Robot begins removing Fukushima nuclear plant’s melted fuel

By Associated Press

In this photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, executives monitor staff on the ground using a robot to retrieve the first sample of melted fuel debris from inside one of three damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Sept. 10, 2024.

tokyo —

A long robot entered a damaged reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant on Tuesday, beginning a two-week, high-stakes mission to retrieve for the first time a tiny amount of melted fuel debris from the bottom.

The robot's trip into the Unit 2 reactor is a crucial initial step for what comes next — a daunting, decades-long process to decommission the plant and deal with large amounts of highly radioactive melted fuel inside three reactors that were damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Specialists hope the robot will help them learn more about the status of the cores and the fuel debris.

Here is an explanation of how the robot works, its mission, significance and what lies ahead as the most challenging phase of the reactor cleanup begins.

What is the fuel debris?

Nuclear fuel in the reactor cores melted after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's cooling systems to fail. The melted fuel dripped down from the cores and mixed with internal reactor materials such as zirconium, stainless steel, electrical cables, broken grates and concrete around the supporting structure and at the bottom of the primary containment vessels.

The reactor meltdowns caused the highly radioactive, lava-like material to spatter in all directions, greatly complicating the cleanup. The condition of the debris also differs in each reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO, which manages the plant, says an estimated 880 tons of molten fuel debris remains in the three reactors, but some experts say the amount could be larger.

What is the robot's mission?

Workers will use five 1.5-meter-long pipes connected in sequence to maneuver the robot through an entry point in the Unit 2 reactor's primary containment vessel. The robot itself can extend about 6 meters inside the vessel. Once inside, it will be maneuvered remotely by operators at another building at the plant because of the fatally high radiation emitted by the melted debris.

The front of the robot, equipped with tongs, a light and a camera, will be lowered by a cable to a mound of melted fuel debris. It will then snip off and collect a bit of the debris — less than 3 grams). The small amount is meant to minimize radiation dangers.

The robot will then back out to the place it entered the reactor, a roundtrip journey that will take about two weeks.

The mission takes that long because the robot must make extremely precise maneuvers to avoid hitting obstacles or getting stuck in passageways. That has happened to earlier robots.

TEPCO is also limiting daily operations to two hours to minimize the radiation risk for workers in the reactor building. Eight six-member teams will take turns, with each group allowed to stay maximum of about 15 minutes.

What do officials hope to learn?

Sampling the melted fuel debris is "an important first step," said Lake Barrett, who led the cleanup after the 1979 disaster at the U.S. Three Mile Island nuclear plant for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is now a paid adviser for TEPCO's Fukushima decommissioning.

While the melted fuel debris has been kept cool and has stabilized, the aging of the reactors poses potential safety risks, and the melted fuel needs to be removed and relocated to a safer place for long-term storage as soon as possible, experts say.

An understanding of the melted fuel debris is essential to determine how best to remove it, store it and dispose of it, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Experts expect the sample will also provide more clues about how exactly the meltdown 13 years ago played out, some of which is still a mystery.

The melted fuel sample will be kept in secure canisters and sent to multiple laboratories for more detailed analysis. If the radiation level exceeds a set limit, the robot will take the sample back into the reactor.

"It's the start of a process. It's a long, long road ahead," Barrett said in an online interview. "The goal is to remove the highly radioactive material, put it into engineered canisters ... and put those in storage."

For this mission, the robot's small tong can only reach the upper surface of the debris. The pace of the work is expected to pick up in the future as more experience is gained and robots with additional capabilities are developed.

What's next?

TEPCO will have to "probe down into the debris pile, which is over a meter thick, so you have to go down and see what's inside," Barrett said, noting that at Three Mile Island, the debris on the surface was very different from the material deeper inside. He said multiple samples from different locations must be collected and analyzed to better understand the melted debris and develop necessary equipment, such as stronger robots for future larger-scale removal.

Compared to collecting a tiny sample for analysis, it will be a more difficult challenge to develop and operate robots that can cut larger chunks of melted debris into pieces and put that material into canisters for safe storage.

There are also two other damaged reactors, Unit 1 and Unit 3, which are in worse condition and will take even longer to deal with. TEPCO plans to deploy a set of small drones in Unit 1 for a probe later this year and is developing even smaller "micro" drones for Unit 3, which is filled with a larger amount of water.

Separately, hundreds of spent fuel rods remain in unenclosed cooling pools on the top floor of both Unit 1 and 2. This is a potential safety risk if there's another major quake. Removal of spent fuel rods has been completed at Unit 3.

When will the decommissioning be finished?

Removal of the melted fuel was initially planned to start in late 2021 but has been delayed by technical issues, underscoring the difficulty of the process. The government says decommissioning is expected to take 30-40 years, while some experts say it could take as long as 100 years.

Others are pushing for an entombment of the plant, as at Chernobyl after its 1986 explosion, to reduce radiation levels and risks for plant workers.

That won't work at the seaside Fukushima plant, Barrett says.

"You're in a high seismic area, you're in a high-water area, and there are a lot of unknowns in those (reactor) buildings," he said. "I don't think you can just entomb it and wait."

With expansion in India, Apple bolsters global manufacturing

September 15, 2024 
By Michael Baturin

People try out iPhone products at an Apple Store in Beijing, Sept. 28, 2021. Apple's release this month of its iPhone 16, new Apple Watch, and AirPods, is creating a buzz.

Apple's release this month of its iPhone 16, new Apple Watch, and AirPods, is creating a buzz among consumers. This year's lineup also marks something else that's new — the role India played in Apple's global rollout as a manufacturer of the iPhone Pro for the first time.

That milestone comes as global corporations are seeking to diversify their production away from China and as competition between the two Asian rivals heats up, analysts say.

Apple first began making iPhones in India in 2017, beginning with the iPhone SE. The move signaled Apple's intent to diversify its supply chains away from China, a move that other tech conglomerates, such as Microsoft and Amazon, made as well, shifting manufacturing away from China to countries such as India and Vietnam.

Foxconn expands to India

Apple's supply chain diversification gained steam during the COVID-19 pandemic when a Foxconn factory unexpectedly closed in China, following clashes between Chinese workers and security personnel over wages and Beijing's strict COVID lockdowns, which impacted factory operations.

Foxconn is Apple's largest contractor and produces more than two-thirds of Apple's iPhones, according to Thibault Denamiel, an associate fellow and Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

According to Denamiel, the Taiwan-based contractor currently produces around 80% of its iPhones in Zhengzhou, known as "iPhone City," and recently opened a new $138 million headquarters in China. However, it has also expanded its operations abroad with significant investments in manufacturing hubs in India.

In 2023, Foxconn made a $1.5 billion investment in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, built a $600 million plant in Karnataka, and built a $500 million plant in Telangana. These investments were made in preparation for the assembly of the new iPhone 16 lineup.

Multinational welcome mat

Jonathan Ward, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, noted that India has been receptive to investments and promoted efforts to attract business from large multinational companies.

"It remains a huge opportunity for them [India] and there have been strategic initiatives such as Sagar Mala and Make it India, in particular, that show, I think a directional desire to gain from this opportunity," he explained to VOA.

New Delhi has offered subsidies to companies in order to boost the manufacturing of IT hardware domestically under India's PLI 2.0 Scheme for IT Hardware. Foxconn is one of the companies that received benefits from these subsidies, which include revenue-based annual payouts to manufacturers.

Monish Tourangbam, director at the Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies, said India possesses several key advantages as it seeks to expand its manufacturing sector. He said India has political predictability, an appetite for structural economic reforms, a competitive level of market forces and domestic consumption.

'Entering the game'

However, Tourangbam said India lags behind China in terms of labor skills and maturity, as Beijing has a long history of mass producing high quality electronic goods.

"Yes, in India's case you have a very big demographic dividend, a young workforce, but that young workforce has to be skilled in the right way," he told VOA. "India is entering the game right now, but the Chinese have a longer experience of a workforce which is required for this kind of job [producing electronics] and I think we are just seeing the beginning of this."

Ward agreed but added there is a big gap between India and China's manufacturing experience.

"At this point, China has spent 30 years building an enormous industrial base, which is larger than that of the United States, and they've invested very specifically in key strategic industries and have become a critical part of today's electronic supply chain," he said. "Whereas India has not done that, it does not have that history, and ... therefore the workforce, services, all of that ... has been, I think, built accordingly."

Ward said that even though India may be behind China in terms of their industrial base, companies' fear of geopolitical risks with China "bode well for India's future."

"The geopolitical risks of commercial engagement with China or China-based supply chains are becoming so large that both at a government level and at a national strategic level as well as at a corporate level, people have to go and look for future manufacturing opportunities, particularly in electronics, because that's where the bulk of China's trading value is concentrated," he said.

Denamiel also said geopolitical factors will play a role as to where companies will decide to manufacture.

"Geopolitical factors play an increasingly large role on where companies choose to invest – because their ability to grow their operations and access customers is increasingly tied to geopolitical developments, which are currently complicating the global trade landscape," he said in an email to VOA.

Tourangbam said geopolitical factors will be included in companies' manufacturing strategies. But he said companies' diversification should not be thought of as leaving China, but rather as a "China plus one strategy."

"It's not … we are finding this alternative like India and Vietnam, we are totally moving out of China," he said. "A lot of headlines seem to make it like that, but I don't think that's the case. So it's a China plus one and not a minus China strategy."

NEPAL

Construction of Upper Trishuli-1 hydel project halted after workers’ protest

Wage dispute leads to vandalism, four security personnel injured.

Published at : September 15, 2024

Nuwakot

The construction of the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Mailung, Rasuwa, has been halted after workers protested over wages issues.

Workers employed by the Nepal Water and Energy Development Company, which is constructing the project, vandalised the office and vehicles on Saturday. They protested after the contractor, Power China, allegedly reduced wages and benefits without prior notice.

The main developer, Korean company Korea Energy, holds a 90 percent stake in the project. Power China reduced their basic wage from Rs15,550 to Rs12,800, leading to dissatisfaction, said Dinesh Shrestha, a worker from Ramechhap.

Clashes between workers and Power China employees escalated, resulting in the injury of four Armed Police Force personnel. During the confrontation, the offices and vehicles of Nepal Water and Energy, the main Korean construction company Doosan, and Power China were vandalised, according to the police.

A Korean Energy official said workers resorted to vandalism after Power China failed to pay them for leaves.

Construction work was suspended after the vandalism, and workers returned home. The $640 million project, which started in 2022, aims to be completed by December 2026.

(With inputs from Kantipur TV’s reporter Raj Krishna Shrestha from Nuwakot.)

One Welsh prison is one of the most overcrowded in England and Wales

It was confirmed this week that around 5,500 prisoners in England and Wales are expected to be released early throughout September and October in order to 'avert a disaster'

By  Robert Harries

Senior Reporter

 15 SEP 2024

Inside Swansea Prison (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)

The most overcrowded prison in Wales has been revealed after it was announced that thousands of prisoners would be released early across the country. The UK Government is trying to tackle a long-standing problem which has seen jails operate way over their capacity.

It was confirmed this week that around 5,500 prisoners are expected to be released early throughout September and October, with as many as 1,700 convicts allowed to leave on Tuesday (September 10) alone. Burglars, shoplifters, and fraudsters who are serving short sentences are among those expected to be released early.

The plan, which will be reviewed in 18 months’ time, will apply to prisoners in most prisons bar high security (Category A) ones, with varying amounts released from each. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said she was forced to trigger the emergency measure “to avert a disaster” as there were only around 1,000 jail places available, adding that she had no choice but to reduce the automatic release point for certain sentences to free up space in the prisons system.

Ministry of Justice figures can reveal just how overcrowded prisons are in Wales - with one in particular making the list of the 10-most crowded prisons in both England and Wales. Wales has five prisons - in Cardiff, Bridgend, Swansea, Usk, and Wrexham. According to prison numbers in July, four out of those five were above capacity, meaning they were above the ‘certified normal standard’ of one prisoner per cell, a metric used to create a ‘level of crowding’.

Only HMP Berwyn in Wrexham actually came out at below 100% full, according to the data, but only just. With 2,000 cells in use, it had a prison population of 1,982. At HMP Parc in Bridgend, a prison population of 1,810 is way over the number of cells (1,159), giving it a ‘level of crowding’ of 116%.

The situation is even worse elsewhere in south Wales. At HMP Prescoed in Usk there was 476 prisoners and 373 cells in use, resulting in a ‘level of crowding’ of 128%, while Cardiff had a ‘level of crowding’ of 139%, with 743 prisoners and 534 cells in use. The most overcrowded prison in Wales however is in Swansea, a Category B/C prison for adult males. With a prison population of 380 and only 265 cells in use, it has a much higher ‘level of crowding’ of 143% - making it the tenth most crowded prison in England and Wales.

While Swansea has the most overcrowded prison in Wales, the situation is even more serious in parts of England, with overcrowding at higher levels at prisons in Exeter, Altcourse, Doncaster, Preston, Wandsworth, Bedford, Lincoln and Leeds. But the most overcrowded prison in England and Wales is HMP Durham. In July it had a prison population of 984, and 573 usable cells to accommodate them.

That means the prison was 172% full. The jail’s operational capacity was only one higher than the number of prisoners housed in July, although some of them may have been on authorised absence, for example, if a prisoner was ill and needed hospital treatment.

The figures reveal that in July there was a prison population of 87,479 offenders in jails across England and Wales, which is just 1,383 below the operational capacity - the number of places needed to accommodate different classes of prisoner by age, sex, security category, and conviction status.

Trade union urges Scottish Government to drop opposition to new nuclear energy

Ross Hunter
Sat 14 September 2024 

Torness Nuclear Power Station in East Lothian is set to close by 2028

A TRADE union is urging the Scottish Government to drop its opposition to new nuclear energy and claimed Scotland is “missing the opportunities that come with nuclear expansion”.

Currently, Scotland has just one active nuclear power plant at Torness in East Lothian, which is due to be closed by 2028.

However, ministers have maintained that Scotland does not need new nuclear energy plants due to an abundance of renewables and concerns about the timescale, cost and safety of such infrastructure.

Now, in a letter to Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and Net Zero Secretary Gillian Martin, GMB Scotland policy and external relations officer Rory Steel called on the Scottish Government to reconsider its opposition.

“Scotland is missing the opportunities that come with nuclear expansion," said Steel.

“The Scottish Government’s continued block on new nuclear energy is forcing the sector into decline despite the benefits it brings to meeting net zero targets, energy security and high skilled, high-paid employment to thousands.

“The jobs promised through the just transition have not materialised.”

He continued: “If new nuclear sites are being built in Scotland, then the work has to be done here.

“According to the ONS [Office for National Statistics], each nuclear job supports a further 2.3 jobs in the wider economy.

Torness is the last operational nuclear power station in Scotland

“This ‘multiplier effect’ is the greatest of any part of the low carbon and renewable energy economy (LCREE), and it is significantly higher than investment in wind power can deliver due to the strong nuclear supply chain.”

Construction on the UK’s newest nuclear infrastructure, Hinkley Point C in Somerset, began in 2017.

It was set to open in 2027 but earlier this year owner EDF announced that it was unlikely to be operational before 2030 due to delays and spiralling costs.

The site was expected to cost up to £26 billion but overall costs have since been revised and could stretch to up to £34 billion.

Still, the Labour-affiliated union said decades-long timescales shouldn’t deter ministers.

“This is no quick fix and will take decades, but that means there is an even greater imperative to begin work as quickly as possible,” said GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour.

“We must make the plans and investments now to meet tomorrow’s targets and if Scotland is at all serious about net zero, then ministers must reconsider nuclear and exploit its potential to reduce emissions and deliver stable and secure energy.

“Hunterston and Torness offer us the opportunity to expand and create low carbon energy and highly-paid jobs. Those jobs are already being created and the economic benefits seized elsewhere on these islands and Scotland must no longer drag our feet.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “New nuclear power is expensive, will take years to become operational and involves significant environmental concerns – not least the long-term disposal and management of radioactive waste.

“Rather than waste further money on nuclear, the Scottish Government has been consistently clear that it makes far greater economic and environmental sense to make greater use of renewable electricity generation.

“We are embracing renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage to drive economic growth, support green jobs and deliver secure, affordable and clean energy for Scotland.

“Our upcoming energy strategy and just transition plan will set out how we will support workers to take advantage of the enormous opportunities offered by becoming a net zero economy.”

It comes after bosses at Grangemouth oil refinery confirmed the site will close by next summer with around four-fifths of the workforce set to lose their jobs.

Exclusive:

SNP told to rethink nuclear opposition after Grangemouth energy jobs losses

How woman with coconut placard was tracked down, taken to court - and acquitted


Ashitha Nagesh

BBC
Community affairs correspondent•@ashnagesh

BBC/Ashitha Nagesh
Marieha Hussain was found not guilty after a two-day trial in London

Marieha Hussain had marched for three hours with her family, and the children with them were getting tired.

“We opened some snacks to keep them going,” she said. They were part of a 300,000-strong group at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London on 11 November 2023.

“Then, somebody from my side of the street where I was standing called out and asked: ‘Can I take a picture of your placard?’”

This wasn’t the first time she’d been asked for a picture. Her family’s placards, she said, had drawn a lot of attention.

On one side of the placard was a cartoon of Suella Braverman, then the Home Secretary, dressed like Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians. Ms Hussain held up the sign and posed.

“The voice called out, ‘no, not that one, can you turn it around please?’ – and I did.

“And that was it.”

Her account was told to Westminster Magistrates Court this week during her two-day trial on a charge of a racially aggravated public order offence.

She was accused of this offence – of which she was found not guilty on Friday – because of what was on the other side of that placard.

It was a drawing of a palm tree with coconuts falling off it; pasted over two of those coconuts were the faces of Ms Braverman and of the then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

At the heart of this case was the word “coconut” - and whether it could be considered racially abusive.

Metropolitan Police
The photo of Ms Hussain holding her placard was posted online by an anonymous blog


Ms Hussain told the court that on the drive home from the demonstration, a family friend messaged to tell her that her photo had been posted by an anonymous right-wing blog called Harry’s Place and that it was going viral on X (it has since been viewed more than four million times).

“It doesn’t get more racist than this,” the post said. “Among anti-racists you get the worst racists of them all.”

Underneath she then saw a reply from the Metropolitan Police, saying that they were “actively looking for” her.

Chris Humphreys, a member of Metropolitan Police staff working in the force’s communications team that day, saw the post after the Met was tagged in it. “The account that posted it typically generates a significant response,” Mr Humphreys told the court. He was called to give evidence on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service.

In the 10 months since that day, anonymous accounts on social media called her a racist while tabloid newspapers published details of her family and the cost of her parents’ home. Ms Hussain, 37, also lost her job as a secondary school teacher.

After the Metropolitan Police posted that they wished to identify Ms Hussain, she consulted with solicitors and voluntarily attended a police station three days later, on 14 November, she told the court.

There, she gave them a prepared statement outlining who she was, what had happened that day, and her reasons for making the sign.

“I am a teacher of almost 10 years standing with an academic background in psychology,” she wrote in the statement. “It is exceptionally difficult to convey complex, serious political statements in a nutshell, and we did our best.”

She was not formally charged until six months later, in May this year. She found out she was charged from a journalist working for Al Jazeera, she told the court.

At this point, the support for Ms Hussain from activists and campaigners grew increasingly vocal. When she first appeared at the magistrates court in June – visibly pregnant – to enter her not guilty plea, protesters stood outside the court held copycat “coconut” placards.


‘This is our language’


The term "coconut" is instantly recognisable to many people from black and Asian communities in the UK.

It is a word with a generally negative meaning and can range from light-hearted banter to more severe criticism or insults.

What the court had to contend with was whether, on Ms Hussain’s placard, it could be considered racially abusive.

Prosecutor Jonathan Bryan argued coconut was a well-known racial slur. "[It has] a very clear meaning – you may be brown on the outside, but you are white on the inside,” Mr Bryan told the court.

“In other words, you’re a ‘race traitor’ – you’re less brown or black than you should be.”

Mr Bryan said that Ms Hussain had crossed the line from legitimate political expression to racial insult.

This was not the first time the term “coconut” has come before the courts: in 2009 Shirley Brown, the first black Liberal Democrat elected to Bristol City Council, used the term to describe Conservative councillor Jay Jethwa during a heated debate about funding for the council’s Legacy Commission.

The following year, in 2010, Ms Brown was convicted of racial harassment for the comment. She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £620 in costs. Mr Bryan referenced Ms Brown’s case during this week's trial.

For Ms Hussain, one of those who’s been particularly fervent in his support is the writer and anti-racism campaigner Nels Abbey.

“The word ‘coconut’ didn’t fall out of a coconut tree, to quote Kamala Harris’s mum,” Mr Abbey told me after the trial’s first day, adding that the word “fell out of our experience as former colonised people”.

The term emerged as a way of critiquing those who “collaborated with our oppressors”, he said.

“This is our language,” he said. “We share this language because we share a history, we share origins and share a community… You cannot criminalise people’s history, and the language that emerged from that.”

In court, this was echoed by two academic experts in racism who gave evidence in support of Ms Hussain – Prof Gus John and Prof Gargi Bhattacharyya.

They quoted postcolonial theorist Frantz Fanon, Black liberation activist Marcus Garvey, the late poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and comedian Romesh Ranganathan, who has frequently joked that his mum calls him a coconut for not speaking Tamil.

These were citations more commonly heard in a university lecture hall than a courtroom.

The court heard that the investigating team had also contacted three experts in racism to give evidence for the prosecution, but they had all refused. One of those, Black Studies specialist Prof Kehinde Andrews, sent “quite a lengthy response” saying the word was not a racial slur, and asked that this be shared with the CPS.

Prof John told the court he was “disappointed” that the CPS hadn’t called any experts to support their case.

“I’d have wanted to be informed and educated on when coconut is a racist slur,” he said. “I would have loved to see the evidence of that. I’m not aware of that at all.”

Ms Hussain wrote in her statement that “coconut” was “common language, particularly in our culture”.

Asked by her barrister Mr Menon what she meant by that, she answered that she had grown up hearing the word used among South Asians.

“If I’m truly honest, sometimes, when I was younger, my own dad called me a coconut,” she said, prompting laughter from the public gallery.

'Political satire'


Ms Hussain also argued that her use of the term was a form of political critique against what she said were "politicians in high office who perpetuate and push racist policies".

On Friday afternoon, District Judge Vanessa Lloyd ruled that the placard was "part of the genre of political satire", and that the prosecution had "not proved to a criminal standard that it was abusive".

As the verdict was read out, cheers and whooping erupted from the public gallery while Ms Hussain burst into tears.

Outside the court she said: “The damage done to my reputation and image can never be undone.

“The laws on hate speech must serve to protect us more, but this trial shows that these rules are being weaponised to target ethnic minorities.

"It goes without saying that this ordeal has been agonising for my family and I. Instead of enjoying my pregnancy I’ve been vilified by the media, I’ve lost my career, I’ve been dragged through the court system."

But, she said, "I’m more determined than ever to continue using my voice" for Palestinians.

Marieha Hussain walks free in victory for Palestine movement

The state is witch-hunting Palestine solidarity campaigners on spurious grounds

Marieha Hussain on a Palestine demonstration

By Tomáš Tengely-Evans
Saturday 14 September 2024  

SOCIALIST WORKER  Issue

The British state’s attempts to repress and silence Palestine campaigners have suffered a blow.

Cheers broke out in the public gallery of Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday after a judge found Marieha Hussain not guilty of a “racially aggravated public order offence”

The state prosecuted Marieha for carrying a placard, which depicted Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts, on a Palestine demonstration last year.

The then prime minister and home secretary were backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza and whipping up Islamophobia at home.

Outside the court, teacher Marieha said, “The damage done to my reputation and image can never be undone. The laws on hate speech must serve to protect us more, but this trial shows that these rules are being weaponised to target ethnic minorities.

“It goes without saying that this ordeal has been agonising for my family and me. Instead of enjoying my pregnancy I’ve been vilified by the media, I’ve lost my career, I’ve been dragged through the court system.

“Nearly a year on from the genocide in Gaza, and despite this trial, I’m more determined than ever to continue using my voice to defend Palestine.”

Rajiv Menon KC said Marieha’s prosecution took place “while the likes of Braverman and Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson are seemingly free to make inflammatory and divisive statements”. “That Marieha Hussain of all people is being prosecuted for a racially aggravated offence is incomprehensible to many people,” her lawyer told the court.

He said the placard was an “attempt to criticise the policy of Rishi Sunak and, particularly, Suella Braverman”.

Some activists use “coconut” as a term for politically critiquing black and Asian politicians who push racist policies. It’s brown on the outside and white inside, which suggests that a black or brown person has “betrayed” their heritage.



Cheers as jury fails to convict ‘Teledyne Four’ Palestine activists
Read More

Naila Ahmed is head of campaigns at the Cage International human rights organisation. After the not guilty verdict, she said, “This prosecution has been vindictive from the very start. It will be a huge relief for Marieha and her family that this ordeal is now over and she can put all this behind her.

“The state is increasingly exploring insidious ways to prosecute activists, especially those taking action for Palestine.

“We hope today’s verdict puts a stop to these sorts of politicised prosecutions.”

Marieha’s not guilty verdict came on the same day that a jury failed to convict the Teledyne Four. Laila Gao, Ruby Hamill, Daniel Jones and Najam Shah face charges of criminal damage for targeting an arms factory near Bradford. The four were released on bail and face a retrial in February 2026.

The best way to stand up to repression is to keep building the Palestine movement.

SPACE

Iran says new research satellite launched into orbit

Published: 14 Sep 2024 -


Pic: IRNA / X

AFP

Tehran: Iran on Saturday blasted a new research satellite into orbit, state media said, in the latest such development for an aerospace programme that has long faced Western criticism.

"The Chamran-1 research satellite was successfully launched and put into orbit by the Ghaem-100 carrier," state television said.

The satellite, which weighs around 60 kilograms (132 pounds), is designed to test hardware and software systems for orbital manoeuvre technology, the TV report said.

The device was designed and built by Iranian Electronics Industries affiliated with the defence ministry, state TV said.

Western governments including the United States have repeatedly warned Iran against such launches, saying the same technology can be used for ballistic missiles, including ones designed to deliver a nuclear warhead.

Iran has countered that it is not seeking nuclear weapons and that its satellite and rocket launches are for civil or defence purposes only.

The Ghaem-100 rocket which carried the latest satellite is manufactured by the aerospace organisation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the military.

The carrier is the country's first three-stage solid-fuel satellite launcher, and official media reported its use in January to send a satellite for the first time into an orbit above 500 kilometres (310 miles).

Iran has for years been advancing its aerospace activities, insisting they are peaceful and in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Iran says research satellite successfully launched into orbit

Iran successfully launched its new research satellite Chamran-1 into orbit on Saturday, according to state media. Despite Tehran's insistence that its space activities are solely for peaceful and defence purposes, Western governments have repeatedly warned the Iranian government against such launches, fearing the same technology could be used for ballistic missiles.


Issued on: 14/09/2024 - 
2 min

File photo of an Iranian satellite carrier named "Simorgh" during the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 11, 2024.

 © Wana News Agency via Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES

Iran on Saturday blasted a new research satellite into orbit, state media said, in the latest such development for an aerospace programme that has long faced Western criticism.

"The Chamran-1 research satellite was successfully launched and put into orbit by the Ghaem-100 carrier," state television said.

The satellite, which weighs around 60 kilograms (132 pounds), is designed to test hardware and software systems for orbital manoeuvre technology, the TV report said.

The device was designed and built by Iranian Electronics Industries affiliated with the defence ministry, state TV said.

Western governments including the United States have repeatedly warned Iran against such launches, saying the same technology can be used for ballistic missiles, including ones designed to deliver a nuclear warhead.

Iran has countered that it is not seeking nuclear weapons and that its satellite and rocket launches are for civil or defence purposes only.

The Ghaem-100 rocket which carried the latest satellite is manufactured by the aerospace organisation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the military.

The carrier is the country's first three-stage solid-fuel satellite launcher, and official media reported its use in January to send a satellite for the first time into an orbit above 500 kilometres (310 miles).

Iran has for years been advancing its aerospace activities, insisting they are peaceful and in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

In February, Russia put into orbit an Iranian remote sensing and imaging satellite, drawing condemnation from the United States.

At the time, Iran's telecommunications minister said Iran had carried out a dozen satellite launches over the previous two years.

Iran in January said it simultaneously sent three satellites into orbit, nearly a week after the launch of a research satellite by the Guards.


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Read moreIran launches three satellites into orbit amid rising tensions with West

The Islamic republic has struggled with several satellite launch failures in the past.

Iran has suffered years of crippling Western sanctions, especially after its arch-foe the United States, under then-president Donald Trump, in 2018 unilaterally abandoned a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers.

Iran on Thursday summoned four European ambassadors after they imposed new sanctions over its alleged supply of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine, which Tehran denies.

(AFP)

Social workers in S’pore raise concerns over deepfake porn

A protest in Seoul on Aug 30 against deepfake porn. AI-created sexually explicit images are widely shared in South Korea. 

PHOTO: AFP

Osmond Chia
Updated
Sep 15, 2024


SINGAPORE – Social workers and online safety advocates in Singapore are bracing themselves for a wave of AI-generated porn targeting victims here, as deepfake-on-demand services are popping up on publicly accessible online channels.

Such programs allow users to generate realistic deepfakes within seconds – and often for free – simply by uploading a picture of someone’s face, which the AI, or artificial intelligence, will combine with a digitally rendered body.

Celebrities have long been targeted by explicit deepfakes created using programs such as Photoshop, but now the accessibility and rapid processing of deepfake-on-demand programs lower the barrier to entry for anyone.


Widely circulated on platforms like Telegram, these apps have fuelled a deepfake pornography crisis in countries like South Korea, where sexually explicit deepfake images of women and young girls – often created based on school photos and social media content – are being widely shared in online chatrooms.

Social workers here have not encountered victims of deepfake harassment, but warn that South Korea’s situation should be a warning to the rest of the world.

The Straits Times found more than six Telegram channels offering deepfake services that allow users to develop “nude renders” using photos of real people within seconds.

These channels, which have up to 95,000 subscribers, are accessible to anyone.

Subscribers can generate deepfakes based on pictures they upload, as long as the target’s face is clearly visible.

In some channels, users upload pictures of real people and request the channels’ administrators to “undress” them, which they do for a fee.

Customers can tweak the footage to their fancy, such as by changing the size of the modified image’s body parts. And the more one pays, the more explicit the generated images can get.

“Deepfakes are a genre of pornography that we are seeing more among addicts,” said We Care Community Services’ counsellor Alvin Seng, who specialises in therapy for those with sex- and porn-related addiction.

The addiction recovery centre has not dealt with victims of deepfakes here as the trend is still new, but the issue has cropped up in an increasing number of talks with school partners, said Mr Seng.

“But it is still early and could be happening right now. I’d imagine that cases are coming soon,” he told ST.

ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA

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Mr Seng said deepfakes should not be viewed lightly, no matter how unrealistic the renders seem.

“To a victim, seeing their face on a deepfake will feel very personal,” he said. “It is a violation of privacy and a betrayal of their trust.”

One of the earliest cases of deepfake sexploitation reported here occurred in June, when at least four men were blackmailed by fraudsters with deepfakes using their faces.

One of the victims received an explicit video of himself from an unknown contact, who threatened to circulate it unless he paid $700.

It is not known how many more cases like that have occurred in Singapore. The police said then that they do not track the number of deepfake-related scams.

The deepfake threat has prompted counsellors at non-profit Touch Cyber Wellness to develop a module for parents and young people to address emerging online dangers, including image-based sexual abuse and cyber bullying, according to manager Shem Yao.

Set to launch in 2025, the module will educate young people on the impact of deepfakes, as well as how to spot them and respond if they encounter them.

Deepfakes should not be ignored just because they are fake, said Mr Yao.

“Victims often endure profound emotional distress, feeling ashamed and powerless over their own image,” he said. “This violation can lead to significant stress and lasting harm to their reputation.”

With time, deepfake images are sure to become even more realistic, he added.

Singapore has seen a number of cases involving online sexual harassment.

Notably, more than 44,000 Telegram users were part of a chat group formed in 2018 – SG Nasi Lemak – where lewd images of young girls and revenge pornography were circulated. It was shut down in 2019.

Image-based sexual abuse is among the most common types of online harms faced by clients of SheCares@SCWO, a support centre for victims of online harms, said assistant director of research Natalie Chia from SG Her Empowerment, which runs the centre.

A study by the non-profit organisation in 2023 found that nearly a tenth of internet users have personally experienced image-based sexual abuse, including deepfakes. Women were almost twice as likely to be sexually harassed online than men.

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How Singapore, six other territories deal with online harms

Deepfake threats are here to stay. Are S’pore firms prepared?

Advocates and experts have long called for new policies that will help online harassment victims seek redress swiftly.

This was echoed by Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, who said in 2023 that the law needs to be expanded to enable victims of harmful online content to take action and protect themselves.

Since then, the authorities have allocated $50 million for a new Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety which will research tools to detect harmful online content, including misinformation and deepfakes.

New measures to counter deepfakes of candidates during elections were also announced on Sept 11.

More can be done in Singapore to protect those who have limited options to seek redress, as online harassers are usually anonymous, said Cyber Youth Singapore president and chief executive Ben Chua.

The charity conducts cyber-wellness workshops and is revamping its course material to raise awareness of deepfakes.

Tech companies can be slow to remove content too, said Mr Chua.

Messaging app Telegram, for instance, has been slammed for its lack of cooperation with the authorities worldwide, leading to the arrest of its founder Pavel Durov in August over allegedly allowing criminal activity on the platform, including drug trafficking and child sexual abuse images.

Durov’s arrest reflects an increase in pressure to hold platforms responsible for not complying with the authorities in the fight against online harms, said Ms Chia, who called for stronger regulations to make it illegal to create, possess and share image-based sexual abuse materials.

Cyber-security expert Abhishek Singh of Check Point Software Technologies said Telegram is an ideal platform for vices to thrive.

This is because it allows large files to be shared across massive groups of up to 200,000 members, who can choose not to disclose their phone numbers to remain anonymous.

“It has brought dark web content to the masses on a public channel,” he added.

Deepfake software, in particular, has become more widely available since late 2023, said senior threat researcher David Sancho from cyber-security firm Trend Micro.

He said: “Any teenager can (use these apps). It’s not expensive and there are even support forums to guide users on how to do it.”

Mr Sancho added: “The trouble is, if you close one platform, another pops up.”
Advice to guard against deepfakes

Avoid allowing unfamiliar accounts to follow your social media accounts, and be mindful of the content that you post, although this can be hard to control in this day and age, said Mr Seng.

Victims of deepfake porn should make a police report and flag the content to the online platform, said Mr Yao.

They should collect evidence, including images of the online material, time and date, and the usernames of those who have shared it. Mr Yao said: “Evidence is vital, even if the specifics are painful to recall.”

HK pivots to Asean, Belt and Road partners as ties with the West deteriorate

Magdalene Fung
Hong Kong Correspondent

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said his government was doing everything it could to strengthen ties with Asean. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Updated  Sep 15, 2024

HONG KONG – Hong Kong has intensified efforts to carve out international space for itself, especially among developing economies, as it increasingly comes under fire from the West for its governance.

Chief Executive John Lee on Sept 13 said his government was doing everything it could to strengthen ties with Asean, including improving trade, business and cultural links with the regional bloc.

On Sept 11, he talked up Hong Kong’s value to the world as a “super connector”, touting its pivotal role in inking deals with countries in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as Beijing said it would expand the city’s scope of participation in the initiative.

Mr Lee’s speeches came after the United States on Sept 11 passed a Bill targeting the closure of Hong Kong’s trade offices in the country and on Sept 6 warned US businesses and individuals of the rising risks of operating in the city under its national security law.

The law was first imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in June 2020, with Hong Kong later enacting its own legislation in March 2024.

Hundreds of activists have been arrested and dozens charged under the regulations, which criminalise treason, sedition and external interference, among other offences.


Mr Lee on Sept 14 warned that US businesses would “foot the bill” for their “very shameless and ugly political tactics” if they shut Hong Kong’s trade offices in America.

Separately, Britain on Sept 12 said in a parliamentary report on Hong Kong that the city had prioritised national security over the freedoms and rights of its residents.

The growing criticism from the West that Hong Kong has faced in recent years has contributed to a fresh urgency within Mr Lee’s administration to improve its ties with the rest of the world, an international relations expert said.

“In the past, Hong Kong used to target the developed world more in its external relations efforts, such as reaching out to the US and countries in Europe,” Dr Wilson Chan, director of policy research and co-founder of local think-tank Pagoda Institute, told The Straits Times.

“But now, to sidestep the growing geopolitical tensions with the West, Hong Kong has recognised that it needs to diversify its business and trade networks and has hence shifted its focus to Asean, the Middle East, Africa and other Belt and Road countries. So the government is now more eager to engage with these fast-developing economies.”

Dr Chan described Hong Kong’s approach as a form of “paradiplomacy” centred around global economic engagement. Paradiplomacy refers to the involvement of non-central governments and organisations in conducting international relations.

Under the one country, two systems framework, China’s central government conducts foreign affairs relating to Hong Kong. As a special administrative region, however, Hong Kong has the autonomy to handle certain external affairs on its own, including trade, finance, tourism, culture and sports.

The city is also authorised to participate in inter-governmental international organisations including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Hong Kong has over the past year engaged in a rapid string of global outreach efforts to bring together the city’s top leaders and those from its surrounding countries.

A Belt and Road Summit on Sept 11 and 12 was attended by Malaysia’s Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Cambodia’s Secretary of State for Commerce Lim Lork Piseth and Kazakhstan’s National Economy Vice-Minister Arman Kassenov, among other senior officials.

A Hong Kong-Asean Summit on Sept 13 heard speeches delivered by Datuk Seri Zafrul, Lao Deputy Finance Minister Phouthanouphet Saysombath and Cambodian Secretary of State for Tourism Prak Phannara.

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In July, Mr Lee visited Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on a trip that yielded 55 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in areas including finance, culture and education.

In May, Hong Kong’s Belt and Road Commissioner Nicholas Ho led a business delegation to Hungary and Kazakhstan, signing 10 MOUs, including in green development and technology. That same month, Hong Kong hosted its first geopolitical summit, signalling its intention to redefine its role in global development and solidify its position as an intermediary between mainland China and the rest of the world.

Its efforts appear to have been well received by its target countries at the recent summits.

“Hong Kong has (been organising) a lot of expos, and these types of forums are very important in deal-making... It’s how we can increase trade,” Cambodia’s Mr Piseth said at a BRI policy dialogue on Sept 11, noting that his country’s trade with Hong Kong in the first half of 2024 had risen by 60 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.

Mrs Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, CEO of Indonesian conglomerate Sintesa Group and chairwoman of the country’s employers’ association, urged more concrete efforts to help Indonesia’s small and medium-sized enterprises capitalise on BRI opportunities.

“Beyond the big forums and business summits, we want real deals to happen,” said Mrs Shinta. “We from Indonesia want Hong Kong’s help to access the GBA (Greater Bay Area) market and specific projects in specific sectors and more business-to-business connections.”

The GBA refers to Hong Kong, Macau and the nine cities in Guangdong province on mainland China.

Malaysia’s Mr Zafrul, meanwhile, leveraged the BRI summit on Sept 12 to urge closer cooperation between his country and the Middle East nations at the event, drawing upon commonalities between the two regions.

“We (Malaysia and the Middle East) fundamentally face similar challenges – a desire to shift from dependence on natural resources, as well as the need to move up the value chain economically and improve talent, all against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainties and the threats of climate change,” he said.

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At the Hong Kong-Asean summit the following day, he called for Asean to develop stronger partnerships with regions such as the GBA and financial centres like Hong Kong. Malaysia is due to take up the Asean bloc’s rotating chairmanship in 2025.

Hong Kong’s Belt and Road Commissioner Nicholas Ho expressed positivity about the impact of Hong Kong’s efforts at economic and diplomatic facilitation.

“Under Chief Executive John Lee’s leadership, Hong Kong has transformed, in many ways, our external outreach and approach to global collaboration,” he told ST. “The Belt and Road Initiative, now in its 11th year, has presented a new wave of opportunity... where public and private capital can come together to drive bankable projects... in the international sector.”

Mr Ho added that work to open a Hong Kong trade office in Kuala Lumpur was “in full force (with) the intention to open it as soon as possible”. It would be Hong Kong’s fourth such office in South-east Asia, after Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta.

Pagoda Institute’s Dr Chan said Hong Kong’s immediate goal for its intensified global outreach efforts was “to bring the city back on the international stage”.

“That these efforts result in providing another platform that facilitates economic and political cooperation between and among countries, demonstrates Hong Kong’s unique model of paradiplomacy under the one country, two systems framework,” he said.

Rohingya detainees protest 'abominable' conditions in Indian camp

HINDUTVA ISLAMOPHOBIA

September 14, 2024
By VOA News

A Rohingya child at a refugee camp in Faridabad, Haryana, India, in April of 2024.

More than 100 Rohingya refugees who have for years been detained at a transit camp in the northeast Indian state of Assam have launched a hunger strike demanding that they be handed over to the United Nations refugee agency in New Delhi, transferred to a detention facility in the Indian capital, and that the process of resettlement in a third country be started.

The 103 Muslim Rohingya refugees have been on hunger strike since Monday at the Matia Transit Camp, where immigrants, most of whom entered the country illegally, are held. Local authorities said 30 Christian Chin refugees, also from Myanmar, are on hunger strike, too, in solidarity with the Rohingyas.

A midlevel police officer in Goalpara district, where the camp is located, told VOA Thursday that senior Home Affairs Ministry officials from the state headquarters were on their way to investigate the issue.

“The officials will interact with their counterparts at the camp, as well as the detainees who are on hunger strike, and aim to resolve the issues. The detainees, who are from Myanmar, are demanding to be released from the camp,” said the police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “All the officials are trying to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”

A Rohingya and her children at a Rohingya refugee camp in Faridabad, India, in April 2024.

Sabber Kyaw Min, an India-based Rohingya rights activist who is monitoring the situation, said that the refugees in the detention center were living in poor hygienic conditions and received “inhumane treatment.”

“Fleeing genocide in Myanmar, our people took refuge in India. Our home country continues to be increasingly unsafe for us. But we are facing persecution here — our people are being imprisoned in India,” Min, head of the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, told VOA.

“At least 40 of the Rohingya refugees at the Matia camp hold UNHCR cards,” he said, using the acronym for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “Yet they are treated like criminals and have been detained. Many Rohingyas have been in detention for as long as 10 or 12 years. They have finished their terms long ago. Yet they are being detained.”

India has not signed the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and views all Rohingya refugees as "illegal immigrants," although they have lived peacefully in the country for decades.

Since Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, however, Rohingya refugees have faced trouble in India.

After repeated directives from the Indian Home Affairs Ministry in recent years, Indian states have been detaining Rohingya refugees under charges of illegal entry into the country.

According to the UNHCR, 676 Rohingyas are in detention in India, but Rohingya rights activists put the figure at 1,000.

Min said that in many cases, Rohingya refugees are being held in detention “illegally.”

Rohingya refugees pick through what remains after a fire broke out at a camp in Delhi in 2021. Around 50 shanties were reduced to ashes by the fire. Many Rohingya believe that right-wing Hindu groups who want the refugee community to be thrown out of India set fire to the camp.

Jan Mohammad, a Rohingya refugee who recently moved back to Bangladesh from India, told VOA Friday that a relative at the Matia camp told him Rohingyas there were facing torture.

“My relative sent an audio message to me from inside the camp in which he said that the inmates were suffering from poor health care facilities. The supply of drinking water was inadequate. Some were even drinking toilet water. The living conditions in the camp were abominable,” Mohammad said. “During winter, they often could not sleep at night because they did not have enough blankets. When they complained about the poor amenities, they were beaten by the guards there.

“Many inmates there often cried, saying that their detention was for an indefinite period and they would die there, my relative said in his message, three months ago.”

VOA’s email to the Assam home ministry seeking a reaction to the issue has not received a response.

In July, a Supreme Court said the living conditions in several detention centers were “deplorable” while hearing a related petition.

In July, 35 Rohingya inmates of the Matia camp wrote to the local administration seeking resettlement in a third country or transfer to a facility with better conditions. The inmates began their hunger strike on Monday, apparently because the authorities did not respond to their appeal.

The Indian Home Affairs Ministry said years ago Rohingyas detained in India would ultimately be deported to Myanmar, but only 18 have been deported there since 2021.

The London-based Burmese Rohingya Organization UK said in a statement Wednesday that the hunger strike at Matia camp was a “direct response to their prolonged and arbitrary detention and the severe human rights abuses they endure.”

“The arbitrary detention of Rohingya refugees in India represents a grave injustice. These individuals, who have already faced unimaginable atrocities, are subjected to further mistreatment. The Indian government must act immediately to end these unlawful detentions and address the abysmal conditions within detention centers,” Tun Khin, president of the organization, said in the statement.

Rohingya refugees collect food from a community charitable organization in Faridabad, Haryana, India, in early 2024.

New Delhi-based lawyer Ujjaini Chatterji, who argues against indefinite detention of Rohingya refugees in India, told VOA Friday that "the Rohingyas cannot be detained without following the due process established by law.”

“The due process includes serving prior notice to them with an opportunity to present their case, and also for the Rohingyas to be told the grounds for their arrest or detention while being given access to adequate legal representation and contact with friends and family,” Chatterji told the VOA.

“Indefinite detention is an absolute violation of not only the very thrust of the Constitution of India, but also against various precedents set through judgments by the high courts and the Supreme Court of India,” said Chatterji.