A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Java island on Saturday, killing seven people, severely wounding two and damaging hundreds of buildings in several cities, the country’s disaster mitigation agency BNPB said.
 
The quake, which struck at 2 p.m. (0700 GMT) local time, was felt across East Java, home to 40.7 million people, and nearby provinces, including the resort island of Bali, Indonesian media reported.
 
Ten people were slightly injured, while an unspecified number of people in several villages were moved to evacuation centers as some houses have been destroyed, the BNPB said.
 
More than 300 homes and dozens of other buildings, including schools, hospitals, government offices and places of worship, were damaged, the agency said.
 
The numbers could change as authorities collect more information about the extent of casualties and damage.  
 
Images in media showed flattened houses in towns near the southern coast of East Java, the closest area to the epicenter of the quake.
 
A large gorilla statue in an amusement park in the town of Batu lost its head, news website Detik.com reported.  
 
The quake struck in the Indian Ocean 91 kilometers (57 miles) off the southern coast of East Java. It had a magnitude of 5.9 at a depth of 96 kilometers, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, which reduced the quake’s magnitude from an initial 6.8.
 
Video shared by social media users showed people running out of a shopping mall in Malang city amid the strong tremor.
 
“I felt the earthquake twice, the first time for two seconds and then it stopped, but then it shook again for five seconds,” Edo Afizal, a receptionist at a hotel in Blitar, told Reuters by phone.
 
Indonesia was struck last week by tropical cyclone Seroja, which triggered landslides and flash floods killing more than 170 people on islands in East Nusa Tenggara province.
 
Straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is regularly hit by earthquakes. A magnitude 6.2 quake that struck Sulawesi island in January killed more than 100 people.
 
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Marine experts estimate about 40,000 humpback whales are now migrating through Australian waters annually, up from about 1,500 half a century ago.  
   
The humpbacks’ annual journey from Antarctica to subtropical waters along Australia’s east and west coasts is one of nature’s great migrations.  
 
It is a journey of up to 10,000 kilometers and is undertaken between April and November. Scientists have estimated 40,000 humpback whales have been in Australian waters to mate and breed.  It is a remarkable recovery from the height of commercial whaling in the early 1960s when it was estimated there were fewer than 1,500 humpbacks.  They were slaughtered mainly for their oil and baleen, or “whalebone.”
 
Australia’s environment department says no other whale species has recovered as strongly as the humpback since the end of commercial hunting, which ceased in Australia in 1978.
 
Australia is now considering removing humpback whales from the endangered species list because of their growing numbers.
 
The acrobatic humpbacks that can grow to 16 meters would still be protected in Australia. Conservationists, though, argue that they need more, not fewer, environmental safeguards to monitor the impact of climate change on krill – their main source of food. Krill are affected by the absorption of more carbon dioxide into the ocean.
 
Olaf Meynecke, a research fellow in Marine Science at Queensland’s Griffith University, says vigilance is needed to ensure the whales continue to thrive.  
 
“Generally speaking, yes, it is a great success story that humpback whales have come back.  But obviously we also need to ask questions as [to] how will this continue in the future, how are present threats already impacting the population and how we [are] going to detect changes in the future,” Meynecke said.  
 
Scientists say humpbacks face a combination of other threats including the overharvesting of krill, pollution, habitat degradation, and entanglement in fishing nets. Calves also face attack by killer whales or sharks.
 
The recovery of the humpback has helped the rapid growth of Australia’s whale-watching industry.
 
As their numbers have grown, much about the humpback, a species famous for its song, remains a mystery.  Scientists do not know exactly, for example, where on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef they mate and calve.  
 
Humpback whales live in all the world’s oceans. They take their common name from a distinctive hump on the whale’s back.   
 
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Analysts say Russia is increasing arms sales to Myanmar’s military and steadfastly standing by Myanmar’s coup leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, an alliance they say will further Moscow’s foreign policy ambitions across Southeast Asia through future weapons sales.Meanwhile, leaders of at least 10 of ethnic rebel groups have declared their support for the country’s anti-coup movement.Anthony Davis, a security analyst with the Jane’s Group in Bangkok, said Moscow “very clearly” wants to further its ties with Myanmar’s military, known as Tatmadaw, through sales, primarily to its air force and, to a lesser extent, its army, while wanting to foster ties with Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, a regional economic union.“Russia has established a strong beachhead not just in Myanmar but in Southeast Asia via Myanmar more generally,” he said, adding he was not surprised Russia and China were backing a proposed ASEAN summit on the crisis.“ASEAN is a body that they wish to have good relations and wish to influence in a way that is positive for them,” Davis said. “But I don’t think they have any more illusions about what ASEAN can achieve than is true of many states in the West.”ASEAN has long been criticized as unable to act in a crisis, with member country leaders often citing the trade bloc’s mantra of noninterference in neighbors’ internal affairs.Analysts said the 10 ASEAN members, largely one-party states and military-backed governments, deserved to be pilloried for their lack of moral backbone following the coup.“This is a very significant test for ASEAN for whether it’s able to deal with a significant crisis in its own backyard,” said Bradley Murg, a senior research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace. “China actually reasonably wants a degree of stability here.”“Russia however will continue to be — when there is an authoritarian regime that pops up — Russia’s there to support it,” he said, adding that Russian media had trumpeted Moscow’s support for Hlaing as a defense of Myanmar democracy.“ASEAN essentially is muddled in dealing with the same problems it usually has which is it can’t achieve anything without consensus and it’s not going to achieve consensus,” he said regarding the bloodshed in Myanmar. “I’m not very optimistic, no,” he said.Military hardware is being displayed on Armed Forces Day, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021.Russian-made weaponsMurg said Russia was moving forward on new arms sales, which was highlighted by the presence of deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin at the annual Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyidaw March 27, following a visit by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu a week before the coup.“Bringing someone at the level of deputy minister of defense certainly signals that Russia’s there and Russia’s going to continue supporting the regime in Myanmar,” he said.On the night of the parade, Tatmadaw deployed airstrikes against ethnic Karen rebels, forcing more than 12,000 civilians to flee into the jungles on the Thai border, an attack that struck a nerve with the leaders of Myanmar’s roughly 20 ethnic insurgencies.General Yawd Serk, leader of one rebel group, the Restoration Council of Shan State, condemned the attacks after an online meeting of 10 rebel leaders promoting a united front against Tatmadaw, telling reporters that military generals must be held accountable.“I would like to state that the [10 groups] firmly stand with the people who are … demanding the end of dictatorship,” he told Agence France-Presse after the meeting.Analysts said the prospect that Russian-made weapons were being used against civilians had aggravated tensions and anti-Russian sentiment among protesters and insurgents — who had stuck a truce with the ousted government of Aung San Suu Kyi — alike.Davis said Russian-made Yak-130 fighter jets had been used by Tatmadaw in combat since 2019 and it was possible, they were used in the strikes on ethnic Karens, as they are designed for night attacks and are highly maneuverable at low altitude.“They have a history of this sort of operation. It would have made sense to use them again in this particular strike,” he said. “What took place on the night of 27th to the 28th of March suggests strongly that they were Yak-130s.”Ross Milosevic, a risk management consultant who conducts field research in Kayin State, also known as Karen State, said a variety of Russian-made air- and land-based weapons were also being used against civilians.That included attack helicopters and MiG jets, truck-mounted heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, which were being used to break up opposition roadblocks in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.Milosevic said the military’s use of Russian and Chinese-made weapons had aggravated local sentiment and was leading to a consensus among insurgencies that a new deal needed to be struck with Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party to forge a united front against Tatmadaw.At the same time, he said underlying mistrust among the ethnic groups must be dealt with before a treaty can be struck, potentially with the backing of Western countries and a joint army set up from the ethnic militias.“Then involve the NLD (National League for Democracy) to provide a promise and a constitutional right of independence and autonomy for each individual ethnic state. I think you will find that they could all work together and push against Tatmadaw and the generals,” he said. 
 
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China’s propaganda machine has ramped up in the past week, targeting two foreign journalists with verbal and online attacks over their coverage of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.   Both John Sudworth, a journalist with the BBC, and Vicky Xu, a researcher and reporter based in Australia, have refused to be silenced by what Sudworth has referred to as China’s “highly asymmetric battle for the control of ideas.”  Sudworth, who reported from Beijing for nearly nine years, relocated with his family to Taiwan last week after an increase in legal threats and other pressure from authorities. His is the latest in a series of sudden departures by foreign media.  In an article, he said that China’s “wolf-warrior” diplomats — a term referring to envoys using a more aggressive approach — have unleashed tweet-storms, lambasting foreign reporting including that of the BBC.   FILE – The BBC sign is seen outside the entrance to the headquarters of the publicly funded media organization in London, July 19, 2017.Beijing appears to view any China-based foreign correspondent as an “unwanted witness,” said Cédric Alviani, East-Asia bureau director at Reporters Without Borders (RSF).  “The Chinese regime has been increasingly harassing foreign correspondents to ensure that it’s as hard as possible for them to properly do their job,” Alviani told VOA on Wednesday, adding that Sudworth’s “forced departure” is a direct result of the harassment.    Beijing has expelled 18 foreign correspondents from China in the past year, Alviani said.  VOA’s inquiries to Sudworth and Xu for comment went unanswered.  But in an FILE – An AFP video journalist, left, is escorted away while filming at what is believed to be a reeducation camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, June 2, 2019.China has denied that Sudworth was at risk. During a news briefing last week, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying denied the government had threatened him.   “We heard that a few individuals and entities in Xinjiang may sue him over his slanderous reports. But that has nothing to do with the government,” Hua said.   The spokesperson added that Sudworth should have stayed to prove his innocence in court.  But Sudworth, in his BBC article, described China’s judicial system as lacking independence, saying it runs “as an extension of the Communist Party.”  Online attacks  Researcher and journalist Xu, who lives in Australia, also found herself being targeted this week, as thousands of online trolls tried to discredit and smear her over reporting on the Uyghurs, including a 2020 article.  The trolling centered on FILE – A guard tower and barbed wire fence surround a detention facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China’s Xinjiang region, Dec. 3, 2018.ASPI said that it contacted the companies for comment, but only some replied. The report said a few brands instructed vendors to end relationships with the suppliers. Others said they had no direct contracts with those allegedly using the labor schemes. “No brands were able to rule out a link further down their supply chain,” the report said. As part of an apparent campaign to defend China’s Xinjiang policies, state media and social media posts tried to discredit or smear Xu, calling her a “female demon,” a “race traitor” and the brainchild behind Xinjiang’s cotton controversy.    On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform, more than 8 million users clicked on her name and stories publicly shaming her.  Xu, a 26-year-old journalist, was a party loyalist from Gansu province and trained in Beijing to become an English-language broadcaster before leaving China to report on human rights.  She responded to the attacks by mocking the trolls. On Tuesday, she tweeted that the attacks were “a wonderful way to alert the public something is up in Xinjiang, something echoing the cultural revolution and worse.”  She also tweeted to clarify that her report focused on forced labor, exploited by the manufacturing sector, rather than the cotton industry in Xinjiang.  Xu has vowed to keep writing about Xinjiang until the camps are closed and forced labor ends.   China has long insisted that its camps in Xinjiang are meant to counter terrorism and alleviate poverty. But human rights groups have accused China of genocide by incarcerating at least a million Uyghurs.  Call to uniteSteve Chao, a freelance investigative journalist and former host for Al Jazeera English, said that restrictions imposed by China for accredited journalists are a “disappointing trend” that prevents a free exchange of ideas.  China appears to see foreign journalists as part of its growing tensions with Western governments, Chao said.  “I think the challenge for the Chinese government has always been whether they can actually separate the foreign press from Western governments because I think there’s a perception that the media is a wing or arm of Western governments. There isn’t a true sense that it is an independent entity,” Chao told VOA over the phone.  China appears to have adopted a strategy to not only put forward its viewpoints, but also to silence opposition viewpoints by kicking journalists out or miring journalists and academics in lawsuits — a battle Chao said some media organizations lack the resources to fight.  Chao called for “a unified stand” against attempts by Beijing to chill free speech and view the foreign press as a threat.  Alviani of RSF echoed that view. He said that democracies should unite against China’s attack on freedom of press and speech — universal rights enshrined in China’s constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was signed by Beijing.    This article originated in VOA’s Mandarin service.
 
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Myanmar’s U.N. envoy, who was appointed by the democratically elected government, appealed to the international community Friday to protect civilians from the country’s military with a no-fly zone, arms embargo and targeted sanctions. “It is necessary to have strong and urgent actions on the U.N. Security Council in order to save the lives of innocent civilians in Myanmar,” Kyaw Moe Tun told an informal meeting of the Security Council. ”Collective strong action is needed immediately. Time is of the essence for us, please take action now.” The envoy, who made headlines in February publicly opposing the military coup, called on the international community to target sanctions against the businesses linked to the military and to their families. He also urged the suspension of foreign investments until the democratically elected government is restored. FILE – This screengrab of a handout video made available on the United Nations’ YouTube channel shows Myanmar’s ambassador to the U.N. Kyaw Moe Tun at an informal meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Feb. 26, 2021.”I wish to stress that the international community and the U.N. Security Council have the responsibility to use all necessary means to help protect the people of Myanmar from atrocities, brutal and inhuman acts committed by the military, through collective, concrete and unifying action in a timely and decisive manner,” the envoy said. In diplomatic speak, “all necessary measures” usually refers to military action. Myanmar has been mired in chaos and violence since the military’s overthrow of the civilian government on February 1, and the detentions of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party.  The military has claimed widespread fraud in last November’s election, which the NLD won in a landslide. Myanmar’s electoral commission has denied the fraud claims. Since then, there have been daily peaceful protests across the country, which the military has brutally tried to put down. More than 600 civilians, including several children, have been killed in the streets and in their homes. Nearly 3,000 people have been arrested, A protester sets off fireworks from behind a barricade while a man, at left, holds a homemade rifle in a clash with security forces in Bago, in this screengrab from Hantarwadi Media video footage taken on April 9, 2021 and provided to AFPTV.Friday’s U.N. meeting was organized by Britain, with support from the U.S. and European members of the 15-nation Security Council. British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said it was intended to hear “the perspectives of the people of Myanmar whose voices the military seeks to silence.” They included Zin Mar Aung, who is the acting foreign minister appointed by the group representing the ousted NLD lawmakers, known as the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw or CRPH. She said the military’s unrelenting excessive use of force shows it does not have control over the country. “Our people are ready to pay any cost to get back their rights and freedom,” Zin Mar Aung added. “The streets of Yangon and in many parts of the country, are now strewn with yellow padauk flower, a symbol of new year for Buddhists, the religious majority,” said civil society leader Sai Sam Kham. ”Just as no one can keep the padauk from blooming, no one can stop the aspiration of young people who believe freedom and democracy is worth dying for.” A woman looks at shoes displayed with flowers in Yangon’s Myaynigone township, as part of the “Marching Shoes Strike” against the military coup in Myanmar, in this photo taken and received courtesy of an anonymous source on April 8, 2021.He said the people would not tolerate a dictatorship or fake democracy. “They are defiant and courageously defending their rights.” International Crisis Group Myanmar expert Richard Horsey gave a bleak assessment of the country’s trajectory if the situation continues to unravel. “To put it simply, Myanmar stands at the brink of state failure, of state collapse,” he warned. He said business is at a standstill and it is having ripple effects on the country’s supply chains, which could lead to a food shortages. The health care system is in a state of collapse and, perhaps most concerning, ethnic armed violence is on the rise. Council members called for U.N. Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener to be allowed to visit Myanmar. The envoy has been trying for weeks to secure the junta’s agreement, but she tweeted on Friday that they have rejected her request. Just arrived in BKK for talks. I regret that Tatmadaw answered me yesterday that they are not ready to receive me. I am ready for dialogue. Violence never leads to peaceful sustainable solutions. Protesters take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Mogok town, north of Mandalay, in this photo taken and received courtesy of an anonymous source via Facebook on April 9, 2021.Council member Estonia said it is time the council draft a strong resolution. “The United Nations Security Council is the only entity in the world which has the legitimate power to protect nations at risk, and must explore every tool in its toolbox to end this horrible situation,” Ambassador Sven Jürgenson said. ”To this end, we should start drafting a resolution that could also foresee sanctions, especially a comprehensive arms embargo, in order to stop the atrocities. All states must refrain from supplying the perpetrators with weapons.” Dozens of states have implemented bilateral arms embargoes on the junta, but the council has not, most likely because China would block such a move. Beijing’s representative said her government is concerned about the violence and bloodshed, which “serves no one’s interests.” She said China would continue to maintain contacts and communication with the parties “in its own way to deescalate the situation.” 
 
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Ethnic groups in Myanmar’s Kayin State and elsewhere are reportedly still experiencing waves of attacks from the country’s military, the Tatmadaw, after the February coup, despite the junta’s declaration of a one-month cease-fire on March 31.The armed forces have aggressively cracked down on pro-democracy protesters nationwide since the coup, leaving thousands detained and hundreds dead.Although the current nationwide crackdown in Myanmar is the biggest seen in years, ethnic conflict in the Southeast Asian nation is not new. Myanmar, also known as Burma, is home to the world’s longest ongoing civil war, spanning 70 years with a series of ethnic insurgencies.David Eubank, head of the Thai-based Free Burma Rangers, a group that has provided medical assistance inside Myanmar, told VOA this week that daily military attacks against several ethnic minority states continue.Eubank said by phone the Tatmadaw has stepped up assaults that have led to the displacement of thousands of members of ethnic minorities in recent weeks, starting with airstrikes from March 27 to April 2 in Kayin State, also known as Karen State.“From all these airstrikes, as well as sustained ground attacks, there are now 23,000 people displaced in northern Karen State,” Eubank told VOA.Saw Thuebee, spokesperson for the civil society group, the Karen Peace Support Network, told VOA that 30,000 people had been displaced in Kayin state by increasing fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Karen National Liberation Army, the military arm of Karen National Union, the political organization that claims to represent the ethnic Karens.Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw, MyanmarHe said, the Tatmadaw presence in the region has been increasing, particularly since the coup.“The Karen has made a repeated request to the Tatmadaw in the last five years to remove their military camps in the Karen territories. But instead of removing the camps the, the Tatmadaw has increased more, more troops and upgrading their outposts, and building more bigger roads so they can move in as fast as possible even during military tensions. I think Karen is responding to this militarization of this Myanmar army, this is why we are seeing more fighting going on and it’s spreading out to other districts as well,” Saw Thuebee told VOA.Non-Burman ethnic groups in Kayin State have had a long history of running conflict with the central government over issues related to autonomy or independence. As is the case with other ethnic groups in the country, ceasefire agreements have been agreed to over the years in attempts for peace.Eubank, of the Free Burma Rangers said previous truces have often been broken but not to the extent of the current attacks. “The Burma army said there’s a cease-fire, there is no cease-fire there,” he told VOA.“There has been a cease-fire in Karen State for five years. And every year there has been a violation,” according to Eubank, who says the military moved in on some states before February’s coup.“We saw more and more attacks in December and then January they kept increasing, steadily, slowly,” he added.Thousands nationwide have opposed the coup, both in urban and ethnic areas. But the military’s armored vehicles and live ammunition have suppressed regular street demonstrations and martial law and internet shutdowns have been imposed.Reports in recent days have indicated that airstrikes have temporarily stopped in ethnic regions, but constant flyovers are still a daily occurrence, according to Eubank’s group. Ground attacks are also increasing, and according to Eubank, his FBR team reported a 30% increase in attacks on ethnic minority areas such as Kachin State, while thousands have also been displaced in Shan State.Ethnic armed organizations are fighting back, Eubank said.“In northern Karen State they are attacking with every chance they get,” Eubank said.Yet with thousands still displaced, a lot of damage has already been done. Eubank told VOA his group’s biggest priority now is “food, medicine and shelter” as a food crisis could be imminent, coupled with the approach of the rainy season.“People are now hiding among the trees, many of them in caves to escape bombing and living pretty rough. Schools stopped, fields can’t be tended, and people are scared,” he said.   
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A South Korean oil tanker held for months by Iran amid a dispute over billions of dollars seized by Seoul was freed and sailed away early Friday, just hours ahead of further talks between Tehran and world powers over its tattered nuclear deal.MarineTraffic.com data showed the MT Hankuk Chemi leaving Bandar Abbas in the early morning hours.South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Iran released the tanker and its captain after seizing the vessel in January. The ministry says the Hankuk Chemi left an Iranian port at around 6 a.m. local time after completing an administrative process.Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, 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,” Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency.The ship’s owner, DM Shipping Co. Ltd. of Busan, South Korea, could not be immediately reached for comment.The Hankuk Chemi had been traveling from a petrochemicals facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when armed Revolutionary Guard troops stormed the vessel in January and forced the ship to change course and travel to Iran.Iran had accused the MT Hankuk Chemi of 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 American sanctions on Iran. Iran released the 20-member crew in February but continued to detain the ship and its captain while demanding that South Korea unlock frozen Iranian assets.Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not acknowledge the fund dispute when announcing the ship’s release, with Khatibzadeh saying only that the captain and tanker had a clean record in the region.But an official from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations, said Seoul’s willingness to resolve the issue of Iranian assets tied up in South Korea “possibly had a positive influence” in Iran’s decision to release the vessel.The official said Iran had acknowledged South Korea’s attempts to resolve the dispute as it became clear the issue was “not just about South Korea’s ability and efforts alone” and was “intertwined” with negotiations over the return to Tehran’s foundering nuclear deal.Unfreezing the funds involves the consent of various countries including the U.S., which in 2018 imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors. The official said South Korea has been closely communicating with other countries over the frozen Iranian assets.In January, the U.N. said Iran topped a list of countries owing money to the world body with a minimum bill of over $16 million. If unpaid, Iran could lose its voting rights as required under the U.N. Charter.“We’re expecting to make a considerable progress in terms of paying the U.N. dues,” an unnamed South Korean Foreign Ministry official was quoted by the country’s Yonhap news agency. “We have also exported some $30 million worth of medical equipment since we resumed the humanitarian trade with Iran last April.”The development came as Iran and world powers were set to resume negotiations in Vienna on Friday to break the standoff over U.S. sanctions against Iran and Iranian breaches of the nuclear agreement. The 2015 nuclear accord, which then-President Donald Trump abandoned three years later, offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
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Singapore’s designated future leader, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, has taken himself out of the running in a surprise decision, saying in a letter released Thursday that a younger person with a “longer runway” should be the next prime minister.The announcement sets back the country’s succession plans after current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong retires. Lee, 69, had planned to retire at age 70 but has indicated he may stay on until the coronavirus crisis 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.In his letter, posted on the prime minister’s office website, 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.”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.”Prime Minister Lee said in a separate letter that he understands and respects the decision.Heng will stay on as deputy prime minister, but will relinquish his finance minister post in the next Cabinet reshuffle, Lee said. The reshuffle is expected in about two weeks.  
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It was the same every night. A list of names was posted on the Rev. Richard Daschbach’s bedroom door. The child at the top of the roster knew it was her turn to share the lower bunk with the elderly priest and another elementary school-aged girl.Daschbach was idolized in the remote enclave of East Timor where he lived, largely for his role in helping save lives during the tiny nation’s bloody struggle for independence. So, the girls never spoke about the abuse they suffered. They said they were afraid they would be banished from the shelter the 84-year-old from Pennsylvania established decades ago for abused women, orphans, and other destitute children.The horrors of what they said happened behind closed doors over a period of years is now being played out in court, the first clergy sex abuse case in a country that is more solidly Catholic than any other place aside from the Vatican. The trial was postponed last month because of a coronavirus lockdown but is expected to resume in May.At least 15 females have come forward, according to JU,S Jurídico Social, a group of human rights lawyers representing them. The Associated Press has spoken to a third of the accusers, each recalling their experiences in vivid detail. They are not being identified because of fears of retribution.They told AP that Daschbach would sit on a chair every night in the middle of a room holding a little girl, surrounded by a ring of children and staff members praying and singing hymns before bed.”The way that you determine who sits on his lap is by the list that he’d have on his door,” one accuser said. “And that meant that you were the little girl that was going to go with him.”Later in his room, they said Daschbach would strip down to white boxer shorts and a T-shirt and then undress the girls, giving them deodorant to put on before fondling them and quietly guiding their hands to touch him. Then, they said, there would often be oral sex. One accuser also alleged she was raped.He would sometimes ask the children with him on the lower bunk to switch places with one or two others sleeping on the mattress above, they said, adding abuse also occasionally occurred during afternoon naps.Daschbach faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. He and his lawyer declined to be interviewed by the AP.The church defrocked Daschbach in 2018, saying he had confessed to sexually abusing children. But he maintains strong political ties and is still treated like a rock star by many, especially at the Topu Honis shelter, which means “Guide to Life.”Former President Xanana Gusmao attended the trial’s opening in February. A month earlier, the independence hero visited Daschbach on his birthday, hand-feeding cake to the former priest and lifting a glass of wine to his lips, as cameras flashed.Daschbach’s lawyers have not made their legal strategy public, and court proceedings are closed. But documents seen by AP indicate that they will argue he is the victim of a conspiracy.In January, however, the former priest appeared to be preparing his supporters for the worst. He told local reporters that his message to the children who remain in the orphanage is this: “Be patient. We won’t meet again because I will be detained for life, but I will still remember you and you have to be happy there.”The global clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church for more than two decades, has led to billions of dollars in settlements and the establishment of new programs aimed at preventing further abuse.But experts have seen a growing number of victims coming forward in developing nations like Haiti, Kenya, and Bangladesh, where priests and missionaries deployed by religious orders often operate with little or no oversight.
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The U.S. has imposed sanctions on one of Myanmar’s biggest industries, gemstones, according to a Department of Treasury news release.Specifically, the U.S. is targeting Myanma Gems Enterprise (MGE), a state-owned business “responsible for all gemstone activities in Burma.” Gemstones, according to Treasury, “are a key economic resource for the Burmese military regime.”“Today’s action highlights Treasury’s commitment to denying the Burmese military sources of funding, including from key state-owned enterprises throughout Burma,” said Andrea Gacki, Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.Myanmar is also known as Burma.The company will be blocked from all property and interests in property “that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by them, individually or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons.”The military seized power in a February 1 coup, overthrowing the civilian government and detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking officials.Mourners make the three-finger salute as they attend the funeral of a protester, who died amid a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations against the military coup, in Taunggyi in Myanmar’s Shan state, March 29, 2021.Since the coup, widespread protests have rocked Myanmar, many of them turning violent as government officials cracked down. Nearly 600 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by government troops and police since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of the 3,500 people who have been arrested, 2,750 are still detained, AAPP said.The U.S has already imposed sanctions on military leaders, some of their family members and other businesses in the country.It has called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy Party, ousted President Win Myint, and protesters, journalists and human rights activists it says have been unjustly detained since the coup.Military officials claimed widespread fraud in last November’s general election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide, as justification for the February takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission. 
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Preliminary hearings were held Tuesday for three journalists detained in Yangon on February 27 while covering protests of the military coup.The journalists — Aung Ye Ko, of the 7 Day Media; Hein Pyae Zaw of Zee-Gwet or “Owl” Media; and freelancer Banyar Oo — appeared in a prison court for the closed hearing, a lawyer representing them told VOA Burmese. The lawyer, Nilar Khine, said she did not seek bail because the courts have rejected requests in similar cases. Her clients are next due in court on April 20.The journalists are among at least 60 members of the media arrested since Myanmar’s military seized control in a February 1 coup, according to lawyers.IPI urges the international community and leaders to take action against continued violations of human rights and freedom of the press in #Myanmar.
We call on the Junta to immediately release, drop all charges against @MizzimaNews Ko Zaw Zaw, all other detained journalists. https://t.co/nKzTXkd7Ty
— IPI – The Global Network for Press Freedom (@globalfreemedia) April 8, 2021Often, family are not told where their relatives are. Lawyers working on a pro-bono basis wait outside Insein prison in Yangon to help families find relatives, including journalists, who have gone missing while at protests.Aung Ye Ko and the others in court this week are charged under Article 505 (a) of Myanmar’s penal code. The same article has been used to charge several other journalists, including freelance video journalist Aung Ko Latt who was detained on March 21.Those convicted under Section 505 (a) can be sentenced to up to two years in prison. The article makes it a crime to publish or circulate any “statement, rumor or report… with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause,” a member of the military to fail in their duty.A preliminary hearing was held in Aung Ko Latt’s case, at a prison court in Naypyidaw on Monday, the same day that his son was born. The journalist has tested positive for COVID-19 in prison.The media arrests are part of a wider pattern of detentions and violent suppression of protests against the military takeover.CPJ calls on the #Myanmar government to immediately and unconditionally release all journalists detained in the aftermath of the February 1 suspension of democracy and imposition of emergency rule in the country.
Read the letter:https://t.co/aPQ1nDPs5fpic.twitter.com/aP2fJhoII3
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) April 6, 2021As of Wednesday, 598 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by government troops and police, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which cautioned the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher.Of the 3,500 people arrested, 2,847 are still detained, the AAPP said, adding that 38 have been sentenced. Authorities have issued arrest warrants for 481 others.The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, had governed Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but the military contested November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, without evidence.Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the February 1 coup. Since then, martial law has been imposed throughout Myanmar.The military has released a wanted list of more than 120 celebrities, public figures, and prominent influencers, who have been charged under 505 (a) for supporting protests.Release all the detainees right now!
Entertainers, journalist, artists, influencers and, innocent civilians are unlawfully arrested and detained by military juntas just because of their anti-coup protesting activities.Speak up for Myanmar please. #WhatsHappeniningInMyanmarpic.twitter.com/QtJ76te0dY
— kyizinthant (@Kyi55147955) Myanmar’s military junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun speaks during the information ministry’s press conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 23, 2021.Coverage of the coup and its aftermath is seen as increasingly risky for the media.“Journalists in small towns cannot simply stay at home, it is not safe,” said a journalist, whose identity has been withheld to protect them from retaliation. “All the journalists are in hiding. If caught or arrested, we’ll be brutally tortured. Most of us do not have enough money to survive in hiding. It is really hard.”The family of those detained have also described the hardship of not being able to speak with their relatives.Chit Swe has not been able to see his son Than Htike Aung since the former editor of multimedia news organization Mizzima was arrested on March 19. Than Htike Aung is charged under section 505 (a) after he covered a court hearing of a member of the NLD party.“Lawyers are still not allowed to meet with my son. No one is allowed to see him, and it is very painful,” Chit Swe said. “However, somehow, it is a relief to know that he is alive. My son was just doing his job. We keep praying for his safe return.”This story originated in VOA’s Burmese service.
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Myanmar’s ambassador to Britain has been locked out of his London office over his support for deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Kyaw Zwar Minn told reporters he was barred from entering the embassy Wednesday under orders from Myanmar’s military junta.In a statement read on his behalf Thursday in front of the building, Kyaw Zwar Minn said that embassy personnel were being “threatened with severe punishment” if they refused to work for diplomats loyal to the military government.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, in a tweet Thursday, condemned the “bullying actions of the Myanmar military regime,” while paying tribute to Kyaw Zwar Minn for his courage.Kyaw Zwar Minn, the Myanmar ambassador, walks outside the Myanmar Embassy in London, April 7, 2021.The development comes a day after Myanmar security forces killed at least 11 civilians and wounded at least 10 others when they fired on government protesters in the northwestern town of Kalay, according to reports received by VOA’s Burmese service.One protest organizer told the service that troops tasked with removing barricades set up by the demonstrators opened fire indiscriminately. The protesters are demanding that Suu Kyi’s civilian government be returned to power.The organizer said an undetermined number of protesters, some armed with homemade weapons, were arrested in the town known for fiercely resisting government forces.Video of the pre-dawn attack included the sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions. Social media posts said rocket-propelled grenades were fired.A young man who lives in Kalay and escaped arrest told VOA the security forces fired at least 20 rocket-propelled grenades to destroy the barricades and fired bullets at the protesters.Protesters in Kalay, who previously armed themselves with homemade hunting rifles and had established neighborhood strongholds, inflicted casualties on security forces during an earlier assault on the town and nearby villages on March 28, according to the Myanmar Now news service.The demonstrators, who have organized what they call the “Kalay Civil Army,” inflicted more casualties on junta forces in the following days, the online news site reported.Mourners make the three-finger salute while attending the funeral of Arkar Thu Aung, a protester who was shot dead by security forces in the northwestern town of Kale, April 8, 2021. (Anonymous Souce via Facebook)The March 28 attack occurred one day after government troops killed more than 110 civilians throughout the Southeast Asian country, the highest one-day death toll since the February 1 military coup that ousted the democratically elected government.Regular anti-government protests continued in other cities and towns Wednesday, including in Bago, northeast of Yangon, where a resident confirmed to VOA that government forces killed two men and injured five others.One person was killed in a protest crackdown in Monywa, the capital of the Sagaing region, and another was killed in the town of Nyaung Shwe in the southern Shan State, VOA confirmed. At least nine arrests were reported in the southern city of Dawae.Nearly 600 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by government troops and police since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of the 3,500 people who have been arrested, 2,750 are still detained, AAPP said.Breaking news 🛑
Myanmar famous model and actor Paing Takhon was arrested at 5:00 AM local time in North Dagon. He is in bad health condition as evident by his latest social media. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar#Apr8Couppic.twitter.com/2S2STpmVf1
— MyatPyaeSone (@myatpyae77) April 8, 2021The National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, had governed Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but the military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence.Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the coup. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar.On April 1, the U.N. Security Council repeated its call for the immediate release of all detainees in Myanmar, including Suu Kyi and Win Myint, and an end to violence.In a statement, the council expressed its deep concern for the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in Myanmar and strongly condemned the use of lethal force by security forces and police against peaceful pro-democracy protesters and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children.The council also called on the military “to exercise utmost restraint” and on all sides “to refrain from violence.”The Security Council reiterated the need for full respect for human rights and the pursuit of “dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.” 
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The Chinese Embassy in Canberra has invited journalists to a presentation to counter what it has called false reporting in Australia about allegations of widespread abuses of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.Australian politicians have compared China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.One lawmaker said hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs were facing forced labor or abuse in prisons throughout the Chinese province of Xinjiang.  It is alleged more than 1 million people, including other Muslim minorities, have been interned in what the United Nations has described as “reeducation camps.”China, however, has strongly disputed the allegations.Its embassy in Canberra has attempted to push back against what it has called misinformation and fake news.It invited reporters to watch a presentation called “Xinjiang is a Wonderful Land” to counter what officials have called lies about genocide, forced labor and cultural intimidation in the region.Chinese officials said the news conference would help Australian journalists “understand the real situation in Xinjiang.”They insisted there was “ethnic harmony” in Xinjiang, where there were concerted efforts to crackdown on terrorism.However, human rights groups have said the presentation was another brazen act of propaganda.“In a way it almost seemed like this laundry list of propaganda points that they wanted to get across,” said Nathan Ruser of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, an independent research organization. “Everything that was said was pretty much in line with what state media and what government authorities have been saying for months, and it is in some cases years.”Australia’s relations with China, its biggest trading partner, are at their most fractious in decades, with a long list of disagreements. There have been disputes over Canberra’s call last year for a global inquiry into the origins of the new coronavirus and allegations of Chinese interference in Australian politics.Tensions have also led to the imposition of Chinese restrictions and tariffs on Australian exports to China, including coal, wine and barley.
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Myanmar citizens are struggling with shortages of food and other necessities after 65 days of rule under the military junta, whose troops shake down cargo trucks at roadblocks and steal goods and cash from vehicles, stores, and homes, residents said Tuesday.The Feb. 1 coup that overthrew the country’s elected government followed a year of deepening economic distress from a shutdown of economic activity to control the spread of the coronavirus. Myanmar is Southeast Asia’s poorest country, with nominal per capita gross domestic product of about $1,300.Measures to fight the pandemic, which flared up this past winter, hit households and businesses, including those in the agricultural sector, which accounts for one-fifth of GDP and over half of employment. The coup and mass civil disobedience against the junta have further dampened economic activity.Military restrictions on transportation and security barriers set up on major roadways nationwide have choked the country’s flow of food and other goods into cities and suburban areas. Soldiers stationed along major roadways often confiscate cargo and cash from drivers and motorcyclists in the Sagaing and Mandalay regions — two of Myanmar’s largest population centers — merchants told RFA.Security forces are stopping all traffic that passes through most towns in the two regions and inspecting vehicles, they said.“[Our] car was stopped last evening in Kyaukpadaung, Mandalay, and 500,000 kyats [$350] was taken from a handbag on the car’s dashboard,” said a person who witnessed the theft, but wanted to remain anonymous. “We told them we were civil servants, and they said they didn’t care and just took the money.”Similar incidents were reported in Sagaing region in the country’s northwest, where police and troops seized food from shops in markets and shopping malls without paying, traders said. They also stole goods from vehicles they inspected, resulting in fewer cargo trucks moving though the region.“It’s not easy to transport goods now because [troops] are everywhere, and we don’t know if we can proceed or not,” said a trader in Monywa, Sagaing’s largest city. “The cars can go on only when they say so. Even then, they sometimes will take stuff.”The trader said he recently saw security forces take a box of snacks from a vehicle during a security check.“Life is quite difficult,” he added.Only about two of every 100 truck drivers are now moving cargo through the region, the trader said.Not only do security forces check every part of the trucks, they also ask questions if they find a lot of cash, inquiring where the money came from and who will receive it, and then sometimes take the money for themselves, he said.Prices increase ‘twofold, threefold’The economic pinch is also being felt in Yangon, the most populous city in Myanmar, whose citizens rely on deliveries of goods from outside the urban center for their household and business needs.Disruptions in the flow of consumer goods means that neighborhood markets have little meat or vegetables to sell, while prices for the products have doubled, said one Yangon homemaker.“In Yangon, only the big supermarkets like City Mart and Metro are operating as usual, and the smaller shops and stores are all closed,” she said.“Only about half the regular amount of meat and veggies is available, and you have to buy them whether you like it or not as we don’t have the opportunity to choose what we want,” she said. “Prices have increased twofold, threefold, or more.”The number of cargo trucks entering the commercial center’s largest wholesale markets has dropped by two-thirds, while prices of daily necessities have increased, said a rice seller in Yangon.At the Bayinnaung Market in northwestern Yangon, the largest agricultural commodities trading market in Myanmar, rice deliveries have fallen by about two-thirds, though shops are open as usual, a rice merchant said.The market for foodstuffs will remain stable for now, but if the flow of basic foods and commodities stops and storage supplies are exhausted, prices will skyrocket, traders said.The struggle to stay fed and supplied plays out amid life-and-death battles in the streets, as heavily armed security forces suppress demonstrators and ordinary citizens alike, often firing indiscriminately into crowds or dwellings.At least three civilians had been wounded by gunfire within 24 hours up to midday on Tuesday and an unknown number of people had been arrested since early morning, including four medical doctors in Mandalay.Soldiers and police detained the doctors as they prepared for a protest on 73rd Street in memory of their fallen colleagues. One man was hit in the arm when police fired live rounds during the crackdown, and officers arrested two pediatricians and two other doctors, and confiscated motorcycles and cell phones from the protesters, witnesses said.“They arrived in a truck while we were preparing to stage a dawn protest,” said one physician at the scene who declined to be named. “They fired stun grenades five times near the university campus. Afterwards, two pediatricians and two other doctors got arrested, and three motorcycles were taken away.”Though local health department workers and other anti-junta protesters have held early morning demonstrations, this was the first time that police took action against them, those at the scene said.Woman hit by gunfireIn the Kachin state town of Mogaung, a woman was hit in the arm by gunfire on Monday evening while counting her day’s earnings in her shop, witnesses said. She was shot by troops and police stationed on the bridge across the Nangyin River near her neighborhood.Security forces also shot another man on a motorbike when he tried to turn around at the bridge, witnesses said.“There were five or six shots, and one of the first shots hit the woman,” said a local resident. “The last shot hit the guy on the motorbike, slightly wounding him.”A family member of the woman who was shot said a military officer apologized for the shooting Tuesday morning and offered to take her to a military hospital in Kachin’s capital Myitkyina.Local residents said they wanted the troops to leave the bridge.Security forces continued their searches for protest leaders in other parts of Myanmar, sometimes resorting to their arresting their relatives.When police in Thayarwaddy, a city in the central Bago region, couldn’t find Jar Lay, an anti-coup protest leader, they arrested his family of six, including a 4-year-old daughter, a toddler niece, and a 13-year-old brother-in-law.The six were released on Tuesday, but Jar Lay told RFA from his hiding place that police beat his teenage brother-in-law on the side of his head during an interrogation.“An informer told police we had explosives and weapons hidden in the house which was not true, and troops came to search for them at about 3 a.m.,” he said. “My entire family, including my kids and my in-laws, was taken to a military camp.”The teenager, who was hit in the temples and on his ears, was questioned about why he shared posts and photos on social media from his cellphone, Jar Lay said.“He was later taken to a police station and was forced to sign a confession,” he said.Before their release, the relatives had to sign a pledge that they would help police capture Jar Lay, and that if he could not be found, they would be rearrested, Jar Lay said.Security forces are even rounding up domestic celebrities who may not have played a part in the protests.Soldiers and police arrested famous comedian Zarganar in Yangon’s Tamwe township Tuesday morning, according to Facebook posts by his colleagues Ngapyaw Gyaw and Kaung Gyaw.Zaganar is not on the list of those subject to police warrants, so it is not yet known what he has been charged with or where he is being detained, they said.Red paint on Yangon streetsThroughout the country, protests against the junta continued in various forms in Mandalay, the Yangon suburbs, and in other cities and towns.Anti-junta protesters added color to their rallies Tuesday by smearing red paint on streets and pavements in the commercial hub Yangon to signal their opposition to the military regime’s bloody crackdowns on demonstrations that have left about 570 people dead and injured scores of others, Agence France-Presse reported.Myanmar youth meanwhile are calling for boycott of the annual Thingyan Water Festival holiday next week in defiance of the military regime and to honor those killed by security forces, the online news journal The Irrawaddy reported. Last year’s holiday celebrations, which include splashing water on people in public places, were called off by the government due to the coronavirus pandemic.Military authorities, who already have closed the offices of deposed leader Aung San Su Kyi’s National League for Democracy, are continuing to pursue and arrest party officials and parliamentarians, according to residents in various areas.Security forces arrested Aye Khine, a member of parliament and a local NLD executive committee member, in Mandalay region on Tuesday, said one of his colleagues.“He was returning home from hiding for a while and was arrested while he was making a phone call in the city. His phone was also taken away,” said the NLD member who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity.Ye Kyaw Thwin, an NLD lawmaker representing Mawlamyine township in Ayeyarwady region, was arrested by authorities Tuesday afternoon while fleeing a village following a complaint from a military informant, one of his colleagues said. 
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was one of three pro-democracy activists who pleaded guilty Wednesday to participating in an unauthorized rally in 2019.The other two activists who pleaded guilty along with Lai were Lee Cheuk-yan and Yeng Sum. The trio took part in a massive anti-government protest on Aug. 31 of that year, at the height of near-daily and often violent demonstrations demanding greater democracy for the city.Lee Cheuk-yan told reporters as he and Yeng left the courthouse that although they pleaded guilty, they had done nothing wrong, as they were affirming the people’s right to peacefully protest.The trio faces five years in prison on the charge.Jimmy Lai, the publisher of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is already in jail under Hong Kong’s national security law on suspicion of foreign collusion. Lai was convicted earlier this month along with six other activists, including 82-year-old democracy icon Martin Lee, for organizing and participating in an unlawful assembly on Aug. 18, 2019.The protests were triggered by a controversial extradition bill that evolved into a greater demand for greater freedoms for the financial hub, which had been granted an unusual amount of freedoms when Britain handed over control in 1997.The demonstrations spurred Beijing to impose the national security law under which anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted.The new law is one part of Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. China’s national legislature recently approved a set of changes to Hong Kong’s electoral process to ensure only pro-Beijing loyalists can serve in the city’s legislature, and several pro-democracy lawmakers resigned after a handful of their colleagues were disqualified.
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As post-Brexit Britain casts about for new allies and trading partners, interest is growing in a little-noticed proposal for London to join forces with three former colonies in a new globe-spanning network.
 
The still notional alliance would be known by the acronym CANZUK – for its member countries Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom – and provide for visa-free travel and economic and defense cooperation among its four members.
 
The logic behind the idea is not immediately obvious. One American foreign policy analyst, when asked for comment, refused at first to believe that the proposed agreement was not a Wikipedia hoax.
 
But Canadian opposition leader Erin O’Toole has incorporated CANZUK into the official platform of his Conservative Party, and a poll this year found that 94% of British parliamentarians would support the free movement of goods among the four countries while 61% support the free movement of people.
 
The scheme is being promoted by an organization named CANZUK International, co-founded by James Skinner, a Welsh-born, American-educated political operative whose resume says he has worked with governments in Florida, Britain and Australia. He now lives in Toronto.
 
Its advisory board includes Sir Michael Craig-Cooper, a former vice lord lieutenant of Greater London; Dominic Johnson, a prominent financier and former vice chairman of Britain’s governing Conservative Party, and Dominic Johnson, a former senior adviser at the Bank of England. Johnson is currently Windsor herald at the College of Arms, the heraldic authority for most of the Commonwealth.
 
The group’s website identifies its goals as “facilitated migration, free trade and foreign policy coordination” among the four countries in order to forge “a cohesive alliance of nation-states with a truly global outlook.”
 
That leaves plenty of room for proponents of the idea to fill in the details.
 
Canadian member of Parliament Tracy Gray told VOA that CANZUK would “provide an opportunity to recognize each other’s professional and trades credentials, have more flexibility in movement of our citizens and to cooperate on the production of vaccines and PPE.”
 
“CANZUK is an initiative that Canada’s Conservatives are proposing to Canadians,” Gray said. “A Conservative government would establish a working group to facilitate discussions with our potential partners. CANZUK is an exciting proposal that has received support from stakeholders in all potential partner counties.”
 
Skinner said in an interview that the idea is “snowballing in that it’s gaining more and more support from the public. In the next couple of years or so we hope to see CANZUK come to fruition.”
 
He said the current focus of the campaign is on forming parliamentary groups in all four countries to advance the idea.  
 
John Blaxland, an Australian defense expert, sees some logic in closer defense cooperation among the CANZUK nations.
 
“There are already many connections between these four countries – formal, informal, familial, institutional – that make the idea popular for a post-Brexit Britain,” he said in an interview. “Much British training takes place in Canadian field training areas. The Australian connection is particularly helpful for Britain’s re-emergence ‘East of Suez’ and particularly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.”
 
But he also sees obstacles. Not only are the countries separated by vast distances, but they also “are in different circumstances facing different challenges.” Even within his own Asia-Pacific region, he said, “New Zealanders tend to be much more focused on the Pacific than Australia, which for Australians is only one focus.”
 
Another common criticism of CANZUK, Blaxland said, is that all four nations were settled by people of European descent and remain with white majorities.  
 
“There may be an opportunity for an adversary to portray CANZUK as a neo-colonial initiative that’s racially based, and that is something most Australian politicians would be very wary of as that would be potentially politically toxic,” Blaxland said.
 
“The irony is the CANZUK countries are probably the most multicultural, most diverse, most inclusive countries on the planet, and arguably the most successful multicultural countries on the planet.”
 
University of Ottawa professor Srdjan Vucetic said the biggest problem facing the project right now is the lack of detail about potential areas of cooperation.  Beyond that, he said, “The idea that geographic distance no longer matters for trade or human mobility is fanciful. And no ‘pact’ of this kind is possible without bipartisan support.”
 
In Washington, Atlantic Council fellow Ben Judah dismissed any concerns that the proposed alliance would undermine other international alliances.
 
CANZUK “would explicitly reject closing off to the United States or the European Union to get closer to each other,” he said. It “does not come at the expense of other partnerships and trade deals.”
 
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Myanmar security forces killed at least 11 civilians and wounded at least 10 others Wednesday when they fired on government protesters in the northwestern town of Kalay, according to reports received by VOA’s Burmese service. One protest organizer told the service that troops tasked with removing barricades set up by the protesters opened fire indiscriminately on the demonstrators, who are demanding that Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government be returned to power. The organizer said an undetermined number of protesters, some armed with homemade weapons, were arrested in the town known for fiercely resisting government forces. Video of the pre-dawn attack included the sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions. Social media posts said rocket-propelled grenades were fired. A young man who lives in Kalay and who escaped arrest told VOA the security forces fired at least 20 rocket-propelled grenades to destroy the barricades and fired bullets at the protesters.  FILE – Pallbearers carry the coffin of a protester who was shot dead on March 28 amid a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations against the military coup, during the funeral in Kale, March 29, 2021, in this picture from Facebook.Protesters in Kalay, who had previously armed themselves with homemade hunting rifles and established neighborhood strongholds, inflicted casualties on security forces during a March 28 assault on the town and nearby villages, according to the Myanmar Now news service. The demonstrators, who have organized what they call the Kalay Civil Army, inflicted more casualties on junta forces in the following days, the online news site reported. The March 28 attack occurred one day after government troops killed more than 110 civilians throughout the Southeast Asian country, the highest one-day death toll since the February 1 military coup that ousted the democratically elected government. Protests around the countryRegular anti-government protests continued in other cities and towns Wednesday, including in Bago, northeast of Yangon, where a resident confirmed to VOA that government forces killed two men and injured five others. One person was killed in a protest crackdown in Monywa, the capital of the Sagaing region, and another was killed in the town of Nyaung Shwe in the southern Shan State, VOA confirmed. At least nine arrests were reported in the southern city of Dawae. FILE – Protesters demonstrate against the military coup in Monywa, Sagaing region, in this photo taken and received from an anonymous source via Facebook on April 3, 2021.Nearly 600 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by government troops and police since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of the 3,500 people who have been arrested, 2,750 are still detained, AAPP said.  The National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, had governed Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but the military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence.   Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the February coup. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar. Calls for restraintOn April 1, the U.N. Security Council repeated its call for the immediate release of all detainees in Myanmar, including Suu Kyi and Win Myint, and an end to violence. In a statement, the council expressed its deep concern for the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in Myanmar and strongly condemned the use of lethal force by security forces and police against peaceful pro-democracy protesters and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children. The council also called on the military “to exercise utmost restraint” and on all sides “to refrain from violence.”The Security Council also reiterated the need for full respect for human rights and the pursuit of “dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.”
 
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China’s government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after the Biden administration said it was talking with allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights abuses.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. He warned of an unspecified “robust Chinese response” to a potential Olympics boycott.  
“The politicization of sports will damage the spirit of the Olympic Charter and the interests of athletes from all countries,” said the spokesperson, Zhao Lijian. “The international community including the U.S. Olympic Committee will not accept it.”  
Human rights groups are protesting China’s hosting of the games, due to start in February 2022. They have urged a boycott or other measures to call attention to accusations of Chinese abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans and residents of Hong Kong.  
The U.S. State Department suggested an Olympic boycott was among the possibilities but a senior official said later a boycott has not been discussed. The International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said in the past they oppose boycotts.
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Two former government officials in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang have been sentenced to death on charges involving separatism. Wang Langtao, the vice president of Xinjiang’s higher people’s court, told reporters Tuesday that Sattar Sawut and Shirzat Bawudun have both been granted a two-year reprieve on their sentences.  Such sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment. Sattar Sawut, a former education official, has been convicted of incorporating ethnic separatism violence, terrorism and religious extremism into Uighur-language school textbooks.  Shirzat Bawudun, a former head of Xinjiang’s regional justice department, has been convicted of colluding with members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has been listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations, as well as carrying out “illegal religious activities at his daughter’s wedding.” Beijing has launched a sweeping security campaign in Xinjiang that has led to the detention of more than one million minority Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minority Muslim groups in Xinjiang.  The Chinese government says the detainees are taught job skills and de-radicalized from anti-Beijing sentiments, a stance strongly disputed by the United States, which has denounced the treatment of the Uighurs as genocide.   A State Department spokesman said Tuesday the United States will hold talks with allies about a possible boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s treatment of the Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang, as well as its stifling of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. 
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Vietnam has joined the Philippines in vocally opposing a Chinese fishing fleet’s long stay at an unoccupied reef in a disputed Asian sea, and analysts say China is expected to back away and avoid a bigger dispute – but only for now. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman in Hanoi said March 25 the “activities of Chinese ships…seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty.” A Vietnamese coast guard vessel was moored near Whitsun Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands last week, the Marine Traffic website showed. Philippine defense officials began in early March asking that the Chinese ships leave. Manila’s Department of National Defense said March 28 a Philippine navy coast guard vessel and military plane were monitoring the reef.Chinese ‘Flotilla’ in Contested Waters Further Sours Once-Upbeat RelationsManila concerned over presence of 220 finishing boats near a reef in the Spratly Islands, demands their removalChina would withdraw without a statement, probably citing the weather as a cause, said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. But it could easily return as part of a longer-term plan to control the now unoccupied islet as it has done to control other features in the sea, he said. “Right now, you have the Vietnamese, you have the Filipinos now chiming in on this issue,” Koh said. “At least if you raise it in the public and capture the attention of the public, it would actually very likely force China to sort of roll back eventually, but the only thing is that even if the Chinese roll back now, there will be chances that they will return anyway.” Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam dispute all or part of Beijing’s claims to about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea that’s prized for natural resources including fisheries. China has the strongest armed forces among the six claimants, prompting others to look toward the United States for support.    Beijing has slowly occupied contested islets since the 1950s, sometimes with reclaimed land. Today its holdings support airstrips, hangars and radar systems. Chinese officials cite historical usage records to defend their access to the sea including tracts inside the 370-kilometer-wide exclusive economic zones of other countries.   “The continued presence of Chinese maritime militias in the area reveals their intent to further occupy features in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea),” Philippine national defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a Facebook post Sunday. He said 44 fishing boats remained at Whitsun despite calm weather over the weekend. The defense chief said China had “done this before” at Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Reef, two other islets in the disputed sea. Whitsun technically could be landfilled for development too, Koh said.   The Philippines protested China’s first structures on Mischief Reef in 1994 and 1995 and China waited another four years to add to its development there, sparking more fire from Manila. The reef supports Chinese aircraft hangars today. Chinese vessels occupied Scarborough Reef northwest of Manila in 2012 during a long standoff with the Philippines. They eventually took control of the prime fish-spawning shoal. Some scholars say Philippine leaders protested loudly over the past month because they remember what happened to the other two islets. “I think the Philippines learned a lesson from Scarborough Shoal, from Mischief Reef,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.   China for now intends to negotiate with Southeast Asian countries over a maritime code of conduct on how to handle any mishaps in the contested sea. Chinese officials hope more broadly to gain favor so rival claimants avoid turning again toward China’s superpower rival the United States for help. To aggravate Southeast Asian states now would frustrate these goals, Koh said.China Uses Money, Diplomacy to Push Back Against US in Southeast Asia Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held eight meetings year-to-date with counterparts in Southeast Asian countriesPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought friendly links with China since he took office in 2016 but his armed forces and much of the public remain distrustful. Duterte’s predecessor won a world court arbitration case in 2016 against the legal basis for China’s maritime claims but China rejected the ruling. His government filed the suit in 2013.   Vietnam has been particularly outspoken against China over the maritime dispute since the 1970s and vessels from the two sides have gotten into several clashes, some deadly. China has said the fishing boats moored near Whitsun have been there seeking shelter from dangerous weather. “It’s just like a push-and-pull tactic by the Chinese government,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. “If they see a strong protest, then they will step back a little bit, but they will get back again.” The strength of the Philippine protest alongside Vietnam’s will blunt any immediate ambitions China has for Whitsun Reef, Vuving forecast. “They will pull back and wait for the international storm to subside and wait for a little time when the international community looks elsewhere and then they would stealthily come back again,” Vuving said. “China is playing the long game.” 
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With security forces in Myanmar having shot dead at least 570 protesters and bystanders in the past two months, many of the country’s residents see venturing out onto the street as a brave but foolhardy act.  
Online, many have found a safer, more substantive way to show their defiance against February’s military takeover — virtual rummage sales whose proceeds go to the protest movement’s shadow government and other related political causes.
Everything from clothes and toys, to music lessons and outdoor adventures are on sale. Foreign friends are encouraged to donate, but fundraising inside Myanmar also serves the purpose of raising political consciousness for challenging the ousting of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.
Facebook users have taken to the social network to sell off their possessions, advertising that all the money raised will go to fund the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, formed by elected members of Parliament who were blocked from taking their seats by the coup.
The committee styles itself as the sole legitimate government of the country, rejecting the ruling junta as without legal standing. In turn, the junta has outlawed the committee and declared it treasonous, threatening to jail not just its members but anyone supporting it.
Formed from scratch shortly after the Feb. 1 coup, the CRPH needs money to carry on its organizing activities inside the country and diplomatic efforts abroad.  
Even as the authorities keep narrowing access to the internet, lately limited to a relatively small number of households with fiber broadband connections, deals are still available.  Anti-coup protesters holding pictures of those who died during a protest against the military offer them prayersin Yangon, Myanmar.Last week, one young woman was offering her collection of K-Pop music and memorabilia, especially of the band Exo. Anyone interested had to show her a receipt for a donation to CRPH, and the item would go to whoever gave the most.
Another put his collection of LEGO Marvel Super Heroes up for sale.
“It is not very pricey but difficult to collect. If you show me your CRPH donation slip, choose anything and I will give it to you,” his message read.
One group of friends advertised their collection of novels, poems and motivational books, with proceeds again going to the democracy fight and delivery “when everything becomes stable.”
 
And it isn’t just goods that are being hawked. Services are also on offer to help bankroll the struggle.
A quick check through Facebook notices turned up a seamstress offering to sew a traditional Myanmar dress for free to those who donate $25, a musician offering lifetime guitar and ukulele lessons and an outdoor expedition leader offering to take five people on an adventure holiday.
The expedition would go to the winner of a lucky draw from among receipts for donations to either the CPRH, the Civil Disobedience Movement that organizes the daily resistance activities or to help thousands of internally displaced people.
However, there’s one small caveat to that last offer — it’s advertised as being redeemable “after the revolution.”
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said a quarantine-free travel “bubble” with trans-Tasman neighbor Australia will start on April 18. It will allow unrestricted movement between two countries that have managed to contain the virus through strict lockdowns and international border closures.New Zealanders have been allowed into most parts of Australia since October, but travel the other way was banned. New Zealanders who did make the journey across the Tasman Sea also faced a mandatory two-week stay in hotel quarantine on their return. Those arrangements will soon change. New Zealand authorities say that just before midnight local time on April 18 a so-called travel “bubble” allowing unrestricted movement will start between the two countries. Authorities believe the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from Australia to New Zealand is low. At a press conference in Wellington, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the travel plan was the only one of its type anywhere. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a news conference on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Wellington.“I can confirm that quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will commence in just under two weeks’ time,” she said. “This is an important step forward in our COVID response and represents an arrangement I do not believe we have seen in any other part of the world. That is safely opening up international travel to another country while continuing to pursue a strategy of elimination and a commitment to keeping the virus out.” However, travel between Australia and New Zealand could be disrupted should future outbreaks of COVID-19 infections be detected. Officials have said that flights would be suspended from any Australian state or territory if authorities there ordered a local lockdown. To be eligible to travel to or from New Zealand on a quarantine-free flight, passengers must not have returned a positive coronavirus test result in the previous 14-days. They must also not be waiting for the results of a test taken during that period. FILE – A man crosses a mostly empty city center street as people in Greater Brisbane have been ordered into lockdown as authorities try to suppress a growing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cluster in Brisbane, Australia, March 30, 2021.New Zealand has recorded 26 deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, while about 2,500 infections have been detected, health authorities say. Australia has recorded just over 29,000 coronavirus cases, and 909 fatalities. Both countries have closed their international borders to most foreign nationals. They have allowed citizens and permanent residents to return home, but they face 14-days in mandatory hotel quarantine at their own expense when they arrive. Australia and New Zealand have both embarked on mass coronavirus vaccination programs. 
 
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Search and rescue efforts are underway for at least 72 people missing on several remote islands across eastern Indonesia in the wake of a tropical cyclone that struck the region last week.  The torrential rains produced by Tropical Cyclone Seroja triggered flash floods and landslides that washed out bridges, downed trees and left roads thick with mud, which has complicated efforts by rescue crews to reach remote villages. At least 128 people have been killed, with thousands more displaced after their homes were damaged or destroyed. One of the worst incidents happened on Lembata island, where scores of homes were destroyed when the rains dislodged hardened lava sitting along the slopes of Mount Ili Lewotolok volcano.   Tropical Cyclone Seroja also left a similar trail of destruction in neighboring East Timor, killing 27 people on the outskirts of the capital, Dili.   Seasonal flash floods and landslides kill dozens annually in Indonesia. Two landslides in West Java province back in January killed 40 people. About half of the Pacific archipelago’s population, nearly 25 million people, live in areas where landslides are high-risk, according to the country’s disaster relief agency.  
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North Korea says it will not participate in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.  The country’s sports ministry said the decision was made “in order to protect players from the world public health crisis caused by COVID-19,” in a statement dated Monday. If North Korea follows through with the decision, it would be the first time it has skipped an Olympics since 1988, when the games were in Seoul. It is the first country to pull out of this year’s Tokyo games.  The Tokyo games have been delayed a year due to the coronavirus but are set to begin July 23 with strict virus-prevention measures in place. North Korea, which is particularly vulnerable to disease outbreaks, has imposed perhaps the world’s most stringent coronavirus prevention measures.  For more than a year, the country has attempted to almost completely seal its borders and has implemented even stricter than usual domestic travel restrictions.  North Korea insists its border restrictions have succeeded in keeping the virus out of the country — a claim largely dismissed by experts.  Some Korea watchers express concern Pyongyang will use the pandemic to extend its draconian restrictions indefinitely to impose greater control on the population. North Korea has one of the world’s poorest countries, observers say, and does not have adequate health infrastructure. The coronavirus lockdown made things worse, with reports emerging of food and medicine shortages.  Impact on diplomacy The North’s decision to skip the Tokyo Olympics suggests the lockdown will not end anytime soon. But experts say Pyongyang could reverse its decision.  “This seems as much a political decision designed to snub/pressure Tokyo & Seoul as much as it is a public health concern,” tweeted Jean Lee, Director of the Korea Program at The Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.Has any other country announced it would skip #Tokyo2020 Olympics? This seems as much a political decision designed to snub/pressure Tokyo & Seoul as much as it is a public health concern.https://t.co/rzvlS1ZL60— Jean H. Lee (@newsjean) April 6, 2021South Korea had proposed using the summer games as a catalyst for renewed sports diplomacy between the two Koreas.   Such a strategy has worked in the past. In 2018, Seoul successfully converted inter-Korean sports cooperation at the Winter Olympics into a series of North-South meetings, which eventually led to talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump.  Those talks have now been stalled for more than a year. North Korea said last month it considers any talks a “waste of time” unless the United States changes its approach.  South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, leader of the country’s Democratic Party, has less than a year in office and is willing to resume talks with North Korea.North Korea Tops Agenda for US-Japan-South Korea MeetingDiscussions about Pyongyang follow recent provocative missile tests it conducted  Some in South Korea are pushing for South and North Korea to jointly host the 2032 Olympic games, though it is far from clear whether Pyongyang would accept.  
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