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For Immediate Release
September, 17 2009, 11:37am EDT
Contact:
何勇/Jeff He (IFAW China)
Tel: 86-10-64643599
Email: jhe@ifaw.org
Chris Cutter (IFAW HQ)
Tel: +1-508-744-2066
Email: ccutter@ifaw.org
Alibaba, World's Largest B2B Site, Bans Sale of Ivory, Sea Turtle and Shark Fin
BEIJING
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW-www.ifaw.org) announced today that Alibaba (www.taobo.com.cn), the world's largest business-to-business and outsource portal site for traders worldwide, has agreed to ban all online trade in elephant ivory, sea turtle, and shark fin. In addition, Alibaba has strengthened its internal control of wildlife products traded to accord to international and national regulations. Alibaba's announcement comes nearly a year after eBay, working with IFAW, agreed to ban the sale of all ivory products.
The milestone decision was made following a year long collaboration between IFAW and Alibaba's partner site, Taobao.com to raise awareness about the unsustainable and cruel trade of wildlife on the Internet. IFAW encourages netizens to report online wildlife crime activities and helps portal sites filter out advertisements of wildlife products. To date, 333 wildlife product advertisements and 5 traders registered from Cameron, USA, and Canada have been removed from the Alibaba site.
Grace Gabriel, IFAW's Asia Regional Director said, "From eBay to Taobao to Alibaba, a growing number of internet sites are taking responsibilities to protect the world's precious wildlife from the threat of trade. It is a very encouraging trend."
The International Fund for Animal Welfare works to improve animal welfare, prevent animal cruelty and abuse, protect wildlife and provide animal rescue around the world. From stopping the elephant ivory trade, to ending the Canadian seal hunt and saving the whales from extinction, IFAW works to create solutions that benefit both animals and people.
LATEST NEWS
'Grow a F*cking Spine': Critics Fume as Newsom Backtracks on ICE 'Terrorism' in Ben Shapiro Interview
“If you get cooked by Ben Shapiro, you don't have a chance against Vance.”
Jan 16, 2026
Amid unprecedented backlash against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom—considered a leading contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination—is being accused of giving the increasingly violent agency a pass after an interview with right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro in which he softened his criticism of ICE.
In recent days, following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good last week in Minneapolis, officers of ICE and other federal agencies have been documented engaging in blatant racial profiling, unconstitutional “citizenship checks,” and extreme uses of physical force, including dragging a disabled US citizen from her car on the way to a doctor's appointment, as the Associated Press reported Friday.
It is part of a pattern of behavior by ICE that Newsom's press office described as "state-sponsored terrorism" as recently as January 7, when he used the term to describe Good's killing by agent Jonathan Ross, who was recorded shooting Good in the head after stepping in front of her vehicle and referring to her as a "fucking bitch." Agents also obstructed emergency medical services from arriving at the scene of the shooting to assist Good, according to video and eyewitness accounts.
But when questioned by the cantankerous debater Shapiro on his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom on Thursday, the governor backed off that forceful description of the agency.
“Your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which, I mean, Governor, I just have to ask you about that. That sort of thing makes our politics worse, and it does,” said Shapiro, to which Newsom responded, “Yeah.”
Shapiro continued: “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.”
“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” agreed Newsom.
A short clip of that exchange, shared in celebration by Shapiro's outlet, the Daily Wire, was met with widespread criticism on social media from those who wanted to see one of the Democratic Party's most prominent leaders take an unapologetic stance against ICE.
Mehdi Hasan, founder of the news outlet Zeteo, questioned why "Newsom is trying to wreck his otherwise very strong chance of winning the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination by doing this self-destructive podcast where he allows right-wing guests to walk all over him and then promote clips online of them walking all over him."
But this clip showed only one of several instances during the nearly two-hour interview in which Newsom rolled over to his guest's pro-ICE framing.
When Shapiro interrogated Newsom about California's supposed "sanctuary state" policy and suggested the state should “cooperate with ICE in the vast majority of cases,” Newsom responded: “That's exactly what they do in California.”
Newsom then boasted that there have been “over 10,000” deportations he’s cooperated with since he became governor of California. Though he emphasized that the sanctuary law only allows for the state’s correctional facilities to cooperate with ICE, advocates have criticized it for allowing the deportation of those who were never convicted and those who’ve had their cases dropped.
“California has cooperated with more ICE transfers, probably, than any other state in the country,” he continued. “I vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that.”
Newsom has indeed vetoed at least two pieces of Democratic legislation that sought to further limit the state’s cooperation with ICE—one in 2023, which would have repealed requirements allowing prisons to transfer noncitizens to ICE custody after they leave prison, and another in 2019, which would have banned private security companies from entering California prisons to transfer people to ICE custody.
Shapiro later questioned Newsom on whether he agreed with calls from some Democrats to “abolish” ICE in the wake of the shooting, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), another potential favorite for the 2028 nomination.
Newsom said, “I disagree,” adding, “I believe a candidate for president by the name of Harris said that in the last campaign. I remember being on [All In with Chris Hayes] hours later saying, ‘I think that’s a mistake.’”
While she has been critical of the agency and suggested changing its enforcement priorities, it is untrue that former Vice President Kamala Harris has ever called to “abolish ICE,” even saying as far back as 2018 that “ICE has a purpose. ICE has a role, ICE should exist.”
She did not call for ICE to be abolished during the 2024 campaign for president as Newsom suggested, and was criticized by immigrants’ rights activists for running further to the right on immigration than in years past.
By rejecting calls to abolish ICE, critics noted that Newsom was expressing a position far out of touch with the Democratic base and with a widening segment of the country, which has grown increasingly hostile toward ICE over the past year, and especially in the wake of its actions in Minnesota, which have led many to see it more as President Donald Trump's personal paramilitary force than a legitimate law enforcement agency.
A poll earlier this week by the Economist/YouGov revealed that for the first time ever, “abolishing ICE” had more support (46%) than opposition (43%) among American adults. Among those who said they leaned Democratic, 80% favored abolishing the agency, compared with just 11% who opposed it.
“This is an unbelievably stupid move from Gavin Newsom,” wrote the host of the left-wing talk show One Hand Politics, who goes by Mason, in response to the governor's rejection of the call to abolish ICE.
He implored Newsom to “grow a fucking spine and stop chasing Republican moderates that don’t exist. They all hate you.”
Brian Tashman, a political researcher and strategist at the ACLU, noted that Newsom is “not willing to push back against Ben Shapiro but will push back against labor organizers trying to enact a billionaire tax that would affect a few hundred people."
Left-wing commentator Joe Mayall saw the interaction as a window into how Newsom might perform in a possible 2028 presidential debate against Vice President JD Vance, widely seen as the Republican who would succeed Trump.
He wrote: “If you get cooked by Ben Shapiro, you don’t have a chance against Vance."
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After Collins Comments on ICE in Maine, Platner Explains How to Actually Fight 'Authoritarian Overreach'
"The difference between Sen. Collins and me is that I would do something about it," said the Democratic Senate candidate.
Jan 16, 2026
With public support plummeting for President Donald Trump's deployment of masked, armed federal immigration agents as the administration is expected to next target Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins issued a brief statement to the Bangor Daily News saying she didn't "see the rationale" for the expected arrival of US immigration and Customs Enforcement, but had little else to say about what she would do to protect people in her state.
"The difference between Sen. Collins and me is that I would do something about it," said Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate who is running to challenge the six-term senator in this year's election.
Platner is currently out of the country on a brief hiatus from his Senate campaign as he and his wife pursue in vitro fertilization in Norway, a topic he's discussed openly with voters as he's brought attention to the exorbitant cost of IVF in the US compared to Europe and called for the Medicare program to be expanded to everyone in the US.
As reports mounted of an impending major ICE deployment in Maine, Platner called on constituents to "protect our neighbors from authoritarian overreach, however we can."
"As many of you already know, it sounds like ICE is coming to Maine... This means that us Mainers are going to have to rise to this moment and protect our communities and our neighbors from the authoritarian overreach that we just saw bring about the tragedy in Minneapolis," said Platner in a video posted on social media, referring to an ICE agent's fatal shooting of Renee Good last week.
We have all heard the disturbing news: ICE is very likely coming for Maine.
We must protect our neighbors from authoritarian overreach, however we can. pic.twitter.com/PBYL63jgJ1
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) January 15, 2026
Platner has spoken out on the campaign trail about his vehement opposition to Trump's deployment of federal agents to cities including Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. He said in October at an event that as a senator, once Democrats win back control of Congress, he would "haul all of these people and the ones that made them do it in front of a Senate subcommittee, make them take their masks off."
Last month, Platner spoke at a rally in Lewiston, Maine, where hundreds of people gathered to express solidarity with the state's growing Somali population. The event was held after Trump referred to Somali people in the US as "garbage." Somali community members in Minnesota have been a primary target of ICE and other federal agents in the state in recent weeks, following a fraud scandal in which some people within the diaspora were charged and convicted.
This week, Trump denigrated Somali people in Maine, saying they have perpetrated "scams" in the state. The Maine Monitor reported that immigration authorities were seen in Lewiston last month at Gateway Community Services, a healthcare provider that serves immigrants for which the state suspended payments after it alleged interpreter fraud had taken place there.
On Thursday, Platner directed Mainers to the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, which has a hotline for people to report ICE sightings and has compiled information about residents' rights when they are approached by ICE agents, ways to support detainees, how people can prepare their families for potential detention or deportation efforts by the government, and how to record ICE arrests and actions safely.
Portland, Maine Mayor Mark Dion and Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline had been scheduled to hold a press conference Friday morning but it was canceled due to safety concerns. Both Democratic mayors issued statements on Wednesday warning Maine residents to know their rights in the event that they are stopped by ICE and called on people to look out for their neighbors.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is also running in the US Senate primary, also said state police had been directed to coordinate with local law enforcement in cities including Portland and Lewiston, where police do not work with ICE.
Collins' only other comment to the Bangor Daily News on Thursday was that she supports "the deportation of individuals who have criminal charges against them." Department of Homeland Security data has shown that a large majority of people detained by ICE in recent months have had no criminal convictions.
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United Nations Experts Condemn Trump Assault on Venezuela as ‘Flagrant Violation of the UN Charter’
"Latin America is a zone of peace. The obligation to resolve conflicts peacefully and in accordance with international law must be respected."
Jan 16, 2026
A group of United Nations experts on Thursday condemned the Trump administration's deadly assault on Venezuela, abduction of its president, and efforts to control its government and natural resources as profound violations of international law that cannot be allowed to stand without accountability.
"It is gravely concerning that, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this marks the second time in four years that a permanent member of the Security Council has carried out an armed attack in flagrant violation of the UN Charter," the experts, including around two dozen UN special rapporteurs, said in a joint statement.
The UN Charter prohibits "the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
“The prohibition against violating national sovereignty through unprovoked armed attacks applies even in the context of serious human rights violations and restrictions on freedoms such as those documented in Venezuela,” the experts added. "Latin America is a zone of peace. The obligation to resolve conflicts peacefully and in accordance with international law must be respected."
Their statement came days after US President Donald Trump expressed contempt for international law in an interview with the New York Times, saying, "I don’t need international law."
Trump added that his "own morality" is "the only thing that can stop" him.
Top administration officials have been similarly dismissive of any legal restraints on the ability of the US to invade nations and seize their resources whenever it pleases.
“We’re a superpower, and under President Trump we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower," top White House adviser Stephen Miller said in a CNN appearance last week. "It is absurd that we would allow a nation in our backyard to become the supplier of resources to our adversaries but not to us.”
Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, said in a separate statement on Thursday that the Trump administration has engaged in "excessive and unlawful use of lethal force" at home and abroad, including in Venezuela and on the high seas.
“International law does not allow States to kill on the basis of labels, perceptions of how someone appears, or allegations of wrongdoing,” Tidball-Binz said. “Whether at sea, abroad, or at home, the use of lethal force must be strictly limited by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and precaution, and may be used only as a last resort to protect life.”
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