on civil society and free speech.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

The interview took place as Putin hopes that Western support for Kyiv will wane and morale among Ukrainians will flag to the point where his war aims are achievable. It also comes as U.S. military support for Kyiv is in question as Republican lawmakers block a $60 billion aid package proposed by President Joe Biden, and a reshuffle of Ukraine's dismissal of the top commander of the armed forces after a counteroffensive fell far short of its goals.

Putin urged the United States to press Kyiv to stop fighting and cut a deal with Russia, which occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine.

Carlson rarely challenged Putin, who gave a long and rambling lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine, failing to bring up credible accusations from international rights groups that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine -- Putin himself has been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the conflict -- or the imprisonment of opposition figures such as Aleksei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza on trumped up charges that appear politically motivated.

"Putin got his message out the way he wanted to," said Ian Bremmer, a New York-based political scientist and president of Eurasiagroup.

Even before the meeting was published, Carlson faced criticism for interviewing Putin when his government is holding Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and another U.S. journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL, in jail on charges related to their reporting that both vehemently deny.

Kurmasheva's case was not even mentioned in the interview, while Carlson angered the Wall Street Journal by suggesting that Putin should release the 33-year-old journalist even if “maybe he was breaking your law in some way.”

The U.S. State Department has officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained by Russia.

“Evan is a journalist and journalism is not a crime. Any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction,” the newspaper said in reaction to the interview.

“Evan was unjustly arrested and has been wrongfully detained by Russia for nearly a year for doing his job, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”

Putin said “an agreement can be reached” to free Gershkovich and appeared to suggest that a swap for a “patriotic” Russian national currently serving out a life sentence for murder in Germany -- an apparent reference to Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization convicted of assassinating a former Chechen fighter in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019.

"There is no taboo to settle this issue. We are willing to solve it, but there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels. I believe an agreement can be reached," Putin told Carlson.

Carlson, a former Fox News host, has made a name for himself by spreading conspiracy theories and has questioned U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian troops. The interview was Putin's first with a Western media figure since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Putin said during the interview Russia has no interest in invading NATO member Poland and could only see one case where he would: "If Poland attacks Russia."

"We have no interest in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don't have any interest. It's just threat mongering. It is absolutely out of the question," he added.

Describing his decision to interview Putin in an announcement posted on X on February 6, Carlson asserted that U.S. media outlets focus fawningly on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy but that Putin’s voice is not heard in the United States because Western journalists have not “bothered” to interview him since the full-scale invasion.

Carlson has gained a reputation for defending the Russian leader, once claiming that "hating Putin has become the central purpose of America's foreign policy."

Numerous Western journalists rejected the claim, saying they have consistently sought to interview Putin but have been turned away. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that, saying his office receives “numerous requests for interviews with the president” but that most of the Western outlets asking are “traditional TV channels and large newspapers that don’t even attempt to appear impartial in their coverage. Of course, there’s no desire to communicate with this kind of media.”

Carlson’s credentials as an independent journalist have been questioned, and in 2020 Fox News won a defamation case against him, with the judge saying in her verdict that when presenting stories, Carlson is not "stating actual facts" about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in "exaggeration" and "'nonliteral commentary."

Carlson was one of Fox News' top-rated hosts before he abruptly left the network last year after Fox settled a separate defamation lawsuit over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election. Fox agreed to pay $787 million to voting machine company Dominion after the company filed a lawsuit alleging the network spread false claims that its machines were rigged against former President Donald Trump.

Carlson has had a rocky relationship at times with the former president, but during Trump's presidency he had Carlson's full backing and he has endorsed Trump in his 2024 run to regain the White House.

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

"Japan is determined to support Ukraine so that peace can return to Ukraine," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said during a surprise visit to Kyiv, becoming the first official foreign visitor for 2024.

"I can feel how tense the situation in Ukraine is now," she told a news conference -- held in a shelter due to an air-raid alert in the capital at the time -- alongside her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.

"I once again strongly condemn Russia's missile and drone attacks, particularly on New Year's Day," she added, while also saying Japan would provide an additional $37 million to a NATO trust fund to help purchase drone-detection systems.

The Japanese diplomat also visited Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where Russian forces are blamed for a civilian massacre in 2022, stating she was "shocked" by what occurred there.

In a Telegram post, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked "Japan for its comprehensive support, as well as significant humanitarian and financial assistance."

In particular, he cited Tokyo's "decision to allocate $1 billion for humanitarian projects and reconstruction with its readiness to increase this amount to $4.5 billion through the mechanisms of international institutions."

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Meanwhile, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told a Stockholm defense conference that the main goal of the country’s foreign policy efforts in the coming years will be to support Kyiv.

“Sweden’s military, political, and economic support for Ukraine remains the Swedish government’s main foreign policy task in the coming years,” he posted on social media during the event.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking via video link, told the conference that the battlefield in his country was currently stable but that he remained confident Russia could be defeated.

"Even Russia can be brought back within the framework of international law. Its aggression can be defeated," he said.

Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive last summer largely failed to shift the front line, giving confidence to the Kremlin’s forces, especially as further Western aid is in question.

Ukraine has pleaded with its Western allies to keep supplying it with air defense weapons, along with other weapons necessary to defeat the invasion that began in February 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed a national-security spending bill that includes $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, but it has been blocked by Republican lawmakers who insist Biden and his fellow Democrats in Congress address border security.

Zelenskiy also urged fellow European nations to join Ukraine in developing joint weapons-production capabilities so that the continent is able to "preserve itself" in the face of any future crises.

"Two years of this war have proven that Europe needs its own sufficient arsenal for the defense of freedom, its own capabilities to ensure defense," he said.

Overnight, Ukrainian officials said Russia launched 28 drones and three cruise missiles, and 12 people were wounded by a drone attack in the central city of Dnipro.

Though smaller in scale than other recent assaults, the January 7 aerial attack was the latest indication that Russia has no intention of stopping its targeting of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, often far from the front lines.

In a post to Telegram, Ukraine’s air force claimed that air defenses destroyed 21 of the 28 drones, which mainly targeted locations in the south and east of Ukraine.

"The enemy is shifting the focus of attack to the frontline territories: the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions were attacked by drones," air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian TV.

Russia made no immediate comment on the attack.

In the southern city of Kherson, meanwhile, Russian shelling from across the Dnieper River left at least two people dead, officials said.

In the past few months, Ukrainian forces have moved across the Dnieper, setting up a small bridgehead in villages on the river's eastern banks, upriver from Kherson. The effort to establish a larger foothold there, however, has faltered, with Russian troops pinning the Ukrainians down, and keeping them from moving heavier equipment over.

Over the past two weeks, Russia has fired nearly 300 missiles and more than 200 drones at targets in Ukraine, as part of an effort to terrorize the civilian population and undermine morale. On December 29, more than 120 Russian missiles were launched at cities across Ukraine, killing at least 44 people, including 30 in Kyiv alone.

Ukraine’s air defenses have improved markedly since the months following Russia’s mass invasion in February 2022. At least five Western-supplied Patriot missile batteries, along with smaller systems like German-made Gepard and the French-manufactured SAMP/T, have also improved Ukraine’s ability to repel Russian drones and missiles.

Last week, U.S. officials said that Russia had begun using North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles as part of its aerial attacks on Ukrainian sites.

Inside Russia, authorities in Belgorod said dozens of residents have been evacuated to areas farther from the Ukrainian border.

“On behalf of regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, we met the first Belgorod residents who decided to move to a safer place. More than 100 people were placed in our temporary accommodation centers,” Andrei Chesnokov, head of the Stary Oskol district, about 115 kilometers from Belgorod, wrote in Telegram post.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, Reuters, and AP

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

Tibetans and others have been shut out of the Jokhang Temple, Potala Palace and monasteries in Lhasa, capital of the western region, during the observation of the holiday marking the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the sources said.

Officials declared 8 days of public holiday beginning Oct. 1.

The Chinese government has always imposed restrictions on Tibetans and conducted propaganda campaigns in Tibet during the National Day holiday period. But this year, authorities also began searching people traveling on public transportation. Those without proper documents were not allowed to stay in Lhasa, the sources said.

Officials also made Tibetan Buddhist monks in monasteries celebrate National Day on Oct. 1 and undergo political re-education.

Chinese authorities have placed a growing number of restrictions on Tibetans in or entering Lhasa and increased police presence there since 2008. In March of that year, police violently suppressed peaceful Tibetan protests, leading to the destruction of Han Chinese shops in the city and deadly attacks on Han Chinese residents.

The event sparked a wave of demonstrations against Chinese rule that spread into Tibetan-populated regions of western Chinese provinces. Security forces quelled the protests and detained, beat or shot hundreds of Tibetans.

Sacred site

Built in the 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire, the Jokhang Temple is considered the most sacred and important temple in Tibet.  

Authorities in Tibet warned government officials, office staff and students not to visit religious sites or go on pilgrimages, or else risk losing their jobs and pensions, or be expelled from their schools, if caught, the two Tibetans said.

“Though it is normal for party cadres not to participate in religious activities in the Lhasa area, these days special restrictions are placed on students from taking part in religious activities,” said one source who declined to be named out of fear of retribution.

Yet at the same time, more than 1.9 million tourists have visited Lhasa during the National Day holiday, stopping in museums and historical places that have been open, though places of worship remained closed to the general public as of Sept. 30, according to Chinese state media.

Since the end of September, the Chinese government has cited a pretext of maintaining public safety and security during the National Day holiday period, said a second Tibetan source who declined to be named for the same reason. Officials deployed police in and around Lhasa and began screening and searching the public, he said.

The Lhasa Tsuklakhang Management Committee, which runs the Jokhang temple, issued a notice on Monday, widely read on social media in Tibet, declaring Oct. 10th an additional holiday during which religious sites would remain closed to the public, said the source.

Translated by Rigdhen Dolma for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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

On Sunday, July 30, about 20 members of the Taliban provincial police raided the office of Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV in Jalalabad city, in eastern Nangarhar province, after receiving information about a journalism training workshop attended by both male and female journalists from the broadcaster, according to news reports and a journalist familiar with the situation, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. On Tuesday, armed members of the Taliban provincial police then shuttered the broadcaster’s operations and sealed its office, according to those sources.

“The Taliban must allow the broadcaster Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV to resume operations promptly and ensure its employees, including female journalists, are allowed unfettered access to professional training,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “It is appalling that the Taliban cracked down on a media outlet because of women’s participation at a journalism training session. Denying women of their rights has become the hallmark of the Taliban regime.”

Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV has 35 employees, including nine women, according to the journalist who spoke with CPJ. Under the Taliban, women face severe restrictions on education and employment, which the United Nations says have increased in recent months.

CPJ contacted Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment via messaging app but received no response.

In August 2022, CPJ published a special report about the media crisis in Afghanistan showing a rapid deterioration in press freedom characterized by censorship, arrests, assaults, and restrictions on women journalists since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

The Central Committee for the Rakhine state government on Wednesday approved transportation access to domestic and international aid groups assisting in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall on May 14 with sustained winds reaching over 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph), killing more than 400 people and decimating much of the state.

On Thursday, Rakhine State Minister of Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura issued a letter saying that the junta had suspended the order. No explanation was provided.

Aid workers have told RFA that In northern Rakhine, more than 90% of houses and buildings were damaged by the storm, but more than two weeks later, many people have yet to receive aid. The situation prompted several Rakhine humanitarian organizations to issue a joint statement last week urging junta authorities to speed up relief efforts and not to restrict the work of civil society groups.

An official with an international aid group, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA that the flip-flop had delayed urgently needed supplies from reaching at-risk populations.

“Aid groups such as the U.N., INGOs [international NGOs] and NGOs had applied for access to help the cyclone victims and the state government approved it yesterday, but the junta overrode it,” he said. “I’ve heard that the ban was imposed by the union-level junta in Naypyidaw.”

A domestic NGO official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, called the junta’s rescinding of access to cyclone victims “unacceptable.”

“People are starving and some have to live out in the open without a roof or walls,” he said. “The military’s ban of international humanitarian assistance at such a critical moment when the victims are facing various hardships proves that we are living under an inhumane government.”

The official noted that with the disaster so recent, it is too early to focus on rebuilding Rakhine state.

“It’s still an emergency situation when urgent help and rescue are of vital importance,” he said, calling for an immediate lift to the ban.

‘Not a political issue’

Pe Than, an ethnic Rakhine politician and former lawmaker in Naypyidaw’s Lower House, went further, saying the junta’s ban is the same as inflicting harm on cyclone victims.

"At a time when we are in need of a lot of domestic and foreign aid … I can't understand [the junta] closing off access like this,” he said. “This issue is not a political one, nor is it related to the military. It is humanitarian, which is simply a matter of welcoming those who will help. I was shocked to see that what is happening is the reverse.”

Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesman and attorney general for Rakhine state, by telephone regarding the ban rang unanswered Thursday.

The junta announced on May 21 that a total of 148 Rakhine and Rohingya people died in Sittwe, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun and Myebon townships due to Cyclone Mocha. 

Emergency assistance is needed in cyclone-affected townships of Sittwe, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Pauktaw, Myebon and Mrauk-U, where many residential homes have been damaged and food and drinking water are in short supply.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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

Palace, City and Kant Kaw hospitals had already been told to stop accepting patients because they were using staff belonging to the civil disobedience movement.

An order signed Monday by Dr. Myat Wunna Soe, secretary of the junta-led Private Health Industry Central Group said the licenses were revoked because the hospitals failed to comply with the licensing rules in Section 19 (a) of the Law Relating to Private Health Care Services.

This vague clause stipulates only that “a person who obtains a license for any private health care services shall … comply with the terms and conditions of the license.”

The junta arrested urologist and kidney surgeon Dr. Win Khaing, on Dec. 25 last year while he was working at the Palace Hospital.

The Mandalay University professor had been participating in the civil disobedience movement following the coup in February 2021.

The junta detained several more disobedience movement doctors in Mandalay in the days that followed his arrest.

On Jan. 1, 2023, the junta ordered the temporary closure of five Mandalay hospitals, including the Palace, City and Kant Kaw.

No announcement has been made about the other two hospitals.

RFA’s calls to the junta spokesman for Mandalay region, Thein Htay, seeking comment on the decision to revoke the licenses, went unanswered.

The junta has cracked down on doctors who voice opposition to the military, sacking 557 and revoking their medical licenses for one year.

The Ministry of Health of the shadow National Unity Government announced on April 20 this year that 71 health workers had been killed and 836 arrested in the more than two years since the coup.

It said the junta attacked and seized equipment from 188 clinics and hospitals, damaged 59 ambulances and seized 49 more.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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

The operator of a Minnesota nuclear power plant said the facility would be taken offline Friday to repair a new leak near the Mississippi River, an announcement that came a week after the company and state officials belatedly acknowledged a separate leak that occurred in November.

Xcel Energy insisted in a statement Thursday that the leak at its Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant poses "no risk to the public or the environment," but a team of federal regulators is monitoring the groundwater in the area amid concerns that radioactive materials—specifically tritium—could wind up in drinking water.

Valerie Myers, a senior health physicist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told a local CBS affiliate that "there are wells between the ones that are showing elevated tritium and the Mississippi that are not showing any elevated levels."

"We are watching that because the ground flow is toward the Mississippi," added Myers.

The Associated Pressreported Friday, that "after the first leak was found in November, Xcel Energy made a short-term fix to capture water from a leaking pipe and reroute it back into the plant for re-use."

"However, monitoring equipment indicated Wednesday that a small amount of new water from the original leak had reached the groundwater," the outlet noted. "Operators discovered that, over the past two days, the temporary solution was no longer capturing all of the leaking water, Xcel Energy said."

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement that they "have no evidence at this point to indicate a current or imminent risk to the public and will continue to monitor groundwater samples."

"Should an imminent risk arise, we will inform the public promptly," the agencies said. "We encourage the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has regulatory oversight of the plant's operations, to share ongoing public communications on the leak and on mitigation efforts to help residents best understand the situation."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jake Johnson.

The RutersXiaoFanQi channel, whose name amalgamates the Chinese word "to humiliate" with that of the news agency Reuters, was unavailable on YouTube at 1300 GMT on Monday.

The takedown comes as Chinese censors grow increasingly concerned about satirical content about Xi Jinping coming from overseas, where students and activists recently demonstrated in solidarity with the "white paper" protests that swept China at the end of 2022, and where social media accounts often post content that would be banned or blocked in China.

It suggests Chinese censors are using YouTube's copyright infringement reporting system to shut down content they find politically unacceptable, according to a fellow satirist.

An Internet Archive snapshot of the page captured on Feb. 10 showed the most recent upload was a spoof video featuring manipulated news footage of Xi and a satirical song questioning the Chinese leader's booksmarts, among other satirical comments.

"The new era is here. We're changing gear and reversing," the song goes, alongside footage of Xi at the Communist Party's 20th National Congress in October.

"How long will it take to get from amending the constitution to flat out calling him emperor?" it says, in a reference to the abolition of presidential term limits in 2018 that paved the way for Xi to take an unprecedented third term in office beginning at the party congress.

"A PhD from Tsinghua University, but still at elementary school level," the lyrics say. "There's nobody else like Xi Jinping in this world."

"Your YouTube account has been shut down following repeated copyright warnings," YouTube told the channel according to a screenshot of the notification displayed in @FragileItemsChronicle's most recent video. 

YouTube didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from RFA.

The channel's producer said Chinese censors are exploiting YouTube's copyright infringement reporting system to shut down content they find politically unacceptable.

"Those Chinese companies must have been instructed by the government to weaponize copyright claims," they said. 

The YouTuber said RutersXiaoFanQi's brand of satire targeting Xi Jinping is known as "Insult the Bun," in a reference to one of Xi's nicknames, Xi Baozi, which went viral on social media and was later banned following the Chinese leader's 2013 visit to a regular dumpling house in Beijing.

They said RutersXiaoFanQi had made a number of appeals to executives at YouTube and Google about bids to shut down the channel using copyright strikes, which included complaints about the use of news footage belonging to state broadcaster CCTV.

The appeals didn't work, despite U.S. copyright law allowing the use of copyright material for the purposes of parody, even in cases where permission has been refused.

In April 2022, YouTube suspended the channel of an Odesa-based Chinese programmer and citizen journalist Wang Jixian, who told Radio Free Asia at the time that his account was likely maliciously reported to the platform by pro-CCP supporters.

"This incident shows us how much the Chinese Communist Party cares about 'insulting the Bun,'" the YouTuber, who asked for anonymity for fear of political reprisals, said. "A key thing about this kind of satire is that it's a low-cost way to demolish the party's authority."

"A short video that makes just three points is obviously going to attract more viewers than a long book about the evil done by the party," they said. "These videos can attack the evil done under the Chinese Communist Party in a funny way, and in a short period of time, which is very harmful to the party's stability maintenance regime."

They said RutersXiaoFanQi was the most influential among the "bun-insulting" channels on YouTube: "They will do everything in their power to shut [it] down."

"My personal guess is that the Chinese Communist Party once again took advantage of loopholes in the YouTube platform terms and conditions to arrange for coordinated reporting [of copyright infringement] by trolls," they said. 

"The world should do something to prevent Beijing from extending its censorship tentacles outside of China."

"We need to expose [their tactics] more fully to the general public and to governments around the world."

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Yitong Wu and Chingman for RFA Cantonese.

Puma Energy has shut down its operations nationwide in Papua New Guinea while Prime Minister James Marape leaves overseas again to Fiji as the nation is left scraping for what is left in the oil tanks of its ailing economy.

The country will be on total shut down today.

Assuring the country that a solution would be found soon for the fuel saga in his response in Parliament last month, Prime Minister Marape’s promise has not materialised.

• READ MORE: Other Puma Energy reports

The much talked about K13 billion (US$5.3bn) in foreign reserve did niot amount to anything as the country’s entire fuel supplies ceased from yesterday.

Puma Energy has confirmed with the PNG Post-Courier that none of its orders had been satisfied and agreements made in Singapore have not come to fruition.

The fuel refiner needs an urgent US$100 million in foreign exchange orders from the country’s Central Bank to trade and replenish all pumps.

They need at least US$80 million a month to trade and operate.

No immediate solution
Prime Minister Marape stated in Parliament last month that he had told Puma Energy bluntly in Singapore on Sunday, January 8, 2023, that he did not “tolerate the country being held to ransom”.

But it seems the government and the Central Bank are holding the nation to ransom with no clear immediate solution in place with the issue still persisting.

Puma Energy country general manager Hulala Tokome said that what was discussed and agreed upon in Singapore by the government had not been honoured.

“We are going to go for total shut down by close of business today [Sunday],” Tokome said.

“It’s going to impact [on] the communications as well because they run on fuel, repeater stations. You know, it will take us more than one month to replenish our stock.

“The root cause of the problem is we just need the bank of PNG to approve our FX orders.”

The Post-Courier checked with the aviation industry and there has been no indication of immediate interruptions to flights as of last night.

FX orders ‘blocked’
In July 2022, when the same problem escalated, Puma Energy wrote to Marape and the government over the treatment of the company under BPNG Special Purpose Audit (SPA) and removal of access to FX markets.

“As per our conversation, the Puma Energy group of companies in PNG is currently undergoing a SPA with the BPNG.

“Our FX orders have been restricted or blocked by the Bank of PNG, which is limiting our ability to operate and ensure supply of product into the country. As discussed, this will impact the availability of fuel if our FX orders aren’t settled.

“Today, we need a minimum of US$40 million in FX orders to ensure continuity of supply into PNG,” the company wrote to Marape in July 2022.

Yesterday Tokome said: “For the FX orders, for now we would need at least, US$100 million to trade, if they had allowed us to trade, we would have been at least be able to get the commercial flows, or we would not have this happening . . . we have been for the last seven weeks not been able to trade and therefore, we going to need at least another US$100 million to get us to operate, and we talking about two months now.

“If we continue to be cut off from the FX markets we will be unable to purchase replacement cargoes of crude oil and refined products in order to supply the country.

“This will unfortunately result in a product stock out and place security of supply of the country at risks — a scenario we are working hard to avoid.

Foreign reserves questions
“Given the lead time for cargo procurement and the corresponding payment obligations we will need to incur, we must have certainty on our ability to receive FX in order to secure supply.”

As Puma shut down its operations on Sunday, many asked where were the K13 billion in foreign reserves at the Bank of PNG that the government announced recently?

Today aviation, commercial, mining, schools, hospitals and other businesses will face the full brunt of reality as petrol and diesel is not supplied.

Expected power and communication cuts will all but see the country held to ransom as the capital of Port Moresby — the engine room of PNG — shuts down operations.

Yesterday, only three major fuel depots in the nation’s capital were open for three hours, allowing only K20 cash and K50 bank cards for vehicles to refuel.

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

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

The case has received widespread attention in the country on social media and the news.

On Nov. 2, Chheang Srey Oun, a 22-year-old factory worker, underwent an operation at the Doeum Angkorng Maternity Clinic to remove a 5-month-old fetus that had died in her womb. 

A preliminary investigation found that she had been operated on by a licensed midwife named Ung Thearin, who had never been trained to perform that type of procedure.

The ministry also said it would pursue legal action against Dr. Sous Chanraksmey who owns and runs the clinic.

In response to the incident, Health Minister Mam Bun Heng last week ordered a probe of all private clinics and other facilities, and said that those found to be performing abortions illegally would be punished accordingly.

Abortions performed by trained and licensed medical staff are legal in Cambodia prior to the 18th week pregnancy.

Chheang Srey Oun was moved to a hospital in Phnom Penh, where she was receiving help from the Red Cross to pay for treatment.

Her husband had filed a criminal complaint against the hospital, but he told RFA’s Khmer Service Thursday that he withdrew the complaint after the clinic agreed to pay compensation.

Authorities would still take legal action against the clinic, said Soeung Seng Karuna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association.

“The prosecutor should have an investigation into the matter to find out the reasons behind the incident, how did the doctor make this mistake?” he said.

The president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Union, Yang Sophorn, said closing the clinic is not a long-term solution. She asked the Ministry of Health to improve measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“Our country has laws for when doctors breach their code of ethics,” she said. “They should be prosecuted.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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

On Monday, October 3, the Taliban’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology said it had shut down the websites of Hasht-e Subh Daily and Zawia News due to “false propaganda” against the Taliban, according to a tweet from the ministry’s spokesperson Anayatullah Alokozay and a report by the London-based independent Afghanistan International TV station. 

The Hasht-e Subh daily and Zawia News sites operated by Afghan journalists who have been reporting from exile since the August 2021 Taliban takeover, said in separate statements on Monday that the Taliban had deactivated their website domain names.

Hasht-e Subh Daily has since resumed operations online under a different domain name. Zawia News said it would continue to report on the website of its parent company, Zawia Media. 

“The Taliban must restore full online access to Hasht-e Subh Daily and Zawia News,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi in Frankfurt, Germany. “More than ever, Afghans and the world need to know what is happening in Afghanistan. The Taliban must stop suppressing the media.”

Hasht-e Subh Daily, an award-winning newspaper that has operated in Afghanistan since 2007, moved its operations entirely online after the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan last year. It has nearly 2.75 million combined followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Zawia News is part of Zawia Media, which describes itself as a “pioneer” of digital media in Afghanistan and covers “untold realities” about the country, according to its website. 

CPJ contacted ministry spokesperson Anayatullah Alokozay for comment about the shutdowns via messaging app but did not receive any response.

In August, CPJ published a special report about the media crisis in Afghanistan that shows a rapid deterioration in press freedom over the last year, marked by censorship, arrests, assaults, and restrictions on women journalists.

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

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Ruby Lott-Lavigna.

The now-retired power plant, owned by the power generation company AES, had been operating since 1992 on the island of Oahu, home to the state capital of Honolulu. It provided up to 20 percent of the Oahu’s electricity and also emitted some 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

“Today marks a major milestone in Hawai’i’s clean energy transition,” Scott Glenn, Hawai’i’s chief energy officer, said in a statement.

Hawai’ian policymakers approved legislation in 2020 to phase out coal-fired power generation by the end of 2022, coinciding with the end of a 30-year contract for the AES Hawai’i coal plant in Oahu. That legislation built on previous climate commitments, including the nation’s first state law — passed in 2015 — mandating 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2045. Since then, more than 20 other states and the District of Columbia have followed suit with similar clean-energy pledges.

Cutting coal will also help Hawai’i get to carbon neutrality by 2045, as mandated by a 2018 law. In 2017, the most recent year for which state data is available, Hawai’i produced 20.56 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, roughly 86 percent of which came from the energy sector.

The challenge now is ensuring Hawai’i has enough renewable capacity to keep up with its energy needs. AES, which supports the transition away from coal and has even helped its former coal plant workers find new jobs in renewable energy, says it’s working on six renewable energy projects across the Hawai’ian islands. Statewide, regulators have approved at least nine other solar, battery, or geothermal projects that are set to begin operating by 2024.

One solar and battery project on Oahu, called Mililani I Solar, was completed at the end of July and has been providing up to 39 megawatts of clean energy at peak times — about one-fifth the capacity of the now-retired coal plant. Miliani I also includes 156 megawatt-hours of battery capacity, allowing energy to be stored and deployed at night, when the sun isn’t shining.

Although Hawai’ian renewables are on the rise, state officials say they still can’t provide enough electricity to fully supplant fossil fuels. Hawai’i is the U.S.’s most petroleum-dependent state, and Hawaiian Electric, the state’s largest electricity supplier, predicts that some coal-fired power generation will have to be replaced with oil — at least in the near term. That replacement is expected to cause a 7 percent bump in Hawai’ians’ electricity bills, which are already some of the highest in the country.

In an interview with the Guardian, Glenn called the state’s continued oil reliance “really unfortunate” but stressed that it would only be temporary and that the move away from coal would pay dividends in the longer term. “[P]hasing out fossil fuels in favor of our own renewable resources will provide more cost stability and predictability,” he added in his statement. “[W]e will be more energy independent and show the world that every action counts.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Hawai’i shuts down its last coal plant on Sep 6, 2022.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Joseph Winters.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Hsia Hsiao-hwa and Sun Cheng for RFA Mandarin.

A source in Sagaing’s Tamu township told RFA Burmese that Indian nationals M. Pyanar, 32, and P. Mohan, 28, were visiting friends in the area on Tuesday when they were stopped by members of the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia at an unofficial checkpoint in Tamu’s Saw Bwar ward and shot dead.

“There’s a school we call Saw Bwar 10 No. 4. The two were shot near there,” said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Witnesses said that the shots were fired by Pyu Saw Htee. The two men were shot in the head and died instantly.”

The source said the bodies of the two men were brought to the Tamu People’s Hospital, where they are being held in the morgue.

He said that residents of Moreh township across the border in India’s Manipur state are demanding that the bodies be returned to their families, prompting Indian authorities to shut down their side of the border crossing on Wednesday.

“At the moment, we are not allowed to enter India at all,” the source said.

A Tamu resident who is close to the families of the victims told RFA that the area where they were killed is “Pyu Saw Htee territory.”

“The two Indians were killed in that area. [The perpetrators] found out only later that they were Indian citizens,” said the source, who also declined to be named.

“Both were shot in the head. They had a motorcycle with them. One wore a ring on his hand and the other had two. … When the bodies arrived at the morgue, [the motorbike and rings] were gone.”

RFA was unable to independently confirm the details of the deaths.

India’s Tamil Guardian on Wednesday also reported the killings as having been carried out by the military proxy Pyu Saw Htee.

“The Myanmar army might have suspected them to be spies and shot them dead,” the report said, citing the local Tamil Sangam. “There is a killing every day by the army in this part of Myanmar.”

An official order issued on Wednesday by the deputy commissioner of Tengnoupal township, under the government of Manipur, announced that no one would be permitted to cross the border from Moreh into Myanmar without a special permit, citing the “prevailing law and order situation” in the country.

A Myanmar national living in Moreh told RFA that local youths were outraged over the deaths and said around 200 people had gathered near the border on Wednesday, demanding that the bodies of the victims be returned to their families.

“Young people have gathered near the border gate and are challenging the Myanmar authorities,” he said.

“They also beat up some people from the Myanmar side who crossed the border this morning [prior to the closure]. They are all furious.”

Another resident of Moreh said the protests began when Myanmar authorities failed to deliver the bodies back to India by noon on Wednesday, as had been originally promised.

“They are protesting because [the bodies were] not sent,” he said.

“They have been gathering since the morning. Myanmar nationals in Moreh have not been able to go out in fear. The protesters set fire to a Myanmar border patrol checkpoint between Tamu and Moreh.”

Indian media reported that shops had been closed amid increased security in Moreh, citing the unrest over the killings.

Repeated attempts by RFA to contact the Indian Embassy in Yangon for comment went unanswered Wednesday, as did attempts to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun.

The Tamu-Moreh border crossing was reopened on June 4 after being closed for nearly two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Residents of Tamu told RFA that around 50 traders travel across the border to the neighboring Indian township daily for work.

Myanmar refugees in India say more than 300 families displaced by conflict between junta troops and armed opposition groups in Sagaing have crossed the border seeking shelter in Moreh, and that anger over Tuesday’s killings forced many Myanmar nationals living there to flee the area.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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

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

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

On May 4th, General Dynamics held its annual shareholder meeting. This meeting took place virtually, possibly in response to last year when shareholders were able to directly engage with the General Dynamics Board and ask how they justify the destruction and death their weapons cause.

CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin was able to use her shareholder question last year to ask CEO Phoebe Novakovic how she justifies making $21 million a year while, years earlier, a 2,000 lb. General Dynamics bomb hit a Yemeni marketplace and killed 97 civilians (including 25 children). This year’s shareholder meeting was completely online, with only audio broadcasted and no video shared, no chat function, and a question submission box that was disabled halfway through the meeting. This platform allowed General Dynamics to speed through the 24-minute meeting with no pushback, criticism, or engagement from the shareholder attendees - and this approach extended to the proposals section.

During this section there was a very notable proposal introduced by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, NY requesting that the General Dynamics Board of Directors prepare a human rights report. The proposal points out that General Dynamics’ products and services are used by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, and U.S. government agencies at the U.S.-Mexico border. As General Dynamics’ weapons are used in war crimes and human rights violations against Yemenis, Palestinians, asylum-seekers, and beyond, this proposal rightfully calls for General Dynamics to develop and provide transparency on their process to address and remedy the “actual and potential human rights impacts associated with high-risk products and services.” 

General Dynamics roundly rejected this proposal and unanimously recommended a vote against it. They stated that they already have a “rational and principled” human rights strategy - never mind that their strategy includes no commitment to addressing the human rights impacts of their lethal weapons. As Danaka Katovich lays out recently in Jacobin, a 2019 Amnesty International report found that General Dynamics did not even measure up to its human rights due diligence responsibilities.

General Dynamics added that not only was this proposal unnecessary, it was harmful and would “undermine shareholder value” by attempting to “embed radical skepticism toward U.S. foreign policy.” In the shareholder meeting itself, CEO Novakovic stated that “we have supported the U.S. government’s foreign policy, and we will continue to do that—if that is at odds with anyone else’s view, that is something you should take up with your Representative. But that is not appropriate to ask at this meeting.”

General Dynamics’ response to this human rights proposal painted a clear picture: a corporation that is just doing its job by supporting the policies and needs of the U.S. government. However, the lobbying practices of General Dynamics and other top defense contractors paint a different picture.

General Dynamics is part of a proud defense contractor tradition of spending millions of dollars each year on lobbying to shape U.S. policy. And, as Open Secrets points out, this strategy pays off. Weapons manufacturers have spent more than $2.6 billion on lobbying in the past two decades, and have been rewarded with “half of the $14 trillion allocated to the Department of Defense (DOD) during that time.” For every $1 Lockheed Martin spent on lobbying in 2020, they received $5,803 from DOD contracts.

General Dynamics’ claim that their “North Star is the law and policy of the U.S. government” fails to mention that they spend millions annually to shape U.S. law and policy to their benefit. While defense contractors like General Dynamics hide behind the guise of supposedly impenetrable U.S. foreign policy, they have already spent almost $2.9 million on lobbying efforts in the first quarter of this year alone.

It’s time to stop buying the lie that corporate accountability for war crimes and human rights violations is really an attempt to “embed radical skepticism toward U.S. foreign policy.” Defense contractors like General Dynamics may hide behind the veneer of serving the U.S. government, but they ultimately only care about selling weapons and making substantial profits—and they shape our legislation towards that goal. It is against their self-interest to provide transparency around their human rights practices, because the more weapons they sell, the better—and they don’t care who they sell them to.

That is why now is a critical time to focus on pulling money away from these weapon-manufacturing corporate behemoths. Divesting money from weapons manufacturers, whether that is through divesting your church, university, or city budget, not only pulls financial resources from these death-dealing corporations but also demonstrates to them that there are dissenting communities across the U.S. who do not believe their lies about “just doing their jobs.” Pushing your Congressional representative to divest from war by refusing to take campaign contributions from weapons manufacturers is another powerful way to disrupt weapon manufacturers’ manipulation of U.S. policy for their own profit.

Militarized violence across the world in Ukraine, Yemen, Myanmar, Somalia, and beyond is overwhelming—and so is the immense profit that weapons manufacturers are making from this violence. But we all have more power than we think, and an important first step for building a demilitarized future is pulling away money—and power—from these weapons manufacturers.

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

The post General Dynamics Shuts Out Critics appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Shea Leibow.

Occupying the bridge over the French Broad River on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville. Photo: Melody Shank.

It was an Earth Day to remember. On a beautiful sunny spring day, our local citizen coalition Reject Raytheon in Asheville, NC pulled off a three-part demonstration for the protection of the earth and earthlings and against the US military-industrial complex. We rallied, we paraded, and we performed a direct action.

The event on Friday, April 22, began at 10 am in the Bent Creek River Park, on the banks of the French Broad River. The park sits exactly next to the new bridge being built for the 1.2 million square foot Pratt and Whitney plant and in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over the river. Across the river from the park is a dirt road, called Old River Road, that provides access to the many trucks coming and going from the plant every day. On this morning, it was busy, full of power and commerce.

In the park, over 50 of us came together to call for conversion from the war economy to one that addresses the climate emergency. The theme of the gathering was Windmills Not War Machines. We had a number of speakers describe the dangers of the Pratt & Whitney plant and also what a better economic development plan for the Asheville area could look like.

Pratt and Whitney is wholly owned by Raytheon Technologies, the second largest war corporation in the world. Its new plant here will be making airfoil turbines for jet engines that will be used by both military and commercial aircraft. The military engines are for notorious fighter jets like the F-35 and F-16, which are sold for wars all over the world, including in Yemen and Palestine. Sales of these weapons have soared with the onset of the war in Ukraine. This is a war profiteer coming to our community.

Our rally not only emphasized the war machine production of Pratt and Whitney, but also called attention to its effect on the climate emergency. What we don’t need in this urgent time is more fossil fuel intensive jet engines, even if they are for commercial use, and even if they are supposedly more efficient.

At the end of our rally, the Brass Your Heart social justice marching band led the group on a parade. With music, chants, banners, and signs, we moved from the park up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we crossed the bridge to the other side of the river. It was festive as well as pointed.

While the parade was in process, eight of us took a position on the Old River Road and blockaded the oncoming construction traffic from both directions. Five of us spanned the entire road with a 20 foot banner that said “Make Wind Turbines, Not War Machines.” Another held a smaller banner that said, “Pratt and Whitney Fans the Flames of Climate Emergency.” And two of us stood in front and behind the blockade with the stop-sign shaped message: “No War Industry.”

As our parading friends came to the end of the bridge, they stood above us waving, cheering, and singing along with the band. Construction traffic came to a halt and backed up for as far as the eye could see.

Amazingly, this stoppage lasted a full two hours. Biltmore Farms, which owns all the surrounding land and donated 100 acres to Pratt & Whitney for its plant, sent its security guards very quickly. They said we were on private property and threatened to have us arrested. Truck drivers walked up to us with a range of emotions from anger to sympathy to amusement. Soon the site was swarming with confused workers and authority figures. Eventually, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) came and asked us to leave. When we didn’t, a prolonged series of phone calls ensued.

As we found out later, there was an uncertainty about jurisdiction. We were actually on the National Park Service (NPS) easement for the Blue Ridge Parkway, not on Biltmore Farms private property. Technically, this meant that NPS was the proper authority to remove us. It apparently was decided that they would ask BCSO to take charge.

It was probably also the case that executives from both Biltmore Farms and Pratt & Whitney were discussing how to handle this situation in a way that would get them the least amount of negative publicity.

What this amounted to was a 2-hour shut down of business-as-usual for the corporations bringing a war industry to our county. It was just a small victory for us earth protectors, but still a moment to savor on Earth Day.

The decision the police finally made was to give us a choice. We could just walk away with no charges, we could walk away with a citation for misdemeanor trespass, or we could get arrested and taken to jail. We huddled up and decided on door #2: we took citations and walked away. We are hoping for our day in court where we can tell why we did this direct action and what is at stake with this war industry plant getting built. A trial will be a means of continuing to raise public awareness about it.

And it’s not just this one plant. What we also know is that Jack Cecil, owner of Biltmore Farms, is working with the local Chamber of Commerce to bring more businesses like Pratt & Whitney into this area. Some 1,000 acres have been set aside for an industrial park that will likely be centered on the toxic aerospace industry. The gas pipeline just put in by Dominion Energy will service not just Pratt and Whitney, but also the companies now being actively recruited to come here. The new interstate exchange on I-26 will likewise serve this future development.

Say goodbye to a lot more trees and worry about the health of the French Broad River. Pratt and Whitney is just the beginning of this Biltmore Farms project. It is like the anchor store in a mall. It is being used to attract others of the same ilk.

This is why Reject Raytheon is calling not just for conversion of this plant that is now nearing completion, but for a moratorium on any more approvals for industries that are connected to the military-industrial-fossil fuel monster that is devouring our earth and making life untenable for us and our children and grandchildren.

We who stood in the road are not the criminals here. The criminals are those who are making profits from the destruction of life on this planet. It is they who should be on trial and that is what we intend to do if we get our day in court. We, the Earth Day 8, hope you will follow us in solidarity.

We will also keep on showing up in the streets to raise the alarm. Ever since we found out in October, 2020 that the Buncombe County commissioners voted to give $27 million in tax incentives to Pratt & Whitney, we have been crying foul. But it’s even worse than that. If you take into account all the subsidies provided to this huge multinational corporation – state, local, and private – it comes to over $100 million. Think about how much we need that money for the many human needs of our community.

And don’t be deceived about the jobs being promised. Yes, there will be jobs, but there is no actual guarantee about how many nor who will get them. And we know very well that we would have many more jobs than the 800 they tout (counted cumulatively, over 10 years) if we put that same $100M into clean energy, education, health, housing – literally anything other than the military-industrial complex. Why would anyone think that a huge corporation like Raytheon cares about anything other than its own profits, notwithstanding all of its local greenwashing and public relations efforts?

It is this prioritizing of profits over people that we need to change. Visit Reject Raytheon’s website for more information: http://rejectraytheonavl.com/

Forward together for Mother Earth and for us, her children.

The Earth Day 8, who all live in and around Asheville, NC, are:

+ Rachael Bliss, 76, writer and founder of WNC4Peace
+ Claire Clark, 40, labor organizer and LGBTQ activist
+ Padma Dyvine, 72, retired nurse, healthcare and climate activist
+ Ken Jones, 73, retired professor of teacher education and VFP member
+ Steve Norris, 78, grandfather, carpenter, teacher, activist
+ Lyle Peterson, 73, blacksmith and founding member of VFP chapter
+ Gerry Werhan, 68, retired Medical Service Corps officer and VFP chapter president
+ Greg Yost, 55, former high school teacher and zip line guide

This Asheville action was one of 30+ events around the country carried out in a week of mobilization sponsored by the War Industry Resisters Network.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ken Jones.

• Pelosi unveils legislation to establish bipartisan commission on presidential capacity
• UK workers set to be paid 2/3 of wages by government if workplace shuts due to corona virus
• Moscow hospitals receiving influx of covid patients, reopens two makeshift treatment facilities
• Essential workers site dangerous working conditions and coersion before SF Board of Supervisors
• UN Secretary-General congratulates the World Food Program on Nobel Peace Prize win
• Joe Biden and Kamala Harris tell Navajo Nation they’ll have a seat at the table if elected

The post Pelosi unveils legislation to establish bipartisan commission on presidential capacity; UK workers set to be paid 2/3 of wages by government if workplace shuts due to corona virus; Moscow hospitals receiving influx of covid patients, reopens two makeshift treatment facilities appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.