1st image from NASA's new IXPE X-ray telescope looks like a ball of purple lightning

NASA's newly-launched X-ray hunting probe has snapped its first science image and — wow — it's spectacular

Chelsea Gohd - 

© Provided by SpaceIXPE's first science image shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A.

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) probe launched Dec. 9, 2021, on a mission to observe objects like black holes and neutron stars in X-ray light, shedding much-anticipated light on the inner workings of the cosmos. The probe spent its first month in space checking out its various systems to get ready to capture its first images, and now the IXPE team has released its very first science image.

The image shows Cassiopeia A, the remnants of a star that exploded as a supernova in the 17th century. That explosion sent shock waves outwards, heating up surrounding gasses and accelerating cosmic ray particles (high-speed electrons and atomic nuclei) to create a cloud of assorted matter, according to a statement from NASA. This cloud, as you can see in the striking image from IXPE, glows brilliantly in X-ray light.

Related: Our X-Ray universe: Amazing photos by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory

It goes without saying that the image is visually stunning.

"The IXPE image of Cassiopeia A is bellissima, and we look forward to analyzing the polarimetry data to learn even more about this supernova remnant," Paolo Soffitta, the Italian principal investigator for IXPE at the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Rome, said in the NASA statement. ("Bellissima" means beautiful in Italian.)

Now, while the image's most striking feature is its almost-neon magenta color, it doesn't actually look like that in visible light. But this color, which represents X-ray radiation, is a helpful guide for scientists. The more saturated the color, the more intense the X-ray light. Additionally, veins of what resembles blue lightning in the image represent high energy X-rays seen by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

While the two telescopes both observe X-rays, they have different kinds of detectors so, by working together, they can produce more complete and detailed data, according to the statement.

Chandra's first image was also of Cassiopeia A after it launched all the way back in 1999. Chandra's early observations revealed that, at the center of the remnant, there must be a compact object like a black hole or neutron star.

"The IXPE image of Cassiopeia A is as historic as the Chandra image of the same supernova remnant," IXPE principal investigator Martin C. Weisskopf said in the NASA statement. "It demonstrates IXPE's potential to gain new, never-before-seen information about Cassiopeia A, which is under analysis right now."

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source of mysterious global tsunami found near Antarctica

When a mysterious series of temblors emanated from the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands, scientists all over the world found themselves scratching their heads in confusion.

Robin George Andrews - Yesterday 
National Geographic

© Provided by National GeographicThe remote South Georgia Island, pictured here, is the closest inhabited landmass to an unusual earthquake that sent tsunami waves rippling around the world. South Georgia Island and the uninhabited South Sandwich Islands, where the quake occurred, together make up a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic northeast of Antarctica.

First a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck under the islands, a British Overseas Territory in the frigid waters of the southern Atlantic Ocean. Three minutes later, a magnitude 8.1 quake shook the region again.

These rumblings, which occurred on August 12, 2021, were not unusual on their own, since the islands sit atop a combative meeting of tectonic plates. The odd part is that they were followed by a tsunami powerful enough to show up on distant shores along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Although the swell wasn’t destructive, it was the first since the catastrophic tsunami of 2004 to be recorded in three different oceans.


© Provided by National GeographicSouth Georgia Island's historic whaling stations, like this one at Grytviken, have been abandoned, but the British Antarctic Survey maintains a research station at King Edward Point. The South Sandwich Islands, meanwhile, are currently uninhabited. There is no geophysical monitoring station on these islands and no ocean-bottom seismometers, making earthquakes there difficult to study.

While certain types of earthquakes are known to cause tsunamis, the initial depth estimates for these quakes suggested they were too deep to sufficiently flex the seafloor and push a vast volume of water forth. “It was a big mystery, and a big challenge for the seismological community,” says Zhe Jia, a graduate student of geophysics at the California Institute of Technology.


© Provided by National GeographicGlaciers drape the coastline of the remote South Georgia Island. When the earthquake struck nearby in August 2021, it sent tsunami waves onto distant shores along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

After spending months untangling this enigmatic earthquake sequence, Jia and his colleagues think they have figured out what happened. In a study published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the team concluded that there were actually five major ruptures that day, the components of a single powerful quake that took place within a few minutes of each other. One of these ruptures, previously buried in the noisy seismic signals, was powerful and shallow enough to trigger the multi-ocean tsunami.

By deciphering this strange seismic event, geoscientists can develop a better understanding of how earthquakes generate tsunamis. “We rely heavily on initial seismic estimates to make a guess about whether an earthquake triggered a tsunami,” says Judith Hubbard, a structural geologist at the Earth Observatory of Singapore who was not involved with the study.


© Provided by National GeographicKing penguins, the second largest penguin species in the world, gather in the tens of thousands on South Georgia Island. Animals there would have been too far away to feel the August 2021 earthquake.

“I think the event is telling us more that our tsunami detection systems might not be good enough.”

The odd series of quakes has also made researchers wonder if we will ever fully grasp the many intricacies of our planet. “As time goes on, and we see more earthquakes, they tend to just get weirder and more complicated,” says Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at Imperial College London who was not involved with the study.
Descending plates, raised eyebrows

Deep below the isolated South Sandwich Islands, the South American tectonic plate plunges beneath the South Sandwich plate at a modest speed of 2.8 inches a year. The uneven grind between these two plates causes stress to build up over time. Sometimes that stress is released in earthquakes—including the kind that can generate tsunamis.

These large coastal waves are usually made when something displaces a lot of water. In this case, “the thing that triggers a tsunami is the deformation of the seafloor,” Hubbard says. But a quake here needs to be shallow enough for a tsunami like this to happen.

The magnitude 7.5 quake on August 12 occurred at a depth of 29 miles, so it “was very unlikely to have generated the global-spreading tsunami we observed much later,” Jia says. The magnitude 8.1 event just after was a slightly more suspicious event, with a shallower depth of 14 miles.

But the seismic signals from this earthquake sequence were seriously messy. The two quakes struck nearby one another in very rapid succession. The data are a bit like a recording of one person talking when another person starts shouting over them, creating a lot of indecipherable noise. Automated systems struggled to produce consistent values for the magnitude, location, and depth of the second temblor.

“We thought that we were all missing something,” Jia says.
Earthquake sandwich

Over the next few months, Jia and his team untangled that day’s messy web of seismic waves, removing interference and pinpointing individual ruptures within the chaos. Ultimately, they found that there weren’t two major ruptures involved in this event, but five, all striking within just 260 seconds.

“In a first-order sense, this is a single earthquake,” Hicks says. It was just complicated—and powerful. “It ruptured the vast proportion of this subduction zone.”

The first two quakes, both magnitude 7.2 events, lasted for just 23 and 19 seconds, respectively. These two ruptures, when combined, produced what was previously thought to be the single magnitude 7.5 event. The last two quakes—a magnitude 7.6 and 7.7, respectively—were also short-lived temblors.

The third rupture in the rock, however, sandwiched between the other four, stood out. Registering as a magnitude 8.2 event, it was extremely powerful, unleashing the majority of the entire five-part quake’s energy. It was also slow, taking 180 seconds to transpire. That was partly why it remained hidden for so long: The team wasn’t using the right kind of seismic searchlight.

The shapes of seismic waves from slower quakes are different from the sort you typically get with sudden ruptures. When Jia changed the filters on the data recorded by a global network of seismographs to search for far slower ruptures, the event suddenly jumped out.

In addition to being more powerful and longer lasting, this quake was quite shallow, with a depth of just 8.5 miles—perfectly capable of creating a global tsunami.
World-shaking weirdness

Earthquakes are rarely as straightforward as they initially appear. Sometimes, as with New Zealand’s 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, that complexity is plain to see. Like a rocky Rube Goldberg machine, the quake featured a rupture that jumped between a dozen different faults. But that quake’s puzzles could be more easily solved.

“In that case, you’re talking about surface rupture,” says Kasey Aderhold, an earthquake seismologist at the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology who wasn’t involved with the new study. “It ruptures all these different faults, and they’re right up top. We can walk around on them and look at them.”

Not so for the South Sandwich Islands’ strange quake of 2021. “It’s deep, it’s under the ocean, it’s in a pretty remote place. You can’t touch it or walk around on it,” Aderhold says. There is no geophysical monitoring station on these islands, no ocean-bottom seismometers listening to the creaking subduction zone.

The researchers were only able to untangle the geological workings thanks to the Global Seismographic Network—an open-access, planet-wide network of 152 seismometers jointly operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Science Foundation. “It’s really important,” Jia says. Without its nodes recording the seismic rumbles coming from remote earthquakes, strange events like this one would be impossible to decode.

As with most complex quakes, some mysteries remain. The magnitude 8.2 rupture most likely triggered the tsunami, but the specifics aren’t yet clear.

“A lot of tsunamis actually involve submarine landslides, which can be triggered by earthquakes,” says Robert Larter, a marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey. “I’m personally wondering if that’s the case here.” The only way to check would be to peruse the seafloor—perhaps with a sonar-equipped boat, or with robotic submersibles—and compare its appearance to older bathymetric maps.

Geologists also wonder whether the subduction zone under the South Sandwich Islands could continue to unleash strong quakes. Last year’s rupture was expansive and potent. “Does this mean that this probably won’t rupture in such a large event for another, what, 500, 1,000 years?” Hicks wonders. A lack of instrumentation in the region makes this “a really difficult question to answer.”

The good news is that this quintuple quake’s discovery will bolster scientists’ ability to see similar events coming next time. “This offers the opportunity to detect these kinds of slow-rupture events from the seismic data, and with that we could more quickly and accurately trigger warnings,” Hubbard says.

The bad news is that this won’t be the last time an earthquake bamboozles scientists hoping to offset their more destructive elements. As Larter puts it: “The natural world is full of surprises.”

Craters Only Ever Seen on Other Planets and Moons Discovered in Wyoming

Impact craters that have only ever been seen on other planets and moons have been discovered in Wyoming.

Orlando Jenkinson - Yesterday

In a study published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin, scientists have announced the finding of secondary impact craters clustered in a field unlike anything else found on Earth before. The findings raise the possibility of a much larger impact crater yet to be discovered in the region.

Secondary impact craters are formed by debris from the larger initial impacts made by material crashing into a planet or moon from space. When such impacts occur at a high enough speed, the destruction they cause can eject material that cuts the secondary craters, which appear as elongated scars, into the surrounding land.

The paper compared the Wyoming craters to formations found not on Earth but elsewhere in the solar system. These included planets and moons that have thinner atmospheres than Earth, like Mars, Mercury and Ganymede—a moon orbiting the distant gas giant planet Jupiter.

Researchers said their work had uncovered a large number of craters—31 in total—in what they have called the Wyoming Crater Field, while more than 60 other structures that could be other impact craters await confirmation. They found the craters in a triangular area between the cities of Laramie, Douglas and Casper.

Images that accompanied the research showed the strange, stretched structures of the craters that appeared like close-ups of the moon or Mars.


© Kent Sundell, Casper CollegeAerial view of the secondary impact craters found in Wyoming. Kent Sundell, Casper College


© Kent Sundell, Casper CollegeKent Sundell, Casper College


© Kent Sundell, Casper CollegeKent Sundell, Casper College

"The trajectories indicate a single source and show that the craters were formed by ejected blocks from a large primary crater," project leader Thomas Kenkmann, professor of geology at the University of Freiburg, Germany, said in a statement. "Secondary craters around larger craters are well known from other planets and moons but have never been found on Earth."

The speed at which these impacts occurred was incredibly fast—researchers said ballistics modeling indicated the impacts happened at between 700 and 1,000 meters per second (1,500 to 2,200 miles per hour), as fast as a speeding bullet.

Such high-speed impacts also ejected materials far out from where they occurred according to the scientist's modeling. The paper said that material thrown out from the impact sites could travel between six and 430 miles away.

The paper said that despite the clear evidence of secondary impact craters, the site of the initial larger impact which created them was still unknown. Its modeling proposed a site somewhere on the border between Wyoming and Nebraska.

They said the findings represented a rare phenomenon on Earth because our planet's thicker atmosphere typically breaks meteors up into smaller fragments prior to collision.

"Here, for the first time, evidence is provided that secondary cratering has been possible on Earth," the study said.

Fly Me to the Moon: Worldwide Cislunar and Lunar Missions

February 15, 2022

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

Fly Me to the Moon examines planned cislunar and lunar missions over the next decade from countries around the world. This compilation showcases the growth of satellites, rovers, and experiments intended to extend humanity’s reach more firmly into cislunar space and on the Moon. While many missions are focused on the discovery of water and ice on the lunar surface, others are building sustainable long-term transportation and habitation services for future human stay in space and on the Moon.

This report is made possible by general funding to CSIS.

Sheikh Jarrah quagmire could reignite fighting in Gaza, senior source warns

Source says further simmering of state of affairs in the contested East Jerusalem neighborhood 'must be prevented', slams lawmakers using situation to score political clout

Itamar Eichner|

Published: 02.15.22  YNET

The ongoing unrest in East Jerusalem's contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood could rekindle hostilities with Gaza Strip militant factions, a senior Israeli source warned on Tuesday.

Security forces have been clashing with both Palestinian and right-wing activists in recent days in a new wave of violence in the flashpoint after far-right legislator MK Itamar Ben Gvir opened a makeshift parliamentary office in Sheikh Jarrah in response to Palestinians firebombing a Jewish home in the neighborhood over the weekend.

Riots in East Jerusalem's contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

"There has been a deterioration in the security situation in the area. Knesset members are coming there to stir up tensions. Escalation must be prevented and Jerusalem is a sensitive place," the source said in a media briefing.

The source further criticized Ben-Gvir, as well as members of the predominately Arab Joint List — MKs Ahmad Tibi, Ofer Cassif and Osama Saadi — who arrived in the neighborhood Sunday and picked a quarrel with right-wing activists there.

“I know very well what brings people there. [They seek] to cause provocations and burn the house down. We have established a state that has a monopoly over using force, there is no need for vigilantism for that,” he said.

Joint List MKs Ahmad Tibi, Ofer Cassif and Osama Saadi in Sheikh Jarrah

(Photo: Haim Goldich)

"We must stand up for the security of the residents of the neighborhood... But avoid provocations that would lead us to bad places."

The warning came days after Hamas spokesman Muhammad Hamada, warned that "settlers' attacks on Sheikh Jarrah, led by Itamar Ben Gvir, are a game of fire that could ignite all of Palestine."

"The ramification of such attacks are explosive and could backfire," he said as he called on Palestinians in Jerusalem and on the West Bank to "mobilize for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah."

Police clash with Palestinian protesters in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday

(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)

Israel Police also warned of the ongoing situation, saying that "bad actors have been spreading misinformation and disinformation about various events in the area over social networks, along with violent and inflammatory online discourse and improper attempts to ignite the area."

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP

Pastor Greg Locke threatens to dox ‘witches’ that infiltrated wife’s Bible book club
AMERIKA 2022

Justin Vallejo
Tue., February 15, 2022,

The Tennessee pastor known for burning so-called "witchcraft" books like Harry Potter and Twilight has threatened to expose six supposed "witches" in a new video that has gone viral.

Pastor Greg Locke, who styles himself as a prophet for predicting Donald Trump would beat "demon-possessed" Joe Biden, went on a wild sermon against the so-called "witches" that infiltrated his congregation.

In the video taken on 13 February, Mr Locke demanded the six "get out" or he would expose them during the next sermon to his Global Vision Bible Church this coming Sunday.

"Three of you are in this room right now. Three of you in the room right now. You better look in my eyeballs, we ain’t afraid of you, you stinkin’ witch, you devil-worshipping Satanist witch. We cast you out in the name of Jesus Christ! We break your spells, we break your curse. We got your first name, we got your last name, we even got an address for one of you!" he screamed.

"You so much as cough wrong, and I’ll expose you in front of everybody in this tent, you stinkin’ witch!" he added. "You were sent to this church to destroy us. You were sent to this church to lure us in. You were sent to this church to cast a spell — listen, some of you been sick? Cause you befriended that witch!"

HIS DUCK WALK HAS NOTHING ON GRUCHO


The clip, posted to Twitter by former Jeopardy! Champion Hemant Mehta and viewed more than 600,000 times, comes after Mr Locke made news for hosting a burning of books and movies earlier in February.

He said Harry Potter, Twilight, tarot cards, Ouija boards, healing crystals, idol statues and spell books are "100 per cent witchcraft", adding his "haters" can laugh all they want.

"If you think we’re crazy, then scroll on. We’re exposing the Kingdom of Darkness for what it is. It’s time for people to be delivered," he said before the book burning.

BOOK BURNING 2022

A Tennessee pastor invited his congregation to ban ‘occultic’ books like ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’ on Wednesday, 2 February, 2022.

 (Screengrab of Greg Locke Facebook Live video)

Mr Locke has been one of the most out-spoken propagators of QAnon lore, calling Mr Biden a "sex-trafficking, demon-possessed mongrel" who is part of a secret cabal that operates child-trafficking tunnels beneath the White House.

He insists that Mr Trump is the "legitimate president" but has since had a falling out with the former president over his support of Covid-19 vaccines.

In his latest sermon on Sunday, he said two of the witches infiltrated the congregation through his "wife’s ladies’ Bible study".

Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church holds services in the church parking lot on March 29, 2020 in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. (Getty Images)

"We got all six of their names. All six of them ... So you got a choice. You can leave with your spells, all by yourself, or I’ll show up next Sunday with a stage full of brooms, and I’ll give you one and I’ll fly your tail up out of this place in the name of Jesus," he said.

"But we ain’t playing your spell-castin’, witchcraft nonsense sage-burning games."

Global Vision Bible Church did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

REAL WITCHES DON'T JOIN BIBLE CLASS THEY WATER SKI

Myanmar activists oppose sale of Telenor telecom to military-linked firm

Military authorities could soon have access to Telenor's customer database

Written byMong Palatino

Posted 13 February 2022 

Telenor Myanmar SIM card package. Photo by Maung Sun, Wikipedia. (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Activists and civil society groups in Myanmar have sent open letters and launched an online petition to the Norwegian government opposing the sale of Telenor Myanmar to a company with links to the country’s Tatmadaw (armed forces).

Telenor is a multinational telecom company based in Norway. It started operating in Myanmar in 2014 through its subsidiary, Telenor Myanmar.

After the military coup in February 2021, Telenor Myanmar faced pressure from the military government which gave several orders related to surveillance and content blocking. In July, Telenor announced its intent to leave Myanmar.

Further deterioration of the situation and recent developments in Myanmar form the basis for the decision to divest the company. In the present situation it has not been possible for Telenor to conduct an ordinary sales process.

Over the past year, Myanmar’s military government has imposed media restrictions and waged a brutal crackdown targeting activists, opposition leaders, and anti-junta groups.

According to news reports, Telenor will be sold to Lebanon-based M1 group and Shwe Bayin Phyu, a group of companies with ties to military-owned businesses. The sale is to be completed on February 15 and the partnership is expected to be named Investcom Myanmar.

Activists and civil society groups warned that the sale would allow the military regime to access more than 18 million Telenor customers’ data. Sensitive information of users including SIM card registration, call and internet logs, and location data could now fall into the hands of the military.

Launched on February 10, the online petition opposing the sale of Telenor has already garnered more than 170,000 signatures as of this writing. The petition cites the danger of this transaction for those opposing the junta:

There are high risks of unpredictable violence, including murder.

All Telenor users and their affiliates, including their family members, are at risk and could be arrested, or murdered based on the user data shared by Telenor to the new owner and the military, by proxy.

The petition offers these alternatives for Telenor to consider:

● Immediately stop the sale to military-linked Investcom.

● Consider all alternatives to the sale to Investcom, including re-licensing, permanently deleting all user data, and shutting down telecommunications infrastructure.

● Not transfer nor sell user data to anyone under any circumstances and for any reason.

Telenor’s sale to a military proxy is described as part of a “digital coup” which placed the country’s telecommunications providers under the control of the junta:

These targeted efforts will enable the military to bring all network services under its stranglehold and escalate abuses of privacy and security rights, through surveillance and related efforts. Yet, disturbingly, not a single telecommunications sector actor has implemented urgent data protection and privacy safeguards needed to protect their customers.

As early as last July, 464 civil society groups expressed their concern about Telenor’s decision to divest its operations in Myanmar without providing clear information about how it will protect the data of its customers.

Telenor has not consulted with civil society over the sale. They have not consulted with customers. They have not consulted with the people risking their lives to resist the military junta, whose lives are in Telenor's hands. We have not been presented with any human rights or corruption due diligence regarding the disposal of their Myanmar business.

In January, 168 groups sent a letter to the government of Norway, which has a controlling stake in Telenor, about the dire consequences of selling the telecom subsidiary in Myanmar to a company with a known record of doing business with repressive regimes.

It is our opinion that the sale of Telenor Myanmar to the M1 Group has significant geopolitical consequences. Therefore, we strongly believe that it ought to be brought directly to the Norwegian Government to be decided on, and not left to the Telenor Group ASA alone. It worries us deeply that Telenor so far has ignored the real government of Myanmar, but rather awaits acceptance of the sale from a violent and illegitimate extremist regime.

In an interview with Myanmar Now news website, Norwegian judge Hanne Sophie Greve stated that she believed Norwegian officials could be held liable if they allow Telenor to be sold to a junta proxy:

I do believe that anyone who assists the military in Myanmar in getting access to data related to perhaps 18 million customers of Telenor may actually be aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.

I think that it would be advisable for Telenor to ask the chief public prosecutor in Norway to give an opinion about the possible consequences of the sale. Telenor should await that opinion. I cannot imagine that the answer will be that releasing 18 million customers’ information cannot be aiding and abetting, if the military’s behaviour in Myanmar already, or tomorrow, amounts to crimes against humanity.

Telenor Myanmar tweeted on February 11 its commitment to continuing its operations “as normal”:

Azerbaijani journalists detained, beaten for covering protest

February 15, 2022 

Sevinj Sadygova (left), a reporter at independent news website Azel.tv,
and Fatima Mövlamli, a reporter for independent news website Azadliq,
were detained on February 15, 2022, while covering a protest. 

(Sadygova, Mövlamli)

Stockholm, February 15, 2022 – Azerbaijani authorities should investigate allegations of police brutality against three journalists detained while covering a protest and allow all members of the press to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

This morning, police in the capital Baku detained Fatima Mövlamli, a reporter for independent news site Azadliq, Sevinj Sadygova, a reporter at independent news website Azel.tv, and Teymur Karimov, chief editor at the independent YouTube-based outlet Kanal1, according to news reports and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ by telephone and messaging app.

The three journalists were filming a demonstration when police forcefully tried to stop them before detaining them, according to the journalists and videos of the incident posted on Azel.tv and Karimov’s Facebook page. The demonstration was heading towards the presidential administration building and was held by mothers demanding that their sons killed in the recent war with neighboring Armenia be officially recognized as martyrs, according to the news reports.

“Azerbaijani authorities should fully investigate the allegations of outrageous police mistreatment of journalists Fatima Mövlamli, Sevinj Sadygova, and Teymur Karimov and take credible steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Journalists from pro-government and critical outlets alike must be free to cover demonstrations without fear of arbitrary detention and police brutality.”

Police officers struck Karimov in the arm and knee as they forced him into a police car, he told CPJ. Officers took him to Police Station No. 9 in the Sabail district of Baku, before releasing him without charge after half an hour.

Officers hit and kicked Mövlamli and Sadygova as they loaded them into a police van before taking them to Police Station No. 9. There, they accused them of filming the administration headquarters, which police said was a protected building, the journalists told CPJ, adding that the protest was still several streets away from the presidential administration when they were detained.

They demanded that the pair delete their footage and, on two occasions, pushed Mövlemli to the ground and repeatedly kicked her in the legs and stomach. Officers also repeatedly swore at and insulted Sadygova and Mövlemli, calling the latter a “whore” and saying that they were “fed up” with her, the journalists told CPJ.

Mövlamli, whose outlet Azadliq has been blocked in Azerbaijan since 2017, regularly writes about authorities’ repression of political activists and has been detained more than 10 times, according to news reports.

Police also told them they had no right to act as journalists since they were not included in a centralized register of journalists, which was established by a new media law enacted on February 8, 2022, they said. When the law was enacted CPJ documented how journalists feared the register would be used to restrict the independent press; however, Azerbaijani authorities have denied that journalists excluded from the register will be subject to restrictions.

Police confiscated and subsequently returned one of Sadygova’s cell phones, she said, adding that police ordered the journalists be strip searched to recover additional phones. When the journalists refused unless they were permitted to speak to a lawyer, police relented.

Officers then transferred the pair to Baku Main Police Department, where they released them without charge after four hours. Mövlamli told independent regional news site Caucasian Knot that the deputy head of Baku police called her shortly after her release to say that two police officers had been fired for beating her, but said she doubted this was true.

All three journalists told CPJ they plan to file official complaints over their treatment by police. CPJ emailed the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply.

Sadygova continued to report for Azel.tv as the founder, her husband Afgan Sadygov, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence in retaliation for his critical reporting, according to CPJ research.

EAST ASIA
Citizen Journalists Fight Back Against Myanmar Military's Crackdown

Tommy Walker
February 15, 2022 

A journalist and a police officer take pictures of each other as people protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 23, 2021.

BANGKOK —

Professional reporters in Myanmar say their job is nearly impossible under the fierce restrictions imposed by military rule. Now, citizen journalists have stepped into the breach, often working undercover to avoid arrests or worse.

After a coup ousted elected civilian leaders about a year ago, press freedom in the country rapidly declined. The junta banned several news outlets; hundreds of reporters have been detained and several killed.

The country's crisis, however, has only inspired converts like 27-year-old Shane, an engineer who lost his job in the post-coup economic turmoil.

Shane joined anti-junta protests with the civil disobedience movement, or CDM, which initially organized street demonstrations featuring Myanmar's professional class — doctors, lawyers, teachers — and then launched successive strikes.

Myanmar Military Targets Sector Professionals as Demonstrations Continue

The experience transformed him.

"My passion is more relevant to the journalist job. That's why I joined the CDM, (and) it can be said that I (then) became a citizen journalist," Shane told VOA. (To help ensure safety, VOA is not using the full name of any citizen journalist in this story.)

After the strikes, Myanmar's military rulers forced those who had been living in government housing to leave, including Shane.

"I returned to my native town, Mindat, Chin state, and a few months later, the battles started," he said.

In May, Shane reported on some of the military's most violent episodes, including conflict with the Chin Defense Forces, formed after the coup to guard townships and civilians from military attacks in Chin state.

"The worst thing I have had to report is around 10 young men were killed in one day in the battle of Mindat," he said.

 Displaced people from Mindat take shelter in a forest in western Myanmar's Chin state, amid ongoing attacks by the military following clashes with the Chin Defence Forces militia group, in May 2021. 

(Handout photo by Chin World / AFP)

Shane said he watched the military burn two men to death. He reported that junta forces arrested several civilians, ordered them to wear military uniforms and used them as human shields, causing a Chin forces retreat.

At the time, Shane was assisting reporters from local, national and international media outlets.

"We don't get income by doing citizen journalism, but with passion and enthusiasm, with the mindset that we will contribute our best for our people and our region, and we are still working on it," he said.

Dozens detained

There is no telling how many citizen journalists are taking up the pen in Myanmar. The void they are filling, however, is big and getting bigger.

According to Reporting ASEAN, a monitoring group in Southeast Asia, 121 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar as of Feb. 9, 2022. Of those, 47 remain in custody, 16 were convicted of various charges and one died.

According to the United Nations spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, the number of journalists arrested in the past 12 months is higher: 146, including 12 women.

 Police arrest a journalist in Yangon on Feb. 27, 2021, as protesters were taking part in a demonstration against the military coup.

And a Facebook group, Detained Journalists Information Myanmar, counts 23 citizen journalists, freelancers or former journalists detained and one killed.

"The (junta) targets not only working journalists, but they want everyone who has contact with media organizations," said Thiri, a former journalist and administrator for the Facebook page.

Myanmar's military spokesperson has said that only those inciting unrest have been arrested.

The coup took place on Feb. 1, 2021, when General Min Aung Hlaing overthrew the elected government of Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

She is now in prison on what rights groups say are fabricated corruption charges.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 1,546 people have been killed by the military since the coup.

'Gun to my chest'

May, a 26-year-old also from Chin state, has found herself in precarious situations while reporting. She became a citizen journalist before the coup, in 2018, and told VOA that her curious personality had drawn her to the profession.

"I wanted to know something first, so I always go and investigate what happened and share with others," she said. "The life is really different from other ordinary life. It keeps me awake, conscious, alert and active every day."

In April, she witnessed junta forces open fire on civilians in Kanpetlet, a town in Chin state. Despite the dangers, May tried to get closer to the events to gather more information. Soldiers said no.

"The junta forces pointed a gun to my chest and said, 'If you take a step, you will be shot.'"

"I was so weak in my mind, I wanted to cry. I was so angry at him (the soldier). I just stared at him," May said. Fortunately for May, one of the soldier's superiors prevented her from being shot.

It wasn't her first intimidating encounter with the military.

"My phone is often checked by junta forces," she said. "They found some wounded people's photos, and victims' photos and asked me why these photos are on my phone. They questioned me again and again for long hours."

May has no plans to stop. "While there is still growing military pressure, I will continue to do citizen journalism," she said. "It is still going on."

'Whole country' news

Veteran journalist Aye Chan Naing, editor of Democratic Voice of Burma, an independent broadcast media group in Myanmar, has said there is "zero tolerance" for independent media in Myanmar. What's happened in reaction, though, is that "the whole country has become a journalist," Aye Chan Naing said.

"If you really want to work in the media environment in Burma, you really have to be undercover. They (the military) consider everyone an enemy," he told VOA. Burma is the former name for Myanmar.

'Zero Tolerance' For Myanmar's Free Press

A reporter who writes under the name Aung Htun at Burma VJ, a media network of journalists, said colleagues were taking more precautions.

Reporters are using Signal, a secure text messaging app. But with regular internet shutdowns by the junta, it's tough sometimes to get the news out.

With no internet to broadcast on, Shane said he shares his reporting by making phone calls.

"I believe it is my responsibility to write news and broadcast through radio," Shane said. "It is very important for my people, because there is no internet connection since September 2021."

Turkey frees reporters set for jail over Libya coverage, says lawyer

Three Turkish journalists have been released from prison after being jailed over their coverage of Libya in 2020.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
15 February, 2022

A lawyer in the case said the sentences were 'an intimidation directed towards all of society'. [source: Getty]

Three Turkish journalists were released on Tuesday, hours after being jailed over their coverage of the deaths of Turkish intelligence officers in Libya in 2020, a lawyer and opposition member said.

In September 2020, five journalists were convicted of revealing information and documents connected to intelligence activities. They were variously held in detention for up to six months during their trial.

The charges related to articles and social media posts published shortly after President Tayyip Erdogan said in February 2020 that Turkey had "several martyrs" in Libya.

Turkey has provided military support and training to Libya's internationally recognised Government of National Accord, and helped it fight off an assault lasting several months on the capital Tripoli by eastern Libyan forces led by Khalifa Haftar.

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Two journalists were sentenced in September 2020 to three years and nine months in jail, while three were given four years and eight months.

The defendants denied the accusations, saying they had been doing their jobs as journalists. Their sentences were finalised after an appeals court rejected their application on January 28.

A lawyer for the journalists said on Tuesday that Murat Agirel, a reporter for YeniCag newspaper, and Baris Pehlivan, a journalist for opposition daily Cumhuriyet, were released.

Alpay Antmen, a lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said journalist Hulya Kilinc was released, but it was unclear if the other two journalists were detained.

Turkish courts do not generally confirm rulings to the media and there was no word on Tuesday's case from the government.

According to the indictment, Agirel was the first to reveal the identities of the intelligence officers, sharing names and photos on Twitter and referring to Erdogan's comments.

Celal Ulgen, another lawyer in the case, said the sentences were "an intimidation directed towards all of society".

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Turkey is one of the world's biggest jailers of journalists.

Critics say Erdogan has eroded the independence of courts and the media since a crackdown following an attempted coup in 2016. Officials say the courts are autonomous and arrests have been necessary because of security risks.

Reporters Without Borders placed Turkey 153rd out of 180 nations on its Press Freedom Index for 2021.