Category: after

  • SEOUL – The mood in the North Korean port city where a warship launch went badly wrong last week is grim, local residents say, as authorities make arrests and officials scramble to find ways to salvage the 5,000-ton vessel.

    North Korean state media has reported that several senior officials have been detained, including Hong Kil Ho, the manager of the Chongjin Shipyard, and Ri Hyong Son, a senior military industry official in the ruling Workers’ Party.

    The May 21 launch was meant to be a signature event for supreme leader Kim Jong Un, signaling North Korea progress toward building a blue water navy.

    He was presiding over the launch when the ship tipped sideways after an attempted “side launch” from the dock side that left one side of the hull submerged. Just a day later, state media reported his angry reaction: calling it a “grave and unacceptable accident” and a “serious criminal act.”

    “People are stunned that the government acknowledged the failure so openly,” a resident of North Hamgyong province, where Chongjin is located, told RFA. Like all the sources in this story, the resident spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

    A source from Chongjin said: “The whole city feels like it’s in mourning.”

    This photo released by the North Korean government shows leader Kim Jong Un on April 25, 2025, attending a ceremony for the launch of a
    This photo released by the North Korean government shows leader Kim Jong Un on April 25, 2025, attending a ceremony for the launch of a “new multipurpose destroyer” in Nampo, North Korea.
    (KCNA via Reuters)

    North Korea’s opaque and often brutal political system only adds to the tension. Residents now fear that those involved—engineers, managers, and possibly even their families—may face severe punishment.

    “People worry that this will lead to a purge,” a second source from North Hamgyong province said. “Kim takes failure personally, especially when it undermines his image.”

    Reasons for failure

    The shipyard was once known for building ships like the 9,500-ton Mangyongbong-92, a cargo and passenger ferry which launched in 1971. But it has not launched large-scale vessels like that in decades, according to local sources. During Kim Jong Un’s rule, the yard had pivoted toward production of military assets like submarines and torpedo craft.

    “The shipyard used to be capable of building cargo ships before economic collapse in 1990s,” the Chongjin resident said. “But after the economic collapse, they haven’t built larger ships. With the retirement of older engineers, additionally the new generation lacks the experience for this kind of operation.”

    This picture taken on April 25, 2025, and released by the North Korean government shows leader Kim Jong Un and daughter Ju Ae attending the launch ceremony of a newly-built destroyer in Nampo, North Korea.
    This picture taken on April 25, 2025, and released by the North Korean government shows leader Kim Jong Un and daughter Ju Ae attending the launch ceremony of a newly-built destroyer in Nampo, North Korea.
    (KCNA via AFP)

    Following the accident, the damaged warship was covered with blue tarpaulin, visible in satellite images. The residents say attempts to recover the vessel have been slow, hindered by poor infrastructure and a lack of proper equipment.

    “There are no large cranes at the shipyard that can lift a vessel of this size,” the first source from North Hamgyong said. “They might use sea cranes, but the approach route through sea to the dock is too narrow and shallow for those to operate easily.”

    “It is possible to use crane ships (floating cranes), but the shipyard dock where the vessel has capsized is too narrow, making it extremely difficult to deploy multiple crane ships,” the source added. “Another problem is that the dock is not directly connected to open waters — it lies deep inland and can only be accessed through a narrow channel, which makes it challenging to bring in large crane ships to the site.”

    Using balloons?

    Satellite imagery appears to show that North Korea is attempting to raise the destroyer into an upright position by attaching numerous balloons to it, according to a U.S. expert.

    Decker Eveleth, an imagery analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., likened it to a scene from a popular animated movie.

    “North Korea appears to be attempting to lift up their destroyer with methods inspired by Pixar’s hit 2009 film Up. Note the numerous balloons in the air above the destroyer,” he wrote in a post on X featuring a May 25 satellite image from Maxar.

    In “Up,” an elderly man ties vast numbers of balloons to his house to fly it to a South American wilderness.

    Translated and additional reporting by Jaewoo Park. Edited by Sungwon Yang and Mat Pennington.

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chang Kyu Ahn and Ji Eun Kim for RFA Korean.

  • On May 23, two days after security forces killed several Maoists in Chhattisgarh, the X handle of BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) posted an animated image of Union home minister Amit Shah with a cauliflower in his hand, resting his arm on a tombstone that said, “Naxalism Rest in Peace”. (Archive)

    The image was captioned, “Lol” Salam, Comrade,” a pun on communists’ usage of the greeting “Lal Salam” or red salute.

    On May 21, 2025, the District Reserve Guard unit of the Chhattisgarh police, a special force created to combat insurgency in Chhattisgarh, carried out an anti-Naxal operation in the state’s Narayanpur district. 27 Maoists, including the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, were neutralised in this. Named Kagar, this operation sought to neutralise Maoist presence in the  Karreguttallu hill range along the Telengana-Chhattisgarh border region. 

    The May 23 post by the BJP handle was in response to a statement by the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (@cpimlliberation) condemning “the cold-blooded extra-judicial killing of the General Secretary of CPI(Maoist) Comrade Keshav Rao and other Maoist activists and Adivasis in Narayanpur-Bijapur.” Calling it a massacre, the communist party said, that “celebratory” posts by Indian leaders made it clear that the state was carrying out “an extra-judicial extermination campaign and taking credit for killing citizens and suppressing Adivasi protests against corporate plunder and militarisation in the name of combating Maoism.” The party was likely referring to X posts by Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hailed the Maoists’ deaths as a “landmark achievement in the battle to eliminate Naxalism”.

    In the past 16 months, under the BJP’s governance, more than 400 alleged Maoist insurgents have been killed in Chhattisgarh, a state with a significant Adivasi population.

    While the two parties and their ideologues are on two opposing ends on how they view the Naxal movement, the troubling part is that BJP Karnataka’s X post used a trope—the cauliflower—that is a horrifying reminder of a genocide.

    Rooted in Bloodshed

    To an unsuspecting viewer, Shah holding a cauliflower on the tombstone of the Naxal movement might strike as odd, but harmless. However, the cauliflower here is a deep-rooted symbol of bloodshed. It is a reference to the 1989 Bhagalpur riots in which over a 100 Muslims were killed.

    Over 35 years ago, a series of brutal riots broke out in the city of Bhagalpur, Bihar. In October, 1989, rumours of Hindu students being murdered by Muslim mobs amid the cultural furore of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement began spreading. This gave way to a protracted period of organised communal violence, lasting around two whole months. The Bhagalpur riots, as they are called, saw more than 250 villages razed to the ground, leaving well over a thousand people dead, majority of them Muslims.

    But something far more sinister took place in Bhagalpur’s Logain village. On October 27, 1989, a mob, allegedly led by police officer Ramchander Singh, killed 116 Muslims. Their bodies were buried, and cauliflower saplings were sown on their mass graves to cover up the killings.

    Nearly 25 days later, on November 21, the then-Additional District Manager of Bhagalpur, AK Singh, on a relief mission to a nearby village, overheard conversations between villagers about cauliflower plants sprouting over buried dead bodies and unearthed the massacre. Another account suggests that Singh found out that bodies may be buried under the ground because he saw vultures hovering above the cauliflower plantations.

    For more details on the happenings in 1989 and what triggered the clashes, read our earlier report here. You can also read the Bhagalpur Riot Inquiry Commission Report here.

    The Cauliflower Imagery

    While the Bhagalpur riots took place over three decades ago, in the past few years, the cauliflower symbolism has found its way through graphical representations, imagery and memes. Each time, a minority or non-Right group is targeted, supporters who identify with Hindutva groups or the Right-wing ideology have openly made references to the cauliflower as a ‘solution’.

    In March 2025, after communal clashes broke out in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, Right-leaning social media users referred to cauliflowers, as a potential ‘solution’.

    Click to view slideshow.

    In February last year, similar cauliflower references were used in several social media posts after riots broke out in Haldwani.

    Several memes were made and shared on social media platforms glorifying the Bhagalpur massacre, subverting a horror as a feasible remedy.

    Read | Nagpur clashes: Cryptic cauliflower memes referring to mass killings in 1989 Bhagalpur riots resurface

    Not only does such symbolism trivialize the horrors of what unfolded in Bhagalpur but glorifies the action as an acceptable ‘solution’. It’s hard to determine which is more troubling, that the state wing of a party that governs the nation shared this or that “eliminating Naxalism” is being equated to a genocide. As of May 24, despite several social media users pointing out the gory undercurrents to the image, BJP Karnataka’s X handle has not taken the post down.

    The post After Maoist deaths, BJP Karnataka shares ‘cauliflower’ meme, a reference to the 1989 Bhagalpur riots appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • In a press briefing on May 11, 2025, chiefs of the Indian army, air force and navy shared details on Operation Sindoor. During the briefing, Air Marshal AK Bharti said India destroyed airbases and radar centres in Sukkur, Rafiqui, Rahim Yar Khan, Chaklala (Noor Khan), Bholari, Sargodha and Jacobabad in response to Pakistani attacks.

    Soon after this, a video began circulating on social media with claims that these showed the destruction at the Noor Khan (Chaklala) airbase. The airbase is located in the Rawalpindi area, around 10 kilometres from Islamabad.

    X user Karma Yogi (@karma2moksha) shared the video and wrote, “Pakistan’s Noor Khan Airbase. As per the shared video, the damage is huge.” (Archive)

    Several other X handles, including @munish_pat1980, @amjaviya and @Yashwant_Saroha also shared the video with the same claim.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    On looking at the viral video closely, Alt News noticed that there were only passenger planes and nothing resembling a fighter jet on the tarmac. At the 00:52-minute mark in the video, the word ‘Sudan’ can be seen on the tail of one of the planes.

    We performed a reverse image search using a few frames of the viral clip and found the same video uploaded on Instagram by a user named ‘@africanaviators_official’ on March 31, 2025. The caption of the post said these were tragic scenes from Khartoum International Airport in Sudan that show a large number of aircraft being destroyed during clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in May 2023. It also says that the Sudanese army took back control of the Khartoum International Airport from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

    A longer version of this video was shared by X handle @smutoro on March 31. The post said that the Khartoum Airport was destroyed by RSF fighters. At the 04:31-minute mark in the video, the words ‘Blue Bird Aviation Company Limited’ can be seen on the damaged plane as well as on the signboard of an aircraft workshop. Blue Bird Aviation is a private airline company from Sudan established in 1989. Thus there is ample evidence that the video is from Sudan and not Pakistan.

    According to a report published by Al Jazeera on March 26, the Sudanese army recaptured Khartoum International Airport from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in March 2025, two years after the war.

    To sum up, this viral video shows an airport destroyed in a clash during the civil uprising in Sudan, not Pakistan. Social media users wrongly shared it as scenes from Pakistan’s Noor Khan airbase after it was destroyed by the Indian armed forces.

    The post Video from Sudan shared as visuals of Pakistan’s Noor Khan airbase after Indian attack appeared first on Alt News.

    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Pawan Kumar.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Istanbul, May 19, 2025—Turkish authorities should do everything in their power to protect BirGün reporter İsmail Arı and his family after they received death threats in connection with the journalist’s May 13 report  in the leftist daily on court bribery allegations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. 

    “Turkish authorities in Ankara must take the threats made against journalist İsmail Arı and his relatives seriously and take decisive steps to better ensure their safety,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “The authorities should swiftly and comprehensively investigate the threats and hold those responsible to account, so all journalists in Turkey can safely do their jobs.”

    Arı, based in the capital Ankara, said in a post on X that he filed a criminal complaint on May 16 notifying authorities that he was insulted, threatened and sent a list of his relatives via messaging app by an unknown foreign number earlier in the day, and at least one of his relatives was threatened in a phone call, according to the complaint reviewed CPJ.

    Arı told CPJ via messaging app on Monday that the police provided a “caution protection” number for him to call and report incidents for 90 days. The journalist also contacted the Interior Ministry about the matter but did not receive a reply as of Monday evening.

    Arı was previously targeted with death threats in late 2023 in connection with his reporting on an Islamist group in southern Turkey.

    CPJ’s emailed request for comment to Turkey’s Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, did not receive a reply. 


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Read reporting on this topic in Vietnamese here.

    Many weeks after they were rescued from scam centers inside Myanmar, more than 200 Vietnamese workers are still stranded in a squalid camp near the Thai border because they can’t afford their passage home, two of the workers told Radio Free Asia.

    “Life here is very hard. The accommodation is like a chicken coop. You have to sleep on the floor on mats,” said a 31-year-old woman from the northern Vietnamese province of Son La, adding that conditions were “miserable” and infections spread among people there.

    Hundreds of Vietnamese were among the more than 8,000 people of various nationalities who were freed in February by a pro-junta Myanmar militia that hosted extensive online fraud operations in its territory on the Thai-Myanmar border.

    The Karen National Army, or KNA, let them go after unprecedented pressure from governments, including China, over criminal activity in the militia’s area including forced labor and torture of workers, and fraud against the targets of cyber scams.

    Freed workers were taken to a makeshift camp near Myawaddy, the main international border crossing point to Thailand, to await repatriation. While the majority of those freed were Chinese, the Karen force said they included 685 Vietnamese.

    Unsanitary conditions at a Myanmar refugee camp where hundreds of Vietnamese are still taking refuge.
    Unsanitary conditions at a Myanmar refugee camp where hundreds of Vietnamese are still taking refuge.
    (Citizen photo)

    On May 15, Vietnam confirmed that it had repatriated a total of 450 citizens from Myanmar, and about 200 were still waiting to return. Stranded workers told RFA there were 215 Vietnamese left, and the KNA said 214.

    Those still left behind are increasingly sore about it.

    “I am very disappointed,” the Son La woman said. “Even Ethiopians, the poorest people here, were allowed to return home, leaving only over 200 Vietnamese people still here.”

    People have to pay

    RFA spoke directly to two of the Vietnamese workers. Others were within earshot of the call at the camp. They all said that they have to pay money to their embassy to be repatriated – money they don’t have. All requested anonymity for safety reasons.

    “At first, you only had to pay 10 million (dong) ($385), but the longer you stay, the higher it gets. Now it’s 12 million ($470), and some people have to pay 13 million $500),” a Vietnamese man in the camp told RFA.

    He said he was instructed by a representative of the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok on how to pay to be on the repatriation list.

    He showed RFA the contents of a text message exchange with that official via the messaging app Zalo. In it, the official explained that the amount of “more than 12 million (dong)” was to buy a plane ticket, and if there was money left over it would be returned to the family.

    “To be honest, I can’t afford to pay because my family is very poor. My family also asked me why I have to pay for the rescue?” the man told RFA.

    The woman told RFA that she was also asked to pay money if she wanted to return home. “People from the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand said it would cost money, and if you don’t pay, you won’t be able to return,” she said.

    RFA contacted the Vietnamese embassies in Myanmar and Thailand to verify the above information but received no response.

    Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, during a clearing operation at a compound on the Thailand-Myanmar border in Myawaddy, Myanmar, Feb. 26, 2025.
    Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, during a clearing operation at a compound on the Thailand-Myanmar border in Myawaddy, Myanmar, Feb. 26, 2025.
    (Reuters)

    The revelation that the Vietnamese scam center workers have to pay for their passage home may raise awkward questions about the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ handling of the situation.

    Past problems with repatriations

    The ministry and other Vietnamese government agencies have courted controversy in the past over officials skimming repatriation funds. In 2023, a Hanoi court convicted 54 defendants, including senior diplomats, for collecting over $7.4 billion in bribes to arrange government flights home for Vietnamese citizens stranded overseas during COVID pandemic lockdowns during 2020 and 2021.

    While this repatriation operation is far smaller in scale, the scam centers have been headline news, shining a spotlight on the plight of those caught up in huge fraud operations in lawless regions of Southeast Asia. These centers are often staffed by people lured by false job advertisements and forced to work, sometimes under threat of violence, rescued workers and rights groups say.

    The scamming, known as “pig butchering” in China, involves making contact with unsuspecting people online, building a relationship with them and then defrauding them. Researchers say billions of dollars have been stolen this way from victims around the world.

    The Vietnamese man said he had arrived in Thailand in 2023 to take up another job but was forced to cross the border into Myanmar to work in a Chinese scam center to target Vietnamese people. He said if he did not achieve monthly targets, he would be tortured.

    The woman from Son La told a similar story. She got a job as a translator in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand in September 2024 but was then forced at gunpoint by her employers to cross the border into Myanmar to work in a scam center.

    She said that after that she had tried to contact the Vietnamese Embassy in Myanmar for help but received no response, and started to plan an escape with other women from India and Indonesia. Their plan was exposed, and she was then locked in a separate room by her Chinese employers for two months as punishment. In April 2025, she was taken to the border camp by the Karen militia.

    US sanctions

    Despite the KNA’s apparent efforts to show it is untangling itself from the scam industry, on May 5, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted the ethnic army, its leader Saw Chit Thu and his two sons for facilitating cyber scams from territory they control on the Thai-Myanmar border. The KNA was designated as a “significant transnational criminal organization” that is barred from holding property in the United States and conducting transactions with U.S. persons.

    On May 6, Lt. Col. Naing Maung Zaw, a spokesperson for the KNA, told The Associated Press 7,454 of 8,575 foreign scam workers have so far been repatriated through Thailand. He said more than 10,000 people remained to be identified in the KNA-controlled areas, and the group would continue to work toward the elimination of scam activities.

    Speaking to RFA last week, Naing Maung Zaw said they do not have a direct communication channel with the Vietnamese government and have noticed that recently Vietnam has reduced the repatriation of its citizens. He said he wasn’t aware those stuck at the camp have to pay money to the Vietnamese government to be repatriated.

    “Now that RFA has mentioned it, I will pay attention to this issue. I will meet the Vietnamese people tomorrow and ask them directly if this is true. If it is true, we will report it to our superiors and do something,” he said.

    Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Pham Thu Hang told reporters in Hanoi on May 15 that the ministry will direct Vietnamese representative agencies in Myanmar and Thailand to bring the remaining Vietnamese citizens home as soon as possible.

    Edited by Mat Pennington.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Myanmar’s ousted civilian government called for international intervention, accusing the military regime of committing “war crimes” by killing nearly 400 people within a month, despite the junta’s declaration of a ceasefire on April 2.

    From April 3 to May 13, junta airstrikes across 11 of Myanmar’s 14 territories have killed a total of 182 people and injured 298, said the National League for Democracy, or NLD, the party that won a landslide in the 2020 election but was ousted in a coup the following year.

    The majority of attacks have targeted those affected by the earthquake-affected areas of Sagaing and Mandalay region, it added.

    “We’re sending this appeal directly to the United Nations and to ASEAN,” said a member of the NLD central work committee Kyaw Htwe. “We have confirmed this information with media outlets, party members and the public on the ground.”

    On March 28, 2025, Myanmar experienced a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake centered near Mandalay, resulting in over 5,400 deaths, more than 11,000 injuries, and widespread destruction across six regions, including the capital Naypyidaw.

    In response to the disaster, Myanmar’s military junta and various rebel groups declared temporary ceasefires in early April to facilitate humanitarian aid and recovery efforts. The junta extended its ceasefire until May 31. However, despite these declarations, hostilities have continued, with reports indicating that the military has persisted with airstrikes and artillery attacks.

    On Monday, an airstrike on a school in rebel militia-controlled Tabayin township in Sagaing region killed 22 students and two teachers. On the same day, junta soldiers raiding Lel Ma village in Magway region’s Gangaw township shot 11 people and arrested eight others.

    An attack on Arakan Army-controlled Rathedaung township in Rakhine the following day killed 13 civilians, including children and their parents.

    Similarly, attacks with heavy artillery between April 3 and May 13 across five territories killed 14 people and injured 43. Another 166, including infants, were killed by junta raids on villages, when soldiers set fire to civilian homes.

    Junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun has not responded to Radio Free Asia’s inquiries.

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


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

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

    The post Bay area childcare providers hold “Day without Childcare” against Head Start cuts; Dems push back after ICE arrests Newark NJ mayor – May 12, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Even as as tensions escalate between India and Pakistan following military strikes between the two countries, unverified images and videos claiming to be related to the conflict have flooded social media. One such video of a purported blast is being shared where commentary in the background claims that the visuals were from a bomb blast in the port city of Karachi, the capital city of the province of Sindh in Pakistan.

    A fortnight after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam had killed 26 people, Indian Armed Forces in the early hours of May 7 launched Operation Sindoor, hitting nine sites in Pakistan and PoK from where attacks against India had been planned and directed. The Union Ministry of Defence described the action as “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”, with no Pakistani military facilities having been targeted. Late on May 7, reports came in of heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan on forward villages along the Line of Control in Poonch and Rajouri areas of Jammu and Kashmir killing at least 16 civilians. They also attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India including in Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot and Amritsar, among other places, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by India’s integrated counter UAS grid and air defence systems. Subsequently, Indian armed forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan in a proportionate response, and neutralized the air defence system in Lahore.

    Verified X handle @Mahaveer_VJ tweeted the video of the blast and sarcastically wrote, ‘Karachi has become a biscuit’. The tweet garnered close to 550,000 views. (Archive)

    Several X accounts consequently used the ‘copypasta’ technique, wherein they copied the same caption and amplified the video. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

    Click to view slideshow.

    The video is also viral on Facebook.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    The video in question has four different clips. Below are four discernible screenshots from each clip.

    Upon a reverse image search of the first image, we found that the clip had been posted on Facebook by a Pakistani user on March 28. The caption, written in Urdu, translates to ‘A fire broke out in the market’. We found the same video on YouTube, in a March 27 video, with the title ‘A fire broke out in Sadiqabad Landa’ written in Urdu.

    Click to view slideshow.

    According to a news report on the Aaj TV website, the fire had erupted in Sadiqabad Landa bazaar and spread to an empty railway coach. Sadiqabad is the Capital of Sadiqabad Tehsil in Rahim Yar Khan District in Punjab province of Pakistan.

    The second image is from a clip that shows a massive explosion happening in a city as the camera pans sideways, towards what is seemingly a religious structure. We ran the keyframes through Google reverse image search and were not able to ascertain the origin of the video. Even when we ran the keyframe featuring the monument, we got no results, which was unusual, given that it appeared to be a major landmark. All of this suggests the clip may be AI-generated.

    We observed a few anomalies when we observed closely. The monument’s ground floor extends to the right, which has several irregularly shaped arches (circled in red). Moreover, the arches seen in the main building of the monument are also asymmetrical. Such anomalies are often a regular feature of AI-generated images.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Alt News spoke with Areeba Fatima, investigative reporter and senior fact checker at Pakistan-based fact-checking organisation Soch Videos. She told us, “There is no such mosque in Karachi, this clip looks AI-generated.”

    The third image is also from March. TikTok user aataaullahbairnd41 had uploaded the same video on March 19 with crying emojis. The user uploaded a similar video, from the same incident, on his TikTok account on the same day.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The fourth image is not from Pakistan. The clip is from a massive fire that broke out at the Blue Light Market in Adum, Kumasi, Ghana, on March 21, 2025, causing significant damage and destruction. The fire originated in a storey building adjacent to Hello FM and quickly spread, impacting multiple shops within the market. Firefighters battled the blaze for over 15 hours, but hundreds of shops were ultimately destroyed.

    Below is a comparison between the viral clip and a video from the aftermath of the incident on March 22.

    Hence, a compilation of unrelated clips is viral on social media. Social media users falsely claim that it is the state of Karachi after India launched Operation Sindoor.

     

    The post More unrelated clips go viral as ‘state of Karachi’ after Operation Sindoor appeared first on Alt News.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Myanmar’s military launched attacks on four villages in northern Myanmar controlled by an insurgent group, according to a statement published by rebels on Friday, despite both armies agreeing to a ceasefire extension only days earlier.

    A junta plane attacked villages in Shan state’s Nawnghkio township, bombing Ya Pyin and Tha Yet Cho from Monday to Thursday, according to a statement from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, which controls the area.

    International rights groups and insurgents have criticized junta forces for repeatedly violating their own ceasefire declared on April 2 and extended until May 31 to aid in earthquake recovery. The junta troops have reportedly killed more than 200 civilians and destroyed homes and a hospital since the March 28 quake.

    While the Three Brotherhood Alliance, comprising the TNLA, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, and Arakan Army, also declared a ceasefire until May 31, each has individual tensions with junta forces over contested territories.

    The MNDAA agreed to transfer the city of Lashio in Shan state back to the military, but the TNLA has staunchly refused pressure from both the military regime and China during peace talks on April 28 and 29 to return territories acquired after the 2021 coup, including Nawnghkio and several parts of Mandalay region.

    The move will severely cost TNLA, as junta attacks seem to be increasing, said a military analyst, who declined to be named for security reasons.

    “They will be under less pressure if they accept the junta’s demands. If they don’t accept them now, they will suffer more. The [junta] military has a high chance of success,” the analyst said.

    Heavy artillery targeted a wedding ceremony in Tha Yet Cho village on Thursday, killing 4 civilians including a five-year-old child, and injuring seven more. During a battle between TNLA forces and junta soldiers in nearby Nawng Len village, the junta used drones to drop eight bombs and five gas bombs, and fired 31 explosives into residential areas.

    Junta soldiers also targeted Ong Ma Ti and Taung Hla villages, where TNLA troops were stationed.

    The TNLA did not release any information on the gas bomb attacks, and Radio Free Asia could not confirm their effects on residents.

    Junta forces also targeted Mandaaly region’s Thabeikkyin township, bombing TNLA-controlled Hpawt Taw village with a fighter jet.

    The TNLA has urged the public to be vigilant and protect themselves against airstrikes.

    RFA tried to contact junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for more information on the release, but he did not respond.

    The next round of peace talks between China, Myanmar’s military junta and the TNLA will be in August.

    “They [the junta] want to pressure the TNLA before the August discussions,” Thailand-based political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe told RFA.

    “The military wants to reclaim the territories they lost in 2023.”

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


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by ProPublica.

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  • Junta airstrikes on villages in southeast Myanmar destroyed a hospital and forced over 8,000 residents from their homes, leaving them in urgent need of aid, according to an insurgent administration opposing the military.

    Junta forces on Monday extended their ceasefire until the end of May, citing the need to help restoration efforts following the country’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake. Military forces have launched hundreds of attacks across the country since then, killing more than 200 people.

    Heavy artillery fired at the Bago region and Mon state border have left thousands in need of food, clothing and shelter, the Karen National Union, or KNU, said in a statement published on Wednesday.

    In Mon state’s Kyaikto township on April 28, junta forces dropped a 300-pound bomb on Pyin Ka Toe Kone village, destroying a rubber plantation. On May 2, junta Infantry Battalion 207 and Artillery Battalion 310 encircled and fired heavy artillery at Yae Kyaw village, according to the KNU.

    On May 4, the junta bombed Hpa Lan Taung village’s hospital twice, destroying it.

    Multiple displaced groups have been unable to return home due to constant attacks, leaving an increasing number of people displaced, said Nai Aue Mon, a program director of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland, which promotes democracy and peace in Myanmar.

    “The junta is attacking all the time with heavy artillery, a fighter jet and drones. The effect is that the number of people fleeing is increasing, gradually,” he said. “Before, the numbers were only about 700 or 800 displaced people. Then it became 2,000 and 3,000.”

    Some residents have fled to areas controlled by ethnic insurgent groups along the border, while others went to nearby villages, he said. While these villages were largely unaffected in the past, recent clearance operations by junta troops targeting rebel groups have left them with no choice.

    The KNU did not say whether the attacks had resulted in any casualties.

    Radio Free Asia contacted junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for more information on the attacks, but he did not pick up the phone.

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


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

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

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  • New data released today found that real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, below expectations. This is the lowest and first negative GDP reading since the second quarter of 2022. Groundwork Executive Director Lindsay Owens released the following statement:

    “Our economy is crumbling under President Trump’s mismanagement, and today’s falling GDP data confirms our slide toward a recession. As growth grinds to a halt, Americans can expect fewer jobs, lower wages, and a worse standard of living. Between slow growth and sticky inflation, Trump is creating the conditions for a particularly brutal recession.”

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

  • Sulaymaniyah, April 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned over an arson threat made by the Raba Allah militia against Al Rabiaa TV in Iraq, which led to the deployment of security forces outside its headquarters for one day.

    On April 24, Raba Allah, which is part of the powerful Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, threatened to burn down the privately owned satellite channel in a Telegram post, which said “We’ll cross over to you, you know what the heater does.”

    “The militia threat against Al Rabiaa TV is particularly alarming given the fragile state of the media in Iraq, where journalists have been killed with impunity and face constant editorial pressure from political and religious groups,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director. “We urge authorities to take all necessary measures to protect the press and ensure journalists can work safely, without fear of retaliation.”

    The threat followed Al Rabiaa TV’s report that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been aware of secret nuclear talks with the United States for two years.

    Al Rabiaa TV’s deputy newsroom manager Ziad Al-Aqabi told CPJ that security forces deployed outside the channel’s headquarters on April 25 had since been withdrawn.

    “We are working professionally … without insulting anyone,” he said.

    Militias have a record of threatening and attacking media outlets in Iraq whose coverage they disagree with. Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed Al Rabiaa TV ‘s office in 2022.

    Iraq is ranked 7th in CPJ’s Global Impunity Index 2024, with 11 unsolved murders of journalists over a decade, and is one of the few countries to have been on the Index every year since its inception in 2007.

    CPJ’s text message to interior ministry spokesperson Muqdad Miri requesting comment did not receive any response.


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

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  • New York, April 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists decries the 11-hour detention and potential prosecution of two journalists for disruption after they were barred from a parliamentary session in China’s special administrative region of Macao.

    “There has been a systematic erosion of press freedom in Macao, with the denial of entry to journalists and restricted access to public events. The detention of two reporters simply for attempting to cover a legislative session marks a disturbing escalation in the suppression of independent journalism,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Authorities must drop any potential charges against All About Macau’s reporters and allow journalists to work without interference.”

    Macao, or Macau, is a former Portuguese colony, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1999 under a “One Country, Two Systems” framework that promised a high degree of autonomy and wider civil liberties than the Chinese mainland.

    On April 17, All About Macau’s editor-in-chief Ian Sio Tou and another reporter were barred from entering the Legislative Assembly chamber to cover a debate on the government’s annual Policy Address. Ian is also president of the Macau Journalists Association.

    Police said the case would be transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office for investigation as the journalists were suspected of violating Article 304 of the Penal Code relating to “disrupting the operation” of government institutions, for which the penalty is up to three years in prison.

    All About Macau is recognized for its critical and in-depth reporting on political and social issues.

    Two days earlier, three All About Macau reporters were barred from entering the chamber to hear Macao Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai’s Policy Address, outlining government proposals for the year.

    In a video posted by All About Macau, which quickly went viral online, Ian Sio Tou displayed her Legislative Assembly-issued press card to numerous officials who physically blocked the journalists from the hall.

    Police did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.


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

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  • Asia Pacific Report

    Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, has died aged 88 a day after he made his first prolonged public appearance since being discharged from hospital.

    And his final message was for an end to the suffering caused by Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza.

    On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis entered St Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile shortly after midday, greeting cheering pilgrim crowds and blessing babies.

    The Pope, who had recently spent five weeks in hospital being treated for double pneumonia, also offered a special blessing for the first time since Christmas.

    At the address, an aide read out his “Urbi et Orbi” — Latin for “to the city and the world” — benediction, in which the Pope condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

    “I express my closeness to the sufferings . . . of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” said the message.

    “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”

    On the same day, Francis — who has been Pope for 12 years — also held a private meeting with US Vice President JD Vance to exchange Easter greetings.

    Among responses from world leaders, Vance said his “heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him”, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was “deeply sad news, because a great man has left us,” and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Pope France would be remembered for his efforts to build “a more just, peaceful and compassionate world.”

    Most vocal leader on Gaza
    Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the Pope’s death was “another sad day for Gaza — especially for the Christian Catholic community’ in the besieged enclave.

    “He is seen as one of the most vocal leaders on Gaza. He was always condemning the war on Gaza, and always asking for a ceasefire and asking for the end of this conflict,” she said.

    “According to the Christian community in the Gaza Strip, he was in contact with them daily, asking them what they need and asking about what they are facing, especially as this community has been attacked several times during the course of this war.

    “At this stage, the Palestinians need someone to stand by them, to defend and support them.

    “And the Pope has been one of those leaders.”

    Choosing a successor
    Speculation has already begun about his possible successor.

    Traditionally, when the Pope dies or resigns, the Papal Conclave — cardinals under the age of 80 — vote for his successor.

    To prevent outside influence, the conclave locks itself in the Sistine Chapel and deliberates on potential successors.

    While the number of papal electors is typically capped at 120, there are currently 138 eligible voters. Its members cast their votes via secret ballots, a process overseen by nine randomly selected cardinals.

    A two-thirds majority is traditionally required to elect the new pope, and voting continues until this threshold is met.

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

  • Asia Pacific Report

    Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, has died aged 88 a day after he made his first prolonged public appearance since being discharged from hospital.

    And his final message was for an end to the suffering caused by Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza.

    On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis entered St Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile shortly after midday, greeting cheering pilgrim crowds and blessing babies.

    The Pope, who had recently spent five weeks in hospital being treated for double pneumonia, also offered a special blessing for the first time since Christmas.

    At the address, an aide read out his “Urbi et Orbi” — Latin for “to the city and the world” — benediction, in which the Pope condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

    “I express my closeness to the sufferings . . . of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” said the message.

    “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”

    On the same day, Francis — who has been Pope for 12 years — also held a private meeting with US Vice President JD Vance to exchange Easter greetings.

    Among responses from world leaders, Vance said his “heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him”, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was “deeply sad news, because a great man has left us,” and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Pope France would be remembered for his efforts to build “a more just, peaceful and compassionate world.”

    Most vocal leader on Gaza
    Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the Pope’s death was “another sad day for Gaza — especially for the Christian Catholic community’ in the besieged enclave.

    “He is seen as one of the most vocal leaders on Gaza. He was always condemning the war on Gaza, and always asking for a ceasefire and asking for the end of this conflict,” she said.

    “According to the Christian community in the Gaza Strip, he was in contact with them daily, asking them what they need and asking about what they are facing, especially as this community has been attacked several times during the course of this war.

    “At this stage, the Palestinians need someone to stand by them, to defend and support them.

    “And the Pope has been one of those leaders.”

    Choosing a successor
    Speculation has already begun about his possible successor.

    Traditionally, when the Pope dies or resigns, the Papal Conclave — cardinals under the age of 80 — vote for his successor.

    To prevent outside influence, the conclave locks itself in the Sistine Chapel and deliberates on potential successors.

    While the number of papal electors is typically capped at 120, there are currently 138 eligible voters. Its members cast their votes via secret ballots, a process overseen by nine randomly selected cardinals.

    A two-thirds majority is traditionally required to elect the new pope, and voting continues until this threshold is met.

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


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

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

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  • Seg sudan emi

    Sudan is facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis after two years of war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Thousands have died, and some 13 million have been forcibly displaced. There are also widespread reports of sexual and ethnically motivated violence and a worsening hunger crisis. Emtithal Mahmoud, a Darfurian refugee and humanitarian activist, describes how the violence has impacted her own family, including in a recent RSF attack on the Zamzam refugee camp where fighters killed and tortured many civilians. “They kidnapped 58 of the girls in my extended family, and we are still searching for them,” says Mahmoud. “We need the world to pay attention.” Unlike the Darfur crisis of the early 2000s, when it was on the agenda of many world leaders, the current conflict is being largely ignored by the international community, says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “It is by far the worst displacement crisis in the world,” notes Egeland.


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

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

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  • This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

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

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

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