Tag: crackdown

Vape Detector Trial to Stop ‘Scourge’ at WA Schools

Western Australia’s education department will trial vape detectors in school toilets in a bid to stop students inhaling from electronic cigarettes. Minister for Education Tony Buti says the detectors will initially be installed at 10 public schools to combat “this problem that is impacting many of our school students.” “We will look at whether detectors…


China Hands Lengthy Jail Terms to 2 Human Rights Lawyers

BEIJING—A Chinese court sentenced two prominent human rights lawyers on Monday to jail terms of more than a decade each, a relative and rights groups told Reuters. Xu Zhiyong, 50, and Ding Jiaxi, 55, went on trial behind closed doors in June last year on charges of state subversion at a court in Linshu county…


Sunak Launches New Taskforce to Crackdown on Grooming Gangs

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to crackdown on Britain’s grooming gangs after admitting “cultural sensitivity and political correctness” have prevented child abusers being brought to justice. Speaking in Greater Manchester on Monday, Sunak said it was now his priority to “stamp out this evil,” as he announced new measures to tackle child exploitation gangs….


Venezuela Arrests 21 in Corruption Crackdown, 11 More Wanted

CARACAS—An expanding anti-corruption probe in Venezuela has led to the detention of 10 officials and 11 businessmen, the country’s attorney general said on Saturday, adding that arrest warrants for 11 more people have been issued. The investigation, which began in October, is focused on state oil company PDVSA, a government entity supervising crypto currency operations,…


Unsilenced | Feature Film

When the Chinese Communist Party launches a brutal crackdown against 100 million citizens, a jaded American reporter and a team of innocent students risk everything to expose the deadly propaganda and fight for freedom. “Unsilenced” won the 2021 Audience Award for narrative feature at the 28th annual Austin Film Festival in Texas on Nov. 1,…


China’s New Probe of Jack Ma’s Ant Group Flags the Return of More Regulatory Crackdowns

A reported comeback of Beijing-led regulatory crackdowns on Jack Ma’s Ant Group has sounded alarm bells for China’s fintech sector. Ant, the payment affiliate of Alibaba Group, is facing more state intrusion with Beijing asking banks and state-owned enterprises to conduct a fresh round of checks of their financial exposure and other links with the…


Are Big Chinese Tech Firms in Trouble?

Commentary When Icarus flew too close to the sun, he got burned, tumbled out of the sky, and fell into the ocean. China’s technology giants have certainly been flying high. The cohort of Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and other platform companies have become household names, made their founders billionaires, run apps that Chinese people use on…


Kazakhstan Government Says It Has Detained Over 5,000 Protesters as Clampdown Worsens

The Kazakhstan government has declared it has detained over 5,000 people as political unrest continues to unfold around the country. In an official update from Kazakh President Kassem-Jomart Tokayev on Jan. 9, Kazakh authorities announced that they had detained 5,800 people, many of whom they labelled “foreigners.” The news of the arrests comes after Kazakh…


China Tech Crackdown Makes Beijing Loyalists Uncomfortable

News Analysis China’s tech sector is becoming uninvestable for a host of reasons, not least that the Beijing regime hates capitalism. It’s a communist country and its leader, Xi Jinping, appears to be a true believer and on track to be emperor for life. CNBC’s “Mad Money” celebrity investor, Jim Cramer, put it in about these…


How Democracy Was Dismantled in Hong Kong in 2021

HONG KONG—For Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, 2021 has been a year in which the city’s authorities and the central government in Beijing stamped out nearly everything it had stood for. Activists have fled abroad or been locked up under a draconian new National Security Law imposed on the city. Opposition voices have been driven out…