The pending deportation from Turkey of French journalist Raphaël Boukandoura threatens to set a disturbing precedent for press freedom. Our full statement: fmaturkey.org/raphael-bouk...

Very interesting interview with Sophia Yan (Senior Foreign Correspondent of the Telegraph) on Friday's #Ukraine:TheLatest podcast (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMI8...) about China's role in supplying Russia with dual-use technologies and materials.

Huge explosion at ‘vital’ Russia oil refinery | Ukraine: The Latest

YouTube video by The Telegraph

youtube.com

A v late repost of a story I did 😬🤭

Pierre-Yves Baubry 博磊@pybaubry.bsky.social · 11mo ago

How China is secretly arming Russia. @telegraphnews.bsky.social has found Chinese companies supplying Russian firms sanctioned over drone production for Moscow’s war machine. By @sophiayan.bsky.social. Link : www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Obulqasim Isma’il, a #Uyghur, was given a new passport w the wrong name & DOB. The #Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, where he lives with his family, refused to correct it www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

China’s passport trap: A new front in the global war on Uyghurs

Threat to chef living in Kyrgyzstan raises spectre of new sinister tactics to crack down on persecuted minority

telegraph.co.uk

'Consultants' charging #migrants $$$ to help fake their way into #Europe w fraudulent paperwork – fake CVs, fake job references, fake bank statements A scam of such breadth & depth to obtain real, approved visas My latest @telegraphnews.bsky.social investigation www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Revealed: Pakistani migrants tricking way into Britain with fake £50k visa documents

Paperwork approved by Home Office despite being littered with grammatical errors

telegraph.co.uk

‘Obliterated,’ declares #Trump, ‘Nothing significant,’ says #Khamenei. Was the uranium spirited away first? Many questions... So how badly damaged is #Iran's #nuclear program? Insights @armscontrolwonk.bsky.social @ddolzikova.bsky.social Farzan Sabet www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

How badly damaged is Iran’s nuclear programme? Here’s the evidence

‘Obliterated,’ declares Trump, ‘Nothing significant,’ says Khamenei. And was the uranium spirited away first? Questions need answering

telegraph.co.uk

Very interesting analysis @mixedmigration.org on potential #migration impact from #Israel-#Iran war if ceasefire doesn't hold & conflict continues Take the scenario of #Syria. At peak of civil war, 1/4 of its 23m pop fled abroad; another 1/4 internally displaced (+thread)

🚨SPECIAL🎙️EPISODE: In this NüVoices Special episode, host and board member @sophiayan.bsky.social talks to Amanda Hsiao, director in Eurasia Group’s China practice, to look back on the first five months of Trump 2.0, and what we can learn from US-China relations: nuvoices.com/2025/06/25/n...

ICYMI View from #Beirut where many feel avenged by #Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel, which has invaded #Lebanon 3x + attacked countless times (Am filing faster than I can post so please follow @telegraphnews.bsky.social for more) www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Watch: Lebanese dance and cheer under missiles heading for Israel

‘It’s payback’ – some see the attack as retribution for Israeli air strikes last year

telegraph.co.uk

#Hezbollah supporters believe the militant group is ready to join the #war against #Israel once #Iran gives the order Even w less firepower + men, Hezbollah can still distract/tire out Israeli military Dispatch from Dahieh, a Hezb stronghold www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Hezbollah hurting, but its fighters are ready to join war on Israel

Air strike that took out military leader fuels supporters’ demands for retaliation to help Iran

telegraph.co.uk

Why #Xi + #Putin - #Iran’s strongest strategic partners - are panicking right now 🤯🤬🤢 Analysis @telegraphnews.bsky.social Insights 🙏 @geringtuvia.bsky.social @nicolegrajewski.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Why Putin and Xi will be panicking over Iran

Russian and Chinese leaders in danger of losing a key partner in the fight against US hegemony in the region

telegraph.co.uk

Gone are the sprawling #refugee tent camps. Frontex touted a 78% drop in irregular #border crossings for 2024 on the Western Balkan route But human #smuggling is still in force — it’s just moved underground & therefore not reflected in the data www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2... #migration

EU says illegal migration has dropped, but I saw the reality on the ground

Along the Serbia-Hungary border, The Telegraph finds plenty willing to gamble for a better life

telegraph.co.uk

#Chinese technology pioneered in East Turkistan (aka #Xinjiang) against the #Uyghurs… rolls out to #Turkey

Ylenia Gostoli@yleniagostoli.bsky.social · last yr.

#Turkey is accelerating its use of facial recognition to detain and prosecute protesters - often with little or no evidence. I’ve been investigating how #AI is contributing to the erosion of the rule of law & supercharging authoritarianism 🧵 newlinesmag.com/spotlight/tu... @newlinesmag.bsky.social

2/ Nearly 2,000 mostly young people were detained during the March protests against the arrest of #Istanbul's mayor, #Imamoglu. 819 are facing charges in 20 investigations - many arrested in dawn raids, held for weeks without trial. Often, their “crime” was just being present.

4/ A Chinese-made Hikvision camera was spotted at a major Istanbul rally. It matches a model listed in a Turkish interior ministry document - capable of detecting 120 faces simultaneously.

5/ In late 2024, Turkey's police bought 3,500 facial recognition cameras and 278 servers. In 2025, more contracts and tenders followed - including one for 13,000 new cameras, published just a day before the mayor’s arrest.

Interesting

Police watchdog blasts UK authorities for being too laser-focused on small boat crossings, leading to "missed opportunities" to respond to other routes that migrants are using as guided by #smugglers - ie via trucks, visa fraud www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Migrants sneak into UK in lorries while police ‘too focused on small boats’

Watchdog says chances are being missed to intercept illegal immigrants who take less high-profile routes

telegraph.co.uk

Thank you to @sophiayan.bsky.social for featuring our newly released Criminalisation report for 2024 in this piece for @telegraphnews.bsky.social Read Sophia's report here: www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2... bsky.app/profile/bord...

Europe failing to smash people smuggling gangs

Under the guise of combating the ‘smuggling’ crisis, authorities have arrested migrants, journalists and advocates

telegraph.co.uk

Border Violence Monitoring Network@borderviolence.bsky.social · last yr.

1/5 The 2024 edition of our Annual Criminalisation Report is out: borderviolence.eu/reports/annu... The report documents the different ways used to abuse, harass, threaten, assault, detain, surveil, intimidate people on the move and solidarity efforts with them.

We went undercover & filmed covertly @telegraphnews.bsky.social to unveil how human #smugglers exploit legitimate networks to move illicit proceeds around the world - incl through the UK 💸🌎 My latest on a long-term investigation that spans Kabul to Birmingham www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05...

Revealed: How people smuggling is arranged on the British high street

Money exchange shops are working directly with human smugglers to help them evade police

telegraph.co.uk

Enjoyed reading the same essay:

Minister Denby@tjmzj.bsky.social · last yr.

I found this Substack essay by Natalia Cote-Munoz quite well-written and an accurate snapshot of China at the present moment.* Also, who doesn’t love a shout out to the late, great Knights and Merchants Bar, the hidden gem of Guozijian? ncotemunoz.substack.com/p/the-china-...

#Chinese firms openly selling “inflatable boats for #refugees” online & advertising them to smugglers. Over 3 mos @telegraphnews.bsky.social tracked English-language ads posted online by seven suppliers hawking “refugee boats." None taken down during that period www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Shameless Chinese firms advertise ‘inflatable boats for refugees’

Salespeople spoke openly about their products even when told they would be used to transport migrants

telegraph.co.uk

🆕 New UHRP research on dramatic 📈 increase in int'l hotels chains in the Uyghur region—by @peterirwin.bsky.social, @henrykszad.bsky.social, and Ben Carrdus. Major 🏨 chains all operating amidst atrocities. 📊 uhrp.org/report/it-does-matter-where-you-stay-international-hotel-chains-in-east-turkistan

British chain IHG, which owns #InterContinental, Holiday Inn & other brands, is accused of violating sanctions by building hotels in #China’s Xinjiang where MPs hv said genocide is occurring against Muslim groups, incl #Uyghurs. cc @uyghurproject.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

British hotel chain ‘violating sanctions’ in China

Report alleges IHG’s hotels in Xinjiang are participating in the ‘broader suppression’ of the Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority

telegraph.co.uk

Hello, #Friday! A thread on this week's stories from yours truly.... Meet the #Syrians who remain determined to seek refuge in the #UK, in #Europe, even though #asylum claims have been frozen after the #Assad regime fell in December www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Syrians still trying to cross Channel despite asylum claim freeze

Refugees say they ‘cannot start from scratch and change their dreams’ so continue to attempt treacherous journey to the UK

telegraph.co.uk

'#Death boat' to #Europe... Only 11 migrants survived out of 80 after smugglers beat & killed them w hammers over an inter-gang payment dispute Exclusive feature w esteemed colleague Mohammad Zubair Khan in Islamabad for @telegraphnews.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

The ‘death boat’ to Europe where migrants are bound and beaten with hammers

Survivors divulge harrowing details of a botched smuggling deal that went horribly wrong

telegraph.co.uk

Latest with @sophiayan.bsky.social: 48 Uyghurs detained in Thailand for nearly 11 years are on hunger strike to protest against imminent deportation to China, where they face imprisonment or execution. Full story: telegraph.co.uk/gift/10900fe...

‘This may be my last message’: Uyghurs stage hunger strike over China deportation

A group of 48 ethnic minority Muslims who fled Chinese persecution have been held in Thailand for nearly 11 years

telegraph.co.uk

Explosive report from @sophiayan.bsky.social on China using shell companies to send $1B in drones to Libya, skirting a UN arms embargo for discounted oil. Makes you wonder what other providers of sanctioned crude, like Iran and Russia, receive in kind from China.

Inside China’s secret plan to send weapons disguised as Covid aid to warlord

Military tech worth £1bn would have been part-payment for discounted crude oil, emails sent by alleged conspirators in Canada reveal

telegraph.co.uk

#China planned to send armed #drones worth $1 billion to #Libyan warlord using a UK-based shell company to skirt an international #weapons ban — under the guise of sending #coronavirus aid @telegraphnews.bsky.social can reveal One last scoop for 2024… Read on: www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Inside China’s secret plan to send weapons disguised as Covid aid to warlord

Military tech worth £1bn would have been part-payment for discounted crude oil, emails sent by alleged conspirators in Canada reveal

telegraph.co.uk

Smuggler in #France’s #Calais offering ‘special #Xmas deals’ to get migrants across English channel “God willing, you will be in #England before the new year” says #smuggler who calls himself Salar to @telegraphnews.bsky.social reporter posing as #migrant www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Small boat smuggler offers ‘Christmas special’ deal to enter UK

Telegraph reporter posing as a migrant in Germany told: ‘God willing, you will be in England before the new year’

telegraph.co.uk