0x815

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A top police official said on Friday (4 October) that criminal groups with Russian backing were intent on disrupting Moldova's presidential election, including attempts to seize government buildings.

The 20 October election, in which pro-European President Maia Sandu is seeking reelection, is becoming increasingly heated. The poll is being held alongside a referendum on pressing for European Union membership and officials accuse pro-Kremlin groups of offering cash for voters to reject the EU plebiscite.

National police chief Viorel Cernauteanu said instances of vandals hurling paint at public buildings last month were a precursor to more serious acts.

"We are looking at the intentions of such people and we are not just talking here about destabilising the situation in the country or mass disorder," he told TV8 television.

"They are pursuing more ambitious goals, up to and including the seizure of state institutions."

The Indian federal home ministry told the country's Supreme Court that "a man does not have a fundamental right" to force sex on his wife, but there were enough laws to protect married women against sexual violence.

The top court is hearing petitions seeking to amend a British-era law that says a man cannot be prosecuted for rape within marriage.

Violence within marriage is rampant in India - according to a recent government survey, one in 25 women have faced sexual violence from their husbands.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3477581

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Addition: This is a Witness Statement to the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China (pdf) by Cedric Witek, a French national and corporate-crime investigator who has helped foreign nationals imprisoned in China.

An Australian Senate Committee has been told that around 10,000 foreigners, including Australians, are currently held in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) prison system.

At an inquiry hearing on Sept. 26, Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist and businessman involved with China for 50 years, shared his experience of being wrongfully detained by the communist regime. Humphrey and his Chinese American wife were arrested in 2013 on false charges of illegal “information gathering.”

[...]

Humphrey also said the CCP did not provide Australians or foreigners with proper legal proceedings. “Not a single Australian prisoner has had a fair and transparent trial. Some are in dire health. Some are over 50, aging rapidly,” he told the Senate Committee.

[...]

The former businessman explained that all organs of the judicial system–the police, the prosecution, the judiciary, the prisons, and Chinese lawyers–formed an organic whole under the regime’s complete control.

“No judge is independent or impartial. He is just a messenger of the party,” he said.

“The system is exploited by connected individuals to harm people they have a grudge against."

“Cases are built upon forced confessions, often televised and upon forced witness statements.”

At the same time, Humphrey shared about the harsh living conditions of prisioners [...] in CCP’s prisons, where they had to sleep on the floor in a small cell full of people and eat filthy, appalling food.

[...]

There was also the withholding of proper medical treatment [from prisoners], even for cancer, Humphrey added.

[...]

Furthermore, Humphrey said Australia and other countries had a mindset of putting commercial relations above the interests of individual citizens who had been wrongfully detained.

[...]

Specifically, Humphrey said there needed to be legislation that would put a greater onus on the Australian government to act, and legislation that would punish China for its acts of arbitrarily and unjustly detaining Australian citizens.

“You need to send out the message that if you touch an Australian, we’re going to make you and your friends’ life hell,” he said. “Western democracies should link hands in this approach and put on a united front.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3477581

Archived link

Addition: This is a Witness Statement to the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China (pdf) by Cedric Witek, a French national and corporate-crime investigator who has helped foreign nationals imprisoned in China.

An Australian Senate Committee has been told that around 10,000 foreigners, including Australians, are currently held in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) prison system.

At an inquiry hearing on Sept. 26, Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist and businessman involved with China for 50 years, shared his experience of being wrongfully detained by the communist regime. Humphrey and his Chinese American wife were arrested in 2013 on false charges of illegal “information gathering.”

[...]

Humphrey also said the CCP did not provide Australians or foreigners with proper legal proceedings. “Not a single Australian prisoner has had a fair and transparent trial. Some are in dire health. Some are over 50, aging rapidly,” he told the Senate Committee.

[...]

The former businessman explained that all organs of the judicial system–the police, the prosecution, the judiciary, the prisons, and Chinese lawyers–formed an organic whole under the regime’s complete control.

“No judge is independent or impartial. He is just a messenger of the party,” he said.

“The system is exploited by connected individuals to harm people they have a grudge against."

“Cases are built upon forced confessions, often televised and upon forced witness statements.”

At the same time, Humphrey shared about the harsh living conditions of prisioners [...] in CCP’s prisons, where they had to sleep on the floor in a small cell full of people and eat filthy, appalling food.

[...]

There was also the withholding of proper medical treatment [from prisoners], even for cancer, Humphrey added.

[...]

Furthermore, Humphrey said Australia and other countries had a mindset of putting commercial relations above the interests of individual citizens who had been wrongfully detained.

[...]

Specifically, Humphrey said there needed to be legislation that would put a greater onus on the Australian government to act, and legislation that would punish China for its acts of arbitrarily and unjustly detaining Australian citizens.

“You need to send out the message that if you touch an Australian, we’re going to make you and your friends’ life hell,” he said. “Western democracies should link hands in this approach and put on a united front.

[...]

Archived link

Addition: This is a Witness Statement to the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China (pdf) by Cedric Witek, a French national and corporate-crime investigator who has helped foreign nationals imprisoned in China.

An Australian Senate Committee has been told that around 10,000 foreigners, including Australians, are currently held in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) prison system.

At an inquiry hearing on Sept. 26, Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist and businessman involved with China for 50 years, shared his experience of being wrongfully detained by the communist regime. Humphrey and his Chinese American wife were arrested in 2013 on false charges of illegal “information gathering.”

[...]

Humphrey also said the CCP did not provide Australians or foreigners with proper legal proceedings. “Not a single Australian prisoner has had a fair and transparent trial. Some are in dire health. Some are over 50, aging rapidly,” he told the Senate Committee.

[...]

The former businessman explained that all organs of the judicial system–the police, the prosecution, the judiciary, the prisons, and Chinese lawyers–formed an organic whole under the regime’s complete control.

“No judge is independent or impartial. He is just a messenger of the party,” he said.

“The system is exploited by connected individuals to harm people they have a grudge against."

“Cases are built upon forced confessions, often televised and upon forced witness statements.”

At the same time, Humphrey shared about the harsh living conditions of prisioners [...] in CCP’s prisons, where they had to sleep on the floor in a small cell full of people and eat filthy, appalling food.

[...]

There was also the withholding of proper medical treatment [from prisoners], even for cancer, Humphrey added.

[...]

Furthermore, Humphrey said Australia and other countries had a mindset of putting commercial relations above the interests of individual citizens who had been wrongfully detained.

[...]

Specifically, Humphrey said there needed to be legislation that would put a greater onus on the Australian government to act, and legislation that would punish China for its acts of arbitrarily and unjustly detaining Australian citizens.

“You need to send out the message that if you touch an Australian, we’re going to make you and your friends’ life hell,” he said. “Western democracies should link hands in this approach and put on a united front.

[...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), the highest court in the EU, ruled on Friday that women in Afghanistan are subjected to persecution by the Taliban.

The ruling said that certain discriminatory measures adopted by the Taliban constitute "acts of persecution," citing forced marriage and lack of protection against gender-based violence.

As such, the court sided with two Afghan women in Austria who had argued their status as women under the Taliban regime justified receiving refugee status.

[...]

The case came to the ECJ at the request of the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court after the two Afghan women challenged a decision by Austrian authorities to refuse to recognize their refugee status.

[...]

The ECJ said some measures, in themselves, were acts of persecution.

"This is true of forced marriage, which is comparable to a form of slavery, and the lack of protection against gender-based violence and domestic violence, which constitute forms of inhuman and degrading treatment," the court said in its statement on Friday.

It added that other measures, which may not be sufficiently serious to be classified as breaches of fundamental rights when taken on their own, did constitute a breach when taken cumulatively.

The ECJ also ruled that authorities in EU member states do not need to establish whether Afghan women will be subjected to persecution if they return home, on an individual basis. Instead, the court said that "it is sufficient to take into account her nationality and gender alone."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3451147

Archived link

European Union countries failed to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs during a closely watched vote that ended with too many abstentions, forcing the European Commission to overcome the political impasse and push its proposal over the finish line.

The outcome of Friday's vote was not publicly available, although several diplomats told Euronews how each member state positioned itself:

• 10 were in favour: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. (45.99% of the EU population)
• 12 abstained: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Finland. (31.36%)
• Five were against: Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. (22.65%)

The high number of abstentions reflects long-standing qualms about how Europe should stand up to China. Although the political consensus says that Beijing's unfair trade practices merit a forceful, united response, threats of commercial retaliation appear to have dampened the resolve of many capitals as the make-or-break date neared closer.

It was up to the Commission, which has exclusive powers to set the bloc's commercial policy, to break the gridlock and ensure the duties go through.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3451147

Archived link

European Union countries failed to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs during a closely watched vote that ended with too many abstentions, forcing the European Commission to overcome the political impasse and push its proposal over the finish line.

The outcome of Friday's vote was not publicly available, although several diplomats told Euronews how each member state positioned itself:

• 10 were in favour: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. (45.99% of the EU population)
• 12 abstained: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Finland. (31.36%)
• Five were against: Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. (22.65%)

The high number of abstentions reflects long-standing qualms about how Europe should stand up to China. Although the political consensus says that Beijing's unfair trade practices merit a forceful, united response, threats of commercial retaliation appear to have dampened the resolve of many capitals as the make-or-break date neared closer.

It was up to the Commission, which has exclusive powers to set the bloc's commercial policy, to break the gridlock and ensure the duties go through.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3451147

Archived link

European Union countries failed to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs during a closely watched vote that ended with too many abstentions, forcing the European Commission to overcome the political impasse and push its proposal over the finish line.

The outcome of Friday's vote was not publicly available, although several diplomats told Euronews how each member state positioned itself:

• 10 were in favour: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. (45.99% of the EU population)
• 12 abstained: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Finland. (31.36%)
• Five were against: Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. (22.65%)

The high number of abstentions reflects long-standing qualms about how Europe should stand up to China. Although the political consensus says that Beijing's unfair trade practices merit a forceful, united response, threats of commercial retaliation appear to have dampened the resolve of many capitals as the make-or-break date neared closer.

It was up to the Commission, which has exclusive powers to set the bloc's commercial policy, to break the gridlock and ensure the duties go through.

Archived link

European Union countries failed to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs during a closely watched vote that ended with too many abstentions, forcing the European Commission to overcome the political impasse and push its proposal over the finish line.

The outcome of Friday's vote was not publicly available, although several diplomats told Euronews how each member state positioned itself:

• 10 were in favour: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. (45.99% of the EU population)
• 12 abstained: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Finland. (31.36%)
• Five were against: Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. (22.65%)

The high number of abstentions reflects long-standing qualms about how Europe should stand up to China. Although the political consensus says that Beijing's unfair trade practices merit a forceful, united response, threats of commercial retaliation appear to have dampened the resolve of many capitals as the make-or-break date neared closer.

It was up to the Commission, which has exclusive powers to set the bloc's commercial policy, to break the gridlock and ensure the duties go through.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3446104

Archived link

In the heart of Xinjiang, the Chinese region where more than one million Uyghurs are believed to be detained in re-education camps, two carefree British travel vloggers cheerfully introduce their viewers to “one of the most controversial areas” of the country.

Journalists are harassed and heavily monitored in the rugged western province, where Western governments and rights groups have accused the authorities of suppressing Muslim minorities through mass surveillance, abuse and political indoctrination.

But foreign YouTube influencers are warmly welcomed by the normally censor-happy Chinese government, which seizes on their happy-go-lucky content to legitimise its own narrative that no human rights abuses are taking place.

[...]

As the country reopens for travel after years of pandemic isolation, foreign influencers, including many Brits, are heading East armed with cameras and tripods, eyeing an increasingly lucrative YouTube market with an eager audience ready to increase their ratings.

The Chinese government has given them a helping hand with a raft of new visa-free policies, and the country received over 17 million foreign travellers in the first seven months of this year, up by almost 130% year-on-year, according to foreign ministry figures.

[...]

But a growing number are entering lesser-known regions including Xinjiang, which for years has been beset by allegations of severe human rights abuses and repression that Beijing justifies as necessary to fight terrorism.

Some YouTubers setting foot in the rugged region attempt to draw viewers with sensational titles about exposing Western media “lies” about Xinjiang or by alluding to the risks of travelling there.

[...]

There is no suggestion any of the vloggers are acting at the behest of the Chinese government or receiving its money, but titles about media deception echo official state messaging about the West’s perceived anti-China narrative, particularly on fundamental rights.

For China, the influx of influencers offers the opportunity to rebut overseas criticisms and reinforce its stance through highlighting the unimpeded visits of awestruck foreigners.

The footage, amplified by Chinese social media platforms and state-run outlets, receive hundreds of thousands of views and screeds of favourable comments.

An increasing number of international vloggers were visiting Xinjiang “with great curiosity,” noted a recent article in the [state-controlled] Global Times.

[...]

Daria Impiombato, a cyber analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has co-written several reports on China’s multilayered ways of folding local and foreign influencers into its propaganda strategy.

She said vloggers with large platforms had a responsibility to inform themselves and to be sceptical.

“There needs to be a reckoning with that type of platform,” she said. “It’s like influencers who are going to Syria, just doing travel vlogs from Syria without talking about years and years of war and devastation. You can’t do that, and you can’t do that in Xinjiang either.”

[...]

Maya Wang, the associate China director at Human Rights Watch, urged travellers to be more aware in societies suffering human right abuses and “not be complicit in the censorship and disinformation that the Chinese government hopes to achieve.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3446104

Archived link

In the heart of Xinjiang, the Chinese region where more than one million Uyghurs are believed to be detained in re-education camps, two carefree British travel vloggers cheerfully introduce their viewers to “one of the most controversial areas” of the country.

Journalists are harassed and heavily monitored in the rugged western province, where Western governments and rights groups have accused the authorities of suppressing Muslim minorities through mass surveillance, abuse and political indoctrination.

But foreign YouTube influencers are warmly welcomed by the normally censor-happy Chinese government, which seizes on their happy-go-lucky content to legitimise its own narrative that no human rights abuses are taking place.

[...]

As the country reopens for travel after years of pandemic isolation, foreign influencers, including many Brits, are heading East armed with cameras and tripods, eyeing an increasingly lucrative YouTube market with an eager audience ready to increase their ratings.

The Chinese government has given them a helping hand with a raft of new visa-free policies, and the country received over 17 million foreign travellers in the first seven months of this year, up by almost 130% year-on-year, according to foreign ministry figures.

[...]

But a growing number are entering lesser-known regions including Xinjiang, which for years has been beset by allegations of severe human rights abuses and repression that Beijing justifies as necessary to fight terrorism.

Some YouTubers setting foot in the rugged region attempt to draw viewers with sensational titles about exposing Western media “lies” about Xinjiang or by alluding to the risks of travelling there.

[...]

There is no suggestion any of the vloggers are acting at the behest of the Chinese government or receiving its money, but titles about media deception echo official state messaging about the West’s perceived anti-China narrative, particularly on fundamental rights.

For China, the influx of influencers offers the opportunity to rebut overseas criticisms and reinforce its stance through highlighting the unimpeded visits of awestruck foreigners.

The footage, amplified by Chinese social media platforms and state-run outlets, receive hundreds of thousands of views and screeds of favourable comments.

An increasing number of international vloggers were visiting Xinjiang “with great curiosity,” noted a recent article in the [state-controlled] Global Times.

[...]

Daria Impiombato, a cyber analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has co-written several reports on China’s multilayered ways of folding local and foreign influencers into its propaganda strategy.

She said vloggers with large platforms had a responsibility to inform themselves and to be sceptical.

“There needs to be a reckoning with that type of platform,” she said. “It’s like influencers who are going to Syria, just doing travel vlogs from Syria without talking about years and years of war and devastation. You can’t do that, and you can’t do that in Xinjiang either.”

[...]

Maya Wang, the associate China director at Human Rights Watch, urged travellers to be more aware in societies suffering human right abuses and “not be complicit in the censorship and disinformation that the Chinese government hopes to achieve.”