BEARING WITNESS: By Cole Martin

As a Kiwi journalist living in the occupied West Bank, I can list endless reasons why there is no peace in the “Holy Land”.

I live in a refugee camp, alongside families who were expelled from their homes by Israel’s violent establishment in 1948 — never allowed to return and repeatedly targeted by Israeli military incursions.

Daily I witness suffocating checkpoints, settler attacks against rural towns, arbitrary imprisonment with no charge or trial, a crippled economy, expansion of illegal settlements, demolition of entire communities, genocidal rhetoric, and continued expulsion.

• READ MORE:  Israel bombs Gaza, Syria as alarm grows over rise in starving children
• Other West Bank reports

No form of peace can exist within an active system of domination. To talk about peace without liberation and dignity is to suggest submission to a system of displacement, imprisonment, violence and erasure.

I often find myself alongside a variety of peacemakers, putting themselves on the line to end these horrific systems — let me outline the key groups:

Palestinian civil society and individuals have spent decades committed to creative non-violence in the face of these atrocities — from court battles to academia, education, art, co-ordinating demonstrations, general strikes, hīkoi (marches), sit-ins, civil disobedience. Google “Iqrit village”, “The Great March of Return”, “Tent of Nations farm”. These are the overlooked stories that don’t make catchy headlines.

Protective Presence activists are a mix of about 150 Israeli and international civilians who volunteer their days and nights physically accompanying Palestinian communities. They aim to prevent Israeli settler violence, state-sanctioned home demolitions, and military/police incursions. They document the injustice and often face violence and arrest themselves. Foreigners face deportation and blacklisting — as a journalist I was arrested and barred from the West Bank short-term and my passport was withheld for more than a month.

Reconciliation organisations have been working for decades to bridge the disconnect between political narratives and human realities. The effective groups don’t seek “co-existence” but “co-resistance” because they recognise there can be no peace within an active system of apartheid. They reiterate that dialogue alone achieves nothing while the Israeli regime continues to murder, displace and steal. Yes there are “opposing narratives”, but they do not have equal legitimacy when tested against the reality on the ground.

Journalists continue to document and report key developments, chilling statistics and the human cost. They ensure people are seen. Over 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza. High-profile Palestinian Christian journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh was killed by Israeli forces in 2022. They continue reporting despite the risk, and without their courage world leaders wouldn’t know which undeniable facts to brazenly ignore.

Humanitarians serve and protect the most vulnerable, treating and rescuing people selflessly. More than 400 aid workers and 1000 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza. All 38 hospitals have been destroyed or damaged, with just a small number left partially functioning. NGOs have been crippled by USAID cuts and targeted Israeli policies, marked by a mass exodus of expats who have spent years committed to this region — severing a critical lifeline for Palestinian communities.

All these groups emphasise change will not come from within. Protective Presence barely stems the flow.

Reconciliation means nothing while the system continues to displace, imprison and slaughter Palestinians en masse. Journalism, non-violence and humanitarian efforts are only as effective as the willingness of states to uphold international law.

Those on the frontlines of peacebuilding express the urgent need for global accountability across all sectors; economic, cultural and political sanctions. Systems of apartheid do not stem from corrupt leadership or several extremists, but from widespread attitudes of supremacy and nationalism across civil society.

Boycotts increase the economic cost of maintaining such systems. Divestment sends a strong financial message that business as usual is unacceptable.

Many other groups across the world are picketing weapons manufacturers, writing to elected leaders, educating friends and family, challenging harmful narratives, fundraising aid to keep people alive.

Where are the peacemakers? They’re out on the streets. They’re people just like you and me.

Cole Martin is an independent New Zealand photojournalist based in the occupied West Bank and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report. This article was first published by the Otago Daily Times and is republished with permission.

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

Losing your home and everything in it, then having to invest time and money to repair and replace everything, is extremely difficult; navigating insurance companies, government agencies, and legal issues is exhausting and nerve-racking. To help you through it, Grist put together a guide to the process for renters and homeowners.

Jump to:

↓ Protecting your belongings and documents
↓ Are you a renter? Know your rights
↓ How to navigate government aid, donations, and insurance
↓ How to avoid fraud and scams
↓ Building a new home or repairing your home

Protecting your belongings and documents

If you live in a region that’s particularly prone to disasters — hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, for example, or fires in the West — you should prepare well in advance. One of the most important things to do is create digital copies of essential documents, and keep physical copies in a weatherproof bag or container.

For homeowners, that means your homeowners insurance policy, the deed to your house, and loan paperwork. Renters, keep copies of your lease agreement and renters insurance policy if you have one. These documents will help establish your ownership or residency at the time of a disaster. (If you don’t have a written lease, a verbal contract may hold up, but try to find documentation supporting the agreement — a text, email, etc.)

Keeping copies of other helpful files, such as a recent tax return and bank statements, as well as government-issued IDs, Social Security cards, immigration records, and anything else that provides your address is a good idea. Pay stubs can help prove your income if you apply for FEMA aid.

Read more: How to pack an emergency kit and plan your evacuation route

Lastly, consider keeping photos of your home and big ticket items, such as appliances, TVs, stereos, or laptops — and write down serial numbers — so that you can prove what they looked like before the disaster. Government agencies or insurance companies will likely ask for proof that specific damage, like a collapsed roof, isn’t the result of deferred maintenance or a previous disaster.

All of this administrative setup can save a lot of hassle in a crisis. When Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion in damages in Southeast Texas in 2017, more than a quarter of all FEMA applicants were denied aid; common reasons included that people couldn’t prove homeownership or failed to provide valid identification. In 2020, survivors of the Almeda wildfires in Oregon faced similar hurdles: FEMA denied 57 percent of all applications. Mobile or manufactured homeowners in particular had a hard time proving ownership and residency.

If you live in a mobile or manufactured home, be sure that you have a safe place to go in case of severe weather — especially tornadoes. Here are some helpful tips from the National Weather Service to stay safe. To prepare for hurricanes or other high-wind storms, consider reinforcing your roof, anchoring your foundation, and reinforcing doors.

Are you a renter? Know your rights

Nearly 35 percent of households in the U.S. rent their home, and they are especially vulnerable to the impacts of disasters. They have more limited access to recovery funding from federal aid or insurance, and almost no control over the process of rebuilding their damaged home, since they don’t own the property. Renters insurance primarily covers the cost of personal belongings that are damaged during a disaster; some policies may include reimbursements for hotels or temporary living situations.

Finding new housing after a disaster can be difficult because rents often skyrocket after a disaster, and there are fewer undamaged properties available on the market. While homeowners can request a mortgage payment deferral, landlords often won’t make the same concession. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that rents typically rise between 4 to 6 percent annually for about three years after a major disaster.

In Los Angeles, some units that escaped the Palisades Fire were relisted for three times as much despite a California law capping such increases to 10 percent after a disaster declaration. The organization also found that renters were more likely to be displaced than homeowners, and for longer stretches of time. Evictions also rise in the two years following a disaster.

Renters’ rights and protections vary by state. Some allow tenants to withhold payment until repairs are made; others say nonpayment for that reason could be grounds for eviction. Either way, you may be entitled to certain protections, such as reimbursement for simple repairs you make yourself, through your lease. 

Here are some tips:

• Get it all down in writing. The Legal Aid Disaster Resource Center recommends documenting any conversations you have with your landlord about damages and repairs. This will provide proof of any agreements regarding specific damages, costs, and other details. This can help if you must go to court to break a lease due to unsafe conditions.
• Understand the legal process. Your landlord cannot evict you without filing a legal complaint, and in some states they must provide written warning before taking that step. If you have not terminated or violated your lease, your landlord cannot legally change the locks, shut off the utilities, or remove your property without going through the legal process of eviction — even if you were evacuated or forced from your home. This is important to know because landlords sometimes evict tenants after a disaster to renovate buildings and increase rents. If your landlord attempts to wrongfully evict you, consult a lawyer or a pro bono legal aid organization. 
• Disaster Legal Services, funded by FEMA, works with state bar associations and pro bono lawyers to set up hotlines for legal services following a federally declared disaster. (Call 1-800-621-3362.) However, as of March 2025, parts of that program are suspended after the Trump administration froze some FEMA funding. You can also find free or affordable legal services through other avenues, like typing “legal aid society” and your location into a search engine, or checking with trusted people and organizations in your community. 
• Know how federal aid works. Tenants who are displaced or evicted after a disaster are eligible for help from FEMA. You might receive direct assistance to pay rent, or reimbursement for staying at a hotel. The agency may also provide temporary housing until your home is habitable again. After a series of disasters hit Lake Charles, Louisiana, between 2020 and 2021, some residents lived in FEMA trailers for over a year as they searched for an affordable place to live. 

Read more: How FEMA aid works

Some other resources for renters’ rights:

• The National Low Income Housing Coalition has a host of resources, including how disasters impact federally assisted housing, specific housing needs by state, and a guide on eviction processes.
• Your local health department, city or county government, or legal aid organization will likely have a webpage dedicated to renters’ rights. For example, the Tennessee health department describes renters’ rights, and this outlines landlord and tenant protections for rural east Tennessee specifically.
• The Stanford Legal Design Lab and Charitable Trusts has a database where you can find local legal rules about housing, eviction, rent, and landlord-tenant issues, and groups and guides that can help you with housing assistance. 

Read more: This long-term recovery guide outlines resources you can use in the weeks and months after a disaster

How to navigate government aid, donations, and insurance

Homeowners facing costly repairs after a natural disaster have options for aid. Insurance policies may cover some or all of the damages. Federal agencies like HUD, FEMA, and the Small Business Administration will provide funding as well. Some people turn to their own savings, mutual aid groups that raise money and distribute it directly, or crowdfunding platforms to help cover costs.

Insurance: Homeowners should first file a claim with their insurance company. Based on what your policy covers and your insurer pays, you can then apply for other types of federal aid. It’s important to keep good records and itemize your costs and reimbursements. You can receive payouts from a combination of private and public aid, but be careful of double-dipping: If you will receive funds from one source for specific damage, government aid can’t be used to cover the same costs.

The legal term for this is “duplication of benefits.” Let’s say your insurance paid to replace your roof, but not the cost of removing mold in your walls. You cannot legally receive additional money for the damage to your roof, but you can apply for help covering the cost of mold removal or other damage not covered by your insurance policy.

Federal/state aid: To receive assistance from federal or state agencies, you must submit an application to the agency. This can usually be done online, and you may be able to apply in person or over the phone. There is a specific process cities, states, and tribal governments must navigate in order for residents to receive FEMA aid. If you are a U.S. citizen, or meet certain qualifications as a non-citizen, and live in a disaster declaration area that was approved by FEMA and the president, you are eligible to apply for aid immediately after they announce it. You can apply on disasterassistance.gov, through the FEMA app, or at a FEMA recovery center. FEMA offers survivors eligible for individual assistance:

• A one-time grant of $750 for emergency needs and essential items like food, baby items, and medication 
• Temporary housing assistance equivalent to 14 nights in a hotel in your area 
• Up to 18 months of rental assistance
• Payments for lost property that isn’t covered by your homeowners or renters insurance
• Other forms of assistance, depending on your needs and losses

You can track the status of your aid application via the app or disasterassistance.gov and receive notifications if FEMA needs more information from you. 

You will need to provide proof of your identity and residency and document the damages that your home sustained. A FEMA inspector will meet you at your home to determine the damages. If your application is approved, you will receive funds or a loan approval with details on which repairs are covered. 

You may also qualify for rental assistance from FEMA. You must apply for individual disaster assistance to be considered for rental assistance. These funds can be used for rent, including a security deposit, and utilities such as electricity and water, at a house, apartment, hotel, or recreational vehicle that is not your damaged home. Residents in counties with a federal disaster declaration are eligible to apply under FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program. The rate is set by an area’s Fair Market Rent; find yours here. 

Read more: Everything you need to know when applying for individual and rental assistance from FEMA

If your application is denied, you have the right to appeal the decision within 60 days. You should include any information that was missing from your initial application, as well as supporting documents showing costs, damages, and proof of residence and ownership of your home. Lawyers and community advocates can help you write the appeal. You will need to sign the letter, along with a statement verifying that you authorized someone else to write the appeal. FEMA has 90 days to review your appeal, but delays are possible given the volume of paperwork the agency may be reviewing. 

Some homeowners may also apply for help through the Small Business Administration’s program, which provides low-interest loans for repairs. You don’t have to own a business to apply, and FEMA may refer you to SBA’s application to check if you qualify for additional aid for funds to make your home more resilient to future disasters.

Mortgage, rent, and utility relief: Homeowners may qualify for mortgage relief. Providers aren’t legally required to offer assistance, but they can waive late fees, delay foreclosures, and provide forbearance. It is usually up to the homeowner to initiate a conversation about these options.

If you have a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, you have more legal protections. If you’re unable to make payments, your mortgage servicer cannot initiate a foreclosure for 90 days after a presidentially declared disaster in your area, and you can negotiate a repayment plan or modify some terms of your loan. You may also be able to meet with HUD-approved counselors trained in foreclosure prevention, who can help you evaluate your options and finances.

Both renters and homeowners may qualify for rental and utility assistance from government agencies and nonprofit organizations. If your home or rental unit is uninhabitable or you cannot stay there for another reason, there are likely organizations providing assistance with finding a place to live. Be on the lookout for applications for these in the days and weeks after a disaster. (If you’re not sure where to start looking, here are some examples of types of organizations that provided these services after Helene in 2024; they included local nonprofits, churches, housing organizations, county governments, and more.)

Crowdfunding/GoFundMe: Some disaster survivors turn to crowdfunding platforms to cover costs for evacuations, funerals, or repairs. According to data from GoFundMe, one of the largest platforms, disaster recovery campaigns in the U.S. raised over $100 million in 2023. This avenue is often faster than waiting on insurance claims and FEMA applications. Donations you receive are considered gifts, and you will not be required to pay taxes on them, as long as you don’t promise donors goods or services in exchange. However, you can’t apply for other sources of aid to cover the same expenses you list in the campaign you create.

Read more: The agencies, organizations, and officials that respond to disasters

How to avoid fraud and scams

There’s always the risk of fraud as con artists posting as government officials or unscrupulous contractors try to bilk people out of their money or rip them off with shoddy work. A few tips can minimize the risk.

• Verify the identity of anyone who approaches you unsolicited with offers of help. Ask for identification. FEMA employees, housing inspectors, and other government officials carry official IDs. A government uniform is not proof of identification.
• Government officials will not ask you for money or for financial information. Do not trust anyone who seeks payment up front or promises a loan or grant.
• Work with reputable contractors and check their credentials and licenses before hiring them (more on this below). Here are some tips from the National Insurance Crime Bureau to avoid getting taken.
• Ask for written quotes and contracts throughout the process.

If you have knowledge of fraud, waste, or abuse, you can report it to the FEMA Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or email StopFEMAFraud@fema.dhs.gov. You also can contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud. Before calling, gather as many details as possible, including how and where it occurred. You can also report it to your state’s attorney general or local law enforcement. 

Be wary of disaster investors: You may receive calls, texts, or other communications pressuring you to sell your home as-is, for cash. These “disaster investors” take advantage of the stress and uncertainty that people feel as they return to damaged homes. Their offers often target individuals who will have a difficult path to recovery, including low-income homeowners and the elderly.

In Hawaii, following the devastating 2023 wildfires, the governor issued an order banning such unsolicited offers in Maui, and the state eventually opened investigations into some companies.

Investors trying to scoop up properties to flip after a disaster will often make offers that are lower than market value, even with the damage your home might have sustained. If you are interested in selling, work with a trusted real estate agent of your choosing, and check what comparable homes should sell for in your area. Never sign any agreements or contracts about a potential sale without carefully reviewing them — no matter how much you’re pressured to sign on the spot.

Choose a contractor carefully: You’ll likely need to hire a contractor to do major repairs, and it’s important to vet any offers to fix up your home. Here are some tips for avoiding scams from the NC State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors and Legal Aid of East Tennessee:

• Be wary of door-to-door repair solicitations or people who demand deposits or payments in cash. Contact your insurance company for guidance before beginning any work.
• Require a written contract that outlines the work to be done, materials to be used, a payment schedule based on completion of work, and a timeline for completion. A licensed general contractor is generally required to be insured and list their license number on all contracts.
• Do not make payments before the work specified on the payment schedule is completed.
• Check with the Better Business Bureau for any history of complaints: 1-800-544-7693 or online. You can also look at reviews on sites such as Yelp, Google, or Angie’s List.
• Verify the company’s permanent business address.
• Check with your local home builders association to verify credentials and membership.
• Some contractors require you to obtain permits, and others take care of it. Ask your contractor, and then contact your local building inspections and permitting office to determine if permits are required. If so, confirm that the contractor has acquired them before construction begins.
• Before making final payment, evaluate the completed work and require the contractor to confirm that all subcontractors and suppliers have been paid to eliminate potential liens on your property.
• You can always verify whether the contractor is licensed to perform the specific work by visiting licensing board websites or calling the board offices. 

Building a new home or repairing your home

As you make repairs or reconstruct your home, you may be able to use insurance payouts and other assistance to make the place more resilient.

Consider installing more energy-efficient features, including new insulation, double-paned windows, and hurricane shutters. If you’re in a flood zone, you may want to elevate outdoor components of your HVAC system so that they don’t flood in the future. If you live in a tornado-prone area, you could add or retrofit a room to serve as a storm shelter. Materials like stucco can help fire-proof your home more than wood or vinyl siding. Some communities can qualify for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, a federally funded program managed by local government agencies, that aims to help homeowners with structural elevation, reinforcing buildings to withstand natural disasters, and buyouts by FEMA. The land is deeded to the local county for parks, greenways, and other municipal projects.

In some flood cases, you may be required to elevate your home to avoid future damages. This is typically the case if you participate in the National Flood Insurance Program or if your community has or adopts stricter floodplain management. After receiving FEMA aid, you could be required to purchase a flood insurance policy.

After clearing out debris, consider planting native grasses, shrubs, and trees that suit your local ecology. This can help prevent soil erosion and improve drainage, which might help reduce water in your home during major rainstorms, particularly in basements. Some native species may be drought-tolerant and somewhat fire-resistant, as well. Opting for pea gravel or stones to fill out your landscaping instead of Bermuda grass can help reduce the risks of fire spreading over your lawn. Make sure that you create a buffer zone between your house and landscaping; additionally, pruning and clearing fallen branches and leaves can help reduce future risks.

Read more: How to make sure your home is better protected from disasters

Download a PDF of this article | Return to Disaster 101

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How to find housing and rebuild your home after a disaster on Jul 7, 2025.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Amal Ahmed.

For Ahmad Primo, who was arrested by the government for reporting that the 2011 protests were a revolution and then jailed by Islamic State, the idea was tantalizing.

“If I were single, I would go back and join those fighting for the future of Syria,” said Primo, who lives in Norway with his wife and children. “But I have a family and I cannot gamble with their future.”

Primo said his Norwegian passport bars him from returning to Syria, so he will continue working as a researcher for a Norwegian news platform, in addition to running his own Arabic fact-checking platform Verify-Sy.

“It’s not about where we are, it’s about what we’re doing,” he said.

After 54 years of al-Assad family rule, renewed energy has emerged among exiled Syrian journalists to use their skills to support media development and truth-telling back home.

Complex legal and family obligations, security concerns, and sectarian tensions mean permanent return is rarely an option. Some make irregular trips to report and train other journalists, but risk burning their ticket back to Europe without European citizenship.

A few have taken the plunge.

In a Facebook video, Syrian reporter Besher Kanakri stood in front of an airport arrivals sign in Damascus and announced, “I am returning to my homeland after seven years of forced absence.”

After years working for Istanbul-based Syria TV from Germany, he was pleased to be transferred to the Syrian capital.  

“Our country needs us and we must go back to contribute to rebuilding it,” Kanakri told CPJ. “The risks are significant but I still want to return.”

Syria has long been among the world’s deadliest countries for journalists with at least 145 killed since 2011, when al-Assad began to crack down on protesters. CPJ is investigating the cases of hundreds of other missing and killed journalists.

Syria topped CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index, which measures where murderers of journalists are most likely to go free.

Tired of being a refugee reporter

Others are staying put, for now.

Journalist Yahya Alaous, 52, arrived in the German capital Berlin, a renowned hub for Arab intelligentsia, a decade ago and found work reporting on refugee life for German outlets.

But he soon got tired of being stereotyped, particularly after 2017, when the anti-immigrant and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) rose to prominence as the third-largest party in parliament.

“Every time there was a terrorist attack, I felt I had to defend myself – to explain that we’re not all the same, since many assumed that refugees were the ones coming to Europe and carrying out these attacks,” said Alaous.

“You start to lose patience. I didn’t want to spend my life constantly defending myself for something I had nothing to do with,” he said.

Despite his disillusionment with Berlin, Alaous has prioritized his children’s future and chosen to stay. He mainly writes for Arabic-language media, using contacts back home to report on Syria.

‘Afraid of what might come next’

Security concerns make relocation difficult for many journalists, especially minorities. About 70% of Syrians in the country are Sunni and the remainder are mostly Shia and Ismaili Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Alawites — the community of the al-Assad family.

The new government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a Sunni Islamist group with roots in al-Qaeda. HTS has said it supports “Syria for all Syrians” and pledged not to prosecute journalists, but some have reported arrests, assaults, and intimidation in areas like northwest Syria, where the rebels-turned-rulers have been in power since 2017.

Minorities, like Amloud Alamir, are cautious.

“It was an astonishing moment when I woke up and realized the Assad regime had fallen,” said Alamir, who fled to Germany from Syria with her husband after he was imprisoned for his political views.

“I was also afraid of what might come next. I thought there would be chaos, or that radical Islamist militias might take over,” Alamir told CPJ. “We were scared. But we also knew it was a moment to be acknowledged, even if it was too early to celebrate.” 

In April, Alamir visited Syria for the first time in 14 years, on a reporting trip. She found a deeply divided country.

“No one sees me as Amloud,” she said, explaining how she was labeled according to her sectarian identity, even though she doesn’t practice the faith. “It’s not easy.”

Despite her deep longing to return, Alamir believes some painful truths cannot be ignored.

“Stay in Damascus if you want to be happy,” she said. “But if you want to see the reality, you have to go elsewhere, like Latakia,” she said, referring to the coastal province where some 1,300 people were massacred in March.

In Latakia’s al-Sanawbar village, where Alawite civilians were executed in revenge killings against al-Assad’s community and buried in mass graves, she found devastation.

“All the women were in black,” she said. “Everyone had lost someone.”

She visited a church where the faithful said they regarded themselves as Syrians first, rather than Christians. While hoping the new government would treat all citizens equally, they also felt hopeless and were quietly looking for ways to leave, Alamir said.

´We didn’t choose to leave´

Divisions between exiles and those who stayed in Syria add further complications.

“We are no longer seen as Syrian journalists by those inside the country,” said Alaous in Berlin. “They believe we didn’t suffer like they did … Some even see us as traitors because we live abroad, while they endured the hardships.”

“But leaving wasn’t our choice, we were forced to flee,” he insisted.

Carola Richter, a communications professor at the Free University of Berlin, believes the development of domestic Syrian media is critical.

“People want transparency about who’s behind the information to decide whether they can trust it,” she said. “Exiled media targeting Syrians is not the ideal solution.”

The fractured nature of exiled media reflects mistrust among Syrians, divided by social and ideological backgrounds, she said, describing a mix of “hope, enthusiasm, fear, and fatigue” among those considering return.

“Many feel disillusioned with journalism in exile, yet unsure if going back would allow them to truly serve their community or put them at risk. This mix of emotions and conflicting thoughts is intense and still needs to be channeled into a clear direction,” she said.

Summer school in Syria

The online outlet Amal Berlin, staffed by a dozen Syrian exiles, plans to harness some of that energy to train young journalists in reporting and fact-checking at a summer school in Syria.

“The fall of the Assad regime created a necessity for Syrians in exile to do something in Syria,” said Julia Gerlach, a German journalist who set up the Arabic-language platform in 2016 to provide practical information to help Syrians settle in Germany.

Another Syrian journalist, who declined to be named, citing fear of reprisals, told CPJ that he went to Damascus in December to work as a fixer for international media and to run free training workshops, hosted by visiting exiles, for “a new generation of journalists.”

“The lucky Syrians were able to flee and have better life and education, and now it’s time for them to give back,” he said, describing it as his duty to improve journalism standards in Syria.

“We have been struggling with propaganda and disinformation during war and it’s always been hard to get verified news … I’m trying to transfer what I’ve learned from the last decade working with international media outlets to my people,” he said.

“I would love to travel around Syria and give workshops nonstop. It means a lot to me to give to anyone, so imagine how it feels when it’s my people who are receiving.”

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

But a report released today by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy found that many homes need basic — but expensive — repairs before they can participate, something many residents can’t afford. Those households are placed on a deferral list until those improvements are made. Although some buildings are too damaged to fix up and some people manage to get off the list, the research showed that, in 2023, another 7,000 homes could have been repaired but weren’t, due to lack of money. That’s a fifth of the 35,000 homes that the Department of Energy estimates WAP reaches each year.

“We were the first to really figure out what the deferral rates are and why,” said Reuven Sussman, an expert in energy efficiency behavior change at ACEE and an author of the report. “I don’t think this problem is broadly known.”

The Department of Energy, which administers the $326 million WAP budget, works with local companies to weatherize qualifying homes. ACEEE surveyed providers in 28 states about their deferrals. The top reason cited was the poor condition of the roof — an issue that undermines improvements such as attic insulation. Floor damage and outdated electric panels were the other leading justifications for deferring homes. The average cost of bringing a home up to WAP standards, the report found, was nearly $14,000. 

“If you’re eligible for WAP you likely don’t have enough money to pay for it,” Will Bryan, director of research for the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. “There are households that are falling through the cracks.”

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People facing deferrals have a few options, but they are limited and inconsistent. Depending on where these residents live, some public, private, or philanthropic funds are available for critical home repairs. Some states — like Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Vermont — have more specific programs targeting WAP deferrals. Starting in 2022, the federal government also provided money for the Weatherization Readiness Fund, or WRF,  though it only backed it with about $15 million. 

“The government has experimented with some pre-weathization funding, but that hasn’t happened at the kind of scale that it needs to,” said Bryan. And, he added, President Donald J. Trump’s administration and Congress are trying to pull what little money has become available in recent years. The “big beautiful” budget bill that the House recently passed zeros out the budget for both WAP and WRF, as well as related assistance or incentive programs. The impacts of the rollback could be drastic. 

“Elderly people, disabled people, small children — their energy burden is so much higher than other folks because they are on fixed incomes,” said Bryan Burris, vice president of energy conservation programs at projectHOMES, a WAP provider in Richmond, Virginia. The recent influx of state and federal funding has helped his organization cut its deferral rate from around 50 percent to about 20, but that progress is in peril.

“People are in really bad situations,” said Burris. “There is a very big demand for this no-cost program.”

ACEEE estimates that it would cost about $94 million per year to make the 7,000 preventable deferrals ready for weatherization. If all those homes were able to receive WAP services, it would save 49,236 megawatt-hours of energy annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 153,000 metric tons over the lifetime of the measures. WAP projects also often pay for themselves many times over in lower utility bills.

Evaluating the effectiveness of weatherization readiness programs is more complex. Although they may save homeowners some money on a monthly basis, the greatest gains of major repairs are often indirect boosts in health and quality of life. For example, fixing a roof could help a senior citizen age in place, rather than go to an assisted living facility. Removing toxic substances, like asbestos, from homes could prevent illnesses in children.

“You can potentially save money in the long term by reducing the hazards that people are exposed to,” said Bryan, pointing to a substantial body of research supporting the idea. A 2021 study in the southeastern United States, for example, found that after weatherization, “respondents reported fewer bad days of physical and mental health. Households were better able to pay their energy bills and afford prescriptions.”

While that line of inquiry was beyond the scope of the latest ACEEE report, Sussman said the logic makes sense. Avoiding even a minor trip to the hospital or doctor could save programs like Medicaid or Medicare thousands of dollars. 

“People live with holes in the roof and asbestos and can’t get assistance,”  said Bryan. “It leads to health issues.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Why many low-income households can’t afford this free home improvement program on Jun 26, 2025.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Tik Root.

On Tuesday, thousands of Cambodians working in or traveling to Thailand could not cross back to Cambodia before Thailand closed the seven border checkpoints. Some said they did not even know of the closures.

Under pressure from stranded travelers, authorities briefly reopened border passes, such as Klong Luek in Thailand’s eastern Sa Kaeo province and Chong Chom in Surin province, to outbound travelers on Wednesday evening. Police in Sa Kaeo deployed some 160 riot police to keep the peace, media reports said.

But as night fell on Wednesday, hundreds of Cambodians remained unable to cross from Aranyaprathet district, in Sa Kaeo province, to Poipet in Cambodia.

Angry with the delay, one woman yelled: “So who blocks us from crossing – the Thai or Khmer side? Tell us the truth. Why can’t small people like us can’t go back home? We just want to go back home!”

Although the Thai measures announced Monday still allow travel by students, Cambodian authorities on Wednesday would not open the Chong Chom border gate in Surin province to school children returning from Cambodia.

Some 500 trucks also were stranded Tuesday on the road from Sa Kaeo to Poipet, according to Surawuth Wongsamran, member of the Sa Kaeo provincial chamber of commerce member. He criticized the soldiers for rushing to seal the border without prior notice.

(Royal Thai Army via AP)

Thai regional military commands, which have assumed effective control of the border, had ordered Monday the closure of all international crossings with Cambodia. That has blocked vehicles, foot traffic and trade – including fuel trucks. The only exceptions are for humanitarian cases, like medical emergencies, and for students.

That’s the culmination of a tit-for-tat, including a Cambodian ban on imports of Thai produce, after a May 28 firefight where Thai forces shot dead a Cambodian soldier on a sliver of disputed territory along the 800-kilometer (500-mile) border.

The crisis in relations was compounded last week when Cambodia leaked a private phone conversation between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen. The call was meant to help calm the tensions but ended up making it worse.

In Bangkok, anti-Shinawatra movements announced plans for a mass rally for Saturday at the city’s Victory Monument as Paetongtarn comes under domestic political pressure for her handling of the border crisis and her call with Hun Sen, the father of Cambodia’s current prime minister.

While Thailand and Cambodia have not exchanged fire since the 10-minute clash on May 28, both sides have been readying their militaries in case hostilities break out.

The Thai army said Tuesday more Cambodian troops were moving to the front line, and the Thai military blocked public access to areas on the border, including where the two sides exchanged artillery fire in 2011 near Preah Vihear temple.

“We will not fire the first shot, but if we were shot at first, we will say a single word … We are ready,” Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang, commander of Thailand’s Second Army Region, told reporters.

Hun Sen, meanwhile, posted on Facebook Wednesday night a martial video of Cambodian forces in action set to a patriotic song: “Banish the Invaders of Khmer Land.”

Edited by Mat Pennington.

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

Eight people were reported killed and others wounded when the Israeli army bombed the home of journalist Osama al-Arbid in the as-Saftawi area of northern Gaza today, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.

Al-Arbid reportedly survived the strike, with dramatic video showing him being pulled from the rubble of the house.

Medical sources said that at least 15 people in total had been killed by Israeli attacks since the early hours of today across the Strip.

• READ MORE: UN, aid groups slam US-Israel-backed initiative after deadly rush in Gaza
• ‘Starving’ masked Palestine protesters condemn Luxon’s Gaza ‘appeasement’
• PSNA condemns NZ’s ‘indifference to mass murder’ as Israel blocks aid to starving Palestinians
• Other Israeli war on Gaza reports

Large crowds gathered in chaotic scenes in southern Rafah as the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its first aid distribution point, with thousands of Palestinians storming past barricades in desperation for food after a three-month blockade.

Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd during the chaos, with Gaza’s Government Media Office saying Israel’s military killed three people and wounded 46.

A spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said the images and videos from the aid points set up by GHF were “heartbreaking, to say the least”.

The UN and other aid groups have condemned the GHF’s aid distribution model, saying it does not abide by humanitarian principles and could displace people further from their homes.

People go missing in chaos
Amid the buzz of Israeli military helicopters overhead and gunfire rattling in the background, several people also went missing in the ensuing stampede, officials in Gaza said.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said Israeli forces around the area “opened live fire on starving civilians who were lured to these locations under the pretence of receiving aid”.

The Israeli military said its soldiers had fired “warning shots” in the area outside the distribution site and that control was re-established.

Gaza had been under total Israeli blockade for close to three months, since March 2.

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall reported there was no evidence that Hamas had disrupted the aid distribution, as claimed by Israeli-sourced reports. He instead pointed to the sheer need — more than two million Palestinians live in Gaza.

“These are the people of Gaza, the civilians of Gaza, trying to get just a piece of food — just any piece of food for their children, for themselves,” he said.

More than 54,000 killed
Aid officials said that moving Palestinians southwards could be a “preliminary phase for the complete ousting” of Gaza’s population.

Last Sunday, hours before the GHF was due to begin delivering food, Jake Wood, the head of the controversial aid organisation, resigned saying he did not believe it was possible for the organisation to operate independently or adhere to strict humanitarian principles, reports Middle East Eye.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 54,056 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in October 2023, which humanitarian aid groups and United Nations experts have described as a genocide.

Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for two missile attacks on Israel, saying they came in response to the storming of occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound a day earlier by Israeli settlers.

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

Eight people were reported killed and others wounded when the Israeli army bombed the home of journalist Osama al-Arbid in the as-Saftawi area of northern Gaza today, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.

Al-Arbid reportedly survived the strike, with dramatic video showing him being pulled from the rubble of the house.

Medical sources said that at least 15 people in total had been killed by Israeli attacks since the early hours of today across the Strip.

• READ MORE: UN, aid groups slam US-Israel-backed initiative after deadly rush in Gaza
• ‘Starving’ masked Palestine protesters condemn Luxon’s Gaza ‘appeasement’
• PSNA condemns NZ’s ‘indifference to mass murder’ as Israel blocks aid to starving Palestinians
• Other Israeli war on Gaza reports

Large crowds gathered in chaotic scenes in southern Rafah as the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its first aid distribution point, with thousands of Palestinians storming past barricades in desperation for food after a three-month blockade.

Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd during the chaos, with Gaza’s Government Media Office saying Israel’s military killed three people and wounded 46.

A spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said the images and videos from the aid points set up by GHF were “heartbreaking, to say the least”.

The UN and other aid groups have condemned the GHF’s aid distribution model, saying it does not abide by humanitarian principles and could displace people further from their homes.

People go missing in chaos
Amid the buzz of Israeli military helicopters overhead and gunfire rattling in the background, several people also went missing in the ensuing stampede, officials in Gaza said.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said Israeli forces around the area “opened live fire on starving civilians who were lured to these locations under the pretence of receiving aid”.

The Israeli military said its soldiers had fired “warning shots” in the area outside the distribution site and that control was re-established.

Gaza had been under total Israeli blockade for close to three months, since March 2.

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall reported there was no evidence that Hamas had disrupted the aid distribution, as claimed by Israeli-sourced reports. He instead pointed to the sheer need — more than two million Palestinians live in Gaza.

“These are the people of Gaza, the civilians of Gaza, trying to get just a piece of food — just any piece of food for their children, for themselves,” he said.

More than 54,000 killed
Aid officials said that moving Palestinians southwards could be a “preliminary phase for the complete ousting” of Gaza’s population.

Last Sunday, hours before the GHF was due to begin delivering food, Jake Wood, the head of the controversial aid organisation, resigned saying he did not believe it was possible for the organisation to operate independently or adhere to strict humanitarian principles, reports Middle East Eye.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 54,056 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in October 2023, which humanitarian aid groups and United Nations experts have described as a genocide.

Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for two missile attacks on Israel, saying they came in response to the storming of occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound a day earlier by Israeli settlers.

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

Pediatric physician Dr. Alaa al-Najjar had just begun work in the emergency room at Nasser Medical Complex when she was suddenly called to return to her home in Khan Younis. When she arrived, emergency workers were pulling the charred bodies of her children from piles of rubble. An Israeli airstrike had destroyed her home, killing nine of al-Najjar’s 10 children and seriously wounding her husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, and their only surviving child, Adam. Adam’s arm was amputated, and his father is currently in intensive care with severe brain damage. Democracy Now! reached Graeme Groom, a volunteer doctor from the U.K. who treated Adam al-Najjar after the attack. Dr. Groom also speaks about his Palestinian medical colleagues who have been abducted or killed by the Israeli military.

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

During the raid Tuesday morning, the TV station temporarily suspended operations, and employees were barred from entering their offices. According to IvanovoNews, a sister outlet in the same media group, authorities seized a computer case and documents from Kustov´s work office. Kustov returned to work after the raid on his home.

“This latest raid and criminal case against Russian broadcaster Bars and its editor-in-chief, Sergey Kustov, is a blatant act of intimidation and censorship,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Russian authorities must stop using defamation laws and other criminal charges to silence journalists who report on matters of public interest and should immediately return all confiscated materials and stop harassing Kustov.”

The raid was part of a criminal investigation into alleged defamation, which IvanovoNews reported is linked to a February report by Bars on missing Russian soldiers in Ukraine. The case may also relate to the use of the slang term “менты,” a derogatory word for police, in the report, the outlet said.

“This case is directly related to our journalistic work,” Bars’ editorial staff told CPJ.

Kustov, who said he had received threats in the days leading up to the raid, wrote on his Telegram channel Wednesday that he had been “very wrong to take it as just psychological pressure.” He added that “there was no slander in the publication.”

On February 12, Kustov was fined 100,000 rubles (US$1,114) for discrediting the armed forces. In March 2024, he was beaten while covering a plane crash and sent to jail for 10 days on charges of disobeying police orders.

CPJ filled out an online form requesting comment Russia’s Ministry of Interior, but did not immediately receive any reply.

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

The indefatigable Bruce Springsteen just launched his aptly bittersweet Land of Hope & Dreams Tour in England, where he preceded three songs in turn with eloquent, furious critiques of the "weird, strange and dangerous shit going on in my home, the America I love" at the hands of "an unfit president and a rogue government." Unsurprisingly, the sick, vile man-child he cited then attacked and threatened him; stirringly, The Boss just said it all again the next night, darkly reiterating, "This is happening now."

Springsteen and his longtime E Street Band opened the tour last week with the first of three shows in Manchester at the massive Co-op Live; they plan to perform across the U.K., France, Spain, Germany and Italy through early July. At his first show, he appeared in the dark, silhouetted against the lights. Before kicking into Land of Hope and Dreams, he delivered an impassioned declaration lamenting that the America I love, the America I've written about (is) currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration." Swift and electric, the crowd roared. He went on, "Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring."

His next spoken missive came before House of a Thousand Guitars. "The last check, the last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me," he proclaimed. "It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. At the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other." A few songs later, he stopped again before the somber, symbolic, post-9/11 My City of Ruins to detail some of what we're all seeing: "They are persecuting people for using their right to free speech...The richest men (are) abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death...They're (inflicting) pain (on) American workers, rolling back historic civil rights legislation...siding with dictators, defunding universities, removing ...residents off American streets and without due process of law are deporting them to foreign detention centers." After each atrocity, he testified, "This is happening now."

Late that night, the nasty asshole and childish cretin at the helm of those horrors had an(other) online meltdown, whining "Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen, not a talented guy" - who's won 20 Grammys, an Oscar, two Golden Globes, a Tony, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is internationally beloved and respected as one of the greatest artists and humans of all time - had gone to "a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States (sic.)" "Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics," he sneered of "just a pushy, obnoxious JERK...dumb as a rock" - massive pot/kettle moment here - who "ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country...Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

Because we live in a surreal, too-awful-to-fathom timeline, he then added the deeply insane insult that Springsteen - who remains impossibly fit and handsome at 75, three years younger than the grotesquerie spewing this shit - is a "dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!)." What the fuck, said the world. Sample with image: "Did I hear some really old dude accused Springsteen of looking like a prune?" Ever oblivious, MAGA nitwits piled on. "Springsteen is DONE!! Just Burned all his records tapes and everything else about him I had!!" railed one idiot who didn't seem to realize he'd already spent his money. A "Duane"who def deserves his name suggested attendees "consider taking legal action" for fraud cause they expected a concert and got a "political event." Boycotts were urged for Springsteen's "anti-American rhetoric and treasonous actions and hate speech." One response: "At first I thought this was brilliant satire, but it turns out you are just a moron." Also: "Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up."

Many more patriotic fans of the Boss celebrated his rectitude. "This is what standing for America looks like," wrote one. "Thank you @springsteen." After the Turgid One also randomly slammed Taylor Swift - don't ask - the American Federation of Musicians wrote they stood in solidarity with both Bruce - Local 47 in L.A.- and Swift - Local 257 in Nashville - as "not just brilliant musicians (but) role models and inspirations to millions of people across the world." Neil Young chimed in as a dual Canada/U.S. citizen to thank Bruce "for speaking so eloquently and truthfully on behalf of the American people. We are with you my old friend. Your great songs of America ring true as you sing them to Europe and the world!”

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Alas, the madness wasn't done; these days, it never is. On Saturday, a couple of nights after the little whiner's ugly hissy fit, Springsteen held his second show in Manchester. To nobody's surprise - mensches gonna mensch - he again railed against the unending abuses of "an unfit president and a rogue government." "Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy," he asserted, "and they’re too important to ignore.” Again, he detailed, decried, denounced them: Shutting down free speech and dissent, abandoning the world's poor and sick, punishing workers, pressuring universities, rolling back civil rights, disappearances off the street without due process. Again, he emphasized, "This is happening now."

At 1:34 a.m., the mad child king started ranting online. "HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?" he screeched. "ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO??? I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter." Also, they tried to "build up her sparse crowds," "IT’S NOT LEGAL!," "these unpatriotic 'entertainers,'" and, "Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!” At 9:11 a.m. he was back at it, posting 33 times: Dems paid Beyoncé "millions of Dollars," "ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL!", "A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!"

He veered, raved, reviled. He shared a call for Obama to face "PUBLIC MILITARY TRIBUNALS." He reposted a bunch of freakish, AI-generated, Trump-centric art - "Slayer of the Deep State" - and videos of him rocking out to Don't Stop Believin' that made people who saw them want to drink or at least inject bleach. Comments: "What the actual fuck," "God save us please," and from George Conway, "It’s still hard for me to believe that after so many years of deranged posts like this, we’ve still never had a serious national conversation about this man’s mental health." Meanwhile, over at Fox News, the loyal bobbleheads somehow still gushed and prattled about how "gifted" their dear leader is: "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears."

But Springsteen kept talking; he even talked about hope. "We'll survive this moment," he said. "I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what great American writer James Baldwin said: 'In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.' So let’s pray." Again, he ended the concert with Dylan's Chimes of Freedom. He summoned the chimes of freedom flashing "for the warriors whose strength is not to fight/for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight," for the rebel, the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked, for "the searching ones on their speechless, seeking trail and each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail /An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing." Again, he closed with, "Take this home with you."

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

One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle.
—James Otis, Revolutionary War activist, on the Writs of Assistance, 1761

What the Founders rebelled against—armed government agents invading homes without cause—we are now being told to accept in the so-called name of law and order.

Imagine it: it’s the middle of the night. Your neighborhood is asleep. Suddenly, your front door is splintered by battering rams. Shadowy figures flood your home, screaming orders, pointing guns, threatening violence. You and your children are dragged out into the night—barefoot, in your underwear, in the rain.

Your home is torn apart, your valuables seized, and your sense of safety demolished.

But this isn’t a robbery by lawless criminals.

This is what terror policing looks like in Trump’s America: raids by night, flashbangs at dawn, mistaken identities, and shattered lives.

On April 24, 2025, in Oklahoma City, 20 heavily armed federal agents from ICE, the FBI, and DHS kicked in the door of a home where a woman and her three daughters—all American citizens—were sleeping. They were forced out of bed at gunpoint and made to wait in the rain while agents ransacked the house, confiscating their belongings.

It was the wrong house and the wrong family.

There were no apologies. No compensation. No accountability.

This is the new face of American policing, and it’s about to get so much worse thanks to President Trump’s latest executive order, which aims to eliminate federal oversight and empower local law enforcement to act with impunity.

Titled “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens,” the executive order announced on April 28, 2025, removes restraints on police power, offers enhanced federal protections for officers accused of misconduct, expands access to military-grade equipment, and nullifies key oversight provisions from prior reform efforts.

Trump’s supporters have long praised his efforts to deregulate business and government under the slogan of “no handcuffs.” But when that logic is applied to law enforcement, the result isn’t freedom—it’s unchecked power.

What it really means is no restraints on police power, while the rest of us are left with fewer rights, less recourse, and a constitution increasingly ignored behind the barrel of a gun.

This isn’t just a political shift. It’s a constitutional unraveling that hands law enforcement a blank check: more weapons, more power, and fewer consequences.

The result is not safety; it’s state-sanctioned violence.

It’s a future in which no home is safe, no knock is required, and no officer is ever held accountable.

That future is already here.

We’ve entered an era in which federal agents can destroy your home, traumatize your family, and violate the Fourth Amendment with impunity. And the courts have said: that’s just how it works.

These rulings reflect a growing doctrine of unaccountability enshrined by the courts and now supercharged by the Trump administration.

Trump wants to give police even more immunity, ushering in a new era of police brutality, lawlessness, and the reckless deployment of lethal force on unarmed civilians.

This is how the rights of ordinary Americans get trampled under the boots of unchecked power.

There was a time in America when a person’s home was a sanctuary, protected by the Fourth Amendment from unlawful searches and seizures.

That promise is dead.

We have returned to the era of the King’s Writ—blanket search powers once used by British soldiers to invade colonial homes without cause. As James Otis warned in 1761, such writs “annihilate the privilege” of privacy and due process, allowing agents of the state to enter homes “when they please.”

Trump’s new executive order revives this tyranny in modern form: armored vehicles, night raids, no-knock warrants, federal immunity. It empowers police to act without restraint, and it rewards those who brutalize with impunity.

Even more alarming, the order sets the stage for future legislation that could effectively codify qualified immunity into federal law, making it nearly impossible for victims of police violence to sue.

This is how constitutional protections are dismantled—not in one dramatic blow, but in a thousand raids, a thousand broken doors, a thousand courts that look the other way.

Let’s not pretend we’re safe. Who will protect us from the police when the police have become the law unto themselves?

The war on the American people is no longer metaphorical.

Government agents can now kick in your door without warning, shoot your dog, point a gun at your children, and suffer no legal consequences—so long as they claim it was a “reasonable” mistake. They are judge, jury, and executioner.

With Trump’s new order, the architecture of a police state is no longer theoretical. It is being built in real time. It is being normalized.

Nowhere is this threat more visible than in the unholy alliance between ICE and militarized police forces, a convergence of two of the most dangerous arms of the modern security state.

Together, they’ve created a government apparatus that acts first and justifies itself later, if at all. And it runs counter to everything the Bill of Rights was designed to prevent: punishment without trial, surveillance without suspicion, and power without accountability.

When ICE agents armed with military-grade equipment conduct predawn raids alongside SWAT teams, with little to no accountability, the result is not public safety. It is state terror. And it’s exactly the kind of unchecked power the Constitution was written to prevent.

The Constitution is intended to serve as a shield, particularly the Fourth Amendment, which safeguards against unreasonable searches and seizures. But in this new reality, the government has nullified that shield.

All of America is fast becoming a Constitution-free zone.

The Founders were aware of the dangers of unchecked power. That’s why they gave us the Fourth Amendment. But rights are only as strong as the public’s willingness to defend them.

If we allow the government to turn our homes into war zones—if we continue to reward police for lawless raids, ignore the courts for rubber-stamping abuse, and cheer political leaders who promise “no more handcuffs”—we will lose the last refuge of freedom: the right to be left alone.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, the Constitution cannot protect you if the government no longer follows it—and if the courts no longer enforce it.

The knock may never come again. Just the crash of a door. The sound of boots. And the silence that follows.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead.

This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Apr. 23, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.

The Trump administration has not only sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran megaprison due to an “administrative error” and so far refused to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order to facilitate his return to the United States, but also shared on social media the home address of his family in Maryland, forcing them to relocate.

The news that Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and her children were “moved to a safe house by supporters” after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X a 2021 order of protection petition that Vasquez Sura filed but soon abandoned was reported early Tuesday by The Washington Post.

“I don’t feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,” said Vasquez Sura. “So, this is definitely a bit terrifying. I’m scared for my kids.”

A DHS spokesperson did not respond Monday to a request for a comment about not redacting the family’s address, according to the newspaper’s lengthy story about Vasquez Sura—who shares a 5-year-old nonverbal, autistic son with Abrego Garcia and has a 9-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter from a previous relationship that was abusive.

On Wednesday, The New Republic published a short article highlighting the safe house detail and noting that “the government has not commented on the decision to leave the family’s address in the document it posted online,” sparking a fresh wave of outrage over the Trump administration endangering the family.

“The Trump administration doxxed an American citizen, endangering her and her children,” MSNBC contributor Rotimi Adeoye wrote on X Wednesday. “This is completely unacceptable and flat-out wrong.”

Several others responded on the social media platform Bluesky.

“These fascists didn’t stop at abducting Abrego Garcia, they’ve now doxxed his wife, forcing her into hiding,” said Dean Preston, the leader of a renters’ rights organization. “The Trump administration is terrorizing this family. Speak up, show up, resist.”

Jonathan Cohn, political director for the group Progressive Mass, similarly declared, “The Trump administration is terrorizing this woman.”

Katherine Hawkins, senior legal analyst for the Project On Government Oversight’s Constitution Project, openly wondered “if publishing Abrego Garcia and his wife’s home address violates federal or (particularly) Maryland laws.”

“Definitely unconscionable and further demonstration of bad faith/intimidation,” Hawkins added.

While Abrego Garcia’s family seeks refuge in a U.S. safe house, he remains behind bars in his native El Salvador—despite the Supreme Court order from earlier this month and an immigration judge’s 2019 decision that was supposed to prevent his deportation. Multiple congressional Democrats have flown to the country in recent days to support demands for his freedom.

This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

In a "breathtaking departure from the rule of law" - and facing multiple legal routs - Trump and his fascist flunkies continue to lie, stall and gaslight on their right to disappear a Maryland sheet metal worker and other brown-skinned migrants to an El Salvador gulag with zero evidence of wrongdoing, even as ICE Gestapo still run rampant - Smashed Windshields 'R Us - and oh yeah U.S. citizens may be next. Take note, says historian Timothy Snyder: "This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror."

The escalating legal standoff over the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has in turn become a "political flashpoint" on an already fiercely divided Capitol Hill. To most of us, the case symbolizes a racist crackdown that threatens the basic rights of us all, while the regime's increasingly flagrant violations of court orders threaten the very rule of law. Dug into an alternate reality, the regime argues it's nobly fighting for "the safety of American citizens" against raping, murdering "illegal aliens," "foreign criminals," and "terrorists" like Garcia, who came here from El Salvador without papers at 16, has never been charged with a crime, was granted protection under a 2019 court order due to a "credible fear" of violence from gangs back home, is now a union member and father of three married to a U.S. citizen, and is alleged to be a member of the MS-13 gang because he wore a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie "indicative" of gang membership, and a detective - since suspended for being a lying scum bag - said he was.

Despite what one judge politely calls their "flimsy" evidence, the cabal of miscreants is so desperate to prove their racist, rapey case they launched a propaganda campaign of smears and lies against Garcia. This week, it culminated in a sordid set piece that saw the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator," El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, and America's mob boss and "deteriorating carnival clown" happily "bond over human-rights abuses" in an Oval Office now transformed into a gaudy, blinged-out "Golden Office for the Golden Age" awash in tacky faux-gold gimcracks - on fireplace, mantle, reportedly doorway - evidently bought online from China's Guangzhou Homemax Decorative Company as part of their "High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament" line. FYI, one enterprising journalist found, they're still available, cheap. From Guangzhou: "Hello Sir. Yes we have this model. Do you need gold color, please?” Maybe with hacksaws?

In the squalid pageantry of the meeting, "a microcosm of everything bad about Trump ll," Bukele eagerly brown-nosed the mad king: "What you're doing with the border is incredible!" Then, in exchange for a hefty chunk of blood money, he offered to use his "iron fist" tactics against America's alleged criminals just like for his own, three-year war against gangs, in which tens of thousands of his people have been disappeared into brutal prisons "without even the illusion of due process." Bukele achieved this goal by declaring a "State of Exception" that was supposed to last 30 days but which has been extended 37 times. Historically, it's a key strategem of Soviet and Nazi fascists, who accurately reason that if they can convince their populace these are exceptional times, they will be more inclined to accept the growing lawlessness. For Trump, a vengeful, aspiring autocrat who's never had any use for due process and only seeks to escape, not follow the law, it's a perfect, ghastly model; it's also state terror.

Before the presser but with cameras rolling, Trump pulled his new fascist bestie aside to happily confide, "Home-growns are next...You're gonna need to build about five more places." Contented grins all around. His suggestion that his next target will be American citizens he doesn't like was, like so much that's come before, both shocking and unsurprising. He's previously said his pretend A.G. Pam Bondi was "studying the laws" to see if they can get away with deporting "really bad people" who also happen to be citizens. "If it's a homegrown criminal, I have no problem with it," he's said. "If we can do that, that's good." In his confab with Bukele, he again blithely confirmed "I'd like to go a step further." Asked if that means he's okay with rounding up Americans who might disagree with him, in this case about half the country, to a gulag in El Salvador, he babbled, "If they are criminals and they hit people with baseball bats over the head (or) rape 87-year-old women, yeah, that includes them."

The exchange was just one of many during a hair-raising shitshow in which the regime's assembled ghouls and flunkies dutifully snickered, groveled, showboated and lied; inexplicably, video of the grisly spectacle appeared on a split screen with ads for obscure products like Angelpaste Miracle Cream: "Experience the miracle at angelpaste.com." Bondi's stonefaced, talking-points pablum on state-sponsored disappearances: "It's a legal question the president is looking into...He has given us a directive to make America safe again." The issue of Garcia's life or death is "foreign policy" and out of their hands, intoned Marco Rubio, who just announced the closure of the State Dept.'s agency for fighting disinformation, though he called it “Protecting and Championing Free Speech." Sternly nodding along was Barbie Dress-up Noem, who's spending $200 million on glam photo-ops, including her $9 million war-crime appearance at CECOT, funded by the now-shuttered DHS Office for Civil Rights, to tell migrants to "Leave now."

Naturally, Bukele joined the tawdry Oval Office pageant. Asked if he plans to return Garcia, he scoffed, "How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it. We're not fond of smuggling terrorists into our country. The question is preposterous." Cue Trump nodding, smirking, twisting the question into another ugly WTF attack on the assembled press: "Well, they'd love to have a criminal released here. They would love it. These are sick people." (Pot/kettle). In another exchange, he suggested the press doesn't "want to put out good figures because I think they hate our country actually." Besides, Trump added, those torture porn videos of hunched-over prisoners at CECOT are just what's needed: "People eat it up, that’s what people want to see.” Bukele, author of the brutality, nodding sagely: "Mr President, you have 350 million people to liberate. But to liberate 350 million people, you have to imprison some."

The grotesque twisting of language into an Orwellian, up-is-down reality - justifying Garcia's exile under a wartime rule to say he's part of Venezuelan gangs "invading" us though they're not, nor is he Venezuelan or a gangster, crushing free speech and academic discourse in the name of fighting anti-Semitism - is integral to their dystopian mission. On Tyranny''s Timothy Snyder notes that for a state to commit "criminal terror" against its people," it must dehumanize victims by inverting meanings - Stalin called his targets "criminals" and "terrorists, Hitler, "vermin" and "traitors," all clearly unworthy of protection. MAGA's language continues to warp and spiral: Wingnut "counterterrorism" flunky Sebastian Gorka now claims a regime that illegally expels masses of people without due process "loves" America - "We have people who love America, the president, his Cabinet" - and "then there (those) on the side of the cartel members, the illegal aliens, the terrorists, and you have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them?"

The evil overlord of depraved language is mountingly hysterical Stephen Goebbels. In the Bukele meeting, he ranted reporters "want foreign terrorists in the country who kidnap women and children." On Fox News later, he melted down, shrieking at host Bill Hemmer he had it "all wrong," and actually "we won the Supreme Court case" (lost, 9-0), to return Garcia "would be "kidnapping" and "an unimaginable invasion of El Salvador," the lawyer who said his removal was "an error" (as did several White House officials) was "a saboteur, a Democrat" who has been suspended and then fired cause that's how Stalin rolls. "Nobody was mistakenly deported anywhere," he screamed, his voice higher and higher. No mistake was made...He’s an illegal alien from El Salvador! This was the right person sent to the right place!" Then, he furiously bellowed at Hemmer, “So Bill, you tell me what country should we deport him to? Tell me!" To this, fact-checker Daniel Dale declared his claim of "some lefty saboteur at the DOJ" was "nonsense."

On regime actions lawyers have almost universally deemed "pretty obviously illegal and unconstitutional,” the courts have echoed him. That goes from the unanimous (brazenly defied) Supreme Court ruling the government must “facilitate Garcia’s return, to a lower court ruling blasting his deportation as illegal, to Wednesday's bombshell ruling by Judge James Boasberg - who Trump obviously wants to impeach - finding probable cause to hold the administration in criminal contempt for ignoring everything he's told them to do. "The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders - especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," wrote the long-stonewalled Boasberg, mildly noting the government has "defied the Court's order deliberately and gleefully.” Once again, he gave them some slack, time and options they didn't deserve; once again, they appealed, but briefly because c'mon we all know they have zilch in the way of new facts or arguments to offer.

As a result of these manifold atrocities, argues Thom Hartmann, "The old American order is dead. It ended on April 14, 2025, when a Latin American strongman sat in the Oval Office and discussed sending U.S. citizens to foreign concentration camps with the American president while they jointly defied the Supreme Court." As sorry proof, he cites all the basic tenets of U.S. constitutional law defiled - habeas corpus, due process, right to trial and counsel, no cruel or unusual punishment - that echo Jefferson's critiques of King George, a "history of repeated injuries and usurpations...submitted to a candid world." That mad king "refused his assent" to laws for the public good, obstructed justice, made judges dependent "on his will alone," transported us "beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses," thus rendering him "a Tyrant...unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” Today, he says, "Everyone who is not part of the authoritarian regime is a member of the dissident movement now. The sooner they realize it, the better."

That truth is especially urgent, argues Jonathan Last, given the savage spectre of CECOT, where 90% of inmates have never been convicted of a crime, 75% haven't even been arrested, and none will likely get out. "This is not incarceration; it is liquidation," he writes of an "arbitrary, opaque" political act where, "There is only power." Democrats should be "on the ground every day until Garcia is brought home," and before more innocents land there, in the fierce mode of Poland's Solidarity or Navalny’s People’s Alliance. Maryland's Dem Sen. Chris Van Hollen tried. He flew to El Salvador to meet with Garcia, his constituent; he was initially turned away but finally did, without offering any updates, though Bukele posted a "death camps" jibe. In contrast, West Virginia GOP Rep. Riley Moore was both allowed into CECOT and got to join the MAGA torture porn trend by posting selfies - inane thumbs up! - before caged "brutal criminals" who made him "even more determined to support (Trump's) efforts to secure our homeland." One local headline: "Moore Gives CECOT Two Thumbs Up."

MAGA thugs have stubbornly clung to their talking points: Tom Homan called Dem demands for due process "disgusting," and Barbie Press Secretary sneered that, judging from their "sensationalism, you'd think we deported a candidate for Father of the Year." Still, it's becoming clear, per one pundit, that, "Disappearing innocent immigrants into foreign slave-labor gulags - and then promising to do the same to American citizens - is a losing issue for Republicans." At rowdy town halls, Iowa's Chuck Grassley drew jeers and angry queries like, "You going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?", and Klan Mom MTG faced a barrage of hostile questions she responded to by sneering, lying, and sending thugs to remove or tase several constituents. MAGA also lost bigly in court on their appeal of a judge's order to "facilitate" Garcia's return, with a Reagan-appointed Court of Appeals judge issuing a scathing rebuke of their shocking," "extraordinary" defiance and failure to "perceive the rule of law as vital to American ethos."

Meanwhile, the state terror goes on. Two weeks ago, Elsy Noemi Berrios, a 52-year-old Salvadoran mother of four with a work permit, pending asylum application and no criminal record, was taken into custody in Maryland as she and 18-year-old daughter were driving to work; federal agents in tactical gear stopped their car, refused to provide a search warrant when she asked, and instead smashed her driver's side car window before handcuffing her behind her back as her daughter Cruz screamed, “Mommy, no. Mommy.” She is still being held at a Pennsylvania prison, but her lawyer says DHS has yet to offer any evidence or even arrest warrant. Her daughter says her mom works hard to support her and her siblings, and "has done everything right." A DHS lackey says Berrios "has been identified as an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang, Americans can rest assured she is off our streets and locked up, and the media (should) stop doing the bidding of gangs that murder, maim, rape, and terrorize Americans."

In March in Massachusetts, ICE "enhanced enforcement operations” detained 370 "criminal aliens"; in New Bedford, they included three workers at the Minit Man Car Wash, one at Bob’s Tires, and two men inside their house after agents battered down the door and pointed their guns at children eating breakfast before school. Monday, agents also arrested Juan Francisco Méndez, 29, a Guatemalan with no criminal record in the final stage of his asylum case; his wife Marilu and their 9-year-old son have protected status. Mendez was detained after three carloads of agents in bulletproof vests blocked the car he and Mariu were driving in; as Marilu began recording, he called their lawyer Ondine Galvez Sniffin, who told them to stay put until she arrived. Marilu asked to see a warrant; an agent stared dumbly. Then he shattered their rear window with a pick axe - Marilu gasps - and dragged them out. When Sniffin got there, agents had bustled Mendez to prison. Marilu said they kept calling Juan "Antonio," the name of another man who lives in their building: Your government at work. "My clients were within their rights, and they were met with brutality,” Sniffin said. "I'm ashamed of what this country is becoming." She is not alone.

Update: Twenty-year-old Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a U.S.-born citizen, was detained by ICE in Florida Wednesday and charged with illegally entering the state as an "unauthorized alien." Lopez-Gomez was a passenger in a car pulled over by a state trooper who said the driver was going 78 mph in a 65 mph zone. Following public pressure and protests, he has now been released. Still: "The leap from disappearing the undocumented to disappearing visa holders to disappearing green-card holders to disappearing naturalized citizens to disappearing natural-born citizens is no leap at all, but a series of tiny steps."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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

Photograph Source: ArmyInform – CC BY 4.0

Two years into his prison term for a 2020 murder, Ivan Rossomakhin was recruited into a Russian private military company (PMC) in exchange for freedom. He returned home from Ukraine in 2023and, within days, killed an 85-year-old woman in a nearby town. One week after beginning his new sentence in August 2024, he was redrafted and sent back to the front.

His crime marks one of many committed by convicts pardoned to serve in the army and Russian troops returning home. “A survey of Russian court records by the independent media outlet Verstka found that at least 190 criminal cases were initiated against pardoned Wagner recruits in 2023,” stated an April 2024 New York Times article.

Growing concerns point to a potentially worse repeat of the “Afghan syndrome” experienced by Soviet veterans of the 1979-1989 war in Afghanistan. Many of the roughly 642,000 Soviet soldiers who served returned as outcasts to a society eager to forget an unpopular war. Many turned to addiction and alcoholism, alongside organized crime, amplified further by the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. Additionally, Chechen veterans of the Afghan War used their combat experience to fiercely resist Russia in the first Chechen war (1994-1996).

The war in Ukraine is producing an even larger and more battle-hardened generation of veterans. Russian casualties surpassed 15,000 during almost five months of the war, exceeding a decade of Soviet losses in Afghanistan. A January 2025 New York Times article estimates that around 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by December 2024, while 150,000 Russian soldiers lost their lives until November of that year. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands have been wounded, and millions have been cycled through the front lines. Most survivors will have some form of PTSD, further desensitized by the glorification of brutal combat and torture footage on social media.

Ukrainian soldiers were “experiencing intense symptoms of psychological stress,” according to a 2023 Washington Post article. Meanwhile, in 2024, Deutsche Welle reported that “According to the Russian Health Ministry, 11,000 Russian military personnel who had taken part in the war against Ukraine, as well as their family members, sought psychological help within a six-month period in 2023.”

Reintegrating these men into society will be an uphill battle for the Russian and Ukrainian governments, with lingering wariness from past failures. In December 2022, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko vowed to prevent a repeat of the Afghan syndrome and reintegrate veterans back into civilian life. As the war grinds on, however, its consequences are already unfolding. Both Moscow and Kyiv are managing ongoing troop rotations while preparing for the eventual mass return of soldiers—and exploring how to use them for political and military ends.

Crime and Unrest

For Soviet Afghan veterans, dismissive rhetoric about the war and limited support upon their return created deep resentment. Before coming to power in 1985, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called the war a mistake, and it took until 1994 for Russian Afghan veterans to receive the same status as World War II veterans. Only in 2010 did Russia designate the end of the conflict as a state holiday.

The Kremlin has taken a different approach with Ukraine war veterans, venerating them as the nation’s “new elite” in a do-or-die struggle against the West. Alongside extensive media praise, soldiers have been fast-tracked to important government and business roles. Despite strained social services, the government has provided benefits to returned and fallen servicemen’s families to prevent unrest.

The Kremlin’s decision to use prison labor to meet troop numbers—an approach it avoided during the Afghan War—has already caused a serious fallout. By 2023, more than 100,000 prisoners had been recruited, many joining Wagner, Russia’s most notorious private military company. Though Wagner was later absorbed and reorganized after its armed rebellion against the Russian military later that year, its ex-convict soldiers remain a source of public outrage, committing some of the most seriousviolent offenses upon their return and contributing to a general rise in crime. “Numerous shootouts have occurred in Moscow, and the army is increasingly merging with organized crime,” stated a 2024 report in the Eurasia Daily Monitor.

While the issue is drawing increasing public attention, Russia’s internal security services, including the National Guard (Rosgvardiya), are already stretched thin, tasked with patrolling occupied Ukrainian territories while reinforcing front-line units. Their burden could grow heavier if returning Chechen soldiers, whom Moscow has deployed extensively in Ukraine, choose to revisit their independence ambitions. Other nationalist and extremist movements, aided by hardened soldiers, risk resurfacing.

Russia’s reliance on criminal networks for logistical and financial support in its war has only emboldened these groups. A 2024 shootout just blocks from the Kremlin in 2024, linked to “corporate violence,” evoked the chaos of the 1990s. “Russia’s economy, strained by sanctions and the ongoing war, is creating an atmosphere where business elites are increasingly willing to resort to drastic measures for survival. In the 1990s, oligarchs, criminal gangs, and corrupt officials thrived in an environment where the legal system was powerless,” stated the Moscow Times.

With few well-paying job prospects, returning soldiers may be tempted to join existing groups or create their own, destabilizing Russia’s criminal networks that are deeply integrated into Putin’s power structure.

Ukraine faces similar challenges. Though Kyiv was slower and more restrained in deploying prisoner battalions, reintegrating them into society will not be easy. Authorities in the country are working to prevent powerful domestic criminal organizations from absorbing returning soldiers while contending with the threat of armed resistance in Russian-leaning regions.

The Ukrainian government has been mindful in honoring its soldiers but has witnessed a surge in attacks on recruitment offices, including four attacks in five days in February 2025. While Russia’s recruitment efforts also faced some backlash, Russia has avoided large-scale conscription (despite some coercion). In contrast, Ukraine has relied heavily on mandatory enlistment, driving increasing antagonism toward recruitment measures—tensions that will continue building and could spread after the war.

Private Military Companies

The war is already providing a massive boost to a burgeoning global private military industry, which is likely to expand after the conflict’s conclusion. Private military company recruits have long participated in a multinational market—some Russian Afghan veterans claim they were contracted to serve with American forces in Afghanistan after 2001. However, the sheer number of Russian and Ukrainian veterans with combat experience could revolutionize the industry, much like the collapse of the Soviet Union and resulting surplus of military personnel did.

Before 2015, Russian PMCs were limited to Ukraine, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo but have since expanded to around 30 countries. Unlike the mass-scale, technology-driven Ukrainian conflict, smaller PMCs can operate effectively in other regions, and their deployment has already contributed to the French military’s withdrawal from Africa in recent years.

Ukraine’s private military sector is similarly growing and, in the future, may find favor with European countries that backed Kyiv during the war. Given Europe’s ongoing struggle to meet military recruitment needs, it is likely that Ukrainian veterans may be used to address this issue.

In Ukraine and Russia, demobilized men have often been employed by oligarchs for their own purposes, a trend that emerged in the 1990s. This issue resurfaced in 2015 when Ukrainian billionaire Igor Kolomoisky used PMCs to combat Russian-backed separatists, as well to protect his own financial interests, culminating in an armed standoff at a state oil company. The incident showed how privatized military power can easily slip beyond government control—something Russia later experienced with Wagner’s rebellion in 2023.

Reintegration

After the instability caused by Soviet Afghan veterans throughout the 1990s, Russian authorities began taking more concrete steps to integrate them, rehabilitate their image, and harness their potential. In 1999, the Russian Alliance of Veterans of Afghanistan helped create what would become the Putin-backed United Russia party (though he is now independent). Afghan and Chechen war veterans also joined OMON, Russia’s special police force used to suppress protests, while other paramilitary veteran groups aided in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 when military force was limited.

More recently, Afghan veteran organizations have been integral to supporting the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine by providing volunteers (with Ukraine pooling their Afghan veterans) and drumming up support. The evolution of the movement from disillusioned anti-war veterans into some of the Ukraine war’s strongest backers shows the effectiveness of its refurbishment and the Kremlin’s recognition of their value.

It is no surprise, then, that the Kremlin has been actively preventing the formation of independent veteran organizations from the current war in Ukraine. This action of centralizing the veterans into formal initiatives ensures that no group can challenge the government authority, and they can be organized and used during future conflicts.

The attitudes of returning servicemen on both sides will also be shaped by the war’s outcome. Conflicts viewed as futile, with waning public approval—such as the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan or the Soviet war in Afghanistan—leave a lasting psychological toll on veterans, raising the potential for suicide and social unrest. Beyond the staggering civilian and combatant casualties, these wars bred resentment among returning soldiers, many of whom struggled with the sense that their service was part of failed wars of aggression.

The framing of victory by political leaders, the media, and society is, therefore, essential. Soldiers who believe they fought in a just and successful war are more likely to reintegrate with a sense of purpose, compared to a losing side feeling abandoned and embittered. The defeated will likely harbor greater animosity toward its government, have grievances over inadequate support, and face a heightened risk of social instability—making both sides inclined to claim victory.

It may be in the best interest of both Moscow and Kyiv to avoid declaring an end to the war and pursuing demobilization, lest they be seen as admitting defeat and triggering the return of restless and unemployed soldiers. With the Russian and Ukrainian economies now heavily oriented toward war, a rapid end would trigger economic shocks.

An inconclusive war that gradually winds down, however, may allow veterans to slowly reintegrate into society, as governments praise their service to generate goodwill. Others will be encouraged by Moscow and Kyiv to seek outlets in other conflicts, exporting combat-ready men rather than bringing them home.

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

The post What Happens When Russian and Ukrainian Soldiers Come Home? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John P. Ruehl.

The Environmental Protection Agency has thrust a dagger into the heart of American homeownership, and the home insurance industry and the mortgage industry by throwing out accountability of greenhouse gases. The relationship between greenhouse gases and global heat/climate change is accepted by nearly 100% of climate scientists, including Exxon’s own in-house scientists, to wit: “The researchers report that Exxon scientists correctly dismissed the possibility of a coming ice age, accurately predicted that human-caused global warming would first be detectable in the year 2000, plus or minus five years, and reasonably estimated how much CO₂ would lead to dangerous warming.” (“Research Shows That Company Modeled and Predicted Global Warming with ‘Shocking Skills and Accuracy’ Starting in the 1970s,” Harvard Gazette, Jan. 12, 2023.

The single most important thing governments can do in today’s changing climate environment is to identify and monitor sources of greenhouse gases that cause radical climate change. The whole world is doing this to know how to mitigate the problem. But the EPA of the USA is tossing this out the window. (“Nobody’s Insurance Rates are Safe from Climate Change,” Yale Climate Connections, Jan. 14, 2025. “Home Insurance Problem is Set to Intensify,” Business Insider, Oct. 22, 2024. “More Americans, Risking Ruin, Drop Their Home Insurance, New York Times, Jan. 16, 2025.)

The world insurance industry understands the problem: “Climate change is a source of financial risk, impacting the resilience of individual insurers as well as global financial stability. While insurers are exposed to both transition and physical risks through their underwriting and investment activities, they can also be key agents in identifying, mitigating and managing climate risk, thereby contributing to a sustainable transition to net-zero.” (International Association of Insurance Supervisors)

Significantly, the EPA has effectively deleted the second sentence to that statement by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. Namely: You cannot “identify, mitigate and manage climate risk” without knowing where it’s coming from. The EPA is removing that critical component, leaving insurance companies swinging from the branches, directionless.

The Trump EPA is eye-gouging the home insurance industry and real estate market by changing national standards for collecting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. This data is crucial to determination of national climate mitigation policies on a worldwide basis. Meanwhile, climate change has been identified by the home insurance industry as its most serious issue, as climate change transforms the American home insurance industry into a basket case that risks undermining the American real estate market down the tubes. Home mortgage companies stand to lose billions. As it stands, real estate is America’s biggest asset class, and it has now been hit hard by EPA rulings.

No other country in the world has chosen to completely ignore climate change. To do so is a risk to every homeowner in America because climate change has turned into a monster that randomly destroys real property, forcing home insurance rates to the moon.

And the outlook for climate change, according to state-of-the-art climate research, has turned grim, as follows.

Is Earth Losing Resilience?

Knowing/identifying the data behind climate change, which EPA is eliminating, has never more important to safeguard the planetary system. A major study by Johan Rockstrom of Potsdam Institute questions Earth’s resilience, as follows:

“We have received enough concerning signals from the Earth system, forcing us to seriously ask the question, are we seeing the first signs of Earth losing resilience?”

“The most recent estimates already point to implications of a weaker planet showing first signs of accelerated warming. The 1.5°C limit will be breached earlier, probably already before 2030. And the BIG question out there is what does all this mean for the risk of crossing tipping points in the Earth system? We already have evidence that multiple tipping elements are likely to cross their thresholds when 1.5°C is breached permanently. This places us in a very delicate situation, given that these tipping elements (Tropical Coral Reef systems, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, abrupt thawing of permafrost, and collapse of the Barent sea ice) would not only affect billions of people, but comprise feedback systems, i.e., they can trigger permanent changes in the functioning of Earth, which would accelerate warming even further.”(Rockstrom)

And the EPA wants to ignore greenhouse gases. This is the closest we’ll ever get to mimicking Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Robert Hunziker.

Image by Getty and Unsplash+.

The Trump administration’s EPA has put the home insurance industry, home mortgage industry, real estate industry, and individual homeownership on notice that the rules are changing against their best interests. Already, before these negative changes to EPA policy, radical climate change has forced insurance companies to eliminate home coverage in regions of America.

Trump’s EPA Plans to Stop Collecting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data From Most Polluters, ProPublica, April 10, 2025)

The Environmental Protection Agency has thrust a danger into the heart of American homeownership, and the home insurance industry and the mortgage industry by throwing out accountability of greenhouse gases. The relationship between greenhouse gases and global heat/climate change is accepted by nearly 100% of climate scientists, including Exxon’s own in-house scientists, to wit: “The researchers report that Exxon scientists correctly dismissed the possibility of a coming ice age, accurately predicted that human-caused global warming would first be detectable in the year 2000, plus or minus five years, and reasonably estimated how much CO₂ would lead to dangerous warming.” (Research Shows That Company Modeled and Predicted Global Warming with ‘Shocking Skills and Accuracy’ Starting in the 1970s, The Harvard Gazette, Jan. 12, 2023.

The single most important thing governments can do in today’s changing climate environment is to identify and monitor sources of greenhouse gases that cause radical climate change. The whole world is doing this to know how to mitigate the problem. But the EPA of the USA is tossing this out the window.

Nobody’s Insurance Rates are Safe from Climate Change, Yale Climate Connections, Jan. 14, 2025.

Home Insurance Problem is Set to Intensify, Business Insider, Oct. 22, 2024.

More Americans, Risking Ruin, Drop Their Home Insurance, The New York Times, Jan. 16, 2025

The world insurance industry understands the problem: “Climate change is a source of financial risk, impacting the resilience of individual insurers as well as global financial stability. While insurers are exposed to both transition and physical risks through their underwriting and investment activities, they can also be key agents in identifying, mitigating and managing climate risk, thereby contributing to a sustainable transition to net-zero.” (International Association of Insurance Supervisors)

Significantly, the EPA has effectively deleted the second sentence to that statement by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. Namely: You cannot “identify, mitigate and manage climate risk” without knowing where it’s coming from. The EPA is removing that critical component, leaving insurance companies swinging from the branches, directionless.

The Trump EPA is eye-gouging the home insurance industry and real estate market by changing national standards for collecting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. This data is crucial to determination of national climate mitigation policies on a worldwide basis. Meanwhile, climate change has been identified by the home insurance industry as its most serious issue, as climate change transforms the American home insurance industry into a basket case that risks undermining the American real estate market down the tubes. Home mortgage companies stand to lose billions. As it stands, real estate is America’s biggest asset class, and it has now been hit hard by EPA rulings.

No other country in the world has chosen to completely ignore climate change. To do so is a risk to every homeowner in America because climate change has turned into a monster that randomly destroys real property, forcing home insurance rates to the moon.

And the outlook for climate change, according to state-of-the-art climate research, has turned grim, as follows.

Is Earth Losing Resilience?

Knowing/identifying the data behind climate change, which EPA is eliminating, has never more important to safeguard the planetary system. A major study by Johan Rockstrom of Potsdam Institute questions Earth’s resilience, as follows:

“We have received enough concerning signals from the Earth system, forcing us to seriously ask the question, are we seeing the first signs of Earth losing resilience?”

“The most recent estimates already point to implications of a weaker planet showing first signs of accelerated warming. The 1.5°C limit will be breached earlier, probably already before 2030. And the BIG question out there is what does all this mean for the risk of crossing tipping points in the Earth system? We already have evidence that multiple tipping elements are likely to cross their thresholds when 1.5°C is breached permanently. This places us in a very delicate situation, given that these tipping elements (Tropical Coral Reef systems, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, abrupt thawing of permafrost, and collapse of the Barent sea ice) would not only affect billions of people, but comprise feedback systems, i.e., they can trigger permanent changes in the functioning of Earth, which would accelerate warming even further.”(Rockstrom)

And the EPA wants to ignore greenhouse gases. This is the closest we’ll ever get to mimicking Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

The post EPA Torches Home Insurance Coverage appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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

We speak with New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh about a mother and three children who were swept up in an ICE raid not far from the home of Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan in Sackets Harbor, New York, handcuffed and taken to a family detention center in Texas despite having no order of deportation. A protest calling for the family’s return is planned for this Saturday, and the mayor has called a state of emergency. Awawdeh also responds to what appears to be a pattern of collaboration with the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan among local leaders and institutions in New York, from Eric Adams’s mayoral administration to Columbia University. Adams had federal corruption charges against him dropped after agreeing to support increased immigration enforcement, while Columbia had federal funding restored after allowing ICE officers to carry out arrests and searches on campus and in university-owned housing.

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

Illustration by Sue Coe.

In Albert Camus’ novel, The Plague, set in the French Algerian town of Oran, rats one day begin showing up dead on residents’ doorsteps, dying with violent spasms and blood pouring from their mouths.

At first, the rats’ death agonies are only a curiosity to the townspeople.  But then the rats begin dying in greater numbers, their corpses piling up in the streets. “The staircase from the cellar to the attics was strewn with dead rats, ten or a dozen of them.  The garbage-bins of all the houses in the street were full of rats.”

When Dr. Rieux, a physician, remarks upon the strange phenomenon to his mother, she replies vaguely, “It’s like that sometimes.”

By the time Rieux realizes what is happening, it is too late.  Bubonic plague has come to Oran.  Soon it is the townspeople themselves who are dying in agony, their bodies heaping up in mounds–like the rats whose suffering, and fates, they had only days before viewed with indifference….

Lately, I have been thinking of Camus’ novel, as we ourselves teeter on the brink of a new deadly plague—avian flu.  Like the people in the story, we too have remained indifferent to the suffering, and shared collective fate, of our fellow creatures.  And we continue to do so at our own peril.

For more than a year, I have followed news reports of the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu, or highly pathogenic avian influenza, as it has torn across the world, infecting hundreds of species and killing millions of animals, from storks and snowy owls to cranes and harbor seals, from foxes and herons to finches and lions.  Geese have fallen from the skies dead over Kansas City.  House cats have died from violent seizures in Iceland and Texas.  The virus has decimated colonies of Adélie penguins in Antarctica, wiped out albatross fledglings on the remote South African island of Marion, killed dolphins and manatees off the Florida coast.

Never have scientists seen a virus infect so many species all at once, nor spread so quickly or with such devastating effect.  It is the first observed panzootic—a pandemic of “all” animals.  Researchers are now calling avian flu an “existential threat” to planetary biodiversity.

While droves of our fellow beings were dying in agony in far-away places, however, few people seemed to notice or care.  Even today, we resist acknowledging our own role in the catastrophe—the fact that it is we ourselves, by imprisoning billions of animals in the food system, then allowing the virus to run rampant inside it, who have turned H5N1 into a trans-species bioweapon.  And now that bioweapon is turning towards us.

While the H5N1 virus is naturally occurring, it emerged as a global problem only when it became concentrated in the Asian poultry industry in the late-1990s.  Farmers at the time killed hundreds of millions of chickens and other birds to try to contain the virus—in many cases, by burying them alive or setting them on fire.  Since then, H5N1 has resurfaced again and again on animal farms, leading to the deaths of poultry and humans alike.

For years, epidemiologists have warned that the animal agriculture system was a time bomb waiting to go off.  Most of the deadly diseases ever to have afflicted our own species, including cholera, smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, AIDS, and influenza, have been caused by our exploitation of animals for food.  Today, three-quarters of all emerging infectious diseases are in fact zoonotic in origin–a consquence chiefly of the modern animal food system.

That system has increased our vulnerability to animal-borne diseases in two ways.  First, raising cattle and other ruminants for slaughter requires staggering anounts of land, which destroys animal habitat and crowds species together, thus enabling viruses to find new hosts who lack natural immunity to them.  (More than half the surface of the earth has been turned into farmland, and 80% of that is devoted to raising animals for slaughter.)  Second, we have created a permanent source of new plagues by concentrating sick and traumatized animals together in industrialized conditions.

Few people are aware of the sheer scale of the global animal food system.  But each year, 80,000,000,000 land animals and up to 2,700,000,000,000 marine animals die violently to satisfy growing human demand for animal products.  This system is now the most ecologically destructive force on our planet–the leading cause of the mass extinction crisis and the second leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the main cause of freshwater system loss, algal blooms, and land degradation.

The animal food system is also a moral and epidemiological calamity.  Billions of sensitive chickens, pigs, cows, and others are forced into miserable, fetid conditions of intensive confinement, where they are beaten, tormented with electric prods, and then brutally killed at a fraction of their lifespans.  Our prisoners suffer such psychological and physiological stress and trauma that millions die even before they can reach a slaughterhouse.  So to keep them alive, farmers pump them full of antibiotics.  Seventy percent of antibiotics worldwide are fed to farmed animals, a practice which, in turn, is fueling deadly new strains of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”

Natural ecosystems constrain the virulence of pathogens like H5N1, by selecting out the most lethal traits that would otherwise keep a virus from spreading by killing its host prematurely.  As science writer Brandon Keim observes, however, the “constraints on virulence” ordinarily found in nature are absent on industrialized poultry farms, where birds are killed at a tiny fraction of their normal lifespans.  In fact, virulence is selected for.

It was only a matter of time, thus, before the horrific and unjust conditions in the animal agriculture system became the proving ground for a pathogen capable of igniting a dangerous pandemic.  Now our luck may have run out.

Last year, the H5N1 virus crossed a crucial threshold, when wild birds exposed to concentrations of the virus on animal farms contracted the disease and spread it to other species along their migration routes.  Meanwhile, the Biden administration, deferring to powerful agricultural interests–and seeking to avoid antagonizing rural voters in an election year–squandered every opportunity to track and contain the deadly disease.  For months, the US government effectively stood by and did nothing.  As a result, H5N1 has now become endemic throughout the US animal agriculture system.  And the longer it remains there, the more likely is it to mutate into a form transmissable between humans.

How bad would that be?  In 2005, David Nabarro, then the United Nations System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, warned that a bird flu pandemic could kill up to 150 million people.  That may be a conservative estimate, however, since the known past mortality rate from avian flu in humans has been over 50%, making H5N1 up to 100 times deadlier than COVID-19.  Unlike COVID, furthermore, a bird flu pandemic would not primarily target older adults or people with underlying conditions, but would kill indiscriminately.

The H5N1 virus is neuropathic, meaning that it attacks the brain, causing conditions ranging from mild encaphalitis to seizures, coma, and death.  Children and pregnant women would be especially vulnerable to the virus.  When a Canadian teen contracted the H5N1 virus last year, she suffered multiple organ failure and had to be placed on a respirator for months before she recovered.  Avian flu has meanwhile killed 90% of the pregnant women who, in past decades, contracted it.  “We are in a terrible situation and going into a worse situation,” Angela Rasmussen, a Canadian virologist, recently warned.  “I don’t know if the bird flu will become a pandemic, but if it does, we are screwed.”

So far, we have been extremely lucky.  The dozens of farm workers who have fallen ill from avian flu this last year, most from exposure to infected dairy cows, appear to have contracted a mild version of the virus.  Most have now recovered.  Last month, however, the far deadlier D1.1 variant of the virus was discovered in a herd of cattle in Nevada.  Should such a lethal variant mutate into a transmissable form, and become capable of binding to receptors in our lungs, the resulting pandemic could lead to societal chaos and mass mortality.

Just before leaving office, President Biden transferred $590 million to Moderna to accelerate development of a bird flu vaccine.  Other companies are also working on vaccines.  But it’s anyone’s guess if they will be ready in time.  Even with a vaccine, Americans can expect little help from their government should a bird flu pandemic materialize, since President Trump is eviscerating the federal agencies responsible for public health and disease prevention.  The new administration has slashed the budgets and staff of the Centers for Disease Control and FEMA, suppressed CDC updates on bird flu, and taken the US out of the World Health Organization–the international agency responsible for monitoring and providing guidance on global public health threats, including pandemics.

Worsening matters, any federal response to an avian flu pandemic would be in the hands of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the new Secretary of Health and Human Services–a notorious vaccine skeptic.  President Trump himself would likely respond to a new pandemic not by protecting the most vulnerable Americans, but by using the crisis to expand his own powers, if not to impose martial law.

Perhaps our luck will hold, and we will somehow all avoid getting avian flu.  But we can’t count on it.  Nor can we afford to go on ignoring the inextricable links between our oppression of nonhuman animals and growing pandemic risk.

The best way to prevent zoonotic pathogens from making us sick in future is to begin transitioning to an all plant-based diet.  In doing so, we would not only spare billions of animals further suffering, but also mitigate a great deal of environmental damage to our planet.  And we ourselves would be healthier for it.  Scientists have shown that vegans have lower rates of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and type 2 diabetes than meat-eaters.  One study in JAMA found that vegans may even live longer than “omnivores” who consume animal products.

Tragically, however, rather than rethink our dietary choices, we continue to cling to the animal system, and to its vast cruelties, against the better claims of reason and conscience.  Few people indeed seem aware of the violence and suffering that attend even “ordinary” animal production.  To produce eggs, for example, tens of millions of chickens are jammed into cages so small that they cannot extend even a single wing.  The birds’ beaks are painfully cut off to keep them from pecking at their cell mates in distress.  Then the chickens are repeatedly starved to shock their systems into producing more eggs.  Finally, they are violently grabbed and thrown into a truck, and brought to the slaughterhouse.  There, they are shackled upside down by their legs and have their throats cut, often while still conscious.  Many are boiled alive in feather removal tanks.  Billions of male baby chicks–of no use to industry—are meanwhile ground up alive or are simply tossed away in dumpsters, to suffocate or die from dehydration.

These and other barbaric practices have no place in society today.  Even now, however, Americans are concerned only about soaring egg prices, not about the suffering of the tens of millions of animals being killed in ventilator shutdowns across the country.  The idea that we should simply stop eating eggs–for the birds’ well-being as much as for our own safety—appears not to have occurred to anyone.

As an ethicist who has spent decades lecturing and publishing on animal rights, hoping to convince people that there is a better way to live a human life than by imprisoning and killing our fellow beings, I find it beyond discouraging how little progress has been made toward ending our violence against animals in the food economy.  The avian flu threat, however, has now given us an opportunity to rethink our existential and ethical relations with the other animals of our planet, and to recognize how closely our fates are bound together.

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls—it tolls for thee.”  When the poet John Donne wrote these words, centuries ago, it was customary for churches in England to toll their bells to announce the death of someone in the community.  We are deeply connected to one another, Donne was saying, and what happens to one, happens to all.

“No man is an island entire of itself,” Donne wrote.  Each of us “is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”  Every death therefore “diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”

Donne’s poem has taken on new significance, as avian influenza now closes in around us.  Our species is not alone on the Earth, but part of the biotic main, a “piece of a continent” teeming with myriad other suffering, mortal beings.  And what we do to the other animals, we do also to ourselves.

For too long, we have behaved as if our species were “an island entire of itself,” and that we are the only beings whose lives matter or have value.  Now, after long treating our fellow creatures with violence and contempt, as mere “things” to be exploited and killed for our purposes, our karmic debt is coming due, in a ruined Earth and escalating pandemic risks.  The tolling of the bell today is avian flu, and it tolls for us.

The post With Bird Flu, the Chickens Have Come Home to Roost appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John Sanbonmatsu.

Murad, who works as a reporter for Urdu News and runs the independent news site Pakistani24, later appeared  before the Judicial Magistrate Islamabad (West) court, where he was placed in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for two days under Pakistan’s cybercrime laws for allegedly posting “intimidating content” online, according to a copy of the court order, reviewed by CPJ.

“The shocking overnight raid on the home of seasoned journalist Waheed Murad is part of a disturbing trend of enforced disappearances and detentions of journalists by Pakistan’s security agencies,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must allow Murad to resume reporting without fear of detention, threats, or intimidation.”

Murad’s mother-in-law, Abida Nawaz, said that the unidentified men who abducted the journalist did not say where they were taking him. Before Murad appeared in court, she had filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court seeking his recovery. The petition states that the journalist had raised his voice about the disappearance of exiled journalist Ahmed Noorani’s two brothers in Islamabad.

Noorani’s brothers have been missing since March 18, when individuals identifying themselves as police forcibly entered their family home. In addition, journalist Asif Karim Khehtran disappeared from his home district of Barkhan on March 13, and Farhan Mallick, founder of the independent online media platform Raftar, continues to be held in FIA detention after being detained on March 20 in Karachi.

CPJ’s text messages requesting comment from Information Minister Attaullah Tarar received no response.

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

Image by Kayle Kaupanger.

Four years ago, I published Subtle Tools, a book on the erosion of American democratic norms in the face of what came to be known as the Global War on Terror. Both what had been done in the name of “national security” in response to the 9/11 attacks and how it had been done — through the willing neglect of procedural integrity, the exploitation of all-too-flexible norms, a remarkable disregard for transparency, and a failure to call for accountability of any sort — left the country wide open to even more damaging future abuses of the rule of law.

And — lo and behold! — now, that future is all too distinctly here. What happened in the first quarter of this century is already being weaponized in a startling fashion in the second era of Donald Trump. In fact, the deluge of eye-opening, antidemocratic policies that we’ve witnessed in just the first 50 days of his presidency should be considered nothing short of a perverse escalation of the recent past. Think of it, in fact, as — if you don’t mind my inventing a word for this strange moment of ours — the “perversification” of war-on-terror era law and policy, which might once have been hard to imagine in this country.

While there are already all too many examples of that very sort of perversification, let me just focus on several that could prove crucial when it comes to the future of our imperiled democracy.

Racism

Among the numerous anti-democratic trends of this century, state-sponsored racism has been a constant concern. Of the many low points in the response to 9/11, the unleashing of government policies of racial and ethnic discrimination stands out. Fearing a follow-up attack, law enforcement targeted Muslim Americans, surveilling mosques and casting a startlingly wide net of suspicion with a sweeping disregard for civil liberties. That approach was only strengthened by the militarization of police forces nationwide in the name of targeting Arabs and Muslims. In 2002, the government even introduced the NSEERS program, a “Special Registration” requirement mandating that all males from a list of 24 Arab and Muslim countries (as well as North Korea) register and be fingerprinted. In the words of the American Civil Liberties Union, the program amounted to “a discriminatory policy that ran counter to the fundamental American values of fairness and equal protection.”

A dangerous template for discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin was thereby set in place. In his first term in office, Donald Trump promptly doubled down on that Islamophobic trend, even though his predecessor, Barack Obama, had revoked the registration requirement. By Executive Order 13769, Trump authorized a ban on the entry into the U.S. of citizens from seven Muslim countries, an order that would be reined in somewhat by the courts and finally revoked by President Joe Biden.

Nor, in Trump’s first term, was discrimination limited to those from Arab and Muslim countries. As the Costs of War project has pointed out, the Islamophobia of the war on terror years had set a racial-profiling precedent and example for the more broadly racist policies of the first Trump administration. “The exponential surveillance since 9/11 has also intensified the criminalization of marginalized and racialized groups… and has increasingly targeted protest movements such as Black Lives Matter.” Yes, Trump did indeed go after Black Lives Matter protesters with a vengeance during his first term, even unleashing armed federal agents without insignia to tear gas, beat, and detain such protesters in Portland, Oregon.

While Obama would end the Special Registration program and Biden would revoke the Muslim ban, no preventive measures were undertaken to guard against future racist policies and, all too unfortunately, we see the results of that today.

Trump 2.0 has already escalated discriminatory policies, focusing on protecting White males at the expense of people of color and women. In fact, his very first executive orders included several measures cracking down on asylum seekers and closing off legal avenues to citizenship, as well as a brazen decree aimed at eradicating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) throughout the country. Executive Order 14173 (“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”) was issued on January 21, 2025, the very day he took office. It ordered organizations and entities — from government offices and the U.S. military to schools, businesses, and more — to end their DEI policies “within 120 days” or risk losing government funding.

Recently, making good on its threats, the Trump administration canceled $400 million of federal funding in the form of grants and contracts to Columbia University as a sign of disapproval of that university’s supposed tolerance of pro-Palestinian protests, “described,” as National Public Radio reported, “as the school’s failure to police antisemitism on campus.” Nine other universities are believed to be under similar scrutiny.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, Trump is planning to issue a new travel ban, including a “red list” of countries whose citizens will be prohibited from entering the United States and an “orange list” of those whose citizens would, in some fashion, be curtailed if not completely barred from entry. As yet, the specifics remain unknown.

In other words, the discrimination enshrined by federal authorities in law and policy after 9/11 opened the way for a far more widespread governmental embrace of racial and ethnic discrimination now underway.

Disappearing the Record

Secrecy was likewise baked into the government’s response to the war on terror, often to keep what would have been obvious abuses of the law well hidden. Whether it was the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — the phrase employed by the administration of George W. Bush for acts of straightforward torture — or mass surveillance, the authorization for the targeted killing of an American citizen or the implementation of other policies that deviated from accepted law and practice, all of that and more was initially kept well hidden from the American public.

Now, many have described the brazen upheavals decreed by the Trump administration as being the very opposite of secrecy — as, in fact, “saying the quiet part out loud.” In reality, however, in these first days of his second term in office, Trump and crew have taken secrecy to a new level, replacing it with a broad policy of erasure and invisibility. In fact, despite the administration’s pledge of “radical transparency” in areas like spending, a hostile onslaught against the written record has prevailed.

This determination to bury the record was apparent during the first Trump administration. He repeatedly asserted his right, for instance, not to document his meetings with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In 2017, he reportedly confiscated notes that were taken at a meeting with Putin. In 2019, at the G-20 in Buenos Aires, he met Putin without either a translator or a note-taker present. The Washington Post reported, that “U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in classified files, of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with the Russian leader at five locations over the past two years.” In other words, on a matter of top national security concern — U.S.-Russian relations — a “cone of seclusion” was created, effectively leaving it to the two presidents to make decisions in secret. (Meanwhile, in his first term in office, Trump allegedly flushed down the toilet certain records relevant to the classified documents case against him.)

In his onslaught against record-keeping and the public’s right to know, the National Archives has become a prime target. Trump’s battle with the Archives had its origins in his legal struggle over the classified documents he was alleged to have kept in his possession in violation of the law after his first administration, even supposedly destroying security camera footage taken at Mar-a-Lago that showed boxes of those documents being moved. Now, the president has fired the U.S. archivist, replacing a professional academic with Marco Rubio, despite his duties as secretary of state.

His outright refusal to keep a record of his administration’s activities is also reflected in his insistence that the records of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fall under the Presidential Records Act, which applies to the records of the president and vice president, and which comes with the guarantee that they can be withheld from the public for up to 12 years after he leaves office. The Act also allows for the disposal of records, pending the approval of the national archivist.

In a further example of denying information as a form of politics, Trump’s Office of Professional Management ordered the removal of gender-related content from its websites (as well as the erasure of gender-identifying pronouns from e-mail signatures and an end to all gender-related programs and grants). This led to the removal of pages from the Census.gov website, as well as from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and military websites, and the replacement of the acronym LGBTQ+ with LGB. Under court order, some of these webpages have been put back up, even if with this defiant note:

“Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it.”

In other words, the Trump administration’s claims of legitimacy for its purge of information remain strong. The legacy of state-sanctioned secrecy and a parallel burying of the record, inextricably tied to the post-9/11 era, has already found a secure footing in the second Trump presidency.

Undermining the Courts and the Law

Time and again in the war on terror, the Department of Justice and the courts deferred to the federal government in the name of national security. As a 2021 Brennan Center report noted, national security deference was apparent in decisions not to hear cases due to “states secret” claims, as well as in decisions that prioritized over civil-liberties guarantees and human-rights considerations what government lawyers argued were the constitutionally granted powers of the president in national security matters.

Under Trump, the second time around, it’s already clear that there’s going to be a full-scale assault on the legitimacy of the legal system. Witness the administration’s attacks on judges whose decisions have gotten in the way of his agenda. When a judge ordered the restoration of public health data that had been removed from government websites, he was summarily castigated by Elon Musk as “evil” and someone who “must be fired.” Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has already moved to squelch independent decision-making by immigration court judges, threatening them with nothing short of dismissal should they rule against the president’s prerogatives.

Then there are the attacks on law firms that have opposed Trump. Recently, for instance, security clearances were removed for lawyers at the law firms of Perkins Coie, which represented Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the 2016 election, and Covington Burleigh, which represented Jack Smith, who investigated Trump in the Biden years. Lawyers from those firms were also banned from federal buildings. And don’t forget the all-out attempt to go after officials who investigated and prosecuted January 6th cases.

The idea of an independent Justice Department has been severely damaged, with the promise of so much more to come.

Evading Accountability

More often than not, the significant transformations of law and policy that grew out of the response to 9/11 were relegated to the pages of history with little or no accountability. The Senate, under Senator Diane Feinstein’s leadership, did produce a report on the CIA’s use of torture. It detailed despicable acts of cruelty and ultimately concluded that such techniques, decreed to be legal by the Department of Justice, were “not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees.” And immediately upon taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama issued an executive order officially ending the use of torture. But he was decidedly against holding any officials accountable for what had occurred, preferring, as he so memorably put it, to “look forward, not backward.” In addition, Obama refused to call torture a “crime,” labeling it a mistake instead.

Today, in more mundane matters, the distaste for accountability has been institutionalized throughout the government. In his first term in office, Donald Trump dismissed or replaced five inspectors general, officials assigned to departments throughout the executive branch of government to monitor waste, abuse, and fraud. Almost immediately upon taking office this time around, he dismissed “roughly 17” of them. For the moment, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which, from its creation, never included an inspector-general position, is now under review by the Department of Treasury’s inspector general.

Trump’s aversion to accountability clearly reflects a desire to protect his own efforts to totally control executive policy. It should, however, also serve as a striking reminder of the aversion to accountability that followed the legalization and uses of torture in the post-9/11 years, the fabricated decision to go to war in Iraq, the mass surveillance of Americans in that era, and so much more. All of this set in place a grim template for the second Trump era — the notion that no one is ultimately accountable for abusing the law when their actions have been ordered (or simply approved) by the president.

Lessons (Un)learned

Given the magnitude of the most recent antidemocratic actions by Donald Trump and his team, blaming them on the slippery slope created during the war on terror years may seem like a distinct overreach. Yet, given the dangerous excesses we’re now witnessing, it’s worth remembering just how vulnerable the loss of certain norms of legality and accountability in those years left this country — and how sadly little we seem to have learned from that era.

Racism, a lack of deference for the courts, the failure to hold individuals and organizations accountable for informally rewriting the nation’s laws, the pervasive embrace of secrecy, and an unwillingness to erect strict guardrails to prevent the future manipulation of both laws and norms — all those realities of the war on terror years created a distinctly undemocratic template, however different in scale, for this Trumpian moment of ours. An unwillingness to be accountable or to circumvent secrecy during the war on terror led the country straight into today’s quagmire.

Today’s horrific moment should, in fact, be considered — to return to that word of mine one last time — a true perversification of past misdeeds, made all too possible by a failure in the post-9/11 years to take measures to prevent their recurrence.

This piece first appeared on TomDispatch.

The post The War on Terror Comes Home in the Trump Era appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Karen J. Greenberg.

A key member of the pro-democracy Vietnam Restoration Movement, Thuan was arrested in March 2017 on charges of “conducting propaganda against the state. In early 2018, he was later sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of probation.

On Feb. 22, 2025, he was released, eight days earlier than scheduled.

After his release, Thuan said he had been hospitalized for treatment of serious health problems. During that time, local police came to install two surveillance cameras in the home where he lives with his 95-year-old fatehr and 80-year-old stepmother.

One camera is in the entrance by the door, and other one is in the living room, he said, providing photos to RFA Vietnamese. They have been operating for about a week, he said.

RFA has not been able to verify Thuan’s allegations with local authorities.

“While I was in a coma and unconscious at Thai Binh Provincial Hospital, they forced my parents to let them install cameras,” Thuan said. “My father was paralyzed and could not move, and my stepmother objected, but they still ignored it.”

(Vu Quang Thuan)

“I feel very indignant about this issue,” he said. “No law allows such human rights violations.”

Under the probation order, Thuan cannot leave the Thai Thuy district in Thai Binh province without permission.

He also said that the installation of surveillance cameras was an escalation by local police in invading his privacy, as the police had previously searched his home without a warrant.

“About 10 days after I was released from prison, the Commune Police Chief called me out to talk, but when I arrived at the station, I was detained by nearly 10 police officers, and then they sent people to search my house without a warrant,” Thuan said.

Faced with the actions of the police and local authorities, Thuan said he felt like he was dealing with “gangsters” rather than law enforcement agencies.

Former political prisoners are usually placed under house arrest by local authorities after their release, and are required to report to police headquarters once a month.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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

We speak with the acclaimed Russian American writer M. Gessen, who says Donald Trump has entered his second term prepared to enact his radical Project 2025 agenda, including a crackdown on LGBTQ rights and dissent. Gessen, who has spent decades writing about authoritarianism at home and abroad, argues that while he was something of an “accidental president” in his first term, “Trump has been transformed by power” and is now increasingly “imperialist” and “totalitarian.”

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

Ongoing wars and conflict around the world expose how international law and norms can be co-opted. With the US pulling out again from the Paris Climate Agreement, and other international commitments, this volatility is magnified.

And with the intensifying US-China rivalry in the Pacific posing the real risk of a new “arms race”, the picture becomes unmistakable: the international global order is rapidly shifting and eroding, and the stability of the multilateral system is increasingly at risk.

In this turbulent landscape, the Pacific must move beyond mere narratives such as the “Blue Pacific” and take bold steps toward establishing a set of rules that govern and protect the Blue Pacific Continent against outside forces.

• WATCH: The authors discuss this issue at an ANU Department of Pacific Affairs seminar on 5 March 2025
• Other Pacific geopolitics reports

If not, the region risks being submerged by rising geopolitical tides, the existential threat of climate change and external power projections.

For years, the US and its allies have framed the Pacific within the “Indo-Pacific” strategic construct — primarily aimed at maintaining US primacy and containing a rising and more ambitious China. This frame shapes how nations in alignment with the US have chosen to interpret and apply the rules-based order.

On the other side, while China has touted its support for a “rules-based international order”, it has sought to reshape that system to reflect its own interests and its aspirations for a multipolar world, as seen in recent years through international organisations and institutions.

In addition, the Taiwan issue has framed how China sets its rules of engagement with Pacific nations — a diplomatic redline that has created tension among Pacific nations, contradicting their long-held “friends to all, enemies to none” foreign policy preference, as evidenced by recent diplomatic controversies at regional meetings.

Confusing and divisive
For Pacific nations these framings are confusing and divisive — they all sound the same but underneath the surface are contradictory values and foreign policy positions.

For centuries, external powers have framed the Pacific in ways that advance their strategic interests. Today, the Pacific faces similar challenges, as superpowers compete for influence — securitising and militarising the region according to their ambitions through a host of bilateral agreements. This frame does not always prioritise Pacific concerns.

Rather it portrays the Pacific as a theatre for the “great game” — a theatre which subsequently determines how the Pacific is ordered, through particular value-sets, processes, institutions and agreements that are put in place by the key actors in this so-called game.

But the Pacific has its own story to tell, rooted in its “lived realities” and its historical, cultural and oceanic identity. This is reflected in the Blue Pacific narrative — a vision that unites Pacific nations through shared values and long-term goals, encapsulated in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

The Pacific has a proud history of crafting rules to protect its interests — whether through the Rarotonga Treaty for a nuclear-free zone, leading the charge for the Paris Climate Agreement or advocating for SDG 14 on oceans. Today, the Pacific continues to pursue “rules-based” climate initiatives (such as the Pacific Resilience Facility), maritime boundaries delimitation, support for the 2021 and 2023 Forum Leaders’ Declarations on the Permanency of Maritime Boundaries and the Continuation of Statehood in the face of sea level rise, climate litigation through the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and a host of other rules-based regional environmental, economic and social initiatives.

However, these efforts often exist in isolation, lacking a cohesive framework to bring them all together, and to maximise their strategic impact and leverage. Now must be the time to build on these successes and create an integrated, long-term, visionary, Pacific-centric “rules-based order”.

This could start by looking to consolidate existing Pacific rules: exploring opportunities to take forward the rules through concepts like the Ocean of Peace currently being developed by the Pacific Islands Forum, and expanding subsequently to include something like a “code of conduct” for how Pacific nations should interact with one another and with outside powers.

Responding as united bloc
This would enable them to respond more effectively and operate as a united bloc, in contrast to the bilateral approach preferred by many partners.

Over time this rules-based approach could be expanded to include other areas — such as the ongoing protection and preservation of the ocean, inclusive of deep-sea mining; the maintenance of regional peace and security, including in relation to the peaceful resolution of conflict and demilitarisation; and movement towards greater economic, labour and trade integration.

Such an order would not only provide stability within the Pacific but also contribute to shaping global norms. It would serve as a counterbalance to external strategic frames that look to define the rules that ought to be applied in the Pacific, while asserting the position of the Pacific nations in global conversations.

This is not about diminishing Pacific sovereignty but about enhancing it — ensuring that the region’s interests are safeguarded amid the geopolitical manoeuvring of external powers, and the growing wariness in and of US foreign policy.

The Pacific’s geopolitical challenges are mounting, driven by climate change, shifting global power dynamics and rising tensions between superpowers. But a collective, rules-based approach offers a pathway forward.

Cohesive set of standards
By building on existing frameworks and creating a cohesive set of standards, the Pacific can assert its autonomy, protect its environment and ensure a stable future in an increasingly uncertain world.

The time to act is now, as Pacific nations are increasingly being courted, and before it is too late. This implies though that Pacific nations have honest discussions with each other, and with Australia and New Zealand, about their differences and about the existing challenges to Pacific regionalism and how it can be strengthened.

By integrating regional arrangements and agreements into a more comprehensive framework, Pacific nations can strengthen their collective bargaining power on the global stage — while in the long-term putting in place rules that would over time become a critical part of customary international law.

Importantly, this rules-based approach must be guided by Pacific values, ensuring that the region’s unique cultural, environmental and strategic interests are preserved for future generations.

Sione Tekiteki is a senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology. He previously served at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in three positions over nine years, most recently as director, governance and engagement. Joel Nilon is currently senior Pacific fellow at the Pacific Security College at the Australian National University. He previously served at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat for nine years as policy adviser.  The article was written in close consultation with Professor Transform Aqorau, vice-chancellor of Solomon Islands National University. Republished from DevBlog with permission.

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

Image by Justin Cron.

Trump’s Exaggerated Opportunity

Donald Trump’s embrace of “America First” represents a dramatic U-turn from the liberal internationalism that Democratic and Republican presidents alike adopted as a foreign policy framework. Free trade and economic globalization, active participation in international organizations, security coalitions, support of human rights and international law—these were standard US positions.

“National security,” in short, was a bipartisan enterprise, though too often a justification for foreign crusades. Trump has never felt bound by these positions; to him, they impose obligations—too costly, too limiting, and not very effective.

Better to have a self-interested foreign policy that uses American power to persuade or punish those who get in our way. He operates on a non-traditional cost-benefit calculus—zero-sum, in short. His first few months in office make that apparent: his tariff wars, his resetting of relations with Russia, his evisceration of USAID, and his withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization and the Paris Accord.

In the March-April issue of Foreign Affairs, two analysts acknowledge the potentially serious flaws in Trump’s America First foreign policy but suggest that he has the opportunity to use it to serve America and the world. Hal Brands writes that Trump has no interest in international order and does not value alliances. “Yet,” he writes, “Trump intuitively understands something that many liberal internationalists forget: order flows from power and can hardly be preserved without it.”

Thus: “If Trump can harness his most constructive impulses, he has a chance to pressure adversaries, coax more out of allies, and reinforce resistance to the Eurasian [meaning Russian, Chinese, North Korean, and Iranian] assault.”

Michael Kimmage has a similar idea: “A combination of workmanlike U.S. relations with Beijing and Moscow, a nimble approach to diplomacy in Washington, and a bit of strategic luck . . . [to] produce a better status quo.” That agenda would translate into a reduction in the fighting in Ukraine, détente with Iran, and greater flexibility with Russia and China in search of areas of agreement.

Destructive Impulses

But therein lies the problem: What constructive impulses? What flexible diplomacy? Even as these articles were being published, Trump was acting in ways contrary to these authors’ policy ideas.

Trump wasn’t pressuring the Russians or searching for common ground, he was talking like a Kremlin propagandist. He wasn’t coaxing NATO and the European Union, he was badgering them and causing a crisis in relations that will surely spread mistrust of US security commitments in Asia and elsewhere.

Trump was also threatening to return to regime change in Iran and a full-out trade war with China. And as for relying more on US power, which Brands proposes needs to be backed by “a major military buildup,” Trump is increasing the military budget in nuclear weapon modernization and border control, neither of which has much relevance to real security needs.

With help from Elon Musk, Trump has authorized steps that are hurting military morale and weakening its capabilities, such as removing top officers in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, barring trans soldiers, and reducing Pentagon personnel. There is every expectation that a number of US bases abroad will be closed down.

Trump’s resort to his most destructive impulses in foreign affairs is only part of the problem. The other part, which Brands and Kimmage barely mention, is his destructive actions at home, which are key to implementing America First abroad. Unless Trump can clean house and get rid of all the sources of opposition, in line with the aims of Project 2025, he will not be able to sustain his foreign policy revisionism.

Trump’s Aims, and His Potential Undoing

Since returning to the White House, Trump has been bent on dismantling the “deep state” and expanding executive power, in keeping with the recommendations of Project 2025. The required attention to domestic affairs probably accounts for his bringing in Elon Musk to do the dirty work of improving government “efficiency,” which has turned out to mean a purge that would make any authoritarian leader envious.

Trump has issued 80 executive orders and Musk’s edicts have so far removed numerous Biden- and Obama-era appointees, reduced or eliminated agencies hostile to his agenda (such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Protection Bureau), and forced the resignations of all officials who had investigated his January 6, 2021 attempt to cancel the election results.

The aim of Trump’s domestic agenda is clear: make the presidency all-powerful while diminishing the influence of Congress and slashing the bureaucracy’s personnel and capacity; ride roughshod over the Constitution and federal regulations when the impinge on presidential authority; ensure that wealth and political power always drifts upward while liberals and progressives are marginalized; assert firm control over social media; use the law, especially as interpreted by the conservative majority in the Supreme Court, to narrow voting rights and other potential sources of opposition; and ensure that his agenda will be carried out by people who above all are absolutely loyal to him.

Unless Trump can shift all power to himself, however, and retain the absolute loyalty of subordinates, I don’t believe he will be able to accomplish a transformation of foreign policy and national security. Specifically, his adoption of the Kremlin line on foreign affairs will not have popular support.

He will not be able to make the US a nonparticipant in NATO, or weaken alliances with Japan and South Korea, or even conduct a trade war with China. He’ll be thwarted at every turn, not by his own appointees as in his first term, but by some Republicans in the Senate, international business leaders, people in the intelligence community, and others who voted for Trump but who also value stability and predictability in US foreign policy.

The post The Destructiveness of “America First” Begins at Home appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Mel Gurtov.

Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat responds to the arrest of Columbia University student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and situates it in the long, bipartisan history of anti-Palestine suppression of free speech. “It was the Biden administration, it was the Democratic establishment, that has created the conditions that we are now seeing taken advantage of,” she says of Khalil’s targeting by the Trump administration for deportation. Erakat calls for continued resistance and study of U.S. imperialism and Zionism in the face of racist repression. “This is the precise moment we should be studying Palestine in order to understand ourselves and what’s coming and our responsibility in the world as an imperial power.”

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

The soldier, identified as Ri, was among an estimated 12,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia’s Kursk region to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of the area in August. Neither Russia nor North Korea has acknowledged their presence.

“I really want to go to South Korea,” said Ri, during an interview released by South Korean lawmaker Yoo Yong-won, who recently visited Ukraine.

“If I go to Korea, will I be able to live the way I want, according to the rights I hope for? Having a home and a family,” Ri asked Yoo.

“I’m from North Korea and also a prisoner. Would that make it too difficult for me to have a family?”

Yoo said that Ri had sustained a gunshot wound to the jaw so severe that it impaired his ability to speak clearly. He added that Ri asked whether he could undergo another operation on his jaw upon arriving in the South.

Another North Korean soldier, identified as Baek who was captured alongside Ri, told Yoo that he was still deciding whether he wanted to defect to the South.

“Just in case I cannot return home … I feel like I can decide soon … I will keep thinking about it,” said Baek.

(Yoo Yong-won)

When asked whether North Korean soldiers would choose to commit suicide if about to be captured by Ukrainian forces, Baek said he witnessed it many times and thought about doing it to himself when he was wounded and collapsed.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in December that the U.S. had reports of North Korean soldiers taking their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they were captured.

“There’s no official training in the military instructing us to do so, but soldiers believe that being captured by the enemy is a betrayal of the homeland, so they make that decision on their own,” Baek explained.

Yoo said captured North Korean soldiers should not be forced to return to their homeland.

“I urge our diplomatic authorities to do everything in their power to prevent the tragic forced repatriation of North Korean soldiers captured as prisoners of war in Ukraine,” said Yoo.

“Sending them back to North Korea would essentially be a death sentence. They are constitutionally recognized as citizens of South Korea so that must be protected.”

South Korea’s foreign ministry reaffirmed on Wednesday that it would accept Ri and Baek if they chose to defect to the South.

“We will provide the necessary protection and support in accordance with the fundamental principle and relevant laws that ensure the acceptance of all individuals requesting to go to South Korea,” said a ministry spokesperson, adding that it would work with the Ukrainian authorities.

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Yoo’s interview with North Korean soldiers came amid reports that the North was preparing to send more troops to Russia despite increasing casualties.

South Korea’s main spy agency confirmed last week that North Korea had deployed more troops to Russia amid casualties, with media reports estimating the number at more than 1,000.

Ukraine said earlier that about 4,000 North Korean troops in Russia had been killed or wounded, with its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimating that an additional 20,000 to 25,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to Russia.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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

Dec. 21, 2022

Forced to flee her Magway village in southeast Myanmar during a junta attack, Theingi Soe spent a “terrible” month living in makeshift shelters in the jungle during the rainy season. In her misery, she began to plot another escape – to a life in a country beyond the conflict.

An acquaintance put her in touch with a hiring agent in Yangon who promised work in Dubai. She paid 1 million kyats (U.S. $476) upfront to be connected to a family in need of domestic help, bought her own plane ticket, and arrived in her new home on Dec. 26, 2021, nervous but hopeful she would find a measure of stability among the city’s gleaming high rises and shining shopping malls.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Nayrein Kyaw and Gemunu Amarasinghe.

A person originally from Myanmar told Radio Free Asia that some are doing this because they were having difficulties extending their passports through the embassy. Others decided they wanted to avoid paying taxes to the junta, which took over Myanmar in a coup four years ago, ousting the country’s democratically elected government.

Additionally, some said they did not want to return to Myanmar because the junta is aggressively conscripting people to fight the civil war against a patchwork of factions opposed to military rule.

(Roslan Rahman/AFP)

According to the embassy’s announcement, those who renounced their citizenship must return their Myanmar national ID cards and passports to the embassy by Feb. 28.

The former Myanmar citizens are mostly educated professionals.

In order to gain citizenship, they have to have been living in the city state as permanent residents for two or three years.

Permanent residency is only available to those who earn 3,000 Singapore dollars (US$2,200) per month.

‘Bad political situation’

The uptick in naturalization is directly related to military rule in Myanmar, a worker in Singapore told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“In the past, those who were living as permanent residents had the intention to return home and did not apply for Singapore citizenship,” the worker said. “But now that there is a bad political situation (in Myanmar), they are not willing to return any more.”

The junta’s push to conscript more and more Myanmar citizens, is also encouraging people to switch, the first source said.

A person who returned to Myanmar after acquiring permanent residency status in Singapore told RFA that many are switching because they see Myanmar has many problems.

“If our country was as safe as Singapore in terms of security, economy, and healthcare services, none of our citizens wants to live in another country,” the third source said.

RFA tried to contact those who were recently granted Singaporean citizenship, but for security reasons, none wanted to speak on record.

(Roslan Rahman/AFP)

According to Singapore’s Ministry of Human Resources and Empowerment, over 200,000 Myanmar citizens live in the country.

Meanwhile, an individual who lived in Japan for over 13 years told RFA that he now regrets his decision to return to Myanmar permanently. He returned when the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi was in power.

“(At that time,) returnees came from Singapore, Bangkok, and Japan, believing they could finally build a better future at home,” he said. “But all their hopes were dashed after the military coup, and some who had renounced their foreign citizenship to return to Myanmar now deeply regret their decision.”

He said that these days, “nearly everyone” is trying to leave Myanmar as the situation worsens.

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

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

Hong Kong’s bookstores once drew Chinese-language bibliophiles from far and wide in pursuit of some of the city’s most off-beat, salacious and politically radical writings, coupled with cute or alternative takes on art and culture.

But even before the 2020 National Security Law ushered in a crackdown on public criticism of the authorities, the Chinese government had been positioning itself to take control of the city’s main publishing imprints and bookstore chains, squeezing out dozens of independent stores as it did so.

As the political crackdown gathered momentum, libraries also made lists of books likely to run afoul of the new law, and pulled them from the shelves.

But Taiwan’s libraries now stock tens of thousands of banned books, possibly driven in part by demand from Hong Kongers living in exile there.

A recent search of the library catalog by RFA Cantonese, and interviews with experts, suggest that democratic Taiwan continues to act as a protective outlet for Hong Kong’s Cantonese culture, despite the ongoing crackdown.

A catalog search of the National Taiwan Library, Taipei City Library and Academia Sinica Library for 144 books that have been removed from libraries in Hong Kong, according to local media reports, found that 107 of the titles is now available in one of these libraries.

Among the banned titles on offer are We Were Chosen by the Times and Every Umbrella, compilations of interviews with non-prominent participants in the 2014 Umbrella Movement for fully democratic elections, now removed from the Hong Kong Central Library.

Farewell to Cynicism: the Crisis of Liberalism in Hong Kong, Parallel Space and Time I : An International Perspective Based on Locality, and Hong Kong, a Restless Homeland, a history of the city from a local perspective, once-lauded titles freely available in Hong Kong, have also found new homes in Taiwan, the catalog showed.

Readers can also choose among 17 business-related titles penned by jailed pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, now stocked at the National Taiwan Library, Taipei City Library and Academia Sinica Library.

The Taipei City Library also houses the most extensive collection of books about the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the 2019 Hong Kong protests and the Umbrella Movement.

Public demand

Hong Kong historian Eric Tsui told RFA Cantonese he was surprised to see some of his banned books on the shelves of libraries in Taiwan.

“The fact that you can find these books in public libraries in Taiwan, suggests that the Taiwanese public cares about Hong Kong, and that public libraries are stocking these books due to public demand,” Tsui said.

Taipei City Library Director Hung Shih-chang said the library has added an average of 1,500 to 2,000 Hong Kong publications a year in recent years.

(RFA)

“Hong Kong books are mainly obtained through exchange and donations, particularly donations,” Hung told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview.

Public demand and purchases are definitely also a factor.

“If the public requests Hong Kong publications that aren’t available in Taiwan, we will purchase them,” Hung said. “There may be people who have moved from Hong Kong to Taipei in recent years who want to read some books published in Hong Kong, so they may make some recommendations, and then the numbers go up a bit.”

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“One of the most important purposes of a public library is to provide information to our readers freely and to ensure fair access to all kinds of information,” he said, adding that censorship in democratic Taiwan is “very unlikely” to happen.

“We will try our best to meet the needs of diverse interests in the collection and provision of library materials.”

In this case, a service that was once provided to Hong Kongers in their own city has effectively moved offshore.

Promoting national thought

“The mission of every national public library should be to collect all the works of local citizens and become a resource for national thought, so that citizens of a place can share [ideas] with each other,” Tsui said.

“Now, because of the China factor, you are afraid of offending China and deprive Hong Kongers of their public property,” he said.

Taiwanese sociologist Jieh-min Wu said Taiwan still has memories of its recent, authoritarian past.

“A lot of books were banned during the authoritarian period [here], just as they are in Hong Kong today,” Wu said.

“Libraries removed books from the shelves, but they didn’t have a list of banned books. They just quietly removed them.”

“From my research perspective, Hong Kong is going through a similar period to martial law [in Taiwan, which ended in July 1987]; a time where there are very strict controls on political topics,” Wu told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview.

He said pro-democracy organizations in exile played an important role in “preserving information and then transmitting it back” home during the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo.

Taiwan began a transition to democracy following the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo, in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of the island’s president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996.

While China insists on eventual “unification” with Taiwan -- by armed invasion if necessary -- the majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people have no wish to give up their democratic way of life to submit to Communist Party rule.

China has threatened the death penalty for supporters of Taiwan independence, while Taipei says Beijing has no jurisdiction over the actions of its citizens.

A recent public opinion poll from the Institute for National Defense and Security Research showed that 67.8% of respondents were willing to fight to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Eugene Whong

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

Many are taking to the older, slower “green trains,” rather than those on the country’s formidable high-speed rail network, as social media users traded money-saving tips ahead of China’s biggest annual festival.

Many of the high-speed trains are noticeably empty, with people piling onto slower trains in search of cheaper tickets, residents told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.

“This is the carriage during the Spring Festival travel rush this year,” user @Guangzhou_photographer said in a social media post with a video clip. “Where is everyone?”

Chinese state media describe the rush as “the world’s largest annual human migration,” and the authorities are expecting some 9 billion trips over the 40-day travel period, which includes the Lunar New Year on Jan. 29 and the subsequent public holiday that ends Feb. 22.

“More electric car owners and foreign tourists are expected to join the annual travel frenzy, traditionally featuring millions of migrant workers and others living far from their hometowns who head back to reunite with family and celebrate China’s most important festival,” state news agency Xinhua reported on Jan. 14.

“Are people not going home ... this year, or are you all walking or jogging home instead?” they said, using the official government name for the Lunar New Year celebration.

(ADEK BERRY/AFP)

A resident of the southern city of Guangzhou who gave only the surname Hu for fear of reprisals said that he and a lot of his friends are sticking to the older, slower “green train” network this year, as high-speed rail tickets are several times the price of regular trains.

“It takes nine hours to get from Guangzhou to Changsha on the green train, for just 100 yuan (US$13) or a little more,” Hu said. “The high-speed rail would cost nearly 400 yuan (US$55), which is three or four times the cost of the green train.”

“There are a lot more people taking green trains this year than in previous years, and they are packed out with people and luggage in the aisles and the space by the doors, a lot of people using the toilets,” he said.

He said that despite the flagging economy leaving many struggling financially, the government has slashed the number of green trains in recent years, making them even more crowded.

‘You have to tighten your belt’

While China’s state media continues to pump out positive stories of economic recovery, many ordinary people in China are struggling to get by, and those who speak out about the situation are quickly silenced.

Last month, censors took down a speech that went viral from economist Dong Shanwen, who warned that youth unemployment was tanking the economy, and that official growth figures had hugely underestimated the problem.

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“You can really tell that the economy’s not doing well,” Hu said, adding that people are cutting back on traditional gifts and “red envelopes” containing cash that are often handed out to younger members of the family.

“People are going out less and spending less, and not giving out so many red envelopes,” he said.

A Beijing resident who gave only the surname Huang for fear of reprisals said it’s nevertheless embarrassing to have to make such cuts to cash gifts.

“Chinese people care so much about face, and in the cities, you can’t just give out 20 yuan [in a red envelope],” he said. “You have to give 100 yuan at least.”

“I have to give red envelopes, despite the pain, because it’s a tradition, so I only give them to about 10 people now, which is within my budget,” he said. “You have to tighten your belt if you’re making less.”

(STR/AFP)

He said the mood on the streets of Beijing is noticeably less cheerful than in previous years.

“There are noticeably fewer people on the streets,” he said. “A lot of people I know are complaining how hard it is to make money, and nobody is saying that business is good.”

“Some people have no money ... and some are relying on their savings to get by.”

‘A civilized and rational Lunar New Year’

Current affairs commentator Ji Feng said the government has been calling on departments and state-owned enterprises to curb lavish spending on festivities this year, which in turn has hit revenues at major food and drink manufacturers.

“No one is buying Moutai this year,” Ji said, in a reference to China’s most famous fiery spirit. “The price has dropped to 2,000 yuan (US$275) [a bottle].”

“A friend of mine who owns a distillery said business isn’t good this year, with not many customers, whereas it used to be overcrowded around Lunar New Year,” he said.

He said government directives to “spend a civilized and rational Lunar New Year” was an indicator of the economic hardship faced by many in China, including cash-strapped local governments.

“There’s no money, so we should spend less, but they have to find a high-sounding reason,” Ji said.

“We’re not poor, but we should celebrate New Year like revolutionaries,” he quipped.

(JADE GAO/AFP)

Economic commentator Si Ling said the state media continues to sing the praises of China’s “economic recovery,” however.

“But actually, the Chinese government is well aware that the pockets of ... the working classes and migrant workers, who make up 70% of China’s population, just aren’t very full this year,” Si said.

“They try to guide public opinion by issuing directives warning against excessive consumption, but the subtext is that nobody has any money,” he said.

At the end of last year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs ordered cash-strapped governments at every level to issue one-off payouts to the nation’s poorest people over the New Year holiday.

All local governments are required to identify the poorest families, including those who hadn’t met previous criteria for needing state assistance, state media reported.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Joshua Lipes.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chen Zifei.

Celebration time. Some Palestinian prisoners have been released. A mother reunited with her daughter. A young mother reunited with her babies.

Still in prison are people who never received a fair trial, people that independent inquirers say are wrongly imprisoned. Still in prison kids who cursed soldiers who walked into their villages wielding guns.

Still imprisoned far too many Palestinians who threw stones against bullets. Still imprisoned thousands of Palestinian hostages.

• READ MORE: Israel kills 10 in West Bank raid as 120 bodies found under Gaza’s rubble
• Gaza and the Western media – complicit in genocide
• Other Israel’s war on Gaza reports

Many of us never knew how many hostages had been stolen, hauled into jails by Israel before 7 October 2023. We only heard the one-sided story of that day. The day when an offence force on a border was taken by surprise and when it panicked and blasted and bombed.

When that army guarding the occupation did more to lose lives than save lives.

Many never knew and perhaps never will know how many of the Palestinians who were kidnapped before and after that day had been beaten and tortured, including with the torture of rape.

We do know many have been murdered. We do know that some released from prison died soon after. We do not know how many more Palestinians will be taken hostage and imprisoned behind the prison no reporter is allowed to photograph.

Israelis boast over prison crime
The only clue to what happens inside is that Israelis have boasted this crime on national television. The clue is that Israeli soldiers have been tried for raping their own colleagues.

Make no mistake, this is a mean misogynist mercantile army. No sensible rational caring person would wish to serve in it.

No mother on any side of this conflict should lose her child. No father should bury his daughter or son. No grandparent should grieve over the loss of a life that should outlive them.

The crimes need to be exposed. All of them. Our media filters the truth. It does not provide a fair or full story. If you want that switch for pity’s sake go to Al Jazeera English.

When Radio New Zealand reports that people who fled are returning to Gaza it should report the full truth and not redact any part of the statement.

The Palestinian people were forced to flee their homes in Gaza. Those who were never responsible for any crime were bombed out of their homes, they fled as their families were murdered, burned to death, shot by snipers. They fled while soldiers mocked their dead children.

They return home to ashes. If we want peace we must face the truths that create conflict. We are all connected in peace and war and peace.

Peace is the strongest greeting. It sears the heart and soars the soul.

It can only be achieved when we recognise and stop the anguish that causes oppression.

Saige England is a freelance journalist and author living in the Aotearoa New Zealand city of Ōtautahi.

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

Verified X handle Amitabh Chaudhary (@MithilaWaala), which shares misinformation and communal propaganda on a regular basis, shared the video calling it an act of ‘Food Jihad’. “When will Hindus realise , we are all kaafir to them, our caste , state , language or political ideology don’t make any difference… !!,” the user wrote.

DISGUSTING

Maid Farida Khatoon was caught on camera mixing her URINE in fruit juice before serving it to her Hindu house owner.

The house owner is allegedly a Samajwadi Party leader.

When will Hindus realise , we are all kaafir to them, our caste , state , language or… pic.twitter.com/WMUy87zrgV

— Amitabh Chaudhary (@MithilaWaala) January 19, 2025

Another verified X handle, @RealBababanaras, which identifies itself as pro-Right, shared the video with the same claim and urged Hindus, whom he sarcastically called ‘Kafirs’, to choose house helps ‘carefully’. The tweet was later deleted. (Archive)

Several other X users amplified the video with similar claims. Some claimed that the incident occurred at a Hindu household while others claimed that it happened at a Samajwadi Party leader’s house. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Fact Check

Upon a reverse image search of one of the keyframes of the viral video, we were led to a 2016 publication of the same video on the Spanish website El Mundo. Below is a screenshot of the translated webpage.

Upon a reverse image search on another keyframe from the video, we found a Daily Mail article on April 26, 2016, containing the same video. Daily Mail reported that the video showed the “disgusting moment a maid pours her own urine in her boss’s juice”. The article stated that the incident happened in Kuwait and cited local reports while saying that the head of household revealed his shock when watching the footage and sent a message of warning for other local people to be cautious of the behaviour of their maids.

Indian media outlet OneIndia had also published the same video in 2016. This report also states that the incident occurred in Kuwait.

It can thus be conclusively stated that the incident of the woman mixing urine with juice is not from India. It is a nine-year-old video from Kuwait.

The post Old video from Kuwait falsely shared as Muslim maid mixing urine into juice at SP leader’s home appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

Thousands were killed, and more than 740,000 people fled into Bangladesh, the latest and largest wave of Rohingya refugees to settle in cramped camps across the border in Cox’s Bazar.

Five years later, with little prospect of being repatriated, Rohingya people share cherished memories of their lives back home. Although Rohingya have long been a marginalized group in Myanmar lacking citizens’ rights, they reminisce about the abundance, community, food, gardens, livestock, leisure and work they once enjoyed. Their memories are re-created here through reporting, illustration, animation and music.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Benar News & RFA.

The spotlight

There I was: teetering on the top of a ladder with my headlamp and a sampling vial, ready to brave the bats, cockroaches, and spiders in the attic of my family’s Florida home, in search of an even smaller — and infinitely more mysterious — lifeform. I knew up here, somewhere in the dusty bowels of our home, was a condensation line for the heating and cooling system. And where there’s moisture, there’s bacteria. Could this innocuous household appliance yield a tiny biological marvel with quirks that could help humans fight climate change?

Recently, scientists have been searching for such “extremophiles,” which are microorganisms that have evolved unique traits to match the extreme environments that they grow in. In places with plentiful carbon dioxide, for example, some microorganisms might have evolved the ability to eat it, which might make them useful tools in cleaning up our atmosphere and other polluted environments.

A sample that came from my family’s dishwasher. Sachi Kitajima Mulkey / Grist

When we think of extreme environments, our minds might go to deserts or volcanoes or deep ocean trenches. And researchers have discovered extremophiles in places like those — including Chonkus, a cyanobacteria with a voracious appetite for carbon dioxide recently found in volcanic vents off the coast of Sicily. But extremes can also exist closer to home.

The human home has long been a place thought to be so ecologically mundane that science has largely ignored it, leaving the majority of the tiny life forms that live with us unstudied. But in our perfectly controlled environments, home appliances — like dishwashers — create conditions that are relatively rare in nature. There are potentially tens of thousands of microbes in these spaces left to be discovered, and many could prove useful.

The Two Frontiers Project, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to microbial exploration and the same group that found Chonkus, is trying to fill this gap. A new citizen science project, Extremophiles: In Your Home, invites volunteers to look for unusual growth of bacteria and algae — what we might commonly think of as slime or gunk — in their houses and send samples in for the scientists to test for unique carbon-capture abilities.

“Most of what we could know about the home we don’t know. We have just not historically studied the home in the way that we would study other places,” said Rob Dunn, a microbiologist who has dedicated his career to studying the small species embedded in our daily lives. In 2019, The Guardian called him the “David Attenborough of the domestic sphere.”

According to Dunn, this knowledge gap began when early ecologists decided to focus on studying a natural world defined by the absence of people. Although research of human environments has been increasing in recent decades, “it’s still true that we know more about warblers than human pathogens,” he said. When scientists have studied household bacteria, food, and insects, he said, it has often been in an effort to sterilize the environment — not understand it ecologically.

“Hundreds of millions, if not a billion cells, fit in a space this small,” said James Henriksen, holding up his fingers, boxed into the size of a quarter. Henriksen is a microbiologist at Colorado State University and co-founder of the Two Frontiers Project. It’s helpful to remember that “an entire ecosystem is occurring in these little bits of slime,” he added.

Take Thermus aquaticus, a bacteria whose enzymes helped unlock modern genetic sequencing technology, and became essential in COVID-19 PCR tests. The bacteria was originally found in the thermal pits of Yellowstone National Park — but could have been just as readily, and perhaps more easily, found in household hot-water heaters, Henriksen and Dunn told me, if anyone had thought to look.

Braden Tierney, a microbiologist and another co-founder of the Two Frontiers Project, calls microbes “nature’s alchemists,” thanks to their billions of genes that come with different functions tailored for survival in their environment. If there’s an abundant molecule — like carbon dioxide — a microbe will have evolved to eat it, Tierney explained during a presentation to the participants of the extremophiles citizen science project. And if a microbe can eat CO2, it can potentially be used to help suck up the carbon dioxide humans are pumping into the Earth’s atmosphere, thereby helping to mitigate warming. According to Tierney, microbial life is already responsible for fixing, or storing away, a significant portion of the carbon in the atmosphere.

“That means there are naturally evolved microbial mechanisms out there that are really, really good at cleaning up the environment,” he said. According to the World Economic Forum, microbial carbon capture is one of the world’s top emerging technologies, although it’s still in early stages of research and development.

After signing up on the website for the extremophiles project, participants are prompted to take photos of “slime, crusty mats, stringy growth,” in their homes, particularly in places that have extreme hot-cold cycles. Some recommended hunting grounds include washing machines, refrigerator drip lines, hot-water heaters, solar panels, and showerheads. Henriksen is especially interested in a substance called “pan pudding” that accumulates in the drip trays under air-conditioning units. And while microbes are everywhere, he said, growths that are visible to the naked eye are more likely to have genetic properties that researchers can put to use. Around 35 observations have been uploaded to the project so far by citizen scientists, and over 80 members have signed up.

If the researchers see something promisingly unusual, they’ll mail the volunteer a testing kit with empty sample tubes, gloves, and a scraper, and a prepaid envelope to send it back. Then, the researchers test the DNA of the sample, and the results will be added to an open-source database of microbes. By cataloguing the diversity of these tiny life forms, the hope is that some may one day become useful for human endeavors — like tackling greenhouse gas emissions, or cleaning up pollution.

It was with this hope that I scooped up the gloppy film in my dishwasher, the flaky gunk at the bottom of my rain barrel, and the speckled water from the air-conditioning pipes in my attic, and sent the microscopic ecosystems of my home off to a lab for testing.

The sampling kit that arrived at my home after I uploaded photos of the grime in my surroundings. Sachi Kitajima Mulkey / Grist

But even observations that don’t end up being sampled fill in important gaps of scientific understanding, Henriksen said.

Dunn agrees. “It’s amazing, people are seeing totally different things in their homes in different places,” he said. And even if the citizen science data isn’t as standardized as research done in a lab, “it’s still the best data we have,” he said. Dunn’s lab in North Carolina runs citizen science projects too, such as a survey on the microbiomes in showerheads, armpits, and sourdough bread, with the goal of “engaging as many people as possible” in the discovery of daily life.

“We simply can’t do this kind of broad survey without the help of a larger community,” said Sarah Newman, manager of the extremophiles citizen science project and director of operations at CitSci.org, where the project is hosted. “It’s giving people a place to be a part of science where there wasn’t one in the past.”

And in a way, we’ve already all been participating. “Our houses are actually a very strange environment, if you think about it. Right under our noses, we’ve been contributing to centuries-long experiments of setting up these strange places,” said Henriksen.

It may be weeks or months until I hear back from the Two Frontiers team about the sample I sent in — the precise lab work required to identify genetically distinct organisms takes time. But perhaps lurking in the guts of my Florida home, or in some chunky slime hiding in yours, could be the next single-celled ally in the fight against climate change.

— Sachi Kitajima Mulkey

More exposure

• Read: more about Chonkus, a recently-discovered cyanobacteria that earned its nickname for the way it hungrily gobbles up CO2 (Grist)
• Read: about another recent discovery that has deepened scientists’ understanding of marine bacteria’s ability to store certain types of carbon molecules in the depths of the ocean (The Cool Down)
• Read: more about the unique indoor microbiomes that we live with (The Conversation)
• Watch: another citizen science project in action — an effort to use moss as a sort of air pollution monitor in cities (Grist)

A parting shot

Another power of microorganisms is their ability to break down all kinds of materials — which makes them potentially useful for things like decontamination and waste processing. Here, biotechnologist Nadac Reales del Canto shows an experiment at a mining site in Antofagasta, Chile, in 2021. The extremophiles that Reales and her team were studying managed to eat a nail in just three days.

IMAGE CREDITS

Vision: Grist

Spotlight: Sachi Kitajima Mulkey / Grist

Parting shot: Martin Bernetti / AFP via Getty Images

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Scientists are looking for CO2-gobbling microbes in extreme environments — like your home on Jan 8, 2025.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Sachi Kitajima Mulkey.

We look at what we know about two deadly incidents that unfolded in the United States on New Year’s Day: a truck attack in New Orleans in which a driver killed at least 14 people before being shot dead by police, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, part of an apparent suicide. The FBI has identified the New Orleans suspect as 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who had posted videos to social media before the attack pledging allegiance to the Islamic State militant group. In the Las Vegas case, the driver was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado, an active-duty Army Green Beret, who is believed to have shot himself before the blast. Investigators say they have not found a link between the two incidents despite both men being connected to the military, but Army veteran and antiwar organizer Mike Prysner says “military service is now the number one predictor of becoming what is called a mass casualty offender, surpassing even mental health issues.” Prysner says the U.S. military depends on social problems like alienation and inequality in order to gain new recruits, then “spits them back out” in often worse shape, with people exposed to violence sometimes turning to extremism. “We have these deep-rooted problems in our society that give rise to these incidents of mass violence. Service members and veterans … can actually be a part of changing society and getting to the root of those issues and moving society forward,” he says, citing uniformed resistance to the Vietnam and Iraq wars as examples.

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

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ProPublica spent months investigating how a single underregulated toxic chemical — formaldehyde — creates an inescapable cancer risk for everyone in America. It’s in the air outside, at levels that fail to meet the public health goals set by the Environmental Protection Agency. And it’s in our homes, coming from our couches, our clothes and our babies’ cribs — sometimes at levels that can trigger breathing problems, allergic reactions and asthma.

We modeled pollution data and deployed our own air monitors to measure formaldehyde levels around us. We interviewed more than 50 experts and read thousands of pages of scientific studies and EPA records. During it all, we kept in mind the single question we knew readers would most want answered: How can I reduce my exposure?

The following are some common sources of the chemical and suggestions for reducing your risk, as informed by our reporting.

Be careful when buying new furniture. One of the most significant sources of formaldehyde in the home has traditionally been furniture made with composite wood that uses glues to bind strands, particles, fibers or boards together. The adhesives used in this type of furniture can contain formaldehyde, which goes through a process called off-gassing, where the chemical is released into the air over time. Federal regulators have set limits on how much of the chemical some composite woods can release. But those limits, set more than a decade ago, are still well above the level that EPA scientists recently established to protect people from asthma, allergic reactions and other breathing problems.So, at the very least, you want to look at the item’s packaging for a label that shows it is compliant with the standards set under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The law covers goods made of hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard and particleboard. All products covered by the law must feature some sort of label saying they comply with TSCA, though the labels can look different from product to product. Compliance does not mean the item is formaldehyde free. It means the company is certifying that any formaldehyde emissions are at a low enough concentration to meet TSCA’s requirements. Some types of composite woods aren’t covered by the law, and while those are used mainly for structural projects, they can also be used to make furniture and shelving. So if you are unsure what type of composite wood a piece of furniture is made from, make sure to ask a salesperson or company representative before you purchase.

Another label you can look for is the California Air Resources Board Phase 2. That, too, doesn’t mean the furniture or flooring is free of formaldehyde, but that it adheres to the state’s emission standards, which are similar to the TSCA rules. Some manufacturers include this on their labels for goods sold in and outside of California. Two other labels to look for are “no-added formaldehyde” (NAF) or “ultra-low-emitting formaldehyde” (ULEF). Those mean the manufacturer’s product has gone through additional testing.

If you do buy furniture you suspect contains formaldehyde, environmental experts suggest you allow the item to air out for as long as one full week in a highly ventilated area, such as a garage, however impractical that may be. If that isn’t possible, leave the windows open near the furniture to improve ventilation. It can take as long as two years for items to release most of their formaldehyde, so buying secondhand could be better for your health as well as your wallet. Purchasing solid wood furniture, while expensive, is the best alternative when trying to avoid high levels of formaldehyde.

Inspect the ingredients in your personal care products. The European Union banned formaldehyde in cosmetics, but in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has yet to follow suit. Hair straighteners, particularly those marketed to Black women, have been found to contain formaldehyde. The chemical helps to form links with the amino acids in hair and, when heat is added, typically from a flat iron, the links are made stronger and the hair is straightened. But that heat can also turn formaldehyde into a gas and release it into the air.

When reading the ingredients labels, of course you should look for formaldehyde, but also watch out for formalin or methylene glycol, which are formaldehyde-related ingredients that release the chemical when heated. Those same three ingredients can also appear in nail care products. In nail hardeners, formaldehyde helps them bond to the keratin in nails. Also some nail polishes contain a toluenesulfonamide-formaldehyde resin that’s used to make the polish more resilient and adhere better to fingernails. That resin can release formaldehyde as it dries.

Flames mean formaldehyde. The chemical is a byproduct of combustion, so anytime there is a fire, there is formaldehyde. This is as true for huge forest blazes as it is for lit candles or burning cigarettes. In the home, fireplaces and gas stoves can be a significant source of formaldehyde.

ProPublica reporters learned this firsthand earlier this year when they took formaldehyde readings at various places around New York and New Jersey. One of the highest concentrations was measured during a dinner party where candles were burned and a gas stove was operating. Multiple studies have also documented increased formaldehyde exposure when smoking cigarettes and vaping. Those who smoke can reduce indoor formaldehyde levels by doing it outdoors, but they will still be breathing in the chemical themselves.

As is true whenever formaldehyde is present, ventilation is crucial. If possible, open windows and doors when candles, fireplaces or stoves are used. Make a habit of turning on the stove vent when you cook. And while it’s expensive, if you’re able to, consider replacing your gas stove with an electric stove, which generally produces less formaldehyde. Naturally you might ask: Do air purifiers help? Researchers are still investigating how well air purifiers reduce formaldehyde. One study suggested that some air purifiers could even create formaldehyde as a by-product. Scented air fresheners can also introduce formaldehyde into the air.

Sometimes formaldehyde is even in our clothes. Clothes that are designed to resist wrinkles or stains are more likely to contain the carcinogen. The chemical is used during the dyeing process and to help reduce shrinkage, mold growth and wrinkles. The use of formaldehyde in clothes can irritate skin conditions, such as eczema. But it’s often very difficult to tell whether clothing was made using the chemical. Labels generally won’t tell you. Clothes woven from natural fibers like linen, wool and cotton are less likely to have been made using formaldehyde than synthetic fabrics, like polyester. Washing all your new clothes before you wear them can help reduce your exposure. One recent study found formaldehyde in 20% of the cotton clothing researchers examined, but it was gone after the items had been washed.

Formaldehyde adhesives can be found in vehicle dashboards, seat coverings, flooring materials, carpeting, door trim, window sealant and armrests. And similar to furniture, the highest levels of formaldehyde are often found in new vehicles. To reduce your exposure to formaldehyde in cars, you should again rely on ventilation. On particularly hot days, you’ll want to allot time to roll down your car windows and allow the vehicle to air out. ProPublica found that not only do new cars contain levels of formaldehyde higher than the EPA calculated to protect people from breathing problems, allergic reactions or asthma symptoms, but cars as old as four years can continue to release potentially harmful levels of the chemical, particularly on hot days. Set your car’s air conditioner to allow outside air to circulate through the vehicle.

There is one throughline in all of the advice and research on reducing formaldehyde exposure indoors — ventilation. Opening windows and doors, turning on fans and ventilators, and leaving products in open spaces for long periods of time so they can release formaldehyde all allow the chemical to vent away from us. Formaldehyde’s ubiquity means there isn’t a way to absolutely wall ourselves off from it. But opening the window may be our cheapest and best course of action.

Sharon Lerner and Al Shaw contributed reporting.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Topher Sanders.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Labor has issued a ruling allowing it to call back overseas workers for military service and has made the employment agencies that send workers abroad responsible for bringing them back if ordered to, an agency told Radio Free Asia on Friday.

Since the military ousted a democratically elected government in a 2021 coup, many thousands of Myanmar people have moved abroad to escape a crumbling economy, violent turmoil and, since early this year, the threat of being drafted into the military as it struggles against anti-junta forces.

While many try their luck and head abroad in the hope of finding work, many others find work through employment agencies, filling jobs overseas through deals Myanmar has struck with other governments.

The military’s ministry issued a regulation this week ordering job agencies to take full responsibility for their workers’ military service, and only to issue new contracts stipulating that workers and their foreign employers must agree that employees can be called back to serve, a member of staff at a Yangon-based employment agency told RFA.

“Agencies have been given responsibility for their conscription. After we take that duty, the junta has a lot of ways of calling them back. It’s a lot of pressure,” said the agency employee who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

“If the workers we send are called back, then the trouble will start. If they don’t return, are we going to take action?” he said.

Under the regulation, workers would only be called back after two years, the agency source said, while expressing concern that the time rule could easily be ignored. RFA was not able to determine the reaction of foreign employers to the regulation.

RFA tried to call the junta’s labor minister, Nyan Win, to ask about the rule but he did not respond by the time of publication.

The junta enacted a conscription law in February, making men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve for up to three years, after various insurgent forces battling to end military rule went on the offensive and made significant advances.

The law triggered an exodus of young people to places like Thailand. Myanmar authorities have detained and forcibly recruited people being sent back to Myanmar and turned to prisoners and even minors to fill gaps in the ranks, according to witnesses and residents of some communities.

Struggling with a crippled economy, the junta has already ordered that Myanmar workers in Laos and Thailand make payments from their salaries to bolster foreign reserves and employment agencies risk having their licenses revoked if those remittances are not collected.

Military authorities have also announced strict action against anyone caught trying to dodge the draft, state-run media reported on Nov. 7.

Nationwide, there are 21,000 conscripts at 23 training schools, the independent research group Burma Affairs and Conflict Study said in a report on Oct. 15.

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Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff.

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

Authorities in the eastern Indian state of Manipur are warning thousands of Myanmar nationals who fled conflict in the Sagaing region that they have one month to return home, despite the ongoing threat of junta airstrikes that wiped out many of their villages.

Sagaing has seen some of the fiercest fighting between junta troops and the armed opposition since the military‘s February 2021 coup d’etat, which has forced around 5,000 residents of the region to seek shelter in neighboring India’s Manipur state.

Late last month, Manipur authorities met with the displaced in the state‘s Kamjong and Ukhrul districts, across the border from Sagaing region’s Tedim township, and told them they would have to return home in the coming weeks, one of the Myanmar refugees told RFA Burmese.

“It remains unclear what is happening in other districts [of Manipur],” said the refugee who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “The head of Kamjong district met with [the displaced] on Oct. 23 and told them to return home by Dec. 10. The [refugees] there are now preparing to go back.”

Of around 5,000 Myanmar war refugees in Manipur state, approximately 3,000 are sheltering in the two districts, according to aid workers.

Families with schoolchildren are allowed to stay until March 2025, when exams are over, they said.

Threats back home

While towns like Kham Pat and Myo Thit in Sagaing are now under the control of the armed opposition forces, many homes were destroyed in junta arson attacks and rebuilding will be tough, another displaced person told RFA.

“In the upper area of Sagaing, Nan Aung Maw village was completely burnt down, while all the houses in Su Thar Yar ward of Aung Zeya town were also destroyed,” he said. “The refugees from these areas are preparing to return home this month. They will have to build makeshift bamboo houses, and they will face difficulties.”

Those displaced from Sagaing’s Tamu township dare not return, as the area remains under the control of junta forces and allied Pyu Saw Htee militias, he added.

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An official from the Burma Refugee Committee in Sagaing’s Kabaw area who also declined to be named told RFA that the refugees were asked to return home “to prevent armed conflict at the border” and “address ethnic issues.”

“These Manipur districts have ties to Naga rebels [fighting for independence in India’s Nagaland], who entered Myanmar through the border with Tamu township to join junta troops in armed conflict,” he said.

“Some of them were killed or arrested [in Myanmar] ... So, the Manipur authorities might have decided to force Myanmar refugees to return home to prevent ethnic conflicts,” he added.

Attempts by RFA to contact the U.N. refugee agency, the Myanmar Embassy in India, and the Indian Embassy in Yangon for comment on the deadline set by Manipur authorities went unanswered Friday.

Porous shared border

India shares a 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) border with Myanmar along its far-eastern states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Junta attacks against ethnic minority insurgents and pro-democracy militias that emerged in the wake of Myanmar’s coup have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Chin state and neighboring Sagaing region, with thousands seeking refuge across the porous Indian border.

Among those who have slipped into India are supporters of those fighting to end military rule and they could be in grave danger if forced back into the arms of the junta, activists say.

Attempts by India to stem the flow of refugees from Myanmar have affected people on both sides of the border.

In August, people in western Sagaing region said their supplies of rice, cooking oil, salt, fuel and medicine were dwindling because of trade disruptions caused by Indian border gate closures.

Indian authorities cited the need to check the flow of illegal goods from Myanmar as the reason for the closures, but a diplomat at India’s Embassy in Yangon told RFA that the Indian government permits movement through designated border crossing points and any restrictions were likely imposed by Myanmar or local authorities.

India has also repatriated scores of junta troops who fled across the border to escape armed opposition offensives in recent months.

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

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

“CPJ is deeply alarmed by the British counter-terrorism police raid on journalist Asa Winstanley’s home and the disturbing pattern of weaponizing counter-terrorism laws against reporters,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “These actions have a chilling effect on journalism and public service reporting in the United Kingdom. Authorities must immediately end this practice and return all devices seized back to Winstanley. Instead of endangering the confidentiality of journalistic sources, authorities should implement safeguards to prevent the unlawful investigation of journalists and ensure they can do their work without interference.”

Officers with the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command arrived around 6 a.m. and served Winstanley, associate editor at The Electronic Intifada news site, with a warrant authorizing them to seize his electronic devices. The operation cited potential offenses under sections 1 (Encouragement of Terrorism) and 2 (Dissemination of Terrorist Publications) of the United Kingdom’s 2006 Terrorism Act, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Earlier in August, police detained freelance journalist Richard Medhurst for 24 hours on similar offense, searching and questioning him at Heathrow Airport, and seizing his electronic devices. He told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that he believes he was held due to his reporting on Palestinians. 

CPJ emailed the Metropolitan Police Service’s press department requesting comment on the raid but did not receive a reply.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He set off first for Romania, where he was told it was easier for Vietnamese nationals to get visas and find good-paying work. But once he arrived, he was shuffled through a series of manual labor jobs that paid just $500 — less than a third of what he had been promised. 

With living expenses and the bribes he had to pay each time he wanted to move jobs, after four years, he had barely even managed to earn back the nearly $7,000 he had borrowed from the bank to pay an agent to get to Romania in the first place. 

“Around that time I got a call from a group of smugglers saying they could take me to the United Kingdom,” the 39-year-old recounted to Radio Free Asia through a translator in early September. 

“I was scared but after another group of migrants went with them and made it, I thought it was safe and so I agreed to go as well.” 

Cuong spent a week crammed in the back of different vans and sleeping in warehouses where all there was to eat was one loaf of bread between 20 people. By the time the group arrived at their “destination” – a coastline along the English Channel – Cuong was so disoriented he didn't even know what country he was in.

This is how he found himself, on an evening in June 2023, watching as “at least 60 people” were loaded into a glorified dinghy. 

“The whole time I was praying to God that I would survive, I was so frightened. I kept thinking ‘this boat is too heavy, I won’t make it’,” he said.

“I decided that I would never do anything like this again. If anyone ever asked me to travel like that in the future I would say no.”

Cuong’s circumstances didn’t improve much once he got to dry land. He was again in debt, owing more than $26,000 to the smugglers for the trip. He struck a deal whereby he would work at a cannabis farm to pay it back, but was fired this year and left homeless, unemployed, and with less money in his pocket than when he had first left Vietnam.

Even still, Cuong counts himself lucky. “At least I’m still alive,” he told RFA from London where he has been living since he lost his job.

The same cannot be said for everyone who has attempted the journey. 

The same year Cuong left Vietnam, 39 Vietnamese set out for the UK. On the evening of October 22, 2019, the group climbed into the back of a refrigerated truck in Belgium and headed toward Essex, a county on the UK’s southeastern coast. Twelve hours later, they had all died of suffocation and hypothermia. 

The incident – at the time the UK’s worst migrant tragedy in over two decades – sent shockwaves around the world. But it hasn’t stopped those in Vietnam from moving abroad to seek better opportunities. Whether they travel by sea or by land, in the years since, thousands of people like Cuong have continued to gamble their lives – and their savings – with corrupt brokers looking to profit off the desperate and vulnerable. 

In August and September, RFA traveled to Vietnam, the UK and Canada to speak with migrants and trafficking victims, and their families, as well as researchers and support organizations to understand why so many people continue to leave Vietnam, what the process really entails and what happens to those who finally make it abroad.

The push factors

Many of those leaving Vietnam hail from Nghe An, the country’s largest province, and neighboring Ha Tinh. Of the 39 victims in the Essex incident, almost all were from those provinces. 

Nghe An holds great significance in the country’s history. Ho Chi Minh, the revered leader of Vietnam’s fight for independence and the country’s first president and first prime minister, was born in a small town in Kim Lien commune, 15 kilometers west of the provincial capital Vinh. 

But its legacy has done little to protect the province from becoming one of the country’s poorest. There are not enough jobs to support the population of 3.3 million, so people “want to move abroad to earn more money,” according to Mau, an electrical engineer from Nghe An who runs the over 44,000 member information-sharing group on Facebook called ‘Người Nghệ An’, or People of Nghe An.

Farming – the primary source of income for most residents – is a constant challenge as a result of the province’s famously volatile weather. “When it’s hot, it’s very hot. When it rains, there is lots of rain, which also causes flooding,” explained Mau. These extremes are expected to worsen in the next 20 years due to climate change and rising temperatures.

Jobs outside the agricultural sector are few, with the handful of factories that have been established in rural areas insufficient to match the labor supply, especially as the population continues to grow.

The average monthly income per capita in Nghe An in 2022 was 3.639 million VND (around $150) – over 1 million VND less than the national average. The income from salaries and wages alone, which pertain to formal types of employment, was even lower at only 1.758 million VND per month (around $71).

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Beyond these, political oppression creates another reason to leave.

On paper, certain rights and freedoms are enshrined in the country’s constitution; in practice the government maintains a tight grip on power by blocking access to information, restricting civil spaces, and limiting all political opposition.

These circumstances played a part in Cuong’s decision to leave Vietnam. 

A few years before he went to Romania, Cuong took part in a protest against a foreign manufacturing conglomerate responsible for a chemical spill that killed millions of fish and stripped local communities of jobs without compensation— one of Vietnam’s largest public demonstrations in recent years. 

At least 41 activists who took part in the protests were put in prison; 31 remain behind bars today. Cuong told RFA that as he was leaving the protest, he was followed by police officers in plainclothes. While he never had any direct run-in with the authorities afterwards, the experience planted a paranoia in him that he couldn’t shake. 

“I felt that they were keeping an eye on me all the time, which made me scared to leave my house, even to work and earn money,” he told RFA. 

Making the move

Residents of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces who spoke to RFA described three ways that most people tend to move abroad. The first, is through government programs, which are largely carried out through over 500 licensed labor export agencies that arrange recruitment, immigration, travel and work placement for Vietnamese going abroad.

Vietnam’s government has long been in favor of exporting labor, repeatedly encouraging its citizens to work overseas to improve “the quality of the nations' workforce” and promote “international integration”. 

In 2023, 160,000 Vietnamese nationals traveled abroad via government-sponsored programs, an increase from the 142,000 that went abroad in 2022. Most of these programs placed workers in East Asia, with more than 90 percent going to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea last year. 

But Vietnam doesn’t have labor contracts with most countries in Europe and North America, where many wish to go because they believe they can earn more money. These prospective migrants often left relying on private agencies, rather than government schemes, like the one that Cuong used. These agencies are not legal entities in Vietnam, but people pay them to guide them through legal migration channels by securing legitimate visas and employment. 

Even with these independent companies, prospective migrants can encounter roadblocks in terms of language or other skills that fail to qualify them for a visa. In these cases there is only one option left and that is to go abroad illegally with nothing but a tourist visa or no visa at all through schemes often orchestrated by smugglers and human trafficking rings.

Regardless of the method, the primary motivation for leaving is to earn more money that can be sent home to support their families. In 2023, recorded remittances in Vietnam totaled $14 billion – over three percent of the country’s GDP – and is expected to reach $15 billion next year, according to the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development, or Knomad, a platform that tracks migration patterns. 

The only country to exceed Vietnam in Southeast Asia is the Philippines, which also sees a high rate of outward migration every year. In both countries, 40 to 60 percent of exported labor end up in the United States and the United Kingdom, where salaries are higher, according to Knomad. 

Billionaire’s Village

Do Thanh, located just north of Vinh in Nghe An, is one Vietnamese commune that has seen countless numbers of its residents go off to work in North America and Europe — through both legal and illegal pathways.

Dubbed “Billionaire’s Village,” the town has been transformed in recent years due to the generous remittances sent home by loved ones abroad. When RFA visited in mid-August, the streets were lined with large gold-plated gates wrapping around recently-renovated, multi-story homes.

“In this town, every family has at least one member who has gone abroad to work,” said Ninh, a long-term resident. He and others who spoke to RFA for this story asked that only their first name or a pseudonym be used due to the sensitivity around migration in Vietnam.

A smiley man in his 50s, Ninh has embraced his hometown’s reputation. Four of his five children have already gone to work in construction and at nail salons in Canada and in Europe, and when RFA spoke with Ninh, his youngest, who had recently turned 20, was preparing to fly to Canada to work on a farm. 

To send them abroad, Ninh worked with a private agency that took care of visa applications, travel arrangements and sorted out employment abroad. He told RFA that his children traveled legally, each with two-year work visas.

They’re paid significantly more than what they would get in Vietnam, though well below minimum wage by Western standards.

“If my children stayed in Vietnam they would only be able to do manual work where they wouldn’t get paid much,” Ninh explained, stopping to take a puff from his pipe. 

“The way I see it they may as well go abroad where they can do the same work but get paid more.” 

Gambling life savings

While the incentive to leave is high, sending a loved one abroad requires months of planning and a huge financial investment on the part of the entire family.

Ninh paid $30,000 to send each of his children abroad – more than 200 times the average monthly income in Nghe An. To pull together this kind of money, he had to take out numerous bank loans, mortgage his home and borrow from friends and family. Each time his children sent home remittances – a couple thousand dollars a month each – it was put aside to help fund the next child’s travels.

Only now that his youngest is leaving will they have enough money to start paying off their debt, but it will take a long time, he said.

Hong, a food vendor who lives in Do Thanh, also paid $30,000 for her son to move to Canada. 

She told RFA that he had made most of the arrangements and all she knew was that the money had gone to a “Canada-based company that helps prospective Vietnamese migrants.” But similar to Ninh, the cost took an enormous toll on her family.

“We had to mortgage our house, but this only covered around 70 percent of the payment, so the rest of the money we had to borrow from family,” Hong explained. 

While Ninh said that he worked with an independent agent and his children all traveled abroad legally, he noted that it was difficult at first to tell the corrupt agents from the clean ones.

“I was very afraid that I would become victim to a scam. We were paying so much money and had made so many sacrifices to get that money, and only one out 10 of these cases are successful,” said Ninh.

He had good reason to be afraid. Last year, Vietnam’s Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs found increasing amounts of fraud among companies posing as legitimate labor export agencies. Some are in it for the cash, swindling prospective migrants out of their life savings,   

but others are part of a much more insidious network of forced labor scams that send vulnerable workers to cyber scam compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar.

A recent report from the United States Institute of Peace found that Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces were “trafficking hot spots” for scam compounds and casinos that have become prevalent in those countries.

Minh, a young photographer from Vinh, avoided being trafficked but was scammed out of his savings. He had been struggling to find work in Vietnam when he heard about a husband and wife team based in Nghe An who he thought were offering legitimate services to help people move to Canada, he told RFA. 

“At the time, I had only heard success stories of people moving abroad and making lots of money so I didn’t think I had any reason to be scared,” he said.

He paid the couple an upfront fee of 90 million VND ($3,650). But after a year, he still hadn’t heard back.

“They told me that my ‘supporting documents’ were not sufficient, but I’m pretty sure they never even submitted my application. They just took my money and did nothing,” he said.

He had put most of his savings toward the deposit, he said. With limited work available for him in Vietnam, it took him more than a year to make it back.

The agents

While working with agents brings a level of risk, they are an integral part of the labor export market. 

Both legal and illegal agencies are often based in, or have affiliates in, areas that see high rates of outward migration. In Thien Loc, a commune in northeastern Ha Tinh province where many have migrated out of in recent years, several agencies are known to have helped workers travel to Hungary and then elsewhere in Europe. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most would fly to Russia first.

Ha, a young salon owner in Thien Loc, told RFA that this was how her husband first left home back in 2018.

“My husband first flew to Russia with a tourist visa. Then he was driven overland to Germany where he worked in a restaurant that hires undocumented workers,” explained Ha, speaking to RFA through a translator from her salon in mid-August. 

“He wanted to stay in Germany but he couldn’t get a visa, so he went to France, but he faced the same problem, so he moved again to the UK where he’s hoping he’ll be able to stay long term.” 

Ha doesn’t know the specifics of her husband’s circumstances, only that he managed to find work at a nail salon and has applied to stay in the UK long-term. 

“He’s become an even better manicurist than me now,” she joked, before a solemn look came back over her face and her eyes filled with tears. 

She and her husband speak on the phone when they can and he has sent home remittances from his work abroad, but the distance and not knowing when they will be reunited has been hard on her and her children.

“It’s been six years since I’ve seen him and I don’t know when I’ll see him next,” she said. 

But Ha was grateful that her husband is safe, especially when other families in Can Loc district have sent loved ones and never seen them again. 

Nguyen Thi Phong and her husband, who are from Nghen, a town neighboring Thien Loc, became one of these families when their daughter Pham Thi Tra My, then 26, ended up in the back of the infamous Essex lorry.

Eager to go to the UK, Tra My had sought out a local agent for help. While her family helped pull together the $40,000 in travel expenses and agent fees, Tra My had handled most of the planning herself.

“She made all the arrangements and as a result we didn’t know much about the process until after the fact,” her mother, Nguyen Thi Phong, told RFA in mid-August.

From Vietnam, Tra My first traveled to China, where she spent several days, then on to France and finally to Belgium where she boarded the truck to Essex.

Tra My was the one to sound the alarms about the situation inside the lorry. The evening before the bodies were found she sent her parents a text. “I’m sorry Dad and Mom. The way I went overseas was not successful. Mom, I love Dad and you so much. I’m dying because I can’t breathe,” the message read. But it was too late. The truck was found the following day and everyone inside was already dead.

“At least thanks to that message they were able to find the bodies and eventually return them home to us,” Thi Phong said.

Twenty-nine people in the UK and France have been convicted in connection to the horrific incident, and some of the agencies, including the one that Tra My used, have been closed, her mother said.

But the long-term impact in Vietnam has been minimal.

Nga, a teacher from Do Thanh, explained that while the incident was shocking, it didn’t put a stop to the mass exodus the way that many may have thought.

“People were a little scared, but they are still so eager to go abroad. They know it is risky, especially those who go abroad illegally, but they are desperate so they continue to take the risk,” said Nga. 

The only deterrent in recent years has come from restrictions imposed by countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that these have been lifted, migration has once again spiked.

Between January and April, the UK recorded 1,060 small boats carrying Vietnamese nationals across the English Channel to its shore – the highest among all nationalities and almost as many as the total recorded in all of 2023. Thousands more Vietnamese have also continued to travel to other countries in Europe as well as Asia and North America. 

“The economy is not good, there are not many jobs. People see all the successful cases and keep choosing to go abroad but I hope that they will remember what happened to my daughter and stop taking the risk,” said Thi Phong.

Alone and isolated

The first time Quan Tranh, a coordinator at the Community of Refugees from Vietnam, or CRV, in London, found Cuong, he was sleeping outside his office.

Tranh found Cuong a room at a hotel run by the UK’s Home Office and has been assisting him in filing an official asylum claim.

The UK’s Modern Slavery Act, passed in 2015, has made it easier for victims of human trafficking to seek asylum, but many, like Cuong, don't know this and end up falling victim to scams that see refugees pay as much as $17,000 to have a so-called “storyteller” manufacture an asylum narrative that they claim will pass muster with the authorities. 

Already in debt from paying agents for their travels from Vietnam, migrants are often coerced into cobbling together yet another huge lump sum of cash to pay these storytellers. 

Then, it’s another long wait. While the UK government claims that each application will be processed in six months, Tranh said that it usually takes closer to three years. If they want to claim residency afterwards, it’s another five to 10 years. 

In the United States, it’s a similar story. An American immigration lawyer who previously spoke to RFA explained that migrants could have up to nine years of legal residence as their case is processed. In Canada, another popular destination, it usually takes three to four years for asylum claims to be processed and several more years to receive residency, according to Le, who works at the Vietnamese community center in Canada. 

In response to the high number of migrants, the UK and Vietnam signed an agreement in April, committing to increase intelligence sharing, better facilitate the return of those with “no right to remain in the UK” and promote legal migration routes. 

While it’s too soon to see much of an impact from the agreement, Tranh suspects it will result in a higher rate of deportation back to Vietnam. However, when it comes to addressing the root causes of the mass exodus, residents of Nghe An and Ha Tinh told RFA that not enough is being done – most of the government’s efforts remain focused on encouraging overseas migration rather than boosting the local economy. 

Requests for comment to national labor officials and government departments in Ha Tinh and Nghe An were not answered by press time. Local officials have announced plans to boost development and the economy, most recently with an effort to improve education and job opportunities by 2030. But even if such a policy succeeded, it would take years to see its impact on the ground. 

Meanwhile, for many migrants, returning to Vietnam remains an impossibility.

“When I first left Vietnam, I had to borrow money from the bank to pay the agent, which I haven’t been able to pay back while I’ve been abroad,” said Cuong. “If I go back to Vietnam before I pay them back, I am scared they will report me to the police.”

Cuong no longer feels he has any option but to ride out the long wait for his asylum claim in the UK with the hope that his application will be approved and he will find work soon. 

“I wish I had never come to Europe the way that I did with corrupt agents that cheated me,” he said. “If I had known that everything would turn out like this, I wouldn’t do it again.”

Edited by Abby Seiff and Boer Deng. 

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Allegra Mendelson for RFA Investigative.

The new restriction comes amid the junta’s recent enactment of a draft to shore up troop shortages amid losses to rebel armies that oppose the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat.

The draft has prompted thousands of draft-eligible men and women to join armed opposition groups or flee the country.

“It seems that the junta is forcing young people to return home … and we’ll have to do so if our passports expire,” he said. “Otherwise, we’d need to change from an ED visa to another visa type.”

The young man who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said he believes the new restrictions will prompt more Myanmar nationals to stay on in Thailand illegally.

“It’s very difficult and risky for us to renew our passports in Myanmar,” he said.

At least 3,700 Myanmar nationals are currently studying in Thailand, Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education said.

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According to the junta statement, Myanmar nationals who are attending undergraduate and postgraduate programs at universities can continue to apply for a special “Passport for Education,” or PE, that would allow them to remain in the country legally.

Sacrificing most valuable resource

Aung Kyaw, a labor advocate in Thailand, agreed that the new restriction will prompt more Myanmar nationals to stay in the country illegally.

"Myanmar’s young people are the country’s most valuable resource and they have suffered many disadvantages due to the junta's actions that have prevented them from developing their knowledge and skills,” he said. 

“If they can’t renew their passports, they can’t live in Thailand legally, but they will likely do so to escape the danger of the junta's conscription law.”

Attempts by RFA to contact the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok for further detail on its statement went unanswered, as did attempts to reach junta spokesperson Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun.

Ne Phone Latt, the spokesperson for the shadow National Unity Government’s Prime Minister's Office, said that the junta is doing whatever it can, including sacrificing the lives of young people, to maintain its grip on power.

"It appears that they are targeting the middle class, rather than the working class,” he said. “The junta has blocked young people from going abroad for educational purposes or overseas employment, and is forcing them to return home through any means possible.”

Some advocates for Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand have urged them to apply for residency in the country before their passports expire, saying it’s the only way they can avoid new restrictions by the junta.

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

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

Aaron Leathley, a reporter for the Central California daily newspaper The Stockton Record, was visited at her Stockton home on Aug. 30, 2024, by San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who questioned her about a court document she had reported on months earlier.

In November 2023, sheriff’s deputies searched the home of Stockton Unified School District board president AngelAnn Flores and the school board’s headquarters. Later that month, Leathley reported on various details from the search warrant, a copy of which the paper had obtained from the San Joaquin County Superior Court — including that deputies had searched Flores’ home and vehicles, questioned Flores and seized her phones, iPad and laptop to investigate her alleged misuse of a school district credit card, witness intimidation and other misconduct.

A day after the article published, the Record reported, a public information officer for the court emailed Leathley to tell her that the warrant had been released accidentally and ask her “to prevent any further dissemination of this document by copying, sharing, or using it for further publication.” The sheriff’s office also said at the time that the warrant should not have been released, according to the Record.

Flores was charged in May 2024 with making fraudulent insurance claims, embezzlement and theft of school district funds and pleaded not guilty. The criminal case against her is ongoing.

On Aug. 30, two sheriff’s deputies who identified themselves as members of the Agriculture, Gangs, and Narcotics Enforcement team under the sheriff’s Special Services Division arrived at Leathley’s door. One claimed that Leathley had been emailed a “cease-and-desist” about the warrant, according to the Record, and told her, “We just want to know what happened.” Leathley said it was unclear whether this was a reference to the warrant or the alleged cease-and-desist letter.

The Record reported that it has no records of a cease-and-desist letter and Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Lavine told the paper he wasn’t aware of one. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office would not confirm to the paper whether it had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Leathley.

Freedom of the Press Foundation Director of Advocacy Seth Stern condemned the deputies’ “shenanigans,” saying, “Officials should never intimidate a journalist for possessing lawfully obtained records, whether through court cases or house calls.” The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project of FPF.

When asked for an explanation of the deputies’ actions, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s department told the Tracker, “Because this is an ongoing investigation, I can’t answer those questions.”

Leathley did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker.

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

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

Candi Miller’s health was so fragile, doctors warned having another baby could kill her.

“They said it was going to be more painful and her body may not be able to withstand it,” her sister, Turiya Tomlin-Randall, told ProPublica.

But when the mother of three realized she had unintentionally gotten pregnant in the fall of 2022, Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy.

Why should I trust your reporting? I (Kavitha Surana) am a reporter that has been covering reproductive health care access since Roe v. Wade was overturned. I’ve spoken with doctors, community workers and patients across the country about how abortion bans have made pregnancy more dangerous in America, and I’ve written about the Republican lawmakers who refused to listen.

If you want to get in touch and learn more about how I work, email me. I take your privacy very seriously.

At 41, Miller had lupus, diabetes and hypertension and didn’t want to wait until the situation became dire. So she avoided doctors and navigated an abortion on her own — a path many health experts feared would increase risks when women in America lost the constitutional right to obtain legal, medically supervised abortions.

Miller ordered abortion pills online, but she did not expel all the fetal tissue and would need a dilation and curettage procedure to clear it from her uterus and stave off sepsis, a grave and painful infection. In many states, this care, known as a D&C, is routine for both abortions and miscarriages. In Georgia, performing it had recently been made a felony, with few exceptions.

Her teenage son watched her suffer for days after she took the pills, bedridden and moaning. In the early hours of Nov. 12, 2022, her husband found her unresponsive in bed, her 3-year-old daughter at her side.

An autopsy found unexpelled fetal tissue, confirming that the abortion had not fully completed. It also found a lethal combination of painkillers, including the dangerous opioid fentanyl. Miller had no history of drug use, the medical records state; her family has no idea how she obtained them or what was going through her mind — whether she was trying to quell the pain, complete the abortion or end her life. A medical examiner was unable to determine the manner of death.

Her family later told a coroner she hadn’t visited a doctor “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.”

When a state committee of experts in maternal health, including 10 doctors, reviewed her case this year at the end of August, they immediately decided it was “preventable” and blamed the state’s abortion ban, according to members who spoke to ProPublica on the condition of anonymity.

They came to that conclusion after weighing the entire chain of events, from Miller’s underlying health conditions, to her decision to manage her abortion alone, to her reticence to seek medical care. “The fact that she felt that she had to make these decisions, that she didn’t have adequate choices here in Georgia, we felt that definitely influenced her case,” one committee member told ProPublica. “She’s absolutely responding to this legislation.”

This is the second preventable death related to abortion bans that ProPublica is reporting this week. Amber Thurman, 28, languished in a suburban Atlanta hospital for 20 hours before doctors performed a D&C to treat sepsis that resulted from an incomplete abortion. It was too late. “This young mother should be alive, raising her son and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” Vice President Kamala Harris said of Thurman on Tuesday. “This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down.”

There are almost certainly other deaths related to abortion access. Georgia’s committee, tasked with examining pregnancy-related deaths to improve maternal health, has only reviewed cases through fall 2022. Such a lag is common in these committees, which are set up in each state; most others have not even gotten that far.

The details of their reviews are not shared with the public, but ProPublica obtained the Georgia committee’s summary report of Miller’s death. ProPublica also reviewed death records and Miller’s autopsy and spoke to her family.

Her case adds to mounting evidence that exceptions to abortion bans do not, as billed, protect the “life of the mother.” Harrowing stories about denied care have been at the center of the upcoming presidential election, during which the right to abortion is on the ballot in 10 states. ProPublica’s new reporting makes clear, for the first time, that in the wake of bans, women are losing their lives in ways that experts have deemed preventable.

It also underscores the reality that abortion bans have not actually led to a decrease in abortions. But for people like Miller, they have increased the degree of difficulty and risk.

Miller grew up in Alabama and spent most of her adulthood in Atlanta, where she made a living braiding hair and doing nails. She had a soft spot for stray cats, nurtured a garden and was known to break into dance at the sound of old school funk like the Commodores. At 4 foot 9, she was a “firecracker,” her family said — quick to stand up for those she loved. That included her three kids, who range in age from 5 to 16.

But about eight years ago, she was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks healthy tissue, her sister said. Symptoms include extreme fatigue; painful, swollen joints; heart complications; and kidney disease.

Miller experienced flare-ups of debilitating pain for which she had to seek radiation treatments. She often wasn’t able to stand for long periods and her hair fell out. It distressed her how often doctors dismissed her pain; she grew to doubt they could give her help when she needed it.

Soon after she was diagnosed, she suffered a major depressive episode, Tomlin-Randall said. For months, she barely left her bed. Tomlin-Randall cared for her sister’s children during that time.

There is no cure for lupus, but patients can manage symptoms with a mixture of drugs and therapies; 90% of those afflicted are women, and the condition is three times more common in Black women than white.

Miller also had diabetes and hypertension. Those conditions, layered on top of her lupus, can be dangerously exacerbated by pregnancy and are highly unpredictable, during both the pregnancy and the aftermath, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Patients with those conditions are also more likely to have a pregnancy that ends in miscarriage or premature birth and are more likely to need a cesarean section, a major surgery that is especially hard for patients with diabetes to recover from.

With support, some patients can remain stable and have healthy pregnancies, though the experience can be physically taxing and painful. In the worst cases, pregnancy with lupus can lead to high blood pressure that can quickly progress to seizures, kidney and liver dysfunction and, ultimately, death. Studies have found the maternal death rate for women with lupus is 20-fold higher than for those without lupus. The chance of relapses and flare-ups are also high in the postpartum period.

Each patient’s situation is different and needs careful evaluation of their particular health risks, including discussion of the option to end the pregnancy, said Dr. Sarah Horvath, an OB-GYN representing ACOG.

Politicians who support abortion bans often point to their exceptions, which they say protect “the life of the mother.” During last week’s debate, former President Donald Trump called them “very important.”

But the anti-abortion groups that drafted the bans wrote the exceptions to be as narrow as possible and persuaded lawmakers to impose steep criminal penalties, fearing doctors might stretch definitions to create loopholes.

The exceptions are limited to acute emergencies, usually defined as when “necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.” They also specifically prohibit mental health reasons from counting as health emergencies, even if a pregnant woman says she is thinking about harming herself. In Georgia, violating the law can cost doctors their license and subject them to prison terms of up to 10 years.

The laws typically don’t include any leeway for intervening earlier to treat patients with broader health risks that could make pregnancy more dangerous, such as lupus.

ProPublica surveyed dozens of doctors in nine states with abortion bans. None of their hospitals approve abortions for women with high-risk complications like lupus or diabetes unless the patient is already deteriorating and the issue is urgent.

Horvath regularly sees patients with complications from those conditions in Pennsylvania because they can’t get care in their own state. Often, the delay in figuring out where to go means their pregnancy is further along — and, as a result, their conditions have become more dangerous. They show up to outpatient clinics already displaying signs of trouble, Horvath said, and immediately have to be sent to the hospital where there’s an operating room and a blood bank.

It often takes time for patients and their providers to coordinate care in other states because there is so much confusion about the laws.

“People who are really suffering in these pregnancies really don’t know where to go,” Horvath said. “Or if they even can.”

Miller’s third pregnancy was difficult and she never fully recovered, Tomlin-Randall said.

When Miller learned she was pregnant again in 2022, she ordered abortion pills for about $80 from a website called AidAccess, according to her 16-year-old son, Christian Cardenas.

The organization, based in the Netherlands, is devoted to expanding abortion access to places where it is not legal. Patients contact a doctor in Europe who sends them pills from a supplier in India. According to one researcher, Aid Access serves about 7,000 patients a month in the U.S., nearly 90% of them in states with abortion bans or severe restrictions. Its founder, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, said it was clear the abortion pill did not cause her death.

The committee also did not believe Miller’s death was caused by the abortion medication. Her autopsy found extremely high doses of diphenhydramine (the main ingredient in Benadryl) and acetaminophen (what’s found in Tylenol) in Miller’s system, along with the fentanyl. Considering the quantity of drugs and the timing of her death, the committee also did not suspect the abortion pills themselves were in any way tainted.

Self-managing abortions at home has skyrocketed since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, because of access to pills that can be ordered online, researchers say.

Major studies, the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization have found abortion pills to be more than 90% effective when taken correctly and in the first trimester. Deaths due to abortion pills are exceedingly rare. Complications can develop if some fetal tissue remains in the uterus, where it can lead to sepsis, a grave infection. Patients are supposed to follow up with a doctor to make sure the abortion has fully completed and go to the hospital if bleeding heavily or exhibiting other symptoms.

Miller’s family does not know how far along her pregnancy was when she took the abortion pills.

But soon enough, she was in excruciating pain.

And that’s how she remained, for days, until she took the potent drug mixture. Her family doesn’t know what she was thinking when she did it, but can’t fathom that she would want to end her life; she was excited about the future and drawing closer to her church, her sister Tomlin-Randall said.

“She was trying to terminate the pregnancy, not terminate herself,” she said.

It was significant to the state maternal mortality review committee that Miller did not feel she could seek medical care.

Although Georgia courts have said women can’t be prosecuted for getting abortions, the state has sent mixed messages. While some state bans explicitly say women can’t be prosecuted, Georgia’s ban leaves open that possibility. In 2019, a district attorney on the outskirts of metro Atlanta called abortion “murder” and said women “should prepare for the chance that they could be criminally prosecuted for having an abortion.”

That was the understanding in Miller’s family.

“If you get caught trying to do anything to get rid of the baby,” her son Christian told ProPublica, “you get jail time for that.”

Cassandra Jaramillo contributed reporting. Mariam Elba, Jeff Ernsthausen and Kirsten Berg contributed research.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Kavitha Surana.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

Candi Miller’s health was so fragile, doctors warned having another baby could kill her.

“They said it was going to be more painful and her body may not be able to withstand it,” her sister, Turiya Tomlin-Randall, told ProPublica.

But when the mother of three realized she had unintentionally gotten pregnant in the fall of 2022, Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy.

Why should I trust your reporting? I (Kavitha Surana) am a reporter that has been covering reproductive health care access since Roe v. Wade was overturned. I’ve spoken with doctors, community workers and patients across the country about how abortion bans have made pregnancy more dangerous in America, and I’ve written about the Republican lawmakers who refused to listen.

If you want to get in touch and learn more about how I work, email me. I take your privacy very seriously.

At 41, Miller had lupus, diabetes and hypertension and didn’t want to wait until the situation became dire. So she avoided doctors and navigated an abortion on her own — a path many health experts feared would increase risks when women in America lost the constitutional right to obtain legal, medically supervised abortions.

Miller ordered abortion pills online, but she did not expel all the fetal tissue and would need a dilation and curettage procedure to clear it from her uterus and stave off sepsis, a grave and painful infection. In many states, this care, known as a D&C, is routine for both abortions and miscarriages. In Georgia, performing it had recently been made a felony, with few exceptions.

Her teenage son watched her suffer for days after she took the pills, bedridden and moaning. In the early hours of Nov. 12, 2022, her husband found her unresponsive in bed, her 3-year-old daughter at her side.

An autopsy found unexpelled fetal tissue, confirming that the abortion had not fully completed. It also found a lethal combination of painkillers, including the dangerous opioid fentanyl. Miller had no history of drug use, the medical records state; her family has no idea how she obtained them or what was going through her mind — whether she was trying to quell the pain, complete the abortion or end her life. A medical examiner was unable to determine the manner of death.

Her family later told a coroner she hadn’t visited a doctor “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.”

When a state committee of experts in maternal health, including 10 doctors, reviewed her case this year at the end of August, they immediately decided it was “preventable” and blamed the state’s abortion ban, according to members who spoke to ProPublica on the condition of anonymity.

They came to that conclusion after weighing the entire chain of events, from Miller’s underlying health conditions, to her decision to manage her abortion alone, to her reticence to seek medical care. “The fact that she felt that she had to make these decisions, that she didn’t have adequate choices here in Georgia, we felt that definitely influenced her case,” one committee member told ProPublica. “She’s absolutely responding to this legislation.”

This is the second preventable death related to abortion bans that ProPublica is reporting this week. Amber Thurman, 28, languished in a suburban Atlanta hospital for 20 hours before doctors performed a D&C to treat sepsis that resulted from an incomplete abortion. It was too late. “This young mother should be alive, raising her son and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” Vice President Kamala Harris said of Thurman on Tuesday. “This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down.”

There are almost certainly other deaths related to abortion access. Georgia’s committee, tasked with examining pregnancy-related deaths to improve maternal health, has only reviewed cases through fall 2022. Such a lag is common in these committees, which are set up in each state; most others have not even gotten that far.

The details of their reviews are not shared with the public, but ProPublica obtained the Georgia committee’s summary report of Miller’s death. ProPublica also reviewed death records and Miller’s autopsy and spoke to her family.

Her case adds to mounting evidence that exceptions to abortion bans do not, as billed, protect the “life of the mother.” Harrowing stories about denied care have been at the center of the upcoming presidential election, during which the right to abortion is on the ballot in 10 states. ProPublica’s new reporting makes clear, for the first time, that in the wake of bans, women are losing their lives in ways that experts have deemed preventable.

It also underscores the reality that abortion bans have not actually led to a decrease in abortions. But for people like Miller, they have increased the degree of difficulty and risk.

Miller grew up in Alabama and spent most of her adulthood in Atlanta, where she made a living braiding hair and doing nails. She had a soft spot for stray cats, nurtured a garden and was known to break into dance at the sound of old school funk like the Commodores. At 4 foot 9, she was a “firecracker,” her family said — quick to stand up for those she loved. That included her three kids, who range in age from 5 to 16.

But about eight years ago, she was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks healthy tissue, her sister said. Symptoms include extreme fatigue; painful, swollen joints; heart complications; and kidney disease.

Miller experienced flare-ups of debilitating pain for which she had to seek radiation treatments. She often wasn’t able to stand for long periods and her hair fell out. It distressed her how often doctors dismissed her pain; she grew to doubt they could give her help when she needed it.

Soon after she was diagnosed, she suffered a major depressive episode, Tomlin-Randall said. For months, she barely left her bed. Tomlin-Randall cared for her sister’s children during that time.

There is no cure for lupus, but patients can manage symptoms with a mixture of drugs and therapies; 90% of those afflicted are women, and the condition is three times more common in Black women than white.

Miller also had diabetes and hypertension. Those conditions, layered on top of her lupus, can be dangerously exacerbated by pregnancy and are highly unpredictable, during both the pregnancy and the aftermath, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Patients with those conditions are also more likely to have a pregnancy that ends in miscarriage or premature birth and are more likely to need a cesarean section, a major surgery that is especially hard for patients with diabetes to recover from.

With support, some patients can remain stable and have healthy pregnancies, though the experience can be physically taxing and painful. In the worst cases, pregnancy with lupus can lead to high blood pressure that can quickly progress to seizures, kidney and liver dysfunction and, ultimately, death. Studies have found the maternal death rate for women with lupus is 20-fold higher than for those without lupus. The chance of relapses and flare-ups are also high in the postpartum period.

Each patient’s situation is different and needs careful evaluation of their particular health risks, including discussion of the option to end the pregnancy, said Dr. Sarah Horvath, an OB-GYN representing ACOG.

Politicians who support abortion bans often point to their exceptions, which they say protect “the life of the mother.” During last week’s debate, former President Donald Trump called them “very important.”

But the anti-abortion groups that drafted the bans wrote the exceptions to be as narrow as possible and persuaded lawmakers to impose steep criminal penalties, fearing doctors might stretch definitions to create loopholes.

The exceptions are limited to acute emergencies, usually defined as when “necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.” They also specifically prohibit mental health reasons from counting as health emergencies, even if a pregnant woman says she is thinking about harming herself. In Georgia, violating the law can cost doctors their license and subject them to prison terms of up to 10 years.

The laws typically don’t include any leeway for intervening earlier to treat patients with broader health risks that could make pregnancy more dangerous, such as lupus.

ProPublica surveyed dozens of doctors in nine states with abortion bans. None of their hospitals approve abortions for women with high-risk complications like lupus or diabetes unless the patient is already deteriorating and the issue is urgent.

Horvath regularly sees patients with complications from those conditions in Pennsylvania because they can’t get care in their own state. Often, the delay in figuring out where to go means their pregnancy is further along — and, as a result, their conditions have become more dangerous. They show up to outpatient clinics already displaying signs of trouble, Horvath said, and immediately have to be sent to the hospital where there’s an operating room and a blood bank.

It often takes time for patients and their providers to coordinate care in other states because there is so much confusion about the laws.

“People who are really suffering in these pregnancies really don’t know where to go,” Horvath said. “Or if they even can.”

Miller’s third pregnancy was difficult and she never fully recovered, Tomlin-Randall said.

When Miller learned she was pregnant again in 2022, she ordered abortion pills for about $80 from a website called AidAccess, according to her 16-year-old son, Christian Cardenas.

The organization, based in the Netherlands, is devoted to expanding abortion access to places where it is not legal. Patients contact a doctor in Europe who sends them pills from a supplier in India. According to one researcher, Aid Access serves about 7,000 patients a month in the U.S., nearly 90% of them in states with abortion bans or severe restrictions. Its founder, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, said it was clear the abortion pill did not cause her death.

The committee also did not believe Miller’s death was caused by the abortion medication. Her autopsy found extremely high doses of diphenhydramine (the main ingredient in Benadryl) and acetaminophen (what’s found in Tylenol) in Miller’s system, along with the fentanyl. Considering the quantity of drugs and the timing of her death, the committee also did not suspect the abortion pills themselves were in any way tainted.

Self-managing abortions at home has skyrocketed since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, because of access to pills that can be ordered online, researchers say.

Major studies, the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization have found abortion pills to be more than 90% effective when taken correctly and in the first trimester. Deaths due to abortion pills are exceedingly rare. Complications can develop if some fetal tissue remains in the uterus, where it can lead to sepsis, a grave infection. Patients are supposed to follow up with a doctor to make sure the abortion has fully completed and go to the hospital if bleeding heavily or exhibiting other symptoms.

Miller’s family does not know how far along her pregnancy was when she took the abortion pills.

But soon enough, she was in excruciating pain.

And that’s how she remained, for days, until she took the potent drug mixture. Her family doesn’t know what she was thinking when she did it, but can’t fathom that she would want to end her life; she was excited about the future and drawing closer to her church, her sister Tomlin-Randall said.

“She was trying to terminate the pregnancy, not terminate herself,” she said.

It was significant to the state maternal mortality review committee that Miller did not feel she could seek medical care.

Although Georgia courts have said women can’t be prosecuted for getting abortions, the state has sent mixed messages. While some state bans explicitly say women can’t be prosecuted, Georgia’s ban leaves open that possibility. In 2019, a district attorney on the outskirts of metro Atlanta called abortion “murder” and said women “should prepare for the chance that they could be criminally prosecuted for having an abortion.”

That was the understanding in Miller’s family.

“If you get caught trying to do anything to get rid of the baby,” her son Christian told ProPublica, “you get jail time for that.”

Cassandra Jaramillo contributed reporting. Mariam Elba, Jeff Ernsthausen and Kirsten Berg contributed research.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Kavitha Surana.

“The killing of journalists Win Htut Oo and Htet Myat Thu is an atrocity against the free press and must not go unpunished,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar authorities must ensure swift and full justice for the country’s independent journalists who are being killed simply for reporting the news.”

The bodies of Win Htut Oo, a journalist with the media group Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Htet Myat Thu, a freelance reporter with the local Than Lwin Times outlet, were cremated without being returned to their families, according to a U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia report.

Two other people were killed in the August 21 raid in Kyaikto Township. One was a member of the local Kyaikto Revolutionary Force, one of several armed groups resisting the military government, which took power in a 2021 coup.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

Myanmar ranked 9th on CPJ’s latest Global Impunity Index, an annual ranking of countries where the killers of journalists habitually get away with murder. The nation also was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, with 43 behind bars in CPJ’s 2023 prison census.

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

Grajales, editor of news website Villaflores.com.mx, was shot multiple times by unidentified gunmen who broke into his residence in Villaflores, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, just after midnight on August 21, according to news reports and a statement by the Chiapas state prosecutor (FGE).  Grajales was taken to a hospital where he is in stable condition, according to the statement.

“Even in a country plagued by violence and impunity, the attack against Ariel Grajales is shocking in its brutality,” said CPJ’s Mexico Representative Jan-Albert Hootsen. “Authorities in Chiapas must take all the appropriate steps to help him secure his family’s safety and hold all those responsible to account.”

Grajales is a news reporter with more than 30 years of experience, according to Gabriela Coutiño, a Chiapas-based journalist and longtime friend of Grajales’, who spoke with CPJ on August 21 after the shooting.

Grajales’ Villafores.com.mx reports mostly local news, including local politics and crime and security in the area. Hours before the attack, the journalist posted a short message on his Facebook page about businesses in the area being extorted by criminal gangs.

The FGE said in its statement that it has opened an investigation into Grajales’ shooting but on a possible motive. Several calls to the FGE by CPJ went unanswered.

An official with the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, which offers federally sanctioned protection to journalists, told CPJ via WhatsApp on August 21 that the office is working to provide Grajales and his family with protection. The spokesperson asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to comment.

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

A young house staff working at the same hospital reached his workplace around 3 pm that afternoon after being informed by his friends about the horrific crime. Like other students and doctors in Kolkata, he actively joined the protests at R G Kar, demanding justice for the victim and increased security measures on the campus.

However, today, Dr Arshean Alam is scared to leave his home. What happened between then and now is a social media trial in which his name was floated as one of the accused in the case. Some posts directly claimed he was one of the ‘real culprits’ or ‘murderers’.

Social Media Trial of Arshean Alam

As calls for swift action in the case grew louder, Kolkata Police arrested a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy based on circumstantial evidence and CCTV footage. According to the latest reports, DNA reports, too, have confirmed his involvement. Forensic experts collected skin samples from the victim’s fingernails and found injuries on Sanjay’s body. On August 13, the Calcutta High Court handed over the case to the CBI, which currently has Sanjay in its custody.

At the same time, several theories have surfaced in public discourse and on social media vis-a-vis the circumstances of the postgraduate trainee’s death. Some people have opined that Sanjay Roy was being made a scapegoat to protect someone. It is also being claimed that the commission of the crime involved more than one person. In this connection, some specific names of doctors from the hospital have surfaced as the accused in the case.

Arshean Alam is one of the names. His name, along with that of another Muslim house staff, is particularly viral across social media platforms.

Right Wing X user Hindutva Knight (@HPhobiaWatch) tweeted the images of Arshean and the other Muslim R G Kar house staff and claimed that the Bengal government was trying to shelter the two. The tweet has received more than 10 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 7,000 times.

Reminder that Bengal Govt is saving these 2 accused. pic.twitter.com/CvsM9WoNsX

— Hindutva Knight (@HPhobiaWatch) August 15, 2024

The Kolkata Police served a notice on the user on grounds of peddling misinformation. In response, the user again tweeted that they would not be deleting their tweet since they felt that the Kolkata Police’s intentions were not right and that the police were trying to save “a few high profile accused.”

Media outlets ABP Live and News 18 mentioned Arshean’s name in their reports.

The claim was also amplified by Right-wing columnist Madhu Kishwar. She tweeted a list which includes Arshean’s name. She claimed that all of the people named were absconding. It is worth noting that most of the names on the list are Muslims and Kishwar claims that the “names explain” why there is a “determined attempt to shield them” and hang Sanjoy Roy who she claims was “tricked into raping her dead body”.

It is being ALLEGED that these five Geniuses could be the ones guilty of barbaric rape &murder of M in the #RGKarCollege .
They are reportedly absconding since August 9.
The names may explain why there is such a determined attempt to shield them and hang just ONE man who was… https://t.co/QKRKRU52Gc pic.twitter.com/bb1KZXH2xt

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) August 19, 2024

Twitter user @MrNationalistJJ tweeted pictures of social media profiles of three names, one of which is Arshean’s. This user claims that these three, whom he identifies as ‘the culprits’, had left the country. (Archive)

These three culprits have already left the country and they are the sons of TMC ministers of West Bengal, who had done this heinous crime.#KolkataDoctor #JusticeForMoumita pic.twitter.com/hbq9YJms0d

— Mr. Nationalist (@MrNationalistJJ) August 17, 2024

Arshean’s name was circulated with the same claim by various other social media users. On Facebook, a post mentioning his name as a suspect was published on a group page named West Bengal Doctors Forum. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Facebook has since been flooded with these claims. Below is a 1-minute screen recording of some posts on Facebook making the same allegation. However, these posts represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Alt News Investigation

Arshean Alam belongs to the batch of 2018 at the government-run R G Kar medical college. He completed his MBBS in 2023 and then did a mandatory one-year internship. After his convocation on May 3, 2024, he joined as a house staff at the trauma care unit of R G Kar Hospital. Alt News could independently establish that Arshean was at home and not at the hospital on the night of the alleged crime.

The autopsy of the slain doctor put the time of death between 3 and 5 am. Sanjay Roy, the prime accused, was seen entering the seminar hall on the third floor in the emergency building of the hospital around 4 am. During our investigation into Arshean’s whereabouts on that night, we reviewed CCTV footage from a shop next to his house, covering the hours between 1 am and 5 am. In the viewing of the footage, we found Arshean entering his home at 1.16 am, which is well before the time of the commission of the crime. We observed no movement from Arshean till 5 am, which confirms that he was at home when the crime was committed.

We visited his house and confirmed that there was no second exit through which one could get in or out. Other than the main entry/exit, we found another exit which was closed with an iron shutter, and locals told us that the shutter had been dysfunctional for at least one year. On the outside, we found pieces of rag hanging from a rope tied to it, further suggesting that the exit is not in use.

Alt News also spoke to joint commissioner (crime) of Kolkata Police Murlidhar Sharma who had been directly involved in the investigation before CBI took over. He told us that according to their findings, Arshean was not involved in the case in any way.

All of this proves with certainty that the suggestion on social media that Arshean Alam was directly involved in the commissioning of the crime at Kolkata’s R G Kar hospital is false. And he is not absconding.

Alt News spoke at length to Arshean. He said, “I am in a state of mental distress. I was at home, yet I am being implicated in this case. This has been incredibly difficult for me and my family. My reputation in society is being tarnished, and this amounts to defamation. A hate campaign is being spread by various social media accounts, and I fear for my safety and that of my family.”

He also informed us that he had filed an FIR against social media users who actively amplified baseless claims against him. Alt News saw a copy of the FIR. According to his complaint, the users posted several messages along with his photographs with the intent to promote enmity on communal grounds. It was further alleged that the messages contained false and fabricated accusations intended to implicate him in criminal cases and malign his reputation. The FIR has been filed under Sections 356, 351, 192, 196, and 61(2) of the BNS Act. Arshean has also mailed social media platforms regarding this.

We also spoke to a close friend and batchmate of Arshean. He told us, “We’re all upset about what’s happening to him. I know he couldn’t have done it because he was at home. Now his entire career is at stake. People have started abusing us for our association with Arshean, and our pictures with him online are flooded with abusive remarks. Our entire circle has been kicked out of the batch’s WhatsApp group because of this social media trial.”

At the time of the writing of this article, the claim is also viral on Instagram and WhatsApp. On Instagram, templates carrying his name have been shared extensively.

The post Arshean Alam social media trial: Alt News probe finds he was at home at the time of the R G Kar rape-murder appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

Press freedom groups are raising alarm after New York police arrested and charged videographer Samuel Seligson for allegedly filming pro-Palestinian activists hurling red paint at the homes of top officials of the Brooklyn Museum, part of a campaign by activists demanding the institution divest from Israel. Seligson faces eight counts of criminal mischief with a hate crime enhancement, which is a felony. Police also raided his home twice. Seligson is a well-known local journalist whose work has appeared on major news outlets, and his attorney Leena Widdi says the charges are an attack on constitutionally protected press freedoms. “It is an extremely concerning assault on the First Amendment. The reason why the freedom of press is so strongly protected is because there’s some underlying belief that in order for the public to meaningfully participate in a democracy, they must be actually informed,” Widdi tells Democracy Now!

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

“Pakistani police must immediately cease their attempts to detain independent journalist Usman Khan and allow the media to report on current affairs without fear of intimidation or arrest,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “Pakistani authorities must do more to protect independent voices across the country. We have seen an alarming uptick in attacks on the press in Pakistan, with seven deaths so far this year.”

Khan told CPJ from an undisclosed location that uniformed and plainclothes police officers raided his home on July 31, August 2, and August 5, but he escaped. Khan said he knew that authorities planned to arrest him over his coverage because military officials questioned protesters about him and phoned his father to summon Khan back to Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.

Khan reports for and manages the Zaiwa News channel on YouTube and Facebook, which covers current affairs in volatile Baluchistan where insurgents have long demanded independence from the central government.

On his X account, Khan reported extensively on the army’s crackdown on demonstrators marching to the port city of Gwadar to attend a July 28 protest against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Baluchistan. Three people were killed in clashes with security forces.

CPJ’s email requesting comment from Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, Inspector General of Police in Quetta, did not receive a response.

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

BJP supporter Sanjay Fadnavis shared the video, stating that if a toll booth was located within 60 kilometres of one’s home, no toll fee was required. (Archived link)

आपके घर से 60 किमी के भीतर किसी भी टोल बूथ पर कोई टोल शुल्क देय नहीं है। इसके लिए आपको अपने आधार कार्ड से गुजरना होगा।@nitin_gadkari
यह केंद्र सरकार का आदेश है. pic.twitter.com/GJQ5Nda26I

— SANJAY FADNAVIS (Modi Ka Parivar) (@sanjayfadnavis1) July 28, 2024

Similarly, Aadivasi Samachar shared the video with the same claim. (Archived link)

Aslam Chopdar, the state president of the Rajasthan Employment Federation, also shared the video with this claim. (Archived link)

Fact Check

To understand the full context behind the viral video, Alt News conducted a keyword search on YouTube. We came across a longer version of the viral footage uploaded on Nitin Gadkari’s YouTube channel on March 22, 2022. At 25 minutes and 14 seconds into this clip, Nitin Gadkari states that there has been a suggestion from MPs about issuing passes to residents around toll plazas based on their Aadhaar cards.

He then discusses a separate suggestion, stating that there cannot be two toll plazas located within 60 kilometres of each other, although this was currently the case in some areas. Gadkari also mentions that within three months, there would only be one toll plaza in a 60-kilometre radius, and any second plaza would be shut down. These two statements were based on different suggestions and were misrepresented in the viral claims. The misleading claims combined these two separate statements to falsely suggest that if a person’s home was located within 60 kilometres of a toll plaza, they would not have to pay toll tax.

According to the information provided on the website of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, residents living within a 20-kilometre radius of a toll plaza are eligible for toll tax exemption upon verification of necessary documents.

To sum up, multiple social media users falsely claimed that people residing within a 60-kilometre radius of a toll plaza were exempt from paying toll tax. This was based on a combination of  two separate statements made by Nitin Gadkari regarding different proposals by MPs.

The post Nitin Gadkari’s statements clubbed together to falsely suggest no toll tax needed within 60km radius of home appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Abhishek Kumar.

Thongkham Philavanh, in his 40s, was a Khmu, an ethnic group in Southeast Asia, the majority of whom live in northern Laos. As a religious leader, he often participated in Christian church activities in Oudomxay province.

The pair fired twice at Thongkham at his home in Vanghay village in the province’s Xai district, according to a statement his wife gave to police. She took him to the provincial hospital, but he died upon arrival. 

Police said they are investigating the incident and could not provide further details.

Assaults and legal action against Christians in the one-party communist state with a mostly Buddhist population are not uncommon, despite a national law protecting the free exercise of their faith. Those who practice Christianity are objects of suspicion by authorities and subject to persecution.

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Christian communities in Oudomxay province and other parts of Laos told Radio Free Asia on Thursday they were mourning Thongkham’s loss. 

“Last night, our community was shattered by the tragic loss of our beloved pastor, who was senselessly taken from us in an act of violence,” some of them wrote in English on Facebook. “His profound wisdom, unwavering faith, and boundless compassion touched the lives of so many.”

A relative of the pastor, who didn’t want to be identified for safety reasons, said the two men wore face masks and rode motorcycles, though she didn’t know where they came from.

“I am not sure why they killed him, but I believe that it must be because he serves Jesus Christ,” she said. “One thing that I am sure of is that there are some groups of people who dislike what Thongkham does as Christian pastor.”

Thongkham’s funeral will be held on July 27 at the village cemetery, his family said.

One Christian believer told RFA that it appears as though Thongkham was killed because he was a Christian pastor and religious leader, and that some people may not have liked that.

Another believer who knew Thongkham some years ago said he was unhappy to learn about the pastor’s passing via social media.

Other Christian communities in Laos expressed concern about the safety of their pastors and members, fearing they too may be killed. 

A member of the Lao Evangelical Church said anti-Christian groups in the country seek opportunities to harm Christians.

In October 2022, Christian pastor Sy Sengmany was found dead near a forest in Khammouane province after two men visited his house earlier in the day, and village authorities warned him to stop his religious activities. The case remains unsolved.

Translated by Phouvong for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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

• President Joe Biden is returning home to Delaware to self-isolate after being diagnosed with COVID-19. The White House has confirmed that Biden, who is fully vaccinated, is experiencing mild symptoms and is being treated with antivirals while doctors await the results of a confirmation test.
• The Biden campaign held an event in Milwaukee today to call out Donald Trump’s poor choice for vice president, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
• A new shelter camp in Gaza is designed to support refugees with disabilities. After nine months of war, the needs and population of disabled individuals are growing.
• Five Ohio police officers in Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention shot and killed a man who was wielding two knives, Milwaukee’s police chief said.
• July 17, 2024, marks the fourth anniversary of the death of the late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.
• The San Francisco Police Department was sued Tuesday over its use of facial recognition technology.
• Researchers with the University of California system and labor advocates rallied outside Genentech Hall on UC San Francisco’s campus today to call out the University of California Board of Regents for unfair labor practices. They also protested the UC’s handling of pro-Palestine student protests across the UC campuses.

The post President Joe Biden is returning home to Delaware to self-isolate after being diagnosed with COVID-19 – July 17, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

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

Published in 2020, the book offered a handy introduction to questions of changing identity, institutional challenges and social issues in the former British colony over the past century. So much so that it was adopted as a textbook by many schools.

"Nowadays, that is completely unthinkable," Leung said. "It can't even go on public sale now."

Hong Kong's bookstores once drew Chinese-language bibliophiles from far and wide in pursuit of some of the city's most off-beat, salacious and politically radical writings, coupled with cute or alternative takes on art and culture -- like Leung's photo essay on the city's iconic housing estates titled "The Call of the Grid."

But even before the 2020 National Security Law ushered in a crackdown on public criticism of the authorities, the Chinese government had been positioning itself to take control of the city's main publishing imprints and bookstore chains, squeezing out dozens of independent stores as it did so.

And as the political crackdown gathered momentum, libraries made lists of books likely to run afoul of the new law, and pulled them from the shelves.

‘War on libraries’

In what some dubbed a "war on libraries," titles addressing the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, as well as books written by jailed protest leader Joshua Wong and Occupy Central movement founder Benny Tai, started disappearing from public view.

And as people were actively encouraged by police to inform on any words or deeds that could be deemed subversive under the law, bookshores and publishing houses were also engaging in self-censorship.

Many writers and booksellers left the city for fear of arrest, or to seek a freer environment in which to work. Democratic Taiwan, with its educated readership and use of traditional Chinese characters, was a natural home for many Hong Kong literary folk.

"Hong Kongers are dispersing, and so are their books," according to Chuang Jui-lin, Leung's editor at Taiwan's SpringHill Publishing. "Local Hong Kong publications have managed to survive in the political wilderness."

Hong Kongers were a highly visible minority at this year's Taipei International Book Fair, with many of their latest offerings happily published by the Hong Kong departments of major Taiwanese publishing houses.

Nostalgia and memory are a constant theme for this segment of the market, Chuang said.

"I have the very strong impression that, regardless of their political stance, many of my Hong Kong friends are working to preserve [memories and a connection to Hong Kong]," Chuang said. "This is being done very meticulously."

Chuang said even a Hong Kong Cantonese dictionary has been selling well.

"Everyone seems to feel that buying a book like that, even if they just keep it at home, is a form of support," she said, citing non-fiction works about Hong Kong's bird-keeping tradition, including birdcage craftsmanship.

"Even the tiniest thing can be turned into a book, because it's like a magnification of memories. Readers are keen to just look at such detail," she said, adding that Leung's book on public housing is a good example, because it captures "many details of Hong Kong."

Sea change

One of the reasons Leung's book can't be sold in Hong Kong any more is the way he folds in the city's social and political history with beautiful photography of its housing estates.

Once considered a safe seat for pro-establishment candidates in District Council elections, the housing estates were often cut off from the concerns of Hong Kong's educated middle classes, who typically took to the streets in downtown Hong Kong Island, more than an hour's trip away from the housing projects of Tuen Mun or Wong Tai Sin.

But in 2019, everything changed, Leung said, and local people turned out to resist plans to extradite alleged criminal suspects to mainland China, and later to demand fully democratic elections.

"The young people in particular felt that they wanted to protect the place where they grew up, and those feelings and sense of identity just came pouring out," he said. "But how could a Hong Kong reviewer talk about such things? I found that this book could only be published in Taiwan."

It hasn't always been this way. Hong Kong publishers once rushed to publish books about the 2014 Occupy Central movement. 

But by 2019, the Chinese authorities had decided that the lack of "patriotic education" in the city's schools was the reason for recent waves of mass popular protest, and imposed the National Security Law on the city, while abolishing the Liberal Studies curriculum and replacing it with classes on patriotic feeling and "national security" from kindergarten to university.

For Huang Hsiu-ju, editor-in-chief of Taiwan's Rive Gauche Publishing House, publishing works by Hong Kongers about Hong Kong is a way to resist totalitarianism.

"The Hong Kong experience has been there all along, but we have just been too focused on ourselves and didn't realize how important it was," said Huang, who has published 13 books on Hong Kong issues so far.

Blank boxes

One book, a memoir of Occupy Central founder Chu Yiu-ming, bears the scars of the Hong Kong crackdown openly, offering up 16,000 blank boxes in lieu of Chinese characters in a chapter that the pastor feared could turn into evidence against him at his trial.

But Huang persuaded Chu to persevere with the rest of the book.

She remembers telling him: "If you don't write it, then it's gone, and the things that should be remembered will disappear."

Eventually, she and the art director assuaged Chu's concerns by "censoring" parts with blank boxes, a choice that echoes the blank sheets of the 2022 "white paper" protests, Huang said.

Rive Gauche's best-selling books are both about the 2019 protests. Published in 2020, they have sold around 9,000 copies each, and while sales have slowed in recent months, they have not dried up entirely.

What Rive Gauche is doing in non-fiction, author Leung Lee Chi and Ho Kwun-lung, editor-in-chief at Taiwan's ECUS Publishing House, are doing for literary works by Hong Kongers.

Leung Lee Chi's next novel "Everyday Movement" will soon be translated into English, offering up 10 short stories depicting Hong Kong in 2019 for an international audience.

"Winning literary awards or publishing books in Taiwan seems to be where the future of Hong Kong writing lies," she said, adding that she has long wanted to be published in the island, which is home to many of her literary heroes.

‘Red lines’

Leung, 29, fled Hong Kong in 2021 after Everyday Movement ran into censorship issues with the original publisher.

"There were a lot of sensitive passages in my manuscript," she said. "I wanted to know if it was OK to refuse revisions suggested by the publisher."

When the reply came that her editor wasn't even sure about where the political "red lines" lay, Leung took a plane to Taiwan and carried on writing in the coastal county of Hualien.

Her Taiwanese editor Ho has worked with a few emerging Hong Kong authors in recent years, and is considered part of a new generation of Taiwanese publishers who care about Hong Kong.

"When I started working on these books, I didn't have a preconceived idea that I would focus on literature from Hong Kong," he said. "My approach was that of an author who is working on a good novel, which I hoped readers in Taiwan would enjoy reading."

For Carpier Leung, it's about a unique voice that is still coming out of Hong Kong, despite the censorship back home.

Writing in the postscript of his book on public housing estates, Leung comments: "After visiting all the big housing estates in Hong Kong, my strongest impression was probably that ... speaking is hard, but we still have to find a way to do it."

"Finding out how to do that, and how to let more people speak too, is part of our task as human beings."

As for all the books about everything from siu mai and egg waffles to hiking trails and architecture, Chinese-character fonts and local crafts, he's pretty sure where it's all coming from.

"I would say that everyone is looking for a safe way to express their love for Hong Kong," he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chen Yee-ching for The Reporter/RFA Mandarin.

Julian Assange has landed in Australia a free man, reuniting with his family Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act as part of a deal with the Justice Department. The WikiLeaks publisher entered his plea on the Pacific island of Saipan, part of the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, which lets him avoid further prison time following five years behind bars in the U.K. awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. He had been facing a possible 175 years in U.S. prison if convicted on charges related to his publication of classified documents in 2010 that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This case is an attack on journalism, it’s an attack on the public’s right to know, and it should never have been brought,” the WikiLeaks founder’s wife, Stella Assange, said at a press conference Wednesday. “Julian should never have spent a single day in prison. But today we celebrate, because today Julian is free.” We also play comments from members of Assange’s legal team, Jennifer Robinson and Barry Pollack, who said the use of the World War I-era Espionage Act to go after a publisher put press freedoms at grave risk.

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

Photograph Source: U.S. Department of Defense – Public Domain

I grew up in northern Westchester County, New York. Nearly twenty years ago I came to DC, thinking it’d be for just a few months. Instead, I got swept up in DC’s activist scene and haven’t left the area.

First as an activist, then as a journalist, my focus was on the city’s local power structure, the DC Council in particular. But with Congress right here, I’d occasionally visit the Capitol and sit in on random committee hearings.

No hearings frustrated me more than those of the House Foreign Relations Committee, where the panel’s top Democrat, Congressman Eliot Engel, seemed to back every war, while opposing diplomatic advances like President Obama’s Iran deal.

But what made me angriest about Engel was that he represented, in addition to a sliver of the Bronx, the southern half of my home county of Westchester. And I knew that most of Engel’s constituents had no idea that he was misusing his powerful post to push for more war.

So in 2020, when Engel drew a serious primary challenge, I was thrilled. Even if the first-time candidate, a Black middle school principal named Jamaal Bowman, had no chance of winning, at least Engel wouldn’t waltz into his seventeenth term without a fight. Then the impossible happened, and Bowman won.

In the ensuing three-and-a-half years, Bowman has proven to be every bit as peaceful on foreign policy as Engel was bellicose. And for that, Bowman is a marked man – particularly by AIPAC and its right-wing donors.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been around over 60 years, but it only began intervening in Democratic primaries in a big way last election cycle. AIPAC’s move came on the heels of a string of corporate Democrats losing primary contests to progressive “Squad” members, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, and Bowman two years later.

To stop this trend, AIPAC – backed by millions from Republican donors – quickly became the top outside spender in Democratic primaries, dropping $26 million in 2022. This year, AIPAC plans to spend a cool $100 million, and the group’s top target is Bowman, whose primary is Tuesday, June 25.

“[I]n barely a month, an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC has spent $14.5 million — up to $17,000 an hour — on the race, filling television screens, stuffing mailboxes and clogging phone lines with caustic attacks,” the New York Times reported. “With days to go, the expenditures have already eclipsed what any interest group has ever spent on a single House race.”

Tellingly, AIPAC’s ads rarely mention Bowman’s views on Israel, which are thoughtful and nuanced, and supported by many progressive Jews. “Calling for cease-fire does not mean we support Hamas, does not mean we support the killing of Israelis or Jews, does not mean we support antisemitism,” Bowman said at a protest outside the White House late last year. “We are calling for cease-fire because we don’t want anyone else to die.”

Of course, Bowman isn’t perfect. He infamously pulled a fire alarm in the Capitol Building, reportedly to delay a vote, which led to his censure. And he follows a wide array of folks on social media, including some conspiracy theorists. AIPAC, however, isn’t targeting him for these reasons, but because of his views on Israel and Palestine.

While too much airtime has been given to Bowman’s imperfections, not enough has been given to those of his opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who AIPAC helped recruit to run.

Latimer’s cheating on his wife with his longtime girlfriend “has been an open secret in Westchester politics for years,” Talk of the Sound, a local blog, reported in 2021, and 2017. While that’s Latimer’s personal business, he made it the county’s when he quietly gave his girlfriend a six-figure job in his administration. Just imagine the salacious headlines we’d be reading right now if Bowman had tried to pull that off.

And that’s not all. When Latimer’s unpaid parking tickets grew so numerous that he was prohibited from driving his own car, he borrowed a subordinate’s. We know this because Latimer proceeded to crash his staffer’s car, injuring another driver in a 2017 accident.

During this period when Latimer was legally barred from driving his car, he thumbed his nose at the law and did so anyway. Questioned about this by The Journal News, Latimer claimed he’d only taken the car on a quick “loop” to keep the engine healthy – and get some coffee.

There’s been radio silence in the media about these incidents, which wouldn’t be the case if Bowman was the scofflaw in question. But as concerning as these transgressions are, it’s Latimer’s earlier political choices that trouble me more.

Yonkers

I was just a kid when my Uncle Len issued his landmark 1985 ruling. The only impact it had on me was that, when visiting Uncle Len and Aunt Ann for a swim in their delightfully cool pool, I now might see US Marshalls in the driveway, which seemed pretty cool at the time.

When my great uncle wasn’t poolside, it turned out he was a federal judge. And Judge Leonard Sand had managed to piss off a lot of people when he required the city of Yonkers to desegregate its housing. (HBO’s mini-series Show Me a Hero dramatizes these events.)

While this may seem like ancient history, it didn’t feel that way as I read Branko Marcetic’s recent story for Jacobin, “George Latimer’s History of Slow-Walking Desegregation.”

Yonkers, after years of foot-dragging, finally came around to the idea of building substantial amounts of affordable housing, as Uncle Len’s ruling required. Only to do so, the city sought to use four-and-a-half acres of local parkland – but Latimer, an up-and-coming legislator at the time, was determined to prevent this.

“Latimer was one of the eight county legislators who narrowly defeated a push in March 1997 to hand the parkland over to the city for housing,” Marcetic wrote. “A month later, he was on the losing end of a 12–3 vote to transfer the parkland, voting alongside two Republicans on the majority-GOP board.”

For several years after that, including as board chairman, Latimer still carried on his fight. “Latimer fought the city’s attempt to abide by a federal desegregation order to the bitter end,” wrote Marcetic, “even when it put him to the right of his own party leadership and much of the New York political establishment, Republicans included.”

Close to home

There’s a final reason why the Bowman-Latimer race hits close to home for me. As a Jew, it’s infuriating to watch AIPAC unleash millions of dollars in attack ads against yet another progressive Black candidate.

While AIPAC boasts of being the top donor to Congressional Black Caucus members, the fact remains that nothing animates the group quite like taking out Black progressives.

I watched this up close two years ago, when AIPAC’s super PAC spent $6 million to stop former congresswoman Donna Edwards from representing her Maryland district abutting DC. And after AIPAC is through with Bowman, its next target is Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush, whose primary is August 6.

“‘Shut up or else’ is the message [AIPAC]… is sending to Black lawmakers in America who are critical of what’s happening in Gaza,” Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah wrote in regards to the onslaught Bowman is facing.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Bowman vs. Latimer showdown for progressives… it is a test of how far America’s right wing will go to crush progressive movements. No one should be surprised that a Black politician is the canary in the coal mine.”

The post Tuesday’s Jamaal Bowman Primary Hits Close to Home for Me appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Pete Tucker.

Farcis, a New Delhi-based South Asia correspondent for multiple French and Belgian news organizations, including Radio France Internationale, Radio France, and Libération, left India on June 17, after 13 years of reporting, following the government’s refusal to renew a journalism permit to work in the country, according to the journalist, who told CPJ in a text message and a statement he shared on X, formerly Twitter.

The government did not provide a reason for refusing the permit on March 7. Farcis, who is married to an Indian citizen, holds a permanent residency status, known locally as the Overseas Citizenof India (OCI) visa. Since March 2021, Indian regulations have mandated that OCI visa holders must obtain permits to work as journalists in India.

“The departure of Sébastien Farcis highlights the increasing challenges faced by foreign journalists in India. The arbitrary refusal to renew his journalism permit, without explanation, undermines press freedom and disrupts journalists’ lives,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Indian authorities must approve Farcis’ permit and ensure that all journalists can work without fear of unjust reprisal, upholding India’s democratic values.”

In his statement, which he shared with CPJ, Farcis said the permit denial has effectively prevented him from practicing his profession and cut off his income. Multiple requests to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which issues the journalism permits, have gone unanswered, and attempts to appeal the decision have so far been unsuccessful, he said.

Farcis said in the statement that he has always adhered to regulations, obtaining the necessary visas and accreditations. He said he has never reported from restricted or protected areas without proper permits, and the MHA has previously granted him permission to report from border areas.

“This decision has had a great impact on my family. I am deeply attached to India, which has become my second homeland. But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out of India without explanation and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason,” Farcis said in the statement.

Farcis is the second French journalist in four months to leave India under similar circumstances, following Vanessa Dougnac’s departure in February. CPJ is aware that at least five OCI-holder foreign correspondents have been banned from working as journalists in India over the past two years.

CPJ’s email to Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who oversees the MHA, requesting comment did not receive a response.

Editor’s note: This report has been corrected to show Farcis’ journalism permit was not renewed, rather than revoked. 

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

Thich Minh Tue, whose real name is Le Anh Tu, became an internet sensation in May when influencers documented his barefoot pilgrimage across Vietnam on TikTok and other social media platforms. Legions of supporters were drawn to his simple lifestyle and humble demeanor.

Tue, 43, looks and behaves like a monk, but is not recognized as one by the state-sanctioned Buddhist group. In fact, he has not claimed to be a monk, but rather an individual trying to follow Buddha’s teachings.

In early June, police detained Tue and several of his followers during a raid in a forest in Thua Thien Hue province in central Vietnam.

In the following days, he told Vietnamese broadcast media that he had retreated to a hermitage and was not sure when he would resume his pilgrimage.  

Police also issued a video of the monk getting a new national ID card and saying he stopped his pilgrimage because of safety concerns caused by crowds. 

This week, officers accompanied him as he begged for food near his parents’ home in Gia Lai province’s Ia Grai district.

But Tue secretly left the premises on Thursday night for another location, his younger brother said in the video that Radio Free Asia could not independently verify. 

An official at the Ia Grai district police refused to answer RFA’s questions about the monk.

Mysterious disappearance

Other monks who previously accompanied Tue during his pilgrimage have gone missing, according to videos posted to YouTube.

Five mendicant monks, who were among a larger group of Tue’s followers disbanded earlier by authorities, were traveling on foot to Gia Lia province to catch up with Tue and continue their southward pilgrimage, according to a video posted Thursday on a YouTube channel called “Rhythm of Life News.” 

Some people traveling in a car with a license plate registered to Kom Tum provincial authorities offered to transport the monks, and they have not been seen since then, according to the YouTube channel.

Related Stories

How TikTok made a barefoot Vietnamese ‘monk’ go viral

Police video of detained unofficial monk allays fears

Unofficial monk who became internet sensation in Vietnam ends pilgrimage

Buddhist pilgrimage by unrecognized 'monk' goes viral in Vietnam

Another group of seven monks also went missing after spending a night on vacant land in a district of Kon Tum province.

The owners of “Rhythm of Life News” and another YouTube channel called “Hai Dang Vlog” visited their campsite on Thursday to speak with the monks. But when they returned the following day, the monks were gone, and residents said they had been taken away in two large vehicles.

The YouTubers were alarmed because they found some of the monks’ clothing, water bottles and a device to help them listen to scriptures left behind.

RFA called the YouTuber who recorded the video for further information, but he declined to answer questions.

Fines

Meanwhile, authorities have fined a woman from Quang Tri province 5 million dong, or US$200, for posting and sharing stories on social media that they said contained false information about Tue as he traveled through the area during his pilgrimage, state media reported.

The cybersecurity and high-tech crimes prevention division of the Quang Tri provincial police said many residents posted and shared false and fabricated comments and information about local officials Tue met along the way, Thanh Nien newspaper reported on Thursday.

The report said the agency was investigating 16 other cases of similar violations.

On June 3, Thua Thien Hue province officials fined a YouTuber 7.5 million dong, or US$300, for posting videos about Tue’s travels. Authorities said the videos affected the province’s security and order and caused confusion among the public.

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.

But over my 25 years in Gaza – 15 as a journalist – I watched how years of blockade and war eroded life in the strip. Now, with the ongoing war, the place where I grew up, went to school, made friends, fell in love, formed a family, and buried my father has been destroyed. The one place I will always call home is gone

These days, I live and work in London, where I moved in 2019. Like most journalists, my biggest professional worry is meeting deadlines. It’s nothing like Gaza, where handling the stress of life and death calculations and maintaining balanced relations with all the conflicting parties in and around the strip were always my top priorities.

The conflicting parties were Israel, which maintained a stranglehold on Gaza despite the 2005 withdrawal of settlements and troops, and Hamas, the de facto government, which based its legitimacy on its victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections and its claim that it had pushed Israel out. After those elections, amid Western pressure, Hamas and its rival Fatah agreed to form a unity government. But in 2007, Hamas took over Gaza. The Fatah-run Palestinian Authority was yet another conflicting party as it continued to claim that it was the legitimate authority over Gaza and squeezed the strip economically.

Amid all this, I was taking my first steps in journalism. During the Palestinian uprising known as the second intifada, foreign journalists needed help arranging and translating interviews. A local fixer hired me to accompany foreign journalists for $50 per day – very good money for a person my age with no experience. I only worked one or two days a month, but I was learning.

I soon made contact with the local journalist community. I initially thought they were all as wealthy and influential as the foreign correspondents they helped and frequented expensive cafes and restaurants, but I was naïve: journalists in Gaza belonged to the middle class, if not the lower class. Meeting for knafeh, a local dessert, at the Saqallah shop was a luxury.

When the Abu Al Soud knafeh shop opened, I invited a local journalist there to show respect and admiration. But journalists mostly hung out at the Matouq restaurant, at cafes by the beach, and later at the Press House, a media development nonprofit headed by Bilal Jadallah. Jadallah was killed during the ongoing war and the Press House was flattened. So were the knafeh shops in Gaza City.

As a young reporter, it did not take me long to figure out that reporting about Israel-Palestine for foreign media outlets meant there were restrictions on criticizing Israel in terms of content and language. In almost every single article produced from Gaza, I had to include the lines “Hamas, seen as a terrorist group by the West,” or “Hamas took over Gaza by force,” or, “Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.” To my editors, these additions were simply part of the structure of any article on Gaza. To my local audience, which felt my reporting was too soft and failed to show the brutality and cruelty of the occupation, these lines amounted to bias. And to me, they were a perfect prescription for inducing stress. I soon became a regular customer for Hamas security having to explain my articles and defend myself.

Ironically, the more times you meet the same people, the more “friendly” your relationships become. The challenge was how to make sure these relationships were as friendly as possible in order to save my life and career and to maintain open channels with the de facto authority. But I also had to keep them as formal as possible because I was reporting for international media, and I was not allowed to get too close to authorities.

My relationship with Abu Mustafa embodied this conundrum; he was the Hamas security officer who always questioned me about my reporting. We met so many times that we became “friends.” He was one of the first people I called every time I needed to avoid the chronic bureaucracy in Gaza; in particular, he helped me get permits for visiting foreign press as he had the authority to approve their entry over the phone in just a few seconds. However, Abu Mustafa was only his nickname. I never felt confident enough to ask his real name and he never shared it during all our years of contact.

In 2015, both NPR and the Wall Street Journal, my biggest clients at the time, invited me to visit Jerusalem. That meant I had to pass the Erez border crossing and meet Israeli security officials in person for the first time. I was very nervous as Israel, like Hamas and Gaza, was at the very center of my reporting. Just like Hamas, Israel had a say over my life and career. At that time, I had already lost several colleagues to Israeli fire in the 2014 war. I would go on to lose several more, including Yaser Murtaja, who got too near the border fence while pursuing a photograph during Gaza’s anti-Israel demonstrations in 2018. Yaser did not know he went too far; there were no signs or instructions warning him away. An Israeli sniper ended his life. In the current war, more than 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed, including Roshdi Sarraj, another colleague of mine and of Yaser Murtaja. So yes, Israel does have a say about the lives of journalists in Gaza and I had every right to fear for my life.

Hamas, too, has its own say on journalists’ lives, safety, and careers. In 2019, Palestinians took to the streets to protest the harsh economic conditions under its control. Hamas police cracked down on the protesters, and arrested and beat up the journalists covering the protests. As a journalist, I had no option but to report on the protests and on the Hamas assaults. It was just one more time when I had to put my life at risk for the sake of my reporting. I survived, but I couldn’t shake the stress for many weeks to follow. 

Back to my 2015 trip to Jerusalem through Erez crossing. While I was looking over my previous reporting to prepare myself for potential questions from the Israeli officers at the checkpoint, Abu Mustafa gave me a call. He had seen my name on a list of Gazans planning to cross Erez. He put me in touch with a nameless colleague whose job was to guide people like me, who were making the journey for the first time. That was one of the weirdest situations ever, to be guided by a Hamas security officer whom I did not know or trust and who did not know or trust me. I am the last person to seek advice from Hamas, and yet here he was, advising me on how to deal with the Israeli security, intelligence, and military officers.

I was shocked to learn that everything this nameless man said happened in exactly the way he described it. I was strip-searched by two Israeli officers, and brought into a room with a woman who appeared to be Palestinian who said she wanted to talk to me. On the advice of the nameless man, I told her I was tired. I was later interviewed by a bald Israeli officer, one of the two people Abu Mustafa’s colleague said would interview me. The officer showed me photos of people on his computer and asked me about who they were. The nameless man’s advice was: once you are asked about someone, that meant they knew you had a relationship with them, so don’t lie but give general answers.

In the end, I made it to Jerusalem and back unharmed. I felt thankful for his guidance but also stressed over how much these two fighting parties seemed to know about each other — and about me. Both had the tools to make my life miserable if they wanted, and I only had my press card, a helmet, and a vest — materials that needed Israeli approval to enter Gaza and Hamas permission to be used there.

When I lived in Gaza, I was worried about my life and my children’s future. Now in London, I worry about Gaza and the future of journalism there. In addition to those journalists who have been killed, dozens have fled; these losses are catastrophic to the journalistic profession there. Eight months into the war, I have so many questions: Who will guide the young journalists entering the profession? How objective can they be given the brutal conditions and lack of guidance? Will the world listen to them, let alone believe their narrative?  And at the end of this, will there be young men and women willing to go into journalism in Gaza? Who will tell Gaza’s story?

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

But over my 25 years in Gaza – 15 as a journalist – I watched how years of blockade and war eroded life in the strip. Now, with the ongoing war, the place where I grew up, went to school, made friends, fell in love, formed a family, and buried my father has been destroyed. The one place I will always call home is gone

These days, I live and work in London, where I moved in 2019. Like most journalists, my biggest professional worry is meeting deadlines. It’s nothing like Gaza, where handling the stress of life and death calculations and maintaining balanced relations with all the conflicting parties in and around the strip were always my top priorities.

The conflicting parties were Israel, which maintained a stranglehold on Gaza despite the 2005 withdrawal of settlements and troops, and Hamas, the de facto government, which based its legitimacy on its victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections and its claim that it had pushed Israel out. After those elections, amid Western pressure, Hamas and its rival Fatah agreed to form a unity government. But in 2007, Hamas took over Gaza. The Fatah-run Palestinian Authority was yet another conflicting party as it continued to claim that it was the legitimate authority over Gaza and squeezed the strip economically.

Amid all this, I was taking my first steps in journalism. During the Palestinian uprising known as the second intifada, foreign journalists needed help arranging and translating interviews. A local fixer hired me to accompany foreign journalists for $50 per day – very good money for a person my age with no experience. I only worked one or two days a month, but I was learning.

I soon made contact with the local journalist community. I initially thought they were all as wealthy and influential as the foreign correspondents they helped and frequented expensive cafes and restaurants, but I was naïve: journalists in Gaza belonged to the middle class, if not the lower class. Meeting for knafeh, a local dessert, at the Saqallah shop was a luxury.

When the Abu Al Soud knafeh shop opened, I invited a local journalist there to show respect and admiration. But journalists mostly hung out at the Matouq restaurant, at cafes by the beach, and later at the Press House, a media development nonprofit headed by Bilal Jadallah. Jadallah was killed during the ongoing war and the Press House was flattened. So were the knafeh shops in Gaza City.

As a young reporter, it did not take me long to figure out that reporting about Israel-Palestine for foreign media outlets meant there were restrictions on criticizing Israel in terms of content and language. In almost every single article produced from Gaza, I had to include the lines “Hamas, seen as a terrorist group by the West,” or “Hamas took over Gaza by force,” or, “Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.” To my editors, these additions were simply part of the structure of any article on Gaza. To my local audience, which felt my reporting was too soft and failed to show the brutality and cruelty of the occupation, these lines amounted to bias. And to me, they were a perfect prescription for inducing stress. I soon became a regular customer for Hamas security having to explain my articles and defend myself.

Ironically, the more times you meet the same people, the more “friendly” your relationships become. The challenge was how to make sure these relationships were as friendly as possible in order to save my life and career and to maintain open channels with the de facto authority. But I also had to keep them as formal as possible because I was reporting for international media, and I was not allowed to get too close to authorities.

My relationship with Abu Mustafa embodied this conundrum; he was the Hamas security officer who always questioned me about my reporting. We met so many times that we became “friends.” He was one of the first people I called every time I needed to avoid the chronic bureaucracy in Gaza; in particular, he helped me get permits for visiting foreign press as he had the authority to approve their entry over the phone in just a few seconds. However, Abu Mustafa was only his nickname. I never felt confident enough to ask his real name and he never shared it during all our years of contact.

In 2015, both NPR and the Wall Street Journal, my biggest clients at the time, invited me to visit Jerusalem. That meant I had to pass the Erez border crossing and meet Israeli security officials in person for the first time. I was very nervous as Israel, like Hamas and Gaza, was at the very center of my reporting. Just like Hamas, Israel had a say over my life and career. At that time, I had already lost several colleagues to Israeli fire in the 2014 war. I would go on to lose several more, including Yaser Murtaja, who got too near the border fence while pursuing a photograph during Gaza’s anti-Israel demonstrations in 2018. Yaser did not know he went too far; there were no signs or instructions warning him away. An Israeli sniper ended his life. In the current war, more than 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed, including Roshdi Sarraj, another colleague of mine and of Yaser Murtaja. So yes, Israel does have a say about the lives of journalists in Gaza and I had every right to fear for my life.

Hamas, too, has its own say on journalists’ lives, safety, and careers. In 2019, Palestinians took to the streets to protest the harsh economic conditions under its control. Hamas police cracked down on the protesters, and arrested and beat up the journalists covering the protests. As a journalist, I had no option but to report on the protests and on the Hamas assaults. It was just one more time when I had to put my life at risk for the sake of my reporting. I survived, but I couldn’t shake the stress for many weeks to follow. 

Back to my 2015 trip to Jerusalem through Erez crossing. While I was looking over my previous reporting to prepare myself for potential questions from the Israeli officers at the checkpoint, Abu Mustafa gave me a call. He had seen my name on a list of Gazans planning to cross Erez. He put me in touch with a nameless colleague whose job was to guide people like me, who were making the journey for the first time. That was one of the weirdest situations ever, to be guided by a Hamas security officer whom I did not know or trust and who did not know or trust me. I am the last person to seek advice from Hamas, and yet here he was, advising me on how to deal with the Israeli security, intelligence, and military officers.

I was shocked to learn that everything this nameless man said happened in exactly the way he described it. I was strip-searched by two Israeli officers, and brought into a room with a woman who appeared to be Palestinian who said she wanted to talk to me. On the advice of the nameless man, I told her I was tired. I was later interviewed by a bald Israeli officer, one of the two people Abu Mustafa’s colleague said would interview me. The officer showed me photos of people on his computer and asked me about who they were. The nameless man’s advice was: once you are asked about someone, that meant they knew you had a relationship with them, so don’t lie but give general answers.

In the end, I made it to Jerusalem and back unharmed. I felt thankful for his guidance but also stressed over how much these two fighting parties seemed to know about each other — and about me. Both had the tools to make my life miserable if they wanted, and I only had my press card, a helmet, and a vest — materials that needed Israeli approval to enter Gaza and Hamas permission to be used there.

When I lived in Gaza, I was worried about my life and my children’s future. Now in London, I worry about Gaza and the future of journalism there. In addition to those journalists who have been killed, dozens have fled; these losses are catastrophic to the journalistic profession there. Eight months into the war, I have so many questions: Who will guide the young journalists entering the profession? How objective can they be given the brutal conditions and lack of guidance? Will the world listen to them, let alone believe their narrative?  And at the end of this, will there be young men and women willing to go into journalism in Gaza? Who will tell Gaza’s story?

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

It is illegal for Tibetans to possess or display the Tibetan national flag, which features a yellow sun with red and blue rays, images of two snow lions and a multi-colored jewel representing Buddhist values. 

On the evening of May 28, Rabgang Tenzin, a 51-year-old father of three, hoisted the Tibetan national flag on the rooftop in his new home in Pashoe county, or Baxoi in Chinese, in Tibet’s Chamdo Prefecture as part of a consecration ceremony, said the sources who requested anonymity for safety reasons. 

Tenzin forgot to take down the flag the next morning because he fell asleep, said the first source from inside Tibet.

“The next day, the Chinese police arrested him, and his current whereabouts are unknown,” he said. 

The flag is a symbol of unity and protest for Tibetans both inside and outside Tibet, and Chinese authorities have censored it from all media within China. 

Those caught owning, hoisting or waving the flag, or even having an image of it on their mobile phone, face arrest.

Keep quiet

Chinese authorities have warned other Tibetans in Pashoe to refrain from discussing the incident with “outside forces,” and that anyone who does so could face similar consequences, the second source said.

Tenzin, a farmer who occasionally engages in small business, has an eldest child who is about 10 years old and attends Pashoe County Elementary School. Residents now fear that his child may be expelled from school, said the two sources. 

Other Tibetans in Tibet and in Tibetan-populated areas of China’s western provinces caught displaying the flag have received jail terms.

In 2012, Sonam Gonpo, a monk from Dza Wonpo Monastery in Sershul county in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Sichuan province, received a four-year prison sentence for hoisting the Tibetan national flag at a local school. 

Earlier this year, a township in New Jersey raised the Tibetan flag in celebration of the Tibetan New Year, despite facing pressure from the Chinese government to not proceed with the initiative. 

The incident illustrated how far Chinese officials will go to try to exert control over members of Tibetan diaspora communities abroad, especially during politically sensitive anniversaries and holidays.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. 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 By Lobsang and Dorjee Damdul for RFA Tibetan.

At about 1 a.m. on May 15, four men appeared at Ali Shah’s door as he returned home, dragged him down the stairs, and forced him into a vehicle, according to a copy of a petition filed with the Islamabad High Court later that day, which was reviewed by CPJ, and a journalist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The men damaged CCTV cameras that recorded the incident, and took a digital video recorder containing camera footage, according to multiple media reports.

At the time of publication, Ali Shah’s whereabouts were still unknown, the journalist’s wife, Syeda Urooj Zainab, told CPJ.

“The secretive, late-night seizure of journalist Syed Farhad Ali Shah is further evidence of an intensifying crackdown on media freedom in Pakistan,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Authorities must either present Ali Shah in court or immediately release him and ensure that law enforcement agencies do their job of investigating crimes against journalists.”

Zainab told CPJ that she witnessed her husband being taken away by the men, two of whom were dressed in what appeared to be a black uniform. Zainab said she reported the incident to the local police, but they did not open a case to investigate her husband’s disappearance.

In her High Court petition, Zainab requested that Ali Shah be found and produced before the court and that those responsible for his disappearance be identified, investigated, and prosecuted. The petition named the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, and the Ministry of Defense, as part which the ISI operates, as well as the Ministry of Interior, Federal Investigative Agency, and Inspector General of Police Islamabad as respondents in the case.

Pakistan’s powerful ISI has previously been accused of forced disappearances – a major issue in Pakistan, where prominent reporters including Imran Riaz Khan, Sami Abraham, Syed Fawad Ali Shah, and Gohar Wazir went missing in 2023.

Zainab told CPJ that she received a call on May 17 on her husband’s number from an unknown person who asked her to withdraw her petition and promised to free the journalist on May 18.

Zainab told CPJ that she did not know who the caller was, but the independent daily Dawn cited a court order that said Zainab was phoned and received text messages from ISI officials who assured her that her husband would be freed the next day. In response, Zainab’s lawyer applied to withdraw the petition and shared a copy of the withdrawal application with ISI officials, but Ali Shah was not released, Dawn said.

“This Court is not satisfied with the working of the Secretary Ministry of Defence as well as officials of ISI as of now there is direct allegation against the agency,” Dawn quoted the court order as saying.

At a hearing on May 20, Justice Mohsin Akhtar ordered the police to inform the head of the ISI that Shah “should be produced at any cost,” Dawn reported, but a defense ministry official said Ali Shah was not in the ISI’s custody.

The defense and interior secretaries were ordered to attend court on May 21, but Zainab told CPJ on May 23 that there had been no further hearings.

With 22,500 followers on the social platform X, Ali Shah has reported critically on protests over rising prices in Pakistan-administered Kashmir since May 11, in which at least three people died.

Separately, on May 18, the Baluchistan police and local administration locked the gates of the Quetta Press Club, in the provincial capital, to prevent a local advocacy group, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), from holding a seminar, according to media reports and the local non-profit Pakistan Press Foundation.

The BYC, which campaigns against what it calls a genocide against the ethnic Baloch population in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, planned to hold a conference highlighting the group’s opposition to government plans to build a fence around the port city of Gwadar.

The campaigners broke the locks and the event went ahead, surrounded by a police cordon, those sources said.

Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Islamabad, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app.

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

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

A man armed with a pistol broke into Tonet’s home in the capital, Luanda, at around 4 a.m. on April 27, according to the journalist who spoke to CPJ, media reports, and a statement by the local union Syndicate of Angolan Journalists (SJA).

Tonet, director and editor of the privately owned newspaper Folha 8, said he was awake when the intruder came into his bedroom, and the journalist shouted at him, causing the man to flee and escape in a white Toyota vehicle waiting outside.

Tonet said he did not file a police complaint because he does not “trust authorities in Angola,” citing the “inadequate” police response to a June 6, 2023, fire that destroyed the Folha 8 office in Luanda and the subsequent investigations that “came up empty.” Twelve film cameras, seven still cameras, and editing equipment, all worth around US$50,000, were destroyed in the blaze.

Tonet told CPJ that he is separately facing a criminal defamation and insult case following a complaint by a former judge over a 2020 report by Folha 8. Criminal defamation carries up to 1.5 years in prison, while insult carries up to one year, according to the penal code.

“Between a fire at his Folha 8 newsroom last year, the April 2024 break-in at his

home, and the prospect of prison time over criminal defamation charges,

Angolan newspaper journalist William Tonet seems besieged on all sides,” said

CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Accra. “Authorities must take steps to ensure that Tonet and other critical journalists do not operate in an environment of fear and legal persecution.”

Tonet said he did not think the man was a “common thief” because several valuables in the house were left untouched, and he seemed to have a planned exit. The break-in occurred two months after Tonet returned to Angola after receiving medical treatment in Portugal.

Luzia Sebastião, a former judge in Angola’s Constitutional Court of the Republic, filed a criminal defamation and insult complaint against Tonet in connection to a June 2020 report, which cited a book alleging that the judge was implicated in a massacre that killed thousands in the aftermath of the May 27, 1977, political crisis. Folha 8 published an article in July 2020 in which Sebastião denied the allegations.

The case was adjourned on November 23, 2023, after Tonet’s lawyer submitted a request to delay the proceedings to allow Tonet to travel abroad for treatment, the journalist told CPJ. A new court date has yet to be set.

Sebastião told CPJ that she “agrees with the decriminalization of defamation defended by CPJ” but said, “it is currently the only legal avenue to seek redress in effect in Angola.” She said she would not comment further on a case that is before a court.

Tonet and Folha 8 have faced over 100 defamation cases since the paper was founded in 1996, according to the journalist and a 2014 news report by the German public broadcaster DW.

“While investigations and accusations can be idle for years, they can be reopened at any point if it is in the interest of those in power,” Tonet told CPJ.

In 2011, a court convicted Tonet on a criminal libel charge and handed him a one-year suspended sentence.

In 2012, police raided the Folha 8 offices amid an investigation into offenses of “outrage against the state” after the newspaper published a satirical photo montage of the country’s president and vice president.  

Nestor Goubel, spokesperson of the national police in Luanda, told CPJ that he could not comment but would seek information on the break-in at Tonet’s home and the June 2023 fire at Folha 8.

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

The suspected ringleaders of the unrest in New Caledonia have been placed in home detention and the social network TikTok has been banned as French security forces struggle to restore law and order.

The French territory faced its fourth day of severe rioting and unrest yesterday after protests erupted over proposed constitutional amendments.

Four people have now been confirmed dead, Charles Wea, a spokesperson for international relations for the president’s office, said.

• READ MORE: Why is New Caledonia on fire? According to local women, the deadly riots are about more than voting rights
• NZ families worried as loved ones shelter from violent unrest in New Caledonia
  France declares state of emergency in New Caledonia – four die in riots
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia crisis reports

The death toll has been revised today to five people after officials confirmed the death of a second police officer. However, RNZ Pacific understands it was an accidental killing which occurred as troops were preparing to leave barracks.

A newly introduced state of emergency has enabled suspected ringleaders to be placed in home detention, as well as a ban on Tiktok to be put in place.

French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said Nouméa remained the “hottest spot” with some 3000-4000 rioters still in action on the streets of the capital Nouméa and another 5000 in the Greater Nouméa area.

Wea told RNZ Pacific the demonstrators “were very angry when their friends and families had been killed”.

‘Shops still closed’
“Shops are still closed. Many houses have been burnt. The international airport is closed, only military planes are allowed to land from Paris.”

Reports RNZ Pacific are receiving from the capital paint a dire picture. Shops are running out of food and hospitals are calling for blood donations.

Enforcing the state of emergency in New Caledonia.  Video: [in French] Caledonia TV

“This morning [Thursday] a few shops have been opened so people can buy some food to eat,” Wea said.

RNZ Pacific former news editor Walter Zweifel, who has been covering the French Pacific territory for over three decades, said New Caledonia had not seen unrest like this since the 1980s.

The number of guns circulating in the community was a major problem as people continued to carry firearms despite a government ban, he said.

“There are so many firearms in circulation, attempts to limit the number of weapons have been made over the years unsuccessfully.

“We are talking about roughly 100,000 arms or rifles in circulation in New Caledonia with a population of less than 300,000.”

More details about fatalities
One of the four people earlier reported dead was a French gendarme, who was reported to have been shot in the head.

“The other three are all Melanesians,” Le Franc said.

One was a 36-year-old Kanak man, another a 20-year-old man and the third was a 17-year-old girl.

The deaths occurred during a clash with one of the newly formed “civil defence” groups, who were carrying guns, Le Franc said.

“Those who have committed these crimes are assassins. They are individuals who have used firearms.

“Maintaining law and order is a matter for professionals, police and gendarmes.”

Le Franc added: “We will look for them and we will find them anyway, so I’m calling them to surrender right now . .. so that justice can take its course.”

‘Mafia-like, violent organisation’
French Home Affairs and Overseas minister Gérald Darmanin told public TV channel France 2 he had placed 10 leaders of the CCAT (an organisation linked to the pro-independence FLNKS movement and who Darmanin believed to be the main organiser of the riots) under home detention.

“This is a Mafia-like body which I do not amalgamate with political pro-independence parties . . . [CCAT] is a group that claims itself to be pro-independence and commits looting, murders and violence,” he said.

Similar measures would be taken against other presumed leaders over the course of the day [Thursday French time].

“I have numerous elements which show this is a Mafia-like, violent organisation that loots stores and shoots real bullets at [French] gendarmes, sets businesses on fire and attacks even pro-independence institutions,” Darmanin told France 2.

Massive reinforcements were to arrive shortly and the French state would “totally regain control”, he said.

The number of police and gendarmes on the ground would rise from 1700 to 2700 by Friday night.

Darmanin also said he would request that all legitimate political party leaders across the local spectrum be placed under the protection of police or special intervention group members.

Pointing fingers
Earlier on Thursday, speaking in Nouméa, Le Franc targeted the CCAT, saying there was no communication between the French State and CCAT, but that “we are currently trying to locate them”.

“This is a group of hooligans who wish to kill police, gendarmes. This has nothing to do with FLNKS political formations which are perfectly legitimate.

“But this CCAT structure is no longer relevant. Those who are at the helm of this cell are all responsible. They will have to answer to the courts,” he said.

However, CCAT has said it had called for calm.

Wea said the CCAT “did not tell the people to steal or break”.

The problem was that the French government “did not want to listen”, he said.

“The FLNKS has said for months not to go through with this bill.

France ‘not recognising responsibility’
“It is easy to say the CCAT are responsible, but the French government does not want to recognise their responsibility.”

Wea said he was hopeful for a peaceful resolution.

The FLNKS had always said that the next discussion with the French government would need to be around the continued management and organisation of the country for the next five years, he said.

The FLNKS also wanted to talk about the process of decolonisation.

“It is important to note that the [Pacific Islands Forum] and also the Melanesian Spearhead Group have always supported the independence of New Caledonia because independence is in the agenda of the United Nation.”

The Melanesian Spearhead Group and Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai called on the French government to withdraw or annul the proposed constitutional amendments that sparked the civil unrest.

French President Emmanuel Macron said from Paris, where a meeting of a national defence council was now taking place every day, that he wished to hold a video conference with all of New Caledonia’s political leaders in order to assess the current situation.

But Wea said the problem was that “the French government don’t want to listen”.

“You cannot stop the Kanak people claiming freedom in their own country.”

He said concerns were mounting that Kanak people would “become a minority in their own country”.

That was why it was so important that the controversial constitutional amendments did not go any further, he said.

Economic impact
In the face of massive damage caused to the local economy, Southern Province President Sonia Backès has pleaded with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal for a “special reconstruction fund” to be set up for New Caledonia’s businesses.

“The local Chamber of Commerce estimates that initial damage to our economy amounts to some 150 million euros [NZ$267 million],” she wrote.

All commercial flights in and out of Nouméa-La Tontouta International Airport remain cancelled.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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

The problem is fast becoming a crisis that stretches far beyond the nation’s coastal states. That’s owing to another, less-talked-about kind of disaster that has wreaked havoc on states in the Midwest and the Great Plains, causing billions of dollars in damage. In response, insurers have raised premiums higher than ever and dropped customers even in inland states such as Iowa.

These so-called “severe-convective storms” are large and powerful thunderstorms that form and disappear within a few hours or days, often spinning off hail storms and tornadoes as they shoot across the flat expanses of the central United States. The insurance industry refers to these storms as “secondary perils”—the other term of art is “kitty cats,” a reference to their being smaller than big natural catastrophes or “nat cats.”

But the damage from these secondary perils has begun to add up. Losses from severe convective storms increased by about 9 percent every year between 1989 and 2022, according to the insurance firm Aon. Last year these storms caused more than $50 billion in insured losses combined—about as much as 2022’s massive Hurricane Ian. No single storm event caused more than a few billion dollars of damage, but together they were more expensive than most big disasters. The scale of loss sent the insurance industry reeling.

“As insurers, our job is to predict risk,” said Matt Junge, who oversees property coverage in the United States for the global insurance giant Swiss Re. “What we’ve missed is that it wasn’t a big event that had a big impact, it was a bunch of small surprise events that just added up. There’s this kind of this reset where we’re saying, ‘Okay, we really have to get a handle on this.’”

Part of the reason for this steady accumulation is that more people are moving to areas that are vulnerable to convective storms, which raises the damage profile of each new tornado or hailstorm. The cost of rebuilding a home has increased due to inflation and supply-chain shortages, which drives up prices. But climate change may also be playing a role: Convective storms tend to form in hot, moist, and unstable weather conditions.

“We have such a dearth of observations about hailstorms and tornadoes, so the trend analysis is tricky,” said Kelly Mahoney, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who studies severe convective storms. “But you are taking storms that are fueled by heat and moisture, and you are watching them develop in a world that is hotter and moister than ever. It’s a tired analogy these days, but it’s still true here, of loaded dice or a stacked deck.”

Climate attribution is much harder for these ephemeral storms than it is for hurricanes and heat waves, Mahoney said, but it stands to reason that climate change will have some influence on how and where they develop. Warming has already caused the geographic range of “Tornado Alley” to extend farther south and east than it once did, delivering more twisters to states like Alabama and Mississippi.

Whatever the cause, this loss trend is making business much harder for many insurance companies. Most vulnerable are the small regional insurers with large clusters of customers in one state or metropolitan area. When a significant storm strikes, these companies have to pay claims to huge portions of their risk pool, which can drain their reserves and push them toward insolvency.

“The local mutuals, you have a couple storms, you have a bad year, and they’re in trouble, because all their business is here and that risk isn’t spread out,” said Glen Mulready, the insurance commissioner of Oklahoma. The state has some of the highest insurance premiums in the country, and Mulready said many insurers are now refusing to write new policies for homes with old roofs that are vulnerable to collapse during tornadoes and hailstorms.

Read next

As climate risks mount, the insurance safety net is collapsing

Lois Parshley

Even large “reinsurers,” which sell insurance to insurance companies around the world, are feeling the sting from these storms. Global reinsurance firms such as Swiss Re take in premium revenue from all over the globe, insuring earthquakes in Japan as well as hurricanes in Florida, so they aren’t vulnerable to collapse during local disasters, even major ones. But the increasing trend of “attritional” losses from repeated convective storms does threaten to cut into their profit margins.

“We have less of a concern about the tail on these types of events,” said Junge of Swiss Re, using the industry term for the costliest disasters. “The concern for us is just the impact on earnings.”

Ed Bolt, the mayor of Shawnee, Oklahoma, has seen this impact up close. A tornado raged down his town’s main boulevard last year and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, knocking the roof off Bolt’s own house. His insurance company paid to replace the roof, but it mailed him a letter a few months ago with a notice that his annual premium was going to increase by 50 percent, reaching around $3,600 a year.

“The cost used to tick up and tick up a little bit, but last year we knew we would get a big hit because of the tornado,” Bolt told Grist. “I’m sure that would be a pretty consistent experience across town.”

Most states require insurers to get permission from regulators before they raise rates, which presents governments with a tough dilemma. If they raise rates, they make it harder for homeowners to keep up with their insurance payments, and they also risk dampening property values. If they keep rates down, insurers might react by ceasing to write new policies or pulling out of the state. Mulready, the Oklahoma commissioner, says he had one national insurer leave his market earlier this year.

Still, the Midwest has yet to encounter a large-scale exodus, and industry representatives say it’s unlikely that they will pull out of the region the way they have from California. But it’s a safe bet that insurers will keep raising premiums as high as states will let them. Insurers may also raise deductibles, setting a higher minimum amount of damage before insurance kicks in. The upshot is a bigger financial burden for homeowners in fast-growing metro areas like Denver, where insurers’ storm exposure has skyrocketed in recent years.

Perhaps the worst part of the problem is that most states have made little progress in preparing for these storm events. Florida imposed a strict building code after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and most newer homes in the state can withstand high winds. The housing stock in the central United States is far less resilient to tornado winds and hail, and just a few cities have forced builders to fortify homes against those hazards.

Erin Collins, the lead state policy advocate at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, the nation’s largest insurer trade group, said carriers might have to keep raising rates until the nation’s housing stock becomes more resilient to severe storms.

“It’s going to take community-scale hardening to bend that loss curve down,” she told Grist.

Read next

Extreme weather cost $80 billion this year. The true price is far higher.

Jake Bittle

That won’t be easy. Insurers need to convince large home builders that they should build with more expensive, storm-resistant materials, and they also need to nudge millions of people in existing homes to upgrade their roofs and windows, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Because severe convective storms can strike such a wide geography, it will take a long time for this mitigation work to “bend the loss curve down.”

The good news is that we know how to build storm-resistant homes, and there’s proof that building better makes a big difference, says Ian Giacomelli, a senior meteorologist at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for stronger building standards. 

Giacomelli points to the city of Moore, Oklahoma, which rolled out some of the strictest storm-resilience standards in the country after it suffered three devastating tornadoes in two decades. Now almost the city’s entire housing stock has roofs that can bounce off large hail storms and strong joints that prevent roofs from flying off during tornado events. Giacomelli says the nation’s current insurance crisis would likely ease up if more cities followed Moore’s lead.

“I think the solutions are coming into focus,” he told Grist. “It’s more about can we get the will to do them.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How ‘kitty cats’ are wrecking the home insurance industry on May 16, 2024.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Jake Bittle.

The women, who went to the Middle Eastern country for jobs, said they were physically abused by their employers, including being denied food and sleep. Some said they had not been paid or that they were told they would have to work for much longer than their contracts stipulated.

Many of those who returned to Cambodia suffered mentally and physically from being forced to work long hours, not having enough food and water, and in some cases, not being paid, they said. 

The case illustrates the risks that Cambodian migrant workers face when they go abroad for better-paying jobs as domestics. Many are subjected to a labor exploitation and serious abuses, including nonpayment of wages, excessive work hours, forced labor, and psychological, physical or sexual abuse by their employers. 

The maids and other workers in Saudi Arabia had sought Cambodian government intervention and assistance since March. 

In April, Cambodia’s Labor Ministry said 78 migrant workers who had been tricked into working in Saudi Arabia had been rescued and placed in hotel rooms under the care of Cambodian diplomats. 

Cambodian officials claimed to be purchasing flights for the workers to return home, but they remained stranded for a few weeks, lacking access to adequate food.

The 24 workers recently repatriated to Cambodia were among a larger group of 39 Cambodians evacuated in April by diplomats from the Cambodian Embassy in Egypt, which also has responsibility for Saudi Arabia. 

Lawsuit?

One of the recently returned maids told RFA that she and others, who were rescued earlier and arrived in Cambodia on April 28, would discuss the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the Cambodian company Fatina Manpower Co. Ltd. for exploiting them. 

The maids said they were also forced to sign agreements not to sue the recruitment company before flying out of Saudi Arabia.

“I served [my employer] for many months when he was in Cambodia, and I served his family when I was in Saudi Arabia, but I did not get paid,” said one of the recently returned maids, who like others refused to be identified for fear of retribution.

“His family used us to cook for them [and] to serve his Japanese and Arabian students,” she said. “Many Arabian students used us to launder their clothes, clean their schools, clean homes and more.”  

The remaining 15 said the embassy is still working to facilitate their repatriation.

Man Teramizy, owner of Fatina Manpower and a senior official at the Labor Ministry, intervened in the matter by visiting a group of workers in Saudi Arabia to facilitate the repatriation process and pay compensation to his partner company in Saudi Arabia, the workers said

He paid about US$1,000 per employee to terminate their contracts with the partner company, they said.  

Chamroeun Srey Sor, one of the stranded workers, told RFA that she had not been paid by the company. She wants the embassy and relevant ministries to send her back to Cambodia as soon as possible.

“I’m asking [for] help [to] return to Cambodia as soon as possible because my mother in Cambodia has an eye disease, and no one takes care of her,” she said. “On top of that, my child is also living with her.”

RFA could not reach Uk Sarun, Cambodia’s ambassador to Egypt, or Labor Ministry spokesman Kata Un for comment.

Khun Tharo, program manager for the NGO Central, said the Cambodian government needs to investigate agents of companies that send workers to work in Saudi Arabia.

“If we do not find the person responsible for the problems that have occurred, then many of these Cambodian workers will become the unresolved victims of exploitation and serious labor rights violations,” he said.  

Translated by Sum Sok Ry for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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

We speak with civil rights attorney Ben Crump about the police killing of Roger Fortson, a Black 23-year-old Air Force member who was fatally shot by a Florida police officer mere moments after opening the door of his apartment. Fortson’s family says the police had arrived at the wrong home and that Fortson had grabbed his legal firearm as a precaution. Police body-camera footage shows Fortson answered the door with his gun at his side, not posing an imminent threat to the officer, who immediately shot Fortson six times. “The Second Amendment applies to Black people, too,” says Crump, who has represented victims of police violence in many high-profile cases. The police claim that officers were responding to a domestic dispute is contradicted by the fact that Fortson was home alone, Crump says. “They need to go ahead and admit that it was the wrong apartment and quit trying to justify this unjustifiable killing.”

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

Much of the deepest flooding happened in the San Jacinto River, a serpentine waterway that winds along Houston’s eastern edge and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. This area happens to be the site of perhaps the country’s longest-running experiment in the adaptation policy known as “managed retreat,” which involves moving homeowners away from neighborhoods that will become increasingly vulnerable to disaster as climate change worsens. Harris County has spent millions of dollars buying out and demolishing at-risk homes along the river over the past decade. But the past week’s flooding has demonstrated that even this nation-leading program hasn’t been able to keep pace with escalating disaster.

“This is basically the largest and the deepest river within the county, and the floodplain is so deep that really we can’t do projects to fix these areas,” said James Wade, who leads the home buyouts for the Harris County Flood Control District. “We’re trying to get contiguous ownership in these areas so that we can basically convert it back to nature.”

It’s been slow going: Wade says the county has purchased about 600 flood-prone homes along the waterway over the past 30 years, almost all of which would have flooded during the recent storm if they hadn’t been bought out and demolished. There are still more than 1,600 vulnerable homes that the county is trying to purchase, but it has struggled to secure the necessary funds and get property owners on board.

Harris County was one of the first local governments in the United States to buy out flood-prone homes with money provided by FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. The county has acquired more than 4,000 homes in dozens of subdivisions around Houston since the turn of the century, creating what are essentially miniature ghost towns around the city and its suburbs. Many of these neighborhoods, including the ones around San Jacinto, were so prone to flooding that the county couldn’t protect them with channels and retention ponds, which secure other residential areas.  

The county doubled down on this strategy around the San Jacinto after Hurricane Harvey flooded hundreds of homes along the river in 2017, confirming that many residences were “hopelessly deep” in the floodplain, in the county’s words. Not only is the land around the river low-lying and marshy, but it also sits downstream of a reservoir that needs to release water during flood events so it does not overflow. 

The county used federal funds to purchase and demolish an entire subdivision called Forest Cove, converting the open space into a “greenway” park with walking and bike trails. Elsewhere, it bought out homeowners who had already elevated their riverside homes as high as 14 feet in the air but had still seen flooding during Hurricane Harvey. These buyouts were voluntary, but after years of advocacy the county managed to persuade most homeowners to leave.

A separate county agency pursued a mandatory buyout in a few subdivisions where residents had been flooded several times, including one large community along the San Jacinto. This mandatory initiative has drawn criticism from residents who accuse the county of uprooting established communities, but the county saw it as a necessary measure to control flood risk in places where no other flood control strategies would work. More than six years after Harvey, officials are still working to close on the last of those homes. 

Yet this aggressive program has still left many vulnerable neighborhoods untouched. The county gets most of its buyout funding from FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which tend to dole out grants only after big disasters. It has also floated a $2.5 billion bond to finance flood protection and buyouts, but that sum has proven too little. There are far more flood-prone homes even along the San Jacinto than the county can afford to buy, to say nothing of the rest of the Houston metropolitan area, one of the country’s most populous urban centers. 

“Money is obviously the biggest constraint,” said Alex Greer, an associate professor of emergency management at the University at Albany who has studied buyout programs. “They often have far more interested homeowners than they have funds, and the funding comes way too late.” Wade isn’t sure yet whether the flood caused enough damage to meet the criteria for a presidential disaster declaration, which would unlock significant FEMA aid and likely help the county fund more buyouts along the San Jacinto. 

Furthermore, buyouts can take years to execute. In most cases, the county has to convince individual homeowners to enroll in a buyout program, then complete months of paperwork to purchase their homes, then wait for the homeowners to move. If there are holdouts who don’t want to leave, the buyouts end up happening in a “checkerboard” pattern, and the government can’t let water retake the land. Some neighborhoods, like those in the more upscale Kingwood area, are fighting for alternate solutions like new upstream reservoirs or dredging projects that could reduce flooding without homeowners needing to leave.

Even though residents along the beleaguered river have been dealing with floods for decades, Wade says he hopes this most recent flood will convince more of them to join the buyout program, allowing the county to return more land along the river back to nature. Without more money, though, he won’t be able to take advantage of what Greer calls the “window to woo.”

“Right after a flood event, that’s when people are most like, ‘I don’t want to do this again,’” he said. “But then there’s that lag of time between them coming forward and us being able to secure the funds, and they could change their minds.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Texas flooding brings new urgency to Houston home buyout program on May 10, 2024.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Jake Bittle.

Marine researchers who have visited the Flower Garden Banks describe it with awe in their voices. “When you look out, it can be almost disorienting because there’s so much coral,” said Michelle Johnston, superintendent of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. 

As reefs around the world bleach at alarming rates, scientists are racing to study and preserve this remarkable coral reef in the unlikeliest of places. “We have these magical underwater places, [and yet they are] completely surrounded by the oil and gas industry,” Johnston said.

To understand how both can exist in such close proximity, it helps to understand the history of the region. Roughly 190 million years ago, the ocean here was drying up, leaving behind a massive plain of salt. Over the ages, that dried-up layer of salt was buried deep in the earth.  

And eventually, a new body of water — the Gulf of Mexico — formed high above it. Because salt is less dense than the surrounding rock, the layer slowly rose toward the surface, pushing the earth above it, while pulling up massive oil deposits from below. Slowly, this shift created enormous underwater mountains known as “salt domes.” Looking at a map of the Gulf of Mexico today, you can see that many of its oil drilling sites are on those same underwater mountains.

A few of these mountains rose so high that sunlight was just able to filter down through the water to reach them. And roughly 10,000 years ago, coral polyps latched onto the peaks and started to grow. Those underwater mountaintops are now the Flower Garden Banks.

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Because the reef is so far from the shore, it’s been protected from many threats like overfishing and coastal pollution. And because of its depth and northern latitude, the water here is about as cold as corals can tolerate, essentially protecting the Flower Garden Banks from global warming. In the summer of 2023, for example, while other reefs throughout the Caribbean were being ravaged by heat stress and bleaching, the unique geology of Flower Gardens allowed it to fare better than the rest. 

But this same unique geology has also turned the region into a massive hub for offshore oil drilling.

“When you’re offshore diving at the Flower Gardens, you look around from the dive boat and you can see oil and gas platforms in every direction,” Johnston said. “So there’s all of this industry happening around this beautiful place.”

For now, the reef has thankfully avoided any catastrophic oil spills, but that doesn’t mean that oil hasn’t left its mark. In fact, the legacy of oil extraction, carbon emissions, and climate change are quite literally etched into the hard skeletons of the corals themselves.

“I think of that skeletal material as a little time capsule,” said Amy Wagner, a scientist who studies corals to find clues about Earth’s past.

Back when she was a graduate student in 2005, Wagner and a team of scientists came to Flower Garden Banks in search of one very specific type of coral, Siderastrea siderea. “They just look like a bunch of rocks on the bottom,” she said.

The team dove down 78 feet, to the peaks of these ancient mountaintops, and drilled a nearly 6-foot-long core of this slow-growing species of coral — a 250-year record of pollution, climate change, and even world events. “You start to drill in and, especially in that initial drilling, you’re getting the tissue layer of the coral,” Wagner said. “And you end up having a lot of fish come in, because it’s free food, right?”

After hours of drilling, they patched up the hole and swam the 6-foot-long core to the surface. Back at the lab, they split open the core samples and x-rayed them. “They’re like trees,” Wagner said. “You can count the tree rings and go back in time. Corals produce these annual bands.”

Every year, the living coral organism lays down a new growth band, using the nutrients and minerals it pulls out of the seawater. Essentially, whatever’s in the seawater makes it into that year’s layer of coral skeleton. “So we have this long record of these little, tiny time capsules that are sort of locking in the ocean chemistry,” Wagner said.

Using a high-tech version of a dentist’s drill, Wagner and her colleague Kristine DeLong, a professor at Louisiana State University, collected a tiny bit of dust from each growth band. Then, like detectives, they analyzed different elements in the dust for clues, looking at the variations in the coral core over time.

Just like humans, corals build their skeletons out of calcium. But sometimes they make mistakes, accidentally grabbing look-alike elements from the seawater. One of those elements is barium, which is often used as a lubricant in offshore oil wells. During the 1970s energy crisis, oil drilling boomed in the Gulf of Mexico. And Wagner and DeLong could see that spike reflected in the barium levels in the coral: When oil prices crashed, production went down, and so did the barium.

There are many other histories scientists can see etched in this coral core. By looking at nitrogen, they can see the rise of fertilizer pollution from the Mississippi River. By looking at radioactive carbon, they can see the rise of nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War.

And the corals even tell the story of how fossil fuels are changing the climate — in the words of one scientist, “recording their own demise.” To see how, it’s important to know that carbon atoms aren’t all exactly the same. They actually come in a few different weights, depending on the number of neutrons in each carbon atom.  A carbon atom with seven neutrons is called “heavy carbon,” while an atom with six neutrons is called “light carbon.” Plants prefer to use the light carbon for photosynthesis. So, inside of a plant, the carbon atoms tend to be a little bit lighter than those, say, inside of a volcano. 

Fossil fuels come from ancient plants, which are full of light carbon. As fossil fuel emissions rise, the carbon atoms in our atmosphere are slowly getting lighter. 

You can see this same trend playing out inside of the corals: The carbon in the coral slowly gets lighter in the band samples as the world burns more fossil fuels. As those fossil fuel emissions warm the climate, they put reefs around the world in danger. 

Today, the Flower Garden Banks are still holding on, but they won’t be safe forever. As early as 2040, the Flower Garden Banks could start to see major bleaching events every summer. If we can reduce our emissions at a more reasonable pace, climate models say we might be able to buy an extra 15 to 20 years for the Flower Garden Banks — essentially doubling its window of time. That window would be critical for the sanctuary staff and independent scientists who are working hard to study and protect what might become one of the last coral reefs.

“Going to a place like Flower Gardens, it’s like — these corals, they’re still pretty darn healthy,” said  DeLong. “Being able to manage those reefs and take care of them is important, because they may be the last ones we have.”

Recently, scientists at the Flower Garden Banks have started collecting corals from the reef and storing them in an onshore coral lab. The hope is to eventually bank enough coral here in case the worst happens.

“It is a grim prospect,” Johnston said. “It’s better to be proactive and have some things banked versus getting into the situation where all the corals have bleached and died and we have nothing left. It’s my hope that nature can figure things out and things can adapt. I think the problem is that the climate is changing quickly enough that there might not be time.”

The Flower Garden Banks are a product of 10,000 years of slow, steady growth, capturing annual snapshots of our world, in small millimeter-sized chapters. The next few decades will be critical in determining just how much longer this reef will be able to continue its ancient undersea story.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The Gulf Coast is home to one of the last healthy coral reefs. It’s surrounded by oil. on May 9, 2024.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Jesse Nichols.

Unfortunately, a collective assault by the government’s cabal of legislators, litigators, judges and militarized police has all but succeeded in reducing that fortress—and the Fourth Amendment alongside it—to a crumbling pile of rubble.

We are no longer safe in our homes, not from the menace of a government and its army of Peeping Toms who are waging war on the last stronghold of privacy left to us as a free people.

The weapons of this particular war on the privacy and sanctity of our homes are being wielded by the government and its army of bureaucratized, corporatized, militarized mercenaries.

Government agents—with or without a warrant, with or without probable cause that criminal activity is afoot, and with or without the consent of the homeowner—are now justified in mounting virtual home invasions using surveillance technology—with or without the blessing of the courts—to invade one’s home with wiretaps, thermal imaging, surveillance cameras, aerial drones, and other monitoring devices.

Just recently, in fact, the Michigan Supreme Court gave the government the green light to use warrantless aerial drone surveillance to snoop on citizens at home and spy on their private property.

While the courts have given police significant leeway at times when it comes to physical intrusions into the privacy of one’s home (the toehold entry, the battering ram, the SWAT raid, the knock-and-talk conversation, etc.), the menace of such virtual intrusions on our Fourth Amendment rights has barely begun to be litigated, legislated and debated.

Consequently, we now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed, corralled and controlled by technologies that answer to government and corporate rulers.

Indeed, almost anything goes when it comes to all the ways in which the government can now invade your home and lay siege to your property.

Consider that on any given day, the average American going about his daily business will be monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked in more than 20 different ways, by both government and corporate eyes and ears.

A byproduct of this surveillance age in which we live, whether you’re walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency is listening in and tracking your behavior.

This doesn’t even begin to touch on the corporate trackers that monitor your purchases, web browsing, Facebook posts and other activities taking place in the cyber sphere.

Stingray devices mounted on police cars to warrantlessly track cell phones, Doppler radar devices that can detect human breathing and movement within in a home, license plate readers that can record up to 1800 license plates per minute, sidewalk and “public space” cameras coupled with facial recognition and behavior-sensing technology that lay the groundwork for police “pre-crime” programs, police body cameras that turn police officers into roving surveillance cameras, the internet of things: all of these technologies (and more) add up to a society in which there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence—especially not when the government can listen in on your phone calls, read your emails, monitor your driving habits, track your movements, scrutinize your purchases and peer through the walls of your home.

Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide: this is the mantra of the architects of the Surveillance State and their corporate collaborators.

Government eyes see your every move: what you read, how much you spend, where you go, with whom you interact, when you wake up in the morning, what you’re watching on television and reading on the internet.

Every move you make is being monitored, mined for data, crunched, and tabulated in order to amass a profile of who you are, what makes you tick, and how best to control you when and if it becomes necessary to bring you in line.

Cue the dawning of the Age of the Internet of Things (IoT).

In the not-too-distant future, “just about every device you have—and even products like chairs, that you don’t normally expect to see technology in—will be connected and talking to each other.”

It is estimated that 127 new IoT devices are connected to the web every second.

These Internet-connected techno gadgets include smart light bulbs that discourage burglars by making your house look occupied, smart thermostats that regulate the temperature of your home based on your activities, and smart doorbells that let you see who is at your front door without leaving the comfort of your couch.

Given the speed and trajectory at which these technologies are developing, it won’t be long before these devices become government informants, reporting independently on anything you might do that runs afoul of the Nanny State.

Moreover, it’s not just our homes and personal devices that are being reordered and reimagined in this connected age: it’s our workplaces, our health systems, our government, our bodies and our innermost thoughts that are being plugged into a matrix over which we have no real control.

It is expected that by 2030, we will all experience The Internet of Senses (IoS), enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), 5G, and automation. The Internet of Senses relies on connected technology interacting with our senses of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch by way of the brain as the user interface. As journalist Susan Fourtane explains, “Many predict that by 2030, the lines between thinking and doing will blur… By 2030, technology is set to respond to our thoughts, and even share them with others.”

Once technology is able to access and act on your thoughts, not even your innermost thoughts will be safe from the Thought Police.

Thus far, the public response to concerns about government surveillance has amounted to a collective shrug.

Yet as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, when the government sees all and knows all and has an abundance of laws to render even the most seemingly upstanding citizen a criminal and lawbreaker, then the old adage that you’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide no longer applies.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead.

The women had come to Saudi Arabia to work as maids, but once they landed they were subjected to physical abuse in the households where they worked, including being denied food and sleep. Some said they had not been paid, or were told they would have to work for much longer than their contracts stated.

In mid-April, dozens of women were rescued from their work settings by Cambodian Embassy staff. 

Ambassador Uk Sarun said that 16 of the women had been sent home in late April, and Cambodian and Saudi officials claimed they were purchasing tickets for the remaining women. But so far they have remained in Saudi Arabia.

Last week, two weeks after they were rescued, the women demanded that they be sent home because the embassy was not providing them adequate food, and their health was deteriorating.

And now, with little apparent sign of their repatriation, they are asking the Saudi government to intervene. 

Assurances

The women say a high ranking Saudi labor official will meet with them soon, and that they had already met with Ministry of Labor staff to explain their situation and how they were mistreated.

The labor ministry officials assured them that they would work on their behalf to resolve their mistreatment and ensure they would be get any unpaid wages, a representative of the workers told RFA Khmer on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. 

“The Arab officials told us to keep passports to ourselves and be prepared to talk to the company to demand our salary and to get our mistreatment solved,” she said.

“Then, they will stamp the visas so we can return to Cambodia,” she said. “They said they will protect the Cambodian people to be able to go back to Cambodia.”

They also advised her not to trust “Arabian companies” because they are women, she said, implying that some in Saudi Arabia think workers’ rights only apply to men.

Regarding the delay in their repatriation, the workers claim that it’s because their Cambodian employer, Fatina Manpower Co., sold them to a partner company in Saudi Arabia at a high price, and is hoping that maids will give up and complete their contracts.

One of the rescued workers, Ye Thoeun, told RFA that she had worked for more than 20 days in April but she had not been paid.

She said she had only signed on to a three-month contract, but the Saudi company said she needed to work for longer, possibly up to two years. 

When she fell ill, she said her boss told her to stay up in her room until she got better, and that she would not be paid for the days she wasn’t working.

“He spoke in Arabic, saying that the price he paid for me is very high, therefore, he cannot send me back to Cambodia,” she said. “But, he said I can go if I pay him US$1,500.”

She said that if she had that kind of money, she would have bought out her own contract and returned home only months after she arrived.

“Now, I just keep crying without hope because there is no solution for me, I don’t know what to do,” she said. 

RFA was not able to reach the Cambodian  Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ouk Sarun or Cambodian Labor Ministry spokesman Kata On for comment.

Debt trap

Many of the workers stranded in Saudi Arabia are trapped by their debts. 

One of the laborers, Chim Saran, said she could not repay the bank because her employer had not paid her.

“We came from afar expecting to get work to get money to send to the families so we can pay off our debts,” she said. 

“But since we got here we have faced many problems, the employers mistreat us in every way,” she said. “They don’t pay us salaries or give us adequate food, and homeowners confine us and if we don’t work for them, they threaten us.”

According to Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor, 133 female workers came to work in Saudi Arabia. The ministry acknowledges that some of these workers have been overworked and are exposed to health problems and a lack of freedom. 

However, human rights officials and workers are still urging the Ministry of Labor and other stakeholders to intervene to find other groups of workers who have been exploited by companies and employers to send them back to Cambodia.

Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

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

Fang, who was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at a secret trial, was released last year and ordered back to Wuhan when he traveled to Beijing.

Back in Wuhan, Fang stayed for a while in Qiaokou district, where he was frequently questioned by local police as part of China's "stability maintenance" system that targets dissidents and activists before they have a chance to do anything, prompting him to leave the area.

Before his detention on Feb. 1, 2020, Fang was among a number of high-profile bloggers who tried to report on the emerging and little-understood viral outbreak from Wuhan. He described the pandemic as a "man-made" disaster, calling on people to resist government "tyranny."

He sent reports from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital and a funeral home in Wuchang, part of the three-city conurbation that makes up Wuhan, where he watched staff move out eight dead bodies in the space of five minutes, suggesting the death toll was far higher than the officially reported figure.

Last month, Fang found an apartment in Huangpi district, further out of town, and signed a one-year lease with a private landlord surnamed Ren on April 15, paying a year's rent and service charges up front.

Three days later, local officials found out that he had moved into the area, and put pressure on the landlord to terminate his lease, he told RFA Mandarin in an interview on Wednesday.

The landlord told him he was being evicted, saying he couldn't take the kind of pressure he was being put under.

"When [the authorities] found out that I'd moved to Huangpi from Qiaokou, they were against me living in Huangpi," Fang said. "They put pressure on the landlord to evict me."

"They cut off my power and water supply ... They want me to leave," he said. "I paid the rent and the service charge."

Fang said unidentified people had used "every tactic they could think of" to put pressure on the landlord, who didn't dare to say where the pressure was coming from.

"He said, 'I can't stand this any more — I'll give you your money back,'" Fang said.

A 'stability maintenance' target

Repeated calls to the neighborhood committee at Shekoujie Sub-district Office rang unanswered during office hours on Wednesday.

Fang believes local officials there didn't want him living in the district because he's a "stability maintenance" target, whom they fear could cause trouble for them.

Fang left on April 27, then regained entry to the apartment the following day, only to have the water and power cut off on April 29, he said. Then someone tampered with the door lock, shutting Fang out of the apartment entirely.

"They think that my living here would be dangerous or troublesome for them, due to stability maintenance and so on," he said. "They think I'll cause them trouble, be another thing they are responsible for."

Fang went incommunicado after a Feb. 1, 2020, livestream from Wuhan healthcare facilities, and made a couple more videos in the days that followed about his interrogation by police, before falling silent for three years, with no news of his fate.

He was sentenced in secret by the Jiang'an District People's Court, which didn't share any legal documents with his family, then served his sentence in the Xiaojunshan former juvenile correction facility, activists said at the time.

Fang’s disappearance came a few days after the detention of another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, who had been interviewing people involved with the new mega hospitals being built at great speed in Wuhan.

Fellow citizen journalist Kcriss Li continued reporting from the scene for a few more weeks after that, until his dramatic, live-streamed chase by police on Feb. 26. 

Lawyer-turned-reporter Zhang Zhan was detained and taken back to Shanghai, where there are ongoing concerns about her health in prison following months of on-off hunger strikes and forced feeding.

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China called for Fang's release in its annual report in November 2022, along with all those detained for reporting on the pandemic in China.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.

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

The post The War Comes Home appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jeffrey St. Clair.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested in Brooklyn on Tuesday when Jewish New Yorkers and allies gathered for what they called a “Seder in the Streets to Stop Arming Israel” on the second night of Passover. The demonstration, held one block away from the home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, came just hours before the Senate overwhelmingly approved a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes about $17 billion in arms and security funding to Israel. “At the core of the Passover story is that we cannot be free until all people are free,” Beth Miller, the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, told Democracy Now! “The Israeli government and the United States government are carrying out a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, over 34,000 people killed in six months in the name of Jewish safety, in the false name of Jewish freedom.”

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

Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), a worthy-sounding broadcaster which began life back in 1917 with the aim of sharing the educational resources of the University of Wisconsin with the state’s residents and now inspires communities around the world, has been feeding its listeners a load of old toffee about a place called Sderot, an Israeli township a stone’s throw from Gaza.

As WPR reports, it was attacked by the Palestinian resistance on October 7 and “almost completely emptied… most of Sderot’s 39,000 residents were evacuated to hotels across the country.”

They are now returning thanks in part to the schools re-opening and the inconvenience of living so long in hotels. “Those who come back are also receiving grants from the government to support them as they re-acclimatise,” says the report. I don’t suppose the Palestinian citizens returning to their bombed-out homes in Gaza will receive a re-acclimatising grant even if they can actually identify where they lived after the devastation of Israel’s genocidal collective punishment.

What the report doesn’t tell us is how Sderot came into being. Even some of its residents might be surprised. It is built on the lands of a Palestinian village called Najd, which was ethnically cleansed by Jewish terrorists in May 1948 before Israel was declared a state and before any Arab armies entered Palestine. The 600+ villagers, all Muslim, were forced to flee for their lives.

Najd was not allocated to the Jews in the 1947 UN Partition Plan — they stole it using armed force. Britain, the mandated government, was in charge while this and many other atrocities were committed by rampaging Jewish militia, Najd being one of 418 Palestinian villages and towns they wiped off the map.

Palestinian Arabs owned over 90 percent of the land in Najd. Its 82 homes were bulldozed and their inhabitants, presumably, became refugees in Gaza. Their families are probably still living in camps there. The sweet irony is that some of them have quite likely manned the rocket launchers.

Being a target for Gaza’s rockets has made Sderot a major propaganda asset of the Israeli regime. Only a mile from the prison camp fence of Gaza, it has become known as ‘the bomb shelter capital of the world’, residents having little time to take cover from Gaza’s erratic garden-shed missiles. Many of Sderot’s building have been made “rocket-proof”. It is now a compulsory stop on the brainwash tour for gullible politicians and journalists.

WPR’s report says: “At the edge of Sderot is a hilltop where you can pay a bit more than a dollar and look through a viewfinder for a closer look across the border to north Gaza.” This must be the hilltop we’ve all heard about where local citizens took their deckchairs and crates of beer for a grandstand view of Israel’s military periodically bombarding Gaza as part of their “mowing the grass” programme. Those sick bastards knew perfectly well the atrocities their government inflicted on their Palestinian neighbours trapped in that open-air prison for 17 years before October 7. How they must have missed their ‘sport’ during the evacuation.

When Barak Obama visited in 2008 he spouted the well-worn mantra backing Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Gaza’s rocket attacks, adding: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing.” Yes, Mr Obama. But hopefully you wouldn’t be such a plonker as to live on land stolen from your neighbour at gun-point.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s menacing threat “whoever hurts us, we hurt them” cuts both ways.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Stuart Littlewood.

The two girls were part of a group of 16 young Laotians trafficked to work as scammers at a place called the “Casino Kosai” in an isolated development near the city of Myawaddy, the scene of recent fighting in Myanmar’s civil war.

A group of people helped get them out of the casino and brought them to the Laos border, they told Radio Free Asia. The 40,000 yuan fee was paid by their Chinese boyfriends to facilitate the release, one of the girls said.

“The Chinese boss finally agreed to release my friend and I, but we had to pay a fee,” she told RFA. “We also had to find those who we can trust. Otherwise, we could end up being sold to another place.”

Recent intense fighting in the area between Myanmar’s military junta and anti-junta rebels delayed their travel to the border by several days, they said. The two girls arrived in Luang Namtha province in northern Laos on Monday. 

RFA confirmed that the other 14 young Laotians remain at the casino, where they have been forced to call people and trick them into buying fake investments. 

If they don’t reach quota goals, they are struck with rods or forced to stand in the sun for hours, their parents told RFA.

“I called my son last week and he told me that the Chinese boss said that they may release some of them on June 15,” the mother of one of the remaining 14 told RFA. “I have to wait and see first. If nothing happens, I will try other ways to help my son.”

The families of the young Laotians have appealed to government officials on several occasions to intervene in the case. 

A reliable source told RFA on Wednesday that the 14 teenagers can be released if the casino is paid a US$3,000 fee.

“It seems impossible for me to get that amount of money,” another parent said. “I feel very hopeless now to hear it will cost this amount of money.”

Translated by Phouvong. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

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