Is China the ‘most serious challenge’ to international order?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed the Biden administration’s strategy to compete with China.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said China poses the most serious long-term challenge to the international order.

He made the comment as he unveiled the Biden administration’s strategy to compete with China’s rise as a global superpower and insisted Washington does not want a new conflict.

US Capitol under lockdown due to 'external security threat'

 

USCP confirms two officers injured after car rams security checkpoint

The US Capitol Police has confirmed that two officers have been injured after a car attempted to run through a security checkpoint.

“USCP is responding to the North Barricade vehicle access point along Independence Avenue for reports someone rammed a vehicle into two USCP officers,” the agency said in a statement on Twitter.

“A suspect is in custody. Both officers are injured. All three have been transported to the hospital.”

There had been previous reports that gunshots were fired at the security checkpoint, but the USCP statement does not mention anything about that.

US: Tense calm ahead of Joe Biden's presidential inauguration | DW News

 

President Trump's supporters have begun their rallies across the country but there hasn't been reports of major violence. Security has been beefed up in state capitals ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday.

All 50 US states on high alert in runup to Biden inauguration | DW News

 

All 50 US states are on high alert this weekend for fear of armed protests against the election of Joe Biden as president. In the capital, Washington DC, around 25,000 National Guard troops from around the country are being sent in to help secure the city.

Trump shunned by Republicans and social media after Capitol riot

 

Security has been bolstered around the US Capitol, following serious concern over a breach that led to a mob of Donald Trump supporters storming the building earlier this week.

What happened on Capitol Hill? | Start Here

 

A pro-Trump rally gone wrong has shocked people around the world.

The unprecedented event saw thousands of protesters breach Capitol Hill security, resulting in at least four deaths and dozens of arrests.

Why experts have security concerns about Huawei’s 5G infrastructure | DW Analysis

 Next-generation, super-fast 5G networks are being rolled out all over the world. 5G will be more embedded in our societies than anything that went before. Which means that we really need to trust it.

Blackwater's Erik Prince: Iraq, privatising wars and Trump

Mehdi Hasan challenges the Blackwater founder on his firm's role in Iraq and his new plan to privatise the Afghan war.

China On Campus

101 East investigates how China has infiltrated Australia's universities.

Australia's universities are embroiled in a growing geopolitical storm.

In recent months, pro and anti-Beijing groups have clashed on campuses amid rising concerns over the Chinese government's expanding power abroad.

Universities earn billions of dollars a year from student fees and research collaborations with China, but there are growing fears these lucrative arrangements may be putting academic institutions, and even national security, at risk.

Blackwater's Erik Prince: Iraq, privatising wars and Trump

Mehdi Hasan challenges the Blackwater founder on his firm's role in Iraq and his new plan to privatise the Afghan war.

In this episode of Head to Head, Mehdi Hasan challenges Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of Blackwater, on his security firm's performance during the Iraq war, the "exit strategy" he's proposing for the war in Afghanistan, and his support for US President Donald Trump.

During the early years of the Bush administration's so-called "war on terror", Blackwater grew into one of the most profitable private military contractors in the US. Over the years, it received over a billion dollars worth of government contracts to provide security to top US officials, train members of the Iraqi army and police, and support the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Department of Defense's counternarcotics programme in Afghanistan.

Anti-Trump, pro-war: An insider's critique of the US media

An NBC News reporter's resignation letter excoriates US media coverage of the foreign policy. Plus, conspiracy theories.

William Arkin: An insider's critique of the US media

When William Arkin, a veteran national security reporter with NBC and MSNBC, wrote his resignation email last week, he shared it with his colleagues.

It was then leaked to other news outlets. Among Arkin's criticisms of his former employer that by incessantly covering the presidency of Donald Trump, the network is being held hostage by Trump; that in its reflexively anti-Trump coverage, it has become even more promilitary; that NBC and MSNBC are now captives of the security state.

But American news consumers are tuning in to MSNBC, and its anti-Trump agenda, in record numbers. Armed with those kinds of ratings, what corporate-owned news channel would risk alienating its shareholders by changing tack?

Europe’s most fortified border is in Africa

The sixth and last Vox Borders episode deals with a border between Morocco and Spain. The journey to asylum is never easy. And perhaps no one knows this better than would-be African migrants to the European Union. In North Africa, on the border of Morocco, there's a Spanish town called Melilla. It's technically Europe. So undocumented migrants and refugees, asylum seekers, wait in limbo for a chance to scale the fence and apply for asylum in Europe. It's the first of many, many hurdles. And it's a tall one.

Interpol: Red Alert!

How states have used Interpol alerts to persecute exiled dissidents and refugees across international borders.

Interpol is the world's largest policing organisation connecting 190 member countries in the battle against international crime.

But as representatives of the global law enforcement agency met at their General Assembly towards the end of 2016, they faced questions over a crucial crime fighting tool.

In 2015, Interpol issued more than 11,000 "Red Notices" on behalf of member countries. These alerts inform countries that an individual is wanted for serious offences. It's then up to authorities in different countries to decide what action to take. 

But human rights groups have suggested that some countries have used Interpol wanted notices to target political dissidents and opponents across borders, often with devastating consequences.

Security cameras to be introduced on JR Yamanote Line trains

Riding a train during the morning commute in Tokyo can be quite the eye opening experience given the sheer volume of those using the system.  Occasionally stories will be published about the worst commutes in the world and Tokyo is always on that list. Accompanying the story will be a picture of train company employee pushing riders onto the train.  That isn't done to maximise the number of people in each carriage.  It's done because while the trains doors remain open (out safety for all concerned.) the train is incapable of operating which then causes delays.  Another effect of overcrowding is that people are pushed against each other. With so little space it's inevitable that you'll touch a fellow commuter.

Because of this close proximity there are those who'll take advantage of the situation. Known in Japanese as chikan  which is slang for groping on trains. This problem is especially acute on this train line.

The Saikyō Line was notorious for having the highest reported number of groping-related incidents (known as chikan incidents) in the Greater Tokyo area.^[5] This problem was directly addressed by introducing women-only passenger cars during rush hours, and indirectly addressed by reducing overcrowding problems as a whole.

 East Japan Railway Co (JR East) said Tuesday it will introduce security cameras on trains running on Tokyo's Yamanote loop line to enhance security.

The railway operator will introduce the cameras on 550 train cars starting in the spring of 2018, completing installation by 2020 in time for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, it said.

The installment of the cameras is expected to cost around 2 billion yen ($18 million), according to the company.

"Crimes and nuisance are becoming noticeable on trains. (Security cameras are) necessary to prevent terrorism as well," President Tetsuro Tomita said at a press conference, adding train cars on other JR East lines are planned to be equipped with surveillance cameras.

The cameras will be placed near display panels above doors. JR East said it will take necessary measures in accordance with its company codes and relevant laws to protect the privacy of passengers.

Digital Dissidents: What it Means to be a Whistleblower

An in-depth look at the most famous whistleblowers of the 21st century and what drives them to speak out.

For some, they are traitors; for others, heroes.

Whistleblowers such as Daniel Ellsberg, Thomas Drake, William Binney, and Edward Snowden; and hackers and activists such as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the former British secret service agent Annie Machon, warn us about the complete surveillance of our society. 

They oppose intelligence agencies, governments and corporations. And for this, they are threatened, hounded and imprisoned. 

Why are they so committed? What drives them? And is there a collective motive?

Digital Dissidents is a two-part documentary that goes into the heart and experiences of what it means to be a whistleblower and the nature of the quests to disclose radical truths hidden from society.

Spy Merchants - Al Jazeera Investigations

Undercover investigation exposes inner workings of spy equipment companies selling to clients from sanctioned countries.

Spy equipment producers are breaking laws and circumventing international sanctions by agreeing to sell stock to countries known for human rightsabuses, and to clients who do not declare the end user – meaning surveillance tools could easily fall into the hands of armed groups, corporations, governments cracking down on dissent, or opposition leaders, an exclusive investigation by Al Jazeera reveals.

During "Spy Merchants", a four-month undercover operation, Al Jazeera secretly filmed representatives of two Italian companies and one Chinese business agreeing to sell spyware that is capable of tracking millions of people online and able to intercept phone calls and text messages without anyone finding out.

Interpol: Red Alert!

How states have used Interpol alerts to persecute exiled dissidents and refugees across international borders.

Interpol is the world's largest policing organisation connecting 190 member countries in the battle against international crime.

But as representatives of the global law enforcement agency met at their General Assembly towards the end of 2016, they faced questions over a crucial crime fighting tool.

In 2015, Interpol issued more than 11,000 "Red Notices" on behalf of member countries. These alerts inform countries that an individual is wanted for serious offences. It's then up to authorities in different countries to decide what action to take. 

Japanese React to President Trump (Interview)

Is China cracking down on dissent?

That headline from Al Jazeera is  disingenuous.  Using a question mark as a rhetorical device in this case is unacceptable. As the Chinese government is clearly cracking down on dissent.  

Chinese lawyer who exposed baby milk scandal jailed for subversion

Zhou Shifeng, director of Beijing’s Fengrui law firm, jailed for more than seven years in latest crackdown on activists

'I want to rescue my dad': children's heartbreak for the lawyers China has taken away

Li Heping’s six-year-old daughter Li Jiamei dresses as a superhero, hoping to free her human rights lawyer father from prison

For all her gallantry, it is a battle the six-year-old is unlikely to win.

Li Jiamei is the daughter of Li Heping, a top Chinese human rights lawyer who has not been heard of since he disappeared into the custody of China’s security services in July 2015.

My friend Li Heping, a man China thinks is 'more dangerous than Bin Laden'

Li is a top human rights lawyer who nearly a year ago slipped into a netherworld of the disappeared after a political crackdown

On 10 July last year, just days after we had met for lunch in an upscale Beijing shopping mall, my friend Li Heping vanished.

Digital Dissidents

An in-depth look at the most famous whistleblowers of the 21st century and what drives them to speak out.




For some, they are traitors, for others, heroes.

Whistleblowers such as Daniel Ellsberg, Thomas Drake, William Binney, and Edward Snowden; and hackers and activists such as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the former British secret service agent Annie Machon, warn us about the complete surveillance of our society.

They oppose intelligence agencies, governments and corporations. And for this, they are threatened, hounded and imprisoned.

Why are they so committed? What drives them? And is there a collective motive?