Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

China accuses UK of sending spy to access state secrets

China accuses UK of sending spy to access state secrets

China and the UK and its Western allies have traded barbs, accusing each other of espionage. China has announced that it has uncovered a British spy whom it accused of passing on state secrets. The Ministry of State Security stated on Monday that it had discovered that the head of a foreign consultancy was spying for the United Kingdom’s MI6 intelligence service. It is the latest in a series of recent accusations traded between Beijing and London. The Chinese spy agency announced the detection of the espionage on its WeChat social media account. It stated that MI6 had used foreigner Huang Moumou to collect secrets and information. The British British foreign intelligence service had established an “intelligence cooperative relationship” with Huang, who heads an overseas consulting agency, in 2015, it said. According to the statement, Huang does not have Chinese citizenship. The state security body did not disclose the nationality or gender of the suspect. “After careful investigation, the state security organs promptly discovered evidence of Huang’s involvement in espionage activities, and took criminal coercive measures against him,” the ministry noted. According to Beijing, MI6 instructed Huang to enter China on several occasions and to use his public identity to collect China-related intelligence for British spying. The British intelligence service also trained Huang and provided equipment for intelligence cross-linking, the statement continued. Huang allegedly passed 17 pieces of intelligence, including confidential state secrets, to MI6 before he was identified. The statement did not provide details of Huang’s identity or employer, or describe their current condition or whereabouts. Tit-for-tat China and the UK and its Western allies have traded barbs recently as they have accused one another of espionage. London says that Chinese spies are targeting its officials in sensitive positions in politics, defence and business. A researcher in the UK Parliament recently denied he was a Chinese spy, an accusation Beijing branded “entirely groundless” and “malicious slander”. China has publicised several other alleged spying cases in recent months. American citizen John Shing-wan Leung, 78, was sentenced to life in prison for espionage in May. China has also conducted raids and arrests at a number of large consulting, research and due diligence firms. The Chinese government has also warned citizens of the dangers of espionage activities, encouraging them to instead join counterespionage work. Adblock test (Why?)

Sheikh Hasina: Once Bangladesh’s democracy icon, now its ‘authoritarian’ PM

Sheikh Hasina: Once Bangladesh’s democracy icon, now its ‘authoritarian’ PM

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina once joined her rivals in a fight to restore democracy but her long reign in power has been marked by arrests of opposition leaders, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent. Hasina, 76, won a fourth straight term and fifth overall in power by sweeping Sunday’s general election, which was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for the second time in the last three polls. Hasina branded the main opposition party a “terrorist organisation”. The daughter of the country’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, Hasina was fortunate to have been visiting Europe when most of her family members were assassinated in a military coup in 1975. Born in 1947 in southwestern Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, Hasina was the eldest of five children. She graduated with a degree in Bengali literature from Dhaka University in 1973 and gained political experience as a go-between for her father and his student followers. She returned to Bangladesh from India, where she lived in exile, in 1981 and later joined hands with political foe, BNP chief and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, to lead a popular uprising for democracy that toppled military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad from power in 1990. But the alliance with Zia did not last long and the bitter and deep-rooted rivalry between the two women, often called the “battling begums”, went on to dominate Bangladeshi politics for decades. Hasina first served a term as prime minister in 1996 but lost to Zia five years later. The pair were then imprisoned on corruption charges in 2007 after a coup by a military-backed government. The charges were dropped and they were free to contest an election the following year. Hasina won in a landslide and has been in power ever since. As time went on, she became increasingly autocratic and her rule has been marked by mass arrests of political opponents and activists, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The 78-year-old Zia meanwhile is in ailing health and confined to hospital after corruption charges saw her sentenced to a 17-year prison term in 2018. Top BNP leaders have been sent behind bars while Zia’s eldest son and heir apparent Tarique Rahman is in exile in Britain. Rights groups have warned of a virtual one-party rule by Hasina’s Awami League. Hasina refused BNP demands to resign and allow a neutral authority to run the election, accusing the opposition of instigating antigovernment protests that have rocked Dhaka since late October and killed at least 14 people. Both Hasina and her rivals have accused their opponents of trying to create chaos and violence to thwart political peace and jeopardise the democracy that has yet to take firm root in the South Asian country of 170 million people. Hasina said she did not need to prove the credibility of the election to anyone. “What is important is if the people of Bangladesh will accept this election.” Asif Nazrul, professor of law at Dhaka University, told Al Jazeera Hasina is a “shrewd” politician but history will remember her as a leader “who stayed in power through repression, not popular mandate”. “Never in the history of this region has a politician stayed in power despite lacking people’s mandate,” he said. “In fact, I would call her unpopular now as [Sunday’s] turnout has proven what percentage of people’s support Hasina and her party has.” Nazrul said Hasina has “set up a milestone before the world on how a leader can establish complete autocracy in a nation in the garb of democracy”. “But that’s not a legacy one should be proud of,” he said. Mixed legacy of 15-year rule Hasina has been praised by supporters for leading Bangladesh through a remarkable economic boom, largely on the back of the mostly female factory workforce powering its garment export industry. Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries when it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971, has grown an average of more than 6 percent each year since 2009. Poverty has plummeted and more than 95 percent of the country’s 170 million people now have access to electricity, with per capita income overtaking India in 2021. Hasina also received international acclaim for opening Bangladesh’s doors to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. She has been hailed for a decisive crackdown on hardline Muslim groups after five homegrown extremists stormed a Dhaka cafe popular with Western expatriates and killed 22 people in 2016. But Hasina’s intolerance towards dissent has given rise to resentment at home and expressions of concern from the Western powers. Five top Muslim leaders and a senior opposition figure were executed over the past decade after convictions for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s brutal 1971 liberation war. Instead of healing the wounds of that conflict, the trials triggered mass protests and deadly clashes. Her opponents branded the trials a farce, saying they were a politically motivated exercise designed to silence dissent. The United States imposed sanctions on an elite branch of Bangladesh’s security forces and seven of its top officers over charges of widespread human rights abuses. Meanwhile, the economy has also slowed sharply since the Russia-Ukraine war pushed up prices of fuel and food imports, forcing Bangladesh to turn last year to the International Monetary Fund for a $4.7bn bailout. Inflation was 9.5 percent in November, one of the highest in decades, and tackling it will be one of Hasina’s biggest challenges in her next term while the spotlight will be on how she deals with upholding democracy. Munshi Faiz Ahmed, former director-general of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, a state-funded think tank on security and strategic issues, called Hasina “perhaps the most strategic political maneuverer in Bangladesh’s history”. Ahmed, also a former Bangladeshi ambassador to China, told Al Jazeera that one should be mindful of the conditions in which Hasina operated in the last decade: a massive population cramped in a small land

Winning For Women PAC endorses IDF veteran and GOP candidate Mazi Pilip to replace Santos

Winning For Women PAC endorses IDF veteran and GOP candidate Mazi Pilip to replace Santos

EXCLUSIVE: Women For Winning PAC endorsed the Israeli Defense Forces veteran who is running as a Republican to fill Rep. George Santos’ seat in New York’s 3rd Congressional District special election, and will make a six-figure investment in her campaign, Fox News Digital has learned. Mazi Melese Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew, immigrant to Israel and the United States, and mother of seven, is campaigning ahead of a Feb. 13 special election against former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi. IDF VETERAN TURNED NY GOP PICK TO REPLACE GEORGE SANTOS VOWS TO TAKE ON ‘SQUAD,’ SLAMS SUOZZI AS FAKE MODERATE Fox News Digital has learned that Winning For Women PAC will max out to Pilip’s campaign and commit to raising hard dollars from its network of supporters. In addition, Winning For Women Action Fund will make the six-figure investment in digital ads, texting and direct mail urging voters to support Pilip. “Mazi understands the American Dream because she’s lived it,” Winning For Women Action Fund executive director Danielle Barrow told Fox News Digital. “She has dedicated her life to fighting for her community, while career politician Tom Suozzi has spent his entire life fighting for himself.” Barrow added: “With Democrats already spending heavily to spread lies about Mazi, we are stepping up to help set the record straight and send an accomplished leader to Washington to represent this battleground district.” Pilip told Fox News Digital that she is “thrilled” to have the support of Winning For Women – especially due to its “strong track record of backing conservative women leaders.” “New Yorkers have experienced firsthand what failed liberal policies have done to our state, and the 3rd District needs someone who will work to secure our border, lower our taxes, and fund our law enforcement,” Pilip said. DISGRACED CONGRESSMAN GEORGE SANTOS IN DISCUSSIONS WITH PROSECUTORS FOR POSSIBLE PLEA DEAL WFW PAC bases its endorsements on a number of metrics, including leadership experience; significant fundraising numbers proportionate to the candidate’s district; an established campaign team; and a “competitive but viable path to success through the primary and/or general elections.” The Winning For Women entities provided women candidates with resources during the 2022 midterm election cycle. Through its SuperPAC, 501(c)(4) and connected PAC, and additional hard dollar efforts, WFW raised over $17 million to support “right-of-center women.” WFW, during the last cycle, also conducted targeted issue advocacy campaigns, briefings with partner organizations, DC and in-district press events, and mentorship programs. WFW’s political arm hosted national fundraisers that raised nearly $4 million in hard dollars, with WFW Action Fund spending more than $8 million in independent campaigns to “advance women through contested races.”  The special election in New York’s 3rd District comes after Santos was expelled from Congress in early December over charges relating to defrauding campaign contributors and more.