An alleged spy for China living in Istanbul evaded detection by Turkish authorities for years, Sadiq Memeteziz’s undercover work taking him to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria and Xinjiang in China’s far-west, Turkish media reports said, citing official documents. Memeteziz, or Shadeke Maimaitiaizazi in Chinese, was one of six…
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Suu Kyi’s son receives 1st letter from her since Myanmar coup
In mid-January, Kim Aris received a letter from his mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, the former de facto leader of Myanmar and Nobel laureate who is serving a 27-year prison sentence. It was the first public communication from her since late 2022, when the junta barred her legal team from…
Three killed, 5 injured in 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Xinjiang
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Xinjiang’s Uchturpan county, which borders Kyrgyzstan, early Tuesday killed three, injured five, and displaced more than 12,400 people living in the area, Chinese authorities and Akqi officials said. Xinjiang emergency management authorities told Chinese state media at a press conference on Tuesday evening that the…
Major Muslim group buys into China’s narrative of happy Uyghurs in a stable Xinjiang
Seeking to promote its rosy narrative about the peace and prosperity enjoyed by majority-Muslim Uyghurs in the far-western region of Xinjiang, China earlier this month invited delegates from the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation to visit and observe. The propaganda junket – aimed at blunting international criticism of Beijing’s repression…
Tibetan rappers gain popularity among diaspora with songs about ethnic identity
Tenzin Younten wanted Tibetans living in the diaspora in Darjeeling, India, to speak in their native language. So, the 19-year-old rapper wrote a song about it. “I saw two Tibetans in my neighborhood communicating in the local dialect [Nepali] and that just triggered me,” Younten, whose stage name is Youns…
INTERVIEW: ‘The Myanmar people are suffering, physically and mentally’
Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, will continue to serve as his country’s permanent representative to the international body in New York for another year, a position he has held since 2020. The United Nations General Assembly Credentials Committee decided to uphold his status at a meeting…
Vietnam promotes 'problematic' bid for UN Human Rights Council membership
Vietnam is mounting an assertive campaign to win a seat on the United National Human Rights Council in an Oct. 11 vote, but critics say Hanoi’s poor record at home and diplomatic support for major rights violators abroad disqualify the one-party state. Fourteen seats on the 47-member Council will be…
China enforces lockdowns as COVID cases spiral in Xinjiang and Tibet
A sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Xinjiang led China’s government to send a delegation throughout the far-western region to implement controversial zero-COVID policies, further isolating residents there. As of Wednesday, Xinjiang recorded 2,779 confirmed COVID-19 cases throughout Xinjiang, with officials in the capital Urumqi (in Chinese,…
UN report says treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang may be modern form of slavery
Minorities in China’s Xinjiang region are forced to work against their will and face physical and sexual violence and “other inhuman or degrading treatment” in what may constitute a modern form of slavery, a report released on Tuesday by a United Nations office said. In the 20-page report, Tomoya Obokata,…
‘Most of us are worse off’
More than four years after a dam collapse in southern Laos triggered the country’s worst flooding in decades much of the farmland that was underwater remains unusable, leaving some survivors still struggling to scratch out a living. Residents of four villages in Attapeu’s Sanamxay district told RFA they cannot plant…