Category: Videos

  • As tensions between Iran and Israel continue to mount, a 46-second video compilation showing missiles hitting urban areas in the night is being widely circulated with claims that it shows Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Tel Aviv on June 14, a day after Israel launched one of its biggest aerial assaults in an alleged bid to stop Tehran’s nuclear pursuits. 

     

    The compilation comprises three separate videos. The first one shows a series of distant explosions, from incoming missiles, lighting up the night sky near a highway. A few vehicles are seen plying on the road while others are parked by the roadside. The second clip shows a cascade of missiles raining down in the distance, filmed from what appears to be a residential balcony. The final clip is recorded from inside a moving vehicle and shows a missile hitting the ground just a few metres away from the car.

    Also Read: 2024 video of missile attack on Sevastopol, Crimea, viral as Iran’s recent offensive on Israel

    X user @WLbir shared this compilation on June 14, 2025, claiming it showed the live situation in Tel Aviv. (Archive)

    At the time of writing this, the post had over 350,000 views.

    Another X user, @Yemenimilitary, also shared the video with the caption, “Tel Aviv is being taught a lesson.” (Archive)

    At the time this article was written, the post had over 708,000 views. 

    Similarly, another X user, @F5xLyB7vFWa4ies shared the video and alleged that the video captures military actions in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Archive)

    Several other social media users also shared the video with similar claims. 

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    We fact checked each of the clips in the compilation separately.

    Clip 1: A reverse image search on a few key frames from the video led us to an Instagram post by Creative Community for Peace (@ccfpeace) from October 1, 2024. According to the caption, the footage depicts a missile attack launched by Iran and Hezbollah on Israel during that time.

    Clip 2: A similar reverse image search led us to a Reddit post from October 1, 2024. The caption accompanying the video clearly states that it shows an Iranian ballistic missile strike targeting the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). 

    Clip 3: We repeated the process and found the same clip on YouTube uploaded on October 2, 2024, by TRT world, a Turkish public broadcast service. The video description reads, “A passenger in a car captured the moment an Iranian missile struck, after Tehran launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel.”

    Based on these findings, we were sure that none of the clips used in the compilation were from the recent conflict. They have been available online since at least October 1, 2024, when Iran launched a large-scale missile attack against Israel to retaliate against the strikes on Gaza and Lebanon, as well as to avenge the assassinations of senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas and Hezbollah.

    To sum up, all three clips included in the widely circulated video compilation are not of the escalation between Iran and Israel in June. These visuals are at least eight months old.

    Also Read: Video available online since October 2024 falsely linked to current Israel-Iran conflict and Video shared in January 2025 as fireworks in Berlin now viral as visuals from Israel-Iran airstrikes 

    The post More old videos of missile strikes viral as Iran’s June attack on Israel 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.

  • A video showing missiles being fired into a city was widely linked to the recent conflict between Israel and Iran. Some users shared the video claiming that it showed missiles being fired into Tehran by Israel, while others shared it with ambiguous captions that it was “Iran’s ‘warning’ to Israel.”

     

    This video is among a stream of visuals that have emerged amid escalating tensions between the two countries, after Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facility and military structures on June 13, killing at least 78 people, including generals, scientists and civilians. Soon afterwards, Iran retaliated with long-range missiles targeting Tel Aviv.

    X user Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) shared the video on June 13 and claimed it showed bombs and missiles streaming into Tehran and hitting targets. He called Israel’s strikes #OperationRisingLion”. The social media user identifies as a journalist in his bio, but has been found amplifying misinformation on several occasions.

    X handle @World_At_War_6 also shared the same video. However, this account claimed it was Iran’s ‘warning’ to Israel. At the time of writing this, the post had over 2.6 million views. (Archive)

    Several other accounts shared the video with similar claims. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    We noticed that yhe viral video is a compilation of two different videos.

    Video 1: Some keyframes from the first visual are attached below.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Upon a reverse image search, Alt News was able to trace the video back to 2024. On October 1, 2024, Beirut-based media outlet Al Mayadeen shared the same video with the caption, “Scenes documenting the moment rockets fell in #Occupied_Palestine” in Arabic.

    Video 2: Keyframes from the second video are attached below.

    Click to view slideshow.

    A reverse image search of these keyframes led to to a Facebook post by Mexican journalist Carlos Zúñiga Pérez from October 2024. According to the caption, the video shows Iran launching a missile attack on Israel.

    Continúan los ataques entre Irán e Israel

    🔺#ASÍ: #Iran lanza un ataque con misiles hacia #Israel. Sonaron sirenas en todo el país. Se puso en operación el escudo de hierro.

    #LasNoticiasAsí #AsíPasó

    Posted by Carlos Zúñiga Pérez on Tuesday 1 October 2024

    A keyframe from the video was also used in Indian news outlet OneIndia’s report on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) launching a missile attack against Israel on October 1, 2024. At the time, Iran had said the missile launches were in retaliation for the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC’s Abbas Nilforushan.

    Screengrab of OneIndia’s report

    As it stands, a compilation of videos from Iran’s missile attack on Israel from October 2024 is being linked to the recent hostilities between the two countries.

     

    The post Videos of Iran’s October 2024 strikes on Israel resurface as visuals of June conflict 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.

  • At the recent Indo Defence exhibition, Milkor was privileged to engage in an insightful interview with Asian Military Review at our booth. The discussion encompassed key aspects of the Milkor 380 UCAV and the Milkor Commander, highlighting our continued commitment to advancing innovative defence solutions.

    The post MILKOR at Indo Defence 2025 in Jakarta appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • A video of men in green jerseys sloganeering in Malayalam is being dubbed as pro-Pakistan activism in Kerala by social media users. In the video, the men are waving green flags that have a crescent moon and a star.

    X user Anoop Antony Joseph (@AnoopKaippalli), former national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), BJP’s youth wing, shared the video on April 19, 2025, with a snide comment on secularism in the state. (Archive)

    The post had garnered 145,000 views at the time of writing this.

    Pro-Right X user, Raushan Sinha (@MrSinha_), also shared the video, urging people to notice the jersey, flags, and the Islamic slogans. “No this isn’t Pakistan, or Bangladesh but Kerala…. Yes an Indian state…We are doomed,” he wrote. (Archive)

    The post had racked up over 800,000 views at the time of writing this.

    Note that Alt News has fact-checked misinformation shared by this user on multiple occasions

    Another X account, Rocket Scientist (@Rockumon), shared the purported video and alleged that the men in the video wore wearing Pakistan-linked jerseys, waved Pakistani flags, and yet Kerala is called secular. (Archive)

    Pakistan-based X user @lmrankhanISP1, whose account is currently withheld in India, shared a similar video on April 25, claiming that Kerala stood with Pakistan. The slogans used by demonstrators in this video were slightly different from the ones above. (Archive)

    Alt News received several requests to fact check the video and claims on WhatsApp (+91 7600011160).

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    We first asked someone familiar with the language to translate what the sloganeering was referring to.

    It roughly translates to:

    “We are raised in green
    Let us say it clearly
    We are CH’s blood
    We are CH’s kids
    We are the kids from/of Panakkad
    Green indeed, we are green
    We are raised in green
    Let us say it clearly
    We are CH’s kids
    We are CH’s blood
    Muslim League… Muslim League…”

    The person who translated this also told us that CH here refers to C H Mohammed Koya, former leader of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

    Slogans in the second video shared by the Pakistan-based account translate to:

    “The star of Panakkad that god created for this community
    Ya Sayyad Sadiq Ali Thangal, you
    Lead us with courage…”

    Sayyad Sadiq Ali Thangal is the leader of IUML in Panakkad. Thus slogans used by the demonstrators in both videos have no mention of Pakistan.

    Second, we took a close look at the jerseys in the two videos and found “Arangadi” written on them. This is a village in the Kanhangad municipality of Kasaragod district in Kerala. So, the jerseys don’t have a Pakistan link.

    Thirdly, the green flags in the demonstrations were of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and not Pakistan. The Pakistan flag, while also green and bearing the crescent moon and star, has a white band on the left.

    Fourthly, to understand what the demonstration in the videos was about, we did a reverse-image search on some key frames. This led us to an Instagram account @arangadi_official_page that had uploaded a video on April 16, 2025, with the caption ‘Kozhikode’. Note that this is the official page of the IUML Arandagi and the video was identical to the one shared by the Pakistan-based account.

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by ARANGADI (@arangadi_official_page)

    While going through this Instagram page, we also found a video shared on April 25 where the same people in the viral clip are seen from a different angle. The caption translates to, “It’s sad to see so many idiots who don’t even know which (is the) league’s flag (and which) is Pakistan’s. Try to comment only after you understand what this demonstration is for. The idiots are misleading you, be careful 💚

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by ARANGADI (@arangadi_official_page)

    We compared the viral clip and the one on this page for clarity below: 

    We also found a poster shared by the same account on April 15, 2025, asking people to join a rally against the amendment of the Waqf Act the following day (April 16).

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by ARANGADI (@arangadi_official_page)

    To corroborate that the demonstration was related to the passage of the Waqf Bill (now Act), we looked for news reports from around that time. A Times of India report said that on April 16, the IUML staged a major Waqf protection rally in Kozhikode. Note that there were nationwide protests against the Waqf Amendment Bill around that period. On April 16, Maktoob Media also reported that many people joined the IUML protest against the new Waqf law in Kozhikode. 

    So, the rally or demonstration was related to the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, that was approved by the Parliament in the first week of April. It had nothing to do with Pakistan.

    To sum up, the two viral clips showing men in green jerseys and waving green flags sloganeering are not of a pro-Pakistan demonstration in Kerala but of protests by members of the Indian Union Muslim League, Arangadi. The protests were regarding the amendments to the Waqf Board and Council that was approved by the Parliament. Also, the flags in the footage are IUML flags, not Pakistan and the jerseys, too, are unrelated to the neighbouring country.

    The post Not a pro-Pakistan rally in Kerala, these videos are of Indian Union Muslim League’s protests against Waqf Act 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.

  • Donald Trump Jr. has been crisscrossing the planet using his dad’s name, his name, of course, to get all of these business deals and put money in his pocket, into Dad’s pocket, into everybody’s pockets named Trump and the administration got furious because Politico and Business Insider recently ran a story calling Don Jr the […]

    The post Trump Threatens Media Outlet Over Don Jr’s Comparison To Hunter Biden appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Insulin overpricing has been a news story for a while now as we’re seeing in some cases insulin prices have gone up over a thousand percent and this is a drug that’s been around for over a hundred years. This is due to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and what they call rebates, which are in […]

    The post New Lawsuit Looks To Change How PBMs Control Insulin Costs appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • There’s a lot in the news right now with the Diddy case going on, serious, serious charges, a lot of overlap and a lot of really disturbing details about what it was like, what he was doing. There’s rumors going around that Donald Trump may consider pardoning him. Can he pardon him? Transcript: *This transcript […]

    The post Diddy’s Team Is Already Reaching Out To Trump For Possible Pardon appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. So I want to cover a developing story out of Hanceville, Alabama. Hanceville is a small town that you’ve probably never heard of, of 3,200 people, about 45 minutes north of Birmingham, Alabama. Unfortunately, for those good people, a […]

    The post Multiple Alabama Law Enforcement BUSTED In Massive Scandal appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. Caleb Cunningham: So Farron, there’s a lot of news about DHS considering a game show where you can become a US citizen. Is that true? Farron Cousins: Unfortunately, yeah. You’ve got the guy who was the producer, I guess […]

    The post DHS Teams Up With “Duck Dynasty” Creator To Launch US Citizenship Reality Show appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We are more than a hundred days into this administration and the most frequently used word by the Trump White House is Biden. Just like in his first term, he was obsessed with Obama, everything was Obama’s fault. He’s almost paralyzed by his obsession with his ego and the destruction of his enemies. Transcript: *This […]

    The post Trump’s Entire Administration Is Suffering “Biden Derangement Syndrome” appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We’re seeing more fallout from the cuts in NIH funding, specifically a heart pump for babies. The scientists and the researchers have been working on this pump for decades, called PediaFlow, and it is so close to going to clinical trials. But this administration, through all their funding cuts just announced, we’re pulling the funding […]

    The post Trump Savagely Cut Funding That Could Save Babies Lives appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We’ve got news coming out about the Trump pardons. It’s been calculated over a billion dollars in restitution has been lost. This administration said they’re going to save us so much money and what they’re doing is losing money because Donald Trump is out there pardoning people and organizations that have given him tons of […]

    The post Trump Sets New Record For Number Of White-Collar Criminal Pardons appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Stephen Miller’s group has cooked up a lawsuit, it seems like it’s about a FOIA request, but there’s some layers to this onion. It’s a power grab. This is the guy that is the architect of everything having to do with Donald Trump’s immigration policy. So it would make sense that he’s going after the […]

    The post Stephen Miller Group Files Lawsuit In Attempt To Take Control Of The Supreme Court appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We’re obviously more than a hundred days in, Trump has sat for a total of 12 intelligence briefings. We are in the middle of so many international conflicts that are all over the news, Russia/Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Iran, and this guy cannot be bothered to actually sit and listen to the people smarter than […]

    The post Arrogant Trump Is Running Government By What He Sees On TV appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Donald Trump going after people in the media, this time the New York Times and CBS, suggesting that he and his DOJ had actually opened an investigation and part of it is because their polls for the 2024 election were off. That they somehow committed election fraud by reporting these polls or being overly negative […]

    The post Trump Sics His DOJ On Media Outlets Over “Negative” Coverage appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • The pronatalist movement, the idea that we need to have as many children as possible, has been getting a lot of attention online and it’s really become popular because of individuals like Elon Musk and JD Vance putting it into the ears of Donald Trump and it’s really become something that the Trump presidency has […]

    The post Trump Makes Tech Bros More Babies Movement Even Creepier appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Oklahoma’s rolling out a new curriculum, a $33 million curriculum, where high school students are going to be required to learn from their social studies teacher that the 2020 election may have been stolen from Donald Trump and this is the brainchild of Ryan Walters, the superintendent of all schools in the state of Oklahoma. […]

    The post Right Wing Superindendent Forces Debunked Election Lies In Oklahoma Schools appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We’re seeing the Trump tariffs come into effect. Whatever side you fall on, there are real economic predictors that we’re now seeing and there’s reporting that the L.A. ports are so bare that they’re firing truckers now. This is not going to help at a time when the American consumer is feeling a pinch in […]

    The post Trump’s Trade War Makes Huge Impact On Port Cities & Truck Drivers appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

    The post Benefit Managers Found A Way To Charge You More At The Pharmacy appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • The Associated Press has broken the story that there’s a military parade planned this year in DC, but the whole thing is a facade to basically make a giant military parade for Donald Trump’s birthday. He had gone to Bastille Day in France years ago during his first term and he loved it. He thought […]

    The post Donald Trump Hijacks Military Celebration For Birthday Parade appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. Caleb Cunningham: So let’s talk about this New York Times story. It’s suicides and rapes at prized mental health center. Farron Cousins: Yeah. There was this mental health center called Timberline Knolls in Chicago, run by this massive group, […]

    The post Death & Rape Forces “Care Facility” To Close Their Doors appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Donald Trump has posted an AI image of himself as pontiff, as the Pope in full regalia. This is offensive to millions of Americans, both Catholic and non-Catholic. And whether or not he pictures himself riding a raptor with a machine gun or the Pope, or whatever other delusional fantasy he has, his policies are […]

    The post Trump Screws Up BIG TIME With Offensive A.I. Photo appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • After laying people off, paying people to leave, DOGE and the government are posting the same positions to filled. These are vital positions within the USDA. This is the worst kind of bureaucracy, the redundant bureaucracy that DOGE promised us they were going to stop. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software […]

    The post DOGE Screws Up AGAIN As USDA Scrambles To Fill Layoffs appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We’re seeing a revolt against ol’ shiny boots DeSantis. What Republicans see happening is almost a DeSantis dynasty where he’s trying to pass it to his wife Casey. He wants her to run for governor and then control the state for another eight years. And these Republicans are just looking for any excuse now to […]

    The post DeSantis Faces Revolt By Republicans In Florida appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • We’ve been reading about the judge in Wisconsin who’s been arrested by the bootstrap thugs lately. The federal jackboots have gone in and arrested a state court judge because they didn’t do what she wanted them to do. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. Caleb […]

    The post Trump’s Press Secretary Fumbles When Asked About Arresting More Judges appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • More and more states are repealing child labor laws and so Governor Ron DeSantis has decided it’s a good time to do it here in Florida. He wants children working eight hour shifts from midnight to 8:00 AM on a school nights and while legally not having to give them breaks. Transcript: *This transcript was […]

    The post Ron DeSantis Wants To Put Your Children To Work With New Labor Law appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Johnson & Johnson has been in bankruptcy court arguing that even though they make billions of dollars a year, they’re totally bankrupt. We can’t pay out thousands of claims against them. But US bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez says, no, you’re not bankrupt, this is ridiculous. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software […]

    The post Judge Smacks Down J&J’s Final Attempt To Screw Over Cancer Victims appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Dakar, April 4, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Burkina Faso to release recently detained journalists Guézouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba, and Luc Pagbelguem after they appeared in military uniform in videos posted on social media.

    “The video showing detained Burkinabe journalists Guézouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba, and Luc Pagbelguem wearing military uniforms reinforces fears about the fate of the seven journalists kidnapped since June 2024, six of whom are now certain to have been forcibly conscripted into the army,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Authorities must stop their efforts to censor the press by forcing journalists into military service and allow them to return to their homes and work.”

    In the two-minute video, published by several Burkinabe Facebook accounts since at least Wednesday, Ouoba, Sanogo, and Pagbelguem appear in military uniform in an undisclosed location. Armed men, some in Burkinabe army uniform, stand behind them. A representative of the Association of Burkinabe Journalists (AJB), who requested anonymity for safety reasons, confirmed to CPJ that they are the three journalists who have been missing since they were arrested on March 24 in the capital Ouagadougou.

    Sanogo is president of the AJB, and Ouoba is the vice president, while Pagbelguem is a reporter with privately owned TV station BF1.

    In the video, Pagbelguem says “the real information on the ground” has “nothing to do with what we hear and often what we see,” while Ouoba adds, “No one can report on the security situation while being in Ouagadougou.” It was unclear if the statements were made under duress.

    On March 24, two National Security Council intelligence agents arrested Pagbelguem at his media outlet to “be questioned” about his March 22 report on an AJB meeting where Sanogo criticized the kidnappings of journalists by the authorities. Earlier that day, intelligence agents had arrested Sanogo and Ouoba.

    Three other journalists — Serge Atiana Oulon, Adama Bayala, and Kalifara Séré — have been forcibly conscripted after going missing in June 2024. Another journalist, Alain Traoré, was seized by men in masks in July, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

    CPJ’s calls to Prime Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, government spokesperson Pingdwendé Gilbert Ouedraogo, and the Ministry of Defense for comment were not answered.

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

  • Digging with their bare hands, rescuers in Myanmar have pulled several trapped people to safety in the days following a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake, videos circulating on social media show.

    In one, a cell phone video taken by two teenage girls, ages 13 and 16, shows them trapped with their 75-year-old grandmother in the cramped darkness of a collapsed apartment building in Mandalay, a city near the epicenter of Friday’s quake.

    Video: ‘We’re trapped in here!’ 75-year-old woman and her two teenage granddaughters call for help

    “We’re trapped in here! We’re trapped in here!” one of them calls out desperately. One girl taps with something metallic on a concrete slab to signal to rescuers where they are.

    Only the light of a mobile phone illuminates the claustrophobic scene. Briefly, we get a glimpse of the grandmother’s bloodied face.

    Their cell phone signals reached residents, who worked feverishly to dig them out. Separate video footage shows a cluster of men lifting chunks of cement with their bare hands. “We’re ready to uncover them!” one shouts.

    The final seconds of the footage shows the three being carried out of the rubble on stretchers on Sunday — a happy ending amid the gloom of the worst earthquake to hit Myanmar in decades.

    The military-run country is ill-equipped to respond to the disaster. It is mired in a four-year civil war that has already displaced 3 million people.

    So far, the quake has killed more than 3,000 people in Myanmar, according to the military junta that took power in a 2021 coup.

    Video: 13-year-old rescued from collapsed monastery in Mandalay, Myanmar

    In another video, a 13-year-old girl named Pan Aye Chon is unearthed from the rubble of a collapsed monastery in Mandalay after three hours of digging by rescue workers.

    While she survived the quake, family members say she’s heartbroken that many of her friends who were with her died.

    When the shaking started midday Friday, the girl ran out of the monastery, but then turned around to go back to try to rescue her friends. Then part of the structure fell and trapped her, family members said.

    Video: Woman rescued from building in Naypyidaw after Myanmar earthquake.

    In the capital, Naypyidaw, a 63-year-old woman was rescued from the rubble after being trapped for 91 hours, or nearly four days, Reuters reported.

    Video showed orange uniform-clad rescuers in white helmets searching the partially collapsed remains of a building before the woman was carried out on a stretcher.

    Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video as Naypyitaw from the buildings, the road layout and the entrance to the hospital, which matched satellite imagery of the area.

    The date when the video was recorded could not be verified independently, Reuters said. However, a Myanmar Fire Services Department statement said the rescue took place on the morning of April 1.

    Edited by Mat Pennington and Malcolm Foster


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association is appealing to journalists to preserve Facebook live video footage of 2019 protests after Meta said it will start deleting archived videos from its servers.

    There are concerns that much of the online footage of those protests, most of which is banned in the city amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent, will no longer be available to the general public.

    That will make it easier for the authorities to impose their own narrative on events in the city’s recent history.

    Facebook notified users last month that it will be deleting archived live video streams from June 5, while newly streamed live video will be deleted after 30 days from Feb. 19, 2025.

    “Since the Hong Kong news media have relied heavily on Facebook Live for reporting in the past, the Journalists Association now calls on the heads of mainstream, independent and citizen media and online editors to back up their videos as soon as possible,” the Hong Kong Journalists Association said.

    “If necessary, you can follow the platform’s instructions to apply for an extension to up to six months before deletion,” it said.

    Capturing history

    In one livestream still available on YouTube from Oct. 1, 2019, an out-of-breath protester collates video feeds from several sources on the ground, commenting on what is unfolding while sounding out of breath from “running” at a protest a minute earlier.

    Meta's webpage outlining their process to update Facebook Live videos.
    Meta’s webpage outlining their process to update Facebook Live videos.
    (Meta)

    In a Facebook Live video from the same day, a professional reporter from government broadcaster RTHK, which has since been forced to toe the ruling Chinese Communist Party line in its reporting, follows protests in Wong Tai Sin, explaining what is going on to live viewers.

    While one feed is run by protesters and the other by a professional journalist, both offer a sense of boots-on-the-ground immediacy that would be crucial for anyone seeking to learn what the protests were about many years later.

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    EXPLAINED: What is the Article 23 security law in Hong Kong?

    A reporter for an online media outlet who gave only the pseudonym Ken for fear of reprisals said a very large proportion of the public record of the 2019 protests was streamed live on Facebook, with more than 100 videos stored there.

    While current media organizations have made backups, the footage will no longer be there for anyone to browse, making the record of that year less publicly available, Ken said.

    “It’s like we’ve lost an online library,” he said. “Unless someone is willing to back it up and put it all online, there’ll be no way of finding that history any more, should you want to.”

    Ken and his colleagues are concerned that online records of the 2019 could disappear entirely in a few years’ time, especially as republishing them from Hong Kong could render the user vulnerable to accusations of “glorifying” the protests, and prosecution under two national security laws.

    Photographers document pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, left, as he speaks at the police headquarters in Hong Kong, June 21, 2019.
    Photographers document pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, left, as he speaks at the police headquarters in Hong Kong, June 21, 2019.
    (VIncent Yu/AP)

    “This is a very serious problem, because certain events or people may be completely forgotten about in a few years, maybe 10 years,” Ken said.

    But there are risks attached to republishing video content — especially for residents of Hong Kong.

    “You don’t know whether you will be accused of incitement if you post it again,” Ken said. “You never know what your live broadcast captured and whether there was issue … under the two national security laws.”

    Permanent loss of historical material

    A fellow journalist who gave only the pseudonym Mr. G for fear of reprisals said his media organization still has access to its own live streamed footage of the 2019 protests from both Facebook and YouTube.

    But he said the planned deletions could lead to “the permanent loss of some historical material.”

    Facebook said that the owners of the videos will receive an email or notification in advance “and can choose to download the videos, transfer them to the cloud, or convert them into reels short videos within 90 days.”

    “If users need more time to process old videos, they can apply to postpone the deadline by 6 months,” it said, adding that most live video is viewed in the first few weeks after being uploaded.

    Veteran media commentator To Yiu-ming said social media platforms aren’t suited for use as a historical archive.

    “There’s no point criticizing them,” To said. “Users may well encounter similar practices even … if they move to another social media platform.”

    “If you want to preserve the historical record, you have to use less convenient methods, and spend a bit of time and money,” he said.

    The concerns over the deletion of live video come after a report claimed that Meta was willing to go to “extreme lengths” to censor content and shut down political dissent in a failed attempt to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party and bring Facebook to millions of internet users in China.

    Citing a whistleblower complaint by Sarah Wynn-Williams from the company’s China policy team, the Washington Post reported that Meta “so desperately wanted to enter the lucrative China market that it was willing to allow the ruling party to oversee all social media content appearing in the country and quash dissenting opinions.”

    The notice in Chinese from Facebook warning users that archived live video will be deleted, Feb. 19, 2025.
    The notice in Chinese from Facebook warning users that archived live video will be deleted, Feb. 19, 2025.
    (Meta)

    So it developed a censorship system for China in 2015 and planned to install a “chief editor” who would decide what content to remove and could shut down the entire site during times of “social unrest,” according to a copy of the 78-page complaint exclusively seen by The Washington Post.

    Meta executives also “stonewalled and provided nonresponsive or misleading information” to investors and American regulators, the complaint said.

    Meta spokesman Andy Stone told the paper that it was “no secret” the company was interested in operating in China.

    “This was widely reported beginning a decade ago,” Stone was quoted as saying. “We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we’d explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019.”

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.