People Are Being Arrested For Arson, But No, They're Not Antifa

As authorities on the West Coast battle ferocious wildfires, they're also having to contend with unfounded conspiracy theories tying the blazes not to climate change, but left-wing agitators.

Julia ReinsteinBuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on September 15, 2020

Rob Schumacher / Getty Images



The melted sign of the Oak Park Motel destroyed by flames in Gates, east of Salem, Oregon, on Sept. 13.


As massive blazes continue to burn across Oregon and other parts of the West Coast, police in Portland arrested a man early Monday for allegedly lighting at least seven small fires in the city.


Authorities said Domingo Lopez Jr., 45, lit a series of small brush fires next to a freeway by using, at least in one instance, a plastic bottle with a wick attached, described by police as a Molotov cocktail. He was arrested Sunday afternoon for lighting one fire and then released, only to be arrested again hours later after he allegedly lit six more, police said in a statement. Firefighters extinguished three of the blazes, while good Samaritans put out the other three. Lopez was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.


That might have been the end of it, except that news of Lopez’s arrest went viral on Twitter, with many sharing the police's post in a bid to falsely tie all the West Coast fires to agitators instead of climate change — part of a trend of right-wing misinformation about the blazes that has become a giant, politically charged distraction for local authorities who are already overmatched by the most ferocious fire season in history.

Arson arrests during fire season are nothing new. Some involve people with mental illness or pyromaniac compulsions, others are people being careless, say, at a gender reveal. But with the US election firmly underway, incidents like the one involving Lopez have been swept up in a wave of right-wing online conspiracy theories designed at discrediting climate change scientists and playing into President Trump’s message about a breakdown of law and order in Democratic-leaning states.

Most notably, people have falsely claimed some of the fires were arson attacks committed by antifa, a loosely defined group of left-wing, anti-fascist activists that Trump has called a "terrorist organization." This fear-mongering — particularly in Oregon, which has been the site of deadly clashes between right- and left-wing demonstrators in recent months — has even led some residents to vow to defy evacuation orders and remain in their burning towns in order to "defend" them from the purported arsonists. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has even had to remove checkpoints set up by residents who had been forcing cars to stop. Photographers and journalists have been accused of being arsonists and looters, and have been threatened and even held at gunpoint as a result.

Amid the swirling falsehoods, the FBI has had to intervene, releasing a statement on Friday making clear that reports of "extremists" being behind the fires had been investigated and were found to be untrue. "Conspiracy theories and misinformation take valuable resources away [from] local fire and police agencies working around the clock to bring these fires under control," the FBI's Portland division said.



Matthew McFarland / Unified Fire Authority via AP



Fire crews prepare to fight wildfires near Butte Falls in Southern Oregon on Saturday.


The misinformation appears to be part of a global trend in which climate change deniers have scapegoated arsonists — and not a warming planet — as the cause of blazes from Oregon to Australia. During the fires across large swaths of eastern Australia in January, prominent right-wing social media figures elevated the false claim that nearly 200 people had been arrested for intentionally starting the blazes. Some conspiracy theories have even gone as far as to baselessly accuse climate change activists of igniting the flames as a sort of false flag. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro blamed Leonardo DiCaprio and environmental NGOs for starting fires in the Amazon last year.

To be sure, arsonists do exist, driven by criminal intention, compulsion, or both. In 2017, there were more than 40,000 arson cases reported in the US, according to the FBI, and 256 arson-related arrests were made in Oregon in 2018 — but these cover all types of arson. Outside fires being lit by people, intentionally or not, are nonetheless still common across the US. The National Fire Protection Association has estimated there were almost 200,000 fires lit outside (i.e., not in structures or vehicles) between 2010 and 2014.


But while wildfires are common this time of year on the West Coast, arson is not a leading cause of these massive blazes, according to Erica Fleishman, an Oregon State University professor and director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute. These fires are instead caused by a number of combined factors, Fleishman told BuzzFeed News, particularly climate change, weather, and an increase in human settlements near areas at risk of wildfires.

"There is virtually no evidence that 'antifa' caused the wildfires currently burning in Oregon," Fleishman said. "The FBI has referenced these rumors as 'untrue.' Local law enforcement offices throughout Oregon are stating that the rumors are false. Even in the cases of fires in which arson is suspected, there are no credible links to antifa or other extremist groups."

There are a few main reasons people commit arson, Robert Schaal, a fire investigator and past president of the International Association of Arson Investigators, told BuzzFeed News. "The number one reason is financial motive," Schaal said. "A lot of people are in financial distress, and it's an easy way out to get the insurance proceeds. Another primary motive is spite or revenge — somebody is angry at a competitor, an individual, a spited lover."

Political reasons, however, are not a typical cause of wildfires, he said. "You do see arson as a tool in civil unrest, but that's not a routine occurrence," Schaal added. Intentional fires have been set during some recent protests in urban areas, he noted, but those have been aimed at businesses and institutions, such as the burning of a Nashville courthouse during a Black Lives Matter protest in May.



Matthew McFarland / Unified Fire Authority via AP



A fire crew member on the scene working to protect the town of Butte Falls in southern Oregon on Sunday.


The arson charge in Portland early Monday morning was one of at least five arrests for arson in recent days to catch the attention of right-wing conspiracy theorists. But in all the cases, authorities have not said the individuals were affiliated with "antifa" or that they had any political motives.

On Friday, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office announced an arrest had been made for a fire intentionally set in Phoenix, Oregon. Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 41, was described as a "local transient," and was booked into jail for violating his probation, which he was on for a previous methamphetamine possession conviction. He has been charged with 15 counts of criminal mischief and 14 counts of reckless endangerment. Bakkela is accused of starting one of two fires that merged to become the Almeda fire, Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office spokesperson Rich Tyler told the Oregonian.

A day before Bakkela's arrest was made, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office issued a warning about unfounded rumors about the fires and urged people to stop spreading "misinformation based on some unverified random post or meme" and stick to official sources for information.


"We are inundated with questions about things that are FAKE stories," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post. "One example is a story circulating that varies about what group is involved as to setting fires and arrests being made. THIS IS NOT TRUE!"

Anita Esquivel, 37, was also arrested for starting fires in Salinas, California, on Sept. 7, jail records show. The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office told KION there was no indication that she has any ties to “antifa.”

In Oregon's Clackamas County, two individuals were arrested Friday on arson charges. According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, 37-year-old Ignat Shchetinin confessed to lighting clothes on fire at a local Fred Meyer store using a lighter, saying he did it "to get the attention of a person who wouldn’t speak with him." Shchetinin allegedly had methamphetamine on him at the time of his arrest and was booked into jail.

Sammy Piatt, 53, was arrested by the Oregon City Police Department for allegedly lighting a pile of leaves on fire near a local social services building. Piatt is homeless, police said, and was arrested for both arson and a probation violation. The fire was quickly extinguished and did not cause damage, police said.

Officials in Clackamas County have also had to push back on antifa rumors not just from the public, but also from their own law enforcement officers.

On Saturday, a deputy in the sheriff's office was placed on administrative leave after a video went viral in which he gave credence to the conspiracy theories and said "we need the public's help on this." The deputy was aware he was being filmed at the time.


"Antifa motherfuckers are out causing hell and there's a lot of lives at stake and there’s a lot of people’s property at stake because these guys got some vendetta," said the deputy.

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said the deputy was placed on leave as soon as Roberts became aware of the video.

"The Sheriff's Office mission is to provide calm and safety especially during unprecedented times such as these," Roberts said. "I expect nothing less of our deputies, and apologize to all in our community.”

Two Pharma Companies Released Their Coronavirus Vaccine Blueprints In A Bid To Regain Public Trust

The disclosures from the two frontrunners, Pfizer and Moderna, come as public trust in a coronavirus vaccine is declining.


ALL CURRENT VACCINE CANDIDATES REQUIRE TWO SHOTS, THAT MAKES IT EVEN MORE UNLIKELY THAT AMERICANS WOULD GET VACCINATED. 

Posted on September 17, 2020,


Chandan Khanna / Getty Images
Moderna protocol files for COVID-19 vaccinations at a research site in Florida.


In a scramble to restore fading public trust in the coronavirus vaccine pipeline, two leading pharmaceutical companies released their trial plans for the first time on Thursday.

Those details — first published by Moderna, then by Pfizer — provide some clarity about a process that many scientists and Democrats fear is being rushed by the Trump administration ahead of the November election.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump challenged CDC Director Robert Redfield’s estimate that a vaccine rollout could happen by summer 2021, calling that timeline a “mistake.” Trump said a shot could be available as early as October.

The documents from Moderna and Pfizer reveal that that projection is far too optimistic. They suggest that the trials may need to run through at least the end of the year to determine whether their vaccines are safe and effective.


Prior to Thursday, none of the nine companies in late-stage trials had released the blueprints for their studies. Another high-profile trial, led by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, was put on hold last week after a serious safety concern was raised; it was then restarted in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil, but not the US, with little explanation about either decision. (An AstraZeneca spokesperson said Thursday afternoon that the company planned to publish its protocol soon.)

Polls indicate that the public’s willingness to take an eventual vaccine is waning, and scientists have called on manufacturers to disclose more about their processes. In releasing its blueprints, Pfizer, which is developing its vaccine with the German company BioNTech, said it “recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic is a unique circumstance and the need for transparency is clear.”


“Today is a momentous day, as it turns out, for transparency in the vaccine trials,” Eric Topol, a clinical trial expert at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told BuzzFeed News. “If anything deviates from this, that’s when you get particularly worried.”

But Topol is already worried that Moderna’s — and especially Pfizer’s — main criteria for judging whether the vaccine works are too lenient. For example, Pfizer plans to include mild COVID-19 cases, which it defines as having one symptom, such as a sore throat or a cough. Topol said evidence of the vaccine’s efficacy would be more compelling if the threshold were raised to more severe cases, such as hospitalizations.

If the vaccine is being compared to a lot of cases where people are not that sick, “that doesn’t tell you if the vaccine is really doing its job,” Topol said. “The whole intention here is to block people from getting really sick.”


Mandel Ngan / Getty Images
Trump and White House science adviser Scott Atlas hold a press conference on coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday.


Moderna’s protocol, as first reported by the New York Times, suggests that analysis of the vaccine data would not begin until December at earliest, with more solid conclusions projected by spring 2021. Pfizer’s blueprint suggests a six-month timeline to complete its trial, but the first of four interim assessments to see whether its vaccine is at least 30% effective — or a failure — would happen after its first 32 volunteers test positive for COVID-19. Under the protocol’s assumption that 1.3% of volunteers in the placebo group will get sick, that would take about five weeks from the time the last volunteer is enrolled. The FDA is requiring that coronavirus vaccines be at least 50% effective.

Last weekend, Pfizer announced it planned to enroll a total of 44,000 volunteers and hoped to finish enrolling its first 30,000 this week, and that conclusive data may be available as early as October. But the protocol suggests that estimate is optimistic. Even if enrollment finishes this month, the earliest time for its first patient assessment would happen in late November, given the time needed between its two shots, and another week that is needed to develop antibodies to the virus.

The company has previously said it hopes to manufacture and distribute 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine by the end of 2021.

Topol expressed concern about Pfizer’s four planned interim assessments, which he said was unheard of in clinical trials. (A more typical number is two, which is the number that Moderna plans to do.) Building in so many opportunities to potentially end the trial midway through, rather than waiting until the end, increases the risk that the vaccine’s apparent effect at whatever given moment is a fluke.

“Rule number one in clinical trials is don’t stop them midstream,” Topol said. “You interrupt an experiment, you’re very likely to get a false reading of efficacy.”

Operation Warp Speed — a Trump administration partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services, the Defense Department, and vaccine makers — has invested around $10 billion to fast-track the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines. The head of the effort, Moncef Slaoui, told Science magazine this month that he would step down from his position in the event of political pressure to rush out a vaccine.

And last week, nine pharmaceutical executives, including the CEOs of Moderna and Pfizer, signed a pledge to abide by “high ethical standards” and “only submit for approval or emergency use authorization after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study.”

Regardless, a Pew Research Center poll this week found that the number of Americans who said they would not get a coronavirus vaccine has increased from 27% in May to 49% in September.

“I’m worried that we could lose a very promising COVID-19 vaccine for reasons that have nothing to do with the science, or whether or not the vaccine works or is safe, but because of perception,” said Peter Hotez, a virologist at Baylor College of Medicine, in an interview before Moderna and Pfizer posted their plans. “Operation Warp Speed urgently needs to get ahead of this. So far they’re not doing it.”

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines rely on genetic material called RNA injected into patients to stimulate an immune response to the “spike” protein unique to SARS-CoV-2, a novel approach that promises more rapid production than traditional vaccines. 

AstraZeneca’s vaccine relies on a weakened version of a common cold virus equipped with this same spike genetic material to alert the immune system to the virus that causes COVID-19. Neither approach has yet led to an approved vaccine.




Stephanie M. Lee is a science reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in San Francisco.

Dan Vergano is a science reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.





Play

#STATEHOOD  OR #INDEPENDENCE

Joe Biden Is Seeking Latino Votes In Florida With A New Plan To Rebuild Puerto Rico

Biden’s visit to Florida this week came with a new plan for Puerto Rico and policies aimed directly at one of the state's most crucial groups.

Nidhi Prakash BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on September 16, 2020


Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Joe Biden participates in a roundtable event at Hillsborough Community College on Sept. 15 in Tampa, Florida.


Joe Biden is bulking up his policy commitments to Puerto Rican voters in Florida, as he tries to build support among Latinos in one of the most competitive states in the presidential race.

In a plan released before his Tuesday visit to Kissimmee, Biden detailed a recovery plan for Puerto Rico, which has struggled to rebuild after a major economic crisis, hurricanes Irma and Maria, and widespread earthquakes earlier this year. The majority of Hurricane Maria evacuees who left the island have settled in Central Florida.

Biden's plan, and comments he made in Kissimmee, went further than he'd gone to that point: He laid out a proposal to end federally imposed austerity measures in Puerto Rico and forgive some of the island’s debt, and he said he personally supports statehood for the island, though he prefers to leave the question up to Puerto Ricans.

Biden’s visit to Florida came as polls find him ahead of Trump among Latinos in the state, but trailing Hillary Clinton at the same stage of the 2016 election. Trump ultimately won the state by a margin of just 1.2% in 2016. Florida is home to nearly one million people of Puerto Rican descent, including hundreds of thousands who moved to the state after Hurricane Maria tore through the island. According to a 2018 paper from the Pew Research Center, the state has seen a 6.2% increase in Latino voter registrations since 2016, bringing the total to 2.1 million. Puerto Ricans accounted for around 31% of potential Latino voters in the state, whether or not they’re registered — the same as the number of potential Cuban voters, according to the researchers.

Biden was joined Tuesday by Puerto Rican musical icons Luis Fonsi and Ricky Martin, along with actor Eva Longoria, a founder of the Latino political advocacy group Latino Victory.

“Donald Trump doesn’t seem to grasp that the people of Puerto Rico are American citizens already and they deserve to have leadership in government that understands that in America there is no room for the idea of second-class citizens,” Biden said at the Hispanic Heritage Month event at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee.

Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Ricky Martin speaks during a Hispanic heritage event with Joe Biden at Osceola Heritage Park on Sept. 15 in Kissimmee, Florida.


The former vice president may have an edge among Puerto Rican voters in Florida partly because of Trump’s flippant response to various crises in Puerto Rico, including the number of people who died as a result of Hurricane Maria and the inadequate federal response. An August poll by Democratic pollster EquisLabs found that among 1,081 Latinos polled in Florida, 61% of those who identified as Puerto Ricans preferred Biden, compared to 28% who back Trump.

Both parties attempted to attract new Puerto Rican voters in Florida during the 2018 midterms — Latino turnout overall in the state did increase between the 2014 and 2018 midterms and between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. But, the Orlando Sentinel reported, early voter data in 2018 suggested that evacuees turned out in lower numbers than other Latino voters, perhaps in part because they had immediate concerns, especially finding secure housing, to consider in the aftermath of the hurricanes.

“I think he has a lot of work to do with folks in Florida,” said Julio López Varona, co-director of community dignity campaigns for the progressive Center for Popular Democracy, adding that the new recovery plan is “a step in the right direction.


“Florida has 1 million Puerto Ricans, and these Puerto Ricans have more of a bootstrap-minded mentality and tend to be a little bit more conservative. How does he improve people's lives in Kissimmee? And I think there has to be a case made for Puerto Ricans who want to come back and what can be done about that,” he said.

For one Latino activist who has been working with the Puerto Rican diaspora in Central Florida, Biden’s visit and newly released plan was welcome but should have come sooner, especially as COVID has worsened an already dicey situation for Puerto Rican families in recent months. She added, though, that the Trump campaign doesn’t even have a specific plan for Puerto Rico, and that his administration let Puerto Ricans down by not having a plan for them after the hurricane, either.

“This generation of Puerto Ricans have been struggling,” said Maria Revelles, Florida state director for Vamos4PR, a coalition of community groups advocating for Puerto Ricans. “This was not a planned move, they lost everything on the island.”

She said she thinks it’s going to be a challenge to get people out to vote amid health concerns over the ongoing pandemic, but that Puerto Ricans on the island are used to a culture of being very engaged with voting.

“I think that people have to understand Puerto Ricans come from a very high voting culture. On the island everybody votes, 99% of people vote. Right now you read stories about people in line to register to vote,” she said.


ADVERTISEMENT


Puerto Ricans who move to the mainland aren’t automatically affiliated with either Democrats or Republicans, she said, because the party system is entirely different on the island, with the issue of statehood for Puerto Rico being one of the main issues that divides the two major parties there. To that end, she said, it was wise for Biden to emphasize that he supports self-determination for the people of Puerto Rico.


“The Puerto Ricans that are here in Orlando, besides the Puerto Rico issues, their issues are like every other working group. They want affordable housing, they want fair wages, they want healthcare, that none of those things are traditionally in the GOP platform either,” she said.

Revelles added that she appreciated that the Biden campaign didn’t pick just any Latino celebrities for Tuesday night’s event, but Ricky Martin in particular, who Puerto Ricans have seen taking action to help communities on the island after the hurricane and to support the protests that ousted former governor Ricardo Rosselló last year.

PROMESA, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, was signed into law by then-president Barack Obama in 2016 and established a federally appointed fiscal control board (the Fiscal Oversight Management Board) to approve Puerto Rico’s state budgets, and with the power to put in place austerity measures.

The conditions imposed by the fiscal control board have led to major cuts in public education, infrastructure spending, and pensions on Puerto Rico, and residents say it’s made recovering from the series of disasters even harder.

Jim Watson / Getty Images
Joe Biden arrives at the Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, Sept. 15.


López Varona, of the Center for Popular Democracy, said the Biden team had been in touch with them as they formulated the recovery plan, and though it doesn’t abolish PROMESA as the group had wanted, the Biden team took many of their other requests on board — particularly the call to end austerity measures.

“It shows that he’s really listening,” said López Varona. “There’s also protection of pension holders in Puerto Rico and then there’s accountability for the FOMB and a clear stance against austerity. If there’s a beating drum, that's the thing we’ve been saying for the past four years. Generally, we think it's a step in the right direction.”

Biden’s plan would go a long way toward fulfilling some important measures Puerto Rican activists have been calling for since 2016, particularly an audit of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt, much of which activists argue was issued by predatory lenders who knew the island authorities could not pay it back, and some of which was issued in violation of debt limits in the Puerto Rico Constitution.

“I’m running to be president of all Americans, including 3 million Americans in Puerto Rico … I’m not going to suggest that we sell or trade, as was mentioned earlier, Puerto Rico. I'm not going to throw paper towels at people whose lives have just been devastated by a hurricane. That was mortifying. The world saw that,” Biden said at the event on Tuesday.

The proposal includes measures to increase funding for Puerto Rico’s food stamps program, which has come close to running out of funding multiple times in recent years, increased federal funding for public education, and moves to put funding for Puerto Rico’s Medicare and Medicaid programs on par with the rest of the US.

The island’s electrical grid, which was decimated during Hurricane Maria, remains fragile and incomplete nearly three years later, and is frequently knocked out by passing storms. Biden’s plan includes “a full recovery and infrastructure reconstruction to modern standards.”

The electrical grid failing again is a constant fear for people who lived for months without power, said Revelles, and Biden addressing it directly in his plan is significant for her. Beyond that, she said, she appreciates the campaign’s plan to address climate change and rejoin the Paris Agreement.

“Puerto Ricans know we are at the will of climate change,” she said. “Some of the survivors of Hurricane Maria who moved here do Identify themselves as climate change refugees.”


MORE ON PUERTO RICO
People In Puerto Rico Are Demanding Answers After A Warehouse Full Of Unused Emergency Supplies Was Discovered

Brianna Sacks · Jan. 19, 2020

“We Are Your Citizens”: Trump Keeps Repeating Lies About Puerto Rico 

Nidhi Prakash · April 3, 2019

Puerto Rico Is Burning Its Dead, And We May Never Know How Many People The Hurricane Really Killed

Nidhi Prakash · Oct. 27, 2017


Nidhi Prakash is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

Banksy loses trademark case on 'Flower Thrower' cards

The street artist's anonymity hurt their case in the ruling. A greeting card company will be able to use Banksy's "Flower Thrower" piece on their products.


Street artist Banksy lost a two-year trademark battle with a greeting card company on Thursday over the renowned "Flower Thrower" graffiti work.

The European Union's intellectual property office (EUIPO) said that it could not be protected as the artist's anonymity meant they could not be identified as the owner of the work, which depicts a protester in crosshairs winding up to hurl a bouquet of flowers.

"The predicament of Banksy's right to the work 'Flower Thrower' is clear. To protect the right under copyright law would require him to lose his anonymity, which would undermine his persona," read the EUIPO's ruling.

"He cannot be identified as the unquestionable owner of such works as his identity is hidden."

The artist created the work in Bethlehem in 2005 and successfully obtained an EU trademark on the image in 2014. But British greeting card company Full Colour Black claimed the trademark should be canceled as he never intended to use it on any goods.

Banksy, whose true identity is unknown, opened a pop-up shop in London last year to address issues in the legal dispute. The shop, named "Gross Domestic Product," was a bid to demonstrate the trademarks being used. But the EUIPO said the shop went against his case.

"It further cannot be established without question that the artist holds any copyrights to a graffiti. The contested [trademark] was filed in order for Banksy to have legal rights over the sign as he could not rely on copyright rights, but that its not a function of a trademark," read the statement.

Banksy's work began spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, soon becoming one of the world's best-known artists both because of politically charged imaginative work and continued preservation of anonymity. The artist has continued to work during the pandemic, including working on a migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea.

The EUIPO ordered Banksy and his or her legal representative to pay for the costs and fees incurred by Full Colour Black. If Banksy plans to appeal the decision, the deadline to appeal is within two months.

kbd/msh (AFP, AP)

German states push for police racism probe

Several Social Democrat-led regional governments in Germany are insisting their own studies into racism among police forces if Interior Minister Horst Seehofer does not initiate a nationwide study.



Leaders of German states governed by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) told German media Friday they are ready to carry out independent studies on police right-wing extremism if the federal government does not take action.

On Wednesday, 30 police officers Germany's most-populous state, North Rhein-Westphalia (NRW), were suspended after private WhatsApp chat groups were uncovered containing right-wing extremist content.

Read more: Opinion: Germany speaks volumes with silence on racist cops

Images in five chat groups included photos of Adolf Hitler and a fictional depiction of a refugee in a gas chamber.

"It is unbearable that these kinds of networks exist," said Thuringia Interior Minister Georg Maier, who is also the chairman of Germany's standing conference of interior ministers.

"We need to take uncompromising and consequential action against this right now," he told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newspaper group, adding this includes exhausting all legal and disciplinary options.

Maier added that SPD state's interior ministers are united and ready to go it alone on a study "if necessary."

Read more: Racism in Germany 'an issue for society as a whole'

Why has there not been a nationwide probe?

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer refused to call for a nationwide investigation into police racism following the NRW revelations.

Seehofer told the Süddeutsche Zeitung Friday that although the NRW police racism scandal "hurts," the "overwhelming majority" of German police officers reject these kinds of "machinations" and stand "without doubt for our free and democratic order."

Read more: Police in Germany under the pall of right-wing extremists

A report looking racism in German public service institutions will be released by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution at the end of September, Seehöfer said.

This report, however, has been long in the making and was planned independently of the recent developments in NRW.

Seehofer also rejected calls for a police racism study in Germany over the summer, as the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA began to draw international support.
The police need 'support' against racisim

SPD co-leader Saskia Esken told the Rheinische Post newspaper Friday the police forces in Germany needed "support" to "strictly reject right-wing extremism in their ranks."

Esken added that this will require a comprehensive "overview of racism and misanthropy" among German police forces.

"The sheer number of individual cases is slowly becoming too much," said Esken's SPD colleague Maier.

• https://p.dw.com/p/3ifP9

wmr/rt (AFP, epd, dpa)

Coronavirus: 'We won't get rid of masks anytime soon,' says leading German virologist

Christian Drosten, an eminent virologist and architect of Germany's relatively successful fight against coronavirus thus far, warns that "winter will not be an easy one." He urged people to follow health rules.

DW: How much longer do we have to live with the pandemic?

Christian Drosten: It's very difficult to make global projections. We have very different, difficult situations in countries around here in Europe. The winter will not be an easy one. While we will have vaccines [available] during the coming year, it could take until the end of the next year for significant parts of the population to be provided with a vaccine.

We won't get rid of masks anytime soon. So even when we start vaccinating, the majority [of the population] will still have to wear masks.

In countries like Germany and other European countries where the incidence [of infection] is low, there will be nothing like a population-based protection.

In other parts of the world, the situation is very hard to judge. In Africa, we have signs of lower transmission and less severe presentation perhaps due to the lower population age. However, what we are seeing [data for] now is for urban areas on the African continent, where the population composition is particularly young. We don't know what effect the virus will have as it spreads to the countryside. It is possible that in urban centers the epidemic is already slowing down, but it's equally possible that it is still to come.

Which regions around the world are you most concerned about?

India is the current biggest concern. It has a high population density. The virus is spreading in an almost uncontrolled fashion. Then, of course, areas in South America and in Africa.

In the northern hemisphere winter is coming. Some countries are heading into autumn with a high background incidence and where there is low trust in medical structures and the power of public health intervention. There are countries, including in Europe, that will have to impose stricter measures very soon.


India's dense population means the virus is spreading almost out of control, thinks Christian Drosten

What did Germany do right?

There is a combination of reasons. The decisive point was probably that Germany reacted very early on — in terms of the relative point of time when contact restrictions, sometimes called a lockdown, were imposed as compared to the actual development of the epidemic.

The widespread availability of laboratory testing is [additionally] something that set Germany apart from other countries. We were really fast on the lab level to react.

Another explanation is that our epidemic started somewhat later. Our imported cases didn't start to become an epidemic until the end of February.

It seems that our early imported cases were controlled and didn't result in forward transmission.

These reasons explain why our intervention was extremely efficient and why, after our lockdown, the incidence in Germany was extremely low and has remained so. Even though we are seeing a slight increase in transmissions now. [September 17's tally of 2,194 new recorded cases was Germany's worst daily figure since April — editor's note.]

Read more: Most people in Germany 'proud' of coronavirus response: study

Looking ahead to autumn and winter, what do you expect to happen in Germany?

We should look to other European countries like France, the UK and Spain. What we're seeing in those countries is what we will see in Germany if we don't react very early on in a way that needs to be bearable for the economy and at the same time targeted.

The big challenge is to recognize the turning point to modify the intervention measures that are in place now. This is when, in certain sections of society, the incidence has increased to a level where the virus is spreading widely.

This is very difficult to estimate now, in autumn. It was easier in spring where actually the transmission chain started from large events. The virus is spreading in a different way and it is distributed in sectors of the population that are not as easy to reach.

The virus has spread under the cover of low willingness to test. Young people are often reluctant to get tested because they have milder symptoms in general. Sometimes they acquire their infection from parties and other social activities that shouldn't have happened. This is the biggest challenge in the weeks to come.

Good communication poses another challenge because we will see an increase in incidences as in other countries of Europe.

As we're testing much more than in springtime, we expect more cases now. What we are seeing currently is a bigger picture than what we saw in spring, while the actual numbers may be the same.

Read more: Coronavirus: Half of Germany scared of second wave













Watch video02:48

Coronavirus: Germany's hospitals ready for a second wave

What role can antigen tests play to prevent the German health system from being overwhelmed?

First of all, I'm not sure whether rapid and simple antigen testing improves tracing.

They will probably inform decisions in the details, such as public health agencies who use these tests as well as other sections of society, for example, when staging mass events.

Which other measures are necessary?

Other interventions and measures include wearing masks. This is supported by clear scientific proof. In spring we had to rely on old scientific evidence that was not based on coronavirus outbreaks in particular, meaning we had to say there is low evidence for the use of masks. This has changed — there is now evidence for the efficacy of mask use. There is also independent support for hand hygiene and for social distancing.

Another very important intervention is to speak to the public. Everybody has to know about the basic principles of transmission of this virus. It is not enough to impose rules that people don't understand. The cooperation of the population — especially in the coming weeks and months over autumn and winter — is probably one of the most important parts in the whole intervention concept.

We are hoping for a vaccine: we have to hope as there is no other way out of the situation. The acquisition of population immunity is very likely to go along with an intolerable number of fatalities and severe cases of disease. The virus, if we let it run, will force a lockdown. This is inevitable if we do not intervene. Everybody has to understand this intervention, but it is only bearable for a limited amount of time. We need a vaccine certainly during the next year.


Germany has seen a rise in the number of protests against coronavirus lockdown measures

Read more: Coronavirus rallies: Germany's growing anti-lockdown movement

When will we be able to hug each other again?

In some parts of the world, I wouldn't be surprised to see population protection during the next year. They will have undergone an epidemic that may not seem like a very severe epidemic due to their age structure, for example in African populations.

In other parts of the world where the concept is to avoid widespread virus transmission and wait for deployment of a vaccine, we can expect to wear masks until the end of 2021. It's impossible to make exact projections but next year we will be wearing masks.

Why did you give us this interview now?

I certainly feel that explaining these complicated problems to the public as much possible and then repeating and explaining again is an intervention per se. It is a non-pharmaceutical intervention. It is probably the most important one, because it's the considerations that you make on a day-to-day basis. Whether you will have this party and how many people you invite. This is a decision for normal people. It's nothing that politicians or public health agencies can direct.

Christian Drosten is a leading German virologist, whose research focuses on novel viruses. He spoke to DW Political Correspondent Nina Haase.

The interview has been condensed for brevity and clarity.

• Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3ic4N

Coronavirus pushes 150 million more children into poverty, study reveals

The world's poorest children are getting even poorer, according to UNICEF and Save the Children. And they warn that the situation could get a lot worse in the coming months.



The coronavirus crisis has plunged 150 million more children into poverty according to an analysis published by UNICEF and Save The Children on Thursday.

The number of children living in poverty in low and middle-income countries increased by 15% to 1.2 billion during the corona pandemic and the subsequent lockdown measures.

The report calculated this number based on several deprivation indicators such as access to education, healthcare and housing.

Read more: Rich countries often fail to ensure children's well-being, UN report suggests

Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, explained the importance of the report's results saying, "families on the cusp of escaping poverty have been pulled back in, while others are experiencing levels of deprivation they have never seen before.

"Most concerningly, we are closer to the beginning of this crisis than its end," she added.

Read more: How coronavirus is affecting underprivileged children in India
What needs to be done to alleviate the problem?

The report urged governments to take action in order to lift these children out of poverty. The authors recommend interventions and investments in areas such as social services, labor markets and remote education.

"Governments must prioritize the most marginalized children and their families through rapid expansion of social protection systems including cash transfers and child benefits, remote learning opportunities, healthcare services and school feeding," Fore implored.

"Making these critical investments now can help countries to prepare for future shocks."

The report emphasized the need to understand deprivation beyond simple financial indicators, although these play a big role. It stresses the importance of implementing "multi-sectoral policies addressing health, education, nutrition, water and sanitation and housing deprivations."

"This pandemic has already caused the biggest global education emergency in history, and the increase in poverty will make it very hard for the most vulnerable children and their families to make up for the loss", said Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children.

"Children who lose out on education are more likely to be forced into child labour or early marriage and be trapped in a cycle of poverty for years to come," she warned.

dpa contributed to this report

DW RECOMMENDS


US expelled thousands of migrant children due to coronavirus rules

Children were forced to leave the country without any family. The Trump administration has implemented many tough measures to prevent immigration into the country — even by legal means.

260 million children miss out education: UNESCO

More than a quarter of a billion children have no access to schooling, a United Nations agency has found. The coronavirus pandemic is only making matters worse.

Coronavirus digest: Rich nations buy half of promised vaccine supply

A group of wealthy countries have already secured the majority of promised stock of vaccines, a new study shows. Elsewhere, the pandemic leads to increased discrimination in Asia. DW wraps up the latest developments.








Rich nations have already bought up half of the promised COVID-19 vaccines, according to a report from Oxfam. The countries represent just 13% of the global population, but have dominated orders from big pharma companies for a potential vaccine, the report found.

Oxfam said that the five leading vaccine candidates that are in late-stage trials will be able to supply 5.9 billion doses, enough to inoculate about three billion people.

About 51% of these have been preemptively bought by countries and regions including the United States, Britain, the European Union, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, Switzerland and Israel. The remaining 2.6 billion have been bought by or promised to developing countries including India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico.

Here are the major coronavirus developments from across the world on Thursday:
Europe

UK: A shortage of lab capacity is hampering efforts to roll out widespread COVID-19 testing, according to Junior British Health Minister Edward Argar. He said the UK government will soon announce a system to ration testing, prioritising frontline health workers and carers. He said the country can hopefully avoid a second lockdown if people obey guidelines such as meeting with a maximum of six people.

Germany: Prosecutors are reportedly investigating more than 10,000 cases of fraudulent access to coronavirus emergency aid and other allegations of fraud in connection with the pandemic. The estimated damages amount to several million euros and the investigation will last well into next year, according to Redaktionsnetzwerks Deutschland.

An additional 2,194 people were confirmed to have been infected on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to 265,857, according to the Robert Koch Institute. Another three people died, bringing the confirmed death toll to 9,371.

Three more European capitals and several regions have been added to Germany's catalogue of "risk areas'' for coronavirus. Vienna, Budapest and the Dutch region that includes Amsterdam were added to the high-risk list due to increased numbers of infections. Also added were several regions in France, Romania, Croatia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Travelers coming from those areas must go into mandatory quarantine and take a coronavirus test.

Middle East

Israel: Jewish Israelis were preparing to celebrate Rosh Hashanah as they faced a second nationwide lockdown. Just hours before the Jewish New Year is set to roll in, Israelis will enter another three-week lockdown. Daily confirmed cases have topped 5,000 in recent weeks, one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world.
Asia

India: There was another record day of infections in India, with an additional 97,894 confirmed cases, bringing the total to more than 5.1 million cases. At least another 1,132 people died from the virus, bringing the total to 83,198. Experts say the official figures represent far less than the actual cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government faced stinging criticism as parliament resumed sittings after a five-month gap. Anand Sharma, Derek O'Brien and other opposition leaders criticized Modi for abruptly imposing a two-month nationwide lockdown in March, saying this gave no time to state governments to prepare, causing millions of now-jobless migrant workers to flee on foot. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the decision prevented up to 3 million additional cases and up to 78,000 deaths.

Oxygen supplies have become unreliable in the country, with the major states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh saying demand for oxygen has more than tripled.


China responds to the coronavirus pandemic

Australia: The lowest one-day rise in new cases in nearly three months was reported on Thursday as states said restrictions will soon be relaxed. There were 35 confirmed cases across the country on Thursday, the lowest since June 24. Most were reported in the state of Victoria, which has largely been in strict lock down for more than six weeks.

State carrier Qantas Airways said a seven-hour scenic flight over Australia's Outback and Great Barrier Reef sold out in 10 minutes. International and even state borders have effectively been sealed shut, prompting the airline to join a growing trend in Asia of "flights to nowhere."

Read more: New Zealand enters recession amid record drop in GDP

Discrimination: The coronavirus pandemic has led to new levels of discrimination against vulnerable communities in Asia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned on Thursday.

A survey of 5,000 people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Pakistan found that half of respondents blamed a specific group for spreading the coronavirus. Many respondents blamed Chinese people, immigrants and foreigners.

"It is particularly concerning that both national migrant and foreign workers are blamed for the spread of COVID-19 as they are quite vulnerable already," researcher Dr Viviane Fluck told Reuters news agency.

She said there should be more focus on combating "rumors that are linked to underlying power dynamics and structural issues of inequality."  

Americas

US: The US government has outlined its plans to make free vaccines available to all Americans when it is proven safe and effective. However, the plan immediately provoked conflict between US President Donald Trump and a senior health official over a realistic timeline.

A vaccination program is due to begin either later in 2020 or in January 2021, eventually including any US citizen who wants a vaccine, according to a report to Congress and an accompanying "playbook" for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department.

Trump claimed that a vaccine could be three to four weeks away, however the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield told Congress on Wednesday that it would take six to nine months after any shot's approval to distribute it nationally, with it intially being reserved for first responders and the people most vulnerable to COVID-19. He said the vaccine wouldn't be available until the spring or summer of 2021 at the earliest.

Trump later said: "I believe he was confused," referring to Redfield. "I think he just made a mistake."
Child poverty

More than 150 million children have been pushed into poverty due to the pandemic, according to a new report from UNICEF and Save the Children on Thursday. There has been a 15% increase in the number of children living in deprivation in low and middle-income nations since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccine news

Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech has announced plans for a clinical trial of its experimental vaccine with children and adolescents later this month. The vaccine is already in the final stage of testing with adults.

The head of the US Centers for Disease Control said there would be enough doses of a coronavirus vaccine by the middle of 2021 to allow the US to get back to normality. See US update for more details.

Rich nations have already bought up half of the promised COVID-19 vaccines, according to a report from Oxfam. See opening paragraphs for more details.

aw/rt (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, KNA, epd)

UPDATES

 Belarus president puts military on alert amid EU border tensions

Belarus says it has closed its border with EU countries. But Polish officials have described the action as just "another element of the propaganda campaign," saying the situation at the border hasn't changed.



Embattled Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said troops would be pulled from the street to guard its borders with EU countries.

"We are compelled to withdraw our troops from the streets, have half our army on guard and close our state border with the West, first of all with Lithuania and Poland," said Lukashenko. "To our greatest regret, we are compelled to strengthen our border with brotherly Ukraine."

Polish officials said the situation had not yet changed at the border.

"We take this as another element of the propaganda campaign, a psychological game which aims to create a sense of an external threat," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told Reuters news agency.

Lithuanian border authorities also confirmed that the situation at the border with Belarus remained normal, saying they are waiting to see how the changes are implemented.

Read more: Opinion: Belarus opposition needs a plan

'Step down'

Since Lukashenko declared victory in a contentious presidential election last month, the former Soviet republic has seen thousands of protesters rally against his 26-year rule.

"Our people will not step away, they woke up and they want a new Belarus," former presidential candidate and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told DW last month. "The person who has to step down is Mr. Lukashenko."

Belarusian authorities have responded by cracking down on anti-government protesters and targeting opposition figures, including the leading opposition group, the Coordination Council, which has accused Lukashenko's regime of "openly using methods of terror.

Western countries have threatened to take disciplinary action against Belarus, including enacting targeted sanctions.

Read more: Belarus opposition leader threatened with deportation 'alive or in bits'

Watch video02:28
Putin pledges support to embattled Lukashenko

Internet blackouts

On Friday, nearly 30 countries issued a joint statement calling on Belarusian authorities to end internet blackouts, a tactic often used by repressive governments to stop the opposition from organizing.

"Shutdowns and blocking or filtering of services unjustifiably limit the rights of peaceful assembly and freedoms of association and expression, especially when they lack procedural fairness and transparency," said the statement.

Meanwhile, 17 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) launched an investigation into rights violations in the wake of the contested August election, saying: "The mission is about holding the Belarussian authorities accountable."

Read more: Under threat from authorities, Belarusians go into exile



HOW FLOWER POWER CAN OVERTURN A SYSTEM
Flowers for a new Belarus
Reacting to the police's brutal crackdown on demonstrators following the contested reelection of longtime President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian women adopted powerful symbols of peace to pursue the protests. Dressed in white and bearing flowers, they marched and formed solidarity chains in the streets of Minsk, the country's capital. Flowers have often served as a revolutionary symbol.   12345678910

ls/sms (Reuters, dpa, AP)


DW RECOMMENDS

Putin pledges a $1.5 billion loan while meeting Lukashenko in Sochi

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a massive loan to Belarus after welcoming embattled ally Alexandar Lukashenko in Sochi. The Belarusian strongman confirmed the two countries would continue joint military drills.


Date 17.09.2020
Related Subjects Poland, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus
Keywords Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, Poland, Lithuania

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3ieLx

OSCE to investigate human rights during Belarus election

Seventeen members of the OSCE have agreed to assign an independent team of investigators to probe election rigging and human rights abuses in Belarus stemming from August's ballot. They may not be able to go to Belarus.


More than a dozen members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have launched an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and election fraud following Belarus' August presidential election.

The team will investigate reports of persecution of political candidates, journalists and activists. It will also look into the use of force against peaceful protesters, illegal detention and torture.

The mission is expected to publish a report within two months.

"Basically, the mission is about holding the Belarussian authorities accountable for their gross violations of the right of the people of Belarus to have free and fair elections, fundamental freedoms and a well-functioning rule of law," said Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod in a statement.

The team will travel to Belarus under an OSCE norm established in 1991 called the Moscow Mechanism, which "provides the option of sending missions of experts to assist participating States in the resolution of a particular question or problem," as the OSCE's website puts it. Seventeen OSCE members, not including Germany and mainly from northern and eastern Europe, triggered the investigation.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that he won his sixth term in office fairly and is the victim of a smear campaign.

The OSCE mission will likely not be able to access the country, as it prevented OSCE election observers from entering the country by not inviting them.

The eastern European nation has also ignored several offers by OSCE chairman, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, to visit.

Belarusian opposition members said they were compiling a list of police officers implicated in an ongoing crackdown against protesters.

Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya left the country days after the election

"We have been given the names of those who have been torturing and beating people," said opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya through the opposition's Telegram channel. She left Belarus for EU member Lithuania soon after the election.

Read more: Belarus: High-profile opposition figures arrested in 'security' probe

Tsikhanouskaya came in second place in last month's election. Her supporters have claimed that the election was unfair.

Thousands of protesters have been detained since the election last month. The UN has received more than 400 reports of torture and abuse of detainees.

The European Union has refused to recognize the results of the presidential election. 

The 57-nation OSCE predominately features European nations, including Russia, which has supported Lukashenko, albeit with more hesitance than in the past during the political crisis. Russia did not sign off on the investigation.

The United States, Canada and 15 European nations — not including Germany — supported the mission. 

kbd/msh (dpa, Reuters)

APT41, the China-based hacking operation spanning the world

Issued on: 18/09/2020 - 

Some experts say hacking collective APT41 is tied to the Chinese state Fred TANNEAU AFP/File

Beijing (AFP)

A global hacking collective known as APT41 has been accused by US authorities of targeting company servers for ransom, compromising government networks and spying on Hong Kong activists.

Seven members of the group -- including five Chinese nationals -- were charged by the US Justice Department on Wednesday.

Some experts say they are tied to the Chinese state, while others speculate money was their only motive. What do we really know about APT41?

- Who are they? -

Five members of the group were expert hackers and current or former employees of Chengdu 404 Network Technology, a company that claimed to provide legitimate "white hat" hacking services to detect vulnerabilities in clients' computer networks.

But the firm's work also included malicious attacks on non-client organisations, according to Justice Department documents.

Chengdu 404 says its partners include a government tech security assessor and Chinese universities.

The other two hackers charged are Malaysian executives at SEA Gamer Mall, a Malaysia-based firm that sells video game currency, power-ups and other in-game items.

- What are they accused of? -

The team allegedly hacked the computers of hundreds of companies and organisations around the world, including healthcare firms, software developers and telecoms and pharmaceutical providers.

The breaches were used to collect identities, hijack systems for ransom, and remotely use thousands of computers to mine for cryptocurrency such as bitcoin.

One target was an anti-poverty non-profit, with the hackers taking over one of its computers and holding the contents hostage using encryption software and demanding payment to unlock it.

The group is also suspected of compromising government networks in India and Vietnam.

In addition it is accused of breaching video game companies to steal in-game items to sell back to gamers, the Justice Department court filings said.

- How did they operate? -

Their arsenal ran the gamut from old-fashioned phishing emails to more sophisticated attacks on software development companies to modify their code, which then allowed them access to clients' computers.

In one case documented by security company FireEye, APT41 sent emails containing malicious software to human resources employees of a target company just three days after the firm recovered from a previous attack by the group.

Wong Ong Hua and Ling Yang Ching, the two Malaysian businessmen, ordered their employees to create thousands of fake video game accounts in order to receive the virtual objects stolen by APT41 before selling them on, the court documents allege.

- Is the Chinese government behind them? -

FireEye says the group's targeting of industries including healthcare, telecoms and news media is "consistent with Chinese national policy priorities".

APT41 collected information on pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong and a Buddhist monk from Tibet -- two places where Beijing has faced political unrest.

One of the hackers, Jiang Lizhi, who worked under the alias "Blackfox", had previously worked for a hacking group that served government agencies and boasted of close connections with China's Ministry of State Security.

But many of the group's activities appear to be motivated by financial gain and personal interest -- with one hacker laughing in chat messages about mass-blackmailing wealthy victims -- and the US indictments did not identify a strong official connection.

- Where are they now? -

The five Chinese hackers remain at large but the two businessmen were arrested in Malaysia on Monday after a sweeping operation by the FBI and private companies including Microsoft to block the hackers from using their online accounts.

The United States is seeking their extradition.

None of the men charged are known to have lived in the US, where some of their targets were located.

They picked targets outside Malaysia and China because they believed law enforcement would not be able to track them down across borders, the court documents said.

© 2020 AFP

US charges Chinese, Malaysian hackers over global operations

They stole identities and video game technology, planted ransomware, and spied on Hong Kong activists, US officials say. Two Malaysians have been arrested but the five Chinese remain on the run.


The US Justice Department on Wednesday charged five Chinese nationals and two Malaysians who ran global hacking operations over at least six years.

The hackers targeted more than 100 companies and individuals in countries in the US and worldwide including software development, video game and social media companies, officials said. They also allegedly spied on pro-democracy politicians and activists in Hong Kong and accessed government computer systems in India and Vietnam.

The indictments are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to call out cybercrimes by China amid strained tensions between the two nations.

Read more: EU sanctions Russian, Chinese hackers over alleged cyberattacks
Who are the hackers?

The seven were long recognized by cybersecurity experts as the "APT41" hacking organization, identified by their shared tools and techniques.

Three of the Chinese suspects operated out of Chengdu 404, a Sichuan-based company that purported to offer network security services for other businesses.

While the charges did not indicate any direct political motivations behind the hackers' activities, one defendant, Jiang Lizhi — a member of Chengdu 404 — allegedly boasted connections to the Chinese Ministry of State Security, reported the Department of Justice.

"A hacker for profit is not going to hack a pro-democracy group," said acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin of the District of Columbia, where the cases were filed.

The five Chinese defendants remain fugitives, but prosecutors say two Malaysians were arrested in Malaysia this week and face extradition proceedings to the US.

Read more: EU pushes China on trade, human rights at virtual summit

kmm/dr (AP,AFP)