San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
China muzzles critics of state COVID policies
China has suspended or closed the social media accounts of more than 1,000 critics of the government’s policies on the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country moves to roll back harsh anti-virus restrictions.
The popular Sina Weibo social media platform said it had addressed 12,854 violations including attacks on experts, scholars and medical workers and issued temporary or permanent bans on 1,120 accounts.
The ruling Communist Party had largely relied on the medical community to justify its tough lockdowns, quarantine measures and mass testing, almost all of which it abruptly abandoned last month, leading to a surge in new cases that have stretched medical resources to their limits. The party allows no direct criticism and imposes strict limits on free speech.
Criticism has largely focused on heavy-handed enforcement of regulations, including openended travel restrictions that saw people confined to their homes for weeks, sometimes sealed inside without adequate food or medical care.
Anger was also vented over the requirement that anyone who potentially tested positive or had been in contact with such a person be confined for observation in a field hospital, where overcrowding, poor food and hygiene were commonly cited.
The social and economic costs eventually prompted rare street protests in Beijing and other cities, possibly influencing the party’s decision to swiftly ease the strictest measures.
As part of the latest changes, China will also no longer bring criminal charges against people accused of violating border quarantine regulations, according to a notice issued by government agencies on Saturday. Individuals currently in custody will be released, the notice said.
2 men executed amid national protests
Iran said it executed two men Saturday convicted of allegedly killing a paramilitary volunteer during a demonstration, the latest executions aimed at halting the nationwide protests now challenging the country’s theocracy.
Iran’s judiciary identified those executed as Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini. Four men are now known to have been executed since the demonstrations began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini. All faced rapid, closed-door trials that drew international criticism.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said the men had been convicted of killing a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force in the city of Karaj outside of Tehran on Nov. 3. The Basij have deployed in major cities, attacking and detaining protesters, who in many cases have fought back.
Activists say at least 16 people have been sentenced to death over charges linked to the protests. Death sentences in Iran are typically carried out by hanging.
At least 517 protesters have been killed and more than 19,200 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has closely monitored the unrest.
The protests began when 22-year-old Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Women have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly stripping off the compulsory Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab.
Kurds rally against killings in Paris
Thousands of Kurds from around France and Europe marched through Paris on Saturday to show their anger over the unresolved killing of three Kurdish female activists in the French capital 10 years ago.
The marchers also mourned three people killed outside a Kurdish cultural center in Paris two weeks ago in what prosecutors called a racist attack.
Escorted by police, about a dozen buses from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium carried Kurdish activists to the start of the march, near the Gare du Nord train
station in northern Paris. The demonstration was timed to mark the 10th anniversary of the killings of Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez on Jan. 9, 2013.
Cansiz was a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, which Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union consider a terrorist group. The PKK has waged a separatist insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
Kurdish activists suspect the Turkish intelligence service was involved in the killing. The suspected attacker, a Turkish citizen, died in French custody before the case reached trial. Turkish officials suggested at the time that the killings may have been part of an internal feud among Kurdish activists or an attempt to derail peace talks.
Survey underscores breadth of disasters
More than 1.3% of the adult population in the U.S. was displaced by natural disasters in the past year, with hurricanes responsible for more
than half of the forced relocations, according to first-of-itskind survey results from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Household Pulse Survey results said 3.3 million U.S. adults were displaced by either hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes or other disasters. The survey asked for the first time about displacement from natural disasters in results released last week.
Some states were impacted more than others. In Florida, nearly 1 million people, or about 1 in 17 adult residents, were displaced in a state that was ravaged by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in the fall.
More than 409,000 people — or almost 1 in 8 residents — were displaced in Louisiana, which had a comparatively calm hurricane season in 2022 even though residents still were dealing with the devastating impacts from Hurricane Ida the previous year.
Of the 3.3 million displaced adults, more than a third were out of their homes for less than a week. About 1 in 6 residents never returned to their homes, according to the survey.