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October
Iraqi cleric al-Sadr demands closure of U.S. embassy over Israel ties
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Iraq's Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government and lawmakers on Friday to close the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in response to Washington's "unfettered support" for Israel.
"If the government and parliament do not abide by this demand, we will go for further actions which we will later announce," the statement said.
The populist leader counts millions of Iraqis among his followers and has shown in the past he can stir up gatherings by hundreds of thousands of supporters, mostly working-class Shi'ite Muslims, if he wishes to exert political pressure.
Sadr has opposed Iranian influence in Iraq, setting him apart from other Shi'ite leaders who have close ties to Tehran. He has also opposed the U.S. and called for the departure of the last remaining U.S. troops in Iraq.
In June, his followers stormed and set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in connection with the burning of a Koran in Sweden. The demonstration was called by Sadr's supporters.
Last year, he commanded his followers to storm Baghdad's heavily secured Green Zone - which houses government buildings and embassies - and occupy parliament.(Reuters)
October
TikTok rejects Malaysian accusation it blocks pro-Palestinian content
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Social media platform TikTok said on Friday accusations by the Malaysian government that it was blocking pro-Palestinian content were "unfounded".
Muslim-majority Malaysia on Thursday warned of action against social media firms TikTok and Meta, saying their platforms had been accused of restricting content supporting Palestinians.
Meta responded on Thursday, saying there was "no truth" to the accusation and it was not deliberately suppressing voices on its Facebook platform.
A TikTok spokesperson, in an email to Reuters on Friday, also rejected Malaysia's accusation that it was blocking pro-Palestinian content.
"The claim is unfounded. Our community guidelines apply equally to all content on TikTok, and we're committed to consistently enforcing our policies to protect our community," the spokesperson said.
Both Meta and TikTok designate Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, a "dangerous organisation" and ban content praising it.
Hamas members attacked communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel says some 1,400 people including children were killed, and more than 200 people, some of them infants, were taken hostage in the assault.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said on Thursday that 7,028 Palestinians had been killed in Israel's retaliatory air strikes, including 2,913 children.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
Since the violence erupted, both social media firms have taken steps to improve moderation, and remove or label graphic visuals.
Meta said in mid-October that it had taken down or labelled nearly 800,000 pieces of content in Hebrew and Arabic in the days after the Oct. 7 attack.
Similarly, TikTok said this week it had removed more than 775,000 videos and 14,000 livestreams since the attack.(Reuters)
October
Inside the Maine hospital that treated shooting victims
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Dr. Richard King was driving home from the Central Maine Medical Center on Wednesday night when he received an urgent call from a fellow trauma surgeon alerting him that victims of a mass casualty event were flooding the hospital.
King, the trauma medical director, immediately turned around and sped through Lewiston's streets with his hazard lights flashing, arriving to discover what he later described in an interview as a nightmarish scene. The emergency room was overflowing with wounded and bleeding patients, casualties of the latest mass shooting to hit an American city.
Within minutes, King went to work performing a "damage control" surgery on one gunshot victim to stop their bleeding and save their life before hustling into a different operating room to begin work on another.
"It was a situation of organized chaos," King said. "It was really quite surreal. We read about these events all too frequently, and then to be a part of one ..."
The staff of Central Maine Medical Center on Wednesday joined a growing list of fellow doctors, nurses, orderlies and technicians working in cities from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Highland Park, Illinois and El Paso, Texas, who have seen their hospitals upended by incessant mass shootings in recent years.
King told Reuters by phone from inside the heavily guarded hospital that the 250-bed medical center had never seen anything resembling the fallout from the Lewiston shooting, which left 18 people dead and more than a dozen wounded.
Lewiston, a former textile hub, is home to only about 38,000 people, but still stands as the second largest city in Maine, the state ranked by the FBI as the least violent in the nation.
The number of those killed on Wednesday was only slightly below the average number of homicides in Maine for an entire year.
But King said the medical center's staff has undergone mass casualty event training and that it felt like "the entire hospital" rushed into the facility to help out. Eight shooting victims, including five who are stable and three in critical condition, remained in the hospital on Thursday.
"We really just did what we would normally do, just at maximum capacity and with maximum effort," King said. "It was inspiring to see how all our staff responded, how everybody stepped up to the plate."
While there is one on-call after hours surgeon, upward of 30 surgeons were on site within minutes of the first ambulances arriving at the hospital, King said.
As one victim after another was rushed into the emergency room - more than a dozen gunshot victims eventually arrived - doctors grew concerned that the medical center's blood supply would not hold out. That forced King and other surgeons to do everything medically possible to stem the loss of blood among patients.
Supplies held out, King said, in large part due to work by the medical center's trauma program manager, Tammy Lachance, to quickly secure extra blood from nearby hospitals.
In the aftermath of the shooting, King said the most difficult thing for him and other staff members, some of whom had family and loved ones who were killed, is coming to terms with the loss of life and tragedy that befell Lewiston, especially as the adrenaline of treating victims wears off.
With the shooter still at large on Thursday, law enforcement officers outside the hospital carrying long guns and wearing bulletproof vests were seen guarding entrances and keeping onlookers away.
"This is a close-knit community. Maine is fairly small, everybody knows everybody to some extent," King said. "This shooting hits really hard in a city like Lewiston and a state like Maine."(Reuters)
October
White House: Russia is executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - The United States has information that the Russian military is executing soldiers who do not follow orders related to the war with Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday.
"We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
"We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire," Kirby said.
Representatives from the Kremlin, the Russian defense ministry, and the Russian embassy to the United States did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the issue.
Russia's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, in a comment on the Telegram messaging app, made no reference to the White House allegations.
But referring to the latest military aid package to Ukraine of $150 million, Antonov branded the U.S. move as "provocative and inflammatory actions in the international arena that look more like pouring oil on the fire" than trying to ease conflict.
"It is long past time to halt the mindless multi-billion dollar flow to the bankrupt Kyiv regime," Antonov wrote on Telegram. "Time to stop showing total disdain towards the opinions of your own citizens and indifference to the growing number of victims dying from American weaponry."
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Russian forces were disregarding heavy losses and pressing on with a drive to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka.
The United States has strongly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has been providing significant aid to Kyiv.
Kirby said Russia's mobilized forces were undertrained, underequipped, and unprepared for combat. He said the military was using "human wave tactics" by throwing groups of poorly trained soldiers into the fight.
Kirby said threats to execute the soldiers was barbaric.
"I think it's a symptom of ... how poorly Russia's military leaders know they're doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective," he said. (Reuters)
October
EU leaders urge pauses in Gaza bombing to get aid in
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - EU leaders called on Thursday for pauses in Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket attacks to get humanitarian aid into Gaza after days of wrangling that highlighted divisions within the bloc over the broader Israel-Palestinian conflict.
In a declaration agreed at a summit in Brussels, the leaders of the Union's 27 nations expressed the "gravest concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza".
They called for "continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs".
The summit was the leaders' first in-person meeting since the deadly Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which prompted Israel to bombard and blockade Hamas-run Gaza.
While EU leaders have strongly condemned Hamas' attack, they have struggled to stick to the same message beyond that, with some stressing Israel's right to self-defence and others emphasising concern about Palestinian civilians.
The leaders' differences were still clear as they arrived for the summit.
"Israel is a democratic state guided by very humanitarian principles and so we can be certain that the Israeli army will respect the rules that arise from international law in everything it does," said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "I have no doubt about that."
Scholz's remarks contrasted sharply with comments in recent days by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Charles Michel, the chairman of EU leaders' summits, who have said that a total blockade of Gaza and attacks on civilian infrastructure already contravene international law.
Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have also accused Israel of violating international humanitarian law.
Israel insists it is acting within international law and that its attacks are intended to destroy Hamas, which operates among the civilian population.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo warned Israel against starving Gaza.
"Israel has a right to take action and to prevent future attacks. But that is never an excuse for blocking a whole region, for blocking humanitarian aid. It cannot be an excuse to starve a population," he said.
PAUSE VERSUS PAUSES
Ahead of the summit, diplomats spent days debating whether to call for a "humanitarian pause" or "pauses".
Countries such as France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Ireland had endorsed calls from the United Nations for a break in the conflict for humanitarian reasons.
But others such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria resisted, arguing such a measure could curb Israel's ability to defend itself and let Hamas regroup, according to diplomats.
The compromise on "pauses" in the plural was meant to signal short breaks in fighting for missions such as hostage releases or aid convoys, rather than a formal ceasefire, diplomats said.
While the EU's influence on the conflict is modest, the bloc fears that an escalation could have grave consequences for Europe, including a rise in tensions between communities, possible Islamist militant attacks and a flow of refugees.
The crisis erupted with the EU already grappling with the fallout from another war in its immediate neigbourhood - the conflict triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the summit by video link as the EU leaders pledged they will continue to support Ukraine even amidst another major crisis.
"We must clearly see this scenario of a larger fire in the Middle East and counter it together," Zelenskiy said.
"The sooner security prevails in the Middle East, the sooner we will restore security here in Europe."
Some officials and diplomats have voiced fears that Ukraine may now struggle to get the same political attention and resources from the West, particularly the United States, due to the new crisis in the Middle East. (Reuters)
October
Russia, China Veto US Push for UN Action on Israel, Gaza
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Russia and China on Wednesday vetoed a U.S. push for the United Nations Security Council to act on the Israel-Hamas conflict by calling for pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid access, the protection of civilians and a stop to arming Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip.
The United States put forward a draft resolution on Saturday as global outcry grew over a worsening humanitarian crisis and mounting civilian death toll in Gaza. It made the move just days after it vetoed a humanitarian focused draft from Brazil, arguing more time was needed for U.S.-led diplomacy.
The initial U.S. text shocked many diplomats with its bluntness in stating Israel has a right to defend itself and demanding Iran stop exporting arms to militant groups. It did not include a call for humanitarian pauses for aid access. But it largely toned down the final text that was put to the vote.
"We did listen to all of you," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council after the double veto, which she described as disappointing. "Though today’s vote was a setback, we must not be deterred."
It was a rare move by the United States to suggest Security Council action. Washington has traditionally shielded its ally Israel at the world body.
Ten members voted for the U.S. text, while the United Arab Emirates voted no and Brazil and Mozambique abstained.
"The draft does not reflect the world's strongest calls for a ceasefire, an end to the fighting, and it does not help resolve the issue," China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council after the vote. "At this moment, ceasefire is not just a diplomatic term. It means the life and death of many civilians."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been appealing for a humanitarian ceasefire.
'OBLIGATION TO ACT'
In the wake of the Security Council deadlock, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly will vote on Friday on a draft resolution put forward by Arab states that calls for a ceasefire. No country holds a veto in the General Assembly. Resolutions are non-binding, but carry political weight.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,400 people. Israel has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege on the enclave of 2.3 million people and is preparing a ground invasion. Palestinian authorities say more than 6,500 have been killed.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accuses the U.S. of putting up a draft resolution that represented Security Council authorization of a ground offensive in Gaza by Israel "while thousands of Palestinian children will continue to die."
After the double veto, the Security Council then voted on a rival Russian-drafted text that called for a humanitarian ceasefire and withdrawal of Israel's order for civilians in Gaza to relocate south ahead of a ground assault.
Russia failed to the get minimum amount of support needed, winning only four votes. A resolution needs at least nine votes and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to be adopted.
It was Russia's second attempt at a resolution. Only five council members voted in favor of a Russian text on Oct. 16.
The elected 10 members of the Security Council now plan to work on a new draft resolution, Malta's U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said.
"This crisis is also gripped by a growing risk of a regional spill over. This demands our undivided attention," she said. "We have the duty and the obligation to act." (Reuters)
October
Israel Ground Forces Raid Hamas Sites in Gaza, Withdraw - Military Statement
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Israeli ground forces operated within the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, attacking multiple Hamas targets before withdrawing, the military said in a statement on what Israel's Army Radio described as the biggest incursion of the current war.
Video of the overnight action issued by the military showed armoured vehicles proceeding through a sandy border zone. A bulldozer is seen levelling part of a raised bank, tanks fire shells, and explosions are seen near or amid a row of damaged buildings.
The military statement posted online said the incursion was carried out "in preparation for the next stages of combat", a possible reference to the large-scale invasion that Israeli leaders have threatened as part of the war to destroy Hamas.
"The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory," the military statement added.
Israel began localised ground incursions on Sunday as the war, triggered by an Oct 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas gunmen, entered its third week. Israel's Army Radio described Thursday's incursion as the biggest yet.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas in Gaza. (Reuters)
October
Israel Mounts New Sortie Into Gaza, Hints There May be Several 'Invasions'
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Israel said its ground forces had pushed into Gaza overnight to attack Hamas targets as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "preparing for a ground invasion" that could be one of several.
"I will not elaborate on when, how or how many," he said in a televised update to citizens on Wednesday evening.
The besieged Palestinian enclave is already reeling from almost three weeks of Israeli bombardment, which was triggered by a mass killing spree in southern Israel by the Iranian-backed Hamas militants who run Gaza.
Hamas has threatened to kill some of the more than 200 hostages it brought back to Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half hold foreign passports, from 25 countries.
Other Iranian-backed groups have since attempted attacks on Israel elsewhere in the region; Western leaders fear that a high death toll among Palestinian civilians, who have already been killed in large numbers by Israeli air strikes, could spark a wider war.
U.S. President Joe Biden held a call with Netanyahu, discussing "ongoing efforts to locate and secure the release" of Americans believed held hostage in Gaza, the White House said overnight.
It said safe passage for foreigners wishing to leave Gaza, a continuous flow of aid into the narrow coastal strip, which is blockaded by Israel, and a pathway to permanent peace with the Palestinian people were also discussed.
"The President reiterated that Israel has every right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism and to do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law," the White House said.
The comments reflect a balancing act over U.S. support for Israel's actions after Biden was criticised for casting doubt on Palestinian casualty figures.
NETANYAHU SUGGESTS MORE THAN ONE GROUND INVASION PLANNED
Israeli army radio said the military had overnight staged its biggest incursion into northern Gaza in the current war against Hamas, which Israel has vowed to eliminate.
The military later released video on X showing armoured vehicles crossing the highly fortified barrier from Israel and blowing up buildings "in preparation for the next stages of combat".
"Tanks and infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts," it said.
Palestinians in Gaza said Israeli air strikes had pounded the territory again overnight and people living in central Gaza, near the Bureij refugee camp and east of Qarara village, reported intensive tank shelling all night.
Hamas did not comment directly on the Israeli report but said its armed wing had struck an Israeli helicopter east of Bureij. The Israeli military said it was "not aware of this".
Israel has carried out weeks of intense bombardment of the densely populated Strip following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities, which it says killed some 1,400 people.
Gaza's health ministry said on Wednesday that more than 6,500 Palestinians had been killed in the air strikes.
In Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, an Israeli air strike hit a house, killing a mother, her three daughters and a baby boy.
The father said his parents had been made homeless by Israelis in 1948 and that he would not leave, whatever happened. Holding the baby's body, with those of his family nearby, he said:
"He is only two months and a half old, what did he do? Did he kill? Did he wound someone? Did he capture someone? They were innocent children inside their house."
The director of the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, Nahed Abu Taaema, said the bodies of 77 people killed in air strikes had been brought in overnight, most of them women and children, Hamas's Al-Aqsa radio station reported.
Many Palestinians are sheltering in Khan Younis's hospitals, schools, homes and existing refugee camps and on the street after Israel warned them to leave their homes in the north.
Israel did not respond directly to the report but said its forces had struck a Hamas surface-to-air missile launch post in the Khan Younis area, which it said had been placed next to a mosque and kindergarten.
It was not clear if both sides were referring to the same incident.
Humanitarian supplies are critically low but world powers failed at the United Nations to agree on how to call for a lull to the fighting to deliver significant amounts of aid. Mass graves have begun to be used as the civilian toll has mounted.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 trucks had crossed from Egypt carrying food, water and medical supplies on Thursday, making 74 trucks since Saturday, still only a small fraction of Gaza's peacetime needs. Israel has not allowed fuel in, saying Hamas would just add it to its stockpile.
U.S. CONCERNED ABOUT IRANIAN-BACKED ATTACKS ON ITS TROOPS
Reflecting concerns the Gaza war may spread, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had agreed to delay invading Gaza until U.S. air defence systems can be placed in the region, as early as this week, to protect American forces.
Asked about the report, U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington had raised concerns with Israel that Iran and Iranian-backed Islamist groups could escalate the conflict by attacking U.S. troops in the Middle East. An Israeli incursion into Gaza could be a trigger for Iranian proxies, they said.
Israeli warplanes struck Syrian army infrastructure on Wednesday in response to rockets fired from Syria, an ally of Iran. Israel has also targeted Syria's Aleppo airport and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, which backs armed groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen as well as Hamas as part of a long-running bid for regional ascendancy, has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza. (Reuters)
October
Why is Israel Attacking South Gaza After Telling People to Go There?
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Israel has told civilians in the northern Gaza Strip, including residents of Gaza City, to move to the south of the enclave, saying it will be safer there as the military attacks Hamas following its Oct. 7 cross-border assault.
However, Israeli warplanes have continued to hit sites in southern Gaza, spreading fear among the evacuees that they are just as vulnerable there as they were in their homes in the north. Here is an overview of the situation.
WHY IS ISRAEL STILL HITTING THE SOUTH?
Since telling Gazans to head south, the Israeli military (IDF) has continued to pound targets across the area, killing an unknown number of civilians. In all, authorities in Gaza say 6,546 Palestinians have died since Israeli strikes started on Oct. 7.
Residents said the bombardment of the south intensified on Oct. 25. One strike brought down several apartment buildings in Khan Younis, some 10 km (6 miles) from the Egyptian border.
The IDF has said that even if Hamas's main power centre is in Gaza City, it is nonetheless entrenched among the civilian population across the enclave.
"Wherever a Hamas target arises, the IDF will strike at it in order to thwart the terrorist capabilities of the group, while taking feasible precautions to mitigate the harm to uninvolved civilians," the military said on Wednesday, reiterating previous statements.
The military has said the homes where militants live are "legitimate targets" even if civilians live alongside them.
"The so-called private home is not a private home," a senior Israeli air force officer told reporters in a recent briefing.
WHY DID ISRAEL ORDER THE EVACUATION SOUTH?
The Israeli military said on Oct. 12 that nearly half of Gaza's 2.3 million population should move to the southern half of Gaza within 24 hours. The military said the order was aimed at moving civilians away from "Hamas terror targets", which it believes are concentrated in the north.
Military spokesman Jonathan Conricus subsequently said: "We are preparing the area for significant military activity in Gaza City. That is the next stage. That's why we are asking civilians to go south of the Gaza River."
Israel has massed troops on the border with Gaza and is widely expected to launch a land invasion.
On Oct. 18, the military urged residents of Gaza to evacuate to what it called a humanitarian zone in Al Mawasi, on the coast of southern Gaza.
Israel renewed its warnings on Oct. 22, saying that anyone staying in the north could be identified as sympathisers of a "terrorist organisation" if they did not leave.
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE MOVED?
Hamas has urged Palestinians to ignore the Israeli warnings.
Israel said on Wednesday it had attacked Hamas roadblocks that it believed were stopping people evacuate.
Despite Hamas's attempts to stop an exodus, residents and international aid organisations say there has been a mass displacement of people away from the north and other areas of the enclave seen as a especially vulnerable to attack.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated on Oct. 24 that more than 1.4 million people are internally displaced (IDPs) within Gaza.
Gaza's border crossings with both Egypt and Israel are closed, effectively trapping residents inside the enclave.
WHAT HAS THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SAID?
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said giving hundreds of thousands of people just hours to leave their homes was "dangerous and deeply troubling". Many Western governments have called for a pause in the fighting to open humanitarian corridors for the trapped civilians. Arab nations have called for Israel to stop the war. (Reuters)
October
China's Youngest-Ever Crew of Astronauts Heads to Space Station
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - The youngest-ever crew of Chinese astronauts departed for China's space station on Thursday, paving the way for a new generation of "taikonauts" to advance the country's space ambitions in the future.
The spacecraft Shenzhou-17, or "Divine Vessel", and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.
Leading the six-month mission was former air force pilot Tang Hongbo, 48, who was on the first crewed mission to the space station in 2021.
His return to the orbiting outpost Tiangong, or "Celestial Palace" in Chinese, also set a new record for the shortest interval between two spaceflight missions by taikonauts - coined from the Chinese word for space - suggesting a faster rotation of taikonauts in coming years.
Tang, from China's second batch of astronauts in 2010, had to wait more than a decade before he was picked for his inaugural spaceflight in 2021.
By contrast, his fellow Shenzhou-17 crew members Tang Shengjie, 33, and Jiang Xinlin, 35, both travelling to space for the first time, joined China's third batch of astronauts in September 2020.
China has already kickstarted the selection process for the fourth batch of astronauts, seeking candidates with doctoral degrees in disciplines from biology, physics and chemistry to biomedical engineering and astronomy.
It is also opening the process to applicants from Hong Kong and Macau for the first time.
The first and second batches of astronauts were all former air force pilots, like Tang, who joined the People's Liberation Army in 1995 at age 20.
FOREIGN ASTRONAUTS
The selection and training process will commence soon for foreign astronauts looking to participate in joint flights to Tiangong, a senior official on China's manned space program said this year.
But as much as China is showcasing its efforts to internationalise its space missions, its space program has distinct Chinese characteristics, at least on Tiangong.
In a departure from the NASA-led International Space Station (ISS), where English is the working language, only Chinese is used on Tiangong, making Chinese-language skills a key criteria for foreign participants.
Tiangong has become a symbol of China's growing confidence in its space endeavours after being shut out of the ISS program for decades. China is banned by U.S. law from any collaboration, direct or indirect, with NASA.
Tiangong, completed in late 2022, can house a maximum of three astronauts at an orbital altitude of up to 450 km (280 miles) and will have an operational lifespan of more than 15 years.
The Shenzhou-17 astronauts will replace the Shenzhou-16 crew, who arrived at Tiangong at the end of May.
The Shenzhou-16 crew, consisting of veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, is scheduled to return to earth on Oct. 31.
Zhu and Gui, both in their 30s, are from China's third batch of astronauts.
Shenzhou-17 marks China's 12th crewed mission since Yang Liwei's solo spaceflight in October 2003, the first Chinese national in space. (Reuters)