DISARRAY: Indian states had on average about five days of vaccine stock left, while France swapped the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine with a different brand
Fresh lockdowns and curfews were imposed on tens of millions of people from India to Argentina yesterday, as COVID-19 infections surged again, and vaccine rollouts were hampered by shortages and scares over side effects. In India, the worst-hit state of Maharashtra was running out of vaccines as the health system buckled under the weight of the contagion, which has killed 2.9 million people worldwide. Having let its guard down with mass religious festivals, political rallies and spectators at cricket matches, the world’s second-most populous nation has added more than 1 million new infections since late last month. Every weekend from yesterday until the end of this month, Maharashtra’s 125 million people are to be confined to their homes unless traveling or shopping for food or medicine. “I’m not for the lockdown at all, but I don’t think the government has any other choice,” media professional Neha Tyagi, 27, told reporters in Maharashtra’s megacity, Mumbai. “This lockdown could have been totally avoided if people would take the virus seriously.” The crisis is being exacerbated by a shortage of vaccines. India has inoculated 94 million of its 1.3 billion people, but The Times of India on Friday reported that states on average had just more than five days of stock left, citing Indian Ministry of Health data, with some regions already grappling with severe shortages. Stay-at-home orders were also set to come into force for the 8 million inhabitants of Bogota, as the Colombian capital battled a third wave of infections, adding to curfews already covering 7 million across four other major cities. Elsewhere in South America, Argentina on Friday entered a nighttime curfew running from midnight to 6am every day until the end of this month. It would be in force in the country’s highest-risk areas, mainly urban centers, where bars and restaurants are to close at 11pm. Both Argentina and
Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN on Friday urged “strong action” against the junta as reports emerged of scores killed in the military’s latest crackdown. The country has been in turmoil since the military on Feb. 1 ousted Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, with protesters refusing to submit to the junta regime and continuing to demand a return to democracy. During a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, Burmese Ambassador to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun pushed for more concrete action — proposing a no-fly zone, an arms embargo and more targeted sanctions against members of the military and their families. “Your collective, strong action is needed immediately,” Kyaw Moe Tun told the meeting. “Time is of the essence for us,” he said. “Please, please take action.” An independent analyst with the International Crisis Group told the council that Myanmar was “at the brink of state failure.” “The vast majority of the population does not want military rule and will do whatever it takes to prevent that outcome. Yet the military seems determined to impose its will,” Richard Horsey said. “Its actions may be creating a situation where the country becomes ungovernable. That should be of grave concern to the region and to the broader international community.” At least 618 civilians have been killed in the military’s crackdown on protests, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group. News emerged yesterday morning of more violence in the city of Bago, 65km northeast of Yangon — the site of a day-long crackdown that forced residents into hiding in nearby villages. Footage verified by Agence France-Presse shot early on Friday showed protesters hiding behind sandbag barricades wielding homemade rifles, as explosions could be heard in the background. A resident told reporters that the military crackdown killed at least 40 protesters and authorities refused to let rescue
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis yesterday demanded the “swift resolution” of a probe into a crime journalist’s murder condemned by leading EU officials, political parties and media unions. Mitsotakis had summoned Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis to a meeting on the case, the prime minister’s office said. Giorgos Karaivaz, who worked for private TV station Star and also ran the news blog bloko.gr, was shot several times on Friday as he exited his car outside his house in the southern Athens district of Alimos, witnesses said. He had just returned home from work. A police source told reporters that the 52-year-old journalist had been shot by two men on a motorbike. Seventeen bullet casings were recovered from the scene. The murder was rapidly condemned by the European Commission and the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights. “Murdering a journalist is a despicable, cowardly act,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Europe stands for freedom. And freedom of press may be the most sacred of all. Journalists must be able to work safely. My thoughts are with the family of George Karaivaz. I hope the criminals are soon brought to justice,” she wrote. Karaivaz had worked for some of Greece’s leading newspapers and TV channels in a 32-year career. “[He] was one of the most experienced crime reporters in the field ... and was held in high regard by colleagues,” the Esiea union of Athens daily newspaper journalists said in a statement. The federation of Greek police officers said Karaivaz was personally interested in improving working conditions for law enforcement and was “strongly critical of anybody” standing in their union’s way. While Greek media offices are frequently targeted in firebomb and vandalism attacks, journalist killings are rare. Some journalists request police protection after receiving threats, but Karaivaz was unguarded. “It was not his style
DMX, the raspy hip-hop artist behind the songs Ruff Ryders’ Anthem and Party Up (Up in Here) who had one of rap’s most distinctive voices — literally and metaphorically — has died, according to a statement on Friday from his family. He was 50. The Grammy-nominated performer died after suffering “catastrophic cardiac arrest,” according to a statement from the hospital in White Plains, New York, where he died. He was rushed there from his home on Friday last week. DMX, whose birth name was Earl Simmons, died with relatives by his side after several days on life support, the statement said. “Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all of his heart, and we cherish the times we spent with him,” the family said, adding that his music “inspired countless fans across the world, and his iconic legacy will live on forever.” DMX — who rapped with a trademark delivery that was often paired with growls, barks and “What!” as an ad-lib — built a multiplatinum career as one of rap’s biggest stars of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but he also struggled with drug addiction and legal problems that repeatedly put him behind bars. “His message of triumph over struggle, his search for the light out of darkness, his pursuit of truth and grace brought us closer to our own humanity,” his record label, Def Jam Recordings, said in a statement describing him as “nothing less than a giant.” Fellow hip-hop artists remembered him likewise, with Eve praising him as “one of the most special people I have ever met” and Nas calling him “Gods [sic] poet” in an Instagram post. DMX made a splash in 1998 with his first studio album, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot, which debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200
AUSTRALIA Coast braces for cyclone Authorities in Western Australia were yesterday urging residents of its Mid West coast to find safe shelter or leave as Cyclone Seroja barreled toward a coastal region that is usually too far south to fall in the path of cyclones. Residents in Western Australia’s Mid West and Gascoyne regions were being urged to finalize their emergency plans, as the cyclone is expected to intensify to a category 3 overnight, battering a region where buildings are not made to withstand cyclonic winds. “This is a very serious situation. The potential for widespread devastation is high,” state Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan told Australian Broadcasting Corp. RUSSIA Kremlin warns of flareup The Kremlin on Friday said it fears a resumption of full-scale fighting in eastern Ukraine and could take steps to protect Russian civilians there, a stark warning that comes amid a Russian troop buildup along the border. “The Kremlin has fears that a civil war could resume in Ukraine. And if a civil war, a full-scale military action, resumes near our borders, that would threaten the Russian Federation’s security,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. VENEZUELA Cartel members detained Security forces detained members of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel during clashes with armed groups near its western border with Colombia, a top military official said on Friday. The military on March 21 launched an offensive against what officials called irregular Colombian armed groups in the western state of Apure. About eight soldiers have died during the operations, which have caused about 5,000 people to flee across the border. “We even captured some individuals from the Sinaloa cartel,” the chief of the strategic operational command, Remigio Ceballos, said in a telephone call broadcast on state television. UNITED STATES Man jailed over poisoning A man who poisoned eight homeless people in a Southern California beach
BEIJING BAILOUT: Pyongyang’s economic woes would not lead to famine because China will not let that happen due to its fear of a pro-US unified Korea, experts say
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for another “arduous march” to fight severe economic difficulties, for the first time comparing them to a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands. Kim had previously said his nation faces its “worst-ever” situation due to several factors — including the COVID-19 pandemic, US-led sanctions and natural disasters in the summer last year — but it is the first time he has publicly drawn a parallel with the deadly famine. North Korea monitoring groups have not detected any signs of mass starvation or a humanitarian disaster, but Kim’s comments still suggest how seriously he views the current difficulties — which foreign observers say are the biggest test of his nine-year rule. “There are many obstacles and difficulties ahead of us, and so our struggle for carrying out the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress would not be all plain sailing,” Kim told ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) members on Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency reported. “I made up my mind to ask the WPK organizations at all levels, including its central committee and the cell secretaries of the entire party, to wage another more difficult ‘arduous march’ in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little,” Kim said. Kim’s speech came at the closing ceremony of a meeting with thousands of grassroots members of the ruling party, called cell secretaries. During his opening speech on Tuesday, Kim said improving public livelihoods in the face of the “worst-ever situation” would depend on the party cells. At a party congress in January, Kim ordered officials to build a stronger self-supporting economy, reduce reliance on imports and make more consumer goods, but North Korea’s problems are the result of decades of mismanagement, self-imposed isolation and sanctions over its nuclear program, analysts say. Chinese data show North Korea’s trade with
A years-long David and Goliath fight which has seen two Australian surfers take on a Chinese-linked company over alleged damage of an idyllic Fijian island has come to its conclusion after a court handed down a guilty verdict against the developers yesterday. The case has been described by Pacific legal experts as a “watershed” moment that tested Fijian environmental laws, as well as the willingness of the nation — which presents itself as a global climate leader — to “walk the walk” on environmental issues. Freesoul, a Chinese-linked company, in 2018 began work on Malolo Island, with plans to build Fiji’s largest holiday resort. Shortly after work began, Freesoul was accused of causing massive environmental degradation, including claims it parked excavators on top of a reef; dug a channel 100m long and 20m wide through the reef to allow barges to bring supplies onto land; dumped the coral dug up onto the pristine beachfront of the neighbors’ land; destroyed huge swathes of mangrove; and piped sewage directly from a workers’ toilet block into the ocean. The owners of the block of land adjoining the one leased by Freesoul — Jona Ratu, and Australians Navrin Fox and Woody Jack — raised repeated concerns about Freesoul’s alleged actions, and engaged in legal action against it. “I can safely say that there’s no rock unturned in fighting this Goliath,” Fox said. Freesoul was found guilty of two counts of undertaking unauthorized development and found not guilty of one count of failing to comply with a prohibition notice. Sentencing is to occur on May 5. Ahead of the verdict, Fox said that Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s record as an environmental advocate — he was president of the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference — made the court’s decision a test of “whether his government is going to walk the walk, to
Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (王瑞傑), the city-state’s designated future leader, has taken himself out of the running in a surprise decision, saying in a letter released on Thursday that a younger person with a “longer runway” should be the next prime minister. The announcement sets back the city-state’s succession plans after Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) retires. Lee, 69, had planned to retire at 70, but has indicated he could stay on until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Singapore has been led by the People’s Action Party since independence in 1965 and succession plans are usually made years in advance. ‘TOO SHORT A RUNWAY’ In his letter, posted on the Web site of the prime minister’s office, Heng, who turns 60 this year, said the pandemic is likely to be prolonged and “I would be close to the mid-60s when the crisis is over.” “I would have too short a runway should I become the next prime minister then,” he wrote. “We need a leader who will not only rebuild Singapore post-COVID-19, but also lead the next phase of our nation-building effort.” Heng suffered a stroke in 2016, raising questions about his long-term health. YOUNGER HEIR “I know that the top job imposes exceptional demands on the office holder,” he wrote. “While I am in good health today, it is in the best interests of the nation for someone who is younger to tackle the huge challenges ahead.” Lee said in a separate letter that he understands and respects the decision. Heng is to remain deputy prime minister, but is to relinquish his post as minister of finance in the next Cabinet reshuffle, Lee said. The reshuffle is expected in about two weeks.
The Philippines is investigating a report that Chinese military boats pursued a civilian vessel carrying Filipino journalists in the disputed South China Sea, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said yesterday. A television crew from Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN was traveling to the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) on Thursday when their vessel was allegedly chased by a Chinese coast guard boat and two attack craft. Tensions over the resource-rich sea have spiked in recent weeks after hundreds of Chinese vessels were detected at Whitsun Reef, which is also in the Spratly archipelago, which Taiwan also claims. China, which claims almost the entirety of the sea, has refused repeated appeals by the Philippines to withdraw the vessels, which Manila says unlawfully entered its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). “The AFP expresses concern over the report of an alleged harassment by Chinese PLA [People’s Liberation Army] Navy vessels and a Chinese coast guard vessel as reported by a team of journalist[s] on board a watercraft within our EEZ,” AFP spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo said. “We are conducting investigation and verifications to establish what transpired,” he added. ABS-CBN said that the vessel carrying its TV crew was asked by a Chinese coast guard boat to identify itself. The Filipino boat turned around and the Chinese vessel gave chase, it said. “CCG [China Coast Guard] 5101 slowed down and turned away after an hour to the relief of the Filipino crew, who by this time had been following a straight path back to mainland Palawan,” ABS-CBN reported, referring to the western Philippine island. “However, two smaller, faster vessels emerged in the horizon, apparently giving chase to the Filipino boat,” it said. “Within minutes, the unique shape and design of the Houbei Type 22 missile fast attack craft became visible. The two missile-capable boats resumed
‘EVERY SINGLE DAY’: Several hours after the announcement, a shooter in Texas killed one person and wounded five at a cabinetry plant where he was an employee
US President Joe Biden on Thursday branded US gun violence an “epidemic” and an “international embarrassment” at a White House ceremony to unveil his first attempt at getting the problem under control. “This is an epidemic, for God’s sake, and it has to stop,” he said, calling shootings “a public health crisis.” “It’s an international embarrassment,” the Democrat, flanked by US Attorney General Merrick Garland and US Vice President Kamala Harris, told US Congress members and gun control campaigners in the White House Rose Garden. “Enough prayers,” Biden said. “Time for some action.” Several hours after Biden’s announcement, a shooter opened fire at a Texas cabinetry plant where he was employed, killing one person and wounding five, several of whom were in critical condition. With Congress unable to agree on broad gun regulations, such as stricter background checks for buyers, Biden announced six executive measures which he said would help tamp down the crisis. Republicans immediately attacked the proposal, with the party’s senior leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, warning of “unconstitutional overreach.” In addition to modest moves on the politically hyper-sensitive issue, Biden used his Rose Garden speech to announce the nomination of David Chipman, a gun-control proponent and former law enforcement officer, as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Reflecting the lack of unity in Washington around anything to do with firearms restrictions, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — a key agency in the fight against gun violence — has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2015. Biden’s measures included a proposed rule to “stop proliferation of ghost guns,” as firearms built from home kits are known. The White House said that these homemade weapons are especially of concern because they have no serial numbers and cannot be traced after being used in crimes. Another proposed rule would tighten
Rioters on Thursday night waged a running battle with police in Belfast — tossing Molotov cocktails, setting fires and dodging jets from water cannons as a week of unrest showed no sign of letting up. Hundreds of boys and young men gathered from early evening in a western neighborhood in the Northern Ireland capital, which has been riven by violence over Brexit and domestic politics. Masked and in hooded tops, they hurled rocks, bricks and glass bottles at police barricades where riot officers formed ranks with armored Land Rovers. Fire bombs burst into flames in the street and fireworks were aimed into police formations, exploding and smothering their lines in thick smoke. Behind riot shields and with batons drawn, police drove back the surging crowds late into the night, as locals peered out of their windows to witness the spectacle. When one group tried to push a vandalized vehicle into the police barricades, a lumbering water cannon forced them away with powerful spraying jets. A police loudhailer warned crowds to disperse or face arrest. “Force may be used,” the female voice said. Northern Ireland was the site of “The Troubles” sectarian conflict, which wound down in 1998 — but Brexit has been partially blamed for igniting old tensions. The unrest started last week in the pro-UK unionist community, where tensions are high because of new post-Brexit rules some feel are dividing the region from Britain. The pro-Ireland nationalist community has begun to respond in scenes like those on Thursday night. Nationalist and unionist communities in Belfast are often separated by towering “peace walls” to guard against projectiles. On Wednesday there were ugly scenes when warring groups from unionist and nationalist communities faced off at a gate in the peace wall between their neighborhoods. The doors are etched with a slogan reading: “There was never a good war or a bad peace.” The gates were
CONVENIENT TIMING: Iran and world powers were to resume negotiations in Vienna to break a standoff over US sanctions after Trump abandoned a nuclear accord with Tehran
A South Korean oil tanker held for months by Iran amid a dispute over billions of dollars seized by Seoul was freed and early yesterday sailed away, just hours ahead of talks between Tehran and world powers over its tattered nuclear deal. MarineTraffic.com data showed that the MT Hankuk Chemi leaving Bandar Abbas in the early morning hours. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Iran released the tanker and its captain after seizing the vessel in January. The Hankuk Chemi left an Iranian port at around 6am local time after completing an administrative process, the ministry said. Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh later confirmed that Iran had released the vessel. “At the request of the owner and the Korean government, the order to release the ship was issued by the prosecutor,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khatibzadeh as saying. The ship’s owner, DM Shipping Co of Busan, South Korea, could not be immediately reached for comment. The development came as Iran and world powers were set to resume negotiations in Vienna on Friday to break the standoff over US sanctions against Iran and Iranian breaches of the nuclear agreement. The 2015 nuclear accord, which then-US president Donald Trump abandoned three years later, offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. The Hankuk Chemi had been traveling from a petrochemicals facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when armed Islamic Revolutionary Guard forces stormed the vessel in January and forced the ship to change course and travel to Iran. Iran had said that the ship was polluting the waters in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, but the seizure was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Seoul to release billions of dollars in Iranian assets tied up in South Korean banks amid heavy US
Archeologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient city in the desert outside Luxor that they say is the “largest” ever found in Egypt and dates back to a golden age of the pharaohs 3,000 years ago. Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced the discovery of the “lost golden city,” saying that the site was uncovered near Luxor, home of the legendary Valley of the Kings. “The Egyptian mission under Dr Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sands,” the excavation team said in a statement on Thursday. “The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay,” they said. The team said it was “the largest” ancient city uncovered in Egypt. Betsy Bryan, professor of Egyptian art and archeology at Johns Hopkins University, said the find was the “second most important archeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun” nearly a century ago, the team’s statement said. Items of jewelry have been unearthed, along with colored pottery vessels, scarab beetle amulets and mud bricks bearing seals of Amenhotep III. “Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” said Hawass, a former Egyptian minister of antiquities. The team began excavations in September last year, between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, about 500km south of Cairo. “Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” the statement said. “What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.” After seven months of excavations, several neighborhoods have been uncovered, including a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery, as well as administrative and residential districts. Amenhotep III inherited an empire that stretched from the Euphrates River
Disease, the rich-poor gap, climate change and conflicts within and among nations will pose greater challenges in coming decades, with the COVID-19 pandemic already worsening some of those problems, a US intelligence report said on Thursday. The rivalry between China and a US-led coalition of Western nations will likely intensify, fueled by military power shifts, demographics, technology and “hardening divisions over governance models,” said Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World, produced by the US National Intelligence Council. Regional powers and non-state actors might exert greater influence, with the likely result “a more conflict-prone and volatile geopolitical environment” and weakened international cooperation, it said. The report by top US intelligence analysts, which is produced every four years, assessed the political, economic, societal and other trends that will likely shape the national security environment in the next 20 years. “Our intent is to help policymakers and citizens ... prepare for an array of possible futures,” the authors wrote, adding that they make no specific predictions and included input from diverse groups, from US students to African civil society activists. Challenges like climate change, disease, financial crises and technological disruption “are likely to manifest more frequently and intensely in almost every region and country,” producing “widespread strains on states and societies as well as shocks that could be catastrophic,” the report said. The pandemic, which has killed more than 3 million people, marked the greatest “global disruption” since World War II, with the consequences likely to last for years, it said. COVID-19 exposed — and sometimes widened — disparities in healthcare, raised national debts, accelerated nationalism and political polarization, deepened inequality, fueled distrust in government and highlighted failed international cooperation, it said. In the process, the pandemic is slowing — and possibly reversing — progress in fighting poverty, disease and gender inequality. Many problems caused by the pandemic are forecast by
HONG KONG Government halts jab order The government yesterday confirmed that it has asked AstraZeneca to suspend delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine amid fears of severe side effects and concerns over its efficacy against new variants of the virus. Europe’s medicines regulator this week said the vaccine could cause rare blood clots in some recipients, prompting a cascade of countries to pull the plug on giving it to people under a certain age. Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan (陳肇始) said the territory has asked AstraZeneca not to deliver as planned later this year, saying it was not necessary and that Hong Kong wanted “to avoid any waste.” CHINA Mine explosion kills 9 Nine workers have been killed during an operation to destroy expired mining explosives, officials said yesterday. The blast in Hebei Province that borders Beijing left another three workers injured on Wednesday, the Chicheng County government said in a notice online. The workers had been part of a crew tasked with destroying the explosives, which can become unstable over time and unsafe to use. They had been stored by a Beijing-based coal mining company, according to media reports. The accident occurred amid a push to improve safety in the industry, one of the world’s deadliest due in part to the mishandling of materials. SOUTH AFRICA Gangster baboon killed A notorious baboon that went on a vicious crime spree was on Thursday euthanized after forming a gang, Cape Town officials said. The alpha-male monkey found himself high on the unwanted list last year after he moved into the scenic suburb of Smitswinkel Bay following a stint along a tourist-magnet road. He reportedly terrorized residents with more than 40 raids for food, sometimes entering homes while people were inside. In the past few weeks, a splinter group of females and juveniles had started following the
LOSING CONTROL? Fitch Solutions said that a revolution pitting the military against the anti-coup movement and ethnic militias was likely due to the rising violence
Burmese security forces yesterday arrested Paing Takhon, a model and actor who had spoken out against a military coup, his sister told reporters, as people placed shoes filled with flowers in parts of Yangon to commemorate dead protesters. Troops on Wednesday opened fire on protesters, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, protesters and media said. Nearly 600 civilians have been killed by security forces since the junta in February seized power from the elected government of Aung San Su Kyi, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said on Wednesday. The advocacy group said that 2,847 were being held in detention. A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment. Arrest warrants have been issued for hundreds of people, with the junta this week going after scores of influencers, entertainers, artists and musicians. Paing Takhon, 24, a model and actor, is among several celebrities detained in the country. He had condemned the military’s takeover and pledged support for Aung San Su Kyi. His sister, Thi Thi Lwin, told reporters that the military detained him at 4:30am at their parents’ home in Yangon, where he had been staying for several days while unwell. The security forces came with eight military trucks and about 50 soldiers, and it was unclear where he had been taken, she said Paing Takhon had been sick with malaria and a heart condition, his sister said. A comedian named Zarganar was arrested on Tuesday, media reported. Meanwhile, Burmese Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the coup, said in a statement on Wednesday that the civil disobedience movement, or CDM, had halted the working of hospitals, schools, roads, offices and factories. “CDM is an activity to destroy the country,” he said. Fitch Solutions said in a report that Western sanctions targeting the military were unlikely to succeed in restoring democracy, but the army was losing control. It predicted a
Three veteran Hong Kong democracy advocates, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英), on Wednesday pleaded guilty to taking part in an unauthorized rally in 2019 that led to violence between police and participants. The charges carry prison terms of up to five years. Former Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and former Hong Kong Democratic Party chairman Yeung Sum (楊森) were released on bail. Lai was returned to jail, as he is already being held on other charges related to his opposition to China’s crackdown on civil liberties in the territory. Walking out of the courthouse in Wanchai District, Lee said that, despite pleading guilty, he and the others saw no fault in their actions. “Today we plead guilty to the charges, but we have done no wrong,” Lee said. “This is an act of civil disobedience. We want to reclaim our right to demonstration and we affirm the right of people, that we have the right to come out to march,” he said. “And we believe that history will absolve us, because we believe that any political progress, and the progress and rights of the people, have to be reclaimed by the people by exercising their rights to come out to march,” he said. The court was shown videos of the three at the Aug. 31, 2019, event. Separately, one of a group detained at sea as they sought to flee Hong Kong by speedboat was brought to court amid extraordinary security. A fleet of motorcycles and police vehicles along with helmeted officers toting shotguns and machine guns accompanied Andy Li (李宇軒), who is charged with collusion with foreign forces under the National Security Law imposed by Beijing, as well as unlicensed possession of ammunition and conspiracy to assist offenders. Li was charged with collusion in August last year. He had been one of 12 Hong Kongers detained by mainland Chinese
Hong Kong democracy advocate Nathan Law (羅冠聰) on Wednesday said that he has been granted political asylum in Britain, where he arrived in July last year after Beijing imposed a National Security Law in the territory. The move is certain to ratchet up tensions between London and Beijing as Britain opens its doors to potentially more than 5 million residents of Hong Kong in the wake of the security legislation. “After several interviews in four months, the British Home Office has informed me that my asylum application is approved,” Law wrote on Twitter. “The fact that I am wanted under the national security law shows that I am exposed to severe political persecution and am unlikely to return to Hong Kong without risk,” he wrote. Britain has accused China of breaches of a deal that gave the territory back to China in 1997. Britain yesterday pledged ￡43 million (US$59 million) to help Hong Kong residents find jobs, houses and schools under the initiative allowing millions to resettle. London estimates that more than 300,000 Hong Kong residents could emigrate over the next five years.
NORTHERN IRELAND: There has been nightly violence fueled by loyalist anger over a ruling not to prosecute Sinn Fein leaders over attendance at a mass funeral
A bus was on Wednesday hijacked and set on fire in Belfast in a sixth consecutive night of violence in Northern Ireland. The vehicle was set alight at an intersectional area between nationalist and unionist communities, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said. Stones were thrown at police while a press photographer was assaulted on Wednesday evening at the intersection of Lanark Way and Shankill Road in west Belfast. Tires and garbage cans were set on fire near the interface gates at Lanark Way, which open in a wall that separates the two communities. The PSNI said they had closed the gates and advised people to avoid the area. Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster — leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, which is in favor of Britain’s presence in Northern Ireland — condemned the attack, writing on Twitter: “There is no justification for violence. It is wrong and should stop.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also condemned the violence on Twitter: “I am deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in Northern Ireland, especially attacks on PSNI who are protecting the public and businesses, attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist. The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality.” Footage circulating on Twitter appeared to show the bus being hit by a fire bomb while still moving, with about a dozen masked people — including some who seemed to be children — being cheered on as they ran from the scene. The loyalist gathering at Lanark Way was organized through social media, with Facebook posts shared on other platforms. Dozens of youths dressed in dark clothing gathered after 5pm, watched by others who appeared to have come for the spectacle — one elderly woman came in a bathrobe. Some youths set a fire in the middle of the road, while
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