Fear of physical violence and legal risks are a daily part of the job for Cambodia’s journalists, a new report says.The Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association – also known as CamboJa – found 35 cases of harassment against 72 journalists in 2020. Imprisonment and violence were the most common press freedom violations documented by the rights organization, which was founded in 2019. Nearly all cases (64 incidents) involved journalists working at online news organizations.“Journalists who dare to cover and report on the interests of military and powerful officials are still being persecuted through a judiciary system that uses criminal law instead of press law and have been repeatedly beaten and subjected to violence,” Nop Vy, executive director of CamboJA, said in a statement.Meas Sophorn, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of Information, questioned the report’s findings, saying that all journalists working in the country have “full rights and freedom to report.”“The report has motive to distort public about the environment of journalists’ profession in Cambodia,” Meas Sophorn told VOA Khmer.More than 20 cases documented by the group involved violent attacks or threats while reporting, the report found. In all cases, no one has been held accountable.The report cited how four reporters were attacked by a group of men armed with knives and axes in September, leaving one journalist with a serious rib injury.The journalists, who work for the news outlets Phnek Mnoas and Chakra Phup, told VOA at the time they regularly traveled to the region to report on illegal timber routes. One of them, Ren Samnang, said he believes the attackers apparently went there with the intent to kill.“They broke the [car] window and beat me,” he said. “I started the car and drove away. They followed us in their van for a kilometer and threw an ax at my car.”Following the release of the CamboJa report, Nop Vy called on the government to “ensure the safety and security of all journalists so that they can exercise their rights to freely report without fear.”Chilling effectIn the capital, Phnom Penh, most of the 25 violations the association recorded involved journalists arrested or facing legal action because of commentary on politics and coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.Overall, at least 10 journalists remained in prison or pre-trial detention at the end of last year, including Ros Sokhet, of the Cheat Khmer, and radio journalist Sok Oudom, who were convicted of incitement, according to CamboJA. Others, including former Radio Free Asia journalists Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin, have charges still hanging over them.The harassment of journalists “undermines the media’s role in a democratic society and strikes fear in those who cover stories or cases involving powerful officials,” the CamboJA report said.The association found that journalists most commonly were charged with incitement to commit felony or extortion, and it said the country’s criminal code is “too often used to intimidate and jail journalists.”Journalists jailed under Article 495—creating “serious turmoil” through public speech or writing—can face up to five years in prison.Government spokesperson Meas Sophom said journalists who have been jailed had violated Cambodian laws. “The legal actions against some journalists don’t mean harassing, prosecuting or intimidating journalists,” he said.Ith Sothoeuth, media director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said the fact that more than 70 journalists have been harassed is “a concern for Cambodia press freedom.”The country has a poor record for free expression, scoring 144 out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free on the world press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.This story originated in VOA’s Khmer service. 
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Anti-coup protesters in Myanmar symbolically burned copies of the country’s constitution Thursday as a group of deposed lawmakers announced a new civilian government to run counter to the ruling military junta.The rebel government, dubbed the Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, is made up of members of deposed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy who were elected in November but not allowed to take their seats after the military detained Suu Kyi and replaced the civilian government on Feb. 1.The CRPH also announced a new federal constitution to replace the one drafted by the military in 2008, which brought democracy to Myanmar after five decades while still maintaining the army’s power and influence in any civilian government. The CRPH-drafted constitution was written to meet the longstanding demands of Myanmar’s regional ethnic groups, who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy.The junta’s violent crackdown against pro-democracy opponents across Myanmar has expanded in recent days against ethnic rebels, who are siding with the protesters. The military launched airstrikes against ethnic Karen rebels in eastern Myanmar in response to rebel attacks on military and police stations. The airstrikes prompted thousands of people to flee through the jungle and over the border into neighboring Thailand.The worsening situation prompted Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations special envoy for Myanmar, to warn the Security Council on Wednesday that “a bloodbath is imminent” and of an increasing “possibility of civil war” in the country if civilian rule is not restored.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nongovernmental organization, estimates that 536 people have been killed by the junta since the peaceful protests began, including more than 100 protesters — many of them women and children — last Saturday during the annual Armed Forces Day celebration. More than 2,700 have been arrested, charged or sentenced.The U.S. State Department has ordered all nonessential personnel and their family members to leave Myanmar as the military’s bloody crackdown against anti-coup demonstrations continues.Meanwhile, Reuters says Suu Kyi made another court appearance Thursday via video conferencing. Her lawyer, Min Min Soe, says no new charges were brought against the 75-year-old Nobel Peace laureate.The online news service Khit Thit Media says the junta is preparing to charge Suu Kyi with treason, although there has been no official announcement.
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A joint report by the World Health Organization and China this week concluded it is “extremely unlikely” that COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese laboratory, despite the theory receiving renewed attention following the comments of a former top U.S. health official.The long-awaited WHO report released Tuesday said the lab leak theory was the least likely of four scenarios considered by a team of international experts who traveled to Wuhan, China earlier this year to investigate the origin of the coronavirus. The researchers determined that the virus most likely jumped from bats to humans, probably via a third animal that remains unidentified.That conclusion stands in contrast to the comments of Robert Redfield, who headed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Donald Trump. Redfield told CNN last week he believes COVID-19 emerged from a Wuhan lab, though he stressed it was “only an opinion.”Critics — most prominently senior members of the Trump administration but also others — suggest a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology may have infected an employee, who then spread the virus to the public.No evidence of such an accident has been presented. But the lab leak theory persists, in part because of the absence of a definitive explanation for the emergence of a pandemic that has killed nearly 3 million people worldwide.Investigative prioritiesRedfield’s comments, along with Sunday’s episode of the 60 Minutes television newsmagazine, sparked fresh debate over whether the WHO team should have spent more time investigating the lab, located just a handful of kilometers from the site of the first reported coronavirus outbreak.The WHO team spent only about three hours at the institute, which studies bat coronaviruses. The team had limited access to records, samples, and employees, thanks to restrictions imposed by China. Instead, WHO researchers focused on a Wuhan market that sold wild and other animals, which the report says is the likeliest source of the coronavirus outbreak.Georgetown University virologist Angela Rasmussen, who was on the WHO team, challenges the notion that the group should have focused more on the lab leak theory. That kind of investigation, she insists, was outside the expertise of the WHO team, which was composed of virus experts, epidemiologists, and animal science researchers.“I mean, if the issue is getting to the bottom of a sequence of human events, then you need someone who investigates that,” Rasmussen tells VOA. “People who study viruses aren’t experienced at interviewing people or auditing freezer inventories or lab notebooks, or doing forensic investigations of any sort.”China responseChina, which helped pick the members of the WHO team, has strongly denounced the lab leak hypothesis. Instead, Chinese officials have at times suggested looking outside the country for the origin of the pandemic.But as he unveiled the report this week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged the lab leak theory requires further investigation, “potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.”Tedros, who was accused by Trump of being too close to China, also expressed relatively blunt criticism of Beijing. He accused China of failing to provide the WHO team full access to raw data on the earliest known COVID-19 cases.Rasmussen agrees with Tedros about the team’s lack of access. “I mean that’s clear,” she says. “I don’t think anyone has said they feel that they had unfettered access to everything they asked for. At the same time, there’s only so much you can do in two weeks.”A follow-up mission seems unlikely anytime soon. China’s top representative on the WHO team, Liang Wannian, said Wednesday that additional probes would only happen “as needed” and are currently “premature.”A tough diplomatic taskBut those conversations belong in the diplomatic, not scientific, realm, insists Rasmussen. She says the WHO trip was always meant to establish the groundwork for further investigations, which must involve working with China.“This will take years in any case,” she says. “And it will take a lot of diplomacy and high-level negotiation to get the kind of access that is needed.”Rapidly deteriorating Chinese ties with the West will likely complicate that mission. Another barrier: anger in some member nations, including the United States, toward the WHO itself.Trump, who called the WHO a “puppet” of China, pulled out of the world body in 2020. Biden rejoined the organization on his first day in office. Polls suggest U.S. voters now view the WHO along partisan lines.That could complicate future global health cooperation, including on the coronavirus pandemic, says Matthew Kavanagh, director for Global Health Policy at the Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute.“We may not know the true source of the virus for years, if ever,” he says. “In the meantime, we need a stronger, more capable WHO, not one disabled by being caught in great power conflict.”
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A Hong Kong court will hand down verdicts on Thursday for nine prominent democrats on unauthorized assembly charges, including 82-year-old barrister Martin Lee and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, as part of an intensifying crackdown by China on its freest city.Lee, who helped launch the city’s largest opposition Democratic Party in the 1990s and is often called the former British colony’s “father of democracy,” is accused of taking part in an unauthorized assembly on Aug. 18, 2019, and could be jailed for 12-18 months, according to some legal experts.Lee, Lai, and five other defendants including prominent barrister Margaret Ng and veteran democrats Lee Cheuk-yan, Leung-kwok-hung, Albert Ho, Cyd Ho, had pleaded not guilty.During the trial, defense lawyers argued that freedom of assembly is a constitutional right in Hong Kong and noted that police had approved the peaceful demonstration in the city’s downtown Victoria Park, which grew into an unauthorized march as numbers swelled into the hundreds of thousands.The prosecution argued that the freedom of assembly isn’t absolute in Hong Kong.Only two democrats, Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung, pleaded guilty.Critics, including Western governments, have condemned the arrests of Lee and other democrats amid the ongoing crackdown. Forty-seven other high-profile democratic campaigners are facing subversion charges under the national security law and have mostly been denied bail and are being held in detention.The U.S. said on Wednesday that Hong Kong does not warrant preferential treatment under the Hong Kong Policy Act, a law that had allowed Washington to maintain a special relationship with the city.Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a news release that China had “severely undermined the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong,” through arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecutions as well as “pressure on judicial independence and academic and press freedoms.”The 2019 pro-democracy protests were spurred by Beijing’s tightening squeeze on wide-ranging freedoms promised to Hong Kong upon its return to Chinese rule in 1997 and plunged the semi-autonomous city into its biggest crisis since the handover.Beijing has since imposed a sweeping national security law, punishing anything it deems as secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.Since the law’s promulgation, the government has jailed activists and democrats, barred protests and curbed political expression, and imposed an overhaul of the city’s electoral system to ensure only pro-China “patriots” govern Hong Kong.
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The famous pink cherry blossoms of Kyoto reached full bloom this year on March 26, the earliest date in the 12 centuries since records began, according to a Japanese university.The earlier flowering indicates climate change, said Yasuyuki Aono, a professor of environmental science at Osaka Prefectural University, who has compiled a database of records of the full blooms over the centuries.Global temperatures in 2020 were among the highest on record and rivaled 2016 as the hottest year ever, according to international data compiled by the World Meteorological Organization and released in January this year.”As the temperatures rise, the onset of flowering is earlier,” Aono told Reuters in a Zoom interview.Osaka University records include court documents from Imperial Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, as well as medieval diaries.Cherry blossoms have long historical and cultural roots in Japan, heralding spring and inspiring artists and poets through the centuries.In modern times, people gather under the cherry blooms every spring for hanami (blossom-viewing) parties that are often well-lubricated with sake and can last for days.With a state of emergency to curb coronavirus infections lifted across all areas of the country, many people flocked to popular viewing locations last weekend, although the numbers were lower than in normal years.Kyoto, no longer the Japanese capital but a beacon of Japanese culture and manners, has long been famous for its temples and blossoms, which has been a valuable tool for observing long-term changes in mean temperatures.Scientists have often pointed to the earlier flowering times of species such as cherry blossoms as indicators of global warming. The Kyoto record is described in one study as “probably the longest annual record” of biological life cycles from anywhere in the world.
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A Chinese law firm linked to the defense of one of 12 pro-democracy activists who allegedly attempted to flee Hong Kong for Taiwan has been ordered to disband, a development that reflects tightening constraints on rights lawyers in China. Human rights lawyer Ren Quanniu, who represented one of the so-called Hong Kong 12, confirmed to VOA Mandarin that authorities told him to close the Henan Guidao Law Firm, located in China’s Henan province, of which he was a partner. The activists took to sea in August after FILE – A university student puts up a poster to demand the release of the 12 Hong Kong activists detained at sea by Chinese authorities, at a “Lennon wall” in the University of Hong Kong, Sept. 29, 2020.Lu’s license was revoked in January for intending to represent one of the 12 Hong Kong activists. He told Radio Free Asia that “at the very least, the Hong Kong case was a very important factor” for his travel ban.  Chen Jiangang, a U.S.-based Chinese human rights lawyer, told VOA that the restrictions placed on the two lawyers reflect the limitations Beijing is placing on rights lawyers who practice in China.  Chen fled China in 2019 after being warned he would “disappear” if he continued to represent the daughter-in-law of former Chinese leader Zhou Yongkang, who has been serving a life sentence since his conviction in 2015 for bribery, abuse of power and “deliberately disclosing national secrets,” according to China Daily. “Lu doesn’t even have freedom of movement,” Chen said, “For human rights lawyers in China, they are not only being deprived of working opportunities, but they face real danger just by defending their clients. I know multiple lawyers currently in jail just for doing their job.” History of repressionA U.N. human rights expert in December 2020 expressed dismay at the treatment of human rights defenders and lawyers in China, saying they continue to be charged, detained, disappeared and tortured five years after the start of a crackdown on the profession under the guise of national security concerns. “Since the so-called ‘709 crackdown’ began on July 9, 2015, the profession of human rights lawyer has been effectively criminalized in China,” said Mary Lawlor, U.N. special rapporteur.According to Human Rights in China, Beijing has been using a combination of bureaucratic and procedural roadblocks and illegal tactics to deprive lawyers of their right to practice their profession. These tactics include pressuring law firms to dismiss or warn lawyers who handle “sensitive” cases to drop the representation; publicly smearing the lawyers, their firms, their colleagues, and their families; and threatening lawyers’ family members.
 
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The U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar warned Wednesday that “a bloodbath is imminent” and there is an increasing “possibility of civil war” in the country if civilian rule is not restored. “I appeal to this council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve, and prevent a multidimensional catastrophe in the heart of Asia,” Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener told a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, according to a copy of her remarks obtained by VOA. FILE – U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener arrives at Sittwe airport after visiting Maung Daw Township at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area in Rakhine state, Oct. 15, 2018.She said she fears the conflict will become bloodier as the commander in chief of the military, General Min Aung Hlaing, “seems determined to solidify his unlawful grip on power by force.” She cited the intensification of fighting in Kayin and Kachin states, and warnings of retaliation from three of the country’s armed ethnic rebel groups if attacks on protesters do not stop, as fueling her fears of civil war. “Mediation requires dialogue, but Myanmar’s military has shut its doors to most of the world,” Schraner Burgener said. “It appears the military would only engage when it feels they are able to contain the situation through repression and terror.” 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 occurred in last November’s election, which the NLD won in a landslide.    Security forces have cracked down on demonstrators, using live ammunition and rubber bullets, shooting indiscriminately into the crowds. On Saturday, Armed Forces Day, more than 100 protesters were killed, including women and children. Anti-coup protesters run to avoid military forces during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 31, 2021.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nongovernmental organization, estimates that 536 people have been killed by the junta since the peaceful protests began. More than 2,700 have been arrested, charged or sentenced. “This Council must consider potentially significant action that can reverse the course of events in Myanmar,” Schraner Burgener said. The U.N. Security Council has issued two statements condemning the violence, expressed support for the democratic process and emphasized the need for dialogue, but it has not imposed sanctions or other measures on the military. The special envoy’s request to the junta for her to visit Myanmar has been rebuffed, so she is planning instead to visit the region and hold consultations with members of regional bloc ASEAN. She said Wednesday that she hopes to go as soon as this week. “A robust international response requires a unified regional position, especially with neighboring countries leveraging their influence towards stability in Myanmar,” she said. 
 
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A British Broadcasting Corporation journalist has relocated from China to Taiwan out of concerns for his safety, the broadcaster and a journalist group said Wednesday.  
 
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said John Sudworth left China last week “amid concerns for his safety and that of his family.”
 
Sudworth’s relocation came because China has been critical of the BBC’s coverage of alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, according to the BBC.
 
Sudworth has not been credited in the reports, but China’s foreign ministry and the Communist Party-supported media has, nevertheless, criticized him.
 
Sudworth, who was based in China for nine years, won a George Polk Award in 2020 for reporting on internment camps for Muslims in the Xinjiang region.  
 
China has rejected allegations of abuses at the camps, maintaining they were vocational training centers.  
 
“John’s work has exposed truths the Chinese authorities did not want the world to know,” the BBC tweeted.
 
In an interview with BBC radio, Sudworth said he left the country after being subjected to surveillance, obstruction, intimidation, and threats of legal action.
 
“We left in a hurry, followed by plainclothes police all the way to the airport through the check-in,” Sudworth said.  
 
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regularly scheduled news briefing that the government was at a loss over Sundworth’s departure.
 
“We never threatened him,” she said. “We don’t know why he left because he didn’t say goodbye.”
 
The BBC said Sudworth would maintain his position as its China correspondent.  
 
Sudworth’s wife, Yvonne Murray, a correspondent for Irish broadcaster RTE, departed the country with him, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said.
 
China expelled 18 journalists employed by U.S. media outlets last year, when there was a “rapid decline in media freedom,” the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a report released earlier in March.
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Hong Kong’s legislature will undergo major changes to its format and structure as a result of Beijing’s approval of a political shakeup that will expand its control over the semiautonomous city.China’s National People’s Congress, the Communist Party’s rubber-stamp legislative body, passed a resolution earlier this month proposing the overhaul, which would make it harder for candidates from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition to be elected.The revamp, signed into law Tuesday by President Xi Jinping, reduces the number of directly elected seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and increases the number of pro-Beijing voices.Those seeking office will face strict vetting by a special committee, which critics expect to shut out pro-democracy forces and ensure that “patriots” govern the Chinese city.Lee Cheuk Yan, a veteran pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker, told VOA that it’s a “disastrous act” for Hong Kong.“I think it’s closer to the National People’s Congress, which also have the candidates before any election takes place. There will not be any more credibility for this Legislative Council in the future,” he said.Fewer selections by publicIn its current form, the Legislative Council has 70 members, of which 35 are selected every four years by popular vote from various municipal constituencies and district councils.FILE – The Legislative Council is shown in session in Hong Kong, March 17, 2021.Under the reforms, Legislative Council seats will increase to 90, of which the public will vote for only 20, down from 35. The lawmaking body’s Election Committee, which is heavily pro-Beijing and tasked with appointing Hong Kong’s chief executive, will be expanded to 1,500 members from 1,200.Lee said during his time as a Legislative Council lawmaker from 1995 to 2016, the aim was to gradually increase the number of seats to be filled by public elections.”Don’t go too quick, too fast — we have to make a gradual step,” he said. “The debate was always about the speed, never about the direction. But now this time, the direction is backwards and it’s really a shock to us.”The former lawmaker believes those seeking greater democracy will have to wait for more opportunities in the future.“I think we have to prepare ourselves to be outside the system for some time to come, for years to come, wait it out,” Lee told VOA. “Wait for Hong Kong people to continue [voicing protest], if possible on the street, to work it out in civil society.”Lee is due in court Thursday to learn his fate on a charge of illegal assembly in relation to pro-democracy protests in 2019. He has four cases outstanding.Political analyst Joseph Cheng said the changes make Hong Kong’s Legislative Council a “rubber stamp” system and that the future of a natural pro-democracy opposition is bleak.“It is likely that most critical pro-democracy candidates will be disqualified, hence the candidates’ qualifications committee. But the Hong Kong government will try to persuade some moderates to run as acceptable pro-democracy candidates,” Cheng told VOA.No ‘single model’ of democracyCarrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, told a news conference on Tuesday there is not “only one single model of democracy” and that if candidates pass security checks and uphold the city’s Basic Law — Hong Kong’s constitutional guarantee meant to keep the city semiautonomous until 2047 — they can run to be elected.FILE – A man walks past a government advertisement promoting the new Hong Kong electoral system changes, in Hong Kong, March 30, 2021.“For people who hold different political beliefs, who are more inclined towards more democracy, or who are more conservative, who belong to the left or belong to the right, as long as they meet this very fundamental and basic requirement, I don’t see why they could not run for election,” she said.Avery Ng, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, disagrees.”The Beijing government is redefining the terms ‘election’ and ‘democracy,’ ” he told VOA. “The new system cannot be considered as democracy when the government can control who can run and who can nominate. Together with the screening committees, the system only fits one, not all.”Lam confirmed that the next legislative elections under the new system would be held in December. The city was scheduled to hold elections last September, but they were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.After a century and a half under British colonial rule, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 under the Basic Law agreement, but Beijing’s influence over the city grew over the years, sparking pitched pro-democracy demonstrations that have simmered since 2019.In June 2020, China passed the National Security Law for Hong Kong, limiting autonomy and making it easier for dissidents to be punished. Dozens of high-profile pro-democracy activists have been arrested and jailed. The law carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.   
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Officials with Indonesia’s transport ministry said Wednesday they have recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the Sriwijaya Air jet airliner that crashed into the Java Sea nearly three months ago.  The ministry announced the discovery and displayed the so-called “black box” during a news conference at a port in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.  The officials say Indonesian navy divers recovered the CVR Tuesday and say they hope it will help them determine what caused the Boeing 737-500 to suddenly nose-dive into the ocean shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on January 9.  The say the recorder was discovered on the seabed not far from where the first flight recorder was found shortly after the accident.  While the first recorder contained data from the ill-fated flight, the CVR contains actual conversations of the flight crew.  National Transport Safety Committee chief Soerjanto Tjahjojo told reporters the voice recorder had lost its beacon and after about a month and a half of searching with their usual detection equipment, they decided to change their methods.  He said they ended up using a dredge that “worked as a vacuum cleaner” and finally found it after searching a 90 x 90 square meter area.  Tjahjojo said it will take up to seven days to dry and clean the device and to download its data. Then they we will read and transcribe it to match it with the flight data in hopes of determining what happened in the cockpit as the accident occurred.A preliminary report by the agency suggested an imbalance in the engine thrust may have forced the aircraft into a roll, but the investigation is continuing.The 26-year-old jet had been out of service for almost nine months because of flight cutbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic, officials previously said.It resumed commercial flights in December.
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The chaos in Myanmar could see a surge in meth production across the’ Golden Triangle’, the United Nation’s organized crime agency said Tuesday, as ethnic militias seek quick cash to firm up their positions in lawless borderlands whose fragile equilibrium has been disrupted by the coup. Drug lords entwined with rebel groups in Myanmar’s ungovernable border zone with Laos, Thailand and China – the notorious Golden Triangle – have been pumping record amounts of methamphetamine across Southeast Asia. They churn out precursor chemicals and yaba ‘crazy medicine’ pills and the more addictive – and expensive – crystal meth to a regional market worth up to an estimated $70 billion a year.  The February 1 coup in Myanmar has stoked instability in border regions where complex alliances among rebel groups, drug lords and affiliates of Myanmar’s army have kept an uneasy order, where skirmishes can be smoothed over by a shared interest in keeping the narco money flowing. But those alliances have been put in jeopardy after Myanmar’s army – known as the Tatmadaw – unexpectedly seized power, tipping the country into violent instability and flatlining the economy as pro-democracy protests defy a violent crackdown across the country.  “The economy in Myanmar is grinding to a halt, we now see the past week several arms groups making a push to strengthen their position, so fundamentally they need money,” Jeremy Douglas of the UNOCD told VOA news. “Either they’re involved (in) or are taxing the drug trade… so what we’re looking at is the fastest way to make big money is the drug trade.” Instability could push the rebel groups who control the drug labs into increasing production.This screengrab provided via AFPTV and taken from a broadcast by Myitkyina News Journal on March 27, 2021 shows security forces crack down protesters during a demonstration against the military coup in Myitkyina in Myanmar’s Kachin state.Already Myanmar’s army has launched airstrikes against ethnic majority areas bordering Thailand for the first time in many years, spurring thousands of Karen refugees to flee towards the frontier.  Route Laos The drug trade of the Golden Triangle has morphed over the last two decades from heroin and opium to focus on methamphetamine. It relies on virtually open borders to reach Southeast Asia’s vast markets – and as far as Australia and New Zealand. One of the top networks, the ‘Sam Gor,’ was dealt a blow when its alleged leader Tse Chi Lop was arrested in Amsterdam on a warrant from Australian police. One of his top lieutenants, Hong Kong citizen Lee Chung Chak, was arrested in October last year on an exclusive Bangkok street. But the meth trade pivots on the ready availability of precursor chemicals – including P2P and pseudoephedrine. The commonly used chemicals come from factories in China, India, Thailand and Vietnam. They are hard to separate from their legitimate use in medicine and agriculture and are easily disguised as different compounds and smuggled across borders marshaled by low-paid law enforcement.  Last year Laos seized more than 70 tons of precursors as the drug gangs use the country as a run through from Vietnam to the drug labs of Myanmar, a police source in the Communist-run country who requested anonymity to discuss the matter, told VOA news.  The huge hauls were blocked in Bokeo province, the border to Myanmar’s Shan State, where drug labs produce meth and then send it back hidden in tea packets destined for Thailand, Malaysia and beyond. “It’s impossible to estimate how much meth these chemicals could have made,” the police source said. Thai drug officials fear further insecurity in Myanmar will play out into more drugs heading south. “The more serious the situation and the more money is needed… the production capacity always needs to match the demand and Thailand will certainly be caught in any overflow of drugs,” said Suriya Singhakamon Deputy Secretary General of the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).  In a region already awash with labs, precursors and drug networks skilled in the logistics of moving tons of product to the market, Myanmar’s fast-forwarded descent into instability is a cause of concern.   “We don’t know what’s about to happen, but we all know it’s not going to be good,” says Douglas of the UNODC. We don’t know how many drugs are coming, but they’re going come.”  
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Evergreen Marine Corp., the operator of the giant cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal this month, normally works in a strict, top-down way that reduces the risk of mishaps, according to people familiar with the Taiwanese company.   With the ship free as of Monday afternoon after about a week of blocking a major world shipping route, authorities are turning now to reasons for the freak accident. Any formal announcement as to who’s at fault will hinge on an investigation and could implicate the operator, the Japanese shipowner, the weather or the canal itself. In a March 24 statement, Evergreen said gusty winds of about 56 kph had caused the ship’s course to deviate.  Evergreen had been all but free of accidents before last week, company followers say. They point to the discipline of Evergreen founder Chang Yung-fa, who died in 2016 at the age of 88.  A native of a Taiwanese coastal village during Japan’s 1895-1945 colonization, Chang worked at age 18 for a Japanese shipping line in Taipei and became third officer of a Taiwanese shipper after World War II. He eventually worked as a captain and helped start a marine shipping firm with friends before establishing Evergreen Marine on his own.  Chang launched the company in 1968 with a single second-hand ship. Evergreen’s operating fleet has 200 container ships today.  Chang received a Japanese education when Japan colonized Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. That education fostered a management style that thrived on strict adherence to rules and allowed employees to find work offshore, people who follow the company say.    “The former owner, Mr. Chang Yung-fa, was educated in the style of the Japanese, so his method of management was like that of Japan,” said Stone Huang, Taiwan managing director with the freight forwarding service JAS Worldwide. He works closely today with Evergreen staffers.A cargo ship sails through the town of Ismailia, Egypt, March 30, 2021 as traffic resumed through the Suez canal after it was blocked by a massive ship that had been stuck sideways for nearly a week.“So it was strict, plus his financial support was strong and a lot of the staff that turned over would go overseas,” Huang said.   Evergreen Marine, part of a transport-logistics conglomerate that includes Eva Airways, was shaken when the late founder’s sons went to court over how to divide an inheritance, domestic media outlets reported. At stake was a $1.87 billion fortune. Three sons inherited the group of companies and an employee who had risen up since 1987 now runs the marine shipping side. The marine shipper may be playing by different rules now compared to before Chang’s death, said Liang Kuo-yuan, president of the Polaris Research Institute research organization in Taipei.   “The way of operating now I believe is not as top-down as it was under the Chang Yung-fa era,” Liang said. “When Chang said something, no one wouldn’t dare not to do it.   “If he was still alive, I believe Chang would take on the whole thing himself,” Liang added, referring to the Suez Canal mishap. Evergreen is leasing the Ever Given, the 20,000 twenty-ton equivalent cargo ship that got stuck March 23 in the canal and held up billions of dollars of freight every day. The company said its vessel was freed Monday afternoon.   Company spokespeople did not reply Monday to questions about the incident’s impact on the company’s reputation. Evergreen said in a statement Monday it would “coordinate with the shipowner to deal with subsequent matters after the shipowner and other concerned parties complete investigation reports into the incident.” The Suez Canal upset will probably be remembered for half a year, but Evergreen Marine will do steady business because of 90% of the world’s freight moves by sea, ensuring demand, said Cathy Chin, chairperson with the Taiwan International Logistics & Supply Chain Association. The Taiwanese shipper ranks as the world’s seventh biggest by cargo carrying capacity. Shipping industry people may eventually turn their attention to the size of the ship versus that of the 300-meter-wide Suez Canal stretch where it got stuck, Chin said. “We are thinking about, do we really need a big ship like this big vessel, because the channel has its limitations,” she said. Cargo shipments will face delays in the short term because of the canal blockage, Huang said. 
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The U.S. State Department has ordered the departure of non-essential diplomats from Myanmar, it said in a statement Tuesday, amid a crackdown on protesters that has killed hundreds since the country’s military coup began.Daily rallies across Myanmar by unarmed demonstrators demanding the restoration of the elected government and the release of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been met with tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds.”The Burmese military has detained and deposed elected government officials. Protests and demonstrations against military rule have occurred and are expected to continue,” the State Department said in a statement, using Myanmar’s former name of Burma.’Ordered departure’In mid-February, the State Department authorized a “voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members,” the statement said, adding that the department had “updated that status to ordered departure.”The civilian death toll from the military’s crackdown has now passed 520, with world powers ramping up their condemnation of the military’s campaign in the wake of its February 1 coup.”The Department of State made the decision to authorize ordered departure from Burma because the safety and security of U.S. government personnel and their dependents, as well as private U.S. citizens is the department’s highest priority,” a spokesperson said.Review after 30 daysThe ordered departure status will be reviewed in 30-day increments, the spokesperson added.The U.S., Britain and the EU have all imposed sanctions in response to the coup and crackdown, but so far diplomatic pressure has not persuaded the generals to ease off.
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Two more people were killed as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets again Tuesday in Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon and in several other towns to oppose military rule of the country since the Feb. 1 coup.
 
Myanmar security forces have since killed at least 512 civilians, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.  
 
Trash piled up at intersections in Yangon as protesters launched a garbage strike and security forces reportedly fatally shot a man in the southern town of Kawthaung and killed another person in the northern town of Myitkyina.
 
Three of the country’s armed ethnic rebel groups, meanwhile, threatened the junta Tuesday with retaliation if it does not stop killing protesters.
 
“If they do not stop and continue to kill the people, we will cooperate with the protestors and fight back,” the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army said in a joint statement.
 
On Monday, security forces killed 14 people during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP.)
 
Eight of the deaths that took place Monday occurred in Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, according to AAPP.
Protests took place Monday throughout the country, including in Sagaing region, where hundreds of mourners lined the street to pay tribute to a 20-year-old nursing student who was shot and killed Sunday while helping provide aid to injured protesters.  Anti-coup protesters march during a rally in Kalay, Sagaing region, Myanmar, March 30, 2021. (Credit: Citizen journalist via VOA Burmese Service)The United Nations say Myanmar’s security forces killed at least 107 people Saturday as the regime staged a major show of might for Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II.  AAPP puts Saturday’s death toll at 141.
 
“What has happened on the national day of armed forces was horrendous,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference Monday.  
   
“It is absolutely unacceptable to see violence against people at such high levels. So many people killed, and such a stubborn refusal to accept the need to liberate all political prisoners and to make the country go back to a serious democratic transition,” he said.  
   
Also Monday, the United States suspended a trade agreement with Myanmar, also known as Burma, until democracy is restored in the country.  
   
“The United States supports the people of Burma in their efforts to restore a democratically elected government,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.   
   
Tai said the military’s killing of peaceful protesters “has shocked the conscience of the international community.”  
   
The announcement does not stop trade between the United States and Myanmar, but it suspends a 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement that laid out ways to boost business between the two countries.  
   
Tai said the United States would also consider Myanmar’s participation in the Generalized System of Preferences program, which reduces U.S. tariffs and provides other special trade access for some developing countries.
The United States had already imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar following the February 1 coup.  
   
“We condemn this abhorrent violence against the Burmese people,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.  Anti-coup protesters flash the three-finger salute, a symbol of resistance, during a sit-in in Kalay, Sagaing region, Myanmar, March 30, 2021. (Credit: Citizen journalist via VOA Burmese Service)Defense chiefs from a dozen countries, including the United States, issued a rare joint statement Saturday condemning Myanmar’s use of lethal force against unarmed people.    
   
“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting — not harming — the people it serves,” the statement said.   
   
The statement was backed by defense chiefs from Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and New Zealand.   
   
“It’s terrible,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday of the violence in Myanmar. “It’s absolutely outrageous. Based on the reporting I’ve gotten, an awful lot of people have been killed. Totally unnecessary.”    
   
Myanmar’s security forces further escalated violence Sunday by opening fire on a funeral in Bago, near the commercial capital of Yangon. The funeral was held for 20-year-old Thae Maung Maung, who was one of the protesters killed on Saturday.   
   
Former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) led Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but Myanmar’s military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence.   
   
On February 1, the military removed the NLD government, detaining Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar.
 
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China’s national legislature has approved several new changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that further shuts out the city’s pro-democracy forces from the legislature.
 
The changes passed Tuesday by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and signed into law by President Xi Jinping include the creation of a special committee that will review the qualifications of potential candidates to ensure Hong Kong is governed by so-called “patriots.”  
The new rules would also reduce the number of directly elected lawmakers to the city’s Legislative Council, while expanding the total number of seats from 70 to 90, as well expanding the number of members on Hong Kong’s electoral commission that selects the city’s chief executive from 1,200 to 1,500.   
 
The electoral changes were praised by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who said bringing in more “patriots” into the legislature means that the “excessive politicization in society and the internal rift that has torn Hong Kong apart can be effectively mitigated.”   
 
Lam said the next legislative elections under the new system will be held in December. The city was scheduled to hold Legislative Council elections last September, but they were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  
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China has sharply reduced the number of directly elected seats in Hong Kong’s legislature in a setback for the territory’s already beleaguered democracy movement. The changes were announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of China’s top legislature. In the new make-up, the legislature will be expanded to 90 seats, and only 20 will be elected by the public. Currently, half of the 70-seat legislature — 35 seats — are directly elected. The move is part of a two-phase effort to reign in political protest and opposition in Hong Kong, which is part of China but has had a more liberal political system as a former British colony. China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong last year and is following up this year with a revamp of the electoral process. The crackdown comes in the wake of months of pro-democracy protests in 2019 that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets and turned violent as the government resisted protester demands. “It’s a very sad day for Hong Kong. The election system is completely dismantled,” said former lawmaker and Democratic Party member Emily Lau.Emily Lau, a Hong Kong politician and member of the Legislative Council in the geographical seat of New Territories East.China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, amended Hong Kong’s constitution to pave the way for the changes. The Hong Kong government is now tasked with revising its electoral laws and holding an election. In the current 70-member legislature, voters elect half the members and the other half are chosen by constituencies representing various professions and interest groups. Many of the constituencies lean pro-Beijing, ensuring that wing a majority in the legislature. The new body will have 20 elected members, 30 chosen by the constituencies and 40 by an Election Committee, which also has and will continue to choose the city’s leader, The committee, which will be expanded from 1,200 to 1,500 members, is dominated by supporters of the central government in Beijing. A separate committee will also be established to review the qualifications of candidates for office in Hong Kong to ensure the city is governed by “patriots,” in the language of the central government. The political opposition in Hong Kong — which has advocated for more democracy, not less — sees the changes as part of a broader effort to keep them out of office. “They are going to get rid of opposition voices because under this new system, which is so oppressive and restrictive, I don’t think any self-respecting individual will want to take part,” said Lau. In part, it comes down to the definition of patriots. The opposition has tried to block legislation by filibustering a key legislative committee for months and disrupting legislative proceedings. Beijing, which prioritizes political stability, sees these actions as unduly interfering with the governing of Hong Kong and wants to keep these actors out of government. A statement by Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said that the Hong Kong national security law provided a solid legal foundation to safeguard national security and that the electoral reforms provide a “solid institutional guarantee” of the city’s so-called “one country, two systems” framework and ensure that only “patriots” rule Hong Kong. The statement also said that with the electoral changes, the relationship between the city’s leader and the legislature will be smoother, and the “various deep-seated contradictions and problems that have plagued Hong Kong for a long time” will be more effectively resolved. The full National People’s Congress rubber-stamped a proposal in mid-March that authorized the Standing Committee to amend the Basic Law, the constitution that has governed Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997. 
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Myanmar security forces killed 14 people Monday during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The group, which has been monitoring the violence, said Monday’s toll brings the total number of deaths since the February 1 coup to at least 510. Eight of the deaths that took place Monday occurred in Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, according to AAPP.  Protests took place Monday throughout the country, including in Sagaing Region, where hundreds of mourners lined the street to pay tribute to a 20-year-old nursing student who was shot and killed Sunday while helping provide aid to injured protesters.  The United Nations say Myanmar’s security forces killed at least 107 people Saturday as the regime staged a major show of might for Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II. AAPP puts Saturday’s death toll at 141. “What has happened on the national day of armed forces was horrendous,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference Monday.”It is absolutely unacceptable to see violence against people at such high levels. So many people killed, and such a stubborn refusal to accept the need to liberate all political prisoners and to make the country go back to a serious democratic transition,” he said.Myanmar’s security forces deploy on Hledan road in Kamayut township of Yangon in Myanmar, March 29, 2021.Also Monday, the United States suspended a trade agreement with Myanmar, also known as Burma, until democracy is restored in the country.“The United States supports the people of Burma in their efforts to restore a democratically elected government,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.Tai said the military’s killing of peaceful protesters “has shocked the conscience of the international community.”The announcement does not stop trade between the United States and Myanmar, but it suspends a 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement that laid out ways to boost business between the two countries.Tai said the United States would also consider Myanmar’s participation in the Generalized System of Preferences program, which reduces U.S. tariffs and provides other special trade access for some developing countries.The United States had already imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar following the February 1 coup.“We condemn this abhorrent violence against the Burmese people,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.Defense chiefs from a dozen countries, including the United States, issued a rare joint statement Saturday condemning Myanmar’s use of lethal force against unarmed people.“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting — not harming — the people it serves,” U.S. President Joe Biden talks to reporters as he arrives at New Castle Airport in New Castle, Delaware, March 26, 2021.“It’s terrible,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday of the violence in Myanmar. “It’s absolutely outrageous. Based on the reporting I’ve gotten, an awful lot of people have been killed. Totally unnecessary.”Myanmar’s security forces further escalated violence Sunday by opening fire on a funeral in Bago, near the commercial capital of Yangon. The funeral was held for 20-year-old Thae Maung Maung, who was one of the protesters killed on Saturday.Former de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) led Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but Myanmar’s military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence.On February 1, the military removed the NLD government, detaining Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar.
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Myanmar security forces killed three people Monday during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to reports from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.Witnesses told media outlets that three people were killed in Yangon when security forces fired on protesters.Protests took place Monday throughout the country, including in Sagaing Region, where hundreds of mourners lined the street to pay tribute to a 20-year-old nursing student who was shot and killed Sunday while helping provide aid to injured protesters.Myanmar’s security forces reportedly killed at least 114 people Saturday as the regime staged a major show of might for Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II.“What has happened on the national day of armed forces was horrendous,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference Monday.”It is absolutely unacceptable to see violence against people at such high levels. So many people killed, and such a stubborn refusal to accept the need to liberate all political prisoners and to make the country go back to a serious democratic transition,” he said.Myanmar’s security forces deploy on Hledan road in Kamayut township of Yangon in Myanmar, March 29, 2021.Also Monday, the United States suspended a trade agreement with Myanmar, also known as Burma, until democracy is restored in the country.“The United States supports the people of Burma in their efforts to restore a democratically elected government,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.Tai said the military’s killing of peaceful protesters “has shocked the conscience of the international community.”The announcement does not stop trade between the United States and Myanmar, but it suspends a 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement that laid out ways to boost business between the two countries.Tai said the United States would also consider Myanmar’s participation in the Generalized System of Preferences program, which reduces U.S. tariffs and provides other special trade access for some developing countries.The United States had already imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar following the February 1 coup.“We condemn this abhorrent violence against the Burmese people,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.Defense chiefs from a dozen countries, including the United States, issued a rare joint statement Saturday condemning Myanmar’s use of lethal force against unarmed people.“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting — not harming — the people it serves,” U.S. President Joe Biden talks to reporters as he arrives at New Castle Airport in New Castle, Delaware, March 26, 2021.“It’s terrible,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday of the violence in Myanmar. “It’s absolutely outrageous. Based on the reporting I’ve gotten, an awful lot of people have been killed. Totally unnecessary.”Myanmar’s security forces further escalated violence Sunday by opening fire on a funeral in Bago, near the commercial capital of Yangon. The funeral was held for 20-year-old Thae Maung Maung, who was one of the protesters killed on Saturday.Security forces have killed 464 civilians since the coup, according to a tally from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been monitoring the violence.Former de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) led Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but Myanmar’s military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence.On February 1, the military removed the NLD government, detaining Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar.
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A group of U.N. human rights experts says it is “deeply concerned” about allegations regarding China’s treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority.The Working Group on Business and Human Rights says it has “received information that connected over 150 domestic Chinese and foreign domiciled companies to serious allegations of human rights abuses against Uyghur workers.”“As independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council, of which China is a State Member, we consider that an official visit to China (including the Xinjiang region) would be the ideal opportunity for such dialogue and to assess the situation for ourselves based on free and unhindered access,” the group said.Many Chinese companies as well as private firms outside China are accused of using slave labor or incorporating products made with slave labor into their supply chains. This includes “numerous well-known global brands,” the group said.Chinese Statistics Reveal Plummeting Births in Xinjiang During Crackdown on UyghursUS and other countries have condemned it as a genocidal campaignThe group said it “respectfully” urges China “to immediately cease any such measures that are not fully compliant with international law, norms and standards relating to human rights, including the rights of minorities.”China is accused of rights violations including arbitrary detention, forced sterilization and use of slave labor using Uyghurs. China denies the allegations and says its policies in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs are concentrated, aim to combat Islamic extremism.Britain, Canada, the European Union and the United States have sanctioned several members of Xinjiang’s political and economic power elite this week over the allegations of widespread human right abuses there.
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A recent case involving a Christian student being forced to wear a hijab in a public school in Indonesia is drawing criticism from rights activists. Rendy Wicaksana reports from Jakarta.Camera: Nabila Ganinda 
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Retired Admiral James Stavridis spent 37 years in the military serving in NATO and as head of the U.S. Southern Command. He has spent his career dealing with the world’s great naval powers. VOA’s Jela de Franceschi spoke with him about the current state of affairs between Beijing and Washington.
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Australia’s multi-billion-dollar wage subsidy credited with saving hundreds of thousands of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended. A cluster of infections has forced the Queensland city of Brisbane into a snap three-day lockdown. The U.S. $53 billion JobKeeper program was the biggest economic package in Australian history. It guaranteed workers a paycheck even when businesses were forced to close during lockdowns.  In Canberra, the government has said with the recovery underway, it is time for the economy to support itself. Senior officials have said JobKeeper would be replaced by targeted stimulus programs, the first stage of which will be an expansion of the scheme to pay part of the wages of apprentices.  But critics believe the move is premature, and the end of the wage subsidy scheme will put many jobs in jeopardy.A snap three-day coronavirus disease lockdown takes effect in Brisbane, March 29, 2021.Leanne Harwood is the managing director for Japan, Australasia & Pacific at IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) Hotels & Resorts. She had hoped JobKeeper would be expanded to help the tourism industry. “Without it we would have had to make a lot more people redundant. Sadly, we would have lost a lot more people and we probably would have had to close a lot more doors of our hotels and right now we have been able to keep most of them open, which has been quite frankly a godsend having that JobKeeper to be able to do that. You know, we have been able to keep people employed, which has made such a difference in so many people’s lives, and I am incredibly worried about what is going to happen when that JobKeeper goes away,” Harwood said.The pandemic sent Australia into recession for the first time since the 1990s. But there is evidence the economy is rebounding strongly. Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have shown Australia’s jobless rate dropped from 6.6% in December 2020 to 6.4% in January.  Australia has mostly contained the virus, but a small, but growing cluster of infections in Brisbane has forced the authorities to order a three-day lockdown starting Monday, and stay-at-home orders will apply. The Queensland state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was “very concerned.”   However, in neighboring New South Wales more COVID-19 restrictions are being eased on Monday. Singing and dancing is now permitted, allowing nightclubs to reopen. Sports stadiums and theaters can also operate with 100 per cent capacity, and masks are no longer mandatory on public transport. A nationwide mass vaccination program is also underway. Australia has recorded just over 29,200 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. 909 people have died, according to the Health Department. 
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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reshuffled his cabinet in response to a series of sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked his ruling Liberal Party.  Morrison announced Monday in the country’s capital, Canberra, that Michaelia Cash will replace Christian Potter as attorney-general, while Peter Dutton will assume the defense portfolio from Linda Reynolds. Potter has been on mental health leave ever since reports surfaced several weeks ago that he was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in 1988 when he was 17 years old, an allegation Potter denies. Police have announced they will not bring any charges against Potter since his accuser has since died. Reynolds came under intense criticism when she called a former female staff member,  Brittany Higgins, “a lying cow” after Higgins publicly came forward with allegations that she had been raped by a senior staffer in Parliament House in 2019. Reynolds said she was not referring to Higgins’ allegations, but the description of how she was treated after coming forward. Reynolds later apologized for her comments.  Both Potter and Reynolds have been reassigned new positions in Morrison’s cabinet. The scandals prompted mass rallies across Australia in late February with protesters demanding an end to sexual violence against women. In addition to the scandals involving Potter and Reynolds, the conservative Liberal Party has been hit with recent news reports alleging several male staffers had filmed themselves performing sex acts in Parliament House, including on the desk of at least one female lawmaker, and shared the images on a special Facebook group chat page.  Along with the cabinet reshuffling, Prime Minister Morrison says he was starting a new Cabinet task force that will address issues of women’s equality, safety, economic security, health and wellbeing.  Morrison will head the task force along with Marisa Payne, the minister for women.  Morrison’s approval rating had dropped by seven points, while another recent poll shows his Liberal Party trailing the opposition Labor Party by just four points. 
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As Thailand’s youth-led pro-democracy protesters are battered by rounds of legal charges, a teenager faces up to 15 years in jail under the country’s hardline royal defamation law. His crime is wearing a crop top, allegedly mocking Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Vijitra Duangdee in Bangkok reports.Camera: Black Squirrel Productions     Produced by: Mary Cieslak 
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