UN report cites alleged ‘patterns of abuse’ in China's treatment of Uyghur minority

A long-awaited report from the United Nations alleges that the Chinese government has committed "serious human rights violations" in its detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang.

The 48-page report, which Western diplomats and U.N. officials said had been all but ready for months, was published with just minutes to go in U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's four-year term.

Drawn from interviews with former detainees at eight separate detention centers in the region, its authors suggest "serious" human rights violations have been committed in Xinjiang under China's policies to fight terrorism and extremism, which singled out Uyghurs and other Muslim communities, between 2017 and 2019.

The report cites "patterns of torture" inside what Beijing called vocational centers, which were part of its reputed plan to boost economic development in the region, and it points to "credible" allegations of torture or ill-treatment, including cases of sexual violence.

US, CHINA, PLANNING BIDEN, XI MEETING BUT 'NO RESOLUTION YET': OFFICIAL

Above all, perhaps, the report warns that the "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of such groups in Xinjiang, through moves that stripped them of "fundamental rights … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity."

The report's authors say they could not confirm estimates of how many people were detained in the internment camps. But they add that, based on the evidence, it is reasonable to conclude that the number held "at least between 2017 and 2019, was very significant, comprising a substantial proportion of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minority populations."

The report calls for an urgent international response over allegations of torture and other rights violations in Beijing's campaign to root out terrorism.

Bachelet brushed aside repeated Chinese calls for her office to withhold the report, which follows her own trip to Xinjiang in May and which Beijing contends is part of a Western campaign to smear China's reputation.

China's U.N. ambassador, Zhang Jun, slammed the report hours before its release, reiterating that Beijing remained "firmly opposed" to the report. 

"We haven't seen this report yet, but we are completely opposed to such a report, we do not think it will produce any good to anyone," Zhang told reporters outside the Security Council. "We have made it very clear to the high commissioner and in a number of other occasions that we are firmly opposed to such a report."

He alleged that the "so-called Xinjiang issue" was a fabrication intended to undermine China's stability and obstruct its development.

In the past five years, China’s mass detention campaign in Xinjiang swept an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic groups into a network of prisons and camps, which Beijing called "training centers" but former detainees described as brutal detention centers.

Some countries, including the United States, have accused Beijing of committing genocide in Xinjiang.

Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, has urged the 47-member Human Rights Council, whose next session is in September, to investigate the allegations and hold those responsible to account.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Germany sending warships to Indo-Pacific as tensions with China escalate: report

German General Eberhard Zorn said Wednesday the Bundeswehr will send warships to the Indo-Pacific and join allies in drills as China ramps up operations around Taiwan. 

"We do not want to provoke anyone with our presence but rather send a strong sign of solidarity with our allies," Zorn told Reuters. "We stand for the freedom of navigation and the safeguarding of international norms."

Germany, which has been frugal on military spending in the second half of the 20th century, pledged to hike defense spending above 2% of its total GDP in February after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week that Germany's own stock of arms is depleted due to sending weapons to Ukraine, but pledged Monday to support Kyiv for "as long as it takes." 

SEN. BLACKBURN IN TAIWAN: CHINA'S 'BULLYING' TACTICS MUST STOP, US MUST CURB CCP'S 'AGGRESSION'

Now, the country is also turning its attention to China, which has sent warplanes across the Taiwan Strait median line and fired missiles over the island in recent weeks. 

Two US Navy warships passed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, a practice that has been routine in recent years but now comes with increased tension following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. 

Zorn told Reuters that the German military will also send troops to Australia for military exercises next year in an effort to "consolidate our presence in the region."

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Los Angeles attorney jailed in Venezuela pleads for Biden administration's help

A Los Angeles man who has spent the last five months detained in a Venezuela prison is calling on the Biden administration to help secure his release and urging the president not to forget about him.

"No one should be abandoned at the time of their greatest need and when they’re most vulnerable," Eyvin Hernandez, who was arrested in Venezuela on March 31, told the Associated Press in a jailhouse recording earlier this month. "However, I don’t feel like my government feels that way about me."

Hernandez was arrested along the Colombia-Venezuela border days before he was scheduled to return to the United States from vacation. His family says he traveled there from the city of Medellin with a Venezuelan friend who needed to get her passport stamped to resolve an issue with her migratory status in Colombia. 

Upon arrival by bus to the Colombian city of Cucuta, they hailed a taxi for the short drive to the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, according to an account Hernandez shared with his family. A fourth individual hopped in the front seat, purportedly offering his services as a guide who could help them navigate the confusion at the border, an area overrun by squatters, criminal gangs and a mass of people making their way back and forth in illegal crossings.

BIDEN RISKS WHITEWASHING MADURO'S 'CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY' IN PURSUIT OF VENEZUELAN OIL, EXPERT WARNS

Before they knew it, the cab was stopped along a dirt path, and the two were ordered to get out and walk across the invisible border separating the two countries.

Once Hernandez realized his mistake, it was too late to turn back. A man carrying a rifle demanded that he cough up $100, according to his family. When he protested that he didn’t have any cash, they put a hood over his head.

VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION PRESSES U.S. TO HOLD OFF ITS CONSIDERATION OF OIL IMPORTS

When his captors found his American passport, they told him he was in trouble and handed him over to security forces, who he says kept him incommunicado for weeks on "criminal association" and "conspiracy" charges.

Hernandez also says that there are at least ten other Americans being held in Venezuela, including five oil executives and three veterans, who feel "like our government has abandoned us."

The 44-year-old Hernandez, who has spent the last 15 years as an employee of the Los Angeles County public defender’s office, says it’s been months since he or any of his fellow Americans have seen a courtroom, nor do they have any hopes of getting a fair trial.

MIGRANT ABOARD FOURTH BUS TO DC SAYS POVERTY IN VENEZUELA DROVE HIM TO CROSS SOUTHERN BORDER

A State Department spokesperson confirmed the arrest of a U.S. citizen in 2022 to Fox News Digital and said the department is in touch with the family and "closely monitoring" the situation. The spokesperson would not comment further due to "privacy considerations."

Hernandez, who could spend up to 16 years in jail if convicted, said the uncertainty, isolation and human rights violations are taking a toll, with two Americans having already attempted suicide and a third on the brink with daily mental breakdowns.

"If you don’t get us out soon, then there might not be anyone left to save," he said.

VENEZUELAN VICE PRESIDENT MEETS 'GOOD FRIEND' LAVROV OF RUSSIA

In July, Biden last month signed an executive order aimed at providing more information to families of Americans detained abroad and imposing stiff sentences on the criminals, terrorists and government officials holding them.

In conjunction with the new executive order, the State Department will update its travel advisory risk indicator to include a "D" for wrongful detention abroad, in an effort to inform Americans and highlight the countries where there is an "elevated risk" of wrongful detention.

Senior administration officials said that the State Department will slap a "D" indicator on China, Iran, Russia, Burma, North Korea and Venezuela.

At least three of the 11 other Americans known to be detained in Venezuela are in a similar state of limbo. They include Jerrel Kenemore, a computer programmer arrested within a week of Hernandez, and two former Green Berets who took part in a blunder-filled beach attack in 2020 aimed at overthrowing Maduro.

Additionally, Hernandez's plea for help comes at the same time that WNBA star Britney Griner's detention in Russia has received worldwide attention with prominent figures across the globe calling on the Biden administration to secure her release.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Afghanistan under Taliban rule threatens the entire world — and not just through terrorism

This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago this week.

America and its allies face renewed terrorist threats and other dangers because of the Taliban’s year-long rule over Afghanistan, which has also harmed human rights in the region, two former ambassadors told Fox News.

The Taliban’s regime – through a mix of willingness and inability – has created a laundry list of threats to region and Western democracy, according to the former ambassadors: a growth in terrorist organizations; decreased heroin prices; diminished human rights; the empowerment of Russia and China; and a looming refugee crisis.

"What you're seeing with the Taliban in control of Afghanistan is increasingly a failed state," a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, Kelley Eckels Currie, told Fox News. "That is what has happened over the past year."

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"We're going to continually be confronted with the consequences of this disorder, chaos and instability, misgovernance and all of these things," Currie continued. "They're going to come knocking on our doorstep in one form or another, whether it's refugees or violent extremism."

Taliban rule has already allowed terrorist organizations to blossom in Afghanistan, and only more will grow, according to Currie and Nathan Sales, a former ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism. They said these groups view the U.S. and its Western allies as top targets.

"Afghanistan is poised to become a real petri dish for terrorist organizations," Sales told Fox News.

In some cases, like with al Qaeda, the Taliban actively allows terrorist organizations to expand, the former ambassadors said. But in others, like with ISIS-K, the regime is simply incapable of stopping their growth.

"The Taliban, for some of these groups, they will make common cause with them and roll out the red carpet," Sales told Fox News. "In other cases, terrorist groups might find Afghanistan hospitable because the Taliban is unable to control its territory, is unable to bring pressure to bear on a group like ISIS, for instance."

Either way, allowing terrorist groups to grow will "inevitably will bleed out into the world in ways that are unpredictable and most likely dangerous and harmful to all of us," Currie said.

It’s already clear that the Taliban has provided sanctuary to al Qaeda, allowing the extremist group to bolster its ranks once again, according to Sales.

"Unfortunately, the fact that al Qaeda’s number one leader was living in plain sight in a Taliban-provided safe house really goes to show that some of the most dire predictions about the relationship between al Qaeda and the Taliban were exactly right," Sales said.

TALIBAN CLAIMS IT WAS UNAWARE AL QAEDA CHIEF AL-ZAWAHRI WAS IN AFGHANISTAN BEFORE US DRONE STRIKE

A CIA drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahri, Usama bin Laden’s successor, was killed earlier in August. The al Qaeda leader spent years in hiding away from the capital city, but, in recent months, began stepping onto a Kabul balcony each morning, with a Taliban faction fully aware, The Washington Post reported.

Sales applauded the drone strike but said "we also have to worry about what this portends for the future."

"Under Taliban patronage, al Qaeda has been able to reconstitute and rebuild its networks," Sales told Fox News. "That's what it spent the last year doing, to the point where its leader felt safe living in a safe house associated with" a Taliban faction.

He also pointed out that al Qaeda, while living under Taliban rule, repeatedly struck the U.S. even before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"The more space, the more oxygen al Qaeda has in Afghanistan to rebuild its networks, to plot, to raise money, to radicalize, to recruit … the greater the risk that they will engage in terrorism against U.S. interests around the world and maybe even here at home," Sales told Fox News.

But al Qaeda isn’t the only group that should concern the U.S., according to Sales.

ZAWAHRI'S KABUL DEATH RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT AL QAEDA PRESENCE IN AFGHANISTAN AFTER US LEFT IT TO THE TALIBAN

"ISIS has a very active affiliate in Afghanistan that was responsible for a horrific suicide attack at the airport in Kabul during the U.S. evacuation that killed a number of American service members, as well as a number of innocent Afghans trying to flee Taliban rule."

Thirteen U.S. service members and around 170 Afghan civilians were killed in the August 2021 attack by ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, at the Kabul airport.

Terrorism is just one threat stemming from Afghanistan. China and Russia will also leverage the Taliban, and poppy production will likely balloon and cause heroin prices to plummet around the world, according to Currie.

"Historically, when there is conflict and instability in Afghanistan … you see an explosion of the opium and heroin trade out of Afghanistan," Currie told Fox News. "This has huge implications, not just for Europe, which is the primary market for that poppy, but also for the global market."

Afghanistan provides about 80% of the world’s opium and heroin supplies despite America’s efforts to erratic the trade, according to the United Nations. The Taliban outlawed cultivation in April, but it failed to eliminate the market during its previous reign and later turned to the crop for profit.

"If a flood into the market decreases the price in Europe, it's going to have an impact on the price of opioids here in the United States," Currie said. "When the price for heroin drops, it means that it is more widely available, more accessible."

US WANTS TO END DEPENDENCE ON CHINA RARE EARTHS, YELLEN SAYS

Meanwhile, China immediately approached the Taliban after it seized power in Afghanistan – a nation rich with critical minerals used in a variety of electronics, including electric car batteries and cell phones.

"You have China going in and being very opportunistic in this situation to lock down rare earths supplies and mines and also willing to support the Taliban," Currie told Fox News.

Moscow has similarly taken advantage of Taliban control.

Russia is "willing to support the Taliban for their own domestic political reasons," Currie told Fox News. She said the country has used its seat on the United Nations Security Council to diplomatically protect Taliban interests.

"They're looking for anyone who will not criticize them over the situation in Ukraine," Currie told Fox News. "And the Taliban has certainly said absolutely nothing about Ukraine's territorial integrity and continues to court Russia for support."

TALIBAN CLOSES IN ON GASOLINE DEAL WITH RUSSIA

Human rights under Taliban rule have also suffered, which will enable Afghanistan’s neighbors to have more authoritarian regimes, according to the former ambassadors, who are both now with the Vandenberg Coalition, a collection foreign policy experts.

Women could work, girls could go to school, and free speech and freedom of religion were respected before the Taliban took over, Sales said.

"The previous democratic government of Afghanistan was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it was trying," he told Fox News. "But all of that has been washed away by the Taliban wave that has swept across the country."

That deterioration gives surrounding nations with human rights issues more breathing room, according to Currie.

"If you have a country that's next door to you that is really at the bottom of the barrel on human rights, it, of course, is going to take some of the attention off of your less than attractive features when it comes to human rights," Currie said.

"It certainly takes the pressure off of countries like Pakistan that do not have a good record on women's rights, who do not have a good record on human rights overall, on tolerance for other religious groups, especially religious minorities, such as Christians," Currie continued.

Between the Taliban’s authoritarian regime and its inability to provide for Afghan citizens, the country will eventually see a mass exodus of refugees, according to Currie.

The Taliban is "incapable of meeting the basic needs of the citizens of Afghanistan, which is going to precipitate worse humanitarian crises, more disorder, more problems in that country, leading to refugee flows, leading to, again, regional problems that we can ill afford to deal with," Currie told Fox News.

"Allowing problems like this to fester has never worked out well for us," Currie said.

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Taliban celebrates US Afghanistan withdrawal with parade in front of US Embassy, Bagram air base

The Taliban celebrated the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan Wednesday by parading in front of the former U.S. embassy in Kabul.

The anniversary marked the end of the longest U.S. military campaign and a 20-year war that resulted in the fall of Kabul and its democratic government to the insurgent group last August.

LIFE UNDER TALIBAN RULE ONE YEAR LATER: WOMEN AND GIRLS STRUGGLE UNDER OPPRESSIVE POLICIES

The Taliban, which remains unrecognized as the official government of Afghanistan by any nation, has made Aug. 31 a national holiday, according to Reuters. 

Images surfaced Wednesday that showed the Taliban and its supporters celebrating the day by parading in Kabul while holding rifles, siting in the back of trucks and on top of heavy armored vehicles.

A military parade was also reportedly held at the Bagram air base – which the U.S. vacated in July 2021.

Men walked in formation on the air base’s runway as helicopters and military vehicles followed as Taliban officials stood and watched under the protection of a shaded area, posts on social media showed.

The U.S. officially left Afghanistan one minute to midnight Aug. 30, 2021, which the Taliban have deemed it "Freedom Day" and celebrated by launching fireworks over Kabul Tuesday night.

IN THE ROOM WITH THE TALIBAN: WORDS FROM ONE OF THE ONLY FEMALE REPORTERS LEFT IN AFGHANISTAN

Though the return of the Taliban has meant anything but liberty for all.

Since overthrowing the capital and the evacuation of former President Ashraf Ghani last year, the insurgent group has reimplemented harsh Islamic laws not seen since before the U.S. invaded in 2001, which have had devastating effects on the rights of women and girls.

Girls are no longer allowed to attend secondary school which has meant their education stops after the sixth grade.

Forced marriages have begun to be reported at an increasing rate as parents struggle to provide food for their families amid a crippling economy and harsh punishments have once again begun to reemerge, such as stoning and the mutilation of hands for thievery. 

Women are once again required to wear the hijab, be escorted by men when ordering a taxi or traveling any distance and they are no longer allowed to work unless it is in the medical or educational sector. 

The United Nations has called on the Taliban to reverse its oppressive policies and for the international community to step in to provide humanitarian relief for those most effected by Afghanistan’s flagging economy and oppressive policies.

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Compassion or cowardice; Why Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan

This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago this week.

A year after a Taliban offensive through Afghanistan descended on Kabul and overthrew the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, questions remain about the actions of the failed republic's last internationally-recognized president, Ashraf Ghani.

"No power in the world could persuade me to get on a plane and leave this country. It is a country I love, and I will die defending," Ghani infamously told Germany's Der Spiegel in May 2021.

However, Ghani broke that promise just a few months later, gathering his family and flying out of Afghanistan as Taliban forces overran Kabul. The former president faced immediate criticism for what some called cowardly actions, while reports began to circulate that Ghani had fled with millions of dollars from Afghanistan's treasury.

Rumors spread In the days after Ghani fled his country that he had landed in neighboring Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, but it was later revealed that he made his way to the United Arab Emirates and remains there in a house at an undisclosed location. 

FORMER AFGHAN PRESIDENT GIVES REASON FOR FLEEING, SAYS HE WANTS TO RETURN AND 'HELP MY COUNTRY HEAL'

The UAE welcomed Afghanistan's former president and his family on humanitarian grounds, where Ghani quickly set out to defend his actions.

"Dear countrymen! Today, I came across a hard choice; I should stand to face the armed Taliban who wanted to enter the palace or leave the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting and protecting the past twenty years," Ghani said in a Facebook post hours after leaving the country. "The Taliban have made it to remove me, they are here to attack all Kabul and the people of Kabul. In order to avoid the bleeding flood, I thought it was best to get out."

Less that a month later, the former president again explained that he left Afghanistan to avoid heavy fighting in the nation's capital during an apology to the Afghan people.

"Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, but I believed it was the only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her 6 million citizens," he said in a statement that was posted to Twitter. 

AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL, 1 YEAR LATER: TALIBAN TAKEOVER OF KABUL THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN NEVER SAW COMING

A U.S. report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) would later find that there was a lack of evidence to support the claim that Ghani fled Afghanistan with millions of dollars, but did say it was likely he had about $500,000 on hand.

"Although SIGAR found that some cash was taken from the grounds of the palace and loaded onto these helicopters, evidence indicates that this number did not exceed $1 million and may have been closer in value to $500,000," Special Inspector General John Sopko wrote in a letter to House and Senate leadership. "Most of this money was believed to have come from several Afghan government operating budgets normally managed at the palace."

In the months after his exit from Afghanistan and his social media statements, Ghani mostly kept a low profile. That changed earlier this month, with Ghani granting a rare interview to CNN in which he again defended his last days as president.

"I did get on a plane because it became impossible to defend it," Ghani said during the interview, noting that he was told by his minister of defense that the country could no longer be defended and that the ministry had already been evacuated.

WHITE HOUSE DRAFTS MEMO DEFENDING AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

"I was the last to leave, and the reason I left was because I did not want to give the Taliban and their supporters the pleasure of yet again humiliating an Afghan president," he said.

Ghani used the interview to criticize the "incredibly flawed" agreement with the Taliban negotiated under former President Trump and carried out by President Biden, but made clear that he does not blame the U.S. for the collapse of the government he oversaw.

"We need to focus on what is now in front of us," Ghani said. "Our country is in dire condition. I do not have the luxury to engage in blaming or [a] sense of betrayal."

He also dismissed comparisons between himself and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, arguing that the situation he faced was much different from Ukraine's leader, who opted to stay in his country as Russian forces closed in on Kyiv.

"President Zelenskyy was informed in detail by the CIA of the forthcoming Russian invasion," Ghani argued. "We were not offered a single piece of paper by our allies."

However, Ghani also expressed hope that he could one day return to Afghanistan, pointing out that his family has been in the same village for 500-600 years.

"I hope so. Very much. It’s my home," Ghani said of a potential return to Afghanistan. "I want to be able to help my county heal… and I hope to be able to do that from the place that every cell of my body belongs and without which I always feel alien."

The former president did not waiver when confronted with criticism of his final act as Afghanistan's leader, stressing that he always did what he thought was in the best interest of his country's people.

"I've lived an honorable life," he said.

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3-year-old Mexican girl reportedly wakes up at her own funeral, dies hours later

A 3-year-old girl in Mexico was pronounced dead twice earlier this month, after it was discovered she was still breathing at her funeral.

The family of Camila Roxana Martinez Mendoza is now suing the hospital involved for negligence, according to El Universal San Luis Potosí. 

Camila was taken to Salinas de Hidalgo Basic Community Hospital for dehydration on August 17. The young girl was experiencing vomiting, stomach pain and a fever.

Camila was reportedly given paracetamol and released from the hospital. But Camila's parents saw her condition deteriorate, and a private doctor urged them to re-admit her to the Salinas de Hidalgo Basic Community Hospital after his own methods had failed to help.

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Camila's mother claimed the hospital staff neglected her daughter during her second visit. She said they took a long time to give her oxygen and struggled to give her intravenous fluids.

"They didn’t put it on her because they couldn’t find her little veins. Finally, a nurse managed it," Mary Jane Peralta told El Universal San Luis Potosí.

Camila was eventually taken to a locked room where Mary could not reach her, the traumatized mother claimed. The 3-year-old girl was then pronounced dead by the hospital.

Peralta said that before Camila was taken away, she could still feel her daughter hug her. 

"She still was hugging me, they took her away and told me, ‘You have to let her rest in peace,'" Peralta recalled.

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At Camila's funeral the next day, Peralta noticed condensation on her daughter's glass casket cover. Peralta suggested that Camila was still breathing and was told by other attendees that she was hallucinating out of grief.

Camila's grandmother then realized that the young girl's eyes were moving. The "deceased" girl reportedly had a heart rate of 97 beats per minute.

Camila was then rushed to a hospital where she was declared dead a second time. Her heart rate dropped to 35 beats per minute in the ambulance, according to her mother. 

The first cause of death was listed as dehydration, while the second was cerebral edema, or brain swelling.

"I have no grudge against the doctors [who] went to extreme [measures]," Peralta said of the lawsuit. "I only ask that the doctors, nurses and directors be changed so that it does not happen again."

The San Luis Potosí State Attorney General's Office is currently investigating the case.

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'Teacher's Pet' subject convicted of wife's 1982 murder after true crime podcast sheds new light on cold case

An Australian man was convicted of the cold case murder of his wife Tuesday after a true crime podcast brought widespread attention to the case in 2018.

A judge found that Christopher Dawson, a 74-year-old former high school teacher, killed his then-wife Lynette Dawson in 1982. 

At the time of his wife’s murder, Dawson was involved in an extramarital affair with the 16-year-old babysitter of their two daughters, ages 2 and 4 at the time, according to a 2003 court proceeding called an inquest. She was a former student – and days after Lynette Dawson’s disappearance, the teen moved in with Christopher Dawson. They married after she turned 18 and split four years later.

Hedley Thomas, an investigative reporter for The Australian newspaper, chronicled the case on his podcast, "The Teacher’s Pet."

'TEACHER'S PET' PODCAST SUBJECT, WHO MOVED IN WITH STUDENT WHEN WIFE VANISHED, ACCUSED OF WIFE'S 1982 MURDER

Australian court records show Dawson, a former professional rugby player who became a high school teacher, had asked for a trial by judge, giving up his right to a jury, citing the podcast’s large audience.

Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon – the early morning local time.

The conviction was "40 years overdue," he wrote in an essay published after the verdict.

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"It was a hopelessly one-sided spectator affair," he wrote of the proceedings. "Almost everyone there wanted Dawson in handcuffs before lunch."

The podcast attracted a global audience of roughly 60 million and cast renewed scrutiny on the case. Australian police arrested Dawson at his Queensland home in December 2018.

Dawson reported his wife missing on Feb. 18, 1982, according to New South Wales police. But her last known contact came more than a month earlier, when she spoke with her mother on Jan. 8. They made plans to for lunch the next day. She didn’t show up.

Her body has not been found.

"The whole of the circumstantial evidence satisfies me that Lynette Dawson is dead, that she died on or about Jan. 8, 1982 and that she did not voluntarily abandon her home," Judge Ian Harrison said in court, according to the Associated Press.

He said that Dawson had lied about receiving phone calls from his wife following her disappearance and called the argument that she may have run out of her family "ludicrous."

Dawson faces up to life imprisonment.

Fox News’ Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet leader who oversaw end of Cold War, dead at 91

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has reportedly died at the age of 91 after a long health battle, according to Russian news agencies. 

The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. Gorbachev's office said earlier that he was undergoing treatment at the hospital after a serious and long illness. No further details were given.

Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse in December 1991. As general secretary and president, he helped forge weapons reduction deals with the U.S. and other western powers and remove the Iron Curtain. 

Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

PUTIN SIDELINES RUSSIA'S DEFENSE MINISTER OVER STALLED PROGRESS IN UKRAINE, ACCORDING TO THE UK

His decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.

A quarter-century after the collapse, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country.

"The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war," he said.

Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home.

Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country's troubles.

"Mikhail Gorbachev is as much respected in the West, as he is detested in Russia," Former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Rebekah Koffler told Fox News. "To westerners he brought openness and rebuilding (glasnost and perestroika) and for the Russians, he destroyed the USSR.

The official news agency Tass reported that Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife. He's survived by his daughter, Irina, and two granddaughters. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Baghdad, Iraq violence leaves at least 30 dead, cleric tells protesters to withdraw

At least 30 were confirmed dead in Iraq Tuesday as fighting continues in Baghdad following the resignation of a top Shiite leader Monday.

Gun fire has continued to ring out in the nation’s capital as leaders grapple with Iraq’s greatest political crisis since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Protests once again erupted in Iraq’s Green Zone – the center of Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies – after Muqtada al-Sadr said he had had enough of politics and stepped down from his cleric role. 

GUNFIRE STRIKES IRAQ'S GREEN ZONE DURING VIOLENT PROTESTS

His resignation has sparked violent protests from his supporters who stormed the presidential palace Monday, just one month after they rushed the parliamentary building and held protests outside the Supreme Judicial Council demanding the dissolution of parliament and early elections.

Nationwide curfews were enacted this week and al-Sadr on Tuesday called on his loyalists to leave the Green Zone as more than 400 people have been injured as his supporters trade heavy fire with Iraqi security forces.

Iran announced border closures in an effort to prevent the chaos from creeping across its shared border with Iraq and Kuwait called on its citizens to leave Iraq immediately. 

The violent protesting stems from 10-months of political unrest after al-Sadr’s party won the largest share of parliamentary seats in the October 2021 election, but failed to secure the government majority. 

IRAQ PROTESTS: MULTIPLE DEATHS, DOZENS INJURED AFTER HUNDREDS STORM GOV'T PALACE, CLASH WITH SECURITY FORCES

The result has pushed Baghdad’s politics into a scene of fractional paralysis and infighting between Shiite political leaders.

Roughly two-thirds of Iraqi’s are Shiite while a third are Sunni – who lost political dominance after the U.S. toppled the Saddam Hussein regime.

But infighting amongst the Shiite majority has increased in recent years as Iranian-backed Shiites and Iraqi-nationalistic Shiites have vied for power. 

Al-Sadr – who is supported by Iraqi nationalists and some of nation’s poorest that were oppressed under the Hussein regime – refused for months to negotiate terms with his Iran-backed Shiite rivals. 

But on Tuesday he attempted to lower the temperature and urged his supporters to leave the Green Zone and stop all violent activity.

"This is not a revolution," al-Sadr reportedly said in a televised address.

The Iraqi military also said it would end its curfew in the hopes it would halt all violence in Baghdad. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Gunfire strikes Iraq's Green Zone during violent protests

Supporters of an influential Iraqi Shiite cleric fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into Iraq's Green Zone as security forces returned fire Tuesday, seriously escalating a monthslong political crisis gripping the nation.

The death toll rose to at least 30 people after two days of unrest, officials said.

Those backing cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who resigned suddenly Monday amid a political impasse, earlier stormed the Green Zone, once the stronghold of the U.S. military that's now home to Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies. At least one country evacuated its diplomatic personnel amid the chaos.

Iraq’s government has been deadlocked since al-Sadr’s party won the largest share of seats in October parliamentary elections but not enough to secure a majority government — unleashing months of infighting between different Shiite factions. Al-Sadr refused to negotiate with his Iran-backed Shiite rivals, and his withdrawal Monday has catapulted Iraq into political uncertainty and volatility with no clear path out.

IRAQ PROTESTS: MULTIPLE DEATHS, DOZENS INJURED AFTER HUNDREDS STORM GOV'T PALACE, CLASH WITH SECURITY FORCES

The violence threatened to deepen the political crisis, though streets elsewhere in the country largely remained calm and the country's vital oil continued to flow. Iran closed off its borders to Iraq — a sign of Tehran's concern that the chaos could spread.

Live television footage showed supporters of al-Sadr firing both heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades into the heavily fortified Green Zone through a section of pulled-down concrete walls. Bystanders, seemingly oblivious to the danger, filmed the gunfight with their mobile phones.

As al-Sadr's forces fired, a line of armored tanks stood on the other side of the barriers that surround the Green Zone. Heavy black smoke at one point rose over the area, visible from kilometers (miles) away.

At least one wounded man was taken away in a three-wheel rickshaw, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry visible in the background.

FORMER HEAD OF MOSSAD SAYS GROUP CARRIED OUT OPS IN ‘HEART OF IRAN’ TO CRIPPLE NUCLEAR PROGRAM

At least 30 people have been killed and over 400 wounded, two Iraqi medical officials said. The toll included both al-Sadr loyalists killed in protests the day before and clashes overnight. Those figures are expected to rise, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information to journalists.

Members of Iraq's Shiite Muslim sect were oppressed when Saddam Hussein ruled the country, but the U.S.-led invasion reversed the political order. Now the Shiites are fighting among themselves, with Iranian-backed Shiites and Iraqi nationalist Shiites jockeying for power, influence and state resources.

Al-Sadr’a nationalist rhetoric and reform agenda resonates powerfully with his supporters, who largely hail from Iraq’s poorest sectors of society and were historically been shut out from the political system under Saddam.

His announcement that he is leaving politics has implicitly given his supporters the freedom to act as they see fit.

Iranian state television cited unrest and a military-imposed curfew in Iraqi cities for the reason for the border closures. It urged Iranians avoid any travel to the neighboring country. The decision came as millions were preparing to visit Iraq for an annual pilgrimage to Shiite sites, and Tehran encouraged any Iranian pilgrims already in Iraq to avoid further travel between cities.

Kuwait, meanwhile, called on its citizens to leave Iraq. The state-run KUNA news agency also encouraged those hoping to travel to Iraq to delay their plans.

The tiny Gulf Arab sheikhdom of Kuwait shares a 254-kilometer- (158-mile-) long border with Iraq.

The Netherlands evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday.

"There are firefights around the embassy in Baghdad. Our staff are now working at the German embassy elsewhere in the city," Hoekstra wrote.

Dubai's long-haul carrier Emirates stopped flights to Baghdad on Tuesday over the ongoing unrest. The carrier said that it was "monitoring the situation closely." It did not say when flights would resume.

On Monday, protesters loyal to al-Sadr pulled down the cement barriers outside the government palace with ropes and breached the palace gates. Many rushed into the lavish salons and marbled halls of the palace, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries.

Iraq’s military announced a nationwide curfew, and the caretaker premier suspended Cabinet sessions in response to the violence.

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What is Taiwan's 'porcupine strategy' and how effective is it?

Taiwan will have to rely on its "porcupine strategy" in order to make up for the difference in strength if it has any hope of beating back an invasion from China, according to experts.

The porcupine strategy has increasingly popped up in conversation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and with the potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Strategists tout it as the best way for a smaller, inferior military power to try and go toe-to-toe with military giants, as best shown in Ukraine.

Newt Gingrich in a Fox News op-ed published last year called for Taiwan to turn "into a porcupine," which would call for the U.S. and European allies to provide Taiwan with as many anti-ship weapons, air-dropped sea mines and shoulder-fired missile launchers as possible.

Matt McInnis from the Institute for the Study of War described it as a way for a smaller state to effectively contend and maybe even defeat a larger power. That doesn’t mean abandoning any conventional high-end weapons but rather balancing it with a healthy if not stronger focus on smaller, more versatile weapons.

CHINA RENEWS THREATS, CONDEMNATIONS AFTER US ANNOUNCES FORMAL TRADE TALKS WITH TAIWAN

"You have to build in some classic conventional, high-end conventional capabilities like advanced aircraft, air fighters, some Abrams tanks … but those have to be rebalanced against a growing number of asymmetric capabilities," McInnis told Fox News Digital.

"These many small [weapons] are going to be critical to take advantage of Taiwan's geography, the fact that it's on the defensive, that you always have a defensive advantage," he added. "You need to bring in cruise missiles, drones, mines, mortars like you’re seeing in Ukraine that these types of capabilities would make it difficult for China to accomplish an invasion."

In Ukraine, the soldiers have to take out tanks and planes, using a relatively smaller and cheaper force to level the field. The strategy relies on supplying the smaller military with a wide range of small but light and less expensive weapons or equipment that can allow them to take advantage of dealing big damage with a smaller punch.

"Faced with the prospect of a forcible invasion by the People’s Republic of China … what Taiwan needs are weapon systems that can effectively counter the invasion," James Anderson, acting undersecretary of defense for policy under President Trump, told Fox News Digital. "The PRC needs large amphibious ships to invade, but Taiwan does not need large ships to defend itself … [it] needs a lot of coastal anti-ship missiles, among other defensive systems."

TAIWAN BOASTS OF POWERFUL ANTI-AIRCRAFT WEAPONRY AMID FEARS OF CHINESE INVASION

"Taiwan does not need to match the PLA (People's Liberation Army) weapon for weapon. It should pursue an asymmetrical strategy with the right mix of defensive weapons to offset the potential for a PRC invasion," he explained.

Anderson pointed to Israel as another example of a smaller nation that has managed to compete with far bigger militaries throughout its history, as well as the Baltic states, which have pushed back Russian invasions for centuries despite the great disparity in military power.

"Taiwan needs weapons systems that are versatile, resilient and not overly expensive but in significant numbers," Anderson said. "What they don't need are very large, vulnerable, expensive platforms that they can ill afford to procure and maintain."

The strategy might have taken on greater significance now that China appears to have started to show how it might approach an invasion, which experts for some time have labeled highly difficult due to the lack of a steady land approach, further making it difficult to amass forces.

US, ALLIES SEND THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS FOR INDO-PACIFIC MILITARY DRILLS AS CHINA CONTINUES TAIWAN AGGRESSION

But Beijing in recent weeks has amassed forces around the island as part of what it claims are regular military exercises, partly in coordination with Russia. The flagrant threat and imposing nature of these drills have prompted critics to argue the U.S. needs to change its decades-long policy of ambiguity in order to bolster Taiwan’s deterrence capabilities.

"The biggest problem with the porcupine strategy is that it alone does not guarantee deterrence," Anderson said. "It's a necessary but not sufficient condition of deterrence, so what's needed to complement the defensive strategy … is for the United States to provide greater clarity and less ambiguity on what it would do in the event of a crisis."

"In a nutshell, the United States needs to jettison its policy of strategic ambiguity, which served this country well for a number of decades but has outlived its usefulness," he added.

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Putin sidelines Russia's defense minister over stalled progress in Ukraine, according to the UK

Russian Vladimir Putin has sidelined Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as the invasion of Ukraine enters its seventh month, according to a report issued Monday by the U.K. Ministry of Defense. 

Operational commanders are now briefing the Kremlin directly on progress in Ukraine, with Shoigu taking a back seat. 

"Russian officers and soldiers with first-hand experience of the war probably routinely ridicule Shoigu for his ineffectual and out-of-touch leadership as Russian progress has stalled," the U.K. wrote in its intelligence update. 

"Shoigu has likely long struggled to overcome his reputation as lacking substantive military experience, as he spent most of his career in the construction sector and the Ministry of Emergency Situations."

Shoigu, who is originally from the Tuva region of Russia in southern Sibera, gained national popularity in the 1990s and 2000s as the minister of emergency situations by personally visiting the sites of natural disasters and terrorist bombings. 

UNITED NATIONS NUCLEAR AGENCY WILL VISIT BESIEGED UKRAINIAN POWER PLANT IN THE ‘NEXT FEW DAYS’

Putin chose him to be the defense minister in 2012, despite the fact that he had no military background or combat experience. 

"If you look at who was in minister roles in 1999 and are still around now, there are only two names: one is Shoigu, the other is Putin," Dmitry Gorenburg, Ph.D., a Russian military expert, previously told Fox News. 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Shoigu in May and urged "an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine," according to the Pentagon. 

Putin ordered a sharp increase of troops by 137,000 to a total fighting force of 1,150,000 last week in an effort to replenish losses after six months of war. 

Russian forces have captured nearly all of Luhansk and are trying to gain control of Donetsk, which are the two regions that make up the eastern Donbas. Fighting has also coalesced around southern Ukraine in recent weeks, with increased focus on Crimea, a peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. 

Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report, as well as the Associated Press. 

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Sister of Marc Fogel, American held in Russia, questions why Biden admin is 'dragging its feet'

Pennsylvania native Marc Fogel, who was arrested in Russia with medical marijuana last year and sentenced to 14 years in prison, had his appeal rejected by a Russian court on Friday, his attorney and sister told Fox News Digital. 

Fogel's family is now pushing for the State Department to classify him as "wrongfully detained," a designation that would commit more U.S. resources to securing his release and bring his case under the purview of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. 

"We need to have him declared 'wrongfully detained' ASAP," Fogel's sister, Lisa Hyland, told Fox News. "We don’t understand why the Administration is dragging its feet in designating Marc as 'wrongfully detained.'"

About one month ago, the State Department filed for humanitarian release for Fogel, who is 60 years old and has multiple debilitating health conditions. 

Sasha Phillips, an attorney who is assisting Fogel’s family with his case, said that filing for humanitarian release doesn't go far enough. 

"This request leaves all decision-making to the discretion of the Russian government – and, once again, we do not expect any substantial results," Phillips told Fox News. 

"We don’t know what is holding up the 'wrongfully detained' designation and keep working towards getting Marc designated so the U.S. Government can commit all necessary resources to bringing him home." 

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS RESPOND TO US OFFER FOR BRITTNEY GRINER, PAUL WHELAN: 'NO AGREEMENTS HAVE BEEN FINALIZED'

Fogel, who has taught history classes at schools for the children of US diplomats around the world and has spent the last decade in Russia, was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in August 2021 with slightly more than half an ounce of medical marijuana that was prescribed to him by a doctor in the U.S. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the U.S. is discussing a potential prisoner swap that would see Marine Corps Veteran Paul Whelan and WNBA athlete Brittney Griner released from Russian detention in exchange for Russian prisoners being held in the U.S. 

Fogel's name, however, was not on that list, an exclusion that his sister, Anne Fogel-Burchenal, called "heart-wrenching."

US OFFERS ‘SUBSTANTIAL PROPOSAL’ TO BRING BRITTNEY GRINER, PAUL WHELAN HOME FROM RUSSIA

Several lawmakers from Pennsylvania sent a letter to Blinken earlier this month, requesting that Fogel be included in any potential swap. 

"Although he may not carry the notoriety of a celebrity WNBA athlete, we believe it is essential the Biden Administration work to bring Mr. Fogel safely home to his family," Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Penn., wrote in the letter. 

A spokesperson for the State Department said that they are monitoring the situation but cannot provide further comment due to privacy considerations. 

"We urge the Russian government to ensure fair treatment and appropriate medical care for all U.S. citizens detained in Russia," the spokesperson said. 

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Melting 'zombie ice' in Greenland could cause ocean levels to rise by 10 inches

Zombie ice from the massive Greenland ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10 inches on its own, according to a study released Monday.

Zombie or doomed ice is ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by those larger glaciers. That's because the parent glaciers are getting less replenishing snow. Meanwhile the doomed ice is melting from climate change, said study co-author William Colgan, a glaciologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.

"It’s dead ice. It’s just going to melt and disappear from the ice sheet," Colgan said in an interview. "This ice has been consigned to the ocean, regardless of what climate (emissions) scenario we take now."

Study lead author Jason Box, a glaciologist at the Greenland survey, said it is "more like one foot in the grave."

GREENLAND ICE SHEET HAS REACHED 'POINT OF NO RETURN,' DISTURBING STUDY SAYS

The unavoidable ten inches in the study is more than twice as much sea level rise as scientists had previously expected from the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet. The study in the journal Nature Climate Change said it could reach as much as 30 inches. By contrast, last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report projected a range of 2 to 5 inches for likely sea level rise from Greenland ice melt by the year 2100.

What scientists did for the study was look at the ice in balance. In perfect equilibrium, snowfall in the mountains in Greenland flows down and recharges and thickens the sides of glaciers, balancing out what’s melting on the edges. But in the last few decades there’s less replenishment and more melting, creating imbalance. Study authors looked at the ratio of what’s being added to what’s being lost and calculated that 3.3% of Greenland’s total ice volume will melt no matter what happens with the world cutting carbon pollution, Colgan said.

"I think starving would be a good phrase," for what’s happening to the ice, Colgan said.

One of the study authors said that more than 120 trillion tons of ice is already doomed to melt from the warming ice sheet’s inability to replenish its edges. When that ice melts into water, if it were concentrated only over the United States, it would be 37 feet (11 meters) deep.

This is the first time scientists calculated a minimum ice loss -- and accompanying sea level rise -- for Greenland, one of Earth’s two massive ice sheets that are slowly shrinking because of climate change from burning coal, oil and natural gas. Scientists used an accepted technique for calculating minimum committed ice loss, the one used on mountain glaciers for the entire giant frozen island.

GREENLAND ROCKS HAVE TRACES OF ANCIENT MAGMA OCEAN, SCIENTISTS DISCOVER

Pennsylvania State University glaciologist Richard Alley, who wasn’t part of the study but said it made sense, said the committed melting and sea level rise is like an ice cube put in a cup of hot tea in a warm room.

"You have committed mass loss from the ice," Alley said in an email. "In the same way most of the world’s mountain glaciers and the edges of Greenland would continue losing mass if temperatures were stabilized at modern levels because they have been put into warmer air just as your ice cube was put in warmer tea."

Although 10 inches doesn't sound like much, that's a global average. Some coastal areas will be hit with more, and high tides and storms on top of that could be even worse, so this much sea level rise "will have huge societal, economic and environmental impacts," said Ellyn Enderlin, a geosciences professor at Boise State University.

Time is the key unknown here and a bit of a problem with the study, said two outside ice scientists, Leigh Stearns of the University of Kansas and Sophie Nowicki of the University of Buffalo. The researchers in the study said they couldn't estimate the timing of the committed melting, yet in the last sentence they mention, "within this century," without supporting it, Stearns said.

Colgan responded that the team doesn’t know how long it will take for all the doomed ice to melt, but making an educated guess, it would probably be by the end of this century or at least by 2150.

GREENLAND SHED ENORMOUS 600B TONS OF ICE LAST YEAR, SCIENTISTS WARN

Colgan said this is actually all a best case scenario. The year 2012 (and to a different degree 2019 ) was a huge melt year, when the equilibrium between adding and subtracting ice was most out of balance. If Earth starts to undergo more years like 2012, Greenland melt could trigger 30 inches of sea level rise, he said. Those two years seem extreme now, but years that look normal now would have been extreme 50 years ago, he said.

"That’s how climate change works," Colgan said. "Today’s outliers become tomorrow’s averages."

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Drought-stricken Chinese cities finally get rain; floods cause evacuations

More than 100,000 people had moved to safer areas by Monday as heavy rains brought flood risks to a region of southwest China that was devastated by a heatwave and drought for most of the summer.

Heavy rain was forecast for parts of Sichuan province and Chongqing city through at least Tuesday. Chongqing, a megacity built in a hilly area and that also oversees the surrounding mountains and countryside, issued a flash flood warning for both days.

But China’s meteorological agency maintained a national orange alert for drought, the second highest level, as the heat persisted in many parts of the country's south, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It recommended strict water conservation and using emergency water sources to supply people and livestock.

CHINA FLOODS LEAVE AT LEAST 12 DEAD, THOUSANDS EVACUATED

The Sichuan emergency management administration said Monday that 119,000 people have been evacuated. One village under the jurisdiction of Guangyuan city recorded 7.4 inches of rain, state broadcaster CCTV said. The city was one of two in Sichuan most affected by the drought.

A national level IV emergency response for floods, the lowest in a four-tier system, is in effect in Sichuan, Chongqing and neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi provinces to the north. The hard, sunbaked soil left by the heatwave increases the risk of natural disasters when it rains, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The shift in the weather brought some relief from the heat, and full power was restored to factories in Sichuan after two weeks of restrictions stemming from reduced hydropower output.

The rain should help farmers whose rice, spicy Sichuan peppers and other crops were withering during an extended drought that reduced community reservoirs to mostly cracked earth.

Temperatures topped 104 degrees Fahrenheit in what meteorologists called the strongest heat wave in China since record-keeping began in 1961.

WEATHER WHIPLASH: FROM DROUGHTS TO FLOODS ACROSS THE GLOBE

Power in Sichuan for commercial and industrial use "has been fully restored," CCTV said on its website. Household demand for air conditioning declined as temperatures moderated and the rainfall was starting to replenish hydroelectric reservoirs.

Hydropower generation in the province was up 9.5% from its low point, the state broadcaster reported. Daily power use by households declined by 28% from a peak of 473 million to 340 million kilowatt hours, the report said, citing Zhao Hong, marketing director for State Grid’s Sichuan subsidiary.

"The contradiction between power supply and demand in Sichuan will be basically resolved in the next three days," Zhao was quoted as saying.

The falling hydropower production prompted Sichuan utilities to step up the use of coal-fired power plants, temporarily setting back efforts to reduce carbon and other emissions.

The share of power in Sichuan that comes from coal has jumped to 25% from 10% with 67 generating stations running at full capacity, according to Caixin, a Chinese business news magazine.

TROPICAL STORM MA-ON BRINGS SEVERE WEATHER AS IT MAKES LANDFALL IN SOUTHERN CHINA

Sichuan usually is seen as a clean power success story in China, getting 80% of its electricity from hydropower.

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One year later: More fallout from an Afghan drone strike

There is a lot of unfinished business following last year’s messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as the Taliban were taking over, including the fallout from a drone strike there that went horribly wrong.

Three days after the Islamic State suicide bomb attack at Kabul Airport, which left 13 U.S. service members and many more Afghan civilians killed, the military thought they were on to another ISIS terrorist. All day on Aug. 29, 2021, they tracked a car making what appeared to be suspicious stops across Kabul. Late in the day, they let loose a Hellfire missile from a Reaper drone, obliterating the car, its surroundings and those at scene.

Three days later, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley announced: "The procedures were correctly followed, and it was a righteous strike."

GENERAL SAYS IT IS UNLIKELY ISIS-K MEMBERS KILLED IN AUGUST KABUL DRONE STRIKE: 'A TRAGIC MISTAKE'

Except that the U.S. was wrong. It turned out, instead of a terrorist, 10 civilians were killed in the twisted metal and rubble. A little more than two weeks later, the commander of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Kenneth MacKenzie, went public with this climb-down: "It was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology."

"If you’re working in real time and you’re going after a moving target," Victoria Coates of the Heritage Foundation told Fox News, "it is painfully easy to make a mistake."

The strike killed 43-year-old Afghan civilian Zemari Ahmadi, along with seven children — including three toddlers — and two other adults.

Ahmadi was actually a key staffer for U.S.-based aid group Nutrition and Education International, helping to bring food to the desperate people of Afghanistan. The founder and CEO of the organization told Fox News in a statement: "Zemari was a proud father who spoke constantly about building a better future for his seven children. Nothing can bring him, his three sons, or six nieces and nephews back."

US KABUL DRONE STRIKE APPEARS TO HAVE KILLED AN AFGHAN WHO WORKED FOR A US AID GROUP: REPORT 

Just to underscore the rippling dangers of the strike, 144 people, including extended family members and workers for the charity, were deemed at risk from the now-ruling Taliban, Islamic State and others. The U.S. agreed to resettle them. Condolence payments were also promised.

But only 11 have made it the U.S. so far, dozens are still in limbo in third countries, and 32 remain stuck in Afghanistan, exposed to dangers there. Those payouts have been put on hold until everyone is safe.

"We were very grateful to see the U.S. take responsibility for what it’s done and agreed to do this," said Brett Max Kaufman, lawyer for the ACLU representing the family, "but we’re a year out and it hasn’t. The job is not done."

The Pentagon told Fox News in a statement that it and other U.S. agencies "… continue to take steps to respond to the August 29, 2021 airstrike in Kabul."

While no individuals were reprimanded for their role in the tragedy, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last week unveiled a new program said to be aimed at "mitigating" civilian deaths in attacks like these.

As for the Ahmadi family, their friends and associates, one year after the loss, they continue to grieve.

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China launches corruption probe after brutal attack on women

Chinese authorities said Monday that 28 people have been charged and 15 officials including police are being investigated for corruption two months after a brutal attack on several women in the northern city of Tangshan that sparked outrage and safety concerns.

The investigation has gone beyond the actual attack to encompass broader allegations of criminal activity and police corruption in the area.

In June, a group of men attacked four women in a barbecue restaurant, after one of the men had his advances rebuffed. In graphic video footage circulated online, the men threw a chair at the women, and later dragged one of them out before hitting and kicking her and the others who tried to help her, authorities said.

CHINA: KNIFE ATTACK AT SHANGHAI HOSPITAL LEAVES FOUR INJURED

The assault and the public outcry renewed a conversation about misogyny and mistreatment of women in China.

The attackers were suspected to be part of a gang, and local media reported at the time of the attack that the police response had been slow, prompting concerns that corruption was involved.

On Monday, authorities from the Hebei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection said they were investigating 15 officials over corruption that involved "evil organizations," including those associated with the attackers.

CHINA GUN ATTACK KILLS 3, DESPITE STRICT FIREARM REGULATIONS

The 15, including the director of Tangshan’s public security bureau and officers from several police stations, are suspected of abuse of power, bribery and other job-related crimes. Eight of them have been detained during the investigation.

Separately, prosecutors said Monday that 28 people, including the men beating up the women in the video, had been charged recently. At least nine were arrested shortly after the attack. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the charges had been brought on Friday.

The 11 offenses against them include opening casinos, robbery, assisting in cybercrime activities, picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

INDIAN WOMAN CALLS TO RESCIND RELEASE OF 11 MEN CONVICTED OF RAPING HER DURING RELIGIOUS RIOTS

Two of the women who were attacked were hospitalized for at least 11 days, while the others had minor injuries.

Prosecutors also dismissed rumors involving the case, including that the four women had been sexually assaulted, pushed off a building or run over by a car, stating that these rumors were proven false after investigation.

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US withdrawal from Afghanistan 'weakened' NATO prior to Putin's invasion: experts

This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago this week.

NATO allies had no choice but to follow the U.S. out of Afghanistan, which gave the impression that member states had "no backbone" for another conflict, experts told Fox News Digital. 

"It was clear to all experts that [the withdrawal] meant the great danger of the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan," Dr. August Hanning, former German state secretary of the Federal Interior Ministry and director of Federal Intelligence Services, explained. "But the prevailing mood in Germany was that government, Parliament and public were tired about the mission and the poor results of the mission in Afghanistan. Therefore, this announcement was also associated with a feeling of relief."

The Taliban assumed control of Kabul – and the country as a whole – after President Biden ordered a hasty withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan that ended on Aug. 30, 2021. 

Allies told Fox News Digital that the U.S. provided little advance warning, leaving them to scramble and figure out their own plans. Even in the event that some allies had wanted to remain in the country, it would not have been possible without the U.S. presence. 

LESSONS AND MEMORIES FROM AFGHANISTAN ONE YEAR AFTER

"We had no choice: We couldn't possibly have remained without the Americans," Col. Richard Kemp, a British Army officer who commanded U.K. forces in Afghanistan in 2003, told Fox News Digital. "We're a comparatively small army. We don't have the necessary support to be able to make it have any effect, really, in Afghanistan on our own."

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had tried to rally NATO allies to remain in the country in a major coalition after the U.S. had left, but no country agreed to join and support the Afghanistan military against the Taliban insurgents. He told the Daily Mail at the time that he found the U.S. plan to end the conflict "rotten." 

"[It] might have been possible to have a non-American NATO force there, [with] maybe France, Germany, whatever, [but] no member of NATO agreed to do it," Kemp said. "So Britain was left with no choice but to leave."

Hanning labeled the U.S. as the "lead nation" on Afghanistan, and said other countries remained "completely dependent" on it for any chance of success. Part of the spiraling situation resulted from the fact that some allies, such as Germany, had grown weary of the decades-long conflict. 

WORLD ‘LESS SAFE’ WITH AFGHANISTAN UNDER TALIBAN: ‘HOSTILE MEDIEVAL DEATH CULT’ COMPLICATES GLOBAL SECURITY

But the general sense that followed the withdrawal was that NATO had appeared weak and suffered a "defeat." 

"The biggest misstep [of the withdrawal] was the lack of coordination between the NATO armed forces," he said, adding that "from the outside" the withdrawal looked more like "an escape," drawing comparisons to the end of the Vietnam War.

"In principle, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was certainly a reasonable measure, but my impression is that this withdrawal operation was not well-prepared," he added. "The other NATO countries had not even been involved in the planning and were not even informed about the specific withdrawal plans."

Kemp went one step further and claimed that some countries had wanted to withdraw sooner and "wanted to effectively blame the Americans" rather than admit to their own desire to leave. 

CHRISTIANS IN AFGHANISTAN FACE ROUTINE TORTURE, PERSECUTION FROM FAMILY MEMBERS: WATCHDOG GROUPS

"They effectively said we're going because the Americans were going already," he argued. "I wanted to stay there, definitely… I think [different countries] were in many ways just relieved to have the excuse of the American withdrawal to get out." 

Hanning noted that the view of NATO forces in the country changed from "liberators" to an "occupying force," which was "not a very comfortable role," and that may have contributed to the desire to leave. 

And the withdrawal may have played a role in prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to push through his invasion of Ukraine. Russia had started to amass its forces on the border of Ukraine in early 2021, with 100,000 troops at the ready by mid-April. 

Moscow claimed that the troops and equipment along the border were part of routine "readiness checks" after winter training. 

AFGHANISTAN CAN BE STABILIZED AND AMERICA'S FIRST STEP SHOULD BE WITH MINING

Kemp believed that Putin "was watching what happened in Afghanistan" and "calculated" that NATO "didn’t have the backbone" to get involved in Ukraine. 

"I think my view is that precipitated the invasion of Ukraine," he said, adding that even with the united support from NATO for Ukraine, the alliance has not fully "repaired that damage" of its image. 

Hanning speculated that Putin would have thought NATO was "weakened" following the chaotic invasion and that the member states would have no taste for "getting involved in new military conflicts." 

"President Biden's public announcement that the U.S. and NATO would not intervene directly in a possible military conflict certainly eased his decision," but he stressed the importance of Putin’s fear of a "stronger" Ukraine with NATO support.

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Iraqi protesters storm government palace after cleric Moqtada al-Sadr quits politics

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed the government palace in protest on Monday, as the religious leader said he is resigning from politics.

The religious leader's political party won more seats in parliament than any other in October's elections, but not enough to have a majority. This resulted in a deadlock, as al-Sadr has refused to work with Iranian rivals. 

This is not the first time al-Sadr has said he was leaving politics, leaving some skeptical of his announcement. He has made similar declarations in the past when political developments were not going in his favor.

Footage from local television posted on Twitter showed protesters chanting inside the Republican Palace. The breach comes after Al-Sadr's supporters stormed the Iraqi parliament building in July. They had been staging a sit-in outside that building ever since.

IRAQ'S SADR TELLS JUDICIARY TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT IN A WEEK

Demonstrators pulled down cement barriers and flooded through the palace gets, making their way into the building's various halls and salons. Images from the scene also showed protesters swimming in the palace pool.

Asharq News tweeted that the Iraqi Council of Ministers said they were suspending sessions of the government after protesters stormed their headquarters as well.

IRAQI PARLIAMENT IN BAGHDAD STORMED BY PROTESTERS

Accounts have also reported that there was shooting near the home of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced "a complete curfew in the capital, Baghdad, including vehicles and citizens," in a statement reported by the Iraqi News Agency. That report said the curfew was to begin at 3:30 p.m. local time, although Al Jazeera reported that it would start at 7 p.m.

Al-Sadr announced his retirement on social media, ordering party offices to be closed. The move followed the retirement of Shiite leader Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri, who shares supporters with al-Sadr. Al-Haeri had urged followers to support Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Al-Sadr said al-Haeri's decision "was not out of his own volition."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Former head of Mossad says group carried out ops in 'heart of Iran' to cripple nuclear program

Israel's Mossad carried out operations "in the heart of Iran" to cripple the country's nuclear program, according to former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen.

Cohen made the statement in during a speech at a World Zionist Organization event in Basel, Switzerland, on Monday. He stated that Iran had repeatedly lied to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency about its nuclear program, and Mossad operations played a key role in unmasking the regime.

"The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world, and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives, documents that proved that the Iranians lied to the IAEA," Cohen said.

Cohen is referring to a dramatic 2018 operation that saw Israeli operatives remove a trove of nuclear documents from Iran's capital of Tehran, including draft designs for a nuclear warhead.

NETANYAHU SAYS IRAN 'BRAZENLY LYING' AFTER SIGNING NUCLEAR DEAL, MOVED DOCUMENTS TO A SECRET LOCATION

Israel intended the trove of documents to be the final nail in the coffin for the Iran Nuclear Deal between the U.S. and Iran, which former President Donald Trump had withdrawn from.

President Joe Biden is pushing for a return to the deal, however, leaving many Israeli officials dumbfounded.

"This is madness," former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week. "This is the height of folly. This should not be done."

ISRAEL SAYS IRAN REFUSES FINAL NUCLEAR DEAL OFFER: ‘TIME TO WALK AWAY’

"What will happen is that other countries in the Middle East will pursue nuclear weapons of their own," Netanyahu warned on "Fox & Friends." "So this deal, which is supposed to stop nuclear weapon weapons in the Middle East and the proliferation of weapons of mass death in this neighborhood and beyond, it will actually cause the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the Middle East will be crisscrossed by nuclear tripwires. It will make the Middle East a powder keg, a nuclear powder keg."

Israeli officials have warned that Israel will not be a party to any agreement with Iran, and will continue to do "everything" it can to hamper the regime's nuclear program.

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Europe reconsiders nuclear power shutdown as Moscow cuts off gas pipelines: report

Several European countries are rolling back plans to shut down their nuclear power plants as Russia severely limits the supply of oil and natural gas to the continent, according to a new report.

Russia has cut off supply as a countermeasure against Western economic sanctions over Russian President Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Germany was scheduled to close all of its reactors by the end of the year but is now debating whether to keep them open into next year or even longer.

Belgium, meanwhile, was planning to close two reactors by 2025, but will now keep them open through 2036, according to The Wall Street Journal. France is looking to build an additional 14 reactors over the next several decades. The U.K., Czech Republic, Poland and others are also planning for new reactors, according to the report.

Beyond the throttling from Moscow, the reactors are also proving to be critical in meeting the U.N.'s climate goals. Nuclear energy is the cleanest and most efficient energy source currently available, though disasters at some plants have caused some to fear the method.

UNITED NATIONS NUCLEAR AGENCY WILL VISIT BESIEGED UKRAINIAN POWER PLANT IN THE ‘NEXT FEW DAYS’

UKRAINE WARNS RUSSIA MAY CUT ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR PLANT FROM POWER GRID, BOTH SIDES BRACE FOR ‘PROVOCATION’

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has also suggested that his country plans to build new, smaller reactors in an effort to meet clean energy goals.

Japan had previously shut down most of its reactors following the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima power plant.

"In order to overcome our imminent crisis of a power supply crunch, we must take our utmost steps to mobilize all possible policies in the coming years and prepare for any emergency," Kishida said during a "green transformation" conference last week.

Kishida's administration says the country would develop new safety standards before moving forward with construction.

The most problematic part of nuclear energy production is the safe disposal of spent fuel rods, which remain highly radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years.

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Daughter of first American killed in Afghanistan: Mike Spann’s legacy is greater than a ‘headline on the news’

This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago this week.

The daughter of the first American to be killed in combat in Afghanistan tells Fox News Digital she wants people to remember him not as a "headline on the news," but as a trailblazer who was among the earliest to volunteer and "do what he thought he needed to do" there following 9/11.

Alison Spann made the remark about her father, Johnny "Mike" Spann, as military families across America are preparing to mark the 1-year anniversary of the turbulent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Mike Spann, a CIA officer, died in a November 2001 Afghanistan prison revolt shortly after interrogating John Walker Lindh, a captured Islamic militant dubbed the "American Taliban" for joining and supporting the terrorist organization in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. 

"I think my dad has received a lot of attention solely because he was the first American killed after 9/11 and for me, I will never know Mike Spann as an adult, I am always going to know him from the lens of a 9-year-old kid," Alison Spann told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

IN THE ROOM WITH THE TALIBAN: WORDS FROM ONE OF THE ONLY FEMALE REPORTERS LEFT IN AFGHANISTAN

"I have heard so many stories about him from his friends, his colleagues, my family and I don’t want people to remember him as a headline on the news, you know, ‘Mike Spann, first casualty, or Mike Spann, CIA officer first killed after 9/11," Spann continued. "I think that what I would like people to remember is the kind of person he was." 

Spann says her father described himself as an "action person" and that his time in Afghanistan reflects that. 

"When the United States is under attack, he was among the first to volunteer to go over into Afghanistan and do what he thought he needed to do," she said. "And I think there is something to be admired about a person who when things get rough, or when the time comes, they are the first to volunteer, selflessly, to go over and do something like that."" 

Spann, who now works as a news anchor and reporter for WLOX in Mississippi, says it is "heartbreaking" to see what life is reverting back to in Afghanistan one year after the Taliban reclaimed power. 

AIR FORCE CREW RECALLS FINAL FLIGHT OUT OF AFGHANISTAN

"I think today it still feels surreal that that’s how things ended in Afghanistan. I certainly never thought at nine when I lost my dad over there that we would still be in this war by the time I was 30, but to see it end in such chaos was really heartbreaking," she told Fox News Digital. 

"There are allies still over there in Afghanistan... these are people that risked their lives and the safety of their families’ lives to assist us in our time of need while we were over there working in Afghanistan," Spann said. "And it’s really heartbreaking to see that we have essentially abandoned them. I can’t imagine what that makes us look like on the world stage." 

Spann also expressed concern about the restrictions the Taliban have been imposing upon women. Those freedoms being taken away, she says, resonates more with her following a 2002 trip to the war-torn country shortly after her father’s death. 

"I initially didn’t even want to go. I was terrified, as you can imagine of going to a country where not only my dad was killed but where I perceived it to be filled with people who committed the attacks on 9/11," she said. "But what I experienced there was totally different." 

"I experienced just extremely humble and grateful people and I got the opportunity to visit a women’s shelter and an orphanage and the orphanage was full of children who had lost both their parents at the hands of the Taliban and Al Qaeda," Spann told Fox News Digital. "I got to go to a women’s shelter and hear the stories of how these women have lost their hands for the simple act of going to the grocery store or a market without a male member of their family. They were so grateful. They just kept saying ‘thank you, thank you for what the Americans are doing over here, thank you for your father.’" 

Spann said the trip "totally transformed what I thought about Afghanistan and to look back at 9-year-old me, seeing these kids who had lost everything at the hands of the Taliban and hearing these stories of these women, to know that things have reverted back," is "heartbreaking." 

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