In his last week in office, U.S. President Joe Biden has named two aircraft carriers being built after former presidents – the USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush, the White House said in a statement.
Construction of the two carriers will begin “in the years ahead,” it said. “When complete, they will join the most capable, flexible, and professional Navy that has ever put to sea.”
The new carriers are part of a plan to boost American naval power.
The U.S. Navy has 11 aircraft carriers, all nuclear-powered, by far the largest fleet in the world. Rivals China and Russia have three and one, respectively.
With about 290 ships now, the U.S. Navy wants to expand the total fleet to 381 in coming years, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Biden Administration has not explicitly endorsed that 381-ship objective.
“When I personally delivered the news to Bill and George, they were deeply humbled,” said Biden in the statement. “Each knows first-hand the weight of the responsibilities that come with being commander-in-chief.”
Named after presidents
Most U.S. aircraft carriers are named after former presidents. Bill Clinton was the 42nd U.S. president, serving two terms from 1993 to 2001.
During his time in office, Clinton ordered a naval deployment to respond to the Third Taiwan crisis in 1996, as well as air strikes against Iraq in 1998 to degrade its capabilities to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
His successor, Bush, launched a global effort against terrorism following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and waged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to defeat what Washington considered “two of the world’s most brutal and aggressive regimes.”
There is already a carrier named after Bush’s father, George W.H. Bush, who was president from 1989-1992.
US aircraft carriers
The U.S. Navy regularly deploys two or three carriers in the Indo-Pacific amid rising regional tensions.
“Aircraft carriers are the centerpiece of America’s naval forces,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in response to the naming of the two carriers.
“They ensure that the United States can project power and deliver combat capability anytime, anywhere in defense of our democracy.”
A Congressional Research Service’s report on the Ford-class aircraft carrier program said that the scheduled deliveries of several shipbuilding programs would be delayed approximately 18 to 26 months.
Edited by Mike Firn and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
New York, January 9, 2025—Sri Lankan authorities must conduct a swift and impartial investigation into the December 26 assault and attempted kidnapping of Murukaiya Thamilselvan, a freelance journalist of Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
“Sri Lankan authorities must take immediate steps to ensure the safety of journalist Murukaiya Thamilselvan and his family,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “The recently elected Sri Lankan government must put an end to the longstanding impunity surrounding the harassment and assaults on Tamil journalists.”
Thamilselvan told CPJ that he was traveling home in northern Kilinochchi town when a black pickup truck, which had been following him for around 500 meters, intercepted his motorcycle.
Two men emerged from the car and asked, “Do you know who we are?” before hitting Thamilselvan, pushing him into their vehicle, and threatening to kill him, the journalist said. His leg caught in the vehicle door, preventing the attackers from closing it, and they fled as passersby stopped to watch.
He received treatment at a local hospital for chest, neck, and back pain.
Thamilselvan identified the assailants in a statement to police, following which authorities arrested two suspects on December 27. Although Thamilselvan identified the suspects in court on December 30, they were released on bail later that day, the journalist told CPJ.
Thamilselvan said that he believed the attack was in retaliation for his reporting, reviewed by CPJ, on alleged drug trafficking and sand smuggling for Tamil-language daily newspapers Uthayan and Thinakaran. The journalist said he feared for his safety and that of his family following the incident.
CPJ has documented persistent impunity for attacks on the Tamil press. Most of the journalists killed during Sri Lanka’s 1983 to 2009 civil war were Tamil. The conflict ended with the government’s defeat of the separatist Tamil Tigers.
Sarath Samaravikrama, officer-in-charge of the Kilinochchi police, told CPJ via messaging app that he was unable to immediately comment.
Eleven Yemeni men imprisoned without charge or trial at the Guantánamo Bay detention center for more than two decades have just been released to Oman to restart their lives. This latest transfer brings the total number of men detained at Guantánamo down to 15. Civil rights lawyers Ramzi Kassem and Pardiss Kebriaei, who have each represented many Guantánamo detainees, including some of the men just released, say closing the notorious detention center “has always been a question of political will,” and that the Biden administration must take action to free the remaining prisoners and “end of the system of indefinite detention” as soon as possible.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The designers of a subway exit in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou are going back to the drawing board following online complaints that one of their subway exits resembled the “gateway to the underworld,” because its shape recalled a traditional Chinese coffin.
The developer rebuilt part of the newly renovated Exit D for the Huadiwan stop on the Guangzhou Metro overnight after it went viral on social media, sparking ridicule and outrage over its “coffin-like” shape.
“Is this the entrance to the Underworld?” read one comment, while another quipped: “Going into the subway is like going through a portal between two worlds.”
Others wondered if the design team had any understanding of Cantonese culture, which views as unlucky anything that reminds a person of death and mourning, or resembles coffins, graveside offerings and other funeral-related items.
For example, sticking chopsticks upright into a bowl of rice or laying them across the bowl is frowned upon, as it resembles the way offerings of food are made to the ancestors.
According to a widely circulated photo of the orange-pink Exit D at Huadiwan, the structure had a similar bulbous shape to a traditional Chinese coffin, described as “very unlucky” by one comment on social media.
“Is this the work of a professional team?” one social media user wanted to know, while another quipped that “down to earth doesn’t mean going into the earth.”
A man stands next to coffins displayed at a funeral services shop in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong, March 17, 2022.(Isaac Lawrence/AP)
Artist Du Yinghong said metro designers clearly lacked a developed aesthetic sense.
“Their aesthetic tends toward the old-fashioned and the secular, and of course that’s ugly,” Du said. “The Guangzhou subway exit design is like the oval shape of a coffin.”
“They eventually said that it was inspired by the kapok flower, but this explanation is pretty far-fetched.”
It’s not the first time architects working in China have come up with questionable designs.
The Beijing headquarters of state broadcaster CCTV, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhas and completed in May 2012, has drawn comparisons on social media with a pair of legs and a person squatting over a toilet, before eventually being nicknamed the “Big Boxer Shorts” by the general public.
According to Du, the more ghastly designs are often driven by a desire to please ruling Chinese Communist Party officials.
“When local governments do these prestige projects, including statues and sculptures, they like to put their own symbols into them,” Du said. “It’s a way to give a literal, concrete form to their so-called political achievements as architecture and sculpture.”
“But it’s against the background of an absurd and distorted era [in China’s history].”
Shandong resident Lu Qiumei said she had been surprised to see such a design.
“We can’t figure out what was going on in the brains of these designers,” Lu told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview. “I guess they want to update public aesthetics, and I guess they think such designs are pretty imposing.”
“But quite frankly this design is crass and ambiguous,” she said.
Coffins and other death-related imagery have sometimes appeared as a form of political protest in Hong Kong, where veteran democracy activist Koo Sze-yiu was jailed earlier this year for carrying a fake coffin, amid an ongoing crackdown on political opposition and public dissent.
State media have also weighed in on the design, calling on the developer in reports on Dec. 30 to take action.
Guangzhou Metro responded that they had intended the design to resemble the kapok flower, the provincial flower of Guangdong.
But by Dec. 30, demolition work on the exit had begun, according to The Paper and state broadcaster CCTV.
Huadiwan Station is one of the oldest stations on Guangzhou Metro Line 1, and had been due to reopen following refurbishment in mid-January.
Social media comments have also hit out recently at Guangzhou’s Wushan subway station for installing a forest of silver bollards, joking that they resembled the “plum blossom” pillars used to show off martial artists’ feats of balance in kung fu movies.
The authorities issued a statement saying the bollards were installed to prevent the “disorderly” parking of e-bikes on the sidewalk.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The cybersecurity breach of the U.S. Treasury Department by China-backed hackers is “extremely concerning,” said senior American lawmakers, urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to provide them with a detailed briefing on the matter.
The department announced on Monday that China-backed hackers in December accessed workstations and unclassified documents through a compromised third-party software provider. It reported, however, having “no evidence” the hackers were still able to access the information.
“This breach of federal government information is extremely concerning,” Sen. Tim Scott, a ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, and House Financial Services Committee Vice Chair French Hill said in a letter to Yellen.
“This information must be vigilantly protected from theft or surveillance by our foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party, who seek to harm the United States,” they wrote, requesting a briefing on the breach in eight days with full detail on the information accessed by the hackers
The department said it was working with cybersecurity experts, the FBI, intelligence agencies and independent investigators to understand the incident and assess its impact.
It did not specify what documents had been accessed, but said the service from the affected third-party software provider had been shut down, and so far, there was no evidence that the hackers still had access to Treasury information.
The department did not respond to RFA’s request for comment by time of publication.
China’s ministry of foreign ministry called the U.S. accusation of Chinese involvement in the hack “groundless.”
“On this kind of unwarranted and groundless allegations, we’ve made clear our position more than once,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday.
“China opposes all forms of hacking, and in particular, we oppose spreading China-related disinformation motivated by political agenda,” she added.
In November, The New York Times reported that a Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon had been embedded in the systems of one of America’s largest telecommunications companies for over a year.
Salt Typhoon, which reportedly has strong ties to China’s Ministry of State Security, targeted phones belonging to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.
This effort was part of a broader intelligence-gathering campaign that also targeted Democrats, including staff from Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
The newspaper cited U.S.officials as saying that although the Chinese hackers appeared to stop their activities after the breach was exposed, it would be premature to assume they had been fully removed from the nation’s telecommunications system.
In December, the Treasury Department offered a US$10 million reward for information about a Chinese company and employee it accuses of violating the firewalls of 80,000 computer networks worldwide, including for 36 items of “critical infrastructure” in America.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
A claim emerged in Chinese-language social media posts that the new Syrian government established after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 dismissed all female judges.
But the claim lacks evidence. The Syrian Ministry of Justice, in separate Facebook posts on Dec. 8 and 12, assured employees of stability in their positions, while inviting former employees to return without indicating any plans to remove women judges from their roles.
“Syria’s new justice minister has announced the implementation of sharia law and the dismissal of all female judges,” the claim reads in part.
The claim began to circulate after Syria established a new transitional government following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Some Chinese online users claimed that Syria’s Ministry of Justice announced the dismissal of female judges and a ban on them.(X, Weibo and 6park.com)
On Dec. 10, 2024, Mohammed al-Bashir, previously the prime minister of the Syrian Salvation Government, was appointed to lead the transitional government until March 1, 2025.
The new administration has initiated several changes, including suspending the constitution and parliament for a three-month transition period. They have also begun revising the national curriculum, removing references to the Assad regime and making other adjustments.
But the claim about Syria’s new government dismissing all female judges lacks evidence.
The Syrian Ministry of Justice under the interim government said on Dec. 8 that its employees would continue to work in their positions without changes to their workplace, salaries or benefits.
Separately, on Dec. 12, the ministry invited all of its former employees, including judges, to return to their workplaces. It made no mention of removing female judges from their posts.
The Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-sy debunked the claim, which had also circulated amongst the Arabic-speaking community.
Verify-sy cited a lawyer based in Aleppo named Mahmoud Hamam as saying that court staff and judiciary were working normally as of Dec. 12, adding that no dismissal or ban of women from the judiciary had occurred.
The Syrian Ministry of Justice has not responded to requests for comment as of press time.
Rumors about death of Syrian scientists
Some Chinese-speaking online users also claimed that three prominent Syrian scientists were killed following the fall of Assad.
Keyword searches found the claim originated from a post on X posted by the Iranian government-backed Islamic Republic News Agency on Dec. 10.
“Prominent Syrian scientist Dr. Hamdi Ismail Nada was assassinated in his home in Damascus by unknown people on Tuesday,” the post reads.
Some Weibo users also claimed that Nada was an organic chemist and that two additional Syrian scientists – a microbiologist named Zahra al-Homsiyeh and a physicist named Shadia Habbal – had also been killed.
Some Chinese online users claimed that three Syrian scientists were killed after the fall of Assad’s regime.(Weibo)
But this claim also lacks evidence.
Hamdi Ismail Nada is neither a Syrian nor a scientist but is actually a 74-year-old Egyptian physician.
When reached by the Palestinian fact-checking organization Tayqan, Nadi confirmed that the photo circulating with the claim was indeed of him. However, he clarified that he was still alive and had last visited Syria on a work trip more than nine years ago.
Nada also said on his Facebook page that his identity had been misused.
Meanwhile, Shadia Habbal is in fact a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.
When questioned about the rumors of her death, she told AFCL: “I’m apparently still alive!”
Keyword searches found no information about “Zahra al-Homsiyeh”.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Dong Zhe for Asia Fact Check Lab.
“The killing of Mohamed Al-Maqri highlights the extreme dangers Yemeni journalists face while reporting from one of the world’s perilous conflict zones. Enforced disappearances continue to endanger their lives,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator. “CPJ demands that those responsible for Al-Maqri’s killing be held accountable. It is long overdue for all factions in Yemen to immediately end the abhorrent practice of subjecting journalists to years of enforced disappearance.”
Al-Maqri, a correspondent for television channel Yemen Today, was abducted while covering an anti-AQAP protest in Al-Mukalla, the capital of the southern governorate Hadhramaut. The AQAP, the Yemeni branch of the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda, had subjected him to enforced disappearance since October 12, 2015.
At least two other Yemeni journalists are currently subjected to enforced disappearance, a practice defined as state-sponsored abduction followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate or whereabouts.
Waheed al-Sufi, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Al-Arabiya, has been missing since April 2015 and is believed to be held by the Houthi movement. Naseh Shaker was last heard from on November 19, 2024, and is believed to be held by the Southern Transitional Council.
Myanmar’s junta forces now control less than half the country after suffering major battlefield setbacks in 2024 -– including the loss of command headquarters in Shan and Rakhine states, several rebel groups said.
In June, the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies resumed offensive operations in Shan state. Within weeks, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army had captured Lashio, a city of 130,000 that is the region’s commercial and administrative hub and a gateway to China.
Another member of the alliance, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, also seized the strategic Shan state townships of Nawnghkio and Kyaukme, as well as the gem mining town of Mogoke in neighboring Mandalay region.
Members of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) gather inside a captured Myanmar military base in Hsipaw on Oct. 15, 2024.(AFP)
Those victories in July and August left the junta with almost no territory in Shan state, a key area for border trade with China.
“The junta’s administration has completely ended here,” said a resident of Kutkai, a town in northern Shan state that has been the focus of junta airstrikes in recent months.
“At present, the economy and education sectors cannot function,” the resident told Radio Free Asia. “And the cost of living has skyrocketed.”
RFA couldn’t independently confirm the exact area lost by the military regime as the situation on the ground remains fluid and hard to verify given the constant fighting.
Junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun didn’t immediately respond to RFA’s attempt for comment on Monday.
Election plans for 2025
The setbacks came as the junta regime moved forward with plans to hold an election in 2025, four years after they seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat.
But opponents say the election would be a farce and simply a way of legitimizing their rule.
Political violence in Myanmar(Armed Conflict Location & Event Data)
Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson for the shadow National Unity Government’s Presidential Office, told RFA that the military junta really only controls only about a third of the country, including the major cities of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital, Naypyidaw.
“But even in those areas, security is far from stable,” he said. “The regions controlled by rebel forces have expanded, increasing our responsibilities for providing public services.”
Local residents and insurgent forces said territory under junta control has declined in central Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions, where fierce fighting between the military and anti-junta forces has been constant since coup.
Ethnic rebel groups now also control large areas in Kachin state in the north and in Kayin state in the country’s east.
In Kayah state in eastern Myanmar, ethnic rebel groups have seized about 80% of the territory, according to Banyar Khun Aung, a vice secretary of the anti-junta Karenni State Interim Executive Council.
In each of the occupied cities in Kayah state, departments of administration, law and order, security, education, livestock, health and maternity and child care centers have been set up, he said.
“We have established administrative mechanisms in all the currently controlled areas,” he said.
Rakhine state
In Rakhine -– Myanmar’s westernmost state — the Arakan Army has captured 13 of 17 townships from the junta, a resident who requested anonymity for security reasons told RFA.
“Many areas of Sittwe city are already under their control,” he said. “Only Kyaukphyu, with Chinese investments, and the island town of Munaung are fully under the control of the military regime.”
Elsewhere in Rakhine, the military has been reinforcing troops in areas that it does control, residents said earlier this month. That includes Kyaukphyu, where China has plans for a port as well as energy facilities and oil and gas pipelines that run to its Yunnan province.
In neighboring Chin state, ethnic rebels captured two townships last week, Chin Brotherhood Alliance spokesperson Salai Yaw Mang said. Several anti-junta groups are now in control of about 85 percent of the state, he said.
Soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army patrol in an area hit by a junta airstrike in Myawaddy,, April 15, 2024.(Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)
Forced recruitment
In Shan state, to the northeast, ethnic armed groups control 24 townships, with just Tangyang, Mongyai and Muse still held by the junta. The capture of the northeastern command headquarters outside of Lashio in late July was one of the most significant losses for the military in years.
In total, ethnic armed groups and allied forces have seized 86 towns across the country, the Myanmar Peace Monitor of Burma News International reported on Dec. 23.
In Sagaing, in central Myanmar –- viewed as a homeland for the majority ethnic Bamar people –- a major junta offensive is expected sometime next year, according to Htoo Khant Zaw, a spokesperson for the People’s Defense Comrade group based in Sagaing’s Ye-U township.
“The regime is still forcibly recruiting young people, even in the cities,” he said. “They are providing training, and the offensive is expected to be launched by land and air in 2025.”
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFA Burmese.
Police in Manchester were called to the Chinese consulate over the weekend after staff started an altercation with a Radio Free Asia journalist who filmed them cleaning up Hong Kong protest graffiti on the street outside.
Four members of staff surrounded RFA Cantonese Service reporter Matthew Leung on Saturday afternoon after he started taking photos of them scrubbing away slogans in white paint daubed on the sidewalk outside the Chinese consulate on Manchester’s Denison Road.
The slogans read “F— PRC!” [People’s Republic of China] “Independence for Hong Kong!” and “Long Live the Republic of China!” the official name for democratic Taiwan, according to photos shared on the messaging app Telegram on the afternoon of Dec. 28. There was also an epithet referring to China by a highly offensive historical slur, which has been used by Hong Kongers in protest slogans before.
A staff member from the Chinese consulate in Manchester, center, tells an RFA reporter they can’t take photos on the street outside the building, Dec. 28, 2024.(Matthew Leung/RFA)
A Telegram user said they had painted the slogans, “because they are communists.”
Staff moved quickly to scrub the graffiti away, but threatened RFA reporters who arrived and started taking photos at the scene.
“We know your name, we know your address,” one warned RFA’s reporter. “I know our rights — if you take photos of us, we have image rights.”
“We don’t want any photos or videos to appear on the Internet. If you publish them, we will notify the police,” one staff member said.
The Chinese Consulate in the northern British city made headlines in 2022 after Consul General Zheng Xiyuan assaulted a Hong Kong protester inside the Chinese consulate in Manchester.
Anti-Communist Party slogans outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, Dec. 28, 2024.(Social Media)
There are also growing concerns over Chinese Communist Party infiltration of all aspects of British life, and warnings from Hong Kongers in exile over growing acts of violence by Beijing’s supporters and officials alike.
Another staff member, who spoke accented Cantonese, said: “Stop shooting; we’re calling the police now,” while another staff member repeated the demand in English.
One staff member tried to gain access to the digital touchscreen of the camera, despite a verbal complaint from the RFA journalist, but was eventually pulled away by colleagues.
Staff also demanded that the RFA journalist identify themselves, which the reporter did, showing an official National Union of Journalists press accreditation.
Workers clean the boundary walls of the Chinese consulate in Manchester after they were daubed with Hong Kong protest graffiti, Dec. 28, 2024.(Matthew Leung/RFA)
“This is the Consulate General,” said one of the men, to which the reporter replied that he was standing on a public footpath.
“If you want to shoot, you have to get our permission,” the man retorted, citing “diplomatic privileges under the Vienna Convention.”
When the police arrived after being called both by the RFA reporter and consulate staff, they took away a bag of evidence, and reminded consular staff that journalists have a right to film in public places.
They questioned everyone at the scene, including asking the RFA reporter if they saw who painted the slogans, then left.
They initially told RFA Cantonese they would investigate the graffiti as a “hate crime,” but later said that they wouldn’t be pursuing an investigation because consular staff at “refused to cooperate.”
Greater Manchester Police officers at the Chinese consulate, Dec. 28, 2024.(Matthew Leung/RFA)
Simon Cheng, founder and chairperson of the advocacy group Hongkongers in Britain, said the move appeared to be a bid to control media activities on British soil.
“At the very least, it can be said that the consular staff have no sense of their own legal rights or boundaries,” Cheng said. “More importantly, if they start applying China’s method of restricting media freedom and blocking filming in the UK, that’s definitely a form of transnational repression.”
Hong Kong exile groups in the United Kingdom have hit out at alleged transnational repression by the Chinese Communist Party on British soil after a church in the southern British town of Guildford canceled a children’s workshop on justice, civil liberties and human rights in 2023.
Cheng said the staff appeared to have toned down their approach following an incident in 2022, which saw six Chinese diplomats including the Consul General withdrawn after an attack on Hong Kong protester Bob Chan.
“There are slight differences in the way they handled it … they appeared to be de-escalating and threatening to call the police, but that doesn’t mean they had any legal grounds or justification for doing so,” Cheng said.
He said the graffiti expressed simmering anger among Hongkongers in the U.K. at China’s ongoing crackdown on public dissent and political opposition in Hong Kong, but called on protesters to “express their demands in a legal manner.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Matthew Leung and Jasmine Man for RFA Cantonese.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – All missing passengers, except for two rescued, are presumed dead after a plane carrying 181 passengers and crew crashed Sunday while attempting to land at an airport in South Korea, authorities said.
The accident happened at 9:07 a.m., when the Jeju Air flight erupted in flames after going off the runway and hitting a wall at an airport in South Korea’s southwestern county of Muan, South Jeolla Province, about 288 kilometers (179 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul.
“It is estimated that most of the 181 passengers, with the exception of the two who were rescued, died,” the Jeollanam-do Fire Department said.
“After colliding with the fence, passengers poured out of the aircraft. There is almost no chance of survival.
“The plane body was almost destroyed, and the dead are difficult to identify. It is taking time to identify the location of the remains and recover them.”
The authorities confirmed 85 deaths from the accident so far.
Firefighters try to put out a fire on an aircraft which skidded off the runway at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024.(Yonhap via Reuters)
A total of 181 people, including six crew members, were on board the plane from Bangkok, most of whom were Koreans, with the exception of two Thai nationals. Among them, one passenger and one crew member – both women – were rescued shortly after the accident and are currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Mokpo.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country’s embassy in Seoul was in touch with South Korean authorities to try to ascertain the condition of the two Thai passengers.
Videos broadcast by local TV stations reveal the plane attempting to land without deploying its landing gear. It skidded across the ground, collided with a concrete wall, and exploded, becoming engulfed in flames.
Authorities suspect that landing gear failure, potentially caused by a bird strike, may have led to the accident. An on-site investigation is underway to determine the precise cause.
Rescue workers take part in a salvage operation at the site of a plane crash at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024.(Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)
Acting President Choi Sang-mok arrived at the crash site around noon, instructing officials to make all-out efforts for search operations, expressing deep condolences to the bereaved family members and promised to offer them all possible government assistance.
Choi has been serving as acting president since Friday, after the National Assembly voted to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was suspended less than two weeks after assuming the role from President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 14.
“I believe no words of consolation will be enough for the families who have suffered such a tragedy,” Choi said, noting that government agencies are working closely to respond to the accident.
“The government will spare no effort in supporting the bereaved families,” the acting president added.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
The Myanmar military has razed villages north of the city of Mandalay after insurgents who had been threatening to attack the country’s second biggest city from the area withdrew, a research group and residents said, apparently aiming to ensure the area cannot be re-occupied.
Forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 have been on the back foot for most of this year, losing large amounts of territory to ethnic minority insurgents, while allied pro-democracy fighters have made unprecedented gains in central areas including the Mandalay region.
But the junta has since November mobilized forces for offensives in Mandalay as well as the central areas of Sagaing and Magway, helped by ceasefires that two main insurgent groups in Shan state struck after they came under pressure from neighboring China to make peace.
The research group Data for Myanmar said junta forces had razed eight villages in Madaya township, just 25 kilometers (15 miles) to the north of Mandalay city, and one in nearby Thabeikkyin township.
Residents said large deployments of troops were putting everything to the torch in the villages that have mostly been abandoned by their thousands of residents.
“Villages are being burned until everything is gone. Troops go to the villages one after another and burn everything,” a resident of Madaya township told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
Residents were too frightened to think about going back, the resident said.
“No one can get close to check on their homes because the troops are still there,” said the resident who declined to be identified in fear of reprisals.
The villages had been occupied by members of pro-democracy militias known as People’s Defense Forces, or PDFs, that sprang up after the 2021 coup to fight to end military rule in collaboration with ethnic minority insurgents based in border regions.
PDFs have attacked the military relentlessly in central areas this year, taking over territory even on the approaches to Mandalay and the nearby garrison town of Pyin Oo Lwin, home to the military’s Defense Forces Academy.
But the military has been pushing back in the dry season, which began in November and traditionally favors the army that can transport its heavy equipment and supplies to more remote regions on dried-out roads.
Data for Myanmar said in a report on Thursday that the eight villages destroyed in the west of Madaya township included Mway Ku Toet Seik, Mway Thit Taw Yone, Mway Pu Thein, Thu Htay Kone and Mway Sin Kone.
In Thabeikkyin township, troops torched hundreds of homes in Twin Nge village, the group said.
PDF fighters had abandoned all of their positions in the villages before the troops began the sweep, residents said.
RFA tried to contact the spokesman for the military in the Mandalay region, Thein Htay, to ask about the situation but he did not respond.
Data for Myanmar said in November that 105,314 houses had been burned down across the country since the 2021 coup.
The conflict is causing a humanitarian crisis, compounded by disastrous flooding this year.
The United Nations says about a third of Myanmar’s population, or 18.6 million people, are in humanitarian need with children bearing the brunt of the crisis with 6 million of them in need as a result of displacement, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.
We go to Damascus for an update on the state of affairs in Syria after the surprise collapse of the long-reigning Assad regime, with BBC Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab. She is reporting in Syria for the first time in over a decade, after she was forced to flee the country in 2013. She relays the “sense of freedom and joy” now present on the streets of Damascus, where ordinary Syrians, for the first time in generations, “feel that they are liberated and they are proud of where they are today.” Current estimates put the number of forced disappearances under the Assad government at 300,000 likely tortured in prisons and buried in mass graves. We discuss Syria’s new transitional government, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and whether it can fulfill its promises of inclusion and accountability for all Syrians. “There’s no way for peace and stability to happen in Syria without a prosecution, without a legal system that will hold those who have blood on their hands accountable, for the sake of reconciliation in the country,” says Sinjab.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
After a 15-year career in the Foreign Service, Michael Casey resigned from the State Department in July over U.S. policy on Gaza and is now speaking out publicly for the first time. He was deputy political counselor at the United States Office for Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem for four years before he left. Casey says he resigned after “getting no action from Washington” for his recommendations on humanitarian actions for Palestinians and toward a workable two-state solution. “We don’t believe Palestinian sources of information,” Casey says about U.S. policymakers. “We will accept the Israeli narrative over all others, even if we know it’s not correct.” He also discusses what to expect for Gaza under the incoming Trump administration.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Read about tsunami preparedness 20 years later at BenarNews
Faced with the daunting task of reclaiming neighborhoods, beachfront properties and areas around mosques, repairs began quickly in sections of Indonesia and Thailand devastated by the deadly Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
A 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck in waters off Sumatra, generating a giant tsunami where waves topped over 160 feet (48.7 meters) in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
After the waters finally calmed down, the death toll globally climbed to about 230,000, including about 167,000 in Aceh, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which estimated damage at U.S. $13 billion.
Within a few years, life returned to a semblance of normal because of efforts to reclaim and rebuild what was lost in the two countries hit hard by the wall of water. In many places, few signs of the destruction are visible in 2024.
Those efforts are captured in a series of before-and-after photos:
Top: Motorcyclists ride past debris and a fire in Meulaboh, Aceh province, Indonesia, in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Jan. 9, 2005. Below: The same street is seen on Nov. 17, 2024.(Philippe Desmazes & Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP)Left: People salvage belongings amid rubble along a street in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, just days after the tsunami, Dec. 29, 2004. Right: The same street on Nov. 25, 2024.(Bay Ismoyo & Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP)Top: The Indian Ocean Tsunami left vehicles stacked on top of each other on Patong Street in Phuket, Thailand, Dec. 28, 2004. Below: The same street on Nov. 18, 2024.(Manan Vatsyayana & Ali Ozluer/AFP)Top: Construction equipment is used to remove debris from a street in Phuket, Thailand, following the tsunami, Dec. 28, 2004. Bottom: The street seen on Nov. 18, 2024.(Romeo Gacad & Manan Vatsyayana/AFP)Left: People walk through debris created by the tsunami at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Dec. 28, 2004. Right: The mosque as seen on Nov. 27, 2024.(Bay Ismoyo & Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP)Top: Damage from the Indian Ocean Tsunami is seen in the courtyard of the Orchid resort at Khao Lak, Thailand, on Dec. 29, 2004. Bottom: The same location on Dec. 24, 2009.(Saeed Khan & Christophe Archambault/AFP)Left: Nearly everything around a mosque in Aceh province, Indonesia, was destroyed by the December 2004 tsunami, Jan. 15, 2005. Right: New houses surround it on Dec. 8, 2006.(AFP)Top: Wreckage from the tsunami is seen in Meulaboh, a city in Aceh province, Indonesia, Dec. 31, 2004. Bottom: The same area is seen on Dec. 4, 2005.(Agus & Jewel Samad/AFP)
Authorities in China are going after the country’s richest celebrity live-streamers, punishing two high-profile influencers for failing to pay up, at a time when government coffers are looking bare and many are struggling.
The Taxation Bureau named and shamed Shanghai-based Wang Zibai, who has 2.92 million followers, for “concealing his income” from tax officials, evading taxes to the tune of 7.49 million yuan (US$1.26 million), state media reported.
He was slapped with a tax bill, fines and late payment fees totaling 13.3 million yuan (US$1.82 million), state broadcaster CCTV reported on Dec. 19.
Cash-strapped local authorities across China are struggling to pay public employees, as a burst property bubble and dwindling exports depict an increasingly grim outlook for the world’s second-largest economy, meaning they need to cast a wider net when it comes to tax revenues, analysts told Radio Free Asia in recent interviews.
Authorities in the southeastern port city of Xiamen also accused celebrity live-streamer Cheng Hu, who has 5 million followers, of concealing the income from livestream sales commission to the tune of 1.21 million yuan (US$165,800) in unpaid taxes, the report said.
Cheng was forced to pay up the taxes owed, fines and late payment charges totaling 1.99 million yuan (US$272,700), it said.
Investigations
Shanghai tax inspectors started an investigation after checking out Wang’s channel, and figuring out that the volume of goods he was selling there was inconsistent with his reported income, the People’s Daily online finance channel reported on Dec. 19.
“The inspectors ran a comprehensive analysis of … pricing, categories and clicked links to third-party merchants, and concluded that he was earning a considerable amount of commission and under-reporting his income,” the paper said.
The team requested his family’s bank details, and found large amounts of money being deposited in Wang’s mother’s account, it said.
In Xiamen, inspectors thought it strange that Cheng claimed not to have earned over the personal annual tax threshold between 2020 and 2022, despite being a live-streamer with 5 million followers, the paper said.
“Cheng Hu did not set up account books as required by the law, and only used a notebook to briefly record the details of income and expenditure, and the handwriting was smudged and blurry, making it almost impossible to confirm his true financial situation,” the People’s Daily said.
“As public figures, live streaming practitioners should establish correct values, legal and professional values, fulfill their tax obligations in accordance with the law, and set a good example for society,” the paper said.
New source of tax revenue
According to financial commentator Cai Shenkun, online platforms are replacing the property market as an important source of tax revenue for local governments.
“Digital platforms have developed rapidly in recent years … and some anchors have made a lot of money,” Cai said. “Now that fiscal sources are increasingly tight, taxation may be further increased and these online platforms will be fully supervised.”
He said local governments across China are still struggling to pay civil servants and teachers, even in first-tier cities like Guangzhou.
“Teachers and civil servants are actually seeing significant salary cuts, to an unprecedented level,” Cai said.
An e-commerce insider who gave only the surname Liu for fear of reprisals said the story will likely fuel public anger at a time of rampant inequality in a flagging economy.
“The government is going to be finding ways to claw back as much revenue as possible, whether currently or retrospectively,” Liu said.
But companies may not have the cash to pay up, he added.
“A lot of Chinese companies and institutions can’t even pay their wages,” Liu said.
Digital platforms
Financial commentator Zheng Xuguang said the authorities are also targeting digital platforms.
“They’re targeting digital platform operators and staff,” Zheng said. “When platforms get to a certain size and their income is quite substantial, they now mandate tax audits on platform operators, including tax-related information reporting, such as who you work with, how many people, and so on.”
He said the government will likely hold off from cracking down on tax avoidance at the lowest income levels for the time being.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.
As foreign powers look to shape Syria’s political landscape after the toppling of the Assad regime, the country’s Kurdish population is in the spotlight. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to threaten the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey regards as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years. Turkey’s foreign minister recently traveled to Damascus to meet with Syria’s new de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the Islamist group HTS. “Turkey is a major threat to Kurds and to democratic experiments that Kurds have been implementing in the region starting in 2014,” says Ozlem Goner, steering committee member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava, who details the persecution of Kurds, the targeting of journalists, and which powerful countries are looking to control the region. “Turkey, Israel and the U.S. collectively are trying to carve out this land, and Kurds are under threat.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China has announced “countermeasures” against Canadian groups and individuals two weeks after Canada imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials in early December over human rights concerns.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release on Saturday that it was freezing the assets in China of Canada’s Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada Tibet Committee.
The ministry, citing China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, said organizations and individuals in China were prohibited from conducting transactions or cooperating with those groups. They would also be barred from travel to China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
The ministry in its announcement did not refer directly to Canada’s Dec. 10 sanctions on eight former and current senior Chinese officials over what Canada said was their involvement in grave human rights violations in Tibet and Xinjiang and against followers of the Falun Gong spiritual sect.
At the time, the Chinese ministry said Canada “smeared and slandered” China and interfered in its internal affairs with its “illegal” sanctions and “clumsy political theatrics.”
Canada is not alone. Western governments have sanctioned China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, citing reports of mass detentions, forced labor, cultural suppression of Uyghurs and Tibetans, and crackdowns on religious and political freedoms. These measures aim to pressure China to uphold international human rights standards.
The United States, for instance, had earlier imposed sanctions on all eight of the Chinese officials that Canada sanctioned, for their connections to serious human rights violations.
Among the most prominent individuals sanctioned by the North Americans was Chen Quanguo, who served as the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region from 2011 to 2016 and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021.
Another sanctioned official is Wu Yingjie, who was the Communist Party Secretary of Tibet from 2016 to 2021.
Shane Yi, a researcher with the non-governmental organization Chinese Human Rights Defenders said China’s sanctions against the Canadian groups suggested they were having some impact.
“This not only underscores China’s intent to escalate its suppression efforts but also demonstrates the growing impact of these organizations’ work,” Yi said.
China and Canada have had particularly fraught relations in recent years, largely stemming from the 2018 arrest in Canada of a senior executive of China’s technology giant Huawei.
The executive, Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, was detained in Canada for nearly three years pending U.S. extradition hearings related to suspicion of illegal business dealings with Iran. She flew home to China in 2021 after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China has announced “countermeasures” against Canadian groups and individuals two weeks after Canada imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials in early December over human rights concerns.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release on Saturday that it was freezing the assets in China of Canada’s Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada Tibet Committee.
The ministry, citing China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, said organizations and individuals in China were prohibited from conducting transactions or cooperating with those groups. They would also be barred from travel to China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
The ministry in its announcement did not refer directly to Canada’s Dec. 10 sanctions on eight former and current senior Chinese officials over what Canada said was their involvement in grave human rights violations in Tibet and Xinjiang and against followers of the Falun Gong spiritual sect.
At the time, the Chinese ministry said Canada “smeared and slandered” China and interfered in its internal affairs with its “illegal” sanctions and “clumsy political theatrics.”
Canada is not alone. Western governments have sanctioned China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, citing reports of mass detentions, forced labor, cultural suppression of Uyghurs and Tibetans, and crackdowns on religious and political freedoms. These measures aim to pressure China to uphold international human rights standards.
The United States, for instance, had earlier imposed sanctions on all eight of the Chinese officials that Canada sanctioned, for their connections to serious human rights violations.
Among the most prominent individuals sanctioned by the North Americans was Chen Quanguo, who served as the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region from 2011 to 2016 and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021.
Another sanctioned official is Wu Yingjie, who was the Communist Party Secretary of Tibet from 2016 to 2021.
Shane Yi, a researcher with the non-governmental organization Chinese Human Rights Defenders said China’s sanctions against the Canadian groups suggested they were having some impact.
“This not only underscores China’s intent to escalate its suppression efforts but also demonstrates the growing impact of these organizations’ work,” Yi said.
China and Canada have had particularly fraught relations in recent years, largely stemming from the 2018 arrest in Canada of a senior executive of China’s technology giant Huawei.
The executive, Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, was detained in Canada for nearly three years pending U.S. extradition hearings related to suspicion of illegal business dealings with Iran. She flew home to China in 2021 after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
