National academy rejects complaint against Palestinian artist's Emmy nomination


August 21, 2024 

Professional HD video camera [Getty]


The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has firmly rejected a complaint aimed at cancelling the Emmy nomination of Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda. The complaint, lodged by a group of predominantly pro-Israel artists and industry figures, sought to have Owda’s nomination rescinded for her film ‘It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive’.

Owda’s eight-minute report, produced by AJ+, the digital publisher of Al Jazeera, depicts life in Gaza after 7 October when Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has ruled is a possible genocidal campaign. The film shows Owda living in a tent outside the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and features interviews with local residents, including an 11-year-old who lost his parents in a bombing. The piece has been nominated in the category of Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form.

The complaint, in the form of an open letter published by the nonprofit Creative Community for Peace, accused Owda of having ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union. The letter alleged that Owda had spoken at PFLP events between 2014 and 2018 and claimed she had a “history of promoting dangerous falsehoods, spreading antisemitism and condoning violence”.

The letter has garnered only 150 signatures from an industry that employs approximately three million people. Signatories, who are mainly advocates of Israel and known for their staunch belief in the racist ideology of Zionism, include music and film executives, as well as performers such as Debra Messing.

Read: Zionist lobby group labelled ‘propaganda’ and ‘misinformation’ source by Wikipedia

In response to the complaint, NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp defended the nomination. Sharp stated that NATAS had been unable to corroborate the reports cited in the letter, which appeared to show a then-teenage Owda speaking at PFLP-associated events between six and nine years ago. Moreover, NATAS found no evidence of any contemporary or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP organisation.

Sharp emphasised that the nominated content was consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies. He noted that the submission had been reviewed by two panels of independent judges, including senior editorial leadership from major US broadcast news networks. The film was selected from among more than 50 submissions in one of the year’s most competitive categories.

Furthermore, Sharp pointed out that Owda’s piece had already received recognition from other prestigious journalism awards, including the Peabody Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Awards, each administered independently of NATAS and the News & Documentary Emmys.

The News and Documentary Emmy Awards are set to be announced next month in New York, with Owda’s nomination remaining intact despite the controversy.

British advocacy group wants Jewish National Fund's charity status revoked for funding illegal Israel actions


August 21, 2024 

Jewish National Fund logo in New York City 

[Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Stoudemire Wines]

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) on Wednesday requested the UK Attorney General to strip the Jewish National Fund (JNF) UK of its charity status due to its involvement in funding the Israeli military operations and illegal settlements, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has written to the Attorney General’s Office, calling on him to use his powers to revoke the charity status for the Jewish National Fund (JNF) UK for its role in funding the Israeli military and supporting Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt),” the ICJP said.

The ICJP claimed in a written statement that the JNF UK has been using its charity status, which includes tax benefits like Gift Aid, to fund illegal Israeli settlements and military activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a violation of UK charity laws.

JNF UK is affiliated with Israel’s Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL), which has been involved in property seizures and the displacement of Palestinians, the statement noted.

The call for action followed a recent decision in Canada, where JNF Canada lost its charity status for similar activities.

The ICJP demanded the Attorney General ensure UK charities are not involved in unlawful practices.

Previously, complaints to the Charity Commission raised concerns about UK donations potentially funding illegal activities.

The Charity Commission responded with action plans, but details remain undisclosed.

ICJP’s senior legal officer, Dania Abul Haj, insisted that it is time for the British government to follow Canada’s example and end JNF UK’s operations under its charity status.

The advocacy group is now waiting for the Attorney General’s response, hoping for a decisive action to ensure charities adhere to legal and ethical standards.

REVIEW: The JNF/KKL: A Charity Complicit with Ethnic Cleansing

The silence on Gaza from countries with feminist foreign policies ‘is deafening and deeply troubling’

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, says countries who advocate women’s rights must ‘walk the talk’, applying their principles consistently and without selective advocacy by avoiding arms transfers that facilitate the killing of Palestinian women by Israel.

August 22, 2024 

Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences addresses the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on 14 March 2022 [UN Women/Ryan Brown/Flickr]

by Anjuman Rahman
AnjumanAleena

Israel’s war against Gaza, now dragging into its 311th day, has wrought unspeakable devastation. More than 39,897 Palestinians have been killed and more than 92,152 others injured since October 2023.

However, as UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, warns these figures are likely a vast underestimation. The true human cost is much higher, and among the casualties, the suffering of women and children is both profound and devastating.

“It’s very clear that Israel has been targeting Palestinian women as part of its project of destroying the Palestinian people in whole and sparing no means to achieve this objective. So, as a result, there is no right that women have, and no area of life that has remained unaffected,” Alsalem says.

The war has stripped women of their basic rights and dignity, she explains, as the constant fear of being killed, losing close ones and bearing witness to the death and destruction is leaving unparalleled psychological trauma on the people of Gaza.

Pregnant women, mothers and young girls are particularly vulnerable, she explains, as they face a sharp increase in miscarriages, malnutrition, and severe dehydration due to the dire circumstances.

Read: Palestinians use plastic bags to collect body parts after Gaza school strike

“Mothers and would-be mothers have been targeted by the genocidal machine,” explains Alsalem. “They cannot even feed their newborn kids, not to mention the terror and desperation they feel because of the constant need to flee seeking safety in a place where there is no safety, the bombardments, the constant attack, the arbitrary executions, destruction of their families, family homes and with it the photos and items commemorating their family lives.”


We cannot begin to imagine the sense of defeat that mothers feel to see their kids being killed; having to gather their remains, not being able to even bury them in dignity. The rate of miscarriage for pregnant women has shot up by at least 300 per cent.

Israel, Alsalem explains, has also waged a war on reproduction. “For me the targeting of the fertility clinic of Gaza and the orders to abandon newborn babies to die and decompose slowly will always be emblematic of this reproductive violence, though far from the only example.”




Palestinians living in the area migrate to the Al Mawasi district, the west part of the city with their belongings following the Israeli army’s evacuation warning at Hamad area in Khan Yunis, Gaza on August 11, 2024. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]“We also know women can’t even find dignity in menstruation. They don’t have access to menstruation kits especially while in Israeli detention. Withholding dignity kits has become a tool of the Israeli occupation … to humiliate and oppress them.”

In addition to the attacks on women’s ability to live in dignity, Alsalem highlights that “many women have also been summarily executed, tortured, sexually abused, raped and harassed by keeping them naked for prolonged periods of time, photographing them in indecent positions, sharing images between soldiers and settlers.”

“We all have seen the pleasure that Israeli soldiers have taken in collecting and displaying the intimate clothes of Palestinian women as war trophies. I have no doubt that the scale of sexual abuse of Palestinian women is vastly underreported. The horrific testimonies of abuse of Palestinian men, and the concerning move of parts of Israeli society to celebrate such abhorrent behaviour should be indicative.”

Read: Misconduct of Israeli soldiers in Gaza

According to a new report by Israeli rights group B’Tselem, over a dozen Israeli prison facilities have been transformed into a network of camps “focused on the mistreatment of detainees” since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps,” the rights group said.

It added that since 7 October, at least 60 Palestinians have died while in Israeli custody; approximately 48 of them from Gaza. The report highlights that testimonies from detainees reveal “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners.”

Former prisoner, Nadiah Al-Hilu, 45, recounted being held in an iron cage with other female detainees for 11 days, during which they were given very little food and faced constant harassment. She described the severe lack of hygiene, sleep deprivation and constant surveillance by male and female soldiers.

“My hands were in zip ties the whole time. We were given very little food. I barely even ate that so I wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom, which was far away and didn’t have a tap,” she said.

“If you were menstruating, you got one pad. There was no shower, either.”

This policy, the report asserts, is carried out under the orders of Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the complete backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“What is very clear is that there’s full impunity for these crimes that are being committed,” Alsalem says. “As I said before, the arbitrary detention of Palestinians and abhorrent inhumane conditions in which Palestinians are detained, is nothing new. The gender based violence Palestinian detained women and girls are kept under is also not new.”

Andrés Torres, Basque Culinary World Prize 2024 winner: ‘Children, our future, are dying of starvation’

But for Alsalem it is the inaction of countries with feminist foreign policies which is most worrying. “The silence by many feminists and feminist organisations has also been deafening and deeply troubling,” notes Alsalem.

Countries that champion women’s rights must “walk the talk”, she says, applying their principles consistently and without selective advocacy by prioritising the prevention of such atrocities, and avoid arms transfers that facilitate the killing of women and children.

“The responsibility to end this systematic violence against Palestinian women is the responsibility of all states, particularly those whose actions, through collaboration with Israel, result in furthering the illegal occupation and also supporting the ongoing genocide. After all, states have a responsibility to end discrimination and violence against all women,” the UN official says.

“It also means prioritising putting an end, not just to the war and to the violations, but also also avoiding arms transfers that are then used to kill women and children.”

The credibility of their foreign policies hinges on this very consistency, she explains.

Alsalem draws parallels with other conflicts, such as in Sudan, noting a regression in protections for women post-7 October. She observed that even in times of conflict, the rights of civilians, and the protection afforded to them, including of women and children appears to have shrunk globally. While horrific crimes and atrocities against women, including sex and gender-based violence, seem to have been normalised. “The world does not seem to bat an eyelid anymore at such horrific accounts, be it the occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan Haiti or others. You get the sense that the world leaders seem to have resigned themselves to this being the new normal in war though there is nothing normal about this in international human rights and humanitarian law.”

Meanwhile, Israel is making “very deliberate efforts … to rewrite humanitarian laws that dehumanise and villainize civilians and pretend that its actions have legitimacy in international law,” Alsalem explains.

She warns the international community’s inability to take action to save Palestinian women brings into question the applicability of international laws.

“If the world has allowed Palestinian women to have their lives completely disregarded and expendable like this, that will spill over into the treatment of women worldwide. Not only in times of war, but also in times of peace. It has ramifications for women worldwide.”

Israeli settlers arrested after ‘pogrom’ in West Bank that killed 1 Palestinian

August 22, 2024 at 3:38 pm


Over 100 Israeli settlers storm the village of Jit near the occupied West Bank 

[X/Kahlissee]


Four illegal Israeli settlers were arrested last night for last week’s attack on the village of Jit in the Qalqilya province of northern occupied West Bank, reported the Times of Israel.

According to a joint statement from the police and the Shin Bet security agency, the four settlers are suspected of participating in terrorist activities against Palestinians, including the assault on the village.

Around 150 illegal settlers stormed the village on 15 August, killing one Palestinian and seriously injuring another. They also set fire to four homes and six vehicles owned by Palestinians.

Eyewitnesses said Israeli occupation forces provided protection for the illegal settlers to continue their rampage through the village.

According to Haaretz, a senior security official said, “The soldiers did nothing to prevent the pogrom,” despite their presence and witnessing the events. “They simply stood by, saw everything, and did nothing.”

Moreover, the attack received international criticism, including from the White House and several European diplomats. The Shin Bet and police claim that the four Israeli suspects are currently being questioned by the Shin Bet.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 40,200 Palestinians since 7 October 2023.

At least 632 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank in that time, according to the Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land as “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and for the payment of reparations

Save the Children urges UK to halt arms sales to Israel

August 22, 2024 

Protesters hold a ‘Ceasefire now, stop arming Israel, end the occupation’ banner gathered outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Westminster demanding an arms embargo on Israel as the war in Gaza continues on 24 July 2024 

[Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]

Save The Children UK today issued an urgent appeal to the UK government, calling for the immediate suspension of all arms sales to Israel.

The charity cited the “clear risk” that these weapons could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The call comes after an Israeli air strike killed six children, including a group of ten-year-old quadruplets and their mother.

The organisation expressed deep sorrow and frustration over the ongoing violence, particularly its devastating impact on Palestinian children.

“We’re absolutely heartbroken to see that six children – including a group of ten-year-old quadruplets, and their mother – are the latest victims of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza,” Save The Children UK said on X.

Read: Hamas accuses the UK of assisting Israel in operations in Gaza

“We simply cannot accept the violence that Palestinian children continue to face as normal.”

Gaza’s health authorities reported at least 42 more deaths from Israeli attacks today, bringing the overall death toll since 7 October to 40,265.

A Health Ministry statement said that some 93,144 others have been injured in the ongoing assault.

US documentary producer slams international community's failure to stop Israel brutalities in Gaza

August 22, 2024

Protestors rally and march in Los Angeles, California, US on March 2, 2024 [David McNew/Getty Images]


Leyla Al-Arian, a US-based producer known for her documentary highlighting the struggle of Palestinians, criticised the international community’s failure to stop Israeli brutalities in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

Arian, the executive producer of the “Night Won’t End – Biden’s War on Gaza”, shared her thoughts with Anadolu, expressing hope that the documentary would contribute to the pressure on Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza.

The US, as a superpower that arms and provides critical support to Israel, has significant influence over the country, Arian stated. She said in the 10 August Israeli airstrike on Et-Tabiin School in Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, which left over 100 Palestinians dead, Israel used American-made bombs.

Arian argued that the US government could apply pressure on Israel to curb its military actions but it chooses not to, and that the ongoing weapon transfers facilitate the killing of Palestinians in Gaza.

Arian also noted that the US recently approved the sale of weapons and ammunition worth over $20 billion to Israel, amid its continued attacks on Gaza.

OPINION: A eulogy of innocence

She emphasized the US direct involvement in the region, including the deployment of warships, asserting that any international coverage of the Middle East must include an analysis of the US role.
Routine massacres, use of US weapons

Arian highlighted the frequency with which US-supplied weapons are used in Israeli attacks, noting it is impossible to cover them all in a documentary. She explained the documentary focuses on specific incidents, such as the 11 December airstrike that killed over 100 people and the killing of six-year-old Gazan girl who pleaded for her life in vain.

She underlined the documentary team received technical support from organisations such as Airwars, Forensic Architecture and Earshot, using forensic science methods to analyze the cases they covered. Arian noted that they found no evidence of combatants in the building targeted on 11 December, describing the attack as typical of Israel’s military operations.

Describing the harsh conditions faced by journalists in Gaza, she said, due to the blockade, Gaza suffers from severe shortages of water, food, fuel and communication, making it extremely challenging for local journalists to report. Arian said journalists cannot simply call a source. They often have to reach them in person, which can mean travelling long distances on foot or by donkey.

Arian added journalists work under extreme emotional strain. She emphasized many journalists they have worked with have lost family members, such as a cameraman they worked with who witnessed his five-year-old daughter being shot dead by an Israeli sniper.

Despite these challenges, Arian praised the resilience and professionalism of the Gazan journalists, who continue to work under extraordinary circumstances. She emphasized that the documentary adhered strictly to journalistic ethics, using only forensically documented and verified materials.

Arian concluded by reiterating her hope that the documentary would contribute to the pressure on Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza. Noting Israel acts without rules or restrictions, she said the international community has failed to restrain Israel and stop its “reign of terror”.

Opinion

The relentless brutality of settler-colonialism must not be overlooked

August 22, 2024 


A pro-Palestinian protester holds up a sign reading ‘Death to settler colonialism everywhere! Viva Palestina!’ before a march through central London on 21 October 2023 [Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images]

by Ramona Wadi
walzerscent


In a series of posts on X, the Senior Communications Officer of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Louse Wateridge, gave a brief but succinct description of Gaza after ten months of Israel’s ongoing genocide. Palestinians in Gaza, she said, are “never more than a few blocks away from the front line now.” Her statement reflects the way in which Israel has created Palestinian human shields out of civilians.

“Strikes are now relentless… With nowhere else to turn, displaced families live among the rubble,” Wateridge said in another post accompanied by an image of flattened Palestinian dwellings.

While the depictions are accurate, the dissociation between Israel’s settler-colonial structure and the genocide in Gaza still remains. Focusing on the immediate concerns is indeed essential, but the fact remains that Israel thrives on continuity and the international community is doing Israel an immense favour by failing to link the settler-colonial ideology of Zionism with the genocide.

Settler-colonialism is relentless and, as a result, Israel’s genocidal air and artillery strikes are relentless. There is no perforation in the narrative. International complicity in colonialism, though, necessitated not only the creation of Israel on stolen Palestinian land, but also an erroneous focus on human rights violations that shields the coloniser in detached waves of sensationalism. Israel has displaced Palestinians relentlessly, but the international community has preferred to silence the Palestinians, for without the colonised population being allowed to challenge Israel’s fabricated narrative, the occupation state faces no meaningful opposition.

Israel is not striking Gaza in a vacuum.

The apartheid state is aided by major Western powers who are complicit in genocide and also assured of facing no repercussions, legal or otherwise. This is another example of how relentless settler-colonialism is, including its complicity. And when one considers that international organisations are a part of the web sustaining Israel’s colonialism and genocide in Gaza, another piece falls into place. Without international complicity, Israel would fall.

Dismantling a settler-colonial structure built on stolen land is not impossible, but the pretence of its impossibility is also relentless. Which is how Israel and world leaders have turned us all into spectators of its genocide, fuelling the misconception that apart from imparting its destruction, there is nothing to be done for the Palestinians. Western democracy has indoctrinated the world into such thinking, but it’s a false premise of protection under the guise of human rights and diplomacy which helps Israel to kill Palestinians with relentless impunity.

Meanwhile, the remaining Palestinians are expected to await their turn to be killed while the international community busies itself with ensuring that the dots linking genocide and settler-colonialism are not connected. If the international community has its own way, as it has to date, it will continue to fragment genocide into individual incidents of air strikes, displaced Palestinians, mass graves, starvation, diseases, torture and wounded and killed Palestinians. All are discussed in a way that evades the reality of genocide, so that Israel can continue availing itself of the narrative it has created to sustain its theft of Palestinian land and the killing of the indigenous population. Air strikes may stop one day, although the lives lost are irreplaceable, but these lives in Gaza are also interwoven into the plan to annihilate all Palestinians from the rest of Palestine. So, rather than fragment Israel’s actions as relentless, the entire structure of the settler-colonial enterprise should be seen as such.

If Israel’s settler-colonialism had been given short shrift by the global powers 100+ years ago, Palestine would have flourished. Instead, pernicious Zionism has been supported all the way by Western powers. Nevertheless, as the genocide plays out before our eyes, we — and they — must not overlook the relentless brutality of settler-colonialism.

Tanker adrift after multiple attacks in the Red Sea, UK maritime agency says


August 21, 2024 

An Israeli navy missile boat patrols in the Red Sea off the coast of Israel’s southern port city of Eliat on 26 December, 2023 [ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images]

Greek-flagged oil tanker, “Sounion”, was adrift in the Red Sea on Wednesday after coming under multiple attacks, which sparked a fire on board, the UK maritime agency said, Reuters reports.

The vessel was attacked by two small boats and struck by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hudaydah on Wednesday morning, the Greek shipping ministry and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.

In a later update, the UKMTO said the “Sounion” had reported coming under renewed attack, causing a fire on board and causing the vessel to lose engine power and the ability to manoeuvre.

Delta Tankers, the ship’s operator, confirmed the ship was adrift and had sustained minor damage. Its crew was assessing the situation and it would proceed on its journey, it said in a statement, declining to comment further.

There were no reports of injuries among the 25 crew members – two Russians and the rest Filipinos.

A maritime source told Reuters the vessel was expected to be able to sail “relying on its own means”.

Houthi fighters have launched a series of attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Palestine.

The “Sounion” reported being approached by two small craft with about 15 people on board and said there was a brief exchange of small arms fire during the incident, 77 nautical miles (142 km) west of Hudaydah, the UMKTO said.

British security firm, Ambrey, separately reported another incident in the same area, saying “the vessel was engaged by small arms fire from two skiffs in a previous incident 10NM further south”, it said, without naming the ship involved.

The attacks on shipping have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes on Houthi territories and disrupted global trade, as ship owners re-route vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

Black Myth: Wukong, China’s first blockbuster video game, marks turnaround for its gaming industry

Wukong is China’s first AAA game - an industry term referring to high-budget, high-profile titles by well-known publishers. PHOTO: AFP

Lim Min Zhang
China Correspondent
Aug 22, 2024

BEIJING – Gaming enthusiast Yang Jingyan was among hundreds of thousands of Chinese who played China’s first blockbuster video game, Black Myth: Wukong, on the first day of its release on Aug 20.

He had been looking forward to the action role-playing game featuring the hero Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King, ever since it was announced in 2020 by its developer, Shenzhen-headquartered studio Game Science.

To him, the wait was worth it.

What impressed Mr Yang is not just the game’s fluid combat gameplay and elaborate character designs, but also its attention to Chinese culture and mythology, such as the use of narration in the form of Chinese opera.

“In my eyes, it is by no means inferior to other AAA games that I’ve played,” said Mr Yang, 25, a master’s student in Chinese medicine in Beijing.

Wukong is China’s first AAA game – an industry term referring to high-budget, high-profile titles by well-known publishers – a field traditionally dominated by American and European studios.

The power of the world’s largest gaming market meant that within a day of its release, Wukong surged to become the most-played single-player game ever on Steam, a popular video game distribution platform. Nearly 90 per cent of its players are from China, where it generated significant buzz.

State media Xinhua ran a 30-minute documentary on the game’s makers on Aug 19, companies from computer-maker Lenovo to Luckin Coffee unveiled Monkey King-themed promotions, and dozens of top live streamers played the game on Bilibili and WeChat. It was the top trending topic on Chinese microblogging site Weibo throughout Aug 20.

The recognition given to Wukong marks a turnaround for China’s gaming industry, which has faced regulatory crackdowns in recent years.

In 2021, Chinese state media described gaming as “spiritual opium”, raising concerns about excessive gaming by young people. In December 2023, China’s gaming regulator proposed draft legislation to curb the amount of money people spend on video games – a move which tanked stocks of gaming companies, and was later walked back.

However, since 2024, local governments have eased restrictions and pushed incentives.

In July, the Press and Publication Bureau of Guangdong province issued a notice saying that game companies can test games online without first receiving an official licence. In March, the Hi-Tech Zone in the city of Chengdu dangled rewards of up to 500,000 yuan (S$91,600) to game developers for each licensed, original work published for the first time.

According to the China Gaming Industry Report on the first half of 2024, sales revenue of the domestic market was 147 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2 per cent. This represented positive growth for the first time in three years, compared with the same periods in 2022 and 2023.

Chinese analysts estimated that Wukong has sold more than 4.5 million copies at its launch and this has raised hopes that it can become China’s next big cultural export. For comparison, another AAA action role-playing game, Elden Ring, by Japanese developer FromSoftware, has sold more than 25 million copies since its February 2022 launch.

Mr Sheng Ziyi, 34, who works in real estate in Hubei, appreciates that Wukong is a made-in-China product featuring a Chinese take on a classic Chinese tale, namely Journey To The West.

“In the past, I had to find the settings to change the language to Chinese, and even do a patch (to play other AAA games in Chinese),” he said. He has played other hits such as Red Dead Redemption 2 by US publisher Rockstar Games, and Elden Ring.

“Now, it’s the foreigners’ turn to learn Chinese and watch Journey To The West,” he added. Unlike most other AAA games, the default language for Wukong is Chinese.

But Assistant Professor Cao Xuenan, who teaches cultural studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that to overseas gamers, the fidelity to Chinese culture does not matter as much as game quality and its mechanics.

“The game was well designed to reflect Chinese culture and mythology, but I think for the gaming community – its intended audience – they don’t care as much about that as other technicalities, as whether the game looks good, and whether the game’s map and economy make sense,” she said.

US-based game reviewer and YouTuber Michael Onorato believes Wukong has left an impression internationally as it rivals the best the industry has to offer in aspects such as gameplay, visuals and storyline.

“If you look at the breakdown, it’s important to realise that even if 2.2 million people are playing Wukong on Steam and 90 per cent of that is Chinese gamers, that’s still about 200,000 to 300,000 international players at least.

“I would argue this is a worldwide success... especially for a single-player game and coming from a relatively unknown studio without an established reputation. This is a best-case scenario in an industry in which getting attention is so difficult.”

Lucara finds second biggest diamond yet in Botswana


22 August 2024 - 

By Brian Benza


The Karowe Mine is known for producing large stones, with other significant finds including the 1,758 carat Sewelô and the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona diamonds.

Image: REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/ File photo

Canada's Lucara Diamond Corp has discovered a 2,492 carat diamond at its Karowe mine in Botswana, the company said late Wednesday, one of the largest stones to be excavated.

Lucara did not reveal the stone's gem quality but its size would make it the second largest rough diamond discovered to date, after the 3,106 carat Cullinan Diamond found in neighbouring SA in 1905. After being cut and polished, it became part of the British crown jewels.

The Karowe Mine is known for producing large stones, with other significant finds including the 1,758 carat Sewelô and the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona diamonds.

The company will present the diamond to Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Thursday. Botswana is the world's top diamond producer by value.

The southern African country last month proposed a law that will ask mining companies, once granted a licence, to sell a 24% stake in mines to local investors unless the government exercises its option to acquire the shareholding.

Reuters