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Cobbles: A Timeless Classic – Podium Cafe

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30 May 2025

Cobbles: A Timeless Classic – Podium Cafe

This final* post is appropriately dedicated to, uh, for shorthand let’s call it Belgium and the Classics. Shorthand because it naturally includes France and the Netherlands to a significant degree, not to mention riders from around the globe. To the extent that concerns the thing I wrote about the most, that would be the cobbled classics, though it’s hard not to loop in the Ardennes as a necessary tangent. And cyclocross as another necessary tangent. You get the picture. The purpose of this post is just to play a few of the hits, nothing more.

[* Nothing is ever final!]

*****

Cycling’s Mooiste

My cycling fan origin story is one I’ve mentioned a few times. It was the ‘80s and Greg LeMond was everywhere, including contesting the finale of this weird looking race over cobblestones where by the end the riders’ mud-spattered faces resembled performers in a minstrel show as they circled the velodrome in a place I’d never heard of, a town in France’s industrial north. The gloomy skies, the early spring atmosphere, hardly alive with greenery — it seemed like something else, especially in low-aperture photographs from the European cycling mags I bought in Harvard Square, my only access to the images of the sport in spring.

It is really an aesthetic thing. There is a still, peaceful beauty to rural Flanders in spring, the mud, the small roads, the dour churches, it all seemed very authentically Belgian to me, even before I knew anything about the country (it was a pretty good guess though). Add in a dash of mystery to this area of Europe, an artifact of my American cluelessness, and I was hooked. You might say they had me at “cobble.” That this peaceful bliss is sporadically shattered each spring by the cycling traditions (and in winter by cyclocross) just made it all the more exciting to me.

And the racing. Pitiful as it was, my own racing experience enabled me to see these places as the setting for fantastic events. I had spent enough time on rough surfaces or going up sharp climbs to understand that you didn’t need majestic mountains to have a thrilling race. Even without that background, I doubt it would take long to get what makes de Ronde special, but anyway for me it all clicked into place. By 2006, I had begun to see the classics season, roughly 3-4+ weeks, as on par with a grand tour for fun, intrigue and glory. From a blogging perspective, it helped that nobody was saying all that much (in English) back then, as compared to the Tour de France. But even if there were no niche to fill, I was going deep on the classics, and hoping there would be an audience here to go with me.

Turned out, it wasn’t just me, not even close. I couldn’t possibly recap all the work that people collectively put in around the classics, particularly the cobbled ones, but suffice to say that it was extensive and involved practically every editor or Cafe member inclined to generate content here. As much as any one subject the cobbles made the Cafe what it was intended to be — a unique community hanging around together and reveling in the best Cycling has to offer. It is no coincidence that the closest we came to creating a literal cafe was a tradition in the early years where everyone in the live thread was encouraged to quaff a nice stiff ale at the precise moment the men’s Tour of Flanders hit the lower slopes of the Koppenberg. It was usually just prior to 5am my time, on a Sunday when I was expected to spend quality time with my kids. I have zero regrets.

The Modern Golden Era(s?)

Timing counts for a lot, and the Podium Cafe coincided with some of the most memorable racing the Classics have ever seen. Usual caveat about how past eras are hard to compare, and I’m not calling the 2000s the ultimate iteration… but it’s been pretty great. And by great, I don’t mean just top characters and fun races — that is practically inevitable. I mean eras of great champions defined by compelling head-to-head drama. As they say, the value of a victory comes down to who finished second.

When the Café began in 2006, there were several notable vets around such as Peter Van Petegem, Magnus Backstedt, Leif Hoste and George Hincapie, but in 2005 Tom Boonen had marginalized all the old vets and seized the Flandrien mantle, achieving the Ronde-Roubaix double. Then, clad in the rainbow stripes, he opened his next campaign with a second resounding win in Vlaandriens mooiste. That was quite an individual story. We saw him coming in 2002 and by ’06 he was astride the cycling world.

But the week following that magic ‘06 Ronde, it became a golden era. Boonen wasn’t the only emerging star circling the podium; Fabian Cancellara’s Paris-Roubaix debut in 2004 (4th place) served notice that he was somebody. It would be a moment before he would break through at Flanders, but the ‘06 Hell of the North was his real coming of age. Cancellara powerfully attacked and left Boonen in the mire, soloing away with a slight help from a train crossing, and other dramatic twists.

From there the golden era went on pause due to ill-timed health stuff (mostly Fab), but in 2010 it all came roaring back to life. Cancellara’s Flanders-Roubaix Double, both direct challenges to Boonen that he couldn’t answer, made it clear that we were witnessing two all-time stars. I don’t need to repeat any of this, you guys know. But I’ll just thrown in one last note that this drama played out mostly on the old Flanders course, in all its beautiful madness. It’s the narrative that keeps on giving.

105th Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour of Flanders 2021 - Men’s Elite

We are in the second great era of the 2000s right now, although it’s not (yet) Boonen-Cancellara because Mathieu van der Poel hasn’t had anyone challenge his hold on the cobbled monuments… yet. But Wout Van Aert is still around and due for a year without shit luck, and Tadej Pogačar seems determined to assert himself more this coming spring. Tom Pidcock is somewhere in the picture. Maybe a decade from now we won’t see the 2020s as any special era of competition, but it sure seems like we we’ve been denied exactly the kind of rivalry that would make it so by the fickle fate of crashing.

Being There

If you love these races, you really should try to go in person if possible. It is very different to absorb all of the atmosphere — the place, the scene, the steadily building anticipation toward one or more moments of witnessing the spectacle right in front of your eyes. It is not at all like watching on TV. You may or may not know exactly what is happening in the race, except for that time when it passes by you, although information is easy to come now. Traditionally it was a choice to forego the information for the spectacle. Even then, it was well worth it.

I covered this a bit in the meetup post, our 2010 trip, but I actually spent two weeks playing journalist from E3 Prijs to Paris-Roubaix, taking in everything there was of the cobbles season apart from the smaller races (Handzame, Nokere) and Dwars door Vlaanderen, which ran three days after Milano-Sanremo back then. Taking in races as a fan or journo, in person, is naturally very different from our normal consumption, and in Belgium it is its own garden of delights. As an American, attending sports usually means parking at the stadium and finding your seat for however many hours (and yeah, de Ronde is a bit like that now too). But this was a different world. A few random experiences:

E3 is special in that you can take in the start and the finish with relative ease. They’ve moved the line, but with 4+ hours to make the trek across the river, I’m sure it still works. But in 2010 the finish was smack in the center of town, in front of the pubs, making it a cool place to spend the day.
Gent-Wevelgem was notable for one thing: if you go to the start in Deinze, you can hop on the train to Wevelgem, along with like 20,000 Belgian cycling fans crammed in with you. It’s kind of a straight shot from Gent to Deinze, Waregem, Harelbeke, Kortrijk and eventually sleepy Wevelgem. Nowadays the race makes a big deal of its tours of the WWI battlefields, and that or the Kemmelberg are watch points, but the rail-rolling party is pretty cool.

Hardcore fans have long used cars to hop around and see the race from several places, but by far the best — and maybe the last — place for this is Paris-Roubaix. You could drive around the old Flanders course but you had to know your Flemish roads or you risked getting hung up by the race closures. Paris-Roubaix, on the other hand, has an A-route running parallel and the race traverses it on bridges. Twice we have gunned it from Compiegne to an early cobbles spot to the Arenberg Trench, just pulling off the highway and hoofing it to the course, and running back to it for the next move. Oh and the other like minded drivers… you can tell some of them have done this a lot, and they aren’t gonna get cheated.
Flanders, I guess you can do this, but the stadium finish makes it an ideal race to sit in one spot, or walk between two places, and not worry about being fit to operate a motor vehicle. This is the land of great beer, right?

I could carry on way too long, but the only other point worth mentioning is that if you’re a cyclist you must bring a bike. For a million different reasons, but mostly because when the Super Bowl isn’t happening, you are not invited to run out and try your hand at kicking field goals. Guessing the same rule applies at Old Trafford, and just about everywhere else in the major ball-sports world. But the great cycling venues belong to the public, except on the one day a year (or so) when they are closed for a race.

Greatest Hits: The Flandrien Faceoff

We found innumerable excuses and formats used to revisit cycling lore, but of this one I am most proud. In 2013, we ran a 64-entry single elimination tournament to determine the all-time Cobbles God, the Flandrien Faceoff! Here is the explainer post, and yes, it was inspired by the NCAA basketball tournament that runs in the US the same month. Our four brackets (we made actual brackets) were current Belgians, past Belgian stars, current foreigners and past ones. I roped Ursula into this rather lengthy commitment — 65 subjective mini-posts where we break down head-to-head matchups and put them to a deciding vote by readers. Ursula couldn’t have refused even if every fiber of his being had not been screaming yes.

One key element is a feature of SBNation’s called the story stream, where you start a stream with a topic and a token opening post, then attach all the follow-up posts so that readers can work through as little or as much as they want. This may be the only time we used the format, and it was perfect. This screenshot will give a flavor of it:

You may not have bought the whole thing, but if you wanted to dive deep into Round 1 of the Oude Flandriens Bracket, clicking on the story stream would bring up all of the matchup posts. The vote function has long since disappeared (it had a timer) but the matchup posts were where you would cast your ballot. SBNation has made its rep with really great tools.

This is the sort of thing I could read again, years later, and enjoy. [This post could have come out three days ago if I hadn’t fallen down the Faceoff rabbit hole.] If interested, you could go into each story stream, in this order:

Round 1— Oude Vlaandriens; Nieuwe Vlaandriens; Oude Buitenlanders; and Nieuwe Buitenlanders. That’s “foreigners” for you buitenlanders. Each bracket stream has all the individual matchups.

Round 2— All four brackets in one story stream

Round 3— 16 Left

Round 4— the Regional Finals

The Final Four was just one last round where you picked among the regional finalists, rather than two phases. It was time to be done. The surviving entrants were too elite to insult with anything else. Only one problem… the end result is lost, without the vote totals! But I know the answer and will put it in comments.

Random Oddities

Cuddles the Cobble came into being like any stone, in that he was there all along, going back many thousands of years, but only recently took his final shape. The name “Cuddles” emerged as a slander of Cadel, as in Evans, a great rider but seemingly an oddball personality who, unfairly or not, inspired his fair share of snark. But Cuddles the Cobble emerged independently, almost mysteriously, and all I know is that by the time he became one of the prominent voices of the Café, he was already… kind of a jerk.

Speaking of cobbles, did you know that we connected up with Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix, long before they became the household name they are now? I don’t recall how it started (recurring theme; also it predates my current gmail account) but I had heard of the guys who formed cobbles cleanup brigades across northern France, even going so far as organizing actual, professional repair of some stretches of pavé to preserve them and their inclusion in the race going forward. I did an email interview (language barriers be damned!) and that led to a brief fundraiser for Les Amis, where we raised enough money to qualify for our own cobble trophy!

Jimbo directed the effort and eventually it was awarded to someone on some race-result-guessing pretext. Nothing lasts forever… except probably that rock.

And last but not least, I wrote a book.

For the Love of the Cobbles, by Chris Fontecchio

It was a self-published effort which had limited commercial appeal to begin with, and next to none now, being a decade out of date. But I loved writing it and even sometimes take a peek back at it, for nostalgic kicks. Really, if the purpose of this post is to try and sum up my love of these races, I already did this in 2016. Just for fun, that March I declared “Boonen Week,” doing one last lap on the great Tom-Fab rivalry, as Cancellara was cruising to retirement and Boonen just gamely searching for his form for one last effort. I declared Boonen the main story — which not everyone would agree with — given his roots and the fact that he owns or shares the record for most wins in E3 Prijs/Harelbeke/Saxo Bank, Gent-Wevelgem, de Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.

I actually downloaded all of the articles from Boonen Week into the book’s appendix, and I’m glad I did, to spare me the trouble of trying to remember them all. They were:

How Terrific Was Tom? Part 1
Part 2
Who got next?
What made him great— his teams
And finally, how Fabian and Tom made each other great

Looking back, what this all means is that Tom Boonen is my spirit animal. I only met him once, in a scrum before a 2009 Tour of California stage, and he was a nice, cheerful guy, probably a joy to talk to if he wasn’t a mega-star whose life was under constant media glare. If I go back to Belgium, maybe I will find a way to say hello, if he is around and has an unbothered moment, or if some other pretext arises, but I won’t count on that.

No matter. He’s a person and a stranger, and the spirit animal comment is more about the effect his career had on me and my work here. Among our first posts were talking about his Tour of Qatar rampage — I was following him before the Café started — and I watched his final race in person, the 2017 Tour of Flanders, where he seemed to loom over the peloton enough to allow his teammate, Philippe Gilbert, to solo away for the win. Another recurring theme. We knew Boonen wasn’t his old superstar self, and probably some people really did write off his chances completely, but for me I would have never said never.

In the seven full seasons following his stoppage, I kept on with the classics and didn’t really dwell on his absence, but in retrospect it really was never the same. The rise of van der Poel and Van Aert re-enlivened the scene and it has continued to be fun. But the linkages to the old course have faded away (is anyone from the 2011 edition still racing?) and that time feels like a completely separate experience.

I had nothing to do with this photo, and I will cherish it always.

*****

I sign off next week with no regrets. In addition to the classics, I will miss geeking out on the Giro d’Italia, another specialty, and I could do a deep dive on my love of Italy, or the Tour, or cyclocross as an extension of the classics… but no, it’s time to let go. I will follow up with a post on where you can find us. There will be a VDS, there will be a conversation space (see the Reddit post), and lastly I will create a writing space when I can’t stand not to say something. The only finish line for me and my love of Flanders and the Classics is… uh, the ultimate finish line. Stay in touch!

Uyghur Laborers are Relocated to Factories Throughout China to Meet Demand for Global Brands

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30 May 2025

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Uyghur Laborers are Relocated to Factories Throughout China to Meet Demand for Global Brands

By David Pierson, Vivian Wang and Daniel Murphy
Graphics by Pablo Robles. Produced by Nico Chilla and Rumsey Taylor

May 29, 2025

China’s mass detention and surveillance of ethnic Uyghurs turned its far western region of Xinjiang into a global symbol of forced labor and human rights abuses, prompting Congress to ban imports from the area in 2021.

But the Chinese government has found a way around the ban — by moving more Uyghurs to jobs in factories outside Xinjiang.

A joint investigation by The New York Times, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Der Spiegel found that state-led programs to ship Uyghur workers out of Xinjiang are much more extensive than previously known.

China has placed Uyghurs in factories across the country that make a wide range of goods used in brand-name products around the world, the investigation found. And it has done so with little to no visibility for supply-chain auditors or border and customs officials charged with spotting labor abuses and blocking the import of tainted goods.

Both the United States and the European Union have adopted laws aimed at preventing consumers and businesses from funding the persecution of Uyghurs in China. These state-run labor transfer programs pose a significant challenge. It may be possible to target imports from Xinjiang, but tracking the relocation and treatment of workers from Xinjiang to factories across China is a much more difficult endeavor.

By the best available estimates, tens of thousands of Uyghurs now toil in these programs. The workers are paid, but the conditions they face are unclear. And U.N. labor experts, scholars and activists say the programs fit well-documented patterns of forced labor.

China makes no secret of these labor transfer programs. It says that participation is voluntary and argues that moving Uyghurs into jobs across the country gives them economic opportunities and helps address chronic poverty in Xinjiang.

But experts and activists say Uyghurs usually have no choice but to accept the job assignments, and that the programs are part of Beijing’s efforts to exert control over a minority population that has historically resisted Chinese rule. As many as 12 million Uyghurs, a Central Asian, Muslim people, reside in Xinjiang, located on the border with Kazakhstan.

In the United States, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act bars imports from Xinjiang, unless the importer can prove that they were not made with forced labor. Forced labor has been reported in different forms in Xinjiang, in prisons, mass internment camps and large-scale relocation programs within the region, and, the U.S. government says, in the production of cotton, textiles, critical minerals and solar panels.

The U.S. law also bars imports from companies outside Xinjiang that work with the government to receive workers from Xinjiang who are Uyghur or members of other persecuted groups.

But that provision is difficult to enforce, leaving a blind spot for those trying to root out forced labor from supply chains.

The transfer of Uyghur workers from Xinjiang is a potential flashpoint in the trade war between China and the Trump administration, which has accused Beijing of “ripping off” the United States and producing goods at artificially low costs, including through exploitative labor conditions. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, was one of the 2021 law’s lead authors when he was a Florida senator.

Our findings are based on an examination of publicly available government and corporate announcements, state media reports, social media posts and research papers. Among them are local government notices describing the number of Uyghurs transferred to factory sites, and state media reports on meetings in which officials discuss how to manage Uyghur workers. Some show photos of workers in neat rows at train stations before departing Xinjiang.

A sendoff ceremony for a group of migrant workers from the city of Hotan in Xinjiang in 2020.

Source: gov.cn

The scale of the labor transfers is evident on Chinese social media, where Uyghurs have posted videos of themselves leaving home, working on factory lines and posing outside dormitories. We determined where the videos were shot by comparing the features of buildings and streets with satellite imagery, street-view maps and publicly available photographs of factories.

Some videos show other Central Asian minorities from Xinjiang, including Kazakhs and Kyrgyz people, who also face persecution and are covered by the U.S. law.

Reporters from The Times and Der Spiegel visited the areas around two dozen factories linked to Uyghur labor in eight cities in the central province of Hubei and the eastern province of Jiangsu, and spoke to more than three dozen workers as well as the owners of restaurants and other businesses frequented by them.

We did not ask interviewees for their names to minimize the risk of retaliation by the authorities, who consider the treatment of Uyghurs to be a national security issue. (We are also not disclosing the names of the people whose social media videos we found and we have blurred their faces to avoid exposing them.)

Several workers suggested, with some hesitation, that they labored under close supervision. They said their jobs had been arranged for them and that they sometimes needed permission to leave factory grounds, usually upon arrival. Security guards at some factories also confirmed they had been sent Uyghur workers by government agencies.

Other workers said that they had taken the jobs willingly and were staying in them on their own accord.

One worker in Hubei Province told The Times that he and about 300 other Uyghurs lived in a dormitory separated from staff identified as from the majority Han Chinese population. He said they were assigned minders from their home counties in Xinjiang, were allowed to leave the factory premises and could return to Xinjiang if they gave a month’s notice.

He said he worked up to 14 hours a day, and earned a monthly salary of up to 6,000 yuan, or $827, about the national average for a factory worker in China. The interview ended abruptly when several men surrounded the worker and demanded to know who he was and why he was not at work.

Human rights advocates argue that Uyghurs have little choice but to accept such job assignments outside Xinjiang. If they refuse, they risk being labeled a “troublemaker,” a serious charge in a region where people have been subjected to lengthy detentions for even the faintest signs of dissent or religious expression, like owning a Quran. At the same time, the jobs offer the promise of a higher wage, in contrast to the limited opportunities and tight surveillance that Uyghurs face in Xinjiang.

The vast majority of Xinjiang’s labor transfers take place inside the region. The government said there were 3.2 million transfers in 2023, a figure that includes workers being transferred more than once, and the tens of thousands sent to other provinces.

The International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency, said in a February report that the labor transfer programs appeared to use measures “severely restricting the free choice of employment.”

The reach of these programs, and China’s dominant role in the global economy, mean a wide range of multinational companies rely on suppliers that have received Uyghur workers.

Some of these suppliers produce goods for the Chinese market, including those we found processing chicken for McDonald’s and KFC restaurants in China. Others make products for export, such as washing machines for LG Electronics and footwear for Crocs.

The risk of Chinese suppliers using Uyghur workers is sensitive for German automakers, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which have tried to address their history of using forced labor in the Nazi era by apologizing and compensating victims.

Our investigation identified more than 100 companies that appeared to receive Uyghur workers or parts or goods produced by them. Most did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including LG, Tesla, Midea and KFC. Others such as McDonald’s declined to comment, or provided statements that only emphasized corporate policies prohibiting forced labor in their supply chains.

A handful of companies, including Crocs, denied their suppliers used forced labor, but did not address the question of whether their suppliers had hired ethnic minority workers who had been transferred by the government from Xinjiang.

“Based on recent audits, we do not have reason to believe that any of our suppliers are in violation of our policies,” the Broomfield, Colo.-based footwear company said.

Companies risk having their imported goods seized by customs officials in the United States if their suppliers are found to have been using forced labor. The European Union enacted legislation similar to the American law last year, but will not begin enforcing it until 2027 to give member nations time to prepare.

China detained more than 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps from 2017 to 2019 in the name of fighting extremism. After the camps closed, an estimated half a million Uyghurs were sentenced to prison, rights groups say.

State-directed labor transfer programs have been part of Beijing’s efforts to assimilate Uyghurs since the early 2000s, with China’s Communist Party promoting the notion that labor is honorable.

Sources: Xinjiang Airport Group; gov.cn; China Daily; Yangtse Evening Post

But the programs grew significantly around the time internment camps were introduced in 2017, said Adrian Zenz, an anthropologist and a leading expert on Uyghur forced labor. Since the U.S. ban on imports from Xinjiang came into force in 2022, the number of Uyghurs transferred out of the region has grown.

Speaking at a press briefing in 2022, Chen Lei, an inspector from Xinjiang’s Rural Revitalization Bureau, indicated that the authorities aimed to increase the number of workers moved to other parts of China by a third in 2023 to more than 38,000, according to a government report posted online.

Labor transfer “is the only measure I see that has become more intense,” said Mr. Zenz, the director of China Studies for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington. “And the reason for that is that this is a long term mechanism of social control and indoctrination.”

In 2023, Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, told officials during a visit to Xinjiang that they should be vigilant against threats to stability and “encourage and guide Xinjiang people to go to the Chinese interior to find employment.”

Uyghur activists accuse Beijing of relocating Uyghurs in an attempt to change the demographic composition of Xinjiang and erase expressions of Uyghur and Muslim identity.

“This is not about poverty alleviation. This is about dispersing Uyghurs as a group and breaking their roots,” Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer at the Atlantic Council whose brother has been imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2016.

If multinational brands cannot guarantee that their suppliers are free of forced labor, then they should find other suppliers that they can guarantee are, or pull out of China altogether, Ms. Asat said.

In a written response, the Chinese Embassy in Washington denied that forced labor is used in Xinjiang, saying that such allegations were “nothing but vicious lies concocted by anti-China forces.” It said that China rejected the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, calling it an interference in China’s internal affairs.

The statement also asserted that all residents in Xinjiang “enjoy happy and fulfilling lives” and that the government’s policies are focused on making the region safer. “Xinjiang-related issues are not human rights issues at all, but in essence about countering violent terrorism and separatism,” it said.

Jobs as Social Control

Little is known about the lives of the Uyghurs sent to work in factories across China.

Censors frequently scrub the internet of anything deemed critical or unflattering of the government. Still, social media provides a window.

Some videos show workers raising their right fists and pledging allegiance before a Chinese flag, evidence of the ideological training that experts say is often mandatory for Uyghur workers on such job programs.

A poultry processing plant in Dalian, Liaoning

A poultry processing plant in Suizhou, Hubei

The activity is about “showing loyalty to the Communist Party,” said Yalkun Uluyol, the China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Some videos posted by workers hint at feelings of homesickness, at times using Uyghur poetry.

Thwarting a Law Aimed at Protecting Uyghurs

From outside, the sprawling white and blue factory complex in the central Chinese city of Jingmen looks like a giant sheet cake.

Behind its walls, workers make automotive and aerospace equipment, specializing in lightweight aluminum chassis parts and brake systems.

The Hubei Hangte Equipment Manufacturing Company’s website displays the logos of customers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda and Hyundai. But it says nothing about the pipeline of Uyghur workers from Xinjiang that the company relies on.

News releases posted elsewhere say government officials visited the factory to check on workers sent from Xinjiang as recently as April last year.

And a video posted by a state-owned human resources company that helps facilitate labor transfers, Xinjiang Zhengcheng Minli Modern Enterprise Services, indicates that the firm recruited workers for the factory in August 2023.

The previous year, Hubei Hangte hosted a meeting with Communist Party officials and educators from Xinjiang and described measures it had taken to better manage workers from the region. That included ensuring that their activities were “controllable” and that they refrained from “laxity,” “drinking” and, curiously, “swimming in groups.”

“We will strive to make Hangte a model unit for employment of Xinjiang people in Jingmen City,” Chen Yun, the company’s deputy general manager, said in a statement posted online at the time.

Xinjiang Zhengcheng Minli Modern Enterprise Services and Hubei Hangte did not respond to requests for comment.

BMW acknowledged that Hubei Hangte may provide parts to one of its direct suppliers. It said it has asked that supplier to investigate. Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler’s parent company, Stellantis, also said they had opened investigations.

Mazda said it had no “direct” relationship with Hubei Hangte, and General Motors, Ford and Hyundai said they prohibited forced labor in their supply chains but declined to answer questions about Hubei Hangte.

It is not uncommon for global brands to have several layers of suppliers, explaining why companies may not have a direct relationship with a factory.

Shipment records provided by a trade data firm show that, since May 2021, Hubei Hangtei’s parts have been shipped to India, Indonesia, Mexico, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Canada, as well as the United States, where shipments would be subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

One U.S. customer of the Chinese company is a subsidiary of the German auto parts manufacturer Mahle Industrial Thermal Systems, which said in a statement that it prohibits the use of forced labor by its suppliers. Mahle did not answer questions about Hubei Hangte.

Another transaction that may violate the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act occurred last July, when a Chinese manufacturer of computer equipment known as Transimage sent at least two shipments to a San Diego address for Samsung America Electronics, according to trade data.

Transimage, also known as Jiangsu Chuanyi Technology Company Ltd., received help recruiting workers from a labor dispatch center in Akqi County in Xinjiang in 2023, according to a post on a local government social media account. Social media posts by workers show employees at the factory who appear to be Kyrgyz wearing teal jackets embroidered with the company’s name.

Transimage did not respond to requests for comment. Samsung said in a statement that it found no evidence of forced labor at Jiangsu Chuanyi Technology, adding that it “prohibits its suppliers from using all forms of forced labor.”

This article was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.

Shawn Paik contributed video production.

Top Picks in Borneo: Exploring Sabah, Malaysia

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30 May 2025

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Top Picks in Borneo: Exploring Sabah, Malaysia

Malaysia is one of the world’s 17 “megadiverse” countries, with Borneo being their crown jewel of biodiversity! The world’s third largest island, fringed by a coral reef, covered with a 130-million-year-old rainforest, and teeming with endemic species, this is a place of epic proportions. While Borneo Malaysia is shared between two other countries (Indonesia and Brunei), Malaysia’s state of Sabah on the north end of the island has the most protected rainforest, the tallest mountain, rich indigenous culture (38 groups making up 59% of the population), and solid tourism infrastructure to access these wilderness wonders…making it the natural choice for a Borneo trip! We gave ourselves 12 days (we could have easily spent a month here) to travel Sabah and are so excited to share the best of Malaysian Borneo. Read this blog as we trek with orangutans, scuba dive the legendary Sipadan, river safari like David Attenborough, and hone in on the best things to do in Sabah, Malaysia.

Shout-out to Allianz Travel for supporting our content and protecting us on this journey…travel insurance is a must for any trip to Borneo!

Sabah Travel Itinerary

Route & Timing:
Sepilok (1 day) > Sukau & Kinabatangan River (2 days) > Sipadan Scuba Diving Trip (3 Days if a diver; skip if not) > Danum Valley Conservation Area (2 days) > Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (2 Days) > Kinabalu Park (2 Days) > Transit Days (add 2 days buffer overall)

This 12-14 day Sabah travel itinerary starts in the northeast at Sepilok and heads in a clockwise direction, finishing in the capital of Kota Kinabalu on the South China Sea. It offers an exciting mix of Borneo rivers, rainforests, islands, mountains, indigenous culture, and cities. This blog has all our favorite experiences (even ones we didn’t get to), and if you zip down to the bottom of this post you can see all the logistical details.

Sepilok, Northeast Sabah

Sepilok Oranguatan Rehab HoneyTrek COPYRIGHT 144810

Just outside of the big city of Sandakan, the Sepilok area is worth staying the night for this educational trifecta: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center + Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre + Rainforest Discovery Centre…all within walking distance.

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

Since 1964 the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre has been doing incredible work rehabilitating orphaned and injured orangutans on their 10,611-acre sanctuary. In this massive rainforest reserve, 60-80 orangutans live independently in the wilderness and approximately 25 orphaned orangutans are cared for in the nurseries until they can hopefully be released. The best time to go to Sepilok is at 10am or 3pm when they put out food for the orangutans still in need of assistance.

We hiked for 10 minutes along the forested boardwalk to reach the feeding platform. Four orangutans were sitting in a circle, sharing snacks, stretching, and tending to an adorably fidgety baby. Orangutans share 97% of our DNA, and it is so evident when you watch their familiar mannerisms. Then came Malim, a 25-year-old flanged male pushing 200 pounds with a 7-foot wingspan, swinging in from the ropes. With huge cheeks, pronounced throat pouch, and long red hair, he is the perfect specimen of a dominant male and we were so lucky to see him!

Tip: We know it’s tempting to wait to see these great apes in the true wild, but in the event that doesn’t happen, you’ll be soooo glad you came and supported the rehabilitation center.

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Just across the way from the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is the first sanctuary for the world’s smallest bear. Being absolutely adorable has caused a lot of problems for the sun bear, and an alarming amount of people were keeping them in captivity! Malaysian biologist and now CNN Hero, Wong Siew Te, wanted to put an end to this practice through the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre’s rescue program, rehabilitation facility, and public education programs. We took a tour, learning fun facts, like sun bears are half the size of a black bear, have 10-inch-long tongues, and get their name from the golden sun-like patch of hair on their chest. We saw two bears pacing, still distressed from their former life in captivity, but we were happy to know this rehab center exists and think it’s worth stopping in for the chance to see a bear in a tree eating from a beehive like Winnie the Pooh!

Rainforest Discovery Centre

Rainforest Discovery Center Sepilok Sabah

Next on our crash course in Borneo biodiversity…The Rainforest Discovery Centre! Walk their impressive skywalk, 80 feet above the forest floor, while you read educational signs about the 3,000 tree species of Borneo. Climb the lookout towers and look into the ancient boughs to spot monkeys and a wide variety of birds, from the Bornean Bristlehead, Blue-headed Pitta, Cream-eyed Bulbul, and more in this official “Important Birding Area” and home to the Borneo Bird Festival. Many people also come here at night for the chance to see the Malayan Colugo. This talented lemur can glide distances over 400 feet in a single leap!

Book this Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, and Rainforest Discovery Centre as a full-day tour.

Kinabatangan River & Wildlife Sanctuary

Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Borneo Malaysia

The second longest river in Malaysia, Kinabatangan is home to the Borneo Big Five: pygmy elephant, orangutan, proboscis monkey, rhinoceros hornbill, and estuarine crocodile…plus 325 bird species! Exploring by riverboat with a keen-eyed guide is the best way to wildlife watch, which is why we went with Borneo Eco Tours and stayed at their fabulous Sukau Rainforest Lodge.

Sukau Rainforest Lodge, Borneo Malaysia

A National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World and winner of a slew of awards for their sustainability efforts, Sukau Rainforest Lodge has been the river’s ecotourism pioneer since 1995. In the face of widespread logging that swept across Borneo in the late 20th century, Kari Bin Ongong, the lodge founder and member of the Orang Sungai indigenous group, helped plant the seed for what would become the government-protected Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. Between the luxurious accommodations and the area’s unprecedented biodiversity, the lodge has attracted guests from Judi Dench to Sir David Attenborough, who made this his base for a Borneo wildlife special. Only accessible by boat, this stilted retreat hovers over the river and extends into the rainforest by raised boardwalks. We stayed in one of their 20 recently added villas and loved the chic design and use of local decor. A sarong was hanging in our room with a note encouraging guests to wear this traditional skirt to dinner…and low and behold everyone got decked out for a very festive and familial vibe, as we dined on delicious Sabahan and international cuisine.

Kinabatangan River Safari

kinabatangan river wildlife sanctuary, Sabah Malaysia

River safari is at the heart of the Sukau experience, with riverboats leaving before dawn, after lunch, and again at night to maximize sightings. We never missed the chance to wildlife watch and we saw the endemic rhinoceros hornbill, a 20-foot crocodile, a troop of macaque monkeys, Buffy fish owls, six species of kingfisher, and wacky Borneo specials like proboscis monkeys, with their big floppy noses! Our guide Fahran was excellent and the time spent with fellow wildlife lovers on the water was a joy. We highly recommend a stay at Sukau Rainforest Lodge and hope you get to see the pygmy elephants for us…the group the day before saw 20 crossing the river!

Semporna & The Celebes Sea

bajau laut people semporna sabah malaysia

To experience the marine side of Sabah’s wildlife, we headed to Semporna and the islands of the Celebes Sea…only to realize this area was just as culturally fascinating! Here, the majority of the population is Bajau Laut, a nomadic seaborne people living in sprawling stilted villages and small wooden houseboats. Their community extends across the waters between the Philippines and Indonesia, and has for thousands of years, yet few “sea nomads” like them are left in the world. We went to the bustling Semporna fish market and the scene was like Miami Vice meets Mad Max! Colorful wooden speed boats were bobbing and weaving to get into port and the beach was packed with vendors and buyers haggling for the freshest catch. We don’t even eat fish, but we went into the gauntlet just to experience this fascinating chaos.

FYI: Semporna has a history of pirates and not-so-long-ago kidnappings. While we felt safe, we’d just recommend having your wits about you to appreciate this unique look into another world. Also, if you are not a scuba diver, you may want to swap the Semporna region for another indigenous cultural experience.

Scuba Diving Greater Sipadan

The Coral Triangle is the most biodiverse marine region in the world, with over 6,000 species of fish and 76% of the planet’s coral species. It’s lined with epic scuba diving destinations, but one that consistently tops the lists? Sipadan, Malaysia. To explore the Sipadan Marine Park and its surrounding islands, we found a PADI-certified scuba diving outfitter like no other…a decommissioned oil rig turned eco-friendly dive resort hovering over the reef! Seaventures’ old cargo deck has been turned into a dive center and restaurant, employee housing into suites, helipad into a sweeping rooftop patio, and the freight elevator into a fun way to reach the sea. Our days were filled with three scuba sessions (plus as many as we’d like at the house reef directly below the rig), with breaks for bountiful meals, roof deck lounging, and high dives off the plank.

Between the 2,000-foot-tall oceanic island of Sipadan and the reef of Kapalai, the varied terrain offered every kind of dive, from high-speed drifts to shipwrecks to otherworldly macro. Bumphead parrotfish, whitetip reef sharks, spotted rays, green sea turtles, countless reef fish, and nudibranchs galore graced our 11 dives.

Diving in Sipadan’s slice of the Coral Triangle, watching the morning light shimmer over the coral garden and silhouette the bumphead parrotfish, I thought to myself, “Getting scuba certified was one of the best things we’ve ever done.” We’ve traveled the seven continents, but Earth is 70% ocean, and without scuba, we’d just be skimming the surface! Our scuba training allowed us to swim alongside schools of barracuda, go eye to eye with feisty Nemos, watch a Mandarin fish mating dance, and explore inside shipwrecks. With a regulator in our mouth, we not only have the superpower to breathe underwater, but also a reason to stop the chatter and listen to the rhythms of nature and our innermost thoughts. In the deep blue, there is nowhere to be but present.

Do you have the power of scuba? Check out our Instagram gallery above and consider starting your PADI journey or upping your certification (wreck-diving, coral conservation, dive master)…so much more of the world awaits!
Check out www.HoneyTrek.com/PADI (*use the discount code HONEYTREK15 to get 15% off)

Lahad Datu: The Friendly Transit Hub

More rainforest exploration was in our future, but catching our early morning ride into the depths of Danum Valley Conservation Area required an overnight in Lahad Datu. No tourists would come to this town except to transit, but we were so glad we stayed the night to experience a real Bornean town outside of the eco-lodge bubble. For $16 we stayed at the perfectly nice Maya Hotel with a seaview and a short walk to the heart of town. We went to the Ramadan night market, lined with 50+ stalls, selling nasi lemak (the national dish), fried noodles, and delish durian cakes. We ate at multiple stalls and couldn’t seem to rack up a bill higher than $1.50 at any stand. The best part was the locals could not have been friendlier. Soooooo many people said hello, welcome, how are you, or just smiled ear-to-ear seeing a tourist in their underappreciated town.

Danum Valley Conservation Area

Danum Valley is the largest tract of lowland virgin rainforest left in Malaysia. This is not by chance. When the logging spree was headed this way in the late 1970s, World Wildlife Fund worked with the Sabah government to prove this forest is one of the most biodiverse on earth, and in urgent need of protection. Today, this 438-square-kilometer conservation area protects 340 bird species, 124 mammal species, and countless old-growth trees. To minimize disturbance while sharing its wonders, the Sabah Foundation offers travelers access through the Danum Valley Field Centre and one fabulous eco-resort…Borneo Rainforest Lodge.

Borneo Rainforest Lodge

Check-in at Borneo Rainforest Lodge begins at their Lahad Datu office with cappuccinos and snacks, before a 4×4 drives you two hours deep into the Danum Valley Conservation Area. We reached the lodge and were greeted with cool, lemongrass-scented towels and ushered into their gorgeous dining area with views of the Danum River for an excellent lunch.

Borneo Rainforest Lodge is built to top standards of sustainability. With a raised boardwalk connecting the rooms, they have kept the wildlife corridors open and worked around the existing trees. Rooms are plenty luxurious while taking eco-conscious measures, like cross-ventilation windows, solar-heated showers, microorganism wastewater treatment, and conservation measures at every turn….even used cooking oil gets upcycled into soaps!

Orangutan Tracking

Heading into the rainforest with our indigenous Desun Sepan guide, we were just meters from the lodge when we had our first orangutan sightings. Watching them move from tree to tree, nibble the leaves, build their nests, and care for their young, we were in awe of their grace and agility. Orangutans spend 95% of their lives in the trees, so we could safely (and unobtrusively) observe them from below, easily track their movements with the rustling of the leaves, and have intimate encounters with these endangered great apes.

Danum Valley Hiking & Adventures

Hiking along the Danum River and the Coffin Cliff Trail for 2.5 km, ancient trees towered over us. A steep climb brought us to the limestone cliffs, where the nooks in the rock became a pagan burial ground for the indigenous Orang Sungai people. An ironwood coffin, dating back 250 years has largely survived the elements, along with bone fragments of what is believed to be village leaders and esteemed warriors. Reaching the highest point in the valley, there were sweeping views of the lush mountains and snaking river. On our way down we hit multiple waterfalls, the towering Serpent Falls and the Jacuzzi Pools, where we took a refreshing dip! (Tip: If you stick your feet in the water long enough, the little “nibble fish” will gladly give you a pedicure.)

More Borneo Rainforest Lodge activities include the canopy suspension bridges, night safaris (by foot and EV buggy), river tubing, and spa treatments. Whatever we were up to, incredible wildlife sightings were a constant, from endemic red-leaf monkeys, colugos, Bornean Tarsiers, Harlequin flying frogs, and of course, orangutans!

Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park

Across the state of Sabah and just three miles off the coast of Kota Kinabalu lies Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. This five-island reserve in the South China Sea protects the coral reef and an abundance of wildlife, plus offers a slew of recreation opportunities. The mile-long Manukan Island is the hub of the state park with a good marine museum, adorable restaurant, water sports program, and sandy beaches. To be honest, the park is quite busy with Kota Kinabalu day-trippers, but the travel hack is to stay overnight at one of the island resorts like Gaya Island Resort or Sutera Sanctuary Lodges’ Manukan Island Resort to find the serenity of this beautiful place.

Manukan Island Resort

We based our marine park adventures at Manukan Island Resort. While not the fanciest resort in the archipelago, we loved our apartment-style bungalow, private beach with sun sails and loungers, and the dining experiences were unforgettable. By day, Arang restaurant has this great beach-house vibe with colorful decor, chaise lounges, fab food, and beers flowing. By night, we had exclusive on-sand dining room with a sheer teepee and candlelit path framing a table for two. While enjoying a three-course plant-based meal, a trio of guitarists came to serenade us. Ask them to play their traditional Sabahan songs to further your love of Borneo island life.

Water Adventures at Tunku Abdul Rahman

The Tunku Abdul Rahman is a watersport paradise…scuba diving, snorkeling, banana boats, and island hopping. From the Manukan Island dock you can set you up whichever adventure you’d like, and we chose to parasail for the first time! Not gonna lie, it always seemed a little cheesy to us, but hey, don’t knock till you try it…parasailing turned out to be an ultra-fun and scenic way to explore the islands! To continue our park adventures, we ferried over to Mamutik Island. The beach by the jetty is busy with tourists, but walk 15 minutes clockwise around the island and you’ll find a secret cove with gorgeous rock formations and good snorkeling.

Mount Kinabalu

While we did not get the chance to do the two-day trek to the top of this 13,000-foot mountain and UNESCO World Heritage Site, we wanted to put Kinabalu Park on your radar…because it sounds epic and you need to plan ahead. Just 86 kilometers from the Sabah capital, this craggy tectonic plateau, covered in 3,000 species of plants, looks like something out of Lord of the Rings! Treks should be booked 4-6 months in advance to secure permits and lodging. You’ll bed down at Panalaban Base Camp, either in one of the bunkhouses or Sutera Sanctuary Lodge’s Laban Rata, then wake up at 2am to make it to the summit checkpoint by 5am and finish your ascent for a breathtaking sunrise over Sabah and the South China Sea. We hope you go for it! That said, you can still get a taste of Mount Kinabalu with a full-day trip from the capital, exploring trails at the base of the mountain to enjoy the flora, fauna, hot springs, and indigenous villages.

Sabah, Malaysia: Know Before You Go

Borneo is truly a bucket-list trip, so to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible, here are a few tips to prepare for your Sabah travels.

Best time to visit Sabah: March to September is the dry season, making it the ideal time to travel Sabah. FYI, being along the equator in a tropical climate, it’s always hot and humid. Funny enough, we came during the month of Ramadan (check the ever-changing lunar calendar) thinking that was a downside, but it turned out to be a huge benefit…with lots of hotel and bus availability and lively night markets to break the fast with locals each night.

Do I need a visa for Malaysia? Passport holders from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and most EU countries do not need a passport for Malaysia.

Is Malaysia expensive? Southeast Asia in general is very affordable and Malaysia is one of the most economical in the region. $1 USD = 4.7 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR). When you buy locally in Sabah, lunch will cost you around $2 USD, a decent hotel room $20, and a long-distance bus $10. That said, all-inclusive eco-lodges. which are sometimes essential for experiencing these remote wilderness areas, and are of course at much higher prices.

Travel Insurance for Borneo: Between the complexity of transit, costs of all-inclusive tours, and safety concerns of exploring remote regions, travel insurance is a must. We highly recommend Allianz. We use their AllTrips Premier Plan to get coverage (everything from baggage delays to medical evacuation) whenever and wherever we go throughout the year. They also offer comprehensive single-trip plans if you want to focus on Borneo.

Language: Malay is the national language, with English widely spoken. That said, there are 50 languages across Sabah’s 39 indigenous ethnic groups. At a minimum, learn the Malay words for thank you, “teri-ma ka-see” and delicious, “se-dop” to show your appreciation.

Food in Sabah: The food is fabulous, especially if you like a little spice! Expect rice-based dishes–from Nasi Lemak‘s coconut rice with sambal chili and peanuts to Sabahan leaf-wrapped ketupats, noodle soups like laksa, and the best tropical fruit! With populations of ethnic Indians and Chinese across Malaysia, their fabulous cuisines are widely available. Vegetarian and vegan food is pretty easily available upon request and there are always lots of veggie sides to choose from, including unbeattable fresh tempeh!

Transportation: Traveling eastern Sabah is easily achieved by overland transit. Most remote ecolodges include transportation to and from transit hubs and airports. Between cities, a local bus is a good option, ranging from air-conditioned coaches to on-demand minivans (we did both, booked the same day without a problem, and enjoyed the local color!). Sabah is also very connected by plane, with airports in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, and Tawau (closest to Semporna). We always try to limit flights for environmental reasons, but would say it’s best to fly to Kota Kinabalu, per the long distance and poor road conditions to cross the state. Malaysia Airlines offers the most extensive options.

Packing for Borneo: Between very strong equatorial sun, rainforest crawlies, and the conservative nature of Muslim populations, covering up is the way to go. Pack lightweight long-sleeve shirts and long pants, wicking t-shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, high trekking socks, sturdy shoes, a set of beach attire, and a sporty raincoat (no warm layers necessary; unless you trek Mount Kinabalu.) Throw in a small pair of quality binoculars to enhance your wildlife viewing, without adding much bulk to your luggage. See more of HoneyTrek’s essential packing list and save room in your bag for a batik sarong, the local fashion and a handy accessory.

We hope you enjoyed our Sabah travel guide and are stoked to explore Borneo! Let us know what piques your interest, and if you have any questions in the comments below. For more inspiration and behind the scenes from our trip, see our Borneo Instagram Stories and check out SabahTourism.com for local info.

Thank you to Allianz Travel Insurance for sponsoring our Sabah travel blog and believing in the importance of eco-tourism.

Expanding Her $250 Million Audio Empire, Top Female Podcaster in the U.S. Dives into Mystery and Thriller Brand for Film and TV

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30 May 2025

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Good morning! Paramount and Trump yet to reach settlement over CBS News lawsuit, Kathy Warden’s Northrop Grumman invests in rocket developer startup, and the top female podcaster in the U.S. thinks you’d like true crime—even if you don’t already listen.

– Listen up. In an average week during the first three months of this year, 6.4 million Americans listened to Crime Junkie. That’s the true crime podcast hosted by Ashley Flowers, who over the past seven years has built an Indiana-based audio empire—and now has ambitions to turn it into a true media empire.

Crime Junkie’s listener stats make it the No. 2 podcast in the U.S.—and make Flowers the nation’s top female podcaster. (Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy is No. 4.) “I’ll get Joe Rogan one day,” Flowers joked when I spoke with her backstage at one of her live shows in Seattle last month. Thousands of fans had driven hours to see Flowers in person, where she told the story of an unsolved 1987 Colorado murder and the wrongful conviction that followed. She has even mobilized her audience to take action, encouraging them to contact the state’s attorney general.

Flowers is the creative force behind her show, but the 36-year-old has also been balancing a second job as CEO of parent company Audiochuck, which has 70 employees and 20 podcasts. “I didn’t come from a media background,” says Flowers, who before launching Crime Junkie did business development for a software company. “I was just scrappy and wore so many hats.” She typically arrives at the office by 4:30 a.m. to accomplish those dual roles. The hard work has paid off with Audiochuck earning $45 million in profit last year, according to Bloomberg (Flowers credits low overhead costs in Indiana for allowing that number), and a valuation of $250 million. Flowers has published two mystery novels (the second, earlier this month) and has her own channel on SiriusXM, too, which also handles advertising for the Audiochuck podcast network.

“Crime Junkie” host Ashley Flowers is expanding her podcast empire into film and TV.

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

She’s obsessed with true crime and says she remembers the facts of every case she’s ever worked on—across hundreds of podcast episodes. “It’s just human nature for us to want to make sense of things that don’t make sense,” she says. “Solving puzzles—your brain tries to fit the pieces together.”

Flowers is now bringing on a new CEO, Fortune is the first to report. Matthew Starker arrived from Endeavor Streaming, where he was chief business officer. He joins Audiochuck after a $40 million investment from the Chernin Group in February—and is tasked with bringing to life Flowers’ thesis that the audience for true crime is much bigger than even the 6.4 million who listen to Crime Junkie. Starker says the total addressable market for true crime fans worldwide is 230 million. “If you enjoy someone telling you an amazing story with edge-of-your-seat twists and turns, you’re going to like Crime Junkie,” Starker says.

Audiochuck aims to move into film and television—which prompted Flowers to bring on outside investment to help her navigate new industries. “Taking the assets and the IP that they’ve built out and expanding that into video and television, there’s just so much potential,” Starker says. Some of that will still be true crime—a TV adaptation of Crime Junkie might look something like a modernized Dateline–but it will also pursue scripted content in the mystery and thriller genres. (Under what name—Audiochuck? Crime Junkie? Flowers’ herself?—is still TBD.) “What Blumhouse is for horror, I want Audiochuck to be for mystery and thriller,” Flowers says.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Digital Twins: Connecting the Physical and Virtual Worlds in Construction

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30 May 2025

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Digital Twins: Connecting the Physical and Virtual Worlds in Construction

There is a new generation of buildings made not of bricks and mortar, but of bits and pixels. They are not designed for living in or sheltering from the rain, yet they serve a vital purpose. Digital twins are reshaping how construction projects are designed, delivered and managed. Powered by 3D modelling, Building Information Modelling (BIM), and real-time data, this technology enables the optimisation of every stage in the lifecycle of an infrastructure asset, from construction through to maintenance.

What is a digital twin and how is it used in construction?

A digital twin is a dynamic, virtual representation of a physical asset, system or process, continuously updated with real-time data. In construction, it goes beyond traditional 3D modelling or BIM by incorporating data from sensors and smart platforms, offering a holistic, up-to-date picture of every phase in an infrastructure project’s lifecycle.

This technology helps to spot issues before they arise, lower construction and maintenance costs, and enhance the project’s operational and energy efficiency. It also improves collaboration between teams at every stage—from early design through to predictive maintenance and even demolition at the end of the asset’s life.

Key applications across the project lifecycle

Digital twins enhance each stage of a building or infrastructure’s lifecycle in the following ways:

Design and planning. In this phase, combining BIM and 3D models enables the creation of highly detailed virtual simulations. Once integrated into a digital twin, these models can test variables such as a building’s energy performance or structural response to different weather conditions. This allows for better-informed decisions from the very beginning.
Construction and execution. During the build phase, sensors installed on site continuously feed data into the digital twin. This enables real-time monitoring of progress, early identification of deviations from the plan, and the ability to anticipate delays or logistical issues. Tools such as virtual and augmented reality also support on-site design checks and safer staff training.
Operation and maintenance. With predictive maintenance, it is possible to detect material and equipment wear before it leads to failure, schedule inspections proactively, and optimise systems like lighting and climate control. This not only enhances safety but also improves energy efficiency and extends the asset’s lifespan.

Digital twins vary in how they interact with the physical environment:

Static digital twin. Based on 3D or BIM models without live data integration, this version is mainly used during design, offering visualisations and early-stage analysis.
Connected digital twin. This version incorporates sensors that provide continuous feedback from the physical environment. It is especially useful during construction and for operational monitoring, enabling real-time decision-making.
Smart or predictive digital twin. Enhanced with advanced analytics and AI, this twin can forecast future conditions, from energy demand to maintenance needs.
Autonomous digital twin. Still under development in many sectors, this twin is capable of reacting independently to certain events, increasing infrastructure resilience and reducing the need for human intervention.

The BIM2TWIN project and its impact on construction

One notable example of digital twin application in construction is the BIM2TWIN project. Its aim is to develop a digital twin platform to support the management of construction processes.

The BIM2TWIN platform combines artificial intelligence with semantic data linked to a project’s BIM model. This integration helps reduce inefficiencies, improves scheduling, cuts costs, enhances on-site safety and quality, and lowers the project’s carbon footprint.

The platform has been rolled out across three pilot projects in France, Finland and Spain. In Spain, ACCIONA lead implementation in an innovative development in Valencia.

The platform delivers real-time insights into the status of the building or infrastructure and ongoing works. It also improves process control and execution quality, enables early detection of risks on site, optimises machinery use, and supports advanced planning to anticipate the impact of changes and test alternative approaches.

BIM2TWIN marks a major step in construction’s digital transformation—and shows how digital twins can make building projects more efficient, safer and more sustainable.

Source:

Top 50 Players in the Class of 2027 Rankings

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30 May 2025

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Top 10

Top 50

Next 50

Watch List

CHLOE ALMEIDA

Pennsylvania – Defense/Midfield
Unionville High School
WC Eagles

Cycling’s Mooiste

The Modern Golden Era(s?)

Being There

Greatest Hits: The Flandrien Faceoff

Random Oddities

Jobs as Social Control

Thwarting a Law Aimed at Protecting Uyghurs

Sabah Travel Itinerary

Sepilok, Northeast Sabah

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Rainforest Discovery Centre

Kinabatangan River & Wildlife Sanctuary

Sukau Rainforest Lodge, Borneo Malaysia

Kinabatangan River Safari

Semporna & The Celebes Sea

Scuba Diving Greater Sipadan

Lahad Datu: The Friendly Transit Hub

Danum Valley Conservation Area

Borneo Rainforest Lodge

Orangutan Tracking

Danum Valley Hiking & Adventures

Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park

Manukan Island Resort

Water Adventures at Tunku Abdul Rahman

Mount Kinabalu

Sabah, Malaysia: Know Before You Go

What is a digital twin and how is it used in construction?

Key applications across the project lifecycle

The BIM2TWIN project and its impact on construction

CHLOE ALMEIDA

SARAH ANETSBERGER

VALENTINA BAIZAN

MADISON BELL

AVA BOLAND

HADLEY COUPE

FINLEY DAVIDSON

KENDALL DELUCA

CHARLOTTE DESCHEPPER

PEYTON ESPOSITO

CHEYENNE GREENE

ISABELLA HOCKENBERRY

JADYN HOUSTON

BRAYDEN JOHNSTON

MIA JONES

PHOEBE LAFERRIERE

ELSIE LAKIN-SCHULTZ

LEAH LARIT

GABBY LEE

GEORGIA LEE

JEMMA LEE

RAYA MCHENRY

JOSIE MOLINARI

KATIE MORAN

MARISSA MUZA

NAOMI NIEWINSKI

LIBERTY OLIVETTI

MARY OLIVETTI

CAITLIN PAUL

LILY ROST

SOFIA RUEGG

ATIA SABBAGH

KATIE SAMPSON

REESE SAMRA

MARGO SCHWARZ

AVERY SWENSON

CLAIRE TURNER

EMILY ULRICH

GENEVIEVE WALCH

HOLLAND WILKINS

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