PDD Holdings' Colin Huang and ByteDance's Zhang Yiming top China's tech rich list

South China Morning Post
Thu, Jun 13, 2024

Colin Huang Zheng, the 44-year-old founder of PDD Holdings, and Zhang Yiming, the 41-year-old founder of ByteDance, are the richest tech entrepreneurs in China, according to a list published by Chinese magazine New Fortune on Wednesday.

Huang, whose wealth is largely derived from the popularity of budget e-commerce platforms Pinduoduo and Temu, has a personal wealth of 425 billion yuan (US$59 billion), followed by Zhang, whose 21 per cent stake in TikTok's parent company gives him a personal net worth of 340 billion yuan.

The two young billionaires were followed in the rankings by Tencent Holdings' founder Pony Ma Huateng, Alibaba Group Holding's founder Jack Ma, and NetEase founder William Ding Lei. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

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However, China's richest man is Zhong Shanshan, in the traditional mineral water business, with a personal wealth of 456 billion yuan, according to the list.

The Pinduoduo logo is seen on a smartphone in this arranged photograph. Photo: Shutterstock Images alt=The Pinduoduo logo is seen on a smartphone in this arranged photograph. Photo: Shutterstock Images>

Gains in the share price of Nasdaq-listed PDD Holdings enabled Huang - whose net worth nearly doubled last year - to overtake Zhang as richest tech founder. Pinduoduo is famous for its cheap price strategy in China, posting revenues of 147.6 billion yuan in 2023, a hefty increase of 90 per cent from the year before.

ByteDance's Zhang fell below Huang on the rich list, as China's most valuable private company faces fresh pressure to sell the US operations of its flagship short video app TikTok to American investors or be banned from app stores in the country.

Few tech billionaires in China celebrate making it to the rich list, given Beijing's regulatory crackdowns on the tech sector in recent years, and the ongoing Sino-US tech war. Huang and Zhang, who both stepped down as chairman of their respective companies, have deliberately stayed out of the public view in recent years.

China's internet service sector continues to generate billionaires. Xu Yangtian, the founder of fast fashion giant Shein, ranked 22nd on the list with a personal wealth of 81 billion yuan, while Cai Haoyu, the 37-year-old co-founder of miHoYo, a gaming studio, ranked No 26 with a personal wealth of 73.8 billion yuan.

However, China's super rich are dwarfed by their US tech counterparts. Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, has a personal net worth of US$209.8 billion, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is worth US$204.3 billion, according to the Forbes real time billionaires list on Thursday.

China's electric vehicle industry (EV) and pharmaceutical sectors are also represented on the billionaires list. Xiaomi's founder, Lei Jun, who only joined the EV industry this year, leapt onto the New Fortune rich list with a 10.3 billion yuan worth of family wealth, almost on par with BYD founder Wang Chuanfu. Robin Zeng Shuqun, founder of the world's largest battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, was listed as China's 7th richest person, with a net worth of 168 billion yuan

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Berlin activists call off 92-day climate hunger strike

DPA
Thu, June 13, 2024 


Climate activist Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick (C), who had previously taken part in a hunger strike in Invalidenpark, blocks traffic on Invalidenstrasse. The hunger strike is said to have ended for the time being. Jörg Carstensen/dpa


A climate hunger strike conducted in public in central Berlin has been called off after 92 days.

The decision was taken on Thursday because Chancellor Olaf Scholz had neither changed course on Germany's global warming policies, nor had he attempted to engage in discussion with the hunger strikers, according to the campaign called "Starve until you are honest."

Eight people had participated in the strike at various times since it began on March 7, when Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick stopped taking solids. He spent 92 days without solids, and his fellow striker Richard Cluse 77 days.


The aim was to provoke Scholz into a statement acknowledging that civilization was being jeopardized by the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

"Instead of telling the truth about the climate crisis, Scholz prefers to talk about combating the symptoms," the activists said on Thursday.

The hunger strikers drank small quantities of fruit juice for long periods to maintain energy levels. Metzeler-Kick, 49, stopped doing so and landed in hospital earlier this month.

The hunger strikers lived in a tented encampment in the government district in central Berlin.

Activists, some of whom had previously taken part in a hunger strike in Invalidenpark, block traffic on Invalidenstrasse. The hunger strike is said to have ended for the time being. Jörg Carstensen/dpa

Evidence of Iran and UAE drones used in Sudan war

Abdelrahman Abu Taleb - BBC News Arabic
Thu, June 13, 2024 

Cities such as Omdurman have been turned into ghost towns by a year of fighting [Reuters]


Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been accused of violating a UN arms embargo by supplying drones to the warring sides in the 14-month conflict that has devastated Sudan. We look at the evidence to back up the claim.

On the morning of 12 March 2024, Sudanese government soldiers were celebrating an unprecedented military advance. They had finally recaptured the state broadcaster’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum.

Like most of the city, the building had fallen into the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at the start of the civil war 11 months earlier.


What was notable about this military victory for the army was that videos showed the attack was carried out with the help of Iranian-made drones.

In the early stages of the war, the army relied on the air force, according to Suliman Baldo, director of the Sudan Transparency and Policy Observatory.

“The armed forces found all their preferential forces besieged, and they had no fighting forces on the ground," he says.

The RSF maintained ground control of most of Khartoum and Darfur in the west of Sudan, while the army maintained its presence in the sky.

By early January 2024, a video emerged on Twitter of an army drone shot down by the RSF.

According to Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone expert and head of the Humanitarian Disarmament Project at Dutch peace organisation PAX, its wreckage, engine, and tail resembled an Iranian-manufactured drone called Mohajer-6.

The Mohajer-6 is 6.5m long, can fly up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles) and carry out airstrikes with guided freefall munitions.

Mr Zwijnenburg identified another version of the drone in a satellite image of the army’s Wadi Seidna military base, north of Khartoum, taken three days later.

“These drones are very effective because they can identify targets accurately with minimal training,” he says.

Three weeks after the Mohajer-6 was shot down, a video emerged of another drone downed by the RSF.

Mr Zwijnenburg matched this one to the Zajil-3 – a locally manufactured version of the Iranian Ababil-3 drone.

The Zajil-3 drones have been used in Sudan for years. But January was the first time they were employed in this war, as observed by the BBC and PAX.

In March, Mr Zwijnenburg identified one more version of the Zajil-3 captured in a satellite image of Wadi Seidna.

“[It is] an indication of active Iranian support for the Sudanese army," he says, although Sudan’s governing council has denied acquiring weapons from Iran.

"If these drones are equipped with guided munitions, it means they were supplied by Iran because those munitions are not produced in Sudan," Mr Zwijnenburg adds.

In early December, a Boeing 747 passenger plane belonging to Iranian cargo carrier Qeshm Fars Air took off from Bandar Abbas airport in Iran, heading towards the Red Sea before disappearing from radar.

Hours later, satellites captured an image of a plane of the same type at Port Sudan airport in the east of the country, where Sudanese army officials are based.

A photo of the same plane on the runway later circulated on Twitter.

This flight was repeated five times until the end of January, the same month the use of Iranian drones was documented.

Qeshm Fars Air faces US sanctions due to numerous accusations of transporting weapons and fighters around the Middle East, particularly to Syria, one of Iran's main allies.

Sudan had a long history of military cooperation with Iran before relations ended in 2016 due to a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with Sudan siding with Saudi Arabia.

"Many Sudanese weapons were locally made versions of Iranian models," says Mr Baldo from the Sudan Transparency and Policy Observatory.

Since the start of the current conflict, the Sudanese government has restored relations with Tehran.

According to Mr Baldo, each side has its objectives.

"Iran is looking for a foothold in the region. If they find geostrategic concessions, they will certainly provide more advanced and numerous drones,” he says.

The BBC contacted the Sudanese army, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Qeshm Fars Air to comment on the allegations that Iranian drones are being used in the conflict but has not had a response.

But in an interview with the BBC, Malik Agar, vice-president of Sudan's Sovereign Council, said: "We do not receive any weapons from any party. Weapons are available on the black market, and the black market is now grey."

Meanwhile, evidence emerged early in the war that the RSF has used quadcopter drones made from commercial components, capable of dropping 120mm mortar shells.

Images and footage on social media show the army had shot down many of these drones.

Brian Castner, a weapons expert at Amnesty International, points the finger at the UAE.

"The UAE has supplied its allies with the same drones in other conflict areas such as Ethiopia and Yemen,” he says.

According to a UN report presented to the Security Council earlier this year, aviation-tracking experts observed a civilian aircraft air bridge allegedly transporting weapons from the UAE to the RSF – an allegation the UAE denies.

The route starts from Abu Dhabi airport, passes through Nairobi and Kampala airports, before ending at Amdjarass airport in Chad, a few kilometres from Sudan's western border, and Darfur, where the RSF has its stronghold.

The UN report also cites local sources and military groups reporting that vehicles carrying arms unload planes at Amdjarass airport several times a week, before travelling to Darfur and the rest of Sudan.

"The UAE also has economic interests in Sudan and is seeking a foothold on the Red Sea," says Mr Baldo.

The UAE has repeatedly denied these flights have transported weapons, saying they were delivering humanitarian aid instead. In a statement, a government official tells the BBC the UAE is committed to seeking “a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict”.

The RSF has not responded to the BBC’s request for comment.

The drones that both sides in the civil war have allegedly imported violate a UN Security Council resolution issued in 2005, which prohibits the supply of weapons to the Sudanese government and armed factions in Darfur.

"The Security Council must take responsibility and consider the state of Sudan, the approaching famine, and the number of people killed and displaced, and immediately enforce a comprehensive arms embargo on all of Sudan," says Mr Castner.

Since the appearance of drones in Sudan’s skies, the situation on the ground has partially changed.

The Sudanese army has managed to break the siege imposed on its soldiers in several locations.

And the RSF has withdrawn from some neighbourhoods west of the capital.

According to Mr Baldo, this change has happened thanks to the Iranian drones.

After more than a year of war, at least 16,650 civilians have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled).

The UN estimates that about nine million people have been forced from their homes - more than in any other current conflict.

Abdullah Makkawi is one who has now fled to Egypt. When he was still in southern Khartoum last July, he says he narrowly escaped death when drones, which he says belonged to the RSF, attacked.

“I rushed into the house, and we took refuge in a room with a concrete roof... My mother, four siblings and I hid under the beds,” he says.

Mr Makkawi says they heard the sound of a drone shell falling onto the next room, which had a wooden roof.

“If we had been in the other room, we would all have been killed. We survived by a miracle,” he says.

At the beginning of 2024, the conflict spread to new areas outside the capital. Civilian deaths due to drone attacks were reported for the first time in northern, eastern and central Sudan.

Before fleeing to Egypt, Mr Makkawi left his family in Port Sudan, considering it a safe place. But now he fears drones might reach them there too.

“Sudanese people are tired of the war. All we want is for the war to stop. If foreign countries stop supporting both sides with weapons, it will end.”

More about Sudan's civil war from the BBC:

What is going on in Sudan? A simple guide


I couldn't bury my brother because of el-Fasher bombing


The children living between starvation and death in Darfur


Famine looms in Sudan as civil war survivors tell of killings and rapes


The two generals at the heart of the conflict


UN Security Council to vote on demand for halt to siege of Sudanese city

Reuters
Wed, June 12, 2024 

The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote on Thursday on a British-drafted resolution that demands a halt to the siege of al-Fashir in Sudan's North Dafur region by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), diplomats said on Wednesday.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, also calls for an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around the city and the withdrawal of all fighters that threaten the safety and security of civilians.

Britain has asked for the draft to be voted on by the 15-member council on Thursday afternoon. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to be adopted.

War erupted in Sudan in April last year between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), creating the world's largest displacement crisis.

Al-Fashir is the last major city in the vast, western Darfur region not under control of the RSF. The RSF and its allies swept through four other Darfur state capitals last year and were blamed for a campaign of ethnically driven killings against non-Arab groups and other abuses in West Darfur.

Top U.N. officials warned the Security Council in April that some 800,000 people in al-Fashir were in "extreme and immediate danger" as worsening violence advances and threatens to "unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur."

The draft Security Council resolution "demands that all parties to the conflict ensure the protection of civilians, including by allowing civilians wishing to move within and out of Al-Fashir to safer areas to do so."

It also calls on countries "to refrain from external interference which seeks to foment conflict and instability and instead to support efforts for a durable peace and reminds all parties to the conflict and member states who facilitate the transfers of arms and military material to Darfur of their obligations to comply with the arms embargo measures."

The U.S. says the warring parties have committed war crimes and the RSF and allied militias have also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The U.N. says that nearly 25 million people - half Sudan's population - need aid and some eight million have fled their homes and hunger is rising.

Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in one city alone in Sudan's West Darfur region last year in ethnic violence by the RSF and allied Arab militia, according to a U.N. sanctions monitors report, seen by Reuters in January.

The draft text to be voted on by the Security Council "calls on the parties to the conflict to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities, leading to a sustainable resolution to the conflict, through dialogue."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Eric Beech and Kim Coghill)



Key Sudanese city could fall to rebels imminently - US

Anne Soy - Deputy Africa Editor, BBC News
Wed, June 12, 2024 

More than 15,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict started [AFP]

The United States' envoy to Sudan has warned that el-Fasher, a besieged city in western Darfur, could fall to rebel forces imminently.

El-Fasher is the only city still under army control in the western Darfur region.

The armed forces have been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a civil war that has lasted for 14 months.

US envoy Tom Perriello told the BBC that some in the RSF think capturing El-Fasher will help them establish Darfur as a breakaway state.

Mr Perriello said the US would not recognise an independent Darfur "under any circumstances".

"I think if there's anyone in RSF territory who thinks taking el-Fasher means somehow they will have a right to the state of Darfur, they need to disillusion themselves of that myth," he said. "It does not mean that.

He also called for a ceasefire in the city, which the RSF has been attacking since the middle of April.

"We see upwards of a million innocent people being starved by the siege of the RSF," he said. "Bombings have killed people inside of hospitals.

"We see 45,000 pregnant women who not only have no real prenatal care, but don't even have enough meals a day to be nourished enough for a healthy pregnancy.

"And as bad as it is, it could get worse any day if el-Fasher falls, not only the horrors that would come from the battle, but as people flee."

America's warning about the fall of el-Fasher follows weeks of bloody fighting in the city.

I couldn't bury my brother because of el-Fasher bombing


The children living between starvation and death in Darfur

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped inside the town, with many enduring hunger and thirst amidst shortages of food and water.

El-Fasher had been a sanctuary for many who had fled their homes because of the conflict. But it has now turned into yet another frontline.

Civilians there have reported being hit by shelling and bullets in their homes and even in hospital.

One of the last health facilities still running is the Sayyid Shuada health centre.

Footage filmed in the hospital for the BBC shows a distraught mother too shocked to speak after shelling hit her home, injuring five family members.

She held her toddler as her husband and other children received emergency treatment.

The mother said she couldn't tell whether the blood on her toddler's face was his, his siblings’ or his father’s.

Sayyid Shuada is overstretched by the mounting casualties.

“Every day there is a new wave of patients that are wounded arriving... on average maybe 50 per day, which is already what we consider mass casualty," said Claire Nicolet, who leads medical charity MSF's emergency response in Sudan.

There's only one surgeon present at the facility who is forced by the situation to work "round the clock".

"Most of [the patients] need surgery so it's pretty dramatic," says Ms Nicolet.

[BBC]

Local community volunteers have formed committees to try and support the hospital. They take care of non-medical tasks, like finding water and fuel and collecting data.

Volunteer Khalid Abdul Hamid tells the BBC committees are collecting donations of cash, goods and services, including from the already war-battered community.

“From our own efforts and the efforts of well-wishers, we have managed to get some medicine… or cash contributions to buy medicine from the local market," he said.

The situation is deteriorating by the day and an increasing number of facilities are put out of operation by the fighting.

On Saturday, RSF fighters stormed the South Hospital, a referral hospital that was treating civilians wounded in the war. Gunmen opened fire and looted the facility, stealing an ambulance.

The hospital, which was also ran by the medical charity MSF, has now been closed.

Its head of emergencies, Michel Lacharite, said the attack was outrageous. “Opening fire inside a hospital crosses a line," he said.

The South hospital had been hit by shelling and bullets at least three times in 10 days before the Saturday raid.

A paediatric hospital managed by the MSF in el-Fasher was bombed in May, killing two children.

The constant shelling in th city has sent tens of thousands fleeing once again. Most are heading towards Sudan's west, with options for safer places running out.

"We need this to end," Mr Perriello said.

"We need cooler heads to prevail and get this particular battle paused, while also we don't take our eye off of other parts of Sudan."
More about Sudan's civil war from the BBC:

Medics flee as rebels attack and shut down North Darfur’s main hospital

Eve Brennan, CNN
Wed, June 12, 2024 

Sudanese paramilitary forces stormed the main hospital in North Darfur, opening fire and looting vital medical supplies, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have reported.

Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plundered the facility on Saturday stealing an ambulance among other supplies, the aid agency said.

“On Saturday, MSF and the Ministry of Health suspended all activities in South Hospital, El Fasher, North Darfur, after RSF soldiers stormed the facility, opened fire, and looted it, including stealing an MSF ambulance,” MSF Sudan said on social media Saturday.

Armed men pose at the front gate of South Hospital in al-Fashir. - Obtained by CNN

The hospital was the only one in the region “equipped to deal with mass casualties” and “was the main referral hospital for treating war-wounded.”

It was also one of the two hospitals in El Fasher with surgical capacity, according to MSF. As a result, patients are being moved to Paediatric and Saudi hospitals “which were unprepared for such an influx,” it added.

Video posted on an apparent RSF “X” account shows armed men at the front gate of South Hospital. The footage was geolocated by CNN and shows at least one man firing an AK-style weapon on hospital grounds.

According to MSF’s statement posted on Twitter, only ten patients and a small medical team were at the hospital when it was attacked. Medical teams had already begun transferring patients and services to other facilities earlier in the week after intensified fighting in the region, the MSF said.

Images posted to social media and verified by CNN show damaged medical equipment strewn in and around the facility. In one video, an armed man poses inside what appears to be an ambulance parked outside South Hospital. It is unclear whether the vehicle belonged to MSF.

CNN has reached out to the RSF for comment.

A trail of blood through the halls of South Hospital. - Obtained by CNN

MSF said most patients and the remaining medical team, which included all MSF staff, were able to flee the violence but they are unable to say for certain if there were any casualties due to the chaos that ensued.

South Hospital is the latest medical facility to fall into warring factions’ crosshairs in Darfur.

The medical facility had already been hit by mortar shells and bullets multiple times in the preceding weeks between May 25th and June 3rd resulting in two deaths and 14 injuries among patients and caretakers, according to MSF.

On May 11, nearby Babiker Nahar Paediatric Hospital was impacted by an SAF airstrike 50 meters from the facility, per an MSF press release. Two children and a care giver in the intensive care unit were killed in the strike after a roof collapsed.

“It is outrageous that the RSF opened fire inside the hospital. This is not an isolated incident, as staff and patients have endured attacks on the facility for weeks from all sides, but opening fire inside a hospital crosses a line,” said MSF’s Head of Emergencies Michel Lacharite, as quoted by MSF Sudan on X Saturday.

“Warring parties must halt attacks on medical care. Hospitals are closing. Remaining facilities can’t handle mass casualties. We are trying to find solutions. The responsibility is on warring parties to spare medical facilities,” Lacharite added.

Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy of the EU Nabila Massrali said on X Sunday, “The EU is appalled by RSF-Janjaweed assault of staff at the El Fasher South Hospital in Darfur also looting it, as it did with many other hospitals in Sudan.”

“We remind again the [RSF] to show restraint and respect International Humanitarian Law,” she added.

The United Nations (UN) has said that El Fasher hosts around 1.8 million people who are at “imminent risk of famine.”

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said an escalation in fighting from April 1st this year between the warring RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) was monitored across El Fasher, displacing almost 130,000 people in just April and May this year.

Civil war in Sudan between the SAF and RSF broke out in April 2023. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, since the war’s outbreak more than 8.8 million people have fled their homes and 24.8 million people are in need of assistance.

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 ECJ fines Hungary with €200 million over 'extremely serious' breach of EU asylum law

Jorge Liboreiro
Thu, June 13, 2024

ECJ fines Hungary with €200 million over 'extremely serious' breach of EU asylum law


The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered Hungary to pay a lump sum of €200 million over the country's long-standing restrictions on the right to asylum.

Additionally, Hungary will have to pay €1 million per day of delay. The money will be automatically subtracted from Hungary's allocated share of the EU budget, parts of which remain frozen over similar legal problems.

The failure to "fulfill obligations constitutes an unprecedented and exceptionally serious breach of EU law," the ECJ said on Thursday.

The dispute dates back to December 2020, when the court first ruled that Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had limited access to asylum procedures for those seeking international protection in the country, making it "virtually impossible" to file applications. The Hungarian authorities were also censured for unlawfully keeping asylum seekers in so-called "transit zones" under conditions that amounted to detention and violating their right to appeal.

This "systematic" practice, the court said back then, also involved police officers forcibly escorting third-country nationals that had arrived illegally in Hungary to the other side of a fence erected a few metres from the border with Serbia, "to a strip of land devoid of any infrastructure."

Budapest had pushed back, saying migratory pressure justified derogations, but the tribunal dismissed this point.

As Hungary ignored the December 2020 ruling, the European Commission launched new legal action, which resulted in Thursday's judgment.

The judges conclude that Hungary is "disregarding the principle of sincere cooperation" and "deliberately evading" the application of the bloc's asylum legislation, which has ripple effects on the borderless bloc.

"That conduct constitutes a serious threat to the unity of EU law, which has an extraordinarily serious impact both on private interests, particularly the interests of asylum seekers, and on the public interest," the judges say.

Since Hungary's wrongdoing puts more pressure on nearby member states, who have to take care of the migrants unlawfully expelled by Budapest, the legal breach "seriously undermines the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility."


Reacting to the news, Orbán described the court's decision as "outrageous and unacceptable."

"It seems that illegal migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens," he said. (The ECJ is based in Luxembourg)

The European Commission, with which Orbán has been engaged in a years-long showdown, said it would reach out to Hungary to "enquire" about how the country intends to comply with the ruling.

Then, according to the response, the Commission will send payment requests to Hungary "in intervals" to collect the €1 million daily fine. If the country refuses to pay, the executive will trigger the "offsetting procedure" to deduct the money from Hungary's allocated EU funds. This was used with Poland in the past.

"The fine applies as of today," a Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.

Separately, the Commission will send another request for the €200 million lump sum, which needs to be disbursed regardless of what Hungary offers to do.

Since coming into power, Orbán has embraced a hard-line stance on migration, worsening tensions with Brussels. Last month, the country voted against every file contained under the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, an all-encompassing reform that aims to ensure all member states contribute to managing irregular migration.

This piece has been updated with more information.

Rwanda accuses U.N. refugee agency of lying in British asylum policy case

Reuters
Updated Wed, June 12, 2024 

FILE PHOTO: Migrants cross the English Channel in small boats


KIGALI (Reuters) -Rwanda said the United Nations refugee agency had lied when it told a British court this week that asylum seekers sent to the East African country could be moved on again to states where they risked torture or death.

Lawyers representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday that Rwanda's asylum system was inadequate, as part of a challenge to the British government's policy to deport asylum seekers there.

The lawyers said the policy risked asylum seekers facing a banned process known as refoulement, building on past evidence that formed an important part of the British Supreme Court's reasoning when it ruled the British plan unlawful last year.

"UNHCR is lying," Rwanda's government spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The organisation seems intent on presenting fabricated allegations to U.K. courts about Rwanda's treatment of asylum seekers, while still partnering with us to bring African migrants from Libya to safety in Rwanda."

The agency said it had always raised concerns about the risks refugees were exposed to from "externalisation", including refoulement.

"UNHCR ... finds that the UK-Rwanda Asylum partnership shifts responsibility for making asylum decisions and for protecting refugees," it said in a statement on Wednesday, declining further comment on grounds of related court action.

Rwanda's government said cases raised by the UNHCR lawyers in court had involved arrivals of those with legal status in other countries but who fell short of its entry requirements, or people leaving voluntarily.

Last week Britain said the first flight to Rwanda would take off on July 24, though that depends on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives winning general elections on July 4.

That looks unlikely, as the opposition Labour Party, leading by about 20 points in opinion polls, has pledged to scrap the plan if elected.

(Reporting by Philbert Girinema; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Clarence Fernandez)

EU court strengthens possibility of asylum for stateless Palestinians

DPA
Thu, June 13, 2024 

An EU court has ruled that stateless Palestinians can obtain refugee protection in the European Union more easily, if it is determined that the main aid agency in the Gaza Strip cannot provide a minimum level of security and humane living conditions.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling concerned the grounds for asylum for Gaza refugees and the status of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) which operates in the war-ravaged territory.

Until now, stateless Palestinians in the EU have not been entitled to protection if they already utilize the assistance of UNRWA and are registered with the agency.


Thursday's ruling stemmed from a case in Bulgaria. In 2018, a mother and her underage daughter from Gaza applied for asylum in Bulgaria. They argued that UNRWA no longer offered them protection and that they should therefore be recognized as refugees. Bulgaria asked the ECJ to weigh in.

The judgement by the Luxembourg court said the standard is now whether or now the Palestinian relief organization can offer Gazans decent living conditions and a minimum level of security.

If UNRWA cannot, the court said, stateless Palestinians could be recognized as refugees in the EU.

The Bulgarian court must now decide on the individual case.

However, the ECJ noted that "both the living conditions in the Gaza Strip and UNRWA’s capacity to fulfil its mission have experienced an unprecedented deterioration due to the consequences of the events of October 7, 2023."

Hamas and other Palestinian extremists groups massacred some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, which triggered an Israeli air and ground assault on Gaza. Hamas-controlled health authorities say more than 37,000 people have died so far in Gaza.

EU ministers examine protection plans for Ukrainian war refugees

DPA
Thu, June 13, 2024 

Evacuated Ukrainian war refugees arrive at the airport. EU justice and home affairs ministers are to examine plans to extend emergency rules to shelter people who fled the war in Ukraine until at least March 2026, in two days of meetings in Luxembourg starting on 13 June. Bernd Thissen/dpa


EU justice and home affairs ministers are to examine plans to extend emergency rules to shelter people who fled the war in Ukraine until at least March 2026, in two days of meetings in Luxembourg starting on Thursday.

Ukrainians who fled to the European Union after the full-scale invasion of their country by Russia in 2022 were granted immediate protection after EU member states set up a temporary regime designed for cases of mass influxes of people.

The proposal is designed to avoid the lengthy national asylum-seeking procedures required to process large numbers of displaced people. Extensions of the temporary rules are possible for up to one year.

In addition, people under temporary protection are entitled to social benefits, housing, access to education and work permits, among other things.

The existing regime was set to end in March 2025. The European Commission announced the planned extension on Tuesday.

The commission reported almost 4.2 million Ukrainians are currently residing in the EU under these rules, with Germany hosting the most people at 1.2 million.

EU justice and home affairs ministers are also set to examine a strategy from the commission to roll out controversial new migration and asylum rules in the EU.

The commission's strategy is to help the bloc's countries implement the legal system by mid-2026.

A major part of the commission's plan is a large IT system called Eurodac, in which the data of people seeking asylum is to be stored and processed to better monitor applicants between EU countries.

Wars drive number of forcibly displaced people to record high, UN says

Kim Sengupta
Thu, June 13, 2024

Palestinians have fleeing Rafah for weeks (Reuters)

The number of people forcibly displaced in the world through wars, persecution and disasters, natural and man -made, rose to a record 117.3 million last year with the situation likely to get even worse, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said.

Forced displacement has continued to rise in the first four months of this year, and the total of those affected is expected to reach 120 million in the near future, with no end to global strife in sight.

"These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people being forced away by conflict, by persecution, by different and increasingly complex forms of violence," said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza has led to 80 per cent of the territory’s population, 1.7 million people, to flee, often being driven from one refuge to another as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has expanded the operation. Those who had fled across the border into Egypt, the UNHCR report said, may find themselves stranded.

"Another refugee crisis outside Gaza would be catastrophic on all levels, including because we have no guarantee that the people will be able to return to Gaza one day," Mr Grandi said.

The civil war in Sudan, which has faded from international focus, has been "one of the most catastrophic ones" unfolding with more that nine million people internally displaced and another two million have fled to neighbouring countries including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.

While existing conflicts continue, the unstable international geopolitics could lead to more rather than less violence unfolding, says the report. "Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see that figure continuing to go up,” Mr Grandi said.

KURDISTAN

Firefighters battle massive fire at northern Iraq oil refinery

BY SALAR SALIM and ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD
Thu, June 13, 2024 


An oil refinery burns outside Irbil, Iraq, Thursday, June 13, 2024. 

(AP Photo/Bilind Tahir/Rudaw)

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — A team of 32 firefighters in northern Iraq was battling to put out a massive fire Thursday, a day after it broke out at an oil refinery, local officials said.

The fire broke out late Wednesday at a large refinery in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Shakhawan Saeed, a spokesperson for the Irbil Civil Defense Department, said 14 firefighters were injured -- four with burns and the other due to smoke inhalation -- while battling the blaze, which also destroyed four fire engines.


Saeed said the cause of the fire was not yet clear but that the facility appeared to be lacking in safety measures, including alarms and fire extinguishers. The owner of the refinery could not immediately be reached for comment.

A regional government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, told the Associated Press that the fire appeared to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Irbil's Gov. Omed Khoshnaw said the financial damages caused by the refinery fire were estimated at $8 million.

The Khazir refinery, owned by local private businessmen, is one of the largest in Irbil, producing gasoline, kerosene, and white oil. It had been a major supplier for the city of Mosul.

Iraq's Kurdish region produces hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil each day. Previously, much of the production was exported by way of Turkey, but the exports have been halted for more than a year as a result of a ruling in an international arbitration case.

The central government considers it illegal for Irbil to export oil without going through the Iraqi national oil company and won the arbitration case against such trade.

In Iraq, summer fires are often fueled by scorching temperatures, unreliable electricity, and lax safety standards in many facilities.

In May, a fire erupted in a bazaar in Erbil, burning at least 200 shops and four storage units and injuring at least 100 people.

On Sunday, a massive fire engulfed commercial storage units in central Baghdad, covering a 3,000 square meter area made of highly flammable materials, and killed four foreign Arab workers.

———————————

Zeyad reported from Baghdad. Associated Press journalist Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.





An oil refinery burns outside Irbil, Iraq, Thursday, June 13, 2024. 

(AP Photo/Bilind Tahir/Rudaw)


Fire at Iraqi oil refinery injures 10: civil defence

AFP
Thu, June 13, 2024 

A massive fire at an oil refinery in Iraqi Kurdistan injured at least 10 people including firefighters battling to control the blaze, which was ongoing Thursday, the civil defence agency reported.

The fire broke out in an asphalt tank on Wednesday night before spreading to a second refinery on a road southwest of Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region.

Firefighters worked through the night battling to extinguish the flames, which sent thick plumes of black smoke and balls of orange flame into the sky, an AFP photographer reported.

"More than 10 people were injured, mainly men from the Arbil civil defence," the agency said in a statement, noting three fire trucks were burned.

The cause of the blaze was still unknown, it said.

"The fire started in one refinery before spreading to another," the statement said. Four fuel tanks had been affected.

With Iraq experiencing scorching summers, the country has seen multiple fires in recent weeks, affecting shopping centres, warehouses and hospitals.

Iraq is one of the world's biggest oil producers, and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of Iraqi budget revenues.

But exports from the Kurdistan region have been halted for more than a year in a dispute over legal and technical issues.

cbg/tgg/dv/it

Scientists Found Microplastics in Every Human Semen Sample They Examined

Victor Tangermann
Tue, June 11, 2024 



A team of researchers has found microplastics in all 40 semen samples they examined from healthy men, highlighting the urgent need to study how these tiny particles could affect human reproduction.

In a paper published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers from a number of Chinese institutions identified eight different polymers in the samples, with polystyrene being the most prevalent.

As The Guardian reports, it's only the latest in a string of studies that have equally found microplastics in semen.

While their effect on reproduction and human health still isn't entirely understood, researchers have also been documenting a global decline in sperm count and other issues plaguing male fertility, linking them to a number of environmental and lifestyle factors.

Other studies have found that microplastics can reduce sperm count in mice and disrupt the human endocrine system.

It's also yet another stark reminder of how ubiquitous microplastics have become in the world. They've been found clogging human arteries, in bottled water, inside clouds, and even in a cave that was sealed off from all humans.

Given the latest research, these tiny pollutants could even have troubling consequences for our ability to reproduce.

"As emerging research increasingly implicates microplastic exposure as a potential factor impacting human health, understanding the extent of human contamination and its relation to reproductive outcomes is imperative," the researchers wrote in their paper.

Studies involving mice "demonstrate a significant decrease in viable sperm count and an uptick in sperm deformities, indicating that microplastic exposure may pose a chronic, cumulative risk to male reproductive health," they added.

A different study published in the journal Toxicological Sciences last month found microplastics in all samples of 47 canine and 23 human testicles.

"At the beginning, I doubted whether microplastics could penetrate the reproductive system," coauthor and University of New Mexico professor Xiaozhong Yu told The Guardian at the time. "When I first received the results for dogs I was surprised. I was even more surprised when I received the results for humans."

Worse yet, the samples dated back to 2016, suggesting that the "impact on the younger generation might be more concerning," given the particles' growing prevalence, Yu added.

As a result, experts are calling for action to reduce the amount of plastic being produced worldwide, much of which will end up polluting the environment and our bodies.

"In particular, there is a need for action to avoid additional permanent damage to the planet and the human body," University of Rome's Luigi Montano, who coauthored a separate study that found microplastics in human semen, told The Guardian.

"If microplastic pollution impacts the critical reproductive process, as evidenced in particular by the decline in seminal quality recorded in recent decades globally, it may prove to be [even worse] for our species in the not too distant future," he added.

More on microplastics: Whoever Figures Out How to Remove Microplastics From the Human Body Is Going to Make a Fortune


New study examines how tiny pollutants float through human lungs: 'Concerns ... have increased over the past decade'

Susan Elizabeth Turek
Wed, June 12, 2024



Researchers have been sounding the alarm about microplastics in human bodies for some time, and a new study examines how these tiny toxic particles travel through our airways.

What's happening?

The analysis, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, simulated how microplastics may move throughout different parts of the human respiratory system, including the trachea and lungs.

"The concerns about microplastics in the atmosphere have increased over the past decade due to the associated risks to public health and the environment," the authors of the study wrote, citing multiple studies in which microplastics have been found in human lungs.

Their computer model found that microplastic accumulation varied depending on inhalation rates and particle size, creating "deposition hotspots" connected to the intensity of airflow. The trachea, which the authors described as having a "comparatively less complicated airway structure," experienced less microplastic accumulation than the lungs.

Why is this important?

While the three major routes of microplastic exposure are food, air, and contact with skin, the "concentration range" via inhalation is the highest, according to the study. Thus, it is crucial to understand how the particles are being dispersed once they enter our bodies.

Researchers haven't made any definitive conclusions about the impacts of microplastics — and the even tinier nanoplastics — on our health, but the particles have been linked to severe health issues that affect our quality of life, including cancer, neurological diseases, and anxiety.

Watch now: Solar-powered boats from the Honnold Foundation are making a difference in the Amazon

Without active solutions, the problem of plastic pollution isn't going away on its own, either. Production of the material has grown by leaps and bounds since the 1950s, as detailed by Our World in Data, and much of it ends up as waste polluting our oceans, parks, and communities.

What can be done about the effects of plastic pollution?

The authors believe their work could result in more accurate assessments of the risks of inhaling harmful pollutants. With further research and development, that data could lead to better outcomes for patients.

"Understanding these hotspots is crucial for assessing the health risks of microplastic exposure and improving the design of drug delivery systems," Mohammad S. Islam, one of the study's authors, said in a release by the American Institute of Physics.

Other scientists are focused on the physical problem of plastic pollution. One study found that wax worms may help break down polyethylene, a plastic used in everyday products like food packaging.

Meanwhile, many brands are upgrading their packaging. Among them is Pringles, which rolled out a fully recyclable cardboard tube for its chips, and Sun & Swell, which sells healthy snacks in compostable wrapping.

Supporting brands that offer plastic-free packaging and avoiding single-use plastic products, like grocery bags and water bottles, are some ways individuals can contribute to a healthier, cleaner future.

Pete Buttigieg attacks Justice Alito's wife for 'Pride flag' comments, warns SCOTUS has 'no supervision'

Jeffrey Clark
Wed, June 12, 2024 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday warned that the Supreme Court traditionally has "no supervision" and suggested that Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, were associated with "insurrectionist symbology."

Buttigieg was reacting to comments the justice and his wife made during a secret recording taken by liberal filmmaker Lauren Windsor at a recent annual dinner event.

"Supreme Court justices have an unbelievable amount of power," Buttigieg told CNN anchor John Berman on Wednesday. "And by the nature and the structure of the Supreme Court, there is no supervision over that power. They are entrusted with it literally for as long as they live.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned that the Supreme Court has "no supervision" in a new interview.

In the secret recording, Martha-Ann Alito told Windsor she wanted to fly a "Sacred Heart of Jesus flag," a Catholic symbol depicting Jesus Christ and symbolizing compassion, in response to a Pride flag that was in view near one of her properties.

"And he's like, ‘Oh, please don’t put up a flag,'" she said, apparently recounting a conversation with her husband. "I said, ‘I won’t do it, because I'm deferring to you. But when you are free of this nonsense, I'm putting it up and I’m going to send them a message every day, maybe every week I’ll be changing the flags.'"

Buttigieg said that trust in the Supreme Court is in part based on the justices making "enormously consequential decisions that shape our everyday lives with a sense of fairness."

"I also hope that most Americans can understand the difference between a flag that symbolizes love and acceptance and signals to people who have sometimes feared for their safety that they're going to be okay and insurrectionist symbology," he said, in a jab at the Alitos for another flag controversy.

The New York Times reported on flags it connected to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and flown at the Alitos homes.

An upside American flag was briefly flown outside one house, which Justice Alito said was his wife's doing and unrelated to Jan. 6. At his beach home, there was an "Appeal to Heaven" flag, a historical naval flag.

Fox News' Julia Johnson and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.

SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY BLASTS 'SURREPTITIOUS' RECORDING AS DEMS TARGET JUSTICE ALITO

CRYPTID
A giant 'sunbathing' fish that washed ashore in Oregon turned out to be an unexpected oddity

Elysee Barakett
Updated Wed, June 12, 2024 

A giant species of fish that was first discovered seven years ago washed ashore in Oregon last week, according to marine biologists who study the animal.

Beachgoers in Gearhart, a small town just south of the Washington border, found the 7.3-foot-long hoodwinker sunfish, also called a mola tecta, on June 3.

The species was first discovered in 2017 and has been occasionally spotted near Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest. It’s recognizable by a thick flap of skin in place of a tail, which is split in two.


When Keith Chambers, the general manager at Seaside Aquarium in Oregon, first received reports of a circular, gray fish on the beach, he assumed it was a run-of-the-mill ocean sunfish.

“I’ve seen a lot of them,” he said. “It wasn’t that spectacular of a moment for me.”

But marine biologist Marianne Nyegaard noticed something unique in the aquarium’s Facebook photo showcasing their finding — the fish had smooth skin and a two-part tail. She identified the fish as a mola tecta, a species she discovered and has been researching since.

“As soon as we could, we just jumped in the car and drove down to see it,” Nyegaard, who lives in New Zealand but was fortuitously visiting Seattle that weekend, said.

“It was a fantastic coincidence. It doesn’t get any better than that,” she said.

“It’s like I can’t get away from them,” she added, laughing.

newly discovered and rare species of sunfish (Courtesy Seaside Aquarium)

The name “mola” comes from Latin and means “millstone,” which refers to the fish’s flat and circular body. The fish are known for floating along the ocean’s surface — what some scientists lightheartedly refer to as “sunbathing.”

But Nyegaard said the activity serves an important purpose: catching jellyfish and other gelatinous creatures for prey.

Sunfish dive deep down into colder water when they hunt. Since their bodies cannot efficiently regulate temperature, they warm themselves using the sun. While the fish lie on the ocean’s surface, birds clean them by eating parasites off their skin.

Certain features of hoodwinker sunfish distinguish them from ocean sunfish, Nyegaard said. As ocean sunfish grow, their skin wrinkles. Hoodwinker sunfish are always completely smooth.

Where a normal fish would have a tail, sunfish have a flap. An ocean sunfish’s flap is wavy and has bony formations. The hoodwinker sunfish’s flap is divided into two, and it can move each part independently of the other.

“Why those two species need different backends, we don’t know,” Nyegaard said. Some theories are that they need the two-part flap for steering or agility, she said.

Nyegaard said sunfish in general are still mysterious to scientists. There are five species in total, including the hoodwinker, but it’s unclear how or whether they can co-exist in the same location.

It’s also unclear whether the hoodwinker fish in Australia and New Zealand are linked to the ones in the Pacific Northwest and have somehow migrated across the equator, Nyegaard said.

Since the discovery, people have flocked to Gearhart Beach to visit the lone hoodwinker on the sand.

“It’s not the first time it’s washed up, but it is the largest one to wash up,” said Tierney Thys, a marine biologist at California Academy of Sciences.

“Strandings like this remind us how humans inhabit a mere 1% of the available living space on this vast ocean planet,” she said. “It’s both humbling and inspiring to encounter one of these incredible creatures and a powerful reminder we have so much more to learn.”

CORRECTION (June 12, 2:22 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated what Mola means in Latin. It is millstone, not milestone. It also misspelled the first name of the marine biologist at California Academy of Sciences. She is Tierney Thys, not Tierny.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com