Heather Sterling poses for a portrait during a hike, Aug. 11, 2025, near Daniel, Wyo. (AP Photo/Amber Baesler)2025-12-20T15:02:43Z Heather Sterling stepped into the ring at the Texas Game Warden Training Center, ready to face an ambush by instructors acting as violent assailants.The four-on-one drill is a rite of passage for those training to be game wardens, sworn officers who enforce state conservation laws. Nationwide, thousands of local and state police recruits are allowed into the profession only after passing similar drills simulated fights for their lives.The barrage of force against Sterling came rapidly, video obtained by The Associated Press shows. A surprise push from behind threw her to the floor. A right-handed punch to the back of the head knocked her down. Within two minutes, she was struck at least seven times in the head, the last blow knocking off her wrestling helmet. In this still image from video obtained by The Associated Press, Heather Sterling is hit in the head by one of her instructors, who is acting as a violent assailant, during a four-on-one training drill, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton, Texas. In this still image from video obtained by The Associated Press, Heather Sterling is hit in the head by one of her instructors, who is acting as a violent assailant, during a four-on-one training drill, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton, Texas. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Protect yourself! an instructor yelled.Sterling completed the drill but suffered a concussion. A dozen of her classmates a third in all were injured that day as they were repeatedly punched, tackled on a gym floor and thrown against padded walls, records show.While the drill was physically punishing, their experience was not unique. Since 2005, similar drills at law enforcement academies nationwide have been linked to at least a dozen deaths and hundreds of injuries, some resulting in disability, an AP investigation has found. ______ Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Editors note: This is the third installment of APs Dying to Serve series. Find the previous stories here and here.______The drills frequently referred to as RedMan training for the brand and color of protective gear worn by participants are intended to teach law enforcement recruits how to defend themselves against combative suspects. Theyre among the most challenging tests at police academies. Law enforcement experts say that when properly designed and supervised, they teach new officers critical skills for handling high-stress situations.But critics say they can put recruits at risk of physical and mental abuse that runs some promising officers out of the profession. Academies have wide latitude in running such exercises, given a lack of national standards governing police training. Sterling quit the academy after her drill. Shes now speaking out, hoping to spark change in training practices nationwide.Im worried that someone is going to get killed, said Sterling, whod previously worked as a senior game warden and defensive tactics instructor in Wyoming. This is a poorly disguised assault. This photo provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department shows new graduates during the 67th Texas Game Warden and State Park Police Officer Commissioning Ceremony on May 30, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Sonja Sommerfeld/Texas Parks and Wildlife Department via AP) This photo provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department shows new graduates during the 67th Texas Game Warden and State Park Police Officer Commissioning Ceremony on May 30, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Sonja Sommerfeld/Texas Parks and Wildlife Department via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More An investigation by the agency that regulates law enforcement training found no wrongdoing in how the drill was conducted. An academy official told investigators the goal was to overwhelm the cadet physically and mentally to force them to think while physically exhausted. An expert who reviewed the case told AP injuries happen during volatile training environments nationwide, but the Texas drill stood out for its design recruits could not use force to defend themselves against the onslaught of assailants. He said the number of injuries was concerning.To teach cadets how and when to defend themselves, only to put them in a doomsday scenario with the instruction that theyre not allowed to fight back, does not match any training curriculum Ive seen, said David Jude, a retired Kentucky State Police academy commander. Heather Sterling hikes along the Green River, Aug. 11, 2025, near Daniel, Wyo. (AP Photo/Amber Baesler) Heather Sterling hikes along the Green River, Aug. 11, 2025, near Daniel, Wyo. (AP Photo/Amber Baesler) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A Wyoming game warden moves back to TexasIn October 2024, Sterling started the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments eight-month academy in rural central Texas, which boasts of producing the best-trained conservation officers in the country.Game wardens called conservation officers or wildlife troopers in some states enforce hunting and fishing laws. They carry firearms, have arrest powers, are often among the first to respond to emergencies and rescue missions.Sterling said she loved serving as a game warden for nearly five years in Wyoming, where she sometimes shooed moose and mountain lions away from towns. Patrolling without backup, she said, she had some very tense conversations with suspects and had to restrain some in handcuffs.She said almost everyone she encountered during hunting season was armed and potentially dangerous, but she prided herself on responding alertly and calmly. She never had to fight a suspect, and none of the 40 wardens she taught self-defense had been in a significant use-of-force incident. Sterling applied in Texas to live closer to family, hoping for a similar law-enforcement role in her home state. She grew up as the daughter of a Dallas police officer and ran track and cross-country at Texas A&M.The academy scheduled the four-on-one drill for Dec. 13, 2024, after five weeks of arrest and control training.Instructors told cadets they couldnt defend themselves and were only to punch and kick a shield held by instructors, Sterling recalled. They discussed how some cadets had been seriously injured and terminated from previous academies for performing poorly. Sterling told AP she was confused by the drills purpose. Shed never been ambushed by one person, let alone four. If that happened, shed be able to use a firearm or other force to defend herself. As an instructor, she said, she would have never approved such a scenario or allowed punches to the head and neck.A female classmate who had previously worked as a police officer resigned rather than participate. She later told investigators she saw the drill as inappropriate and part of an academy culture of unprofessional training and hazing.But Sterling felt she had no choice if she wanted to stay in her profession. She completed a cardio exercise, and the drill began. In this still image from video obtained by The Associated Press, Heather Sterling is knocked to the ground by one of her instructors, who is acting as a violent assailant, during a four-on-one training drill, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton, Texas. (AP Photo) In this still image from video obtained by The Associated Press, Heather Sterling is knocked to the ground by one of her instructors, who is acting as a violent assailant, during a four-on-one training drill, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton, Texas. (AP Photo) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Combat drills take various forms nationwideAcademies have discretion to design training within state guidelines, and AP found the drills take many forms at local police, county sheriff and state departments. Theyre sometimes called combat training, Fight Day or stress reaction training.Recruits like Sterling must ward off several assailants at once. Others fight a series of instructors, one after another. Some academies intentionally use larger, more skilled instructors. In Kentucky, one scenario requires fighting a combative suspect in a pool.The stated goals are generally the same: to use skills learned in the academy to fend off or subdue assailants and to never give up.Recruits and instructors wear protective gear to cushion their heads from blows. But there are no uniform safety guidelines, including whether academies must have medical personnel on site.Lawyers for some Black and female former trainees have alleged that instructors targeted their clients with excessive force to try to run them out of the profession. Several of the deaths have been of Black men hoping to join disproportionately white police forces.Amid the deaths and criticism, experts are encouraging academy directors to retire or modify any problematic drills.The drills can quickly devolve into abusive rites of passage without appropriate focus and oversight, said Brian Baxter, who oversaw training at the Texas Department of Public Safety and now leads a group that studies the use of force. Some instructors want to win rather than allow recruits to practice their skills, he added.The idea that were just punching each other to see whos toughest ... thats when it becomes inappropriate, said Baxter, whose former agency overhauled its practices after a trooper died in 2005 from getting hit several times in the head. There needs to be a problem thats being solved by this training. And that problem needs to be directly related to public service. In this still image from video obtained by The Associated Press, Heather Sterling is hit by one of her instructors, who is acting as a violent assailant, during a four-on-one training drill, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton, Texas. In this still image from video obtained by The Associated Press, Heather Sterling is hit by one of her instructors, who is acting as a violent assailant, during a four-on-one training drill, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton, Texas. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More For this Texas academy class, injuries were widespreadFor Sterling, the drill came to an end when she simulated holding her assailants at gunpoint and put them in handcuffs.Later that day, she had a pounding headache. Her knee swelled, and shed skinned her elbow on the floor.At least 13 of 37 cadets reported injuries: concussion symptoms; a fractured wrist; a torn MCL; sprained wrists and knees; a bruised nose, records show.Two recruits needed surgery. Some were told the injuries were due to their lack of preparation and poor technique, and had to redo the drill.Sterling said she wasnt offered medical care. She recalled vomiting while driving herself for emergency treatment. A doctor found she suffered a concussion that resulted from an assault, a medical record provided by Sterling shows.Sterling had passed the drill, but turned in her resignation.I have a very high sense of what is right and what is wrong, she told AP. I did not want to be part of what was happening at the academy anymore.Deaths and injuries across the countryNationwide, deaths and injuries have been blamed on a mix of trauma from punches and other force, overexertion, heat stroke, dehydration, and organ failure.In August, 30-year-old Jon-Marques Psalms died two days after a training exercise at the San Francisco Police Academy. He suffered a head injury while fighting an instructor in a padded suit. This undated photo provided by Christina Psalms shows Jon-Marques Psalms, who died two days after a training exercise at the San Francisco Police Academy in August 2025. (Christina Psalms via AP) This undated photo provided by Christina Psalms shows Jon-Marques Psalms, who died two days after a training exercise at the San Francisco Police Academy in August 2025. (Christina Psalms via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More An autopsy found his death was an accident caused by complications of muscle and organ damage in the setting of a high-intensity training exercise. His family has filed a legal claim against the city and hired experts for a second autopsy.In November 2024, a 24-year-old Kentucky game warden recruit died after fighting an instructor in a pool to the point of collapse, video obtained by AP shows. William Baileys death was ruled an accidental drowning due to a sudden cardiac dysrhythmia during physical exertion.A year earlier, a Denver police recruit had both legs amputated after a training fight that his attorney called a barbaric hazing ritual. An Indiana recruit died of exertion after he was pummeled by a larger instructor, and a classmate was disabled after fighting the same man.Investigations of Austins police academy in Texas found that physical and psychological abuse from such exercises resulted in a significant number of cadets injured, ranging from dehydration to broken bones, and led to reforms. Black and female cadets represented a disproportionate number of those who were injured and quit.Macho Products Inc., which sells RedMan Training Gear nationwide, cautions in its warranty that such training always presents risks of accidental injury, disability, and death that must be assumed by all participants. The document says risks can be minimized through carefully planned scenarios conducted at appropriate levels of force. A company spokesperson didnt respond to APs request for comment on recent deaths and injuries. In this photo provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department a person holds up a game warden badge during the 67th Texas Game Warden and State Park Police Officer Commissioning Ceremony on May 30, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Sonja Sommerfeld/Texas Parks and Wildlife Department via AP) In this photo provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department a person holds up a game warden badge during the 67th Texas Game Warden and State Park Police Officer Commissioning Ceremony on May 30, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Sonja Sommerfeld/Texas Parks and Wildlife Department via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Former cadet compares the drill to a gang initiation ritualAlarmed by the injuries to Sterling and others, a state lawmakers office contacted the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to seek an investigation.After reviewing videos, investigating the injuries, and interviewing instructors and some recruits, the investigation found the drill was conducted in a control and organized manner, with safety measures in place and training objectives clearly communicated. The videos did not show instructors acting overly aggressive to Sterling, or any other actions that were inappropriate or inconsistent with the established training guidelines, it found.While multiple cadets sustained minor to moderate injuries during the drill, the majority recovered without extended medical consequences or changes to their training status, the report said.The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department declined to comment and refused to release records, citing the potential for litigation.Sterling, who has returned to Wyoming and still works in law enforcement, was outraged by the states defense of the drill, which she compared to a gang initiation ritual.New members are physically beaten down by the gang membership, she said, which now considers you as its property. RYAN J. FOLEY Foley covers national news for The Associated Press and is based in Iowa City, Iowa. A 21-year AP veteran, he was part of the AP team honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for the 2024 series, Lethal Restraint. twitter mailto

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Floral tributes outside Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Markham)2025-12-20T15:03:40Z SYDNEY (AP) The Australian state of New South Wales is proposing to ban public displays of Islamic State group flags or extremist symbols after a mass shooting driven by antisemitism killed 15 people at Sydneys Bondi Beach.Under draft laws to be debated by the state Parliament, publicly displaying the IS flag or symbols from other extremist groups will be offenses punishable by up to two years in prison and fines.The states premier, Chris Minns, also said chants of globalize the intifada will be banned and police would be given greater powers to demand protesters remove face coverings at demonstrations.Hate speech or incitement of hatred has no place in our society, Minns said Saturday. The Arabic word intifada is generally translated as uprising.While pro-Palestinian demonstrators say the slogan describes the worldwide protests against the war in Gaza, Jewish leaders say it inflames tensions and encourages attacks on Jews. Horrific, recent events have shown that the chant globalize the intifada is hate speech and encourages violence in our community, Minns told reporters. Youre running a very risky racket if youre thinking of using that phrase. New South Wales politicians are expected to debate the reforms on Monday after the premier recalled parliament.Police said Sundays attack, targeting a Hanukkah celebration on Australias most famous beach, was a terrorist attack inspired by (the) Islamic State " group. Police said they found two homemade IS flags in the vehicle used by the two suspects. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to introduce measures to curb radicalization and hate, including broadening the definition of hate speech offenses for preachers and leaders who promote violence, and toughening punishments for such crimes. The proposals would also designate some groups as hateful, and allow judges to consider hate as an aggravating factor in cases of online threats and harassment. Albanese has also announced plans to tighten Australias already strict gun laws.The prime minister, who joined the Jewish community at Sydneys Great Synagogue on Friday, said the spirit of our Jewish Australian community is completely unbreakable. Australia will not allow these evil antisemitic terrorists to divide us, he told reporters. No matter how dark things were, and continue to be, light will triumph.Authorities said the country will hold a National Day of Reflection on Sunday, the final day of Hanukkah, in honor of the victims. Flags will be flown at half-mast from all official buildings, and Albanese will join others at Bondi on Sunday to observe a minute of silence at 6:47 p.m., the time when police received the first reports of gunfire. Police said one of the suspects, Sajid Akram, was shot dead on Sunday. His son, Naveed Akram, 24, remains in custody in a New South Wales hospital. He has been charged with 59 offences, including murder and committing a terrorist act, and police are reviewing the evidence against him. The attack has raised questions about whether Australian Jews are sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism. Australia has 28 million people, including about 117,000 who are Jewish. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the governments Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.

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A Tibetan living in exile pulls the curtain before he gives an interview in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)2025-12-20T05:01:29Z KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) The white dome of Boudhanath rises like a silent guardian over the chaotic sprawl of Nepals capital, Kathmandu, crowned by a golden spire that pierces the sky. Painted on each of the spires four sides are the benevolent eyes of the Buddha wide, calm, and unblinking said to see all that unfolds below.Those eyes have served as a symbol of sanctuary for generations of Tibetans fleeing the Chinese crackdown in their homeland. But today, Tibetan refugees are also watched by far more malevolent eyes: Thousands of CCTV cameras from China, perched on street corners and rooftops to monitor every movement below. This intense surveillance has stifled the once-vibrant Free Tibet movement that had resonated around the world. Nepal is just one of at least 150 countries to which Chinese companies are supplying surveillance technology, from cameras in Vietnam to censorship firewalls in Pakistan to citywide monitoring systems in Kenya. This technology is now a key part of Chinas push for global influence, as it provides cash-strapped governments cost-effective, if invasive, forms of policing turning algorithms and data into a force multiplier for control. Security cameras blanket Nepal, where Tibetan refugees feel under threat. (AP video Serginho Roosblad) The irony at the heart of this digital authoritarianism is that the surveillance tools China exports are based on technology developed in its greatest rival, the United States, despite warnings that Chinese firms would buy, copy or outright steal American designs, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on For decades, Silicon Valley firms often yielded to Beijings demands: Give us your technology and we will give you access to our market. Although tensions fester between Washington and Beijing, the links between American tech and Chinese surveillance continue today. For example, Amazon Web Services offers cloud services to Chinese tech giants like Hikvision and Dahua, assisting them in their overseas push. Both are on the U.S. Commerce Departments Entity List for national security and human-rights concerns, which means transactions with them are not illegal but subject to strict restrictions. AWS told AP it adheres to ethical codes of conduct, complies with U.S. law, and does not itself offer surveillance infrastructure. Dahua said they conduct due diligence to prevent abuse of their products. Hikvision said the same, and that they categorically reject any suggestion that the company is involved in or complicit in repression.Chinese technology firms now offer a complete suite of telecommunications, surveillance, and digital infrastructure, with few restrictions on who they sell to or how theyre used.China pitches itself as a global security model with low crime rates, contrasting its record with the United States, said Sheena Greitens, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.Its got a set of solutions that its happy to share with the world that nobody else can offer, she said. (But) theyre certainly exporting the tools and techniques that are very important to authoritarian rule. The AP investigation was based on thousands of Nepali government procurement documents, corporate marketing material, leaked government and corporate documents, and interviews with more than 40 people, including Tibetan refugees and Nepali, American and Chinese engineers, executives, experts and officials.While thousands of Tibetans once fled to Nepal every year, the number is now down to the single digits, according to Tibetan officials in Nepal. In a statement to AP, the Tibetan government in exile cited tight border controls, Nepals warming ties with China and unprecedented surveillance as reasons for the drastic plunge. Also from APs investigation into the use of surveillance technology:U.S. tech firms to a large degree designed and built Chinas surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling rights abuses than known before.Across five Republican and Democratic administrations, the U.S. government has repeatedly allowed and even actively helped American firms to sell technology to Chinese police.The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.The Associated Press reports that China uses surveillance technology to track and intimidate officials and dissidents abroad. This technology, often originating from U.S. companies, has been used to monitor a retired Chinese official who fled to the U.S. seeking asylum, fearing persecution from the Chinese government. A 2021 internal Nepali government report, obtained by AP, revealed that China has even built surveillance systems within Nepal and in some areas of the border buffer zone where construction is banned by bilateral agreements. In a statement to AP, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied coercing Western companies to hand over technology or working with Nepal to surveil Tibetans, calling it a sheer fabrication driven by ulterior motives.Attempts to use Tibet-related issues to interfere in Chinas internal affairs, smear Chinas image, and poison the atmosphere of China-Nepal cooperation will never succeed, the statement said.The Nepali government and the Chinese-controlled Tibetan authorities did not respond to requests for comment. Sonam Tashi shouts slogans during a demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, in New Delhi, India, March, 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) Sonam Tashi shouts slogans during a demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, in New Delhi, India, March, 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Under pressure, many Tibetans are responding the only way they can: Leaving. The Tibetan population in Nepal has plunged from over 20,000 to half that or less today.Former activist Sonam Tashi gave up protesting years ago. Now 49, today hes just a father trying to get his 10-year-old son out before the net pulls tighter. The boy was born in Nepal but has no document proving he is either a refugee or a citizen, a result of Chinese pressure. Tashi described how those considered likely to protest are picked up in advance around key dates like March 10, which marks the 1959 Tibetan uprising, or July 6, the Dalai Lamas birthday. In 2018, Nepals police magazine confirmed that it was building predictive policing, which allows officers to watch peoples movements, identify in advance who they think will protest and arrest them preemptively.There are cameras everywhere, Tashi said, sitting on a bus winding toward the Indian border. There is no future. Image recognition analysis overlaid on different places in Nepal. (AP video Marshall Ritzel) They gave us all the hardwareAfter China crushed a Tibetan uprising in 1959, thousands fled across the Himalayas to Nepal, carrying only what they could: Religious paintings, prayer wheels and the weight of families left behind.Their exodus, led by the charismatic Dalai Lama, captured the American imagination, with Hollywood films and actor Richard Geres congressional appeals putting Tibet in the spotlight. Washington trod a careful line, defending the rights and religious freedom of Tibetans without recognizing independence.Today, the future of the Free Tibet movement is in question. Without refugee cards that grant basic rights, Tibetans in Nepal can no longer open bank accounts, work legally or leave the country. Cameras are now everywhere in Kathmandu, perched on traffic lights and swiveling from temple eaves. Most link back to a four-story brick building just a few blocks down from the Chinese embassy, where officers watch the country in real time.The building hums with the low breath of cooling fans. Inside, a wall of monitors blinks with feeds from border towns, busy markets and clogged traffic crossings.Officers in crisp blue uniforms and red caps sit in the glow, scanning scenes. Beneath the screens, a photo published in a Nepali daily shows, a sign in English and Chinese reads: With the compliments of the Ministry of Public Security of China.Their reach is vast. Dahua surveillance cameras monitor the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dake Kang) Dahua surveillance cameras monitor the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dake Kang) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Operators can track a motorbike weaving through the capital, follow a protest as it forms, or patch an alert directly to patrol radios. Many cameras are equipped with night vision facial recognition and AI tracking able to pick a single face out of a festival crowd or lock onto a figure until it disappears indoors. The system not only sees but is learning to remember, storing patterns of movement, building a record of lives lived under its gaze.A 34-year-old Tibetan cafe owner in the city watched the city change in quiet horror. Now you can only be Tibetan in private, he said. He and other Tibetans in Nepal spoke to AP anonymously, fearing retaliation.The first cameras in Boudhanath were installed in 2012, officially to deter crime. But after a Tibetan monk doused himself in petrol and set himself ablaze in front of the stupa in 2013, police added 35 night vision cameras around it. Nepalese policemen rush as a Tibetan monk burns after he set himself on fire in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. The Tibetan monk doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in Nepals capital Wednesday in what is believed to be the latest self-immolation to protest Chinese rule in Tibet. Nearly 100 Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people have set themselves on fire in various countries, mostly in ethnic Tibetan areas inside China, since 2009.( AP Photo) Nepalese policemen rush as a Tibetan monk burns after he set himself on fire in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. The Tibetan monk doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in Nepals capital Wednesday in what is believed to be the latest self-immolation to protest Chinese rule in Tibet. Nearly 100 Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people have set themselves on fire in various countries, mostly in ethnic Tibetan areas inside China, since 2009.( AP Photo) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu worked closely with the police, said Rupak Shrestha, a professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada who studied surveillance in Nepal. He said the police received special training to use the new cameras, identify potential symbols associated with the Free Tibet movement and anticipate dissent.In 2013, a team of Nepal Police officers crossed the northern border into Tibet for a seemingly straightforward mission: Collect police radios from Chinese authorities in Zhangmu, a remote border town, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Kathmandu. A truck was loaded with equipment and a few handshakes later, they were driving back to Kathmandu. The radios made by the partly state-owned Chinese firm Hytera looked like walkie-talkies but ran on a digital trunking system, a scaled-down mobile network for police use. Officers could talk privately, coordinate across districts, even patch into public phone lines. The entire system radios, relay towers, software was a $5.5 million gift from China.They didnt give us the money, recalled a retired Nepali officer who made the trip. They gave all the hardware. All Chinese. A Tibetan living in exile pulls the curtain before he gives an interview in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) A Tibetan living in exile pulls the curtain before he gives an interview in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More He remembered not the border guards but the tech sleek, reliable, and far ahead of anything theyd used before. He spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions.He said Nepal had initially considered buying the technology from the U.S. and only wanted to deploy the system in its two biggest cities. Hytera was a fraction of the cost and performed comparably, but China also wanted coverage near the border with Tibet. Nepal acquiesced.They installed the technology in Sindhupalchowk, a border district with a key road to China used by Tibetan refugees. We understood their mindset, the retired officer said. A secure border.A police envoy from the Chinese embassy began making regular visits to the Nepal Police headquarters. Hed chat over coffee, flip through brochures from Chinese companies. Hed say, You want anything? the retired officer recalled. China began donating tens of millions in police aid and surveillance equipment, including a new school for Nepals Armed Police Force. Hundreds of Nepali police traveled to China for training on policing and border control, according to Chinese government posts.Ahead of a summit of South Asian leaders in 2014, among the goods on offer were ones from Uniview, Chinas pitch for an all-seeing eye.The company was the Chinese surveillance business of what was then Hewlett Packard, or HP, before it was spun off in a 2011 deal. Since 2012, Uniview has been selling mass surveillance solutions to the Tibetan police, such as a command center, and developed cameras that track ethnicities such as Uyghurs and Tibetans.Uniview installed cameras in Kathmandu for Nepals first safe city project in 2016. It started with the citys roads, then went up across the capital in tourist areas, religious sites, high-security zones like Parliament and the prime ministers home.The cameras didnt just record. Some could follow people automatically as they moved. Others were designed to use less data, making it easier to store and review footage.Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or HPE, a successor company to HP that sells security solutions, has no ownership in Uniview and declined to comment. Hytera and Uniview did not respond to requests for comment.Nearly all the cameras installed in Nepal are now made by Chinese companies like Hikvision, Dahua and Uniview, and many come bundled with facial recognition and AI tracking software.Hikvisions website and marketing materials advertise camera systems in Nepal linked via Hik-Connect and HikCentral Connect, cloud products that rely on Amazon Web Services. Hikvision sells to the Nepali police and government, and a template for Nepali tenders indicates CCTV cameras procured for the government are required to support Hik-Connect.In return for Beijings support, top Nepali officials have thanked China repeatedly over the years, promising never to allow anti-China activities on Nepali territory.The Nepali police head offices arent far from the now-forlorn Tibetan reception center, which used to shelter tired, hungry Tibetans fleeing across the border. Namkyi, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 and imprisoned for protesting Chinese rule, recounts her story during a meeting with staff at Vital Voices, a non-profit organization, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Namkyi, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 and imprisoned for protesting Chinese rule, recounts her story during a meeting with staff at Vital Voices, a non-profit organization, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The building is nearly empty. The gates are locked. Those who do escape, like Namkyi, arrested at 15 for protesting Chinese rule, often have to wait for weeks confined indoors until theyre smuggled out again to the Tibetan capital in exile in India.Silence has become survival.They know they are being watched, she said. Even though we are free, the surveillance cameras mean were actually living in a big prison.From clients to competitorsFrom the start, U.S. companies eager for Chinas vast markets exchanged technology for entry.Many were required to start joint ventures and research operations in China as a precondition for being allowed in. Dozens, if not hundreds, complied, transferring valuable know-how and expertise even in sensitive areas like encryption or policing.Little by little, Chinese companies chipped away at the lead of American tech companies by luring talent, obtaining research, and sometimes plain copying their hardware and software. The flow of technology continued, even as U.S. officials openly accused China of economic espionage and pressuring American companies for their technology.China is by far the most egregious actor when it comes to forced technology transfer, Robert D. Atkinson, then-president of a think tank focused on innovation, warned Congress in a 2012 hearing.American tech resistance came to a final, definitive end later that year with Edward Snowdens revelations that U.S. intelligence was exploiting American technology to spy on Beijing. Spooked, the Chinese government told Western firms they risked being kicked out unless they handed over their technology and provided security guarantees.After companies like HP and IBM agreed, their former partners became their fiercest global competitors and unlike American firms, they faced few questions about the way their technology was being used. Companies like Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua have now become global behemoths that sell surveillance systems and gear all over the world. American technology was key to this:- Uniview, the Chinese AI-powered CCTV camera supplier, supplied the first phase of Nepals safe city project in 2016, installing cameras in Kathmandu. Uniview was carved out of California-based HPs China surveillance video business.- Hytera provided data infrastructure for the Nepali police, such as walkie-talkies and digital trunking technology, which enables real-time communication. Earlier this year, Hytera acknowledged stealing technology from U.S. company Motorola in a plea agreement, and had acquired German, British, Spanish, and American tech businesses in their growth phase.- Hikvision and Dahua, Chinas two largest surveillance camera suppliers, sell many of the cameras now in Nepal. They partnered with Intel and Nvidia to add AI capabilities to surveillance cameras. Those ties ended after U.S. sanctions in 2019, but AWS continues to sell cloud services to both companies, which remains legal under what some lawmakers call a loophole. AWS has advertised to Chinese companies expanding overseas, including at a policing expo in 2023.- Chinese tech giant Huawei has become one of the worlds leading sellers of surveillance systems, wiring more than 200 cities with sensors. In Nepal, they supplied telecom gear and high-capacity servers at an international airport. Over the years, the company benefited from partnerships with American companies like IBM, and has been dogged by allegations of theft including copying code from Cisco routers wholesale, a case which Huawei settled out of court in 2004. A Nepal Telecom cell tower wired with Chinese equipment stands near Sree Muktinath temple in the remote Himalayan town of Ranipauwa, Nepal, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Dake Kang) A Nepal Telecom cell tower wired with Chinese equipment stands near Sree Muktinath temple in the remote Himalayan town of Ranipauwa, Nepal, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Dake Kang) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Huawei said it provides general-purpose products based on recognized industry standards. Intel has said it adheres to all laws and regulations where it operates, and cannot control end use of its products. Nvidia has said it does not make surveillance systems or work with police in China at present.IBM and Cisco declined comment. Policing gear maker Motorola Solutions, a successor company to Motorola after it split, did not respond to requests for comment.U.S. technology transfer to Chinese firms has mostly stopped after growing controversy and a slew of sanctions in the past decade. But industry insiders say its too late: China, once a tech backwater, is now among the biggest exporters of surveillance technologies on earth.Few realized the U.S. shouldnt be selling the software to China because they might copy it, they might use it for these types of surveillance and bad stuff, said Charles Mok, a Hong Kong IT entrepreneur and former lawmaker now living in exile as a research scholar at Stanford. Nobody was quick enough to realize this could happen. A Buddhist monk walks in an alley as a CCTV camera mounted on a pole watches over the area in the ancient ethnic Tibetan city of Mustang, Nepal, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) A Buddhist monk walks in an alley as a CCTV camera mounted on a pole watches over the area in the ancient ethnic Tibetan city of Mustang, Nepal, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The great big eye in the skyInside a 15th-century monastery in Lo Manthang in Nepals Mustang district, light slants through wooden slats, catching motes of dust and the faded faces of bodhisattvas.Crumpled notes of Chinese currency lie at the feet of deities in the walled city along the Tibetan border. Here, shops stock Chinese instant noodles and cars with Chinese plates rumble down mountain roads.A gleaming white observation dome just inside Chinese territory looms over the city. Visible from 15 kilometers (9 miles) away, its trained on the district that has long been a refuge for Tibetans, including a guerrilla base in the 1960s.The dome is just one node in Chinas vast 1,389-kilometer (863-mile) border network with Nepal a Great Wall of Steel of fences, sensors and AI-powered drones.Chinese forces have barred ethnic Tibetans from accessing traditional pastures and performing sacred rites. They have pressured residents of Lo Manthang to remove photos of the Dalai Lama from shops. And a China-Nepal joint command mechanism meets several times a month on border patrols and repatriations, according to a post by the Chinese-run Tibetan government.The result is that the once-porous frontier is now effectively sealed, and Chinas digital dragnet reaches deep into the lives of those who live near it. PHOTO ESSAY: Under watch by Chinese tech, the Tibetan community in Nepal is slowly suffocating 19 Photos In April 2024, Rapke Lama was chatting with a friend across the border on WeChat when he received an invitation to meet. He set out from his village and crossed into Tibet only to be arrested almost immediately.Lama believes his WeChat exchange was monitored; Chinese police appeared with unsettling precision, as if they knew where to look. After accusing him wrongly, he maintains of helping Tibetans flee into Nepal, the police seized his phone, which had photos of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan music. Then came months in a Lhasa prison, where isolation and inadequate medical care hollowed him out.Lama did not return to Nepal until May 2025, gaunt and shaken. He later said he entered Tibet to harvest caterpillar fungus, valued in traditional Chinese medicine. Another friend who crossed the border remains in custody.Even now, Im scared, Lama says. He wears masks when wandering the streets, he says, because of that lingering fear.The Chinese observation dome is a giant symbol of the same fear, towering over the border.Its the great big eye in the sky, said a 73-year-old Tibetan hotel owner in Nepal, who spotted the installation during a trip near the border last year. For Tibetan refugees, Nepal has become a second China. Dotted Line with Center Square __Associated Press journalists Niranjan Shrestha and Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Manish Swarup and Rishi Lekhi in New Delhi, Ashwini Bhatia in Dharamshala, India, and David Goldman in Washington contributed to this report.-Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected] or https://www.ap.org/tips/. ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Ghosal covers the intersection of business and climate change in southeast Asia for The Associated Press. He is based out of Hanoi in Vietnam. twitter mailto DAKE KANG Kang covers Chinese politics, technology and society from Beijing for The Associated Press. Hes reported across Central, South, and East Asia, and was a Pulitzer finalist for investigative reporting in China. twitter mailto

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President Donald Trump walks to speak with reporters while departing the White House as chief of staff Susie Wiles, right, looks on, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)2025-12-20T19:07:22Z WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. forces on Saturday stopped a second merchant vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, two American officials told The Associated Press.The tanker stopped voluntarily and allowed U.S. forces to board it, one official said.The move comes days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of the South American country and follows the Dec. 10 seizure by American forces of an oil tanker off Venezuelas coast.The officials were not authorized to discuss publicly the ongoing military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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This undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Jeffrey Epstein. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)2025-12-20T19:54:49Z NEW YORK (AP) The Justice Departments much-anticipated release of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein arrived in a flood of documents that did little to quell the long-simmering intrigue, largely because some of the most consequential records were nowhere to be found.The initial disclosures, spanning tens of thousands of pages, offer scant new insight into Epsteins crimes or the decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal prosecution for years. Missing are FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos examining charging decisions records that could have helped explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge.The gaps go further. The records, required to be released under a recent law passed by Congress, contain no references to several powerful figures long associated with Epstein, including Britains former Prince Andrew, renewing questions about who was scrutinized, who was not, and how much the disclosures truly advance public accountability Among the fresh nuggets: insight into the Justice Departments decision to abandon an investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, which enabled him to plead guilty to that state-level charge, and a previously unseen 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing photographs of children. The releases so far have been heavy on images of Epsteins homes in New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with some photos of celebrities and politicians. There was a series of never-before-seen photos of former President Bill Clinton but fleetingly few of President Donald Trump. Both have been associated with Epstein, but both have since disowned those friendships. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and there was no indication the photos played a role in the criminal cases brought against him. Despite a Friday deadline set by Congress to make everything public, the Justice Department said it plans to release records on a rolling basis. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring survivors names and other identifying information. The department has not given any notice when more records might arrive.That approach angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law forced the department to act. Instead of marking the end of a yearslong battle for transparency, the document release Friday was merely the beginning of an indefinite wait for a complete picture of Epsteins crimes and the steps taken to investigate them.I feel like again the DOJ, the justice system is failing us, said Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein started sexually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14.Federal prosecutors in New York brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, but he killed himself in jail after his arrest.The documents just made public were a sliver of potentially millions of pages records in the departments possession. In one example, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Manhattan federal prosecutors had more than 3.6 million records from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, though many duplicated material already turned over by the FBI. Many of the records released so far had been made public in court filings, congressional releases or freedom of information requests, though, for the first time, they were all in one place and available for the public to search for free.Ones that were new were often lacking necessary context or heavily blacked out. A 119-page document marked Grand Jury-NY, likely from one of the federal sex trafficking investigations that led to the charges against Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was entirely blacked out.Trumps Republican allies seized on the Clinton images, including photos of the Democrat with singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. There were also photos of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and even Epstein with TV newscaster Walter Cronkite. But none of the photos had captions and was no explanation given for why any of them were together. The meatiest records released so far showed that federal prosecutors had what appeared to be a strong case against Epstein in 2007 yet never charged him.Transcripts of grand jury proceedings, released publicly for the first time, included testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who described being paid to perform sex acts for Epstein. The youngest was 14 and in ninth grade.One had told investigators about being sexually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances during a massage.Another, then 21, testified before the grand jury about how Epstein had hired her when she was 16 to perform a sexual massage and how she had gone on to recruit other girls to do the same. For every girl that I brought to the table he would give me $200, she said. They were mostly people she knew from high school, she said. I also told them that if they are under age, just lie about it and tell him that you are 18.The documents also contain a transcript of an interview Justice Department lawyers did more than a decade later with the U.S. attorney who oversaw the case, Alexander Acosta, about his ultimate decision not to bring federal charges.Acosta, who was labor secretary during Trumps first term, cited concerns about whether a jury would believe Epsteins accusers.He also said the Justice Department might have been more reluctant to make a federal prosecution out of a case that straddled the legal border between sex trafficking and soliciting prostitution, something more commonly handled by state prosecutors.Im not saying it was the right view, Acosta added. He also said that the public today would likely view the survivors differently.Theres been a lot of changes in victim shaming, Acosta said.___Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed to this report. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement, courts and prisons. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

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