Uncontacted Indigenous groups could vanish within a decade without stronger protections, experts say.


A railway line now planned in Brazil could potentially affect three uncontacted peoples, she said, but the rise of organized crime poses an even greater risk.

Across Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, drug traffickers and illegal gold miners have moved deep into Indigenous territories. “Any chance encounter runs the risk of transmitting the flu, which can easily wipe out an uncontacted people within a year of contact,” she said. “And bows and arrows are no match for guns.”

Evangelical missionary incursions have also caused outbreaks. Watson recalled how, under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an evangelical pastor was placed in charge of the government’s unit for uncontacted peoples and gained access to their coordinates. “Their mission was to force contact — to ‘save souls,’” she said. “That is incredibly dangerous.”
Ways to protect uncontacted peoples

Protecting uncontacted peoples, experts say, will require both stronger laws and a shift in how the world views them — not as relics of the past, but as citizens of the planet whose survival affects everyone’s future.

Advocates have several recommendations.

First, governments must formally recognize and enforce Indigenous territories, making them off-limits to extractive industries.

Mapping is crucial, Bhattacharjee said, because identifying the approximate territories of uncontacted peoples allows governments to protect those areas from loggers or miners. But, she added, it must be done with extreme caution and from a distance to avoid contact that could endanger the groups’ health or autonomy.

Second, corporations and consumers must help stop the flow of money driving destruction. Survival’s report calls for companies to trace their supply chains to ensure that commodities such as gold, timber and soy are not sourced from Indigenous lands.

“Public opinion and pressure are essential,” Watson said. “It’s largely through citizens and the media that so much has already been achieved to recognize uncontacted peoples and their rights.”

Finally, advocates say the world must recognize why their protection matters. Beyond human rights, these communities play an outsized role in stabilizing the global climate.

“With the world under pressure from climate change, we will sink or swim together,” Bhattacharjee said.
Governments’ uneven response

International treaties such as the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirm the right to self-determination and to remain uncontacted if they choose. But enforcement varies widely.

In Peru, Congress recently rejected a proposal to create the Yavari-Mirim Indigenous Reserve, a move Indigenous federations said leaves isolated groups exposed to loggers and traffickers.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has sought to rebuild protections weakened under Bolsonaro, boosting budgets and patrols.

And in Ecuador, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled this year that the government failed to protect the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples who live in voluntary isolation in Yasuni National Park.

Watson warned that political forces tied to agribusiness and evangelical blocs are now working to roll back earlier gains.

“Achievements of the last 20 or 30 years are in danger of being dismantled,” she said.
What the new report calls for

Survival International’s report urges a global no-contact policy: legal recognition of uncontacted territories, suspension of mining, oil and agribusiness projects in or near those lands and prosecution of crimes against Indigenous groups.

Watson said logging remains the biggest single threat, but mining is close behind. She pointed to the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island, where nickel for electric-vehicle batteries is being mined.

“People think electric cars are a green alternative,” she said, “but mining companies are operating on the land of uncontacted peoples and posing enormous threats.”

In South America, illegal gold miners in the Yanomami territory of Brazil and Venezuela continue to use mercury to extract gold — contamination that has poisoned rivers and fish.

“The impact is devastating — socially and physically,” Watson said.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content.

Steven Grattan, The Associated Press

Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits western Turkiye. ANKARA, Turkiye — A strong earthquake shook western Turkiye on Monday, causing at least three buildings that were damaged in a previous tremor to collapse, officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The magnitude 6.1 quake was centered in the town of Sindirgi in Balikesir province, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management agency, AFAD. It struck at 22:48 local time (1948 GMT) at a depth of 5.99 kilometres (3.72 miles.)

The quake, which was followed by several aftershocks, was felt in Istanbul, and the nearby provinces of Bursa, Manisa and Izmir.

At least three unoccupied buildings and a two-story shop collapsed in Sindirgi, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The structures had already been damaged in a previous earthquake.

A total of 22 people were injured due to panic-related falls, which can occur because of the physical and psychological impact of earthquakes, according to Balikesir’s governor, Ismail Ustaoglu.

“So far, we have not identified any loss of life, but we are continuing our assessment,” Sindirgi’s district administrator Dogukan Koyuncu told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Many people remained outdoors too afraid to return to their homes, Haberturk television reported. As rain began to fall, Ustaoglu said mosques, schools and sports halls were being kept open to shelter people reluctant to go back.

Sindirgi also was struck in August by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake, which killed one person and injured dozens of other people. Since then, the region around Balikesir had been hit by smaller shocks.

Turkiye sits on top of major fault lines, and earthquakes are frequent.

In 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkiye and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighbouring Syria.

U.S. navy loses two aircraft from USS Nimitz #aircraft carrier within 30 minutes.

#WASHINGTON — A #fighter jet and a helicopter based off the aircraft carrier #USS Nimitz both crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other on Sunday afternoon, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said.

The three crew members of the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter were rescued, and the two aviators in the F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet ejected and were recovered safely, and all five “are safe and in stable condition,” the fleet said in a statement.

The causes of the two crashes were under investigation, the statement said.

The USS Nimitz is returning to its home port in Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state after having been deployed to the Middle East for most of the summer as part of the U.S. response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial shipping. The carrier is on its final deployment before decommissioning.

Another aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, suffered a series of mishaps in recent months while deployed to the Middle East.

In December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 jet from the Truman.

Then, in April, another F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the Truman’s hangar deck and fell into the Red Sea.

And in May, an F/A fighter jet landing on the carrier in the Red Sea went overboard after apparently failing to catch the steel cables used to stop landing planes and forcing its two pilots to eject.

No sailors were killed in any of those mishaps. The results of investigations into those incidents have yet to be released.

Konstantin Toropin, The Associated Press

#Hamas expands search for the remains of hostages in Gaza, Trump watches 48-hour period `very closely’

Hamas’ chief in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, said the group started searching new areas for bodies of the remaining 13 hostages, according to comments the group shared Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Saturday he was “watching very closely” to ensure Hamas returns more bodies in the next 48 hours. “Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not,” he wrote on social media.

Hamas has repeatedly said efforts to retrieve remains face challenges because of the massive destruction.

An Egyptian team with equipment including an excavator and bulldozers entered Gaza on Saturday as part of mediators’ efforts to shore up the ceasefire, two Egyptian officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

#Kurdish rebel group PKK says it is withdrawing its fighters from Türkiye to Iraq.

The statement delivered in northern Iraq by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, follows a symbolic disarmament ceremony held months earlier, where a group of its fighters began laying down their weapons to show its commitment to the peace process.

The group has been waging a decades-long insurgency in Türkiye that has led to tens of thousands of deaths since the 1980s.

In a news conference, Sabri Ok, a member of the Kurdish umbrella organization, the Kurdistan Communities Union, said all PKK forces in Türkiye were being withdrawn to areas in northern Iraq “to avoid clashes or provocations.”
PKK calls for concessions from Türkiye

In a statement read in Turkish, Ok said the move was made with the approval of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Vejin Dersim, a member of the PKK’s women’s wing, read the statement in Kurdish.

“Also, similar regulatory measures are being taken with regard to those positions along the border which could carry the risk of clashes and possible provocations,” Ok said.

The statement also called for legal and political concessions on the part of the Turkish state.

“It is quite clear that we are committed to the resolutions of the 12th congress and decisive in implementing them,” the statement said. “However, for these resolutions to be implemented, certain legal and political approaches ... need to be adopted.”

A group of some 25 fighters who had recently arrived from Türkiye were present at the news conference.

The PKK announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities. The move came after Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.
Türkiye says decision is a significant step

In Türkiye, Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, said the PKK’s announcement was a step toward the state’s long-term goal of eradicating security threats in Türkiye.

“The PKK’s announcement that it is withdrawing from Türkiye and taking new steps toward disarmament are concrete results of the ‘Terror-free Turkey’ road map,” he wrote on X.

He warned against external and internal sabotage efforts, saying “maximum care must be taken to protect the process from any kind of provocation.”

Efkan Ala, a ruling party deputy chairman, described the announcement as “the completion of another significant phase in the elimination of terrorism.”
Erdogan to discuss peace efforts with Kurdish legislators

Sunday’s announcement comes days before Erdogan is scheduled to hold his third meeting with a group Kurdish legislators who have been holding talks with Ocalan on the prison island of Imrali.

A separate 51-member parliamentary committee was formed in August to propose and supervise legal and political reforms aimed at advancing the peace process following the PKK’s decision to disband and disarm. Their next meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

PKK spokesman Zagros Hiwa said Sunday’s announcement aimed to show the PKK’s determination to move the process forward.

“This is a one-sided step to show our assertiveness and seriousness that we wholeheartedly want this process to move forward,” he told The Associated Press.

Hiwa, however, also expressed disappointment with the Turkish government, accusing it of not taking steps to advance the process, including allowing Kurdish to be spoken in Parliament and improving Ocalan’s conditions.

“So far, there have been no signs that the Turkish state has changed its mentality or politics,” he said. “They haven’t even allowed the peace initiators to speak in Kurdish at the parliament. This is a sign that their denial politics is still ongoing and leader Ocalan is still in prison from 27 years.”

Nuda Arin, one of the 25 fighters who arrived from Türkiye, said: “We are ready to move by leader Ocalan’s word and do everything to make this process successful.”

The PKK launched its armed insurgency against Türkiye initially with the aim of establishing a Kurdish state in the southeast of the country. Over time, the objective evolved into a campaign for autonomy and rights for Kurds within Türkiye.

The group is considered to be a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.

Previous peace efforts between Türkiye and the PKK have ended in failure — most recently in 2015.

Stella Martany And Cinar Kiper, The Associated Press

Kiper reported from Bodrum, Türkiye. Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Türkiye, contributed to this report.

June Lockhart, beloved mother figure from ‘Lassie’ and ‘Lost In Space,’ dies at 100.

Lockhart died Thursday of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, family spokesman Lyle Gregory, a friend of 40 years, said Saturday.

“She was very happy up until the very end, reading the New York Times and LA Times everyday,” he said. “It was very important to her to stay focused on the news of the day.”

The daughter of prolific character actor Gene Lockhart, Lockhart was cast frequently in ingenue roles as a young film actor. Television made her a star.

From 1958 to 1964, she portrayed Ruth Martin, who raised the orphaned Timmy (Jon Provost), in the popular CBS series “Lassie.” From 1965 to 1968, she traveled aboard the spaceship Jupiter II as mother to the Robinson family in the campy CBS adventure “Lost in Space.”

Her portrayals of warm, compassionate mothers endeared her to young viewers, and decades later baby boomers flocked to nostalgia conventions to meet Lockhart and buy her autographed photos.

Offscreen, Lockhart insisted, she was nothing like the women she portrayed.

“I must quote Dan Rather,” she said in a 1994 interview. “I can control my reputation, but not my image, because my image is how you see me.

“I love rock `n’ roll and going to the concerts. I have driven Army tanks and flown in hot air balloons. And I go plane-gliding -- the ones with no motors. I do a lot of things that don’t go with my image.”

Early in her career, Lockhart appeared in numerous films. Among them: “All This and Heaven Too,” “Adam Had Four Sons,” “Sergeant York,” “Miss Annie Rooney,” “Forever and a Day” and “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

She also made “Son of Lassie,” the 1945 sequel to “Lassie, Come Home,” playing the grown-up version of the role created by Elizabeth Taylor.
New life on television

When her movie career as an adult faltered, Lockhart shifted to television, appearing in live drama from New York and game and talk shows. She was the third actress to play the female lead in “Lassie” on TV, following Jan Clayton and Cloris Leachman. (Provost had replaced the show’s original child star, Tommy Rettig, in 1957.)

Lockhart spoke frankly about her canine co-star. In the first place, she said in 1989, Lassie was a laddie, because male collies “are bigger, the ruff is bigger, they’re more imposing looking.”

She added: “I worked with four Lassies. There was only one main Lassie at a time. Then there was a dog that did the running, a dog that did the fighting, and a dog that was a stand-in, because only humans can work 14 hours a day without needing a nap.

“Lassie was not especially friendly with anybody. Lassie was wholly concentrated on the trainers.”

After six years in the rural setting of “Lassie,” Lockhart moved to outer space, embarking on the role of Maureen Robinson, the wise, reassuring mother of a family that departs on a five-year flight to a faraway planet in “Lost in Space.”

After their mission is sabotaged by a fellow passenger, the nefarious Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), the party bounces from planet to planet, encountering weird creatures and near-disasters that required viewers to tune in the following week to learn of the escape. Throughout the three-year run, Mrs. Robinson offered consolation and a slice of her “space pie.”

As with “Lassie,” Lockhart enjoyed working on “Lost in Space”: “It was like going to work at Disneyland every day.”

In 1968, Lockhart joined the cast of “Petticoat Junction” for the rural comedy’s last two seasons, playing Dr. Janet Craig. The original star, Bea Benaderet, had been diagnosed with cancer and died, also in 1968.
A little bit of everything

Lockhart remained active long after “Lost in Space,” appearing often in episodic television as well as in recurring roles in the daytime soap opera “General Hospital” and nighttime soaps, “Knots Landing” and “The Colbys.” Her film credits included “The Remake” and the animated “Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm,” for which she provided the voice for Mindy the Owl.

She also used her own media pass to attend presidential news conferences, narrated beauty pageants and holiday parades, appeared in B pictures and toured in the plays “Steel Magnolias,” “Bedroom Farce” and “Once More with Feeling.”

“Her true passion was journalism,” Gregory said. “She loved going to the White House briefing rooms.”

Lockhart liked to tell the story of how her parents met, saying they were hired separately for a touring production sponsored by inventor Thomas A. Edison and decided on marriage during a stop at Lake Louise, Alberta.

Their daughter was born June 25, 1925, in New York City. The family moved to Hollywood 10 years later, and Gene Lockhart worked steadily as a character actor, usually in avuncular roles, sometimes as a villain. His wife, Kathleen, often appeared with him.

Young June made her stage debut at 8, dancing in a children’s ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House. Her first film appearance was a small role in the 1938 “A Christmas Carol,” playing the daughter of Bob Cratchit and his wife, who were played by her parents.

She was married and divorced twice: to John Maloney, a physician, father of her daughters Anne Kathleen and June Elizabeth; and architect John C. Lindsay.

Throughout her later career, Lockhart was connected in the public mind with “Lassie.”

Even though she sometimes mocked the show, she conceded: “How wonderful that in a career there is one role for which you are known. Many actors work all their lives and never have one part that is really theirs.”

By Bob Thomas And Beth Harris.

Bob Thomas, a longtime Associated Press journalist who died in 2014, was the principal writer of this obituary.

Rubio says mediators of Gaza ceasefire shared information to uncover a recent threat.

The State Department said a week ago that it had “credible reports” Hamas could violate the ceasefire with an attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

“We put out a message through State Department, sent it to our mediators as well, about an impending attack, and it didn’t happen,” he told reporters en route from Israel to Qatar, where he met up with President Donald Trump for a multistop tour in Asia. “So that’s the goal here, is ultimately to identify a threat before it happens.”

Rubio said multiple countries are interested in joining an international stabilization force that aims to deploy to Gaza but that they need more details about the mission and rules of engagement.

The U.S. could call for a U.N. resolution supporting the force so more nations can take part, he said, adding that the U.S. has been talking with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey and noting interest from Indonesia and Azerbaijan.

“Many of the countries who want to be a part of it can’t do it without that,” he said of an international mandate.

He also noted that next week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is expected to be the latest in a parade of U.S. officials to travel to Israel.

Vice President JD Vance joined special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner earlier in the week in Israel in an effort to shore up the fragile ceasefire deal. Rubio arrived just as Vance was departing, meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and touring a U.S.-led coordination center monitoring the ceasefire.

Rubio touched on several other key foreign policy priorities in his remarks to reporters. Here’s a look:
Sanctions on Colombia’s president

A day after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade, Rubio said it was not about targeting the country itself, which is one of the closest American allies in the region.

“This is not a U.S. vs. Colombia thing,” he said. “This is us reacting to the actions of what’s turned into a hostile foreign leader.”

He said the U.S. has excellent relations with Colombia’s people and institutions and that the Trump administration didn’t want to hurt the country’s economy, so it held off on tariffs. Trump last weekend had threatened to unleash them.

Asked if he would rule out tariffs, Rubio said Trump makes those decisions but “obviously the president was aware of the options available to him and chose these instead.”

The sanctions ramped up tensions with Colombia’s first leftist leader, who has hit back at the Trump administration.

“I believe the current U.S. government violated its rule of law by sanctioning me as if I were a mobster, when I dedicated my life to fighting the mafia,” Petro wrote on X. ”Their desperation will lead them to set traps for me. I’m ready to fight. For myself and for my people.”
Stance toward Venezuela

Reporters asked Rubio whether other leaders in the region may help urge Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down, with speculation swirling about whether recent U.S. military actions in Latin America are aimed at ousting Maduro.

Rubio responded that when the U.S. deploys assets in its own hemisphere, “everyone sort of freaks out.”

The Trump administration has launched a series of strikes against alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and is deploying an aircraft carrier to South America, a major escalation of an already robust military buildup in the region.

Rubio insisted that the U.S. is taking part in a counterdrug operation. And he again accused Maduro’s government of allowing and participating in the shipment of narcotics.

“This is a very serious problem for the hemisphere, and a very destabilizing one,” Rubio said. ”And that has to be addressed.”

He says other countries in the region, including Ecuador, Mexico, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, cooperate in combating drug trafficking.

Maduro said the U.S. government is fabricating a war against him.

“They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one,” Maduro said Friday night in a national broadcast. “Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”
Taiwan and China

Rubio said it was important for the U.S. to remain engaged with China but that Taiwan would not become a bargaining chip for the world’s largest economies to reach a larger trade agreement.

Trump says he expects to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in the coming days during his Asia trip. Beijing claims sovereignty over the self-governed island and vows to seize it by force if necessary. The United States is obligated by its own laws to give military support to Taiwan.

“If what people are worried about is we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan — no one is contemplating that,” Rubio said.

Lindsay Whitehurst And Courtney Bonnell, The Associated Press

3 Chinese citizens arrested in Georgia for attempting to buy #uranium. The suspects planned to transport the nuclear material to China through Russia, the security service said in a statement, while also releasing video footage of the detention operation.

“Three Chinese citizens have been detained in Tbilisi while attempting to illegally purchase 2 kilograms of nuclear material — uranium,” the agency said, adding that members of the criminal group planned to pay US$400,000 (344,000 euros) for the radioactive material.

According to the authorities, a Chinese citizen already in Georgia, who was in breach of Georgian visa regulations, brought experts to Georgia to search for uranium throughout the country.

Other members of the criminal group coordinated the operation from China, the statement said.

The perpetrators were identified and detained while “negotiating the details of the illegal transaction,” the security service said.

The agency did not specify when the arrests occurred or provide the identities of the suspects.

Sophiko Megrelidze, The Associated Press

A bomb in Gaza’s rubble wounds twins who thought it was a toy,
The boy, Yahya, and his sister, Nabila, had discovered a round object while playing. One touch, and it went off.

“It was like a toy,” their grandfather, Tawfiq Shorbasi, said of the unexploded ordnance, after the children were rushed to Shifa hospital on Friday. “It was extremely difficult.”

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are seizing the chance to return to what’s left of their homes under the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10. But the dangers are far from over as people, including children, sift through the rubble for what remains of their belongings, and for bodies unreachable until now.

Shorbasi said the family had returned home after the ceasefire took hold. Gaza City had been the focus of the final Israeli military offensive before the deal was reached between Israel and Hamas.

“We’ve just returned last week,” the grandfather said at Shifa hospital, fighting back tears. “Their lives have been ruined forever.”

The boy, Yahya, lay on a hospital bed with his right arm and leg wrapped in bandages. Nabila, now being treated at Patient’s Friends hospital, had a bandaged forehead.

Both children’s faces were freckled with tiny shrapnel wounds.

A British emergency physician and pediatrician working at one of the hospitals told The Associated Press the twins had life-threatening injuries including a lost hand, a hole in the bowel, broken bones and potential loss of a leg.

The children underwent emergency surgery and their conditions have relatively stabilized, the doctor said. But concerns remain about their recovery because of Gaza’s vast lack of medicine and medical supplies, said Dr. Harriet, who declined to give her last name because her employer hadn’t authorized her to speak to the media.

“Now it’s just a waiting game so I hope that they both survive, but at this point in time I can’t say, and this is a common recurrence,” she said.

Health workers call unexploded ordnance a major threat to Palestinians. Two other children, Yazan and Jude Nour, were wounded on Thursday while their family was inspecting their home in Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital.

Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government, said five children were wounded by unexploded ordnance over the past week, including one in the southern city of Khan Younis.

“This is the death trap,” Dr. Harriet said. “We’re talking about a ceasefire, but the killing hasn’t stopped.”

Already over 68,500 Palestinians have died in the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Luke Irving, head of the U.N. Mine Action Service, UNMAS, in the Palestinian territories, has warned that “explosive risk is incredibly high” as both aid workers and displaced Palestinians return to areas vacated by the Israeli military in Gaza.

As of Oct. 7, UNMAS had documented at least 52 Palestinians killed and 267 others wounded by unexploded ordnance in Gaza since the war began. UNMAS, however, said the toll could be much higher.

Irving told a United Nations briefing last week 560 unexploded ordnance items have been found during the current ceasefire with many more under the rubble. Two years of war have left up to 60 million tons of debris across Gaza, he added.

In the coming weeks, additional international de-mining experts are expected to join efforts to collect unexploded ordnance in Gaza, he said.

“As expected, we’re now finding more items because we’re getting out more; the teams have more access,” he said.

Abdel Kareem Hana and Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Magdy reported from #Cairo.

U.S., Japanese firms unwittingly hired North #Korean animators: report. Major U.S. and Japanese animation studios including HBO Max and Amazon unknowingly hired North Korean IT workers, a joint government report has found.

Pyongyang has ramped up cyber operations in recent years, turning hacking into a key source of foreign currency in the face of biting sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs.

A report released Wednesday by the multi-government Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) found that North Korean IT workers had concealed their nationality “in order to fraudulently gain contracts to work on animation projects for many companies”.

Those companies included “HBO Max, Amazon, and several Japanese animation studios”, the report found.

AFP has reached out to HBO Max and Amazon for comment.

Many of them worked for companies such as Pyongyang’s state-owned animation studio SEK studios -- previously reported to have assisted in Western projects such as the 2007 “Simpsons Movie”.

Almost 200 workers from the isolated country also “continued to perform animation work from China in 2024 and 2025”, the report said.

Under UN sanctions, North Korean workers are prohibited from earning money abroad.

The MSMT comprises Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, the U.K. and the United States.

They found that cryptocurrency thefts -- along with arms sales to Russia -- made up the bulk of North Korea’s foreign earnings in 2024.

North Korea has secured crucial backing from Russia in recent years, after sending weapons and thousands of North Korean troops to fight alongside Moscow’s forces against Ukraine.

Pyongyang’s hackers looted at least US$1.19 billion from companies worldwide -- roughly 50 per cent more than a year earlier, according to the report.

Seoul’s intelligence agency last year said North Korean operatives had used LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and approach South Koreans working at defence firms to obtain information on their technologies.

Although the overwhelming majority of North Korea’s overseas IT workers were based in China, the participating states of the report said they found Pyongyang “planned to dispatch a new deployment of 40,000 laborers to Russia, including several delegations of IT workers”.

Between January and September this year, North Korean hackers have already taken at least $1.65 billion through large-scale crypto heists, “surpassing estimates of its 2024 total”, it added.

And from January 2024 to September 2025, North Korea stole at least $2.8 billion in cryptocurrency, it said.