Hong Kong pro-democracy news site Stand News closes hours after police raid office - Financial Times

Stand News, Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy news outlet, said it would close after national security police officers raided its headquarters, marking the latest step in a government crackdown on independent media and opposition activists.

More than 200 officers descended on Wednesday morning on Stand News, a news site known for its critical coverage of government policies. Police said they had arrested seven people, including current and former senior executives, for alleged “conspiracy to publish seditious publication” under British colonial-era laws.

Police added they used a search warrant to seize journalistic materials and that the government had frozen about HK$61m (US$8m) of Stand News’s assets under the sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in response to pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The arrested journalists included Chung Pui-kuen, the outlet’s former top editor who resigned last month, and acting editor Patrick Lam, according to a person familiar with the matter and local media.

Denise Ho, a well-known Hong Kong singer and opposition activist, and Margaret Ng, a former lawmaker, both former members of the news site’s board, were also arrested.

Ronson Chan, a senior editor at Stand News and chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was taken from his home by police for questioning.

Steve Li, senior superintendent of the police national security unit, accused the outlet of publishing articles that “incited hatred” against the city’s government and “stirred up dissatisfaction among residents”. Police also cited opinion articles authored by pro-democracy activists as part of the grounds for the arrests.

Police said they seized journalistic materials from Stand News and froze about $8m of its assets © Vincent Yu/AP

The raid was launched six months after Apple Daily was forced to close when authorities froze its assets and arrested a number of senior journalists. The popular tabloid was previously a leading pro-democracy news outlet and a frequent government critic.

Jimmy Lai, the company’s founder who is in prison in relation to separate allegations, and six former senior employees of Apple Daily were also charged with seditious publication on Tuesday.

John Lee, Hong Kong’s second-highest ranking official, warned reporters that the government would retaliate against anyone who “makes use of media work as a tool to pursue their political purpose . . . [that] contravenes the law and endangers national security”.

Critics said the strike against Stand News was another indication of the growing threat to freedoms in the city, despite pledges by Beijing to protect the media and speech following Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

Dozens of opposition activists have fled the city or been arrested after the security law came into effect, and foreign reporters have been denied visas to work in the territory.

“The arrests, happening just before the new year, have sent a strong signal,” said Grace Leung, a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who specialises in media regulation and policies.

“It further [extends the] chilling effect . . . with many [journalists] already feeling unease,” she added. “Other media outlets may still be continuing to do their jobs, but no one knows when they will be targeted next and there seems to be no way to prevent that from happening.”

A survey published by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong last month found that more than 70 per cent of correspondents in the city were concerned about being arrested or prosecuted because of their reporting.

Chris Tang, the city’s security secretary, publicly criticised Stand News this month, saying its coverage of the government was “biased, misleading and demonising”.

The FCC urged authorities to respect press freedom following the raid on Stand News, saying it was “vital to Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre”.

The HKJA expressed “deep concern” about the raid and arrests.

Stand News was nominated this year for a press freedom award given by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the media rights group announced last month.

RSF warned in its latest report that Hong Kong was in “free fall” under the security law, while officials have been considering proposals for a “fake news” regulation that many worry will further curb tolerance of critical reporting.

Video: How the national security law is changing Hong Kong

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2021-12-29 09:18:11Z
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Italian anti-vaxx radio personality who boasted of being a 'plague spreader' dies from Covid - Daily Mail

Italian anti-vaxx radio personality who boasted of being a 'plague spreader' who walked through supermarkets without a mask while feverish dies from Covid aged 61

• Maurizio Buratti was a regular caller on Zanzara radio for 10 years in Italy
• He boasted of going to a supermarket with a 38-degree fever without a mask
• The 61-year-old was in intensive care for 22 days but remained anti-vaxx 

By Jack Newman For Mailonline

Published: 08:58 GMT, 29 December 2021 | Updated: 11:29 GMT, 29 December 2021

A fervent Italian anti-vaxxer who gained a cult following after his regular phone-ins to a popular radio show has died from Covid.

Maurizio Buratti, 61, known to his fans as Mauro from Mantua, had boasted of being a 'plague spreader' after deliberately going to a Carrefour supermarket without a mask while feeling ill and having a temperature of 38 degrees, just days before his hospitalisation.

He said he was 'defending the constitution' by ignoring public health advice, and refused to get tested because he believed the swabs caused the virus.  

Maurizio Buratti (pictured), a fervent Italian anti-vaxxer who gained a cult following after his regular phone-ins to a popular radio show, has died from Covid

Buratti, who worked as a mechanic, had been in intensive care for 22 days before his death on Monday

Buratti, who worked as a mechanic, had been in intensive care for 22 days before his death on Monday.

The frequent caller to the Zanzara radio station was intubated and was no longer responding to treatment.

Buratti, who also promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, remained anti-vaxx until the end and had repeatedly denied the existence of Covid. 

After boasting of his illness on the airwaves, the show's presenters and his fans urged him to go to hospital and he reluctantly accepted.

But he said he would not go to hospital in his native Mantua because 'there are Communists there, I don't trust them', and instead went to Verona.

In one of his final radio phone-ins, Buratti said he would be leaving Italy and seeking asylum in Korea or Turkey to avoid being forced to get the vaccine.

The conspiracy theorist was often seen at anti-Covid and ant-Green Pass protests in Italy (pictured: a No Green Pass rally in Turin yesterday)

Before his illness, the conspiracy theorist was a regular at anti-Covid protests and was a fierce opponent of the Green Pass which forces all Italian workers to get vaccinated or show evidence of Covid antibodies.

Buratti was a regular on Zanzara for ten years, initially railing against big Pharma and the 'Jewish lobby'.

His views led to him losing his job as a mechanic.

His attention later turned to Covid and he was given a regular slot on the radio to share his wild theories. 

One of the show's presenters Davide Parenzo said: 'Rest in peace wherever you are, old conspiracy theorist. 

'I only hope your sad story serves as an example to all those who are still fuelling doubts about the efficacy of vaccines.'

'I only hope your sad story serves as an example to all those who are still fuelling doubts about the efficacy of vaccines.'

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2021-12-29 08:58:47Z
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Russia’s Supreme Court orders closure of Memorial civil rights group - Financial Times

Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the closure of Memorial, the country’s oldest civil rights group, after prosecutors accused the organisation of failing to properly label itself a “foreign agent” and suggested it was depicting the Soviet Union too negatively.

The legal action against the group caps a year of an unprecedented crackdown on dissent by the Kremlin, including the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and pressure on activists and independent journalists as well as other political opponents of President Vladimir Putin. Two former local leaders of Navalny’s movement were detained on Tuesday.

Memorial, dubbed “Russia’s conscience” by some, has worked since 1989 to document and preserve the memory of atrocities of the Soviet era, from mass executions in the 1930s to the many millions of people who went through the Gulag forced labour camp system.

The group, which counts Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov among its founding members, was accused by government prosecutors last month of breaking a law requiring it to label its publications and online posts as having been produced by a foreign agent.

The government has said the law protects the country from covert foreign influence. Many NGOs, media outlets and journalists are now required to display the label on each of their tweets and posts. Memorial, which was designated as a foreign agent in 2016, has denied failing to mark its materials properly.

Several court hearings over the past month have caused a public outcry, with some accusing the government of pushing for Memorial’s dissolution in an attempt to rewrite the history of the Soviet Union and present it in a different light.

During Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearing, state prosecutor Aleksei Zhafyarov accused the civil rights group of being too negative about the past and suggested it was doing so on the behest of foreign donors.

“Memorial creates a false image of the Soviet Union as a terrorist state,” Zhafyarov said ahead of the verdict on Tuesday, in comments reported from the courtroom by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

“It makes us repent for the Soviet past, instead of remembering glorious history,” Zhafyarov said. It did so “probably because someone is paying for it”, Zhafyarov added. “This is the real reason that Memorial is actively trying to disassociate itself from its status as a foreign agent.”

Memorial has said that despite the ruling to shut it down, it would try to continue its work, which has included extensive archival research into the activities of security services during the Soviet era, including the KGB, where Putin once worked.

Putin has said that Memorial has supported extremist groups. It is an accusation also levied by authorities against the Memorial human rights centre, an affiliate group that focuses on documenting contemporary abuses and maintains a list of political prisoners. It also faces liquidation in a parallel trial in a Moscow court on Wednesday.

“At the moment, we’re speechless,” the Memorial human rights centre wrote on its channel on the Telegram messenger app after Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision was announced. “The show is over, and we all feel sick,” it added, as protesters outside the courtroom chanted: “Shame! Shame!”

Memorial’s lawyers have said they will appeal against the Supreme Court’s decision.

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2021-12-28 13:05:09Z
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Myanmar: Two Save the Children staff members among 35 people killed in attack - Sky News

Two Save the Children staff members were among at least 35 people, including children, who were killed in Myanmar on Christmas Eve during an attack blamed on government forces.

The charity said both men were new fathers who were "caught up" in the rampage in Kayah state while on their way back to their office after working in a nearby community.

One was 32 years old, with a 10-month-old son, and had worked at Save the Children for two years, training teachers.

The other was 28, with a three-month-old daughter, and joined the charity six years ago.

Save the Children said they are not being identified for security reasons.

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Image: Save The Children said at least 35 people were killed. Pic: AP

It was reported last week that the military had shot dead more than 30 people and burnt their bodies.

The Karenni Human Rights Group said they discovered the charred bodies near Mo So village in the Hpruso township in the eastern state of Kayah on Christmas Day.

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Save the Children chief executive Inger Ashing said: "This news is absolutely horrifying. Violence against innocent civilians including aid workers is intolerable, and this senseless attack is a breach of international humanitarian law."

"This is not an isolated event," she added. "The people of Myanmar continue to be targeted with increasing violence and these events demand an immediate response."

Save the Children called on the UN Security Council to respond to the violence with steps including an arms embargo.

The group said the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) must also convene an urgent meeting to take action on an agreement made in April, which called for an immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and mediation by the ASEAN Special Envoy.

Image: The killings are said to have happened on Christmas Eve. Pic: AP

Purported images of the aftermath of the killings went viral on social media, fuelling public outrage at the country's ruling military junta, which seized power in a coup in February.

The accounts have not been independently verified, but the pictures showed the charred remains of at least 30 people inside burned-out trucks.

A villager who went to the scene previously said the victims had been fleeing fighting between Myanmar's military and local militia groups when they were arrested and killed by soldiers.

He said the bodies were tied with ropes before being set on fire.

Myanmar's military has not commented on the allegations.

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2021-12-28 18:14:43Z
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Russian Supreme Court orders closure of prominent human rights group Memorial - Sky News

Russia's Supreme Court has ordered the country's most prominent human rights group to be liquidated.

The court ruled that the group Memorial must be closed for breaking the law on foreign agents.

The group says the lawsuit was politically motivated and has announced it will appeal the ruling before the European Court of Human Rights.

Memorial's lawyer Henry Reznik told Sky News that the court's ruling was "a politically motivated decision and unfortunately we are not surprised with it".

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0:15

Man arrested while protesting 'Memorial' closure

What is Memorial?

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The international human rights group rose to prominence for its studies of political repression in the Soviet Union and currently encompasses more than 50 smaller groups in Russia and abroad.

It was founded by dissidents before the fall of the Iron Curtain and initially focused on documenting the crimes of the Stalinist era, but has more recently spoken out against the repression of critics of President Vladimir Putin's regime.

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It has been on an official list of "foreign agents" since 2015.

Last month, Memorial International and its subsidiary Memorial Human Rights Centre were accused by prosecutors of violating the foreign agent law, with the supreme court asked to shut them down.

Prosecutors claimed that Memorial International breached the foreign agent regulations by not marking all its publications, including social media posts, with a "foreign agent" label, as required by the law.

They also accused the Memorial Human Rights Centre of condoning terrorism and extremism.

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Protesters chant 'shame' after ruling

What is Russia's foreign agents law?

The law mandates a non-governmental organisation, a media outlet, an informal movement or an individual to be listed as a foreign agent for having received foreign funding - even a small donation from a foreign national counts - and engaging in loosely defined political activity.

The label comes with excessive government scrutiny and connotations that can negatively affect those who are tagged as such.

Former British ambassador to Moscow Sir Andrew Wood told Sky News: "It's an arbitrary law in which people are accused of being foreign agents and therefore, somehow connected with foreign intelligence and so on, but you don't require proof to nominate someone for that.

"You do require a court hearing to abolish an organisation as such, and they've had that but it was obviously heavily biased."

Image: Police officers escort away a supporter of International Memorial outside a hearing of the Russian Supreme Court

The Tass news agency reported that a state prosecutor told the hearing Memorial had organised campaigns aimed at discrediting the Russian authorities.

Mr Putin said earlier this month that Memorial had defended groups that Russia considered extremist and terrorist, and among those it said were victims of political repression were Nazi collaborators.

The work carried out by Memorial includes examinations of repressions carried out by Soviet state security bodies, such as the KGB, where Mr Putin once served as a spy.

As the verdict of the court was announced, police escorted away several protesters outside.

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2021-12-28 12:00:00Z
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10-set private Learjet goes down in flames near San Diego with no expected survivors - Daily Mail

10-set private Learjet goes down in flames near San Diego with no survivors expected: 2,500 without power due to the wreckage

• The crash happened in the area of Pepper Drive and North 2nd Street, located to the east of SR-67 north of Interstate 8 in the unincorporated part of El Cajon 
• The crash, which took place at 7:15 p.m. local time on Monday, has also caused about 2,500 customers to be without power in the area 
• Fire and smoke could be seen in video provided by a local resident. A Facebook livestream showed a car on fire in front of a house and debris in the street 
• Fire officials do not know how many people were on board the plane, but are working under the assumption that they are dead 
• No fatalities or injuries were reported on the ground 

By Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com

Published: 07:10 GMT, 28 December 2021 | Updated: 07:43 GMT, 28 December 2021

Police are under the assumption that anyone on board is dead after a small jet plane crashed in unincorporated area in a town about 17 miles east of San Diego.

The Learjet 35A, flying out of John Wayne Airport in Orange County crashed in the area of Pepper Drive and North 2nd Street, located to the east of SR-67 north of Interstate 8 in the unincorporated part of El Cajon, California. 

The crash, which took place at 7:15 p.m. local time on Monday, has also caused about 2,500 customers to be without power in the area. 

Fire and smoke could be seen in video provided by a local resident. A Facebook livestream showed a car on fire in front of a house and debris in the street.  

Fire officials do not know how many people were on board the plane, but are working under the assumption that they are dead, authorities told a local NBC station. 

No fatalities or injuries were reported on the ground. 

Firefighters work to put out flames on the ground after a small jet plane crashed in unincorporated area in a town about 17 miles east of San Diego

Several fire and police units worked to get the blaze under control by about 9 p.m. local time in El Cajon, California

Fire and smoke could be seen in video provided by a local resident. A Facebook livestream showed a car on fire in front of a house and debris in the street

No one on the ground was injured or hurt. Rainy conditions and the darkness have kept investigators from finding the full extent of the damage

'There is very little left of the aircraft,' Butz said. 'We weren't able to find any survivors.' 

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined as authorities are still investigating. 

San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore's office tweeted that the fire was out by about 9 p.m. local time. 

The sheriff's office added that there were 'unknown injuries' and encouraged anyone who saw the crash to contact the National Transportation and Safety Board. 

Fire Chief Don Butz said that they found a car with some damage from the crash but due to rainy conditions and darkness outside, they didn't know if any further damage was caused at other homes or properties.  

The plane did, however, take out several electrical poles during the crash. As of 8 p.m., more than 2,500 residents in El Cajon are without hour. 

Local power officials said they will likely have their power restored by early Tuesday morning.   

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2021-12-28 07:10:00Z
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Afghanistan's Taliban ban long-distance road trips for solo women - BBC News

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The Taliban have said Afghan women seeking to travel long distances by road should be offered transport only if accompanied by a male relative.

The directive, issued on Sunday, is the latest curb on women's rights since the Islamist group seized power in August.

A majority of secondary schools remain shut for girls, while most women have been banned from working.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch said the new restriction moved further towards making women prisoners.

Heather Barr, the group's associate director of women's rights, told AFP news agency the order "shuts off opportunities for [women] to be able to move about freely" or "to be able to flee if they are facing violence in the home".

The latest directive, issued by the Taliban's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said women travelling for more than 45 miles (72km) should be accompanied by a close male family member.

The document calls on vehicle owners to refuse rides to women not wearing Islamic head or face coverings, although it does not say which type of covering to use. Most Afghan women already wear headscarves.

It also bans the playing of music in vehicles.

"I felt really bad," Fatima, a midwife who lives in Kabul, told the BBC, reacting to the directive. "I cannot go out independently. What should I do if either I or my child is sick and my husband is not available?"

She added: "The Taliban captured our happiness from us... I have lost both my independence and happiness."

Another Afghan woman told the BBC that, while the measure would help some women "feel at ease", a family escort was no guarantee against violence and harassment.

She referred to an incident in Paghman in 2015 when four women were kidnapped from their family at gunpoint and later gang-raped.

"[The Taliban] have to create an environment around the country in such a way that women feel safe," she added.

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Since taking power following the departure of US and allied forces, the Taliban have told most female workers to stay at home while secondary schools are open only to boys and male teachers.

The Taliban say the restrictions are "temporary" and only in place to ensure all workplaces and learning environments are "safe" for women and girls. During their previous rule in the 1990s, women were barred from education and the workplace.

Last month, the group banned women from appearing in television dramas and ordered female journalists and presenters to wear headscarves on screen.

• VOICES: Girls’ despair as Taliban confirm Afghan school ban
• CONTEXT: The secret diaries of Afghan women

Donor nations have told the Taliban they must respect women's rights before financial aid is restored.

The country faces a deep humanitarian and economic crisis made worse by the removal of international support after the group seized power.

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