Manufacturers say that installing a couple of 300-watt panels will give a saving of up to 30% on a typical household’s electricity bill. With an outlay of €400-800 and with no installation cost, the panels could pay for themselves within six years.

In Spain, where two thirds of the population live in apartments and installing panels on the roof requires the consent of a majority of the building’s residents, this DIY technology has obvious advantages.

With solar balconies, no such consent is required unless the facade is listed as of historic interest or there is a specific prohibition from the residents’ association or the local authority. Furthermore, as long as the installation does not exceed 800 watts it doesn’t require certification, which can cost from €100 to €400, depending on the area.

As with all solar power systems, balcony power only works in daylight and a battery storage system can add at least €1,000 to the installation cost.

Vernetta says the vertical surface area of cities is far greater than that of the roofs and that, in Spain, balcony panels benefit more than roof panels from the low winter sun.

Cities such as Helsinki are already experimenting with buildings with solar panel cladding.

Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Because of the decimation of the healthcare system in Gaza since October 2023, including disease tracking, the true scale of those harmed or killed by Israeli authorities’ actions that have deprived Palestinians of adequate water is unknown and may likely never be fully understood. However, these policies have likely contributed to thousands of deaths. Doctors and nurses told Human Rights Watch that they had seen numerous infants, children, and adults die from a combination of malnutrition, dehydration, and disease.

[...]

Israeli authorities made clear their intention to deprive the population of Gaza of necessities after October 7, 2023. On October 9, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered “a complete siege” on Gaza, stating “[t]here will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything is closed.” On October 11, 2023, then-Energy Minister and current Minister of Defense Israel Katz echoed the call for electricity, water, and fuel to be cut, and on October 12, 2023, he called for humanitarian aid to be cut as well.

[...]

In the days after the Hamas-led attacks by Palestinian armed groups in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, senior Israeli officials, including former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and former Energy Minister and current Defense Minister Israel Katz made public statements expressing the government’s aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of water, HRW says, citing sources.

[...]

Israeli authorities have also significantly restricted humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, prevented aid deliveries to different areas within Gaza at various times, and have specifically blocked supplies related to water treatment and production, HRW says.

[...]

Israeli authorities have barred nearly all water-related humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, including water filtration systems, water tanks, and materials needed to repair water infrastructure.

[...]

Archived

The bloc’s diplomatic service, as well as some member states, are examining whether judicial decisions would be needed as a legal basis to seize the frozen assets, or if a damage calculation would be enough, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

[...]

A decision to confiscate the money and hand it over to Ukraine would be a significant departure from the current approach. [...] Up to now, the EU and the Group of Seven nations have tapped the profits generated by some $300 billion in sanctioned Russian assets to provide aid to Ukraine. Under a G-7 plan, Kyiv’s allies approved a mechanism where the profits would be used to underpin a €50 billion ($52.5 billion) loan package for Kyiv.

[Confiscation of foreign assets, let alone of that size, would be unprecedented in history. While central bank reserves have been frozen many times -e.g., the United States are still holding the reserves of Iraq and Afghanistan, yet technically they remain the property of these countries. Central bank reserves of another country have never been confiscated before.]

[...]

Some EU member states are currently evaluating what effect such a move would have on the euro as a currency, the people said. They’re also assessing the potential impact of third countries deciding to withdraw assets from countries that proceed with seizures.

[...]

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new foreign policy chief who runs its diplomatic service, said during her confirmation hearing last month that frozen assets should be tapped directly. “I will not use the word confiscation, because it’s really using the assets in a legal way,” she said.

[...]

The People's Republic of China has a "magic weapon", according to its founding leader Mao Zedong and its current president Xi Jinping. It is called the United Front Work Department (UFWD) - and it is raising as much alarm in the West as Beijing's growing military arsenal.

Yang Tengbo, a prominent businessman who has been linked to Prince Andrew, is the latest overseas Chinese citizen to be scrutinised - and sanctioned - for his links to the UFWD.

The existence of the department is far from a secret. A decades-old and well-documented arm of the Chinese Communist Party, it has been mired in controversy before. Investigators from the US to Australia have cited the UFWD in multiple espionage cases, often accusing Beijing of using it for foreign interference.

[...]

The United Front - originally referring to a broad communist alliance - was once hailed by Mao as the key to the Communist Party's triumph in the decades-long Chinese Civil War.

After the war ended in 1949 and the party began ruling China, United Front activities took a backseat to other priorities. But in the last decade under Xi, the United Front has seen a renaissance of sorts.

Xi's version of the United Front is broadly consistent with earlier incarnations: to "build the broadest possible coalition with all social forces that are relevant", according to Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

[...]

Today, the UFWD seeks to influence public discussions about sensitive issues ranging from Taiwan - which China claims as its territory - to the suppression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang.

It also tries to shape narratives about China in foreign media, target Chinese government critics abroad and co-opt influential overseas Chinese figures.

"United Front work can include espionage but [it] is broader than espionage," Audrye Wong, assistant professor of politics at the University of Southern California, tells the BBC.

"Beyond the act of acquiring covert information from a foreign government, United Front activities centre on the broader mobilisation of overseas Chinese," she said, adding that China is "unique in the scale and scope" of such influence activities.

[...]

Some experts say that the long arm of China's United Front is indeed concerning. "Western governments now need to be less naive about China's United Front work and take it as a serious threat not only to national security but also to the safety and freedom of many ethnic Chinese citizens," [politics professor at Johns Hopkins University Dr Ho-fung] Hung said.

[But he and Audrye Wong, assistant professor of politics at the University of Southern California, say that] it's important to remember that not everyone who is ethnically Chinese is a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party.

[...]

In a stark warning, Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen emphasized that Russia and its allies will continue to pose a threat to European security, even after the conflict in Ukraine ends. His remarks came during a press conference where he stressed that European nations cannot discount the possibility of military threats from Russia.

Finland made headlines on Thursday by releasing its inaugural defence policy review since joining the NATO military alliance last year. This strategic decision was largely motivated by Russia's aggressive invasion of Ukraine, compelling Finland to reevaluate its defense posture in the region.

Finland, like Ukraine, is a neighbour to Russia, sharing a more than 1,300-km (800-mile) border that is currently closed to all travellers as Helsinki accuses Moscow of funnelling illegal migration to Europe.

Hakkanen, presenting a review of the Nordic country's military, said he saw Russia's increased cooperation with North Korea, Iran and China as a long-term risk, according to Reuters.

The review underscores Finland's heightened security concerns amidst Russia's ongoing military activities and highlights the nation's commitment to bolstering its defenses against potential threats from its eastern neighbor and its allies.

(With inputs from agencies. Edit for clarity.)

Suspected of stabbing the president of the company where he was employed, Nathan Mahoney was arraigned on Wednesday morning, charged with assault with intent to murder and fleeing and eluding a police officer.

According to court documents, the 32-year-old man from Walker allegedly walked into a conference room during a morning meeting at Anderson Express on Tuesday and stabbed the company president with a "red-handled" knife.

Archived

Around 30,000 Russians of working age die annually from HIV, according to Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of Russia’s Federal Methodological Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention.

This figure continues to rise alongside increasing treatment costs for the government and a lack of early HIV testing.

Speaking to TASS, Pokrovsky revealed that the Russian government spends RUB70bn ($670mn) per year on HIV treatment. The epidemic is exacerbated by the loss of economically active individuals, which Pokrovsky highlighted as a critical economic blow.

“If each year we lose 30,000 young, able-bodied people who could work for another 20-30 years, that is an additional loss [to the economy],” he said.

Russia’s HIV epidemic, which has resulted in 1.7mn infections and nearly 500,000 deaths to date, stems primarily from gaps in early diagnosis and inconsistent treatment availability. Reports indicate that shortages of antiretroviral drugs, including the vital medication Dolutegravir, have emerged due to disrupted supply chains and procurement issues, with some supply tenders being cancelled altogether.

While heterosexual transmission is now the most common means of spreading HIV in Russia, marginalised groups such as drug users, sex workers and gay men remain disproportionately vulnerable. Reduced funding for HIV testing – currently 30% below the recommended levels – has further undermined efforts at early detection, despite calls from medical experts for regular screenings to prevent immune system deterioration.

Archived

A Chinese man was arrested on the territory of a German naval base, police said on Wednesday, and a public broadcaster said prosecutors were considering spying charges.

[...]

The man was found carrying a camera at the naval base in Kiel on December 9, and that prosecutors were considering charges of taking security-endangering pictures of military installations.

"We have an open investigation into a Chinese man who was found on the territory of the marine port," said Carola Jeschke, spokesperson for Schlesweig-Holstein's criminal investigation department.

[...]

The investigation comes amid a greatly heightened focus on the security threat posed by China, whose booming car industry is an increasingly formidable competitor to Germany's economic mainstay, and which continues to cooperate with Russia even as the West seeks to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Kiel, on the Baltic Sea, is home to one of the German navy's three flotillas and the dry dock where ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems builds submarines.

In October, Germany took over command of NATO's task force in the Baltic Sea, which is criss-crossed by fuel pipelines and data cables that have repeatedly been severed since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.

Germany's security agencies have frequently warned of an increased threat from Chinese intelligence services.

**In 2023, Kiel scrapped plans to establish a twin-city partnership with the Chinese military port of Qingdao after researchers warned that it could serve as a cover for espionage. **

[Replaced the link with a Cloudflare-free version.]

Archived version

[...]

Estonia PM Kristen Michal, who is hosting Sir Keir Starmer and eight other European leaders at a security summit in Tallinn, said that if the allies wanted to have peace, they needed to prepare for a defensive war against Russia that could begin in the next five or ten years.

“Russia has a mentality that war is something sacred, that this is a sacred war, and they are against everybody,” he said.

“They are against Europe, they are against Nato, they are against the United States. And the only way they would diverge from this path is if they were to meet something bigger or stronger on this path.”

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, defence spending across Nato as a whole has crept over 2 per cent of GDP for the first time in three decades. Twenty-three of the 32 allies have now crossed the threshold, compared with only seven before the onslaught. Poland’s budget is climbing towards 5 per cent and Estonia’s is projected to reach 3.7 per cent next year.

[...]

Last week Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general, said the Europeans needed to get back to Cold War-era levels of military spending, when budgets were routinely well over 3 per cent, because the threat to their security was even greater today.

[...]

Estonian officials now say they are confident that Nato will raise the bar to 2.5 or 3 per cent in the near future, not least because the alliance’s new lists of specific requirements from each national military will force the issue.

“I believe that we’ll reach the momentum and more and more countries are understanding that they need to do more,” Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s defence minister, told The Times. “It’s not only about the words that Trump is saying. It’s about the real needs.”

[...]

Estonian officials argue that if Ukraine can cling on until the spring then Putin will face mounting discontent within his own regime and find it harder to persuade other power brokers that Russia can outlast its opponents.

In the long run, Michal said, Russia was “absolutely” destroying its economic future. “If one were to look at Russia’s economy like we look at other economies … Russia’s economy would be like a train wreck in slow motion,” he said. “But because the [Russian] narrative is different, the Putin regime’s only way of staying in power is to continue this kind of war because during the war [its critics] cannot ask any questions”.

[...]

Archived

Poland decided to add several media and telecommunication firms to its list of strategic companies, which means their takeover will not be possible without government consent, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday.

Tusk had earlier said that private broadcasters TVN, owned by U.S. company Warner Discovery, and Polsat would be added to the list, highlighting increased concern about foreign interference. Tusk cited "hybrid war" against countries in the region.

Romania's top court annulled an ongoing presidential election this month after accusations of Russian meddling, particularly on social media. Russia denies interfering in elections in foreign countries.

"We adopted a regulation... on the basis of which we added to a list of entities subject to protection... companies such as Cyfrowy Polsat, P4 - the company that operates Play, TVN, Polsat television, T-Mobile and WB Electronics," Tusk said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting. "This list already includes previously protected companies... such as Tauron Polska, Orlen, Emitel, Grupa Azoty, Gaspol. I do not need to justify the necessity for protection against the risk of these companies, which are key to the security of the Polish state, falling into the wrong hands."

Poland's list of strategic companies included mostly energy, chemical companies until now.

Russian Economist Konstantin Sonin explains what a recent report on the Russian economy – which argues that “Putinomics” can both keep the war going and ensure economic growth – gets wrong.

Konstantin Sonin: [...] here are a number of artificial statistical effects that create the impression that the economy as a whole is growing. The fact is that it is not growing. In fact, two processes are taking place in the economy: a decline in people’s standard of living and a decline in consumption – in both the quantity of goods consumed and the quality of goods consumed. This is how the war is being financed [...] We get a statistical illusion.

[...]

If we take all these [official statistical] figures on faith, then we get something strange: you can take a working economy, remove a million people from the workforce – 500,000 for the war, 500,000 as emigrants – increase the costs of all transactions – because, owing to the chain of intermediaries, each transaction abroad now costs more and gets you less – and the end result is an economy producing more.

This contradicts what we know about the functioning of an economy. There is no such thing as pressing a button and producing more. Especially if your costs have increased. You can also imagine a situation where you press a button and produce more now at the expense of tomorrow, but my colleagues do not expect a downturn tomorrow.

[...]

I do not think that the people sitting at [Russia's federal statistics agency] Rosstat are deliberately tweaking the numbers. But it would not be surprising if you, presented with the opportunity to decide, roughly speaking, how to calibrate a model, you did it in such a way that it gave you the most favorable numbers.

[...]

If we roughly assume that inflation [which is officially at around 9 percent year on year at the moment] is actually underestimated by about half, then GDP growth disappears, as does the growth of real incomes [...] obviously does not exist. Because if this growth were real, we would have no idea where these real incomes are going, as there is no consumption growth in any data.

[...]

Of course, the Russian economy has not collapsed, as some hotheads predicted; it has not gone away. But for each transaction, for each item, the costs have gone up. Every unit of Russian exports is sold for less than it was sold for before. Every unit of Russian imports is bought for more than it was bought for before.

[...]

The effects we are talking about, which I believe indicate an economic deterioration, are a couple percent, single percentage points. Maybe even 10%. We have seen that GDP and other macroeconomic aggregates can halve in seven years – this was the case in the early 1990s. But did trams stop running? Did clinics stop working?

In other words, this alone does not lead to an economic collapse. [...] There is a war going on now and that it is being financed by reducing the country’s standard of living. We know from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that people can put up with a lot for a long time. Before my eyes, from the age of 10 to 18, we went from queues for quality products to queues for butter, and then to queues for eggs and bread.

[...]

I do not think it’s possible to assist the brain drain more than it has already been assisted [...] Russia has experienced a brain drain that is unprecedented for any country in the last half century.

[...]

Regarding capital flight, we also need to understand what it means to “encourage capital flight." [...] Dollars only make sense if our oligarch bought some goods abroad and brought them to Russia. In this case, the dollars are put to work. And what would our hypothetical oligarch invest in if he were allowed to? In the most profitable business today: circumventing sanctions. This is where the biggest margins are now. Allowing Putin’s oligarchs to invest money abroad now, allowing capital flight, would amount to subsidizing the most profitable business out there.

[...]

If Putin today decisively carries out demilitarization and reduces spending on the security services and propaganda, then yes, he can prolong the life of his regime. But if, for example, next year he increases military spending and increases spending on the security services and propaganda, then he might bring it all down in a year.

Archived

Layoffs of IT specialists in Russia have accelerated as 2024 draws to a close. According to reporting by The Bell in its subscribers-exclusive newsletter, the cutbacks have hit both tech firms and the IT divisions of companies in other industries. However, Russia’s wartime political posture has made it difficult to speak openly about economic setbacks, and businesses have labored to conceal or deny mounting troubles with IT personnel. Meduza summarizes The Bell’s report.

Multiple IT recruitment specialists told The Bell that businesses have tried to conceal information about the layoffs or denied outright that cutbacks are happening at all. One source explained that layoffs have been “quietly underway” all year, but the rate intensified in recent months. “No one is ready to make this public. They say, ‘Sure, we let some people go, sure, it was the whole department, sure, it was the entire project, but it’s not layoffs, come on,’” the source said. Another IT recruiter told The Bell that layoffs have become routine. “Entire teams are coming to us,” he explained.

The Bell reported layoffs at the social media conglomerate VK and the telecom giant MTS, though both companies deny it. The Bell’s sources also mentioned cutbacks to IT workers at the development group Samolet. (Samolet says it merely “streamlined” its IT department to eliminate redundant functions when creating a new division called Samolet Technologies.) Sberbank is also rolling back investments in testing and evaluation, reportedly by cutting contracts with outsourced IT product developers.

Additionally, the founder and former CEO of MyOffice (which designs office software intended to replace Microsoft Office products in Russia) revealed earlier this month that executives had laid off its entire senior management (who were appointed only two years earlier when Kaspersky Lab gained control over the company). The IT Workers Union has reported cutbacks at other firms, as well.

[...]

“The economy is screwed,” the source said. “IT specialists were supposedly in high demand, there was a labor shortage, and so on. But the market has no money for growth, and marketing instruments have failed. Sure, companies need marketers and IT specialists, but there’s no money [to pay them]. However, they’re hiding all this because, in Russia, the economy can’t possibly be screwed.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17627707

On International Human Rights Day, a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Vienna united Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Christians demanding an end to Chinese Communist Party oppression. Demonstrators called for global action against the ongoing human rights abuses and systemic oppression of marginalized communities in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On International Human Rights Day, a significant protest unfolded outside the Chinese Embassy in Vienna as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Chinese Christians united against ongoing oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The event, spearheaded by the Tibetan Community Organisation in Vienna, spotlighted widespread human rights abuses by the Chinese authorities.

Leading the demonstration, Tibetan diaspora members waved flags and held banners condemning the CCP's persistent violations in Tibet. They voiced concerns over issues such as the demolition of monasteries, enforced relocation of Tibetan children, and what many called cultural genocide. The protesters urged global recognition of these atrocities and pressed for international intervention to halt Chinese repressive policies.

Uyghur activists stood alongside their Tibetan peers, highlighting the severe persecution faced by Uyghurs, including mass detentions, forced labor, and the destruction of religious sites. Joined by Chinese Christians, who protested against the state's control over religious practices, they collectively demanded an end to CCP tyranny and urged the world to hold China accountable.

[Edit to include the link.]

Archived link

Here is the study (pdf).

The Gaza-based Community Training Center for Crisis Management, supported by War Child Alliance, surveyed more than 500 Palestinian children in Gaza last June. The results in brief:

• 96% of children feel death is imminent
• 92% of children are not accepting of reality,
• 87% display severe fear,
• 79% suffer from nightmares,
• 77% of children avoid talking about traumatic events,
• 73% of children exhibit symptoms of aggression,
• 49% of children wish to die because of the war.

There are "many more show signs of withdrawal and severe anxiety, alongside a pervasive sense of hopelessness", the organization War Child Alliance says.

A seminal 2019 study published in the Lancet indicated that 22% of individuals in a conflict affected population would suffer from a mental disorder*. In comparison, the figures from this needs assessment study indicate that virtually all of the most vulnerable children in Gaza require psychosocial and trauma recovery support.

When the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment announced in October that it will no longer accept donations from the fossil fuel industry, the news sent waves through the growing movement to get coal, oil and gas companies off campuses. Among other things, that means banning fossil fuel corporations from financing academic research.

“This victory shows students have the ability to enact institutional change,” said Erin Mackey, a leader of the group Climate Justice UofT, which pushed for the fossil fuel money ban. “That’s especially important when, at many universities, students who want to make change are having the door slammed in their faces.”

Mackey and other Climate Justice UofT leaders decided to launch a fossil free research campaign, possibly the first in Canada. They joined organizing calls with a network of students across the U.S. and U.K. then known as Fossil Free Research, who were exchanging ideas and experiences as they built their own campaigns.

“We did teach-ins, rallies and banner drops,” Mackey said. In 2023, she and other students from Climate Justice UofT released a report finding that between 2008 and 2018, the university accepted over $64 million from the fossil fuel industry.

The students also began direct talks with faculty about a fossil free research policy specific to the School of the Environment. Responses from faculty members were generally supportive.

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17602752

Archived version

In June, the world’s largest solar plant opened in China—a 3.5 gigawatt (GW) behemoth. Covering 32,947 acres, it can produce enough energy alone to power Luxembourg. News sites and pro-solar groups hailed the project as a milestone, showcasing the country’s leadership in renewable energy and adding to a growing consensus that China could peak emissions ahead of schedule.

Nearly none, though, highlighted one obvious detail: the location of the plant, in the far western regions of Xinjiang, near the regional capital of Ürümqi. It’s the homeland of the Uyghurs, where, since 2018, what many consider a genocide has been taking place.

In fact, the solar plant is just an hour away from where Uyghur-American Rushan Abbas was born and grew up. Now based near Washington, D.C., she has been unable to return home for decades and has had no contact with her family in years.

“By failing to acknowledge the dark realities behind this solar plant near where I was born, raised, and educated, Ürümqi, they are allowing China to present a false narrative,” said Abbas. “This mega-solar plant is a continuation of the broader history of Chinese occupation and exploitation of Uyghurs.”

To Abbas and other Uyghurs living outside of what China calls Xinjiang and what they call East Turkestan, the solar plant doesn’t deserve praise. Rather, it’s the latest in a decades-long effort to Sinicize the region and exploit its resources to benefit Han Chinese migrants. They believe that the state’s flaunting of record-setting solar expansion is part of a broader plan to greenwash the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs and further allow the colonization of their homeland.

[...]

Just because it’s a solar project doesn’t exempt it from the criticisms that plague fossil fuel or infrastructure projects elsewhere.

[...]

Decades of Resource Exploitation in Xinjiang

[...] Uyghurs know this well. Shortly after East Turkestan was occupied by the newly-in-power Chinese Communist Party in 1949, Han Chinese migrants, led by the state-owned Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), began flowing into the newly renamed region, seeking to exploit its natural resources: coal, quartz, silicon, and oil.

[...]

“When the XPCC first entered our region, they promised development but gradually seized lands and water resources, leaving Uyghur farmers unable to sustain their livelihoods,” said Iltebir. “Many were forced to sell their lands to the XPCC and work for them just to survive.”

To this day, Xinjiang is one of China’s main coal- and oil-producing regions. In fact, coal is what fuels China’s solar industry, which produces panels using subsidized Xinjiang coal.

“Historically my homeland has been rich in resources from cotton to coal to rare earth minerals,” said Abbas. “Since the 1950s, the Chinese government has systematically taken control of these resources to fuel its economic ambitions, while displacing and oppressing the local Uyghur population and migrating Han Chinese from China proper.”

Since the arrival of Han Chinese migrants and corporations, the demographics of the region have transformed entirely. In 1953, Uyghurs were 75% of the population, with Han Chinese at just six percent. Today, Uyghurs make up just 44% of the population, having become a minority in their homeland—a figure that continues to decline as China’s genocidal campaign of forced sterilization, family separation, and cultural “re-education” trudges on.

[...]

“Tainted With Human Rights Abuses”

The $2.13 billion Urumqi plant is, like nearly all of the major fossil fuel, mining, and clean tech projects in the region, led by a Chinese consortium: the state-affiliated China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp, PowerChina, and China Green Development Group. In English and Chinese promotional materials, the project proponents highlight its climate impacts—reducing CO2 emissions by 6 million tons and eliminating the demand for 1.9 million tons of coal.

[...]

“It feels hypocritical to be talking about just transition when this specific just transition is tainted with human rights abuses,” said Zumretay Arkin, an ethnic Uyghur who grew up in Canada and now lives in Germany, and director of global advocacy at the World Uyghur Congress.

[...]

A report from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) found that, broadly, clean energy companies are lagging on human rights policies, including issues like land rights, responsible sourcing, and affected community rights. Chinese companies, including Jinko Solar, Goldwin, LONGi, and JA Solar, were the lowest ranked.

[...]

“It’s not like elsewhere, where abuses would be tied to a company or a non-state entity. This is really state-imposed,” said Arkin. “There are directives, policies in place, subsidizing companies that are, for example, using Uyghurs working in forced labor conditions.”

[...]

Echoes of Xinjiang Beyond

[...]

In fact, other mega-solar projects are already being planned or built in Xinjiang and other parts of China—a planned 1.1 GW project in Tibet, and an even bigger 8 GW project in China’s Inner Mongolia region, for example. But they should also raise eyebrows. There are echoes of Xinjiang in both. In Inner Mongolia, the government has eliminated the local language in education. Meanwhile, in Tibet, over 1,000 protestors were arrested earlier this year during a demonstration opposing a hydropower and solar project that would flood villages and destroy six historic monasteries.

To Arkin, this isn’t surprising. “There’s still a lot of lack of awareness around how China is a colonial power and how it has colonized Uyghurs, Tibetans, and southern Mongolians,” said Arkin.

[...]

“I believe anyone who praises China’s pretentious commitment to green energy while failing to address the severe human rights abuses driving the industry, it amounts to complicity in the government’s crimes", said Abbas.

[...]

Due to the continual risks of attacks, children in some areas of the country are now sheltering up to six hours a day sheltering in basements and other damp dark spaces, said Catherine Russell, head of UN child rights agency, UNICEF.

At least 2,406 boys and girls have been killed or injured since the war began in February 2022 - an average of two a day, according to UN verified numbers, though the true figure is likely far higher.

[...]

"Some parts of Ukraine are experiencing power outages for 18 hours a day. As a result, many children in Ukraine are left without essentials such as heating, safe water and sanitation,” she said.

[...]

The war is also taking a terrible toll on children’s mental health and robbing them of their childhood, she continued.

"Children are impacted by the constant threat and fear of attacks or violence, the loss of loved ones, the separation of families due to displacement, and the disruption of education – including isolation due to long-term online learning,” she said.

As the war continues, UNICEF and partners are working tireless to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of children and families. This includes working with municipalities to keep heating systems operational throughout the winter.

Although they are doing their utmost, Ms. Russell stressed the need for more action.

[...]

As UNICEF remains deeply concerned about the number of children who have been separated from their families, Ms. Russell urged parties to prioritize family tracing and reunification, and refrain from taking any actions that would alter a child’s nationality or make it more difficult for them to be reunified.

[...]

In a significant political move on December 12, the Czech Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution challenging China's interpretation of United Nations Resolution 2758. The resolution champions Taiwan's participation in international organizations, as per an official statement released by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).

The resolution, led by Czechia IPAC Co-Chair Rep. Eva Decroix and backed by key committee members, addresses Beijing's sovereignty claims over Taiwan derived from the UN resolution. It denounces China's military provocations in the Taiwan Strait and calls on the European Union to support Taiwan's inclusion in global forums.

This is the sixth parliamentary motion under IPAC's "Initiative 2758," aimed at countering China's influence and promoting Taiwanese representation on the world stage. Echoing initiatives from other regions like the EU and Canada, this resolution reaffirms a widening international consensus supporting Taiwan.

Archived version

EU approves new sanction against Putin's Russia, focusing on its shadow tanker fleet and Chinese firms supplying drones and military equipment to Moscow

The European Union has approved its 15th sanctions package against Russia, focusing on its shadow tanker fleet and Chinese companies providing drones to Moscow.

These measures are taken to weaken Russia’s economy and disrupt its military operations as the war in Ukraine continues.

The Hungarian presidency of the EU confirmed that the sanctions target vessels from third countries helping in Russia’s oil trade and several entities supplying technology to support its military.

This package will add approximately 45 to 50 tankers, 30 entities, and over 50 individuals to the EU’s sanctions list.

[...]

Archived

Dariya Zarivna, operational director of the Bring Kids Back UA program, said at the UN Security Council, the aggressor country Russia refuses to reveal the location of 20,000 children abducted from Ukraine.

• Russia is withholding information on the whereabouts of 20,000 kidnapped Ukrainian children, defying international laws and efforts for their return.
• The forced imposition of Russian citizenship on abducted children from Ukraine has led to discrimination and limited access to essential services like healthcare and education.
• The International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, launched by Ukraine and supported by 41 countries, has successfully brought 1,022 children back home.
• The Montreal Commitment aims to ensure the safe return of all abducted Ukrainians, with a specific focus on children, in response to Russia's aggressive actions.
• The documentary 'Mutilated Childhood' sheds light on the harrowing experiences of children affected by Russia's war on Ukraine, underscoring the urgent need to protect their rights and bring them justice.

Russian officials systematically refuse to provide information. But to give you an idea, the commissioner for children's rights in Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova, boasted that she had "resettled" more than 700,000 Ukrainian children in Russia, Zarivna noted.

According to her, one of the examples is the story of 10-month-old Maryna Prokopenko, who was kidnapped by the Russian occupiers from a children's home in Kherson.

After the child was forcibly deported to Russia, she was given a new name, her place of birth was changed and she was given up for adoption to the family of State Duma deputy Serhii Myronov.

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Central Operative Unit - a specialised division of Spain's Guardia Civil that prosecutes the most serious forms of organised crime - worked alongside women's organisations and human rights lawyers for months to legalise Victoria's situation in Spain so that they could bring her family over to join her.

The team follows a victim-focused approach, through which women are offered long-term support to help them settle into a stable and safe environment after they have been rescued.

The team says it sometimes get teased by other units for sounding more like a "charity" than an elite team of criminal investigators, but Cristina is a passionate advocate for what they do.

"We believe in a social and humanitarian process that can restore hope in victims' lives, so they can truly recover and live passionately again."

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[A UN] report finds that women and girls continue to account for the majority of victims detected worldwide, who are mostly trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Spain is both a country of exploitation and a transit hub for thousands of victims trafficked into Europe.

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