The Associated Press (AP) chief of bureau in Myanmar Aye Aye Win, who told her nation’s story to the world despite threats, surveillance and official warnings, retired yesterday after 25 years with the news agency.
Win carried on a legacy begun by her father, U Sein Win, AP’s Myanmar correspondent from 1968 to 1989, who was jailed three times while fighting for press freedoms. Together, their reporting spanned the decades when Myanmar was ruled by the military and its recent transition to civilian authority — changes that brought an end to its isolation, but also saw the army retain great power.
For her perseverance, Aye Aye Win won the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award in 2008. The foundation described her as the “axe-handle of the foreign press” for her efforts in opening the door for more foreign coverage of Myanmar.
“I believe that journalists have to take risks if they are to challenge those who want to silence us from telling the truth,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I have pledged to work as a journalist in my own country ... with a firm belief that a free and independent press is vital to a free society.”
Aye Aye Win began her career as her father’s unpaid apprentice — witnessing firsthand the dedication and fearlessness it takes to report from a country where press freedom is not guaranteed.
“Counting my father’s 20 years with the AP and adding my 25 years, I realized that I have spent more than half my life with AP,” she said. “I have devoted the best years of my life with the agency where I knew and worked with wonderful people and became part of my life.”
While Aye Aye Win, 61, plans to move onto more personal projects, AP vice president of international news John Daniszewski said she would have a lasting impact on international reporting.
“Aye Aye Win has been the very embodiment of journalistic courage, keeping the flame of honest reporting alive during the worst period of military dictatorship in Myanmar,” Daniszewski said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was