Wanted Vietnamese artist says police beat him

Le Quoc Anh said authorities have also been harassing his parents.

By RFA Vietnamese

2025.01.03

Le Quoc Anh and his father's police summons on Dec. 18, 2024 Le Quoc Anh/RFA (Le Quoc Anh/RFA)

Vietnamese artist Le Quoc Anh, who is wanted by police on charges of “propaganda against the state,” said the police beat him for several days while he was in custody, before going on the run.

He also said the police repeatedly harassed his parents, who live in Tien Giang province in southern Vietnam, in an attempt to force him to turn himself in.

Anh, 33, is a graphic artist at a printing company in My Tho city. He was detained by police for two weeks in March 2023. He was released on bail after the intervention of his lawyer, but went on the run in August 2023 and has been a wanted man ever since.

“I am extremely indignant that the … police detained and beat me for many days in addition to harassing my family even though I did not do anything against the State,” he told Radio Free Asia on Thursday. “Their illegal actions against me and my family show that Vietnam has no freedom of expression or freedom of creativity in the arts.”

During his detention, from March 8 to March 23, 2023, Anh said investigators accused him of being a member of the U.S-based dissident group Viet Tan, and receiving money from it to carry out acts of terrorism in Vietnam. The government has labelled Viet Tan a terrorist organization, which the group denies.

Anh said that since he left home, police have repeatedly questioned his parents about his whereabouts. Most recently, on Dec. 18 and 19, 2024, police forced his father to go to their station, confiscated his phone, questioned him about his son and accused him of colluding with many other people to spread malicious information.

Police also searched their home and seized phones and computers. They threatened to arrest Anh’s father for refusing to tell them where his son was and installed cameras outside the home to monitor him.

“The fact that my family has been harassed repeatedly for a long time is unacceptable, it shows the tyranny of the ruling apparatus, working arbitrarily and without order,” Anh said. “They use all means to achieve what they want during the investigation process such as kidnapping, threatening, violating privacy, robbing property ... seriously affecting the lives and spirits of me and my parents.”

RFA called the Investigation Security Department of the provincial police for comment on Anh’s accusations. The person who answered the call asked the reporter to go to the department’s headquarters to get a response from senior officers.

Anh told RFA that he himself is not politically active, only sharing articles from RFA, Voice of America and the BBC about Vietnam. He is also a member of several internet fan clubs and shares patriotic songs by overseas Vietnamese singers.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.

EXPLAINER

Frexit: Why Ivory Coast is joining African campaign to expel French troops

Ivory Coast is the sixth in a growing list of African nations cutting military ties with former colonial power France.

By Shola Lawal

 3 Jan 2025

AL JAZEERA

French military troops who have been in Ivory Coast for decades will soon be leaving, Ivorian officials have said, signalling more diplomatic setbacks for France amid local resentment that has caused one-time allies in West and Central Africa to sever ties with Paris.

President Alassane Ouattara’s announcement on Tuesday puts Ivory Coast on a growing list of African countries cutting military ties with the once greatly influential former colonial power, as some former French allies also turn to Russian mercenaries for help fighting a swarm of armed groups in the region.

Within days of each other in November, Chad and Senegal expelled French troops, joining several Sahel countries that had earlier done the same, starting in 2021.

The wave of pushback has forced France to devise a new military strategy for the continent that officials say will be in line with the “needs” of partner countries. Temporary deployments, rather than permanent military presence, and more focus on training local forces, are some features of the new policy.

Here’s what to know about why Ivory Coast has joined the list and how France’s influence in the region is waning:

Why is Ivory Coast expelling French troops?

In his 2024 end-of-year address to the country on December 31, President Ouattara said the Ivorian government had decided to expel French troops because the Ivorian army is “now effective”. The president did not give any other reasons.

“We can be proud of our army, whose modernisation is now effective. It is within this context that we have decided on the concerted and organised withdrawal of French forces,” Ouattara said.

The 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion (BIMA), a French army base located in Port-Bouet in the economic capital, Abidjan, will be “handed over” to the Ivorian military starting from January 2025, he added. French soldiers have been helping the Ivorian army in the fight against armed groups operating in the Sahel and expanding into countries along the Gulf of Guinea, including Ivory Coast and Ghana. France also operated as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission during the country’s long civil war from 2002 to 2011.

Ouattara’s announcement on Tuesday was unexpected. The president is seen by many as one of the African leaders most close to France. In a country in which anger against France is growing, that perception has bred deep resentment of the government. In August, French President Emmanuel Macron feted Ouattara in a private dinner at the Elysee.

Analysts say Ouattara’s decision to cut military ties could also be political, as Ivorians gear up for general elections slated for October. Ouattara, who has been in power since 2010, has not yet said whether he will seek a fourth term in the polls. His decision to run for president in 2020 following the sudden death of his successor and prime minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, provoked widespread outrage in opposition camps.

Why is France facing general pushback in Francophone Africa?

France has faced unprecedented, bitter criticism from citizens in its former colonies in West and Central Africa in recent years. From Mali to Ivory Coast, thousands of people have taken to the streets in mass protests, demanding that their governments cut ties with Paris for good.

Some of the resentment dates back to historical controversies linked to colonialism. The French direct rule during colonisation was perceived to have weakened traditional institutions, culture, and leadership while forcing European officials and customs on locals. French officials ruling the colonies were perceived as particularly harsh, both in their administration and attempts to increase France’s economic footholds.

After countries won their independence in the 1960s, Paris built a strong web of connections with African leaders and elites, termed “Francafrique” to protect France’s vast economic interests and to keep French troops on the ground. More than 200 French companies operate on the continent, including oil and gas giant Total, and Orano, which mines uranium to power France’s nuclear power plants. French troops too have operated across the region, providing training and assisting local militaries.

However, in the last five years, military-led governments in the Sahel region have pushed back at the perceived weakness of the French army. Despite the presence of thousands of French soldiers, armed group activity continued to turn the area into a hotspot of violence as groups like Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) wage war on security forces and officials across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Increasingly, armed groups have made incursions into the coastal Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Benin.

Which countries have expelled French troops and why?

By January 2025, six African countries – Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Senegal, and Ivory Coast – had cut military ties with France.

Mali: In August 2020, a group of soldiers from the Malian Armed Forces mutinied and seized power from the civilian government in Bamako, citing its inability to stop increasing levels of violence. After France denounced the coup, the military government played up populist narratives and blamed France for interfering in the country’s decision-making. Hundreds took to the streets, praising the military and calling for France to leave. The coup kicked off a series of takeovers in Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Gabon.

In June 2021, Macron announced French forces would leave the Sahel in a phased-out manner. By December 2023, the exit was complete. Mali has since strengthened ties with Russia, and Russian mercenaries are currently operating in the region. Conflict has continued – more than 5,000 people died across the Sahel in the first half of 2024, and millions remain displaced, according to conflict tracker, ACLED.

Burkina Faso: The current military government seized power in January 2022 on the back of resentment against a civilian government seen as powerless against armed groups, and the French government believed to be backing it. In February 2023, the military government ordered French troops to leave Burkinabe soil within a month. Some 300 Russian troops were thought to have arrived in the country in January 2024.

Niger: As civilian governments fell in neighbouring countries, the military there too staged a coup in July 2023, overthrowing and detaining President Mohamed Bazoum. Many Nigeriens marched in favour of the military and called for French troops stationed in Niamey to leave. In December 2023, the military government expelled French soldiers.

Senegal: In November 2024, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said that France “should” shut down its military bases from 2025 because French military presence was not in line with Senegal’s sovereignty. The declaration came as Senegal marked 80 years after a colonial-era massacre that saw French troops kill tens of West African soldiers angry at their treatment after fighting for Paris in World War II. There are 350 French troops stationed in the country.

Chad: Officials, also in November, announced that Chad was ending a military pact with France in place since the 1960s. The country was a key link in France’s military presence in Africa and its last foothold in the wider Sahel region. Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah called France “an essential partner” but said it “must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured and is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty”. There are 1,000 French troops stationed in the country.
Does France still have any military presence in Africa?

Yes, France maintains a large military base in Djibouti, eastern Africa. The country, also a former colony of France, hosts close to 1,500 French troops and is one of France’s largest overseas military contingents.

In West and Central Africa, France continues to retain a small presence in Gabon where it has about 300 troops. Gabon’s army seized power in a coup in August 2023, ending five years of the Bongo family’s rule.

However, unlike other military-led countries in the region, Paris has maintained ties with Gabon’s military government, likely because of the resentment the ruling family drew, some analysts say.

Explosion targets German capital police building, injuring two officers

The officers were on a regular patrol near the police station when the blast occurred.


Police officers face injuries after explosion near Berlin police building. / Photo: Reuters

Two police officers were injured, one seriously, in an explosion on Thursday night outside a police building in Berlin, according to authorities in the German capital.

The officers were on a routine security patrol when an unidentified object exploded near the fence.

"This evening, at around 8:20 pm, a serious security incident occurred at the fence" around the police building in the Wittenau district of northern Berlin, police posted on social media platform X.

One officer suffered injuries to the face and eyes, while the other experienced "sound trauma". Both received medical treatment.

When questioned by AFP, a police spokesperson declined to provide further information about the incident.

The explosion comes after 30 German law enforcement officers were injured on New Year's Eve, including one seriously by an illegally manufactured firework.

Five people died across the country in incidents linked to the powerful fireworks Germans traditionally set off to celebrate the new year.

Elon Musk told to stick to US politics after latest UK blast

Health Minister Andrew Gwynne says X owner should prioritize “issues on the other side of the Atlantic.”

Elon Musk is deep in an ongoing feud with the U.K.'s governing Labour Party. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

January 3, 2025 
By Noah Keate

POLITICO UK

LONDON — A British minister said Friday that Elon Musk should focus on American politics rather than repeatedly criticizing the Labour government.

The X owner and key Donald Trump ally is deep in an ongoing feud with the U.K.’s governing Labour Party, tweeting his extensive disagreements with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over law and order, economic policy and free speech.

It’s prompted angry pushback from Labour MPs, particularly after Musk on Thursday demanded the release from jail of a controversial far-right activist, Tommy Robinson.

“Elon Musk is an American citizen and perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic,” Health Minister Andrew Gwynne told LBC radio Friday.

Gwynne was responding to Musk’s strident criticism of the way British authorities have responded to child sexual exploitation.

Musk slammed Labour for rejecting a national inquiry into child abuse in the north of England and launched a full-frontal attack on Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his record as the country’s top prosecutor.

Musk wrote on X, the social media site he owns: “In the U.K., serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects. Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013.”

Demands for an inquiry into so-called “rape gangs” were picked up Thursday by Britain’s main opposition party, the Conservatives, which was voted out of office after a fourteen-year stint in July and similarly rejected demands for a national inquiry.

Speaking Friday, Gwynne pushed back at Musk’s characterization of the issue. He highlighted a string of local inquiries into child sexual exploitation alongside a wide-ranging national probe which reported in 2022.

“There comes a point where we don’t need more inquiries,” Wynne argued. “Had Elon Musk really paid attention to what’s been going on in this country, he might have recognized that there’ve already been inquiries.”

Musk on Thursday night again approvingly shared posts by Robinson, the far-right ringleader who was jailed in October for breaching a court order relating to libelous claims he made about a Syrian refugee schoolboy.

Musk accused media outlets who reported on his backing for Robinson, including POLITICO, of having “hid” that schoolgirls were being “systematically raped” by “migrant gangs,” and branded them “despicable human beings.”

Elon Musk calls for King Charles to dissolve parliament over ‘grooming gangs’

MUSK NEVER TOOK A CIVICS COURSE

PA_Media |
Jan 03, 2025


Tesla CEO Elon Musk has continued his social media criticism of UK PM Keir Starmer for the government’s handling of a ‘child grooming’ scandal in the country

Elon Musk has continued his criticism of the Government, calling on the King to step in and dissolve Parliament.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked King Charles to step in and dissolve parliament(REUTERS)

The world’s richest man, who purchased the social media site Twitter and renamed it X in 2022, has shared and reacted to tweets critical of the Government and the Prime Minister after Labour rejected a call for an inquiry into child grooming.

Also Read: Elon Musk shares post blasting New Orleans FBI for sporting Taylor Swift bracelets amid ‘terror’ attack

In his latest attacks on Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Musk shared a post asking whether Charles “should dissolve parliament and order a General Election… for the sake and security” of Britain. Mr Musk retweeted the X thread with a one-word comment: “Yes.”

Also Read: Elon Musk backs Cybertruck after explosion: 'Picked the wrong vehicle for terrorist attack'

The 53-year-old Starlink boss continued to wade into the debate overnight, hours after he posted that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after she denied requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham on Thursday.

Also Read: Elon Musk changes his name on X again after Kekius Maximus. This time it's…

He also suggested the Prime Minister had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions. Mr Musk reposted an article in The Daily Telegraph by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick in which he says the “grooming gangs” should be renamed “torture rape gangs”.

He wrote that Mr Musk’s comments had shamed “the establishment by taking more interest in bringing these rape gangs to justice in one evening than most of the British establishment has for decades”.

Mr Musk continued his criticism in a post alongside footage of The Times’ chief investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk as he detailed the scope of the case and police mishandling, calling it “State-sponsored evil.” Mr Norfolk exposed the Rotherham child sexual exploitation ring in the UK press in 2011.

In another comment on the same post, Mr Musk branded the scandal and the child rapists involved as “utterly shameful”. The Tesla owner also called a post asking why people were angrier at his comments than they were about “mass rape” of children as the “perfect question”.

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is “long overdue”. Ms Phillips said she recognised the “strength of feeling” for a Home Office-led inquiry into Oldham, but she told the local council the Government will not “intervene”.

“I believe it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene,” she said.

In response, Mr Musk, a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, said: “She deserves to be in prison.”

He also appeared to place blame at the Prime Minister’s door. Mr Musk said: “In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects. Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013.”

In a series of posts on his social media site, Mr Musk described the Prime Minister as “two-tier Keir”, claiming there was “no justice for severe, violent crimes but prison for social media posts”.

Mr Musk also expressed his support for activist Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – who was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court in October. Senior Tories also sought to put pressure on the Government over grooming gangs.


Mrs Badenoch said: “The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal. Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns pressed for a statutory inquiry in Oldham. They said that only a public inquiry “can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues” and consider whether reports were ignored by the police, CPS and local council “or even covered up”.

In 2022, the then-Conservative government also refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham.

An Oldham Council spokesman said: “Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation. Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.”

Responding to Mrs Badenoch’s post, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry. The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level.”

Mr Musk, who is rumoured to be considering a major donation to Mr Farage’s party, responded: “Exactly. Time for Reform.”

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.

Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol. In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt “frustrated” that none of the probe’s 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.

A Labour spokesman said the Government is “working at pace to implement the recommendations” in Professor Jay’s report. The spokesman added: “We have supported both the national overarching inquiry into child abuse which reported in 2022, and local independent inquiries and reviews including in Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester."

“This Government is working urgently to strengthen the law so that these crimes are properly reported and investigated. In Oldham the crimes committed by grooming gangs were horrific. Young girls were abused in the most cruel and sadistic way."


“Victims and the community need to know that all steps are taken to deliver justice and protect children properly in the future. We will welcome and support an independent investigation commissioned by Oldham Council which puts victims’ voices at its heart, following the examples of Telford and Rotherham.”

"We also continue to support wider work commissioned by mayor Andy Burnham into child protection issues across Greater Manchester, following the review into historic safeguarding issues in Oldham which was published in 2022.”

Commentary

Elon Musk and the Helplessness of German Liberal Democratic Elites

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and X. | 

Photo: Daniel Oberhaus (2018) / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

By Thorsten Benner
03 Jan 2025,
published in Agenda Pública


“Only the AfD can save Germany”, Elon Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X just before Christmas. A good week later, German newspaper DIE WELT ran an op-ed by the billionaire explaining his endorsement of the extreme-right Alternative for Germany barely two months ahead of crucial national elections. The piece in German publishing house Axel Springer’s flagship publication triggered a remarkably helpless reaction by liberal democratic elites.

Let us start with the good news. Musk’s intervention is a clarifying moment for the German center-right. Some of the leading lights in the CDU and FDP had tried to suck up to the world’s richest man. Leading CDU politician and former health minister Jens Spahn had lionized Musk as ​“champion for a whole generation of courageous entrepreneurs and scientists. For people who believe in the power of ideas and that progress is possible”. FDP leader and former finance minister Christian Lindner had argued that Germany needs to dare to be more inspired by ​“Milei or Musk”. Even when Musk voiced his support for the AfD on X, Lindner’s reaction was sycophantic. ​“Elon, I’ve initiated a policy debate inspired by ideas from you and Milei”, he tweeted. ​“Don’t rush to conclusions from afar. Let’s meet, and I’ll show you what the FDP stands for“. Musk was not too impressed with the plea of his self-appointed German disciple. He simply went on to share a post by AfD leader Alice Weidel and doubled down on his support for the AfD in his op-ed. That led CDU chairman Friedrich Merz who is the clear favorite to succeed Scholz as chancellor to issue a sharp rebuke: ​“Elon Musk’s election appeal is intrusive and presumptuous”. All the while the AfD is using Musk’s endorsement to take its case to German voters. The frontlines are now clear. Musk is the AfD’s new patron saint. Fewer center-right politicians are likely to invoke the billionaire as a source of inspiration in the near future.

For the rest, the whole affair leaves neither Musk, Axel Springer nor German liberal democratic elites looking particularly good. Musk’s lightweight treatise reads like it was AI-generated, with a prompt such as ​“expand my tweet in support of the AfD into a flimsy op-ed”. It would have been easy for him to hire a scribe ghostwriting a somewhat substantive text. That he chose not to shows how little he ultimately cares about the details of the country in which Tesla has one of its biggest investments in Europe in the form of its gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin. Musk does not betray any deeper familiarity with the fault lines of German politics or the AfD. For him, AfD co-leader Weidel being a lesbian with a partner born in Sri Lanka is enough to paper over the Nazi language pushed by Björn Höcke, the AfD’s leader in its stronghold Thuringia. Musk claims the ​“political realism” of the AfD makes it the only force that can push for deregulation, curtailing illegal migration and changing Germany’s energy policy. Musk overlooks that to achieve these goals he might as well turn to the CDU/​CSU or the FDP. He seems blissfully unaware that the AfD’s push for a German exit from the Eurozone and the EU would spell economic disaster – or that it was the AfD that opposed Musk’s gigafactory in Grünheide.

That Germany’s leading publishing house Axel Springer and its CEO Mathias Döpfner decided to run an endorsement of the AfD is a significant step for the extreme right party on its path to normalization. Now the big question is whether Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner will continue to push in this direction. Hardly any German will vote for the AfD just because Musk provided an endorsement. However, should Springer’s main media outlets decide to pursue a full-fledged normalization of the AfD that would be an important breakthrough for the party. Right now, the scenario of Döpfner going full Hugenberg is not very likely. In fact, Döpfner’s decision to offer Musk a platform to run his op-ed may have had little to do with German politics and everything with Springer’s business interests in the US. Döpfner sees the US as its main market for growth having acquired Politico. Being on the good side of Musk can’t hurt for your big business dreams in the Musk-Trump era. For Springer, the political damage in Germany from pushing Musk’s AfD endorsement might be a price worth paying to pursue the more important goals in the US. The fact that Springer decided to accompany Musk’s piece with a rebuttal by WELT’s editor-in-chief demonstrates a certain willingness to limit that damage.

German liberal democratic elites are right to be concerned by Musk’s activism in favor of the AfD. After all, Musk has formidable resources via his financial clout, control of X, closeness to US president-elect Donald Trump and his formal role in the coming Trump administration. There is a danger of the Trumpist-tech billionaire US right orchestrating a far-right international to take power in key European countries. Musk’s support for Nigel Farage is a case in point. But self-righteous outrage at Musk because of external interference into German politics is a not an effective answer. If you want to go after Musk then target his business interests: pursue effective regulation of X, organize a consumer boycott against Tesla and pursue massive investments to decrease the European dependence on Starlink. For the rest, collective outrage at Musk might increase the coziness factor around the liberal democratic campfire. But it does nothing to decrease the appeal of the AfD with voters. Liberal democratic elites have every reason to panic about the AfD’s rise for which there doesn’t seem to be any effective antidote. The ​“firewall” agreement among all democratic parties vowing not to pursue any cooperation with the AfD only seems to increase the appeal of the AfD as the only alternative. At the same time, there is no agreement among liberal democratic forces on whether to pursue a formal request to ban the AfD (or at least deprive it of public funding) with the constitutional court. And simply governing better to win back voters is much harder with ever messier coalition governments making for odd bedfellows in an ever more fragmenting party system. But one thing is certain: finger-pointing at Musk or Springer is hardly a winning strategy with voters looking for real solutions to the malaise of the German model and the country’s economic, social and security challenges. Rather, it’s a feel-good distraction.

This commentary was originally published by Agenda Pública on January 3, 2025.

About - GPPi

Metallic space object crashes in Kenyan village


A metallic object believed to be part of a rocket's separation stage has fallen from space into a village in eastern Kenya, according to the Kenya Space Agency and local media reports.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Maj. Aloyce Were, an official from the Kenya Space Agency, confirmed the discovery of the partially burnt metallic debris, weighing approximately 500 kilograms. The object, described as a metallic ring, is suspected to be space debris from a rocket.

“So indeed we can confirm we have located the item. The area locals should not be scared. It is a part of a space object which is in the form of a ring, a metallic ring, possibly from a rocket separation stage,” said Maj. Were.

The official urged residents not to fear the object while affirming that the Kenya Space Agency would investigate its origin and assess any potential damage to the surrounding area. Were was seen consulting with police officers and inspecting the debris at the crash site.

In the coming days, the agency will work to determine the object's country of origin and its journey through space. "We are to assess the impact to the area and use the existing legal mechanisms under international law as far as the Outer Space Treaty is concerned," Maj. Were explained.

The discovery highlights the growing issue of space debris re-entering Earth's atmosphere, with fragments occasionally reaching the surface. The incident is a reminder of the challenges posed by increasing satellite and rocket activity in Earth's orbit.

No injuries or significant damage to property were reported in the village. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

It fell from sky

Ring nearly 8 feet wide and weighing around 453 kilograms fell from sky into Mukuku village in eastern Makueni County on Dec. 30, says Kenya Space Agency

Fatma Zehra Solmaz |03.01.2025 - TRT/AA


ISTANBUL

The Kenya Space Agency on Friday continued to examine a huge metallic ring that fell in the country early this week.

On Dec. 30, a ring nearly 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide and weighing 1,100 pounds (around 453 kilograms) fell from the sky into Mukuku village in eastern Makueni County, the agency said.

“Preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle (rocket),” said the agency as the examination of the object continued.

It said the object “poses no immediate threat to safety” and is working to determine its exact origin.

When a team from the agency and local officials arrived at the site on Monday, the "object was still warm," according to Julius Rotich, a local police official.

Rotich told the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation that police cordoned off the area until the object had cooled off.

UN children’s fund calls for protection of child refugees

By Rédaction Africanews

2275 people were unaccounted for in the Mediterranean sea last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Many are thought to have died on the treacherous central Mediterranean route, mainly used by smugglers from Tunisia and Libya aiming to reach Italy.

Among those fleeing their countries are children. After the most recent shipwreck left around 20 people missing, the UN children’s fund is sounding the alarm.

“In 2024, 60,000 people arrived in Italy, including 8,000 unaccompanied foreign minors. Despite the drop in arrivals compared to the previous year, the vulnerabilities among people who arrive do not decrease. They are people who are often fleeing, as we know, from conflict, violence and extreme poverty. They are girls and boys who represent 20% of the people who arrive, that is, one in five,” Andrea Iacomini, UNICEF Italian spokesperson, explains.

The agency is urging governments to prioritise the protection of child refugees; it is pushing for access to asylum services, legal pathways for reunification and co ordinated search and rescue missions.

“It is intolerable for a child to have to see their mother die in front of their eyes. It is intolerable that a child could die in seawater. And yet we've seen too many of them and we can't think every time it's the last time. Because from 2014 to today the numbers speak for themselves,” Iacomini says.

Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy has clamped down on smuggling, and attempted to send migrants to detention centres in Albania while their asylum claims are processed.

According to Italy's interior ministry, in 2024, 66,317 migrants arrived in the country by sea, less than half as many as in 2023.

SINGAPORE

PacificLight Power to build $1b hydrogen-ready power plant on Jurong Island by 2029

\
The plant will have a capacity of at least 600MW, which is enough to power about 864,000 four-room flats for a year.

PHOTO: ST FILE

Shabana Begum
UPDATED Jan 03, 2025


SINGAPORE – A hydrogen-compatible natural gas power plant built by local electricity generator PacificLight Power on Jurong Island will begin operations in 2029.

The company said the project – which will cost around $1 billion – will be the largest single and most efficient combined cycle gas turbine facility in Singapore.

It will have a capacity of at least 600MW, which is enough to power about 864,000 four-room flats for a year. When it begins operations, it can burn at least 30 per cent hydrogen – a cleaner fuel – with natural gas making up the rest, to generate electricity.


In the future, the plant will be able to burn 100 per cent hydrogen, as the power sector works towards net-zero carbon emissions.

Singapore plans to have at least nine hydrogen-ready power plants by 2030. PacificLight said its newly announced plant will be the largest of these.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) announced the awarding of the contract to PacificLight on Jan 3.


PacificLight’s plant will also be the first to be paired with a large-scale battery energy storage system, which stores electricity during periods of low demand.

The total cost of the project, including plant and machinery, construction, battery storage system and related infrastructure, is estimated to be around $1 billion. This will be incurred over the three-year construction period.

The site of the plant has not been developed yet. An environmental impact assessment is being prepared for the project.

The company added that its site on Jurong Island is “sufficiently sized” to accommodate, in the future, a second gas turbine unit, and also potentially integrate carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology.

“This underscores PacificLight Power’s commitment to adopting cutting-edge solutions that enhance system stability while reducing operational costs and environmental impact,” the company said in a statement on Jan 3.

Singapore currently relies on natural gas to generate most of its electricity but needs to turn to greener sources to meet its net-zero goals.

Hydrogen is considered a greener fuel than natural gas as it does not produce any planet-warming carbon dioxide when burned.

With electricity-guzzling industries, such as those in the digital economy, and electric transport fleets set to grow, EMA forecasts that Singapore’s peak electricity demand is expected to grow by at least 3.7 per cent over the next six years, reaching between 10.1GW and 11.8GW by 2030.

“Additional power generation capacity will be required in 2029 to meet the projected growth in electricity demand and ensure the power system’s reliability,” said EMA.

Since 2024, all new and repowered natural gas power plants must be at least 30 per cent hydrogen-compatible.

The award to PacificLight Power follows a 2024 call for proposal by EMA to have two more plants up and running by 2029 and 2030.

In October 2024, YTL PowerSeraya began construction on an $800 million power plant that is up to 50 per cent hydrogen-compatible, to be completed by 2027.

Sembcorp, Meranti Power and PacificLight Power have five other plants in the works. The four plants by Meranti and PacificLight are expected to be ready in 2025 – these are “fast start” ones that will augment electricity in the event of sudden shortfalls in supply. PacificLight’s two fast start facilities will have a capacity of 100MW each.

Keppel is also building a hydrogen-ready plant on Jurong Island – the Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant is expected to be completed by the first half of 2026.

It will be built on a largely brownfield site that was previously occupied by a chemical plant. In 2023, an environmental impact assessment report for the power plant’s development was criticised by the nature community here, who said the report lacked rigour and paid inadequate attention to the plant’s impact on land-based biodiversity.

Remembering the 1919 Faisal-Weizmann Agreement


January 3, 2025 

MEMO

The Faisal Weizmann Agreement 3 January 1919, signed by Emir Faisal (son of the King of Hejaz), and Chaim Weizmann (later President of Israel) as part of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 settling disputes stemming from World War I [Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images]

by Omar Ahmed
3umr27md

The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement was an early attempt to bring Arab and Zionist ambitions together in Palestine. Signed during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, it ended up having a lasting impact on the region, paving the way for Palestinian displacement and decades of conflict and occupation, which continues to this day.

What: The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement

When: 3 January 1919

Where: Paris, France

What happened?

When discussing the roots of the Palestinian issue, many people tend to focus on the 1948 Nakba (“Catastrophe”), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homeland. Others point to the infamous 1917 Balfour Declaration as a key moment, laying the groundwork for the establishment of a Zionist state on historic Palestine. However, a lesser-known yet highly significant event occurred just two years later: the signing of the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement in 1919, which aimed to reconcile Arab and Zionist ambitions that would have profound consequences for the region.

Signed on 3 January 1919 during the Paris Peace Conference, the agreement was a pact between Prince Faisal of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz — the son of Sharif Hussein of Makkah and a prominent leader in the Arab nationalist movement — and Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organisation. Faisal agreed to support the implementation of the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, provided Britain fulfilled its World War One promises of Arab independence from Ottoman rule.

The agreement outlined cooperation between Arabs and Jews, envisioning a peaceful coexistence in Palestine and broader economic collaboration in the region.

This was expressed by the signatories who stated that they were “mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their natural aspirations is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine.”

However, its underlying premise — that the aspirations of Arab nationalism and Zionism could coexist harmoniously — was fundamentally flawed. Arab leaders were largely unaware of the extent of Zionist territorial ambitions, while Zionist leaders saw the agreement as a strategic opportunity to secure a stronger foothold in Palestine, justified as a Biblical right.

This intent is evident in the agreement’s language: “All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlement and intensive cultivation of the soil.”

What happened next?

The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement proved to be a brief and fragile arrangement. Western colonial powers Britain and France reneged on their wartime promises to Arab leaders and, instead, carved up the Middle East under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Palestine came under a British League of Nations mandate, while Syria and Lebanon were placed under French control. Arab nationalist aspirations were crushed, and tensions between Arab and Jewish communities in Palestine escalated, with massacres and acts of terrorism against the indigenous population sowing the seeds for decades of conflict.

The implications of this agreement — and its failure — were, and remain, far-reaching. For Palestinians, it represented a bitter and early betrayal of their aspirations for statehood. A report by Haaretz describing it as one of many Arab betrayals of Palestinians notes the irony of what followed: “Faisal left the Paris conference with a dreadful sense of betrayal. He himself had betrayed his Ottoman masters to fight alongside the British, only to be betrayed by the British after the war. He then tried to make amends.”

Faisal aligned himself with the Syrian National Congress in July of that year. The Congress rejected the French mandate over Syria, declared Palestine to be an inseparable part of Syria, and opposed Jewish immigration to Palestine.

“But it was too late. That year the French expelled Faisal by force from Syria, and three years later, Britain was given a [League of Nations] mandate to implement the Balfour Declaration in Palestine. As a compensation, the British installed Faisal as king of Iraq and his brother Abdulla as king of Jordan, while the Hejaz became part of Saudi Arabia.”

The failure of Arab nationalist ideals, compounded by British duplicity and Zionist settler-colonialism, contributed to a cycle of wars and uprisings, including the Arab-Israeli wars of the 20th century. Today, the ramifications extend to the occupation state’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and land-grabbing and expansionist policies, most recently in Syria after the toppling of the government by opposition forces. Moreover, the normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab states have done little to stem the tide of annexation, displacement and violence, and continued statelessness for the Palestinians.

Risk Management in Humanitarian International Organisations

Written by Sukru Kagan Surucu

 January 3, 2025

EJIL

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) held its 75th Executive Committee session from 14 October to 18 October 2024. Among many items on the agenda, the increasing commitment to risk management strategies adopted by the organisation was highlighted both in the opening statements by the High Commissioner and remarks by the Deputy High Commissioner for Protection. These references reiterated the ongoing commitment of the UNHCR to transforming its structure and conduct to have a stronger focus on region-specific, field-dominated concerns and managing risks on the ground more effectively. Reference to risk management by international organisations is not rare in the form of adoption of “enterprise risk management” strategies. Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a holistic risk management agenda that systematically analyses risks that could arise in the operations of international organisations, identifies potential damage and harms that might be faced by the organisation as a result, and creates a particular “risk appetite” which creates a space of operation whereby it is strategically advantageous or tolerable for the organisation to operate. While ERM is a holistic concept, encompassing multiple forms of risk, the international organisations’ literature mainly emphasises financial, operational, or political risks and demonstrates how the introduction of risk management strategies could potentially reshape organisational decision-making, where international organisations are moving away from operating with the clear boundaries set by the legal mandate of the organisation, to adopt more flexible, and potentially expansive operational spaces that are dynamically set by the potential risk appetite, and risk calculation for a particular domain. Hence, the proliferation of risk management strategies could potentially replace the delimitation of the international organisation’s functions by its legal mandate with risk calculations and make the organisation more prone to taking risks potentially engaging in conduct that is conventionally beyond its mandate.

However, the recent statements by the UNHCR demonstrate another facet of ERM beyond organisations being more proactive to engage in financial and operational risks. This aspect, which more strongly exists for humanitarian international organisations, could be identified as “security risk management” (SRM). SRM refers to the management of physical and security risks faced by especially humanitarian international organisations and the determination of the tolerable governance space for these organisations to operate in in the face of these risks and resulting harms. This blog will attempt to focus on this relatively under-researched aspect of ERM and to demonstrate how the dominance of security risk management in decision-making leads to the opposite result, whereby the organisation is more risk avoidant and restrictive, and the mandate is “contracted” in practice, as organisations would inherently operate within a more limited space of governance than that is set by their legal mandate, given the contrastingly limiting nature of SRM within ERM.

International Organisations and Risk Management

ERM has emerged as a significant mechanism in the determination of organisational conduct and decision-making in many international organisations such as WTO and ICANN,  or more comprehensively, with the increasing inclusion of ERM across the UN network since 2006. This raises significant questions for international institutional law scholarship. Most significantly, the centralised position of ERM frameworks in decision-making could potentially denote a move of international institutional law beyond the mainstream functionalism and constitutionalism oriented way of determining the legal order and functions of international organisation, instead underlying how risk management frameworks and relying upon these frameworks by internal actors could constitute an alternative form of lawmaking and lawyering.

This impact was most clearly demonstrated by Van Den Meerssche in the context of the World Bank and the emergence of the risk framework, under the reforms initiated by General Counsel Leroy. There, the ERM framework and the overall adoption of the risk language were used as a means to make the organisation more agile, flexible, and less reliant on rigid legal mandates, creating, justifying and sustaining the legal order and governance space of the World Bank through this more operationally driven risk framework and not on the basis of the legal mandate of the organisation. Van Den Meerssche demonstrates how this paved the way for the World Bank to act in a more expansionist way, making its legal mandate and its limits secondary, as projects were assessed, authorised, legitimised and implemented through the risk framework and the organisation was prone to take more risks, and hence expand its area of operation. It could be suggested that a similar narrative might exist for other international organisations; risk frameworks, dominated by financial and operational risk appetites, could encourage international organisations to take more risks and act more expansively. This could then weaken the primacy of legal mandates, organisational conduct, and legal order as sustained and demarcated by the mandate.

However, beyond the financial and operational risk framework, the security risk management aspect of ERM, which is particularly relevant for humanitarian international organisations, could produce the opposite effect of inherently constraining and limiting the functions and governance space of the organisation. In the remainder of this blog entry, I aim to compare the emergence and primacy of security risk management and other aspects of ERM, and how it could potentially lead to “mandate contraction” as opposed to “mandate expansion.”

Security Risk Management and Discourse of Risk in Humanitarian International Organisations

Humanitarian international organisations often refer to themselves as facing extensive risks as they operate in challenging environments with precarious domestic and regional political situations. Personnel from organisations such as the UNHCR, IOM and ICRC have often referred to working in field operations where they have to balance risks; for example, risk of harm to the staff members of the organisations during operations, risks due to operating in conflict-like situations, risk of political backlash from host countries in the context of operations, and risks faced in the frontlines working with specifically vulnerable communities. This paved the way for the ERM frameworks in such humanitarian organisations to focus more strongly on “security risk management”. This is apparent, for example, in the ERM framework of the UNHCR, where security risk management plays a great role in the categories of risk the organisation will manage. It was also practically visible in the 2020 risk review of the UNHCR, where security-related risks made up the majority of risk categories reported by the organisation. An overview of activities of humanitarian international organisations by Humanitarian Outcomes and the Global Interagency Security Forum (GISF) demonstrates that SRM frameworks in humanitarian organisations are highly prolific, systematised and dominant in the decision-making process. Organisations employ senior risk management directors and personnel and release various guidelines, policies, and handbooks for staff to follow and reshape their conduct. Especially in the UN agencies, such policies have become highly entrenched, with the systematisation of security risk management for humanitarian international organisations under the UN framework in 2003.

It could, therefore, be argued that, as the increased salience of financial and operational risk has been seen to prompt the World Bank to take action beyond its legal mandate, the developing centrality of SRM (and the proliferation of SRM-related tools and actors as detailed above) may also weaken the primacy of humanitarian organisations’ legal mandates in determining their functions and legal order. This could be seen in practice, such as in the UNHCR. One of the main categories of risk that is determined by the UNHCR in its ERM framework is “government relations”. Managing this risk has become a central point in the organisational decision-making, which could be observed in UNHCR’s operation in Egypt, where staff members were only able to process asylum seekers with guarantees to prevent deportation and detention if they had identity cards due to the necessity to balance risks of damaging their relations with the Egyptian government. Similarly, in Mauritania, the UNHCR office excluded certain asylum seekers from the national protection procedure to protect the relationship of the regional bureau with Mauritanian authorities, guided by the necessity of balancing the risk regarding government relations.

Both examples demonstrate that the UNHCR actors were guided by the framework of risk management while exercising their functions, and acting restrictively, even though UNHCR’s mandate offers a broader scope of activities. While the problem of humanitarian organisations limiting their conduct to balance difficult situations on the ground is not new, the systematisation of these approaches under SRM  demonstrates that it could entrench its own organisational culture, similar to the risk management framework in the World Bank. However, these prior examples suggest that this emerging culture would instead revolve around risk aversion, ultimately construing, understanding and implementing the mandate and functions of the organisation more restrictively. While this post does not adopt a particular normative stance towards this, it aims to highlight the necessity for a detailed socio-legal research into humanitarian international organisations with a focus on security risk management frameworks. This could deepen our understanding of potential new modes of constituting the legal order and lawmaking structures of humanitarian international organisations beyond insights provided by mainstream constitutionalist and functionalist approaches.

Pet dog to be rehomed after waiting fruitlessly for return of family on board doomed Jeju Air flight

A pet dog named Pudding was seen wandering the village streets, seemingly searching for its owner and family.
PHOTO: Instagram/Care_korea_official

January 03, 2025

By Candice Cai

ASIA ONE

It had waited patiently for its owner and other family members to arrive home — but they never did.

What the pet dog named Pudding didn't know, was that the nine family members, including a 79-year-old man and his six-year-old granddaughter, had perished on board Jeju Air flight 2216.

The plane was carrying 181 passengers from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday (Dec 29) when it landed at Muan International Airport and hit a barrier before bursting into flames. Only two crew members survived.


Among the passengers was the elderly man — the oldest passenger on the flight — as well as his wife, two daughters, a son-in-law, his granddaughter and three grandsons.

Another son-in-law who did not join the three-generational family on the trip is now left to deal with the unimaginable loss.

Pudding was reportedly living with the elderly man and his family in a village located in Yeonggwang county, South Jeolla province, according to media outlets.

Two days after the tragedy, Pudding was seen roaming the streets between the home and village streets, seemingly trying to locate his family.

According to The Korea Times, villagers said they saw the dog lingering near the empty family home and watching passing cars.



It was later rescued by animal rights organisation Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (Care) and admitted to a veterinary hospital in Seoul.

The group had described their encounter with the dog: "We found Pudding sitting quietly outside the village hall. When we approached, it ran toward us with excitement, as if still waiting for its family."

Pudding's health is being monitored as its vomit contained "harmful food" such as onions and chicken bones, a representative from Care was quoted by The Korea Times as saying.

Care has stated it will be looking after Pudding until a suitable guardian is found.


It stated on its official Instagram page: "We determined that it was unsafe for Pudding to roam the village without a caretaker.

"After contacting the grieving family at the funeral, we decided to protect Pudding until a suitable guardian can be found."