The Indonesian Military (TNI) is committed to supporting the completion of the Trans-Papua Highway during President Prabowo Subianto’s term in office.

While the military is not involved in construction, it plays a critical role in securing the project from threats posed by pro-independence Papuan resistance groups in “high-risk” regions.

Spanning a total length of 4330 km, the Trans-Papua road project has been under development since 2014.

• READ MORE: Indonesia’s development dilemmas – a green info gap and budget pressure – David Robie
• Other Trans-Papua Highway reports

However, only 3446 km of the national road network has been connected after more than a decade of construction.

“Don’t compare Papua with Jakarta, where there are no armed groups. Papua is five times the size of Java, and not all areas are secure,” TNI spokesman Major-General Kristomei Sianturi told a media conference at the Ministry of Public Works on Monday.

One of the currently active segments is the Jayapura–Wamena route — specifically the Mamberamo–Elim section, which stretches 50 km.

The project is being carried out through a public-private partnership and was awarded to PT Hutama Karya, with an investment of Rp3.3 trillion (about US$202 million) and a 15-year concession. The segment is expected to be completed within two years, targeting finalisation next year.

Security an obstacle
General Kristomei said that one of the main obstacles was security in the vicinity of construction sites.

Out of 50 regencies/cities in Papua, at least seven are considered high-risk zones. Since its inception, the Trans-Papua road project has claimed 17 lives, due to clashes in the region.

In addition to security challenges, the delivery of construction materials remains difficult due to limited infrastructure.

“Transporting goods from one point to another in Papua is extremely difficult because there are no connecting roads. We’re essentially building from scratch,” General Kristomei said.

In May 2024, President Joko Widodo convened a limited cabinet meeting at the Merdeka Palace to discuss accelerating development in Papua. The government agreed on the urgent need to improve education, healthcare, and security in the region.

The Minister of National Development Planning, Suharso Monoarfa, announced that the government would ramp up social welfare programmes in Papua in coordination with then Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin, who chairs the Agency for the Acceleration of Special Autonomy in Papua (BP3OKP).

‘Welfare based approaches’
“We are gradually implementing welfare-based approaches, including improvements in education and health, with budgets already allocated to the relevant ministries and agencies,” Suharso said in May last year.

As of March 2023, the Indonesian government has disbursed Rp 1,036 trillion for Papua’s development.

This funding has supported major infrastructure initiatives such as the 3462 km Trans-Papua Highway, 1098 km of border roads, the construction of the 1.3 km Youtefa Bridge in Jayapura, and the renovation of Domine Eduard Osok Airport in Sorong.

Republished from the Indonesia Business Post.

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

Barwe, the founder of the Samarth Bharat Pariwar YouTube-based news channel, was brutally beaten July 4 while reporting on claims of  illegal construction activity on disputed land in the Manchar region of Maharashtra’s Pune district, according to several news reports. A widely circulated video of the attack, reviewed by CPJ, shows a man striking Barwe with a wooden rod before the journalist  loses consciousness. She was hospitalized for three days with serious head and spinal injuries, and is currently recovering at home.

Police arrested five men over two days in connection with the attack who were granted bail and released,  Indian Express reported. The suspect wielding the stick has yet to be taken into custody.

“It is unacceptable that journalist Sneha Barwe’s attackers still walk free two weeks after her violent assault. This sends a troubling message that attacking the press will be met with impunity,” said Kunāl Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Maharashtra authorities must act decisively to ensure accountability and send a clear signal that violence against journalists will not be tolerated.”

The arrested suspects were accused of violating six sections of the Indian Penal Code, including provisions related to voluntarily causing hurt and causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, according to Indian media watchdog Free Speech Collective. Three other people were also hurt in the attack with Barwe, who had been targeted on at least two previous occasions in connection with her reporting on local governance issues.

Srikant Kankal, the police officer supervising Barwe’s case, did not respond to CPJ’s texted request for an update on finding the journalist’s main attacker.

In February 2023, journalist Sashikant Warishe was murdered for reporting on a land dispute in Maharashtra.

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

“Journalist Bijay Pradhan’s brutal attack is yet another grave reminder of the growing dangers faced by local journalists across India, particularly those targeted in the eastern state of Odisha,” said CPJ India Representative Kunāl Majumder. “Authorities must ensure a swift and impartial investigation and bring those responsible to justice.”

Pradhan, a reporter with the privately-held Odia-language news outlet Bada Khabar, was tied up and brutally beaten by a group of men on May 23 while reporting on alleged irregularities in a local construction project in the Kulthipali village of Bolangir district. A video of the assault widely shared on social media, shows Pradhan being kicked and dragged by a group. The assault went on for two hours and resulted in the rupture of his right eardrum. He is undergoing treatment for his injuries in Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital, Pradhan told CPJ. 

Pradham said his attackers also snatched his mobile phone, on which he had recorded the incident, his microphone, and other equipment to stop him from reporting.

Five individuals named in the official complaint including the prime suspect have been arrested. They are being investigated for charges including assault, voluntarily causing hurt (including by dangerous means), misappropriation, theft, and property damage. 

News reports quoted a senior police officer saying “the contractor involved in the retaining wall construction may have instigated the assault” and that his “involvement is under thorough investigation.” However, Pradhan told CPJ he fears he could be targeted again if he resumes field reporting.

CPJ has documented multiple attacks in Odisha on journalists such as Jyotiranjan Mohapatra,  Pratap Patra, Tarun Kumar Acharya—including murder, physical assault, and targeted violence explicitly linked to their reporting on sensitive topics such as sand mining, child labor, and local corruption. 

CPJ’s requests for comment sent to Abilash G., the superintendent of police in the Bolangir district, did not receive any reply.

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

On the day of the quake, more than 100 workers were inside a 32-story unfinished tower when tremors from a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in neighboring Myanmar shook the Thai capital, causing the building to crumble. Many of those trapped were migrant workers from Myanmar, drawn to Thailand by economic hardship and political upheaval.

Migrant workers from Myanmar dominate Thailand’s so-called 3D jobs – dirty, dangerous, and demeaning – with estimates suggesting at least four million now live in the country. Many fled their homeland following the 2021 military coup, seeking safety and opportunity across the border.

Thailand’s construction industry relies heavily on this workforce. In 2023, around 600,000 foreign nationals were employed in the sector, according to the International Labour Organization.

Yet it remains one of the country’s most hazardous industries. A 2022 study by the Workmen’s Compensation Fund found that more than 4,500 workers were killed or injured in construction accidents in 2021 alone – over 40% of them in Bangkok.

The recent collapse has reignited concerns about safety, prompting widespread fear among migrant laborers.

“[Migrant workers] don’t want to work in construction anymore,” said Koreeyor Manuchae, project coordinator at the Migrant Working Group, an advocacy organisation supporting survivors.

“They are afraid of that, but they have no choice.”

Despite their fears, many survivors find themselves unable to leave their jobs. Under Thailand’s bilateral memorandum of understanding system, migrants from Myanmar are bound to their original employers and face significant restrictions if they try to change jobs.

Critics argue that such a system is not only time-consuming, but also can financially burden job-seekers as they often need to go through brokers to find jobs, leaving many little choice in their placement.

(Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

No wages, no compensation

Even as many migrant workers remain in their jobs out of necessity, the structural issues that left them vulnerable in the first place continue to persist.

The Migrant Working Group found that despite legal requirements for documented workers to be enrolled in a social security fund that provides healthcare and accident compensation, many employers fail to register them – leaving workers unprotected when disaster strikes.

Only 59 out of estimated up to 900 migrant workers from S.A. Construction, a company sub-contracted to work on the Bangkok high rise at the time it collapsed, were registered with the social security office, according to the group.

A study from the United Nations Development Programme published in 2023 found that around 38% of the Myanmar migrant workers surveyed in Thailand’s construction industry were undocumented, and 40% of surveyed undocumented construction workers reported they received no benefits, such as sick leave or even one day off a week.

Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development, an advocacy group, said many new construction workers who arrive in Thailand are forced to work for sub-contractors for a year or two in the name of “gaining experience,” but these organizations are also rife with labor violations.

“[Subcontractors] always say: ‘We are going to pay when this is finished.’ So the migrants are waiting, but when the construction is finished, the subcontractor manipulates them,” he said.

Employers often claim there is no further obligation to compensate the workers since the project has been completed, he explained.

He added that such practices are common in the construction sector, including the widespread reduction of wages for workers employed under subcontractors.

Similarly, some workers were unable to receive wages in the immediate aftermath of the collapse, Manuchae from Migrant Working Group said.

Under Article 75 of the Thai Labor Protection Act, employers are permitted to suspend operations without paying wages during unforeseen events that halt business activity – leaving collapse victims without income until April 17.

In the weeks that followed, Thailand’s labor ministry did not issue any public statement outlining how it would address the concerns of affected migrant workers.

The Ministry’s permanent secretary, Boonsong Thapchaiyuth, announced that families of workers killed in the collapse would receive between one and two million baht (US$30,175-60,350) in compensation. However, this has not been the case for all victims.

According to Zaw, an employee at the Samut Sakhon-based Labor Rights Foundation, which supports Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, four injured workers from S.A. Construction have yet to receive any compensation from the Thai government.

He added that the families of 11 workers who died in the collapse have also not received support, as their bodies have not yet been recovered.

“We had discussions with the authorities, but they did not make progress,” said Zaw.

“The labor ministry also had different information about the workers,” he lamented.

The labor ministry has not responded to Radio Free Asia’s request for comment.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

Pimuk Rakkanam in Bangkok contributed to this report.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Kiana Duncan for RFA.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar and neighboring countries, including Thailand, on Friday. Among the damage was a 32-story office tower in Bangkok that crumbled entirely. The building was being constructed by the China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group, a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned enterprise, as part of a joint venture.

News of the collapse spread rapidly on Chinese social media, where users began questioning the structural integrity of Chinese-led projects abroad. But the discussion didn’t last long. Posts were deleted, search results filtered, and even official news reports quietly removed.

One article titled “Under-construction audit building collapses in quake, Thai contractor faces liquidity crisis” published by Chinese outlet Sina Finance, for instance, was removed from the platform’s website after a short-lived stay.

Chinese state-run outlets such as People’s Daily and CCTV both published reports on the collapse on the same day, but the links to the reports are no longer accessible.

Searches for collapse-related keywords on Chinese social media platforms also yielded no results, suggesting that relevant content has been removed or suppressed.

(Weibo)

‘Tofu-dreg project’

Construction of the new premises for Thailand’s state audit agency was overseen by state-owned China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group, which secured the building contract in 2020 as part of a consortium, according to Seatao, a Chinese site that reports on Beijing’s Belt & Road global infrastructure plan.

It said the 32-story tower was the largest building project undertaken by the group. The consortium included the Thai construction company, Italian-Thai Development Company.

On Sunday, Thailand’s Industry Minister Akanat Promphan, who inspected the scene, said the cause of the building collapse could stem from flawed materials, poor design or bad construction. An investigation is underway.

Wang Kuo-Chen, assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, shares a similar view.

“None of the surrounding buildings in Bangkok collapsed – only that one did,” he said. “Moreover, the way it collapsed was extremely dramatic; it was pulverized rather than tilting to one side. This is a classic sign of substandard construction and cost-cutting,” Wang said, using the term “tofu-dreg project.”

Derived from “tofu dregs” – a soft, crumbly food – the phrase refers to poorly built structures that are weak and prone to collapse.

In the summer of 1998, China experienced severe flooding, and during his inspection of the breached levees in Jiujiang, former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji angrily criticized the collapsed floodwall as a “tofu-dreg project.”

Since then, the term has been widely adopted in Chinese media to describe substandard construction, often associated with corruption and regulatory failures.

“In recent years, the so-called high-speed rail miracle and China’s advancements in high technology have gradually overshadowed the impression of tofu-dreg projects,” Wang said. “However, the collapse of this audit building has reminded people that the high-tech reputation might just be inflated hype.”

The Chinese embassy in Thailand has not responded to Radio Free Asia’s request for comments.

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Long-standing censorship

But insights, including Wang’s, find no place to thrive in China. Beijing has a long-standing pattern of tightly controlling public discourse after major accidents, especially those involving construction quality and public safety.

In the wake of deadly incidents, online discussions are often swiftly censored, with keywords blocked, social media posts deleted, and news coverage heavily restricted.

After a 2021 gas explosion in Shiyan, Hubei Province, which killed 25 people, posts demanding accountability were quickly taken down, and online discussions were muted.

Similarly, when a hotel being used as a COVID-19 quarantine site collapsed in Quanzhou in 2020, killing 29, authorities removed posts questioning construction practices and safety oversight.

A 2015 landslide in Shenzhen, triggered by a pile of construction waste, and the 2009 collapse of a newly built 13-story apartment building in Shanghai, also saw online censorship of posts highlighting regulatory failures.

One of the most prominent examples remains the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, where the collapse of poorly constructed school buildings sparked public outrage. Parents who demanded answers were silenced, and independent reporting was swiftly curtailed.

Tzeng Wei-Feng, an associate researcher with Taiwan’s National Chengchi University Institute of International Relations, said the widespread media coverage of the collapse of the Bangkok skyscraper is likely to deal a major blow to China’s reputation in Southeast Asian infrastructure development.

In recent years, China has significantly expanded its infrastructure and construction investments across Southeast Asia, primarily through its Belt and Road Initiative, also known as BRI, that is intended to advance China’s economic interests globally.

“Southeast Asian nations might reassess their collaborations with Chinese firms, scrutinizing project details more carefully,” Tzeng said.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.

Construction has begun on a road bridge that would connect North Korea and Russia over the Tumen River that separates the countries, South Korean satellite imagery revealed.

This would be the first road bridge between these two allies, allowing trucks and buses to transfer goods and people. There is already a rail bridge between the two countries, which recently have been strengthening ties.

South Korean firm SI Analytics announced that it captured the photos on March 3, and they showed that preparatory work had begun for an 830-meter (900-yard) section of road, including the bridge over the frozen river in the northeastern part of North Korea.

Experts said that when completed, the bridge will likely boost trade and tourism in North Korea, and possibly increase Moscow’s influence in the region.

One expert said that it seems as if Russia agreed to build this bridge in exchange for North Korean support in its war with Ukraine. North Korea has sent an estimated 12,000 soldiers to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, although neither Moscow or Pyongyang has publicly confirmed this.

Preliminary staging

On the Russian side of the border, the satellite images show that preliminary work for the bridge reaches less than 300 meters (330 yards) from the land.

A yellow structure, believed to be a pillar that would hold up the bridge, can be seen on the frozen surface of the river. Additionally, construction materials can be seen in a staging area on the Russian side.

(PleiadesNEO imagery with analysis by SI Analytics)

“The groundwork will be completed before the river thaws, with the actual bridge pillars being installed in the spring,” SI Analytics said.

Meanwhile, on the North Korean side, construction is underway on the road that would connect to the bridge. It appears that the ground has been compacted, but the road has yet to be paved. Heavy equipment like bulldozers, trucks and smaller cars can be seen at the construction site.

Moscow selected contracting firm TonnelYuzhStroy LLC, to oversee design and construction of the bridge, with a deadline for completion set at Dec. 31, 2026, media outlet Interfax.ru reported.

“Although the Russian government has allocated a two-year construction period, it seems that the rush to complete the groundwork even in the bitter cold is intended to show ‘tangible results’ in accordance with the demands of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” SI Analytics said.

North Korea observers said that the construction of the bridge would be a boon for overland shipping between North Korea and Russia, as only one other bridge connecting the two countries exists, and it is only for trains.

The new bridge will contribute to North Korea’s economic growth, Joung Eunlee, a research fellow at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told RFA Korean.

“Land routes can actively transport much more logistics and people than railways,” she said. “If a bridge is built between North Korea and Russia, then the volume of goods transported will be much larger than railways, the transport time will be faster, and the volume of trade will likely increase.”

Quid pro quo?

The bridge is likely being built in return for North Korean military support of Russia in its war with Ukraine, said Bruce Bennett of the U.S.-based RAND Corporation.

“Creating a new bridge would be a direct way for Russia to increase trade with North Korea,” he said. “I believe there is no doubt that this is, at least, a partial payoff to North Korea.”

The new bridge is likely to lead to increased economic, social and military exchanges, and could weaken the effectiveness of sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, SI analytics said. Additionally it could reorganize the balance of power in the region, increasing Russian influence at the expense of Chinese.

“China’s response will likely to be a key variable going forward,” SI Analytics said.

But the overall effect of the new bridge could also be relatively mild, Kim Young-hee, from the Institute for North Korean Studies, at Dongguk University in South Korea, told RFA.

“It would have an economic effect, but North Korea would require a lot of travel by train or car to enable trade with Russia,” she said. “Geographically, China is better. Russia is far away, so transportation costs are higher than to trade with China.”

She said that trading with China was more cost effective, so Pyongyang would likely still trade primarily with Beijing.

Translated by Claire S Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Cheon Soram for RFA Korean.

The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, released a set of images taken during a recent inspection tour by leader, Kim Jong Un, to North Korea’s key shipyards, including one where the first nuclear submarine is being built.

In two photos, the leader and his entourage were seen next to the large body of a ship, believed to have been taken at a submarine facility in the port city of Sinpo on the east coast.

KCNA quoted Kim saying that “the development of the naval force into an elite and nuclear-armed force constitutes an important content in the strategy for the development of the national defense.”

(KCNA/via Reuters)

Pyongyang has a fleet of around 70 aging submarines, most of them are classified as “midget” for their small size.

In September 2023 it launched the first so-called “tactical nuclear attack submarine,” a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s.

Despite the name, it is not nuclear-powered but fitted with diesel-electric propulsion, relatively noisy and slow, hence vulnerable to modern anti-submarine warfare. The “nuclear” component refers to the possibility of nuclear missile armament yet analysts have raised doubt about its capabilities.

The KCNA report didn’t say when the construction of the new submarine would be completed.

North Korea’s largest warships

Kim Jong Un also visited some other shipyards where North Korea’s largest warships are being constructed.

“Only when there is a powerful naval force that no one can provoke, is it possible to defend the security of the country,” he said.

(KCNA/via Reuters)

Pyongyang is believed to be building two new warships with displacement of 3,000 to 5,000 tons at Nampo shipyard on the west coast and Chongjin on the east coast.

Several of KCNA’s photos show the North Korean leader inspecting the upper structure of a ship, likely at the Nampo shipyard, with details of the deck being blurred.

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North Korea has a substantial surface fleet in numbers but it is predominantly composed of smaller patrol and coastal vessels of limited capability.

The two ships under-construction are expected to be fitted with a vertical launch system for missiles, a first for a North Korean surface vessel. A report by the British think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that such a ship could be carrying ballistic or surface-to-air missiles yet their capabilities remain to be seen.

The North Korean shipyards’ ability to replicate the performance of the world’s latest combat systems and other associated capabilities is deemed by the report as being “limited.”

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

“Amid an unprecedented crackdown that has seen dozens of journalists incarcerated, Azerbaijan authorities’ singling out of Aziz Orujov from among thousands of Azerbaijanis living on unregistered land for jailing on dubious illegal construction charges is breathtakingly cynical,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Authorities should immediately release Orujov and stop jailing journalists in retaliation for their work.”

The Sabail District Court in the capital, Baku, convicted Orujov of building a house for himself without authorization on a plot of land that he had purchased on the city outskirts.

The journalist’s lawyer, Bahruz Bayramov, told CPJ that although the land was not officially registered to Orujov, that’s also the case for around half a million homes in and around Baku, and that authorities had not jailed anyone besides Orujov for the offense. The fact that Orujov’s prosecution has taken place against the backdrop of authorities’ repeated announcement of plans to legalize such buildings shows that it was retaliation for his reporting, Bayramov said.

Kanal 13’s Azerbaijani YouTube channel, which has nearly 500,000 subscribers, regularly covers sensitive topics such as human rights violations and gives space to opposition views. In 2017, Orujov was jailed for a year in reprisal for the outlet’s work.

Azerbaijani police arrested Orujov on the illegal construction charges in November 2023. The next month, they added currency smuggling charges for alleged receipt of Western donor funds, arrested Kanal 13 reporter Shamo Eminov, and ordered Kanal 13 blocked. In December 2024, authorities suspended the currency smuggling case against both and released Eminov.

CPJ’s annual prison census found that Azerbaijan was among the world’s top 10 jailers of journalists in 2024. At least 24 journalists are currently jailed in retaliation for their work, most of them detained since late 2023 over Western funding allegations, amid a decline in relations between Azerbaijan and the West.

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

EDITORIAL: By Thomas Tarurongo Wynne, Cook Islands News

Our relationship with China, forged through over two decades of diplomatic agreements, infrastructure projects and economic cooperation, demands further scrutiny. Do we continue to embrace the dragon with open arms, or do we stand wary?

And what of the Taniwha, a relationship now bruised by the ego of the few but standing the test of time?

If our relationship with China were a building, it would be crumbling like the very structures they have built for us. The Cook Islands Police Headquarters (2005) was meant to stand as a testament to our growing diplomatic and financial ties, but its foundations — both literal and metaphorical — have been called into question as its structure deteriorated.

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Then, in 2009, the Cook Islands Courthouse followed, plagued by maintenance issues almost immediately after its completion. Our National Stadium, also built in 2009 for the Pacific Mini Games, was heralded as a great achievement, yet signs of premature wear and tear began surfacing far earlier than expected.

Still, we continue this dance, entranced by the allure of foreign investment and large-scale projects, even as history and our fellow Pacific partners across the moana warn us of the risks.

These structures, now symbols of our fragile dependence, stand as a metaphor for our relationship with the dragon: built with promises of strength, only to falter under closer scrutiny. And yet, we keep returning to the dance floor. These projects, rather than standing as enduring monuments to our relationship with China, serve as cautionary tales.

And then came Te Mato Vai.

What began as a bold and necessary vision to modernise Rarotonga’s water infrastructure became a slow and painful lesson in accountability. The involvement of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) saw the project mired in substandard work, legal disputes and cost overruns.

By the time McConnell Dowell, a New Zealand firm, was brought in to fix the defects, the damage — financial and reputational — was done.

Prime Minister Mark Brown, both as Finance Minister and now as leader, has walked an interesting line between criticism and praise.

In 2017, he voiced concerns about the poor workmanship and assured the nation that the government would seek accountability, stating, “We are deeply concerned about the quality of work delivered by CCECC. Our people deserve better, and we will pursue all avenues to ensure accountability.”

In 2022, he acknowledged the cost overruns but framed them as necessary lessons in securing a reliable water supply. And yet, most recently, during the December 2024 visit of China’s Executive Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, he declared Te Mato Vai a “commitment to a stronger, healthier, and more resilient nation. Together, we’ve delivered a project that not only meets the needs of today but safeguards the future of Rarotonga’s water supply.”

The Cook Islands’ relationship with New Zealand has long been one of deep familial, historical and political ties — a dance with the taniwha, if you will. As a nation with free association status, we have relied on New Zealand for economic support, governance frameworks and our shared citizenship ties.

And they have relied on our labour and expertise, which adds over a billion dollars to their economy each year. We have well-earned our discussion around citizenship and statehood, but that must come from the ground up, not from the top down.

China has signed similar agreements across the Pacific, most notably with the Solomon Islands, weaving itself into the region’s economic and political fabric. Yet, while these partnerships promise opportunity, they also raise concerns about sovereignty, dependency and the price of such alignments, as well as the geopolitical and strategic footprint of the dragon.

But as we reflect on the shortcomings of these partnerships, the question remains: Do we continue to place our trust in foreign powers, or do we reinvest in our own community and governance systems?

At the end of the day, we must ask ourselves: How do we sign bold agreements on the world stage without consultation, while struggling to resolve fundamental issues at home?

Healthcare, education, the rise in crime, mental health, disability, poverty — the list goes on and on, while our leaders are wined and dined on state visits around the globe.

Dance with the dragon, if you so choose, but save the last dance for the voting public in 2026. In 2026, the voters will decide who leads this dance and who gets left behind.

Republished from the Cook Islands News with permission.

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

The Chinese government granted approval to build the Medog Hydropower Station on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river, where it is expected to generate 300 billion kilowatt-hours of power annually, three times the power of China’s massive Three Gorges Dam, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The river originates in the glaciers of western Tibet and flows into India and Bangladesh, where it is known as the Brahmaputra and the Jamuna rivers, respectively.

China did not disclose details about when construction was likely to start and end, or the likely impact of the new dam project, including the number of people displaced or the ecological, environmental and cultural consequences of what Tibetans consider as one of their most sacred and biodiverse regions.

(Paul Nelson/RFA)

But experts and activists say the impact will be significant Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Nyingchi city and that China could use the dam to promote its interests. It will almost certainly affect water flow patterns and native flora and fauna, and it also raises concerns about water security as China may use the dam to control the flow of water downstream.

“Any dam on a river has huge ecological consequences downstream,” India-based water conservation expert Vishwanath Srikantaiah told Radio Free Asia. “China may use it as a tool by withholding and not being transparent with data on dam operations.”

“Lessons that India can take are from the dams on the Mekong River that China has built [in Laos] and which have impacted downstream nations particularly in years of drought, and how China has operated them broadly on principles of self-interest,” Srikantaiah said.

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Research has shown that China’s 11 mega-dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong River have resulted in an increase in the frequency and severity of downstream drought over the past two decades. The dams have restricted or blocked water from reaching downstream countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, as well as disrupted biodiversity and eroded river banks.

Tibetan protests

China’s dam projects have generated protests in the past.

Earlier this year, more than 1,000 Tibetans were arrested for protesting against China’s planned construction of the Kamtok, or Gangtuo, Dam project on the upper reaches of the Drichu River, known as Jinsha in Chinese, expected to impact at least two villages and six monasteries in Dege county.

(Planet Labs)

Beijing’s investment to build the dam is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan (US$137 billion) Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Nyingchi city more than four times the total investment of 250 billion yuan (US$34.5 billion) for the Three Gorges Dam project.

The hydropower station will be built in Medog county (Motuo in Chinese) in Nyingtri (Nyingchi) prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, bordering the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

“As far as hydropower projects in the Himalaya are concerned, there is already substantial evidence of their negative impacts,” Manshi Asher, a climate activist and researcher based in North India, told Radio Free Asia.

“This project will undoubtedly alter the environmental flows of the river,” Asher said. “The larger the dam, the greater the impact on the river flows.”

It isn’t clear how many people will have to move to make way for the dam and reservoir it will create.

(NASA)

The Three Gorges dam resulted in the displacement of around 1.4 million people, but the area around the Yarlung Tsangpo River where the Medog Hydropower Station is expected to be built is less populated than the area around the Yangtze River, where the Three Gorges dam was built.

Earthquake concerns

Another major concern is the Medog hydropower dam’s location in a geologically unstable area prone to earthquakes and landslides, that could be exacerbated by the huge volume of water it would hold, said Srikantaiah.

According to a study by the advocacy group International Campaign for Tibet, China has built or plans to build at least 193 hydropower dams in Tibet since 2000, of which, almost 80% are large or mega-sized.

Of the 193 dams, over 60% are reportedly still in the proposal or preparation stages. But if completed, they could displace over 1.2 million people and destroy religious sites, the rights group said.

Dechen Palmo, climate researcher at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibet Policy Institute, noted that while the specific details of the dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river have not been disclosed, the project would likely result in the displacement of Tibetans and the destruction of ancient monasteries.

The new mega-dam also would pose environmental risks with significant impact on neighboring countries, including India, as has been the case with multiple dams that China has built on Tibet’s rivers, he said.

Additional reporting by Tenzin Norzom and Dickey Kundol. Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan, and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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

The country’s leader Kim Jong Un last August ordered construction of the new hospital in an industrial area of Hamju county, in the eastern province of South Hamgyong, but he also said that he wanted it finished by the end of 2024.

Now the authorities are scrambling to get it finished. As with most government projects, the military and residents are being mobilized to provide free labor or donate construction materials.

But now with the clock ticking, the county government is leaning on the medical workers, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“Since hospital construction began, military hospital and clinic staff have been mobilized to the construction site for more than two hours every evening,” he said. “All hospital staff, except the emergency department and on-duty doctors and nurses, must participate.”

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In addition to providing labor, the doctors and nurses must donate money to the project, the resident said.

“A few days ago, an order was given to provide funds for hospital construction,” he said. “The set offering is 100,000 won (US$6) for doctors and 50,000 won ($3) for nurses,” he said.

Even for a doctor, 100,000 won is an enormous sum in North Korea, enough to buy about 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds) of rice at the latest market price published by the Osaka-based Asia Press media outlet that specializes in news about North Korea.

“When the order was delivered, hospital staff complained, saying, ‘How can we pay 50,000 won or 100,000 won at a time when we don’t have enough money to prepare for winter?’“ the resident said. ”Some people say that their blood pressure will explode when they are told what to pay.”

He said the order was relayed by a lower-level party secretary, who explained that the orders came from above, and the intention was to rely on the doctors and hospital staff to donate to their future workplace.

“The hospital staff glared at the secretary,” he added.

Another hospital, in Orang county in nearby North Hamgyong province, is also leaning hard on residents to be completed on time, a resident there told RFA.

“In the early days when construction of local industrial factories began, there was no pressure towards residents, so people thought that the measures initiated by Kim Jong Un himself were clearly different,” he said. “But now, there is so much pressure to pay and do more for the project.”

For the Orang county hospital, workers from local factories are made to work on the hospital, and residents must wake up at dawn or go in on their days off to help out, the resident there said.

“At the end of September, every household in the county, excluding farmers, had to donate 20 cement blocks,” he said. “This is on top of having already donated money twice to provide support for the soldiers who were working on the project,” he added.

As with the Hamju county hospital, military doctors and nurses have been working on the project. The Orang resident said that they finish their healthcare work and then go immediately to the construction site for a few hours.

“Last week, the authorities forced the doctors and nurses who will work at the new hospital to pay cash,” he said. “They said that doctors and nurses who will work at the new hospital should take the lead in supporting hospital construction. Each doctor and nurse gave at least 50,000 won.”

The reaction to the project has not been positive, the Orang resident said.

“It is good to see a modern hospital being built instead of a shabby and outdated military hospital,” he said. “But it is not right to force the burden on residents and medical workers.”

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.

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

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The state of Ohio is giving taxpayer money to private, religious schools to help them build new buildings and expand their campuses, which is nearly unprecedented in modern U.S. history.

While many states have recently enacted sweeping school voucher programs that give parents taxpayer money to spend on private school tuition for their kids, Ohio has cut out the middleman. Under a bill passed by its Legislature this summer, the state is now providing millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, most of them Catholic, to renovate buildings, build classrooms, improve playgrounds and more.

The goal in providing the grants, according to the measure’s chief architect, Matt Huffman, is to increase the capacity of private schools in part so that they can sooner absorb more voucher students.

“The capacity issue is the next big issue on the horizon” for voucher efforts, Huffman, the Ohio Senate president and a Republican, told the Columbus Dispatch.

Huffman did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment.

Following Hurricane Katrina and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some federal taxpayer dollars went toward repairing and improving private K-12 schools in multiple states. Churches that operate schools often receive government funding for the social services that they offer; some orthodox Jewish schools in New York have relied on significant financial support from the city, The New York Times has found.

But national experts on education funding emphasized that what Ohio is doing is categorically different.

“This is new, dangerous ground, funding new voucher schools,” said Josh Cowen, a senior fellow at the Education Law Center and the author of a new book on the history of billionaire-led voucher efforts. For decades, churches have relied on conservative philanthropy to be able to build their schools, Cowen said, or they’ve held fundraising drives or asked their diocese for help.

They’ve never, until now, been able to build schools expressly on the public dime.

“This breaks through the myth,” said David Pepper, a political writer and the former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. Pepper said that courts have long given voucher programs a pass, ruling that they don’t violate the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state because a publicly funded voucher technically passes through the conduit of a parent on the way to a religious school.

With this latest move, though, Ohio is funding the construction of a separate, religious system of education, Pepper said, adding that if no one takes notice, “This will happen in other states — they all learn from each other like laboratories.”

The Ohio Constitution says that the General Assembly “will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state; but no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.”

Yet Troy McIntosh, executive director of the Ohio Christian Education Network — several of whose schools received the new grants — recently told the Lima News that part of the reason for spending these public dollars on the expansion of private schools is that “we want to make sure that from our perspective, Christian school options are available to any kid who chooses that in the state.”

When they were implemented in the 1990s, vouchers in Ohio, like in many places, were limited in scope; they were available only to parents whose children were attending (often underfunded) public schools in Cleveland. The idea was to give those families money that they could then spend on tuition at a hopefully better private school, thus empowering them with what was called school choice.

Over the decades, the state incrementally expanded voucher programs to a wider and wider range of applicants. And last year, legislators and Gov. Mike DeWine extended the most prominent of those programs, called EdChoice, to all Ohio families.

It was the ultimate victory for Ohio’s school-choice advocates. The problem, though, was that in many parts of Ohio and other states, especially rural areas, parents can’t spend this new voucher money because private schools are either too far away or already at capacity.

This, in turn, has become a major political liability for voucher advocates in many states, with rural conservatives becoming increasingly indignant that their tax dollars are being spent on vouchers for upper-middle-class families in far-off metropolitan areas where there are more private schools.

In April, the Buckeye Institute, an Ohio-based conservative think tank affiliated with the Koch brothers’ political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, recognized the problem. In a policy memo, the institute said that it was offering lawmakers “additional solutions to address the growing need for classroom space” in private and charter schools, “given the success of the Ohio EdChoice program.” Among its recommendations: draw funding from the Ohio One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund, which provides grants of state money for the construction and repair of buildings, as well as other “capital projects.”

Within months, the Legislature did precisely that. Led by Huffman, Republicans slipped at least $4 million in grants to private schools into a larger budget bill. There was little debate, in part because budget bills across the country have become too large to deliberate over every detail and, also, Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers in Ohio.

According to an Ohio Legislative Service Commission report, the grants, some of them over a million dollars, then went out to various Catholic schools around the state. ProPublica contacted administrators at each of these schools to ask what they will be using their new taxpayer money on, but they either didn’t answer or said that they didn’t immediately know. (One of the many differences between public and private schools is that the latter do not have to answer questions from the public about their budgets, even if they’re now publicly funded.)

The total grant amount of roughly $4 million this year may seem small, said William L. Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding. But, he noted, Ohio’s voucher program itself started out very small three decades ago, and today it’s a billion-dollar system.

“They get their foot in the door with a few million dollars in infrastructure funding,” Phillis said. “It sets a precedent, and eventually hundreds of millions will be going to private school construction.”

Mollie Simon contributed research.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Eli Hager.

There has been a sharp increase this year in North Korea’s hacking attempts to steal such information, said the Korea Cybersecurity Intelligence Community, which includes the main spy agency, prosecution service, police and military, in a joint statement.

The North’s hacking groups used the “watering hole” method, which targets a large number of users by infecting websites they commonly visit, and malicious codes to steal information, they added.

In particular, the North Korean hacking group Kimsuky distributed the malware in January this year through the website of a professional organization in South Korea’s construction sector, according to the authorities. 

The malware was hidden in secure authentication software used to log into the website, which infected the computer systems of employees of local governments, public institutions and construction companies who accessed the website.

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The authorities said North Korean hackers were seeking such information to help their country build plants and develop cities.

In fact, North Korea launched a “regional development 20×10 policy” in January this year, which mandates the establishment of industrial factories in 20 counties per year for the next 10 years.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presented the plan to delegates of the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang on Jan. 15.

The plan is based on a project in North Korea’s Kimhwa County, in Kangwon Province, that was launched after the area was damaged by floods. Over the past two years, factories have been built, supplying food, clothes, building materials, paper and consumer goods.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

Columbia University, image by Hany Osman.

There’s something happening here . . .

Consider, for instance, the recent announcement by Union Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with Columbia University, that it is divesting from “companies profiting from war in Palestine/Israel” – and, not only that, fully supports the student encampments (at Columbia and all across the country) and condemns the arrests and police violence wreaking havoc on the peaceful, culturally diverse protests.

Indeed, the seminary released a statement that scrambles the quiet certainty of those in power – i.e., that money matters more than anything else: “Over the decades, we have developed what are called ‘socially responsible investment screens’ to express our values and not financially support damaging and immoral investments.”

Values over profit? Over the years, the seminary has pulled its investments away from such industries as weapons manufacturers, for-profit prisons, and fossil fuels. But not only that . . . apparently it understands, and values, education itself – a remarkable phenomenon indeed.

Seminary president Serene Jones, in an interview with Democracy Now!, pointed out that the school has opened up its campus “to all the surrounding campuses when students were being expelled, events weren’t allowed to happen. . . . Our doors are wide open, which is what a university should be in times like this.”

She also said: “We support students learning what it means to find their voices, to speak out for justice and freedom.”

Those are the words that stunned me the most. This is what education is, for God’s sake! It’s not just a matter of attending lectures, taking notes, absorbing data. It means finding your voice – finding your deepest values and expressing them in real life, putting them forward not as abstractions but as principles to live by. Entering the world as a grown woman, a grown man, means more than simply finding your place. It means challenging that world as you enter it and, by God, creating it – creating the future.

I certainly don’t mean this simplistically. I speak as an aging boomer, who entered adulthood as the civil rights movement was shaking and shattering the national norms, and as the Vietnam war was bursting into our consciousness. What an injured and deeply flawed world! Something was wrong. Growing up meant finding our voices and addressing – challenging – this flawed world.

In October 1967, for instance, I boarded a bus, along with many of my friends, and participated in the first antiwar march on the Pentagon, which included pushing the edges of social and legal propriety. We did more than listen to speeches. We determined to occupy the Pentagon, thousands of us walking across the grass, coming face to face with the soldiers guarding it. At one point, out of the blue, it seemed, a contingent of soldiers came rushing toward us; I wound up getting clobbered in the head with a rifle butt. I was knocked down but wasn’t hurt and stayed with the protest for several more hours, eventually leaving the Pentagon sit-in shortly before the arrests started happening.

My friends and I made it back to our school – Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo – with a sense that our lives were no longer the same. We immediately took matters into our own hands. We dropped out.

I wound up delaying my eventual graduation by a number of years, and no, I didn’t “change the world” in some idealistically imagined way, but I have no doubt whatsoever that this period of my life – full of protests, drugs, a few arrests, a lot of mistakes – was at the core of my college learning experience. At the same time as all this was going on, I was also finding myself as a writer and, eventually, a journalist. I value the support – indeed, the mentorship – of a significant number of professors at Western. Continually creating the world isn’t simply a matter of us vs. them: young vs. old. It’s a multigenerational effort.

All of which brings me back to the present moment, and the words of Serene Jones, who has not abandoned – or grown cynical about – the values emanating from the student encampments across the country. Much of the mainstream coverage of the protests simply defines the phenomenon in us-vs.-them terms. The protests are “pro-Palestine,” seeming to imply there are two equal (equally brutal) sides in this war, and being pro-Palestine means being anti-Israel, which can easily morph into anti-Semitic. But the protests aren’t simply pro-Palestine; they’re pro-humanity (and anti-genocide).

And the participants are culturally and religiously, but not spiritually, diverse. As Jones writes at Religion News Service:

“First and foremost, these encampments are filled with students from different religious traditions — Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, unaffiliated as well as spiritual but not religious students. They are finding solace and courage among themselves. . . .

“It is simply who these protesters are: a community bound by a greater common cause to stop the mass killing of besieged Palestinians.”

Jones’s essay is called “What we have to learn from students leading the charge for justice” – which is itself compelling. The university system – the financial system, the political system – has something to learn from the protesters? Love thy enemy or whatever?

The world these protesters are entering is a world hardened by cynicism. In such a world, a.k.a., the real world, “love” and other values are appropriate to be uttered in a religious setting with pews and fancy windows, but they’re hardly relevant in the day-to-day world of win-and-lose, gain-and-loss. That’s why the cops are barging in, beating and arresting the protesters and tearing down the encampments.

But Jones is daring to tell us that this is not the real world – simply the current one, which is still under construction.

The post A World Under Spiritual Construction appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Robert Koehler.

Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders.

According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were working on stories linked to the environment.

Twenty four were murdered in Latin America and Asia — including the Pacific, which makes these two regions the most dangerous ones for environmental reporters.

• READ MORE: Other environmental journalism reports
• Other RSF reports

From restrictions on access to information and gag suits to physical attacks, the work of environmental journalists and their safety are increasingly threatened.

RSF has denounced the obstacles to the right to information about ecological and climate issues and calls on all countries to recognise the vital nature of the work of environmental journalists, and to guarantee their safety.

Nearly half of the journalists killed in India in the past 10 years — 13 of 28 — were working on environmental stories that often also involved corruption and organised crime, especially the so-called “sand mafia,” which illegally excavates millions of tons of this precious resource for the construction industry.

Amazon deforestation
Journalists covering the challenges of deforestation in the Amazon are also constantly subjected to threats and harassment that prevent them from working freely.

The scale of the problem was highlighted in 2022 by the murder of Dom Phillips, a British reporter specialised in environmental issues.

“Regarding the environmental and climate challenges we face, the freedom to cover these issues is essential,” said RSF’s editorial director Anne Bocandé.

“RSF’s staff battles tirelessly to prevent economic and political interests from obstructing the right to information. Your generosity makes this fight possible.”

Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders.

• RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index will be released on May 3 to provide a reality check on global press freedoms.

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

“We are a married couple of 45 years. We are taking action together as elders deeply concerned about the future facing our 3-year-old grandson, all children, and all life on earth. That is why we have joined with many others to stop the destructive and abusive Mountain Valley Pipeline, as well as any new fossil fuel infrastructure. Three years ago, the International Energy Agency said that was needed even then, because of the seriousness of the climate emergency

“We need solar and wind right now, not destructive fossil fuels and a trillion dollar a year war economy.

“We are outraged that billions of our tax dollars are being used for military aid to Israel in its genocidal war on Gaza. War kills people and the environment.”

This is the statement that we wrote explaining why on April 10 we locked ourselves into a “trojan possum” wooden structure blocking the only access road to a major MVP construction site on Poor Mountain in Virginia. For seven hours, with the support of others, we were able to prevent work being done at this site. After extraction and arrest, we were each charged with three misdemeanors in Roanoke County, Va.

Many other people have taken actions like this going back to 2018. Indeed, an historic and heroic tree sit of 932 straight days between 2018 and 2021 in Elliston, Virginia, along the planned route of the pipeline, was a major reason why, six years later, the MVP has not been finished and is not yet operational.

Joe Manchin can’t be very happy about this situation. He and Republicans tried to squash resistance and fast track MVP construction last summer via an amendment to must-pass federal debt legislation. The amendment which was included required federal agencies to provide all needed permits within 30 days and for the federal courts to be stifled in their oversight role.

Some of those active in the movement to defeat the MVP were understandably deflated by this development, but others responded with outrage. Within a couple months of this Congressional action, young people connected to Appalachians Against Pipelines had begun engaging in nonviolent direct action to slow pipeline construction work. Hundreds of people in the last six months have risked arrest in these actions. Climate activist Jerome Wagner was released just last week after spending two months in a West Virginia prison for locking himself to an MVP drill.

The two of us have been active in movements for positive social change going back to the Black Freedom and Anti-Vietnam War movements 60 years ago. One of us is 83 and the other is 74. We are active in our town, in our state and nationally in a number of climate justice and progressive groups. We do so because we were raised by loving parents to live by the ethic that our role on this earth, for as long as we are alive and capable of doing so, is to do all we can to make the earth a better place for those coming after us.

We feel this responsibility even more so now because of the deepening climate emergency and the growing neo-fascist threat posed by Trump and the MAGA movement. We also feel it because, as of January, 2021, we are grandparents of a wonderful three-year old boy. Without question, a major reason we took this action was for him and all children.

We are heartened by many things we see within our progressive movement for positive social change. One of them is the emergence of new groups like Third Act and Radical Elders and the connections developing between them and youth organizations like the Sunrise Movement and Fridays for Future. We are also heartened to see growing numbers of elders stepping forward to take part in the direct action that young people have been taking for years in organized efforts like the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Can we defeat Manchin and his MVP corporate cronies? Can we defeat Trump and MAGA? Can we overcome the criminal fossil fuel industry and create truly justice-based and nature-connected human societies? We don’t know, but we do know based on our decades of experience that taking part in the struggle for all of these things, despite all of the hardships and ups and downs, is without question a better way to live.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Ted Glick and Jane Califf.

Chicago could soon be the first major Midwestern city with an indoor emissions standard that would make gas-powered appliances and heating systems a thing of the past. 

The Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance, introduced by Mayor Brandon Johnson during the first city council meeting of the year last week, would effectively phase out fossil-fuel based appliances and heating systems in new construction and substantially improved buildings. The new rule would take effect within a year of approval.

“This is an opportunity not just to address climate, but we can build an entire economy around it,” Johnson said.

Not everyone is convinced. 

Earlier this month, two aldermen successfully sidelined Chicago’s electrification ordinance by referring it to the rules committee, a tactic often used to obstruct ordinances with procedural delays. Once referred out of the rules committee,  the ordinance will have to make it through the zoning and environmental committees before heading to city council for a full vote. 

Some of the state’s most influential gas and construction unions are openly arrayed against the passage of the indoor emission standard. Together they’re calling for further trials and studies into the costs of implementing the proposed rule.  

“Homeowners should not have to choose affordability over going green,” said Kristine Kavanagh, who is with International Union of Engineers Local 150. “They should have options for both clean and affordable energy”

As the mayor and his allies see it, the push for building electrification in Chicago is part of a broader project to not just wean the city off fossil fuels but also begin to address the cumulative health impacts of indoor air pollution and burdensome utility bills. The effort was a key recommendation of the city’s Building Decarbonization Policy Working Group back in 2022. The report determined that buildings are Chicago’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions — nearly 70 percent.  

“The Clean Affordable Buildings Act is the first step in a managed, planned process to move away from dirty, expensive gas and embrace a cheaper, cleaner energy future for all Chicagoans,” said Alderwoman Maria Hadden, who represents the 49th ward on the south side of the city. 

Cities across the country are looking towards building electrification as a pathway to cutting planet-warming emissions. Since the first-of-its-kind electrification ordinance was introduced in Berkeley, Calif back in 2019, over 100 local governments across the country have adopted similar policies. Major metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, New York City and Seattle have all gotten on board to rework building codes to prioritize electrification for new construction. Very soon Chicago could be next. 

But the surge in local electrification policies has faced significant opposition. Berkeley’s electrification ordinance was overturned by a federal appeals panel last year. Over 20 states have passed legislation effectively prohibiting municipalities from banning natural gas connections.  

In a statement to Grist, Peoples Gas, the major gas utility that serves the Chicago area said, “This proposed ordinance would increase costs and risk reliability for everyone, especially during the coldest days of the year like Chicago has been seeing.” 

But Chicago’s utility bills are already unmanageable. This past November, the Illinois Commerce Commision approved a $302 million rate hike rate hike for Peoples Gas that is expected to make Chicago gas customers’ utility bills more expensive than they already are — approximately one in five Chicagoans are more than 30 days behind on their gas bills. 

“We don’t want to just trade one energy source for another,” Angela Tovar, the city’s Chief Sustainability Officer said. She called the proposed policy “fuel neutral,”and this is a key point for Tovar and others who helped draft the ordinance. They want to avoid the legal challenges that plagued the original iteration of electrification efforts , many of which were largely outright bans on gas hookups. A handful of those have already been withdrawn. 

Following the lead of New York City, Chicago’s workaround instead takes aim at indoor air pollution by limiting the combustion of any substance that emits 25 kilograms or more of carbon dioxide per million British thermal units of energy. In the process, the new standard would make natural gas-powered appliances obsolete and encourage the adoption of electric stoves and heating systems. The ordinance does, however, carve out a list of exemptions including emergency generators, health care facilities and commercial kitchens. 

Illinois set a goal to sunset fossil fuels by 2050. Oak Park, a Chicago suburb with a population just over 50,000, took the lead last summer and passed the first electrification standards of any local government in the Midwest. Oak Park architect Tom Bassett-Dilley said enthusiasm for living fossil fuel-free is already obvious. 

“We don’t do any buildings that have gas lines in them anymore for the last three or four years,” Bassett-Dilley said. “There’s a lot of people out there looking for it, the demand has definitely skyrocketed.”

Allies of Chicago’s new emission standard call it a reasonable first step towards hitting the state’s climate goals and mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. 

“Equitable decarbonization is a core principle that guides us in the introduction of this policy, as well as future actions as a city,” Tovar said. “We must design better outcomes that work for every building type and every neighborhood across Chicago, we must ensure that the benefits of transitioning to clean energy sources are accessible to all regardless of your zip code.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Chicago could be first major Midwestern city to ban gas in new construction on Jan 29, 2024.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco.

CHISINAU -- Moldova has paused a recruitment effort to funnel construction workers to Israel, alleging that Israelis have put Moldovans in "high-risk conflict zones," withheld passports, and committed other abuses while plugging gaps in their workforce brought on by the current war in the Gaza Strip.

The Labor Ministry confirmed to RFE/RL's Moldovan Service this week that Chisinau had "temporarily postponed" the latest round of recruitment under the bilateral agreement following the accusations by Moldovan citizens, but said it could resume once Israel confirmed the practices were stopped and "security and respect" for Moldovan nationals were ensured.

Israel has faced an acute labor squeeze since hundreds of thousands of reservists and other Israelis were called up to fight and thousands of Palestinians were denied access to jobs in Israel after gunmen from the EU- and U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas carried out a massive cross-border attack that killed just over 1,100 people, most of them Israeli civilians, on October 7.

"As a result of the deterioration of the security situation in the state of Israel, workers from the Republic of Moldova were employed to work in high-risk conflict zones, some citizens had their passports withheld by employers, complaints were registered about the confiscation of workers' luggage, as well as Israeli authorities carried out activities of direct recruitment of Moldovan workers, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, which is contrary to the provisions of the agreement," the ministry said in a January 17 response to an RFE/RL access-to-information request.

The ministry did not accuse the Israeli state of perpetrating the abuses. It said Moldovan officials have reported the "violations" to Israel and asked it to put a stop to them and "ensure the security and respect of the rights of workers coming from the Republic of Moldova," one of Europe's poorest countries with a population of some 3.4 million.

The Moldovan Embassy in Tel Aviv said some 13,000 Moldovans were in Israel before the current war broke out. Many work at construction sites or provide care for the elderly, inside or outside the auspices of the recruitment agreement.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's request for comment on the Labor Ministry's accusations.

Since the war erupted in early October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has sought to extend worker visas and attract more foreign labor from around the world, including by raising its quota on foreign construction workers by roughly half, to 65,000 individuals.

It appealed publicly for 1,200 new Moldovan workers for the construction sector, including blacksmiths, painters, and carpenters.

Speaking in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, the director of the Foreign Workers Administration, Inbal Mashash, named Moldova, along with Thailand and Sri Lanka, as countries where Israeli hopes were highest for more guest workers.

The bilateral Moldovan-Israeli agreement on temporary employment in "certain sectors" including construction in Israel was signed in 2012 and has been amended on multiple occasions, including in December.

In addition to setting up training and procedures to regulate and steer labor flows, it imposes restrictions that include a ban on Israeli companies recruiting on Moldovan territory.

In its decade-long existence, some 17,000 Moldovans have worked in Israel under the auspices of the agreement through 28 rounds of recruitment. At the last available official count, in 2022, there were about 4,000 participating Moldovans.

"The [29th] recruitment round will resume once the above-mentioned irregularities are eliminated and we receive confirmation from the Israeli side of the necessary measures being taken to ensure security and respect for the rights of employed [Moldovan] citizens on the territory of the state of Israel," the Moldovan Labor Ministry said.

From the early days of the current war, Moldovans have spoken out about family concerns and the pressures to pack up and leave Israel, but most appear to have stayed.

As rumors spread of pressure on Moldovan construction workers to stay in Israel after a January 5 pause announcement, Labor Minister Alexei Buzu confirmed there were problems but focused on the accusation that Israeli firms were improperly recruiting Moldovans outside the program or for repeat stints.

A failure to comply with some provisions brings "a risk that other commitments will be ignored [or] will not be delivered at the time or according to the expectations described in the agreement," he said.

Buzu stopped short of leveling some of the most serious accusations involving Moldovan workers being sent to work in 'high-risk conflict zones" or having their passports or belongings taken from them.

Reuters has reported that the worker shortage is costing Israel's construction sector around $37 million per day.

Moldova's National Employment Agency (ANOFM) is responsible for implementing the Israeli-Moldovan recruitment agreement. The Labor Ministry said the agency had already lined up construction recruits and scheduled professional exams for the end of December before the postponement.

The ministry said a similar agreement on the home-caregiver sector between Moldova and Israel -- the subject of negotiations in December -- had “not yet been signed."

The Hamas-led surprise attack on October 7 sparked a massive response from Israel including devastating aerial bombardments and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which was home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the latest fighting displaced most of them.

The Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza say 24,700 people have been killed in the subsequent fighting and 62,000 more injured.

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

On December 22, police in the capital, Baku, detained Eminov, a freelance reporter who contributes to the popular YouTube-based broadcaster Kanal 13, as he was on his way to conduct an interview, according to media reports and the outlet’s chief editor Anar Orujov, who spoke to CPJ in a telephone interview.

The following day, the Sabail District Court in Baku ordered Eminov to be held in pretrial detention for three months and five days on charges of conspiring to bring money into the country illegally, those reports said.

On December 19, the court also brought currency smuggling charges against Kanal 13 Director Aziz Orujov, who was already being held in pretrial detention since being charged on November 27 with illegal construction, which his lawyers rejected as retaliatory, according to the independent news website Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) and Kanal 13’s Anar Orujov, who is also Aziz’s brother.

If convicted, the journalists could face up to eight years in prison under Article 206.3.2 of Azerbaijan’s criminal code.

Prosecutors accused Orujov, Eminov, and other “unknown” individuals of bringing 90,000 manat (US$52,940) in cash from foreign donor organizations into Azerbaijan through “numerous transactions” during 2022 and 2023, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ. The journalists denied the charges, Anar Orujov told CPJ, saying they were “the latest step in authorities’ attempts to silence Kanal 13’s critical reporting.”

On December 11, the court ordered Kanal 13 to be blocked in Azerbaijan, according to news reports and a copy of the court decision, which CPJ reviewed, on the grounds that the outlet spread “false,” “insulting,” “defamatory,” and “discrediting” information about state officials and others.

“Amid Azerbaijan’s ongoing wave of journalist detentions, the latest arrests and charges against Kanal 13 journalists and the blocking of the channel only underline how keen authorities are to stifle critical voices ahead of February’s presidential elections,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Azerbaijani authorities should release Kanal 13’s Aziz Orujov and Shamo Eminov, and all other unjustly jailed journalists, allow Kanal 13 to broadcast, reform laws banning foreign funding of the media, and end their repression of the independent press.”

Kanal 13 has broadcast mainly on YouTube since authorities unofficially blocked its website in 2017, Anar Orujov said, adding that, as of January 8, the outlet’s YouTube channels were still accessible in Azerbaijan.

Orujov and Eminov are among seven journalists and media workers being held in pretrial detention on allegations of smuggling money into the country from foreign donor organizations since November 20, including five members of the anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media.

Emin Huseynov, director of independent media freedom group Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, told CPJ that Azerbaijani authorities have increasingly restricted legal avenues for media outlets to receive foreign funding since 2013, amid a wave of prosecutions of independent media and rights groups.

Anar Orujov told CPJ that Kanal 13’s only source of revenue was YouTube earnings, describing the allegations as “fabricated.”

Eminov’s wife, Durdana Eminova, told local and regional media that police called her on the evening of his arrest on December 22, told her that he had been detained, and asked her to bring one of his diplomas to the station. When she went home to collect the diploma, the house appeared to have been searched, and the journalist’s laptop was missing, she said.

Authorities froze the bank accounts of Aziz Orujov, Eminov, and three other journalists at Kanal 13, and also blocked the accounts of Orujov’s wife and the pension card of his mother, Anar Orujov said.

Kanal 13 regularly covers sensitive topics such as demonstrations and human rights violations and gives space to opposition views on its YouTube channels, where it has a combined 2 million subscribers. On December 2, authorities sentenced Kanal 13 presenter Rufat Muradli to 30 days’ detention on hooliganism charges denounced by the outlet as “absolutely not credible,” releasing him on January 1.

In 2017, authorities sentenced Aziz Orujov to six years in prison on charges of illegal entrepreneurship and abuse of power, which was widely viewed as retaliation for his journalism, and released him on probation in 2018.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan for comment but did not receive a reply.

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

In a 2021 land auction, Do Gia Capital Company Ltd. won the rights to develop a major hotel and residential complex within and around Ha Long Bay’s “buffer zone,” an area put in place by UNESCO in 1994 to protect the World Heritage Site.

Vietnam’s law on cultural heritage states that construction projects taking place within “protected zones of a national monument” must receive approval from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism – which the Do Gia Capital Company obtained. It also got permission from the Quang Ninh provincial government.

The company has since begun the process of dumping soil into the bay to create man-made islands upon which it plans to construct 451 villas and semi-detached houses, several multi-storey hotels, and other commercial facilities. 

The entire project covers nearly 32 hectares (80 acres), 3.88 hectares (10 acres) of which are part of the Ha Long Bay buffer zone.

Prof. Dang Hung Vo, former deputy minister of natural resources and environment, criticized the local and national authorities who approved the project.

“It’s necessary to examine the qualifications of whoever at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has endorsed the project,” he said.

The project should be halted while potential damages can be analyzed, said Dr. Le Anh Tuan, a principal lecturer from Can Tho University’s Environment and Natural Resources Department.

“The investor of this project consulted neither scientists nor the organization that recognized Ha Long Bay as a World Heritage Site,” he said.

Defenders

Others have come out to defend the development project and its legality. 

“We all have talked about the project but in a shallow way. None were able to cite a law, a map, or reference any documents to conclude that the project violated Vietnam’s law,” former military officer Lt. Col. Vu Minh Tri told RFA. 

“All the documents that have been made public show that the project has been approved in compliance with the law and regulated procedures,” he said. “Therefore, we should wait for the upcoming developments and not be led by the mainstream state media.”

He suspects that political infighting – and not legal or environmental concerns – are driving the public debate about the construction project.

During a press conference on Nov. 7, Pham Thuy Duong, the deputy head of Quang Ninh Party Committee’s Communications and Education Department, affirmed that the project had a sufficient legal basis. 

However, she also stated that the Quang Ninh Department of Natural Resources and Environment would impose a fine of 125 million dong (US$5,100) on Do Gia Capital Company for “not publicizing the project’s environmental impact assessment report.”

Despite petitions to the Vietnamese National Assembly calling for an end to the construction project, Do Gia Capital Company will continue its urban development in the Ha Long Bay buffer zone and surrounding areas for the foreseeable future.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Claire McCrea and Malcolm Foster.

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

The US$30 million 15-hectare (37-acre)  Long Son Container Port Project would build a 250-meter (820-foot) dock to be operational by 2025 in the Hai Ha commune in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, home to nearly 3,000 households, about 400 of which rely on fishing to make a living.

Tuesday’s arrests came after several consecutive days of protests of the project, with residents taking to the streets and occupying the beach to stop Long Son from working. The residents say they want satisfactory compensation and resettlement plans.

Videos of the protest taken by residents show that the police were equipped with batons and shields. At least one man sustained a head injury, and his clothes were stained with blood.

“At around 4 a.m., hundreds of police officers were sent to the scene and they pushed us away from the beach,” a Hai Ha resident who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told RFA Vietnamese. “When we did not leave, they used batons to hit us. Many got injuries on their heads and limbs. They also arrested many people and took them away.”

More than 10 people were beaten to the point that they sustained minor injuries, another resident, who was also present at the scene, told RFA on condition of anonymity.

“Also, 16 people were arrested and taken to the Nghi Son Town Police Station,” the second resident said. “We were about to go there to demand the release of our people but were blocked by the police right at the edge of our village.”

Since the protest was broken up, leveling work has been started, the second resident said. “We have lost in the struggle to protect our livelihoods.”

Suppressing images

A third resident said that authorities had jammed mobile phone signals to prevent residents from spreading the images and videos of the suppression. The police also prohibited residents from filming the incident, this person said.

To verify the information provided by residents, RFA contacted the Nghi Son Town police and the Thanh Hoa provincial police. However, staff who answered the phone declined to respond to questions and requested that RFA go to their headquarters with the necessary letters of introduction to be provided with information.

A report of the incident in the provincial government’s mouthpiece, the Thanh Hoa online newspaper, said that the provincial police and the authorities of Nghi Son town and Hai Ha commune had jointly “implemented a plan to ensure the construction of Dock No. 3 of the Long Son Container Port so that the construction contractor can carry out the project on schedule.”

The report also said that because “a number of Hai Ha residents continued obstructing the construction,” responsible forces had to “temporarily put some people in custody to investigate, verify and handle the case in accordance with the law.”

The report did not specify how many residents had been arrested and put into custody, nor did it mention any injuries caused by the police crackdown.

Week-long protests

The protests started on the morning of Oct. 23, when around 300 residents from Hai Ha commune took to the streets to oppose the construction project, which, according to them, will adversely affect their livelihood and living environment. 

On the afternoon of the same day, Nghi Son Town Police issued a decision to launch a criminal case against those who had obstructed traffic, causing serious traffic congestion for about one kilometer (0.6 miles).

Despite the announcement many residents continued to gather at the Hai Ha commune beach to prevent construction work, although the police had summoned some people and forced them to pledge in writing not to gather at the construction site.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

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

On Wednesday, Thanh Hoa provincial authorities mobilized dozens of police officers to force protesting fisherfolk — mostly women — to leave the construction site where a dock is being built, one of the sources said. Though they stayed, police did not take any measures against them and left the area at noon.

About 300 residents of Hai Ha commune first took to the streets on the morning of Oct. 23 with banners and placards to show their opposition to the Long Son Container Port project, which they say will adversely affect their livelihoods and living environment. 

“We don’t want the Long Son Container Port project because it is located in the coastal area we inherited from our ancestors, and it has been passed down from generation to generation,” said a villager on Wednesday who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal by authorities.

Fishing provides the only income to cover her family’s expenditures, including her children’s education expenses, she said. 

“If the port is built, residents like us will be adversely affected by pollution, and there will be no places for our boats to anchor and no places for us to trade seafood,” she said.

Generating income

Long Son Ltd. Co. is investing more than US$30 million to build the 15-hectare (37-acre) project, which will have a 250-meter (820-foot) dock. It is expected to be operational in 2025. 

The project will play a crucial role in the development of the first dedicated container port area at Nghi Son Port, according to state-run Vietnam News Agency. Once Dock No. 3 is built, it will serve as a dike against waves and winds and create a 10-hectare (33-foot) water area for local fishermen to safely anchor their boats.

The port is expected to generate revenue and jobs in Thanh Hoa province, including Hai Ha commune. 

State media reported that Thanh Hoa provincial authorities conducted thorough studies and environmental assessments as well as consulted local people on the project.  But the woman said representatives of the authorities only went around to people’s homes to try to persuade them not to oppose the project and its implementation. 

The protest on Oct. 23 prompted Nghi Son town police to file charges against them for obstructing traffic and causing a kilometer-long (0.6 mile) vehicle backup.

Police at the scene took photos of the protesters, recorded videos and collected other information, some villagers involved in the demonstration said. 

Police also issued an order requiring Hai Ha residents to adhere to the law and not to gather in groups to disrupt public order, incite others, or be enticed to obstruct the construction of Dock No. 3 of the Long Son Container Port project. 

Threatened with arrest

Police threatened them with arrest for disrupting public order — which carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison — if they continued.

Hai Ha commune includes nearly 3,000 households with about 11,000 inhabitants, most of whom rely on fishing to make a living. The villagers say they fear that port officials will cut off their access to the waters where they fish and prohibit them from anchoring their boats.

Villagers ignored the police order and continued their protest on Tuesday and Wednesday, hoping to prevent the dock’s construction.  

The woman quoted above said that the villagers are not afraid of going to jail because they don’t want to lose their home beach.

But if they have to relocate as a result of a loss of livelihoods, villagers will expect satisfactory compensation and a new living area with spaces to safely anchor their boats, she said.

“We staged a march and did not offend anyone or did not cause any harm,” she said. “None of us offended the police. We followed the traffic law, [and] we walked on the roadside and stayed in rows.” 

The port will join four other industrial projects surrounding the 1,200-hectare (2,965-acre) commune. The others are a cement factory, a port for coal transportation in the north, a thermal power plant in the west, and a steel factory in the south.

Though the projects have created jobs for locals, they have also created serious environmental pollution, negatively affecting residents’ lives, a second woman said.

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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

“We can only see it but we don’t exactly know what they are doing,” one local, who declined to give their name for fear of reprisals, told Radio Free Asia. “A civilian can’t know that much. We just see the maintenance work there.”

In the last two years, much of the oversight in Bagan’s preservation has slowly fallen away. Teams from nations like France, South Korea and Japan withdrew after the 2021 coup, allowing China and India to take over the conservation of numerous temples.

That’s raised concern among conservation experts about the quality of the work so far and the practices of the teams conducting it. 

Conservationist and Bagan specialist Zay Myo Lin also cited the Chinese team’s office, which is only 30 meters (yards) away from the Pahtothamya Pagoda. He added that this type of construction was not allowed in the last decade, and that a fence and guards now surrounded it. 

“By law it’s not allowed to be built. It must be far away from the monuments,” he said. “There’s a guideline like that already set up, but they don’t care.”

Increased construction

Lack of supervision and poor labor quality are not the only causes for concern. After the coup, there has also been an increase in construction projects in the ancient city that are frequently undertaken without heritage impact reports. 

“During the transition period, before the NLD [National League of Democracy] government, they allowed some hotels” to be built,  said Thet Lwin Toh, a former chairman of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association. 

“So that is a heritage site, they remove and some are not allowed to extend their cottages and their building,” he said. “But after the coup, some of the hotels, they extend.”

Under the former NLD administration, guidelines submitted to UNESCO in 2018 would evaluate Bagan's protected property zone hotels. To maintain the site’s status as a world heritage site, the plan commits to relocating such hotels by 2028.

But instead of being relocated, the city’s Ancient Monuments Zone has become a site for thriving hotel renovation. 

The Royal Palace Hotel, owned by Bagan magnate and military crony Myo Min Oo, had room extensions, additional rooms and a swimming pool constructed. 

In the city's heritage zone, the Bagan Thande Hotel, Ayar Hotel, Amazing Bagan, and three other hotels with Chinese investors – Anavila, Balone Kyun River Hotel, and Ask My King – all underwent construction.

The junta also began constructing drainage systems last month to handle the yearly flooding affecting pagodas without a proper assessment prior to the project, according to Thu Ya Aung, who formerly served as general secretary of the Myanmar Archeology Association.

“[There’s] the instant negative effects of destroying or loss of archeology strata. The cause of deterioration of pagodas and archeological elements may occur over a span of time in the future,” he told Radio Free Asia.

The management plan submitted to UNESCO by the NLD in 2018 included a commitment to conduct heritage impact assessments prior to “any conservation or development activities” affecting the site’s value, monuments, cultural objects, or “suspected subsurface remains.” 

UNESCO did not respond to RFA’s request for comment on the country’s commitments to their 2018 plan, but said in an email earlier this year that the office was not presently handling culture projects and that there was “no suitable person to respond” to inquiries.

‘Tool for obtaining legitimacy’

Despite persistent concerns, the junta is unlikely to intervene. After international flights resumed on April 22 of last year, the military rulers have attempted a number of tourism promotion strategies, all of which they say resulted in success.

In the first seven months of this year, the junta’s tourism ministry reported more than 250,000 domestic tourists and nearly 7,000 foreigners visited Bagan, a significant increase compared to 2022, when approximately 56,000 domestic tourists and less than 2,000 foreign tourists visited the ancient capital.

And according to Thu Ya Aung, promoting tourism and attracting more people may not be the junta's only objective.

“Bagan is a world heritage site and the junta would use it as a tool for obtaining their legitimacy [internationally] by continuing the renovation projects and submitting the states of conservation reports,” he told RFA.

This renders the current projects, expansion of hotels and preservation of stupas, equally veiled in mystery, and conservationists and civilians say that holding the junta accountable is becoming increasingly risky. 

“When they were doing renovations, they did not allow anyone to come in. They barricaded the entire compound. They don't even let the [Department of Archeology] government staff come in,” Zay Myo Lin said.

“The worst thing is now in Bagan you are riding a motorbike and you stop to take a picture – they will ask you, ‘Why?’ That [makes us] really insecure.”

Attempting to photograph such projects appears to make the authorities nervous. After several famous pagodas were flooded by Cyclone Mocha in May, district officials reportedly ordered local residents not to post photos on social media and instructed staff to chase down those who disobeyed. As a result, one photographer fled Bagan. 

Speaking up brings consequences. 

Zay Myo Lin, a former member of Bagan’s technical expert team who advised other international teams on conservation projects, was fired for opposing the coup – and has now left the country for his own safety.

“If I am in Myanmar, for sure I will be in jail. They would put me in jail because they want to shut my mouth for what they are doing,” he said. “During this military junta, I’m not scared. I’m still talking about Bagan and trying to do safeguarding in Bagan.” 

Edited by Taejun Kang and Malcolm Foster.

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

“As our nation sets about rebuilding our infrastructure and restoring our resilience, plastic will play an outsized role,” the American Chemistry Council, or ACC, a petrochemical industry trade group, says on one of its websites.

But independent experts tell a much more complicated story, suggesting that most applications involving plastic waste in infrastructure are not ready for prime time. In recent years, several reports and literature reviews have highlighted the unknown health and environmental impacts of repurposing plastic into construction materials. They’ve also warned that post-consumer plastic isn’t desirable for use in many types of infrastructure — and that diverting plastic into construction is unlikely to make much of a dent in the massive tide of plastic waste that the developed world produces. To the contrary, adding used plastic to construction materials could even incentivize more plastic production.  

Take a closer look at the 407-page National Academies of Sciences report the ACC highlighted in its newsletter, for example, and you’ll find that it said there has been virtually “no significant research” in the United States to back claims about the benefits of using plastic in roads. Other construction applications face “high material and installation costs,” as well as “uncertainties about long-term performance and environmental impact.”

“There is opportunity to expand reuse of plastics in infrastructure applications,” the report concludes, “but it is not clear that this reuse pathway offers the greatest benefit to society.” 

Several recent studies have raised environmental concerns about microplastics, tiny fragments of plastics that could potentially slough off of plastic-infused infrastructure. Others say plastic chemicals could leach from plastic-infused construction materials into nearby waterways. (This already happens with materials that don’t have plastics in them.)

In general, experts say there’s been a near-total lack of research on the human health and environmental impacts of incorporating waste plastic into construction materials. A literature review published last month in the journal Frontiers in Built Environment, for example, looked at 100 recent studies on the topic and found that not one of them evaluated potential health costs of putting used plastic into roads, buildings, and other construction applications. Several studies addressed environmental implications, but mostly to highlight the potential to divert plastic waste from landfills.

According to Erica Cirino, lead author of the review and the communications manager for the nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition, it was these omissions that allowed the majority of the studies to portray putting discarded plastics into infrastructure as a “net positive.”

“There were a lot of aspects being overlooked,” Cirino told Grist, including the fact that several plastic-waste-in-infrastructure applications require the addition of new chemicals that could be harmful to human health. That’s on top of the 13,000 chemicals already found in plastics, one-fourth of which are known to have hazardous properties. 

Cirino also noted that a greater number of studies she reviewed were funded by chemical and plastic makers than by independent researchers, although this finding was not included in her final paper. 

The other major research gap, identified by Cirino’s team as well as other groups, is on the structural integrity of infrastructure incorporating plastic waste. Of the many uses for plastic waste that the National Academies looked at, including in asphalt, bike paths, lumber, marine pilings, railroad ties, utility poles, highway sound barriers, and bricks, only one — stormwater drainage pipes — has attracted significant demand from infrastructure owners. Other applications have deterred contractors because of the plastic-infused materials’ lower strength and stiffness, greater vulnerability to UV degradation, and propensity to crack. 

Most applications, though, have a very limited track record, having only been deployed in small-scale pilot projects or tested in the lab. “There’s just not a lot of information available and data that have been collected,” said David Dzombak, a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and chair of the committee that wrote the National Academies report. “The studies have been short-term and have limited scope in the questions they’re trying to answer.”

Even in a scenario where it was proven viable to put plastic waste in infrastructure, Dzombak said it isn’t clear this would be a significant sink for the more than 30 million metric tons of plastic waste that the U.S. generates each year. First, project developers tend to be fussy with the plastic they use: If they’re going to incorporate it into infrastructure, it usually has to be clean and high-quality polyethylene, not just whatever scraps of mixed plastic waste can be scraped from the bottom of consumers’ recycling bins. 

Infrastructure “is not just a dumping ground for plastic waste,” Dzombak said. In fact, he said demand is greater for post-industrial plastic scraps than for post-consumer plastic waste, contrary to the notion promoted by industry groups that roads and other infrastructure are commonly being made from discarded diapers, plastic bags, and other low-quality plastic trash. Such projects exist but are considered anomalous, and their performance and environmental impacts are poorly understood.

Second, the limited research that’s out there suggests that plastic waste can only make up a small fraction of most infrastructure materials. Asphalt pavement, for example — perhaps the most hyped-up kind of plastic infrastructure — can only accommodate a maximum of 0.5 percent waste plastic by dry weight, according to the National Academies’ literature review. The group’s “best-case scenario,” in which discarded plastic completely replaces virgin plastic in all of the United States’ sales of plastics-modified asphalt binder, would consume only 2.4 percent of the country’s trashed polyethylene every year, and an even smaller percentage of its total plastic waste generation.

“That’s not negligible, but it’s not going to be a game-changer,” Dzombak said. Besides, he added, there’s actually considerable demand for the kind of high-quality waste plastics that can be used in infrastructure. Rather than diverting this plastic from landfills, putting it in construction materials might divert it from other second-use applications like carpeting and clothing.

The ACC did not respond to Grist’s request for comment in time for publication.

Looking at the bigger picture, many environmental advocates are concerned about the way proponents talk about waste plastics in infrastructure as a “recycling” solution that contributes to a “circular economy.” Even if infrastructure applications do divert plastic from landfills, Cirino said, they’re just a stopping-over point. Because most plastics are nonrecyclable by nature — especially those that are mixed with other materials, since it’s so difficult to separate and process them back into the same products —  plastics in infrastructure are likely to end up in a landfill at the end of their life, necessitating a continued supply of waste plastic. Paradoxically, for some construction materials that are normally recyclable, such as asphalt, putting discarded plastic into them may make it so they can no longer be recycled.

Putting discarded plastic into infrastructure “can create new markets for more plastic waste, which in turn means more plastic production,” Cirino said. The system “is not circular and cannot be circular.” Her review paper said upstream strategies for addressing plastic pollution — like limiting plastic production — are “clearly favorable” to approaches that merely manage waste.

To be sure, many experts agree there are legitimate uses for plastics in infrastructure — compared to other materials, plastics may be lighter, more resistant to corrosion, and more malleable. The nonprofit Alliance for Sustainable Building Products, based in the U.K., says that as long as construction involves plastic, it might as well be “recycled” plastic, although it notes that plastics are generally overused in the construction industry. 

Dzombak, with the National Academies, said there is still potential for “circularity” in some cases, like with stormwater drainage pipes made from discarded plastic that could be recycled into new pipes. He said the question of whether to reduce plastic production was beyond the scope of the National Academies’ recent report and instead urged federal agencies to work together on an improved recycling strategy, including better collection and processing of discarded plastic. 

Overall, however, Dzombak, Cirino, and others say more research is needed to substantiate the plastic industry’s enthusiastic claims about the supposed promise of putting waste plastic in infrastructure — especially research on the idea’s environmental and health implications. Such research should examine the full life-cycle impacts of plastic production and disposal, Cirino said, and draw from what we already know about plastics’ risks.

“There is already a huge existing amount of information about the ecological, health, and social costs of plastic,” she said. “To really consider the full impacts, we need to dive even deeper.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Using ‘recycled plastic’ in construction materials may not be a great idea after all on Aug 10, 2023.

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

The post Federal Court Halts Pipeline Construction in Red Rocks Lake Wilderness appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Mike Garrity.

The proposed 900-mile East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which would carry crude oil from Uganda south to neighboring Tanzania before being exported to refineries in the Netherlands, is facing continued resistance from climate activists around the world. Protesters disrupted the annual shareholder meeting of potential EACOP lender Standard Bank in Johannesburg Monday. Among them was our guest Kumi Naidoo, the former head of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International. Naidoo was forcibly removed from the building during the peaceful protest. “It’s extraction at its worst — it’s colonial,” Naidoo says of the pipeline. We speak to him about stemming climate change at its source by cutting off the flow of capital to carbon-polluting projects.

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

The proposed 900-mile East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which would carry crude oil from Uganda south to neighboring Tanzania before being exported to refineries in the Netherlands, is facing continued resistance from climate activists around the world. Protesters disrupted the annual shareholder meeting of potential EACOP lender Standard Bank in Johannesburg Monday. Among them was our guest Kumi Naidoo, the former head of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International. Naidoo was forcibly removed from the building during the peaceful protest. “It’s extraction at its worst — it’s colonial,” Naidoo says of the pipeline. We speak to him about stemming climate change at its source by cutting off the flow of capital to carbon-polluting projects.

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

Authorities in Lingya village, about an hour's drive from Rebgong, issued the order on May 23, requiring seven villages in the region to move so the Chinese government can begin the first phase of construction 10 days after the notice’s issue date, said a Tibetan from Rebgong who now lives in exile. 

“The land that is being confiscated by the Chinese government is farmland, which is the livelihood of Tibetans,” said the source who declined to be identified so as to speak freely about the situation. “The authorities have warned the Tibetans to not show any kind of condemnation.” 

Rebgong, called Tongren in Chinese, is in Malho, or Huangnan, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan-populated area of China’s Qinghai province. 

Chinese authorities tightly control residents of the restive Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan-populated regions of western China, restricting their political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity.

Chinese infrastructure and development projects in these areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people. Many result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government’s wishes.

Local authorities will complete all basic requirements from checking land authorization documents, performing measurements and ensuring that residents have left the area within 10 days of the notice date, he said.

Another Tibetan living in exile said authorities have begun confiscating land, but they have not discussed compensation for residents forced to move. 

“In a notice sent out by the Chinese authorities regarding the land grab, it mentions that those in areas that need to be vacated for dam construction must be prepared to [leave] and that they must not start any other construction in that area,” said the Tibetan, who declined to be identified for the same reason. “If people don’t abide by it, then they will not be compensated.” 

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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

The United States will fund and build 14 projects at locations, including the Lal-lo Airport in the northern province of Cagayan, which directly faces Taiwan, and on Balabac, an island in Palawan province that faces the South China Sea. The projects will include improvements at Naval Base Camilo Osias in Cagayan and at an army camp in Isabela, another province on the main northern Philippines island of Luzon, the military said.

Philippine military spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said the projects consist of the construction of a pier, rehabilitation of a runway, establishment of a command-and-control fusion system and construction of a mess hall and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response hangars.

“On the new sites, we have identified the projects in those areas,” Aguilar told reporters as he emphasized that the projects were aligned with military goals.

The projects “will strengthen our capabilities because these EDCA sites will facilitate the conduct of training,” Aguilar said, referring to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a bilateral pact that was broadened earlier this year.

Not for staging attacks

The construction will happen after Manila agreed under the EDCA to permit Washington to have access to more Philippine bases amid tensions between China and the U.S. over Taiwan and between China, Taiwan and countries that have contending territorial claims in the South China Sea. 

While Aguilar did not say how much would be spent for the projects, the foreign affairs department previously said that Washington had informed Manila about plans to spend at least U.S. $100 million for upgrades at a total of nine military bases, which U.S. troops can access under the agreement.

The EDCA is a supplemental agreement to the Visiting Forces Agreement, a pact that specifically grants legal cover to large-scale joint maneuvers by the two longtime allies. In addition, the two nations are bound by the 1951 Mutual Defense Agreement to aid each other if one comes under attack.

Earlier this month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told a security forum in Washington that Philippine bases would not be used to stage attacks against a third country. 

Instead, he played down widespread public fears here that the Philippines would be embroiled in conflict should China attack Taiwan, a U.S. ally considered a renegade province by China.

In the Philippines, U.S. troops may position assets at EDCA sites to respond to emergency situations, including natural disasters. 

“If we will be attacked, of course we can use that. Only if we are attacked, which is remote from happening,” Aguilar said.

'Common dangers'

The defense treaty says each party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific region on either party “would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”

The treaty notes that such an attack “is deemed to include an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the Parties, or on the Island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean, its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.”

Aguilar said projects to be implemented at the new EDCA sites were “discussed at the higher level and as I have said, it’s aligned with the modernization program, the capability upgrade.

“Therefore, it is also us who identified [the sites] and it was agreed on both sides,” he said.

In April when the four bases were revealed, the U.S. Department of Defense said the locations would allow Washington “to respond more seamlessly together to address a range of shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Jojo Riñoza in Manila contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

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

Laos’ government has an ambitious goal of becoming the “battery of Southeast Asia” by generating electricity and selling it to neighboring countries. The plant in Sekong and Attapeu provinces will have a generation capacity of 600 megawatts and will export electricity to Vietnam. 

Dam projects in Laos – two have already been built on the Mekong River and several more have been proposed – have engendered controversy because of their environmental impacts and effect on villagers.

But the wind project likely won’t result in any relocations of villagers, an official with the Monsoon Wind Power Lao Company Ltd. told Radio Free Asia.

“It looks like there won’t be too much of an impact on local people,” she said. “They can still live there.”

The company broke ground on the U.S.$950 million project in late April. The project covers a concession area of around 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres). 

Some land affecting 340 families in 18 villages has already been taken, including land for electrical transmission lines. Sekong provincial authorities have finished the process of survey and data collection and are expected to pay out compensation to villagers soon, the official said.

Basic infrastructure for villages

The project site is located in a hilly area with limited forest and limited land use, some 1,200-1,600 meters above sea level, according to Monsoon Wind Power.

“Only some parts of agricultural land will be lost to the project,” a provincial environmental official said. “No houses and buildings will be affected. There will be some trees that need to be cut down.”

Villagers are still waiting for what they call “fair” compensation and also expect project owners to develop basic infrastructure for the affected villages, a villager in Sekong province’s Dak Cheung district told RFA. 

“The relevant authorities have to keep their eye on this matter,” he said. “Once the project owners construct the fence along their project site, we will not be able to raise our livestock in that area and we will not make our living as we used to. We ask that our interests be protected.”

Monsoon Wind Power is a joint venture with Impact Energy Asia Development Limited, where it is registered as a corporation in Thailand. Another investor is Power Construction Corporation of China, a Chinese state enterprise

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

In response to the budget, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Conservation Director Roger Downs issued the following statement.

“Sierra Club applauds the legislature and Governor Hochul for understanding that a well-staffed workforce and a robust Environmental Protection Fund are vital to implementing New York’s groundbreaking climate law. We celebrate the passage of the nation’s first ban on fossil fuel equipment and building systems in new construction, set to start in 2026, as well as a plan to decarbonize New York’s most polluting state-owned buildings and campuses. Phasing out polluting, fossil fuel infrastructure from our homes and buildings, while creating family-sustaining jobs, is an integral step toward meeting our climate goals.

While the budget is inclusive of many climate and energy victories, it omits the NY HEAT Act, a necessary piece of legislation that would eliminate ratepayer subsidies for new gas hookups, end the obligation to serve gas in buildings, and ensure no low or middle-income families spend over six percent of their income on energy. The legislature must continue to act as climate leaders and pass the NY HEAT Act before the end of this legislative session if the all-electric buildings mandate is to be effective. In addition, the Sierra Club looks forward to working with state leaders to pass several other critical pieces of legislation that did not pass during budget season; bills that will support packaging reduction & recycling infrastructure, protect pollinators from harmful and unnecessary insecticides, and ban PFAS and other forever chemical from everyday products”

Key Achievements Included in the Budget

• Building Electrification: The nation’s first fossil fuel ban in new buildings of seven stories or less is set to begin in 2026. The ban for larger buildings will start in 2029. In addition, the budget finances the first steps to achieving zero onsite emissions through ‘decarbonization action plans’ for 15 thermal energy networks on public campuses and facilities with labor standards to ensure they will be built with good union jobs.
• Environmental Spending: The budget includes $400 million for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), $500 million for clean water infrastructure, as well as $202 million in funding for New York State Parks, and $90 million for the Department of Environmental Conservation. To support the implementation of the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air & Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, the budget also allocates funding for the addition of 265 positions across multiple environmental agencies.
• Cap and Trade: The budget sets the foundation to create new revenue streams from climate polluters which will help fund an affordable clean energy transition and cap emissions, but will require more guardrails through regulation to protect disadvantaged communities.

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

A representative for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated Friday that a deal to pass a state-wide ban on fossil fuel in new buildings will not include any provisions allowing local officials to veto the law, but a climate coalition urged advocates to maintain pressure to ensure the measure contains no "poison pills" to weaken it before applauding the deal.

"The new law will not have any loopholes that will undermine the intent of this measure," Katy Zielinski, a spokesperson for the Democratic governor, toldThe New York Times on Friday. "There will not be any option for municipalities to op out."

As long as the assurance proves true when the measure is passed as part of the state's $229 billion state budget in a vote that's expected next week, a majority of new buildings constructed in New York will be required to be outfitted for all-electric appliances such as heat pumps and induction stoves rather than furnaces, boilers, or water heaters thatrun on gas.

Climate group Food & Watch Watch (FWW) urged proponents to "keep the pressure on" lawmakers who will be hammering out the final details of the deal with Hochul in the coming days.

If passed, the law "will save New Yorkers money on energy bills, reduce climate-heating pollution, create jobs in clean energy, and reduce childhood asthma, a win-win for New Yorkers," said the Gas Free NY coalition, which includes Earthjustice, Food & Water Watch (FWW), New York Communities for Change, and NYPIRG. "It is also politically popular, with New Yorkers overwhelmingly in support."

A poll released by New Yorkers for Affordable Energy last month showed that 57% of New York residents support ending fossil fuels in new construction, and a study by the think tank Win Climate found that households would save between $904 and $3,000 per year if the state bans gas heating and cooking appliances.

The ban would go into effect in 2026 for buildings that are under seven stories and in 2029 for taller buildings—a delay that the climate coalition said would lock in "higher bills and decades of new pollution from the 40,000 new homes that are constructed each year until 2026."

The "handshake deal" reached between Hochul and lawmakers late Thursday still needs to be "fine-tuned" before the final budget vote, the governor told The New York Times. Hocul called the deal a "conceptual agreement."

Zielinski noted that certain buildings that need multiple backup power sources for emergencies, such as hospitals, will be exempt.

The gas industry has backed the proposal that Zielinski has said is not included in the deal, to allow municipalities to veto the provision.

Alex Beauchamp, Northeast director for FWW, toldThe Washington Post that the agreement reached Thursday, which brought New York one step closer to becoming the first state to ban gas in new buildings through a state law, was a "testament to the lasting power of the state's grassroots environmental movement."

"On the verge of a final agreement setting historic action into place, Gov. Hochul and the Legislature must not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by including the gas industry's poison pill provision that could kneecap the law from the start," said the coalition.

"New Yorkers are watching carefully to make sure the final budget includes real action and doesn't defer to the gas lobby," the groups added. "New Yorkers don't want a big announcement that turns out to be a sham. Taken on its face, this will be an enormous victory, but the devil is in the details."

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

The tragedy has put the country's abysmal public safety record once more under the spotlight.

Video clips posted during Tuesday's fire showed people lowering themselves down the walls of the building using bed sheets tied together as ropes, with black smoke billowing out from different parts of the white-tiled low-rise building, while others appeared to have reached relative safety on a nearby roof.

One clip sent to RFA Cantonese captured the panic-stricken shouts and screams of people still in the building, as smoke spewed out from around broken and burned-out windows.

Police are currently holding the president of Beijing Changfeng Hospital, Wang Xiaoling, several members of the hospital's senior management team as well as two construction contractors blamed for starting the blaze, state news agency Xinhua reported.

"The above-mentioned persons have been criminally detained by police in accordance with the law, and the case is under further investigation," it quoted Beijing municipal police department's chief detective Sun Haitao as saying.

"The police will work with relevant departments to further an in-depth investigation, gather evidence [at the scene] and crack down according to the law," Sun said.

In 2010, authorities in Shanghai detained eight people after a fatal fire in an apartment block in Jing'an district was blamed on sparks caused by "unlicensed welders" hired by a state-owned construction company. 

Citywide investigation promised

Yin Li, Communist Party secretary for the Beijing municipal government, made a public apology for the blaze and promised a citywide investigation into "hidden dangers" in public facilities.

The fire, which affected mostly elderly and highly vulnerable patients, had "caused huge loss of life and damage to property," Yin told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

A report on the apology posted to the Beijing News official Weibo account garnered more than 1,000 comments, but "selected comments" mode was turned on, suggesting that many more had been filtered out from public view.

The Beijing Fire Brigade told a news conference that that fire was started by "sparks generated during the internal renovation and construction of the hospital's inpatient department, which ignited the volatile organic compounds in the flammable paint on the site," but said its investigation is still ongoing.

A Beijing resident who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals, said many were shocked by the scale of the tragedy.

"The hospital was full of elderly people, patients in hospital," Wang said, adding that she believes "many people" are likely responsible for the blaze. "There were probably hidden dangers in this hospital -- some of which were likely accidental, and others inevitable."

A Beijing resident who gave the surname Yang said officials were likely more concerned with gaining the approval of their superiors rather than answering to the general public.

"If the information isn't made public, there will be injustice in the way this is handled from start to finish," he said.

Delay in reporting?

Some reports said state media had remained silent on the blaze for hours after it began.

"All the big reports about the incident only were released eight hours after the fire started, suggesting that local authorities wanted to make sure the fire was under control and that there was enough information on the incident - and how to communicate it to family members and the general audience - before further news was released and went viral on social media," Manya Koetse, founder of the social media monitoring site What's on Weibo.

A brief survey by Radio Free Asia found that state-backed media outlet China News Agency was the first to publish a report on the fire at around 9.00 p.m. on Wednesday, some eight hours after the fire started, although a number of posts were made to social media earlier in the day.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper carried a similar report, titled "Online Short Videos Crazily Deleted; Official Announcement Made Eight Hours After Incident." Government censors had "continuously" removed videos and photos of the blaze from social media platforms, it said.

"It wasn't until about eight hours after the incident that the government issued a press release of more than 100 words on the incident," the paper said.

"Meanwhile, videos, screenshots, and photos of people climbing from hospital beds to flee the scene were continuously deleted from Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms," the report said.

Suppressing keyword searches

One comment seen by Radio Free Asia on Weibo said "Weibo is over, and the flow of breaking news is totally restricted," while another said: "Their suppression of trending keywords and information is world-class."

Another complained: "The media have all become copier machines for [official] press releases."

An article taking issue with officials' handling of the fire and its aftermath had been widely censored from social media by Wednesday, according to What's On Weibo, but was still visible on the Hong Kong-owned website iFeng.

"At noon on April 19, Beijing held a briefing on the accidental fire at Changfeng Hospital that started at noon on April 18 but wasn't made known to the public and the families of the victims until the evening of April 18," said the blog post, which was still available on the iFeng.com news site.

"Fire is the most difficult accident to cover up," the post said. "The flames are soaring, the smoke is billowing, and the calls for help are horrific. It is enough to detonate public opinion."

Nevertheless, "mysterious forces" had intervened to ensure the incident was kept quiet for a full eight hours, the post said.

"What is even more incomprehensible and emotionally unacceptable is that the family members of these hospitalized patients in Changfeng Hospital didn't learn about the fire until they saw the news in a pop-up window," it said.

"Some departments and certain people completely lost the most basic human empathy when they decided to suppress the news of the accident," the post said.

Of those who have died so far, 26 were patients at the hospital, one was a family member, while two were healthcare workers. Most of the patient victims were elderly, with an average age of 71.2 years, officials said.

It said the local Fengtai district fire department had been called at 12:57 p.m. on Tuesday, and that the blaze was out by 1:33 p.m., with rescue work continuing till 3:30 p.m.

Some victims died after being transferred to other hospitals, while several doctors and nurses also sustained burns during the fire, the Global Times reported.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kai Di, Jing Wei and Jenny Tang for RFA Mandarin.

"My grandchild and all grandchildren deserve a future," declared Ted Glick, president of 350 NJ-Rockland. "So I'm out here today, risking arrest, to demand that Gov. Murphy stop fossil fuel buildout across N.J. which will only dig us deeper into the climate crisis!"

"We need bold action NOW if we want to avoid the most disastrous impacts of the climate crisis, and that needs to start with the political courage to halt the buildout of the same dirty industries that got us here!" Glick added. "If Gov. Murphy means what he says about addressing the climate emergency, then he MUST act now to prevent this dangerous and completely unnecessary pipeline expansion project from moving forward."

The new compressor station is part of the East 300 Upgrade Project, which would increase the capacity of Kinder Morgan's Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system, parts of which are 65 years old. The project, which also involves modifying a pair of existing compressor stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was initiated to send gas to Con Edison in New York.

"Who is this development even for? As New Yorkers, we reject the claim that any new dirty energy is 'needed' in our state, where gas from this pipeline is destined. There is literally no demand for more fracked gas in New York," said Reclaim Our Tomorrow organizer Teddy Ogbor.

"The only purpose of any new fossil fuel infrastructure is the same as it always has been: To line the pockets of billionaires who are selling our future for profit," Obgor argued. "Gov. Murphy has got to stop taking such massive steps backwards while our planet burns."

Scientists continue to stress that humanity must stop extracting and burning fossil fuels to prevent global climate catastrophe—including in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which warned last month that without dramatic cuts to planet-heating emissions, the world could hit the Paris agreement's 1.5°C threshold by the first half of the 2030s.

"Gov. Murphy can't seriously claim to be a climate leader if he keeps approving dirty energy expansion projects like this one," Food & Water Watch organizer Sam DiFalco said Monday. "We are in court challenging two of the permits for East 300, but Gov. Murphy could put a stop to this project himself."

Noting that the governor "regularly issues lofty rhetoric about the urgent need to address the climate crisis" and yet, with this project, his administration "has approved permit after permit," DiFalco and Brian D. Scanlan, a former mayor and council member from Wyckoff, also called him out in a November opinion piece for NorthJersey.com:

Murphy can still live up to his environmental commitments and stop this project. In his first term, he championed his Energy Master Plan to address what he called our state's "century-old addiction to fossil fuels," setting a goal of 100% clean energy by 2040. More recently, the governor signed an executive order calling for a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030, and a requirement for builders to consider climate change impacts if they want their projects approved. New Jersey is already not on track to meet these goals, and things could get worse if Murphy continues to approve dirty energy expansion schemes. There are seven major new fossil fuels projects proposed in our state, which could create a substantial increase in climate pollution.

With his promises to ramp up offshore wind, along with introducing the country's first climate curriculum for public schools and signing the strongest environmental justice law in the country, Murphy can leave a strong legacy as a climate champion. But he can't have it both ways. If Murphy allows TGP to proceed with this pipeline expansion, he will be sacrificing the health and safety of his constituents and our shared responsibility to rapidly confront the climate crisis.

"Climate change is a threat to New Jersey. We are seeing it in real time," said Renee Allessio, a 45-year resident of West Milford and co-chair of the Franciscan Response to Fossil Fuels. "This has been one of the driest winters on record, and this week we saw the biggest forest fire in over a decade right here in West Milford."

The blaze burned nearly 1,000 acres but was fully contained as of early Saturday, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Allessio said that "this fire underscores the major risk to the densely wooded highlands brought by piping higher volumes of flammable and toxic fracked gas through this pipeline system well beyond its useful life running through our region."

"Our firefighters who heroically fought last week's blaze will be at greater risk because of this project," she continued. "A leak or explosion could be the spark that devastates our region. In fact, last summer a fire caused by this very same pipeline in Pennsylvania caused a fire that burned through five acres before it could be contained. If Gov. Murphy wants to build a state resilient to the impacts of climate change, then he must stop this reckless pipeline expansion."

Paula Rogovin, a grandmother and longtime activist who risked arrest Monday, noted that the project also endangers local waters.

"If completed, this compressor station will sit less than 1,200 feet from the Monksville Reservoir, part of a system that provides clean drinking water to millions of N.J. residents," Rogovin said. "A leak or accident involving one of the chemicals stored on-site could be disastrous to our water supply!"

"The N.J. Highlands Act was passed to protect this region from development to protect the critical water resources here," she added. "That this toxic project is allowed to be built here is shameful! Gov. Murphy must STOP this project now!"

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

In a report titled "Is Myanmar building a spy base on Great Coco Island?" the independent policy institute Chatham House analyzed a number of satellite images of Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal, taken in January this year but only recently released by the U.S. space technology firm Maxar Technologies.

The archipelago consists of two main islands, Great Coco and Little Coco, and a number of smaller islets including Jerry Island located at the southern tip of Great Coco.

They are some 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands where India stations some major military facilities.

The images “show renewed levels of construction activity on Great Coco,” Chatham House said in a new report. 

The most recognizable change was the lengthening of the airport runway from 1,300 meters over ten years ago to 2,300 meters. Analysts said the runway was also widened and two new hangars were added. 

“The width of the hangar appears to be close to 40 meters, limiting the list of aircraft it may eventually accommodate but opening the possibility for high-performance aircraft to be stationed there,” they said.

The report’s authors spotted some new buildings to the north of the airport, a radar station and “a large pier is also visible.”

In the southern part of the island, a causeway can be seen under construction, connecting the tip of the Great Coco to Jerry Island. Some land clearance is visible on the latter, they said, “indicating the future extension of Great Coco’s facilities.”

China’s involvement?

Chatham House’s analysis of Maxar’s imagery did not reveal any foreign military presence on Coco Islands, contrary to the rumors that China installed a signals intelligence station here in the early 1990s. 

The latest images however revealed that “Myanmar may soon be intending to conduct maritime surveillance operations from Great Coco Island.”

“Growing evidence suggests Myanmar’s military coup has increased Beijing’s influence in the country,” the report said, pointing to China’s large investment projects in Myanmar that lead to Beijing’s increasing influence over the Tatmadaw, or the Myanmar military.

“With the Coco Island developments, India may soon face a new airbase close by in a country increasingly tied to Beijing,” the analysts said, “The militarization of the Coco Islands by the Tatmadaw, combined with the wider Chinese developments occurring inland, could pose a significant security challenge to India and its navy.”

The Coco Islands are 1,200 kilometers (746 miles)  from the Strait of Malacca, through which around 40% of global trade passes. China has long been interested in securing access to this critical trade route.

In 2018, China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the so-called China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which China will help Myanmar develop major infrastructure projects including roads, railways, and seaports.

There are fears it would increase Myanmar’s economic dependence on China, giving Beijing significant geopolitical leverage.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

In a report titled "Is Myanmar building a spy base on Great Coco Island?" the independent policy institute Chatham House analyzed a number of satellite images of Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal, taken in January this year but only recently released by the U.S. space technology firm Maxar Technologies.

The archipelago consists of two main islands, Great Coco and Little Coco, and a number of smaller islets including Jerry Island located at the southern tip of Great Coco.

They are some 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands where India stations some major military facilities.

The images “show renewed levels of construction activity on Great Coco,” Chatham House said in a new report. 

The most recognizable change was the lengthening of the airport runway from 1,300 meters over ten years ago to 2,300 meters. Analysts said the runway was also widened and two new hangars were added. 

“The width of the hangar appears to be close to 40 meters, limiting the list of aircraft it may eventually accommodate but opening the possibility for high-performance aircraft to be stationed there,” they said.

The report’s authors spotted some new buildings to the north of the airport, a radar station and “a large pier is also visible.”

In the southern part of the island, a causeway can be seen under construction, connecting the tip of the Great Coco to Jerry Island. Some land clearance is visible on the latter, they said, “indicating the future extension of Great Coco’s facilities.”

China’s involvement?

Chatham House’s analysis of Maxar’s imagery did not reveal any foreign military presence on Coco Islands, contrary to the rumors that China installed a signals intelligence station here in the early 1990s. 

The latest images however revealed that “Myanmar may soon be intending to conduct maritime surveillance operations from Great Coco Island.”

“Growing evidence suggests Myanmar’s military coup has increased Beijing’s influence in the country,” the report said, pointing to China’s large investment projects in Myanmar that lead to Beijing’s increasing influence over the Tatmadaw, or the Myanmar military.

“With the Coco Island developments, India may soon face a new airbase close by in a country increasingly tied to Beijing,” the analysts said, “The militarization of the Coco Islands by the Tatmadaw, combined with the wider Chinese developments occurring inland, could pose a significant security challenge to India and its navy.”

The Coco Islands are 1,200 kilometers (746 miles)  from the Strait of Malacca, through which around 40% of global trade passes. China has long been interested in securing access to this critical trade route.

In 2018, China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the so-called China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which China will help Myanmar develop major infrastructure projects including roads, railways, and seaports.

There are fears it would increase Myanmar’s economic dependence on China, giving Beijing significant geopolitical leverage.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

The 416 mile-long Coastal GasLink pipeline is expected to bring 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to a facility in Kitimat, B.C. before it is exported to global markets. Opposition among Wet’suwet’en has sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada since 2019. 

“This harassment and intimidation is exactly the kind of violence designed to drive us from our homelands,” said Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks in a press release. “The constant threat of violence and criminalization for merely existing on our own lands must have been what our ancestors felt when Indian agents and RCMP were burning us out of our homes as late as the 50s in our area.”

On Sunday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, responded to a complaint filed by an oil and gas worker with Coastal GasLink who reported that he had been “swarmed” by protestors wearing masks, that flares were allegedly fired, and that a chainsaw had been stolen from the work site during the incident. On Wednesday, police executed search warrants over the reported theft, arresting one person for allegedly preventing the RCMP from conducting a search and four more people for refusing to follow police orders.

In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Wet’suwet’en held jurisdiction over its traditional territory, however, in 2018, British Columbia’s Oil and Gas commission and Environmental Assessment Office issued permits to Coastal GasLink to build through that territory. Land defenders say that because they did not give permission to build, the pipeline violates ​​Wet’suwet’en and Canadian laws.

Land defenders also say the RCMP is violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP – a non-binding resolution passed by the U.N. in 2007 and adopted by Canada in 2021. 

The Wet’suwet’en First Nation organizes itself into five clans, each of which is subdivided into multiple “houses.” The house chiefs oversee specific areas within the First Nation’s traditional territory, which encompasses roughly 8,500 miles. The hereditary chiefs make decisions that govern their territory and according to land defenders, Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs never gave the company permission to build on their territory.

The arrests Wednesday come just weeks after Canada’s Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, the agency responsible for receiving and overseeing public grievances against the RCMP, announced they would began an investigation into police operations. The oversight commission said it would examine if police operations are within the guidelines of UNDRIP.

According to land defenders, in the days leading to this police action, Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s have been found patrolling Wet’suwet’en lands including near traplines and, harassing and intimidating Wet’suwet’en members and disrupting constitutionally protected cultural activities. 

Since the first protests began at least 19 people have been arrested. The RCMP say their investigation into the incident is ongoing.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Canadian security forces arrest Wet’suwet’en protesters in clash over pipeline construction on Mar 31, 2023.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Lyric Aquino.

After Amazon on Friday confirmed plans to pause construction on its second headquarters near Washington, D.C., Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed vindication over her 2018 opposition to the tech giant's initial plan to build part of HQ2 in New York City.

Following political leaders across the country engaging in what critics called "corporate bribery," offering Amazon tax breaks and other incentives to build in their communities, the company chose to split the project between Arlington, Virginia, and the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. However, Amazon halted plans for the NYC campus in response to local backlash.

Among the opponents was Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who said in a series of tweets Friday, "In the end, we were right."

Slate politics writer Alexander Sammon on Friday expressed hope that Ocasio-Cortez, New York State Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris (D-12), "and the small handful of Democratic politicians who had enough courage to stick their necks out and oppose this bullshit in 2018 take a nice, long victory lap today."

"This was not at all a safe position when they took it," Sammon said. "And it was thankless one—as is often the case, the consequences for the marks and corporate bootlickers who embraced [former CEO Jeff] Bezos and Amazon will be nonexistent."

In response to reporting by Bloomberg, which broke Friday's news, Gianaris tweeted that "maybe a multibillion-dollar subsidy for the biggest corporation in the world to build an office was a really bad idea after all."

Gianaris added in a statement that "Amazon's announcement shows once again that paying off a historically wealthy corporation with massive subsidies to make a single office siting decision is bad policy. It also demands we take a different approach to the use of public dollars that does not rely on providing scarce resources to those who actually need them least while continuing to shortchange the services that would actually help people's lives improve."

Amazon has nearly finished phase one of HQ2 construction, a pair of office towers, and plans to move employees into that development, Metropolitan Park, in June. However, phase two—PenPlace, set to be built across the street with three towers, a corporate conference center, and other features such as a garden—is now on hold indefinitely.

"We're always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees," John Schoettler, who leads Amazon's global real estate portfolio, told Bloomberg. "And since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we've decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace out a bit."

The move comes amid Amazon's biggest-ever wave of job cuts, impacting 18,000 people globally, and after CEO Andy Jassy last month announced the company would require most employees to return to the office at least three days per week come May.

"Our second headquarters has always been a multiyear project, and we remain committed to Arlington, Virginia, and the greater capital region—which includes investing in affordable housing, funding computer science education in schools across the region, and supporting dozens of local nonprofits," Schoettler added. "We appreciate the support of all our partners and neighbors, and look forward to continuing to work together in the years ahead."

Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) on Friday said that Amazon staff made similar assurances to him directly. He urged the Seattle-based company to "promptly update leaders and stakeholders about any new major changes in this project, which remains very important to the capital region."

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

Lithium Americas Corp. announced that it began construction on the Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada, after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request Wednesday by mine opponents to block work. 

The Bureau of Land Management approved the $2.2 billion mine project in January 2021. Mining operations would cover 5,000 acres and create a pit deeper than a football field. Lithium is a key component in the batteries of electric vehicles. 

Thacker Pass, known as Peehee Mu’huh to the Paiute Shoshone people, is 200 miles north of Reno and less than 40 miles north of the tribal land of the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone tribe. Tribes opposing the mine say the area has historical, cultural and religious importance and that it was the site of an 1865 massacre of at least 31 Paiute people.

“It’s an important place not only because a terrible massacre occurred, but also because it’s a place where people gather, it’s a place for ceremony, for hunting,” said Michon Eben, tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, a government that includes members from the the Paiute, Shoshone and Washoe tribes. The colony is advocating for Peehee Mu’huh to be on the National Register of Historic Places. “It’s really hard to be a tribal member and see our homelands destroyed,” said Eben.

Thacker Pass also comprises thousands of acres of sagebrush and is a nesting ground for the sage grouse and a migration corridor for pronghorn antelope. Environmental groups including the Great Basin Resource Watch and Western Watersheds Project say the mine would cause irreversible ecological damage, and that the project’s impact was not adequately studied.

“It got by the environmental impact statement process in just under a year and I would expect a project of this scale and complexity to take 3 to 5 years,” said John Hadder, director of Great Basin Resource Watch. “That’s sloppy permitting on the side of the federal government.”

Tribes, environmental groups and a cattle rancher are all plaintiffs in a combined case against the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, and Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of Lithium Americas. On February 6, a federal judge in Reno ruled that the BLM had complied with federal law in approving the mine, with the exception of one matter regarding waste disposal, which the judge ordered the BLM to revisit. The plaintiffs filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit and an emergency motion to block construction before the appeal hearing. The appeals court rejected the injunction and set the hearing date for June.  

The Biden administration has made the transition to electric vehicles a cornerstone of its net-zero strategy. It wants half of new car sales to be electric by 2030, and for the United States to create a domestic electric vehicle supply chain. The administration estimates that demand for lithium and graphite for electric vehicles could increase by as much as 4,000 percent by 2040. 

In January, General Motors announced it would invest $650 million in Lithium Americas to develop the Thacker Pass mine, and expected the deal to yield enough lithium for 1 million electric vehicles per year. 

Lithium Americas did not respond to a request for comment. 

If the appeal fails and the lithium mine goes into operation, Hadder said it sets a bad precedent for how projects can be rushed in the name of the green transition.

“If it’s mining for lithium and other critical minerals, it will fall under the rubric of ‘Lithium is so important that we need to relax some of our environmental standards,’” said Hadder. “That’s a dangerous path that future generations and the environment will pay a price for. I think they’ll look back and say, ‘Oh, that wasn’t a good idea.’”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Construction begins on controversial lithium mine in Nevada on Mar 3, 2023.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Gabriela Aoun.

“’I am going to follow you up. Be careful. Be careful!’” the project supervisor, Andrew Okure, told Imukudo over the phone, according to the journalist. Another unidentified person on Okure’s end of the phone line said on the call, “Look at you, look at six feet. Don’t worry. Thank God, I know your name now. Somebody is telling you to go and die and you are following the person.”

Imukudo told CPJ that he had first contacted Okure for comment on December 24, 2022, while reporting on the deteriorating condition of 30 market stalls in the Abiakpo Nkap community. Okure, who had overseen the renovation earlier that year, became angry and ended the call after hearing that the journalist was investigating the project.

On January 5, a day after Imukudo’s report on the reconstruction project was published, Okure called the journalist back and threatened him, according to the Premium Times report and Imukudo.

Imukudo told CPJ that he did not take the threats lightly and did not pick up Okure’s subsequent calls but added that as of January 19 he had not received further threats and had not lodged a formal police complaint.

Reached by phone, Okure denied threatening Imukudo. He told CPJ that by “following up,” he meant that he would complete the renovation of the market stalls, not that he would have his eye on Imukudo. He added that the voice heard in the background by the journalist was not referring to Imukudo or his reporting.

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

A climate action coalition applauded New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's announcement Tuesday in support of legislation that would require all new construction in the state to be fossil fuel-free starting in 2024, following pressure from campaigners.

In her State of the State address, the Democratic governor endorsed the All-Electric Building Act (S. 562), which was also included in New York's executive budget last year and passed in the state Senate before being blocked in the Assembly.

Passing the bill into law this year is a "top priority" for advocates, said the Gas Free NY campaign, which includes Food & Water Watch, Earthjustice, NYPIRG, and other groups.

"The All-Electric Building Act will lower energy costs, create good-paying jobs, save lives, and help the state tackle the climate crisis."

"Gov. Hochul supports the critically necessary step of ending gas in new construction," said Gas Free NY in a statement. "The All-Electric Building Act will lower energy costs, create good-paying jobs, save lives, and help the state tackle the climate crisis. As the climate crisis accelerates and New Yorkers feel the pain of skyrocketing energy bills, the Assembly and Speaker [Carl] Heastie must work with the Senate and the governor to include this lifesaving bill in the SFY2023-24 budget and create a Gas Free NY."

New Yorkers are expected to pay an average of about $263 more for natural gas heat this winter than they did last year, National Grid said in November—a 39% increase.

The All-Electric Building Act would save residents of new homes nearly $1,000 on heating bills each year, according to a recent report by data science collective Win Climate.

As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, about half of American homes are heated with natural gas, which is a major source of planet-heating methane emissions.

"Each new building hooked to gas locks more families into overpaying to heat their homes, while padding the fossil fuel industry's profit, torching our state, and endangering New Yorkers," said the coalition.

Hochul is expected to include language officially calling for the passage of the All-Electric Building Act in the executive budget that is due this month.

State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher (D-50) noted that Hochul's endorsement followed a pledge by state Assembly Speaker Heastie (D-83) to "end our reliance on fossil fuels once and for all."

"I am hopeful that this is the year we win a Gas Free NY!" said Gallagher.

On Monday, progressive think tank Data for Progress released polling that showed two-thirds of New York residents support the All-Electric Building Act. The survey also showed that 55% of New Yorkers are "very concerned" about their energy bills this winter.

"Let's get this popular, money-saving climate policy done in the budget!" Gallagher said ahead of Hochul's announcement.

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

A climate action coalition applauded New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's announcement Tuesday in support of legislation that would require all new construction in the state to be fossil fuel-free starting in 2024, following pressure from campaigners.

In her State of the State address, the Democratic governor endorsed the All-Electric Building Act (S. 562), which was also included in New York's executive budget last year and passed in the state Senate before being blocked in the Assembly.

Passing the bill into law this year is a "top priority" for advocates, said the Gas Free NY campaign, which includes Food & Water Watch, Earthjustice, NYPIRG, and other groups.

"The All-Electric Building Act will lower energy costs, create good-paying jobs, save lives, and help the state tackle the climate crisis."

"Gov. Hochul supports the critically necessary step of ending gas in new construction," said Gas Free NY in a statement. "The All-Electric Building Act will lower energy costs, create good-paying jobs, save lives, and help the state tackle the climate crisis. As the climate crisis accelerates and New Yorkers feel the pain of skyrocketing energy bills, the Assembly and Speaker [Carl] Heastie must work with the Senate and the governor to include this lifesaving bill in the SFY2023-24 budget and create a Gas Free NY."

New Yorkers are expected to pay an average of about $263 more for natural gas heat this winter than they did last year, National Grid said in November—a 39% increase.

The All-Electric Building Act would save residents of new homes nearly $1,000 on heating bills each year, according to a recent report by data science collective Win Climate.

As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, about half of American homes are heated with natural gas, which is a major source of planet-heating methane emissions.

"Each new building hooked to gas locks more families into overpaying to heat their homes, while padding the fossil fuel industry's profit, torching our state, and endangering New Yorkers," said the coalition.

Hochul is expected to include language officially calling for the passage of the All-Electric Building Act in the executive budget that is due this month.

State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher (D-50) noted that Hochul's endorsement followed a pledge by state Assembly Speaker Heastie (D-83) to "end our reliance on fossil fuels once and for all."

"I am hopeful that this is the year we win a Gas Free NY!" said Gallagher.

On Monday, progressive think tank Data for Progress released polling that showed two-thirds of New York residents support the All-Electric Building Act. The survey also showed that 55% of New Yorkers are "very concerned" about their energy bills this winter.

"Let's get this popular, money-saving climate policy done in the budget!" Gallagher said ahead of Hochul's announcement.

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

"If we really want to talk about the debt and spending, it's the entitlement programs," said Waltz, referring to Medicare and Social Security, among other programs. (By law, Social Security cannot add to the federal deficit.)

The office of Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas)—one of the far-right Republicans that initially opposed Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) bid for House speaker—was particularly adamant in a Twitter post on Sunday, declaring that "cuts to defense were NEVER DISCUSSED" in talks with McCarthy.

"In fact, there was broad agreement spending cuts should focus on NON-DEFENSE discretionary spending," Roy's office wrote, singling out a broad category that includes federal budgets for healthcare, education, environmental programs, and more.

The Texas Republican's staff was attempting to dispel reports last week that McCarthy opponents were seeking to cap federal spending across the board at Fiscal Year 2022 levels, a demand that—if fulfilled—would lop tens of billions of dollars off the historically high Pentagon budget in addition to slashing non-military domestic programs.

The reports of potential Pentagon cuts on the horizon contributed to a recent decline in the stock prices of major military contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

Politicoreported Monday that McCarthy did ultimately agree to hold a "vote on a budget framework that caps discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels and aims to balance the federal budget in a decade," but Republicans have insisted this week that any proposal to cut the U.S. military budget—something progressives in the House support—would likely go nowhere, even though the Pentagon is rife with waste and abuse.

"Most of us won't vote for cuts to defense," Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Politico.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement last week that the non-military spending cuts floated by House Republicans "would harm communities and families across the United States who are already struggling with inflation and the rising cost of living."

"From cuts to public health investments to decreases in funding for education," DeLauro added, "this secret deal endangers so much of the progress we made to help children and families, create better-paying jobs, strengthen our national security, and protect our environment."

"The same Republicans who plunged the House of Representatives into chaos last week are prepared to plunge America into an economic crisis... unless Democrats agree to their demands to cut Social Security and Medicare."

The omnibus spending package that Congress approved last month over the objections of Roy and other far-right Republicans includes $858 billion in military funding, making up more than half of the $1.7 trillion measure. Adjusted for inflation, the $772.5 billion allocated to non-military discretionary programs in the package represents a cut compared to the previous fiscal year.

In recent months, House Republicans–including Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, who was just chosen to head the chamber's budget committee—have said they want to target both discretionary government outlays and mandatory spending that includes Social Security and Medicare, potentially using the debt ceiling as leverage to secure changes to the popular programs.

Bloomberg Governmentreported in October that Arrington said an "increase in the eligibility age for both programs would be a commonsense change," a sentiment echoed by several other House Republicans.

"There it is in black and white"

A slide shown during a House Republican conference meeting on Tuesday indicates that the party is committed to exploiting a debt ceiling showdown to push for spending cuts—even though such cuts would likely be a non-starter for the Senate and White House.

The seventh point on the slide, titled "Budget and Spending," states that the House GOP "will not agree to Debt Limit increase without budget agreement or commensurate fiscal reforms."

The slide also signals that the House GOP will push for "reforms" to mandatory spending programs and "reject any negotiations with the Senate" on spending unless their proposals "reduce non-defense discretionary."

"There it is in black and white," Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) tweeted in response to the presentation.

In October, Boyle led a group of House Democrats in imploring party leaders to raise the debt ceiling during the lame-duck session to avoid a potentially damaging 2023 showdown with Republicans. The Democratic leadership did not heed Boyle's call.

"House Republicans are openly plotting to hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage—threatening to blow up our entire economy—because they want to force cuts to Social Security and Medicare," Boyle wrote Tuesday.

The progressive advocacy group Social Security Works similarly warned that "the same Republicans who plunged the House of Representatives into chaos last week are prepared to plunge America into an economic crisis... unless Democrats agree to their demands to cut Social Security and Medicare."

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

The 1,460-megawatt Luang Prabang Dam will be built along a stretch of the Mekong that passes through Huai village in Chom Phet district of Luang Prabang province. The site lies about 25 kilometers, or 16 miles, upstream from the ancient town of Luang Prabang, a popular tourist destination and a UNESCO World Heritage Site with historic Buddhist temples. 

The U.S. $3 billion project, one of several existing or planned large-scale hydropower projects on the Mekong River mainstream, will be built by Thailand’s Xayaburi Power Company Ltd. and Vietnam’s PetroVietnam Power Corp. The project is being financed by the Luang Prabang Power Company Ltd., a consortium of the Thai and Vietnamese power companies and the Lao government.

It is part of a cascade of 11 Mekong mainstream dams that are the centerpiece of Laos’ controversial economic strategy to become the “battery of Southeast Asia,” generating revenue for the impoverished country by selling electricity to its neighbors. All power produced by the Luang Prabang Dam will be sold to Thailand and Vietnam.

But while authorities have given the dam the green light, and preliminary construction is now underway, officials told RFA that several key steps remain to be completed, including the securing of a power purchase agreement, paying villagers affected by the project compensation, and carrying out a social and environmental assessment.

Officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment met with representatives from Thailand’s S. Kansang Co. Ltd., the project builder, on Dec. 6-9 to discuss preliminary construction work, a Lao official with knowledge of the meeting said.

“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment met with their counterpart on the pre-dam construction work, such as clearing an area for the dam infrastructure,” he said. 

They also discussed the negative social and environmental impacts of the project and compensation for villagers affected by it, said the official, who declined to be named so he could speak freely, told RFA on Tuesday.

“The social and environment impact study and World Heritage Site assessment are close to being finished,” he added, though could not provide a completion date.

The company can only dig out the project area and pave an access road while waiting for a power purchase agreement, or PPA, to be signed.

Those conducting the Heritage Impact Assessment, which takes the significance of historic assets into account when developing and designing projects that may affect them, are still collecting information for the report and do not yet know when they will finish, the officials said. 

The assessment will be sent for review to both UNESCO and the Mekong River Commission, an organization that works with governments of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekong River.

Waiting for compensation

The meeting participants also discussed impact of the project on the livelihoods of villagers who have lost land to the project and who will be resettled, including those living in Chomphet district in Luang Prabang province, Hongsa district in Xayabury province, and Nga district in Oudomxay province, the official said. 

As part of the plan, villagers must forfeit their farmland and evacuate their homes. More than 2,130 families in 23 villages will be relocated from Luang Prabang and Xayabury provinces, but have received no compensation, which they want before they move.

Based on plans discussed during the meeting, compensation for affected villagers in Nga district will be paid after the beginning of 2023, an official from the Official from the Energy and Mines Department in Oudomxay province told RFA on Tuesday. 

“At the beginning of year affected villagers from Nga district, will be evacuated, but they are waiting for company to collect data on their property value and other resources first before being evacuated to a resettlement village,” said the officials who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the project.

In November, nearly 65 from Huai village in Luang Prabang’s Chomphet district, began receiving payments, though the project developer closed off an access road and prohibited villagers from entering the area, a local resident said.

The man said he saw workers digging a hole for the infrastructure, but did not know how much work they had completed. 

“They put a fence around the dam location and are not allowing villagers to enter the areas because it is dangerous,” he told RFA, adding that many trucks go in and out of the project site.

Laos has gone on a two-decade dam-building spree in its drive to become the “battery of Southeast Asia,” with the hope of using the revenues from hydropower to supercharge national development.

But in addition to growing concerns about what environmental impacts those projects and upstream dams built by China are having on the Mekong River basin, the huge investment required is adding to an increasingly unsustainable debt burden for one of the region’s smallest economies. Activists say the lack of a power purchase agreement for the Luang Prabang dam will continue to raise serious questions about its economic viability.

Translated by Sidney Khotpanya for RFA Lao. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Edited by Joshua Lipes. 

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

The Philippines voiced serious concern about the news in the Bloomberg News article, which cited unnamed Western officials for its report about China “building up several unoccupied land features” in the Spratly Islands.

But a Philippine military source told BenarNews there were no signs of construction in the four territories within the chain. Beijing, for its part, rejected the report.

In its article published on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported on what it called China’s building spree in unoccupied reefs in the Spratlys, and added that reclamation activities took place at four sites: Eldad Reef in the northern Spratlys, Lankiam Cay, Whitsun Reef and Sandy Cay. The Spratly Islands are claimed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs was quick to respond.

“We are seriously concerned as such activities contravene the Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea’s undertaking on self-restraint and the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday night.

In 2016, an arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of Manila and threw out China’s vast claims to the sea region, a ruling that Beijing has rejected. 

Bloomberg came out with the report as the United States pledged to back the Philippines over “the reported escalating swarms” of Chinese ships encroaching on Manila’s territories in the contested waterway.

Next month, Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during his first presidential visit to China.

Report challenged

The South China Sea Probing Initiative, a state-supported Chinese think-tank, issued a tweet questioning the report’s findings.

“So far, of the four reefs accused, no signs of land reclamation on Lankiam Cay, Eldad Reef and Whitsun Reef, Sandy Cay is indeed in reclaiming, however it is conducted by Vietnam. The reporter of Bloomberg News should do more homework on SCS issue,” it tweeted.

During a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected Bloomberg’s report as “completely untrue.”

“Refraining from action on the presently uninhabited islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands is a serious common understanding reached by China and ASEAN countries in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and China always strictly abides by it,” Mao Ning said in response to a reporter’s question. China refers to the Spratlys as the Nansha islands. 

The Philippine military had little to say about the report officially, pending verification.

“The instruction is that the authority [to issue a statement] should come from the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea,” said Col. Isagani Nato, acting spokesman of the military’s Western Command, based on Palawan island.

The West Philippine Sea is the name that Manila uses for the territories it claims in the South China Sea. Philippine troops have occupied Lankiam Cay (also known as Panata island), a 108-acre cay, since 1978.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were no monitored Chinese reclamations in the areas listed in the Bloomberg report.

“Based on our patrols, we have not noticed (Chinese reclamations),” said the source official who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to reporters on the matter, adding “they did not indicate construction.”

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), attached to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, gave a similar assessment.

“China has not occupied a new feature since December 1994 and has not built up anything it didn’t already occupy,” AMTI Director Greg Poling said, adding “commercial imagery cannot corroborate” Bloomberg’s claims.

Another analyst, Taylor Fravel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pointed out that landforms appear and disappear in the South China Sea.

Jeoffrey Maitem in Davao City, Philippines, contributed to this report.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

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

Residents of New York’s Chinatown are speaking out against the construction of a new megajail in the neighborhood that would be a third as high as the Empire State Building, which would likely make it the tallest jail in the world, if finished. The so-called jailscraper is part of an $8 billion plan to build new jails across the city in order to retire the infamous Rikers Island facility, but opponents say that money would be better spent on social services, harm reduction and other initiatives that would better serve the community. Jan Lee, co-founder of the community group Neighbors United Below Canal, says Chinatown residents are interested in “creating a more humane environment for those who are incarcerated.” We also speak with Christopher Marte, who represents the area on New York City Council, and Jon Alpert, co-founder of the community media center DCTV, based in Chinatown for half a century, who has been documenting the struggle.

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

But people are complaining that the plan makes no sense because communal toilets are less hygienic than outhouses, which each family maintains, and that the government should instead focus on tackling more basic needs, like improving living conditions and repairing homes damaged by natural disasters such as typhoons, the sources say.

“People do not have enough food to eat because of the hardships of living due to the coronavirus. They are living in leaky houses and can’t even think about repairing them,” a resident of the city of Tokchon in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for fear of getting punished for speaking out.

Outside of the capital Pyongyang, very few homes in North Korea have individual toilets. People who live in apartments often use communal toilets with their neighbors, and in rural areas, residents build outhouses detached from their homes. 

Communal toilets in these areas are usually shared between two or three neighborhoods, but authorities have ordered that rural residents work together to renovate them, or build new ones.

“Last week, residents in Songchon county were mobilized to demolish the village’s common toilet and expand and build a new one there,” said a resident of the county in South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang.

The construction costs must be covered by the residents themselves, he said.

Authorities have called a meeting of each neighborhood watch unit, and ordered that every home with an outhouse must demolish it and use the new public toilet, the source said. Residents were told that if each house uses a separate outhouse, the village environment will be polluted, he said, explaining that during the rainy season, the sewage flows out of these outhouses, creating a stench and causing water-borne contagious diseases to spread.

Manure quota

Residents also complain that the plan is not only a huge hassle, it deprives them of fertilizer for their home gardens, and makes it harder for them to fulfill yearly government manure collection quotas for use in communal farming.

RFA reported in January 2019 that authorities ordered every able-bodied citizen to collect an impossible 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of manure per day. In October of that year, fights broke out in public bathrooms as citizens laid claim to the human waste therein.

Orders for manure collection go out every year, and sources have said that the government’s quota is unreasonably high because the true purpose is to get the citizens to pay a fine for not collecting their share. 

With no more outhouses, residents have no reliable source of human waste at collection time.

“It is considered the same as cash,” the Tokchon source said. “It will be difficult for the authorities to succeed in forcing the use of communal toilets.” 

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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

These projects, which call for training facilities and warehouses to be built on bases, are part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Department of National Defense (DND) spokesman Arsenio Andolong said.

The agreement supplements the Visiting Forces Agreement, a 1999 bilateral pact that provides the legal cover for large-scale joint military exercises between the U.S. and the Philippines, Washington’s longtime defense ally in the contested South China Sea region.

“The department is committed to accelerate the implementation of EDCA by concluding infrastructure enhancement and repair projects, developing new infrastructure projects at EDCA locations and exploring new locations that will build a more credible defense posture,” Andolong said in a statement.

Defense official have said there are five “agreed locations” – the Cesar Basa Air Base and Fort Magsaysay in the northern provinces of Pampanga and Nueva Ecija; the Antonio Bautista Air Base and Benito Ebuen Air Base in the central provinces of Palawan and Cebu; and the Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro city in the south.

“Currently, $66.5 million (3.8 billion pesos) is earmarked for the implementation of approved EDCA projects at the agreed locations,” Andolong said. “The projects include construction of training, warehouse and other facilities at Cesar Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Ramon Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, and Lumbia Airport Base Station in Cagayan de Oro.”

The work is to be completed over the next two years, according to officials.

Warming relationship

The announcement comes as ties with the U.S. have improved since President Rodrigo Duterte left office in June.

During his six years in power, Duterte, who once threatened to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement, forged closer ties with China, the United States’ rival superpower.

He was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who met with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.

Biden and Marcos said the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty binds the nations to help each other in times of outside aggression, and so it was important to maintain their “critical relationship.”

The U.S. repeatedly has said it would quickly come to the Philippines’ aid over an attack in the South China Sea. Manila is locked in a dispute with Beijing over territories claimed by both nations.

Meanwhile on Monday, military chief Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro said the U.S. had proposed adding five facilities to the list.

“It is not definite yet,” Bacarro told reporters.

Those sites, which were announced on Tuesday, include two in Cagayan, and one each in Zambales (specifically in Subic, the site of a former American naval base), Palawan and Isabela.

The proposal is subject to approval by the defense and foreign affairs departments.

“The DND remains consistent in its position that all engagements with the U.S. as well as other foreign partners must be conducted in accordance with the Philippine Constitution and other national laws,” Andolong said.

Japan seeks similar agreement

Japan, which has its own territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, is seeking a similar visiting forces pact to allow its forces to train in the Philippines, a defense official said. Currently, Japanese forces are allowed to join Philippine-U.S. training exercises as “observers” only.

The Philippines and Japan share intersecting interests “in the West Philippine Sea and of course the borders that we share,” acting Defense Secretary Jose Faustino said. The West Philippine Sea is the Philippine name for its claimed territories in the South China Sea.

“So our goal really is to strengthen this cooperation,” he told reporters.

Aie Balagtas See in Manila contributed to this report.

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

The annual Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, a United Nations study released during COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, finds that emissions rebounded in 2021 to an all time high — 2 percent higher than the previous peak in 2019. Even as efficiency improved in some parts of the world, other trends worked against those gains, such as a rebound in construction after the pandemic, the growth of hybrid work, and an increase in the use of fossil fuels to heat buildings in emerging economies. Overall building energy intensity — the ratio of floor space to energy use — has remained unchanged since 2019.

“What we are finding this year is that the gap between where we are today, and where we should be, is growing,” said Oliver Rapf, the executive director of Buildings Performance Institute Europe, a nonprofit think tank, and one of the authors of the report. “That’s a real problem. That means that our buildings, our offices, our homes, our schools are not fit, at the moment, to meet the climate challenge and that we need to accelerate action.”

As countries meet in Egypt this week to talk about how to turn carbon commitments on paper into real emission reductions, the report offers timely insights. 

On the bright side, attention to buildings as a source of emissions is increasing. In preparation for last year’s climate conference in Glasgow, countries were expected to update their national climate plans with new commitments to cut carbon. The authors studied all plans submitted to the United Nations and found that 80 percent of them addressed building emissions, compared with only 69 percent the year before.

The problem is, existing policies aren’t in line with those building emission plans. Specifically, building codes: esoteric construction rules that can be set at the local, state, or national level, that the public doesn’t typically pay much attention to. But those building codes are crucial to ensuring that when communities build, they don’t build themselves into a deeper emissions hole by creating long-lived, energy-intensive infrastructure. 

Many high-income economies like the U.S. have codes that regulate energy use. Some states and municipalities in the U.S. are even beginning to edit their building codes to discourage the use of fossil fuels for space and water heating. But on the whole, these codes are not up to the job of reducing emissions in line with international goals. 

“The reality is that almost universally, none are aligned towards Paris Agreement objectives,” said Ian Hamilton, a professor of energy, environment and health at University College London and another author of the report. “And then there’s all the countries who don’t have any building energy codes at all.”

Eighty-five of 196 countries tracked by the Buildings Global Status Report have no known building energy code. The biggest gap is in Africa, where construction in most of the continent is not covered by a code. According to the study, the areas without any building codes are largely those that are expected to see the most population growth in the coming decade. The buildings to house future populations don’t exist yet, and unless they are built with energy efficiency in mind, the ratio of floor space to energy use — and in turn, emissions and climate impacts — are only going to get worse. 

In addition to improving the operational efficiency of buildings, there’s a whole other piece of the building emissions puzzle that needs to be addressed: Embodied carbon, or the emissions associated with the creation of materials like steel, concrete, glass, and aluminum used for construction. Those building materials are currently responsible for about 9 percent of overall energy-related emissions, and are expected to be responsible for a growing proportion of emissions in the future if better material standards aren’t adopted. Currently, most existing building codes do not address embodied carbon. 

These materials are often lumped into a category of climate change challenges called “hard to decarbonize” industries. There’s just not yet any straightforward solution for making steel or cement without emitting carbon dioxide, though there are many promising advances in development. In the meantime, the authors encourage cities and states to support paths for the construction industry to recycle these materials rather than sending them to landfills. Currently, about 35 percent of construction waste is sent to landfills, according to the report.

Hamilton and Rapf are encouraged by growing participation in green building certifications. The report found that the number of buildings certified under various programs with high sustainability standards has increased by 19 percent in the past two years. Rapf said that the war in Ukraine has also increased political will to do more on efficiency in Europe, and the E.U. is currently in the middle of developing new building regulations.

“It’s very likely that Europe will then have the most ambitious regulation on building performance and the carbon impact of buildings globally.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A post-pandemic construction rebound put building emissions at an all-time high on Nov 9, 2022.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Emily Pontecorvo.

छत पर कुटाई वाली कार्रवाई और नीचे सङक पर बुलङोजर वाली कार्रवाई
UP के कानपुर में कुछ जेहादी ने छत से हिन्दुओं और पुलिस पर पथराव किया। इसके बाद कुछ बहादुर पुलिस ने बिना सीढी ही छत पर जाकर पकड़ लिया और घूंसे लाठियां बरसा कर उनकी दिवाली हैप्पी कर दी ,और बिल्डिंग भी तोड़ दिया pic.twitter.com/pYII0ujyGG

— ɨʀօռʍօռᏦ 002 (@IRONMONK002) October 26, 2022

A user named Vishnu Mishra also made the same claim while sharing the clip. Mishra also praised Yogi Adityanath and the swift action taken by the police. (Archived link)

*यह वीडियो देखकर आनंदित हो जाओगे,*
*छत पर कुटाई वाली कार्रवाई और नीचे सङक पर बुलङोजर वाली कार्रवाई*
बाबा जी महाराज का अद्भुत न्याय,,
यूपी के कानपुर में कुछ जेहादी मुल्लों ने छत से हिन्दुओं और पुलिस पर पथराव किया।इसके बाद कुछ बहादुर पुलिस ने बिना सीढी ही छत पर जाकर सुअरो pic.twitter.com/Sg8RVVLHQH

— VISHNU MISHRA (@VISHNUK35030487) October 26, 2022

The viral video is also being shared widely on Facebook with the same claim. A page titled ‘Sangathit Hindu‘ also amplified it.

Fact-check

Alt News performed a keyword search and located the source video posted on Twitter by journalists Priya Singh and Gyanendra Shukla. In the information provided with the video, the incident is described as one in which two youths who pelted stones at the police were beaten up by cops. Also, it has been described as a video of Kanpur Dehat. Sharing two videos of the incident, Gyanendra Shukla wrote, “While the police were carrying out a court order to remove Malikchand, who had been forcibly squatting on Satyadev’s land, the former’s sons threw stones at them. After many were injured, the police taught the boys a lesson. An incident from Kanpur Dehat.”

सत्यदेव के मकान पर जबरन काबिज मलिकचंद के कब्जे को हटाने के कोर्ट के आदेश के पालन के दौरान मलिकचंद के बेटों ने पुलिस पर पत्थर फेंके कई जख्मी हुए तो फिर पुलिस ने रौद्र रूप धरकर सबक सिखाया, कानपुर देहात का मामला pic.twitter.com/tUWiJBrLIm

— gyanendra shukla (@gyanu999) October 20, 2022

We also came across an October 20 report by Dainik Bhaskar covering the incident. It also carried a screenshot of the viral video. According to the report, “On the orders of the court in the Bhognipur police station area in Kanpur Dehat, a team had arrived to demolish a house. Two youths pelted stones at the team members that had come there to carry out the mandated action. The police sent both to jail after registering a case under several sections of the IPC including obstruction of government duties.

Nowhere in the report has the incident been described as communal. As far as the land dispute is concerned, it has been reported that two youths were beaten up for pelting stones at the police who went to demolish a home that was illegally constructed. It is important to note here that Motilal’s full name is listed as Manikchand Shankhwar.

The Dainik Bhaskar report identifies the two youths beaten up by the police as Sameer and Karthik. It states that the land dispute between Satyadev and Motilal was being heard at a court in a locality of Kanpur Dehat. After a lengthy trial, the court ruled in favor of Satyadev, directing the police to demolish the illegally constructed house built on the land. Following the court’s directive, the police arrived there with a bulldozer. Meanwhile, Sameer and Karthik started throwing bricks and stones from the terrace of the house, seriously injuring a young bystander. A few policemen were also injured. Following this, the stone-pelting duo was taken into custody by the police.

On October 18, police issued a statement on the matter. It mentions that the police officers who went to remove the illegal construction were attacked with stones. Furthermore, the stone-pelters were taken into judicial custody and sent to jail.

#Kanpurdehatpolice थाना भोगनीपुर क्षेत्र के कस्बा पुखरायां में हुयी घटना के सम्बंध में क्षेत्राधिकारी भोगनीपुर द्वारा दी गयी बाइट। pic.twitter.com/kuV0SiF9el

— Kanpur Dehat Police (@kanpurdehatpol) October 18, 2022

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Aaj Tak published a ground report covering the incident on October 19. This report also includes a statement by Motilal, whose house was bulldozed. Along with this, there is also the statement of Amin Mukesh Mishra who claims that the court ordered the demolition of Motilal’s illegal construction.

To sum it up, an unrelated video of police action on stone-pelters from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Dehat area was falsely circulated as cops teaching a lesson to Muslim stone-pelters. In reality, the officers were following court orders and sent there to demolish an illegal construction.

The post Fact-check: Police action against illegal construction in Kanpur falsely given communal twist appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Priyanka Jha.

Authorities have also granted the Gezhouba Group Company, a road-building firm from mainland China, a one-year extension on the project after it gave the government assurances about implementing safety measures to prevent other accidents from happening, officials told BenarNews. 

“China’s Gezhouba Group Company has been permitted to resume the construction work as they have adopted safety measures at the project site. We want them to finish the work as soon as possible,” A.B.M Amin Ullah Nuri, the secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division, told BenarNews.

“The project is already behind schedule; how long will we make people suffer for the project?” said the official, who also chairs the state agency implementing the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit line (DBRT).

The deadly accident on Aug. 15 was the latest mishap to occur during construction of the 20.2-km (12.5-mile) overhead rapid transit bus corridor. Five members of a family, including two children, were killed when the falling girder crushed their car as they were driving underneath the construction site of the elevated transit line. A newlywed couple, who were also in the car, were seriously injured.

A government investigation into the incident found that the China Gezhouba Group Co., a subsidiary of the China Gezhouba Group Corp. (CGGC), was responsible for the accident by not ensuring people’s safety in or near the project site. 

The project, valued at 42.6 billion taka (U.S. $450 million), is being financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Nuri said.

Once completed, the transit line will connect the neighboring Gazipur district with Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, in a project that aims to ease traffic congestion on a busy highway connecting the two points. 

“We have to work with the ADB to take action against the contracting company. We are working with them in this regard,” Nuri said without elaborating.

In 2016, the Gezhouba Group was awarded the contract for the project. Its original end-date was June 2020, but the project got delayed multiple times amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company was then given a new deadline for finishing the project by June 2021.

“Thus far, nearly 80 percent of the project has been finished. We want the physical construction of the project to finish by March next year. So, we have proposed the planning commission to extend the deadline for the company to December 2023,” Shafiqul Islam, the managing director of the DBRT company, told BenarNews.

When asked whether the government was considering cancelling the contract and finding a new builder for the transit line, he replied: “This is very difficult to change the contractor of an ongoing project. We will not change the contractor CGGC.” 

“There are … provisions for punishment in the contract, but applying the provisions is realistic,” Islam added.

The Chinese embassy in Dhaka did not immediately respond to BenarNews requests for comment.

Lawsuit

Ten people, all Bangladeshi nationals connected with the Chinese company, have been arrested in connection with the Aug. 15 accident but have been freed on bail.

Meanwhile, a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against the company over the latest incident told BenarNews that senior officials of CGGC went to his home in Dhaka recently.

“They offered us Tk two million for each family as compensation so that we could withdraw the case. But we have not accepted their proposal,” said Md. Afran Mondal Babu, who is suing the company for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 

“The police had not arrested any official of the Chinese company. Some local staff of the project were arrested and all of them have been [released] on bail,” said Babu.

“We have asked for Tk 30 million (U.S. $287,240) for the settlement. And they rejected our offer,” he said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by BY Kamran Reza Chowdhury for BenarNews.

Myles Traphagen didn’t need a government presentation to tell him that border wall construction was kicking back up. He saw everything he needed on a recent visit to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and the Coronado National Forest, near the town of Sasabe in southern Arizona.

As the borderlands coordinator for the Wildlands Network, Traphagen had visited the area many times before. It was among the sites he examined in an extensive report published in July documenting the environmental impact of the border wall expansion under President Donald Trump — President Joe Biden paused the construction shortly after his inauguration.

“It’s feeling like it felt during border wall construction with Trump.”

Related

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This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Ryan Devereaux.

While the concern is an annual worry for North Korean parents, their fears may be especially acute this year as the country already suffers from a shortage of food and other supplies. Construction unit soldiers could be especially vulnerable as North Korea struggles under international sanctions and trade restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every able-bodied citizen must serve in the North Korean military. Until recently soldiers spent 10 years in the service, but since 2020, men serve eight years and women five as part of a fighting force estimated by the CIA World Factbook to be 1.15 million strong. Eligible youths sign up for the military in recruitment drives held in April and September.

Much of a soldier’s tour of duty has little to do with preparing to fight — instead the government uses the available manpower as free labor for things like farm work, road maintenance and construction.

“The fall recruitment for the military has begun nationwide,” a resident of Unhung county in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Many parents are concerned that their children will go to the construction unit.”

Soldiers sent to general construction units are sent to state projects like a massive home-building effort in Pyongyang, or to build power plants, greenhouses and roads. They may be assigned to repair damage from natural disasters like floods.

Construction units are still, at least on paper, units in the Korean People’s Army. But soldiers hope to avoid the assignments because it typically means doing hard labor for their entire service. They are also a lower priority when it comes to doling out food and supplies, according to the source. 

“Powerful and wealthy people use bribes and connections to send their children to comfortable, well-regarded units. Parents who don’t have anything can do nothing about it,” the source said. “I can't help but be worried to hear from the soldiers I meet from time to time that their supplies have become even more pathetic than before.” 

Supplies are tight because North Korea at the beginning of the pandemic closed the border with China and suspended all trade. The trade ban has been on and off again in 2022, and supplies have continued to dwindle.

“The authorities are taking away precious youth of the young men and women who serve in the military, but they are not interested in improving their lifestyle and treatment,” the source said. “Parents who send their children to the military would not worry as they do now if their living conditions would improve, and they get adequate food, clothing and daily necessities.”

Sometimes even after completing their service, the country extracts more duty out of soldiers, ordering them to continue toil in coal mines and farms, according to the source.

“I really don't like the way soldiers who have finished their military service are not sent back to their hometowns,” the source said. “All parents long for their children to return to their hometowns after eight years of hard work in the military away from home.”

The gates in front of the Military Mobilization Office in each district of the city of Chongjin in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong were crowded for the fall recruitment period, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. 

“The spring recruitment period is in April and the fall recruitment is in September every year. These days, messages are sent out on loudspeakers and propaganda cars that come and go on the streets. They encourage young people to join the military by saying, ‘Securing the homeland is the greatest patriotism and military service is the sacred duty of young people,’” the second source said.

“Each district hospital has been conducting physical examinations for those on the military enlistment list. Young people who have passed the physical examinations will gather at the provincial Military Mobilization Office in an organized order after completing an interview at the Military Mobilization Office in their district,” the second source said.

Once at the provincial Military Mobilization Office, the prospective soldiers will undergo more physical organizations, tests and interviews over the next 10 days. They will then be assigned to a unit and go to basic training, according to the second source.

“The second recruitment in the fall includes those who were not on the first recruitment list due to college admissions recommendations, those who failed the college entrance exams, failed to pass the physical exam from the previous recruitment period, and those who entered society for work due to family circumstances,” the second source said. 

“As mandatory military service has been reduced from 10 years to eight years, it seems like more women are subject to be recruited in order to make up for the shortage of troops,” the second source said. 

Even with two recruitment periods each year, there are those who would attempt to get out of military service by falsifying health records or family tragedies.

“Controls for draft evaders is being strengthened. Military mobilization officers are conducting field investigations by visiting workplaces and the neighborhood watch units of young people who have been exempted due to their health and family circumstances.”

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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

On Aug. 15, a girder being installed for the rapid bus transit line project fell and flattened a car that was driving underneath the elevated line along Jashim Uddin Avenue in Uttara, a suburb of Dhaka, killing five members of a family.

A newlywed couple also suffered serious injuries in the mishap that took place along the Dhaka-Mymensingh national highway, one of the country’s busiest roads.

“The contractor had some lapses that led to the girder collapse. This is unacceptable. Unless they ensure complete safety and security of the people, the construction will remain suspended,” Shafiqul Islam, the managing director of the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Co. Ltd, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service.

Islam and other officials went to the accident site on Friday to assess progress. The government has formed a three-member team to investigate the collapse.

Neelima Akhter, an additional secretary in the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry who leads the team, said she expected to complete the probe by next week.

“The construction is currently halted after the tragedy. Unless the contractor ensures full safety and security of the people, we will not allow them to carry on the construction work,” she told BenarNews.

“If proven guilty in our probe, we will suggest actions against the contractor and other concerned people,” she said without elaborating.

China’s Gezhouba Group was awarded the contract in 2016 to construct the 20.2-km (12.5-mile) rapid transit line, which will connect the Gazipur area of Dhaka with Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The cost of the project is 42.6 billion taka (U.S. $450 million).

A relative of the victims filed a case with the police against the Chinese company.

Authorities have arrested at least 10 people involved in the project, Md. Mohsin, officer-in-charge of Uttara West Police Station, told BenarNews on Friday.

Mohammed Belayet Hossain, a former secretary of the ministry’s road transport and highways division, blamed the collapse on the Chinese contractor.

“The China Gezhouba Group Co. Limited is not a good company. They do not invest enough money to implement such a big project like the BRT,” Belayet Hossain alleged, using an acronym for the bus rapid transit system.

“As secretary, I personally visited sites and investigated the works of the China Gezhouba. Their safety measures were almost absent,” he told BenarNews. “The company does not want to spend [money] on ensuring public safety and security around the project premises.”

He said the construction site was also not blocked off properly.

“They worked keeping the vehicular traffic as usual – this is unacceptable,” he said, adding, “They could have placed the girders at midnight when traffic slows down remarkably.”

Belayet Hossain also alleged that the Chinese company had received the contract because of its low bid, adding it did not provide proper safety gear including boots, helmets and vests, for its workers.

“According to Bangladesh procurement rules, the company offering the lowest price must be given the contract,” Belayet Hossain said. “But I think we need a change in the rules – we should assess the capacity of a company before awarding a mega project.”

The Chinese embassy in Dhaka did not immediately respond to a BenarNews email request for comments on the stoppage and the allegations against the Gezhouba Group.

The crane being used did not have the capacity to handle the weight of the girder and its operators, who were among those arrested, were not licensed to operate it, Khandaker Al Moin, a spokesman for the police’s Rapid Action Battalion, told a news conference on Aug. 18.

Moin said a Gezhouba Group official had ordered employees to work during a public holiday despite a manpower shortage including workers responsible for safety and traffic management. Some of those working were new and inexperienced.

This month’s deadly incident was not the first at the project site.

In July, a crane collapsed on a Bangladeshi worker and killed him along a stretch of the bus transit line at the Gazipur end. And in March 2021, six workers, including three Chinese citizens, were injured in an accident involving the setting of a girder broke along another stretch of the route.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by BY Kamran Reza Chowdhury for BenarNews.

Photograph Source: U.S. Department of State – Public Domain

“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity.”

— Philip K. Dick, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” 1968

The United States, leading a coalition of its allies, is fighting a proxy war with Russia over its invasion of beleaguered Ukraine battling for its survival as a democracy. Thousands have died.

Yet extremists of the Republican Party, or what’s left of a onetime respected political institution (it should change its name to something more accurate) invited a virtual dictator to deliver the keynote address at its popular right-wing get-together, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

In some of his more belligerent remarks at the conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas last week, the creeping authoritarian focused on a theme of uniting Hungary and the United States by coordinating their militaries and by Americans electing conservatives in the midterm elections in November and Europeans doing the same in the European Union election in 2024.

Beware: It seems as if the Hungarian leader is anxious to save conservatives from a hostile liberal world. With all of the restrictions far-right politicians impose on everyday people, maybe it’s the conservatives who need to be monitored.

“We must take back the institutions in Washington and Brussels . . . we must coordinate the movements of our troops because we face the same challenges” against liberals among Democrats and in the media, he said in his speech in heavily accented English.

“These two locations will define the two fronts in the battle being fought for Western civilization. Today, we hold neither of them. Yet we need both,” Orbán said.

I didn’t know Washington and Budapest share an axis.

Unite American and Hungarian armed forces? Orbán must be dreaming aloud. It’ll never happen so long as a Democrat is in the White House, if he or she can keep it. Putting Donald Trump or his clone would be something else again.

Trump referred to the prime minister as his “friend” when they were together at the former president’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., before the CPAC conference. He also endorsed Orbán for his fourth consecutive term, which he won in April.

“The globalists (read liberals) can go to hell,” the Hungarian strongman blasted. “I have come to Texas.” He tagged Hungary “the Lone Star State of Europe,” obviously meaning his country is different from others on the continent. Just about.

Texas is home to a far-right governor, Greg Abbott, and a senator with similar political views, Rick Scott, a former governor. It has some of the toughest restrictions against abortion and voting rights in the country.

“They hate me and slander me and my country as they hate you and slander you,” Orbán said of liberals’ views of right-wing conservatives.  That’s probably true, not hyperbole.

Orbán is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has been criticized for Hungary being one of the few countries among its neighbors that doesn’t support Ukraine, with which it shares an 85-mile border along a river. It is among the 30 NATO members. Hungary’s population is 9.6 million.

The European Union has had problems with Orbán’s curtailing of democracy in Hungary and has withheld money until it abides by the rules of the 27-member group. Hungary has been a parliamentary republic since 1989. But the Economist Intelligence Unit, an analysis and research division of The Economist magazine, labeled it a “flawed democracy” in 2020.

Hungary was part of the Soviet bloc and its Warsaw Pact military alliance to counter NATO before Moscow’s empire collapsed in 1991. It sided with Nazi Germany during World War II, when 565,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Orbán is perhaps best known for blocking refugees from Hungary as they fled to Europe seeking asylum from their war-ravaged homelands in Syria and Afghanistan during the 2015 migrant crisis. He erected fences to keep them out, even if their intent merely was to pass through Hungary to reach other countries. He rejected 16 pleas for asylum, according to The Guardian.

He recently warned European countries against “race mixing,” a racist slur targeting people of color. He sounds like American white supremacists and nationalists who could fit right in. It did not deter CPAC from inviting Orbán. But Hungary accepted “with open arms” more than 180,000 Ukrainian war refugees, Human Rights Watch reported. Ukrainians are white.

The prime minister and his allies also have suppressed the media, campaigned against gay and transgender rights, Jewish Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros and emphasized law and order. Trump often has been compared to Orbán.

Right-wingers, including Fox “News” host Tucker Carlson, more than once has pointed to Orbán as a model leader for America, an image Jennifer Dresden, a policy advocate for democracy, finds “concerning.”

“The academic and think tank research has been really clear: Hungary has been on this incremental path (toward authoritarianism) for over a decade at this point, and Orbán has followed the playbook very, very closely in ways that everybody should be worried about,” CNN business analyst David Zurawik quoted her as saying.

And this is what right-wingers see as their model for running a government? Are they Americans?

Maybe Orbán is merely the conservative flavor of the year, harmless. CPAC, Carlson and other right-wing admirers of Orbán would be wise to look long and hard at the Hungarian leader before continuing to woo him as a far-flung panacea for solving their own problems.

Otherwise, they may be stepping into political quicksand without an exit strategy, like what our military experienced in getting out of Afghanistan. We have enough problems on our crowded plate, Trump and his die-hard allies to start with.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Richard C. Gross.

When the migrant workers from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, and Hebei–China’s relatively poorer inland provinces–arrived in the country, however, they soon found themselves living in sheds without air conditioning in desert heat and facing a nightmare of withheld wages, mysterious extra fees, confiscated passports, and dismal food. Many are trapped in Algeria.

Chinese labor lawyers say their treatment not only besmirches China’s reputation, undermining the goals of the nearly 10-year-old Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of infrastructure projects aimed at boosting Beijing’s global profile, but also constitutes human trafficking under international conventions China has signed. The BRI is seen as Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature international policy.

Following up on tips received from workers who’ve been stranded some 6,000 miles (9,200 km) from home, RFA Mandarin interviewed numerous workers employed in Algeria’s Souk Ahras Province, Chinese diplomats, labor lawyers and an executive of Shandong Jiaqiang Real Estate Co. Ltd, the eastern China-based company the laborers accuse of luring them to Algeria under false pretenses.

“When I came here through an agent, I realized the situation is not good. It is worse than in China,” said Worker A, whose name has been withheld to protect him and his family from retaliation.

“The contract is good for two years, and the pay listed on the contract is more than 10,000 yuan ($1,480) per month––between 15,000 ($2,220) and 20,000 yuan ($2,960). After landing here, I made less than 10,000 yuan ($1,480) a month,” he told RFA.

“The pay is far from what was promised,” said a second man, identified as Worker B.  “It is worse than what we earned in China. Here the monthly pay on average is 3,000 yuan ($444).”

When he and fellow workers “arrived here and found out that the situation was far from ideal, we wanted to go home,” said Worker A.

“We spoke with the company, and the company said ‘no.’ They said ‘Because you already signed the contract, if you go home now, that is a breach of contract.’”

According to Worker A, Shandong Jiaqiang Real Estate Co. Ltd. told the workers to “ask your family to wire 28,000 yuan ($4,145) over to pay for the penalty. After you pay the penalty, then you can go home.”

He told RFA wages were only paid every six months, with 70 percent paid, and the other 30 percent withheld until the workers fulfilled their two-year contracts.

That pay arrangement meant the workers “usually have no money to live on” and had to borrow advances against their wages.

“In the process, the workers were ripped off by other costs,” added Worker A, who said the company profited by loaning money to them at an exchange rate to the local Algerian Dinar currency that was about half the actual rate.

Worker B said it took a strike by workers in September 2021 to get the company to pay the 70 percent they were due in the middle of that year.

He said the workers were told by the company: “Feel free to sue. We’re not afraid. Just sue us, go back to China to sue us.”

But a third worker involved in the dispute said that path was impossible for poor workers to take

“The lawsuit costs money. To hire someone costs money. If you file a complaint in China, you’re dragging your family in too. Who can afford to sue? said Worker C.

A chief reason the workers had to borrow money was to cook their own meals because the three daily meals they were promised under their contracts was inedible.

“To say it bluntly, the food was worse than those given to pigs. Sometimes the food was just impossible to eat,” said Worker B.

“In the winter, they gave you marinated cucumber salad or marinated tomatoes, plus two eggs per person. That’s it. Or two eggplants each person,” he said.

“The food we ate was mixed with sand and gravel. The noodles were black,” added Worker B.

“Workers in many construction sites that this company operates received the same treatment. Why? The company does not want to cook the food well, because if it’s delicious, you’d eat more. By offering lousy food, you’d pay out of pocket to buy your own food and cook your own meals,” Worker A surmised. 

The make matters worse, Worker A said, the workforce had to “live in regular sheds, with no air-conditioning, no matter how hot it is.”

“In the summer, the temperature goes as high as 41 or 42 Celsius (105 or 107 Fahrenheit),” he added.

Another grievance shared by the workers in Algeria who spoke to RFA in recent months was the failure to provide return airfare to China as promised.

After checking with the Chinese Embassy in Algiers, workers who were trying to go home were told that tickets to China ran about 22,000 yuan.

“The boss has told them that a flight ticket costs ¥42,000 yuan, and we have to pay our own ticket. He wanted us to pay by ourselves,” said Worker D.

“It seemed that the ticket was around ¥22,000 yuan, and he charged you more than ¥30,000, said Worker E. “’Immigration clearance fee,’ they said,” he added.

Worker D explained that because the company applied for business visas for the workers, when the workers return to China, they have to go through departure procedures at the Algerian immigration, police bureaus, and the courts. That is the so-called “immigration clearance fee.”

“When we were recruited, we applied and submitted our passports to the recruiting agents. The agents then handed our passports to the company, which applied for the visas for us,” said Worker D.

“Supposedly we should apply for workers’ visas, which cost more but allow you to stay for one or two years. But no, the company applied for the business visa, which only allows a stay of three months,” he added.

“I asked the company to give me a work visa, but when we came, we got business visas. Then we became illegal workers. Now we have to pay out of pocket to ‘clear immigration’ and for our flight tickets,” said Worker E.

The company also took away the workers’ passports, several of them said.

“As soon as I stepped out of the airport in Algeria upon arrival, my passport was taken away. They said workers here have to buy local insurance, and they took away our passports and our IDs,” said Worker D.

The boss “keeps our passports with him, and once he has your passport, he has you,” added Worker D, who said eight out of 10 workers eventually ended up with compensation disputes.

RFA reached out to Sun Zongting, the general manager of Shandong Jiaqiang Real Estate Co., Ltd., which had entered the Algerian market in 2013 to provide labor services, asking him about the workers’ complaints.

“There is no such thing. Where does this come from?” said Sun, who also denied the firm was stopping workers from returning to China.

“The reason why they didn’t return to China was because there were no flights available. With regards to payments, this is how it’s being done in Algeria. We do not owe the workers any wages.”

Pressed on the workers’ numerous complaints, Sun asked RFA: “Who said that? Give me phone numbers of those who said that. We can verify.”

“On the third or the fourth day after my arrival, I called the (Chinese) embassy. I told the embassy staff that I felt I have been conned, and that all my documents, my ID and my passports have been taken away. I asked the embassy to help me return to China,” said Worker D.

“The staff then ask me whether I’d signed a contract. I said I did when I was in Beijing. The person at the embassy told me: ‘If you are sick or if he does not pay you for your work, you can call me, but in your situation, now that you’ve come here, and you’ve signed a labor agreement…’

“The embassy staff said they did not dare to let me go,” said Worker D.

Worker D said he and his fellow workers see the embassy as working with the company.

“If you want to go to the consulate for help, for example, when a couple of people go, they’d ask you which company you work for and what your boss’s name is. Then they notify your boss. The boss then comes by car, and he sweet talks you back,” he said.

“This is what happens when two or three people go to the consulate for help. If there are more people that go, say more than a dozen of them or even two dozen, maybe the consulate will help us. Yet when there are only so few of us, it doesn’t work.”

A staffer at China’s embassy in Algiers confirmed that disgruntled workers who spoke to RFA had indeed asked for help and that the mission had helped negotiate some return plane tickets to China.

“The Embassy has helped them negotiate with the company many times, but the Embassy has no managerial power over the company to enforce the agreements, so we cannot force the company to pay up,” the embassy staffer told RFA.

 “Also, the Embassy does not have any jurisdictional powers, and that’s the reason why the embassy is unable to get involved in labor disputes. Therefore, we have asked them to resolve their disputes through reasonable and legal channels in China,” added the staffer.

“We can of course speak with the company, but whether the company listens to us is another matter.” 

Shandong Jiaqiang Real Estate Co., Ltd. had tried to deny it had anything to do with the BRI, but RFA found that the affordable housing project was identified in as part of the BRI framework on the website of Beijing Urban Construction, a state firm, which had also built the Algeria Opera House, a 500-unit public commercial housing tract and a fiber optic cable plant.

Worker D told RFA that the affordable housing project contract was awarded to the 14th Bureau of China Railway, the 17th Bureau of China Railway, China Hydropower, Beijing Urban Construction and other state-owned enterprises, and that Shandong Jiaqiang Real Estate Co., Ltd. was a private subcontractor.

“When the company gets the job, it’s gone through dozens of hands, with only 300,000 to 400,000 yuan left in the budget. Think about it: The profits must have been taken by the state-owned enterprises on the top of the food chain,” said Worker D.

“There isn’t much profit left. What does he do when the profit margin is slim? He exploits the workers. Basically, it’s just like China: Peeling the layers.

“The state-own enterprises peeled away one layer and subcontract the job to small businesses. The owners of small businesses then peeled away another layer, and as a result, we workers couldn’t get our money,” added Worker D.

“Some companies do have the money but won’t pay you. They know that once they’ve conned you over here, you can’t do anything. Whomever you might call for help, that help will not come.”

Lawyers see human trafficking

Peng Yan––a prominent attorney in China with 30 years specializing in state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, and foreign enterprises–told RFA the workers appeared to be in the right in the dispute in Algeria.

“If the employer breached the contract first, then based on the circumstances, the workers have the right to terminate the contract. Since the company is the party that breached the contract, the company should bear the costs of roundtrip airfares for their returns to China,” Peng said.

Yu Ping, former director of the China Office of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, said the workers’ complaint is a serious issue that may even entail human trafficking under the 2000 United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, to which China is a signatory.

“Under the Convention, human trafficking is defined as the act of recruiting, transporting, receiving, and sheltering human beings to another country, as actions that involve coercion, fraud, deception, and as actions whose purpose is for profits,” he told RFA.

“If you apply these three criteria to the case, then you can see that the actions of the recruiting agency, the state-owned enterprise, and the private contractor all constitute the internationally recognized definition of human trafficking,” said Yu.

“In fact, even the recruiting agent is part of this chain of human trafficking, an accomplice, or even a prime suspect. They cannot push off the responsibility to others,” he added.

Yu said the aggrieved construction workers should be able to seek legal redress back in China, which has provisions covering offenses listed as internationally recognized crimes in the UN Convention.

“Even if they lack the financial means to do so, there is an emerging channel called the ‘legal assistance system,’ in which some non-profit legal organizations or pro bono lawyers will go to court for them,” he said.

Yu also recommended that China “establish a regulatory system in the BRI program, which has oversight on the projects and the power to curtail illegal operations.”

Failing to do so, he said, will negate the international influence and goodwill that China aims to generate with the BRI program, and “on the contrary, provide opportunities for lawbreakers to make illegal profits, while China’s reputation is tarnished.”

For the workers caught broke and without plane tickets and passports in Algeria, however, the legal and international issues pale next to the personal cost of being in limbo and missing the weddings of their children or the funerals of elderly parents.

“It’s been more than two years, two-and-a-half years. I don’t know when I can go back. I fulfilled the contract, but it has become a life sentence,” said Worker B.

Translated by Min Eu. Written and edited by Paul Eckert.

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

A former financial industry employee surnamed Song said the outcome was entirely predictable.

"China's real estate market is a black hole, which is the result of the collusion between the owners of real estate companies and local governments," Song said.

"The off-plan sale of properties is illegal, but they don't implement the law; the [local] leaders have the final say."

China's real estate has long been in crisis, with the country's top 100 real estate developers selling 43 percent fewer new homes in June 2022 than during the same period last year, according to China Real Estate Information Corp.

Song said mortgage income is currently propping up several major Chinese banks.

"Several major banks in China are supported by housing loans," Song said. "Mortgages in China have now reached 50 trillion yuan, equivalent to one fifth or one sixth of money in circulation."

Wang Longde, a former lawyer who lives in Laos, says the blame or the mortgage strike lies with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

"With a [government-issued] license, legally speaking, property can be sold [off-plan]. But the government doesn't supervize developers to ensure they deliver the ... real estate to consumers on time and as required," Wang said.

Risk passed to consumers

Wang said many developers just build the main body of the building, accounting for 70-80 percent of construction costs.

If they run out of funds, they will then just halt production, passing the risk onto consumers.

Many homebuyers don't demand a contract setting out what happens to a mortgage in the event of construction delays or failure to complete, he said.

Song agreed.

"All problems in the banking system are caused by local government officials," he said. "For example, Shanghai Bank of Communications or China Construction Bank, their presidents are mostly mute. The real [power] is held by local government."

"This is on central-level officials."

Citibank analyst Griffin Chan has warned that the mortgage strike is "is a critical moment for social stability," as government censors were scrambling to delete posts about the strike.

Posts on the topic available earlier on Thursday had disappeared from social media later in the day, RFA found.

"Judging from the current economic situation in China ... if people refuse to make repayments [companies] go bankrupt," Song said.

"All aspects of banking and credit reporting will be affected, but regular folk don't care any more, and are lying down because they have lost faith in society as a whole," he said.

Many homebuyers have said in social media posts that they turned to a mortgage strike as a last resort, and only plan to withhold repayments until their properties are completed by the developers.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kai Di for RFA Mandarin and Fong Tak Ho for RFA Cantonese.

For a country chronically short on food, allowing farmland to be used for anything but growing food could lead to a public backlash. Authorities are now warning collective farms and revenue-producing arms of various governmental agencies that they could be punished for doing anything except growing food on lands designated for agricultural production.

“Late last month, orders were issued from the central government to investigate the destruction and illegal use of agricultural lands meant to produce grain. Investigations are now underway,” an official from the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“The order highlighted that there are a large number of land violations in the grain producing areas, and this is hindering the country’s grain production plans. Most of the country’s special organizations openly violate agricultural land policies for gold mining or construction projects. These are powerful and reputable organizations,” he said.

The special organizations are divisions within government agencies like the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of State Security and parts of the military. They include Office 39, the organization charged with procuring slush funds for the country’s leader Kim Jong Un and his family.

The government has limited capability to properly fund itself, and each ministry or agency must go into business in order to function properly.

The source said that the special organizations have been ignoring the agricultural designations for land use and “invading” them with new factories, buildings or mining operations.

“Each cooperative farm has therefore been ordered to report in detail how the special organizations are using their land, especially for goldmines and construction,” he said.

“In principle these organizations cannot do anything other than agriculture on those lands without permission from the state, but it is common for them to use threats or bribery to convince local officials to allow them to use the land for other purposes,” the source said.

Entities that legally want to repurpose farmland must go through an arduous bureaucratic process that includes permission from five different organizations: the collective farm, the province’s farm management office, the provincial government, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of National Territory Environment Protection, according to the source.

“Authorities have been taking steps to increase food production in recent years, but they are missing the most important point. The fastest way to solve the long-term food shortage is to give the farmland back to the farmers and allow them to process their own harvest,” he said.

Such a move could provide incentive for the farmers to earn a living off of the crops they grow, but it would also go against the ideas collective farming and communal land ownership.

Cooperative farms in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong are also under investigation, and authorities are punishing those implicated in bribery, a resident of the city of Hoeryong told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“With this order, the organizations that were invading the farmland as well as the officials who took bribes will not be able to sleep at night,” the second source said. “However, this order was only a loud proclamation, and it is ultimately a fruitless measure that will end in smoke.”

The Central Committee has a history of talking about strict measures but rarely enforces them, the second source said.

“For whatever reason, the organizations that are capable of invading agricultural land and using it for other purposes are powerful, and a lot of the foreign currency that they earn goes into party funds,” he said.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung O. Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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

The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, promised to build 50,000 new homes for the residents of Pyongyang by the end of 2025, and tens of thousands of soldiers have been mobilized to help with the project.

“They play loud political propaganda messages as the soldiers get injected with the vaccines from China,” a city government official told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“They are calling it a ‘vaccination of love from the Highest Dignity,’” he said, using an honorific term for Kim Jong Un.

Each brigade of soldiers has set up a field sanitation center. On the morning of May 18th, broadcast vehicles began documenting army doctors dressed in protective gear inoculating the soldiers, according to the source.

“It was like it was a national political event. All of the officials of the construction command came out to the site, and the atmosphere was all serious,” he said.

“The broadcasting car played loudspeaker messages saying, ‘The general secretary has decided to import COVID-19 vaccines in the midst of our nation’s difficult situation. It was repeatedly emphasizing that the vaccines were a gracious gift given to the people from Kim Jong Un,” he said.

North Korea is in a state of “maximum emergency” after acknowledging this month that the virus had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade in late April.

Prior to that, Pyongyang had denied that anyone in the country had contracted COVID-19, even rejecting 3 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine last September, saying that other countries needed them more.

‘Long live Kim Jong Un’

Sources have told RFA that doses for elite members of society have made their way to Pyongyang in small amounts, and that a limited number of soldiers stationed at the Chinese border had also been inoculated.

The soldiers in Pyongyang were relieved to learn they would be receiving the vaccine after they heard news that COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in the capital, the source said.

“Some of the soldiers were seen raising their hands and giving praise to Kim Jong Un, shedding tears and shouting ‘Manse!,’” said the source, using a Korean phrase usually said during times of overwhelming emotion that directly translates into English as “10,000 years” but effectively means “long live Kim Jong Un” in this context.  

“The vaccination campaign conducted that day was only for the soldiers, even though others are helping with the 10,000 homes project. Members of the Korean Socialist Women’s League or local residents who ‘volunteered’ for construction were excluded,” he said.

The original plan called for the completion of 10,000 homes in 2021, but the home-building project in the capital fell behind schedule. The government now hopes to meet the target sometime this year and construct an additional 10,000 by the end of the year. 

The rapid spread of the coronavirus could upend those plans. Over the past month the virus’s spread has forced the government to shut down entire cities, including the capital. But for now projects like the one in Pyongyang continue.

Soldiers mobilized for construction in other parts of the country are also in the government’s vaccination plans, a resident of South Hamgyong province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“Last week I heard from a friend who works in the medical field that the soldiers who are working on the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm in Hamju County have received COVID-19 vaccines,” she told RFA Tuesday. “The government is prioritizing soldiers working on national construction projects.

“The greenhouse farm is a national construction project which Kim Jong Un ordered to be completed by Oct. 10… The general secretary attended a groundbreaking ceremony there on February 18th. The soldiers who are fighting the construction battle night and day were prioritized for vaccination against COVID-19 with vaccines imported from China,” she said, using militaristic language that North Korea uses to describe communal work projects and public campaigns.

‘Immortal Potion of Love.’

People are angry that the government is not rolling out the vaccine for them, however.

“They are saying that the government’s behavior is ridiculous. They are only vaccinating soldiers, and they are using images of these soldiers, saying how thrilled they are that the Highest Dignity is giving them a special consideration, as propaganda,” said the second source.

“A broadcast vehicle that appeared at the vaccination site loudly proclaimed the greatness of the general secretary, who prepared for them the ‘Immortal Potion of Love.’ People saw the scenes of the emotional soldiers, singing, weeping and shouting ‘Manse!’ but they looked on emotionless.”

Though North Korea has acknowledged that the virus is spreading inside the country, it has only reported a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which 38 North, a site that provides analysis on the country and is run by the U.S.-based Stimson Center think tank, attributed to insufficient testing capabilities. Data published on the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center showed North Korea with only one confirmed COVID-19 case and six deaths as of Thursday evening.

The country is, however, keeping track of numbers of people who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19.

About 3.1 million people have been hit by outbreaks of fever, 68 of whom have died, according to data based on the most recent reports from North Korean state media published by 38 North. Around 2.7 million are reported to have made recoveries, while 323,300 are undergoing treatment.

Washington has offered to give vaccines to North Korea and China, U.S. President Joe Biden announced during a recent visit to Seoul. Neither country has responded to the offer.

North Korea has also ignored a South Korean proposal to cooperate in efforts to combat the pandemic.

Observers say Pyongyang is unlikely to accept humanitarian aid from the international community because it would be an admission of Kim Jong Un’s failure to protect the country from the virus.

Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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

The two women were subsequently indicted on nine felony counts of intentionally damaging energy infrastructure, and Reznicek ultimately pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. She was sentenced to eight years in prison by a district court in Iowa last year. 

Reznicek is now appealing her sentence. Before an Iowa appellate court last week, her attorneys argued that the district court had inappropriately decided that her actions constituted a federal crime of terrorism and applied a “terrorism enhancement” to her sentence. Had the enhancement not been applied, sentencing guidelines would’ve capped her prison term at a little under four years. 

Over the last few years, penalties for protesting pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure have increased dramatically. At the federal level, a provision of the 2001 Patriot Act, the national security law passed in the wake of 9/11, makes damaging energy infrastructure a federal crime.

And at the state level, in part responding to the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, lawmakers in at least 17 states have passed legislation to increase jail terms and monetary penalties for offenses such as vandalizing and tampering with so-called critical infrastructure. In recent years, nonviolent climate protesters have been charged with trespassing, theft, and terrorism.

At issue in Reznicek’s case is whether her conduct was “calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.” Prosecutors in the case argued that Reznicek’s conduct fit this description because she held a press conference in front of the Iowa Utilities Board office and used a crowbar to dismantle an Iowa Utilities sign.  

“They were trying to say to the government, ‘If you do this kind of thing, we’re going to go out there and take the law into our own hands and end the pipeline one way or the other,’” the government prosecutor said at the hearing. “That is incredibly dangerous and exactly what this enhancement is designed to stop.”

Robert Richman, Reznicek’s attorney, argued that her actions did not target the Iowa Utilities Board and that her statements and actions did not indicate she tried to “influence” or “retaliate” against the agency. “There’s no question that Ms. Reznicek was unhappy with the decision of the Utility Board to allow the pipeline, but the damage to private property was calculated to stop the pipeline, not to punish the board,” he said.

In a 2021 statement to the court, Reznicek, who has long been associated with the Catholic Worker Movement, which promotes a social-justice oriented interpretation of Catholicism, said she is “not a political person” and “certainly not a terrorist.”

“I am simply a person who cares deeply about an extremely basic human right that is under threat: Water,” she wrote.

The appellate court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Jessica Reznicek set fire to Dakota Access Pipeline construction. Is she a terrorist? on May 18, 2022.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Naveena Sadasivam.