World War Two: When 600 US planes crashed in Himalayas


By Soutik Biswas

India correspondent

BBC

9th December 2023

Getty Images

Pilots called the flight route "The Hump" - a nod to the treacherous heights of the eastern Himalaya

A newly opened museum in India houses the remains of American planes that crashed in the Himalayas during World War Two. The BBC's Soutik Biswas recounts an audaciously risky aerial operation that took place when the global war arrived in India.


Since 2009, Indian and American teams have scoured the mountains in India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, looking for the wreckage and remains of lost crews of hundreds of planes that crashed here over 80 years ago.

Some 600 American transport planes are estimated to have crashed in the remote region, killing at least 1,500 airmen and passengers during a remarkable and often-forgotten 42-month-long World War Two military operation in India. Among the casualties were American and Chinese pilots, radio operators and soldiers.

Has India's contribution to WW2 been ignored?

The operation sustained a vital air transport route from the Indian states of Assam and Bengal to support Chinese forces in Kunming and Chungking (now called Chongqing).

The war between Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allies (France, Great Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, China) had reached the north-eastern part of British-ruled India. The air corridor became a lifeline following the Japanese advance to India's borders, which effectively closed the land route to China through northern Myanmar (then known as Burma).

The US military operation, initiated in April 1942, successfully transported 650,000 tonnes of war supplies across the route - an achievement that significantly bolstered the Allied victory.
Getty ImagesThis operation sustained a vital air transport route from India to support Chinese forces in Kunming and Chunking

Pilots dubbed the perilous flight route "The Hump", a nod to the treacherous heights of the eastern Himalayas, primarily in today's Arunachal Pradesh, that they had to navigate.

This operation sustained a vital air transport route from India to support Chinese forces in Kunming and Chunking

Over the past 14 years Indo-American teams comprising mountaineers, students, medics, forensic archaeologists and rescue experts have ploughed through dense tropical jungles and scaled altitudes reaching 15,000ft (4,572m) in Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Myanmar and China. They have included members of the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the US agency that deals with soldiers missing in action.The forgotten Indian soldiers of Dunkirk

With help from local tribespeople their month-long expeditions have reached crash sites, locating at least 20 planes and the remains of several missing-in-action airmen.

It is a challenging job - a six-day trek, preceded by a two-day road journey, led to the discovery of a single crash site. One mission was stranded in the mountains for three weeks after it was hit by a freak snowstorm.

"From flat alluvial plains to the mountains, it's a challenging terrain. Weather can be an issue and we have usually only the late fall and early winter to work in," says William Belcher, a forensic anthropologist involved in the expeditions

Hump Museum 

A machine gun, pieces of debris, a camera: some of the recovered artefacts at the newly opened  museum

Discoveries abound: oxygen tanks, machine guns, fuselage sections. Skulls, bones, shoes and watches have been found in the debris and DNA samples taken to identify the dead. A missing airman's initialled bracelet, a poignant relic, exchanged hands from a villager who recovered it in the wreckage. Some crash sites have been scavenged by local villagers over the years and the aluminium remains sold as scrap.

These and other artefacts and narratives related to these doomed planes now have a home in the newly opened The Hump Museum in Pasighat, a scenic town in Arunachal Pradesh nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas.

US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, inaugurated the collection on 29 November, saying, "This is not just a gift to Arunachal Pradesh or the impacted families, but a gift to India and the world." Oken Tayeng, director of the museum, added: "This is also a recognition of all locals of Arunachal Pradesh who were and are still an integral part of this mission of respecting the memory of others".

The museum starkly highlights the dangers of flying this route. In his vivid memoirs of the operation, Maj Gen William H Tunner, a US Air Force pilot, remembers navigating his C-46 cargo plane over villages on steep slopes, broad valleys, deep gorges, narrow streams and dark brown rivers.

William Belcher

Wreckage of many planes has been found in the mountains in recent years

The flights, often navigated by young and freshly trained pilots, were turbulent. The weather on The Hump, according to Tunner, changed "from minute to minute, from mile to mile": one end was set in the low, steamy jungles of India; the other in the mile-high plateau of western China.

Heavily loaded transport planes, caught in a downdraft, might quickly descend 5,000ft, then swiftly rise at a similar speed. Tunner writes about a plane flipping onto its back after encountering a downdraft at 25,000ft.

Spring thunderstorms, with howling winds, sleet, and hail, posed the greatest challenge for controlling planes with rudimentary navigation tools. Theodore White, a journalist with Life magazine who flew the route five times for a story, wrote that the pilot of one plane carrying Chinese soldiers with no parachutes decided to crash-land after his plane got iced up.

The co-pilot and the radio operator managed to bail out and land on a "great tropical tree and wandered for 15 days before friendly natives found them". Local communities in remote villages often rescued and nursed wounded survivors of the crashes back to health. (It was later learnt that the plane had landed safely and no lives had been lost.)

Does Nolan's Dunkirk ignore the role of the Indian army?

Not surprisingly, the radio was filled with mayday calls. Planes were blown so far off course they crashed into mountains pilots did not even know were within 50 miles, Tunner remembered. One storm alone crashed nine planes, killing 27 crew and passengers. "In these clouds, over the entire route, turbulence would build up of a severity greater than I have seen anywhere in the world, before or since," he wrote.

Parents of missing airmen held out the hope that their children were still alive. "Where is my son? I'd love the world to know/Has his mission filled and left the earth below?/Is he up there in that fair land, drinking at the fountains, or is he still a wanderer in India's jungles and mountains?" wondered Pearl Dunaway, the mother of a missing airman, Joseph Dunaway, in a poem in 1945.
Getty ImagesThe China-bound US transport planes took off from airbases in India's Assam

The missing airmen are now the stuff of legend. "These Hump men fight the Japanese, the jungle, the mountains and the monsoons all day and all night, every day and every night the year round. The only world they know is planes. They never stop hearing them, flying them, patching them, cursing them. Yet they never get tired of watching the planes go out to China," recounted White.


The operation was indeed a daredevil feat of aerial logistics following the global war that reached India's doorstep. "The hills and people of Arunachal Pradesh were drawn into the drama, heroism and tragedies of the World War Two by the Hump operation," says Mr Tayeng. It's a story few know.

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Parliament security breach: 15 India opposition MPs suspended for protests

Meryl Sebastian - BBC News, Kochi
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Two men set off coloured smoke inside parliament while the house was in session

Fifteen Indian opposition MPs have been suspended after they protested against a security breach in the parliament.

At least four people were arrested after two intruders shouted slogans and set off coloured smoke inside parliament. Their motive remains unclear.

The federal home ministry has ordered an investigation into the incident.

The security lapse occurred on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on the parliament.

Intruders spray coloured gas in India parliament

On Thursday, a day after the breach, security was ramped up around the parliament building, with barricades outside the complex to restrict entry.

Both houses were adjourned after protests by opposition MPs who demanded a discussion on the incident and statements from the prime minister and the home minister.

In the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament, opposition MP Derek O'Brien was suspended for "ignoble conduct" after he shouted slogans demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.

In the Lok Sabha, the lower house, 14 MPs from opposition parties such as the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were suspended until 22 December, when the session ends.

Before the session was adjourned, defence minister Rajnath Singh said in parliament that the incident had been condemned by "everyone". "We all - ruling and opposition MPs - have to be careful about to whom we issue the passes (to enter parliament)," he said.

Opposition leaders have demanded action against Pratap Simha, an MP from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who allegedly signed the passes used by the intruders to enter the public gallery in parliament.

Neither Mr Simha nor his party have officially commented. The BBC has emailed the MP for comment.

A police official told Reuters that visitor passes had been suspended until a security review was completed for the parliament building.

Reports say the four accused - three men and a woman in their 20s and 30s - will be produced in court on Thursday. Police have not officially confirmed their identities yet, but their families have been speaking to local media, and newspapers have published their photos and names.

The incident occurred on Wednesday while lawmakers were in session in the Lok Sabha, the lower house. Earlier in the day, President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders had paid tribute to the victims of the attack in 2001 in which nine people were killed. All five of the attackers were killed by the security forces.

MPs said two men jumped into the chamber from the public gallery and set off canisters of coloured smoke. One of the men was seen jumping from table to table as lawmakers and security officials tried to catch him.

Two others - a man and a woman - shouted slogans outside the parliament and set off coloured smoke from canisters. They were seen on video being led away by the police.
Who are the accused?

The four people who have been arrested are from different states in India - several media reports have quoted anonymous police officials who say they met on Facebook, but the BBC couldn't confirm this independently.

Some journalists outside parliament managed to speak to one of the accused as she was being led away by police. She identified herself as Neelam and said she did not belong to any organisation. She also said she was an ordinary citizen who was unemployed and wanted to protest against the government for clamping down on people.

Her family spoke to ANI news agency from their home in Jind district in the northern state of Haryana, and said that they did not know she had gone to Delhi. "All we knew was that she was in Hisar [in Haryana] for her studies," her brother said.

Neelam's family said she had several degrees, including a masters in education, but was concerned about unemployment.

"She used to tell me that she is so highly qualified but has no job, so it is better to die," her mother told ANI.

The incident occurred hours after Prime Narendra Modi and other leaders paid tribute to the victims of the 2001 parliament attack

The man she was protesting with has been identified as Amol Shinde, from Latur district in Maharashtra state. A state minister told media that Mr Shinde had spent the last few years trying to pass police recruitment tests. Police say his family did not know his whereabouts.

The two men who entered parliament are Manoranjan D from Mysore in southern Karnataka state and Sagar Sharma from Lucknow in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Manoranjan's father Devaraju Gowda told reporters that he condemned his son's act.

"This is wrong... You can protest outside [parliament] but not do this," he said, adding that Manoranjan had an engineering degree and would rear chicken, sheep and fish on the family's land.

"He reads a lot on Vivekananda [an intellectual and philosopher]. He only wanted to do good for society, for the deprived," Mr Gowda said. The family is from the constituency of Mr Simha, the lawmaker who allegedly signed the men in.

Sagar Sharma was the man who was filmed jumping on tables in parliament. His mother Rani Sharma said he was a tuk-tuk driver in Lucknow city.

"He had left two days ago," she told ANI. "He told me that he was going with his friends for some work."

Reports say a fifth man was detained in Gurugram on the outskirts of Delhi while another man was traced to Rajasthan. Both of them have been accused of helping the four protesters.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.
Read more India stories from the BBC:

The tribal Indian woman exiled for garlanding Nehru


Satellite images show Himalayan flash flood damage


When 600 US planes crashed in Himalayas in audacious WW2 mission


Indian superstar breaking boundaries with gay role


The Indian woman who transformed weather science


India police file terrorism charges against four over parliament security breach

Reuters
Thu, December 14, 2023 



Security force personnel stand guard outside the parliament premises, in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police have filed terrorism charges against four people in connection with a security breach in parliament in which a man jumped into the chamber, shouted slogans and set off a smoke canister, a police officer said on Thursday.

The major security breach occurred on Wednesday, the 22nd anniversary of an attack on the parliament complex when more than a dozen people, including five gunmen, were killed.

On Thursday, opposition lawmakers shouted slogans demanding the interior minister address the incident.

"All precautions possible will be taken in future," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament, which was adjourned for a few hours on Thursday amid opposition uproar.

A parliament spokesperson said eight security personnel have been suspended in connection with the breach. India's interior ministry has launched an inquiry following a request from the parliament.

All units that manage parliament security have been called to a meeting on Thursday, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Members of parliament told local media the man who jumped into the lower house chamber and an associate who tried to follow him had chanted slogans, including "dictatorship won't be accepted". Families of some of the four suspects told media they had expressed annoyance at not being able to find jobs for a long time.

They were charged under sections of India's anti-terror UAPA law that involve punishment for terrorist acts and conspiracies, the police officer said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter.

Om Birla, speaker of the lower house, said he would discuss with members further enhancement of security.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain, Nigam Prusty and Shivam Patel; Editing by YP Rajesh and William Mallard)

Intruders Breach Indian Parliament Security on Shootout Anniversary
Abhijit Roy Chowdhury and Santosh Kumar
Wed, December 13, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Two people breached the lawmakers’ area of India’s new parliament, setting off smoke cans and shouting slogans in a security breach on the anniversary of a deadly attack on the legislative complex more than two decades ago.

Two men jumped onto the house floor from the visitors’ gallery Wednesday and rushed toward the speaker’s chair in the lower house of parliament, known as the Lok Sabha, lawmakers said. Television footage showed the duo setting off cans of yellow smoke, while one of them jumped over the benches as parliament members surrounded him. Parliament was adjourned for about an hour.

Security officials detained the pair, along with two other people outside the new high-security building, according to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The Ministry of Home Affairs has opened an investigation into the parliament breach and there’s now a heavy security presence around the complex.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in parliament at the time. Earlier in the day, he and some other cabinet ministers paid tribute to the security personnel who were killed in a shootout in parliament on Dec. 13, 2001. India at the time blamed Pakistan-linked groups for the attack and the incident brought the two neighbors near to the brink of another war.

The security breach on Wednesday was well-coordinated and five of the six people involved have been arrested, the Press Trust of India reported, citing police officials it did not name. During the interrogation, one of the suspects said the group carried out the breach they were upset with the ethnic unrest in the remote state of Manipur and still-high unemployment in India, according to the news agency.

The two men who entered the chamber had obtained visitor passes from a lawmaker from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party on the pretext of visiting the new parliament complex that was inaugurated in May, local media said. One of the men was known to the lawmaker as he was from his constituency and would often visit his office, according to the reports.

PTI said one of the suspects arrested outside the parliament complex had shouted to reporters that she and her accomplices were fighting for their rights. “We do not belong to any organization. We are students and we are unemployed,” she said.

--With assistance from Swati Gupta.

Security breach at India’s parliament on 22nd anniversary of deadly attack

Akanksha Sharma, Vedika Sud and Rhea Mogul, CNN
Wed, December 13, 2023 

Two unidentified men stormed the lower house of India’s parliament on Wednesday, in a major security breach that fell on the anniversary of a deadly attack on the complex more than two decades ago.

Video broadcast live on Sansad TV, the official channel for the country’s parliament, showed a man jumping over tables and running toward the speaker’s chair as panicked lawmakers tried to subdue him.

Another man standing in the visitor’s gallery was seen spraying yellow smoke inside the building.

The parliament’s session was briefly adjourned as lawmakers made their way outside.

Two more people outside the building were seen chanting slogans as police gathered around them.

All four people have been arrested and their belongings have been confiscated, Om Birla, the speaker of parliament’s lower house, told lawmakers as parliament resumed.

Opposition lawmakers raised their concerns over the security breach.

“The issue is very serious,” said Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of India’s main opposition Congress party. “This is about how two people were able to come inside despite such elaborate security and cause a security breach.”

Another Congress lawmaker K.C. Venugopal said the incident was “extremely troubling.”

“I am glad there was no major injury or damage done to anyone,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Parliament is among the most high-security buildings of our country. Such a major security lapse is unacceptable. We demand answers from the Home Ministry and there must be a thorough review of the security arrangements in the new Parliament building.”

CNN has reached out to Delhi police for a statement.

India’s parliament was attacked by gunmen on December 13, 2001, who killed more than a dozen people. New Delhi blamed Pakistan-linked terror groups for that attack, plunging relations further and pushing the two nuclear-armed nations to the brink of war.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the people who lost their lives in that incident earlier Wednesday.

“Today, we remember and pay heartfelt tributes to the brave security personnel martyred in the Parliament attack in 2001. Their courage and sacrifice in the face of danger will forever be etched in our nation’s memory,” he wrote on X.

India parliament: Security scare for MPs on attack anniversary

BBC
Wed, December 13, 2023 



India's parliament witnessed chaotic scenes after at least two men intruded into the chamber, shouting slogans and spraying coloured gas.

Images show MPs and security officials trying to catch one of the intruders, who is seen jumping from table to table.

Reports say the men were overpowered by security officials and taken away.

The security breach occurred on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly militant attack on India's parliament.

Lawmakers said the two men jumped into the well of the house from the visitors' gallery. Their motive is not clear.

The incident occurred while lawmakers were in session in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament. Both houses were suspended for a short period before the session resumed.

"We are investigating the matter and have asked Delhi Police to join the inquiry," Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said. He added that according to the preliminary investigation, the smoke sprayed in the house appeared to be "harmless".

Two other people - a man and a woman - have also been detained for protesting outside the parliament by setting off canisters of coloured gas. They were pictured being led away by police.

"Two people jumped from the public gallery and there was smoke. There was chaos all around. Both of them were overpowered by security officials," lawmaker Danish Ali told reporters outside parliament.

The breach occurred on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on India's parliament, in which 14 people, including five of the attackers, were killed.

Earlier in the day, President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders had paid tribute to the victims of the attack.

Karti Chidambaram, an MP from the Congress party, said he was waiting for his turn to speak when chaos broke out.

"Suddenly, it appeared that one person had fallen down from the visitors' gallery. Then we realised that it was a deliberate act of him jumping into the well. There was another person, both of them pulled out canisters which were emitting yellow smoke," he said.

Brazil's Senate approves Lula ally as new Supreme Court justice

MAURICIO SAVARESE
Wed, December 13, 2023

FILE - Justice and Public Security Ministry nominee Flavio Dino attends a press conference where Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced some of his cabinet appointments at his transition team's headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, Dec. 9 2022. Dino has just been appointed to Brazil´s supreme court on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ton Molina, File)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Senate approved the appointment of Justice Minister Flávio Dino on Wednesday to take a seat on the country's Supreme Court.

Dino, a former leftist state governor who cracked down on supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro after they rampaged through government buildings last January, was approved for the court of 11 justics on a vote of 47-31.

The vote, which came after a full day of speeches by senators in a divisive hearing, underscored that the opposition led by the rightist Bolsonaro is not strong enough to block the agenda of his leftist successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.


Dino will replace former Chief Justice Rosa Maria Weber, who stepped down in September after turning 75, the age limit for the nation’s Supreme Court justices.

Dino, who was a federal judge for 12 years before starting his political career, governed Brazil's northeastern state of Maranhao in 2015-2023. His decisions to impose curfews and movement restrictions during the pandemic made him an antagonist of Bolsonaro, who argued against strict measures against COVID-19.

“He is one of the few Brazilians who has had jobs in the executive, the legislative and the judiciary,” Sen. Weverton Rocha said before the vote. “He clearly suits the supreme court well. He knows how to behave in every role he has had.”

Sen. Magno Malta, an evangelical leader and staunch Bolsonaro supporter, voted against the appointment over Dino's past in the country's communist party and as a former member of the Brazilian Socialist Party.

“He has never hidden he is a communist, a arxist,” Malta said. “We are taking a leftist activist to the Supreme Court. His team is the left, it is against everything I believe in.”

Dino is the second Supreme Court justice appointed by Lula, who is in his third term as president, who also was in the top post in 2003-2010. Cristiano Zanin, once Lula’s lawyer, was approved to join the court in July on a 58-18 vote in the Senate.

Feminist activists have criticized Lula for not naming a woman to replace Weber on the high court. Its only female member now is Justice Carmen Lúcia.

Senators also approved Paulo Gonet as Brazil's prosecutor-general on a 65-11 vote. He will replace Bolsonaro-appointee Augusto Aras.

Brazil’s Congress overrides president's veto to reinstate legislation threatening Indigenous rights

MAURICIO SAVARESE
Updated Thu, December 14, 2023 

Indigenous leader Cacique Raoni and incoming President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stand side by side at the Planalto Palace after Lula's swearing-in ceremony, in Brasilia, Brazil, Jan. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)


SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Congress on Thursday overturned a veto by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva so it can reinstate legislation that undoes protections of Indigenous peoples’ land rights. The decision sets up a new battle between lawmakers and the country's top court on the matter.

Both federal deputies and senators voted by a wide margin to support a bill that argues the date Brazil’s Constitution was promulgated — Oct. 5, 1988 — is the deadline by which Indigenous peoples had to be physically occupying or fighting legally to reoccupy territory in order to claim land allotments.

In September, Brazil’s Supreme Court decided on a 9-2 vote that such a theory was unconstitutional. Brazilian lawmakers reacted by using a fast-track process to pass a bill that addressed that part of the original legislation, and it will be valid until the court examines the issue again.

The override of Lula's veto was a victory for congressional supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro — who joined several members of Lula’s coalition in voting to reverse the president's action -- and his allies in agribusiness.

Supporters of the bill argued it was needed to provide legal security to landowners and accused Indigenous leaders of pushing for an unlimited expansion of their territories.

Indigenous rights groups say the concept of the deadline is unfair because it does not account for expulsions and forced displacements of Indigenous populations, particularly during Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship.

Rights group Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, known by the Portuguese acronym Apib, said in its social medial channels that it would take the case back to Brazil's Supreme Court. Leftist lawmakers said the same.

“The defeated are those who are not fighting. Congress approved the deadline bill and other crimes against Indigenous peoples,” Apib said. “We will continue to challenge this."

Shortly after the vote in Congress, about 300 people protested in front of the Supreme Court building.

Brazil Congress overturns Lula veto on limit to Indigenous land claims

Updated Thu, December 14, 2023 

Brazil's Supreme Court votes regarding the limit to Indigenous land claims, amid protests

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's Congress on Thursday overturned a presidential veto that had struck down the core of a bill to limit Indigenous land claims, setting up a likely clash at the Supreme Court.

Indigenous groups had supported President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's veto, while the bill had the backing of the powerful farm lobby.

In a joint session of both chambers, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to annul Lula's veto of a policy limiting claims to ancestral lands where Indigenous people lived in 1988.

The issue is expected to be decided by the Supreme Court, which ruled in September that the deadline was unconstitutional.

Lula created the first Ministry of Indigenous Peoples when he took office in January and has vowed to recognize pending land claims. In October he vetoed the core of the bill, a move seen as a major victory for the country's 1.6 million Indigenous people. Many of them have struggled to defend land rights threatened by the advance of Brazil's agricultural frontier into the Amazon region.

The number of land conflicts has increased as Brazil's farm sector has boomed in recent decades into a global powerhouse. Indigenous communities across the country claim land that farmers have settled and developed, in some cases for decades.

The core of the bill that Lula had vetoed sought to establish in law a cut-off date for new reservations on lands where Indigenous people did not live on Oct. 5, 1988, when Brazil's Constitution was enacted.

Brazil's congressional farm caucus argued that greater legal security would curtail often deadly land conflicts.

"There is no lack of land for Indigenous people in Brazil. What is missing is support so that they can develop and enjoy the land they already own," said opposition lawmaker Ciro Nogueira on social media.

Indigenous leaders and advocates say protecting their lands is the best way to preserve the Amazon rainforest, which scientists say is crucial to curbing climate change.

Celia Xakriabá, one of only two Indigenous members of Brazil's Congress, called Thursday's vote "a defeat for the climate agenda."

Groups of protesters from some of Brazil's 305 tribes, wearing feathered headdresses with painted faces, danced and chanted outside Congress in support of the presidential veto. Leaders warned that the legislation backed by the farm lobby would lead to more violent conflicts.

Among the protesters, Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara told Reuters she was hoping Lula's veto would stand because the deadline threatened claims to ancestral lands that are vital for the survival of Indigenous culture in Brazil.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle, Isadora Machado and Maria Carolina Marcello; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

Hungry, thirsty and humiliated: Israel's mass arrest campaign sows fear in northern Gaza

ISABEL DEBRE and WAFAA SHURAFA
Thu, December 14, 2023






 Israeli soldiers stand on Salah al-Din road in central Gaza Strip on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, as the temporary ceasefire went into effect. The Israeli military has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians across the northern Gaza Strip, separating families and forcing men to strip to their underwear before trucking some to an undisclosed location. The roundups have laid bare an emerging tactic in Israel's ground offensive in Gaza, experts say, as the military seeks to solidify control in evacuated areas in the north and collect intelligence about Hamas operations nearly 10 weeks after the group's deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. 

(AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, File)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians across the northern Gaza Strip, separating families and forcing men to strip to their underwear before trucking some to a detention camp on the beach, where they spent hours, in some cases days, subjected to hunger and cold, according to human rights activists, distraught relatives and released detainees themselves.

Palestinians detained in the shattered town of Beit Lahiya, the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya and neighborhoods of Gaza City said they were bound, blindfolded and bundled into the backs of trucks. Some said they were taken to the camp at an undisclosed location, nearly naked and with little water.

“We were treated like cattle, they even wrote numbers on our hands," said Ibrahim Lubbad, a 30-year-old computer engineer arrested in Beit Lahiya on Dec. 7 with a dozen other family members and held overnight. “We could feel their hatred.”

The roundups have laid bare an emerging tactic in Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, experts say, as the military seeks to solidify control in evacuated areas in the north and collect intelligence about Hamas operations nearly 10 weeks after the group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted over 240 that day.

In response to questions about alleged mistreatment, the Israeli military said that detainees were “treated according to protocol” and were given enough food and water. The army spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the men are questioned and then told to dress, and that in cases where this didn't happen, the military would ensure it doesn't occur again. Those believed to have ties to Hamas are taken away for further interrogation, and dozens of Hamas members have been arrested so far, he said.

Photos and video showing Palestinian men kneeling in the streets, heads bowed and hands bound behind their backs, sparked outrage after spreading on social media.

To Palestinians, it is a stinging indignity. Among those rounded up were boys as young as 12 and men as old as 70, and they included civilians who lived ordinary lives before the war, according to interviews with 15 families of detainees.

“My only crime is not having enough money to flee to the south,” said Abu Adnan al-Kahlout, an unemployed 45-year-old with diabetes and high blood pressure in Beit Lahiya. He was detained Dec. 8 and released after several hours when soldiers saw he was too faint and nauseated to be interrogated.

Israeli forces have detained at least 900 Palestinians in northern Gaza, estimated Ramy Abdu, founder of the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which has worked to document the arrests. Based on testimony it collected, the group presumes Israel is holding most detainees from Gaza at the Zikim military base just north of the enclave.

The Israeli military declined comment on where the detainees were taken.

Palestinians cowered with their families for days as Israel poured heavy machine-gun fire into Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya, the firefights with Hamas militants stranding families in their homes without electricity, running water, fuel or communications and internet service.

“There are corpses all over the place, left out for three, four weeks because no one can reach them to bury them before the dogs eat them,” said Raji Sourani, a lawyer with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza. He said he saw dozens of dead bodies as he made his way from Gaza City to the southern border with Egypt last week.

Palestinians recounted soldiers going door to door with dogs, using loudspeakers to call on families to come outside. In most cases, women and children are told to walk away to find shelter.

Some released detainees described enduring humiliating stretches of near-nudity as Israeli troops took the photos that later went viral. Some guessed they were driven several kilometers (miles) before being dumped in cold sand.

Released detainees said they were exposed to the chill of night and repeatedly questioned about Hamas activities that most couldn't answer. Soldiers kicked sand in their faces and beat those who spoke out of turn.

Several Palestinians held for 24 hours or less said they had no food and were forced to share three 1.5-liter bottles with some 300 fellow detainees.

Darwish al-Ghabrawi, a 58-year-old principal at a U.N. school, fainted from dehydration. Mahmoud al-Madhoun, a 33-year-old shopkeeper, said the only moment that gave him hope was when soldiers released his son, realizing he was just 12.

Returning home brought its own horrors. Israeli soldiers dropped detainees off after midnight without their clothes, phones or IDs near what appeared to be Gaza's northern border with Israel, those released said, ordering them to walk through a landscape of destruction, tanks stationed along the road and snipers perched on roofs.

“It was a death sentence,” said Hassan Abu Shadkh, whose brothers, 43-year-old Ramadan and 18-year-old Bashar, and his 38-year-old cousin, Naseem Abu Shadkh, walked shoeless over jagged mounds of debris until their feet bled.

Naseem, a farmer in Beit Lahiya, was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper as they made their way to a U.N. school in Beit Lahiya, Abu Shadkh said. His brothers were forced to leave their cousin’s body in the middle of the road.

Israeli officials say they have reason to be suspicious of Palestinians remaining in northern Gaza, given that places like Jabaliya and Shijaiyah, in eastern Gaza City, are well-known Hamas bastions.

Human rights groups say mass arrests should be investigated.

“Civilians must only be arrested for absolutely necessary and imperative reasons for security. It's a very high threshold," said Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s regional director.

—-

This story has been updated to correct the name of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. It is Ramy Abdu, not Rami Abdo.

—-

DeBre reported from Jerusalem.

—-

Full AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war



What do we know about the shocking videos of Palestinian prisoners stripped to their underwear?
Sophia Khatsenkova
Wed, December 13, 2023 

What do we know about the shocking videos of Palestinian prisoners stripped to their underwear?

Several pictures and videos that have emerged online in recent days show dozens of Palestinian men being arrested, some stripped down to their underwear and forced to sit or kneel on the ground.

Some people have pointed to the shocking video as evidence of Israel’s human rights violations and humiliating treatment of prisoners.

But this video also raised questions about its authenticity. "It looks fake... Nobody is restrained and Israel blindfolds all prisoners," one Twitter user commented.

The Cube decided to take a closer look.

Where did these arrests take place?

There have been multiple reports. An Israeli government spokesperson claimed it was taken in the Hamas stronghold of Jabaliya.

Meanwhile, according to Palestinians, the images were filmed in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

The Geolocation sleuths, Geoconfirmed also found the video was taken in the southern part of the town Beit Lahiya.


We found these images first appeared online on 7 December. However, it is difficult to confirm the circumstances in which these arrests took place, their exact date, or the person behind the video.

Who are some of the prisoners seen in the video?

The international NGO Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor indicated that it had recognised several civilians, including a school director and doctors.

They were taken from two schools, both of which are affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the rights group said in a statement.

According to his employer, at least one journalist from The New Arab, a media outlet based in London, is among the prisoners seen in the video.

Other members of the journalists' family were also arrested according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reminded that the New Arab is one of the few media outlets still present in the north of the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with CNN, Hani Almadhoun, director of philanthropy for the US arm of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA USA) said he knew a dozen people pictured in circulating images, including his brother. He claimed his brother is a shopkeeper and is not affiliated with Hamas.

What does Israel say?

During a press conference on Sunday, the spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that mass arrests have taken place but assured the detainees were “treated in accordance with international law”, justifying stripping them down to by saying they were searching for explosive devices.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said the men were “arbitrarily arrested” after Israeli forces surrounded two shelters inside the schools in Beit Lahiya.

Asked about the video, a spokesman for the Israeli government told the BBC the men detained were all of military age and had been "discovered in areas that civilians were supposed to have evacuated weeks ago".

A senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel that the photos of Palestinian men being stripped to their underwear after their arrest by the IDF in Gaza might be “uncomfortable.”

Under international humanitarian law, all prisoners of war need to be treated humanely.

The act of publishing these humiliating images could be a violation of the Geneva Convention, especially considering the presence of civilians.

EU Agrees to Open Membership Talks With Kyiv in Historic Win

Natalia Drozdiak, Maria Tadeo and Alberto Nardelli
Thu, December 14, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine in a historic political win for Kyiv as it grapples with uncertainty over future financial aid from the US and Europe.

“A clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent,” European Council President Charles Michel wrote in a post on X. He said that EU leaders meeting in Brussels also agreed to open accession talks with Moldova, granted candidate status to Georgia and said negotiations could begin with Bosnia once it meets the criteria.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had opposed opening membership talks, saying Ukraine wasn’t ready and the topic should be removed from the summit agenda, prompting frustration in other European capitals.

Read more: What Ukraine’s EU Candidacy Means, and What’s Ahead: QuickTake

Orban wasn’t in the room for the final vote, according to two people familiar with the matter. The decision requires unanimous approval of EU member states, and nobody objected to the decision, the people said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested Orban leave the room to allow the bloc to move forward for now, one person added.

“Hungary didn’t want to take part in this wrong decision and therefore decided to stay away” from the vote, Orban said in a Facebook video Thursday, calling it a “senseless, irrational, wrong decision” to start EU accession talks.

EU nations also reached agreement on a 12th package of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on Russian diamonds and measures to better enforce the price cap on Russian oil, according to people familiar with matter. The sanctions deal will become official Friday after clearing procedural steps.

While Kyiv still faces hurdles in clinching funding from both the EU and the US, the country’s progress on joining the bloc will at least boost morale as it seeks to fight off Russia’s invasion.

The decision, however, is a somewhat symbolic one. The bloc won’t launch the more formal negotiating framework before March, when Ukraine has been asked to meet several additional conditions related to its membership bid.

Even with a green light from member states, the negotiations would still take years as the path to membership is lengthy and complicated. Croatia was the last country to join the bloc and its application lasted 10 years before it was formally accepted in 2013.

“Membership won’t happen overnight or even in a few years time,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters. “But we look forward to welcoming new members in the years ahead.”

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the decision, saying he wants to thank everyone who worked to make it happen. “I congratulate every Ukrainian on this day,” he wrote on X.

Failing to open accession talks would have been a severe blow for Ukraine, after it invested so much time, energy and reforms in the process. It also could have damaged the EU’s reputation in the country, as the bloc falls short on a key plank of its support.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said earlier this week that of all the issues on the table at the summit, opening accession talks was “the mother of all decisions, the most important decision.”

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive, formally recommended in November starting the talks with Ukraine, as well as Moldova. At the time, the commission said it would monitor Ukraine and Moldova’s progress with the aim of reporting back to member states by March.

The commission said that before negotiations could start, Kyiv would need to enact legislation on minorities and corruption, and to regulate lobbying to bring it in line with European standards, among other steps. Kuleba said of the four laws the EU demanded it introduce by March, Ukraine has already signed three of them into law and the fourth would soon be adopted.

--With assistance from Andra Timu, Zoltan Simon, Kateryna Chursina, Katharina Rosskopf, Stephanie Bodoni, Natalia Ojewska, Slav Okov, Michael Nienaber and Jorge Valero.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

es to open membership talks with Ukraine

Joe Barnes
Thu, December 14, 2023

'This day will go down in our history', said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - CORNELIUS POPPE/AFP

The EU offered Ukraine the chance to start talks to join the bloc on Thursday after Volodymyr Zelensky warned them that failing to grant Kyiv accession talks would go down in history.

Charles Michel, the European Council’s president, said it was a “clear signal of hope for their people and for our people”.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Mr Zelensky told EU leaders by video link: “Today is a special day. And this day will go down in our history. Whether it’s good or bad for us, history will capture everything. Every word, every step, every action and inaction. Who fought for what.

“Today is the day when determination will either be in Brussels or Moscow. People in Europe won’t understand if Putin’s satisfied smile becomes the reward for a meeting in Brussels.”

The EU’s continued support for Ukraine has become even more vital for the war-torn crisis after the US failed to agree on a $60 billion (£52.7 billion) aid package.
Opposition from Hungary

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, arrived at the summit in Brussels on Thursday as the chief opponent to opening talks for Kyiv to join the bloc and a €50 billion financial lifeline.

He argued Ukraine did not deserve to start the negotiations or receive money from the EU’s joint budget.

Hungary has repeatedly delayed the EU’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, opposing moves such as sanctions against Moscow and donations of weapons to Kyiv.

Mr Orban is the only EU leader to meet Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and to continue to do business with Moscow, despite its invasion of Ukraine.

“There is no reason to discuss anything [on membership talks] because the preconditions are not met,” Mr Orban said.

“In the long term, and the bigger sum of money, my decision is we should give it outside [the budget],” he added on the four-year financial package.

EU leaders arriving at the planned two-day European Council summit said they were ready for lengthy discussions to overcome Mr Orban’s opposition.

Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo said: “I’m ready to negotiate. I have packed many shirts if it takes us long.”

He said support for Ukraine was crucial to “our security and existence as a credible union”, adding: “We need strong resistance here. We have to show our unity.”
‘Endangering Europe’s future’

Evika Siliņa, the Latvian prime minister, suggested the bloc could not rely on “someone who is endangering Europe’s future” in a veiled dig at Hungary.

“Maybe there is a moment we have to negotiate – not anymore about Ukraine, but someone else who is not going forward,” she added.

Leaders of the 26 other EU countries were largely supportive of starting membership negotiations with Ukraine and the financial package.

On Wednesday, the European Commission released €10 billion to Hungary that had been withheld over the state’s alleged erosion of democracy, despite opposition from EU figures.

It was hoped the money, about a third of frozen EU funding to Budapest, would have helped ease Mr Orban’s opposition to Ukrainian aid.
Hungary did not meet preconditions

The Hungarian prime minister’s political director earlier this week suggested it would take €30 billion to change his mind on the financial package proposed for Ukraine.

“I always have some difficulty with such a summit where one person thinks we can offer all kinds of things,” Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, told reporters.

“We set up seven preconditions, and in the evaluation of the Commission, three out of seven were not fulfilled, so there is no reason to discuss anything because preconditions were not met. So we have to come back later on, revert to that issue again when it is fulfilled by the Ukrainians,” he said.

In its recommendation to EU leaders, the Commission proposed officially adopting a negotiating framework in March next year, potentially giving time for Ukraine to meet the remaining demands for reforms.

Meanwhile, Austria also appeared as a potential roadblock on Ukraine’s EU membership, demanding Brussels does not fast-track Kyiv’s negotiations at the expense of six Western Balkan states hoping to join the bloc.

Diplomatic sources said Italy had also tied demands for more spending on migration to cash for Ukraine.

Hungary against EU talks with Ukraine, open to financial aid for Kyiv

Reuters
Thu, December 14, 2023 

European Union leaders' summit in Brussels


BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Hungary could back granting long-term financial aid to Ukraine outside of the European Union budget, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday, while reiterating his opposition to start accession talks with Kyiv.

Orban spoke on arriving to a summit of EU leaders, where all other EU countries want to provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros ($54.50 bln) in budget support through 2027, and advance Kyiv's membership bid as the country's war with Russia drags on.

Those decisions require unanimity among the bloc's 27 member states, something Orban has ruled out.

Orban said there was no time pressure to decide on more financial aid to Ukraine because short-term support was already secured. For longer-term backing, he said it needed to be fixed outside of the bloc's joint coffers.

"We have to manage this outside of the budget. And we support it," said Orban.

He also said Ukraine had not met all of the 7 conditions the EU had set to launch accession negotiations.

"There is no reason to discuss anything because preconditions were not met. So we have to come back later on, revert to that issue again when it is fulfilled by the Ukrainians," Orban said, adding that "we are not in a position to start to negotiate".

Speaking on Wednesday, the EU's chief executive said reforms passed in Ukraine last week meant Kyiv now met 6 out of those 7 conditions, with the only outstanding requirement being a new law on lobbying to limit oligarchs' influence in the country.

EU officials and diplomats suspect he is using the issue of support to Ukraine as a bargaining chip, hoping to obtain funds frozen by the bloc over concerns about the rule of law in Hungary. Orban said on Thursday there was no link.

He also mentioned a continent-wide European Parliament election next June, saying the bloc should "behave democratically" and await a new political consensus that would emerge, potentially signaling a months-long delay to any start of talks to Ukraine.

($1 = 0.9175 euros)

(Reporting by Krisztina Than, Bart Meijer, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)

Politico: Zelensky not invited to EU summit to avoid antagonizing Orban

Elsa Court, The Kyiv Independent news desk
Thu, December 14, 2023

President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been invited to the EU Council Summit in Brussels due to fears that his presence "could antagonize" Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Politico reported on Dec. 14, citing unnamed EU diplomats.

Orban openly opposes the launch of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations, claiming that Ukraine is "light years" away from joining the block. The European Commission announced on Nov. 8 that Ukraine had made progress in its reforms and was ready for talks to begin.

Member states will vote on whether to officially begin negotiations during the Dec. 14-15 summit. Ukrainian and Western leaders and officials are seeking to sway Budapest away from blocking the start of Ukraine's membership talks.

Zelensky was in Oslo on Dec. 13, a few hours away by plane, and was "keen" to come to Brussels, Politico's sources said. EU leaders were also reportedly "willing to invite him."

The president did not receive an invitation since "several ambassadors expressed reservations," fearing that his presence would cause Orban "to dig his heels in even further," Politico said.

The Hungarian prime minister said on Dec. 14 that there is "no reason to negotiate the (EU) membership of Ukraine now," signaling no change in his position.

European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and French President Emmanuel Macron were set to meet with Orban ahead of the summit in what appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to persuade Orban to change course.

Ukraine's Zelenskiy hails 'victory' after EU decision to open accession talks

Updated Thu, December 14, 2023 


By Tom Balmforth and Yuliia Dysa

(Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed a "victory" for Ukraine and the European continent on Thursday after European Union leaders agreed to open membership talks for Ukraine and Moldova despite months of opposition from Hungary about Kyiv joining.

The decision announced by European Council President Charles Michel on the first day of a summit in Brussels is a much-needed morale boost for Kyiv, which fears vital Western support has been waning as its war with Russia rages on with no end in sight.

"I thank everyone who worked for this to happen and everyone who helped. I congratulate every Ukrainian on this day... History is made by those who don't get tired of fighting for freedom," Zelenskiy wrote in a post on social media platform X.

In a separate post on X, the president added: "This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens."

Zelenskiy later issued a series of messages on Telegram, thanking Council President Michel for communicating the result personally and expressing gratitude to European leaders.

These included French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban before the result was announced.

He congratulated Moldovan President Maia Sandu on her country winning the right to launch talks and President Salome Zourabichvili on Georgia becoming a candidate for EU membership.

Kyiv residents were delighted at the EU summit outcome.

"Ukraine showed that it has qualities that make it different from our enemy," said Volodymyr, 63.

"When people don't like something, they express their will and change presidents. This movement is ceaseless since 2004, Ukraine was and is heading towards Europe."

It was not immediately clear what the fate was of a four-year 50 billion euro aid package that Kyiv hopes will also be agreed by EU leaders at the summit this week.

WARTIME MEMBERSHIP BID

Ukraine announced its wartime bid to join the EU days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"This is an extremely important milestone on our common path to the unification of Europe... When we started it, no one believed we'd succeed. But we didn't care," Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.

Kyiv has been racing to adopt legislative reforms in recent weeks to meet the criteria for launching talks, but had faced staunch opposition from Hungary's Orban.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: "What a historic day! One emotion dominates: everything was not in vain."

Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said: "(This) became possible only thanks to the strong will of all Ukrainians, our soldiers standing on the frontline."

Russia, which has occupied more than a sixth of Ukraine's territory, is a fierce opponent of Ukraine's push to join Western institutions like the NATO military alliance.

Moscow's troops seized and annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 following mass protests in Kyiv that toppled a Russian-backed leader who had abandoned a push to sign an association agreement with the European Union.

Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and Romania, hailed the EU decision to open formal accession talks with it. Pro-Western President Sandu said Moldova would rise to the challenge and was committed to the "hard work" that lay ahead.

"Moldova turns a new page today with the EU's go-ahead for accession talks. We're feeling Europe's warm embrace today. Thank you for your support and faith in our journey," Sandu wrote on X.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Anna Voitenko; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Mark Heinrich and Rosalba O'Brien)

Zelensky addresses EU summit, warns against 'indecision'

Martin Fornusek
Thu, December 14, 2023 at 6:06 AM MST·2 min read

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on EU leaders to act decisively for Ukraine in a video address to the European Council summit. The Dec. 14-15 meeting is expected to bring about decisions on $54 billion in the bloc's funding for Kyiv and Ukraine's accession negotiations.

The results of the upcoming talks remain uncertain as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is considered close to Moscow, said he would block the start of the negotiations and has long opposed military support for Ukraine.

"This day will go down in our history. Whether it's good or bad for us, history will capture everything. Every word, every step, every action and inaction. Who fought for what," Zelensky said, according to the Guardian.

"It's very important that Europe doesn't fall back into indecision today. Nobody wants Europe to be seen as untrustworthy. Or as unable to take decisions it prepared itself."

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine passed key reforms necessary on the country's path toward EU integration.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Ukraine's reform efforts in a speech on Dec. 12, saying that the country is well on its way to fulfilling the remaining recommendations listed during the November assessment.

Orban was more skeptical about Ukraine's progress, noting that the country has not completed three of the seven criteria set by the EU and that any further decisions should wait until all conditions are met.

"I ask you one thing today – do not betray the people and their faith in Europe," Zelensky told EU leaders.

"​If no one believes in Europe, what will keep the European Union alive?"

According to European Pravda, the possibility of Zelensky's personal visit to the summit was discussed as the president toured several partner countries in recent days.

His participation has not been officially confirmed.

Corby company helps with the laundry in poorer countries

Martin Heath - BBC News, Northampton
Tue, December 12, 2023 

Navjot Sawhney created the hand-cranked washing machine

Hand-cranked washing machines for people in poorer countries are being built at a company in Northamptonshire.

RS Components, based in Corby, is working with the Washing Machine Project, set up by an engineer who saw a neighbour in India struggling to do the washing.

The machines are designed to be quicker and easier than washing by hand.

They are being used by communities in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Uganda.

When Navjot Sawhney saw what washing clothes was like in India, he decided to use his engineering skills to make it easier for people by offering a machine that is operated by hand, rather than electricity.

He said: "They wash with cold water in buckets, on the floor, causing back pain, joint pain and skin irritation.

"With our machine, it saves 75% of time and 50% of water compared to handwashing clothes, and they can use that time to work, study or rest."

He set up the Washing Machine Project (WMP) which has sent 180 machines to 15 countries so far.

Staff have volunteered to work with the Washing Machine Project to construct 60 machines

Staff at RS Components have been working with WMP volunteers to make the components of the machine, including the drum and the crank handle, which are then sent as flat-packs to their destination.

James Tucker from RS Components said that staff who volunteer on the project "feel a real connection" with people in poorer countries who use them

James Tucker, from RS Components, said: "We can offer some of the parts that help to build the machines and then we'll also help to ship them to the end beneficiaries so it really feels full cycle.

"Our staff that have been involved really feel that connection with the people that are receiving the machines.

The hand-cranked machine, known as the Divya, is designed be simple and economical to use and does not need electricity

For Navjot Sawhney, the project fulfils a promise he made to a woman in India who he saw spending hours washing clothes by hand every day.

He said: "I promised her a manual washing machine - her name was Divya and we've actually named our washing machine after her."

Chinese chip-related companies shutting down with record speed — 10,900, or around 30 per day, shut down in 2023

Anton Shilov
Wed, December 13, 2023 

SMIC.

The number of chip companies in China has been declining ever since the U.S. started imposing sanctions against the semiconductor sector in 2019 - 2020. The situation got worse in 2022 - 2023 as demand for chips slowed. More than 22,000 chip-related firms have disappeared since 2019, but 2023 saw record-setting extinction according to DigiTimes (citing TMTPost).

A record 10,900 chip-related companies have lost their registration in 2023 so far — a big jump from the 5,746 companies that folded in 2022, according to the report. That means an average of 30 Chinese chip-related companies closed their doors each day in 2023. This is part of the five-year trend, which saw over 10,000 Chinese chip-related companies close in 2021 - 2022. The spike in 2023 highlights the growing struggles in chip design, semiconductor manufacturing, and wafer fab equipment sectors.

Out of 3,243 chip design companies in China in 2023 (many of which emerged, at least partly, thanks to incentives from federal and local governments), more than half were making less than 10 million CNY (about $1.4 million USD) a year, according to Wei Shaojun, IC design lead at the China Semiconductor Industry Association and professor at Tsinghua University. Shaojun is not particularly fond of how the Chinese industry is developing.

These firms are not just struggling with sales. Most are losing money from unsold stock, due to market oversupply and a general downturn in the semiconductor industry from wider economic circumstances. A big part of the problem comes from a misstep in planning: In 2021 and 2022, many companies produced tons of chips, expecting high sales from the Covid-induced work-from-home trend. But as the pandemic waned, demand took a downturn and the market slumped in the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023, leaving companies with a lot of inventory they couldn't sell. And, of course, these products are losing value as time passes.

Another problem, for smaller companies especially, is lack of investments. The U.S. has restricted investments in the Chinese semiconductor industry (as well as AI and quantum computing technologies), and European investors are not inclined to invest in Chinese chip companies with U.S. sanctions in place.

Larger companies like YMTC have spent billions finding alternative suppliers and procuring third-party tools to stay in business, while Huawei built a secret fab network; smaller companies don't have the resources to keep up. And while the Chinese government is investing in the chip industry — the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund dropped $1 billion in HLMC a week ago — it can't pour money into every chip startup out there.

It's been a tough year for China's chip industry — especially for the smaller players. The record number of companies shutting down reflects the hard times they're facing: low demand, overstock, and difficulty in obtaining funding. This has forced many out of the game and has shifted China's semiconductor industry into mostly big companies instead of smaller startups.