Airline pilots surprised by Chinese live-fire warning near Australia, messages show
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30226134
> Pilots first heard about a Chinese live-fire naval exercise near Australia last week when already in the air, receiving messages that forced some to change paths through a busy air corridor, satellite text messages to and from pilots seen by Reuters show. > > The incident highlights how airlines are increasingly having to react at short notice to geopolitical disruptions and military hazards, such as missile and drone barrages between Israel and Iran last year. > > It also shows how China's military, in its first drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, is raising tensions by being more assertive across the Indo-Pacific region, according to Western defence analysts, including near Taiwan. > > [...]
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) together with refugee agency, UNHCR, on Thursday strongly condemned Thailand’s deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China, calling it a serious violation of international law and the fundamental principle of non-refoulement.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30225291
> Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the forced return of the Uyghurs, who had been detained in Thailand for over 11 years, was deeply troubling. > > “This violates the principle of non-refoulement for which there is a complete prohibition in cases where there is a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm upon their return,” he said. > > Contained in Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, the principle prohibits returning individuals to a country where they face a risk of persecution, torture or ill-treatment. It is also referred to in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. > > The right to seek asylum and of non-refoulement are also enshrined in Article 13 of Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, and Article 16 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. > > [...]
Tibet as one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world is in danger of extinction over China's assimilationist state policy
There are some 60 languages spoken on the Tibetan Plateau. But harsh Chinese policies mean many minority languages may not be passed down to future generations.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30223092
> Tibetans have worked to protect the Tibetan language and resisted efforts to enforce Mandarin Chinese. Yet, Tibetan children are losing their language through enrolment in state boarding schools where they are being educated nearly exclusively in Mandarin Chinese. Tibetan is typically only taught a few times a week – not enough to sustain the language. > > [...] > > [Beijing's] Government policy forces all Tibetans to learn and use Mandarin Chinese. Those who speak only Tibetan have a harder time finding work and are faced with discrimination and even violence from the dominant Han ethnic group. > > [...] > > Meanwhile, support for Tibetan language education has slowly been whittled away: the government even recently banned students from having private Tibetan lessons or tutors on their school holidays. > > Linguistic minorities in Tibet all need to learn and use Mandarin. But many also need to learn Tibetan to communicate with other Tibetans: classmates, teachers, doctors, bureaucrats or bosses. > > [...] > > The government refuses to provide any opportunities to use and learn minority languages like Manegacha. It also tolerates constant discrimination and violence against Manegacha speakers by other Tibetans. > > These [Chinese] assimilationist state policies are causing linguistic diversity across Tibet to collapse. As these minority languages are lost, people’s mental and physical health suffers and their social connections and communal identities are destroyed. > > [...] > >
Tibet as one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world is in danger of extinction over China's assimilationist state policy
There are some 60 languages spoken on the Tibetan Plateau. But harsh Chinese policies mean many minority languages may not be passed down to future generations.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30223092
> Tibetans have worked to protect the Tibetan language and resisted efforts to enforce Mandarin Chinese. Yet, Tibetan children are losing their language through enrolment in state boarding schools where they are being educated nearly exclusively in Mandarin Chinese. Tibetan is typically only taught a few times a week – not enough to sustain the language. > > [...] > > [Beijing's] Government policy forces all Tibetans to learn and use Mandarin Chinese. Those who speak only Tibetan have a harder time finding work and are faced with discrimination and even violence from the dominant Han ethnic group. > > [...] > > Meanwhile, support for Tibetan language education has slowly been whittled away: the government even recently banned students from having private Tibetan lessons or tutors on their school holidays. > > Linguistic minorities in Tibet all need to learn and use Mandarin. But many also need to learn Tibetan to communicate with other Tibetans: classmates, teachers, doctors, bureaucrats or bosses. > > [...] > > The government refuses to provide any opportunities to use and learn minority languages like Manegacha. It also tolerates constant discrimination and violence against Manegacha speakers by other Tibetans. > > These [Chinese] assimilationist state policies are causing linguistic diversity across Tibet to collapse. As these minority languages are lost, people’s mental and physical health suffers and their social connections and communal identities are destroyed. > > [...] > >
'Chat control:' EU Ombudsman criticizes Europol over revolving door policy with tech lobbyist Thorn
EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has ruled in response to a complaint by former Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer that it constitutes “maladministration” for EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) to have green-lighted an official moving to U.S. company Thorn, a private entity developing AI-based software solutions to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online.
O’Reilly criticizes that no restrictions were imposed on the employee, despite potential conflicts of interest as the EU was considering adopting rules on the matter.
The official was even allowed to continue working in the same role at Europol for two months before the transition. “Europol failed to deal with the above conflict of interest situation, putting at risk the integrity and impartiality of its actions,” the Ombudsman stated in her decision.
"The Ombudsman found that how Europol had dealt with the move of one staff member to the private sector amounted to maladministration." the ruling also says.
[The official in question was Cathal Delaney, who had worked on an AI pilot project for detection at Europol and, after moving to Thorn, was registered as a lobbyist in the Bundestag, the German parliament.]
European solar manufacturers urge EU to put 'Made in Europe' clause in public auctions, call for tighter rules to prevent foreign control of critical infrastructure and forced labour in supply chains
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has submitted its official feedback to the European Commission regarding three critical aspects of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA): the regulations on renewable energy auctions, the selection criteria for net-zero strategic projects, and the list of essential components for net-zero technologies. ESMC strongly supports the ambition of the NZIA to strengthen European clean energy manufacturing but urges improvements to ensure the effectiveness and resilience of the policy framework.
[...]
ESMC welcomes the European Commission’s proposal to establish pre-qualification and award criteria for renewable energy auctions under NZIA Article 26. These criteria aim to promote European solar PV manufacturing capacity and align with the EU’s target of achieving 30 GW of solar PV production across the full value chain by 2030. However, ESMC highlights several risks and potential loopholes that could undermine these objectives:
- The proposed criteria must include a robust “Made in Europe” clause to ensure that European manufacturers benefit from the auctions.
- A comprehensive carbon footprint assessment methodology should be implemented, preventing greenwashing and ensuring transparent sustainability standards.
- Stronger cybersecurity and data security measures are needed to prevent foreign control over critical solar PV infrastructure.
- Provisions against the use of forced labour should be explicitly incorporated, with clear references to EU legislation such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the Forced Labour Regulation
[...]
As China bears down, US, European Parliament show support for Taiwan
The United States has reiterated its opposition to any forced change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30157399
> The United States has reiterated its opposition to any forced change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressing that Washington does not seek conflict while standing by its long-standing policies on Taiwan, a recent report carried by the island nation’s Central News Agency (CNA) said. > > His comments come as Taiwan continues to face the persistent threat of a Chinese invasion. In an interview broadcast on the social media platform X, Rubio reaffirmed Washington’s stance, stating: "We are against any sort of compelled, forced change of status. That's been our policy; that remains our policy." > > [...] > > Meanwhile, in another demonstration of EU recognition of Taiwan, a delegation from the European Parliament (EP) arrived in Taiwan earlier in the week to mark the first visit by EP lawmakers in 2025. > > The group, led by Ivars Ījabs, a vice-president of the Renew Europe political group from Latvia, was scheduled to meet Taiwan’s Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim and other senior officials during their five-day trip. > > The delegation also includes Hannes Heide of Austria, Arkadiusz Mularczyk from Poland, and Vladimir Prebilič from Slovenia, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. > > During their visit, the EP members were scheduled to engage with government officials, lawmakers, as well as a number of local NGOs during which time they would be discussing Taiwan-EU relations in addition to regional geopolitics, and technological innovation a statement by the Ministry said. > > [...]
‘Ukraine will not accept any ultimatums:' Top Zelensky advisor Mykhailo Podolyak explains the art of dealing with Trump’s White House
Mykhailo Podolyak was cautiously optimistic about Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In an interview with Meduza in the days after the new U.S. president’s inauguration, the top advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky said he saw a change in Trump’s rhetoric towards Russia that gave him “some hope.” Bu...
Mykhailo Podolyak was cautiously optimistic about Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In an interview with Meduza in the days after the new U.S. president’s inauguration, the top advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky said he saw a change in Trump’s rhetoric towards Russia that gave him “some hope.”
But in the weeks since, Trump has abandoned talk of putting pressure on Moscow and adopted a harsher attitude towards Ukraine: calling Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” demanding that Kyiv sign an unfavorable deal to exchange Ukrainian natural resources for military aid, and sending a delegation to conduct bilateral peace talks with Russia.
Taiwan dispatches forces as China holds live-fire drills
China’s state news agency has reported that a high-ranking political leader had called for a greater reunification push this week.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30155863
> Taiwan on Wednesday dispatched naval, air and land forces in response to China's "live-fire" drills held off the coast of the self-ruled island, its Defense Ministry said, condemning the unexpected exercise. > > China's People's Liberation Army "has blatantly violated international norms by unilaterally designating a drill zone 40 NM off the coast of Kaohsiung and Pingtung, claiming to conduct live-fire exercises without prior warning," Taipei said. > > Detecting 32 aircraft around Taiwan as part of the Chinese drill, Taiwan's military said it responded by sending forces to "monitor, alert and respond appropriately." > > "This move not only caused a high degree of danger to the safety of international flights and vessels at sea, but is also a blatant provocation to regional security and stability," the ministry said. > > [...] > > China has time and again threatened to use force to establish control over Taiwan. > > The self-ruled island is a major point of contention between Washington and Beijing. While the US is legally required to provide arms to Taiwan for its defense, it has remained ambiguous about sending its own military if required.
In China you can't even found a company as a European, you always need a Chinese partner that would own the majority of your joint venture (the only fully foreign owned subsidiary in China is Tesla, btw, it's the only exception). The whole country is a closed, China-only shop, and the US is just in the process to build its own China-like firewall around its country. What double standards ...
Addition: China's Xi affirms 'no limits' partnership with Putin in call on Ukraine war anniversary but China urges EU to stop discrediting China after Russia sanctions
This award-winning investigation into Xinjiang internment camp survivors was nearly silenced. Here are some lessons learned about keeping vulnerable sources safe and telling their stories.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30155582
> Archived > > East Turkestan — or Xinjiang, as it is known in Chinese — is a border region where ethnic minorities are subjected to the Chinese regime’s stifling repression. > > Subjected to arbitrary arrests and forced labor, sterilizations to torture, more than one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other minorities are estimated to have been locked up in so-called “re-education” camps and prisons in the region over the last decade, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. > > While China contends it is fighting ‘terrorists,’ to others it seems the objective is to annihilate any cultural and religious particularism which could be seen as an impediment to the ethnic purity component of the “Chinese dream.” > > The United Nations has warned that what is happening in the region may amount to “crimes against humanity,” while others, including the US State Department, have gone further, labeling it a genocide in 2021, especially due to measures intended to reduce the number of children being born. > > This repression is not confined to China, but takes on a transnational dimension: even beyond the country’s borders, Beijing persecutes those who have been designated as its political opponents. In Central Asia, the former Soviet republics, heavily economically dependent on their Eastern neighbor, are home to a pervasive interference that extends the repression. > > China has built hundreds of detention centers along the border of its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the eastern frontiers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, making those countries a common landing spot for refugees fleeing Chinese repression. > > [...] > > The region between China and Kazakhstan had become a border of tears, where many families mourn the loved ones who have never returned from the Chinese camps, and where the survivors of the camps who managed to make it across the border have carried with them the trauma of the experience. > > [...] > > Because the repression in Xinjiang is still ongoing, a single wrong word can lead to deportation, imprisonment, or death for witnesses and their relatives if they are identified by Chinese or Kazakh intelligence. > > In those conditions, most survivors are terrified to be acknowledged as such, and not likely to speak to journalists. Building a network of contacts within persecuted communities therefore requires a great deal of time, caution, and trust. > > [...]
That's strange, here all works fine: Again: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/uks-lammy-its-time-seize-russian-assets-not-just-freeze-them-2025-02-25
Addition: It's quite short text, here we go:
Europe should move from freezing Russian assets to seizing them, British foreign minister David Lammy said on Tuesday, hardening Britain's position on how the West should use bonds and other securities frozen since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking $300-$350 billion of sovereign Russian assets.
They are mostly European, U.S. and British government bonds held in a European securities depository.
European leaders want to use those assets to help rebuild Ukraine, but have yet to reach an agreement on how to avoid legal challenges or setting a problematic international precedent, with several options under consideration.
"Europe has to act quickly, and I believe we should move from freezing assets to seizing assets," Lammy told parliament when asked if he would support emergency legislation to seize and repurpose the assets to support Ukraine.
"It's not an issue on which any government can act alone. We must act with European allies."
Lammy did not elaborate on exactly how he wanted to deal with those assets.
In a January debate in parliament on what to do with the frozen assets, foreign office minister for Europe, Stephen Doughty, only went as far as to say Britain was considering "all lawful measures that we can possibly take to ensure that Ukraine gets the support it needs".
The European Union estimates that some 210 billion euros ($220.58 billion) of the frozen money is held in the bloc, mainly in Euroclear, a Brussels-based securities depository.
Some Western officials, especially in the German government and the European Central Bank, have been reluctant to simply confiscate sovereign reserves, warning that such a move could face legal challenges and undermine the euro as a reserve currency.
I guess this is more about Microsoft here. The US government slammed Microsoft already in 2023 (the report is here). It's not the first such incident.
International efforts to eradicate the death penalty came into sharp focus at the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, where UN human rights chief Volker Türk decried a substantial increase in global executions in the last two years.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30111516
> [...] > > The punishment had “no place” in the 21st century, [UN human rights chief Volker] Türk, continued, noting that “the top executing countries over recent years" include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the United States. > > [...] > > Latest UN data indicates that in 2023, 1,153 executions took place in 16 countries, representing a 31 per cent increase from 2022 and the highest number in the past eight years. > > “That followed a 53 per cent increase in executions between 2021 and 2022,” the High Commissioner said, adding that the figures do not take into account China, “where there is a lack of transparent information and statistics on the death penalty. I call on the Chinese authorities to change this policy and join the trend towards abolition.” > > [...]
International efforts to eradicate the death penalty came into sharp focus at the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, where UN human rights chief Volker Türk decried a substantial increase in global executions in the last two years.
[...]
The punishment had “no place” in the 21st century, [UN human rights chief Volker] Türk, continued, noting that “the top executing countries over recent years" include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the United States.
[...]
Latest UN data indicates that in 2023, 1,153 executions took place in 16 countries, representing a 31 per cent increase from 2022 and the highest number in the past eight years.
“That followed a 53 per cent increase in executions between 2021 and 2022,” the High Commissioner said, adding that the figures do not take into account China, “where there is a lack of transparent information and statistics on the death penalty. I call on the Chinese authorities to change this policy and join the trend towards abolition.”
[...]
Typo corrected, thanks.
Forcibly disappeared: Swedish citizen Gui Minhai remains nowhere to be found after sentenced in China five years ago
Sentenced by Chinese authorities on 24 February 2020 on bogus espionage charges, publisher Gui Minhai was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese regime. Despite his only daughter’s continued fight for his freedom, the Chinese authorities have given no updates on his whereabouts in five years. Reporters...
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30109638
> Archived > > Sentenced by Chinese authorities on 24 February 2020 on bogus espionage charges, publisher Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen, was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese regime. Despite his only daughter’s continued fight for his freedom, the Chinese authorities have given no updates on his whereabouts in five years. > > [...] > > One of the founders of Mighty Current, a publishing house known for its investigations into Chinese politics, Gui Minhai has become an emblematic figure among the 124 journalists and press freedom defenders currently detained in China. He wrote and published books on politically sensitive topics, a crime in the eyes of the Chinese regime which abducted Gui Minhai in Thailand before sentencing him to 10 years in prison on bogus espionage charges. > > [...] > > >“By not acting strongly enough, the international community has allowed the Chinese regime to assume they have the right to kidnap citizens of whichever country — anywhere in the world — arbitrarily detain them, and deny their right to consular protection. We call on the Swedish government and EU Member States to increase pressure on Beijing, and do everything in their power to ensure the detained publisher’s fate and whereabouts are made public — and that he is finally released." -- Antoine Bernard, Director of Advocacy and Assistance, Reporters Without Borders > > [...] > > Ranked 172nd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index, China is the world's largest jailer of journalists and press freedom defenders. > > [...] >
Forcibly disappeared: Swedish citizen Gui Minhai remains nowhere to be found after sentenced in China five years ago
Sentenced by Chinese authorities on 24 February 2020 on bogus espionage charges, publisher Gui Minhai was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese regime. Despite his only daughter’s continued fight for his freedom, the Chinese authorities have given no updates on his whereabouts in five years. Reporters...
Sentenced by Chinese authorities on 24 February 2020 on bogus espionage charges, publisher Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen, was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese regime. Despite his only daughter’s continued fight for his freedom, the Chinese authorities have given no updates on his whereabouts in five years.
[...]
One of the founders of Mighty Current, a publishing house known for its investigations into Chinese politics, Gui Minhai has become an emblematic figure among the 124 journalists and press freedom defenders currently detained in China. He wrote and published books on politically sensitive topics, a crime in the eyes of the Chinese regime which abducted Gui Minhai in Thailand before sentencing him to 10 years in prison on bogus espionage charges.
[...]
>“By not acting strongly enough, the international community has allowed the Chinese regime to assume they have the right to kidnap citizens of whichever country — anywhere in the world — arbitrarily detain them, and deny their right to consular protection. We call on the Swedish government and EU Member States to increase pressure on Beijing, and do everything in their power to ensure the detained publisher’s fate and whereabouts are made public — and that he is finally released." -- Antoine Bernard, Director of Advocacy and Assistance, Reporters Without Borders
[...]
Ranked 172nd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index, China is the world's largest jailer of journalists and press freedom defenders.
[...]
Chinese spies reportedly broke into the US Republican's Microsoft-powered email and snooped around for months before being caught, book says
Of course, Microsoft is in the mix, isn't it
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30108929
> Archived > > Original WSJ article is paywalled. > > > Chinese spies reportedly broke into the US Republication National Committee's Microsoft-powered email and snooped around for months before being caught, book says > > According to a Wall Street Journal report that cites "people familiar with the matter," the Windows giant alerted top GOP officials about the security breach in early July, 2024, ahead of the party's national convention later that month. At the time, Redmond officials told Republican party leaders that Beijing's intruders had access to the RNC's email system for months. > > The privacy breach is also detailed in Alex Isenstadt's new book, "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power," slated for release in March. The WSJ previewed an excerpt of the book, and says it also verified the claimed intrusion. > > Party officials apparently believe the Chinese government snoops were looking for information about how the Republicans, once back in power, would address the thorny issue of Taiwan; apparently the party's platform documents contained no mention of the island nation. > > The RNC had previously called for a free-trade agreement with Taiwan in its 2016 platform. > > ...
[Edit typo.]
Chinese spies reportedly broke into the US Republican's Microsoft-powered email and snooped around for months before being caught, book says
Of course, Microsoft is in the mix, isn't it
Original WSJ article is paywalled.
Chinese spies reportedly broke into the US Republication National Committee's Microsoft-powered email and snooped around for months before being caught, book says
According to a Wall Street Journal report that cites "people familiar with the matter," the Windows giant alerted top GOP officials about the security breach in early July, 2024, ahead of the party's national convention later that month. At the time, Redmond officials told Republican party leaders that Beijing's intruders had access to the RNC's email system for months.
The privacy breach is also detailed in Alex Isenstadt's new book, "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power," slated for release in March. The WSJ previewed an excerpt of the book, and says it also verified the claimed intrusion.
Party officials apparently believe the Chinese government snoops were looking for information about how the Republicans, once back in power, would address the thorny issue of Taiwan; apparently the party's platform documents contained no mention of the island nation.
The RNC had previously called for a free-trade agreement with Taiwan in its 2016 platform.
...
[Edit typo.]
UK's Lammy: It's time to seize Russian assets, not just freeze them
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30073481
> Europe should move from freezing Russian assets to seizing them, British foreign minister David Lammy said on Tuesday. > > "It's not an issue on which any government can act alone. We must act with European allies," Lammy told parliament, saying the issue had been discussed between G7 and other international allies. > > "Of course, Europe has to act quickly, and I believe we should move from freezing assets to seizing assets."
UK's Lammy: It's time to seize Russian assets, not just freeze them
Europe should move from freezing Russian assets to seizing them, British foreign minister David Lammy said on Tuesday.
"It's not an issue on which any government can act alone. We must act with European allies," Lammy told parliament, saying the issue had been discussed between G7 and other international allies.
"Of course, Europe has to act quickly, and I believe we should move from freezing assets to seizing assets."
China is decisively supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.
In September 2024, Cambodian journalist Mech Dara was arrested on charges of inciting social unrest through what the authorities described as ‘provocative’ and ‘false’ social media posts. Dara, who worked for the BBC and other respected media organizations, had won awards for his in-depth reporting ...
Authoritarian repression of the media is supported by the findings of the 2023 Global Organized Crime Index, which point to a trend of governments suppressing dissent, opposition and media freedom. Of the 12 resilience indicators measured by the Index, the ‘non-state actors’ indicator (which quantifies the role of civil society, including the media, as an alternative source of resilience to organized crime) declined the most globally, by 0.16 points.
In Asia, this indicator not only had the lowest average score of the five continents (3.72 out of 10), but also experienced the largest decline since 2021. Six of the world’s 11 lowest-scoring countries for non-state actors were in Asia, including Afghanistan (1.0), North Korea (1.0), Vietnam and Myanmar (both 1.50). These countries also scored low on ‘government transparency and accountability’.
More surprisingly, Oceania is beginning to show signs of this trend. Although the Oceania countries covered by the Press Freedom Index are all described as having a ‘satisfactory’ press freedom situation, Papua New Guinea was observed to have a ‘problematic’ situation and identified as having the largest decline in Oceania since 2023. Papua New Guinea also ranked highest in Oceania for criminality (5.72) and lowest for overall resilience (3.29) and non-state actors (2.5) under the Organized Crime Index. This suggests that whereas Oceania’s overall criminality score is well below that of all other world regions, media freedom is nevertheless under threat there.
Police training courses in Hong Kong and India: Cambridge University at risk of ‘teaching torturers,’ report reveals
The University of Cambridge has provided police training courses in Hong Kong and India
The University of Cambridge has been named as one of 12 UK universities that has been involved in teaching security courses to students in countries where torture is widespread.
According to a report by Freedom from Torture (FFT), the University has provided programmes to police colleges in Hong Kong and India.
The University provided postgraduate education for Hong Kong Police College (HKPC), which was at the same time allegedly involved in teaching cooperation and exchange with the People’s Public Security University of China (PPSUC).
The PPSUC is responsible for training and supplying police for Xinjiang, where human rights violations including torture have allegedly been carried out on a scale amounting to crimes against humanity.
A series of police files obtained by the BBC in 2022 revealed details of China’s use of “re-education camps,” detaining what human rights groups believe to be more than one million Uyghurs against their will. The files described the routine use of armed officers and the existence of a shoot-to-kill policy if someone was to escape.
China has also been accused of persecuting Muslim religious figures and forbidding religious practices in the territory, in addition to destroying mosques and tombs.
[...]
The paper aims to cut emissions by 90%, amongst other points.
There are several reports on that, e.g., this one:
Strangers on a Seabed: Sino-Russian Collaboration on Undersea Cable Sabotage Operations
- Recent suspicious activities conducted by the merchant vessels Shunxing-39 and Vasili Shukshin in the vicinity of Taiwan in early 2025 suggest possible collaboration between Chinese and Russian merchant ships related to the reconnaissance and sabotage of undersea communications cables that connect Taiwan to the outside world.
- Such activities follow from suspected undersea infrastructure sabotage operations conducted by Chinese merchant vessels in the Baltic Sea in 2023–2024, with strong indications of Russian assistance and coordination.
- Taken as a whole, this string of incidents suggests an increasing willingness by Moscow and Beijing to collaborate on maritime sabotage operations—include on attacks on third-party targets.
[Edit typo.]
Downvote for whataboutery.
If this is questionable, what alternative do you suggest?
Yeah, and let us not forget that China wants to to the same with Taiwan.
Just keep in mind that renewable energy is not really implemented for sustainability, but mainly for profit. Also, due to capitalism the energy consumption keeps increasing.
What do you understand by capitalism? China -a self-defined socialist country- is almost a role model for what goes wrong in the fight for climate change in the way you are describing. China's fossil fuel production and consumption are outpacing its increase in renewable energy and that is the reason why the country is -contrary what Beijing's propaganda wants the world make to believe- desperately failing in its climate policy.
I don't know of these particular European/African projects' environmental impacts, but I don't question them either. But this has nothing to do with 'capitalism' or any perceived societal model.
Edit: This world map gives a first view where our global fight against climate change stands. (Hint: 'Capitalist' Europe is not good and must do a lot more, but we are far ahead in the path compared to others.)
Second edit: After a closer look into the study itself, I have to revise my opinion from above and say it is quite generic at best. The study authors are citing exclusively secondary sources, there appear to be no own research, and even the report says that European investments in the African countries are -though substantial- only a fraction of the total foreign direct investments (in case of Egypt, for example, it is 25%). They don't even say where the rest comes from. Europe can always do better, sure, but this whole study is just a sequence of mostly web sources assembled to foster a certain narrative imo.
Sollte es zu dieser Art 'Frieden' kommen, wird Russland nach der Ukraine das nächste Land angreifen, und dann das nächste ..., und China wird Taiwan angreifen und seine Aggressionen in Asien gegen seine Nachbarn (Nepal, Indien, Philippinen, u.a.) verschärfen. Deshalb unterstützt China letztlich auch Russland in diesem Krieg.
Wenn Putins Russland nicht vollständig aus der Ukraine abzieht, sieht es düster aus für den Frieden in Europa und der Welt.
Da China den "Trump-Vorstoß" unterstützt, dann wird Frau Weidel wohl nicht dagegen sein.
Your statement is outright false and dehumanizing. As the article says, amongst others, the Vietnamese government is "imprisoning individuals who express legitimate concerns on environmental protection, labour and land rights violations", and is committing severe crimes against humanity, e.g., the systematic suppression of individuals and organisations working on sustainable development.
Just read the article.
Calling this "successful" is dehumanizing and disgusting.
Russia targets infrastructure in Ukraine's east and south in extensive overnight air attack
Russia launched 161 drones and a dozen missiles overnight, targeting gas infrastructure in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region and hitting power supply in the southern Odesa region for a second night in a row, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.
The attack was part of an intensified assault on Ukraine's energy system over the past month as Russia discusses ending its war in Ukraine with the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, who has blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion.
I read of a similar treatment for another disease two years ago and found the report. That's absolutely amazing.
In a first, doctors treat fatal genetic disease before birth (November 2022)
A toddler is thriving after doctors in the U.S. and Canada used a novel technique to treat her before she was born for a rare genetic disease that caused the deaths of two of her sisters.
Ayla Bashir, a 16-month-old from Ottawa, Ontario, is the first child treated as fetus for Pompe disease, an inherited and often fatal disorder in which the body fails to make some or all of a crucial protein.
I am not sure whether I understand all comments (and whether all understand the article), so just for clarification: This is not a deliberate attack against Poland. This is space debris that crashed in Poland accidentally. It can happen anywhere anytime, and it doesn't matter whether it's from SpaceX, NASA, ESA, China, Russia, India or any other country. The point is that we have too many of this debris in our earth's orbit, and we needed international collaboration to eliminate or at least mitigate the risk of falling debris. As the expert in the added article said:
Near-Earth orbital space is finite. We should be treating it like a finite resource. We should be managing it holistically across countries, with coordination and planning and these sorts of things. But we don't do that.
Dazu passt ein interessanter Beitrag der Tagesschau aus dem Jahr 2019.
Geheime AfD-Spenden: Spur zum Umfeld eines Duisburger Milliardärs (April 2019)
>Im Fall der mysteriösen Spende zugunsten von Alice Weidels Wahlkreis am Bodensee führen Recherchen ins Umfeld von Henning Conle, Erbe des LTU-Gründers und Immobilienhändler.
Erst sollte eine Schweizer Pharmafirma namens PWS dem Wahlkreis von AfD-Fraktionschefin Alice Weidel 132.000 Euro für ihren Wahlkampf gespendet haben. Dann tauchte eine angebliche Spenderliste auf mit 14 Namen von angeblichen Geldgebern. Tatsächlich waren es aber Strohleute.
[...] Deren Namen weisen nun aber offenbar zum wahren Geldgeber: Nach Informationen von WDR, NDR und "Süddeutscher Zeitung" sowie dem "Schweizer Tagesanzeiger" führt die Spur ins Umfeld des aus Duisburg stammenden, in der Schweiz und London lebenden Immobilien-Milliardärs Henning Conle. Ein mit der Angelegenheit Vertrauter bestätigte das Umfeld des verschwiegenen Milliardärs als eigentlichen, bislang geheimen Spender.
This is the same weird pattern of conversation we and a couple of others have had in this community in another thread. I am sorry, but your behaviour is again very weird, and it seems even more so as it comes from a moderator. I don't understand why you are getting offensive if someone else has a different opinion or corrects you of a simple mistake everyone of us happens to make once in a while.
I have just said what the facts are as it's clearly visible on the site. That's not rude, and I have not 'chosen to believe' something. I have nothing more to add here.
I don't accuse you -nor anyone else- of nothing. I am just stating the facts.