npr--2020-02-21--Why Are Swarms Of Locusts Wreaking Havoc In East Africa?

Why Are Swarms Of Locusts Wreaking Havoc In East Africa ?
The Horn of Africa , one of the world 's most impoverished regions , is being ransacked by billions of tiny invaders .
Farmers look on in horror as desert locusts moving in vast cloud-like swarms darken the sky .
The insects blast through fields of crops at an astonishing pace , decimating livelihoods in the process .
The pests crossed the Gulf of Aden and arrived in Somalia and Ethiopia last year .
They were spotted in Kenya about two months ago in what has become the worst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.N. says the region is already vulnerable to food shortages , and it warns that the international community only has a small window to prevent `` looming catastrophe . ''
`` These things are voracious , '' says Keith Cressman , the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization 's senior locust forecasting officer .
A swarm the size of Manhattan can , in a single day , eat the same amount of food as everyone in New York and California combined , he says .
Swarms of desert locusts more than three times the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimated 192 billion insects — have been spotted in northeast Kenya , according to Save The Children .
Experts know how to stop the locusts ' spread , but say efforts have been stymied by a lack of resources and because its difficult to spray in conflict-racked places such as Somalia and Yemen .
`` We do have a chance to nip this problem in the bud , but that 's not what we 're doing at the moment , '' Mark Lowcock , the U.N. 's top humanitarian official , said earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of time . ''
How it started and why it got so bad Desert locusts , or Schistocerca gregaria , are known for their rapid reproduction and ability to migrate long distances with the wind .
In `` quiet periods '' they typically stay within deserts in Africa , the Near East and Asia , according to the Food and Agriculture Organization .
But in the most extreme infestations – what the FAO classifies as full-blown plagues – they have been known to extend to some 60 countries .
`` It 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eons and eons of time , '' Cressman says .
`` It has so many different survival mechanisms ... to just survive in some of the harshest areas and most remote parts of this planet .
But it has this fabulous capacity to take advantage of good conditions . ''
In mid-2018 , a group of these pests found themselves in excellent conditions when a cyclone from the Indian Ocean hit an extremely remote area of the Arabian Peninsula known as the `` Empty Quarter . ''
`` That was just a huge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extraordinary rains .
And this is exactly what desert locusts need in order to lay their eggs and to breed , '' Cressman says .
The animals reproduce rapidly – every three months .
And they reproduce exponentially , he says , so in favorable conditions like these , the population could multiply by 400 times every six months .
Typically , the Empty Quarter would dry out and the population would largely die off .
But in late 2018 , another cyclone hit in nearly the same spot and the population exploded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months , Cressman says , the insects started to migrate – some farther up on the Arabian Peninsula , and some into nearby Yemen .
From there , they eventually traveled across the gulf and into Ethiopia and Somalia .
In early December 2019 , yet another cyclone hit , further fueling the locust populations .
The cyclone in Ethiopia and Somalia `` changed the situation into one that became very , very dangerous , '' Cressman says .
Just before the end of the year , the swarms arrived in Kenya .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Tanzania and South Sudan , as well as in Persian Gulf countries such as Kuwait , Bahrain , Qatar and Iran .
The heightened cyclone activity in the region appears linked to climate change .
`` If this trend continues , if there 's an increased frequency of cyclones in the Indian Ocean , it 's quite obvious that there will be an increased frequency of desert locust outbreak and upsurges like the one we 're seeing now in the Horn of Africa , '' Cressman says .
What 's being done @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effective response , '' he says , is aerially spraying pesticide directly on the locusts to kill them .
Countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia are actively spraying .
`` It 's really important that these control operations are undertaken , but also that they 're upscaled — because it 's not enough , '' Cressman says .
`` The strategy is just to reduce these huge numbers and try to break this continuation of the breeding . ''
Security issues complicate efforts to stave off the infestations , particularly in parts of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in places that are n't safe .
You do n't want to endanger people 's lives , '' he says .
In January , the FAO asked the international community for $ 76 million to fight the locusts in Ethiopia , Somalia and Kenya as well as in newly affected countries Djibouti and Eritrea .
The U.N. organization says that as of Friday , $ 22 million has been pledged or donated so far .
Right now , the locusts are actively breeding in Kenya , which could lead to a 20-fold increase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Depending on the conditions , Cressman expects that `` some of them will stay in Kenya , have another generation of breeding at the end of this spring , and others will move northwards . ''
A massive increase by the end of March would coincide with the beginning of a planting season for Kenyan farmers .
`` That means when farmers are planting , they will have the potential to be surrounded by an awful lot of hungry swarms , '' Cressman says , which could delay planting season and impact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ control efforts fail , swarms of desert locusts are likely to re-invade Ethiopia and Somalia .
And the timing of yet another generation of locusts could coincide with the harvest in Kenya .

Why Are Swarms Of Locusts Wreaking Havoc In East Africa?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ben Curtis/AP Ben Curtis/AP
The Horn of Africa, one of the world's most impoverished regions, is being ransacked by billions of tiny invaders.
Farmers look on in horror as desert locusts moving in vast cloud-like swarms darken the sky. The insects blast through fields of crops at an astonishing pace, decimating livelihoods in the process.
The pests crossed the Gulf of Aden and arrived in Somalia and Ethiopia last year. They were spotted in Kenya about two months ago in what has become the worst infestation there in 70 years. The U.N. says the region is already vulnerable to food shortages, and it warns that the international community only has a small window to prevent "looming catastrophe."
"These things are voracious," says Keith Cressman, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's senior locust forecasting officer. A swarm the size of Manhattan can, in a single day, eat the same amount of food as everyone in New York and California combined, he says.
Swarms of desert locusts more than three times the size of New York City — an estimated 192 billion insects — have been spotted in northeast Kenya, according to Save The Children.
toggle caption Gro Intelligence
Experts know how to stop the locusts' spread, but say efforts have been stymied by a lack of resources and because its difficult to spray in conflict-racked places such as Somalia and Yemen.
"We do have a chance to nip this problem in the bud, but that's not what we're doing at the moment," Mark Lowcock, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official, said earlier this month. "We're running out of time."
How it started and why it got so bad
Desert locusts, or Schistocerca gregaria, are known for their rapid reproduction and ability to migrate long distances with the wind. In "quiet periods" they typically stay within deserts in Africa, the Near East and Asia, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. But in the most extreme infestations – what the FAO classifies as full-blown plagues – they have been known to extend to some 60 countries.
"It's a pest that has been around for eons and eons of time," Cressman says. "It has so many different survival mechanisms ... to just survive in some of the harshest areas and most remote parts of this planet. But it has this fabulous capacity to take advantage of good conditions."
In mid-2018, a group of these pests found themselves in excellent conditions when a cyclone from the Indian Ocean hit an extremely remote area of the Arabian Peninsula known as the "Empty Quarter."
"That was just a huge sandy area that got wet by these extraordinary rains. And this is exactly what desert locusts need in order to lay their eggs and to breed," Cressman says.
The animals reproduce rapidly – every three months. And they reproduce exponentially, he says, so in favorable conditions like these, the population could multiply by 400 times every six months.
Typically, the Empty Quarter would dry out and the population would largely die off. But in late 2018, another cyclone hit in nearly the same spot and the population exploded yet again. Over the next three months, Cressman says, the insects started to migrate – some farther up on the Arabian Peninsula, and some into nearby Yemen. From there, they eventually traveled across the gulf and into Ethiopia and Somalia.
toggle caption Sumy Sadurni /AFP via Getty Images
In early December 2019, yet another cyclone hit, further fueling the locust populations. The cyclone in Ethiopia and Somalia "changed the situation into one that became very, very dangerous," Cressman says. Just before the end of the year, the swarms arrived in Kenya.
Swarms have also been spotted in Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan, as well as in Persian Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Iran.
The heightened cyclone activity in the region appears linked to climate change. "If this trend continues, if there's an increased frequency of cyclones in the Indian Ocean, it's quite obvious that there will be an increased frequency of desert locust outbreak and upsurges like the one we're seeing now in the Horn of Africa," Cressman says.
What's being done to stop the infestations
The "only effective response," he says, is aerially spraying pesticide directly on the locusts to kill them. Countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia are actively spraying.
"It's really important that these control operations are undertaken, but also that they're upscaled — because it's not enough," Cressman says. "The strategy is just to reduce these huge numbers and try to break this continuation of the breeding."
toggle caption Ben Curtis/AP
Security issues complicate efforts to stave off the infestations, particularly in parts of Somalia. "You can't work in places that aren't safe. You don't want to endanger people's lives," he says.
In January, the FAO asked the international community for $76 million to fight the locusts in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya as well as in newly affected countries Djibouti and Eritrea. The U.N. organization says that as of Friday, $22 million has been pledged or donated so far.
Right now, the locusts are actively breeding in Kenya, which could lead to a 20-fold increase in populations there in February and March. Depending on the conditions, Cressman expects that "some of them will stay in Kenya, have another generation of breeding at the end of this spring, and others will move northwards."
A massive increase by the end of March would coincide with the beginning of a planting season for Kenyan farmers. "That means when farmers are planting, they will have the potential to be surrounded by an awful lot of hungry swarms," Cressman says, which could delay planting season and impact their food security and livelihoods.
If control efforts fail, swarms of desert locusts are likely to re-invade Ethiopia and Somalia. And the timing of yet another generation of locusts could coincide with the harvest in Kenya.


npr--2020-02-21--Bloomberg Has Already Spent $450 Million On Ads Since Launching His Campaign

Bloomberg Has Already Spent $ 450 Million On Ads Since Launching His Campaign Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has now spent some $ 452 million on advertising since entering the Democratic presidential race in late November , according to the ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics .
The multibillionaire , who is self-funding his campaign , has already spent more than $ 401 million on television and radio ads alone .
That surpasses the $ 338.3 million that President Barack Obama 's campaign spent on those ads during his entire 2012 campaign , according to Advertising Analytics .
Bloomberg , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states that kick off the presidential nominating contest , has been responsible for an onslaught of ads in the states that come later , including the 14 states that have their say on Super Tuesday , March 3 .
The latest accounting of just how much Bloomberg is spending on his presidential bid comes days after he was subject to a barrage of attacks at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas , the first debate he has participated in as a declared candidate .
His performance was widely panned as lackluster .
Several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with new energy — and a new influx of campaign donations .
Among them was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren , whose campaign said it brought in $ 2.8 million in donations in one day Wednesday — her largest one-day fundraising haul .
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ' campaign said he raised $ 2.7 million .
But unlike Bloomberg , Sanders , Warren and other campaigns are reliant on fundraising to stay in the race .
The latest Federal Election Commission filings show that Bloomberg has already spent more on his presidential bid than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Joe Biden , former South Bend , Ind.
, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have spent on their campaigns combined .

Bloomberg Has Already Spent $450 Million On Ads Since Launching His Campaign
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rick Bowmer/AP Rick Bowmer/AP
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has now spent some $452 million on advertising since entering the Democratic presidential race in late November, according to the ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics.
The multibillionaire, who is self-funding his campaign, has already spent more than $401 million on television and radio ads alone. That surpasses the $338.3 million that President Barack Obama's campaign spent on those ads during his entire 2012 campaign, according to Advertising Analytics.
Bloomberg, who is not competing in the four states that kick off the presidential nominating contest, has been responsible for an onslaught of ads in the states that come later, including the 14 states that have their say on Super Tuesday, March 3.
The latest accounting of just how much Bloomberg is spending on his presidential bid comes days after he was subject to a barrage of attacks at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, the first debate he has participated in as a declared candidate. His performance was widely panned as lackluster.
Several of his rivals emerged from that debate with new energy — and a new influx of campaign donations.
Among them was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose campaign said it brought in $2.8 million in donations in one day Wednesday — her largest one-day fundraising haul. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign said he raised $2.7 million.
But unlike Bloomberg, Sanders, Warren and other campaigns are reliant on fundraising to stay in the race.
The latest Federal Election Commission filings show that Bloomberg has already spent more on his presidential bid than what Sanders, Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have spent on their campaigns combined.


npr--2020-02-21--Lesotho Prime Minister Fails To Appear In Court To Face Charges In 1st Wife's Murder

Lesotho Prime Minister Fails To Appear In Court To Face Charges In 1st Wife 's Murder A homicide that shocked Lesotho has become more shocking still : Police say Prime Minister Thomas Thabane will be charged in the killing of his estranged wife .
But rather than appear in court as he was supposed to Friday , the 80-year-old leader has gone to South Africa to seek medical treatment .
`` He 's not fled the country , '' Thabane 's son Potlako told Reuters .
The prime minister 's office says he will go to court when he returns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ becomes available and we shall arrange that he comes here and appears before the court of law and be formally charged , '' Deputy Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete told Al-Jazeera .
`` We have a very strong case against the prime minister ... which we are going to present before the court of law which actually implicates the prime minister to the crime , '' Mokete told the network .
Mokete told The Associated Press that it was premature to seek an arrest warrant for the prime minister .
Thabane would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a domestic murder while in office , according to the BBC .
His current wife , 42-year-old Maesaiah Thabane , has already been charged in the killing .
She initially fled to South Africa last month before returning to Lesotho to face charges earlier this month .
Despite spending nearly three weeks on the lam , Maesaiah was granted bail — reportedly about $ 67 .
The prime minister 's previous wife , 58-year-old Lipolelo Thabane , was gunned on a dirt road while driving to her home in a village outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sibolla , who was traveling with her , was also shot but survived and fled to South Africa .
The shooting took place just two days before Thomas Thabane 's second inauguration as prime minister .
He and Lipolelo had been locked in acrimonious divorce proceedings for five years .
A court ruled that despite their separation , Lipolelo was still legally the nation 's first lady until the divorce was final .
The position comes with benefits including a car , driver and bodyguard .
The prime minister married Maesaiah just months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to resign .
On Friday , the government posted a statement from Thabane in which he says he plans to retire at the end of July , or earlier if preparations are completed sooner .
`` It is very unfortunate that some have deliberately decided to distort by decision to retire , either motivated by hate or for political gain , '' he wrote , asking for citizens `` not to intentionally misconstrue '' his decision to retire .
Thabane has been involved in his country 's political scene since 1966 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He is also the founder and leader of the All Basotho Convention political party , part of the current coalition government .

Lesotho Prime Minister Fails To Appear In Court To Face Charges In 1st Wife's Murder
Enlarge this image toggle caption Samson Motikoe/AFP via Getty Images Samson Motikoe/AFP via Getty Images
A homicide that shocked Lesotho has become more shocking still: Police say Prime Minister Thomas Thabane will be charged in the killing of his estranged wife.
But rather than appear in court as he was supposed to Friday, the 80-year-old leader has gone to South Africa to seek medical treatment. "He's not fled the country," Thabane's son Potlako told Reuters. The prime minister's office says he will go to court when he returns.
"We shall wait until he becomes available and we shall arrange that he comes here and appears before the court of law and be formally charged," Deputy Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete told Al-Jazeera.
"We have a very strong case against the prime minister ... which we are going to present before the court of law which actually implicates the prime minister to the crime," Mokete told the network.
Mokete told The Associated Press that it was premature to seek an arrest warrant for the prime minister. Thabane would be the first African leader to be charged with a domestic murder while in office, according to the BBC.
His current wife, 42-year-old Maesaiah Thabane, has already been charged in the killing. She initially fled to South Africa last month before returning to Lesotho to face charges earlier this month. Despite spending nearly three weeks on the lam, Maesaiah was granted bail — reportedly about $67.
The prime minister's previous wife, 58-year-old Lipolelo Thabane, was gunned on a dirt road while driving to her home in a village outside the capital. A friend, Thato Sibolla, who was traveling with her, was also shot but survived and fled to South Africa.
The shooting took place just two days before Thomas Thabane's second inauguration as prime minister.
He and Lipolelo had been locked in acrimonious divorce proceedings for five years. A court ruled that despite their separation, Lipolelo was still legally the nation's first lady until the divorce was final. The position comes with benefits including a car, driver and bodyguard.
The prime minister married Maesaiah just months later.
Thabane has been under pressure to resign. On Friday, the government posted a statement from Thabane in which he says he plans to retire at the end of July, or earlier if preparations are completed sooner.
"It is very unfortunate that some have deliberately decided to distort by decision to retire, either motivated by hate or for political gain," he wrote, asking for citizens "not to intentionally misconstrue" his decision to retire.
Thabane has been involved in his country's political scene since 1966, the year Lesotho declared independence from Britain. He is also the founder and leader of the All Basotho Convention political party, part of the current coalition government.


npr--2020-02-21--Iraq's Protests Shook The Government. Now The Movement Is Nearly Crushed

Iraq 's Protests Shook The Government .
Now The Movement Is Nearly Crushed On the ground floor of the concrete high-rise that became the headquarters of the protest movement in Baghdad 's Tahrir Square , slogans scrawled in black and a mural of a fish dressed in a suit disappear under coats of white paint .
The young Iraqis erasing the murals are followers of Muqtada al-Sadr , an influential Shiite Muslim cleric whose support fueled the largely secular protests against government corruption that broke out last October .
Last month from Iran , where he is pursuing his religious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken the wrong path and that he was withdrawing his support .
Two weeks later , he said the protests needed to be `` cleansed . ''
Sadr 's actions have essentially crushed the protests , which have been unprecedented in Iraq 's modern history .
The largely Shiite protesters have challenged the political status quo established after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 — demanding an end to a system that is divided along sectarian and ethnic lines , is rampant with corruption and is dominated by parties with ties to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement and a militia that fought U.S. troops after the 2003 invasion of Iraq .
An important power broker in Iraqi politics , he has had on-and-off ties with Iran that appear to be back on again now .
Those ties might be behind his recent move against the protest .
`` I think for now the Iranians are probably happy to see how he has changed course the last few weeks , '' says Iraqi political analyst Sajad Jiyad .
In a series of tweets from Iran , the mercurial cleric criticized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them of promiscuity and calling for segregation of men and women in the protest tents .
He sent in enforcers , who call themselves `` blue hats '' in imitation of United Nations peacekeepers .
The Sadr followers in light blue caps swept through Tahrir Square , searching tents , kicking protesters out of their headquarters and handing some over to Iraqi security forces for arrest .
Iraqi security forces and militia fighters , seemingly given free rein after Sadr withdrew his support , burned tents and stepped up attacks on the demonstrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responsible for a wave of stabbings , kidnappings and tent burnings , a charge the Sadr movement denies .
`` The revolution and the Iraqi people will thank the blue hats , particularly the people of Baghdad , '' says Natiq al-Gharawi , one of the Sadr movement 's media people , as he stands outside the high-rise , known as the `` Turkish restaurant '' building , controlling access .
`` They have eliminated the gangs present in the restaurant and other places and eliminated extortion and mafias . ''
Gharawi says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks ago hundreds of protesters were living , teaching informal classes and planning their revolution — is being cleaned up and is expected to be sold to investors .
The high-rise , named after a restaurant located there in the 1990s , had been reduced to its concrete frame in the intervening years .
Last year , protesters took it over to prevent militia snipers from using it to shoot at the demonstrators in Tahrir Square .
On the roof , young people dreaming of a more inclusive homeland would wave Iraqi flags @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Now Sadr officials have taken over the rooftop sound system .
Instead of the usual cross section of Iraqi protesters — including families and women with their hair uncovered as well as others wearing headscarves — a demonstration called by Sadr on Friday was almost all men .
Some carried aloft photos of Sadr and his revered late father .
A tent near the entrance to Tahrir Square blasted a song boasting of kidnapping anyone who displeased the religious leader — a reference to the dark days of Iraq 's sectarian war @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mahdi Army militia .
`` We are alone '' Many of the young people who had been living there have left the square .
Those who remain say food and water supplies have been disrupted .
In heated meetings in abandoned buildings used as a refuge , protesters argue about the way forward .
Although the unrest led Iraq 's prime minister to announce his resignation last November , protesters ' demands for dramatic reform look unlikely to be met .
`` We are alone , '' says a college graduate named Ali @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` The other side has everything .
They have money , they have the militias , they have weapons . ''
He says he thinks the revolution they believed in has been lost .
NPR uses only the first names of Iraqi protesters who fear retaliation from security forces and militias if they are identified .
The anti-government protests began in the southern city of Basra two years ago in the heat of a summer without regular electricity or clean tap water .
By October of last year , demonstrations had spread to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The protesters are mostly young people — the first Iraqi generation to grow up with the Internet and without memories of life under Hussein , Iraq 's president from 1979 to 2003 .
The protests have also channeled anger against Iran .
The neighboring country dominates Iraq 's political system and the paramilitaries that form part of Iraqi security forces but are not under full government control .
Attacks on Iranian consulates and Iran-backed party offices in Iraq 's holy cities of Najaf and Karbala have posed among the biggest challenges to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Protesters blame infiltrators settling political scores for those attacks .
Iraqi security forces have fired live bullets and military-grade tear gas at demonstrators .
More than 600 protesters have been killed since October and an estimated 20,000 wounded , activists and hospital officials say .
Hundreds of the dead were shot in the head or the chest .
The government has acknowledged at least 400 killed and blamed many of the deaths on `` unknown groups '' — what the Iran-backed militias are called by officials too fearful to mention them by name @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those responsible , it has not announced any charges .
Faced with a few protesters throwing homemade gasoline bombs and flinging stones with slingshots , security forces have recently begun firing hunting rifles to keep protesters back from public squares .
Mohammad Harbi , 24 , became one of the latest victims last Friday .
`` There was a protester who was shot and he was running , but then he collapsed , '' says Haider , an activist with an Iraqi human rights organization who was near Harbi .
He says he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ took him to a hospital .
Harbi died on the way .
The victim 's father , Harbi Hasan , a retired Communications Ministry employee , says his son left school after ninth grade to work , selling used clothing in downtown Baghdad .
`` He loved his country and he was ready to die for it , '' says Hasan , 70 , sitting on an old sofa with torn cushions in the yard near their small house .
The medical report listed his cause of death as a bullet piercing his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he uploaded to YouTube .
In one of his last videos posted in late January , he sits in a tent with friends and sings about his homeland wounded and the Tigris River running red with blood .
Thousands of other protesters have been kidnapped or arrested .
Some others have not left the square for weeks , fearing they would be picked up by police or militias .
On Wednesday , a prominent activist , Ahmed al-Wishah , was taken from a restaurant in central Baghdad by what his brother , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unknown group .
Akram said Ahmed had been threatened before but refused his family 's pleas to stop protesting .
Ahmed was freed early Friday .
One protester , Hamza , an unemployed carpenter from Diyala province in eastern Iraq , was arrested in January when he ventured out of the square to see a friend at a restaurant .
`` They charged him with terrorism .
We tried to help but we ca n't go to the police station — they will arrest us too and accuse us of being terrorists , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraq 's sweeping anti-terrorism law , being convicted of terrorism carries the death penalty .
Ahmed says Hamza does not have access to a lawyer .
Government and militia officials have portrayed the protests as being fueled by the U.S. to create problems for Iran .
Ahmed says any foreigner asking about Hamza at the police station would put him in trouble .
`` If you ask about him , they will say the American Embassy is supporting him , '' he says .
Awad al-Taee and Ahmed Qusay contributed reporting to this @ @

Iraq's Protests Shook The Government. Now The Movement Is Nearly Crushed
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jane Arraf/NPR Jane Arraf/NPR
On the ground floor of the concrete high-rise that became the headquarters of the protest movement in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, slogans scrawled in black and a mural of a fish dressed in a suit disappear under coats of white paint.
The young Iraqis erasing the murals are followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shiite Muslim cleric whose support fueled the largely secular protests against government corruption that broke out last October.
Last month from Iran, where he is pursuing his religious studies, Sadr announced the protests have taken the wrong path and that he was withdrawing his support. Two weeks later, he said the protests needed to be "cleansed."
Sadr's actions have essentially crushed the protests, which have been unprecedented in Iraq's modern history. The largely Shiite protesters have challenged the political status quo established after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 — demanding an end to a system that is divided along sectarian and ethnic lines, is rampant with corruption and is dominated by parties with ties to Iran-backed militias.
Sadr heads a political movement and a militia that fought U.S. troops after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. An important power broker in Iraqi politics, he has had on-and-off ties with Iran that appear to be back on again now. Those ties might be behind his recent move against the protest.
"I think for now the Iranians are probably happy to see how he has changed course the last few weeks," says Iraqi political analyst Sajad Jiyad.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Haidar Hamdani/AFP via Getty Images Haidar Hamdani/AFP via Getty Images
In a series of tweets from Iran, the mercurial cleric criticized the Iraqi demonstrators as immoral, accusing them of promiscuity and calling for segregation of men and women in the protest tents.
He sent in enforcers, who call themselves "blue hats" in imitation of United Nations peacekeepers. The Sadr followers in light blue caps swept through Tahrir Square, searching tents, kicking protesters out of their headquarters and handing some over to Iraqi security forces for arrest.
Iraqi security forces and militia fighters, seemingly given free rein after Sadr withdrew his support, burned tents and stepped up attacks on the demonstrations. Protesters say Sadr militants are also responsible for a wave of stabbings, kidnappings and tent burnings, a charge the Sadr movement denies.
"The revolution and the Iraqi people will thank the blue hats, particularly the people of Baghdad," says Natiq al-Gharawi, one of the Sadr movement's media people, as he stands outside the high-rise, known as the "Turkish restaurant" building, controlling access. "They have eliminated the gangs present in the restaurant and other places and eliminated extortion and mafias."
Signs of defeat
Gharawi says the building — where just a few weeks ago hundreds of protesters were living, teaching informal classes and planning their revolution — is being cleaned up and is expected to be sold to investors.
The high-rise, named after a restaurant located there in the 1990s, had been reduced to its concrete frame in the intervening years. Last year, protesters took it over to prevent militia snipers from using it to shoot at the demonstrators in Tahrir Square.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Sabah Arar/AFP via Getty Images Sabah Arar/AFP via Getty Images
On the roof, young people dreaming of a more inclusive homeland would wave Iraqi flags at the crowds in the square below. Now Sadr officials have taken over the rooftop sound system.
Instead of the usual cross section of Iraqi protesters — including families and women with their hair uncovered as well as others wearing headscarves — a demonstration called by Sadr on Friday was almost all men. Some carried aloft photos of Sadr and his revered late father.
A tent near the entrance to Tahrir Square blasted a song boasting of kidnapping anyone who displeased the religious leader — a reference to the dark days of Iraq's sectarian war between 2006 and 2008 and Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jane Arraf/NPR Jane Arraf/NPR
"We are alone"
Many of the young people who had been living there have left the square. Those who remain say food and water supplies have been disrupted. In heated meetings in abandoned buildings used as a refuge, protesters argue about the way forward.
Although the unrest led Iraq's prime minister to announce his resignation last November, protesters' demands for dramatic reform look unlikely to be met.
"We are alone," says a college graduate named Ali after one of the recent meetings. "The other side has everything. They have money, they have the militias, they have weapons." He says he thinks the revolution they believed in has been lost. NPR uses only the first names of Iraqi protesters who fear retaliation from security forces and militias if they are identified.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jane Arraf/NPR Jane Arraf/NPR
The anti-government protests began in the southern city of Basra two years ago in the heat of a summer without regular electricity or clean tap water. By October of last year, demonstrations had spread to cities across the south and to Baghdad.
The protesters are mostly young people — the first Iraqi generation to grow up with the Internet and without memories of life under Hussein, Iraq's president from 1979 to 2003.
The protests have also channeled anger against Iran. The neighboring country dominates Iraq's political system and the paramilitaries that form part of Iraqi security forces but are not under full government control. Attacks on Iranian consulates and Iran-backed party offices in Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Karbala have posed among the biggest challenges to Iran's influence here since 2003. Protesters blame infiltrators settling political scores for those attacks.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jane Arraf/NPR Jane Arraf/NPR
Firing live rounds
Iraqi security forces have fired live bullets and military-grade tear gas at demonstrators. More than 600 protesters have been killed since October and an estimated 20,000 wounded, activists and hospital officials say. Hundreds of the dead were shot in the head or the chest.
The government has acknowledged at least 400 killed and blamed many of the deaths on "unknown groups" — what the Iran-backed militias are called by officials too fearful to mention them by name. Although the government promised to prosecute those responsible, it has not announced any charges.
Faced with a few protesters throwing homemade gasoline bombs and flinging stones with slingshots, security forces have recently begun firing hunting rifles to keep protesters back from public squares.
Mohammad Harbi, 24, became one of the latest victims last Friday.
"There was a protester who was shot and he was running, but then he collapsed," says Haider, an activist with an Iraqi human rights organization who was near Harbi. He says he and another protester picked him up and took him to a hospital. Harbi died on the way.
He loved his country and he was ready to die for it.
The victim's father, Harbi Hasan, a retired Communications Ministry employee, says his son left school after ninth grade to work, selling used clothing in downtown Baghdad.
"He loved his country and he was ready to die for it," says Hasan, 70, sitting on an old sofa with torn cushions in the yard near their small house.
The medical report listed his cause of death as a bullet piercing his renal artery.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Sabah Arar/AFP via Getty Images Sabah Arar/AFP via Getty Images
Mohammad Harbi composed songs that he uploaded to YouTube. In one of his last videos posted in late January, he sits in a tent with friends and sings about his homeland wounded and the Tigris River running red with blood.
Thousands of other protesters have been kidnapped or arrested. Some others have not left the square for weeks, fearing they would be picked up by police or militias.
On Wednesday, a prominent activist, Ahmed al-Wishah, was taken from a restaurant in central Baghdad by what his brother, Akram, said on Twitter was an unknown group. Akram said Ahmed had been threatened before but refused his family's pleas to stop protesting. Ahmed was freed early Friday.
One protester, Hamza, an unemployed carpenter from Diyala province in eastern Iraq, was arrested in January when he ventured out of the square to see a friend at a restaurant.
"They charged him with terrorism. We tried to help but we can't go to the police station — they will arrest us too and accuse us of being terrorists," says his friend Ahmed. Under Iraq's sweeping anti-terrorism law, being convicted of terrorism carries the death penalty.
Ahmed says Hamza does not have access to a lawyer.
Government and militia officials have portrayed the protests as being fueled by the U.S. to create problems for Iran. Ahmed says any foreigner asking about Hamza at the police station would put him in trouble.
"If you ask about him, they will say the American Embassy is supporting him," he says.
Awad al-Taee and Ahmed Qusay contributed reporting to this story.


npr--2020-02-21--Fake Facts Are Flying About Coronavirus. Now There's A Plan To Debunk Them

Fake Facts Are Flying About Coronavirus .
Now There 's A Plan To Debunk Them The coronavirus outbreak has sparked what the World Health Organization is calling an `` infodemic '' — an overwhelming amount of information on social media and websites .
Some of it 's accurate .
And some is downright untrue .
The false statements range from a conspiracy theory that the virus is a man-made bioweapon to the claim that more than 100,000 have died from the disease ( as of this week , the number of reported fatalities is reported at 2,200-plus ) .
WHO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a few weeks after China reported the first cases , the U.N. agency launched a pilot program to make sure the facts about the newly identified virus are communicated to the public .
The project is called EPI-WIN — short for WHO Information Network for Epidemics .
`` We need a vaccine against misinformation , '' said Dr. Mike Ryan , head of WHO 's health emergencies program , at a WHO briefing on the virus earlier this month .
While this is not the first health crisis that has been characterized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ebola , for example — researchers are especially concerned because this outbreak is centered in China .
The world 's most populous country has the largest market of Internet users globally : 21 % of the world 's 3.8 billion Internet users are in China .
And fake news can spread quickly online .
A 2018 study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that `` false news spreads more rapidly on the social network Twitter than real news does . ''
The reason , say the researchers , may be that the untrue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , disgust and surprise .
This dynamic could cause fake coronavirus cures and treatments to fan out widely on social media — and as a result , worsen the impact of the outbreak , says Bhaskar Chakravorti , dean of global business at the Fletcher School at Tufts University .
Over the past decade , he has been tracking the effect of digital technology on issues such as global health and economic development .
The rumors offer remedies that have no basis in science .
One untrue statement suggests that rubbing sesame oil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If segments of the public turn to false treatments rather than follow the advice of trusted sources for avoiding illness ( like frequent hand-washing with soap and water ) , it could cause `` the disease to travel further and faster than it ordinarily would have , '' says Chakravorti .
There could be a political agenda behind the fake coronavirus news as well .
Countries that are antagonistic toward China could try to hijack the conversation in hopes of creating chaos and eroding trust in the authorities , says Dr. Margaret @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center 's Security and Global Health Project .
`` Disinformation that specifically targets your health system or your leaders who are trying to manage an emergency is a way of destroying , undermining , disrupting your health system , '' she says .
In the instance of vaccines , Russian bots have been identified as fueling skepticism about the effectiveness of vaccination for childhood diseases in the U.S .
The World Health Organization 's EPI-WIN team believes that the countermeasure for misinformation and disinformation is simply to tell the truth .
It works @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social media .
In a series of bright blue graphics posted on Instagram , EPI-WIN states categorically that neither sesame oil nor breathing in the smoke of fire or fireworks will kill the new coronavirus .
The approach , says Melinda Frost , an officer on the EPI-WIN team , is based on the idea that employers are the most trusted institution in society , a finding reflected in a 2020 study on global trust from the public relations firm Edelman : `` People tend to trust their employers more than they trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Over the past few weeks , Frost and her team have been organizing rounds of conference calls with representatives from Fortune 500 companies and other multinational corporations in sectors such as health , travel and tourism , food and agriculture , and business .
The company representatives share questions that their employees might have about the coronavirus outbreak — for example , is it safe to go to conferences ?
The EPI-WIN team gathers the frequently asked questions , has their experts answer them within a few days , and then sends the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in internal newsletters and other communication .
Because the information is coming from their employer , says Frost , the hope is that people will be more likely to believe what they hear and pass the information on to their family and community .
It borrows from `` advertising techniques from the 1950s , '' she adds .
`` They 're establishing the narrative before anybody else can .
They are going on offense , saying , 'Here are the facts . '
`` WHO is also collaborating with tech giants like Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ TikTok to limit the spread of harmful rumors .
It 's pursuing a similar tactic with Chinese digital companies such as Baidu , Tencent and Weibo .
`` We are asking them to filter out false information and promote accurate information from credible sources like WHO , CDC [ the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ] and others .
And we thank them for their efforts so far , '' said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , director-general of WHO , in a briefing earlier this month .
Google and Twitter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credible sources such as WHO and the CDC in search results for the term `` coronavirus . ''
And Facebook has deployed fact-checkers to remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories about the outbreak .
Kang-Xing Jin , head of health at Facebook , wrote in a statement about one such rumor that it has eliminated from its platform : that drinking bleach cures coronavirus .
Chakravorti applauds WHO 's coordination with the digital companies — but says he 's particularly impressed with Facebook 's efforts .
`` This is a radical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including its controversial insistence on permitting false political ads , '' he wrote in an op-ed in Bloomberg News .
[ Facebook and Twitter did not respond to requests from NPR for comments .
Facebook is one of NPR 's financial sponsors . ]
Still , there is no silver bullet to fighting health misinformation .
It has become `` very , very difficult to fight effectively , '' says Chakravorti of Tufts University .
A post making a false claim about coronavirus can just `` jump platforms , '' he says .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ down a post , but then the post finds its way on Twitter , then it jumps from Twitter to YouTube . ''
In addition to efforts by WHO and other organizations , individuals are doing their part .
On Wednesday , The Lancet published a statement from 27 public health scientists addressing rumors that the coronavirus had been engineered in a Wuhan lab : `` We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin ... .
Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collaboration in the fight against this virus . ''
Dr. Deliang Tang , a molecular epidemiologist at Columbia University 's Mailman School of Public Health , says his friends from medical school and his research colleagues in China find it difficult to trust Chinese health authorities , especially after police reprimanded the eight Chinese doctors who warned others about a pneumonialike disease in December .
As a result , Tang 's network in China has been looking to him and others in the scientific community to share information .
Since the outbreak began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` 30 to 50 questions a night . ''
Many want to fact-check rumors or learn about clinical trials for a potential cure .
`` My real work starts at 7 p.m. , '' he says — morning in China .

Fake Facts Are Flying About Coronavirus. Now There's A Plan To Debunk Them
Enlarge this image toggle caption Facebook/ Screengrab by NPR Facebook/ Screengrab by NPR
Updated on March 9th at Noon EST.
The coronavirus outbreak has sparked what the World Health Organization is calling an "infodemic" — an overwhelming amount of information on social media and websites. Some of it's accurate. And some is downright untrue.
The false statements range from a conspiracy theory that the virus is a man-made bioweapon to the claim that more than 100,000 have died from the disease (as of this week, there are more than 3800 reported fatalities world wide).
WHO is fighting back. In early January, a few weeks after China reported the first cases, the U.N. agency launched a pilot program to make sure the facts about the newly identified virus are communicated to the public. The project is called EPI-WIN — short for WHO Information Network for Epidemics.
"We need a vaccine against misinformation," said Dr. Mike Ryan, head of WHO's health emergencies program, at a WHO briefing on the virus in February.
While this is not the first health crisis that has been characterized by online misinformation — it happened with Ebola, for example — researchers are especially concerned because this outbreak is centered in China. The world's most populous country has the largest market of Internet users globally: 21% of the world's 3.8 billion Internet users are in China.
And fake news can spread quickly online. A 2018 study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that "false news spreads more rapidly on the social network Twitter than real news does." The reason, say the researchers, may be that the untrue statements inspire strong feelings such as fear, disgust and surprise.
This dynamic could cause fake coronavirus cures and treatments to fan out widely on social media — and as a result, worsen the impact of the outbreak, says Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Over the past decade, he has been tracking the effect of digital technology on issues such as global health and economic development.
The rumors offer remedies that have no basis in science. One untrue statement suggests that rubbing sesame oil on the skin will block the coronavirus.
If segments of the public turn to false treatments rather than follow the advice of trusted sources for avoiding illness (like frequent hand-washing with soap and water), it could cause "the disease to travel further and faster than it ordinarily would have," says Chakravorti.
There could be a political agenda behind the fake coronavirus news as well. Countries that are antagonistic toward China could try to hijack the conversation in hopes of creating chaos and eroding trust in the authorities, says Dr. Margaret Bourdeaux, research director for Harvard Belfer Center's Security and Global Health Project.
"Disinformation that specifically targets your health system or your leaders who are trying to manage an emergency is a way of destroying, undermining, disrupting your health system," she says.
In the instance of vaccines, Russian bots have been identified as fueling skepticism about the effectiveness of vaccination for childhood diseases in the U.S.
The World Health Organization's EPI-WIN team believes that the countermeasure for misinformation and disinformation is simply to tell the truth.
It works rapidly to debunk unjustified medical claims on social media. In a series of bright blue graphics posted on Instagram, EPI-WIN states categorically that neither sesame oil nor breathing in the smoke of fire or fireworks will kill the new coronavirus.
Part of this truth-telling strategy involves enlisting large-scale employers.
The approach, says Melinda Frost, an officer on the EPI-WIN team, is based on the idea that employers are the most trusted institution in society, a finding reflected in a 2020 study on global trust from the public relations firm Edelman: "People tend to trust their employers more than they trust several other sources of information."
Over the past several weeks, Frost and her team have been organizing rounds of conference calls with representatives from Fortune 500 companies and other multinational corporations in sectors such as health, travel and tourism, food and agriculture, and business.
The company representatives share questions that their employees might have about the coronavirus outbreak — for example, is it safe to go to conferences? The EPI-WIN team gathers the frequently asked questions, has their experts answer them within a few days, and then sends the responses back to the companies to distribute in internal newsletters and other communication.
Because the information is coming from their employer, says Frost, the hope is that people will be more likely to believe what they hear and pass the information on to their family and community.
Bourdeaux at Harvard calls this approach a "smart move."
It borrows from "advertising techniques from the 1950s," she adds. "They're establishing the narrative before anybody else can. They are going on offense, saying, 'Here are the facts.' "
WHO is also collaborating with tech giants like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok to limit the spread of harmful rumors. It's pursuing a similar tactic with Chinese digital companies such as Baidu, Tencent and Weibo.
"We are asking them to filter out false information and promote accurate information from credible sources like WHO, CDC [the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and others. And we thank them for their efforts so far," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, in a briefing earlier this month.
Twitter, for example, now actively bumps up credible sources such as WHO and the CDC in search results for the term "coronavirus."
"We're also taking proactive action on any coordinated attempts to undermine the public conversation on this critical issue," wrote a Twitter spokesperson in a statement to NPR.
Facebook (which is one of NPR's financial sponsors) is implementing similar strategies. "When people search for information related to the virus on Facebook, we will surface an educational pop-up with credible information in multiple languages and countries," wrote a Facebook spokesperson in a statement to NPR. "We've connected people to regional health ministries in several countries, for example: The Center for Health Protection in Hong Kong, Taiwan Center for Disease Control in Taiwan, the Republic of the Philippines Department of Health in the Philippines, the Ministry of Health in Italy."
Facebook has taken the extra step of deploying fact-checkers to remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories about the outbreak. Kang-Xing Jin, head of health at Facebook, wrote in a statement about one such rumor that it has eliminated from its platform: that drinking bleach cures coronavirus.
Chakravorti applauds WHO's coordination with the digital companies — but says he's particularly impressed with Facebook's efforts. "This is a radical departure from Facebook's past record, including its controversial insistence on permitting false political ads," he wrote in an op-ed in Bloomberg News.
Still, there is no silver bullet to fighting health misinformation. It has become "very, very difficult to fight effectively," says Chakravorti of Tufts University.
A post making a false claim about coronavirus can just "jump platforms," he says. "So you might have Facebook taking down a post, but then the post finds its way on Twitter, then it jumps from Twitter to YouTube."
In addition to efforts by WHO and other organizations, individuals are doing their part.
On Wednesday, The Lancet published a statement from 27 public health scientists addressing rumors that the coronavirus had been engineered in a Wuhan lab: "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin .... Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumors and prejudice that jeopardize our global collaboration in the fight against this virus."
Dr. Deliang Tang, a molecular epidemiologist at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, says his friends from medical school and his research colleagues in China find it difficult to trust Chinese health authorities, especially after police reprimanded the eight Chinese doctors who warned others about a pneumonia-like disease in December.
As a result, Tang's network in China has been looking to him and others in the scientific community to share information.
Since the outbreak began, Tang says he has been answering "30 to 50 questions a night." Many want to fact-check rumors or learn about clinical trials for a potential cure.
"My real work starts at 7 p.m.," he says — morning in China.


npr--2020-02-21--Inside Sajaegi, K-Pop's Open Secret

Inside Sajaegi, K-Pop's Open Secret

Last fall , Malvo , an indie K-pop artist , was walking to the parking lot after a long day .
He had just finished a show at a university festival near Seoul , South Korea .
In the lot , a middle-aged man approached the musician , saying he had a `` marketing opportunity '' for Malvo and his songs .
He did n't give his phone number , or his name .
Two days later , as instructed , Malvo met the man and his colleague at a cafe in Seoul .
The men , whose names Malvo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ordinary to the extreme , '' knit sweaters and all .
`` They told me they could get me 'into the charts , ' `` Malvo , whose real name is Lee Beomju , tells NPR .
`` I realized this was n't a regular marketing offer .
This was music sajaegi . ''
Some may be familiar with the term sajaegi through BTS , the boy group and K-pop wonder whose new album , Map of the Soul : 7 , has just been released .
BTS subtly brought some attention to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ How about creating music using more honest means , '' said BTS member Jin at the Mnet Asian Music Awards , where the group won nine awards , including album of the year .
In Korea , sajaegi generally refers to the illegal bulk-buying of any item — for example , a firm in South Korea recently sajaegi-ed over four million face-masks due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak .
But in music , sajaegi has a more specific meaning — unethically and/or illegally boosting a chart ranking .
For example , entertainment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , probably more likely in the digital era , using bots or computer farms to repeatedly stream songs and hike up chart numbers .
Sajaegi scandals are testing the Korean music industry , questioning the credibility of online charts , entertainment agencies and even some fan engagement .
Not easy to pin down '' Sajaegi has been around for a long time , '' argues Shin Daechul , a renowned musician who debuted with the legendary rock group Sinawe in 1986 , and who now also works an artists ' rights advocate at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ age , Shin tells NPR , `` the media have changed , but the idea is the same .
The methods have just gotten more covert . ''
On a neat powerpoint presentation , the men walked Malvo through a range of options , including the highest : getting to the top of the charts , which would cost him more than 300 million Korean won ( over $ 250,000 ) .
Malvo is n't the only one with this experience — others have spoken out on being approached , including Tiger JK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acts .
`` I once got an offer for 100 million won [ around $ 84,000 ] to go higher in the charts , '' said Tiger JK in January on Unanswered Questions , a documentary series produced by broadcaster SBS .
His 2015 song `` I Know '' alludes to the incident with the lyrics , `` Do you really cost 100 million won ? ''
One of the most infamous sajaegi scandals in recent K-music history probably concerns Nilo .
If you 're a major K-pop fan and have never heard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alone .
In 2018 , one of Nilo 's songs hit No.1 on Melon , the biggest music streaming platform in Korea .
The feat sparked intense accusations of sajaegi against the virtually unknown-at-the-time singer , leaving his headlining song on Youtube filled with commenters mocking his allegedly fake No .
1 .
He 's not the only one suspected .
Last November , Park Kyung , a member of boy band Block B , sarcastically said , in a now-deleted tweet , `` I want to do sajaegi too , like Vibe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jeon Sang-keun , Jang Deok-cheol and Hwang In-wook . ''
Those six artists subsequently sued Park Kyung for defamation .
But Park 's agency has vowed to defend the Block B singer , saying they want to get to the bottom of the rumors of chart manipulation , which is illegal under Korean law and punishable with 20 million won in fines ( around $ 16,800 ) or up to two years in prison .
According to the national police 's Cyber Investigation Department , police are currently investigating music sajaegi cases .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ statistics about how many cases there were , or if anyone has ever been punished for the practice .
`` Charts are supposed to be leading the music industry , '' tweeted Hong Seung-sung , founder of Cube Entertainment , a prominent K-pop agency .
`` But they 've become sajaegi puppets . ''
Despite the size of the scandal , which has made headlines in the Korean music industry more than once in the last decade , it 's actually not clear how sajaegi schemes operate in the music industry , nor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sources from the SBS documentary suggested that entertainment agencies hire firms claiming to be `` marketing companies , '' who then supposedly communicate with shady tech firms through brokers — none of whose identities are known .
`` I do n't think it 's right to think of sajaegi firms working only with companies , '' argued the head of JYP , one of Korea 's biggest labels , in 2015 .
`` These firms can be hired by individuals within labels , or composers , or even the artist .
There are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everywhere , but no substantial proof that any of the sajaegi rumors are real .
In 2013 , JYP and three other major labels formally asked prosecutors to investigate sajaegi .
Prosecutors dropped the request , saying there was n't enough evidence .
In 2018 , Nilo and his agency , claiming innocence against accusations , asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate the matter .
The ministry study proved inconclusive .
`` When we spotted irregular streaming patterns , there was no way of knowing if the listener was a fan or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an anonymous Ministry rep told Nocut News .
`` Almost everyone , especially on the music production side , knows that sajaegi exists , '' Shin tells NPR .
`` It 's so common that people just keep their mouths shut .
Too many interests are tied in together . ''
Not everyone is convinced that sajaegi is all that common .
Ca n't try this at home '' It 's not as simple as developing some automated program [ that can stream music repeatedly ] , '' said Chanam Park , CEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firm that has consulted for Melon in the past and whose staff have met with major entertainment companies to discuss the sajaegi problem .
Technically speaking , according to Park , a sajaegi scheme would likely involve either of two approaches : one , somehow go around a music site 's various security measures and change the ranking directly .
Second , own `` an incredible amount '' of IDs on a platform ( like Spotify or Melon ) , and use them to stream music on different devices , e.g .
at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just as difficult to do as the latter , says Park .
Hacking any major music platform is hard , considering the kind of precautions platforms take .
Hypothetically , even if someone managed to , somehow , get large quantities of IDs , whether fake or stolen , the sajaegi scheme would need a near-perfect sense of timing .
`` Let 's say you 're sajaegi-ing an album at the same time IU [ a major K-pop star ] releases one .
Then owning just tens of thousands of IDs would n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shin , Stealien 's senior vice president of research .
`` If you want to be No.1 , there are so many conditions that need to be satisfied .
It 's really not that easy . ''
Mark Mulligan , a long-time music industry analyst at MIDiA Research , agrees .
On technological manipulations , `` streaming services normally have a series of measures that stop suspicious behavior quite early on , '' Mulligan says .
`` They have done a really good job of making those incidents a small part of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but they 're not a meaningful part of the mix . ''
A genre with the `` most '' fans Perhaps the larger question in the sajaegi scandal is defining what `` online chart manipulation '' even means in the digital era .
Mulligan says technological manipulations are `` easier for tech firms to deal with .
What [ streaming services ] ca n't deal with at the moment is fanbases doing it .
And K-pop artists have got that asset unlike any other fanbase . ''
`` The fan behavior of K-pop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ landscape for fanbases , '' argues Mulligan .
K-pop fans are famous for their incredible mobilization , including planting a rainforest for their favorite artist and buying expensive ads in Times Square .
There 's even a Korean fan-slang word for streaming an artist repeatedly to boost chart numbers : sumseuming , or `` streaming 24/7 as one breathes . ''
Can fan mobilization be manipulative , like sajaegi ?
Some superfans have allegedly gone too far , using multiple accounts and devices to mess with streaming data .
In 2017 , after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even changed their real-time ranking systems , to reduce chart manipulation by fans .
`` We 're just trying to support our idols , '' says Lamia Putri , a BTS fan from Yogyakarta , Indonesia .
Putri does n't engage in endless streaming , because she has a full-time job .
To her , fan streaming is a form of engagement .
Whereas sajaegi is '' unfair .
It 's outside our control .
It 's created by people who have power .
We 're only fans .
We ca n't do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If you listen all day on just one device , it 's not manipulation .
I think that 's normal , '' she laughs .
`` I mean , I do n't think that 's normal , but I think it 's okay .
There 's no policy that you should stop listening to music on a platform after a certain period of time . ''
Mulligan agrees .
`` If streaming services try to shut this stuff down , they 're actually stopping valid fan engagement .
There are no rules in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed to listen to one song .
Nor should there be . ''
To observers like Mulligan , online charts are becoming an increasingly outdated tool to measure music .
`` The success of an artist goes way beyond streaming itself , '' Mulligan says .
`` But record labels still compete with each other for market share based on chart position . ''
Despite the complexity of the music industry in the digital era , a narrow focus on online ranking is what drives the supposed sajaegi schemes in South Korea .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the only way to show an artist is top-class , '' says Shin .
`` We often say , 'out of sight , out of mind . '
If you do n't see the music on the charts , they seem to naturally go extinct . ''
Putri does n't agree .
`` Sure , online charts are important .
But there are so many musicians in the world .
I do n't think my idol has to be the first on the charts .
As long as they have good music @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sajaegi problem is casting a shadow over the Korean music scene .
But it 's also triggering a much-needed debate .
More prominent artists are speaking out , condemning the practice .
Experts are discussing how to reassess the music charts in the digital era .
Meanwhile , Malvo is unfazed , determined to continue doing music the way he likes .
`` Those guys [ who offered sajaegi ] asked me , 'How long are you going to keep doing music that does n't even enter the charts ? '
I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Is n't it like drinking the Holy Grail full of poison ? ''
Haeryun Kang is a freelance journalist based in Seoul and the creative director of videocusIN , a media incubator .

Inside Sajaegi, K-Pop's Open Secret
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Last fall, Malvo, an indie K-pop artist, was walking to the parking lot after a long day. He had just finished a show at a university festival near Seoul, South Korea. In the lot, a middle-aged man approached the musician, saying he had a "marketing opportunity" for Malvo and his songs. He didn't give his phone number, or his name.
Two days later, as instructed, Malvo met the man and his colleague at a cafe in Seoul. The men, whose names Malvo still doesn't know, looked "ordinary to the extreme," knit sweaters and all. "They told me they could get me 'into the charts,' " Malvo, whose real name is Lee Beomju, tells NPR. "I realized this wasn't a regular marketing offer. This was music sajaegi."
Some may be familiar with the term sajaegi through BTS, the boy group and K-pop wonder whose new album, Map of the Soul: 7, has just been released. BTS subtly brought some attention to online chart manipulation last December. "How about creating music using more honest means," said BTS member Jin at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, where the group won nine awards, including album of the year.
In Korea, sajaegi generally refers to the illegal bulk-buying of any item — for example, a firm in South Korea recently sajaegi-ed over four million face-masks due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak.
But in music, sajaegi has a more specific meaning — unethically and/or illegally boosting a chart ranking. For example, entertainment agencies bulk-buying their own CDs; or, probably more likely in the digital era, using bots or computer farms to repeatedly stream songs and hike up chart numbers. Sajaegi scandals are testing the Korean music industry, questioning the credibility of online charts, entertainment agencies and even some fan engagement.
Not easy to pin down
"Sajaegi has been around for a long time," argues Shin Daechul, a renowned musician who debuted with the legendary rock group Sinawe in 1986, and who now also works an artists' rights advocate at Bareun Music Cooperative. In the digital age, Shin tells NPR, "the media have changed, but the idea is the same. The methods have just gotten more covert."
On a neat powerpoint presentation, the men walked Malvo through a range of options, including the highest: getting to the top of the charts, which would cost him more than 300 million Korean won (over $250,000). Malvo isn't the only one with this experience — others have spoken out on being approached, including Tiger JK, one of Korea's biggest hip-hop acts.
"I once got an offer for 100 million won [around $84,000] to go higher in the charts," said Tiger JK in January on Unanswered Questions, a documentary series produced by broadcaster SBS. His 2015 song "I Know" alludes to the incident with the lyrics, "Do you really cost 100 million won?"
One of the most infamous sajaegi scandals in recent K-music history probably concerns Nilo. If you're a major K-pop fan and have never heard of him, you're probably not alone.
In 2018, one of Nilo's songs hit No.1 on Melon, the biggest music streaming platform in Korea. The feat sparked intense accusations of sajaegi against the virtually unknown-at-the-time singer, leaving his headlining song on Youtube filled with commenters mocking his allegedly fake No. 1.
He's not the only one suspected. Last November, Park Kyung, a member of boy band Block B, sarcastically said, in a now-deleted tweet, "I want to do sajaegi too, like Vibe, Song Ha-ye, Lim Jae-hyun, Jeon Sang-keun, Jang Deok-cheol and Hwang In-wook."
Those six artists subsequently sued Park Kyung for defamation. But Park's agency has vowed to defend the Block B singer, saying they want to get to the bottom of the rumors of chart manipulation, which is illegal under Korean law and punishable with 20 million won in fines (around $16,800) or up to two years in prison.
According to the national police's Cyber Investigation Department, police are currently investigating music sajaegi cases. But the department didn't have precise statistics about how many cases there were, or if anyone has ever been punished for the practice.
"Charts are supposed to be leading the music industry," tweeted Hong Seung-sung, founder of Cube Entertainment, a prominent K-pop agency. "But they've become sajaegi puppets."
Despite the size of the scandal, which has made headlines in the Korean music industry more than once in the last decade, it's actually not clear how sajaegi schemes operate in the music industry, nor even how commonly they occur.
Multiple sources from the SBS documentary suggested that entertainment agencies hire firms claiming to be "marketing companies," who then supposedly communicate with shady tech firms through brokers — none of whose identities are known.
"I don't think it's right to think of sajaegi firms working only with companies," argued the head of JYP, one of Korea's biggest labels, in 2015. "These firms can be hired by individuals within labels, or composers, or even the artist. There are many possibilities."
There's smoke everywhere, but no substantial proof that any of the sajaegi rumors are real. In 2013, JYP and three other major labels formally asked prosecutors to investigate sajaegi. Prosecutors dropped the request, saying there wasn't enough evidence. In 2018, Nilo and his agency, claiming innocence against accusations, asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate the matter. The ministry study proved inconclusive.
"When we spotted irregular streaming patterns, there was no way of knowing if the listener was a fan or some [sajaegi]account," an anonymous Ministry rep told Nocut News.
"Almost everyone, especially on the music production side, knows that sajaegi exists," Shin tells NPR. "It's so common that people just keep their mouths shut. Too many interests are tied in together."
Not everyone is convinced that sajaegi is all that common.
Can't try this at home
"It's not as simple as developing some automated program [that can stream music repeatedly]," said Chanam Park, CEO of Stealien, a hacker-run cyber security firm that has consulted for Melon in the past and whose staff have met with major entertainment companies to discuss the sajaegi problem.
Technically speaking, according to Park, a sajaegi scheme would likely involve either of two approaches: one, somehow go around a music site's various security measures and change the ranking directly. Second, own "an incredible amount" of IDs on a platform (like Spotify or Melon), and use them to stream music on different devices, e.g. at a computer farm.
The former is just as difficult to do as the latter, says Park. Hacking any major music platform is hard, considering the kind of precautions platforms take. Hypothetically, even if someone managed to, somehow, get large quantities of IDs, whether fake or stolen, the sajaegi scheme would need a near-perfect sense of timing.
"Let's say you're sajaegi-ing an album at the same time IU [a major K-pop star] releases one. Then owning just tens of thousands of IDs wouldn't even cut close," says Donghwi Shin, Stealien's senior vice president of research. "If you want to be No.1, there are so many conditions that need to be satisfied. It's really not that easy."
Mark Mulligan, a long-time music industry analyst at MIDiA Research, agrees. On technological manipulations, "streaming services normally have a series of measures that stop suspicious behavior quite early on," Mulligan says. "They have done a really good job of making those incidents a small part of the whole mix. The incidents happen, but they're not a meaningful part of the mix."
A genre with the "most" fans
Perhaps the larger question in the sajaegi scandal is defining what "online chart manipulation" even means in the digital era.
Mulligan says technological manipulations are "easier for tech firms to deal with. What [streaming services] can't deal with at the moment is fanbases doing it. And K-pop artists have got that asset unlike any other fanbase."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images Drew Angerer/Getty Images
"The fan behavior of K-pop artists is beginning to transform the global landscape for fanbases," argues Mulligan.
K-pop fans are famous for their incredible mobilization, including planting a rainforest for their favorite artist and buying expensive ads in Times Square. There's even a Korean fan-slang word for streaming an artist repeatedly to boost chart numbers: sumseuming, or "streaming 24/7 as one breathes."
Can fan mobilization be manipulative, like sajaegi? Some superfans have allegedly gone too far, using multiple accounts and devices to mess with streaming data. In 2017, after a government request, Korean music services even changed their real-time ranking systems, to reduce chart manipulation by fans.
"We're just trying to support our idols," says Lamia Putri, a BTS fan from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Putri doesn't engage in endless streaming, because she has a full-time job.
To her, fan streaming is a form of engagement. Whereas sajaegi is"unfair. It's outside our control. It's created by people who have power. We're only fans. We can't do anything but get angry."
"If you listen all day on just one device, it's not manipulation. I think that's normal," she laughs. "I mean, I don't think that's normal, but I think it's okay. There's no policy that you should stop listening to music on a platform after a certain period of time."
Mulligan agrees. "If streaming services try to shut this stuff down, they're actually stopping valid fan engagement. There are no rules in streaming services in how much you're allowed to listen to one song. Nor should there be."
To observers like Mulligan, online charts are becoming an increasingly outdated tool to measure music.
"The success of an artist goes way beyond streaming itself," Mulligan says. "But record labels still compete with each other for market share based on chart position."
Despite the complexity of the music industry in the digital era, a narrow focus on online ranking is what drives the supposed sajaegi schemes in South Korea. "Unfortunately, charts are still seen as the only way to show an artist is top-class," says Shin. "We often say, 'out of sight, out of mind.' If you don't see the music on the charts, they seem to naturally go extinct."
Putri doesn't agree. "Sure, online charts are important. But there are so many musicians in the world. I don't think my idol has to be the first on the charts. As long as they have good music, it's okay."
The sajaegi problem is casting a shadow over the Korean music scene. But it's also triggering a much-needed debate. More prominent artists are speaking out, condemning the practice. Experts are discussing how to reassess the music charts in the digital era.
Meanwhile, Malvo is unfazed, determined to continue doing music the way he likes. "Those guys [who offered sajaegi] asked me, 'How long are you going to keep doing music that doesn't even enter the charts?' I think, isn't doing sajaegi more toxic? Isn't it like drinking the Holy Grail full of poison?"
Haeryun Kang is a freelance journalist based in Seoul and the creative director of videocusIN, a media incubator.


npr--2020-02-21--Restrictions And Rewards: How China Is Locking Down Half A Billion Citizens

Restrictions And Rewards : How China Is Locking Down Half A Billion Citizens China has put more than half a billion people under partial or total lockdown in what it is calling an all-out `` people 's war '' against the spread of the new coronavirus .
It 's equivalent to restricting the movement of the entire population of North America .
To enforce sweeping quarantine measures over vast areas of the country , China has turned to a medley of low- and high-tech measures .
Citizens are also financially rewarded for reporting those who fail to follow quarantine orders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of social control now being mobilized on an unprecedented scale .
Researchers say it is too early to determine what effect these measures have had in containing the outbreak .
A lack of accurate screening measures and a delayed response to the virus likely have blunted the efficacy of quarantines .
Here are some of the ways that local and national authorities are keeping their citizens in check .
Lockdown measures have been most severe in Hubei province , the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak with nearly three-fourths of the 75,000-plus confirmed cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the weeks since Jan. 23 , when Wuhan , Hubei 's capital city , prohibited anyone from leaving , government officials across the province have gradually ramped up efforts to keep residents inside their houses .
Apartment compounds allowed people to go in and out through one gate , each household could only send one person out once every three days to purchase groceries , and everyone 's temperature is checked upon entrance .
But as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb , Hubei officials have implemented more drastic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On Sunday , the Hubei government ordered community officials to began enforcing `` the strictest , around-the-clock , closed management '' of all residential complexes , banning the private use of cars , forbidding residents from leaving their apartments without permission and requiring purchasers of cold medicine to disclose their temperature , address and identification number at the pharmacy .
To further cut down on people 's needs to leave their houses , many community officials are now buying and delivering groceries and medication for the residents in their jurisdiction .
The majority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ density of coronavirus cases , has far less extreme controls .
Many cities have utilized a monitoring scheme in which large neighborhoods are broken down into smaller gridlike units responsible for enforcing regulations .
The method traces back to the way social order was maintained in Imperial China .
Community officials — a mix of paid employees and volunteers , mostly retirees — tightly monitor activity such as going out or visiting other residential complexes .
They can call the local police for backup if anyone refuses to cooperate with temperature checks or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as grid workers , are supposed to screen each person 's temperature as they enter the complex — echoing the rules in Wuhan — and note whether they 've recently left the city .
Some neighborhoods have even distributed permits to residents so that only those who live there can get in .
But in practice , implementation of these control measures can be lax given that travel records largely rely on self-reporting and that not all workers are equally zealous .
The sheer number of grid workers dedicated to patrolling the streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the rules in certain neighborhoods .
Zhejiang province , which has one of the highest rates of virus cases outside of the epicenter in Hubei , says it now has 330,000 grid workers supervising households and neighborhoods .
In Sichuan province , local governments have beefed up to 300,000 grid workers .
Just one district in Beijing recruited 2,000 Communist party members to help out with grid work .
They now patrol the gates of residential compounds , registering anyone with a recent travel history and enforcing a 14-day self-quarantine .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials are rewarding anyone who reports neighbors and friends for attending social gatherings or refusing to quarantine themselves after traveling .
A person who disobeys these rules may be subjected to detention and fines for disrupting social order , a charge punishable under China 's administrative law .
Nearly all cities have prohibited group activities such as dinner parties to prevent mass infection .
In one Fujian village , a man returning home from Wuhan had attended several Lunar New Year celebrations before being diagnosed with COVID-19 .
As a result over 4,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were forced into quarantine .
The steel manufacturing hub of Shijiazhuang says the local government will give citizens up to RMB2,000 , or $ 290 , for reporting anyone traveling from or returning from a visit to Wuhan , where the outbreak began .
Another neighborhood in the southern city of Nanchang , near the border of the virus epicenter , will shell out RMB500 ( $ 72 ) for those who turn in people running a fever .
A district of the Sichuan city of Deyang is giving out a sliding scale @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 143 ) for tips on an even wider variety of misbehavior , including people who trade wild animals , jack up prices on medical supplies and host family members who 've traveled from outside the city .
Coastal Zhejiang province is cutting down on the amount of time people spend outdoors as a way to clamp down on the spread of the virus .
In the city of Wenzhou , Zhejiang 's capital Hangzhou and other surrounding municipalities , only one member of a household can leave every two days to buy groceries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ draconian approach less than a week after it was put in place after the public complained about the inconvenience .
Rural areas , where the population density is usually too low for grid management , have taken a more hands-on approach .
Villages near the border with Hubei province or with high numbers of migrant workers have voluntarily barricaded themselves to prevent travelers from entering and residents from leaving .
These restrictions have decimated China 's manufacturing sector , which is highly reliant on the labor of the country 's approximately 300 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have remained shuttered well after Feb. 10 , when people were supposed to get back to work after the Lunar New Year hiatus .
The blocking of movement has also stranded unlucky travelers .
Several long-distance truck drivers who left Hubei in early January to deliver produce found themselves stuck in between cities that refused to let in vehicles with Hubei license plates .
China has turned to a number of apps designed to record the whereabouts of millions of travelers .
Some cities rolled out their own digital tools : They require @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers and traveling history to local authorities before disembarking from trains or planes .
In Shanghai , for example , only those who filled out this digital form are allowed to leave the train station or airport .
Apps like Shanghai 's serve both as a reminder to travelers that they need to be quarantined at home for 14 days and as a tracking tool for the government in case anyone in the database becomes infected .
Other apps record the whereabouts of local residents .
In the southwestern province of Yunnan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restaurants and transportation hubs must scan a QR code , a type of barcode in which a digital link is embedded , and leave a phone number .
Local public health officials may contact those who came into contact with a virus carrier .
In Zhejiang , residents can fill out their recent travel history and any contact with known virus carriers in Alipay , a payment platform owned by tech giant Alibaba .
They then receive a green code that allows them to move freely or a yellow or red code that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The onslaught of demands for personal information is raising concerns about how such data is used and stored .
So far , Yunnan claims that location information gathered from its citizens would be destroyed once the outbreak dies down .
China 's transportation ministry said it would only release people 's travel records to public health agencies .
Yet the public remains skeptical .
`` The collection and use of personal information ( facial recognition , phone number , home addresses ) during this outbreak is truly a disaster , '' one @ @ @ @

Restrictions And Rewards: How China Is Locking Down Half A Billion Citizens
Enlarge this image toggle caption Stringer for NPR Stringer for NPR
China has put more than half a billion people under partial or total lockdown in what it is calling an all-out "people's war" against the spread of the new coronavirus. It's equivalent to restricting the movement of the entire population of North America.
To enforce sweeping quarantine measures over vast areas of the country, China has turned to a medley of low- and high-tech measures. Citizens are also financially rewarded for reporting those who fail to follow quarantine orders. These methods reflect a decades-long history of social control now being mobilized on an unprecedented scale.
Researchers say it is too early to determine what effect these measures have had in containing the outbreak. A lack of accurate screening measures and a delayed response to the virus likely have blunted the efficacy of quarantines.
Here are some of the ways that local and national authorities are keeping their citizens in check.
Full-blown lockdown
Lockdown measures have been most severe in Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak with nearly three-fourths of the 75,000-plus confirmed cases (as of Thursday) in China.
In the weeks since Jan. 23, when Wuhan, Hubei's capital city, prohibited anyone from leaving, government officials across the province have gradually ramped up efforts to keep residents inside their houses. Apartment compounds allowed people to go in and out through one gate, each household could only send one person out once every three days to purchase groceries, and everyone's temperature is checked upon entrance.
But as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb, Hubei officials have implemented more drastic policies on nearly 60 million residents.
On Sunday, the Hubei government ordered community officials to began enforcing "the strictest, around-the-clock, closed management" of all residential complexes, banning the private use of cars, forbidding residents from leaving their apartments without permission and requiring purchasers of cold medicine to disclose their temperature, address and identification number at the pharmacy. To further cut down on people's needs to leave their houses, many community officials are now buying and delivering groceries and medication for the residents in their jurisdiction.
An army of monitors
The majority of China, which faces a lower density of coronavirus cases, has far less extreme controls.
Many cities have utilized a monitoring scheme in which large neighborhoods are broken down into smaller gridlike units responsible for enforcing regulations. The method traces back to the way social order was maintained in Imperial China.
Community officials — a mix of paid employees and volunteers, mostly retirees — tightly monitor activity such as going out or visiting other residential complexes. They can call the local police for backup if anyone refuses to cooperate with temperature checks or quarantine orders.
These officials, known as grid workers, are supposed to screen each person's temperature as they enter the complex — echoing the rules in Wuhan — and note whether they've recently left the city. Some neighborhoods have even distributed permits to residents so that only those who live there can get in.
But in practice, implementation of these control measures can be lax given that travel records largely rely on self-reporting and that not all workers are equally zealous.
The sheer number of grid workers dedicated to patrolling the streets in affected cities may offset weak enforcement of the rules in certain neighborhoods. Zhejiang province, which has one of the highest rates of virus cases outside of the epicenter in Hubei, says it now has 330,000 grid workers supervising households and neighborhoods. In Sichuan province, local governments have beefed up to 300,000 grid workers.
Just one district in Beijing recruited 2,000 Communist party members to help out with grid work. They now patrol the gates of residential compounds, registering anyone with a recent travel history and enforcing a 14-day self-quarantine.
Rewards for reporting violators
In addition to enlisting grid workers, local officials are rewarding anyone who reports neighbors and friends for attending social gatherings or refusing to quarantine themselves after traveling. A person who disobeys these rules may be subjected to detention and fines for disrupting social order, a charge punishable under China's administrative law.
Nearly all cities have prohibited group activities such as dinner parties to prevent mass infection. In one Fujian village, a man returning home from Wuhan had attended several Lunar New Year celebrations before being diagnosed with COVID-19. As a result over 4,000 people who were also at these events were forced into quarantine.
The steel manufacturing hub of Shijiazhuang says the local government will give citizens up to RMB2,000, or $290, for reporting anyone traveling from or returning from a visit to Wuhan, where the outbreak began. Another neighborhood in the southern city of Nanchang, near the border of the virus epicenter, will shell out RMB500 ($72) for those who turn in people running a fever.
A district of the Sichuan city of Deyang is giving out a sliding scale of rewards up to RMB1,000 ($143) for tips on an even wider variety of misbehavior, including people who trade wild animals, jack up prices on medical supplies and host family members who've traveled from outside the city.
Restrictions on movement
Coastal Zhejiang province is cutting down on the amount of time people spend outdoors as a way to clamp down on the spread of the virus. In the city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang's capital Hangzhou and other surrounding municipalities, only one member of a household can leave every two days to buy groceries. Certain districts in Hangzhou scrapped this draconian approach less than a week after it was put in place after the public complained about the inconvenience.
Rural areas, where the population density is usually too low for grid management, have taken a more hands-on approach. Villages near the border with Hubei province or with high numbers of migrant workers have voluntarily barricaded themselves to prevent travelers from entering and residents from leaving.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
These restrictions have decimated China's manufacturing sector, which is highly reliant on the labor of the country's approximately 300 million migrant workers. Factories across the country have remained shuttered well after Feb. 10, when people were supposed to get back to work after the Lunar New Year hiatus.
The blocking of movement has also stranded unlucky travelers. Several long-distance truck drivers who left Hubei in early January to deliver produce found themselves stuck in between cities that refused to let in vehicles with Hubei license plates.
Data hoovering
China has turned to a number of apps designed to record the whereabouts of millions of travelers. Some cities rolled out their own digital tools: They require passengers to provide their names, phone numbers and traveling history to local authorities before disembarking from trains or planes. In Shanghai, for example, only those who filled out this digital form are allowed to leave the train station or airport.
Apps like Shanghai's serve both as a reminder to travelers that they need to be quarantined at home for 14 days and as a tracking tool for the government in case anyone in the database becomes infected.
Other apps record the whereabouts of local residents. In the southwestern province of Yunnan, anyone who frequents public places such as restaurants and transportation hubs must scan a QR code, a type of barcode in which a digital link is embedded, and leave a phone number. Local public health officials may contact those who came into contact with a virus carrier.
In Zhejiang, residents can fill out their recent travel history and any contact with known virus carriers in Alipay, a payment platform owned by tech giant Alibaba. They then receive a green code that allows them to move freely or a yellow or red code that requires them to self-quarantine for two weeks.
The onslaught of demands for personal information is raising concerns about how such data is used and stored.
So far, Yunnan claims that location information gathered from its citizens would be destroyed once the outbreak dies down. China's transportation ministry said it would only release people's travel records to public health agencies.
Yet the public remains skeptical. "The collection and use of personal information (facial recognition, phone number, home addresses) during this outbreak is truly a disaster," one Weibo user wrote.