Erik Prince the founder of Blackwater USA which is infamous for its actions in Iraq. Which among other incidents involved a mass killing in a public square in Baghdad. Several of those involved were convicted of killing, among others, two Reuters Journalists. Now he's going to open a training camp in Xinjiang. a Provence in Western China which is home a large Muslim minority. China has, in recent years gone to extreme measures to suppress the population with internment camps.
Deal is controversial because of sweeping security crackdown that has detained one million Muslims
A Hong Kong-listed security firm run by Erik Prince has signed a deal with authorities in China to build a training centre in Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims have experienced a huge security crackdown.
Frontier Services Group, which specialises in providing security and logistics for businesses operating in risky regions, said it had signed a deal to run a training base in the city of Kashgar, according to a statement posted on its Chinese website.
The firm was founded by Erik Prince, a former US Navy SEAL and the brother of US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
But its presence in Xinjiang is controversial because of the sweeping security crackdown Chinese authorities have launched in the restive far-western region, including reported mass incarcerations.
Up to one million Uighurs and members of other mostly Muslim minority groups are held in extrajudicial detention in camps in Xinjiang, according to a group of experts cited by the United Nations.
Diesel cars were long praised as being eco-friendly, now they are considered to be highly polluting. Strict EU limits on NO2 levels could lead to Diesel cars being banned. How dangerous are Diesel emissions really?
Hundreds of thousands of people in German cities like Stuttgart and Cologne face the prospect of being unable to drive to work because of bans on most types of diesel cars in downtown areas. Environmental Action Germany says diesel emissions cause the premature deaths of 13.000 people each year in Germany. Yet the case is not as clear-cut as it might seem.
Less than two years after victory was declared over ISIS-aligned militants in Marawi, the threat of extremism has returned to the southern Philippines.
Despite moving forward with a historic deal to provide the region's Muslim population with a high degree of autonomy, the southern island of Mindanao appears to be sliding back into violence, with two bombings -- both deadly -- of religious buildings in under a week.
In response, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to hit resurgent militants hard, but his order to "destroy" the ISIS-linked group thought to be responsible for the bombing of a church on Sunday may prove tobe harder than anticipated.
Toxic smog forces Bangkok to close hundreds of schools
Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking criticism of government
Agence France-Presse
Toxic smog forced Bangkok authorities to issue an unprecedented order to shut nearly 450 schools on Wednesday as authorities struggled to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread concern.
The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government.
Reasons given for the lingering pall include exhaust from traffic, unfettered construction, the burning of crop stubble, and pollution from factories getting trapped in the city.
Venezuela: Widespread protests demand Nicolas Maduro step down
One week after Juan Guaido declared himself acting president his supporters have hit the streets again in protest. International pressure is mounting on Nicolas Maduro, who remains defiant.
Thousands of Venezuelans took to streets across the country on Wednesday in support of self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido and demanding that President Nicolas Maduro step down. They ended the walk out by singing the national anthem.
A broad cross section of people voiced their desire for a different future for the embattled South American country in what organizers say were protests in 5,000 cities and villages. Some, like physician Hugo Rosillo, were protesting the dire medical situation that has gripped the debt-ridden state. Rosillo said that his hospital had been turned into a "storeroom for cadavers" because he and his colleagues lacked the medicine needed to treat curable illnesses.
French police under fire as Yellow Vest casualties mount
The French government is under growing pressure to follow other European countries in banning controversial rubber-ball launchers used by riot police amid a spate of serious injuries suffered by Yellow Vest protesters.
France’s legal advisory body, the Council of State, was due to examine an urgent request by the CGT trade union the French Human Rights League on Wednesday to ban police from using the hand-held launchers, which fire rubber projectiles roughly the size of golf balls.
The country’s rights ombudsman, Jacques Toubon, has already called for a ban on the so-called Defence Ball Launchers (LBDs), amid a surge in the number of serious injuries – including lost eyes, maimed hands and broken limbs – sustained by protesters in recent months.
US Election Day holiday plan derided as Democratic 'power grab' by GOP
We investigate Lee Kuan Yew's complex legacy and the reasons behind a family dispute dividing Singapore's ruling elite.
When the former British colony of Singapore became an independent nation in 1965, there were doubts about its survival. The tiny island state has no hinterland and few natural resources and few at the time thought it a candidate for any kind of success on the world stage.
But today, it's one of Asia's richest cities, a truly modern metropolis that's frequently been described as an economic miracle. It's safe, courteous, orderly, and business friendly, its people are educated and cared for to an extent many of its neighbours can only dream of emulating.
Throughout his career as a drug trafficker, tunnels have been the common theme in El Chapo’s story. When he gained control of a major drug trafficking corridor in the late 1980s, Joaquin Guzman Loera — then known as “el Rapido”— was the first to create super tunnels for transporting drugs across the border.
At the time, a crackdown by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) meant Colombian cocaine was in decline and the Mexican narcotrafficker saw an opportunity. By using tunnels to facilitate fast transport, El Chapo leveraged his role as a trafficker to claim new responsibilities as a cultivator and distributor of drugs.
Huawei's rise as a global tech company is under threat as an increasing number of governments express concern that its technology could be used by Chinese spies.
But the US-led campaignagainst the Chinese company may do little more than act as a brake on growth, given the dominant position Huawei has already built in fifth generation (5G) wireless technology. It has loyal customers in emerging markets and parts of Europe, and expects to become the world's top smartphone seller by next year.
"This campaign will only slow Huawei's business growth in some countries in European and Asia Pacific markets," said Charlie Dai, an analyst with research firm Forrester based in Beijing. "But I don't think it's going to retreat from any market at all in the foreseeable future."
Asia Bibi: Pakistan’s top court upholds blasphemy acquittal
Christian woman who spent eight years on death row free to leave country
Asia Bibi, the Christian farm labourer who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy, is expected to leave the country after the supreme court upheld her acquittal.
The court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to October’s ruling brought by an extreme Islamist party, which led violent protests across the country in the autumn and called for Bibi to be killed.
Bibi, who has been held at a secret location since her death sentence was overturned, could be flown out of the country within hours. Two of her children are reportedly already in Canada, which has offered Bibi asylum.
Risk of a 'Caribbean Syria'All Eyes on the Army in Venezuela Power Struggle
With support from Washington, Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Guaidó has declared himself the country's new president. Ultimately, though, the military will determine the outcome of his power struggle with incumbent Nicolás Maduro.
A few hours after declaring himself interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó announced his first act in his new role: In a letter carrying the state seal, he called for all diplomatic representatives to remain in the country. United States President Donald Trump had earlier recognized 35-year-old Guaidó as the country's leader, prompting President Nicolás Maduro to announce that all U.S. diplomats would have to leave Venezuela within 72 hours.
But last Wednesday evening, Washington announced that the diplomats would stay -- an initial win for Guaidó. His second: Even several days later, Maduro has not moved to arrest him.
French jihadists held in Syria may be allowed to return home, says Paris
French jihadists detained in Syria by Kurdish-led forces could be allowed to return home, the French foreign ministry announced Tuesday in a possible change of policy sparked by the planned US troop withdrawal.
"Given the development of the military situation in northeast Syria, the American decisions, and to ensure the security of the French, we are examining all options to avoid the escape and scattering of these potentially dangerous individuals," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
Russia secretly offered North Korea a nuclear power plant, officials say
Russian officials made a secret proposal to North Korea last fall aimed at resolving deadlocked negotiations with the Trump administration over the North’s nuclear weapons program, said U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.
In exchange for North Korea dismantling its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Moscow offered the country a nuclear power plant.
The Russian offer, which intelligence officials became aware of in late 2018, marked a new attempt by Moscow to intervene in the high-stakes nuclear talks as it reasserts itself in a string of geopolitical flash points from the Middle East to South Asia to Latin America.
I always take KEISEI because it’s cheaper and it connects with the TOEI SHINJUKU Subway Line at Motoyawata, 56 minutes away / ¥780 (super cheap!)
Narita Airport, near Tokyo, is expected to extend its operating hours until midnight, starting in October.
The transport ministry and the airport's operator had asked nine neighboring municipalities to allow the extension for one of the two runways until 12 midnight, one hour longer than now.
The extension is aimed at receiving more visitors ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
But two of the municipalities were opposed to the plan, saying it is difficult to win the support of residents who would suffer from the noise.
Examining President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government crackdown on the news media, eight years after the Arab Spring.
It has been eight years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the Arab Spring uprising that briefly liberated Egyptians and their media from life under the one-man rule. Fast-forward to the present day and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government is doubling down, tripling down on controlling the news media - measures that rights groups say are unprecedented in the country's recent history.
"For the first time ever in Egypt's history, those military rulers, who are almost half gods and immune against any kind of accountability or media criticism, found themselves being described in Egyptian media and social media as liars or deceivers or oppressors and they definitely didn't like that," explains Amr Magdi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The Justice Department announced criminal charges Monday against Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest communications equipment manufacturer, and one of its top executives — a move likely to intensify trade tensions between the United States and China.
A 13-count indictment filed in New York City against Huawei, two affiliates and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, details allegations of bank and wire fraud. The company also is charged with violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and conspiring to obstruct justice related to the investigation.
Canadian officials arrested Meng on a U.S. warrant Dec. 1. She has since been released on bail, and her travel is confined to Vancouver and surrounding areas. Meng could face up to 30 years if found guilty on all counts.
Chinese activist Liu Feiyue given five years' jail for 'inciting subversion'
Flawed trial shows how Beijing abuses the judicial system to silence dissent, says Amnesty International
Agence France-Presse
The founder of a prominent Chinese civil and human rights website has been sentenced to five years in prison for inciting state subversion, according to human rights organisations.
Liu Feiyue created and ran the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, which covers a range of rights issues including protests, police abuses and government corruption – sensitive topics that are scrubbed from most Chinese media sites.
The Suizhou intermediate people’s court in central Hubei province sentenced him on Tuesday after he was found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”, according to Human Rights Watch.
UAE mocked after its gender equality awards won entirely by men
'Wow really nailed the diversity there. One of those dudes was wearing grey,' says critic
The government was mocked after pictures were posted on the Twitter account of the vice-president of the UAE, where he was seen handing out prizes to the winners of the Gender Balance Index 2018 over the weekend.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, congratulated the recipients of best personality supporting gender balance, best federal authority supporting gender balance and best gender balance initiative.
Opinion: Western intervention in Afghanistan is a failure
Holding peace talks with the Taliban is scandalous — and yet the radical Islamists appear set for a power-sharing deal with the US as Kabul prepares for a leadership void. The future looks grim, writes Florian Weigand.
The war in Afghanistan has been raging for seventeen years — almost three times the duration of World War II. Now, after many long years of suffering and civilians in constant mortal danger, peace is finally in sight. But while the West had always fueled hopes of a better future for the country, what a peace deal would look like remains uncertain — and the situation looks grim.
The Taliban have not been defeated; on the contrary, they will be part of a political power sharing deal, with the blessing of their arch enemy, the US. This means that after decades of fighting they have emerged stronger than they were during the late 1990s, when they ruled Kabul but were ostracized on the international stage for being reactionary Islamists. That these radicals, who are responsible for endless terrorist attacks, will now gain a pivotal position in Afghan politics thanks to the US is scandalous. Once again, US President Donald Trump and his aides have broken a foreign policy taboo.
A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’
Despite a trade war between the United States and China and past admonishments from President Trump “to start building their damn computers and things in this country,” Apple is unlikely to bring its manufacturing closer to home.
A tiny screw illustrates why.
In 2012, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, went on prime-time television to announce that Apple would make a Mac computer in the United States. It would be the first Apple product in years to be manufactured by American workers, and the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would come with an unusual inscription: “Assembled in USA.”
But when Apple began making the $3,000 computer in Austin, Tex., it struggled to find enough screws, according to three people who worked on the project and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.
Hakeem al-Araibi campaigners say Bahraini footballer's case is urgent
By Dan Roan
BBC sports editor
The case of Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi "has become an absolute emergency", according to campaigners.
The 25-year-old holds refugee status in Australia after fleeing his homeland in 2014, but is being held in Thailand.
Former Australia captain Craig Foster, who is leading the effort to secure Al-Araibi's release, met with Fifa officials on Monday.
But he warned that Bahrain pressing ahead with plans to extradite Al-Araibi had "escalated the issue".
The Arab kingdom says that extradition proceedings are now "in process".
