The Pokémon Company seems likely to reveal the upcoming Generation X games in February on the series’ 30th anniversary, but if leakers have anything to say about it, Game Freak might not have much new information to give us by the time that showcase arrives. On December 24, a series of new leaks about the games, allegedly titled Pokémon Wind and Wave, began spreading online. We’ve gotten a few waves (sorry) of information since the massive Teraleak in October, but now we know a little bit more about the games’ map, battle gimmick, and have even our first look at the new region’s professor.
The latest info was posted on X early today by self-described Pokémon detective Moot Monthly. All of these new images, animations, and illustrations are reportedly from this existing leak, so it’s entirely possible they aren’t indicative of the final games that will eventually ship on Switch 2. But they do give us some interesting insight into what Game Freak has been working on for the next mainline entries.
Christmas came early, heres ur pokemon gen 10 leaks
First, we have a new look at the beta versions of the male and female protagonists, and their previously reported Rotom scooter that they’ll ride around on. Pokémon Legends: Z-A really popped off with its fashion, so hopefully we’ll be able to customize our characters’ fits in Wind and Wave.
Next, we have some early renders of the games’ professor and the Pokémon Center. Apparently, the professor will ride around in a car and appear in multiple locations in the games’ archipelago setting. Right now, all we know is that he appears to be an older man with thick eyebrows and a beard.
Pokémon Gen 10 leak: the new Professor (he drives around in a car!) and how the new Pokémon Centers will look https://t.co/erGuj76bUM
Speaking of the archipelago, we also have a new illustration of the Gen X region. Its beta map shows several islands that the player will be able to explore. Early reports say they will be procedurally generated, so it’s unclear if the map is a sort of presumed “default” shape for these islands or if the terrain is what changes for each player, rather than the shape of the landmass.
The last and perhaps most interesting detail from the latest leak is a first-look at this gen’s battle gimmick codenamed “Majin.” This will reportedly be a factor in something called “weather moves,” but we still don’t know what those will entail. What we can see for now is that this phenomenon will seemingly distort a Pokémon’s physical shape and then create some kind of cloud to obscure them. Looking at what this shit does to Pikachu in the leaked animation, I’m not immediately onboard. But hey, it’s leaked in-development footage from a hack. We’ll see how it actually changes up battles when the games are eventually revealed.
Here’s the new battle gimmick from Gen 10: it’s codenamed Majin.
The Pokémon gets distorted, and some kind of clouds appear.
From early documents the mechanic is related to “Weather Moves” but we don’t know how much it has changed since then. https://t.co/HUO7w1cdM5
All of this could be just early concepts Game Freak has since scrapped and the actual Gen X games might be something markedly different once they’re released, but it’s at least interesting to get a sense of what the team has been experimenting with as we wait for official news. For now, Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s Mega Dimension DLC is keeping me busy, so I’m not starving for something new right now.
EVERETT, WA – The Olympic Pipeline has partially restarted and has reportedly resumed moving fuel from Washington refineries to Portland. It was shut down due to a leak near Everett.
There are two pipelines and the smaller, 16-inch, line was tested and not leaking. A leak was found in the larger 20-inch line, and authorities said a plan was being developed to repair the leak.
The leak was first discovered on the outskirts of Everett earlier this month, after someone reported seeing an oil slick in a drainage ditch.
Officials still have not said how much fuel spilled, but they do say there have no negative impacts to wildlife reported, so far.
The new policy, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is a dramatic departure from historic standards at the department, which previously required credentialed reporters to sign a simple, single-page document laying out safety protocols.
Replacing that document is a 21-page agreement that warns reporters against “soliciting” information, including unclassified material, without the Pentagon’s official authorization, characterizing individuals who do so as a “security risk.”
The policy would force journalists and media organizations to refrain from publishing any material that is not approved by the military — a clear violation of 1st Amendment protections to free speech, lawyers for media outlets said.
Major news organizations including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, as well as right-leaning outlets such as Newsmax and the Washington Times, have refused to sign the document, with only one far-right outlet — the cable channel One American News — agreeing to do so.
The Los Angeles Times also will not agree to the policy, said Terry Tang, the paper’s executive editor.
In a rare joint statement, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said that the policy “is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.”
“We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press,” the news outlets said.
But Hegseth, who has aggressively pursued leaks and sources of unfavorable news stories since the start of his turbulent tenure as secretary, has doubled down in recent days, posting emojis on social media waving goodbye as media organizations have issued statements condemning the policy. Journalists were given a deadline of 2 p.m. PDT on Tuesday to either sign the document or relinquish their credentials.
It is unclear whether it will be viable for the Pentagon to maintain the policy, leaving the secretary without a traveling press corps to highlight his official duties or public events. And it is also uncertain whether President Trump approves of the extreme measure.
At a White House event Tuesday, Hegseth said that the policy was “common sense” and that he was “proud” of it. He said credentials should not be given to reporters who will try to get officials “to break the law by giving them classified information.”
Asked last month whether the Pentagon should control what reporters gather and write, Trump said “no.”
But Trump said Tuesday that he understands why Hegseth is pushing for the new policy.
“I think he finds the press to be very destructive in terms of world peace and maybe security for our nation,” Trump said. “The press is very dishonest.”
The widespread revolt has generated a show of solidarity from the White House and State Department correspondents associations, which characterized the Pentagon policy in a joint statement Monday as an attack on freedom of the press.
“Access inside the Pentagon has never been about convenience to reporters,” the statement reads. “The public has a right to know how the government is conducting the people’s business. Unfettered reporting on the U.S. military and its civilian leadership provides a service to those in uniform, veterans, their families and all Americans.”
Beyond the restrictions on media outlets, the Pentagon has taken a series of steps this year to try and identify officials who are deemed disloyal or who provide information to reporters.
In April, the Pentagon dismissed three top officials after an investigation into potential leaks related to military operational plans. That same month, Hegseth’s team began subjecting officials to random polygraph tests, a practice that was temporarily halted after the White House intervened, according to the Washington Post.
Then, in October, the Pentagon drafted plans to renew the use of polygraphs and to require thousands of personnel to sign strict nondisclosure agreements that would “prohibit the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process.” The nondisclosure agreements include language that is similar to what reporters are being asked to sign by Tuesday.
Notably, many of Hegseth’s plans to target leaks have been leaked to news outlets, probably contributing to the Defense secretary’s suspicion about whom he can trust.
The timing of his efforts are also noteworthy, as they gained traction after he personally shared sensitive details about forthcoming strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that mistakenly included a reporter from the Atlantic. Hegseth also shared information about the attacks in a separate Signal chat that included his wife, a former Fox News producer who is not a Defense Department employee.
Hegseth denied that any classified information was shared in the chat. Yet the situation led to an internal review of whether the disclosures were in violation of Defense Department policies.
The Pentagon has taken an even more aggressive approach to restricting reporters’ access than the White House, which months ago took control over press operations from the White House Correspondents Assn. — an independent group that had organized the White House press corps for decades.
Still, the White House has refrained from implementing changes to the briefing room seating chart, evicting outlets from workspaces within the White House complex or revoking press passes, after facing a legal challenge over an attempt to bar one major outlet — the Associated Press — from covering some presidential events at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to single out individual outlets he dislikes. On Tuesday, for example, the president refused to take questions from ABC News because he said he did not like how a news anchor had treated Vice President JD Vance.
“You’re ABC Fake News,” Trump said at a public appearance in the White House. “I don’t take questions from ABC Fake News!”
The chief spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department has resigned amid accusations from the region’s top federal prosecutor that her office was leaking information, according to three sources familiar with the matter but not cleared to speak publicly.
Jennifer Forkish, the LAPD’s public information director, said she left the department Thursday at the request of Chief Jim McDonnell but vehemently denied making any unauthorized disclosures.
“Any suggestion that I have ever shared or leaked information to the media is categorically false,” she said in a statement. “No one in the Department, including the Chief has ever raised or discussed this baseless allegation with me, because it simply never happened. Anyone claiming otherwise is lying.”
The three law enforcement sources said the chief’s concerns about Forkish’s overall performance had been mounting, and that pressure Tuesday from acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli may have prompted her ouster.
The drama began Tuesday evening after a Times reporter reached out to an official at the U.S. attorney’s office to inquire about plans to schedule a news conference related to the Palisades fire.
Flanked by McDonnell and other law enforcement leaders, Essayli announced at a briefing on Wednesday that authorities had arrested and charged a 29-year-old Uber driver with intentionally sparking one of the most destructive fires in California history.
Before the media event, according to the three sources who had been briefed on the matter, Essayli called LAPD senior staff and demanded to know who in the department had tipped the paper off to the news conference, which had not yet been officially scheduled when The Times asked about it.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Forkish was suspected of revealing details about the news conference, which federal authorities announced to members of the media via email at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Forkish had already left work that afternoon when McDonnell summoned her back to his office at LAPD headquarters for a meeting with him and Assistant Chief Dominic Choi, she told The Times. McDonnell did not reference a call with Essayli during the meeting, telling Forkish only that he did not share her long-term vision for the department’s public relations strategy, she said.
She said the conversation revolved around the difference of opinion about the department’s overall media strategy, adding that “there has never been any conversation with me regarding the possibility of a leak with anyone from the LAPD.”
Choi would not address any phone conversation between LAPD leadership and Essayli. He told The Times he could not discuss Forkish’s case due to confidentiality around personnel matters but confirmed she submitted her letter of resignation on Thursday morning.
“We don’t wish any ill will or anything for her,” he said in a brief telephone interview. “We thank her for her service and everything she’s done and for her time with the department.”
McDonnell did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment on Thursday. Inquiries to the U.S. attorney’s office and Mayor Karen Bass also went unreturned.
Forkish expressed gratitude for her time with the LAPD.
“After much thought, I’ve decided to step down from my role to pursue new opportunities,” she wrote in a statement. “I do so with immense pride in what my team and I accomplished together. We told the hard stories with honesty and balance, supported our officers and our city in moments of crisis, and built a foundation of professionalism that I’ll always be proud of.”
For months, word has circulated in the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles that Essayli — a Trump appointee — is trying to root out leaks to the media. The LAPD has itself routinely opened investigations into employees who speak with journalists without authorization, and faced lawsuits from employees who claimed they were falsely accused of leaks.
Forkish began her career working for former Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, who worked as an LAPD cop for more than three decades before going into politics. She later had stints at PR firms around town, including GCG Rose & Kindel. At the lobbying and crisis communication firm EKA, she worked with Celine Cordero, the future mayor’s deputy chief of staff.
After working as a vice president of corporate communications for casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. in Las Vegas, Forkish served as a spokesperson for former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón for several months in 2024.
Eric Rose, a partner at EKA, where he was once Forkish’s boss, said she has made a positive mark at every stop of her career.
“Jennifer is an accomplished public affairs professional with deep and diverse expertise, having worked with elected officials at the local, state and federal levels for more than two decades,” he said.
But Forkish’s appointment to the LAPD job was not without controversy. Multiple department sources not authorized to speak publicly said a dispute over Forkish’s salary demands created tension before she started on the job. Then, the sources said, there was a disagreement over strategy between Forkish and her predecessor, Capt. Kelly Muniz, which ended with Muniz’s transfer to another unit.
Some press advocates say McDonnell’s tenure has been marked by conflict with the local media. The department faces lawsuits for aggressive behavior by officers toward journalists who covered protests against the Trump administration over the summer, and a federal judge has barred police from targeting reporters with less-lethal projectiles during demonstrations.
Adam Rose, a deputy director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the department has in recent months been frustratingly unresponsive when confronted with reports of abuses by officers.
“While I often vehemently disagreed with past PIOs and past department leadership, at least they were responsive,” Rose said. “The fact that McDonnell and his staff are so recalcitrant — and are so reluctant — to do their jobs is shameful.”
In her statement, Forkish said she is proud of her time at the LAPD.
“I’ve always approached this work with transparency, respect, and accountability, and that will never change,” she said.
Times staff writers James Queally and Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
We’re less than a month away from the next Made by Google event, and we may already know what one of the marquee announcements will look like. TikTok user pixo_unpacking (viaYTechB) posted videos over the weekend of apparent pre-production samples of the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 XL.
The phones in the video have different backs: a glossy finish on the standard Pixel 9’s rear and a matte one on the larger Pixel XL’s. 9to5Googlenotes that they appear to include rear-panel etchings Google uses for prototypes, although they’re mostly covered in the clips by labels.
Based on the video, the Pixel 9 appears to have two cameras, while the Pixel 9 XL has three. In addition, Google seems to have changed the camera visor into an elongated oval. It appears to be quite the protrusion, as evidenced by the video’s sections showing the two phones together.
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Google sent out invites last month to the August 13 event. Although (unsurprisingly) devoid of details, it promised to “showcase the best of Google AI, Android software and the Pixel portfolio of devices.” The event will be at Google’s Mountain View headquarters instead of the typical New York City setting for Pixel launches.
In addition to the Pixel 9 series, we expect a next-generation Pixel Fold, a new Tensor chip and a third-generation Pixel Watch. (And a possible Pixel Buds appearance.) Of course, since this is 2024 and no company can hold an event without an almost comical obsession with AI, we’re practically guaranteed to hear more about new Google AI features — like the rumored Pixie AI assistant. In addition, the phones could include iPhone-like emergency satellite messaging.
Bloomberg had reported back in February the Sonos’ long-rumored and long-awaited headphones are dropping in June, a month later than the company originally intended due to a software issue. While Sonos itself has yet to release details about the device, its Dutch authorized dealer Schuurman seems to have published information and images of the headphones ahead of time. A Redditor in the Sonos group has discovered Schuurman’s listings (via The Verge) after someone else found out that the wireless headphones will officially be called the Sonos Ace.
Sonos
Based on the images, the Ace device package will come with the headphones, some wires and a carrying case. It looks like the headphones themselves will have buttons and a toggle switch on the earphone parts of the device. The images are pretty low-quality, so we can’t comment on how premium the model looks, but it does seem like the device is going to be a pair of over-ear headphones. Schuurman has listed the device package for €403.58 ($435), which is pretty near the $449 pricing Bloomberg mentioned in its previous report.
As the news organization said at the time, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is hoping that launching the new device category can help fuel growth for the company known for its speakers and sound bars after years of sluggish sales. The upcoming Ace headphones were reportedly designed to work with the company’s existing devices and can stream audio directly from TVs and music streaming services using its built-in Wi-Fi connection. Bloomberg said that Sonos is also looking into the possibility of releasing an in-ear model in the future to compete with Apple’s AirPods and other similar products.
If you had trouble getting gas during a very rainy Monday, you weren’t alone. Here’s why that may have been the case.
KABC
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — If you had trouble getting gas during a very rainy Monday, you weren’t alone.
Eyewitness News received reports from several people saying they pulled into a gas station, only to find pumps cordoned off and out of service.
So what’s the problem?
One gas station attendant told us it’s the rain. He says the pumps have sensors to detect gas leaks. When too much water gets in, it triggers the sensors even though there is no leak. That shuts down the pumps.
The attendant said it’s just a matter of getting someone in to drain the water to get the pumps working again.
But the company also said that by accessing those accounts, the hackers were also able to access “a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry that such users chose to share when opting in to 23andMe’s DNA Relatives feature.”
The company did not specify what that “significant number” of files is, nor how many of these “other users” were impacted.
23andMe did not immediately respond to a request for comment, which included questions on those numbers.
In early October, 23andMe disclosed an incident in which hackers had stolen some users’ data using a common technique known as “credential stuffing,” whereby cybercriminals hack into a victim’s account by using a known password, perhaps leaked due to a data breach on another service.
The damage, however, did not stop with the customers who had their accounts accessed. 23andMe allows users to opt into a feature called DNA Relatives. If a user opts-in to that feature, 23andMe shares some of that user’s information with others. That means that by accessing one victim’s account, hackers were also able to see the personal data of people connected to that initial victim.
23andMe said in the filing that for the initial 14,000 users, the stolen data “generally included ancestry information, and, for a subset of those accounts, health-related information based upon the user’s genetics.” For the other subset of users, 23andMe only said that the hackers stole “profile information” and then posted unspecified “certain information” online.
TechCrunch analyzed the published sets of stolen data by comparing it to known public genealogy records, including websites published by hobbyists and genealogists. Although the sets of data were formatted differently, they contained some of the same unique user and genetic information that matched genealogy records published online years earlier.
The owner of one genealogy website, for which some of their relatives’ information was exposed in 23andMe’s data breach, told TechCrunch that they have about 5,000 relatives discovered through 23andMe, and said our “correlations might take that into account.”
News of the data breach surfaced online in October when hackers advertised the alleged data of one million users of Jewish Ashkenazi descent and 100,000 Chinese users on a well-known hacking forum. Roughly two weeks later, the same hacker who advertised the initial stolen user data advertised the alleged records of four million more people. The hacker was trying to sell the data of individual victims for $1 to $10.
TechCrunch found that another hacker on a different hacking forum had advertised even more allegedly stolen user data two months before the advertisement that was initially reported by news outlets in October. In that first advertisement, the hacker claimed to have 300 terabytes of stolen 23andMe user data, and asked for $50 million to sell the whole database, or between $1,000 and $10,000 for a subset of the data.
In response to the data breach, on October 10, 23andMe forced users to reset and change their passwords and encouraged them to turn on multi-factor authentication. And on November 6, the company required all users to use two-step verification, according to the new filing.
A smaller subset of this data — known as the Xinjiang Police Files — was published last May. Further examination of the files then revealed their full extent, uncovering approximately 830,000 individuals across 11,477 documents and thousands of photographs.
The police files were hacked and leaked by an anonymous individual, then obtained by Adrian Zenz, a director of China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a US-based non-profit. Zenz and his team spent months developing the search tool, which they hope will empower the Uyghur diaspora with concrete information about their relatives, after years of separation and silence.
Using the new online search tool, CNN tracked down the records for 22 individuals after trialing it among the Uyghur diaspora across three continents.
For the first time, exiled Uyghurs were able to see official Chinese documents about the fate of their relatives, including why they were detained — and in some cases how they died. On seeing the files, some described a sense of empowerment; others felt guilt that their worst fears had been confirmed.
The Chinese government has never denied the legitimacy of the files, but state-run news outlet The Global Times recently described Zenz as a “rumor monger,” and called his analysis of the files “disinformation.”
‘Tens of thousands’ detained
The new website represents the largest data set ever made publicly available on Xinjiang. It allows people to search for hundreds of thousands of individuals in the raw files, using their Chinese ID card numbers.
Most of the information is from two locations — Shufu county in Kashgar and Tekes county in Ili — where the researchers believe they have almost complete population data.
The Uyghur population of Xinjiang is around 11 million, along with around four million people from other Turkic ethnic minorities. As such, the data likely represents only the tip of the iceberg.
Zenz said “tens of thousands” of people were listed as “detained” in the documents. The youngest was aged just 15.
“(This is) an inside scoop on the workings of a paranoid police state, and that’s absolutely frightening. The nature of this atrocity is becoming more and more clear.” Adrian Zenz
CNN has sent a detailed request for comment to the Chinese government about the files, and the families highlighted in this article, but has not received a response.
The leaked police records mostly cover the period between 2016 and 2018, which was the peak of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s “Strike Hard” campaign against terrorism in Xinjiang.
The US government and UN estimated that up to two million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities were detained in a giant network of internment camps, described by the Chinese government as “vocational training centers” designed to combat extremism.
These files provide a snapshot of that timeframe, but do not reflect the current situation.
After the first set of data was published in May, the Chinese government did not respond to specific questions about the files, but the Chinese embassy in Washington DC did issue a statement claiming Xinjiang residents lived a “safe, happy and fulfilling life,” which it said provided a “powerful response to all sorts of lies and disinformation on Xinjiang.”
At a press conference in late December, Xinjiang officials also claimed that “most” of the people identified in the leaked photographs were “living a normal life,” without specifying the fate of the rest. A woman who appeared in the files also claimed that she had “never been detained,” but had graduated from “a vocational college in June 2022,” just weeks after the documents were published.
‘It haunts you every day’
Over the past four years, CNN has gathered testimonies from dozens of overseas Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, which included allegations of torture and rape inside the camp system. CNN also spoke to those abroad desperately seeking information about their loved ones.
Such information is usually incredibly hard for relatives to find. A sophisticated system of collective punishment threatens those in Xinjiang with detention if their families abroad even try to make a phone call.
“The black hole is the most terrifying thing,” Zenz said. “And that’s part of why the Chinese state creates this black hole. It’s the most terrifying thing that can be done. That you don’t even know the fate of a loved one, are they alive or dead.”
From different corners of the globe, the search tool enabled three Uyghur families to find detailed official data on their relatives for the first time.
Mamatjan Juma
Lives in Virginia, USA
Age 49
Abduweli Ayup
Lives in Bergen, Norway
Age 49
Marhaba Yakub Salay
Lives in Adelaide, Australia
Age 34
Mamatjan Juma (49), pictured with his three brothers in 2003. They were all jailed, according to the police files. “I wish I could go back to this moment,” Juma said.
For Mamatjan Juma, who lives just south of Washington DC in Virginia, the files provided “immense” information about his family, but also confirmed his worst fears — that they were found “guilty by association” with him.
As the deputy director for the Uyghur service of US-funded news organization Radio Free Asia, Juma has been highlighting the situation in Xinjiang for 16 years. He left China for the US in 2003, after being selected for an academic fellowship with the Ford Foundation.
“They called me a wanted terrorist, to be deported back to China,” Juma said. “My relatives (are) also demonized because of me, and then (they’re) not described as human beings.”
The files show that 29 members of Juma’s immediate and extended family had been detained — and in some cases sentenced to long jail terms — due to their connections to him.
Juma learned that all three of his brothers were imprisoned, one of whom was even pictured in a police mugshot.
Eysajan Juma, brother
“He looked (like) he lost his soul. It broke my heart. It broke… my heart sank.” Mamatjan Juma, looking at his brother Eysajan’s mugshot
He described his younger brother, Eysajan Juma, as “jubilant, very gregarious,” a sociable and likable person who was loved deeply, despite making “a lot of mistakes.” But Juma could no longer see those familiar traits in his brother’s eyes.
“I saw a defeated person,” Juma said. “He lost any of his emotions.”
In the files, Juma also discovered the details of his father’s death, which was described as the result of “various kinds of complications.”
“It was a very heartbreaking situation,” Juma said, through tears. “He was so proud of us, (but) we weren’t able to be with him at the time… it was very painful.”
Despite the disturbing revelations, Juma said he felt a sense of “relief” from seeing the files, which was “empowering” after years of not knowing.
“The bitterness of desperation dissipates,” he said. “The darkness of not knowing also disappears.”
But Juma is still coming to terms with the enormity of the impact his departure from his homeland had on his family.
“Survivor’s guilt is very painful,” Juma said. “They are tied to you and they are persecuted; it’s not an easy feeling to digest.”
“It haunts you every day.”
Targeting geography teachers
Abduweli Ayup, a Uyghur scholar living in exile in Norway, doesn’t feel any relief from searching through the police files — only grief.
In fact, he wishes he had never seen them.
“Of course if I have this option, I choose to be ignorant, not to know. How can I dare to face this reality?” Abduweli Ayup, on finding family members’ records
Ayup, who ran a Uyghur language school in Kashgar, fled Xinjiang in August 2015 after spending time in jail as a political prisoner, where he told CNN he faced torture and gang rape.
He had already heard that his brother and sister — along with several others — had been targeted because of him, but the search database gave him the first official confirmation.
“This time the government document told me that yes, it is related to you, and it is your fault,” Ayup said, adding that he now feels “guilty and responsible.”
His sister, who taught geography at a high school for 15 years, was listed in the police files as one of 15,563 “blacklisted” people.
“I have learned that my younger sister, she got arrested,” Ayup said. “The reason is, she (is) accused of (being a) ‘double-faced government official,’ and she (was) blacklisted because of me.”
After using the new search tool, Abduweli Ayup (49) learned that his sister Sajida, a geography teacher, was jailed due to her association to him.
Uyghurs working in government jobs in Xinjiang while continuing to practice their cultural beliefs were often accused of being “two-faced,” Ayup said, categorized as “traitors, not 100% loyal to the government.”
‘I will live in fear’
When she first used the new search tool, Marhaba Yakub Salay, a Uyghur living in Adelaide, Australia, found police records for two relatives she did not expect: her young niece and nephew, who were aged just 15 and 12 when the files were made in 2017.
The nephew was labeled as a “Category 2” person on the blacklist, described as a “highly suspicious accomplice” in “public security and terrorism cases.”
Marhaba Yakub Salay (34) found files for her young niece and nephew using the online search tool.
The files on Salay’s niece and nephew suggested they had traveled to at least one of 26 “suspicious” countries which included Syria and Afghanistan. Salay said that was not true — they had only ever traveled outside China to go on holiday to Malaysia.
“This is insane… this is terrible,” Salay said as she read through her nephew’s file. “He’s turning 18 in a couple of months’ time. Are they going to arrest him?”
Marhaba Yakub Salay found that her nephew has been categorized as a threat in the police files, despite being aged 12 at the time the record was created.
Salay’s sister Mayila Yakufu — the mother of the children — was sentenced to 6.5 years in jail at the end of 2020, after she had spent several years in other camps.
Yakufu is accused of financing terrorism after she wired money to Salay and their parents in 2013, so they could buy a house in Australia — which the family has proved with banking records. Mayila and Marhaba’s brother left Xinjiang in 1998, and later died in an accident in Australia in 2007 — but his ID card was still cited as a suspicious connection to the children.
“I think the suspicion level (Category 2) is about my late brother, but they tried to connect my 12-year-(old) nephew with my brother, who passed away 15 years ago,” Salay said. “These two people, they have never met each other.”
“My heart is bleeding. I will live in fear, in the worry about when they’re going to take my niece and nephew.” Marhaba Yakub Salay, on finding family members’ records
‘Like a virus of the mind’
The extension of “guilt by association” to children reflects the paranoia which the Chinese state holds toward the Uyghur population, according to Zenz.
“The state considers the entire family to be tainted,” Zenz said. “And I think that’s consistent with how Xi Jinping and other officials (in) internal speeches have described Islam like a virus of the mind that infects people.”
As the families look through these files, their instinct is to search for logic and reasons for what happened to their loved ones. But they find only confusion.
“Guilt by association can work quite extensively, and the logic behind it is quite fuzzy and the reach is pervasive,” Zenz said.
This “fuzzy” logic was explained by a former Xinjiang police officer turned whistleblower, who told CNN in 2021 the idea had been to detain Uyghurs en masse first, and find reasons for the arrests later.
The ex-detective — who went by the name Jiang — said that 900,000 Uyghurs were rounded up in one year in Xinjiang, even though “none” of them had committed any crimes. He admitted torturing inmates during interrogations, adding that some of his colleagues acted like “psychopaths” to extract confessions to various crimes.
“Door by door, village by village, township by township, people got arrested. This is the evidence of crimes against humanity, this is the evidence of genocide, because (they) targeted an ethnicity.” Abduweli Ayup
The US government has accused China of committing genocide in Xinjiang — and a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that China may have carried out crimes against humanity. China has vigorously denied those allegations.
With this new deluge of leaked data, the researchers hope to add to the growing body of evidence on the policies inside Xinjiang — and they hope that providing widespread access to the files will drive renewed efforts by governments and human rights organizations to hold China accountable.
“I sincerely hope that this is going to inspire some hope among the Uyghurs,” Zenz said.
For Uyghur families around the world, desperate to be reunited, each one of the 830,000 names represents a loved one.
“Beautiful souls are being destroyed behind those numbers,” Mamatjan Juma said. “There is suffering without any reason.”
Correction: This story was updated to replace and correct a photo of Abduweli Ayup’s niece.
Have you managed to track down your loved ones using the new search tool? Please contactUyghurFamilies@CNN.comif you’d like to share your stories.
