Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 341

Christopher Wray, FBI Director: Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Government Inside the U.S.

I’m honored to be here with you at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The years of President Reagan’s administration were momentous ones, defined, in large part, by our struggle against the Soviet Union, and its empire—where freedoms we hold dear were snuffed out.I’m sure everyone here is familiar with President Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate in June 1987, when he called out “Mr.

Wang Dan: I’ve by now lived in each of China’s main megaregions. It is time to make assessments.

I’ve by now lived in each of China’s main megaregions. It is time to make assessments.Everything that can go wrong in urban design has gone wrong in Beijing. The climate is arid and prone to northerly sandstorms. Its streets are unwalkable, but a stroll would reveal that its imperial heritage, made up of alley houses called hutongs, is slowly being taken over by its socialist heritage, made up of

FBI chief: Threat from China ‘more brazen’ than ever before

The threat to the West from the Chinese government is “more brazen” and damaging than ever before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday night in accusing Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations.The speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library amounted to a stinging rebuke of the Chinese government just days before Beijing is set to

Activists urge athletes to speak out at Beijing Olympics

Human rights activists issued a call to action against the Beijing Olympics on Friday, imploring athletes and sponsors to speak out against what they call the “genocide games.” Speaking at an online press conference organized by the rights group Human Rights Watch, activists representing Chinese dissidents and the minority Uyghur and Tibetan populations urged international attendants to voice

Celebrations for Year of the Tiger are muted, but bring hope

People across Asia prepared Monday for muted Lunar New Year celebrations amid concerns over the coronavirus and virulent omicron variant, even as increasing vaccination rates raised hopes that the Year of the Tiger might bring life back closer to normal. The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China and falls on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Each year is named after one of twelve signs of

What it's like to fly into Beijing's Olympic 'bubble'

The Beijing Winter Olympics is being hosted inside a veritable fortress -- known informally as the "bubble" -- that takes weeks of careful planning to successfully penetrate. Designed to prevent the spread of Covid, the bubble is the most ambitious quarantine attempted anywhere since the start of the pandemic.The journey inside the bubble starts with a copy of the "Playbook," an 83-page rule book

Grindr disappears from app stores in China amid Olympics crackdown

Gay dating app Grindr has disappeared from multiple app stores in Chinaas authorities tighten control of the country’s already heavily policed internet and purge online behaviour the ruling Communist party dislikes.The country’s cyber authority is conducting a month-long campaign to root out illegal and sensitive content during the lunar new year holiday and February’s Winter Olympics. Although

‘This is not justice’: Chinese activists held for two years await trial

As millions of Chinese families gather this week to celebrate the arrival of the year of the tiger, Luo Shengchun is awaiting news of the fate of her husband, Ding Jiaxi, a human rights lawyer. “It’s the third year that our family hasn’t celebrated the Chinese new year. I don’t know what celebrating new year means now,” said Luo, who now lives in self-imposed exile in New York. “It’s beyond

Lunar New Year: Covid thwarts travel plans for millions

Covid-19 has dampened the travel plans of millions of Chinese for the Lunar New Year for a third straight year. Pre-pandemic, the celebration would see as many as 3 billion trips made across China, and was the world's largest annual migration of people. But resurgent virus outbreaks have forced many to cancel their plans. Chinese officials - still pursuing a zero-Covid strategy - have enforced

The deadly battles that tipped Myanmar into civil war

Myanmar is seeing increasingly deadly battles between its military and organised groups of armed civilians, new data suggests. Many of those fighting the military are young people who have put their lives on hold since the junta seized power a year ago. The intensity and extent of the violence - and the coordination of the opposition attacks - point to a change in the conflict from an uprising to