Month: April 2019

China has legalised internment camps believed to be holding hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims in the first official recognition of the centres. 

A new law allows for “vocational skill education training centres” to “carry out anti-extremist ideological education"  and implement “psychological and behavioural correction to promote thought transformation of trainees, and help them return to society and family.” 

All those being “educated and converted” should also learn the national language of Mandarin Chinese, according to the law. 

Xi Jinping, China’s president, has launched a widespread campaign to stamp out dissent, re-assert the ruling Communist party, and promote patriotism. 

In Xinjiang, a western province home to Uighurs – a Turkic-speaking and primarily Muslim minority – that has meant many restrictions on daily life and reports of hundreds of thousands forced into internment camps. Human rights groups have long alleged mistreatment and abuse of Uighurs in Xinjiang, with the United Nations estimating China had detained as many as 1 million Uighurs. 

In 2017, China banned activity deemed "extremist" was banned, including wearing a headscarf, having “abnormal” beards, refusing to follow state media, or preventing children from receiving state education. 

Residents are also reportedly monitored via facial recognition, mobile phone scans, DNA collection and scores of security cameras. 

On Wednesday, a powerful US congressional body called on the Trump administration to make human rights a priority when re-shaping Washington’s relationship with Beijing.

“Any effort to rethink US government approaches to the current Chinese government should recognise that pressing for adherence to universal standards and insistence on greater reciprocity advance American economic and security interest,” said the report by the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

The commission’s leaders also called for the release of detainees, the introduction of US legislation to condemn China for its actions, and for the FBI to investigate.

While Mike Pence, US vice president, stated in a speech last week that the US was aware of human rights abuses, the White House has yet to challenge the issue.

Chinese officials previously described the UN’s allegations as “unsubstantiated and irresponsible information,” saying they were simply “not true.”

In an unprecedented move, China’s New York consulate sent a letter to the editor published last month in the Wall Street Journal, saying the newspaper’s reports on mistreatment and abuse of Uighurs were “mistaken” and improperly “depict Xinjiang as a place of horror.”

“China is strengthening Xinjiang’s police force only because of the real threat of terrorist attacks,” the letter said. “Xinjiang will fully enjoy the dividends and unite to create a better life.”

Angela Merkel’s government is to reconsider a controversial promotion for Germany’s outspoken domestic intelligence chief,  further threatening the unity of the chancellor’s fragile coalition.

Hans-Georg Maassen was removed as head of the BfV intelligence service this week amid concerns he was interfering in politics after he publicly contradicted the chancellor over far-Right protests in the city of Chemnitz.

Mr Maassen’s fate has already divided Mrs Merkel’s coalition partners. The centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) demanded his dismissal while Horst Seehofer, the interior minister and leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), backed the intelligence chief.

Under a compromise deal designed to keep all sides happy, Mr Maassen was due to move to a more senior position at the interior ministry. But in a sign of growing tensions within the coalition, the SPD demanded a rethink on Friday amid growing public opposition.

“The consistently negative reactions from the population show that we were wrong, and that we lost trust instead of restoring it, which should give us cause to pause and reconsider,” Andrea Nahles, the SPD leader, wrote in a letter to her coalition partners.

Inside Chemnitz: The forgotten German town where far-Right vigilantes have exposed simmering migration tensions

“It is obviously incompatible with many people’s sense of justice that Mr Maassen should be dismissed for his work but at the same time promoted.”

Mrs Merkel and Mr Seehofer both indicated they were ready to reconsider the appointment. “The chancellor thinks it’s right and appropriate to re-evaluate the issues and to find a mutually sustainable solution,” a spokesman for Mrs Merkel said.

“I think renewed discussions make sense if a common solution is possible, which is what we’re now considering,” Mr Seehofer said.

Ms Nahles’ call for a rethink was a major U-turn by the SPD leader, who had earlier defended the deal to promote Mr Maassen, and came as she faced mounting pressure from within her party.

Ms Nahles was facing an incipient rebellion against her leadership. A prominent SPD mayor has already resigned from the party over the deal, and there are growing calls for it to withdraw from the coalition unless it gets its way over Mr Maassen.

Many in the SPD were incensed that under the compromise deal a senior civil servant who had done no wrong would lose his job at the interior ministry to make way for Mr Maassen.

There is anger in the party at the relationship between the intelligence chief and the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) — he held several meetings with AfD leaders, and has denied allegations he passed them confidential information.

But senior SPD figures are also losing patience with Mr Seehofer, who has attempted to make government policy unilaterally and forced a showdown with Mrs Merkel over migrant policy at the start of the summer.

New talks over Mr Maassen’s fate are not expected until next week.

There was further controversy after a regional intelligence officer spoke out in praise of the far-Right. Hendrik Seidel, an official in Saxony’s regional LfV intelligence service, gave a television interview in which he made clear his support for the white supremacist Identitarian movement and the Pegida anti-Muslim movement. Mr Seidel has previously caused controversy because he also works for the AfD.

In a dusty hangar on the steppes of Kazakhstan, one of the last remnants of the Cold War space race, the Soviet space shuttle, lies forgotten.

The cosmos was a field of fierce competition for the United States and USSR, which constantly sought to one-up each other with new technological breakthroughs and pioneering missions. 

Part of that rivalry is still hidden away at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the starting point for Soviet and Russian space flights before the new Vostochny cosmodrome was built.

The first Soviet space shuttle, which made just one unmanned flight, was destroyed in 2002 when the hangar housing it collapsed, but a second shuttle and test mockup are still intact as…

Congressmen are set to examine the FBI report into alleged sexual abuse by Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday, as the US Senate’s Republican leadership scheduled the first confirmation vote for Friday.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the agency was due to present to the Senate its highly anticipated supplemental investigation report into Donald Trump’s  Supreme Court nominee late on Wednesday.

At the heart of the investigation is Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor who has testified that a drunken Kavanaugh sexually abused her in a locked room at a high school party in the 1980. She has said she believed he was trying to rape her.

Kavanaugh has strongly denied her assertions and those of two other women, who have accused him of other instances of sexual misconduct in the 1980s.

The new investigation into his conduct has come under fire for its limited scope.

"An FBI supplemental background investigation that did not include an interview of Dr Christine Blasey Ford – nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony – cannot be called an investigation," Ms Ford’s lawyers said in a statement on Wednesday night. 

"We are profoundly disappointed that after the tremendous sacrifice she made in coming forward, those directing the FBI investigation were not interested in seeking the truth."

The Senate is now braced for a crucial initial vote on Friday on Mr Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, with a showdown roll call over confirmation set to take place as early as Saturday.

With Republicans clinging to a razor-thin 51-49 majority and five senators – including three Republicans – still wavering, the conservative jurist’s prospects of Senate confirmation remained murky and highly dependent on the file’s contents, which are supposed to be kept secret.

"There will be plenty of time for members to review and be briefed on the supplemental material" before Friday’s vote, Mr McConnell said to the nearly empty chamber. 

Profile | Brett Kavanaugh

Congressmen were planning to begin reading the FBI report early on Thursday, with senators and a small number of top aides permitted to view it in a secure room in the Capitol complex. Senators are not supposed to divulge the contents of the agency’s background reports.

Adding to the uncertainty, the three undecided GOP senators who could decide Mr Kavanaugh’s fate rebuked President Donald Trump for mocking Ms Ford by mimicking her responses to questions at last week’s dramatic Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

"I would tell him, knock it off. You’re not helping," Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham said of Mr Trump’s Tuesday night tirade.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump’s insults marked a "new low."

Barring leaks, it was unclear how much of the FBI report, if any, would be made public. While senators from both sides have expressed support for revealing at least parts of the findings, FBI background checks on nominees are supposed to remain confidential.

Underscoring rising tensions, Democrats suggested that previous FBI background checks of Mr Kavanaugh may have unearthed misconduct by the nominee.

Democrats wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley challenging a Tuesday tweet by GOP aides saying prior investigations never found "a whiff of ANY issue – at all – related in any way to inappropriate sexual behaviour or alcohol abuse." Democrats wrote that the GOP tweet contained information that is "not accurate."

Committee Republicans tweeted in response that their prior tweet was "completely truthful" and accused Democrats of "false smears."

Senator Susan Collins said Mr Trump’s lampooning of Ms Ford at a Tuesday night Mississippi campaign rally was "just plain wrong." Senator. Lisa Murkowski called it "wholly inappropriate and in my view unacceptable," and Senator Jeff Flake said on NBC’s "Today" show that the remarks were "kind of appalling."

Those senators, along with Democrats Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have yet to declare how they will vote.

"All of us need to keep in mind there’s a few people that are on the fence right now. And right now, that’s sort of where our focus needs to be," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who has traded barbs with Mr Trump and will retire at the end of the year.

 

 

It is a sight that has made Tanzania’s savannah a Mecca for wildlife tourists.  

When the sun had climbed high enough to warm their backs, four dark grey shapes lumbered leisurely out of a thicket and began, without much urgency, to graze. 

But this family of elephants is lucky to be alive – survivors of what has been described as one of the most catastrophic poaching sprees in history. 

“If they were from the Selous reserve, they’d keep their distance and they’d be quite aggressive,” said Raymond, a safari guide. “There they have learnt that humans are dangerous."

Tens of thousands of elephants have been killed over the past decade, as rising wealth in China and East Asia created new customers…

The ominously swelling torrent of grey water churns down the gully as onlookers wait to see how bad it will get.

First large rocks and then boulders the size of cars can be seen tumbling amid the growing cascade.

Suddenly an unstoppable wall of water and rock surges round the valley bend, obliterating a concrete bridge and roaring on down the valley.

The video captured recently in northern Pakistan shows the terrifying destructive force of a growing natural threat to millions of people.

Glaciers found in the country’s awe-inspiring mountain ranges are melting as global temperatures rise. The meltwater collects as glacial lakes that are often only held back by thinning ice walls, or fragile earth banks.

When these barriers break, perhaps when pressure gets too much or an earthquake strikes, in an instant millions of tons of water can be unleashed into the populated valleys below.

.html-embed.component .quote.component{margin-left:0}.html-embed.component .quote.component .component-content{margin-right:16px}.quote__source,.quote__author{white-space:normal}@media only screen and (min-width:730px){.html-embed.component .quote.component{margin-left:-60.83px}.html-embed.component .quote.component .quote__content:before{margin-left:-12px;padding-right:1px}}@media only screen and (min-width:1008px){.html-embed.component .quote.component{margin-left:-82.33px}}

As the mass of water known as a glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF, careers down steep-sided valleys it accelerates and picks up debris.

It takes little imagination to consider what would happen when the accelerating wall hits a town or village.

“It’s an outburst of debris and glacial meltwater which then takes down everything on its path,” Abduvakkos Abdurahmanov, a United Nations technical specialist in Pakistan, told the Telegraph.

In 2010 the Booni Gol Glacier, near Chitral, generated such an outburst flood that killed 1,980 people, injured an additional 2,946 more, and destroyed some 1.6 million homes. Thousands of acres of scarce agricultural lands were damaged.

Research by the United Nations Develop Programme (UNDP) estimates millions of people are now at risk from such flooding.

Pakistan’s site at the confluence of the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges means it has at least 5,000 glaciers, more than any country outside the polar regions.

Glaciers feed the Indus River system, the country’s precious water lifeline. But data from the past 50 years shows that all but about 120 of the glaciers show signs of melting. In the past 80 years, meteorologists say the average temperature in mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan has increased by 1.4C (2.5F) compared to a rise of 0.6C (1F) in the lower-lying provinces.

The melting ice has created some 3,000 glacial lakes and a survey has found 33 considered at risk of bursting in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, threatening seven million people.

With so much of these areas inaccessible and unsurveyed, the figure for glacial lakes, including those that form a risk to people, could be higher. As Pakistan’s population grows sharply and agricultural land becomes more scarce, people are also moving further up valleys into the danger zone.

The government of Pakistan and UNDP have now launched a joint £29m ($37m) project to try to protect these people.

The plan involves building defences, but also forming early warning networks and creating an inventory of dangerous lakes.

Defences at key points on a flood’s potential path can deflect or slow its force. They can also stabilise vulnerable slopes to prevent floods triggering landslides and debris that add to the flood’s impact.

The engineers toolkit will includes walls made of cages of rocks, like those sometimes seen in coastline sea defences, terracing, channels to divert flows, dams, and tree-planting on deforested slopes.

Mr Abdurahmanov said the defences may not survive the vast natural force of the floods, but they only needed to work once.

He said: “It can be destroyed at the spot, but it’s done it’s job, basically it’s reduced the impact.”

Advance warning can also save lives. When a glacial lake burst in Gilgit-Baltistan in July, residents of Badswat village, in Ishkoman valley at the foot of the Hindu Kush, saw the flood wipe out homes, roads and bridges, as well as crops and forest. A timely evacuation meant nobody had died though.

Training teams of local residents to look for warning signs and giving them communications gear could lend valuable time. Search and rescue skills will also be taught for the aftermath of floods.

Widespread cutting down of forests has added to the flooding problem in Pakistan’s mountains. Deforestation for timber and firewood has left behind precarious scree slopes that can be swept away in floods, while it has also robbed Pakistan of trees considered essential to absorb carbon emissions.

Imran Khan has pledged a nationwide "10 Billion Tree Tsunami" planting campaign over the next five years.

A 2017 global climate change risk index ranked Pakistan as the seventh most under threat country in the world. Rising temperatures are expected to diminish harvests, erode coastlines, and cause more extreme weather like cyclones, floods and droughts.

Newsletter promotion – global health security – end of article

 Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security 

Russia has delivered an S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Syria, it said on Tuesday, in defiance of Israeli and US concerns that the arms sale would embolden Iran and escalate the Syrian war.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin during a meeting broadcast by Rossiya 24 TV: "The work was finished a day ago," adding that the system would improve the security of Russian military personal in Syria.

Russia decided to supply the system after Moscow accused Israel of indirectly causing the downing of a Russian military jet near Syria in September.

Israel voiced regret at the deaths of 15 Russian air crew while saying Syrian incompetence was at fault and that it was compelled to continue taking action against suspected deployments of Iranian-backed forces across its northern border.

"We have not changed our strategic line on Iran," Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said on Tuesday.

"We will not allow Iran to open up a third front against us. We will take actions as required," he told Israel Radio.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert could not confirm reports that the S-300 had been delivered.

"I cannot confirm that that is accurate. I hope that they did not," she told a press briefing. "That would be, I think, sort of a serious escalation in concerns and issues going on in Syria, but I just can’t confirm it."