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Cuba’s opposition, browbeaten by the communist government, has been further weakened by the US exile of dissident figurehead Jose Daniel Ferrer, colleagues and analysts say.After refusing for years to leave the one-party state despite repeated imprisonment, Ferrer finally yielded and boarded a flight for Miami on Monday. He was released from prison — where he said he had been tortured — at Washington’s request, according to Havana.”Even in prison, he (Ferrer) was an inspiration. Now that inspiration is gone,” fellow dissident Martha Beatriz Roque, 80, told AFP.Ferrer’s exile, she added, “has left the Cuban opposition without a leader.”The 55-year-old founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) has for years been the face of the fight for democracy in the Caribbean nation where opposition politics is illegal and the act of protest has seen hundreds locked up.Ferrer himself has been repeatedly imprisoned, most recently in April after a brief period of freedom under a landmark deal struck with Washington that saw Cuba removed from a list of terrorism sponsors.He was sent back to jail after Donald Trump took office and returned Cuba to the list.During his brief spell of freedom, Ferrer defied the authorities by criticizing Cuba’s leadership on social media, setting up a soup kitchen funded by exiled Cubans at his home, and meeting the head of the US diplomatic mission.Upon his arrival in Miami, a US stronghold of Cuban anti-communist sentiment, Ferrer — dubbed a “mercenary” of the United States by Havana — vowed to “keep up the fight.””But fighting from the outside is not the same as fighting from the inside,” said Roque, who was arrested with Ferrer and 73 other dissidents during a wave of political repression in 2003 known as Cuba’s “Black Spring.”She is still in Cuba.- ‘Move beyond protest’ -Observers say Ferrer’s departure has robbed Cuba’s already fractured opposition of its most prominent and unifying figure.In a letter announcing his pending exile, Ferrer said he had lost faith in some of his comrades because of their “disunity, dogmatic nature and lack of effectiveness.”Analyst Roberto Veiga of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank told AFP there was “a deficit of real political weight” in the Cuban opposition, with little “capacity to implement solid and realistic strategies.” Cuban dissident Manuel Cuesta agreed the opposition has been unable to capitalize on widespread public discontent and “move beyond protest” to real change in a country also battling a historic economic downturn and mass emigration.Standing up to the government in Havana is not easy: dissidents and protesters are regularly detained, harassed, or, like Ferrer, pressured to leave the country.After historic protests in 2021 — the biggest since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution that overthrew a US-backed dictator and paved the way for communist rule — hundreds of people including Ferrer were locked up.Rapper Maykel Castillo is serving a nine-year prison sentence, while performance artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara received five years, both on “contempt” charges for criticizing the government through their art.Rights groups view them as “political prisoners.”Other dissenters such as playwright Yunior Garcia and visual artist Tania Bruguera opted for exile under government pressure.If ever Cuba’s opposition needed strong leadership, it is now, said Veiga.”If the political time for change runs out, the island could become entrenched” in its political and economic crisis, he added.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that FIFA chief Gianni Infantino would support moving 2026 World Cup games from US cities for security reasons if necessary.In September, Trump raised the possibility of moving games amid his crackdown on Democratic-run cities, but at the time FIFA said that it was up to football’s governing body to decide where games are held.”If somebody is doing a bad job and if I feel there’s unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni, the head of FIFA, who’s phenomenal, and I would say, let’s move it to another location. And he would do that,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if games could be moved from Boston, one of the host cities.”Very easily he would do it.”Trump’s comments came a day after he met close friend Infantino in Egypt at a summit on a Gaza ceasefire, where the FIFA boss joined more than two dozen world leaders who were discussing peace in the Middle East.The US president also suggested that, if necessary, events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics could also be moved. “I could say the same thing for the Olympics,” Trump said. “If I thought LA was not going to be prepared properly, I would move it to another location.”Republican Trump’s administration has deployed national guard troops to Democratic-run US cities this year over the objections of local and state leaders, saying they are needed to counter crime and left-wing activism.Boston is hosting seven games at next year’s World Cup. San Francisco and Seattle are both hosting six matches each at the tournament while Los Angeles is hosting eight.The United States is co-hosting next year’s World Cup with Mexico and Canada, but will be hosting the bulk of the games in the tournament, which has been expanded to include 48 teams.Trump earlier this year appointed himself as chairman of a White House task force for the World Cup.

US and international news outlets including The New York Times, AP, AFP and Fox News on Tuesday declined to sign new restrictive Pentagon media rules, meaning they will be stripped of their press access credentials.The new rules come after the Defense Department restricted media access inside the Pentagon, forced some outlets to vacate offices in the building and drastically reduced the number of briefings for journalists.The media policy “gags Pentagon employees” by threatening retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been pre-approved for release, the Pentagon Press Association (PPA) said.AFP said in a statement Tuesday that it “cannot sign up to the terms of the Pentagon document that would require media to acknowledge insufficiently clear new policies that appear to fly in the face of US constitutional principles and of the basic tenets of journalism.””We shall continue to cover the Pentagon and the US military freely and fairly, as we have done for decades,” the agency added.TV networks ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC issued a joint statement saying they will not sign the new rules, which would “restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues.”Alongside Fox, other conservative outlets the Washington Times and Newsmax are also reportedly refusing to agree to the new policy, which could see a total of some 100 press passes revoked.The new rules are the latest in a series of moves that restrict journalists’ access to information from the Pentagon, the nation’s single largest employer with a budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.The Defense Department announced earlier this year that eight media organizations including the Times, the Washington Post, CNN, NBC and NPR had to vacate their dedicated office spaces in the Pentagon, alleging that there was a need to create room for other — predominantly conservative — outlets.It has also required journalists to be accompanied by official escorts if they go outside a limited number of areas in the Pentagon — another new restriction on the press.And it has drastically reduced the number of briefings for journalists — holding some half a dozen this year, compared to an average of two or more per week under president Joe Biden’s administration, which left office in January.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth — a former Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran — has campaigned against leaks from the Defense Department.But he was inadvertently involved in the release of sensitive information earlier this year, sharing details about upcoming strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels in a chat on messaging app Signal to which a journalist had been mistakenly added.Hegseth has also reportedly used Signal to discuss US strikes on Yemen with his wife and other people not usually involved in such discussions.His use of Signal has prompted an investigation by the Pentagon inspector general’s office.

A Florida man convicted of murdering two women he hired for sex was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday, one of four executions to be carried out in the United States this week.Samuel Smithers, 72, was sentenced to death in 1999 for the 1996 killings of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach in Tampa. They had been beaten and strangled and their bodies were found in a pond.Smithers was executed at a Florida state prison at 6:15 pm (2215 GMT), the 14th execution in the southern state this year.Another convicted murderer was also put to death by lethal injection in the midwestern state of Missouri on Tuesday.The execution of Lance Shockley, 48, was carried out at 6:13 pm (2313 GMT) for the 2005 murder of a police sergeant, Carl Graham.Graham was gunned down in an ambush at his home. The officer had been investigating a fatal car accident involving Shockley at the time.Shockley maintained his innocence but his appeals were rejected by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe rejected his clemency request on Monday.Two other executions are scheduled this week.Charles Crawford, 59, is to be put to death by lethal injection in Mississippi on Wednesday for the 1994 rape and murder of Kristy Ray, a 20-year-old college student.Richard Djerf, 55, is to be executed by lethal injection in Arizona on Friday for the brutal 1993 murders of four members of a Phoenix family.In a letter last month apologizing for the crime, Djerf said he was ready to die and would not seek clemency.”If I can’t find reason to spare my life, what reason would anyone else have?” he wrote.There have been 37 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2013, when 39 inmates were put to death.Florida has carried out the most executions with 14, followed by Texas with five and South Carolina and Alabama with four.Thirty-one of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and four by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

US President Donald Trump hailed assassinated ally Charlie Kirk as a “martyr for truth and freedom” Tuesday as he posthumously awarded the right-wing activist America’s highest civilian honor.Handing the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kirk’s tearful widow, Trump compared the 31-year-old conservative to Socrates, Saint Peter, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.Trump, 79, also used the somber ceremony at the White House to vow to redouble his crackdown on what he calls radical left-wing groups that he launched following Kirk’s shooting.”In the wake of Charlie’s assassination, our country must have absolutely no tolerance for this radical left violence, extremism and terror,” Trump told an audience of the country’s conservative elite.”We’re done with the angry mobs, and we’re not going to let our cities be unsafe.”The US State Department on Tuesday said it had revoked visas of at least six foreign nationals who had “celebrated the heinous assassination” on social media. In posts to X, the department shared offending posts allegedly by citizens of Argentina, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay who had called Kirk “racist,” “xenophobic” or other characterizations.One German apparently lost their US visa for writing “When fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” according to the State Department.The Trump administration has controversially cited political reasons in stripping others of their visas, including several hundred people involved in Gaza war protests on US universities campuses. Father-of-two Kirk was shot dead on a Utah college campus last month, sparking a wave of grief among conservatives and promises of a clampdown from Trump that has seen National Guard troops sent to several Democrat-run cities. Guests at the ceremony included visiting Argentinian President Javier Milei, a libertarian firebrand, and a host of conservative US media personalities.Kirk’s widow Erika thanked Trump for flying back from a Middle East peace trip for the medal ceremony, which fell on what would have been her late husband’s 32nd birthday.”You have given him the best birthday gift he could ever have,” she said, dabbing away tears and occasionally pausing to collect herself.She added that Kirk, who used huge audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for conservative talking points, “would probably have run for president” if he had not been assassinated.Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with Charlie Kirk’s murder. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

A new US president, focused on domestic priorities, criticizes his predecessor as too hard on Israel but soon takes on the mantle of peace and reaches a deal heralded around the world.In September 1993, it was Bill Clinton, who brought Israeli and Palestinian leaders together at the White House for the landmark first Oslo accord which marked the beginnings of Palestinian self-governance.This weekend it was Donald Trump who sealed an agreement to end two years of devastating war in Gaza and hailed a “historic dawn of a new Middle East.” But despite his typically immodest language, Trump has quickly drawn questions about whether he is ambitious and committed enough for a broader agreement to solve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.On his way back from a lightning trip to Israel and Egypt, Trump said vaguely that he will “decide what I think is right” on the Palestinians’ future “in coordination with other states.””A lot of people like the one-state solution, some people like the two-state solution. We’ll have to see,” Trump told reporters.Trump’s brash approach marks a sharp change from the Oslo process, in which Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met quietly with help from Norway and set up a roadmap that was eventually supposed to settle heated disputes such as permanent borders and the status of Jerusalem.Trump had firmly backed Israel despite growing international outrage over its Gaza offensive launched in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.But Trump then forcefully pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel attacked Hamas leaders meeting in Qatar, a key US partner.”In a lot of ways, the easy part is what was just accomplished, but what would be necessary to move this conflict toward resolution is going to take so much more than the very vague details that are presented in the plan,” said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.This 20-point plan released by the White House speaks only of an eventual “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood.It also has little on the West Bank, where Israel has ramped up construction and extremist settlers have attacked Palestinians in the wake of the attack from Gaza-based Hamas.”Maybe it’s the failure of Oslo that gave rise to the rather unconventional approach that Trump has taken, where he has short-circuited any sort of process and simply pressured and cajoled,” Yacoubian said.”The problem, of course, is in the implementation. And that was the problem with Oslo,” she said.If there is no “sustained commitment to seeing through an actual solution to the conflict, rather than kicking the can down the road, then we see how those these processes fall apart.”Other Western powers including France and Britain in their own way also broke with Oslo’s model of painstaking diplomacy and last month recognized a Palestinian state.- Netanyahu long resistant on state -Clinton, who negotiated in meticulous detail, had sparred with Netanyahu, Israel’s long-serving prime minister who has adamantly opposed the prospect of a Palestinian state and the Oslo process.After Netanyahu lost power, Clinton at the end of his term sought to end the conflict with his Camp David summit, which failed.Ghaith al-Omari, who was an advisor to Palestinian negotiators at the time of Clinton’s Camp David summit, said he did not believe any of the current leaders were capable of reaching a lasting peace deal.Netanyahu, he said, is widely mistrusted, even among Arab leaders who want better relations with Israel.Powers from the Arab and Islamic worlds have considered sending troops to stabilize Gaza, but it remains uncertain if they would do so without stability, and Netanyahu has opposed a role for the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based rival of Hamas.Mahmud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, turns 90 next month and, beyond his age, is “just too discredited” after his “last 30 years has been associated with failure,” said al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Al-Omari said Lebanon could show the future ahead, with Israel repeatedly carrying out strikes against Hezbollah since a ceasefire took hold nearly a year ago but without full-scale war.As for Trump, he has shown skill in seizing the moment but has not put in place staff that would indicate sustained diplomacy, he said.”I would be very skeptical if we see the level of engagement we have seen over the last few weeks,” al-Omari said.”We’re nowhere near the kind of kumbaya moment that was projected.”

Robust dealmaking activity and strong trading results helped boost US bank earnings Tuesday despite lingering worries about a softening job market and a potentially overvalued stock market.Profits rose in the third quarter at JPMorgan Chase and three other US lending giants, reflecting strength in core business areas and the still-healthy condition of many consumers even after a lengthy stretch of persistently high costs that have stretched low-income households.At JPMorgan, profits were $14.4 billion, up 12 percent from the year-ago level, with revenues of $46.4 billion, up 9 percent.The bank, the biggest US lender in terms of assets, reported somewhat higher credit costs in the quarter as it disclosed details about a $170 million hit from the bankruptcy of Tricolor, a subprime auto lender. But JPMorgan executives reiterated that consumers remain generally “resilient” and mostly on time with credit card payments, a tone echoed by other large banks. “We’ve been waiting for the so-called consumer recession, but it doesn’t materialize,” said investment banker and author Christopher Whalen of Whalen Global Advisors.The large banks “don’t do business with subprime” customers, said Whalen, who suspects more troubles involving banks’ corporate lending will surface in time. – Stock market ‘frothiness’ -More bank earnings will be released in the coming days, but Tuesday’s batch showed increases all around with Citigroup profits rising 16 percent to $3.8 billion, Goldman Sachs up 39 percent to $3.9 billion and Wells Fargo up 9 percent to $5.6 billion.Goldman Sachs pointed to its role as the “exclusive advisor” to Electronic Arts in a $55 billion deal to go private as it confidently described its merger and acquisition “pipeline” of pending and future deals. Other banks also touted strong demand for financial advisory service. But they expressed concern about weakening US job data.”While there have been some signs of a softening, particularly in job growth, the US economy generally remained resilient,” said JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon.”However, there continues to be a heightened degree of uncertainty,” said Dimon, pointing to tariffs, the risk of “sticky” inflation and other factors.Executives also acknowledged concerns that sky-high equity valuations for artificial intelligence companies may be out of hand.Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said the stream of stock market records suggests “some frothiness in different sectors,” adding, “we’ll have to see how that ultimately evolves.”- Problem loans limited so far -Heading into the results, one overhang facing the sector was the question of exposure to a pair of recent high-profile bankruptcies.Accounts of the collapse of Texas-based Tricolor have pointed to “apparent or alleged fraud,” JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on a conference call with reporters. Barnum said it can be difficult to avert all cases where a “motivated party” is committed to deception, but that the firm was looking at fortifying its controls.”This is not our finest moment,” added Dimon, who said colleagues would “scour every issue” in light of the revelations on the case.Citigroup also disclosed what it called “idiosyncratic downgrades” that more than doubled its corporate non-accrual loans compared with last year.Mason said Citi had not experienced broad problems within its portfolio, noting the bank was not exposed to Tricolor or to First Brands, a US auto supply firm whose bankruptcy has hit some other lenders, including UBS and Jefferies.”There’s no particular concentration of exposure that I’m worried about,” he said.While the damage from such examples has been limited so far, more cases of problem corporate lending could surface. Whalen said the financial system is still flush from a period of great liquidity due to central bank actions.”There’s been so much credit available,” he said. “It’s just that they haven’t gotten to the point where they’re cleaning house.”

US President Donald Trump warned Tuesday he could sever struggling Argentina’s financial lifeline if his libertarian ally Javier Milei loses crucial legislative elections later this month.”If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump said as firebrand Milei visited the White House to seek the Republican’s political and economic support.”I’m with this man because his philosophy is correct. And he may win and he may not win — I think he’s going to win. And if he wins we are staying with him, and if he doesn’t win we are gone.”Trump’s administration has already promised $20 billion to prop up Argentina’s struggling economy but his backing has failed to calm the markets — or help Milei’s polling ahead of midterms on October 26.The results of the elections, in which Milei’s minority party is hoping to boost its seat tally, will dictate whether Milei can pass tough cost-cutting reforms or will face a legislative brick wall for the next two years of his term.  Hailing Milei as a “great leader,” Trump said he would “fully endorse” his ideological ally in the elections.”He’s MAGA all the way, it’s ‘Make Argentina Great Again,'” Trump said, referring to his own “Make America Great Again” slogan.Trump has however faced questions about how a big bailout for Argentina tallies with that same America First policy.Asked by reporters what the benefit to the United States was, Trump replied: “We are helping a great philosophy take over a great country. We want to see it succeed.”- ‘Acute illiquidity’ -With Argentina struggling to stave off yet another financial crisis and Milei’s disapproval ratings rising, the chainsaw-wielding leader has come to right-wing ally Trump for help. Trump has repeatedly voiced political support for Milei, while backing it up with a promise of huge economic aid, but the markets remain spooked by Argentina. In recent weeks, highly indebted Argentina has had to spend more than a billion US dollars to defend the peso, a strategy most economists believe is unsustainable.  That prompted Milei’s allies in Washington to step in with a financial bailout. “Argentina faces a moment of acute illiquidity,” US Treasury Scott Bessent said last week, announcing a deal that would give Argentina access to US$20 billion. “The US Treasury is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets.”  The announcement sparked a rally in Argentine bonds and stocks and helped ease pressure on the peso.  It also marked a rare instance of direct US intervention in Latin American currency markets, underscoring Washington’s strategic interest in Milei’s success. “The United States saw this attack on Argentina, on the ideas of freedom, on a strategic ally — and that’s why they supported us,” Milei said in a radio interview Monday. “They know we are a true ally,” Milei said, referring to Argentina’s alignment with US and Israeli interests. In Argentina, there has been fevered speculation about what Trump might want from Milei in return for his support. Before Milei took power, Argentina — a major lithium producer — had been deepening ties with China. The Argentine president’s office said the leaders would discuss “multiple topics.” On Sunday, Economy Minister Luis Caputo ruled out immediate plans to dollarize the economy or alter the floating exchange rate band, amid speculation of post-election changes.  

US authorities on Tuesday unsealed an indictment against Chen Zhi, a UK-Cambodian businessman accused of running forced labor camps in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions of dollars.The 37-year-old, known as Vincent, founded Prince Holding Group, a multinational conglomerate that authorities say served as a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations,” according to the US Department of Justice.The Justice Department also filed the largest forfeiture action in its history, seizing approximately 127,271 Bitcoin worth around $15 billion at current prices.”Today’s action represents one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.Chen allegedly directed operations of forced labor compounds across Cambodia where hundreds of trafficked workers were held in prison-like facilities surrounded by high walls and barbed wire.Under threat of violence, they were forced to execute so-called “pig butchering” scams — cryptocurrency investment schemes that build trust with victims over time before stealing their funds.The schemes targeted victims worldwide, causing billions in losses.Scam centers across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region use fake job ads to attract foreign nationals — many of them Chinese — to purpose-built compounds, where they are forced to carry out online fraud under threat of torture.Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, prosecutors said.Chen and top executives allegedly used political influence and bribed officials in multiple countries to protect the operation. Proceeds were laundered in part through the Prince Group’s own gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations.The stolen funds financed luxury purchases including watches, yachts, private jets, vacation homes and a Picasso painting bought at a New York auction house, authorities said.Chen faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges.In coordinated action, British authorities on Tuesday froze 19 London properties worth over £100 million linked to Chen’s network, including a £12 million mansion in North London.The sanctions also target Chen’s associate Qiu Wei Ren, a Chinese national with Cambodian, Cypriot and Hong Kong citizenship.An AFP investigation on Tuesday found that scam centers in neighboring Myanmar were expanding rapidly just months after a crackdown there. China, Thailand and Myanmar forced pro-junta Myanmar militias who protect the centers to promise to shutter the compounds in February, freeing around 7,000 people — most of them Chinese citizens.But the brutal call center-style system is flourishing again in Myanmar, now using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system for internet access.

Scam centres in Myanmar blamed for swindling billions from victims across the world are expanding fast just months after a crackdown that was supposed to eradicate them, an AFP investigation has found.New buildings have been springing up inside the heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy on the Thailand-Myanmar border at a dizzying pace, with others festooned with dishes for Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service, satellite images and AFP drone footage show.The revelations come as Britain and the United States imposed sanctions Tuesday on the “masterminds behind industrial-scale scam centres in Southeast Asia”, freezing 19 London properties “linked to a multi-billion-pound network”.They include a mansion worth £12 million (nearly $16 million) on one of London’s most expensive streets and a £100 million office building in the city’s financial district.US prosecutors have also launched an action to seize up to $15 billion in cryptocurrency they said is held by Chinese-born Chen Zhi, the alleged head of a “sprawling cyber-fraud empire” based in Cambodia where workers are trafficked and “confined in prison-like compounds”.Americans are among the top targets of Southeast Asia scammers, the US Treasury Department says, losing an estimated $10 billion last year, up 66 percent in 12 months.The centres have caused misery to millions of people across the world, pushing some victims to suicide, while the families of those who work in them often have to pay to have relatives freed.Experts say most of the centres in Myanmar and Cambodia, notorious for their romance scams and “pig butchering” investment cons, are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates that have switched from gambling into cybercrime. Starlink has gone from nowhere at the time of the Myanmar crackdown in February, when Thailand cut power and internet cables to the scam centres along its border, to becoming the country’s biggest internet provider every day from July 3 until October 1, according to data from the APNIC Asian regional internet registry.The US Congress Joint Economic Committee told AFP it had opened an investigation into Starlink’s involvement with the centres. SpaceX, which owns Starlink, did not reply to AFP requests for comment.China, Thailand and Myanmar forced pro-junta Myanmar militias who protect the centres into promising to “eradicate” the compounds in February. They freed around 7,000 people — most Chinese citizens — from the brutal call centre-style system, which the United Nations says runs on forced labour and human trafficking.Many workers told AFP they were beaten and forced to work long hours by bosses who target victims across the globe with telephone, internet and social media cons.Only weeks after the headline-grabbing releases, building work on several of the centres had started along the Moei River, which forms the frontier with Thailand.AFP analysis of satellite images from Planet Labs PBC found dozens of buildings going up or being altered in the largest of the compounds, KK Park, between March and September.Construction work has also been going on at several of the other 27 suspected scam centres in the Myawaddy cluster, an AFP analysis found, including what the US Treasury called the “notorious” Shwe Kokko centres, north of Myawaddy.- ‘Abhorrent’ -Last month, the US imposed sanctions on nine people connected to Shwe Kokko and the Chinese criminal kingpin She Zhijiang, founder of the multistorey Yatai New City centre there.Senator Maggie Hassan, the leading Democrat on the US Congressional committee, has called on Musk to block the Starlink service to the fraud factories.”While most people have probably noticed the increasing number of scam texts, calls, and emails, they may not know that transnational criminals halfway across the world may be perpetrating these scams by using Starlink internet access,” Hassan said.She wrote to Musk in July demanding answers to 11 questions about Starlink’s role.Erin West, a former California prosecutor who now heads the Operation Shamrock group that campaigns against the centres, said: “It is abhorrent that an American company is enabling this to happen.”While still a cybercrime prosecutor, she warned Starlink in July 2024 that the mostly Chinese crime syndicates that run the centres were using its service, but received no reply.Up to 120,000 people may be being “forced to carry out online scams” in the Myanmar centres, according to a UN report in 2023, with another 100,000 held in Cambodia.South Korea President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that he was concerned by the “significant harm” being done by the centres amid the shock over the death of a Korean student who police said was tortured and killed after being kidnapped in Cambodia.Other Koreans have also been abducted. “The numbers are not small, and many of our citizens are deeply concerned about their family members,” Lee said. isk-mjw-sjc-nlc-fg/js