“There are already a dozen cases piling up against me,” she said. “I’m a journalist. One murder case is enough to frame me.”

Rupa, a former chief correspondent at privately owned broadcaster Ekattor TV, now faces nine murder cases. Her husband, Shakil Ahmed, the channel’s former head of news, is named in eight.  

A year ago, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of Bangladesh’s interim government after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following weeks of student-led protests, during which two journalists were killed.

Yunus promised media reform and repealed the Cyber Security Act, a law used to target journalists under Hasina. But in a November 2024 interview with newspaper The Daily Star, Yunus said that murder accusations against journalists were being made hastily. He said the government had since halted such actions and that a committee had been formed to review the cases.

Still, nearly a year later, Rupa, Ahmed, Shyamal Dutta and Mozammel Haque Babu, arrested on accusations of instigating murders in separate cases, remain behind bars. The repeated use of such charges against journalists who are widely seen as sympathetic to the former regime appear to be politically motivated censorship.

In addition to such legal charges, CPJ has documented physical attacks against journalists, threats from political activists, and exile. At least 25 journalists are under investigation for genocide by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal – a charge that has been used to target figures linked to the former Hasina government. 

“Keeping four journalists behind bars without credible evidence a year on undermines the interim government’s stated commitment to protect press freedom,” said CPJ Regional Director Beh Lih Yi. “Real reform means breaking from the past, not replicating its abuses. All political parties must respect journalists’ right to report as the country is set for polls in coming months.”

A CPJ review of legal documents and reports found that journalists are often added to First Information Reports (FIRs) – documents that open an investigation – long after they are filed. In May, UN experts raised concern that over 140 journalists had been charged with murder following last year’s protests.

Shyamal Dutta’s daughter, Shashi, told CPJ the family has lost track of how many cases he now faces. They are aware of at least six murder cases in which he is named, while Babu’s family is aware of 10. Rupa and Ahmed’s family told CPJ that they haven’t received FIRs for five cases in which one or the other journalist has been named, which means that neither can apply for bail.

Shafiqul Alam, Yunus’s press secretary, and police spokesperson Enamul Haque Sagor did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. 

Violence and threats

In 2025, reporters across Bangladesh have faced violence and harassment while covering political events, with CPJ documenting at least 10 such incidents, most of which were carried out by members or affiliates of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its student wing, Chhatra Dal. In several instances, journalists sustained serious injuries or were prevented from reporting after footage was deleted or phones seized, including Bahar Raihan, Abdullah Al Mahmud, and Rocky Hossain.

Responding to the allegations, Mahdi Amin, adviser to Acting BNP Chair Tarique Rahman, told CPJ that while isolated misconduct may occur in a party of BNP’s size, the party does not protect wrongdoers. 

Others have faced threats from supporters of different political parties and the student groups that led the protests against Hasina. Reporters covering opposition groups like Jamaat-e-Islami or its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, have come under particular pressure. On June 9, Hasanat Kamal, editor of EyeNews.news, told CPJ he’d fled to the United Kingdom after being falsely accused by Islami Chhatra Shibir of participating in a violent student protest. Anwar Hossain, a journalist for the local daily Dabanol, told CPJ he’d been threatened by Jamaat supporters after publishing negative reports about a local party leader. 

CPJ reached out via messaging app to Abdus Sattar Sumon, a spokesperson for Jamaat-e-Islami, but received no response.

Since Hasina’s ouster, student protesters from the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement (ADSM) have increasinglytargeted journalists they accuse of supporting the former regime, which in one case led to the firing of five journalists. Student-led mobs have also besieged outlets like Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. 

CPJ reached out via messaging app to ADSM leader Rifat Rashid but received no response.

On July 14, exiled investigative journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan, who fled Bangladesh after exposing alleged high-level corruption under Hasina and receiving threats from Awami League officials, posted on X about the repression of the media: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Kunal Majumder/CPJ India Representative.

A damning new report reveals how Israel is systematically making Gaza unlivable. The independent news outlet +972 Magazine has spoken to Israeli soldiers who describe how they have been using bulldozers and explosives to intentionally flatten Gaza.

In the southern city of Rafah, 73% of buildings are completely destroyed, with only about 4% of the infrastructure remaining undamaged. “The real aim is to make it impossible for the Palestinians to return to these areas,” says Meron Rapoport, co-author of the +972 Magazine report.

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

Trump said Wednesday he would impose an extra 50% tariff on Chinese goods if Beijing doesn’t drop the retaliatory 34% tariff it placed on U.S. products last week.

China and the U.S. are waging a tit-for-tat trade battle, which threatens to stunt the global economy, after Trump announced new tariffs on most countries last week, including a 34% tariff on Chinese goods. That was on top of an earlier 20% tariff on China in response to fentanyl trafficking.

“The US threat to escalate tariffs against China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which once again exposes the US’s blackmailing nature,” China’s commerce ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

“China will never accept this. If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” the ministry said. “If the US escalates its tariff measures, China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests.”

​Trump upended the global trade status quo on April 2, imposing a universal 10% tariff on all imports, effective April 5, and additional tariffs on dozens of countries deemed to have unfair trade practices, effective April 9.

In this announcement, Trump singled out China as one of the “nations that treat us badly.” America’s trade deficit – the amount that imports exceed exports – with China was US$295.4 billion last year, the largest of any country.

Trump’s tariffs sent shockwaves through world markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged nearly 8% on Monday, triggering a temporary trading halt, before rebounding 5.5% later in the day. The S&P 500 index is down nearly 10% over five days.

Analysts warned that export-driven Asian economies are likely to be among the hardest hit by the U.S. tariff hikes.

With the April 9 deadline approaching, some countries are urgently seeking trade agreements with the Trump administration in an effort to minimize the damage to their economies.

Japan ‘getting priority’

Japan is sending a team to Washington to negotiate on trade, according to Trump, who said that he spoke on Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Separately, Shigeru said he told Trump to rethink tariffs.

Trump has put Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in charge of trade negotiations with Japan, Bessent said on social media.

Bessent, in a Fox News interview, said that he had not yet seen any proposals from Tokyo, but that he expected to have successful negotiations to reduce Japan’s non-tariff trade barriers.

Japan is among 50 to 70 countries that have approached the Trump administration so far about negotiations, Bessent said.

“Japan is a very important military ally. They’re a very important economic ally, and the U.S. has a lot of history with them,” he said. “So I would expect that Japan is going to get priority just because they came forward very quickly.”

In South Korea, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and other policymakers reviewed their strategy ahead of the trade minister’s visit to the U.S. this week, according to the finance ministry.

During the visit from Tuesday to Wednesday, Cheong In-kyo, the South’s minister for trade, plans to meet with Greer and make a request to lower the 25% rate, the trade ministry said.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has said that Taiwan has no plans to retaliate with tariffs of its own against the U.S.

Taiwanese companies’ investment commitments to the U.S. would not change as long as they are in line with the democratic island’s national interests, Lai has said.

In Hong Kong, whose special trading privileges were removed by a Trump executive order in 2020, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the city won’t impose countermeasures on the U.S., public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported.

“Hong Kong should remain free and open,” he said.

Vietnamese appeal

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s offer to lower its trade barriers to delay the implementation of U.S. tariffs has been rejected by a White House adviser.

Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son met with the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, Marc E. Knapper, on Sunday and reiterated his country’s willingness to lower the import tariff rate on U.S. products to zero in hope of postponing the onset of the new tariffs.

“Vietnam is ready to negotiate to bring the import tariff rate to 0% for US goods, increase procurement of US products that are strong and in demand by Vietnam, and at the same time create more favorable conditions for US enterprises to do business and invest in Vietnam,” said Son, cited by the government’s official information channel.

However, U.S. senior trade counselor Peter Navarro rejected this possibility later that day.

“This is not a negotiation, this is a national emergency based on a trade deficit that’s gotten out of control because of cheating,” Navarro told Fox News.

Even if both sides lowered tariffs to zero, the U.S. would still have a U$120 billion annual trade deficit with Vietnam, he said.

Vietnam consistently rebrands Chinese exports as its own products before shipping these to the U.S., Navarro said.

It also utilizes export subsidies, currency manipulation and “fake standards” which prevent U.S. manufacturers from making headway in Asian markets, he said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote a letter dated Friday seeking negotiations and for the U.S. to delay the 49% tariff to be imposed from April 9.

Hun Manet said that Cambodia would immediately reduce its top 35% tariff on American goods to 5% percent in 19 product categories, including American whiskey and beef.

In Thailand, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced on Sunday that Thailand will enter into talks with the U.S. following the imposition of tariffs on Thai goods.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira will travel to the U.S. for discussions with key stakeholders.

“Thailand has been a long-term, reliable economic partner and ally of the U.S., not merely an exporter,” Shinawatra said in a statement.

Edited by Stephen Wright.

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

Myanmar’s junta chief said the military would increase the defense budget, while seeking to expand his international presence with a reported plan to join a regional summit in Thailand next month.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing announced on Monday that the junta would increase the budget for its defense ministry to “enhance the strength and capacity of defense forces” as well as to “maintain peace and stability.” He did not provide specific figures.

Since the 2021 coup, the junta has tripled its defense budget from 1.746 trillion kyats to 5.635 trillion kyats (US$2.68 billion) by 2023, according to media reports, accounting for about a quarter of the government’s total spending. The military has also invested over US$1 billion in weapons, primarily from Russia, China, Singapore, India and Thailand.

Despite bolstering its capabilities, the junta faces intense international criticism for human rights violations, including indiscriminate attacks and mass detentions, leading to accusations of war crimes and increasing global isolation.

Min Aung Hlaing has been also sanctioned by multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union’s 27 member states.

These sanctions include asset freezes, travel bans, and prohibitions on transactions, aimed at holding him accountable for human rights violations and the military’s seizure of power.

However, Min Aung Hlaing appears to be attempting to reshape his international standing, as media reports indicate that he plans to participate in a regional summit in Bangkok next week – marking his first visit to Thailand.

According to Thai media outlet ThaiPBS on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to visit Bangkok from April 3 to 4 to attend the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, summit. The summit is expected to be attended by heads of state from member countries, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BIMSTEC is a regional cooperation organization established in 1997, comprising seven countries bordering the Bay of Bengal: India, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Min Aung Hlaing also recently visited Russia and Belarus, where he held meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Separately, he attended the Mekong River Basin Summit held in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, in November – marking his first visit to China since the coup.

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Assaults in northern Myanmar

As the junta leader looks abroad for support for his unelected government and approval for elections he plans to hold by January, his military’s attacks on pro-democracy forces and ethnic armies fighting for autonomy continue in an indiscriminate and brutal fashion.

A resident from Mandalay’s Natogyi township said that junta forces bombed two villages around 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, injuring two women and six men, including a 13-year-old child.

Insurgent groups, which retain control over much of the township, have seen a resurgence in junta offensives, following a series of failed ceasefires between the junta and rebel militias in the country’s north.

“They were all just civilians, Although most were people avoiding conflict, there were those who couldn’t avoid it and were stuck in Let Wea and Myinni villages,” said the resident, who declined to be named over security concerns. “When the bomb fell, they ran but they didn’t get away.”

(Natogyi Journal)

A 65-year-old man was severely injured, and over 10 houses were destroyed by the blast, he added.

Most residents from the two villages were sheltering in nearby mountains, but about a third had chosen to remain in their homes, residents said.

Junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun has declined to comment.

According to data compiled by RFA, 3,554 people have been killed by junta-led attacks since the coup began in February 2021, and another 7,064 have been injured.

Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

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

A federal judge has blocked the deportation of recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal resident of the U.S. who was arrested by immigration authorities for helping organize campus solidarity protests with Gaza. He had been receiving daily threats stemming from an online smear campaign launched by pro-Israel activists before his arrest and repeatedly appealed to university administrators for protection. Khalil, who is a Palestinian green card holder, is married to a U.S. citizen. Upon his arrest, he was separated from his pregnant wife and transported to a detention facility in Louisiana, where legal experts say he is more likely to appear before Trump-friendly judges if his case moves forward. “Her husband was abducted before her very eyes [and] disappeared,” says Ramzi Kassem.

Kassem is the founder of the legal clinic CLEAR, which is contesting Khalil’s “baseless” detention and Louisiana transfer in New York court. Khalil’s unprecedented arrest makes good on President Trump’s promise to punish antiwar student activists, bringing together his administration’s attacks on free speech, education and immigrant rights. It is “part and parcel” of “Trump’s racist and fascist agenda,” says immigrant rights activist Murad Awawdeh, who adds that the Columbia University administration’s lack of response to Khalil’s high-profile case has been “incredibly shameful.”

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

The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class U.S. aircraft carrier, arrived at the southeastern city of Busan on Sunday, South Korea’s navy said, reaffirming the U.S. commitment to extended deterrence against North Korean threats.

The North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the arrival of the U.S. aircraft was an expression of Washington’s “most hostile and confrontational will.”

“The action-accompanied hostile policy toward the DPRK pursued by the U.S. at present is offering sufficient justification for the DPRK to indefinitely bolster up its nuclear war deterrent,” said Kim, as cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, KCNA.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is North Korea’s official name.

“The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level,” said Kim, adding that her country would be “naturally compelled to renew its records in the exercise of strategic deterrence” if the U.S. continued with its record-breaking shows of force.

South Korea denounced Kim’s remarks, saying she was attempting to justify North Korean military provocations.

“North Korea’s criticism of the deployment of a U.S. strategic asset to implement the U.S. extended deterrence pledge and combined South Korea-U.S. exercise ahead of the Freedom Shield exercise is merely sophistry to justify its nuclear and missile development and build excuse for provocations,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to annual military drills between the South and the U.S.

The North’s nuclear development could “never be accepted,” and the only way for it to survive was to “let go of its obsessions” with nuclear weapons, the ministry said.

“Should the North conduct provocation, using Seoul and Washington’s just and defensive military activities as pretext, it will be met with overwhelming retaliation,” added the South Korean ministry.

The nuclear-powered vessel of Carrier Strike Group 1 entered the naval base in Busan in the first visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier to South Korea since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.

(Yonhap/AFP)

It was also accompanied by the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton and Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Sterett, according to the South’s navy.

The visit is part of efforts to implement an “ironclad” U.S. extended deterrence pledge, which Washington recently reaffirmed, and display the robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture against persistent North Korean threats, the South Korean navy said.

The allies would bolster their interoperability and hold friendly activities during the visit, it added.

The Carl Vinson last visited South Korea in November 2023, just hours before North Korea successfully placed its first military spy satellite into orbit after two failed attempts.

IAEA assessment

Kim Yo Jong’s remarks came a day after the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, said there were signs that North Korea was operating uranium enrichment plants in two locations.

“There are indications that the uranium enrichment plants at Kangson and Yongbyon continue to operate, and there are indications that the light water reactor (LWR) at Yongbyon continues to operate,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Monday.

“Additions to the support infrastructure have been observed adjacent to the LWR,” said Grossi, adding that North Korea’s further development of its nuclear program was a “clear” breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

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The IAEA has also observed that the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex resumed in mid-October last year, following a shutdown of about 60 days, according to Grossi.

“This shutdown is assessed to be of sufficient length to refuel the reactor and start its seventh operational cycle,” he said.

“Strong indicators of preparations for a new reprocessing campaign, including the operation of the steam plant serving the Radiochemical Laboratory, have been observed.”

The laboratory is known as a key reprocessing facility to yield plutonium. To build a nuclear bomb, about 6 kilograms of plutonium is known to be required.

“The undeclared enrichment facilities at both Kangson and Yongbyon, combined with General Secretary Kim’s call for ‘overfulfilling the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials,’ are of serious concern,” he added.

“The agency continues to maintain its enhanced readiness to play its essential role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear program.”

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

The top diplomats of the U.S. and its two Asian allies on Saturday also decried “systematic, widespread and gross” violations of human rights in the reclusive state.

The North’s foreign ministry dismissed denuclearization as an “unrealistic and failed concept,” condemning U.S. policies as “shortsighted,” as reported by its state-run Korea Central News Agency on Tuesday.

North Korea will “consistently adhere to the new line of bolstering up the nuclear force” and “thoroughly deter the U.S. and its vassal forces from threats and blackmail” by making use of all political and military tools at its disposal, the ministry added.

It also warned that any provocation would be met with decisive countermeasures, framing its nuclear program as essential for peace, sovereignty and self-defense.

US ‘openness for dialogue’

South Korea’s foreign ministry said last week’s trilateral talks between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul sent a “strong” warning against North Korean provocations and stressed their commitment to reinforcing the global sanctions regime against it.

The ministry added the U.S. reaffirmed its “ironclad” security commitments to South Korea and Japan, “backed by America’s unmatched military strength, including its nuclear capabilities.”

But the U.S. Department of State said in a statement following a separate meeting between Rubio and Cho that the U.S. remained “open” to a dialogue with the North – an element omitted from the South Korean statement.

“Secretary Rubio reaffirmed America’s commitment to the complete denuclearization of the DPRK while expressing the Trump administration’s openness to dialogue,” the department said, without elaborating.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is the official name of North Korea.

The South has not commented on the U.S. statement.

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The inconsistency raised concern in Japan where its leader said there should be no divergence among the three allies on North Korea.

“Maintaining the regime is North Korea’s core national interest, and we must seriously consider how to separate this from the issue of its nuclear possession,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday during a parliamentary session in response to a question about the U.S. stance on North Korea and its implication for cooperation between the U.S., Japan and South Korea.

“We must ensure continued cooperation and communication among Japan, the U.S., and South Korea on achieving complete denuclearization while addressing North Korea’s demands for security guarantees,” Ishiba noted.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Anchorage Daily News. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court told state lawmakers this week that the court system is taking steps to reduce the amount of time it takes criminal cases to reach trial, a problem highlighted by a recent ProPublica and Anchorage Daily News investigation.

In an annual State of the Judiciary speech to legislators Wednesday at the Capitol in Juneau, Chief Justice Susan M. Carney said the court system has increased training for judges, created new policies on postponements and authorized overtime pay. She noted that the court system’s mission includes deciding cases “expeditiously and with integrity.”

“You are probably aware that we are not meeting expectations — our own or Alaskans’ — about the expeditious part of that mission,” Carney said.

Noting “recent media accounts” of extreme delays, Carney said the state is gaining ground and that resolving the problem is “our No. 1 priority.”

“We must, and we will, improve how we handle criminal cases to prevent that kind of delay,” Carney said.

The Daily News and ProPublica reported in January that the most serious felony cases in Alaska can take five, seven or even 10 years to reach trial as judges approve dozens of delays. These delays might be requested because defense attorneys are waiting for prosecutors to share evidence or because attorneys have high caseloads to juggle, or even as a tactic to weaken the prosecution’s case with the passage of time.

The category of cases that ProPublica and the Daily News examined, the most serious felonies such as murders and violent sexual assaults, took the judicial system a median of three years to complete in 2023, a threefold increase from 2013.

The newsrooms identified one case that judges described as one of the most “horrendous” sexual assaults they had ever seen and that has been delayed at least 74 times over the course of 10 years.

The Alaska judicial system and lawmakers were aware of serious pretrial delays long before COVID-19 disrupted the courts, particularly in Anchorage. In 2009, a report by the National Center for State Courts noted that the time to resolve felony criminal cases in Anchorage had increased nearly 400% over the prior decade.

While acknowledging the long delays described in news reports and their impact on victims and defendants in major felonies, Carney told legislators that less serious criminal cases — which are most cases in the system — do not take as long to resolve.

“I do this not to justify those extraordinarily delayed cases, but I do want to provide a bigger picture,” said Carney, a Fairbanks judge who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2016 and became the chief justice this year.

The median time to close misdemeanor cases is six months or shorter, Carney said. Less serious felony cases such as vehicle theft and certain assault charges are resolved within a median of six months, she said. Class A felonies, which include some sexual assaults, manslaughter and some drug charges, take a median of 13 months.

Carney also noted that only about 3% of criminal cases go to trial. Many are resolved when the defendant agrees to plead guilty to reduced charges, rather than take the chance of being found guilty by a jury, or when prosecutors drop the charges.

Carney told legislators that judges have created new limits on the number of times a case can be delayed and on the duration of the delays, and that judges devoted one-third of their annual conference to training on how to reduce the number of pending cases.

More cases are now being closed than are being opened, and the number of open cases last month was down by one-third from a year before, Carney said, bringing the number of open criminal cases to its lowest since 2018.

“So we are making progress,” said Carney, who spent nearly three decades as a lawyer for the Alaska Public Defender Agency and Office of Public Advocacy.

She did not provide caseload figures specifically for unclassified felonies, the category of serious crimes that ProPublica and the Daily News focused on.

Alaska’s sluggish justice system has created palpable impacts on crime victims, defendants and the community.

A Daily News and ProPublica report in October found the city of Anchorage dismissed hundreds of criminal cases in 2024 because it didn’t have enough prosecutors to meet speedy trial deadlines. Dismissed cases included charges of domestic violence assault and child abuse.

State prosecutors have responded to that investigation by offering added staff to help the city keep cases moving.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met in Washington on Friday and reaffirmed their resolute commitment to a North Korea without nuclear weapons, while underscoring the importance of trilateral cooperation with South Korea.

During a speech on Saturday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un referred to new plans for bolstering “all deterrences” and reaffirmed the “unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, reported.

Kim added North Korea “does not want unnecessary tension” in the region, saying, however, that it would take “sustained countermeasures to ensure the regional military balance” to prevent the outbreak of war and ensure peace and security on the peninsula, KCNA said on Sunday, without elaborating.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons were not a bargaining chip but designed for actual use against the “origin” of any attempts by its enemies to invade, KCNA said in a separate report.

“Our nuclear force is not something that can be advertised to earn recognition from anybody and not even a bargaining chip that can be exchanged for a mere sum of money,” KCNA reported on Saturday.

“Our country’s nuclear force is invariably for real combat use in a bid to swiftly cut out the origin of any invasion attempt by hostile forces that infringe upon the country’s sovereign right and people’s safety, and threaten regional peace,” it added.

KCNA did not mention the U.S.-Japan summit but criticized NATO and the European Union as “ludicrous” for stating that they would not recognize North Korea as a nuclear power.

‘Complete denuclearization’

The North’s remarks came after Trump and Ishiba, in their first in-person meeting, reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearization of North Korea,” while Trump vowed to ensure stability on the Korean peninsula.

“The two leaders expressed their serious concerns over and the need to address the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of the DPRK,” they said in the statement on Friday.

“Both countries underscored the need to deter and counter the DPRK’s malicious cyber activities and the DPRK’s increasing military cooperation with Russia. In addition, both countries affirmed the importance of the Japan-US-ROK trilateral partnership in responding to the DPRK and upholding regional peace and prosperity,” they added.

The Republic of Korea, or ROK, is South Korea’s official name.

(Mandel Ngna/AFP)

Referring to his discussions with Ishiba, Trump pointed out their shared commitment in ensuring stability in the region.

“The prime minister and I will be working closely together to maintain peace and security, and I also say peace through strength and all over the Indo-Pacific,” said Trump. “And to that end, we also remain committed to the effort I began in my first term to ensure safety and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

During a joint press conference, Trump said that getting along with Kim was “a good thing, not a bad thing.”

“We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim JongUn. I got along with him very well,” said Trump. “We had a good relationship, and I think it’s a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with him.”

Trump launched an unprecedented diplomatic effort with North Korea during his first term, meeting Kim three times.

In January, Trump was asked in an interview if he planned to “reach out” to the North Korean leader, and he answered: “I will, yeah. He liked me.”

Japanese abductees

Ishiba said he used the talks with Trump to deliver his “strong sense of urgency” regarding the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.

“Now that President Trump is in power again, if we are able to move towards resolving issues with North Korea, it would be agreed,” Ishiba said in response to a question over whether he would like to see Trump resume diplomacy with Pyongyang.

“For us, that includes not only denuclearization, but also resolving the abductee issue. Not only the abductees, but also their families too are aging.”

(JIM WATSON/AFP)

The issue of abductions remains a significant obstacle to diplomatic normalization between North Korea and Japan.

Japan says it has confirmed the abduction of 17 citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, to work as language teachers for North Korean spies, and 12 are still in the North.

North Korea contends that of the 12, eight have died, and four never entered North Korea, insisting there is no issue to be resolved.

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Taiwan, South China Sea

Trump and Ishiba also reaffirmed their firm opposition to any attempts by China to alter the status quo through force or coercion in the East China Sea. They also condemned China’s maritime claims, the militarization of reclaimed features, and its “threatening and provocative” actions in the South China Sea.

“The two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the international community,” they said in a joint statement.

“They encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues, and opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion.”

South Korea welcomed the joint statement, vowing to maintain its diplomatic efforts for the complete denuclearization of North Korea based on close trilateral cooperation with the U.S. and Japan.,

China had not officially commented on the U.S.-Japanese statement at time of publication.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

The Trump administration claims an order to withhold funds from hospitals that offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth is “already having its intended effect” as hospitals announce a halt to gender-affirming care for trans patients. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and others filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of transgender youth who say the order is depriving them of medical care “solely on the basis of their sex and transgender status.” ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio says the situation is “catastrophic for transgender people of all ages, particularly transgender youth,” and notes Trump’s near-daily attacks are targeting a community that makes up less than 1% of the U.S. population. “We need to see people standing up.” We are also joined by pediatrician Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, who has vowed to keep working with transgender youth patients in New York. “Keep politics out of science,” says Dr. Birnbaum.

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

• Supreme Court weighs constitutionality of Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care for minors.
• State Attorney General Rob Bonta unveils new plans to counter incoming Trump administration agenda.
• French far right and leftist lawmakers elect to oust Prime Minister in battle over national budget.
• Amnesty International report accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
• San Diego nurse claims she was fired for her pro-Palestinian activism.

The post SCOTUS weighs challenge to Tennessee’s ban on transgender health care for minors; California AG vows to protect immigrants against Trump’s pledge for ‘mass deportations’ – December 4, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

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

Trump’s election victory sparked concern in China, where many expect the next president to take a tougher stand than his predecessor, particularly on trade and economic issues, with repercussions for an already struggling Chinese economy.

“This tariff will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular, fentanyl and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, vowing the additional tariff on all Chinese goods, many of which are already under import taxes imposed during the first Trump administration.

“I’ve had many talks about China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular fentanyl, being sent into the United States – but to no avail,” Trump wrote on Monday.

“Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this, but unfortunately, they never followed through.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, used in pain-relief drugs, that is 50% more powerful than heroin, leading to mass addiction and deaths through illegal drug use across the U.S.

China had not commented on Trump’s latest comment by time of the publication but Chinese officials earlier condemned Trump’s proposals for higher tariffs as economic “bullying” and warned of retaliation if implemented.

In a separate post, Trump said his first of “many” executive orders on Jan. 20 would impose tariffs of 25% on all products from Mexico and Canada.

Trump is set to be inaugurated as president on Jan. 20.

“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long-simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” he wrote.

Trump’s posts came just days after he announced he would nominate financier Scott Bessent as his Treasury secretary. Bessent is considered to be pro-tariff and critical to implementing the Trump administration’s trade agenda.

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EXPLAINED: How would Harris and Trump differ on Asia?

Trump says China’s Xi would be his first call, would demand he honors trade deal

Trump previously proposed an across-the-board 10-20% tariff on imports from all countries, and potentially “more than” 60% tariff on Chinese imports.

These tariffs aim to pressure China to change its trade practices, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, and boost American manufacturing. Trump believes tariffs protect U.S. industries by encouraging companies to relocate production to the U.S., restoring jobs lost to globalization.

He also suggested tariff revenue could fund his economic agenda, including making 2017 tax cuts permanent. His plan retains the US$80 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports imposed in 2018 and 2019, which the administration of President Joe Biden has not lifted.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi previously called the tariffs “hegemonism” bordering on “madness,” accusing the U.S. of pursuing unipolar dominance.

Beijing warned the tariffs could strain U.S.-China relations and hinted at restricting critical material exports, potentially harming U.S. industries.

After Trump’s win, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Biden that China was ready to cooperate with the incoming Trump administration to achieve a “smooth transition.”

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

During his recent visit to China, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing promised top Communist Party officials that his regime will complete a census by the end of the year -- then hold “free and fair elections,” he revealed on Tuesday.

Min Aung Hlaing said he will invite international observers to monitor the vote -- which opponents and rebel leaders have said would be a sham, and a way to legitimize the military’s grip on power.

On Nov. 6, he traveled to Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, where he met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of a regional summit. The trip marked his first trip to China since Myanmar’s military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat.

On Tuesday, the junta leader told his Cabinet that he informed Li and other Chinese officials that his regime has collected census data covering 63% of Myanmar’s population and plans to complete the census before the new year.

The census, aimed at tallying potential voters ahead of the 2025 elections, has met strong opposition from the country’s ethnic armed groups who say preparations for a nationwide vote are impossible while they battle a regime that continues to arrest and kill its critics.

Since the country’s coup, the junta has been under pressure from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to hold elections.

But the regime has continued to extend a state of emergency across the country and brought in tough new registration laws that disqualify many parties from standing, including the National League for Democracy, or NLD, deposed after winning a landslide victory in the 2020 election.

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Despite opposition from Myanmar’s ethnic groups, Min Aung Hlaing said Tuesday that he told Chinese leaders they are willing to participate in an election to pursue their collective interests through legal means.

‘No victory without popular support’

Aye Mya Mya Myo, who was elected as a lawmaker to the Yangon Region Parliament in 2020, dismissed the junta chief’s promises, telling RFA Burmese that “no matter what propaganda he employs,” the ballot will never enjoy widespread support.

“No country that values human rights can believe that a regime responsible for widespread killing and oppression is capable of holding a fair election,” she said. “While some nations that disregard democratic principles and human rights, despite promoting peace and stability, may back the junta, it will never achieve victory without the support of the people.”

Tun Kyi, a former political prisoner, told RFA that the junta is determined to hold elections “by any means necessary.” He also criticized the Chinese government’s support of the junta’s actions, which he said “encourages criminal behavior.”

“The Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party are collaborating with the criminal leader Min Aung Hlaing, contributing to the problems in our country,” he said.

“The public will likely face various forms of pressure to vote. By supporting the junta forces responsible for violent attacks on civilians, the Chinese government and Communist Party are, in effect, endorsing and aiding criminals.”

No mandate for junta

Most people in Myanmar object to the military’s 2021 coup and the junta’s plans for an election, and are fighting to restore the results of the country’s 2020 vote, which saw the NLD win a sweeping victory.

But despite popular sentiment, Min Aung Hlaing said he told Chinese leaders during his trip that the 2020 ballot was rife with voter fraud and that the junta had “taken effective action” against the party to prevent any meddling in the upcoming election.

He also said that next year’s election will be conducted using an electronic voting system, divided by region “for security reasons.”

The junta has repeatedly said that it will ensure voter lists are accurate ahead of the ballot, but the claim has been widely dismissed by observers.

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

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Wai Mar Tun for RFA Burmese.

America’s top diplomat made an emergency trip to Brussels for a meeting with his NATO and European Union counterparts to solidify U.S. President Joe Biden‘s foreign policy plans for Ukraine, days after former President Donald Trump won a second term in the White House.

“We had a very productive discussion today about our ongoing support for Ukraine in the face of an ongoing Russian aggression, as well this added element now of North Korean forces injected into the battle and now quite literally in combat, which demands, and will get, a firm response,” Blinken told media on Wednesday.

“We’re counting on European partners and others to strongly support Ukraine’s mobilization,” said Blinken, calling for Washington’s allies to step up.

He added that NATO countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength.”

Blinken also said U.S. President Joe Biden was “committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20,” when Trump, who has questioned U.S. support for Ukraine, takes office.

“The U.S. will adapt and adjust with the latest equipment it is sending,” he added, without providing details.

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Separately, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reiterated the crucial role played by China in helping Russia’s “war effort.”

On Tuesday, he said Russia’s growing economic and military cooperation with China, North Korea and Iran was a threat to Europe, the Indo-Pacific and North America.

China, one of North Korea’s few allies, faces pressure to act responsibly as the U.S. and its allies fear North Korean troop deployments could dangerously escalate the Ukraine conflict. The U.S. expressed concerns to China in October over North Korean and Russian “destabilizing” actions.

China has not commented on North Korea’s deployment except to say the development of relations between Russia and North Korea was solely for them to decide.

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine was progressing “very rapidly and fully,” without addressing reports of North Korean involvement.

Russia has not commented on the presence of North Korean troops on its territory. At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council last week, Russia declined to answer questions from the U.S. about its deployment of North Koreans.

The U.S. confirmed on Tuesday that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers had been sent to eastern Russia, saying most of them have moved to far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces.

South Korea’s main security agency also confirmed that the North Koreans were “already engaging in combat operations” against Ukraine in Kursk.

Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into Kursk on Aug. 6 and have captured more than two dozen settlements there.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

At least 12 people were killed and over 2,800 people were injured Tuesday in Lebanon when electronic pagers used by many members of Hezbollah — who had switched to the older technology over concerns of mobile phones’ vulnerability to security breaches — exploded simultaneously across the country in a coordinated attack on the group. Individual explosions occurred in supermarkets, cafes, houses and in other public places. Many of the injuries were sustained by civilians who were not carrying the pagers themselves, including at least two children who died from their wounds. According to a Reuters report, Israel’s Mossad spy agency had managed to plant explosive material in a batch of pagers bought in recent months by Hezbollah, which has vowed to retaliate, deepening the risks of a broader regional war. We discuss the attack with three guests: Beirut-based journalist Mohamad Kleit, Human Rights Watch’s Ramzi Kaiss and Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri. Kaiss says the “indiscriminate attack” on the Lebanese population — which Kleit additionally describes as “terrorist” — is “unlawful under the rules of war.” “What the Israeli attack using the pagers did was completely throw out the rulebook,” says Khouri, as eyes are on the region in preparation for another possible Israeli escalation.

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

“It is a mistake for those who think that putting people in the prison can stop workers from protesting,” Chhim Sithar told Radio Free Asia. 

“Most people fear being in prison. I fear it too,” she said. “But for me and my union team, we are more afraid of losing our rights.”

The dispute at the NagaWorld Hotel and Entertainment Complex, one of the world’s most profitable gambling centers, began in 2021 when the company laid off more than 1,300 employees, about half of them union members.

The strike has drawn violent clashes with police and continues to this day. Cambodian authorities have claimed that the strike is illegal and the product of alleged foreign donations.

Workers demanding better wages and working conditions have the legal right in Cambodia to organize and strike, Chhim Sithar said on Monday

Chhim Sithar received a two-year sentence in May 2023 after she was convicted of “inciting social chaos” for her role in the dispute. She received credit for time served before her trial.

Police initially detained her in December 2021. She was arrested again in November 2022 after returning to Cambodia from a labor conference in Australia for violating bail conditions that authorities said restricted her from leaving the country.

Her arrest was condemned by NagaWorld strikers, civil society officials and the U.S. State Department. Her defense lawyer argued at her trial that she was never properly informed of any travel restrictions. 

‘They fear the public’s attention’

Prison authorities transported Chhim Sithar to her Phnom Penh home before dawn on Monday from Prey Sar Prison, which is located on the outskirts of the city. Over the weekend, NagaWorld strikers had announced plans to gather at the prison to greet her after her release.

Officials apparently wanted to prevent a demonstration at the prison, said Ou Tep Phallin, president of the Federation of Food and Service Workers of Cambodia, one of the unions involved in the strike.

“They fear the public’s attention,” she said. “I see this as a fear of union workers’ assembly.”

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Chhim Sithar is the leader of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees. At her sentencing, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also sentenced eight other union members to shorter prison sentences, which were then suspended.

At the time, Amnesty International said that the union members “were prosecuted solely for exercising their basic rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

NagaWorld is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Senate President Hun Sen.

Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed.

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

Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump focused heavily on abortion rights and the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump repeated his false claim that Democrats support infanticide, and claimed that allowing individual states to set their own laws on abortion was an improvement. Harris highlighted the risk to pregnant people now navigating a patchwork of laws and restrictions in the U.S. and promised to restore protections for reproductive rights as president. “Kamala Harris was finally out there channeling the outrage and the profound sense of violation that many people across this country feel in the wake of the Dobbs decision,” says Amy Littlefield, the abortion access correspondent for The Nation.

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

Promises of “accountability and transparency” in deep-sea mining saw nations vote on Friday for a Brazilian scientist as head of an obscure U.N. organization that regulates the world’s seabed.

Mounting opposition to the International Seabed Authority approving exploitation of the ocean’s minerals by corporations, before its environmental regulations were finalized, fueled the mood for change.

The rare vote saw Brazil’s candidate, a former oceanographer, Leticia Carvalho defeat incumbent British lawyer Michael Lodge, who has been criticized for being aligned to seabed mining companies. Lodge wasn’t present when the result was announced. 

“The winning margin reflects the appetite for change,” Carvalho told RFA affiliate BenarNews. “I see that transparency and accountability, broader participation, more focus on additional science, bridging knowledge gaps are the priority areas.” 

Lodge had support from only 34 nations compared with 79 for Carvahlo, who also campaigned on restoring neutrality to the secretary-general position. She is currently a senior official at the U.N. Environment Program and a former oil industry regulator in Brazil.

The change of leadership at the Kingston-based ISA is a possible setback to efforts to quickly finalize regulations for seabed mining, which would pave the way for exploitation to begin in the areas under its jurisdiction. Some countries, meanwhile, are exploring the possibility of nodule mining in their territorial waters, which are outside of ISA oversight. 

Mining of the golf ball-sized metallic nodules that litter swathes of the sea bed is touted as a source of rare earths and minerals needed for green technologies, such as electric vehicles, as the world reduces reliance on fossil fuels.

Skeptics say such minerals are already abundant on land and warn that mining the sea bed could cause irreparable damage to an environment that is still poorly understood by science.

Lodge was nominated for a third term by Kiribati, which is one of three Pacific island nations working with Nasdaq-listed The Metals Company on plans to exploit seabed minerals. More than 30 nations were disqualified from voting in the secret ballot as their financial contributions to the ISA are in arrears. 

The hundreds of delegates and other attendees at the ISA assembly lined up to hug Carvalho following her election including Gerard Barron, chief executive of The Metals Company. 

After the vote the company tweeted, “we appreciate her proactive engagement with us and share her belief that adopting regulations, not a moratorium, is the best way to fulfill the ISA’s mandate,” adding they still hope to become “the first commercial operator in this promising industry.” 

Greenpeace International campaigner Louisa Casson said she hopes Carvalho will work with governments “to change the ISA’s course to serve the public interest, as it has been driven by the narrow corporate interests of the deep sea mining industry for far too long.”

This week’s annual assembly of the ISA also witnessed more nations joining a call for a moratorium on mining until there is greater scientific and environmental understanding of its likely consequences. 

Tuvalu's position takes to 10 the members of the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum now opposed to any imminent start to deep-sea mining.

Nations such as Vanuatu and Chile also succeeded in forcing a general debate on establishing an environmental policy at the ISA.

Pelenatita Petelo Kara, a Tongan activist who campaigns against deep-sea mining, said she is hopeful new leadership will mean “more time for science to confirm new developments” such as alternative minerals for green technologies as well as a more thorough dialogue on the proposed mining rules.

Deep-sea mineral extraction has been particularly contentious in the Pacific, where some economically lagging island nations see it as a possible financial windfall, but many other island states are strongly opposed.

The island nation of Nauru in June 2021 notified the seabed authority of its intention to begin mining, which triggered the clock for the first time on a two-year period for the authority’s member nations to finalize regulations.

Its president David Adeang told the assembly earlier this week that its mining application currently being prepared in conjunction with The Metals Company will allow the ISA to make “an informed decision based on real scientific data and not emotion and conjecture.”

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

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

Promises of “accountability and transparency” in deep-sea mining has seen a tsunami-size vote by nations on Friday for a Brazilian scientist to replace the incumbent British lawyer as head of an obscure UN organisation that regulates the world’s seabed.

Mounting international opposition to prospects of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) approving exploitation of the deep ocean’s vast mineral bounty by corporations before its environmental regulations were finalised fuelled the mood for change.

A rare vote by member nations saw Brazil’s candidate, former oceanographer Leticia Carvalho, defeat two-term head Michael Lodge, who has been criticised for being aligned to seabed mining companies.

• READ MORE: Other deep-sea mining reports

Lodge was not present when the result was announced.

“The winning margin reflects the appetite for change,” Carvalho told BenarNews. “I see that transparency and accountability, broader participation, more focus on additional science, bridging knowledge gaps are the priority areas.”

Lodge had support from only 34 nations compared with 79 for Carvahlo, who also campaigned on restoring neutrality to the secretary-general position. She is currently a senior official at the UN Environment Programme and a former oil industry regulator in Brazil.

The change of leadership at the Kingston-based ISA is a possible setback to efforts to quickly finalise regulations for seabed mining, which would pave the way for exploitation to begin in the areas under its jurisdiction.

Some countries, meanwhile, are exploring the possibility of nodule mining in their territorial waters, which are outside of ISA oversight.

Mining of the golf ball-sized metallic nodules that litter swathes of the sea bed is touted as a source of rare earths and minerals needed for green technologies, such as electric vehicles, as the world reduces reliance on fossil fuels.

Sceptics say such minerals are already abundant on land and warn that mining the sea bed could cause irreparable damage to an environment that is still poorly understood by science.

Lodge was nominated for a third term by Kiribati, which is one of three Pacific island nations working with Nasdaq-listed The Metals Company on plans to exploit seabed minerals. More than 30 nations were disqualified from voting in the secret ballot as their financial contributions to the ISA are in arrears.

The hundreds of delegates and other attendees at the ISA assembly lined up to hug Carvalho following her election, including Gerard Barron, chief executive of The Metals Company.

After the vote the company tweeted, “we appreciate her proactive engagement with us and share her belief that adopting regulations, not a moratorium, is the best way to fulfil the ISA’s mandate,” adding they still hope to become “the first commercial operator in this promising industry.”

Greenpeace International campaigner Louisa Casson said she hoped Carvalho would work with governments “to change the ISA’s course to serve the public interest, as it has been driven by the narrow corporate interests of the deep sea mining industry for far too long.”

This week’s annual assembly of the ISA also witnessed more nations joining a call for a moratorium on mining until there was greater scientific and environmental understanding of its likely consequences.

Tuvalu is one of the latest to join those calling for a moratorium, taking to 10 the members of the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum, now opposed to any imminent start to deep-sea mining.

Nations such as Vanuatu and Chile also succeeded in forcing a general debate on establishing an environmental policy at the ISA.

Pelenatita Petelo Kara, a Tongan activist who campaigns against deep-sea mining, said she was hopeful new leadership would mean “more time for science to confirm new developments” such as alternative minerals for green technologies as well as a more thorough dialogue on the proposed mining rules.

Deep-sea mineral extraction has been particularly contentious in the Pacific, where some economically lagging island nations see it as a possible financial windfall, but many other island states are strongly opposed.

The island nation of Nauru in June 2021 notified the seabed authority of its intention to begin mining, which triggered the clock for the first time on a two-year period for the authority’s member nations to finalise regulations.

Its president David Adeang told the assembly earlier this week that its mining application currently being prepared in conjunction with The Metals Company would allow the ISA to make “an informed decision based on real scientific data and not emotion and conjecture.”

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Published with the permission of BenarNews.

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

“This is one of the most perilous moments in the [Middle East] region in years,” says Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group Iran Project, after Israel’s assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday in Tehran. Iranian retaliation against Israel appears imminent. “All bets are off,” warns Vaez, adding that Israel’s latest maneuver will put Americans “in harm’s way,” as Iran will no longer hold back fellow Axis of Resistance members, especially Islamic militias in Iraq and Syria, from launching attacks on U.S. military bases in the region. “It is disastrous for a superpower who cannot control, basically, a client state that is destabilizing the region,” Vaez explains. We also hear from Palestinian human rights attorney Diana Buttu, who responds to Israel’s announcement that its July strike on al-Mawasi, an alleged safe zone in Gaza, killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif along with nearly a hundred civilians. Buttu argues it is Israel’s international impunity over the course of its campaign against Palestine that has led to this dangerous moment of escalation. “This is a monster that’s been unleashed,” she says. “This is going to spread, and this is exactly what Netanyahu wants.”

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

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, pledged to protect Chinese nationals and investments as the battle for a major Shan state town intensified, the group announced on Tuesday. 

Several ceasefires brokered with China’s help between Myanmar’s Three Brotherhood Alliance and junta forces have failed to maintain a lasting peace since January. Since July 22, when the latest ceasefire collapsed, fighting over Lashio, the main city in northern Shan state, has surged.

The MNDAA has since claimed it captured most of the town, including a regional military headquarters, which junta officials have denied. 

The group said it would consult allied organizations and “prevent actions that may harm Chinese investment and Chinese employees.”

Political analyst Than Soe Naing told Radio Free Asia that groups involved in fighting the junta, which include the allied Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army, are already obligated to protect Chinese interests under an earlier agreement.

The renewed declaration may be the result of a warning from China to be more cautious during battles, he said.

“China’s interests in northern Shan state are to keep its trade routes convenient and smooth and to maintain stability on the border region. Its interests are also to clean up online scamming,” he said. “Therefore, China has put its trust in the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee to ensure that its interests are not affected.”

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The committee is an alliance of seven ethnic minority forces  established in 2017. In 2023, it called on China to help solve the crisis triggered by a military coup  two years earlier.

China’s investments in Myanmar include oil and natural gas pipelines running through both Shan and Rakhine states. Fighting in the latter has threatened the safety of Chinese employees. 

The MNDAA said it would urge its allies to assist injured Chinese citizens trapped by fighting as well as those who have businesses affected by the war. RFA telephoned MNDAA spokesman Li Kyar Win to ask about the details of the statement, but he did not answer calls.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a recent briefing China’s borders and the security of people living there, as well as its projects and businesses in Myanmar, should not be compromised.

China has called on Myanmar’s rivals to end their fighting and resolve differences peacefully and said it would push for ceasefires and talks.

Wa army claims neutrality

Conflict in Lashio continued early on Wednesday morning, after another ethnic minority militia group, the United Wa State Army, which controls an autonomous region of Shan state and is known to be closely affiliated with China, evacuated trapped Lashio prison employees and their family members, residents told RFA on Wednesday.

The Wa army  led more than 120 junta-affiliated prison staff and their relatives, who had been trapped by clashes, to a nearby town on Tuesday, said one witness, declining to be named for security reasons.  

“I saw three military vehicles carrying prison employees. They were sent to Mongyai town,” he said, referencing a town 93 km (58 miles) from Lashio. 

The evacuees said they were trapped when MNDAA fighters captured an infantry battalion’s position near the prison. 

RFA attempted to contact Nyi Ran, an official of the Wa Liaison Office in Lashio, regarding the evacuation but he did not answer.

One resident close to the Wa army, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told RFA that troops arrived in Lashio on Saturday in order to protect properties at the request of “various ethnic groups” in the town. However, the resident declined to reveal which parties had asked the Wa force to come although the resident said the Wa army would not take sides  in any battles. 

Two Lashio neighborhoods have been damaged by junta airstrikes and heavy weapons fire, residents said, but they could not verify if there were any casualties The Wa Liaison Office and nearby houses were also damaged in air strikes, they added.

RFA called Shan state’s junta spokesperson Khun Thein Maung for more information on the battle in Lashio but he did not answer.

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

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

Anti-immigrant hate speech and misinformation about the U.S.-Mexico border took center stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention. Donald Trump’s campaign screened an ad that scapegoated migrants and asylum seekers for rising crime in the U.S. and falsely claimed Biden’s so-called open border policies have facilitated the smuggling of fentanyl. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera and Voces de la Frontera Action, says Trump’s platform is “promoting hateful rhetoric” and the GOP has become a “white supremacist party and is a real threat to democracy.”

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

As the world watched Thursday night, President Biden held his first solo press conference this year, after hosting a NATO conference in which he accidentally referred to Ukrainian President Zelensky as Russian President Putin before quickly correcting himself. While speaking with reporters, Biden defended his record and vowed to “finish the job,” but at one point referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” As more Democrats continue to call for him to step aside, we host a roundtable discussion on Biden and Trump and the 2024 race, and the impact on U.S. foreign policy, with American Prospect executive editor David Dayen; longtime labor, racial justice and international activist Bill Fletcher Jr., co-founder of the Ukrainian Solidarity Network; and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, co-author of the books NATO: What You Need to Know and War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict.

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

• Biden campaigns in Wisconsin, defiantly vows to stay in the race and win.
• New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer takes over Number 10 after his Labour Party sweep to victory in general election.
• Trump lawyers ask federal judge for pause in his Florida document mishandling case.
• New jobs numbers show employment growth continued in June, though down slightly over May.
• Hurricane Beryl hits Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula knocking out power, before heading back out to the Gulf.

The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 5, 2024 Biden campaigns in Wisconsin, defiantly vows to stay in the race and win. appeared first on KPFA.

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

Chris Lehmann, D.C. bureau chief for The Nation, discusses the ongoing fallout from Thursday’s first presidential debate of 2024 and mounting pressure on President Biden to drop out of the race amid questions about his age and mental fitness. “It appears that Biden and his inner circle of advisers are doubling down,” says Lehmann. “They took this incredible risk to do this debate … and they’re now saying it’s a greater risk to change horses.”

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

Putin, who will make his first visit to North Korea in 24 years late on Tuesday for talks with leader Kim Jong Un, said in a commentary in North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, that they would work together to bring more democracy and stability to international relations.

”We will develop alternative trade and mutual settlements mechanisms not controlled by the West, jointly oppose illegitimate unilateral restrictions and shape the architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia,” he said.

Putin said Russia would ramp up exchanges and cooperation with North Korea in other areas such as education, tourism and culture.

“We are firmly convinced that we will put bilateral cooperation onto a higher level with our joint efforts,” he said.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was cited by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying that Putin was expected to sign “important” documents with Kim on Wednesday that would  likely include a treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership.

He said the deal would not be directed against any other country but would “outline prospects for further cooperation, and will be signed taking into account what has happened between our countries in recent years - in the field of international politics, in the field of economics ... including, of course, taking into account security issues.”

Russia has been cozying up to North Korea since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The United States has accused Russia of using North Korean weapons there, which North Korea and Russia deny.

Putin, in the newspaper commentary, extended his appreciation to North Korea for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine and voiced his support for North Koreans’ struggle to defend their sovereignty against “the cunning, dangerous and aggressive enemy.”

“We highly appreciate that the DPRK is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine, expressing solidarity with us on major international issues and maintaining the common line and stand at the U.N.,” Putin said.

DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is North Korea’s official name. 

Putin ‘desperate’, US says

In Washington, the White House said it was troubled by the deepening relationship between Russia and North Korea, and the U.S. State Department said it was “quite certain” Putin would be seeking arms to support his war in Ukraine.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller repeated charges on Monday that the North had supplied “dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to Russia” for use in Ukraine.

He said the U.S. had seen Putin “get incredibly desperate over the past few months” and look to Iran and North Korea to make up for equipment lost on the battlefield.

Japan was monitoring Putin’s visit to North Korea with concerns, including the possible transfer of weapons and related materials between Moscow and Pyongyang, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

“We will continue to work closely with the international community, including the United States and South Korea, to ensure the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said, noting that the security environment in the region had become more tense due to increased military cooperation between Russia and the North. 

Putin’s two-day trip comes as a reciprocal visit following Kim's visit to Russia's Far East in September last year where the two held a rare summit.

Putin last visited North Korea in July 2000, when he met its former leader Kim Jong Il, the late father of the current leader.

After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam on June 19-20, according to the Kremlin. 

Edited by RFA Staff.

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

The Solomon Islands’ new prime minister, Jeremiah Manele, has promised an aggressive approach to improving the economy after a national election last month showed widespread frustration with falling living standards.

Manele, who was foreign minister in the previous government, was elected by a secret ballot of members of Parliament on Thursday. He replaced Manasseh Sogavare, the combative pro-Beijing leader who attracted international attention to the Pacific island country of 700,000 people by pulling it into China’s orbit.

Speaking outside the Parliament building in Honiara, Manele called on Solomon Islanders to respect the democratic process and not resort to the violence that has followed previous elections. 

“Our economy and livelihoods have suffered because of this violence. However today we show the world that we are better than that,” he said. “We must respect and uphold the democratic process of electing our prime minister and set an example for our children and their children.” 

Manele’s governing Ownership Unity and Responsibility Party won 15 of Parliament’s 50 seats in the Apr. 17 election. 

Combined with coalition allies, independents and apparent defections from the opposition camp, it was able to secure 31 votes for Manele’s election as prime minister. Opposition leader Matthew Wale got 18 votes. One member of Parliament wasn’t present for the voting.

Sogavare announced earlier this week he would not seek the prime ministership. Under his leadership, the Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019 and signed a secret security pact with China, alarming the United States and its allies.

The election and Parliament’s choice of prime minister has been watched by governments from China to Australia and the U.S. as they jostle for influence in the Pacific. 

Analysts have said Manele is regarded as a more moderate figure than Sogavare, but is unlikely to spurn close ties with China. Earlier this week, Manele said he’d continue the country’s “friends to all, enemies to none” foreign policy if elected. 

For many observers, the election has been the most consequential for the Solomon Islands in a half century since independence and a test of Sogavare’s embrace of China. The superpower rewarded the nation with showcase sporting facilities for the Pacific Games and funding for members of Parliament.

However, going into the election, voters interviewed by RFA-affiliate BenarNews in Honiara and other areas of Guadalcanal said they were frustrated by the government’s ineffectiveness in providing basic services and were preoccupied by the daily struggle to earn enough to get by.

Crumbling roads and rundown health clinics were a common complaint as were high prices in mostly Chinese-owned shops in Honiara. In a village kilometers from the capital, one resident said he hoped the community could get bore water and proper toilets rather than having to dig pits in the ground.

The OUR Party’s underwhelming performance in the election “was primarily down to poor economic conditions which left voters frustrated,” said Terence Wood, a development aid and Melanesian politics researcher at Australian National University. 

“Also, MPs had less money available to them to provide direct material assistance to their supporters and so they got turfed out at a higher rate,” he said.

A recent report by the Solomon Islands’ central bank on the precarious state of the economy “is concerning and calls for a more focused and aggressive approach,” Manele said. 

The report called for major reforms to improve infrastructure such as roads and boost the economic growth rate to a minimum of 5.0% annually. The Solomon Islands’ population has been growing faster than the economy, which means the average Solomon Islander is getting poorer.

“It is not an easy task but we will be reaching out to all relevant stakeholders as we progress on our road to recovery,” Manele said.

The economy, he said, had been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and riots in Honiara in late 2021, which were sparked by anger at the diplomatic switch and Sogavare’s leadership.

Priorities for the new government are possible revisions to the 2024 budget and laws covering special economic zones and the minerals and forestry industries, Manele said. 

“No doubt Manele would like to focus on the economy but to some extent macroeconomic circumstances are beyond the ability of any individual prime minister to address,” said Wood.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Stephen Wright and Charley Piringi for BenarNews.

But Zhu Jiusheng, Vanke’s chief executive officer, pointed out in an earnings press conference on Friday that the company’s fundamental capabilities, without giving specifics, have not changed, despite the short-term “challenges and pressure.”

The recent downgrade of its credit rating by global rating agency Moody’s to “junk”, in fact dealt “relatively limited impact,” he said, according to Chinese state-owned media reports. 

Conversely, Vanke’s long-term partnership with 26 banks has established “our allies in risk prevention.”

Still, with or without allies, Vanke reported a 11 percentage point increase to a net debt ratio of 55% last year. Furthermore, 73% of its assets are financed by creditors, albeit a 3.7 percentage point decline from 2022, making the company highly leveraged. A below 50% level is usually considered healthy. 

The State Council, or China’s cabinet, also asked 12 banks to provide a financing lifeline of as much as 80 billion yuan to Vanke two weeks ago. 

This bucked the broader policy to let insolvent developers take their own downward course, which has compounded a spiraling crisis in the sector, once a major economic growth driver.

Analysts attributed Beijing’s rare intervention to Vanke’s state-held background – its largest shareholder is the Shenzhen Metro Group. But the move is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s policy of advancing state enterprises and a retreat of the private sector. 

Other distressed and privately-owned real estate firms Evergrande Group and Country Garden Holdings have been left to their own devices. 

The Hong Kong High Court issued a liquidation order in January for Evergrande, which has been drowned in more than US$300 billion in debt.  

A similar fate looms for Country Garden which received a liquidation petition from one of its creditors in Hong Kong. Its total liabilities are close to US$200 billion.

Country Garden said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday that it  missed the deadline to release its 2023 annual results. 

Hong Kong-listed companies are required to disclose their financial results three months after the end of the financial year and Thursday was the deadline, ahead of the Easter weekend holiday in  the city. Evergrande has not disclosed its results either.

Meanwhile, from Vanke’s view point, Zhu said bankers are concerned about three factors – where the capital was deployed in the past financial year, which projects to finance, and adequacy of cash flow.

“Once these three questions are answered, the financing channels and banks’ supportive attitude become affirmative and the strength of their support will be adequate,” he added.

According to Zhu, Vanke has secured 16.9 billion yuan in additional funding for 42 projects across 22 Chinese cities under Beijing’s “white list” of approved projects that financial institutions should back. 

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

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

Ca, 53, still has to serve three years of probation following Monday’s release, but he told Radio Free Asia Tuesday that wouldn’t silence him.

He was arrested on Sept. 4, 2018 on charges of “propaganda against the state” under Article 117 of the criminal law. His detention came after he took part  in a protest against bills on Special Economic Zones and cyber ​​security in Ho Chi Minh City. 

The SEZ bill angered Vietnamese who said it would give valuable business concessions to foreign, not local, companies. The cyber security bill raised concerns the government would use the law to suppress freedom of expression.

“I just want to demand human rights and want the country to have democracy,” Ca told RFA Vietnamese.

“When I livestream, I call on everyone to protest the Special Economic Zone law.”

Ca is a member of the Constitution group, which promotes civil and human rights, supposedly guaranteed in Vietnam’s 2013 constitution.

In addition to the 2018 protest, he frequently made live broadcasts on the issues.

His indictment states that from March 23 to August 19, 2018, Ca conducted 40 livestreams on his Countryside Guy Facebook page. Prosecutors said nearly half the broadcasts contained content “that distorts and defames the government, and is against the state.”

Ca called his prison conditions harsh with a cramped cell, food “not fit for cats or dogs” and a lack of fresh water.

He didn’t hire a lawyer for his initial trial and refused to defend himself, saying he’d lost faith in Vietnamese justice.

“I considered hiring a lawyer but I saw that in Vietnam there were many political cases that lawyers could not solve,” Ca said.

“It doesn't do anything. It's just for decoration. That’s why I didn’t hire a lawyer. I wanted to send the message that I do not believe in their judiciary.”

He was sent to Dong Nai province’s Xuan Loc Prison where he shared a block with other political prisoners.

Many times, the group fought for their rights, and held two short hunger strikes demanding to receive books from their families and improve conditions.

Before being arrested, Ca had a traffic accident and said he didn’t receive adequate and timely treatment in prison.

He still has leg pain and blurred vision but said his personal health is not important.

“I am most concerned about the health of this country and its people,” he told RFA.

“If we want our country to have democracy and civilization, we should demand it. If many people demand it, the government will surely listen,” he added.

Ca was one of nine members of the Constitution group arrested in 2018.

State media reported that he confessed to the charges filed against him, but Ca said he only admitted the acts he had committed, saying they complied with the constitution.

The remaining eight members were convicted of “disturbing security” under Article 118, with sentences ranging from 30 months to eight years in prison. 

Two members are still serving prison sentences: Hoang Thi Thu Vang and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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

"I am 100 percent -- 1,000 percent -- sure that we will continue to support you in this," Brink told journalists on February 20 in Kyiv.

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.

A critical $61 billion aid package has been stalled in Congress for months over political differences, despite warnings from President Joe Biden that failure by the Republican-led House of Representatives to authorize it would play into Russian President Vladimir Putin's hands.

"This is a very political issue that I cannot predict. But I can say that we all present the most compelling arguments why it is necessary, why this is not an open-ended request, why it is really important for you to succeed not only on the battlefield but also to have economic security and independence," Brink said.

She said she has spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) and knows that he supports Ukraine and "understands the importance of Russia losing the war."

Brink said Biden and all the U.S. diplomats working on the matter are pushing hard to move it forward as quickly as possible.

"My message is this: You can't waste time, you can't waste a single day, not a single hour, not a single second. People die here every day," she said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's comments over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference about the lack of weapons and the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka.

Zelenskiy said in his nightly video message on February 19 that delays in weapons deliveries had made the fight “very difficult” along parts of the front line and that Russian forces are taking advantage of the delays in weapons deliveries.

Putin on February 20 congratulated his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on capturing Avdiyivka and urged him to press Russia’s advantage.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said he and Oleksandr Syrskiy, commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces, discussed the situation at the front and ammunition supplies in a phone call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Syrskiy "gave updates on the current dynamics on the front line," Umerov said on Facebook. "The common understanding of the situation and the action plan were discussed. The ammunition supply was in focus as well."

WATCH: In NATO, the United States can boast of an alliance that neither Russia nor China enjoys, says NATO's secretary-general. In an interview with RFE/RL in Brussels on February 20, Jens Stoltenberg said it is in Washington's interest to keep it that way, regardless of the outcome of the coming U.S. presidential election. He spoke to Zoriana Stepanenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

On February 20, Sweden announced its biggest aid package since Russia launched its full-scale invasion two years ago -- worth 7.1 billion Swedish kroner ($684 million). Sweden’s 15th aid package to date will provide Ukraine with combat boats, mines, artillery ammunition, and air-defense equipment among other supplies, Defense Minister Pal Jonson said at a press conference in Stockholm.

Canada said a day earlier that it would expedite the delivery of more than 800 drones.

The announcements came as Russian drones killed more Ukrainian citizens and damaged private property.

Two people were killed and one was injured in the Kharkiv region on February 20 when a Russian drone hit a civilian car, said Oleg Synyehubov, head of the regional military administration.

The attack by a "kamikaze" drone occurred around 4:50 p.m. local time in the village of Petropavlivka. There were three passengers in the car -- a 38-year-old civilian driver and a 50-year-old civilian man, who died on the spot, and a 48-year-old woman, who was taken to a hospital, Synyehubov said on Telegram. The woman is the wife of the 50-year-old man.

According to Synyehubov, all three were local farm workers returning home after work.

Earlier on February 20 in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy, a Russian drone struck a house, killing five members of the same family, the regional administration said.

A mother, her two sons, and two other relatives died as a result of the strike in Nova Sloboda, a village about 6 kilometers from the Russian border. The house was completely destroyed, Ukrainian officials said.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office in Kyiv announced a war crimes investigation.

WATCH: After withdrawing from Avdiyivka, Ukrainian units are scrambling to build new defensive positions west of the city.

The Ukrainian military dismissed a statement by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that Moscow's forces had secured full control over the village of Krynky on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region.

A statement on Telegram by the Ukrainian military's southern district said Russian forces had made no headway on the eastern bank.

Russian troops abandoned the western bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region in late 2022 but remain in areas on the eastern bank. Ukrainian forces captured some districts on the eastern bank last November.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa

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

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

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BAKU -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has slammed Azerbaijan's snap presidential election for being held in a "restrictive environment" and lacking genuine pluralism with incumbent strongman Ilham Aliyev on the verge of a landslide victory that will hand him a fifth consecutive term as president.

Aliyev, who called the early election following Baku's swift and decisive victory over ethnic Armenian separatists in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, faced no opposition amid a crackdown on independent media and the absence of any real contender.

The Central Election Commission said early on February 8 that with just over 93 percent of the ballots counted, Aliyev HAD garnered 92.05 percent of the votes. Election officials reported turnout of more than 76 percent of eligible voters.

"While six other candidates participated in the campaign, none of them convincingly challenged the incumbent president’s policies in their campaigns, leaving voters without any genuine alternative," the OSCE observer mission said in a statement issued on February 8.

"While preparations for the election were efficient and professional, it lacked genuine pluralism and critical voices were continuously stifled.... The campaign remained low-key throughout, lacked any meaningful public engagement, and was not competitive," the OSCE observer mission said.

According to the Central Election Commission, Zahid Oruj placed far behind in the vote with just 2.19 percent, while Fazil Mustafa came third with 2 percent. None of the other four ersatz candidates received more than 2 percent.

Musavat and the People’s Front of Azerbaijan (APFP), the two parties in Azerbaijan that offer genuine opposition to Aliyev -- who has exercised authoritarian control over the country since assuming power from his father, Heydar, in 2003 -- boycotted the race.

The APFP on February 8 announced that it does not recognize the results of the election.

"There was no real election as the polls were held without competition, freedoms were completely restricted, [the voting took place] in an environment of fear, threats, and administrative terror, and the declared results are not an expression of the will of the people and are illegitimate," the APFP said in a statement.

A presidential election had not been scheduled to take place until 2025, but Aliyev, bolstered by Baku's recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh, announced the early vote in December to take advantage of the battlefield victory.

Irregularities were reported as the vote took place. Observers "noted significant shortcomings, mainly due to issues of secrecy of the vote, a lack of safeguards against multiple voting, indications of ballot box stuffing, and seemingly identical signatures on the voter lists," the OSCE said.

RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service also collected reports of alleged irregularities, including so-called carousel voting, where individuals are transported to multiple polling stations to vote more than once and ballot tampering.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Aliyev in a phone call on February 8, according to a statement on the Azerbaijani president's website.

"The heads of state reaffirmed their confidence that allied and strategic partnership relations would continue to develop across various fields and discussed the prospects for cooperation," the statement said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also congratulated Aliyev in a message on X, formerly Twitter.

"Congratulations to President Ilham Aliyev on his reelection," Zelenskiy wrote, adding, "I value mutual support for our states' sovereignty and territorial integrity."

While Aliyev has voiced support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, Azerbaijan has maintained close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv.

The 62-year-old Aliyev has stayed in power through a series of elections marred by irregularities and accusations of fraud. Under his authoritarian rule, political activity and human rights have been stifled.

He called the snap election just months after Azerbaijani forces retook Nagorno-Karabakh region in a blitz offensive in September from ethnic Armenian forces who had controlled it for three decades. The offensive forced more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region, leaving it nearly deserted.

As Aliyev's popularity shot up dramatically following Azerbaijan's victory in Karabakh, a crackdown on independent media and democratic institutions intensified in the country.

Several independent Azerbaijani journalists were incarcerated after Baku took over Karabakh on various charges that the journalists and their supporters have called trumped up and politically motivated.

"Highly restrictive media legislation as well as recent arrests of critical journalists have hindered the media from operating freely and led to widespread self-censorship, limiting the scope for independent journalism and critical debate," the OSCE statement noted.

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

• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Hamas-backed ceasefire proposal, vows to fight until complete victory.
• US drone strike in Iraq kills top Iranian-backed militant group commander.
• EPA tightens soot emission standards, says new rules will save thousands of lives.
• Florida Supreme court considers case to remove proposed abortion ban from state’s November ballot.
• Senate works to salvage supplemental foreign military aid border security bill.
• Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong sues city and Mayor over firing.

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The secretary of veterans affairs, Denis McDonough, visited a clinic in Chico, California, last week and personally pledged to address concerns about inadequate staffing in the VA facility’s mental health unit.

His visit came after a ProPublica investigation revealed serious lapses in the psychiatric care two veterans received at the clinic. After years of struggling to get adequate treatment, and in the midst of mental health crises, the veterans shot and killed their mothers within days of each other in January 2022. The ProPublica story grew out of an inquiry by the VA’s inspector general that examined the agency’s shortcomings in one of the deaths.

At the time of the shootings, the clinic hadn’t had a full-time, on-site psychiatrist in five years, and many of the telehealth providers had recently stopped seeing Chico patients. Clinic employees told ProPublica they had begged regional leaders for help, but the federal health system was slow to respond. The former site manager told ProPublica she had warned colleagues, “We are going to kill someone.”

On Thursday, McDonough, who previously served as White House chief of staff and principal deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration, held a roundtable discussion with front-line mental health workers as well as top leaders from the VA’s regional office in Northern California.

“This is an important opportunity for us to learn really important lessons, and part of my learning today was to come up here to meet with our team to hear directly from them what their experience is right now and what I need to do to make sure that I’m the best possible partner for them,” he told a local news reporter after the meeting. “In that regard, this was a very, very helpful event.”

McDonough said he assured employees “that they would not be unheard in their concerns” and that the VA would “continue to make progress on staffing issues.”

If you or someone you know needs help:

• Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
• Text the Crisis Text Line from anywhere in the U.S. to reach a crisis counselor: 741741
• If you are a veteran, call the Veterans Crisis Line: 988, then press 1

“We have a very fast-growing veteran population here in Chico,” he added. “We have to make sure that we are growing commensurate with that population so that they can get the timely access to care and the timely access to benefits that they have earned. We’re making progress on that, but there’s still more work to be done, and we will not rest until we get it done.”

In a statement about the visit, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said, “we take the issues raised by the VA’s inspector general and ProPublica extremely seriously, and we appreciate the oversight — which helps us better serve our nation’s Veterans.”

Hayes declined to say anything more specific about the actions McDonough intends to take.

ProPublica examined the case of Julia Larsen, a 29-year-old woman who was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2016. Upon returning home to California, Larsen was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from combat and military sexual trauma. She began experiencing psychotic symptoms soon after.

Larsen sought help at the Chico clinic for several years, she told ProPublica and her medical records show. But she said the providers were too busy for talk therapy and focused instead on medications. In late 2021, a virtual nurse practitioner Larsen had never seen prescribed her two drugs that can trigger psychotic or manic symptoms when taken together. It isn’t clear which, if either, she took.

In January 2022, on a morning when Larsen was experiencing an extreme mental health crisis, a nurse at the Chico clinic mistakenly instructed Larsen’s mother to bring her in for an assessment. But the virtual nurse practitioner who was on call was booked and had no time for a consultation, violating VA rules that require patients to be seen in such situations. In addition, a social worker who was supposed to assess Larsen failed to follow protocols and sent her home.

Later that night, the sound of a far-off explosion frightened Larsen and prompted her to fire her handgun several times inside her parents’ home. One bullet pierced her mother in the thigh, damaging a large blood vessel and fatally wounding her.

Larsen’s case was the subject of a February 2023 report by the VA’s Office of Inspector General, which found the Chico clinic had failed to manage her medication, provide same-day access to care and assess her risk of violence. Larsen was later committed to a state-run forensic psychiatric hospital.

Andrew Iles, an Air Force veteran who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, also struggled to get consistent treatment at the clinic, ProPublica found. His providers changed repeatedly. He was sometimes assigned to a pharmacist instead of a psychiatrist or psychologist.

Over time, Iles’ delusions grew more extreme, and he came to believe his immediate family was trying to kill him. He shot his mother in January 2022, killing her in the home they shared.

After ProPublica’s investigation was published, Iles, 35, was found not guilty by reason of insanity. As a result, he will be committed to a state psychiatric hospital instead of facing prison time.

In a press release announcing the case’s resolution, the local district attorney, Michael L. Ramsey, linked to and cited ProPublica’s reporting, saying it showed Iles “had difficulty establishing consistent care with a mental health provider through the VA.”

In addition to the two cases, ProPublica analyzed more than 300 studies conducted by the agency’s inspector general over the last four years. The analysis found repeated failures in mental health care, some of which had fatal consequences.

Andrew’s older sister, Ashley Hill, said this week that she was disappointed the VA hadn’t reached out to her family directly or published an inspector general’s report on her brother’s case.

“If this leads to some kind of change,” she said of the secretary’s visit to Chico, “that’s the best thing my family can hope for.”

This content originally appeared on Articles and Investigations - ProPublica and was authored by by ProPublica.

The 17-judge panel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a series of rulings on Friday about Israel’s conduct during its war against Gaza that constitute a significant legal defeat for Israel and its chief defenders, the United States and Germany. 

It found that there is a basis to proceed with the case against Israel for genocide and that South Africa had solid foundation to bring its case before the world’s highest court. The ICJ’s chief judge, Joan Donoghue, said provisional measures against Israel were necessary because “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its final judgement.” The full proceedings against Israel will take many years to complete.

At the same time, the court did not go as far in its rulings as South Africa wished and did not explicitly order Israel to immediately halt its military attacks against Gaza or to lift its state of siege. Instead, it ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide convention.”

Both the Biden administration and the Israeli government seized on this aspect of the court’s ruling to argue that this amounted to a green light for Israel to continue its military assault on Gaza. “The court’s ruling is consistent with our view that Israel has the right to take action to ensure the terrorist attacks of October 7 cannot be repeated, in accordance with international law,” a State Department spokesperson said. “The court did not make a finding about genocide or call for a ceasefire in its ruling.”

This mischaracterization of the court’s ruling is a clear effort by the U.S. government to spin what was actually a very specific set of orders the court issued to Israel. Moreover, the court did not issue a finding on genocide, not because it concluded Israel’s actions do not constitute genocide, but because that determination would be made following a multi-year legal process, which the judges have now said should proceed.

In a 15-2 ruling, the ICJ judges ordered that Israel must prevent the following actions against the protected “group,” which the court defined as the Palestinians of Gaza: “(a) killing members of the group; ( b ) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and ( d ) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.” While the specific word “ceasefire” was not mentioned in the order, the ruling could not be clearer about the court’s intent. It literally ordered Israel to stop killing Palestinians in Gaza “with immediate effect.”

In issuing its provisional measures, the court upheld “the right of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts” under the Genocide Convention. It found that “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the Court renders its final judgment.”

“Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the court said. It also ordered Israel to halt and punish incitement to genocide, to preserve any evidence of violations of the Genocide Convention by its forces or personnel, and to submit a report on its compliance with the court’s orders within one month.

Donoghue read aloud several statements made by Israeli officials, which South Africa contended indicated “genocidal intent.” Among these was the statement by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announcing there would be “no electricity, no food, no fuel” allowed into Gaza and saying, “We are fighting human animals.” She also read a statement from Israeli President Isaac Herzog saying of the people of Gaza, “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible.”

Donoghue, the president of the ICJ, is an American who worked as a top legal adviser at the State Department under President Barack Obama. She voted in favor of every order the court issued against Israel. While judges do not officially operate as agents of their home governments, it was nonetheless striking that Donoghue ruled against Israel at a time when the U.S. has officially denounced the accusations leveled by South Africa and continues to fuel Israel’s military onslaught.

The ruling at the court is undoubtedly important in a symbolic sense: It found that the Palestinians of Gaza are a protected group under the provisions of the Genocide Convention and that South Africa had proven that there is a reasonable basis to litigate whether Israel’s military onslaught constitutes a genocide.

But it also represents a technical coup for Israel, which has already argued it is not committing genocidal acts. The bottom line is that the court has ruled that Israel should stand trial on charges of genocide in Gaza and ordered it to stop killing Palestinians in Gaza. But the U.S. and Israel clearly believe the court’s ruling contains a significant loophole that Israel can exploit to continue its war against Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that no one will stop the war against Gaza, including The Hague. The court’s rulings, which did not explicitly order an immediate cessation of the military assault, is already being emphasized in Tel Aviv.

While generally denouncing the ICJ ruling, Netanyahu asserted that the court “rightly rejected the outrageous demand” for an immediate halt to the military attacks on Gaza. “The very claim that Israel is carrying out genocide against Palestinians is not only false, it’s outrageous, and the willingness of the court to deliberate it at all is a mark of disgrace that will not be erased for generations,” Netanyahu, reacting to the ruling, said.

He also vowed Israel will keep fighting “until total victory, until we defeat Hamas, return all the captives and ensure that Gaza will not again be a threat to Israel.”

Gallant, whose statements were cited as evidence of genocidal intent, added that Israel “does not need to be lectured on morality in order to distinguish between terrorists and the civilian population in Gaza.”

He said Israel will continue its war. “Those who seek justice, will not find it on the leather chairs of the court chambers in The Hague — they will find it in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza, where 136 hostages are held, and where those who murdered our children are hiding.”

“Hague Shmague,” tweeted Netanyahu’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister of international relations, said outside the court that she was grateful for the court’s ruling, but wished it had ordered an explicit halt to Israel’s attacks. She argued that the court’s orders would not be enforceable if Israel does not actually cease its military attacks and state of siege. “Without a ceasefire, the order doesn’t actually work,” she said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in speech that, with the ICJ ruling, “Israel stands before the international community, its crimes against the Palestinian people laid bare.”

The U.S. government has long shielded Israel from international legal consequences for its actions against the Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank. The only enforcement mechanism for rulings from the ICJ reside at the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. regularly wields its veto power. 

The State Department has refused to answer whether the Biden administration will abide by the ICJ’s provisional orders, but its statement after the ruling indicates it is already aggressively spinning an alternative interpretation of a clear set of orders imposed on Israel. This proceeding may herald the intensification of the global debate over whether international law and courts have relevance, or whether the U.S. will remain the ultimate judge over which nations must face the consequences for their violations of the laws and conventions.

Update: January 26, 2024, 1:40 p.m. ET
This piece was updated to include the State Department response to the ICJ’s ruling and to add additional context about the specific provisional orders issued against Israel.

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Jeremy Scahill.

Former President Donald Trump won New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday with 54% of the vote to 43% for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the last major challenger to Trump’s Republican bid. “If there was a state she could win in, in the entire United States, it was this state, and she still lost by 11 points,” says Arnie Arnesen, longtime New Hampshire radio and TV host and former politician. “She doesn’t have a future.” On the Democratic side, President Biden won his party’s primary as a write-in candidate after the state refused to cooperate with Democratic National Committee rules, and therefore did not win any delegates from New Hampshire. Refusing to recognize the state’s primary and not campaigning in the state was “a stupid political mistake” by Democrats that allowed Trump’s claims to go uncontested, says Arnesen. “This is an invitation to fascism.”

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

China launched its diplomatic offensive just two days after the elections, with Taiwan's former diplomatic ally Nauru announcing it had switched diplomatic ties to Beijing.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party followed that up with warnings from the Ministry of National Security, which vowed on its official WeChat account that "Our will is unwavering, and we are fully confident that we have sufficient capabilities to make good use of the sharp sword of the Anti-Secession Law to fight infiltration and sabotage activities planned by pro-independence separatist forces and external forces in Taiwan."

Beijing passed its anti-secession law against Taiwan in March 2005, in a move it said would legalize the use of force against the island, which split from the mainland in 1949 amid civil war and has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.

But it has also used the law, along with its National Security Law, to threaten arrests and sanctions against anyone it deems to be working towards formal independence for the island, a sovereign state under the 1911 Republic of China whose government fled there after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949.

Party leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that Taiwan must be "unified" with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island.

‘Winning hearts and minds’

But a lengthy article calling for the redoubling of "United Front" influence operations in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan was recently published in the party's ideological journal Qiushi and on the front page of its official newspaper the People's Daily on Tuesday. This suggests Xi may be hoping that war won't be necessary, and that China can undermine Taiwan's democratic way of life through a gradual process similar to that used in Hong Kong.

Taking its text from Xi’s speech to a United Front conference last July, the article lists Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as key targets for the expansion of Chinese influence.

"[We must] do a good job of winning hearts and minds in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas, promoting patriotism in Hong Kong and Macau and patriotic forces in favor of unification in Taiwan," Xi wrote.

"We must also mobilize and develop patriotism among overseas Chinese, strengthening the unity of the Chinese people at home and abroad, as we build a model for the broader United Front operation," he said. "If everyone works together, we will be collectively stronger."

"We must ... develop and strengthen Taiwan's patriotic unification forces, oppose acts [promoting] 'Taiwan independence' and separatist acts, and promote the total unification of the motherland," Xi said, adding that "returned overseas Chinese and their family members should devote themselves ... to the cause of peaceful unification."

‘War without smoke’

Chau Chun-shan, a senior aide working on ties with Beijing during the administration of former Kuomintang President Ma Ying-jeou, said there hadn't been much "visible" military saber-rattling since Lai's victory was announced. 

He pointed to the restarting of military talks between China and the United States following the Xi-Biden summit in November, where Xi reportedly denied there was a timetable for the invasion of Taiwan.

Instead, China looked more likely to weaponize its own laws against Taiwan, he said.

"The Anti-Secession Law is domestic Chinese legislation, so using it is tantamount to making the Taiwan question an internal matter," Chau said, adding that there are plenty of ways to step up pressure on Taipei without military exercises.

"That includes economic and trade [sanctions], cognitive warfare," he said. "These are all different kinds of warfare – it's just a war without smoke."

Chau expects the pressure to ramp up further when Lai assumes office on May 20, after winning an unprecedented third-term victory for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which has refused to go along with China’s territorial claim on Taiwan – known as the “one China principle” – since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2020.

"China will definitely put pressure on them, because if it didn't, it would be hard to explain domestically, and harder to send a warning signal to the rest of the world, especially the United States," he said.

Hong Kong current affairs commentator Sang Pu said he fully expects Beijing to reproduce the influence tactics it used to subjugate Hong Kong, and use them in a broad-based attempt at infiltration in Taiwan, something the ruling DPP has vowed to resist.

"China has insufficient [military] strength, and invading Taiwan may not be a priority at the moment," Sang said. "They are probably thinking they need to prepare the ground with advanced brainwashing in Taiwan, or even ... infiltration and the instigation of rebellions."

"This is their most important task," he said, adding that United Front work takes various forms, including propaganda, cognitive warfare and "lawfare" using legislation.

He said the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong had been successfully eliminated by a combination of those factors, particularly through the use of the 2020 National Security Law to prosecute anyone critical of the authorities.

May 20 inauguration

Chang Wu-yueh, director of the Cross-Strait Relations Research Center at Taiwan's Tamkang University, said the process will likely start building around the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing in early March.

By the time Lai takes office, early campaigning will be under way for U.S. presidential elections in November.

"This will be a warm-up for the election campaign, so pressure from Beijing will be concentrated in the period between March and May," he said. 

But he said Lai's inauguration speech is unlikely to further antagonize China.

"Lai's May 20 inauguration speech isn't expected to anger Beijing, because it must be affirmed by the United States to some extent, so [Washington] must have no objections to it," he said. 

A person working in national security in Taiwan said the government expects most of the pressure will be verbal and political, rather than military, in the post-election period, as China is unlikely to want to jeopardize its slowly thawing ties in the form of resumed military talks with Washington.

"Also, Xi Jinping doesn't seem to be done with his anti-corruption purge of the military yet, and there are various very different voices within the [military] leadership," the person said. "All of that restricts Xi Jinping from carrying out very large-scale or intensive operations."

But there is likely to be a resurgence in military activity by the People's Liberation Army after May, backing up China's economic sanctions and information warfare targeting Taiwan, the person said.

Chau agreed. "They will go both soft and hard," he said. "The military operations won't stop -- crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait has become normalized, and will become more and more frequent in future."

"[Beijing] is now focused on the Nov. 5 elections in the United States, not on the Jan. 13 elections in Taiwan," he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin, Chi Chun Lee for RFA Cantonese.

Papua New Guinea’s Communications Minister Timothy Masiu has announced stringent measures to control social media in the country for the next 10 days of the State of Emergency.

The government’s threat drew a sharp rebuke from former prime minister Peter O’Neill who called the move a “sinister fear campaign against the people” and “a threat on the media freedom” of ordinary citizens.

Masiu, a former journalist before becoming a politician, warned that the government would not hesitate to shut down social media applications and sites if there was continuous abuse and misuse of social media in spreading fake news, misinformation and disinformation in the country.

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He issued the warning citing significant evidence of serious abuse of social media spreading false information that led to destruction of properties in the capital Port Moresby and parts of the country in last week’s Black Wednesday resulting in deaths.

Masiu said people who engaged in such bogus activity would lose their social media accounts and they could be arrested and charged for fomenting acts of violence.

He said: “I have statutory power under the National Information and Communication Technology Act 2009 to restrict access to social media sites and applications if this continues.

“The Ministry of ICT has observed a sharp spike in the use of social media from Wednesday, January 10, 2024, and many are misinformation and disinformation and we now give 10 days effective from today for people to adhere or face a complete shutdown of social media sites and applications for the duration of the State of Emergency. ”

‘Monitoring of false information’
He said discussions on social media that incited violence, destruction, spreading of false information or confidential government information, opinions that were wrong, or sending false information would be monitored and legal action taken immediately.

Masiu said national security, public emergency and public safety was critical to a secure nation and a “happy and safe country”.

“I have instructed the agencies under my ministry to strengthen monitoring and report any abuses of social media to the police cybercrime unit to begin investigations, arrest and prosecute and also take down fake accounts and sites.”

Last Friday, when introducing the two-week State of Emergency following Black Wednesday, Prime Minister James Marape announced draconian emergency measures including searches of private homes, property, vehicle and phones by government agents.

Masiu said PNG was a civilised country and citizens must abide by rules and laws. Every citizen had a duty and obligation to ensure “we progress to be a better country”.

However, an irate O’Neill said: “It is not surprising that we see intimidating armoured personnel carriers on the streets today in Port Moresby and now threats that our freedom of speech will be removed with the potential cancellation of social media.

“The government is doing its very best to shut down our constitutional rights in a fear campaign.”

Government ‘fears people’s voices’
O’Neill continued to counter the government plan by suggesting the government now feared the people’s voices.

“It seems that the government is in fear of the voice of its own people when it should instead be listening to the struggle of the people who discuss online the bad governance practices of this government; high unemployment; budget in a mess and crippling cost of living,” he said.

“That is what people are talking about on the street, in their homes and on social media. Will they next enter our homes and monitor conversation’s between family members?

“Government should listen up and stop this nonsense of trying to control our vibrant democracy.

Get back to basics and build our country; live within our means and develop jobs and provide quality healthcare and education. Get back to old fashioned policing not intimidation.”

Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang and his deputy Douglas Tomuriesa did not respond to PNG Post-Courier questions last night.

Republished with permission.

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

"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.

“I wholeheartedly welcome President Yoon’s announcement of his commitment to make unique contributions to the rapid advancement of our nation’s military strength in the new year,” said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, as cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency late Tuesday.  

In a statement, titled “New Year Message to the President of the Republic of Korea,” the influential sister said: “It is solely due to President Yoon that security instability has become a daily reality in the Republic of Korea,” calling Yoon a “special contributor” for aiding the development of its self-defense military capabilities.

Kim Yo Jong’s comments came as Yoon said in his New Year address Monday that Seoul would “complete” the enhanced extended deterrence system with its ally the United State by June this year. 

“We will entirely eliminate the nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea,” Yoon said at that time.

Yoon’s conservative administration has been implementing hardline policy towards Pyongyang, declaring its commitment to proceed reciprocal responses to North Korea’s provocations. The administration reinstated the designation of North Korea as the ‘main enemy’ in its defense documents, a term that had been removed during the tenure of the previous Moon Jae-in administration.

“We have also clearly identified who the real enemy is, enabling us to further sharpen our opposition stance, like a frost-covered spear,” Kim Yo Jong said, adding: “It is a great opportunity for us to have a courageous president who has no worries about the consequences of his actions or words.”

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who had advised South Korean administrations, said the message could be interpreted as the North’s response to Yoon’s New Year speech on strengthening the allies’ extended deterrence.

“North Korea is explicitly arguing for the need and validity of bolstering its nuclear capabilities as a reaction to Yoon’s hardline approach,” Yang said. 

“This signals a strong response to any forthcoming enactments of extended deterrence against North Korea. The extensive ROK-US joint military drills planned in March, before the general election in April, are anticipated to be a crucial juncture,” he added by referring South Korea to its formal name.

In the statement, Kim Yo Jong also made a rare assessment on the South’s former President Moon.

Moon implemented an engagement policy with the North, including having inter-Korean summits in the border village of Panmunjom and Pyongyang in 2018, but North Korea returned to its brinkmanship diplomacy after its high-stake summit with the U.S. collapsed in Hanoi in 2019.

Describing Moon as a “brilliant and cunning person,” Kim Yo Jong said: “It is a significant loss that we squandered a considerable amount of time, unable to fortify our power as we were restrained by Moon Jae-in’s desire for peace.”

“We intend to amplify what was lost during the Moon Jae-in era by tenfold, twentyfold, or even more.”

University of North Korean Studies’ Yang believes the reference to Moon suggests that Pyongyang views the Moon administration as having slowed down the North’s progress in nuclear capabilities through its engagement approach.

“The specific reference to Moon also ties in with the rejection of reconciliation and unification policies, a topic of discussion in the party’s plenary meeting,” Yang said. “This tactic seeks to deflect responsibility for their policies rejecting unification onto both conservative or progressive administrations in the South.”

Edited by Taejun Kang and Elaine Chan.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

Hun Manet, who was handed the reins to the government by his father in August, used an annual meeting at the country’s Ministry of Environment to speak on the subject of deforestation for the first time. 

He thanked Cambodians for sharing evidence of illegal logging on his Facebook page and told officials they already had the power to stop it.

“I issued orders to relevant institutions to study the law, otherwise we will have problems,” Hun Manet said. “You have swords in your hands. I still stand behind you. You need to implement the law.”

The prime minister ordered Sao Sokha, who commands Cambodia’s national military police force and is the chairman of a task force on deforestation, to work with relevant ministries to stop illegal logging.

Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth promised harsher punishments, saying the government would end its practice of releasing perpetrators after they pledged not to repeat their offenses.

Rocket attacks

In his pledge to crack down on the practice, Hun Manet was reiterating similar declarations made more colorfully by father. Hun Sen called for rocket attacks against illegal loggers and once famously promised to cut off his own head if the practice continued under his watch.

And yet it has continued. Global Forest Watch, which tracks forest decline, has said that Cambodia lost 557,000 hectares of tree cover in protected areas between 2001-2018, or 11.7% of the total. Its rate of loss exceeds that in countries where illegal logging is also a problem, like Brazil and Indonesia, the group said.

A 2022 report from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, a Switzerland-based group that includes law enforcement officials, said in a 2022 report that “rings of illegality” – corruption from the local to the national level and in government and business – allows illegal logging to flourish. 

The country’s tax base is too small to support the political and military infrastructure, which requires alternative forms of income, including illegal timber sales, the group said.

Forest protection advocates said they welcomed Hun Manet’s statement but that the systemic illegality that allows illegal logging to continue will be tough to root out.

Hat Nai, an environmentalist who has pushed for more protection of the Preah Roka wildlife sanctuary in northern Cambodia, said rampant corruption leaves the forests unprotected.

“Regulations are just regulations, but the lower level officials cannot implement them because thieves have colluded with the police,” Hat Nai said. “There is no elimination of forest crime. Clearing forest land is happening all over the sanctuaries.”

Out Latin, the protect coordinator for the Cambodian Youth Network, which has also urged more action against illegal logging, told RFA that he welcomed Hun Manet's pledge to protect the forest but was skeptical his directive would be implemented. 

He said when activists have presented evidence of illegal logging environmental officials in the past have not acted, continuing to grant timber concessions to companies that are alleged to have logged in prohibited areas.

Translated by Yun Samean, and edited by Jim Snyder and Malcolm Foster.

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

Pyongyang vowed that it may adopt a more assertive nuclear stance against the United States, as the U.S. and its regional allies activated a real-time missile warning data-sharing system to more effectively address the North’s evolving nuclear threat.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency clarified that the ICBM fired on Dec. 18 was a Hwasong-18 series, its latest model, with the test-launch reaching a “maximum apogee of 6,518.2 kilometers, flying a distance of 1,002.3 kilometers [622 miles] over a duration of 4,415 seconds” before hitting its target off its eastern coast.

“The results of this exercise are a practical demonstration of the terrifying offensive power and absolute nuclear war deterrence that our national military possesses,” said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as cited by KCNA.

“When our enemies continue to make wrong choices, we must undoubtedly respond more assertively with evolved and more threatening methods,” he added. 

Following the ICBM launch, the U.S., South Korea and Japan activated the trilateral real-time missile warning data-sharing system, according to the South’s defense ministry Tuesday. 

Radio Free Asia reported on Dec. 14 that the activation would take place within this week.

The system enables the trio to exchange real-time data on North Korean missiles, covering three main aspects: launch point estimation, flight path, and predicted impact site. This information is shared from the moment a North Korean missile is launched until it impacts, the ministry said. 

Previously, South Korea and Japan exchanged information about North Korea’s missile activities only via the U.S., leading to slower data sharing and restricting their ability for immediate and synchronized responses.

The implementation of real-time data sharing could improve the allies’ responsiveness -- as South Korea, due to its geographical proximity, has the advantage of detecting the North’s launches first, while Japan benefits from its location, on tracking the flight trajectories of the missiles.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yoel also confirmed that information sharing has now begun to operate full swing.

“We will ensure strong support so that our people can continue to carry out economic and social activities without any concerns about the North Korean nuclear threat,” Yoon said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting. 

Separately, in response to Pyongyang’s latest provocation, Yoo nissued a warning to North Korea, saying that Pyongyang would “come to realize that this will only bring greater pain upon themselves.”

South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Monday that ongoing provocations from North Korea may prompt South Korea and the U.S. to conduct a decapitation operation exercise, targeting the elimination of Kim Jong Un. North Korea has consistently expressed strong opposition to this drill, calling it an “invasion practice,” viewing it as a direct threat to its regime’s security.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who has advised the South Korean government said that the Kim regime is using the enhancement of U.S.-South Korea extended deterrence as a pretext for its ICBM launch, demonstrating a continued commitment to strengthening its national defense. 

“Considering the possibility of Trump’s return in the next U.S. presidential election, North Korea seems to be positioning its advanced nuclear weapons development as a bargaining chip to start nuclear disarmament talks with the U.S. in 2024,” said Yang, highlighting the political reasoning behind the missile launch.

“Intense military provocations against the U.S. are expected to continue, possibly involving activities such as the launching of additional reconnaissance satellites, firing of medium-range missiles using solid fuel, launching of ICBMs along standard trajectories, development of nuclear submarines, and testing of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).”

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

The latest threat comes just a day after South Korea suspended the landmark 2018 inter-Korean military agreement as a countermeasure to Pyongyang’s illegal satellite launch that violated a United Nations Security Council resolution. Rocket technology can be used for both launching satellites and missiles. For that reason, the U.N. bans North Korea from launching a ballistic rocket, even if it claims to be a satellite launch.

“We will revoke all military measures previously taken to prevent military tensions and conflicts in all areas including land, sea, and air,” North Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement as cited by the official Korean Central News Agency Thursday.

“We will also advance the deployment of more powerful forces and new military equipment to the region along the Military Demarcation Line,” the statement added.

The main concern is centered on Seoul restarting its monitoring operations close to the border. North Korea perceives the surveillance activities, particularly involving new technology, by South Korea and its ally, the United States, as a major security threat due to its own lack of comparable technological capabilities. Thus, it has long protested against the allies’ surveillance activities near the border.

The two Koreas had agreed to halt each defined as hostile actions toward the nother near the border, but the North has conducted a number of provocations, violating the terms of the agreement.

According to South Korea’s Defense Ministry, North Korea has violated the agreement a total of 17 times up until last year since the agreement was signed. Critics in the South, thus, have long argued that the deal has already become ineffective, only serving to restrict Seoul’s operational and surveillance capabilities. 

“The situation in the Military Demarcation Line area has become uncontrollable and beyond repair due to the irreversible mistakes committed by the political and military gangsters of ROK,” the North’s Defense Ministry said, using South Korea’s formal name, shifting the blame for the worsening situation onto the South.

The ministry also cited the latest development as rationale for escalating its nuclear arms developments, stating that South’s hostility shows the “necessity and legitimacy of our ongoing prioritization of strengthening nuclear war deterrence and modernizing military power.”

In a latest display of martial protest, North Korea launched a ballistic missile late Wednesday – an apparent response to Seoul’s decision to suspend the military agreement.

North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile at around 11:05 pm Wednesday, from the Sunan area in South Pyongan Province towards its eastern coast, the South’s Joint Chief of Staff said. The South Korean authorities, however, added that it assessed the launch had failed.

“The intelligence agencies of South Korea and the U.S. are currently conducting further analysis,” the JSC said in a statement Thursday, without further elaboration.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the Seoul-based University of North Korean Studies, emphasized the necessity of a balanced approach involving both strong responses to the North’s violations and concurrent dialogue to manage tensions on the Korean peninsula.

“North Korea may proceed military provocation in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) of South Korea, and could activate coastal artillery in this area. Additionally, if anti-Pyongyang leaflet distributions to the North occur in the border area, there could be armed responses, and if ROK-US-Japan strategic assets are deployed, it is likely to respond with ballistic missiles,” Yang said.

“Strong responses are necessary for North Korea’s violations of regulations. However, dialogue must also be concurrently pursued to manage the tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” the pundit added. 

“There have always been conflicts with North Korea across all administrations. Efforts in national defense should be made, but Seoul must also simultaneously engage in a two-track approach to maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

Kim met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang Thursday and vowed to “faithfully implement the agreements of the DPRK-Russia summit, and lay a stable foundation for the new era of the DPRK-Russia relations,” North Korea’s official media Rodong Sinmun reported on Friday, referring to the North’s formal name.

At the Party Central Committee headquarters, Kim told Lavrov that his commitment is to prioritize the “well-being of the peoples of both nations and intensively propel the crucial mission of nation-building,” according to the state media report, indicating that Pyongyang was set to bolster its cooperation with Moscow.

Kim and Lavrov shared “sincere opinions on significant matters of mutual interest, emphasizing the importance for both countries to actively navigate the intricate regional and international landscape,” the Rodong Sinmun said, adding the two nations will “collaboratively broaden bilateral relations across all sectors.”

The paper suggested that the purported tighter cooperation is aimed at building leverage against the U.S. and its regional partners. Broadening bilateral relations between North Korea and Russia, especially in strategic sectors like defense, economy, and technology, may be seen as a move aimed at enhancing their collective bargaining power and operational capabilities against the West. 

It could challenge the effectiveness of the international community’s sanctions regimes on both Pyongyang and Moscow, as well as the U.S. and its allies’ influence in navigating the region’s geopolitical complexities that are compounded by China’s maneuvers. 

Russia is sanctioned for its aggression against Ukraine, while North Korea for its nuclear ambitions. 

The two authoritarian states’ intention has become clearer after Kim and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met at the symbol of Russian space prowess in Russia’s Far East last month, where they vowed to form an “anti-imperialist united front,” and agree to boost their comprehensive cooperation, spanning from the economy to military. North Korea frequently labels the U.S. and its allies as “imperialists” when their diplomatic overtures aren’t met favorably.

On Thursday, Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui, where they agreed to take concrete steps in solidifying the “united front” that their top leaders had agreed to establish in September.

The ministers explored “concrete steps and methods to elevate bilateral relations to better suit the needs of the current era and prevailing circumstances,” Rodong Sinmun said on Friday. This involved actively enhancing ways to speed up bilateral collaboration in diverse areas including “economy, culture, and cutting-edge science and technology via political and diplomatic channels.”

“The two parties engaged in detailed discussions and found common ground on fortifying collaborative efforts on various regional and international matters, including the dynamics on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia,” the media report said.

Analysts said a deepened North Korea-Russia alliance has the potential to corner Washington, already preoccupied with the wars in Ukraine and Israel, into a more challenging position than it had hoped.

“The U.S. seems to be at a crossroads.It appears that the Indo-Pacific strategy seems to have reached its limits,” said Cheon Seong-whun, a former security strategy secretary for South Korea’s presidential office. 

Cheon noted that the strategy, arguably, was aimed at centralizing the U.S. efforts primarily on China through reducing its commitments elsewhere and redirecting its resources in Asia. 

“But the unforeseen events in Europe and the Middle East have already diverted the U.S.’s attention, and now the emergence of a North Korea-Russia alignment in Asia is further complicating matters. It has now become a structural issue.

The pundit also explained that North Korea, recognizing the what-he-call a ‘new Cold War’ era, appears to have already shifted its strategic stance, which is apparently less hopeful and reliant on dialogues with the U.S.

“It’s clear that the U.S. and its allies must recalibrate their strategies,” he added. 

Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

Lai, who has served as President Tsai Ing-wen’s vice president during her second term, is a favorite to succeed the popular but term-limited president after January’s elections. He arrived in New York on Saturday and departed Sunday en route to an official visit to Paraguay, which is one of the democratic island’s few remaining Latin American allies.

Speaking in New York, and less than six months out from Taiwan’s elections, Lai pledged not to back down in the face of threats from Beijing, which has vowed to “reunite” Taiwan with the mainland.

“At this critical moment, I hope that we can once again pledge here and now that regardless of the magnitude of the threat posed by authoritarianism to Taiwan, we will not fear or retreat,” Lai said. “We will steadfastly uphold the values of democracy and freedom.”

He also said democratic Taiwan’s struggle against threats of invasion from communist China was a struggle for democracy worldwide.

“The peace in the Taiwan Strait belongs to the entire world,” the vice president said. “When Taiwan is secure, the world is secure. When there is peace in the Taiwan Strait, there is peace in the world.”

The status quo

Beijing claims Taiwan as “inalienable” territory under its “One China principle” and opposes direct ties between its leaders and those of the United States, and had publicly called for the trip to be canceled. 

Xie Feng, China’s ambassador in Washington, last month even likened Lai’s trip to a “charging gray rhino” causing a disturbance in the ties between Washington and Beijing, and China’s foreign ministry has said that the trip violates U.S. commitments to the idea of “One China.”

But U.S. officials have their own interpretation of the “One China” policy, and State Department principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said on Monday Lai’s trip was in keeping with it and not unusual.

“There is no reason to over torque this transit into anything escalatory,” Patel said in a press briefing. “This is consistent with our One China policy. We are not interested in deviating from the status quo; it is not any kind of pretext for coercion or provocative activity.” 

“Such transits are routine, given the distances involved, and they are common,” he said, adding there had been 10 “transits” of Taiwanese vice presidents in the past two decades, not counting those made by its presidents. “All have occurred without incident. This transit by V.P. Lai is the 11th transit, and his second – he previously transited in 2021.”

Unofficial visits

Lai last visited the United States in 2022, and met virtually with 17 lawmakers. In 2020, he visited Washington during another trip, and attended an event also attended by then-President Donald Trump. 

However, U.S. officials outside of Congress and the Trump administration have tended to avoid even the possibility of meeting Taiwanese leaders during their unofficial “transits” through the United States due to the sensitivity involved and Beijing’s protests. 

That means Taiwanese officials typically avoid Washington. Tsai, the island’s president, in April visited New York and Los Angeles during her own “transits” on the way to official visits to Guatemala and Belize.

On Monday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee was forced to retract a statement that suggested Lai visited Washington during his current trip, but called Taiwan a “model democracy” and a “key U.S. partner.” 

Lai himself appeared to be enjoying his brief stopover in New York.

“Happy to arrive at the #BigApple, icon of liberty, democracy & opportunities,” he wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

The Taiwanese presidential hopeful arrives back in San Francisco on Tuesday from a trip to Paraguay – where he is attending a presidential inauguration – before flying back to Taiwan on Wednesday.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kitty Wang and Alex Willemyns for RFA.

After the Center for Countering Digital Hate reported that hate speech has soared on the website formerly known as Twitter, now rebranded as “X,” Elon Musk responded by filing a lawsuit against the center over the research, calling the group “evil” and its CEO Imran Ahmed a “rat.” X accuses the watchdog group of unlawfully accessing data to “falsely claim it had statistical support showing the platform is overwhelmed with harmful content.” This comes as Musk has laid off about 80% of the workforce at X, including a large number of content moderators, and shut down its Trust and Safety Council. “When there is hate and disinformation being algorithmically amplified into billions of timelines, it’s perfectly right that people that oppose the spread, the production and distribution of hate seek to research it and seek to put that out into the public sphere,” says Ahmed. While Musk calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” silencing critics is his “go-to tactic to avoid accountability,” says Nora Benavidez, senior counsel and director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights at Free Press.

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

In another example of China’s attempts at “long-arm” law enforcement beyond its borders, officials have been calling him from the Cyberspace Administration, the regular police and the state security police.

"Hey everyone, it's Crazy Zhang here – it's been mad the amount of people who have been calling me on the phone in the past few days," Zhang Gong said in a video statement via his Twitter account.

"They have been demanding that I delete all of my music from Twitter, and to delete my Twitter account," Zhang said. "When I asked them why, they said my music is having a negative impact."

"When I asked them on whom, they said they didn't know, but that there was a directive that came down from the central government calling on them to contact me immediately and to demand that I delete everything."

Police warned him that they would begin criminal proceedings if he failed to comply.

But Zhang told Radio Free Asia that he will continue to publish his music on social media despite the threats from officials back home.

Meanwhile, Zhang's wife – who is still in China – has had all of her social media accounts shut down.

"My wife called me last night and said that all of her social media accounts were shut down within a second of each other – WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, everything," Zhang said.

"She doesn't even have a phone number any more."

‘Wrapped in foam and ice’

The calls started after Zhang posted a video of himself performing a song he wrote during the 2022 Shanghai lockdown, when millions of people were barricaded into their homes and neighborhoods as part of Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy, subjected to daily compulsory testing, and hauled off en masse to out-of-town quarantine camps in the middle of the night.

"In a city of 1.4 billion people, the voices of despair rise and fall," the song, titled "Seven Storey Pagoda" in a reference to the preciousness of human life, goes.

"I see children, bodies wrapped in foam and ice," Zhang sings. 

"I hear cries of help from people trying not to die in a fire," he sings, in an apparent reference to the fatal lockdown fire in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi that sparked mass "white paper" protests across China that eventually brought an end to the restrictions of the zero-COVID policy.

"How many human lives are trapped behind ... the iron sheets they just welded into place this afternoon?"

The song also takes aim at official propaganda around Xi's experience of hardship as a younger man.

"He shouldered 200 pounds of wheat for 10 miles through the mountains, yet he wants to lead 1.4 billion to their deaths," Zhang sings.

"If we don't fight, then death is inevitable," the song goes.

‘Locked down’

Zhang also took aim via Twitter at the crackdown on the “white paper” movement, commenting: 

“In the 1960's, a villager accidentally dropped a picture of [China’s leader] on the ground and was beaten to death for it ...... In 2022, a brave young woman held up a blank piece of paper, and her whereabouts are unknown to this day!”

In an earlier protest song, Zhang sings in his trademark husky voice about how everything has been locked down.

"They've locked down the hills, locked down the rivers, locked down the sky and sun," the song, titled "Surrounded" goes.

"Locked down the sheep and cattle, the harvests and grain silos, the cities and the countryside," he sings.

Zhang, 30, told Radio Free Asia that his lyrics only criticized the government indirectly.

"I wrote these lyrics about what's currently going on in China, and maybe I touched on some of [the government's] sore points, but I didn't go all out and name anybody," he said. "People can figure that out for themselves."

Zhang hails from the central province of Henan, then grew up in the eastern province of Shandong, where he majored in classical guitar.

He recently joined the "run movement," an ongoing exodus of Chinese nationals fed up with the excesses of the zero-COVID policy and the economic stagnation that followed in its wake.

"There were so many tragic things happening around me every day, and so much injustice happening to people," Zhang said. "I'm a pretty emotional person, and I kept thinking that this could happen to me at any time, anywhere, and to my family."

"Things have been totally hopeless [in China] in the past few years," he said.

Zhang has now arrived in the United States, where he has applied for political asylum.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Gao Feng for RFA Mandarin.

Arghh. We know many of you don't want to hear about it; you can stop reading now. But why in the ever-loving-fuck is this former, twice-impeached, twice-and-likely-more-indicted, sick, stupid, malevolent carnival barker still free, out here spewing hateful word salad, and vowing to "order our government to deny entry to all communists and markers" who are "pouring into our country" as thousands of people cheer the idiocracy? WTF America: This is the vile clown who trashed everything. Thank you for listening.

The Queens native who's never been closer than Central Park to a farm also declared himself "the most pro-farmer president you’ve ever had." Launching a new "Farmers For Trump" shtick - and tossing its inevitable, newly labeled hats - he also warned that Ron DeSantis "totally despises Iowa ethanol and ethanol generally,” while “I fought for Iowa ethanol like no president in history.” Maybe his epitaph? Along with covfefe? Not only will he keep bravely fighting the enemies of ethanol, but the enemies of America. "I will also order our government to deny entry to all Communists and markers," he vowed. Realizing his gaffe, he hurried on, "Look, we have Marxists, fascists, communists - they’re pouring into our country. We are going to deny them access to our cunny." Thus did the guy who likes to jeer Biden can’t speak or think clearly, "misfiring more than a 1924 Studebaker," then crassly debase women's genitals. He added, "The problem is, what about all the ones we already have that happen to be politicians," naming Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff. "Shifty Schiff," he spat out. "Liar. What a liar."

Soaring oratory, thy name is. His followers - "We love the uneducated" - likely relish a dolt of a guy who's as stupid, toxic and inarticulate as they are, but damn they're a dispiriting reflection of a country where fewer than half its denizens can name all three branches of government and, Philip Bump just wrote, “On any given Election Day, (a good) chunk of the electorate is misinformed about who and what is on the ballot." "'Idiocracy' is a somewhat amusing movie," notes one weary patriot. "MAGA thinks it's a documentary." Never mind the vast trove of misinformation behind the right's current boogeymen: A Red Scare born of a Democratic party that ranges from centrist corporate capitalists to (a minority of) Socialist-lite progressives and a Communist Party of America with maybe 5,000 members; a vicious anti-trans hysteria born of roughly 1.6% of U.S. adults identifying as trans or nonbinary, and slightly more younger people; a book-banning, history-denying fever born of an almost non-existent CRT taught in U.S. schools; a nationwide culture war born of M&Ms and a Very Scary term - woke - nobody can define.

That's just the macro view of the GOP's universe of alternative facts; the micro offers ceaseless, surreal dissonance. Under Trump's reign, the economy lost 3 million jobs, the number of uninsured rose 3 million, the trade deficit rose 40%, the federal debt rose to an astronomical $21.6 trillion, the rich got richer, he abandoned peace treaties with Iran and Russia, flubbed one with N. Korea, withdrew from the Paris climate deal, started a trade war with China, tried to overthrow democracy, and oh yeah - over a million pandemic deaths, 40% preventable. Facts, people. Now they want him to "save us?" From not just all the earlier boogeymen of masks, drag, immigrants, godlessness, abortion, black Little Mermaid, same-sex anything, Anti-Racist Baby and wokety-woke demons on all sides, but the ever-growing number of commie sharpies - useful for redirecting hurricanes, sure, but a fearsome threat to our schools, jobs, neighborhoods, and sanctity of USA!!-shrieking life. And don't get us started on pernicious crayons. Also don't forget Lenin, that hippie who wrote Imagine. We can't even.

Still - markers be damned - the right is boldly confronting the vital issues of the day. In Texas, whichis seeing historic 120-degree days and a spike of heat-related deaths, the GOP continued its streak of performative evil by banning local ordinances requiring water breaks for (often brown) workers laboring outside. In Oklahoma, the new evangelical school superintendent, who's proposed teaching "Western heritage" in all classes and called the teachers' union a "terrorist organization," told a forum the Tulsa Race Massacre doesn't fall under a CRT ban because, "Let’s not (say) the skin color determined that." In Tennessee, GOP Rep. Andy Ogles posted a cheerful, dystopian video wishing constituents a happy 4th: "Look, the left is trying to destroy our country and our family and they're coming after you...Have a blessed 4th of July!" Back in Iowa, Trump ended his anti-Marxist diatribe by visiting a Dairy Queen, telling workers to "take care of the people" and ordering blizzards all around - but only after having to ask what it is. One answer: "A blizzard is 71 felony charges, with more on the way." Also, alongside Stalin, a belated place in hell.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.

The U.K.-based Mung, who goes by the English name Christopher, was one of eight prominent pro-democracy figures named on Monday as wanted by the Hong Kong national security police, who offered a HK$1 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of each person.

"When I went into exile and chose to continue fighting for Hong Kong labor rights, I was aware that I would one day become a target of the government’s repression," Mung, 51, said in a statement after the warrants were issued.

The city's leader John Lee then warned that the eight activists, who are now living in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, would be pursued by the authorities "for life." 

Government-linked Chinese newspapers have issued calls for China to start using Interpol's "red notice" international arrest warrant system to pursue anyone accused of breaking the city's national security law, which criminalizes public criticism of the government anywhere in the world.

'Strong as ever'

Mung, who once led the now-disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, stands accused under the law of "smearing" the Chinese and Hong Kong governments during an overseas conference last June, and of advocating Hong Kong independence, defined as "secession" under the law.

He said the Hong Kong government has repeatedly used "national security" as a pretext to curtail fundamental freedoms and human rights, with arbitrary arrests of dissidents now the norm rather than the exception.

"No matter how hard the dictator attempts to instill fear into society, Hong Kongers’ determination to resist and their courage will not be crushed," Mung said.

"I will not cease my advocacy work for Hong Kong labor rights abroad ... and I will always stand with Hong Kong," he said. "Our conviction is as strong as ever." 

Mung told Radio Free Asia in a later interview that he is puzzled over where and when he is supposed to have advocated independence for the city, however.

"I spoke at a French trade union conference last year, and I shouted a slogan in Cantonese at the end of my speech – 'Free Hong Kong, revolution now!'" Mung said. "Is it possible that they are using that slogan as a way to pin such a big accusation on me?"

The slogan, which dates back to the 2019 protest movement against the erosion of Hong Kong's freedoms, was banned from public places when the Chinese Communist Party imposed the national security law on the city from July 1, 2020.

In July 2021, Tong Ying-kit, now 26, became the first person to be convicted under the law for "terrorism" and "incitement to secession" after he rode a motorbike at a protest, carrying a flag with the same slogan emblazoned on it.

Possible sea change

While Mung is safe for now in Britain, he can't go back to Hong Kong -- for now, at least.

"I hold onto a belief that one day I will go back to Hong Kong," he said. "I don't think this dictatorship will last long -- I think the beliefs and values we hold onto along the way will outlive it."

He thinks there has been a sea change in public attitudes to the Chinese government under Xi Jinping since the three-years of COVID-19 lockdowns, restrictions on movements and mass quarantine and testing, citing the "white paper" protests of November 2022.

He said that protest movement – sparked by a fatal lockdown fire in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi – saw an unprecedented level of contact and networking between political activists in mainland China and those overseas.

"There seems to be a lot of room [to grow that] in future," Mung said. "Hong Kong diaspora activists can work with mainland Chinese diaspora in different ways to strengthen our fight against this authoritarian government."

"I think gradually, a larger force will form to fight against a common enemy."

Can’t be silenced

Mung said he can't afford to be silenced, because his voice is needed to speak out internationally about the suppression of workers' rights and the labor movement in Hong Kong and mainland China alike. 

He has already set up the Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor in the U.K. with the aim of "amplifying the voices of Hong Kong workers to the world."

"We will try our best to bring the voices ... of Hong Kong workers onto the international stage, and to call for the international community's continued attention to the Chinese government's suppression of the labor movement, and to put international pressure on the governments of China and Hong Kong," Mung said.

Part of that work is also aimed at helping recently exiled Hong Kongers in Britain to navigate their own labor disputes, including unpaid wages, lack of compensation for work-related injuries and non-payment of sick pay, he said.

Mung also plans to establish contacts among British trade unions and give lectures on the plight of Hong Kong workers in the United Kingdom and help them leverage support from within the trade union movement.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Raymond Cheng for RFA Cantonese.

Taking off from the Sohae Satellite Launching ground at 6:27 a.m., the Malligyong-1 satellite mounted on the new-type Chollima-1 rocket lost thrust over the Yellow Sea, the state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA reported.

The second stage of the rocket engine did not ignite properly, the report said, citing remarks made by a spokesperson from the National Aerospace Development Administration.

“Scientists, technicians and experts concerned [will] start discovering concrete causes,” KCNA said. After determining them, the scientists will “take urgent scientific and technological measures to overcome them and conduct the second launch as soon as possible through various part tests.”

Had the launch been successful it would have been the first time North Korea managed to place a reconnaissance satellite in its proper orbit. In seven attempts, only two satellites have reached orbit but both failed shortly after, U.S.-based satellite imagery expert Jacob Bogle told RFA’s Korean Service.

“It's a cliché to say that ‘space is hard’, but that's because it is. Failures commonly happen in both government-led space programs like the ESA as well as in privately-funded programs such as SpaceX,” said Bogle. 

Bogle said it was very likely that North Korea would try again.

“The launch window was from May 31 to June 11, and they launched on the very first day of that window. We don't know what the internal decision-making process was but this could have been a rushed launch,” he said. “North Korea is the only country in the region without a reliable spacefaring capability, and Kim Jong Un has placed a lot of importance on acquiring it. … North Korea will likely try another satellite launch in the near-term.”

North Korea’s account of the failed launch is likely true, the Rand Corporation’s Bruce Bennett told RFA.

“This is possible, but other failures could also have happened. Kim has already promised to try again, so I think we can expect it,” said Bennett.  

The goal of the launch was to put the spy satellite in a polar orbit, optimal for spy satellites, he said.  

“A polar satellite travels roughly over the North Pole and the South pole as it circles the Earth. It flies at a much lower altitude, usually 200 to 1,000 km,” said Bennett.  A polar orbit is usually used for reconnaissance … [and] lets them see areas all over the Earth as the Earth turns, and the altitude is low enough for relatively good pictures on a periodic basis (weekly) for any given location.”

Renewed condemnation

Despite its failure, members of the international community reminded North Korea that the launch, even despite its failure, violated U.N. resolutions meant to limit Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear capabilities.

“The EU strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launch using ballistic military technology that occurred on 31 May,” Nabila Massrali, the regional bloc’s Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a statement. “The EU calls on the DPRK to cease all actions that raise tensions and instead choose the path of dialogue with the main parties.”

The International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Commission adopted a resolution that condemned North Korea for conducting the launch without proper notification and for not adhering to UN resolutions, and called for North Korea to “cease unlawful and unannounced ballistic missile launches across international shipping lanes.”

Lawmakers Anne-Marie Trevelyan of the U.K. and Young Kim of the U.S. also wrote tweets condemning the launch.  

“Kim Jong Un's consistent & rogue aggression must be taken seriously by the United States & our Indo-Pacific allies,” Rep. Kim (R-Calif.) said. “We must stand firm in holding him accountable & working toward complete, verifiable, & irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.”

Reported by Lee Sangmin and Kim Soyoung for RFA Korean. 

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

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on Thursday said he will use his authority as chair of the Senate Finance Committee to get answers from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow about his financial ties to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Oregon Democrat said after ProPublicapublished the latest revelations about financial gifts Crow provided to the right-wing justice that he is giving Crow "until May 8th to provide a full account of the gifts he provided to Justice Thomas' family."

ProPublica revealed Thursday morning that Crow paid for Thomas' grandnephew, Mark Martin, who the justice raised "as a son" from the time Martin was six years old, to attend a private school in Georgia where tuition was $74,000 per year. Thomas did not include the payments on federal disclosure forms as required by law.

Last month, the outlet reported that Crow footed the bill for Thomas to take numerous luxury vacations for two decades and that the Texas billionaire bought property from the justice's family and acted as Thomas' mother's landlord—none of which was previously disclosed to the government.

Since Thomas was confirmed to the high court in 1991, several right-wing groups with ties to Crow have been involved in cases that were argued before the Supreme Court, and his own real estate company was directly involved in a case regarding the pandemic-era federal eviction moratorium in 2021.

"With every new revelation in this case, it becomes clearer that Harlan Crow has been subsidizing an extravagant lifestyle that Justice Thomas and his family could not otherwise afford," said Wyden. "This is a foul breach of ethics standards, which are already far too low when it comes to the Supreme Court."

The chairman added that he "will explore using other tools at the committee's disposal to obtain this critical information."

The Democratic Party holds a majority of seats on the panel, giving Wyden subpoena power.

Wyden previously wrote to Crow late last month, demanding a "complete account" of his gifts to Thomas and inquiring whether the real estate magnate treated Thomas' travel on his yacht and private jets as a business expense in order to benefit from a tax write-off.

"The secrecy surrounding your dealings with Justice Thomas is simply unacceptable," he wrote to Crow in April. "The American public deserves a full accounting of the full extent of your largesse towards Justice Thomas, including whether these gifts complied with all relevant federal tax and ethics laws."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Julia Conley.

Dissident Papua New Guinean politician and former cabinet minister Bryan Kramer has vowed to fight on in his campaign against corruption, saying the National Court ruling to dismiss him as an MP was “the calm before the storm”.

“The decision to dismiss me was expected and of course, it is certainly not the end of the issue as I have already been working on an appeal to challenge both the rulings on verdict and penalty in the National Court,” he told reporters in Port Moresby

Kramer, a former police minister then justice minister, was responding to the decision on recommendations for his dismissal and a fine of K10,000 (NZ$4600).

• READ MORE: Other Bryan Kramer reports

“Today’s decision in no way diminishes my resolve in the fight against corruption nor will it keep me from informing the public on issues of national importance or exposing high-level corruption,” he said.

“In my view it’s the calm before the storm.”

In a statement later in the day Kramer explained the court decision saying: “Today (1/5/23) the Leadership Tribunal handed down its ruling on the penalty in relation to the finding of guilt of the seven (7) counts of misconduct in office against me.

“The Tribunal categorised the seven counts of misconduct into two main categories in determining whether there is serious culpability (wrongdoing on my part) warranting my dismissal from office or recommending a lesser penalty of a fine or suspension of no more than three months without pay.

“Category 1 included counts 1 and 2 that related to my Facebook publications scandalising the judiciary.

Conflict of interest claim
“Count 1 being the publication insinuating a conflict of interest by the Chief Justice.

“Count 2 related to accusing [former prime minister] Peter O’Neill and his lawyer of soliciting the assistance of the Chief Justice and submitting a fabricated document to mislead the court that the warrant of arrest was defective.

“Category 2 included the remaining 5 counts that related to the decisions of the Madang District Development Authority Board in the application of the District Services Improvement Programme (DSIP) Funds in renting office space for the establishment of a project office to deliver district projects at the ward level, paying electoral staff who were involved in implementing the projects and establishing a ward project staff structure without obtaining approval from the Secretary of Personnel Management and engaging an associate company that was paid K3000 [NZ$1400] a fortnight.

“In short, the Tribunal recommended a penalty of dismissal from office in relation to counts 1 and 2 and a fine of K2000 for each of remaining 5 counts, a total fine of K10,000.

“Based on the Tribunal’s finding on guilt on seven counts handed down on 21 February 2023, today’s ruling for dismissal was expected.

“The decision recommending dismissal from office will be delivered to the Speaker who will then recommend to the Governor General (GG) to adopt the Tribunal’s recommendation to dismiss me from office.

“The decision of the GG will be gazetted and takes effect. At that point I will no longer be a Member of Parliament.”

Kramer Report publisher
Bryan Kramer, well known as a social media strategist and publisher of the anti-corruption Kramer Report, has been a cabinet minister in Prime Minister James Marape’s government since 2019, holding the police, justice and then immigration portfolios.

Leader of the Allegiance Party, Kramer was returned to Parliament at last year’s elections with sizable majority in the Madang Open seat.

Republished with permission.

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

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

• Kansas Republican lawmakers override Governor’s veto of transgender bathroom bill
• Texas Ag Commissioner promulgates employee dress code targeting transgender workers
• Biden Administration announces new migrant border policies
• Senator Patty Murray reintroduces ambitious child care legislation
• Berkeley says it will pursue electrification plans despite court setback on natural gas hookups

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The post Kansas Republicans override Governor’s veto of nation’s most sweeping transgender bathroom bill; Former Vice President Mike Pence testifies to grand jury on attempts to overturn 2020 election; Berkeley vows to pursue electrification despite court ruling against natural gas ban: The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 27, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

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

Climate advocates who have centered environmental justice for decades on Friday said they will continue to fight "false solutions" to the climate crisis—and expressed hope that the newly announced White House Office of Environmental Justice will usher in a new era in which President Joe Biden ends his support for fossil fuel projects.

Biden announced the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) at the White House Friday as he signed an executive order titled "Revitalizing Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All."

The office, said the White House, will be tasked with "coordinating the implementation of environmental justice policy across the federal government, ensuring that federal efforts can evolve alongside our understanding of environmental justice"—a concept which recognizes the disproportionate impacts that pollution and the climate emergency have on low-income communities, Indigenous tribes, and people of color, and strives for the "meaningful involvement of all people... with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."

The president also said the executive order will make environmental justice a focus of every federal agency and will require them to "consider measures to address and prevent disproportionate and adverse environmental and health impacts on communities, including the cumulative impacts of pollution and other burdens like climate change," and to notify communities of the release of toxic substances from federal facilities nearby.

"We're investing in air quality centers in communities near factories so people who live near them know what the risk is and how safe the air is," said Biden. "Because we know historically redlined communities are literally hotter because there's more pavement and fewer trees, we're planting millions of new trees to cool down our city streets."

"Environmental justice will be the mission of the entire government, woven directly into how we work with state, local, tribal, and territorial governments," he added.

The Wilderness Society was among the groups that applauded the announcement as a "huge win" for the environmental justice movement.

Ozawa Bineshi Albert, co-executive director at the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA)—a coalition of 89 rural and urban climate organizations—credited "frontline organizing power" with pushing the White House to adopt a policy aimed at centering support for communities that are disproportionately impacted by pollution, the public health issues resulting from it, and effects of the climate emergency such as catastrophic flooding and extreme heat.

"Today's executive order is the result of nearly two decades of organizing by the environmental justice movement," said Bineshi Albert. "This win belongs to our communities who have been on the frontlines of the climate crisis, creating solutions, building local power, and engaging lawmakers for decades."

But Bineshi Albert pointed out that the executive order also follows a number of actions by the Biden administration that completely disregarded outcry from and dangers posed to frontline communities.

Biden has been condemned this year for approving the Willow project, an oil drilling operation on federal land in Alaska that could support the production of more than 600 million barrels of crude oil over 30 years—leading to about 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions, even as energy and climate experts warn that continuing to extract fossil fuels instead of beginning a rapid drawdown will ensure the Earth warms by more than 1.5°C, locking in the loss of ice sheets, sea-level rise, and more extreme weather.

The president has also angered climate action groups as he has backed new offshore drilling.

"As we celebrate today's victory, we must also recognize that Biden has come to be known worldwide as the fossil fuel president, having approved more drilling projects on federal land than [former President Donald] Trump during their first two years in office," said Bineshi Albert. "The recent approval of harmful, extractive drilling leases such as the Willow project in Alaska, in the Gulf, and the LNG pipeline demonstrate the need for coherent and aligned policies that move us toward a truly just transition, not an expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure."

Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Energy Justice program, expressed wariness of the White House's new "Environmental Justice Scorecard," which will assess federal agencies' efforts to further environmental justice.

No agency should be scored highly if it approves fossil fuel infrastructure like the Willow project, as the Department of the Interior did, suggested Su.

"A White House Office of Environmental Justice is a hard-fought victory that's long overdue, but it needs to be empowered," she said in a statement. "A fundamental part of the president's first-ever Environmental Justice Scorecard needs to be saying no to the fossil fuel projects that pollute communities of color and sow climate chaos. If the president wants to distinguish himself from oily Republicans, let's see him reverse the Willow project, stop approving massive Gulf drilling and gas exports, and phase down public lands drilling."

"It's high time Biden showed up for environmental justice communities and the planet instead of fossil fuel companies," she added.

Bineshi Albert warned that the White House risks creating an office that is "just performative," and said CJA will double down on ensuring it is not.

"The new office of environmental justice must ensure strong, consistent procedures are implemented across agencies moving forward," she said. "Our communities will continue to organize to stop false solutions, support regenerative economic solutions, and ensure that justice and equity are codified and implemented at the rate and speed needed to meet the moment."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Julia Conley.

This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates...

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to reappoint Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson to represent District 86 in the Tennessee House of Representatives nearly a week after Republican lawmakers expelled him and Rep. Justin Jones over a protest demanding stricter gun laws.

Pearson's reinstatement—following a prayer by his father, a pastor—came after the Nashville Metropolitan Council voted unanimously Monday night to reappoint Jones (D-52). While the GOP-controlled House expelled both young Black lawmakers, the resolution to oust Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-13), who is white and also joined the protest, narrowly failed.

"Nashville thought they could silence democracy. But they didn't know the Shelby County Commission was filled with some courageous leaders," Pearson said in a speech after his reappointment, highlighting that the board's move came in spite of alleged threats to reduce state resources to the region.

Wednesday's vote shows that "we do not speak alone, we speak together; we fight together," he declared. "And so the message for all the people in Nashville who decided to expel us: You can't expel hope. You can't expel justice. You can't expel our voice. And you sure can't expel our fight. We look forward to continuing to fight, continuing to advocate, until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an everflowing stream. Let's get back to work."

\u201cJust a colossal miscalculation from Tennessee Republicans. \n\nThe only thing they accomplished by expelling two members was 1) grow the members\u2019 warchests and audiences and 2) draw intense scrutiny on the @TNGOP\u2019s recent history of racism and corruption.\u201d

— Kyle Tharp (@Kyle Tharp) 1681325543

Ahead of the vote to send him back to Nashville, Pearson wrote Wednesday in a New York Times opinion piece that "it's not just our individual voices that were sanctioned and silenced last Thursday. It was the voices of the nearly 135,000 Tennesseans we represented—many desperate for protection from the absence of many common-sense gun safety laws in our state."

Pearson noted that "since the Covenant School shooting, the Republican supermajority in the state House has done little but advance a bill that would allow teachers to carry guns in school and propose a $140 million budget increase to pay for the presence of armed guards in public schools, further militarizing them without adequate evidence that this makes schools safer."

"Besides expanding already expansive gun rights, Republican-led statehouses across the country are proposing and passing staggering numbers of bills that serve a fringe, white evangelical agenda that abrogates the rights and freedoms of the rest of us," he added, pointing to GOP attacks on trans children, the social safety net, abortion access, and voting rights.

"I was elected early this year by the people of Memphis and Millington to stand up for all of us against encroachments on our freedoms. I will continue to fight with and for our people, whether in or out of office," he vowed. "We and the young protesters are the future of a new Tennessee. Those who seek to silence us will not have the final say."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

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Flush with $80 billion in new funding, the IRS is aiming to ramp up audits of wealthy taxpayers and large corporations, according to a strategic operating plan it released Thursday. The 150-page plan also includes a lengthy list of proposed changes intended to improve customer service, upgrade the agency’s notoriously outdated computer systems, boost hiring and even “explore making it easier” to file tax returns directly with the IRS for free.

Until a spurt of funding during the early pandemic and then the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS had been hobbled by a decade of budget cuts, causing audit and enforcement rates to plummet. As the report notes: “Taxpayers earning $1 million or more were subject to an audit rate of just 0.7% in 2019 — a sharp decline from 7.2% in 2011. We will increase enforcement for high-income and high-wealth individuals to help ensure they are paying the taxes they owe.” It cites employment taxes, excise taxes, and estate and gift taxes as areas of focus. The plan promises to comply with a Treasury Department directive not to increase audit rates for small businesses and people making $400,000 or less.

ProPublica has been chronicling the tax agency’s woes for almost five years, first in a series titled “Gutting the IRS,” which examined the slashing of its budget and its consequences in reduced enforcement, as well as in decreased volume and quality of audits of the rich. ProPublica also published articles that showed how a person making $20,000 was more likely to be audited than a person making $400,000 and a map that revealed the geographic overlay of poverty, race and high audit rates.

ProPublica followed its first IRS series with “The Secret IRS Files,” a second multiyear series that has explored how the U.S. tax system favors the rich, including how its focus on income allows people with massive wealth to sidestep taxes on an epic scale — to the point where some of the wealthiest people, such as Jeff Bezos, had years in which they paid no federal tax.

In comments to The Washington Post about the new IRS plan, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said: “One of the things that people talk about when they say that the tax code is unfair is, if you’re low-income, you’re more likely to be audited than if you’re wealthy. ... That is not consistent with tax fairness.”

The plan, released by recently confirmed IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, aligns with the remarks made by President Joe Biden in his most recent State of the Union address: “I think a lot of you at home agree with me that our present tax system is simply unfair,” Biden said. He reiterated his proposal for what he calls his billionaire minimum tax, which would mandate a 20% minimum levy on income, including unrealized capital gains, for people with a net worth of $100 million or more.

The IRS plan also includes an initiative to “study the feasibility” of allowing taxpayers to file directly with the agency. That study will likely face opposition from companies such as Intuit, the maker of the widely used TurboTax software. In another series, “The TurboTax Trap,” ProPublica documented in exhaustive detail multiyear efforts taken by tax prep companies to undercut free tax-filing.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the Senate Finance Committee, applauded the IRS plan. “The bulk of this funding,” he noted in a statement, “will go toward building up the IRS’s capacity to root out cheating by sophisticated, wealthy individuals and companies with highly complex structures.” (The Inflation Reduction Act legislation directed an additional $45.6 billion to IRS enforcement, through September 2031, on top of its previously allotted budget.)

Republicans were less enthusiastic, calling the plan “big government at its worst,” among other things. In January, House Republicans renewed their attempts to reduce the agency’s funding.

Do you have expertise in tax law, accounting or wealth management? Do you have tips to share? Here’s how to get in touch. We are looking for both specific tips and broader expertise.

This content originally appeared on Articles and Investigations - ProPublica and was authored by by Jeff Ernsthausen.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

Flush with $80 billion in new funding, the IRS is aiming to ramp up audits of wealthy taxpayers and large corporations, according to a strategic operating plan it released Thursday. The 150-page plan also includes a lengthy list of proposed changes intended to improve customer service, upgrade the agency’s notoriously outdated computer systems, boost hiring and even “explore making it easier” to file tax returns directly with the IRS for free.

Until a spurt of funding during the early pandemic and then the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS had been hobbled by a decade of budget cuts, causing audit and enforcement rates to plummet. As the report notes: “Taxpayers earning $1 million or more were subject to an audit rate of just 0.7% in 2019 — a sharp decline from 7.2% in 2011. We will increase enforcement for high-income and high-wealth individuals to help ensure they are paying the taxes they owe.” It cites employment taxes, excise taxes, and estate and gift taxes as areas of focus. The plan promises to comply with a Treasury Department directive not to increase audit rates for small businesses and people making $400,000 or less.

ProPublica has been chronicling the tax agency’s woes for almost five years, first in a series titled “Gutting the IRS,” which examined the slashing of its budget and its consequences in reduced enforcement, as well as in decreased volume and quality of audits of the rich. ProPublica also published articles that showed how a person making $20,000 was more likely to be audited than a person making $400,000 and a map that revealed the geographic overlay of poverty, race and high audit rates.

ProPublica followed its first IRS series with “The Secret IRS Files,” a second multiyear series that has explored how the U.S. tax system favors the rich, including how its focus on income allows people with massive wealth to sidestep taxes on an epic scale — to the point where some of the wealthiest people, such as Jeff Bezos, had years in which they paid no federal tax.

In comments to The Washington Post about the new IRS plan, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said: “One of the things that people talk about when they say that the tax code is unfair is, if you’re low-income, you’re more likely to be audited than if you’re wealthy. ... That is not consistent with tax fairness.”

The plan, released by recently confirmed IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, aligns with the remarks made by President Joe Biden in his most recent State of the Union address: “I think a lot of you at home agree with me that our present tax system is simply unfair,” Biden said. He reiterated his proposal for what he calls his billionaire minimum tax, which would mandate a 20% minimum levy on income, including unrealized capital gains, for people with a net worth of $100 million or more.

The IRS plan also includes an initiative to “study the feasibility” of allowing taxpayers to file directly with the agency. That study will likely face opposition from companies such as Intuit, the maker of the widely used TurboTax software. In another series, “The TurboTax Trap,” ProPublica documented in exhaustive detail multiyear efforts taken by tax prep companies to undercut free tax-filing.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the Senate Finance Committee, applauded the IRS plan. “The bulk of this funding,” he noted in a statement, “will go toward building up the IRS’s capacity to root out cheating by sophisticated, wealthy individuals and companies with highly complex structures.” (The Inflation Reduction Act legislation directed an additional $45.6 billion to IRS enforcement, through September 2031, on top of its previously allotted budget.)

Republicans were less enthusiastic, calling the plan “big government at its worst,” among other things. In January, House Republicans renewed their attempts to reduce the agency’s funding.

Do you have expertise in tax law, accounting or wealth management? Do you have tips to share? Here’s how to get in touch. We are looking for both specific tips and broader expertise.

This content originally appeared on Articles and Investigations - ProPublica and was authored by by Jeff Ernsthausen.

Justin Jones, the Democratic Tennessee lawmaker who was expelled from the state Legislature on Thursday, said he was trying to protect all children from the scourge of gun violence—including the children of the Republican colleagues who subsequently voted to oust him—while vowing to keep fighting for gun control.

Addressing the Republican lawmakers just before the 72-25 party-line vote, Jones (D-52) said, "To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I want to say that you have the votes to do what you're gonna do today but I wanna let you know that when I walked up to this well I was fighting for your children and grandchildren too."

Tennessee House Republicans targeted Jones, as well as state Reps. Gloria Johnson (D-90) and Justin Pearson after they used a bullhorn to lead chants supporting gun control legislation on the chamber floor Monday while thousands of Nashville-area students rallied outside following the March 27 mass shooting at Covenant School that left three 9-year-old students, three staff members, and the shooter dead.

After voting to expel Jones, GOP lawmakers called a vote on a resolution to oust Johnson. Although 65 Republicans voted in favor of the measure, that was not enough to reach the two-thirds majority required. A vote on the resolution to remove Pearson is expected later on Thursday evening.

Speaking before the vote to remove him from office, Jones said:

To those here who will cast a vote for expulsion, I was fighting for your children too, to live free from the terror of school shootings and mass shootings. When I walked up to this well last Thursday, I was thinking about the thousands of students who were outside demanding that we do something. In fact, many of their signs said, "Do something, do something, do something." That was their only ask of us, to respond to their grieving, to respond to a traumatized community. But in response to that, the first action of this body is to expel members for calling for commonsense gun legislation.

We were calling for a ban of assault weapons and the response of this body is to assault democracy. This is a historic day for Tennessee but it is also a very dark day for Tennessee because it will signal to the nation that there is no democracy in this state. It will signal to the nation that if it can happen here in Tennessee, it's coming to your state next. And that is why the nation is watching what we do here.

"My prayer to you is even if you expel me that you still act to address the crisis of mass shootings because if I'm expelled from here, I'll be back out there with the people every week demanding that you act," Jones said. "If you expel me I'll continue to show up because this issue is too important."

"And so if you expel me, I recognize that it's not just about expelling me, it's about expelling the people," Jones asserted. "But your action will do the exact opposite. It will galvanize them to see what is happening in this state requires sustained action. And so I hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle regardless of what you decide to do to me, because this is not about me, it's about those young people who are asking us to use our position and uphold our oath to protest and dissent from any action or legislation that is injurious to the people."

"I pray that we uphold our oath on this floor because, colleagues, the world is watching," he added.

After the expulsion vote, Jones was greeted by a passionate crowd of supporters in the State Capitol Rotunda, where he raised his fist while people chanted, "We stand with Justin."

"Republicans know they are on the losing side of history. This is proof," tweeted David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 massacre of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and co-founder of March for Our Lives—which called Jones' expulsion "fascist, undemocratic behavior."

Olivia Juliana, director of politics and government affairs at the social media-based advocacy group Gen-Z for Change, wrote on Twitter that "Tennessee has given way to fascism."

"The Tennessee Three will not be forgotten," Juliana added. "This fight is far from over."

Sherrilyn Ifill, former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said, "What I saw today was a naked display of power, an utter disregard for the basics of due process, and a window into the country waiting for all of us unless we fight."

Numerous observers said that instead of silencing Jones, Republicans ensured he was "elevated from obscurity to rising Democratic star."

"Young people around this country will be galvanized around him now, come out and vote, and they'll vote for Democrats across the board," predicted one Twitter user. "GOP will suffer tremendously from this."

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

Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has resigned from Parliament just two weeks after copping a three-year suspension for making seditious comments.

Bainimarama, who was the opposition leader, made the announcement via a five-minute video on Facebook today.

He said his suspension on February 17 was “unwarranted and most certainly unjustified”.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji politics reports

“I did not swear nor did I make any racist or divisive comments,” he said.

“In fact, the so-called offensive words could have been objected to by points of order as provided for under the Standing Orders. However, the decision has been made by Parliament through a vote and I have complied with the decision.”

But the former coup leader-turned-PM, who was in charge of the country for almost 16 years before losing the 2022 Elections in December, said he would remain the leader of FijiFirst which was “the largest single political party in Parliament”.

“I want to assure all our supporters and all Fijians that you will be seeing more of me on the ground as I engage with you to listen to your needs, wants and concerns,” he said.

Guiding FijiFirst MPs
He said he would be guiding the FijiFirst MPs with his former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

“So they can continue to fight inside Parliament while we will engage more actively outside Parliament with our FijiFirst supporters and the growing number of unsatisfied Fijians who are now questioning their decision to vote for parties that seem to be not delivering on their promises.”

Bainimarama’s suspension also means that the opposition’s numbers in Parliament will go down to 25. However, he will be replaced by the next ranked FijiFirst candidate from the 14 December election.

“From FijiFirst’s perspective and also for the nearly 43 percent of voters in the 2022 General Elections, it is important that we maintain at all times our 26 seats in Parliament,” Bainimarama said.

He said his party would prevent the incumbent coalition government “from running roughshod over our Constitution, breaches of which are taking place almost on a daily basis, and to highlight the lack of adherence to basic fundamentals of due process and procedural fairness”.

Bainimarama has confirmed that FijiFirst will nominate former defence minister and disaster management minister Inia Seruiratu as the new opposition leader when Parliament sits for its next session at the end of the month.

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

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

Daniel Ellsberg, whose leaking of the Pentagon Papers and decades of anti-war activity have inspired generations of whistleblowers and activists, said Wednesday that he has terminal cancer, but that there's "tons more" movement work for him to do before he's gone.

The former nuclear war planner-turned-disarmament campaigner, who is 91 years old, notified friends and supporters in an email Wednesday morning that he had "difficult news to impart":

On February 17, without much warning, I was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer on the basis of a CT scan and an MRI... I'm sorry to report to you that my doctors have given me three to six months to live. Of course, they emphasize that everyone's case is individual; it might be more, or less.

Ellsberg, who will not undergo chemotherapy—he says it "offers no promise"—wrote that he is "not in any physical pain."

"In fact, after my hip replacement surgery in late 2021, I feel better physically than I have in years," he said.

"As I just told my son Robert: He's long known (as my editor) that I work better under a deadline. It turns out that I live better under a deadline," he quipped.

Whistleblowers and activists hailed a man one anti-nuclear campaigner called "a change-maker, a disrupter, and an icon."

In Wednesday's email, Ellsberg reflected upon his life and work:

When I copied the Pentagon Papers in 1969, I had every reason to think I would be spending the rest of my life behind bars. It was a fate I would gladly have accepted if it meant hastening the end of the Vietnam War, unlikely as that seemed (and was). Yet in the end, that action—in ways I could not have foreseen, due to [then-President Richard] Nixon's illegal responses—did have an impact on shortening the war. In addition, thanks to Nixon's crimes, I was spared the imprisonment I expected, and I was able to spend the last 50 years with Patricia and my family, and with you, my friends.

"What's more," he continued, "I was able to devote those years to doing everything I could think of to alert the world to the perils of nuclear war and wrongful interventions: lobbying, lecturing, writing, and joining with others in acts of protest and nonviolent resistance."

"I wish I could report greater success for our efforts," Ellsberg lamented. "As I write, 'modernization' of nuclear weapons is ongoing in all nine states that possess them (the U.S. most of all). Russia is making monstrous threats to initiate nuclear war to maintain its control over Crimea and the Donbas—like the dozens of equally illegitimate first-use threats that the U.S. government has made in the past to maintain its military presence in South Korea, Taiwan, South Vietnam, and (with the complicity of every member state then in NATO ) West Berlin."

"The current risk of nuclear war, over Ukraine, is as great as the world has ever seen," he emphasized just over a year into Russia's invasion.

"It is long past time—but not too late!—for the world's publics at last to challenge and resist the willed moral blindness of their past and current leaders," Ellsberg argued. "I will continue, as long as I'm able, to help these efforts.

Indeed, Ellsberg is scheduled to speak Thursday with Noam Chomsky at a Nuclear Age Peace Foundation webinar about the dangers of nuclear war during Russia's invasion of Ukraine

"There's tons more to say about Ukraine and nuclear policy, of course," Ellsberg added, "and you'll be hearing from me as long as I'm here."

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

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday announced plans to introduce legislation that would cap U.S. insulin prices at $20 per vial after Eli Lilly pledged to cut the list prices of its most commonly used insulin products by 70%.

Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that "this is what fighting back accomplishes" and urged two other major insulin manufacturers to replicate Eli Lilly's move, which also includes capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin payments at $35 for many people with diabetes.

"At a time when Eli Lilly made over $7 billion in profits last year, public pressure forced them to reduce the price of insulin by 70%," said the Vermont senator. "Now is the time for Sanofi and Novo Nordisk to do the same. Now is the time to end the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially lower the outrageous cost of prescription drugs in America."

In letters to the CEOs of Sanofi and Novo Nordisk—which together with Eli Lilly produce more than 90% of the global insulin supply—Sanders wrote that "people with diabetes should not be forced to pay $98 for a vial of insulin that costs just $8 to manufacture and can be purchased in Canada for just $12."

"I urge you to join Eli Lilly in substantially lowering the price your company charges for insulin and make certain that all Americans can purchase this lifesaving drug," added the senator, who has been scrutinizing the trio's business practices—including price collusion—for years.

"Let's be clear: Insulin is not a new drug," Sanders continued. "It was discovered 100 years ago by Canadian scientists who sold the patent rights of insulin for just $1 because they wanted to save lives, not make pharmaceutical executives extremely wealthy. And yet, as a result of unacceptable corporate greed, the price of insulin has gone up by over 1,000% since 1996, causing 1.3 million people with diabetes to ration insulin last year while your companies made billions of dollars in profits. That is absolutely unacceptable."

\u201cPublic pressure forced Eli Lilly to reduce the price of insulin by 70%. Today, I sent a letter demanding Sanofi and Novo Nordisk do the same. Now is the time to end the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially lower the outrageous cost of prescription drugs.\u201d

— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1677710196

Eli Lilly's announcement was welcomed as a victory for people with diabetes who have been campaigning tirelessly for years to bring down insulin prices in the U.S., where some patients have been forced to pay more than $1,000 a month for the lifesaving medicine.

But the company's move also drew skepticism as advocates remain wary of the limitations of Wednesday's pledge and of Eli Lilly's commitment to keeping prices low, particularly given the pharmaceutical giant's history of lobbying against efforts to rein in prescription drug costs.

In a footnote at the bottom of its Wednesday press release, Eli Lilly states that "government restrictions exclude people enrolled in federal government insurance programs from Lilly's $35 solutions."

People on Medicare are covered by the Inflation Reduction Act's $35-per-month cap on insulin copayments, but low-income people on Medicaid don't appear to be eligible for Eli Lilly's price-cap program.

Additionally, Eli Lilly's 70% price cut for Humalog—the company's most commonly prescribed insulin product—won't take effect until the fourth quarter of this year, "giving Lilly seven more months of high prices even as they are lauded for their corporate responsibility," noted The American Prospect's Robert Kuttner.

"And since Lilly caps out-of-pocket costs to patients but not necessarily prices charged to insurance companies," Kuttner added, "the result could be cost-shifting and higher insurance premiums."

Such caveats led campaigners to emphasize the necessity of federal action to guarantee that insulin is available and affordable for all who need it.

"Insulin manufacturers have shown time and time again that they will put their CEOs' profits over patients' lives," said Kristen Whitney Daniels, the co-leader of T1International's federal working group and a person living with Type 1 diabetes. "That's why the government also needs to regulate insulin manufacturers to hold them accountable to ensuring the human right to insulin."

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

We speak with Celso Amorim, the foreign adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, about how Brazil could play a key role in peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Lula recently met with President Biden, who has unsuccessfully pushed Brazil to send weapons to Ukraine. Lula says he told Biden, “I don’t want to join the war, I want to end the war.” “If you only talk how to defeat Russia, how to enfeeble or weaken Russia, that will not come to a positive conclusion,” says Amorim, who also previously served as Brazil’s foreign minister, as well as its defense minister. “You have to talk to everyone, including your adversaries.”

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

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental, and economic justice.

• President Biden vows Western allies “have Ukraine’s back”
• Russian President Putin suspends participation in the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty with the U.S.
• Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump sues New York and federal authorities on 58th anniversary of assassination of Malcolm X
• Supreme Court justices hear case seeking to hold Google responsible for terrorist content

Image: Open Clipart @GDJ

The post President Biden in Poland where he vows support for Ukraine; President Putin pulls Russia out of last remaining nuclear pact; Lawsuit charges government complicity in assassination of Malcolm X: The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – February 21, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

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

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed over the weekend to lead a worldwide movement to end the 61-year U.S. embargo of Cuba.

"We are going to continue demanding the removal, the elimination of the blockade against Cuba, which is inhumane," López Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, said Saturday in a speech attended by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

"Mexico will lead a more active movement so that all countries unite and defend the independence and sovereignty of Cuba."

"And not only when it comes to voting at the U.N., which is always won. Only one or two countries abstain or vote against" annual resolutions condemning the embargo, AMLO continued, referring to the U.S. and Israel. "The majority of the countries of the world are in favor of the elimination of the blockade, but the assembly passes and it's back to the same thing."

"Mexico will lead a more active movement so that all countries unite and defend the independence and sovereignty of Cuba," said AMLO, who denounced Washington's attempts to treat the Caribbean island "as a terrorist country or put them on a blacklist of alleged terrorists."

Anti-war activists from CodePink praised AMLO for "once again providing such an important voice against U.S. imperialism and bullying."

Last summer, the Mexican president boycotted the Summit of the Americas, held in Los Angeles, due to the White House's refusal to invite officials from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to the meeting.

"Together with friends in Mexico and around the world, we will unblock Cuba," CodePink tweeted Sunday.

Following Obama-era efforts at normalization, former U.S. President Donald Trump intensified Washington's crackdown on the small island nation, implementing more than 240 punitive policies even as Cubans endured acute shortages of food and medicine amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of the Trump administration's most "despicable" actions, according to critics, was its last-minute decision to put Cuba back on the State Department's list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism" (SSOT), a move that has derailed the provision of economic aid and loans made by international financial institutions.

Despite Democratic lawmakers' pleas and President Joe Biden's own campaign pledge to reverse his predecessor's "failed" approach to Cuba, the White House imposed additional economic sanctions against the island following anti-government protests in July 2021 and has so far refused to remove the country from the SSOT blacklist.

Last month, a group of 160 mostly U.S. lawyers implored Biden to "immediately initiate a review and notification process to remove Cuba from the SSOT list," writing that "there is no legal or moral justification" for the country to remain on it.

That letter from the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect came a few months after more than 10,000 people and 100 progressive advocacy groups signed an open letter demanding, to no avail, that Biden reverse Trump's terrorism designation for Cuba and reinstate Obama-era policy toward the nation.

Meanwhile, Cuba has continued to send doctors to various parts of the world to help tackle Covid-19 and other diseases. In defiance of more than six decades of harmful U.S. sanctions, the biggest export of the island, which has a lower child mortality rate than its more powerful and hostile neighbor to the north, is medical care.

On Saturday, AMLO thanked Díaz-Canel for sending Cuban doctors to provide healthcare in remote areas of Mexico.

Díaz-Canel, for his part, also expressed gratitude during his visit to Mexico's southeastern port city of Campeche.

"I once again thank our brother nation for its solidarity with the Cuban people, who have faced tremendously difficult challenges in the last few years and months due to a combination of the blows of nature and the effects of the toughened blockade," said Díaz-Canel.

"I once again thank our brother nation for its solidarity with the Cuban people, who have faced tremendously difficult challenges in the last few years and months."

Last summer, a few weeks after 55 House Democrats joined their Republican counterparts to defeat Rep. Rashida Tlaib's (D-Mich.) legislative attempt to make it easier for an economically battered Cuba to import food grown by U.S. farmers, the island was further devastated by a catastrophic oil fire.

Despite the best efforts of a handful of progressive lawmakers who urged the Biden administration to do more, the U.S. limited its disaster response to phone consultations and refused to repeal sanctions even as they created barriers to delivering humanitarian aid. Mexico, by contrast, dispatched firefighting resources to help contain the blaze.

On Saturday, AMLO awarded Díaz-Canel the "Order of the Aztec Eagle," Mexico's highest honor for foreigners. Previous recipients include Gabriel García Márquez, a Colombian novelist and Nobel literature laureate, and Nelson Mandela, a South African anti-apartheid organizer and eventual president of his country.

In addition, AMLO and Díaz-Canel participated in bilateral talks to outline plans for further cooperation on matters of trade and healthcare.

“The U.S. government should lift, as soon as possible, the unjust and inhuman blockade of the Cuban people," AMLO said Saturday. "It's time for a new coexistence among all the countries of Latin America."

The Mexican president argued that U.S. policy toward Cuba "is completely worn out, anachronistic, it has no future or point, and it no longer benefits anyone."

"Its people and government are deeply humane," AMLO said of the island nation. "Long live the dignified people of Cuba!"

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Kenny Stancil.

Rep. Ilhan Omar vowed Thursday that the House GOP's vote to remove her from the chamber's foreign affairs panel would not stop her from criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinians, a pledge that came after the Israeli government carried out its latest bombing campaign in the occupied Gaza Strip.

"My critique of our foreign policy, Israel's policy towards Palestinians, or that of any foreign nation will not change," Omar (D-Minn.) wrote in a Twitter post following passage of a Republican resolution forcing her off the House Foreign Affairs Committee—a seat she has used to speak out against human rights violations and demand accountability for war crimes, including those committed by the U.S. and Israel.

"As a person who suffered the horrors of war and persecution," Omar added, "my advocacy will always be for those that suffer because of the actions of governments."

The House vote was held hours after Israel's far-right government launched a series of airstrikes in the densely populated "open-air prison" of Gaza, bombings that came a week after Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. When two rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza in the wake of the massacre, Israel bombarded the enclave, reportedly hitting a refugee camp at the center of the strip.

During the floor debate ahead of the GOP resolution's passage, Republican lawmakers made clear that Omar's criticisms of Israeli policy—which are frequently conflated with antisemitism—were a driving force behind the effort to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) specifically cited Omar's past characterization of Israel as an "apartheid" state, calling the description "appalling"—even though mainstream organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have offered the same assessment of Israel's decades-long occupation and brutalization of Palestinians.

"Rep. Ilhan Omar was booted off of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today for one reason only: her firm and unequivocal opposition to Israel's brutal apartheid rule over the Palestinian people," wrote Josh Ruebner, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the former policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

"All other pretexts," Ruebner argued, "are just designed to obscure this fact."

"Israel has long attempted to silence findings of apartheid with targeted smear campaigns, and the international community allows itself to be cowed by these tactics."

The House GOP passed its resolution kicking Omar off the powerful committee as rights groups warned that Israel is ramping up its assault on Palestinian rights and livelihoods.

“This circus is happening while the Israeli government is escalating an entirely new phase of state violence against Palestinians," Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, told The Intercept's Akela Lacy, who argued Thursday that congressional Democrats "paved the way" for the GOP's attacks on Omar.

“If you actually look at what the Israeli government is doing right now," Miller said, "the mask is off completely."

Over the weekend, Israel moved to seal—and signaled plans to demolish—the West Bank homes of two Palestinians suspected of deadly attacks against Israelis. Human Rights Watch condemned Israel's response as an act of "collective punishment."

“Deliberate attacks on civilians are reprehensible crimes," Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday. "But just as no grievance can justify the intentional targeting of civilians in Neve Yaakov, such attacks cannot justify Israeli authorities intentionally punishing the families of Palestinian suspects by demolishing their homes and throwing them out on the street."

Amnesty International noted earlier this week that Israeli forces killed 35 Palestinians in January alone. Last year was one of the deadliest in decades for Palestinians in the occupied territories.

"The devastating events of the past week have exposed yet again the deadly cost of the system of apartheid," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary-general. "The international community's failure to hold Israeli authorities to account for apartheid and other crimes has given them free rein to segregate, control, and oppress Palestinians on a daily basis, and helps perpetuate deadly violence."

"Apartheid is a crime against humanity, and it is frankly chilling to see the perpetrators evade justice year after year," Callamard added. "Israel has long attempted to silence findings of apartheid with targeted smear campaigns, and the international community allows itself to be cowed by these tactics. Until apartheid is dismantled there is no hope of protecting civilian lives, and no hope of justice for grieving families in Palestine and Israel."

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

Rep. Ilhan Omar vowed Thursday that the House GOP's vote to remove her from the chamber's foreign affairs panel would not stop her from criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinians, a pledge that came after the Israeli government carried out its latest bombing campaign in the occupied Gaza Strip.

"My critique of our foreign policy, Israel's policy towards Palestinians, or that of any foreign nation will not change," Omar (D-Minn.) wrote in a Twitter post following passage of a Republican resolution forcing her off the House Foreign Affairs Committee—a seat she has used to speak out against human rights violations and demand accountability for war crimes, including those committed by the U.S. and Israel.

"As a person who suffered the horrors of war and persecution," Omar added, "my advocacy will always be for those that suffer because of the actions of governments."

The House vote was held hours after Israel's far-right government launched a series of airstrikes in the densely populated "open-air prison" of Gaza, bombings that came a week after Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. When two rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza in the wake of the massacre, Israel bombarded the enclave, reportedly hitting a refugee camp at the center of the strip.

During the floor debate ahead of the GOP resolution's passage, Republican lawmakers made clear that Omar's criticisms of Israeli policy—which are frequently conflated with antisemitism—were a driving force behind the effort to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) specifically cited Omar's past characterization of Israel as an "apartheid" state, calling the description "appalling"—even though mainstream organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have offered the same assessment of Israel's decades-long occupation and brutalization of Palestinians.

"Rep. Ilhan Omar was booted off of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today for one reason only: her firm and unequivocal opposition to Israel's brutal apartheid rule over the Palestinian people," wrote Josh Ruebner, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the former policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

"All other pretexts," Ruebner argued, "are just designed to obscure this fact."

"Israel has long attempted to silence findings of apartheid with targeted smear campaigns, and the international community allows itself to be cowed by these tactics."

The House GOP passed its resolution kicking Omar off the powerful committee as rights groups warned that Israel is ramping up its assault on Palestinian rights and livelihoods.

“This circus is happening while the Israeli government is escalating an entirely new phase of state violence against Palestinians," Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, told The Intercept's Akela Lacy, who argued Thursday that congressional Democrats "paved the way" for the GOP's attacks on Omar.

“If you actually look at what the Israeli government is doing right now," Miller said, "the mask is off completely."

Over the weekend, Israel moved to seal—and signaled plans to demolish—the West Bank homes of two Palestinians suspected of deadly attacks against Israelis. Human Rights Watch condemned Israel's response as an act of "collective punishment."

“Deliberate attacks on civilians are reprehensible crimes," Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday. "But just as no grievance can justify the intentional targeting of civilians in Neve Yaakov, such attacks cannot justify Israeli authorities intentionally punishing the families of Palestinian suspects by demolishing their homes and throwing them out on the street."

Amnesty International noted earlier this week that Israeli forces killed 35 Palestinians in January alone. Last year was one of the deadliest in decades for Palestinians in the occupied territories.

"The devastating events of the past week have exposed yet again the deadly cost of the system of apartheid," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary-general. "The international community's failure to hold Israeli authorities to account for apartheid and other crimes has given them free rein to segregate, control, and oppress Palestinians on a daily basis, and helps perpetuate deadly violence."

"Apartheid is a crime against humanity, and it is frankly chilling to see the perpetrators evade justice year after year," Callamard added. "Israel has long attempted to silence findings of apartheid with targeted smear campaigns, and the international community allows itself to be cowed by these tactics. Until apartheid is dismantled there is no hope of protecting civilian lives, and no hope of justice for grieving families in Palestine and Israel."

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

The CPP held an extraordinary congress from Jan. 28-29, less than six months before the National Assembly elections in July, and chose to nominate the strongman Hun Sen for upcoming elections. 

Ruling party spokesperson Chhim Phalvarun confirmed at a Jan. 29 news conference that the ruling party was making the move to "change attitudes" among Cambodians to avoid sentiments that affect national unity. 

“We are now entering a political culture in which we are 30 years old of a multiparty liberal democracy,” he said. “ Thus, the Royal Government … can issue strict principles to prevent excessive extremist political character.” 

But Cambodian political analyst Kim Sok, living in exile to escape persecution by authorities, said that the ruling party is the “extremist” political element, arguing that it has destroyed democracy and rule of law in the Southeast Asian nation. 

“It is the CPP itself that is extremist, while the pro-democracy political parties are not extremist,” Kim Sok said. “They just demand a contest that is in line with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia: free and fair. That is not extreme. ”

Kim Sok added that the ruling party’s continued crackdowns are an indication of its concern that rising opposition groups, like the Candlelight Party, could beat it in elections. 

Political scientist Em Sovannara said the government’s portrayal of its opposition as an “extremist” group will set the stage for continued judicial crackdowns. 

"We see the determination and political messages of the ruling party leaders so far, it makes the opposition leaders victimized,” he said. “Many public institutions, which are supposed to be independent, seem to send messages that do not reflect their independent stance, but rather  represent the ruling party.”

Hun Sen’s son, Hun Manet, is widely expected to succeed him in office as leader of the party and of Cambodia. But ruling party spokesperson Sous Yara declined to say what the next steps in that process would be. 

“Our only candidate is Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen,” Sous Yara said, using Hun Sen’s honorific title. “For His Excellency Hun Manet, it is a matter that we will confirm later when he [Hun Sen] gets elected.”

But Kim Sok said this move may be an attempt to provide cover for Hun Sen’s succession plans, allowing him to transfer leadership during an inter-election period. 

“It looks like Prime Minister Hun Sen has no choice but to deceive his internal party and the Cambodian people to achieve the plan to transfer power from him to his son Hun Manet.” Kim Sok said.

For decades, Hun Sen has consolidated his hold on power and eliminated all serious opposition parties running against him. He has publicly stated that he not only wants to be the next prime minister's father, but also to be any subsequent prime minister's grandfather.

This year’s parliamentary elections will be the second such vote since courts beholden to Hun Sen outlawed the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in 2017, arresting or driving its leadership into exile.

Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Nawar Nemeh and Paul Eckert.

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

Delegates resolved to focus their initial efforts on strengthening the development and dissemination of lifesaving technologies in low-income nations.

"Delegates agreed that a key priority must be to secure science and technology sovereignty."

This decision comes one year after Cuban officials announced, at a press conference convened by the Progressive International (PI), their plan to deliver 200 million homegrown Covid-19 vaccine doses to impoverished countries abandoned by their wealthy counterparts and Big Pharma—along with tools to enable domestic production and expert support to improve distribution.

It also comes as Cuba assumes the presidency of the Group of 77 (G77), a bloc of 134 developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America where "the combined crises of food, energy, and environment" are escalating, PI noted.

"What is the common vision to guide the Global South out of this crisis?" the coalition asked. "What is the plan to win it? What is the New International Economic Order for the 21st century?"

"After two days of detailed discussions about how to transform our shared world, delegates agreed that a key priority must be to secure science and technology sovereignty," PI general coordinator David Adler said Sunday at the conclusion of the Havana Congress. "From pharmaceuticals to green tech, from digital currencies to microchips, too much of humanity is locked out of both benefiting from scientific advances and contributing to new ones. We will, as today's declaration calls for, work to build 'a planetary bloc led by the South and reinforced by the solidarities of the North' to liberate knowledge and peoples."

Speaking at the January 12 ceremony during which Cuba ascended to the G77 presidency, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla emphasized the need for coordinated action across the Global South on science and tech, arguing that "scientific-technical development is today monopolized by a club of countries that monopolize most of the patents, technologies, research centers, and promote the drain of talent from our countries."

The G77 Summit on Science, Technology, and Innovation, scheduled for September in Havana, seeks to "unite, complement each other, integrate our national capacities so as not to be relegated to future pandemics," said Parrilla.

During his speech on the first day of the Havana Congress, meanwhile, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis called for a new non-aligned movement to "end the legalized robbery of people and Earth fueling climate catastrophe."

Read the full Havana Declaration on the New International Economic Order:

The Havana Congress,

Recalling the role of the Cuban Revolution in the struggle to unite the Southern nations of the world, and the spirit of the 1966 Havana Tricontinental Conference that convened peoples from Asia, Africa, and Latin America to chart a path to collective liberation in the face of severe global crises and sustained imperial subjugation;

Hearing the echoes of that history today, as crises of hunger, disease, and war once again overwhelm the world, compounded by a rapidly changing climate and the droughts, floods, and hurricanes that not only threaten to inflame conflicts between peoples, but also risk the extinction of humanity at large;

Celebrating the legacy of the anti-colonial struggle, and the victories won by combining a program of sovereign development at home, solidarity for national liberation abroad, and a strong Southern bloc to force concessions to its interests, culminating in the adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO);

Acknowledging that the project of decolonization remains incomplete, disrupted by concerted attacks on the unity of the South in the form of wars, coups, sanctions, structural adjustment, and the false promise that sovereign development might be won through integration into a hierarchical world system;

Emphasizing that the result has been the sustained divergence between North and South, characterized by the same dynamics that defined the international economic order five decades prior: the extraction of natural resources, the enclosure of 'intellectual property,' the plunder of structural adjustment, and the exclusion of the multilateral system;

Recognizing that despite these setbacks, the flame of Southern resistance did not die; that the pursuit of sovereign development has yielded unprecedented achievements—from mass literacy and universal healthcare to poverty alleviation and medical innovation—that enable a renewed campaign of Southern cooperation today;

Stressing that this potential for Southern unity is perceived as a threat to Northern powers, which seek once again to preserve their position in the hierarchy of the world system through mechanisms of economic exclusion, political coercion, and military aggression;

Seizing the opportunity of the present historical juncture, when the crisis of the existing world system can either entrench inequalities or embolden the call to reclaim Southern protagonism in the construction of a new world order based on justice, equity, and peace;

The Havana Congress calls to:

• Renew the Non-Aligned Movement: In the face of increasing geopolitical tensions born from a decisive shift in the global balance of power, the Congress calls to resist the siren song of the new Cold War and to renew the project of non-alignment, grounded in the principles of sovereignty, peace, and cooperation articulated at the 1955 Bandung Conference, 1961 Non-Aligned Conference, 1966 Tricontinental Conference, and beyond.
• Renovate the NIEO: To accompany the renewed non-aligned movement, the Congress calls to renovate the vision for a New International Economic Order fit for the 21st century; a vision that must draw inspiration from the original Declaration, but also account for the key issues—from digital technology to environmental breakdown—that define the present conditions for sovereign development; and to enshrine this vision in a new U.N. Declaration on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
• Assert Southern Power: The Congress recognizes that economic liberation will not be granted, but must be seized. As the original call for a New International Economic Order was won through the exercise of collective power in the coordinated production of petroleum, so our vision today can only be realized through the collective action of the South and the formation of new and alternative institutions to share critical technology, tackle sovereign debt, drive development finance, face future pandemics together, as well as coordinate positions on international climate action and the protection of national sovereignty over the extraction of natural resources.
• Accompany Cuba in the G77: The Congress recognizes the critical opportunity afforded by Cuba's presidency of the Group of 77 plus China to lead the South out of the present crisis and channel the lessons of its Revolution toward concrete proposals and ambitious initiatives to transform the broader international system.
• Build a Planetary Bloc: The Congress calls on all peoples and nations of the world to join in this struggle to definitively achieve the New International Economic Order; to build a planetary bloc led by the South and reinforced by the solidarities of the North, whose peoples recognize their obligation to resist the crimes committed in their names; and to bring the spirit of this Havana Congress into the communities that we call home.

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

Vietnam’s controversial build-operate-transfer model gives concessions to private companies to build booths across the country and run them for a set period of time before returning them to public ownership.

Protesters say unscrupulous operators have been building booths in locations that haven’t  been approved by the Ministry of Transport.

Hue was arrested on Oct. 16, 2019 after blocking the entrance to Hanoi’s North Thang Long-Noi Bai Toll Station with a convoy of protesters who refused to pay.

The activists claimed the booth operator was collecting tolls to fund a bypass they didn’t use.

Hue was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the People's Court of Hanoi’s Soc Son district in May 2020 for "disturbing public order," extended to 42 months due to a previously suspended sentence for “fraudulent appropriation of property.”

An appeal only cut her sentence by three months and she suffered harsh treatment in prison but Hue remained defiant following her Jan. 16 release.

“I will fight to the end to move wrongly-placed [booths] back to the right places,” she told RFA.

Campaigners still face arrest

She said nothing had changed during her time in prison, with illegal toll collection continuing and the National Assembly rejecting a Transport Ministry proposal to buy back booths operating in the wrong places.

Hue said activists campaigning against a booth in northeastern Vietnam’s Thai Nguyen province are in danger of being arrested because local authorities haven’t changed their attitude.

“They see the wrong, they accept it by having options for conversion and modification but they continue to criminalize the people who speak up,” she said. “They continue to use their power to oppress activists and prevent their protests.”

On the day of her release from Thanh Hoa province’s Prison No. 5, Hue said dozens of fellow activists gathered at the prison gate to pick her up. However, guards took her out of the camp before dawn and abandoned her 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.

When her friends found her hours later, she was shivering from the cold, Hue said.

RFA was unable to contact prison authorities to verify her claims.

Prison law

Hue said she worked six days a week in Prison No. 5 and Yen Khanh Prison, where she was previously held, even though she was ill-fed and lacked proper medical care.

She said prisoners were forced to get up at 5:30 and work for eight hours without toilet breaks.

Women were forced to farm, weave and sew, while men mined stones for no pay.

At Yen Khanh, prisoners had to wade up to their necks in a sewage-filled pond to pick duckweed to feed pigs and chickens, Hue said. Many women got scabies all over their bodies, which went untreated.

Political prisoners are not forced to work, but are locked in their cells if they refuse, so Hue said she chose to work in order to get some fresh air.

In both of the prisons she successfully campaigned against the six-day working week and now inmates get two days off, she said.

According to Vietnamese law, prisoners are supposed to receive a salary to pay for extra food and other essentials, usually leaving some money for them on release. Hue said she didn't receive any money when she was freed.

“They have their own rules, the prison law, not Vietnam's Criminal Judgment Execution Law. Each prison has its own law [to force prisoners] to work differently,” she said.

Medical negligence

Hue described medical care in the two prisons as terrible, with untrained staff who only prescribed painkillers. Many prisoners diagnosed each other’s illnesses and filled out their own medical declarations because staff didn’t examine them, she said.

Cells in Prison No. 5 were cramped, with people lying on stone floors on thin blankets. Each inmate had only 60 centimeters (24 inches) between other prisoners to sleep in, leading to fights.

Prisoners were not allowed to receive food and other essentials from their families in either prison, Hue said, forcing them to buy items three to four times more expensive than they would normally be.

Cramped conditions, insufficient food, hard labor and a lack of proper medical treatment is common in Vietnam’s prisons. In November religious leader Phan Van Thu, 74, died while serving a life sentence at Gia Trung Detention Center in southern Gia Lai province.

Another prisoner of conscience, Luu Van Vinh, said Thu complained of feeling ill but guards failed to check on him or allow him to see a doctor, his wife Nguyen Thi Thap told RFA at the time.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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

Top banks in the United States and around the world have made a show of embracing net-zero emissions pledges, portraying themselves as allies in the fight against the global climate emergency.

But a new analysis published Tuesday by a group of NGOs makes clear that the world's leading financial institutions—including major Wall Street banks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America—are still pumping money into fossil fuel expansion, bolstering the industry that is primarily responsible for worsening climate chaos.

According to the report, 56 of the largest banks in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA)—a coalition convened by the United Nations—have provided nearly $270 billion in the form of loans and underwriting to more than 100 "major fossil fuel expanders," from Saudi Aramco to ExxonMobil to Shell.

Additionally, 58 of the biggest members of the Net-Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative—including the investment behemoths BlackRock and Vanguard—held at least $847 billion worth of stocks and bonds in more than 200 large fossil fuel developers as of September.

Both the NZBA and the NZAM are under the umbrella of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ), a campaign launched in 2021 with the goal of expanding "the number of net zero-committed financial institutions." Climate advocates have long argued that net-zero pledges are fundamentally inadequate to the task of stopping runaway warming.

"The science is very clear: we need to stop developing new coal, oil, and gas projects as soon as possible if we want to meet our climate goals and avoid a worst-case scenario," said Lucie Pinson, the executive director and founder of the watchdog group Reclaim Finance. "Yet, it is business as usual for most banks and investors who continue to support fossil fuel developers without any restrictions, despite their high-profile commitments to carbon neutrality."

"Their greenwashing is all the more damaging as it casts doubt on the sincerity of all net-zero commitments and undermines the efforts of those who are truly acting for the climate," Pinson added.

The groups found that the U.S.-based Wall Street giants Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo provided nearly $90 billion in total financing for fossil fuel expansion between the dates they joined the NZBA and August 2022.

Citigroup, which touts its net-zero commitments on its website, led the pack with $30.5 billion in fossil fuel financing from April 2021 to August 2022.

"The U.S. financial sector cannot be taken seriously on climate change until it stops investing in new fossil fuel projects," said Adele Shraiman, a representative for the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign. "We need an urgent transition to a green economy and the financial sector must help deliver that."

Overall, according to the new report, "229 of the world's largest fossil fuel developers received finance from the 161 GFANZ members covered... which will support them to develop new coal power plants, mines, ports, and other infrastructure, as well as new oil and gas fields and pipelines and LNG terminals."

"These new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, as confirmed in the latest International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook published in October 2022," the report states. "They will lock in greenhouse gas emissions for decades, despite the adoption of decarbonization targets by some GFANZ members."

Paddy McCully, a senior analyst at Reclaim Finance, said in a statement that "GFANZ members are acting as climate arsonists."

"They've pledged to achieve net-zero but are continuing to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into fossil fuel developers," said McCully. "GFANZ and its member alliances will only be credible once they up their game and insist that their members help bring a rapid end to the era of coal, oil, and fossil gas expansion."

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

As part of his bargain with the fascist blocs of Religious Zionism and Jewish Power, according to the Israeli newspaper Arab 48, incoming Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke of an “exclusive Jewish right” to expand settlements inside Israel proper, in Galilee and the Negev, as well as to plant squatters in the Palestinian West Bank.

An exclusive Jewish right to settle and live in the land implicitly announces that the 6.5 million Palestinians who live on it are there by suffrage and maybe have no right to be there at all. That right is exclusively Jewish, Netanyahu says.

A Jordanian newspaper called this plank of his platform “the execution of the Palestinian people.”

According to the Associated Press, Netanyahu announced that he will legalize those Israeli squatter-settlements on Palestinian-owned land that even Israel had considered illegal. He would vastly expand the number of Israeli squatters in the Palestinian West Bank. And ultimately, he pledged to annex the Palestinian West Bank entirely to Israel.

Since Netanyahu has no intention of ever granting Israeli citizenship to the 3 million Palestinians living under Israeli military rule, the formal annexation of their territory would cement Israel’s Apartheid system of racial difference.

According to Arab 48, the Adalah human rights organization denounced the platform as openly racist, discriminatory and Jewish supremacist, especially the language about exclusive Jewish rights to the land, which implies that Palestinian East Jerusalem will never be allowed to become the capital of a Palestinian state. Adalah called on the world to take a stand against this flagrant Israeli Apartheid.

The outline of Netanyahu’s governmental program ominously said that preference would be given to former soldiers in the Israeli army for admission to university departments of medicine, law, computer science, accounting, and engineering. Since the 21% of the population who are of Palestinian heritage are not permitted to serve in the military, this step would put them at a severe disadvantage in receiving admission to those departments. Only the small community of Druze are an exception to the ban on military service.

He wants to make reforms in the education system. The mealy-mouthed contradictions are apparent in his pledge both to treat all communities equally and to use the education system to “strengthen Jewish identity.”

Likewise, he will safeguard the Jewish character of the state, but not upset the status quo among the various religions in Israel. (Most of the 21% who are of Palestinian heritage are Muslim, but there is a vocal Christian minority that is increasingly upset about Jewish attacks on churches and attempts to take away church lands. Netanyahu’s new best friends on the fascist Right are for anything but treating non-Jews equally or maintaining the status quo regarding Muslim and Christian places of worship.

But of course Palestinian-Israelis are 21% of the population and sometimes they can have an impact on elections, so Netanyahu turned around and said in his platform that he would address issues in insecurity and crime in Palestinian-Israeli communities, and would invest in education and infrastructure for them. Very magnanimous of him, since apparently they are excluded from the exclusively Jewish right to even be there.

His platform made a sinister call for a “rebalancing” of the powers of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, with the implication that the judiciary would be cut down to size. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption before the courts. Netanyahu apparently wants to strike down the prerogative of judicial review of laws that appear to contradict organic laws that have a constitutional character. In short, the supreme court could not overturn a law of the parliament or Knesset that its justices believe to be unconstitutional.

It is sort of as though Steve Bannon were elected president and started rejiggering the U.S. constitution and racial relations, only in Hebrew.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Juan Cole.

Climate campaigners welcomed the U.S. Postal Service's announcement Tuesday that it plans to buy at least 66,000 electric vehicles in the coming years to replace its aging, gas-guzzling fleet, a move that comes after months of pressure from environmental groups and the Biden White House.

In a statement, the USPS—led by scandal-plagued Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—said at least 45,000 of the 60,000 next-generation delivery vehicles (NGDV) it intends to purchase from Oshkosh Defense by 2028 will be electric. The postal agency added that it also plans to buy "an additional 21,000 battery-electric delivery vehicles through 2028, representing a mix of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles."

"Every neighborhood, every household in America deserves to have electric USPS trucks delivering clean air with their mail."

The USPS said 100% of the NGDV purchases delivered in 2026 and beyond are expected to be electric and promised to continue exploring the "feasibility of achieving 100% electrification for the overall Postal Service delivery vehicle fleet."

The Washington Post reported that "the Postal Service will continue buying internal combustion engine vehicles because half of the fleet still consists of delivery vans and trucks that travel longer distances to ferry mail between cities and states."

Nevertheless, advocates who have been sharply critical of DeJoy's handling of new vehicle procurement plans applauded the USPS announcement Tuesday as a significant step in the right direction.

Katherine García of the Sierra Club, one of several environmental groups that sued the U.S. Postal Service in April over its previous plan to replace its dilapidated fleet with mostly gas-powered trucks, said Tuesday that "finally we're seeing the commonsense decision to move the government's largest fleet of vehicles to all-electric, a massive win for climate and public health."

"Instead of receiving pollution with their daily mail packages, communities across the U.S. will get the relief of cleaner air," said García. "The way we get to a 100% electric fleet matters—these vehicles must be union-built and made with materials from a clean supply chain."

The mail agency's new vehicle plan represents a dramatic shift from its original proposal earlier this year. Under that plan, as the climate group Earthjustice explained Tuesday, "90% of the new trucks would be combustion vehicles with a worse fuel economy than a gas-powered Ford F-150 and worse mileage than the 1988 Grumman postal truck model when new."

"In the course of a year we've gone from a USPS plan to buy trucks with the fuel economy of a late 1990s Hummer to a visionary commitment to modernize mail delivery in the United States with electric trucks," Adrian Martinez, an attorney with Earthjustice, said in a statement. "We're grateful to the Biden administration for stepping in to put us on course for an electric future."

"Every neighborhood, every household in America deserves to have electric USPS trucks delivering clean air with their mail, and today's announcement takes us almost all the way there," said Martinez. "The Postal Service's shift to only purchasing electric mail trucks within five years is the marker of a sea change in the federal fleet as the country looks to an electric future."

Given that the transportation sector is one of the largest sources of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, the Postal Service's shift toward electrification could have major implications for President Joe Biden's push to cut the country's emissions by at least 50% by 2030.

Earlier this year, the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criticized the Postal Service's original plan to replace its delivery fleet with largely gas-powered trucks, warning that the USPS failed to "consider more environmentally protective feasible alternatives."

"The Postal Service's proposal as currently crafted represents a crucial lost opportunity to more rapidly reduce the carbon footprint of one of the largest government fleets in the world," Vicki Arroyo, associate administrator of policy for the EPA, wrote in a February letter.

Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, celebrated the newly revealed plan as important progress, saying in a statement that "neighborhoods will see cleaner air, better health, and good-paying clean energy jobs" as a result.

"The U.S. Postal Service plan sets the pace for other leading public and private sector fleets," said Mallory. "It is clear that the future of transportation is electric—and that future is here."

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

A House Republican from Pennsylvania said Sunday that Congress will intervene to stop a nationwide strike if rail companies and unions don't reach a contract agreement soon, a step that would likely force workers to accept a deal without any paid sick days.

Acknowledging that rail workers "have a very reasonable ask" for better benefits and wages as they continue to labor under a punishing scheduling system, Rep. Brian Kevin Fitzpatrick said in a Fox News appearance Sunday that "Congress will not let this strike happen, that's for sure."

"Tell your elected leaders to give railroad workers the sick time they need or let them strike."

"It would be devastating for our economy" Fitzpatrick added. "We'll get to a resolution one way or another."

Powerful industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Association of American Railroads have been pressuring Congress to step in after members of the largest rail union in the United States voted to reject a White House-brokered contract deal that rebuffed workers' push for at least 15 days of paid sick leave. The deal, touted by the Biden White House as a victory for workers and profitable rail companies, does not include a single paid sick day.

Under the Railway Labor Act of 1926, Congress has the authority to intervene in rail labor disputes—power it has used in the past. In September, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blocked Republican legislation that would have forced rail workers to accept the inadequate contract recommendations of an emergency board convened by President Joe Biden.

The prospect of congressional intervention ahead of a potential strike on December 9 has angered rail workers who say it would let giant companies off the hook, allowing them to continue abusing their employees while raking in record profits. Rail workers are often forced to be on call 24/7—with minimal rest between long shifts—and are penalized for taking days off for doctor's appointments or health emergencies.

In June, a locomotive engineer died of a heart attack after he put off a doctor's visit when his employer BNSF—a rail giant owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway—called him into work.

"When railroads refuse to give us sick time, what they are saying is their profits are worth more than their workers and the national economy," Ross Grooters, co-chair of Railroad Workers United, tweeted over the weekend. "Hold the railroads accountable. Tell your elected leaders to give railroad workers the sick time they need or let them strike."

Progressive lawmakers have also placed blame for the looming strike with large railroad companies, which have been gorging on their own stock, reporting huge profits, and enriching shareholders and executives while refusing to budge on workers' longstanding demands for basic quality-of-life benefits.

"The corporate greed never ends," Sanders wrote Sunday. "Last year, the rail industry made a record-breaking $20 billion in profits after cutting their workforce by 30% over the last six years. Meanwhile, rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days. Congress must stand with rail workers."

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said last week that he is "hoping the railroads will get reasonable."

"This is the 21st Century and to have skilled workers being denied sick leave, even unpaid sick leave, is unconscionable," DeFazio told Bloomberg Government. "Freight rail companies are watching their record profits, 'Oh my God, if we give people paid sick leave our stock might drop by a dollar.' Give me a break."

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

Leftist Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vowed Wednesday to halt deforestation of the Amazon and to establish a special ministry to protect Indigenous forest dwellers from human rights abuses.

"The planet, at every moment, warns us that we need each other to survive."

During a speech at the United Nations COP27 climate conference in Egypt—his first on the international stage since he defeated Brazil's outgoing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, just over two weeks ago—Lula said that "there's no climate security for the world without a protected Amazon," roughly 60% of which is located in Brazil.

Parts of the Amazon, often referred to as the "lungs of the Earth" due to its unparalleled capacity to provide oxygen and absorb planet-heating carbon dioxide, recently passed a key tipping point after Bolsonaro intensified the destruction of the tropical rainforest during his four-year reign. According to one estimate, Bolsonaro's regressive policy changes are responsible for the eradication of as many as two billion trees in South America's largest nation.

"This devastation [of the Amazon] will be a thing of the past," said Lula, who previously served as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010 and takes office again on January 1. "The crimes that happened during the current government will now be combated. We will rebuild our enforcement capabilities and monitoring systems that were dismantled during the past four years."

Most of the deforestation that occurred under Bolsonaro was illegal, propelled by logging, mining, and agribusiness companies that often used violence to run roughshod over Indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon.

"We will fight hard against illegal deforestation," the 77-year-old Lula, a member of the Workers' Party, continued. "We will take care of Indigenous people."

"I'm here to tell you that Brazil is back in the world. Brazil is emerging from the cocoon to which it has been subjected for the last four years," added Lula, who drastically reduced deforestation and channeled an economic boom into downwardly redistributive programs that curbed inequality when he governed Brazil earlier this century.

Lula's speech outlining his government's plan to achieve "zero deforestation" was welcomed by climate justice advocates, who implored him to follow through and pushed him to go further.

"The election of Lula was a victory for us," said Dario Kopenawa, representing the Yanomami Indigenous people and one of Rainforest Foundation Norway's partner organizations. "He has promised zero deforestation, to protect Indigenous people, and take illegal gold diggers out of our territory."

"He must keep his word," Kopenawa said. "The Yanomami people will hold Lula accountable for what he promised during his campaign."

Brazilian activist Ilan Zugman, the director of 350.org for Latin America, said that "the announced measures and guidelines are essential and put Brazil back in the direction of becoming a global leader in combating the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity."

"However, the president-elect also needs to make more concrete announcements for the energy transition in the country," Zugman argued. "For example, if the current plans of the Brazilian oil major Petrobras move forward, Brazil will become, in the coming years, the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, which goes completely against what the world needs and what Brazil is proposing as climate leadership."

Toerris Jaeger, executive director of Rainforest Foundation Norway, called Wednesday "a historic moment of hope, in a critical time for the planet."

"For Brazil to succeed," Jaeger continued, "we urge heads of states to harness this momentum by supporting Lula to reestablish environmental agencies that were damaged during Bolsonaro's government, and investors and business leaders to make sure they cut their links to deforestation."

Notably, Brazil's president-elect is expected to face substantial opposition from corporate interests and right-wing Brazilian legislators. As The Washington Post reported last month, "Some analysts warn that a bloc of lawmakers with ties to agriculture could try to block Lula's environmental policies and pass legislation to facilitate land-grabbing and illegal mining."

Vox also observed recently that "deforestation is unlikely to stop altogether once Lula takes office."

"Bolsonaro's party still dominates Congress and will likely continue supporting the cattle industry, which is behind nearly all forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon," the outlet pointed out. "The country also faces an economic crisis and fallout from mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic, and it's not clear exactly how Lula will prioritize these competing crises."

Regardless, Lula's victory has been hailed as a critical step toward rescuing the Amazon from more severe and potentially irreversible damage.

In his late-October victory speech, Lula said that "a standing tree is worth more than tons of wood illegally harvested by those who think only of easy profit."

"We will promote the sustainable development of the communities who live in the Amazon region," he added. "We will prove that it is possible to generate wealth without destroying the environment."

In his wide-ranging speech on Wednesday, in which he called for fundamental reforms to the U.N. system, Lula urged governments to look beyond "immediate national interest so we can build a new international order" to tackle global warming, poverty, hunger, and related injustices. To positively transform the world's economy and ecology, he argued, "we need more resources for a problem that was created by rich countries but is disproportionally felt by the most vulnerable."

According to the Financial Times: "Political leaders from Germany and Norway have indicated they are willing to restart multimillion-dollar Amazon Fund payments to Brazil to aid conservation efforts as soon as Lula takes office. These payments were halted in 2019 amid surging deforestation and changes to the management of the fund by the Bolsonaro administration."

Earlier this week, Brazil, Congo, and Indonesia—three nations that are home to 52% of the globe's remaining primary tropical rainforests—formally launched an alliance to create a funding mechanism through which wealthy countries can finance conservation efforts around the world, fulfilling one of Lula's campaign pledges.

"Lula needs financial support for stepping up the implementation of Indigenous peoples' forest management plans," said Jaeger. "These plans, based on proven methods of sustainable forest management, are already in place and will, if put into practice, protect valuable rainforests covering an area the size of France. It is just a question of having the resources to carry them out."

Despite scientists' warnings that it will be virtually impossible to avoid the worst consequences of the climate and biodiversity crises unless the world stops felling trees to make space for cattle ranching, monocropping, and other harmful practices, global efforts to reverse deforestation by 2030 are currently behind schedule and woefully underfunded.

"The planet, at every moment, warns us that we need each other to survive, and that alone we are vulnerable," Lula said Wednesday. "It was always in difficult times that humanity overcame challenges," Brazil's president-elect noted before promising to "do whatever it takes" to bring clear-cutting in the Amazon to a swift end.

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

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told former President Donald Trump on Thursday that if he tries to return to the White House or runs for any other political office in 2024, the D.C.-based watchdog will, using the 14th Amendment's anti-insurrectionist clause, attempt to disqualify him for fomenting last year's deadly right-wing riot at the U.S. Capitol.

"By summoning a violent mob to disrupt the transition of presidential power... you made yourself ineligible to hold public office again."

"Should you seek or secure any future elected or appointed government office including the presidency of the United States," CREW president Noah Bookbinder wrote in a letter sent to Trump, "we will pursue your disqualification under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment based on your engaging in the insurrection that culminated on January 6, 2021."

As the letter explains, "Section 3 of the 14th Amendment provides that no individual who engages in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution—after having previously taken an oath to support it—shall hold any federal or state office (unless Congress, by a vote of two-thirds in each house, removes such disability)."

The letter continues:

CREW believes you are barred from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because you engaged in insurrection against the Constitution you swore to defend. On January 20, 2017, you stood on the West Front of the United States Capitol, placed your left hand on the Bible, and swore a sacred oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." On January 6, 2021, an insurrection that you incited culminated in a violent attack on the same hallowed grounds, where Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election pursuant to the 12th Amendment and the Electoral Count Act, 3 U.S.C. § 15. By summoning a violent mob to disrupt the transition of presidential power mandated by the Constitution after having sworn to defend the same, you made yourself ineligible to hold public office again.

"The evidence that Trump engaged in insurrection is overwhelming," Bookbinder said in a statement. "We are ready, willing, and able to take action to make sure the Constitution is upheld and Trump is prevented from holding office."

There is precedent for using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment—originally adopted to disempower members of the Confederacy who engaged in the slaveholding states' treasonous insurrection against the Union—to hold accountable those who participated in Trump's coup attempt.

As CREW noted:

In September, a New Mexico judge ordered Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin be removed from office, following a lawsuit brought by CREW and others, ruling that the attack on the Capitol was an insurrection and that Griffin's participation in it disqualified him under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That decision marked the first time since 1869 that a court has disqualified a public official under Section 3, and the first time that any court has ruled the events of January 6, 2021 an insurrection.

In his letter to Trump, Bookbinder wrote that "CREW is resolved to restore the fundamental expectation that sustains our democracy—that the American people elect their leaders and that government leaders accept those results."

"If you seek elected or appointed office despite being constitutionally disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment for engaging in insurrection," he added, "we and others loyal to the Constitution will defend it."

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

For many Brazilians, Bolsonaro’s defeat represents a rejection of the explicit anti-Indigenous, anti-environmental agenda he enacted while in office. Often referred to as the “Trump of the tropics” for his racist rhetoric, pro-corporate policies, and open attacks on democratic institutions, Bolsonaro gutted environmental enforcement agencies and pushed for mining and agribusiness in the Amazon. 

Bolsonaro has yet to formally concede, and fears that he will claim election fraud linger — truckers have been blocking highways in protest of the vote — but so far many of Lula’s opponents seem to tacitly accept the results.

Environmentalists say Lula’s victory is a chance to reduce deforestation in the Amazon, which skyrocketed to historic heights under Bolsonaro, and reestablish Brazil’s reputation as a leader on climate change. But it won’t be an easy task. 

Bolsonaro has two months left in office to carry out what opponents are calling his last-ditch “destruction package” — a suite of at least seven bills that include granting amnesty for land grabbing, restricting the environmental licensing process, and weakening pesticide regulation. The administration is attempting to push the bills through before the end of Bolsonaro’s term.   

“Right now there is dangerous abuse of law happening in Congress,” Suely Araújo, a public policy expert who ran Brazil’s environmental agency, Ibama, from 2016 to 2018, told Grist. “We’ve been fighting the Bolsonaro government for four years and we are in the final part of this, but we must stay alert. If they want to vote this through, they have time.”

Araújo added that the bills contain setbacks in environmental law that violate the rights of Indigenous peoples and the right to an ecologically balanced environment as guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution.

Lula also enters office at a time when agribusiness, miners, and organized crime in the Amazon are emboldened after years of Bolsonaro rhetoric and policies. On top of this, while leftists took the presidential race this weekend, many local Amazonian regions elected right-wing, pro-agribusiness leaders and Bolsonaro received a majority vote in over half of Brazil’s Amazonian states. Lula, who ran on a platform of rebuilding environmental agencies and fighting deforestation, will have to navigate the interests of Bolsonaro supporters in local governments as well as in Congress.

Lula has promised to update Brazil’s climate goals to steer the country back in line with the Paris Agreement. He has also committed to a list of climate proposals put forth by Marina Silva, the most prominent environmental activist in Brazil who served as his former environment minister. In his first speech as president-elect late Sunday night, he reiterated his strong support for zero deforestation in the Amazon. “Brazil is ready to resume its leading role in the fight against the climate crisis,” he told a crowd of supporters in São Paulo, “protecting all our biomes, especially the Amazon Forest.” 

Carrying out that pledge would likely involve restoring cooperation with Norway and Germany on the Amazon Fund, which contains more than $3 billion for the forest’s protection left untouched since the start of 2019, when Bolsonaro disbanded the fund’s governing body. It would also involve bringing back some version of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon Region, which includes not only monitoring and law enforcement, but also economic incentives to provide alternatives to deforestation.

The transitioning Bolsonaro government will represent Brazil at the United Nations climate summit, COP27, this month in Egypt. It is likely to emphasize the country’s low-carbon energy sector, which relies mostly on hydropower, and deflect from any questions about Amazon deforestation, which makes Brazil a top six global carbon emitter. But Lula has said he will send his own unofficial delegation, where he will pick up his past history of advocating for climate finance and “loss and damage” funding for developing countries. 

“He has a good team that knows how to do this work,” said Araújo, referencing Lula’s acclaimed record on decreasing deforestation during his prior tenure from 2003 to 2010, when his administration reduced rates by over 80 percent. As Lula develops his environmental agenda, Indigenous leaders and environmental groups are calling for a suite of actions, from removing invaders from the Yanomami Indigenous lands to withdrawing PL 191, a bill that is part of the “destruction package” and would allow for mining in Indigenous territories.

“Bolsonaro’s government implemented a kind of textbook dismantling that paralyzed climate policy,” said Araújo. “The first task will be to rebuild, then to advance.”

The election of Lula marks a swing back to the left, joining Brazil with six other Latin American countries that have voted in leftist leaders in the past four years. Like many of these other newly elected presidents, Lula will have to contend with extreme political division, as reflected in the outcome of the vote, where he won by a slim margin of 50.9 percent. 

Brazil’s national congress has a strong conservative block, with links to producers and agribusiness. Lawmakers maintain some leverage over Brazil’s federal budget, but representatives will also need to stay close to the executive branch to access funding for their bases. “It’s common in Brazil’s history to have conservative representatives change when the government changes, to be close to the one in power,” said Araújo, “and Lula is an expert in political articulation. He is good at making coalitions.”

In his victory speech, Lula tied together ideas of fighting inequality and uniting Brazil during a period of political tumult: “No one is interested in living in a divided country,” he said. “Brazil can no longer live with this… wall of concrete and inequality that separate [us] into unequal parts that do not recognize each other.” 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline In Brazil, Lula vows to halt deforestation — but it won’t be easy on Nov 1, 2022.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Blanca Begert.

Local government officials in Papua New Guinea have offered a cash reward for information after the body of policeman Senior Constable Nelson Kalimda — whose body went missing in Tari, Hela — was found yesterday in Margarima.

The body of Papua New Guinean policeman Constable Nelson Kalimda — who went missing in Tari, Hela — was found yesterday in Margarima after the provincial government put up a cash reward.

Provincial police commander Robin Bore confirmed that the body had been found at the Andapali River in Margarima, near the Margarima-Kandep road.

• READ MORE: Other reports on PNG violence against police

“We have brought late Kalimda’s body back to Tari,” Commander Bore said.

Police Commissioner David Manning last night said that for those who wore the police uniform this was a personal loss.

“This is someone who has a family, who has served with us, below us or above us. He was one of us,” he said.

“We swore an oath to serve and we will continue to serve despite this loss

‘Our profession has risks’
“Ours is a profession that comes with risks.”

Manning said investigations were being led by some of the most capable officers in the PNG police force to bring swift justice on those involved in the death of Kalimda.

“I issue them a clear warning to anyone involved with Senior Constable Kalimda’s death to not resist arrest when police catch up with them.

“If these suspects threaten police with weapons, our police personnel have full authority to escalate the use of force and to use all appropriate means necessary to take control of the situation.

“Police have made two arrests so far and there are four other persons of interest that are the subject of an ongoing search.”

Kalimda was part of a team that escorted exam papers into Tari and he went missing on October 20.

He was last seen driving out of a guest house in Tari. His car was found last Thursday, a week after he was first reported missing, in a deserted area at the Komo-Hulia district, near Ambua.

Police assisted with fuel
Governor Philip Undialu said the provincial government assisted police with fuel and funding in the search for Kalimda.

Undialu said a suspect from the area had confessed to killing Kalimda in a phone conversation and said that he had thrown Kalimda’s body into the Andapali River.

He said that after the provincial government received the information, a reward was offered for the community to assist police and the PNG Defence Force to find Kalimda’s body.

“The body was recovered just this afternoon [Sunday] by a group of youths, and we will pay them a reward.”

Undialu also called on the suspect, whose identity is known, to surrender to police and appealed to the community to help bring in the suspect.

Rebecca Kuku is a journalist for The National newspaper. Republished with permission.

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

President Joe Biden pledged Friday to defend Social Security and Medicare from Republican attacks but rejected calls to support a full repeal of the debt ceiling, an arbitrary federal borrowing limit that the GOP is threatening to use as leverage to enact spending cuts.

"The Republican leadership in Congress has made it clear they will crash the economy next year by threatening the full faith and credit of the United States for the first time in our history, putting the United States in default, unless, unless, we yield to their demand to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden said in a speech at the White House.

"Let me be really clear: I will not yield," the president vowed. "I will not cut Social Security. I will not cut Medicare, no matter how hard they work at it."

Biden's remarks came during an address touting new Treasury Department data showing that the federal budget deficit was chopped in half last fiscal year—a finding the president used to hit Republicans for spending hypocrisy.

"The federal deficit went up every single year in the Trump administration, every single year he was president," Biden said. "It went up before the pandemic. It went up during the pandemic. It went up every single year on his watch, the Republican watch."

While Biden pledged to fight GOP attacks on Social Security and Medicare, he told reporters Friday that he would not support scrapping the debt limit, a constraint that Congress imposes on the Treasury Department's ability to borrow to meet its obligations—which include Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The president said repealing the debt limit entirely would be "irresponsible," a position that puts him in conflict with members of his own party and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Short of removing the debt ceiling, congressional Democrats have the option of raising the borrowing limit unilaterally during the upcoming lame-duck session. Such a move would prevent Republicans from following through on their recent threats to use the debt ceiling as leverage to force Social Security and Medicare cuts if they win control of the House, Senate, or both.

Some Democrats have also proposed giving the executive branch the power to raise the debt ceiling, but it's unclear whether the White House supports that idea.

The federal government is expected to reach the current $31.4 trillion debt limit sometime next year. Semafor reported Thursday that Democrats are wary of raising the debt limit during the lame-duck session, fearing GOP attacks.

Countering Biden's claim that eliminating the debt ceiling would be "irresponsible," University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers argued Friday that "the debt ceiling has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility."

"It doesn't control how much Congress takes in or how much it spends," Wolfers noted. "Rather, it says: Once we hit this limit, we'll stop paying our bills, including our debts. It's a fiscal time bomb. Keeping it is irresponsible."

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

President Joe Biden pledged Friday to defend Social Security and Medicare from Republican attacks but rejected calls to support a full repeal of the debt ceiling, an arbitrary federal borrowing limit that the GOP is threatening to use as leverage to enact spending cuts.

"The Republican leadership in Congress has made it clear they will crash the economy next year by threatening the full faith and credit of the United States for the first time in our history, putting the United States in default, unless, unless, we yield to their demand to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden said in a speech at the White House.

"Let me be really clear: I will not yield," the president vowed. "I will not cut Social Security. I will not cut Medicare, no matter how hard they work at it."

Biden's remarks came during an address touting new Treasury Department data showing that the federal budget deficit was chopped in half last fiscal year—a finding the president used to hit Republicans for spending hypocrisy.

"The federal deficit went up every single year in the Trump administration, every single year he was president," Biden said. "It went up before the pandemic. It went up during the pandemic. It went up every single year on his watch, the Republican watch."

While Biden pledged to fight GOP attacks on Social Security and Medicare, he told reporters Friday that he would not support scrapping the debt limit, a constraint that Congress imposes on the Treasury Department's ability to borrow to meet its obligations—which include Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The president said repealing the debt limit entirely would be "irresponsible," a position that puts him in conflict with members of his own party and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Short of removing the debt ceiling, congressional Democrats have the option of raising the borrowing limit unilaterally during the upcoming lame-duck session. Such a move would prevent Republicans from following through on their recent threats to use the debt ceiling as leverage to force Social Security and Medicare cuts if they win control of the House, Senate, or both.

Some Democrats have also proposed giving the executive branch the power to raise the debt ceiling, but it's unclear whether the White House supports that idea.

The federal government is expected to reach the current $31.4 trillion debt limit sometime next year. Semafor reported Thursday that Democrats are wary of raising the debt limit during the lame-duck session, fearing GOP attacks.

Countering Biden's claim that eliminating the debt ceiling would be "irresponsible," University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers argued Friday that "the debt ceiling has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility."

"It doesn't control how much Congress takes in or how much it spends," Wolfers noted. "Rather, it says: Once we hit this limit, we'll stop paying our bills, including our debts. It's a fiscal time bomb. Keeping it is irresponsible."

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

The Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pledged late Monday to block all future U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia as backlash over OPEC's decision to cut oil production and push up gas prices continues to grow on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has veto power over foreign arms sales, said in a statement that OPEC's plan to slash production by two million barrels a day in a bid to prop up oil prices amounts to a "decision to help underwrite Putin's war." Russia, an OPEC ally, stands to benefit from higher oil prices without having to reduce its own production.

"It's time for our foreign policy to imagine a world without this alliance with these royal backstabbers."

"The United States must immediately freeze all aspects of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including any arms sales and security cooperation beyond what is absolutely necessary to defend U.S. personnel and interests," Menendez said Monday. "As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough."

With his statement, Menendez—a war hawk—joined progressive lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in demanding an end to U.S. military aid to the Saudis, the largest buyer of American weaponry.

On Sunday, Khanna and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) announced legislation that would "immediately halt all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia." Last week, three House Democrats introduced a bill that would require the removal of U.S. troops and missile defense systems from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a leading member of the OPEC cartel.

Over the past several years, the U.S. has approved tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons sales to the Saudis as they've waged a catastrophic war on Yemen, sparking a massive humanitarian crisis. The U.S. has also cooperated with the Saudis militarily in other ways, including by refueling the oil kingdom's warplanes, supplying fighter jet parts, and teaming up with the country's murderous leadership to build high-tech bomb parts.

Recent congressional efforts to block arms sales to the Saudis—including major deals approved by the Biden administration—have fallen short, but the OPEC decision could mark a key turning point as top Democratic lawmakers demand a complete reevaluation of U.S.-Saudi relations.

Just over a year ago, Menendez notably opposed a Senate resolution that aimed to block a $650 million sale of missiles to the Saudis. The bipartisan resolution ultimately failed to clear the upper chamber.

In a statement last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)—the chamber's second-ranking Democrat and a supporter of previous attempts to block arms sales to the Saudis—declared that "it's time for our foreign policy to imagine a world without this alliance with these royal backstabbers."

"From unanswered questions about 9/11, the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the exporting of extremism, to dubious jailing of peaceful dissidents and conspiring with Vladimir Putin to punish the U.S. with higher oil prices, the Saudi royal family has never been a trustworthy ally of our nation," Durbin said.

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

Sogavare met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Thursday following months of tension between the Solomon Islands and U.S. ally Australia that stemmed from the Sogavare government’s deepening relationship with China. 

“Solomon Islands will never be used for foreign military installations or institutions of foreign countries because this will not be in the interest of Solomon Islands and its people,” Sogavare said.

“Solomon Islands will not do anything that will undermine our national security and jeopardize the security of any or all [Pacific Island] Forum countries,” he said.

Albanese said he welcomed Sogavare’s clear commitments. 

“We regard security in our region as being critical, and we also regard the need to uplift the living standards and quality of life of people in the Pacific as being absolutely critical,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Solomon Islands signed with Beijing a secret security agreement, which amplified U.S. concerns about increased Chinese influence in the Pacific. 

Neither country has released the text of the final agreement, but a purported draft that circulated online said China would be able to send security forces to protect its interests in the Solomon Islands. 

The U.S. and Australia have indicated they want to prevent a permanent Chinese military presence in the region.

Over the past two decades, Beijing has amassed substantial goodwill with economically lagging Pacific island countries by building infrastructure and providing other assistance.

The United States last week promised more than U.S. $800 million in assistance to the region over a decade as it tries to rebuild relationships with island countries after a period of neglect.

Relations between Australia and the Solomon Islands have a history of tension. 

Sogavare, who has been Solomon Islands prime minister four times, resented the power wielded by the Australian-led military intervention in the Solomon Islands from 2003 to 2017. 

Known as the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, the Solomon Islands government requested support after lawlessness and economic collapse threatened to overwhelm the country.

Earlier this year, Sogavare gave a speech in the Solomon Islands parliament that criticized what he saw as the hypocrisy of Western media coverage of his government’s security pact with Beijing. 

He said Australia also had not consulted with countries in the region before it entered its security and nuclear submarine pact with the United States and the United Kingdom, known as AUKUS.

On Thursday, Sogavare said his government’s priority is working with other countries to meet the substantial development needs of the Solomon Islands.

“The key to long-term peace and security in Solomon Islands rests with our ability to address the priorities of all provinces … including roads, bridges, market outlets for products, schools and hospitals, the list goes on,” he said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

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

Pro-CCP media

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.

Leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said late Sunday that "the campaign begins tomorrow" after he fell just shy of clearing the 50% threshold to win the closely watched and globally important Brazilian election outright, setting up an October 30 runoff against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

"Tomorrow we will be on the streets to win the elections. We don't have a break. We are going to work hard," Lula said as the results showed a second round would be necessary.

"I love campaigning. And we have 28 more days," Lula added. "I love doing rallies, getting on a truck. And it will be the first opportunity to have a face-to-face debate with the current president. So that we can make comparisons between the Brazil he built and the Brazil we built."

Tensions and fears of more political violence in Brazil are likely to remain elevated in the four weeks leading up to another round of voting, with Bolsonaro expected to keep up—and possibly intensify—his attacks on the integrity of the country's electoral process, rhetoric that has sparked concerns of a possible military coup attempt.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro outperformed pre-election polls signaling that Lula had a chance to ride to an outright victory in the first round. The incumbent leader, who has presided over a disastrous Covid-19 response and massive deforestation in the Amazon, received just over 43% of the vote compared to Lula's 48%.

"Yesterday I said that every election I want to win in the first round, but it's not always possible," said Lula, who received roughly 6 million more votes than Bolsonaro. "But the belief that nothing happens by chance motivates me. Every poll put us in first place, and I always thought we were going to win... This is just an extension."

If he's ultimately elected to return to the presidency, Lula and his left-wing Workers' Party will have to contend with a Brazilian Congress packed with Bolsonaro loyalists and other right-wing figures as the popular leftist attempts to implement his anti-poverty and climate agenda.

As Reuters reported, Bolsonaro allies "won 19 of the 27 seats that were up from grabs in the Senate, and initial returns suggested a strong showing for his base in the lower house."

"I plan to make the right political alliances to win this election," Bolsonaro told journalists Sunday, noting his party's wins in congressional races.

Several notorious ex-members of Bolsonaro's government were elected to Brazil's Congress on Sunday, including former environment minister Ricardo Salles—who resigned last year as he faced a criminal investigation involving illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest—and former health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an army general with no medical experience who oversaw the early stages of Brazil's catastrophic pandemic response.

Also elected Sunday was Sergio Moro, Bolsonaro's scandal-plagued former justice member and an architect of the since-annulled corruption case that landed Lula in prison for more than a year, preventing him from running for the presidency in 2018.

Thiago Amparo, an academic and columnist for Brazil's Folha de São Paulo newspaper, told The Guardian that Sunday's results show "it was wishful thinking to imagine the election would serve as a way to punish Bolsonaro for his disastrous policies during the pandemic."

"I feel exhausted," Amparo said. "But the results show we do not have the time to rest now. It is time to go out on to the streets... otherwise we are going to have a very dark future again."

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

Proponents of Chile's new progressive constitution vowed to keep fighting Sunday following their crushing defeat in a plebiscite whose outcome was cheered by the oligarchs and corporations who spent heavily on the "no" campaign.

"Today is a sad day. We have missed the historical opportunity to have a new constitution."

With nearly all votes counted Sunday evening, the reject, or "rechazo," campaign was leading the approve, or "apruebo," effort, 60% to 40%.

The proposed document would have replaced a charter imposed during the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet with what proponents called the "world's most progressive constitution," replete with extensive rights for Indigenous peoples, women, and the environment. 

Gabriel Boric, Chile's recently inaugurated democratic socialist president, acknowledged in a Sunday evening address to the nation that "the Chilean people were not satisfied with the constitutional proposal that the convention produced."

Boric added that "Chile trusts in its democracy."

"I will do all I can to build a new constitutional itinerary alongside the Congress and the civil society that will give us a text that, collecting the learnings of the process, aims to achieve a big majority," he added.

"Apruebo" advocates said the fight for a more just constitution is not over.

"The fears, the lies, were stronger," human rights activist Trinidad Lathrop tweeted. "How powerful is the power of money. But we're going to make it. Give yourselves some time to lick your wounds and then we'll come back stronger. For all and all... we are going to get ahead."

Amnesty International Chile tweeted that "today is a sad day. We have missed the historical opportunity to have a new constitution."

"But although the result of the plebiscite was not as expected," the group added, "we will continue fighting more than ever to live in fairer, more egalitarian, and more humane Chile."

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

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman on Wednesday seized on a recording of Republican challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz calling abortion "murder" to underscore his own support for reproductive freedom and remind Pennsylvania voters of what's at stake in November's midterm election.

"Oz would be a rubber stamp to criminalize abortion and send doctors, nurses, and patients to jail." 

The Daily Beast on Wednesday published audio recorded at a virtual May campaign event during which Oz—who as recently as 2019 voiced support for abortion rights—spoke about his views on the subject.

"I do believe life starts at conception, and I've said that multiple times," Oz told voters. "If life starts at conception, why do you care what age the heart starts beating at? It's, you know, it's still murder, if you were to terminate a child whether their heart's beating or not."

Fetterman, whose campaign released a statement decrying the Republican's "radical, out-of-touch position," said that "Oz knows his position isn't popular. That's why you need a hot mic in order to hear it."

The statement added that "Oz has on multiple occasions said that the only exception he supports to abortion is in the case of the life of the mother, without noting any exceptions for rape or incest."

"He wants to let extremists ban abortion" in Pennsylvania "and across the country," the campaign added. "Oz would be a rubber stamp to criminalize abortion and send doctors, nurses, and patients to jail."

Abortion has become a key focus for the midterms nationwide in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court reversing Roe v. Wade. According to Pew Research Center polling this month, 56% of registered voters say the issue will be very important in their vote, up from 43% in March.

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

In the short video, apparently shot by a civilian drone on Aug. 16 and recently posted on the Weibo microblogging website, two soldiers wearing masks were seen throwing rocks at the Chinese drone when it was flying above a Taiwanese military post.

The same drone also took a picture of two other soldiers staring at it from their watch room, one holding a camera. They looked both startled and curious.

The Kinmen Defense Command, which is responsible for the outlying islands of Kinmen, confirmed on Wednesday that the incident happened on Erdan, an islet 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from Kinmen island but under 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the coast of China’s Xiamen island.

Kinmen is one of Taiwan’s far outlying islands, located much closer to China’s mainland than to Taiwan’s main island.

‘Humiliating video’

The photo and video went viral on Weibo and Chinese social media users didn’t waste time making fun of it.

One user, Zhao DaShuai, wrote on Twitter: “As you can see, the air defense in Taiwan was indeed active.”

“Taiwan’s most advanced surface-to-air weapon exposed,” another user chimed in.

Soon the drone’s visuals were picked up in Taiwan, with Taiwanese netizens calling it “humiliating” and “inexcusable.”

“Such a drone incident never happened before in Kinmen,” said Timothy Tsai, who was born on the island and heads a local military history group.

“It looks threatening to the island’s security,” Tsai said, adding that the military “should really look to strengthen the drone prevention and control” on outlying islands.

China deployed drones over Taiwan before as part of the week-long military drills held in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.

On Aug. 5, four Chinese drones were spotted flying over Kinmen but were warned off before they could enter the island’s airspace, the defense ministry said. 

This time, the non-military drone got just a stone’s throw away, literally.

Wang Ting-yu, a lawmaker of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, was quoted by Reuters as describing the incident as "very serious." 

"The drone was flying on top of our soldiers on guard but there's zero response," Wang was quoted as saying. 

Priority given to outer islands

In its latest statement, the Taiwanese defense ministry said while setting up a national drone defense system in 2023, priority will be given to outer islands to help them deal with “gray zone threats.”

Gray zone activities are generally not explicit acts of war but harmful to the security of a nation.

Beijing regards Taiwan, a self-governing island located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the mainland, as part of China.

There are concerns that some outlying islands under Taipei’s control, including Kinmen, Penghu and Matsu, could be the first targets of China’s future attacks.

The statement from the defense ministry said the drone defense system will be remote-controlled. Soldiers and officers while operating it “will continue to follow the principle of 'not to provoke conflicts and not to cause disputes' and will use technological equipment to take appropriate countermeasures.”

It was reported in May that Taiwan’s defense ministry approved a U.S. $146 million budget to buy indigenous drone defense systems designed by the National Chung Shan Institute of Science & Technology (NCSIST).

The systems would be installed at 45 military bases across Taiwan, including on outlying islands, to disrupt and neutralize hostile drones.

Taiwanese media reported that a local manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has delivered 800 combat drones, dubbed “flying mortars,” to Ukraine.

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

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left Taiwan after a series of high-profile meetings with Taiwan’s pro-democracy president and other lawmakers. Pelosi’s visit made her the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 year and stoked tensions with China, prompting the nation to announce it would carry out new air and naval drills and long-range live-fire exercises in six areas around Taiwan beginning Thursday. The Quincy Institute’s Michael Swaine says President Biden should have done more to prevent the visit and uphold the One China policy, calling the move a “basic violation of the understanding that the United States and China reached at the time of normalization.” Taiwanese American journalist Brian Hioe rebukes Swaine’s claims, saying progressives should focus more on the desires of the Taiwanese than trying to cater to the whims of the two imperial powers of the U.S. and China, adding that the Taiwanese are not threatened by China’s retaliatory military escalation. “We cannot act as progressives or leftists seeing things in a bipolar world, seeing no other agency from any other force,” says Hioe.

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

One of the nation's leading reproductive rights advocacy groups on Friday endorsed Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman for that state's open U.S. Senate seat, describing him as a candidate who will "boldly fight for abortion rights and access" if elected later this year.

"I will vote to eliminate the filibuster and protect the right to an abortion. I will vote to protect abortion rights, and my opponent, Dr. Oz, will not. It's that simple." —Lt. Gov. John Fetterman

Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said her group was proud to endorse Fetterman in his battle against Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump-backed television celebrity who has signaled no intent to defend reproductive rights.

"As extremist state lawmakers across the country race to enact bans on abortion and Congressional Republicans signal they're on board for a nationwide ban," said Timmaraju, "it is more critical than ever that we elect leaders to the Senate who represent the values of the 8 in 10 Americans who support the legal right to abortion. We're looking forward to getting to work alongside our members in Pennsylvania to make sure he is elected this November."

In a statement, Fetterman welcomed the endorsement as he vowed to protect reproductive freedoms and the right to choose.

"I am honored and humbled to receive the endorsement," Fetterman said.

"The right to an abortion is non-negotiable, and it's a disgrace that the Supreme Court shot it down last week," he added. "When I'm your next U.S. Senator, I will vote to eliminate the filibuster and protect the right to an abortion. This has been settled for 50 years and is just plain common-sense. I will vote to protect abortion rights, and my opponent, Dr. Oz, will not. It's that simple."

With the Senate up for grabs, the Pennsylvania seat, opened by the retirement of Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, is seen as a crucial possible pickup for Democrats who not only want to hold their slim majority but build on it.

A survey out last week showed Fetterman with a 6-point edge over Oz among likely voters. In the middle of June, a statewide poll by USA Today Network/Suffolk University had Fetterman with a 9-point lead over his Republican rival.

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

Is raising money to send pregnant people to another state to get an abortion aiding and abetting? We speak to Kamyon Conner, executive director of the Texas Equal Access Fund, the first Black woman to head the organization, about how Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened to prosecute anyone violating a statewide abortion ban that was passed in the 1920s and never repealed. Lawmakers are also introducing bills to restrict FDA-approved abortion pills delivered through the mail. This heavily policed environment has placed pro-abortion organizations on high alert even as their work becomes more in demand. “Our abortion fund specifically is on the radar of anti-abortion extremists and our conservative elected officials,” says Conner.

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

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova, meet in Krakovets, Poland, on June 21, 2022.

Photo: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

Aimal Ahmadi, whose young daughter and elder brother were among 10 civilians killed by a U.S. drone strike in August, outside his house in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Dec. 14, 2021.

Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

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This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Nick Turse.

Junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, rejected the possibility for pardons in the four cases, which are part of a surge in death sentences under martial law in Myanmar. Since taking over in a coup last year, the military has transferred the authority to try cases of civilians to special or existing military tribunals, resulting in what rights groups say are summary proceedings with no chance of appeal.

Former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Phyo Zeyar Thaw and 88 Generation leader Ko Jimmy were sentenced to death for violating the country’s Anti-Terrorism Law. Two other men — Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw — were sentenced to death in Yangon region’s Hlaing Tharyar township on charges of murder. All four lost appeals of their cases last week.

“The death penalty will be implemented,” Zaw Min Tun told RFA’s Burmese Service.

“They will not be pardoned. We have finished the process all the way up through the appeals,” he added, when asked whether junta chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, would consider staying their executions.

Zaw Min Tun said the four men had been transferred to the custody of the junta’s Prison Department, which is now responsible for their cases.

According to the junta, Phyo Zeyar Thaw and Ko Jimmy maintained contact with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP), and other organizations labeled “terrorist groups” by the military regime and had carried out “acts of violence.”

The two men were sentenced to death by a military tribunal on Jan. 21.

The four death sentences, as well 111 others that have been handed down by junta courts between the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, and May 19 this year, have drawn criticism from legal experts and rights groups, who say the regime is threatening the public with unfair executions.

The United Nations, Washington, Ottawa, and Paris have issued statements strongly condemning the decisions in the cases now proceeding to execution, although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — of which Myanmar is a member state — has yet to respond.

Thailand-based rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), which claims junta security forces have arrested 14,032 people between the start of the coup and June 7 this year – 10,976 of whom it says remain in detention – issued a statement Monday calling on the U.N., ASEAN, and the rest of the international community to intervene in the cases.

The junta’s Foreign Affairs Ministry recently responded to the statements by the U.N. and Western governments, accusing their authors of “condoning acts of terrorism.”

Waging ‘psychological warfare’

Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD’s Central Executive Committee, echoed concerns that the junta is using the sentences as a warning to its opponents in an interview with RFA on Tuesday. But he said proceeding with the executions could ultimately harm the regime itself.

“I think the junta is using the [threat of the] death penalty of the four men, including Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw, to wage psychological warfare against the armed resistance and the people,” he said.

“They are testing the limits. They have crossed the line and made an irrational decision, which required presidential orders and involved several steps of appeal. If they stupidly implement this decision, they will face a strong response from the domestic and international communities.”

Kyaw Htwe said the junta’s administrative, legislative and judicial decisions are all “illegal,” because it is an illegitimate government that seized power through force. However, he didn’t provide clarification on how the NLD intends to respond to the death sentences.

NUG Human Rights Minister Aung Myo Min said the junta lacks the judicial authority to issue execution orders, which require an in-depth and transparent process to avoid wrongful convictions.

“We cannot trust the junta’s tribunal, courts, and sentencing. They are murdering innocent civilians and view all democracy activists as the enemy,” he said.

“[Proceeding with execution] is the wrong decision, both in terms of human rights and rule of law.”

High-stakes bluff

A Yangon-based attorney, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said he believes the execution orders are a bluff by the military regime as part of a bid to extract some sort of concession from the international community.

“After reviewing all factors, I conclude that it is very unlikely they will carry out the execution order,” he said, adding that it is likely the junta wants to use the cases “as a bargaining chip for political reasons.”

“Given the fact that the world is protesting these orders, and that the decisions are in violation of international and domestic laws, they will face severe consequences if they proceed.”

However, political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that the junta, which the AAPP says has killed more than 1,900 civilians since the coup, has demonstrated over the past 16 months that it has little regard for the sanctity of human life.

“They might reconsider if the international community appeals to them courteously,” he said. “Otherwise, I think they would actually hang Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zeyar Thaw, as they are little more than a group of thugs.”

In its latest annual report covering the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2021, London-based rights group Amnesty International found that dozens of people were “arbitrarily sentenced to death” by Myanmar’s military tribunals, “several without the defendants being present, in what was widely perceived as a way to target political opponents and protestors.”

The group said that prior to February 2021, Myanmar’s known death sentences were sporadically imposed for murder and usually commuted through mass pardons. However, the yearly average for the years 2017-2020 had remained lower than 10.

The last execution in Myanmar — that of student leader Salai Tin Maung Oo — was known to take place in 1988, during the time of the late Gen. Ne Win.

Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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

Two weeks after a gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition massacred 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a Republican state lawmaker announced that he is taking action—against drag shows.

State Rep. Bryan Slaton said Monday he intends to file legislation "protecting kids from drag shows and other inappropriate displays" when the next legislative session begins.

While Republicans in the state and in Washington, D.C. have not been driven to make AR-15s and other semiautomatic weapons inaccessible to Americans after any of the more than 300 school shootings that have taken place since the Columbine High School attack in 1999—or other high-profile mass shootings in other settings—Slaton claimed to be so disturbed by photos of a child at a drag show in Dallas over the weekend that he saw no choice but to act.

"This is disgusting and dangerous. It can't be allowed to continue," Slaton tweeted. "My Republican colleagues and I will protect kids from these sickos."

Slaton's statement and flurry of tweets regarding the issue of "the sexualization that is happening across Texas" matched the urgency Democratic lawmakers and gun control advocates have reserved for calls to reinstate an assault weapons ban and require universal background checks for firearms sales.

"Two weeks after 19 kids were slaughtered in a Texas elementary school, Texas lawmakers are finally banning—checks notes—drag queens," tweeted Matt Bernstein, a content creator and LGBTQ+ rights advocate.

In addition to addressing drag shows, Slaton pledged in his statement to "continue his fight" to make gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths classified as "child abuse."

Slaton's statement came as federal lawmakers are negotiating a gun control package which Democrats have said will likely not include an expansion of background checks, a proposal supported by 88% of Americans.

"Imagine a government that acted this fast to protect us from guns instead of drag queens," tweeted March for Our Lives, the gun control group formed by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.

The group—which is planning a national mobilization for gun control on Saturday—added a message of support to drag queens, asking the community to "march with us on June 11th!"

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

Critics of U.S. imperialism sounded the alarm Monday after President Joe Biden said that he would use military force in response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

"That's the commitment we made," Biden said at a press conference held jointly with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a visit to Tokyo, abandoning the "strategic ambiguity" that U.S. presidents have long maintained to obscure how far Washington would go to protect Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.

"We agreed with the One China policy, we signed on to it," said Biden, "but the idea that [Taiwan] can be taken by force... it's just not appropriate."

Biden has provided billions of dollars in weapons to help Ukraine stave off Russia's ongoing military assault but refused to deploy U.S. troops for fear of triggering a direct confrontation between the world's leading nuclear powers. However, he said Monday, the U.S. would go further on behalf of Taiwan.

"You didn't want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons," a reporter said to Biden. "Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?"

"Yes," Biden responded tersely. The president argued that the need for the U.S. to intervene in Taiwan if China attacks the island is "even stronger" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As the New York Times reported:

The White House quickly tried to deny that the president meant what he seemed to be saying. "As the president said, our policy has not changed," the White House said in a statement hurriedly sent to reporters. "He reiterated our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself."

But Mr. Biden's comments went beyond simply reiterating that the United States would provide Taiwan with arms, because the question was posed as a contrast to what he had done with Ukraine. The president made no effort to qualify what he intended when he agreed that he would "get involved militarily."

"It is truly dangerous for the president to keep misstating U.S. policy toward Taiwan," historian Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote on social media. "How many more times will this happen?"

This is not the first time Biden has "ignored the practiced imprecision of his predecessors with regard to China and Taiwan," the Times noted.

Last August, in an attempt to reassure allies following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Biden promised that "we would respond" if a fellow NATO member were attacked. "Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan," he added.

However, the Times reported:

Taiwan... has never been granted the same U.S. security guarantees as Japan, South Korea, or America's NATO allies, and so the comment was seen as significant. Two months later, Mr. Biden was asked during a televised town hall if the United States would protect Taiwan from attack. "Yes, we have a commitment to do that," he said. That also set off a frantic scramble by the White House to walk back his remark by insisting that he was not changing longstanding policy.

According to Wertheim, "The West's robust response to Russian aggression in Ukraine could serve to deter China from invading Taiwan."

"But Biden's statement risks undoing the potential benefit and instead helping to bring about a Taiwan conflict," he stressed. "Self-injurious and entirely unforced."

The president's remarks came just before he formally unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a new 13-nation trade pact meant to advance U.S. corporate interests and counter Chinese influence in the region. Though it excludes Taiwan in a diplomatic nod to China, the IPEF has already been criticized by the Trade Justice Education Fund for partnering with countries that have "abysmal labor rights records."

"Biden escalates tensions through a trade deal to secure U.S. interests in Asia and the Pacific and threatens U.S. military retaliation against China," tweeted journalist Nick Estes. "The forever war continues."

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

The climate movement Extinction Rebellion on Wednesday revealed plans to bring millions of people into the United Kingdom's streets on September 10 in response to the government's latest efforts to enact new limits on protest.

"Our organizations were set up to break the law to drive positive change. Your actions show that we are winning."

In the Queen's Speech—which outlines the government's priorities at the ceremony to open a new session of Parliament—Prince Charles on Tuesday announced the Public Order Bill containing anti-protest measures that the House of Lords last year rejected as "draconian and anti-democratic."

Charlie Waterhouse of Extinction Rebellion (XR) said in a statement that "it is foolish to think that announcing new curbs in the Queen's Speech will stop people taking to the streets to demand their government act to ensure a safe future for people in the U.K. and around the world."

"As we in Extinction Rebellion know full well: what we do works," he continued. "It's worked countless times before. It has worked to give us weekends and the vote, human rights, and freedom. And it will work again. Faced with a government incapable of anything other than a desperate attempt to shore up its own power and cover up its criminality it is the only thing we can do. To be a bystander is not enough."

Waterhouse noted that "w​hen juries are asked to sit in judgment of their peers, they are acquitting. The government's increasing reliance on private injunctions shows that they know they cannot rely on the courts, because the courts agree with us."

"So Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, we thank you," he added, taking aim at the U.K.'s Tory prime minister and home secretary. "Our organizations were set up to break the law to drive positive change. Your actions show that we are winning."

Plans to take to the streets in opposition to the looming anti-protest measures—which clearly target not only Extinction Rebellion but also Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil (JSO)—follow a wave of climate actions in the U.K. and around the world last month.

The actions in April included XR members blocking multiple London bridges, scientists gluing climate research and their own hands to the windows of a U.K. government building, and Just Stop Oil campaigners shutting down terminals across the United Kingdom.

XR's Wednesday statement highlighted YouGov polling from April which showed that 58% of U.K. adults support the demands of Just Stop Oil, with just 23% opposed and 19% neutral, and in a three-week period, the number of respondents who said they are likely to engage in some form of climate action over the next year jumped from 8.7% to 11.3%—an increase of approximately 1.7 million people.

The Guardian reported Tuesday that the anti-protest measures include:

• New criminal offenses of locking on, and going equipped to lock on to others, objects, or buildings—carrying a maximum penalty of six months' imprisonment and an unlimited fine;
• The creation of a new criminal offense of interfering with key national infrastructure, such as airports, railways, and printing presses—carrying a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison and an unlimited fine; and
• Measures to make it illegal to obstruct major transport works, including disrupting the construction or maintenance of projects like HS2—punishable by up to six months in prison and an unlimited fine.

"The bill is expected to extend stop and search powers so the police can seize articles related to these new offenses," the newspaper noted. "New preventive 'serious disruption prevention orders' will also be available for repeat offenders."

XR wasn't alone in responding with alarm to the anti-protest measures and other priorities addressed in the speech, including repealing the Human Rights Act and replacing it with a narrower Bill of Rights.

"This highly regressive legislative agenda represents a systematic gutting of key legal protections for ordinary people," Amnesty International U.K. CEO Sacha Deshmukh said broadly before blasting the Public Order Bill. "It's frightening to see the home secretary demonizing people who are simply exercising their right to peaceful protest."

"These authoritarian provisions, recently removed by the Lords from the policing bill, are similar to repressive policies in countries the U.K. regularly criticizes—including Russia, Hong Kong, and Belarus," Deshmukh added. "It follows a pattern of a government voicing support for protest around the world but cracking down on the right to speak up here at home."

Sam Grant, head of policy and campaigns at the human rights group Liberty, said Tuesday that "these rehashed measures to crack down on protest in today's Queen's speech are yet another power grab from a government determined to shut down accountability."

"Protest is a right, not a gift from the state—and measures like these are designed to stop ordinary people making their voices heard," the campaigner continued. "Parliamentarians and the general public rejected these dangerous measures when they were first rushed through in the policing bill, but the government has refused to listen.

"From restrictions on protest to scrapping the Human Rights Act," Grant warned, "this is all part of the government's continued attempts to rewrite the rules so only they can win, and prevent ordinary people from having their say."

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

The Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing’s Salingyi township is a joint venture between China’s state-owned Wanbao Co. and the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holding Limited (MEHL) company. Following the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup, employees walked off the job to join the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), reducing the mine’s operating capacity by more than 80 percent.

In early April, junta Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in eastern China’s Anhui province in what analysts said signaled Myanmar’s desire for deeper economic ties to its northern ally. Not long after the trip, residents of Salingyi reported that workers were being called back to the mine to restart the project after more than a year of downtime, prompting threats from anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries.

Late last week, junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the military would deploy troops to protect the mine in the event of an attack.

“As a government, we have a responsibility to protect all investments in the country, both legally and on the ground, and we must work to provide security for them,” he said, adding that the junta is “working to get things back on track” at Letpadaung.

Zaw Min Tun didn’t provide details on the status of the mine or whether any other foreign projects had come under threat.

His comments came in response to an April 21 joint statement from 16 PDF groups from Salingyi and nearby Yinmarbin townships threatening to destroy the mine if Wanbao brought it back online.

A spokesman from the NRF, one of the PDF groups that issued the warning, told RFA that Chinese and other foreign-owned assets in Myanmar qualify as fair game for the armed opposition if they are generating income for the junta.

“If the military can purchase weapons with that money, the people will suffer further persecution,” he said, calling the statement a warning to other foreign companies in Myanmar “earning money that will be used [by the junta] to buy bullets to kill people.”

Sit Naing, a spokesperson from the Salingyi PDF, clarified that the groups “don’t have a plan to attack foreigners,” but said if foreign companies “keep working with the military and take part in persecuting the people, we will have to attack them, without fail.”

Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), to which the prodemocaracy PDF has pledged its loyalty, expressed disappointment with China for its support of the junta in a recent statement.

Reports that operators are restarting the 60-year-old Letpadaung copper mine project – which has already faced criticism for appropriating land from 26 area villages and damaging the environment with chemical waste and dust – have also prompted opposition from Myanmar’s civilian population.

Residents of Letpadaung have held daily protests demanding that Beijing respect the wishes of the people of Myanmar by shutting the mine down, and on April 25, nearly 560 prodemocracy groups sent an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping urging him to stop supporting the junta through the mine and other China-backed development projects.

In an interview with RFA, a member of the CDM in Salingyi called on all copper mine staff to remain in the movement, even if they are called back to work by Wanbao.

“As the project is directly affiliated with the junta, we are urging staff to hold out and refuse to return to work to resume operations, no matter how much incentive the company offers,” the CDM member said.

“We ask that they go back to work only when the country is liberated.”

Other sources were more direct in their condemnation of China, including a Salingyi township protest organizer who noted that Beijing has been backing the junta for much of the 15 months since the military’s coup.

“They don’t give priority to the people, and they are prioritizing our enemy the military’s leader [Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing], so China is our common enemy,” she said.

“I want to appeal the workers to stand with the people. No matter how many incentives or extra salary they offer, don’t consider working for the enemy.”

Reassessing control in Myanmar

In response to an RFA email seeking comment on the situation in Salingyi, China’s embassy in Yangon said that Chinese projects in Myanmar “are meant to benefit Myanmar's economic development, bilateral interests, and the livelihoods of the local people.”

Attempts by RFA to contact Wanbao and Letpadaung copper mine officials went unanswered, as did calls to junta Deputy Minister of Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun.

According to Myanmar’s Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, 32 Chinese garment factories were set on fire in the early months of the coup, while PDF attacks on Chinese projects have damaged the water supply pipeline to the Letpadaung project, as well as a gas pipeline and nickel plant in Mandalay region.

A Myanmar-based analyst on China-Myanmar relations, who declined to be named, said the NUG’s statement was a “warning” to China, emboldening local PDF groups.

“The PDFs are trying to make China reconsider whether the junta can effectively protect its interests, after it offered support to the junta,” the analyst said.

“China should reassess who is really in control on the ground … We will have to wait and see if they decide to negotiate with the NUG after they do so.”

Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Soe San Aung and RFA Myanmar Service.