Narcotics police in Thailand said Tuesday they confiscated six high-priced pedigreed cats as part of a raid on an illegal drug network, and they suspect the animals were part of an effort to launder illicit money.  Police say the cats were confiscated Monday following a raid at a house in Thailand’s Rayong province. An officer told a Bangkok news organization the cats belong to the wife of a suspect police arrested in the raid, but she fled the scene before they arrived. They say she is also a suspect in the case and is wanted by police. Law enforcement officials — who displayed the cats for news media Tuesday — say the six purebred cats include five of the Scottish Fold breed and one Bengal. They believe the cats could be worth thousands of dollars. Police seized the house, land, a car and the six cats on suspicion of being assets used to launder money. The officials say the cats are part of those assets and would be entered into a public auction while the case was ongoing. The case has stirred debate on social media in Thailand whether confiscated pets should be put up for auction. Animal welfare groups urged authorities to suspend the auction and asked that the cats be taken into the care of animal groups that could help them find loving homes. 
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament Tuesday that his government will seek to strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region in the wake of the nation’s departure from the European Union.The shift is part of his government’s so-called Integrated Review of national security and international policy, a year-long study by his government that he highlighted for lawmakers. Calling it the most comprehensive review of British defense and foreign relations since the Cold War ended, Johnson said its purpose is to make the nation safer, stronger and more prosperous, while standing up for its values.”The review describes how we will bolster our alliances, strengthen our capabilities, find new ways of reaching solutions and relearn the art of competing against states with opposing values,” he told members of parliament.As part of Britain’s pivot toward Asia, Johnson said he has invited the leaders of Australia, South Korea and India to attend the G-7 summit in the British resort town of Carbis Bay, in June. Johnson plans to visit India next month and announced that Britain has applied to become a dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He said Britain will also seek to join the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement.The prime minister said his plan calls for Britain to invest at least $9.1 billion to fund advanced and next-generation research and development in areas including space, directed energy weapons, and advanced high-speed missiles.To reaffirm that Britain is “unswervingly committed” to leadership in NATO, Johnson said the government will increase its defense budget by more than $33 billion over the next four years and remain the largest European spender on defense in NATO, with expenditures now standing at 2.2% of its gross domestic production. Britain will deploy more of its armed forces overseas more often and for longer periods of time, while cybersecurity will also be strengthened, he said.Johnson also told lawmakers the United States remains Britain’s most important bilateral relationship in defense, intelligence and security.He added that while China would pose a great challenge to what he described as Britain’s “open society,” his government would continue to work with Beijing whenever it was “consistent with our values and interests.”
 
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Facebook has reached an agreement with Australia’s News Corp under a new law that makes social media giants pay domestic news outlets for their content.The terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed in Tuesday’s announcement. The deal comes nearly one month after Australia’s parliament approved a law that would allow a government arbitrator to decide the price a digital company should pay news outlets if the two sides fail to reach an agreement.News Corp Chief Executive Officer Robert Thomson said the agreement “is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses.”According to Facebook’s head of news partnerships in Australia, Andrew Hunter, the deal means the social media giant’s 17 million users in the country “will gain access to premium news articles and breaking news video from News Corp’s network of national, metropolitan, rural and suburban newsrooms.”The law’s passage occurred after a bitter standoff between U.S.-based Facebook and News Corp, owned by global media mogul Rupert Murdoch, that culminated with the social media giant blocking all Australian news content from the site, as well as the websites of several public agencies and emergency services, including pages that include up-to-date information on COVID-19 outbreaks, brushfires and other natural disasters.The situation was resolved after negotiators for the government and Facebook reached an agreement on a set of changes to the legislation before its final passage.News Corp says its Australian subsidiary, Sky News, had also reached a separate deal with Facebook that extends an existing agreement.Australian media companies have seen their advertising revenue increasingly siphoned off by big tech firms like Google and Facebook in recent years.Google had also threatened to block news content if the law were passed, even warning last August that Australians’ personal information could be “at risk” if digital giants had to pay for news content.But the company had already signed a number of separate agreements with News Corp and other Australian media giants such as Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media.Nine Entertainment and Seven West have said they have signed letters of intent with Facebook on a potential deal.
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The United Nations is warning that food and fuel prices in Myanmar are steadily rising due to the “current political unrest” triggered by last month’s military coup. The world body’s food assistance branch, World Food Program (WFP), issued a statement Tuesday that rice prices have risen across the country by an average of three percent from mid-January to mid-February. But the WFP says prices have ballooned anywhere between 20-35 percent in a few townships in Kachin state, the northernmost state of Myanmar.  The agency also says the retail price of palm oil has spiked up to 20 percent since the beginning of February.  The WFP said the unrest is having a negative impact on supply chains and markets.  “These initial signs are troubling, especially for the most vulnerable people who were already living meal-to-meal,” said WFP Myanmar Country Director Stephen Anderson. “Coming on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, if these price trends continue, they will severely undermine the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.” Martial law extendedThe grim assessment comes as the junta has extended martial law in more areas of the main city of Yangon amid reports of more protesters killed by security forces.    The advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has been tracking the violence, said at least 20 people were killed Monday in shootings by security forces. State-run MRTV news channel announced that the districts of North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa were under martial law, following a weekend of deadly protests. People transport a person who was shot during a security force crackdown on anti-coup protesters in Thingangyun, Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he “is appalled by the escalating violence in Myanmar at the hands of the country’s military,” according to his spokesperson. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said Monday the violence against protesters is “immoral and indefensible.” Authorities late Sunday imposed martial law on Hlaingtharya, a suburb of Myanmar’s main city, after several Chinese-owned factories were set on fire and about 2,000 people had stopped fire engines from reaching the buildings, according to Reuters, quoting army-run Myawaddy television. China is seen as supportive of the Myanmar junta. A view shows the fire at Hlaing Thar Yar factory, in Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021, in this still image obtained by Reuters from a social media video.“The burning and looting of Chinese companies [are] abhorrent,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday. “We hope the Myanmar side will take concrete measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens in Myanmar. The top priority is to prevent the occurrence of new bloody conflicts and to achieve an easing of the situation as soon as possible.” Various reports quoting AAPP said most of the deaths Sunday took place in Hlaingthaya, with more than 30 people killed in the suburb. Nationwide, the AAPP said Monday that the death toll for Sunday had reached 74, making it the bloodiest day of demonstrations against the junta that seized power in a February 1 coup. The previous deadliest day was March 3, when 38 deaths were reported across Myanmar. Family members of Khant Ngar Hein grieve during his funeral in Yangon, Myanmar, March 16, 2021. Khant Ngar Hein, a 18-year-old student of medicine was shot on his chest on March 14, in Tamwe, Yangon, by security forces.Internet blocked
In an apparent bid to suppress news of the turmoil, mobile internet services were blocked Monday. Previously, the services were only turned off at night. The blockage of the internet forced the postponement of a scheduled court hearing in the capital, Naypyitaw, for deposed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was set to appear via videoconference, according to her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw. Suu Kyi has been detained since the coup and faces five criminal charges, including accepting $600,000 in illegal payments plus gold bars while in office. She is also charged with illegally possessing six unregistered walkie-talkie radios, operating communications equipment without a license, violating COVID-19 protocols by holding public gatherings and attempting to incite public unrest. The United Nations said Monday that at least 138 people have been killed since the coup more than six weeks ago, while the AAPP put the figure at 183.  Military officials have 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 takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission.   
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An investment deal between China and the European Union restricts Europeans from investing in Chinese media and entertainment companies but does not block Chinese firms from investing in European ones, according to newly released details.  Despite mounting alarm about Chinese disinformation and propaganda campaigns in Europe, the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment pact, announced Friday, gives Chinese firms a significant advantage in the media sector, critics say.  FILE – National security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Feb. 4, 2021.The deal, which was signed in principle in December, has drawn fire from Washington. Days before the agreement was struck, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan urged the Europeans to delay completing negotiations, calling in a tweet for “early consultation with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices.” Critics on both sides of the Atlantic say the deal will give China preferential access to European markets while Beijing continues to tamp down Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and maintain detention centers in Xinjiang province, where China’s Communist government has interned more than a million Uyghurs, according to rights groups. Growing criticismThe agreement still has several stages to go before adoption and needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. The rules governing investment access to the media and entertainment sector are quickly becoming the focus of criticism from some European lawmakers, mostly members of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest grouping in the European Parliament.  In a statement, the EPP has urged European commissioners to “develop an EU-wide regulatory system to prevent media companies either funded or controlled by governments to acquire European media companies.”  China has invested around $3.5 billion in European media firms in the past decade. EU officials say the investment deal is merely enshrining access rules that the bloc and China had agreed under World Trade Organization terms.  FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet remotely, in Brussels, Dec. 30, 2020.The deal “does not create any new rights for the Chinese investors in (the) media sector,” according to a European Commission spokesperson. Under the terms, Chinese investors in media companies should be treated the same as European investors and enjoy similar market access. But the deal does not afford European investors the same rights. French lawmaker Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a liberal in the European Parliament, has “even more questions than before,” since further details of the investment deal became public last week.  She said the EU is treating China as a partner, but Beijing is not reciprocating. Other lawmakers point to recent studies tracking Chinese influence that show when Chinese firms, mainly state-owned, invest in European media, China’s coverage of the new acquisitions turn more positive. In a study published last year, MapInfluenCE, a foreign policy research group operated by the Association for International Affairs, concluded that “local audiences in Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia have increasingly become direct targets of not only ‘mask diplomacy,’ but more complex propaganda efforts promote a positive image of China, strain transatlantic relations and directly attempt to rewrite narratives around sensitive issues.” Eleven member states, mostly central European, including Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, remain concerned about the deal and are reserving the right to treat Chinese investors differently.  Media restrictionsChina is a major trading partner for the EU. Over the past 20 years, European companies have invested $174 billion in China. The European Commission said the investment agreement will provide overall improved market access and fairer rules for European companies in China, investors and service providers.  FILE – European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis speaks at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, March 10, 2021.”The agreement provides a clear and enforceable framework of rules, which will give EU businesses greater access and more certainty when investing in China,” the bloc’s trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in a statement last week. Critics of the deal say there is no level playing field when it comes to the media. China’s state-controlled CCTV channels are broadcast without hindrance across Europe, but restrictions are placed by China on European broadcasters.  Outside the EU, Britain and China have disagreed over the media. Last month, the Beijing government banned BBC World News after the channel ran a string of reports on accusations of systematic rape of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.  FILE – Britain’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Dominic Raab walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain, Feb. 3, 2021.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the move an “unacceptable curtailing of media freedom.”  The U.S. State Department condemned the decision, calling it part of a wider campaign to suppress free media in China. China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) said BBC World News had “seriously violated” broadcast guidelines, including a “requirement that news should be truthful and fair” and not “harm China’s national interests.”  Earlier this year, British media regulator Ofcom revoked state broadcaster China Global Television Network’s (CGTN) license to broadcast in Britain. The details of the EU-China investment pact will likely add to the Biden administration’s dismay over the EU’s decision to advance the deal. U.S. President Joe Biden wants a “united front” when it comes to China to increase leverage on Beijing.  Analysts have warned for weeks that the EU and the Biden administration will not see eye to eye on the best ways to handle an increasingly assertive China. 
 
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Myanmar’s military has imposed martial law in its latest move to suppress widespread protests over the February 1 coup, with journalists warning of continued media suppression.Dozens of protesters were killed Sunday in the deadliest day so far since the military overthrew the civilian government over unproven claims of election fraud and arrested senior leaders of the National League for Democracy party, including Aung San Suu Kyi.The military has used force and arrests to try to end protests, suspended licenses for at least five news networks and imposed nightly internet blackouts. Over 2,000 people have been arrested, and 126 killed, according to the Thailand-based non-profit the A protester holds onto the shirt of a fallen demonstrator during a crackdown by security forces on anti-coup protests in Hlaing Tharyar township in Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021.Journalists in Myanmar are finding themselves increasingly targeted by the country’s armed forces, with at least 38 detained in recent weeks, the AAPPB says. Several said they have changed how they cover the unrest to avoid arrest or worse.Win Zaw Naing, an editor for the independent news website This undated family photo provided, March 3, 2021, shows Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw in Yangon, Myanmar. (Credit: Thein Zaw family)Thein Zaw, who was arrested with several other members of the media, is being held on charges of “violating a public order law.” The AP journalist’s remand has been extended until March 24, when he faces a court hearing.Local media reports say Polish photojournalist Robert Bociaga was also beaten and arrested last week. Bociaga, a freelancer for German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), was detained while covering demonstrations.Myanmar’s military has denied media freedom is under threat.The head of the State Administrative Council press team and spokesman for the army, Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, said at a March 11 news conference that the military “respects and values media freedom” and has only arrested journalists who were inciting unrest. Under threatA freelance journalist in Yangon, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his identity, said he has resorted to staying indoors after security officials confronted him.“At the time, the security force pointed his gun at me and said, ‘I don’t want to shoot you, go back,’” the journalist told VOA. “As a freelance journalist, no one guarantees for me if I get arrested or injured or something happens in a negative way in the front line.”Fears have been amplified for journalists and protesters alike with reports of regular night-time raids by soldiers.Alongside night curfews still in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the junta has imposed nightly internet shutdowns for weeks, in what it says are efforts to ensure the country’s “stability.”Internet and social media platforms like Facebook are a key source of information in Myanmar. Residents have had to resort to using scarcely available WIFI to stay online or connecting via Virtual Private Network (VPN) or by using sim cards from neighboring Thailand.News outlets covering the unrest are also being targeted with legal action and raids.Five media companies had licenses revoked, three of which are VOA affiliates. Myanmar Now reported that armed men who arrived in military trucks raided its office in Yangon on March 8. And independent media outlet The Irrawaddy, reported that the company faces a lawsuit from the military over allegations of “disregarding” armed forces in its coverage.Another local journalist, who also asked to stay anonymous, told VOA the country’s freedom of the press is at stake.“I am very concerned now that the freedom of press will vanish within a few months,” he said.The journalist, currently in Yangon, admitted he “keeps a low profile” and has had to change his reporting tactics.“I put on a full uniform, (a) press helmet and vest. But after the crackdowns on journalists, we disguise as protesters and citizens to stay inside the crowd. Sometimes, due to our camera, we are targeted as a spy by the police,” he said.
 
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Authorities in Myanmar extended martial law in more areas of the main city of Yangon Monday amid reports of more killings of protesters at the hands of security forces.State-run MRTV news channel announced that the districts of North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa are under martial law, a day after security forces killed at least 40 people across Myanmar. Most of the killings took place in the Yangon suburb of Hlaingthaya, making it the bloodiest day of demonstrations against the junta that seized power in a February 1 coup.Protesters carry an injured man after riot policemen and soldiers shot rubber bullets during a crackdown on demonstrations in Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021.Authorities imposed martial law on Hlaingthaya, a suburb of Myanmar’s main city, after several Chinese-owned factories were set on fire and about 2,000 people had stopped fire engines from reaching them, according to Reuters quoting army-run Myawaddy television. China is seen as supportive of the Myanmar junta.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded to Sunday’s attack on the factories during a regular news briefing Monday, “The burning and looting of Chinese companies is abhorrent. We hope the Myanmar side will take concrete measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens in Myanmar.”The spokesman also said, “The top priority is to prevent the occurrence of new bloody conflicts and to achieve an easing of the situation as soon as possible.”Various reports quoting the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said more than 30 people were killed Sunday in Hlaingthaya, up from the initial 22 fatalities reported by the group.Sixteen more protesters were killed in other cities and townships, the AAPP said, as well as one police officer. [[ https://aappb.org/?p=13671 ]] The previous deadliest day was March 3, when 38 deaths were reported across Myanmar.Two people were killed in protests in Myingyan, while three people were killed there and two in Aunglan town, according to Reuters which quoted the Myanmar Now media outlet.On Monday the AAPP was quoted as saying the nationwide death toll for Sunday had reached 44.As the violence continued to rage across Myanmar Monday, a scheduled court hearing in the capital Napyitaw for deposed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi via videoconference was postponed because internet service had been blocked, according to her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw.Suu Kyi has been detained since the February 1 coup and is facing five criminal charges, including accepting $600,000 in illegal payments plus gold bars while in office. She is also charged with illegally possessing six unregistered walkie-talkie radios, operating communications equipment without a license, violating COVID-19 protocols by holding public gatherings and attempting to incite public unrest.The AAAP says security forces have killed at least 126 people in the seven weeks since the coup, not including the latest fatality reports since Sunday, and detained more than 2,150 as of Saturday, with more than 300 released so far. Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N. special envoy of the secretary-general on Myanmar, Sunday strongly condemned the continuing bloodshed. “The international community, including regional actors, must come together in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations,” Burgener said in a statement. We ‘Have the Mind to Win This Battle’ – Myanmar Activist Speaks Out About Coup, Crackdown‘Our future must be defined by the civilians, not by the soldiers,’ says Thinzar Shunlei YiOn Saturday, the acting head of the country’s parallel civilian government, who was appointed by deposed legislators after the military coup, promised a “revolution” to oust the junta. Mahn Win Khaing, who is in hiding along with most other top NLD (National League for Democracy, a ruling political party in Myanmar since 2015 until the 2021 coup) officials, addressed the public for the first time, announcing on Facebook that the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, or CRPH, plans to establish a federal democracy.  CRPH is formed by NLD MPs who escaped arrest and are elected members of the ousted parliament on February 5. Mahn Win Khaing told supporters the CRPH would try to “legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves.” He added, “This revolution is the chance we can put our efforts together.” The military government did not immediately respond to Mahn Win Khaing’s remarks, but it has declared the CRPH illegal. The junta has called the CRPH a terrorist organization and said anyone involved with it could face treason charges, which are punishable by death, the military government said. Military officials have claimed widespread fraud in last November’s general election, which the NLD won in a landslide, as justification for the takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission. 
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The Chinese capital, Beijing, was shrouded in thick brown dust on Monday as heavy winds blew in from the Gobi Desert and parts of northwestern China, in what the meteorological agency has called the biggest sandstorm in a decade.The China Meteorological Administration announced a yellow alert in the morning, saying sandstorms had spread from Inner Mongolia into the provinces of Gansu, Shanxi and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing.Beijing-based conservation expert Zhou Jinfeng told the Associated Press the sandstorm was caused by heavy winds from Mongolia and Inner Mongolia blowing the desert’s fine particles into the capital overnight, turning the air a hazy yellow color.State media report Beijing’s official air quality index reached a maximum level of 500 on Monday morning, considered well beyond the point where the air is hazardous to human health. The city’s environmental monitoring center said floating sand particles known as PM10 rose beyond 8,000 micrograms per cubic meter in some districts. The World Health Organization recommends average daily PM10 concentrations of no more than 50 micrograms.Beijing faces regular sandstorms in March and April due to its proximity to the massive desert as well as deforestation and soil erosion throughout northern China.
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Australia is working on an ambitious plan to establish Singapore as a COVID-19 quarantine gateway and potential vaccination hub for returning Australians, international students and business travelers.  The deal with Singapore could allow passengers en route to Australia to satisfy strict biosecurity rules before arrival.  Ministers hope the proposal with the south-east Asian city would help about 40,000 Australians stranded overseas return home, boost tourism and revive the multibillion-dollar market for international students at Australian universities, which has been badly hit by border closures. It is a year since Canberra, Australia’s capital, barred most foreign travelers in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. The ban has recently been extended until at least June.   Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack says the government is preparing to restart international travel.  “We are also making sure that the planes are going to be ready. You cannot just roll a plane out of a hangar and stick it back on an international route. We are working with Singapore at the moment potentially for a bubble in July, and these are positive signs. And as the vaccine rolls out in not only Australia but in other countries as well, we will reopen more bubbles,” McCormack said.Under the plan, Australians would be allowed to fly to Singapore without government approval provided they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.  Also, Singaporeans who have been inoculated would be permitted to travel to Australia without having to undergo two weeks of hotel quarantine.  Australia has given travelers from New Zealand similar concessions, but authorities in Wellington have yet to reciprocate to allow entry to Australians.  Australian citizens can return home from overseas, but they face mandatory quarantine. Thousands of people have been left stranded because of limited capacity in secure hotels.  Australia has recorded just over 29,000 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. 909 people have died, according to the Health Department.  There have been four key parts to the nation’s coronavirus strategy; restrictions on international travel, strict lockdowns, sophisticated contact tracing and mass testing.   A nationwide vaccination program began last month. 
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin will meet with allies in Japan and South Korea this week to reaffirm the trans-Pacific partnerships in the face of an increasingly assertive China and silent North Korea.  Washington’s top diplomatic and defense officials will begin their tour of the region Monday with a stop in Tokyo, marking their first overseas travel as representatives of the Biden administration.  Blinken and Austin will hold what’s known as a “two-plus-two,” a meeting between foreign and defense chiefs with their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi, Tuesday before departing for Seoul on Wednesday.U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks to Defense Department personnel at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 10, 2021.The selection of these two countries for first stops reflects the new U.S. president’s security concerns in Northeast Asia, say some observers.  “The fact that Secretaries Blinken and Austin are making their first overseas trip to Japan and South Korea demonstrates the deep importance the United States places on these two allies,” Patricia Kim, a senior policy analyst at the government-funded U.S. Institute of Peace, wrote in an emailed statement on Friday. “Seoul and Tokyo are critical partners for collectively addressing the challenges posed by China and advancing peace in the Korean Peninsula,” Kim said.  Relations between the world’s two largest economies are at a low point due in part to a trade war that former president Donald Trump initiated as well as rising military tensions in areas that China regards as its sphere of influence.    Less than two months into his presidency, Joe Biden has signaled that he’s in no hurry to relieve some of the pressure that his predecessor placed on Beijing. His administration has maintained import tariffs, voiced support for Taiwan’s democratic government and condemned President’s Xi Jingping for alleged human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. China’s Xinjiang region has been the center of allegations of forced labor and other human rights violations.Britain Cuts Business Links to Chinese Province XinjiangReports show Xinjiang to be scene of ‘harrowing’ human rights violations against Muslim UighursLast week, the White House released its national security strategy document that described China as “the only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system.”   By dispatching his secretaries to the capitals of two of America’s closest partners, the new president hopes to shore up a multilateral counterbalance to China in the region, experts say.  “China is our pacing threat,” Defense Secretary Austin, a retired U.S. Army general, told reporters while en-route to Asia, the Pentagon said in a statement. “Our goal is to make sure that we have the capabilities and the operational plans and concepts to be able to offer credible deterrence to China or anybody else who would want to take on the U.S.” Despite these remarks, Washington is signaling that it is still open to dialogue with Beijing.    Secretary Blinken and White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan are expected to meet later in the week with Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, and chief diplomat Yang Jiechi in Anchorage, Alaska- the first time since last June that officials from both countries have held bilateral talks.  North Korean silence   Finding common ground on how to coerce the Kim Jong-un regime back to dialogue will be another priority during the secretaries’ visits to Tokyo and Seoul.    President Biden has yet to announce his strategy toward North Korea, but a policy review is currently underway. But, since February, the Biden administration has attempted to reach out to Pyongyang through several diplomatic channels, but hasn’t received any response, according to an unnamed U.S. official who spoke with the Reuters News Agency. Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, says Pyongyang could be ignoring these overtures for any number of reasons, including prioritizing domestic economic issues or out of fear of holding talks during the COVID-19 pandemic.  “Pyongyang may be waiting to see what incentives are on offer after the Biden policy review,” Easley, wrote in an email response to VOA. “Or North Korea might be planning its next weapons test to improve its capabilities and raise the stakes for negotiations.” 
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Security forces on Sunday killed at least 39 people, 22 of them in a suburb of Yangon, the country’s main city, reports out of Myanmar say, in what would be the bloodiest day of protests against the junta that seized power in a February 1 coup.  According to the Reuters news agency, quoting the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, security forces shot protesters in Yangon’s Hlaingthaya suburb, which is home to Chinese-owned factories. China is seen and supportive of the Myanmar junta.  Authorities have imposed martial law on Hlaingthaya.Army-run Myawadday television said security forces acted after four garment factories and a fertilizer plant were set ablaze and about 2,000 people had stopped fire engines from reaching them, Reuters said. Plumes of black smoke rose over the area, with some reports saying two of the factories were burned.A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.Anti-coup protesters turn on the LED light of their mobile phones during a candlelight night rally in Yangon, Myanmar.He told supporters the CRPH would try to “legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves.” He added, “This revolution is the chance we can put our efforts together.”The military government did not immediately respond to Mahn Win Khaing’s remarks, but it has declared the CRPH illegal.The junta has called the CRPH a terrorist organization and said anyone involved with it could face treason charges, which are punishable by death.Amid the continued protests and violence, the United Nations’ human rights investigator on Myanmar has called for the international community to take a united stand against the military junta.
 
“It is heartbreaking to bear witness to the terror and lawlessness by those who have illegally grabbed power in Myanmar,” which is also known as Burma, Thomas Andrews told the U.N. Human Rights Council Friday.He added that the international community “must strip away the junta’s sense of impunity.”
 
A Myanmar official told the council that authorities in the country were using “utmost restraint” toward the protesters.Andrews called that claim “absurd.”Military officials have claimed widespread fraud in last November’s general election, which the NLD won in a landslide, as justification for the takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission.
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At least four more people have been died in Myanmar’s anti-coup protests.Police and security forces fired live rounds into a crowd of protesters Sunday in the town of Bago, near Yangon, killing one protester, and later in the day in the Hlaing Tharyar Township, killing three protesters, according to social media posts confirmed by VOA’s Burmese Service, as well as witnesses and domestic media accounts cited by the Reuters news agency.Several hundred people gathered at a peaceful candle-lit rally in Yangon Saturday, defying the 8 p.m. curfew imposed by the junta.People participate in a candlelight night rally in Yangon, Myanmar, March 13, 2021.In Insein township, protesters laid candles and sang songs to honor the people killed.  They also chanted to release former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and arrested leaders from her National League for Democracy party.At least 11 demonstrators were killed Saturday in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, in Yangon, and in the central town of Pyay when police and security forces opened fire on protesters who took again to the streets against the February 1 military coup.Eight deaths in Mandalay were confirmed by VOA’s Burmese service, citing an emergency medical team worker.A man uses a slingshot during the security force crack down on anti-coup protesters in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 14, 2021.One person was killed in Pyay, and two others in Yangon, according to domestic media reports.Also Saturday, the acting head of the country’s parallel civilian government, who was appointed by deposed legislators after the February 1 military coup, promised a “revolution” to oust the junta.Mahn Win Khaing, who is in hiding along with most other top NLD officials, addressed the public for the first time, announcing on Facebook that the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw plans to establish a federal democracy.He told supporters the CRPH would try to “legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves,” and he added “this revolution is the chance we can put our efforts together.”The military government did not immediately respond to Mahn Win Khaing’s remarks, but it has declared illegal the CRPH, formed by elected members of the ousted parliament on February 5.In a recorded video posted on the Facebook page of the Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), March 13, 2021, the acting vice president Mahn Win Khaing Than calls for people to continue protesting against the military dictatorship.The junta also has called the CRPH a terrorist organization and said anyone involved with it could face treason charges, which are punishable by death.Amid the continued protests and violence in Myanmar, the United Nations human rights investigator on Myanmar has called for the international community to take a united stand against the military junta.“It is heartbreaking to bear witness to the terror and lawlessness by those who have illegally grabbed power in Myanmar,” which is also known as Burma, Thomas Andrews told the U.N. Human Rights Council Friday.He added that the international community “must strip away the junta’s sense of impunity.”A Myanmar official told the council that authorities in the country were using “utmost restraint” toward the protesters.Andrews called that claim “absurd.”Since Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government, he said, security forces have killed at least 70 people and arbitrarily arrested more than 2,000.It is time for UN member states to set a new standard for robust, unified action by imposing unrelenting sanctions on the junta of Myanmar. Here are my closing remarks to the UN Human Rights Council. https://t.co/SZalbqUiKYhttps://t.co/Fs7BMkr2jHpic.twitter.com/AwWq8KVy6P
— UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews (@RapporteurUn) March 14, 2021Andrews also said there is video evidence of security forces viciously beating protesters, destroying property, looting shops, and firing indiscriminately into people’s homes, and that the junta has been systematically destroying legal protections and crushing freedom of expression and assembly.Last month, the United States announced sanctions on the Burmese military regime.Earlier this week, the U.S. placed sanctions on the two adult children of Burmese military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.The United States has called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi, ousted President Win Myint, and protesters, journalists and human rights activists who have been unjustly detained since the takeover. 
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Australian researchers say an “incredible” discovery could allow new treatments for asthma and prevent autoimmune diseases and life-threatening anaphylaxis. They have found a natural way the body stops rogue antibodies causing disease through a protein called neuritin.Allergies and autoimmune diseases, where the body’s defenses turn rogue and target healthy tissue, are increasing in adults and children, but researchers aren’t quite sure why.At the Australian National University, scientists have found that humans have their own mechanisms for fighting back against these pathogenic antibodies that can cause autoimmunity or allergies.Professor Carola Vinuesa said it’s an exciting discovery.“We found a protein called neuritin that is made by our own immune system, and we never knew before that our immune system could make this protein, and it proves to be quite important to prevent allergies autoimmune diseases,” she said.Neuritin is like a supercharged antihistamine, the type of drug commonly used to treat allergy symptoms.Vinuesa hopes the research could provide a completely new approach to current treatments for immune conditions, which can have a debilitating effect on patients.“We tend to either dampen the entire immune system or use drugs that tend to either eliminate an entire cell type or some products of the immune system that normally are required to fight infection,” she said. “So, by using one of our own products that our own body produces, we could leave most of the immune system, or all of the immune system, intact, and simply enhance our own defense mechanisms against allergy and autoimmunity.”Researchers say there are more than 80 known autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.The Australian study began five years ago and used genetically engineered mice and human cells grown in a laboratory. It was published in the science journal Cell.
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At least one more life has been lost in Myanmar’s anti-coup protests.Police and security forces fired live rounds into a crowd of protesters Sunday in the town of Bago, near Yangon, according to witnesses and domestic media accounts cited by the Reuters news agency.Several hundred people gathered at a peaceful candle-lit rally in Yangon Saturday, defying the 8 p.m. curfew imposed by the junta.In Insein township, protesters laid candles and sang songs to honor the people killed.  They also chanted to release former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and arrested leaders from her National League for Democracy party.At least 11 demonstrators were killed Saturday in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, in Yangon, and in the central town of Pyay when police and security forces opened fire on protesters who took again to the streets against the Feb. 1 military coup.Eight deaths in Mandalay were confirmed by VOA’s Burmese service, citing an emergency medical team worker.One person was killed in Pyay, and two others in Yangon, according to domestic media reports.Also Saturday, the acting head of the country’s parallel civilian government, who was appointed by deposed legislators after the Feb. 1 military coup, promised a “revolution” to oust the junta.Mahn Win Khaing, who is in hiding along with most other top NLD officials, addressed the public for the first time, announcing on Facebook that the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw plans to establish a federal democracy.He told supporters the CRPH would try to “legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves,” and he added “this revolution is the chance we can put our efforts together.”The military government did not immediately respond to Mahn Win Khaing’s remarks, but it has declared illegal the CRPH, formed by elected members of the ousted parliament on Feb. 5. The junta also has called the CRPH a terrorist organization and said anyone involved with it could face treason charges, which are punishable by death.Amid the continued protests and violence in Myanmar, the United Nations human rights investigator on Myanmar has called for the international community to take a united stand against the military junta.“It is heartbreaking to bear witness to the terror and lawlessness by those who have illegally grabbed power in Myanmar,” which is also known as Burma, Thomas Andrews told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday.He added that the international community “must strip away the junta’s sense of impunity.”A Myanmar official told the council that authorities in the country were using “utmost restraint” toward the protesters.Andrews called that claim “absurd.”Since Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government, he said, security forces have killed at least 70 people and arbitrarily arrested more than 2,000.Andrews also said there is video evidence of security forces viciously beating protesters, destroying property, looting shops, and firing indiscriminately into people’s homes, and that the junta has been systematically destroying legal protections and crushing freedom of expression and assembly.Last month, the United States announced sanctions on the Burmese military regime.Earlier this week, the U.S. placed sanctions on the two adult children of Burmese military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.The United States has called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi, ousted President Win Myint, and protesters, journalists and human rights activists who have been unjustly detained since the takeover.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday he was traveling to Asia to boost military cooperation with American allies and foster “credible deterrence” against China.Austin kicked off via Hawaii, seat of the American military command for the Indo-Pacific region, his first foreign visits as Pentagon chief.”This is all about alliances and partnerships,” he told reporters on the trip that is to include meetings with key allies in Tokyo, New Delhi and Seoul.”It’s also about enhancing capabilities,” he added, recalling that while the United States was focused on the anti-jihadist struggle in the Middle East, China was modernizing its army at high speed.”That competitive edge that we’ve had has eroded,” he said. “We still maintain that edge. We are going to increase that edge going forward.””Our goal is to make sure that we have the capabilities and the operational plans… to be able to offer a credible deterrence to China or anybody else who would want to take on the US,” he added.Lloyd will be joined in Tokyo and Seoul by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.”One of the things that the secretary of state and I want to do is begin to strengthen those alliances,” he said. “This will be more about listening and learning, getting their point of view.”This tour in Asia of the heads of diplomacy and defense of the United States follows an unprecedented summit of the “Quad,” an informal alliance born in the 2000s to counterbalance a rising China.Blinken will join President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in Anchorage on March 18 with their Chinese counterparts Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi.The Alaska talks will be the first between the powers since Yang met Blinken’s hawkish predecessor Mike Pompeo in June in Hawaii — a setting similarly far from the high-stakes glare of national capitals.The Biden administration has generally backed the tougher approach to China initiated by former President Donald Trump but has also insisted that it can be more effective by shoring up alliances and seeking narrow ways to cooperate on priorities such as climate change. 
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Since the Myanmar military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government on February 1, thousands of coup protesters have resisted the junta daily, despite the increasing bloodshed.
 
The Myanmar military has occupied the streets with armored vehicles, while openly repressing demonstrators by firing live ammunition that has left scores dead.
 
The protesters re a main defiant, though they don’t have one formal leader, and Myanmar’s high-profile activists have played a prominent role in resisting the military’s overhaul of the country.
 
Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a youth activist and television host, is a well-known name in Myanmar. Her efforts resisting the coup are widely followed, and they include organizing and leading demonstrations on the ground.
 
But the 29-year-old told VOA in an audio call, her activism has been a long time coming.
 “I’ve been hearing all these news things a long time ago, so I became an activist. The first thing I’ve been hearing was from the civil war. Now I feel like the coup took all of our hopes, put us all in the darkest place, it is totally mentally disheartening, depressing. I felt I couldn’t find a way out of it anymore,” she said.
 
Thinzar Shunlei Yi says her activism stems from when she was attending university in Yangon. At just 18 years old, she was giving a presentation about voter education before one of her teachers hushed her off stage, insisting she couldn’t talk about politics or parliamentary issues. She remembered feeling “embarrassed,” though it only served to motivate her even more.
 
“I felt angry to do more,” she said.
 
Her many advocacy roles have included being a member of various youth forums and of the U.S. Ambassadors Youth Council, which highlights human rights and discrimination issues in Myanmar.FILE – Protester run from police during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, March 8, 2021.But despite her growing international profile, Thinzar Shunlei Yi admits being a female activist has its challenges, and she still feels the discrimination.
 
“If I’m the organizer that’s OK, because people know who I am. But if I just try to get into a random protest, they will just treat me like a woman—like the woman they believe I should be. I think they are over-protecting, but I think this is a traditional kind of thing,” she said.
 
Notably, two young women in Myanmar have been killed during the coup that began about six weeks ago, sparking an international outcry.
 
In February, Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, 20, was the first protester who was shot and killed during a demonstration in Myanmar’s capital city, Naypyitaw. In early March, Ma Kyel Sin, 19, reportedly was seen running away from the military forces, only to be fatally shot.
 
Thinzar Shunlei Yi said women might have been targeted by the military in efforts to “scare” other women from taking part in protests.
 
The military’s tactics have included soldiers raiding households at night, despite night curfews because of precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
“Nights are even harder. Every night I’m sleeping in my hideout place, I know I can get arrested. They are shooting around my house, looking for something always, it can be me, it can be someone else. It is mentally painful these days. I cannot eat or sleep well,” she admitted.
 
The political conflict in Myanmar has spanned more than seven decades. In 1948, Burma as it was formerly known, gained independence from Britain. There has been a series of insurgencies since then, largely ethnic-based hostilities.  
 
In 2015, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, her National League of Democracy (NLD) party won the country’s first open democratic election.But in last November’s general elections, the military contested election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, without evidence. On February 1, the Myanmar military, also known as Tatmadaw, removed the NLD government. Leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained and have since been charged.FILE – Anti-coup protesters carry pictures of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar, March 2, 2021.Thinzar Shunlei Yi was once dubbed “the new Aung San Suu Kyi” and has admitted the NLD leader has been a huge influence.
 
“I become who I am because of Aung San Suu Kyi. It’s so rare for us to see a woman recognized internationally, and an educated woman, a brave woman. I respect her a lot,” she told VOA.
 
But with the NLD leader still detained, protests are continuing daily, with news of arrests and deaths now a recurring theme. According to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB), there have been 2,092 people arrested, charged or sentenced since the coup, with more than 70 fatalities.
 
And with Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day approaching on March 27, featuring an annual military parade, there are concerns the day could be significant.
 
“The Tatmadaw is aggressive, we will never underestimate them. I think in terms of their behavior, they already ruined their reputation. They are already in their worst forms, they have already shown their true colors,” says Thinzar Shunlei Yi.
 
But she admitted the coup has “pushed us to be more united.”
 
“We have a long-time mission and vision,” she said. “I see a peaceful country, where everyone despite their ethnicity, religions or sexual orientation, can have an equal chance if they want to. It can be accomplished when we agree with a federal democratic nation.
 
Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution provides the military with a quarter of the seats within the country’s parliament, seen as preventing the nations democratic progression.
 
“Our future must be defined by the civilians, not by the soldiers. In Myanmar, we have no choice, and we already have the mind to win this battle.”   
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United Nations officials are condemning the arbitrary killing of nine activists in four provinces in the Philippines earlier this week in what they say appear to have been coordinated, simultaneous police-military operations.
   
This is not the first time such killings have taken place. On December 30, nine Tumandok indigenous peoples’ rights activists were killed in Panay during similar joint operations.
 
The U.N. human rights office reports eight men and one woman were killed in this latest joint police and military operation. Agency spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the police obtained search warrants. They were presented as part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign against the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
 
Shamdasani said security personnel then entered the activists’ homes in the dead of night and shot them.   
    
“So, these search warrants were obtained in this context to conduct searches for weapons held as part of the communist insurgency.  However … these operations were carried out in the middle of the night and those who were killed were working on issues such as the rights of fishing communities, indigenous peoples’ rights, housing rights of people rendered homeless or people who have been evicted from urban slums,” she said.  
    
Shamdasani called the near total impunity for the use of lethal force by the police and the military shocking, saying it must end.
 
“We are deeply worried that these latest killings indicate an escalation in violence, intimidation, and harassment and ‘red-tagging’ of human rights defenders. There is a history of human rights advocates being “red-tagged”—or being accused of being fronts for the armed wing of the Communist Party in the Philippines,” Shamdasani said.     
U.N. rights chief Michele Bachelet warned in June of the dangers of such public labeling. She called for the protection of human rights defenders, journalists and others at risk.   
 
However, Shamdasani said Bachelet’s plea has not been heeded. She said dozens of activists and several journalists have been arrested, intimidated and harassed since then.  
 
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Malaysia is using new powers under emergency rule to increase jail time for spreading what authorities call fake news about the coronavirus pandemic or the emergency itself, sidestepping the usual route through Parliament.
 
The government says tougher penalties are needed to fight off mounting misinformation about the pandemic, which has hit Malaysia harder than most of its neighbors.  
 
Lawyers, reporters and rights groups fear the tougher penalties portend a crackdown on government critics, calling the measures “dangerous” and “draconian.”
 
Malaysia joins several other countries with similar regulations.
 
Since the outbreak of the pandemic more than a year ago, 17 countries have added or beefed-up penalties for “fake news,” according to the International Press Institute, often amid claims from critics of abusing the term to stifle honest dissent. Of the eight countries in Asia, four are in Southeast Asia alone. Malaysia makes it five.
 
“This is a trend that we’re seeing more and more, especially … associated with the rise in social media and the sort of proliferation of expression online,” said Matthew Bugher, Asia program director for Article 19, a British rights group that advocates for freedom of speech and information.
 Devil in the details
 
Malaysia’s fake news ordinance sets a jail term of up to three years for publishing or sharing any “wholly or partly false” information about either the pandemic or a state of emergency that took effect in January. Jail terms can double for those who help fund the publication of that information. Fines for each offense top out at about $24,000 and $121,000, respectively.
 
Lawmakers had no say in the new rules as the state of emergency King Al-Sultan Abdullah decreed at Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s request suspended Parliament until August 1. The government announced the new rules Thursday and put them into force Friday.
 
Public backlash has been swift and strong.
 
Lawyers and rights groups say they are alarmed both by the details of the order and by the lack thereof. They say the rules are missing a clear definition of fake news and in effect let authorities ignore the standards for prosecuting an alleged crime set out in the country’s Evidence Act.
 
“That means it would be very easy for them to basically charge anyone under this law,” said Ding Jo Ann, an adviser to Malaysia’s Center for Independent Journalism.
By imposing fines and jail time on anyone who refuses to give passwords or encryption codes to authorities investigating related cases, the ordinance “will create a climate of fear,” Lawyers for Liberty, a local rights group, said in a statement.
 
The Bar Council of Malaysia told local news outlet Free Malaysia Today that the ordinance lets authorities ignore several fair trial rules, making it a “highly dangerous piece of legislation which has the potential to be abused.”
 
State-run news outlet Bernama also reported that authorities cannot be sued over how they enforce the ordinance, even for any mistakes they make “in good faith.”FILE – An armed soldier stands guard at a roadblock on the first day of a movement restrictions in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jan. 13, 2021.Controlling the narrative
 
Bugher said the wide berth the new rules give the government to define fake news is a recipe for abuse.
 
“It sort of allows the government to be the final arbiter of truth. And what we see regularly is that when the governments are given the power to decide what is true and what is false, those powers usually end up in the targeting of government critics,” he said.
 
Muhyiddin’s government has plenty of those, said Ding, who worries the new rules have more to do with “controlling the narrative” than fighting fake news.
 
“This government has faced tremendous criticism from the very day they took office, from the manner in which they took office, and henceforth every single day of how they have conducted themselves. People are very critical of the way they have handled or mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
 
Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister by the king in February 2020 after a sudden shift in political alliances brought the sitting government crashing down, bringing him and his cabinet to power without an election. When Muhyiddin asked the king for the state of emergency, to help him rein in a COVID-19 surge, many saw a prime minister with shrinking support in Parliament desperate to hold on to power by averting the threat of a snap election.
 
Despite early success keeping the pandemic at bay, Malaysia has now racked up the third-most infections in Southeast Asia, with more than 320,000 confirmed cases.
 
The prime minister’s public relations office did not answer VOA’s calls or respond to a request for comment by email.
 
The government defended the fake news ordnance at a press conference Friday.
 
Communications Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said existing laws were ill-suited to keep up with the spread of fake news on social media and that the new rules would make law enforcement more agile.
 
“Our interest is in fighting COVID-19 and we will do whatever it takes,” he said. “We take cognizance of the fact that we have to be fair, we have to be just in carrying out our duties.”
 Fact from fiction
 
Ding said the government would be better off countering fake news by doing more to help Malaysians separate fact from fiction online and urging the social media giants to keep misinformation and disinformation from going viral.
 
Bugher suggested the government step up its own fact-checking and fact-sharing operations rather than risk stifling news that could actually help.
 
“What’s worrying about laws like these is that it can sometimes tamp down good-faith discussion of issues that need to be discussed, because if people don’t feel that they have the ability to say something wrong without going to jail then they’re not going to discuss matters,” he said.
 
“In the context of a pandemic, for example, you really want people to share concerns if they think there may be an outbreak or if you think that the government is not doing what it should to address an outbreak in a certain area,” he added. “These types of laws can really chill that type of speech.”
 
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New Zealand on Saturday marked the second anniversary of one of its most traumatic days, when 51 worshippers were killed at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist gunman.Several hundred people gathered at the Christchurch Arena for the remembrance service, which was also livestreamed. A similar service planned for last year was canceled at short notice due to the sudden spread of the coronavirus.Kiran Munir, whose husband, Haroon Mahmood, was killed in the attacks, told the crowd she had lost the love of her life and her soulmate. She said her husband was a loving father of their two children. He’d just finished a doctoral degree and was looking forward to his graduation ceremony when she last saw his smiling face.“Little did I know that the next time I would see him the body and soul would not be together,” she said. “Little did I know that the darkest day in New Zealand’s history had dawned. That day my heart broke into a thousand pieces, just like the hearts of the 50 other families.”Temel Atacocugu, who survived being shot nine times during the attack on the Al Noor mosque, said the slaughter was caused by racism and ignorance. “They were attacks on all of humanity,” he said.He said the survivors would never be able to erase the pain in their hearts and would never be the same.“However, the future is in our hands,” he said. “We will go on and we will be positive together.”In the March 15, 2019, attacks, Australian Brenton Tarrant killed 44 people at the Al Noor mosque during Friday prayers before driving to the Linwood mosque, where he killed seven more.Last year Tarrant, 30, pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism, He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.After the attacks, New Zealand quickly passed new laws banning the deadliest types of semiautomatic weapons.During the service, the names of each of the 51 people who were killed were read out. The efforts of first responders, including police and medics, were also acknowledged.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the crowd that when preparing her speech, she had been at a loss for what to say because words would never change what happened.“But while words cannot perform miracles, they do have the power to heal,” she said.The Muslim community had experienced hatred and racism even before the attacks, she said, and words should be used for change.“There will be an unquestionable legacy from March 15,” Ardern said. “Much of it will be heartbreaking. But it is never too early or too late for the legacy to be a more inclusive nation.”
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Fugitive lawmaker Ted Hui has become the first Hong Kong politician allowed into Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The move has spurred China to accuse Canberra of interfering in its domestic affairs.Pro-democracy former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui has been at the center of some unruly scenes in Hong Kong’s parliament. He once threw a bag of rotten plants into the Legislative Council chamber to disrupt a debate.He fled Hong Kong while on bail in 2019, in a case related to anti-government protests, but still faces national security charges. He went to Europe but has been granted a visitor’s visa by Australia. Australia closed its borders to foreign travelers a year ago because of the pandemic, but Hui has been given special permission to fly to the northern city of Darwin.He arrived this week with his family and all are in mandatory COVID-19 quarantine.Hui told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he was grateful for Canberra’s support.“I did explain to the Australian government about my situation and what my family is experiencing as an exile,” he said. “They granted me permission on [the] basis of compelling and compassionate reasons. I could actually get on a repatriation flight with other Australians going home. It was very kind of the Australian government and I am grateful for everything given for me.”Hui believes he is better placed to fight for democracy in Hong Kong in exile in Australia with other like-minded activists. He has called for a stronger international response to national security laws imposed by China in Hong Kong.However, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has accused Australia of meddling in its domestic politics and harboring a fugitive.Relations between Australia and its biggest trading partner are at their lowest in decades. The list of disagreements is long. There has been friction 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.In a sign of escalating tensions, Beijing has imposed restrictions on several Australian farm exports, including barley and wine, and on coal. China is Australia’s biggest trading partner.Analysts say Hui’s arrival in Darwin will add more friction to an increasingly tense relationship.
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The U.S., Japan, Australia and India, the grouping also known as the Quad, announced Friday financing agreements to support ramping up production in India of up to a billion doses of coronavirus vaccine, to be used in Southeast Asian countries. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.Produced by: Henry Hernandez 
 
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Leaked documents obtained by VOA reveal China asked Myanmar’s military government late last month to tighten pipeline security during ongoing anti-coup protests, suggesting growing tension in what seemed to be a cozy relationship between the neighboring nations.Beijing asked for increased security around the pipeline and help with encouraging more positive news media coverage of China during a February 23 meeting with Burmese officials. Shortly afterward, Myanmar’s generals hired a lobbyist to publicly distance their unpopular regime from China.“China seeking assurances from a brutal and hated regime is the worst one could do at a time like this,” Khin Zaw Win, founder of the Yangon think tank Tampadipa Institute, told VOA on Thursday. “The real problem is the coup, which the people see as a return to military dictatorship.”The protests were triggered by the February 1 coup after the military claimed voter fraud in the November 8 general elections. More than 80% of voters backed the pro-democracy party of Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung Sun Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s electoral commission Myanmar nun Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng kneels in front of police to ask security forces to refrain from violence against children and residents amid anti-coup protests in Myitkyina, Myanmar, March 8, 2021, in this still image taken from video.Noting “the distinction is significant,” Yun said that “Chinese frustration with the domestic violence and instability in Myanmar is growing quickly — they are in every way bad for Chinese interests in the country and its international reputation. But it does not suggest that China will abandon its non-interference principle, agree to U.N. sanctions and international intervention just yet.”China’s relationship with the Myanmar military reflects a “coziness” only in comparison to Western countries’ relationship with the military, said Yun.“Inside Myanmar, you could say China has had a cozier relationship with the NLD,” she told VOA. “It was the quasi-democratic Thein Sein government that suspended Chinese projects and agitated anti-China sentiment, and it was the NLD government that helped China to repair its reputation and regain its influence in Myanmar.”The leaked documents from a February 23 meeting show the extent of China’s influence over its neighbor.According to the meeting minutes obtained by VOA’s Burmese Service, Bai Tian, the director-general of the department of external security affairs under China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asked Myanmar’s military regime to assure the security of the FILE – Protesters hold signs of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on Feb. 26, 2021.In an interview with Reuters on March 6, Ben-Menashe said Suu Kyi had grown too close to China for the generals’ liking.  ”There’s a real push to move towards the West and the United States as opposed to trying to get closer to the Chinese. They don’t want to be a Chinese puppet,” said Ben-Menashe. “They want to get out of politics completely … but it’s a process.”The Stimson Center’s Yun said, “This is the same argument it played back in 2011 — that Myanmar does not want to be in China’s pocket. But given the severity of the coup and violence, I doubt the argument will gain much traction.”Khin Zaw Win, of the Tampadipa Institute, warned the international community not to trust the lobbyist’s clients.The generals are not holding out “an olive branch at all,” he said. Ben-Menashe’s comments are “a ruse to avert more pressure from the West.”Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, a global affairs think tank, told VOA in a phone interview that it’s basically impossible for the junta to improve relations with the U.S. and the West.“Even if it’s true that they want to improve the relations, they completely undermined the relations by launching the coup, repressing the journalists, occupying the hospitals and killing the innocent people,” he said.Since the coup, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Burmese military. The latest came Wednesday when the U.S. Treasury Department added Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon, two adult children of Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led the coup and installed himself as head of the ruling State Administration Council. The U.S. action added six companies the two own or control to its sanctions list, according to the department’s website.”Today, the United States is taking further actions to respond to the violence enabled by Burma’s military leaders, to promote accountability for those responsible for the coup, and to target those who benefit financially from their connections to the military regime,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. ” The leaders of the coup, and their adult family members, should not be able to continue to derive benefits from the regime as it resorts to violence and tightens its stranglehold on democracy.”Last month, on February 11, the U.S. Treasury said it had sanctioned 10 individuals and three organizations “who played a leading role in the overthrow of Burma’s democratically elected government.”US Sanctions Myanmar Military Leaders Involved in CoupTreasury says sanctions not directed at citizens On February 22, it imposed sanctions on two more Myanmar military officials.US Sanctions Myanmar Military Officials Latest economic action in response to coup includes call to reinstate elected government   
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A United Nations investigator is accusing Myanmar’s military junta of likely crimes against humanity and is urging international coordinated action to isolate and get rid of the regime.  The report is under review by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Special raporteur Thomas Andrews says that since Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government February 1, security forces have murdered at least 70 people and arbitrarily arrested more than 2,000.He says there is video evidence of security forces viciously beating protestors, destroying property, looting shops, and firing indiscriminately into people’s homes.  He says the junta has been systematically destroying legal protections and crushing freedom of expression and assembly. Andrews notes the current leadership of what he calls a murderous, illegal regime is facing charges of genocide before the International Court of Justice.  The military is accused of human rights abuses committed in Rakhine state against the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority.“It should come as little surprise that there is growing evidence that this same Myanmar military, led by the same senior leadership, is now engaging in crimes against humanity, including the acts of murder, enforced disappearance, persecution, torture, and imprisonment in violation of fundamental rules of international law,” Andrews says.   Shields with attached pictures of Myanmar’s military junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing are seen during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, March 1, 2021.Andrews says there is growing evidence that these acts of cruelty are part of a coordinated, systematic campaign rather than a series of isolated events.  He is calling on other countries to take strong, coordinated action to stop these atrocities.“Stop the flow of revenue into the illegal junta’s coffers.  This can happen now,” Andrews says. “Multilateral sanctions should be imposed on both senior junta leaders and their major sources of revenue, including military-owned and -controlled enterprises and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.”   He notes Myanmar’s natural gas projects will generate an estimated $1 billion in revenue this year.  Without sanctions, he warns, the military junta will be able to use these funds to support its criminal enterprise and attack innocent people.Permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chan Aye, says the Tatmadaw, as the military is also called, did not want to stall the nascent democratic transition in the country.  However, he says, it had no choice, given, what he described as last November’s fraudulent general election.  The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission.He says the authorities have been exercising utmost restraint in dealing with violent protests.  He says his government is committed to restore and maintain the democratic transition in accordance with the existing State Constitution.
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The Philippines has gotten a measure of control over its once-runaway COVID-19 outbreak through strict lockdowns and a year of school closures, coupled with widespread use of face protectors, experts and citizens on the ground say.The Southeast Asian country known for its migratory population — Filipinos work throughout the developed world — has reported fewer than 2,000 new cases per day most of the time since October, down from as much as 6,275 cases previously. Daily counts fell below 1,000 at the start of January.Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, only Indonesia struggled last year with the same level of  daily COVID-19 caseload surges. Most countries around Northeast Asia, including the coronavirus’s apparent source, China, recovered early last year, despite isolated flare-ups.Border closures that remain in effect and enforced stay-home orders in the nation of 109 million’s larger cities get the most credit for bringing cases down, residents and a United Nations official say.Meanwhile, medical personnel are better equipped now to do tests for the virus and trace the contacts of the sick than they were a year ago, according to Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in the Philippines’ Quezon City.Adding support, ordinary Filipinos have accepted the use of face masks and face shields in public.Public school classes have not met in person for a year, said Behzad Noubary, Philippine deputy UNICEF representative.“These are the aspects that have contributed to [caseload declines] — the international closure, which has lasted a long time, and a really, really prolonged lockdown,” Noubary told VOA in a call on Thursday.“Schools have been closed a year now, no in-person classes since then, and most of the country has been in quite strict lockdown,” he said.In June, when caseloads were higher, stay-home orders had begun easing before hospitals could get their equipment ready and coordinate with each other to handle the coronavirus, said Maria Ela Atienza, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman.People still went outside without masks then, sometimes to find work in an increasingly desperate economy, as well as to join friends and relatives in tight spaces where the virus could quickly spread.Local authorities, however, now sometimes enforce stay-home orders so strictly they even force residents to turn back if they go out too far from their doorways, domestic media and people on the ground say.Meanwhile, metro Manila reportedly plans new curfews from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Monday because of a recent spike in cases.Ordinary people are doing their share now in controlling cases, Rabena said.“It’s because the people have exercised more caution,” Rabena said. “Here, when you go out, you wear a mask and a face shield. Everybody is still careful. Compared to last year of course, this year is much better.”Marivic Arcega, operator of an animal feed distributor in the Manila suburb of Cavite, has gone all-out to keep herself and her surroundings safe.She employs only a “skeletal” staff plus a driver who does delivery, Arcega said. A son takes college courses online and another lives in central Manila but seldom comes home. When he does visit, Arcega said, he rides in a friend’s car rather than taking public transit. Her husband never goes out. Customers are told to keep a distance.“Us here at the store, no facemask, no entry, and then my cashier is enclosed in a booth, and we’re all wearing face shields,” said Arcega, 52. “I stay inside my office and don’t interact with the customers anymore. If they speak to me, [it is] from the door of my office. They don’t really come in.”The millions of vaccine doses that the Philippines has secured so far are boosting morale, Rabena said. The government aims to loosen neighborhood quarantine rules as more people become immunized, he believes.Officials hope to pull the Philippines out of a sharp recession caused by store closures and people being stuck at home rather than able to work outside. The country’s economy contracted 9.5% last year after sharp annual upturns in the previous half-decade.If family incomes shrink 30%, per a worst-case estimate, up to 45% of Philippine children would live in poverty, up from 24% now, Noubary said. The Philippines, he said, already has paid a “significant price” in terms of child poverty.UNICEF has supplied personal protective equipment and cleaning solutions to poor families and helped provide vaccines that are on the ground today. It is now nudging the government to reopen schools little by little in parts of the archipelago with low COVID-19 caseloads as online learning has caused 2.7 million children to drop out of the school system, Noubary said.
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