400 injured, 8 deaths reported during ongoing Kenya protests, here's some shocking details
'Over 400 casualties have been reported, including demonstrators, police officers and journalists,' KNCHR said in a statement shared on its official X account.
Kenyatta National Hospital admitted 107 wounded—mostly with gunshot injuries—as protesters torched a courthouse in Kikuyu and clashed with security forces in Mombasa, Kitengela, and Matuu. The unrest underscores unhealed wounds from 2024's crackdown, where security forces fired on crowds storming parliament, igniting ongoing demands for accountability over police brutality and dozens of unresolved disappearances.
The protests gained renewed momentum from the recent killing of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old blogger who died in police custody after criticizing a senior officer. His death, ruled a homicide by pathologists, became a rallying cry, with six people (including three police officers) charged with his murder just one day before the anniversary. As demonstrations surged, authorities imposed a media blackout, ordering TV stations to halt live coverage and restricting Telegram. Broadcasters NTV and KTN were pulled off-air for defying the ban, though Kenya's High Court later overturned the order, calling it "illegal and punitive".
President Ruto meanwhile defended security forces, warning protesters: "You cannot threaten our nation," while economic adviser David Ndii disparaged youth as "stupid young people" on social media—fueling accusations of government contempt amid crippling economic hardship.
The scale of dissent reflects deepening despair over unemployment, taxes, and corruption. Despite Ruto scrapping 2024's finance bill, which aimed to raise $2.7 billion through levies on essentials like fuel and bread, Kenyans face new health insurance taxes and a doubled fuel levy. With youth unemployment at 67%, protesters demand Ruto's resignation, chanting "one term" as they march. Western embassies condemned state-backed "goons" who attacked demonstrators with clubs last week, while the UN highlighted that 70% of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under 30.
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News18
an hour ago
- News18
China shamelessly pillages tech from the West
Hong Kong, August 12 (ANI): In the olden days, raping and pillaging were common methods of accumulating earthly treasure. Such violent means are frowned upon in the modern world, but that has not stopped many nations from using more refined methods to achieve the same China, for that has been its modus operandi for several decades, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dragged China into the modern collectively and through individual entrepreneurs, has been eager to soak up Western technology, investments and practices. However, it tends to do so without ever giving anything in return, and the CCP has encouraged such money- and technology-grabbing common technique is evident in a video clip, although dating from four years ago, that has been doing the rounds on the internet in recent days. The clip shows Zang Qichao, an equity capital expert and former advisor to the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank, amongst others. Zang has appeared as a visiting professor at more than 60 famous Chinese universities, plus he has offered training and consultancy services in more than 200 Chinese video shows the professor starting a lecture by asserting, 'During reform and opening up, China opened its doors. Foreigners were allowed in, bringing with them technology, cars, money, experience and intellectual property. The Chinese government couldn't copy the foreigners directly, so what did it do? It encouraged private companies to partner with them, learn from them and eventually go solo."Speaking in 2021, remember, Zang continued, 'Forty years flew by, and we've learned. Now we do everything on our own. Looking back, the factories are ours, the equipment is ours, the technology is ours, the patents are ours, the products are ours, the markets are ours, the brands are ours – it's all ours. The foreigners are all gone, and now everything is under our control."'Looking back on the past 40 years, you'll realise we really only did one thing: copy. It was a savage copy-paste – intellectual property, patents, [it] didn't matter. We just did it first and dealt with it later." Another way of translating Zang's comments would be to say China copied and plagiarised barbarically, and who cared?China could almost be congratulated for using the inherent weakness of the capitalist system against itself. Private companies are out to make profits wherever and as often as they can. Western firms were jostling with each other to get into the Chinese market and milk its untapped riches, for profits were more important to them thanprinciples were. They would do anything to gain a foothold, including forming partnerships, joint ventures and transfer technology to China. In fact, many Chinese take a very different attitude to breaking the law in order to get rich. Pirating and intellectual property theft are considered smart and legitimate ploys by many in China, whereas such practices are outlawed in the FBI noted precisely this in a report that said, 'The annual cost to the US economy of counterfeit goods, pirated software and theft of trade secrets is between $225 billion and $600 billion. China is the world's principal infringer of intellectual property, and it uses its laws and regulations to put foreign companies at a disadvantage and its own companies at an advantage."In February, the US House Committee on Homeland Security released an updated version of the China Threat Snapshot report. It highlighted more than 60 instances of the CCP engaging in espionage on US soil over the past four years. Furthermore, Chinese intelligence agencies blatantly steal intellectual property and trade secrets from foreign companies. In fact, the FBI estimates that 80 per cent of economic espionage prosecutions in the USA relate to cases that have benefited E. Green, a Republican from Tennessee and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said, 'The PRC has gained significant ground in its information warfare on American soil over the past four years. If you think the US military and our government are the only targets of the Chinese Communist Party, think again. The shadow of Beijing's malign influence falls upon American businesses, university campuses and the critical infrastructure we rely on – not to mention those on US soil who dare to speak out against the CCP."The FBI went on to say, 'US business interactions with foreign counterparts should be based on the principles of reciprocity, should be grounded in the rule of law, and should seek to uphold our market-based economy and its innovative ecosystem. China, however, does not play by the same rules."Unfortunately, too few Western companies acknowledge or realise this, even today. Companies are still clutching at the chance to make money in China, without realising they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. Beijing is more than happy to weaponise trade, too. Contrary to World Trade Organisation rules, China regularly and vindictively imposes bans on goods from certain countries with whom it has politicaldisagreements or capitalist greed is not lessening either, as seen in the latest news about Nvidia and AMD. It has been reported that the companies have agreed to give the US government 15 per cent of their revenues from chip sales in China. This is part of an extremely unusual arrangement with the Trump administration in order to obtain export licenses for semiconductors, with the result that the US government complicitly pockets the money. Interestingly, Zang, the aforementioned equity capital expert, went on to admit something else in his lecture. 'But then, two things happened. First, the US caught on and said no more copying. Second, we realised we'd already copied our way to the front row. Beyond that, there's no blueprint. So, where do we get it now? Where do patents come from? At that point, the government quickly introduced a new direction. It launched a slogan: 'Innovation is the primary productive force.'"Indeed, China has as many as 100 plans guiding foreign acquisitions in science and technology. One of the best-known was the Made in China 2025 Plan, at least until some in the West cottoned on to what the CCP was really trying to do. The Made in China 2025 plan was initiated by Premier Li Keqiang in 2015, and this national strategic plan and industrial policy aimed to transition China from the 'factory of the world" producing low-value goods, into a high-tech Xi Jinping's economic reform effort was a deliberate attempt to move China up the value chain, with products such as electric cars and artificial intelligence. It hoped to increase Chinese domestic content in core materials to 40 per cent by 2020, and 70 per cent by 2025, and for the country to be more independent of foreign since 2018, China has played down its Made in China 2025 Plan because of a Western backlash. China nonetheless redoubled efforts to achieve the same effect, but just without using this controversial label. The USA responded in 2022 by imposing export controls that restricted Chinese access to components and equipment needed for advanced computing and chip-making. Beijing, therefore, boosted domestic research and development. As an example, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is China's largest chip manufacturer today. Then, due to open later this year in Hong Kong, the Yuen Long Microelectronics Centre (MEC) probably has the ability to manufacture 25,000 wafers or semiconductor materials monthly, which could rise to 43,000 per month. The MEC is headed by scientist Dr. Yitao Liao, who once collaborated with the US Army Research Laboratory on similar technologies. This is but one of many examples of collaboration with the West that favours Chinese talent and exploits Western institutions. Unfortunately, too many Western universities continue to cooperate with China, even though the latter unfairly leverages or even steals FBI warned: 'China's strategic goals include becoming a comprehensive national power, creating innovation-driven economic growth, and modernising its military. It aspires to equal or surpass the United States as a global superpower and influence the world with a value system shaped by undemocratic, authoritarian a whole-of-society approach to achieve these goals, China takes advantage of every opportunity – from joint ventures to economic espionage – to develop and maintain a strategic economic edge."China's approach could be described as technology nationalism. 'The Chinese government restricts the ability of certain types of foreign companies to participate in its market, requiring them to instead form joint ventures with Chinese companies before they can gain market access. Chinese companies then use some of these collaborations as opportunities to gain access to foreign proprietary information," said the August, 62 science and technology, philosophy, social science and basic research experts were invited to meet with senior party officials in the Chinese coastal resort of Beidaihe. The CCP is prioritising the cultivation of local talent in strategic sectors, for this is part of its plan to become the preeminent global power. As an example, one of the talks given at Beidaihe was entitled 'AI competition to seize the commanding heights of future development".Cai Qi, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party, noted at the Beidaihe forum that it is the party's job to ensure that 'talents emerge in large numbers, people make the most of their talents, and that their talents are fully utilised to make new and great contributions" to the party and the military-civil fusion program is also problematic, as Chinese companies, which are increasingly subordinated to a relationship with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and defence research and development agencies, suck up technologies relating to fields like AI, advanced materials and Luming of the PLA National Defence University explained that this military-civil fusion concept provides a long-term 'law of development" to synchronise China's economic and national defence building efforts. It involves 'comprehensive planning of the two major systems of military and civilian resources, brings about a compatible economic and technical foundation for sharing, transforms limited social resources into bidirectional and interactive combat power and production power, and achieves multiple types of production from a single investment".Unfortunately, this pillaging continues unabated, and it is all one-way traffic. (ANI)
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Mikhail Komin on why the Arctic is Putin's next front
ONE OF UKRAINE'S most consequential operations of 2025, dubbed Operation Spiderweb, stood out not just for the heavy damage it inflicted with cheap drones, or the morale it boosted, but for striking at a core belief of Vladimir Putin's regime: the invulnerability of Russia's nuclear forces. Ukrainian drones reportedly destroyed or disabled a dozen strategic nuclear bombers. Ten days later, at a meeting on Russia's weapons programme, Mr Putin pointedly stressed the centrality of the 'nuclear triad' of land-, sea- and air-launched weapons as a long-term guarantor of sovereignty. The message was subtle but clear: in the wake of Spiderweb, the Kremlin appeared to shift its emphasis away from exposed bombers and towards submarines. That same month, the Northern Fleet received the Knyaz' Pozharsky, a new ballistic-missile submarine, further cementing the role of Arctic-based subs as the backbone of Russia's second-strike capability. Russia's Arctic strategy has long been shaped by two deep-seated insecurities. One is the fear of losing military dominance as melting ice erodes the country's natural defences and NATO's presence expands—particularly after Finland and Sweden joined the alliance, in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The other is economic: Russia remains eager to access Western technologies to extract hard-to-reach Arctic hydrocarbons, and to re-enter Western markets. Achieving either would require at least a partial easing of sanctions. Recent research a colleague and I conducted for the European Council on Foreign Relations, including interviews with Russian officials working on Arctic affairs, shows that these insecurities are intensifying. Operations like Spiderweb only reinforce the Kremlin's view of the Arctic as a strategic priority second only to Ukraine. Russia is set to deepen its investment in Arctic civilian and dual-use infrastructure—real spending is already up by 80% over the past three years in addition to the unknown amount of military expenditure. Simultaneously, it is viewing almost every remaining aspect of Arctic policy through a national-security lens, turning previously neutral domains such as climate science and indigenous affairs into instruments of state strategy. This trajectory poses three serious risks for all Arctic countries in the coming decade—but particularly for Europe, which remains reliant on American military support in the region, a commitment that now appears less assured. First, if a direct military confrontation between Russia and Europe does occur—a scenario increasingly entertained by both Russia and NATO—it is unlikely to begin in Poland or Moldova. The more probable flashpoints are in the Barents or Baltic Seas, putting the Nordic and Baltic states on the front line of any future aggression. Even before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin began reviving the Soviet-era 'Bastion' concept—remilitarising the Arctic coastline to ensure that air, naval and ground forces could shield Russia's nuclear submarines operating in this region. Since 2022, Russian military drills in the region have shown a marked north-eastward shift, away from the Norwegian Sea to the Barents Sea. These reflect a growing paranoia within the Kremlin about the vulnerability of its Arctic nuclear deterrent. Should Russia become convinced that war with NATO is inevitable, it is likely to strike first in the Arctic. A 'pre-emptive' special military operation would aim to secure strategic assets in the High North. The Kremlin would see securing its Arctic nuclear forces as essential to retaining, as in Ukraine, the upper hand in controlling escalation through the implicit threat of a nuclear strike. The growing influence over Arctic policy of Nikolai Patrushev, a former chief of the FSB, Russia's domestic-security service, and long-serving secretary of Russia's Security Council, is another source of concern. Since taking over the Maritime Board in mid-2024, Mr Patrushev, a hardliner and key architect of the Kremlin's anti-Western ideology, has pushed for more aggressive hybrid operations. On his watch, these campaigns are likely to intensify across northern Europe, aiming to test NATO's red lines and to expose perceived vulnerabilities in Western societies. At the same time, the Kremlin is weaponising issues that are nominally apolitical and deeply valued in Europe. Since 2022 it has tightened its grip on NGOs representing Arctic indigenous communities, deploying them in international forums—such as UN committees—as part of a reputation-laundering campaign. Western governments, wary of deepening rifts within these communities, have often felt compelled to play along. A similar tactic has emerged around climate policy: in what appears to be retaliation for sanctions and diplomatic isolation, Russia has stopped sharing important data on Arctic ice melt, undermining global understanding of climate change. What was once an area of pragmatic co-operation is now treated as a tool of strategic leverage. The third—and potentially most consequential—risk for Europe lies in the real possibility that Russia succeeds in turning a Republican administration's Arctic ambitions to its own advantage. Since initial contacts with Washington in February, Russia has promoted the idea of mutually beneficial co-operation in the High North. To support this, the Kremlin set up a new fund to attract foreign investment in Arctic projects, placing it under Kirill Dmitriev, a veteran of back-channel diplomacy. With Arctic LNG-2, a big liquefied-natural-gas project in Russia, still crippled by sanctions, Moscow is eager for at least a temporary reprieve. To entice the Trump administration, Mr Putin may offer the promise of a 'grand bargain' in the region—an informal understanding to divide spheres of influence. Two great powers, each satisfying its own imperial instinct in the Arctic, while sidelining other players and international law. Such a scenario would leave Europe trapped between two assertive poles and unable to mount an effective response. Even if America eventually gives up hope of a settlement with Russia over Ukraine, this darker prospect may still survive. To keep Donald Trump engaged—and thus constrained in his willingness to put pressure on the Kremlin—Mr Putin will need a new, bold idea capable of capturing his imagination. The Arctic may be the perfect vehicle. Mikhail Komin is a fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis.
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
Delhi Confidential: Time To Act
Directing Delhi-NCR authorities to relocate all strays from streets to shelters, Justice J B Pardiwala, while presiding over a two-judge Supreme Court bench, on Monday recalled a famous dialogue from the Western film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly to convey the message. 'Have you seen that film… the ugly is having (a) bath when all of a sudden one man gets in saying I have been looking for you…The ugly shoots him and says 'when you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk'.' Drawing a parallel with the stray dog problem, he said, 'This is the time to act.' Resistance & Reforms The Joint Parliamentary Committee on One Nation One Election met five political scientists on a day leaders from Opposition parties marched to the Election Commission office, leading to their detention by Delhi Police. It is learnt that the five experts, including former BJP MP and founding vice-chairman of Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, told the committee that not just simultaneous elections, but also reforms in political parties and campaigning are needed.
