TNT PRESS

Chinese entries skyrocket at this year’s Taiwan Golden Horse Awards

11Oct

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Asia-pacific, Top News

Chinese entries skyrocket at this year’s Taiwan Golden Horse Awards

FILE - This picture taken on November 19, 2022 shows a Golden Horse trophy being held by Taiwanese actor Berant Zhu after he won Best Supporting Actor at the 59th Golden Horse Film Awards. Taipei, Taiwan — Organizers of Taiwan's premier film festival report a huge increase this year in entries from China, despite a ban imposed by Beijing six years ago on participation in the festival by Chinese filmmakers and actors. As many as 100 Chinese entries had been submitted for Golden Horse Awards in recent years, in defiance of the ban and without apparent consequences. But this year organizers say the number of movies and documentaries submitted from China shot up to 276. More than a dozen of the Chinese films are potential finalists, some in multiple categories. The winners will be...

Russian propagandists push fake story that Zelenskyy bought Hitler’s car

11Oct

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World

Russian propagandists push fake story that Zelenskyy bought Hitler’s car

Screenshot of the fake news site Seattle Tribune. washington — The article in the Seattle Tribune had everything: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Adolf Hitler and a $15 million classic car. Unsurprisingly, it spread like wildfire across Russia's state and pro-Kremlin media. But the subject was a strange one for a news site about a U.S. city; such outlets usually cover only local stories. In fact, the article with headline "Hitler's parade car bought by Ukraine's Zelensky" was another fake spread by Russian propaganda. There is no such media outlet as the Seattle Tribune, just a website masquerading as a full-fledged publication. And the article itself was a compilation of Russia's disinformation "greatest hits" about Ukraine — "Nazism," "unrestrained corruption" and "w...

Drugmakers rely on supplies using Uyghur forced labor: report

11Oct

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World

Drugmakers rely on supplies using Uyghur forced labor: report

The global pharmaceutical industry relies on ingredients made in China’s far-western Xinjiang region using Uyghur forced labor despite efforts to eliminate this risk from supply chains, according to a new report. The report by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, or C4ADS, says that even two U.S. government agencies — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development via its contractor Chemonics International — have not cut ties with Xinjiang-linked drug suppliers. This is happening despite U.S. laws that require American companies to ensure there is no forced labor in their supply chains. “Our findings indicate that international governments remain tied to the Uyghur region, especially in the pharmaceutical sector,” Mishel Kondi, author of th...

US bulletin says Iranian hackers targeting political campaigns

9Oct

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US bulletin says Iranian hackers targeting political campaigns

Iranian hackers looking to undermine confidence in next month's U.S. elections are prowling for victims, putting a premium on anyone working for American political campaigns, according to a new warning from U.S. officials. The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the government body responsible for overseeing election security, on Tuesday urged politicians and their teams to strengthen their cybersecurity posture to combat the threat from Iran. They also encouraged former U.S. government officials, academics, journalists and activists to take necessary precautions, noting the Iranian-linked hackers are operating at the behest of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "IRGC cyber actors pose an ongoing and escalating risk," CISA Director Jen Easterly...

North Korea likely to send troops to support Russia: South’s defense minister

9Oct

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North Korea likely to send troops to support Russia: South’s defense minister

North Korea is likely to send members of its regular armed forces to Ukraine in support of Russia, said South Korea’s defense minister on Tuesday, which would signal a significant deepening of cooperation between the allies. North Korea and Russia have moved noticeably closer over the past year or more amid widespread suspicion that North Korea has supplied conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. This year, the two countries signed a strategic treaty that includes mutual defense elements but they both deny that North Korea is sending Russia weapons. “As Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty akin to a military alliance, the possibility of such a deployment is highly likely,” South Korean Defense Minister Kim...

South Korea sees signs of North building large nuclear-powered submarine

9Oct

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South Korea sees signs of North building large nuclear-powered submarine

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends what state media said was a launching ceremony for a new tactical nuclear attack submarine in North Korea on Sept. 8, 2023. The South Korean military has detected apparent signs that North Korea has started to build a large nuclear-powered submarine, a Seoul-based lawmaker said on Tuesday, as North Korea’s leader dialed up his threat to use nuclear weapons against its enemies. North Korea unveiled a submarine “Hero Kim Kun Ok” in September last year, calling it a “tactical nuclear attack submarine,” and vowed that it would build a nuclear-powered submarine. “Partial signs that appear to be the start of the submarine’s construction have been detected,” said Kang Dae-sik of the ruling People Power Party, who was briefed on the issue by South Kor...

Over 100 Myanmar political prisoners have died since coup, group says

9Oct

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World

Over 100 Myanmar political prisoners have died since coup, group says

Family members and friends waiting for the release of prisoners during one of the junta’s amnesties at Yangon’s Insein Prison on Feb. 12, 2022. More than 100 political prisoners arrested by Myanmar’s junta have died in custody in the three and a half years since the military seized power, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, or AAPP. Junta authorities have arrested tens of thousands of activists, union leaders, rebel soldiers, journalists and people suspected of supporting insurgent groups. Among those detained and sentenced to decades in jail are members of the ousted National League for Democracy, or NLD, administration, including former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-profile politicians detained hours after the early 2021 coup. Pri...

North Korea punishes flood victims for failing to rescue leaders’ portraits

9Oct

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World

North Korea punishes flood victims for failing to rescue leaders’ portraits

North Koreans bow beneath portraits of the late leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, Dec. 17, 2013. North Korea is punishing residents who escaped with their lives from rising floodwaters but failed to save portraits of the two previous leaders that hang on the walls of every home, residents told Radio Free Asia. People who lost their party membership cards – to be on one’s body at all times – in the disaster are also being penalized, they said. The cult of personality surrounding North Korea’s Kim Dynasty is so woven into society that by law, every household must display framed portraits of leader Kim Jong Un’s late predecessors – his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung. The portraits must be hung in a prominent position in the main livi...

North Korea says it will bolster defense on border with South, cut road, rail links

9Oct

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World

North Korea says it will bolster defense on border with South, cut road, rail links

Barbed wire fences mark the borders inside the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea (L) in this photograph taken on October 27, 2010. (Reuters/Hyungwon Kang) N North Korea’s military said it will cut off roads and railways to South Korea and bolster border defenses from Wednesday, citing South Korean military exercises and U.S. “strategic nuclear assets” for the decision. Relations between North and South Korea have been particularly strained recently with both sides exchanging threats of annihilation if the other were ever to attack. “A project will be launched first on October 9 to completely cut off roads and railways connected to the ROK and fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures,” said the general staff of the North Korean People’s...

Hun Sen says adviser defrauded several Cambodians with bribe demands

9Oct

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World

Hun Sen says adviser defrauded several Cambodians with bribe demands

Ly Samet in an undated photo. Former Prime Minister Hun Sen said one of his top advisers, Ly Samet, solicited bribes in exchange for favors and government positions and has defrauded several Cambodians over the last two years – including one incident in which US$10 million was paid. Hun Sen wrote on Facebook on Monday that Ly Samet’s assets should be frozen, and Phnom Penh court officials should issue an order to return money he accepted from people. “Ly Samet always used my name to cheat people,” he wrote. “He even told people who he had cheated that he had given the money to me.” Last year, Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister in favor of his son, Hun Manet, but he retains power as Senate president and as head of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP. As party presid...