260 foreigners rescued from virtual slavery in Myanmar’s online scam centers are being repatriated

260 foreigners rescued from virtual slavery in Myanmar’s online scam centers are being repatriated
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, stand on a vessel floating toward the Thai side of border via Moei River in Phop Phra District, Tak province, Thailand February 12, 2025. (REUTERS)
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Updated 15 February 2025
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260 foreigners rescued from virtual slavery in Myanmar’s online scam centers are being repatriated

260 foreigners rescued from virtual slavery in Myanmar’s online scam centers are being repatriated
  • Such scams have extracted tens of billions of dollars from victims around the world, according to UN experts

BANGKOK: Some 260 people believed to have been trafficked and trapped into working in online scam centers are to be repatriated after they were rescued from Myanmar, Thailand’s army announced Thursday.
In a fresh crackdown on scam centers operating from Southeast Asia, the Thai army said it was coordinating an effort to repatriate some 260 people believed to have been victims of human trafficking after they were rescued and sent from Myanmar to Thailand.
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, which share borders with Thailand, have become known as havens for criminal syndicates who are estimated to have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia and elsewhere into helping run online scams including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.
Such scams have extracted tens of billions of dollars from victims around the world, according to UN experts, while the people recruited to carry them out have often been tricked into taking the jobs under false pretenses and trapped in virtual slavery.
An earlier crackdown on scam centers in Myanmar was initiated in late 2023 after China expressed embarrassment and concern over illegal casinos and scam operations in Myanmar’s northern Shan state along its border. Ethnic guerrilla groups with close ties to Beijing shut down many operations, and an estimated 45,000 Chinese nationals suspected of involvement were repatriated.

The army said that those rescued in the most recent operation came from 20 nationalities — with significant numbers from Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan and China. There were also nationals of Indonesia, Nepal, Taiwan, Uganda, Laos, Brazil, Burundi, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Ghana and India. They were sent across the border from Myanmar’s Myawaddy district to Thailand’s Tak province on Wednesday.
Reports in Thai media said a Myanmar ethnic militia that controls the area where they were held, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, was responsible for freeing the workers and taking them to the border. Myanmar’s military government exercises little control over frontier areas where ethnic minorities predominate.
Several ethnic militias are believed to be involved in criminal activities, including drug trafficking and protecting call-center scam operations.
The Thai army statement said the rescued people will undergo questioning, and if determined to be victims of human trafficking, will enter a process of protection while waiting to be sent back to their countries.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who is also defense minister, said Wednesday that there might be many more scam workers waiting to be repatriated from Myanmar through Thailand, but that Thailand would only receive those that are ready to be taken back right away by their country of origin.
“I’ve made it clear that Thailand is not going to set up another shelter,” he told reporters during a visit in Sa Kaeo province, which borders Cambodia. Thailand hosts nine refugee camps along the border holding more than 100,000 people, most from Myanmar’s ethnic Karen minority.
Phumtham added that Thailand would also need to question them before sending them back, first is to make sure that they are victims of human trafficking, and also to get information that would help the police investigate the trafficking and scam problems.
On a visit to China in early February, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra vowed along with China’s leader Xi Jinping to crack down on the scam networks that plague Southeast Asia.
Many dramatic stories of Chinese people being lured to work in Bangkok only to be trafficked into a scam compound in Myanmar have surfaced. Chinese actor Wang Xing was a high-profile case but was quickly rescued after his tale spread on social media.
Underlining Beijing’s concern, Liu Zhongyi, China’s Vice Minister of Public Security and Commissioner of its Criminal Investigation Bureau, made an official visit to Thailand last month and inspected the border area opposite where many of the Myanmar’s scam centers are located.
Just ahead of Paetongtarn’s visit to China, the Thai government issued an order to cut off electricity, Internet and gas supplies to several areas in Myanmar along the border with northern Thailand, citing national security and severe damage that the country has suffered from scam operations.
Her government is considering expanding this measure to Thailand’s northeastern areas bordering Cambodia, said Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Thanathip Sawangsang, who explained that officials had already removed Internet cables that were installed illegally in the areas.


Strike on market in north Mali kills 18, civil society group says

Updated 15 sec ago
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Strike on market in north Mali kills 18, civil society group says

Strike on market in north Mali kills 18, civil society group says
Malian armed forces bombed a weekly market 50 km (30 miles) north of the city of Lerneb
Mali’s army launched air strikes against what it called terrorist activity in the same area

BAMAKO: An army air strike at a market in Mali’s northern Timbuktu region on Sunday killed at least 18 people and injured seven, a local rights group said, while the army said it was targeting terrorists.
The Collective for the Defense of the Rights of the Azawad People, which is linked to separatist Tuareg rebels, said Malian armed forces bombed a weekly market 50 km (30 miles) north of the city of Lerneb.
Mali’s army said on Monday it had launched air strikes against what it called terrorist activity in the same area cited by the rights group. It said in a statement on X that the strikes has “neutralized” at least 11 terrorists.
North Mali is rife with militant activity linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The Tuaregs, an ethnic group who inhabit the Sahara region including northern Mali, are fighting for an independent homeland.
They launched an insurgency against Mali’s government in 2012, but the rebellion was later hijacked by Islamist groups, setting off a violent insurgency that has since spread across West Africa’s Sahel region and beyond.
In July last year, Tuareg rebels attacked a convoy of Malian soldiers and mercenaries of Russia’s Wagner Group in the far north of the country, near the town of Tinzaouaten close to the border with Algeria. Dozens of Russian and Malian soldiers were killed in the attack, the rebels said.
It is not uncommon for Mali, which has been under military rule since a 2020 coup, to carry out air strikes on insurgent targets in the north of the country.
At least 21 people, including 11 children, were killed by drone strikes on Tinzaouaten in August, Tuareg rebels said. In October, a drone strike at a fair in Timbuktu region killed at least eight people, including children.

Australia slams reported targeting of citizen by Hong Kong

Australia slams reported targeting of citizen by Hong Kong
Updated 15 min 29 sec ago
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Australia slams reported targeting of citizen by Hong Kong

Australia slams reported targeting of citizen by Hong Kong
  • The letters offered a reward of $128,000 to anyone who could provide information about him
  • “The Australian government will not tolerate surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family members here in Australia,” said a spokesperson

SYDNEY: Australia voiced unease on Tuesday over anonymous letters reportedly offering hefty rewards for information on a Hong Kong activist now living in Melbourne.
Australian citizen Kevin Yam, a lawyer and longtime Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, was targeted in letters that carried his photo and alleged national security offenses.
The letters, first reported in The Guardian newspaper, offered a reward of HK$1 million ($128,000) to anyone who could provide information about him and the allegations or “take him to Hong Kong or Australia Metropolitan Police.”
They were sent to homes next to two Melbourne locations cited in the notices as being linked to Yam, the paper said.
“The Australian government will not tolerate surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family members here in Australia — this undermines our national sovereignty and the security and safety of Australians,” said a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“We are raising our concerns directly with Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.”
In a message on social media, Yam said he would continue to live his “everyday life.”
“I will not voluntarily return to Hong Kong before it is free,” he said.
“I will not kill myself.”
Beijing expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to what it called “Australia’s blatant interference” in Hong Kong’s law.
“Hong Kong affairs are purely a Chinese internal affair and brook no interference from any outside powers,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing, when asked about the case concerning Yam.
“China urges Australia to earnestly respect China’s sovereignty... and create favorable conditions and atmosphere for the sustainable development of China-Australia relations,” she added.
The letters were not signed but asked for information to be sent to a Hong Kong police email address used for tip-offs on wanted people.
The Hong Kong government said it does not issue anonymous letters.
Recipients should “remain cautious to verify the authenticity” of any such letters and seek help from local police if needed, a government spokesman told AFP.
Hong Kong law enforcement will pursue overseas suspects in accordance with the law and “take every measure” to stop them from continuing to endanger national security, the spokesman added.
Yam reportedly returned to Australia in 2022 after two decades in Hong Kong.
In 2023, Hong Kong chief executive John Lee called on eight overseas activists including Yam to turn themselves in for violating the national security law.
At the time, he backed a police decision to offer HK$1 million for information leading to their arrests, and warned the activists to surrender or “spend their days in fear.”
All eight fled Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the financial hub in 2020 to quell dissent after huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in 2019 were quashed.


At Delhi’s iconic Jama Masjid, Hindu woman joins Muslims to serve iftar

Indian Muslims gather for iftar at the Jama Masjid complex in Old Delhi on March 16, 2025. (AN photo)
Indian Muslims gather for iftar at the Jama Masjid complex in Old Delhi on March 16, 2025. (AN photo)
Updated 55 min 40 sec ago
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At Delhi’s iconic Jama Masjid, Hindu woman joins Muslims to serve iftar

Indian Muslims gather for iftar at the Jama Masjid complex in Old Delhi on March 16, 2025. (AN photo)
  • Third year for Neha Bharati to serve iftar at the iconic Delhi mosque
  • She has been encouraged, supported by her Hindu family members

NEW DELHI: Every afternoon during Ramadan, Neha Bharati makes sure to arrive at the Jama Masjid complex around Maghrib prayer time to bring snacks for her Muslim neighbors and others gathered to break their fast in Old Delhi.

This is the third year that Bharati, a 27-year-old Hindu woman living in the historic heart of India’s capital, has been serving iftar at the iconic 17th-century mosque built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan.

She has been encouraged by her parents who saw the need to act amid what they observed as growing religious tensions since India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014.

“I felt some change needed to be brought about. Then my parents and family suggested that we start ... We would start serving iftar at the main Jama Masjid,” Bharati told Arab News, as she prepared to distribute hundreds of savory pastry snacks among the people coming out of the mosque.

“I wanted this message to reach the people that interfaith harmony is still alive ... There are many people who have become symbols of Hindu-Muslim unity. They are doing good work.”

Bharati is supported in her efforts by both Muslims and Hindus.

“No one is isolated, our blood is the same. We are all working together unitedly. And I am working with this spirit,” she said.

“Some Hindus also donate and ask me to serve iftar at Jama Masjid ... When we all break the fast together. It really feels nice. I want this camaraderie to be alive, that’s why we come here.”

Ramsha Noor, a homemaker, has been helping Bharati in iftar preparations since the very beginning and has observed a growing community involvement.

“This is also a message for girls to come out of homes, help people,” she said.

“Many people feel the change. Now we have a team of five girls. Earlier we were only two.”

India’s Muslim community is the world’s third largest, constituting about 15 percent of its 1.5 billion population.

Anas Ahmad, who has been joining Bharati since she started organizing iftars, said it felt special to break the fast with her and her friends.

“We come here to meet her from far away and I also help her sometimes,” he said.

“When we go to her to take the iftar we get a different kind of feeling. She is doing great work of strengthening brotherhood.”

Mohammad Afroz and Zaid Qureshi, who also broke their fast at Jama Masjid, were full of appreciation for Bharati’s presence and contribution.

“She is spreading love and promoting Hindu-Muslim unity ... this is a great thing,” Qureshi said.

“She will be blessed,” Afroz added. “We should learn from this ... This helps in honing brotherhood and harmony. This helps in spreading camaraderie and love.”


MI6 has never had a woman as spy chief. That could be about to change

MI6 has never had a woman as spy chief. That could be about to change
Updated 56 min 17 sec ago
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MI6 has never had a woman as spy chief. That could be about to change

MI6 has never had a woman as spy chief. That could be about to change
  • Britain’s foreign intelligence agency launched a search for its next chief on Tuesday
  • The current officeholder has suggested he’d like his replacement to be a woman

LONDON: Real-life spies say their world is nothing like that of James Bond, but in one way truth may soon follow fiction: MI6 could be about to get its first woman leader.
Britain’s foreign intelligence agency launched a search for its next chief on Tuesday, and the current officeholder has suggested he’d like his replacement to be a woman. Although Judi Dench played M, the fictional head of MI6, in seven Bond thrillers starting in the 1990s, the real-life agency has not had a woman chief in its 116-year history.
Richard Moore, the current C — as the real-life MI6 chief is known — wrote on X in 2023 that he would “help forge women’s equality by working to ensure I’m the last C selected from an all-male shortlist.”
Britain’s two other main intelligence agencies have already shattered the spy world’s glass ceiling. MI5, the domestic security service, was led by Stella Rimington from 1992 to 1996 and Eliza Manningham-Buller between 2002 and 2007. Anne Keast-Butler became head of electronic and cyber-intelligence agency GCHQ in 2023.
Moore, an Oxford-educated former diplomat, fits the 007 mold like a Savile Row suit. But in recent years MI6 has worked to shed its image as the least diverse of the agencies, broadening its recruitment process from the traditional “tap on the shoulder” at an elite university.
The agency’s website stresses its family-friendly flexible working policy and goal of recruiting “talented people from all backgrounds.”
In 2021, Moore apologized on behalf of MI6 for its treatment of LGBT staff and aspiring agents who were fired or denied jobs because of their sexuality. Gay people were barred from working for the agency until 1991.
Moore said in a 2023 speech that he wanted MI6 to “better represent the country we serve.”
“Diversity brings greater creativity, better problem-solving,” he said.
In posts on X last week to mark International Women’s Day, Moore said: “No one gets a job in MI6 except on merit. But we men, as allies, can help our female colleagues achieve the success their talent deserves. We have yet to have a woman as Chief so there’s still a glass ceiling to shatter.”
Moore, appointed in 2020, has led MI6 through the COVID pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. He has opened the secretive agency ever-so-slightly to media scrutiny, making public speeches and embracing social media.
Like many things about MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service, the process of choosing Moore’s replacement takes place out of public view. It began with the country’s top civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald, writing to government departments on Tuesday asking them to put forward candidates.
Applicants may come from among three MI6 directors-general who report to Moore, all of whom are women. That includes the agency’s head of operations and its technology chief – the real-life equivalent of Bond gadget-master Q.
Applicants also could come from other intelligence agencies, the civil service, the diplomatic service, the armed forces or the police.
An announcement of the choice is likely in the summer, with the new chief taking up their post in the fall.


UK accuses Israel of breaking international law in Gaza

UK accuses Israel of breaking international law in Gaza
Updated 18 March 2025
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UK accuses Israel of breaking international law in Gaza

UK accuses Israel of breaking international law in Gaza
  • Accusation is first of its kind from Britain since war broke out
  • Foreign Secretary David Lammy: ‘Lack of aid unacceptable, hugely alarming’

LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday night said Israel had committed “a breach of international law” after it prevented aid from reaching Gaza over the past fortnight.

“Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid — it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza — unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying,” he said.

“We would urge Israel to get back to the amount of trucks we were seeing — way beyond 600 — so Palestinians can get the necessary humanitarian support that they need at this time.”

It is the first time since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, that the UK has explicitly accused Israel of breaking international law. 

Lammy previously said Israel had “no excuse” for withholding humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, and last year suspended 30 arms export licenses to the country over concerns that they could be used to breach international law.

He also said the UK would cooperate “100 percent” with the International Criminal Court in November after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.