California police move in to dismantle pro-Palestinian protest camp at UCLA - CNA

Hundreds of other pro-Palestinian activists who assembled outside the tent city jeered police with shouts of "shame on you", some banging on drums and waving Palestinian flags, as officers marched onto the campus grounds.

Many wore the traditional Palestinian scarves called keffiyehs.

A much smaller group of demonstrators waving Israeli flags urged on the police to shut down the encampment, yelling, "Hey hey, ho-ho, the occupation has got to go".

Prior to moving in, police urged demonstrators in repeated loudspeaker announcements to clear the protest zone, occupying a plaza about the size of a football field between the landmark twin-tower auditorium Royce Hall and the main undergraduate library.

VIOLENT CLASH PRECEDES CRACKDOWN

UCLA had canceled classes for the day following a violent clash between the encampment's occupants and a group of masked counter-demonstrators who mounted a surprise assault late Tuesday night on the tent city.

The occupants of the outdoor protest camp, set up last week, had remained otherwise peaceful before the melee, in which both sides traded blows and doused each other with pepper spray.

Members of the pro-Palestinian group said fireworks were thrown at them and they were beaten with bats and sticks.

University officials blamed the disturbance on "instigators" and vowed an investigation.

The confrontation went on for two or three hours into early Wednesday morning before police restored order.

A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom later criticized the "limited and delayed campus law enforcement response" to the unrest as "unacceptable".

As the much-expanded police force entered the campus on Wednesday night to clear the encampment, some of the protesters were heard yelling at them, "Where were you yesterday?"

UCLA officials said the campus, which enrolls nearly 52,000 students, including undergraduates and graduate scholars, would remain shuttered except for limited operations on Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday night's police action came a day after police in New York City arrested pro-Palestinian activists who occupied a building at Columbia University and removed a tent city from the campus of the Ivy League school.

Police arrested a total of about 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Many of those arrested were charged with trespassing and criminal mischief.

The clashes at UCLA and in New York were part of the biggest outpouring of US student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020.

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2024-05-02 11:41:00Z
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Rural Chinese workers become unlikely livestreamers amid slowing economy, fewer prospects - CNA

NEED FOR REGULATION

Still, success stories like Mr Chu's are few and far between among the country’s 300 million migrant workers.

The livestreaming industry, which peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, is becoming increasingly saturated as more look for a rare lifeline amid an uncertain economic outlook.

Experts said this has made it difficult for newcomers to stand out and outshine other livestreamers. Some resort to crass tactics to get more views.

Dr Yan Wu, Associate Professor in Media and Communications Studies at Swansea University, said there is a need for market regulation as livestreaming covers not just e-commerce but a wider field of talent.

“The content of streaming could be vulgar and sexual,” she told CNA’s East Asia Tonight.

“(The) industry poses this new challenge because in the past, when you think of the media industry, it has clearly separated fields – journalism, entertainment, advertising, etc.

“But the streaming industry seems to combine all these different sectors together. So the key thing is, who's accountable?”

She pointed to a “huge enthusiasm” in China for new technologies like virtual reality. Virtual influencers created with artificial intelligence have also gained steam in recent years. 

“When the technology keeps advancing under the market, (in) certain areas, the market reaches a saturation point. But there are new ways, new strategies for differentiation and a plug into the niche segment will be able to provide a new economic growth point,” Dr Yan said.

For Mr Chu, it was a no-brainer to switch career paths rather than continue living in the underbelly of China’s biggest and wealthiest cities.

"When you’re in the city, your salary may be just a few thousand yuan, and the work is hard and tiring. Maybe when you’re in the moment, you think the money comes easily,” he said.

“But in the long run, with automation, you risk becoming obsolete; you will have no value in the future."

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2024-05-02 06:54:06Z
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Philippines summons China envoy over water cannon attack - CNA

MANILA: The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday (May 2) it summoned a senior Chinese embassy official over the "harassment of Philippine vessels" in the South China Sea.

"The Philippines protested the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous manoeuvres, use of water cannons and other aggressive actions of China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia vessels against" Filipino government vessels, it said in a statement.

Manila said it summoned Zhou Zhiyong, the number two official at the Chinese embassy in Manila, over the Apr 30 incident that damaged a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel and a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) boat near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal.

"China's aggressive actions, particularly its water cannon use, caused damage to vessels of PCG and BFAR. The Philippines demanded that Chinese vessels leave Bajo de Masinloc and its vicinity immediately," it said, using the Filipino name for the shoal.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Manila and Beijing have a long history of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, with several collisions involving Philippine and Chinese vessels in recent months, as well as the use of water cannon by the China Coast Guard.

The latest incident near the Scarborough Shoal, which has long been a potential flashpoint, occurred during a mission to resupply Filipino fishermen.

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters the China Coast Guard took "necessary measures" against Philippine vessels that infringed on Beijing's territory.

These measures were "in accordance with the law, and the way it handled the situation was professional", Lin said according to transcripts released by the Chinese embassy in Manila.

Tuesday's incident came as the Philippines and the United States held a major annual military exercise that has infuriated Beijing.

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2024-05-02 05:22:10Z
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Biden blames China, Japan and India's economic woes on 'xenophobia' - CNA

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said on Wednesday (May 1) that "xenophobia" from China to Japan and India is hobbling their growth, as he argued that migration has been good for the US economy.

"One of the reasons why our economy's growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants," Biden said at a Washington fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign and marking the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

"Why is China stalling so badly economically, why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong."

The International Monetary Fund forecast last month that each country would see its growth decelerate in 2024 from the year prior, ranging from 0.9 per cent in highly developed Japan to 6.8 per cent in emerging India.

They forecast that the United States would grow at 2.7 per cent, slightly brisker than its 2.5 per cent rate last year. Many economists attribute better-than-expected performance partly to a migrants expanding the country's labor force.

Concern about irregular migration has become a top issue for many US voters ahead of November's presidential election.

Biden, who has condemned the rhetoric of his Republican opponent Donald Trump as anti-immigrant, has worked to court broad economic and political relations with countries including Japan and India to counter China and Russia globally.

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2024-05-02 02:40:38Z
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Israel supporters attack pro-Palestinian camp in LA, 300 Gaza protesters arrested in New York - CNA

LOS ANGELES: Supporters of Israel attacked a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) on Wednesday (May 1), while New York's mayor said a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University broken up by police had been led by outsiders.

Witness footage from UCLA, verified by Reuters, showed people wielding sticks or poles to hammer on wooden boards being used as makeshift barricades to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters before police were deployed to the campus.

On the other side of the country, New York police arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators holed up in a building at Columbia University and removed a protest encampment on Tuesday night.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said about 300 people had been arrested and he blamed the protests on outside agitators, but without offering concrete evidence.

The Oct 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave have unleashed the biggest outpouring of United States student activism since the anti-racism protests of 2020.

As student rallies have spread to dozens of schools across the US in recent days expressing opposition to Israel's war in Gaza, police have been called in to quell or clear protests.

About 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed in the Oct 7 attack but the Israeli retaliatory assault has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health ministry figures, obliterated much of the enclave's infrastructure, and created a humanitarian crisis verging on famine.

The student protests in the US have also taken on political overtones in the run-up to the presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.

UCLA PROTESTERS REPORT VIOLENT ATTACKS

On Tuesday, UCLA officials announced that the encampment was unlawful and violated university policy.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Brock said it included people "unaffiliated with our campus", though he, like Adams, provided no evidence of the presence of outsiders.

Footage from the early hours showed mostly male counter-demonstrators, many of them masked and some apparently older than students, throwing objects and trying to smash or pull down the wooden and steel barriers erected to shield the encampment.

Some screamed pro-Jewish comments as pro-Palestinian protesters tried to fight them off.

"They were coming up here and just violently attacking us," said pro-Palestinian protester Kaia Shah, a researcher at UCLA.

"I just didn't think they would ever get to this, escalate to this level, where our protest is met by counter-protesters who are violently hurting us, inflicting pain on us, when we are not doing anything to them."

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2024-05-01 16:07:57Z
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Clashes erupt on UCLA campus between pro-Palestinian supporters and counter-protesters - CNA

Columbia President Minouche Shafik released a letter asking police to stay on campus until at least May 17 - two days after graduation - "to maintain order and ensure that encampments are not re-established".

Students standing outside the hall - the site of various student occupations dating back to the 1960s - jeered at police with shouts of "Shame, shame!".

Police were seen loading dozens of detainees onto a bus, with their hands bound behind their backs by zip-ties, the scene illuminated with the flashing red and blue lights of police vehicles.

"Free, free, free Palestine!" protesters chanted outside the building.

Others yelled: "Let the students go!"

Sueda Polat of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition of student groups that organised the protests, said they did not pose a danger and urged police to back down.

PROTESTERS ACCUSED OF VANDALISM AND TRESPASS

In her letter, Shafik said the Hamilton Hall occupiers had vandalised university property and were trespassing.

The university earlier warned that students taking part in the occupation faced academic expulsion.

A few hours before police entered Columbia, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall takeover had been instigated by "outside agitators" unaffiliated with Columbia.

One student protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar attending Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, disputed assertions that outsiders led the occupation.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered at City College New York in Harlem late on Tuesday, with the university ordering individuals off the campus and asking police to assist, New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said.

Dozens of protesters were arrested, the New York Times reported.

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2024-05-01 09:34:46Z
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Long hours, low wages: What is it like to be a gig worker in China's growing food delivery market? - CNA

LOW WAGES

Mr Dai, who earns about 10,000 yuan a month, said he has hardly any savings left after paying off his high rental and family expenses. 

“In Shanghai, just rent alone will take up about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. I am staying with my wife and children,” added Mr Dai, who is considering sending his family back to his hometown while he continues working in Shanghai. 

“For other riders, if they stay together and share the cost, it may not be so expensive.”

In 2022, when Shanghai was under COVID-19-induced lockdown, delivery riders became the lifelines for millions of residents confined at home.

For another food delivery worker, Mr Deng Erhu, it was the toughest of times. 

“I was living on the streets at that time. Every day, as soon as I woke up, I went out to deliver groceries and food to people,” said the 26-year-old.

“My movements were restricted and there were COVID tests all the time. It was cold. I had no blankets. I would sleep under a bridge or in a basement.”

Mr Deng, who is from Henan province, dropped out of school when he was 14 and has no educational qualifications.

“My hometown’s development is a bit slow, wages are low and I am in debt. So I thought of coming to Shanghai, which is a tier-one city,” he said. 

“I wanted to see what opportunities I could find here, such as better-paying jobs, so I can earn some money to pay off my debt.”

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2024-05-01 04:21:14Z
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