New figures show that migration to Australia plummeted last year to the lowest level in more than 100 years.Modern Australia has been built on immigration. Thirty percent of the population was born overseas. Migrants from England are the biggest group, followed by India and China. Australia has relied on new settlers for much of its economic growth in recent decades. But COVID-19 has applied the brakes to immigration. The government in Canberra closed the country’s borders to most foreign nationals in March 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19, and those restrictions are likely to remain for another year.  In 2020, just 3,300 migrants moved to Australia — a small fraction of the 244,000 arrivals the previous year. The collapse in numbers has affected many businesses unable to recruit skilled workers from overseas, as well as universities which have relied on large numbers of international students.  Mark McCrindle, founder of the McCrindle Research agency, says the turnaround has been significant. “It is phenomenal. We were growing through migration. In fact, prior to the pandemic 60% of our population growth was because of arrivals from overseas. Last year that was just 2%. So, 98% of our growth is natural increase at the moment and even the births are not doing very well. So, we just have not seen such low numbers, such small growth in Australia for a century,” McCrindle said.Canberra has set a limit of 13,750 places on its annual Refugee and Humanitarian Program, although border closures have made it almost impossible for successful applicants to travel to Australia. The pandemic has also reshaped internal migration in Australia. Regional areas that are outside of major cities have had their largest net inflow of people since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) started measuring domestic migration in 2001.  The ABS said 43,000 Australians moved to regional areas from major cities in 2020, more than double the number in 2019. Experts have estimated that it could take Australia as much as a decade for its immigration intake to return to pre-pandemic levels. 
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Around a third of Japanese now back holding the Olympics, up from just 14 percent last month, a new poll showed Monday, though a majority still prefer cancellation or postponement because of the pandemic. The poll reinforces other recent surveys that suggest opposition to Tokyo 2020 is softening slightly, just over a month before the July 23 opening ceremony. Support for holding the virus-postponed Games rose to 34 percent, according to the poll by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper published on Monday. However, 32 percent still want the Games to be cancelled altogether and 30 percent want the games to be delayed again, down from 43 percent and 40 percent in last month’s survey, respectively. Organizers have ruled out postponing the Games again, and the first Olympic athletes have already arrived in Japan. The Asahi survey was conducted on June 19 and 20, with 1,469 responses from people contacted on home and mobile phones. It comes after several recent surveys that offered respondents the choice between cancelling the Games or holding it — with no postponement option — found that more back holding the event than scrapping it. The shift in sentiment will be welcome news for organizers, who are expected to announce later Monday how many local fans, if any, will be in the stands for the Games. After a coronavirus state of emergency ended in Tokyo on Sunday, new restrictions limit audiences at large events to 5,000 people or 50 percent capacity, whichever is smallest. That rule is scheduled to be in place until July 11, after which the cap will expand to 10,000 people or 50 percent capacity. Local media reports suggest Olympic organizers will set a 10,000 spectator cap, but that the audience for the opening ceremony could swell to 20,000 including dignitaries and sponsors. Japan has seen a comparatively small virus outbreak, with around 14,500 deaths despite avoiding harsh lockdowns. But its vaccine rollout started slowly, only picking up pace in recent weeks. Around 6.5 percent of the population is currently fully vaccinated. 
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Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics after being selected by New Zealand for the women’s event at the Tokyo Games, a decision set to test the ideal of fair competition in sport.Hubbard will compete in the super-heavyweight 87-kg category, her selection made possible by updated qualifying requirements.The 43-year-old had competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before transitioning in 2013.”I am grateful and humbled by the kindness and support that has been given to me by so many New Zealanders,” Hubbard said in a statement issued by the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) on Monday.Hubbard has been eligible to compete at Olympics since 2015, when the International Olympic Committee issued guidelines allowing any transgender athlete to compete as a woman provided their testosterone levels are below 10 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months before their first competition.Some scientists have said the guidelines do little to mitigate the biological advantages of those who have gone through puberty as males, including bone and muscle density.Advocates for transgender inclusion argue the process of transition decreases that advantage considerably and that physical differences between athletes mean there is never a truly level playing field.NZOC CEO Kereyn Smith said Hubbard met IOC and the International Weightlifting Federation’s selection criteria.”We acknowledge that gender identity in sport is a highly sensitive and complex issue requiring a balance between human rights and fairness on the field of play,” Smith said.”As the New Zealand Team, we have a strong culture of …. inclusion and respect for all.”Save Women’s Sport Australasia, an advocacy group for women athletes, criticized Hubbard’s selection.”It is flawed policy from the IOC that has allowed the selection of a 43-year-old biological male who identifies as a woman to compete in the female category,” the group said in a statement.Weightlifting has been at the center of the debate over the fairness of transgender athletes competing against women, and Hubbard’s presence in Tokyo could prove divisive.Her gold medal wins at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, where she topped the podium ahead of Samoa’s Commonwealth Games champion Feagaiga Stowers, triggered outrage in the host nation.Samoa’s weightlifting boss said Hubbard’s selection for Tokyo would be like letting athletes “dope” and feared it could cost the small Pacific nation a medal.Belgian weightlifter Anna Vanbellinghen said last month allowing Hubbard to compete at Tokyo was unfair for women and “like a bad joke.”Australia’s weightlifting federation sought to block Hubbard from competing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast but organizers rejected the move.Hubbard was forced to withdraw after injuring herself during competition, and thought her career was over.”When I broke my arm at the Commonwealth Games three years ago, I was advised that my sporting career had likely reached its end,” said Hubbard on Monday, thanking New Zealanders.”But your support, your encouragement, and your aroha (love) carried me through the darkness.”Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand President Richie Patterson said Hubbard had “grit and perseverance” to return from injury and rebuild her confidence.”We look forward to supporting her in her final preparations towards Tokyo,” he said. 
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The owners of a container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March have made a new offer in a compensation dispute with the canal authority, and a court ruling on the case was postponed for two weeks on Sunday to allow more time for negotiations. The giant Ever Given container ship has been anchored in a lake between two stretches of the canal since it was dislodged on March 29. It had been grounded across the canal for six days, blocking hundreds of ships and disrupting global trade. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) demanded $916 million in compensation to cover salvage efforts, reputational damage and lost revenue, before publicly lowering the request to $550 million. The Ever Given’s Japanese owners Shoei Kisen and its insurers have disputed the claim and the ship’s detention under an Egyptian court order. Negotiations had been ongoing until Saturday and the ship’s owners had made a new offer, SCA lawyer Khaled Abu Bakr told a court hearing over the ship’s detention in Ismailia. Stann Marine, which represents the owners and insurers of the Ever Given, said: “Over the course of more than 15 days and in extended, long and arduous, but positive working sessions, negotiations are taking place.” “During the negotiations we submitted a proposal that we believe satisfies all the requirements of the SCA,” it said in a statement, adding that the details would remain confidential. The SCA’s chairman previously said Shoei Kisen had offered to pay $150 million.A court ruling was due on Sunday after several delays, but Stann Marine said it had asked for an adjournment. Judicial sources said the case was postponed until July 4 to allow for an “amicable settlement.” This week UK P&I Club, one of the ship’s insurers, said it was “hopeful of a positive resolution to these negotiations in the near future.” 
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Taiwan said seven employees of its trade office in Hong Kong left the financial hub on Sunday after authorities there demanded they sign a pledge recognizing China’s sovereignty over the self-ruled island.The move comes after both Hong Kong and Macau closed their trade offices in Taipei and as Beijing seeks to pile diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan.Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Hong Kong’s government had demanded its trade office staff sign a “one China pledge,” which supports Beijing’s view that the island is part of its territory.Taiwan’s current democratically elected government views the island as a de facto sovereign state.”China and Hong Kong government use the ‘one China pledge’ to set up barriers and affect the rotation of staff and normal operations of our office in Hong Kong,” Taiwan’s MAC said in a statement on Sunday.”We firmly reject the irrational political suppression of forcing our staff to sign the ‘one China pledge,’ and condemn the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities over this.”Seven staff members flew out of Hong Kong on Sunday, MAC deputy chief Chiu Chui-cheng said.Just one Taiwanese employee is left in the office, although their visa runs out next month. The only remaining members will be local staff.Chiu said that the pledge Hong Kong demanded staff sign also included a promise not to “interfere with Hong Kong’s affairs, nor to do or say anything that undermines Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity or that embarrasses the Hong Kong government.”Taiwan is a major trading partner with both China and Hong Kong but relations between their governments are cratering.Last month, Hong Kong suspended operations of its trade office in Taiwan.It accused Taiwan of “grossly interfering” in the city’s affairs and causing “irretrievable damage” to relations.Macau followed in shutting its office last Wednesday, saying it was having trouble getting visas for staff.Both Hong Kong and Macau are semi-autonomous cities, but Beijing decides foreign policy and is ramping up direct control in both former colonies.China had encouraged trade offices when relations were warmer with Taiwan.But after the 2016 election of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, Beijing cut official contacts and began a concerted pressure campaign.Tsai’s government is also a vocal supporter of democratic principles and has quietly helped open its doors to some Hong Kongers trying to escape Beijing’s crackdown on dissent after huge democracy protests rocked the financial hub in 2019.Hong Kong says that amounts to “interference.”   
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Sunday is World Refugee Day. June 20 is a day designated by the United Nations to honor and celebrate the world’s refugees.UNCHR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, says World Refugee Day is “an occasion to build empathy and understanding” for the plight of refugees and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday, “Today, I join people around the globe in commemorating World Refugee Day, a day when we recognize the courage and humanity of the millions forced to flee violence, persecution, and war.”Biden also said, “On this day, we reaffirm our sacred commitment to alleviate suffering through humanitarian relief, and redouble our efforts to achieve lasting solutions for refugees—including through resettlement. We also recommit to engaging in diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the ongoing conflicts that compel refugees to seek safety elsewhere.”There are more refugees today than there have ever been, UNHCR reports, despite the restrictions and closures imposed on people and countries because of the COVID-19 pandemic.UNHCR said in a statement that, “the number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations in 2020 rose to nearly 82.4 million,” a number representing a “4% increase on top of the already record-high 79.5 million at the end of 2019.”“And what is quite shocking,” UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Gillian Triggs told VOA’s Laurel Bowman, “is that over the last 10 years the numbers of people who are refugees or forcibly displaced has more than doubled. Something like 48% are children or youths, so we really have generations of children who are separated from their countries of origin.”UNHCR urges the world to remember that “Behind each number is a person forced from their home and a story of displacement, dispossession and suffering. They merit our attention and support not just with humanitarian aid, but in finding solutions to their plight.”World Refugee Day was held globally for the first time on June 20, 2001, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. It was originally known as Africa Refugee Day, before the U.N. General Assembly officially designated it as an international day in December 2000.
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Australia is asking the World Trade Organization to intervene in its dispute with China over the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Australian wine exports.Relations between Australia and China, its biggest trading partner, are at their worst in decades. There has been diplomatic friction over regional geopolitical flashpoints, including Beijing’s growing military ambitions in the South China Sea. Tensions escalated last year when Australia demanded an inquiry into the origins of the new coronavirus, which was first detected in China in late 2019. It was a move that infuriated Beijing, where it was interpreted as criticism of its handling of the pandemic.Since then, China has imposed tough economic sanctions on a range of Australian commodities.Beijing accused Australia of illegally subsidizing its wine producers, and in November announced additional import taxes of more than 200% on Australian wine for five years.China was Australia’s most valuable wine export market, but the duties have almost killed off that lucrative trade. Australian officials have denied the wine industry has been subsidized, as China has alleged.Australia’s ambassador in Beijing said China’s campaign of economic punishment against his country was “vindictive.”Prime Minister Scott Morrison also warned that his government would respond to “economic coercion.”Canberra has said it will now appeal China’s tariffs on wine exports to the World Trade Organization.“In March this year the Chinese government put countervailing duties on Australian wine ranging between 116% to 220%,” said Australian trade minister Dan Tehan. “That has had a serious impact on the Australian wine industry. Our exports have fallen from 1.1 billion [Australian] dollars to approximately $20 million. As a result, and following close consultation with the Australian wine industry, and I thank them for the cooperative way they have worked with the government, we have decided to take this wine dispute to the World Trade Organization.”The action came just days after a summit of the G-7 grouping of advanced economies echoed Australia’s call for a tougher stand against China’s trade practices.It is the second time in six months Canberra has called in the WTO. The first was after China applied tariffs to Australian barley exports.The WTO resolution process involves lengthy consultations and possible adjudication.Analysts warn that the WTO is unlikely to reach a conclusion regarding the contentious wine tariffs for some years.
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Thailand has begun human trials with two of four homegrown vaccine candidates local scientists are developing against COVID-19, as the country scrambles to secure shots from abroad amid its worst wave of infections since the pandemic began.The homegrown vaccines will not be ready for mass production in time to help Thailand fight off the latest wave. Officials and developers are hoping, though, that they will arrive in time to give Thailand — and maybe its neighbors — booster shots tailored to the main variants of the novel coronavirus by next year.“The vaccine will be against the variants like the South African variant and the Indian variant and others, so that will be our strategy,” said Kiat Ruxrungtham, who is spearheading development of one of the most anticipated candidates at Chulalongkorn University’s Vaccine Research Center in Bangkok.A shot in the armFor now, Thailand is relying on a mix of vaccines from foreign drugmakers to reach herd immunity by the end of the year.Having kept infection rates low through 2020 with tight border controls and strict social distancing, Thailand secured relatively few doses early in the pandemic. It bought a few million shots from China’s Sinovac for the most vulnerable and struck a deal with AstraZeneca that lets local drugmaker SiamBioscience manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine in the country.Then came the third wave in April, sending death and infection rates to record highs, and authorities on a vaccine shopping spree, striking deals with Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Sinopharm. The government says it has now locked in 105.5 million doses, enough to cover over 70% of Thailand’s 69 million people, and is looking for more.Thai authorities and developers, though, still see a crucial role for the homegrown vaccines.Tanarak Plipat, deputy director-general of disease control at the Public Health Ministry, said the new vaccines will help keep Thailand safe once the effects of the first full round of doses start wearing off.“There [is] growing evidence that very soon we may need the booster dose of the vaccine, I mean the third or the fourth or the fifth. We don’t exactly know about that, and we don’t know how frequent we need to boost the antibodies,” he said.“So in the long run, I think we are going to need a constant supply,” he said.He said some of the vaccines Thailand is developing may also prove better at fending off infection from some of the more contagious variants sweeping the globe. The alpha variant, first identified in Britain, is already the dominant strain in Thailand. The Health Ministry’s medical sciences department recently warned that the even more contagious delta variant, first found in India, could soon take over.Self-relianceTanarak said the difficulties most countries have had securing not just vaccines, but masks and ventilators as well, have taught Thailand that it still needs to try to rely on itself for what it needs when it needs it.“To secure [the] health for our people, we need to be able to rely on ourselves in the time of [the] pandemic,” he said. “No matter how much money you have, we are not going to get the most important supplies of medical device or medicine or vaccines if you are not being able to produce it yourself.”If all goes well, he said Thai laboratories could be producing tens of millions of doses of the country’s own COVID-19 vaccines by around the middle of next year.The Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a state drugmaker, started Phase 1 human trials in March of its candidate using an inactive Newcastle disease virus, which mainly infects birds, and has moved on to Phase 2 with more volunteers.Chulalongkorn’s Vaccine Research Center started Phase 1 human trials on Monday with what could be the first vaccine against COVID-19 developed in Southeast Asia using messenger RNA, the same technique pioneered by U.S. drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna.BioNet-Asia, an established local drugmaker, and Baiya Phytopharm, a startup, have yet to begin human trials with their own vaccine candidates.The Vaccine Research Center had been hoping to start human trials in late 2020. Instead, it says, it had to wait for slots to open at the U.S. labs making their vaccine for the trials, and that government funding — while generous — took longer to arrive than expected.With human trials of their first-generation vaccine now under way, Kiat and his team are already making plans to do the same in a few months with a second-generation candidate targeting the virus’s variants, a relatively simpler feat with the mRNA technique than with others.“The same technology, the same formulation, you just change the [gene] sequence,” he said. “If you have more data [from] the first generation, you can use that data to support your second generation. So, second generation we don’t have to [try] too many doses because we learn from the first generation what dose will be the best.”In the neighborhoodIf and when approved, Kiat said BioNet-Asia was lined up to start making 50 million to 80 million shots per year.Beyond targeting the dominant global variants of the novel coronavirus, mastering the mRNA technique could also let Thailand quickly tailor vaccines to strains, or combinations of strains, specific to the region or the country, said Lorenz von Seidlein, a vaccine expert at Thailand’s Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit.“So, if there’s a combination of strains which is particular to Thailand, there would be probably a niche then for them to say, this new variant — which we don’t know yet but may pop up next year — we quickly can address this in combination with the variants that were here before,” he said.The benefits could spill over to Thailand’s neighbors, some of which are also battling their worst waves of infection since the start of the pandemic, including Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam.Kiat said a few other Southeast Asian countries have expressed interest in joining late-stage Phase 2 human trials of his team’s vaccines if the results from Phase 1 are promising. He said they were especially interested in the second-generation vaccines they are working on and may consider placing orders.“Our intention is that if we have efficient production and good-quality vaccine … we should be able to supply neighborhood countries either through COVAX or whatever,” he said, referring to an international plan for supplying poorer countries with free or subsidized COVID-19 shots.
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Two executives from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily appeared in court on Saturday on charges of collusion and were denied bail after authorities deployed a sweeping security law to target the newspaper, a scathing critic of Beijing.Chief editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung are accused of colluding with foreign forces to undermine China’s national security over a series of articles that police said called for international sanctions.Chief magistrate Victor So said there were insufficient grounds “for the court to believe that the defendants will not continue to commit acts endangering national security.”The two will remain in custody until their next court appearance on Aug. 13 as prosecutors said police needed time to examine more than 40 computers and 16 servers seized from the newsroom.The case is the first time political views and opinions published by a Hong Kong media outlet have triggered the security law, which was imposed last year by Beijing to stamp out dissent in the financial hub.Apple Daily and its jailed owner Jimmy Lai have long been thorns in Beijing’s side, with unapologetic support for the city’s pro-democracy movement and caustic criticism of China’s authoritarian leaders.More than 500 police officers raided the paper’s newsroom on Thursday. Five executives were arrested. Law and Cheung were charged on Friday while the three others were released on bail pending further investigations.”We will continue to publish our paper tomorrow,” deputy chief editor Chan Pui-man said outside court. She was released late Friday on bail.Dozens of supporters were queuing to get seats in court on Saturday morning, including many former and current employees of Apple Daily.A staff member, who gave her surname as Chang, said she and many other Apple Daily employees treat “every day like it is our last” working for the paper.”At first, authorities said the national security law would only target a tiny number of people,” she told AFP.”But what has happened showed us that is nonsense,” she added.Another staff reporter, who gave her first name as Theresa, said she felt Apple Daily’s legal troubles were a warning shot.”I think what has happened to Apple Daily today can eventually happen to every other news outlet in the city,” she said.Plunging press freedomMultiple international media companies have regional headquarters in Hong Kong, attracted to the business-friendly regulations and free speech provisions written into the city’s mini-constitution.But many are now questioning whether they have a future there and are drawing up contingency plans as Beijing presses on with a broad crackdown on dissent in the city.Local media have an even tougher time, with journalist associations saying reporters are increasingly having to self-censor.Hong Kong has steadily plunged down an annual press freedom ranking by Reporters Without Borders, from 18th place in 2002 to 80th this year.Mainland China languishes at 177th out of 180, above only Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.Hong Kong and Chinese officials say the arrests were not an attack on the media.Earlier this week, security secretary John Lee described Apple Daily as a “criminal syndicate.”Apple Daily is by far the most outspoken of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy media outlets. But it is not clear how long it can survive.Its wealthy owner Lai, 73, is currently serving multiple jail sentences for his involvement in democracy rallies in 2019.He has also been charged under the national security law and has had his Hong Kong assets frozen.Authorities froze a further HK$18 million (US$2.3 million) of Apple Daily’s company assets on Thursday.Police say they also plan to prosecute three companies owned by Apple Daily under the security law, which could see the paper fined or banned.It is the first time companies, rather than an individual, have faced a national security investigation.Mark Simon, an aide to Lai who lives overseas, said the paper would have difficulty paying its staff of about 700.Company lawyers were trying to work out the breadth of the asset freeze order, he added.”Money is not an issue. Draconian orders from Beijing via the NSL (national security law) are the issue,” he told AFP.
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The international community sent a strong signal Friday to Myanmar’s military, condemning its seizure of the civilian government and its monthslong violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.  In a resolution adopted in the U.N. General Assembly by a vote of 119-1, with Belarus the only country voting against and 36 abstentions, member states called for an end to the violence and for respect of the will of the people as expressed in the November election. They called for the return to the democratic path, the release of political detainees and the end of the state of emergency imposed after the February 1 coup. While the legal power to impose an international arms embargo lies only with the Security Council, the resolution does call on “all member states to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.” Myanmar’s ambassador, who is aligned with the national unity government, welcomed the resolution, saying that he hoped it would help pressure the military to stop “their inhumane acts” but was disappointed it fell “far short of our expectations.” FILE – Myanmar’s United Nations Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun addresses the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, March 11, 2019.Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun said it had been more than 130 days since the coup and there was no sign the brutal military crackdown was easing. He appealed to the international community, as well as to the U.N. Security Council, to take “collective and decisive action” to ease the violence. Nearly 900 civilian protesters have been confirmed killed and 6,000 arrested since the military seized power February 1, rejecting the outcome of the November elections that overwhelmingly gave power to the National League for Democracy party. “The military is still operating in its own twisted reality, ignoring the international community’s calls,” Kyaw Moe Tun said. The resolution also calls on the military to “immediately facilitate” a visit by U.N. Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener. She has been trying to return to the country since the coup, but the junta has repeatedly put her off. “Time is of the essence,” she told the gathering. “The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing, and the regional threat increasing.” FILE – Protesters react after tear gas is fired by police during a demonstration against the military coup in the northwestern town of Kalay, March 2, 2021.She said that fighting had emerged in areas covered in the 2015 nationwide cease-fire agreement, and that there had been “serious confrontations” in areas with long-standing bilateral truces with the military. “The risk of a large-scale civil war is real,” she warned. On April 24, at a summit in Indonesia, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued a five-point plan to lead the country out of the crisis. The plan included dialogue, ASEAN mediation and a halt to the hostilities. The Myanmar military has so far ignored it. The General Assembly called on the junta to engage with ASEAN to seek a peaceful outcome to the crisis. But not all ASEAN members supported the resolution. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand abstained. FILE – A protester against Myanmar’s junta holds a placard criticizing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in Mandalay, Myanmar, June 5, 2021.Diplomats said the 10-member bloc preferred to support the measure in a “consensus” rather than a recorded vote. But Belarus demanded the recorded vote, and it chipped at the unity. China, which is not an ASEAN member and is close to the Myanmar military, also abstained. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the media in New York City, New York, June 18, 2021.Earlier Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that the human rights abuses and killings must stop and that the conditions need to be created for democracy to be restored. “I hope the General Assembly will be able to send a very clear message in this direction because we cannot live in a world where military coups become a norm. It is totally unacceptable,” he told reporters. European Union envoy Olof Skoog, who was part of the core group that negotiated the text, said they did succeed in sending the military a powerful message “that is the broadest and most universal condemnation of the situation in Myanmar to date.” “It (the resolution) delegitimizes the military junta, condemns its abuse and violence against its own people, and demonstrates its isolation in the eyes of the world,” he said. 
 
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his government to be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation with the Biden administration — but more for confrontation — state media reported Friday, days after the United States and others urged the North to abandon its nuclear program and return to talks.Kim’s statement indicates he’ll likely push to strengthen his nuclear arsenal and increase pressure on Washington to give up what North Korea considers a hostile policy toward the North, though he’ll also prepare for talks to resume, some experts say.During an ongoing ruling party meeting Thursday, Kim analyzed in detail the policy tendencies of the U.S. under President Joe Biden and clarified steps to be taken in relations with Washington, the Korean Central News Agency said. It did not specify the steps.Kim “stressed the need to get prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, especially to get fully prepared for confrontation in order to protect the dignity of our state” and ensure national security, it said.In 2018-19, Kim held a series of summits with then-President Donald Trump to discuss North Korea’s advancing nuclear arsenal. But the negotiations fell apart after Trump rejected Kim’s calls for extensive sanctions relief in return for a partial surrender of his nuclear capability.Biden’s administration has worked to formulate a new approach on North Korea’s nuclear program that it describes as “calibrated and practical.” Details of his North Korea policy haven’t been publicized, but U.S. officials have suggested Biden will seek a middle ground between Trump’s direct meetings with Kim and former President Barack Obama’s “strategic patience” to curb Kim’s nuclear program.Earlier this week, leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations issued a statement calling for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and “the verifiable and irreversible abandonment” of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. They called on North Korea to engage and resume dialogue.Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit Seoul on Saturday for a trilateral meeting with South Korean and Japanese officials. His travel emphasizes the importance of three-way cooperation in working toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the State Department said.Kim Jong Un has recently threatened to enlarge his nuclear arsenal and build high-tech weapons targeting the U.S. mainland if Washington refuses to abandon its hostile policy toward North Korea.In March, Kim’s military performed its first short-range ballistic missile tests in a year. But North Korea is still maintaining a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests in an indication that Kim still wants to keep prospects for diplomacy alive.Kwak Gil Sup, head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs, wrote on Facebook that Kim’s statement suggested he’s taking a two-track approach of bolstering military capability and preparing for talks. But he said Kim will more likely focus on boosting military strength and repeating his demand for the U.S. to withdraw its hostile policy, rather than hastily returning to talks.Kim said last week North Korea’s military must stay on high alert to defend national security.
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said North Korea will likely return to talks but won’t accept a call for immediate, complete denuclearization. He said North Korea may accede to a proposal to freeze its atomic program and partially reduce its nuclear arsenal in phased steps if the Biden administration relaxes sanctions and suspends its regular military drills with South Korea.Cha Duck Chul, a deputy spokesman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said it’s closely monitoring the North’s ongoing political meeting and wants to reemphasize the best way to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula is through dialogue.In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijiang called for renewed dialogue between North Korea and the U.S., saying that “We believe that the Korean Peninsula situation is facing a new round of tension.”Kim called the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee meeting taking place this week to review efforts to rebuild the economy, which has been severely crippled by pandemic border closings, mismanagement amid the U.S.-led sanctions, and storm damage to crops and infrastructure last year.On Tuesday, Kim opened the meeting by warning of potential food shortages, urging officials to find ways to boost agricultural production because the country’s food situation “is now getting tense.” He also urged the country to brace for extended COVID-19 restrictions, suggesting North Korea would extend its border closure and other steps despite the stress on its economy.
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The first manned crew of China’s new permanent space station docked with the outpost Thursday evening.The Shenzhou-12 spacecraft carrying veteran space travelers Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming and rookie Tang Hongbo rendezvoused with the Tianhe module six hours after blasting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.The trio will spend the next three months aboard the module, whose name translates to “Heavenly Harmony,” outfitting it with equipment and testing its various components.This mission is China’s first manned space flight in five years, and the third of 11 needed to add more elements to the space station before it becomes fully operational next year. The new station is expected to remain operational for 10 years.The station could outlast the U.S.-led International Space Station, which may be decommissioned after its funding expires in 2024. China has never sent astronauts to the ISS due to a U.S. law that effectively bars the space agency NASA from collaborating with China.China is aggressively building up its space program as an example of its rising global stature and technological might. It became the third country to send a human into space in 2003, behind the United States and Russia, and has already operated two temporary experimental space stations with manned crews.Just this year, it sent an unmanned probe into orbit around Mars, while another probe brought back the first samples from the moon in more than 40 years. 
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China is showing new interest in working with Southeast Asian countries in the disputed resource-rich South China Sea as its superpower rival, the United States, gains diplomatic momentum under President Joe Biden, analysts in Asia say.China, with Asia’s biggest military and economy, hosted a rare, in-person meeting June 7-8, bringing the foreign ministers of 10 Southeast Asian countries together with their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.Wang and ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations said in a June 9 statement from their meeting in the Chinese city Chongqing they had discussed the pursuit of “peaceful resolution of disputes” in the South China Sea and a resumption of talks toward “early conclusion of an effective and substantive code of conduct.”Final signatures on the code of conduct — a document that would spell out ways of avoiding mishaps at sea without touching a sovereignty dispute involving six governments — will probably miss a 2021 goal because of its complexity and dearth of related discussions during the pandemic, observers say.At this month’s meeting, China mainly wanted to get Southeast Asian governments on its side and pull them away from the United States, according to experts.“This will be a way for China to try to shore up its defenses, shall we say, against a resurgence of pro-Western influence,” said Jay Batongbacal, international maritime affairs professor at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.China claims about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea that is prized for fisheries and fossil fuel reserves. ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam call parts of the sea their own, overlapping the Chinese boundary line, and Taiwan claims most of the same waterway.Southeast Asian countries have long recoiled over China’s landfilling of small islets in the sea for military use and passing vessels through waters they claim. ASEAN defense ministers Tuesday called for the early conclusion of a code of conduct as tensions rise in the region and — without naming any one country — for self-restraint.China alarmed the Philippines in March by letting 220 vessels moor near a disputed islet in the Spratly archipelago and angered Malaysia last month by flying air force planes near Kuala Lumpur’s maritime claims. Maritime diplomacy has eluded the region since 2019 because of a lack of in-person meetings and the urgency of discussing COVID-19 instead of other topics.Biden began his first foreign trip in office last week to strengthen ties with European allies. He told reporters the eight-day trip was to show China as well as Russia that the United States and Europe are still close.Biden is trying to “consolidate” allies in Europe, so China must appear “conciliatory” in its own region, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.Biden has upheld predecessor Donald Trump’s approach toward the South China Sea by bringing allies together to check Chinese military movements in the disputed sea. European allies have already backed Washington’s South China Sea agenda this year to date.“I think China is trying to take advantage of this so-called transition from Trump to Biden,” said Alan Chong, associate professor at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. “It’s a long transition, which I think hasn’t quite played out yet, and Beijing might well see this as an opportunity to pressure ASEAN to concede more points on the South China Sea.”Southeast Asian states with maritime claims seldom side openly with China or the United States. Washington has no claim in the sea, but it periodically sends naval ships as gestures of support for the smaller disputants. China wants the United States out of the sea, but ASEAN countries privately hope the U.S. presence stops China from taking too much control there, Araral said.China’s ability to call ministers together in person despite struggles with COVID-19 around Southeast Asia makes Beijing look good even without a code of conduct, experts say. The meeting was dubbed a “special” one to celebrate 30 years of China-ASEAN dialogue relations.ASEAN members hope China can further help them normalize their economies in the aftermath of COVID-19 business closures, Chong said. Several ASEAN members, including the Philippines and Vietnam, have accepted Chinese COVID-19 vaccines despite the maritime friction.Beijing “clearly wants to use this event to show it has ASEAN people on its side,” said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. China, as well as Southeast Asian countries, wants to be seen working on a “thorny” issue, he said.“This is considered a diplomatic coup for China,” Koh said. “It manages to get all the 10 ASEAN member states to send their foreign ministers.” 
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China launched the first crew of its new permanent space station into orbit Thursday morning.Veteran astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming and rookie Tang Hongbo blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China aboard the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft.A crowd of well-wishers bid the three astronauts farewell in an elaborate ceremony before they boarded a van to take them to the launch pad to board their spacecraft.  The mission is China’s first manned space flight in five years.The trio is expected to reach the first module of the station, dubbed Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony,” by Thursday evening, where they will spend the next three months outfitting the module with equipment and testing its various components.This mission is the third of 11 needed to add more elements to the space station before it becomes fully operational next year. The new station is expected to remain operational for 10 years.The station could outlast the U.S.-led International Space Station, which may be decommissioned after its funding expires in 2024. China has never sent astronauts to the ISS due to a U.S. law that effectively bars the space agency NASA from collaborating with China.China is aggressively building up its space program as an example of its rising global stature and technological might. It became the third country to send a human into space in 2003, behind the United States and Russia, and has already operated two temporary experimental space stations with manned crews.Just this year, it sent an unmanned probe into orbit around Mars, while another probe brought back the first samples from the moon in more than 40 years.
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Hong Kong police arrested five directors at the Apple Daily newspaper early on Thursday morning, including its editor-in-chief, local media reported, in the latest blow to the newspaper’s jailed owner Jimmy Lai.Hong Kong Police’s National Security Department said in a statement that five directors of a company had been arrested on suspicion of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.It said only that the five included four men and a woman aged between 47 and 63. It did not provide other details.Apple Daily said five of its directors, including Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law, Chief Executive Officer Cheung Kim-hung, Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai had all been arrested in morning raids.The newspaper said at about 7:30 a.m. local time about 100 officers arrived at the newspaper’s headquarters and cordoned off the area.The move is the latest blow to Apple Daily after authorities last month directed Lai’s shares in Next Digital, publisher of the newspaper, to be frozen.Lai was arrested in August last year and later charged under the national security law imposed by China on its freest city. The pro-democracy activist’s assets were also frozen under the same law.He has been in jail since December after being denied bail in a separate national security trial. He faces three charges under the new law, including collusion with a foreign country.
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Researchers in New Zealand are testing new techniques to find out whether masks and gowns used by health workers as protection against COVID-19 can be decontaminated and safely used again.   Researchers want to reduce the “mountain” of personal protective equipment, or PPE, that is discarded around the world daily. According to experts in New Zealand, estimates indicate that in China alone, hundreds of thousands of metric tons of PPE are going to the landfill each day.    FILE – Workers in protective suits walk past the Hankou railway station on the eve of its resuming outbound traffic in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, April 7, 2020.Mark Staiger is an associate professor of materials engineering at the University of Canterbury.   “The amount of waste that is being produced by the pandemic is absolutely huge. It has been estimated that something like 3 million face masks are being used per minute around the world. Other studies have shown that something like 3.5 billion face masks and face shields are being discarded globally every day,” he said. FILE – A discarded N95 protective face mask lies amongst other bits of disposed medical waste at a landfill site, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in New Delhi, India, July 22, 2020.Masks and gowns contain plastics that cannot easily be recycled. Researchers from Canterbury, Otago and Auckland universities are testing a process that would destroy the COVID-19 virus and allow the PPE to be used again.   The aim is to safely disinfect protective equipment so it can be used by frontline workers. If successful, Staiger says the system could increase the supply of N95 masks, which filter out airborne particles, by 40%.    “The particular challenge in decontaminating face masks, for example, is making sure that whatever technique you use for killing off the virus does not affect the materials contained within the mask. For example, N95 masks have a special electrostatic layer inside them, which is used for capturing very small particles, and if that layer is damaged by the treatment that you are using or the decontamination treatment that you are using, this would render the mask ineffective and lose its functionality.”    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said PPE creates a barrier between an individual’s skin, mouth, nose, or eyes and viral and bacterial infections. It is mostly designed to be used only once. The New Zealand university study began in 2020. Its final stage is under way, and it is due to finish later this year. The research team is also building a mobile disinfection unit that could be transported in shipping containers to other countries.   New Zealand has an enviable record of containing COVID-19, in large part because it closed its borders to most foreign nationals in March 2020. It has recorded about 2,700 confirmed or probable infections. Twenty-six people have died.   
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Taiwan’s defense ministry said China flew 28 warplanes within its airspace Tuesday.   The formation of several fighter jets and bombers entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the ministry added. Taiwan’s air force deployed several planes and initiated its air defense systems in response.   China has repeatedly deployed warplanes and naval vessels near Taiwan over the last few years as part of a pressure campaign on the self-ruled island. Beijing sent 25 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone back in April. A Chinese government spokesman said it carried out the mission in response to a statement issued at the end of the G-7 summit Sunday calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-Taiwan Strait tensions. The spokesman accused the G-7 leaders of interfering in China’s internal affairs.   Beijing considers the island as part of its territory even though it has been self-governing since the end of China’s civil war in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communists. China has vowed to bring the island under its control by any means necessary, including a military takeover. Washington officially switched formal diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but the Trump administration angered China as it increasingly embraced Taiwan, both diplomatically and militarily, after taking office in 2017 and throughout its four-year tenure.   
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned of “prolonged” anti-coronavirus measures, the latest indication his country’s strict lockdown will not end anytime soon.  During a meeting of ruling party leaders, Kim discussed the need to maintain a “perfect anti-epidemic state,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. Kim said the measures were necessary since “the world health crisis is becoming worse and worse due to the malignant virus,” KCNA reported.  The statement did not specify how long the lockdown would last, but said party leaders were preparing for its “prolonged nature.”  North Korea, which has a population of more than 25 million, continues to insist it has not found a single COVID-19 case. It was one of the first countries to seal its borders due to the coronavirus.  The country has given few signs of opening back up. Last month, state media warned that vaccines produced overseas were “no universal panacea.” COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing program, had expected to send nearly 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to North Korea by the first half of this year. But that has been delayed due to global supply shortages and ongoing negotiations between COVAX and Pyongyang.A nurse fills a syringe with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a health care center in Seoul, Feb. 26, 2021.In April, North Korea appeared to temporarily loosen its border restrictions. The Seoul-based NK News website reported foreign food items, such as chocolate, dried fruit, and Coca-Cola, began appearing in Pyongyang stores following months of shortages. The website also identified a border facility it said was designed to disinfect imports.  “But all signs currently point to this modest opening being 100% reversed,” tweeted Chad O’Carroll, the founder of NK News, which maintains sources in the country.  Kim’s latest comments suggest “the border will be FULLY closed for much longer than we thought,” O’Carroll added. “This means vital imports like fertilizer and industrial inputs will be lacking, compounding problems.” On Tuesday, NK News reported that the price of some imported goods increased dramatically, with a kilogram of bananas selling for as much as $45 in Pyongyang shops.Fears of a bad harvest are also mounting. During this week’s Workers’ Party meeting, Kim Jong Un acknowledged “the people’s food situation is now getting tense,” saying the North’s agricultural sector failed to fulfill its grain production plan due to the damage by typhoons that hit the country last year.  North Korea has faced what some analysts call the “triple whammy” of extreme weather, the coronavirus pandemic, and U.S.-led sanctions, which attempt to cut off North Korea from the global economy as punishment for its nuclear weapons program. U.S. President Joe Biden has said he is open to talks with North Korea, but Pyongyang has so far rejected the offer, saying the United States needs to drop its “hostile policy.”  North Korea experienced a devastating 1990s famine that killed at least hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of people. Kim has repeatedly warned citizens that they must now overcome serious hardship, at times even evoking the same language used to describe the 1990s famine. However, there is virtually no way to know the country’s current situation, since most foreigners, including aid workers and diplomats, have departed because of the pandemic. 
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Fed up with a culture of overwork, through-the-roof housing prices and skyrocketing living costs, many Chinese youth are “lying flat” to express their frustration with the lack of upward social mobility.Lying flat includes opting out of getting married, having children, purchasing a home or car, and joining the corporate money-making machine, according to China’s Jiang Shuaihui, 25, a worker from Henan province plays video games in a room he is renting in Tongzhou district of Beijing, Feb. 25, 2016.And because the post-pandemic recovery has been driven by an expansion of blue-collar jobs, according to Ma Zhenguo, a system engineer at RenRen Credit Management Co., sleeps on a camp bed at the office after finishing work early morning, in Beijing, China, April 27, 2016.Government respondsBy late May, the Chinese government was countering such notions. “China is at one of the most important stages of its long road to national rejuvenation. Young people are the hope of this country, and neither their personal situation nor the situation of this country will allow them to ‘collectively lie flat,'” said a May 28 editorial  in the Global Times, a tabloid controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and quoted by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. Analysts say the lying flat attitude is rooted in the lack of upward social mobility. People born in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s benefited from Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 policy, a series of transformative economic reforms that opened China up to the international community and foreign investment. The reform set the stage for the emergence of Chinese companies with international reach, such as Huawei and Alibaba.”In the Deng Xiaoping era, China launched the policy to ‘let some people get rich first,'” Xie Fei, a host at Henan Broadcasting System and a current affairs commentator at China’s Zhejiang Television, told VOA Mandarin. “Yet the current generation finds that they no longer have the same opportunities as their parents to achieve upward mobility. In other words, they can’t expect to have the explosive growth of wealth as their parents’ generation.” According to 2017 data from the latest iteration of a recurring Chinese survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Science, people under 35 experienced a high level of unstable employment and relatively low salaries. Lin Thung-Hong, a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology of Academia Sinica in Taiwan, said this is partly due to the economic slowdown in 2015 and 2016. One of the survey’s key findings is that college graduates in China face difficulties finding jobs.”China’s economic development has plateaued, young people have fewer job opportunities, and the lying down attitude reflects the difficulties in the overall economy in China,” he told VOA Mandarin. ’Just not sustainable’Once graduates find jobs, many feel they’re expected to overwork. Lucy Li, 35, works in the banking industry in Beijing. She asked to use a pseudonym, fearing retaliation by her employer.”I know 996 is prevalent in the tech industry, but now it has spread to every sector,” she told VOA Mandarin. “In our bank, the leadership will drop by unannounced around 8 p.m. to see who’s still working, and those still in the office are the ones getting promoted.” ”So everyone ends up working 12 hours a day,” she said. “It’s just not sustainable.”Another worker, Wang, said he quit his job with the tech giant Alibaba because he often started work around 9 a.m., returned home around 7 p.m. and then returned to the office after his two children went to bed, or around 9 p.m. Back at the office, he usually worked until midnight — or as late as 2-3 a.m. if he was developing a product or it was the busy season. He asked VOA Mandarin to use only his surname to avoid attracting attention. ”It’s just a culture. We are doing the things we love, but it’s also pretty draining if you are working 24/7,” he told VOA Mandarin.In 2019, Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, famously said on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo that “it’s a blessing to be able to do 996.” “If you are not doing 996 when you are young, when can you do it? If we are doing things we love, 996 is not a problem at all,” he wrote. Widely criticized, the post was deleted. The 996 culture has led to death by overwork, a phenomenon first recognized in Japan’s workplace culture, or karoshi. Japan passed the Work Style Reform Bill in 2018 to limit brutally long work weeks.Earlier this year in China, the deaths of two employees of the online agricultural marketplace Pinduoduo sparked discussion of overwork. Many young people took to social media to say they didn’t want the 996 lifestyle, and they started to advocate for a more relaxed attitude toward work. On May 28, Weibo polled users about lying flat. Among the 241,000 people who took the survey, 43% firmly agreed with the concept, 31% said they somewhat agree with it, and another 18% said they would like to lie flat, but they have too many other responsibilities.  About 80% of Weibo’s 850 million users are 17 to 33 years old, according to a guide to advertising on the site. The popularity of the lying flat movement concerns Beijing because it runs against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s notion of a Chinese dream. In 2012, Xi used the term when he was first promoted to the top Communist Party post, saying China must “strive to achieve the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”The Global Times quoted Chinese sociologists and educators, saying the younger generations are more self-centered and more sensitive to pressure than their elders. ”Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary ‘lying down’ as catharsis and adjustment,” the article said. The official Xinhua News Agency wrote in a commentary published in late May that “lying flat is shameful. Only hard work brings happiness.” Xinhua later posted a video of an 86-year-old Chinese scientist surnamed Zhao who rises at 4 a.m. each morning to work. “After his retirement, he still works for 10-12 hours a day voluntarily for the country and for the people,” Xinhua said. The video sparked a new wave of criticism among Chinese netizens. One post said, “The scientist is at his fifth level of needs, which is to realize his value in life. I’m at the first level, which is survival. How can you compare the two?” The other read, “Lying flat is not something I actually enjoy; it’s a helpless option under the unbearable pressure of life.” Lin, with Academia Sinica, said the immobility in China’s economy, society and politics has led to the stagnation of the entire national mobility system. And without social mobility, there would be no “Chinese dream.””The people are lying flat. The country is dreaming. It’s pretty ironic,” he told VOA Mandarin. 
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Beijing says NATO’s description that China poses “systemic challenges” to the international community is an exaggeration.   
 
China’s mission to the European Union issued a statement Tuesday in response to a communique issued by the leaders of the trans-Atlantic alliance the day before.  In that statement, NATO leaders pledged to join forces against China’s increasingly aggressive military posture, which it said threatened “the rules-based international order.”
 
The mission said NATO’s accusations were “a slander on China’s peaceful development, a misjudgment of the international situation and its own role, and a continuation of the Cold War mentality and organizational political psychology.”
 
Tuesday’s statement is the second time in as many days that China has countered criticism from Western-based international alliances.  The Chinese embassy in London issued a statement Monday accusing the leaders of the G-7 of interfering in its internal affairs.   
 
The G-7 issued a communique at the end of its summit criticizing Beijing’s human rights record involving its abuses of the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, including the detention of more than one million Uyghurs into detention camps, and its tightening  control of semi-autonomous Hong Kong.
 
The separate communiques came during U.S. President Joe Biden’s first face-to-face summits with Washington’s traditional allies since taking office in January.
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Sexual and gender minorities continue to suffer discrimination and harassment around the world. But in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, some transgender women are finding solace in religious teachings, as reported by VOA’s Rendy Wicaksana.Camera: Rendy Wicaksana 
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Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s ousted de facto civilian leader, returned to a courtroom in the capital, Naypyidaw, Tuesday to stand trial on two of the most serious corruption-related charges brought against her by the military junta that overthrew her government earlier this year. The 75-year-old Suu Kyi is facing charges of violating the Official Secrets Act, accepting illegal payments of $600,000 in cash plus 11 kilograms of gold and misusing land for her charitable foundation.   A separate hearing was held Monday on charges of illegally possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies and violating the country’s Natural Disaster Management Law for breaking COVID-19 restrictions while campaigning during last year’s parliamentary elections.  Khin Maung Zaw, Suu Kyi’s attorney, issued a statement saying Suu Kyi did not appear to be well but “seemed quite interested and paid keen attention” during Monday proceedings.   The attorney said former President U Win Myint also went on trial Monday for violating the Natural Disaster Law. Lawyers have told reporters they expect the current trial to last until the end of July.   Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been detained since February 1, when her civilian government was overthrown nearly three months after her National League for Democracy party scored a landslide victory in the elections.  The junta has cited widespread electoral fraud in the November 8 election as a reason for the coup, an allegation the civilian electoral commission denied. The junta has threatened to dissolve the NLD over the allegations. The coup triggered a crisis in the Southeast Asian country that led to deadly anti-junta demonstrations and clashes between several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta. In a campaign to quell the protests, the government has killed more than 800 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks casualties and arrests in Myanmar. 
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When Myanmar’s military shocked the world by announcing a coup earlier this year, many people inside the country were stunned at the news. After decades under military rule, they had enjoyed 10 years of a developing democracy until the armed forces took back control. Initially, most of the country merely looked on, hesitant to begin a rebellion given Myanmar’s violent past. But as the junta installed its own Cabinet and detained members of the National League for Democracy, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an uprising began brewing. Residents banged pots and pans in anger in the first few days after the coup, signaling their disapproval of the military takeover. Major protests didn’t materialize until the influence of one doctor turned activist became apparent. Spring revolution Dr. Ko Tayzar San, 33, from Mandalay, is largely credited with leading the first anti-coup demonstrations, a movement that is now known as the Spring Revolution. Today, he is on the run. He recalls the first moments of the rebellion against the junta, officially the State Administrative Council (SAC). Infuriated with the armed forces takeover, some people had planned an immediate backlash, but the swirling rumors of a coup could not be verified. “On February 1, they (Myanmar military) turned off the mobile network in the whole country. At that moment, we didn’t confirm any information, what is going on and what is happening,” Tayzar San told VOA. Three days later, he took to the streets of Mandalay to protest with friends and other demonstrators who resisted the military’s power grab. Four of his friends were arrested that day, and one has since been killed. Soon after, the soldiers came for him. The activist knew then that his life would never be the same. “As for me, the soldiers raided and destroyed my home, where my family lived before the coup. They knew my home address, so they came looking for me and smashed and break the whole house, confiscated everything and three cars.” “I already know from that moment I decided to get involved. Anytime I can be arrested. Anytime I could be shot and killed, and life could be ruined. … That we already knew and accepted,” he said.Ko Tayzar San rallies a crowd during anti-coup protests in Mandalay, Myanmar, 2021. (Courtesy photo)On the run Speaking from an undisclosed location, Tayzar San said he misses his family the most. He added that it was recently his daughter’s second birthday, and he hadn’t seen her for over 120 days. “I have been on the run for a long time. My arrest warrant has been issued since the third week of February. I have not been home since February 2,” he said. But he believes the heightened security concerns are felt everywhere. “If you live in your own home, you could be shot at any time. You can be arrested for no reason, (and) maybe threatened (with) your life. There is no security in the whole country right now.” Until recently, Tayzar San hadn’t been known for his pro-democracy advocacy, especially when compared with other well-known activists who have risen to prominence in response to Myanmar’s deep-rooted political issues in recent years. “Before the coup, my professional work was (as) executive director at Yone Kyi Yar Knowledge Propagation Society, a civil society organization in Mandalay. And I am also a doctor, so I do medical treatment in charity clinics.” But ever since Myanmar’s anti-coup protests first erupted across the country, Tayzar San has been involved. Four and a half months on, he’s still at it, often seen roaring into a megaphone in protest. Efforts noted And his efforts have recently been rewarded. Local media Ko Tayzar San during anti-coup protests in Mandalay, Myanmar, 2021. (Courtesy photo)“Today, Myanmar is in the darkest time. However, in the midst of so much suffering, the people are fully in the mood to reject the dictator,” he added. Protests peaked during the first two months after the coup, but since then, mass demonstrations have waned, largely due to the military’s violent crackdown on the city. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights-monitoring group based in Thailand, at least 860 have been killed and thousands detained. Tayzar San said demonstrators had been given no option but to respond with “guerrilla protests.” “We will oppose this dictatorship any way we can,” he said. Looking forward As for international intervention, Tayzar San believes implementing an arms embargo would reduce the Myanmar military’s arsenal of weapons. “I believe that the role of the international community will continue to support as long as the people of the country continue to fight,” he said. New opposition movements and organizations have formed since the coup. The Civil Disobedience Movement has led to huge strikes across the country, while the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw includes ousted politicians of the democratic government. The National Unity Government is claiming to be Myanmar’s legitimate administration, with the People’s Defense Force as its armed wing. The junta has declared that illegal. Yet challenges remain. Ethnic minority groups have been fighting for autonomy and land control for over 70 years, and deep historical animosities exist among them. But with the military’s coup so drastic and far-reaching, hopes are pinned on the country to unite against one common enemy. “To make our country peaceful, where people are treated as human beings, it is very clear that this will only happen if we can create a federal democratic union,” Tayzar San said.“For me, the new Myanmar (will be a) happy country that we want to pass on to the next generation,” he added. 
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Human rights activists and Uyghur experts have welcomed a “people’s tribunal” initiated in London last week to probe whether China’s alleged crimes against the Uyghurs amount to genocide, stressing the need for more practical action from the international community.A nine-member panel, made up mostly of lawyers and academics and chaired by prominent lawyer Geoffrey Nice, held its first set of hearings in the “Uyghur Tribunal” June 4 to 7 to investigate allegations of China’s mistreatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.Chair of the panel Geoffrey Nice gives the opening address on the first day of hearings at the “Uyghur Tribunal”, a panel of UK-based lawyers and rights experts investigating alleged abuses against Uyghurs in China, in London on June 4, 2021.China, which denies mistreating Uyghurs, scoffed at the panel.According to Luke de Pulford, the U.K.-based human rights campaigner and founder of Coalition for Genocide Response, the tribunal is not endorsed by the British government but could prompt more direct action from authorities.”We need to pick a side. Will we defend our values or sell out to China? We can’t do both,” Pulford told VOA.In April, British lawmakers unanimously declared the Uyghur crackdown a genocide, thereby joining the United States, Canada, Netherlands and Lithuania in condemning China’s actions.However, the government this week reportedly rejected a proposal from British lawmakers that would prevent U.K. companies from using products made by Uyghur forced labor.China denies mistreating UyghursDolkun Isa, the president of World Uyghur Congress and one of the witnesses at the tribunal, told VOA that Uyghurs have long fought for a day in court and now they can finally tell their stories.”The tribunal is an essential body to document all the evidence pertaining to the Uyghur crisis,” Isa said, adding that he hopes results stemming from the panel will provide another incentive for governments around the world to find the political will to take appropriate action to hold China accountable.The tribunal considers itself an alternative in the absence of an international legal body investigating the alleged crimes. Its second set of hearings will take place in September, and a final ruling is scheduled for December.Jurisdiction issuesLast December, the International Criminal Court said it would not investigate the case because it was outside its jurisdiction, as China was a nonmember state. And the International Court of Justice investigates only legal disputes between states submitted to it by them and provides advisory opinions on legal questions at the request of the United Nations and certain agencies.”The Tribunal has always made it clear that it would not have been formed if there was a possibility of the allegations being considered at a formal international court,” the Uyghur Tribunal stated on its website on Wednesday.Members of the panel, from left, Ambreena Manji, Nick Vetch and Parveen Kumar listen as Chair of the panel Geoffrey Nice gives the opening address on the first day of hearings at the “Uyghur Tribunal” On June 4, 2021.The organizer of the tribunal, London-based businessman Nick Vetch, said in a video before the first round of hearings that the proceedings can, to some degree, do what formal courts should be doing.”(Uyghur Tribunal) can provide a body of evidence that is indelible and available to posterity,” Vetch said.During the hearing at the headquarters of the Church of England, nearly three dozen witnesses and experts appeared in person and virtually. They testified about internment camps, persecution, forced labor, torture, rape, the compulsory sterilization of women and forced contraception, forced separation of children from their parents, destruction of cultural and religious heritage, and organ harvesting by Chinese authorities against Uyghurs and other Turkic groups in Xinjiang.
Among the witnesses was former Chinese police officer Wang Leizhan, who was among some 150,000 Chinese police recruits sent to Xinjiang in 2018. He told the panel that the police engaged in arbitrary arrests, torture and forced confessions while denouncing the faith of Uyghurs.
“When I arrived and I went on my round, we arrested around 300,000 Uyghurs,” Wang told the panel, speaking remotely in Germany, where he sought refuge in 2020.
“The reason for these arrests included that they might have had a knife at home or because they were showing their cultural identity, or they were somehow considered to have a different ideology,” Wang said, adding that in some villages, the entire local population was taken to camps.China respondsChinese officials deny accusations by some countries and rights groups that it is holding over 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps while subjecting many others to forced labor around the country. Beijing says it provides “vocational training” and “poverty alleviation programs” aimed at helping Uyghurs become better citizens.During a press conference in Urumqi, China, Wednesday, Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the Xinjiang autonomous government, called the tribunal a pseudo court lacking authority.”The hearing is a serious violation of international law and order, a serious desecration of the true victims of genocide, and a serious provocation to the 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang,” Anayit said.On Thursday, Amnesty International, in a new report, accused China of “massive and systemic abuses” against the Uyghurs under the guise of fighting terrorism.”The government has devoted tremendous resources to concealing the truth about its actions,” the 160-page report said, adding that China prevents millions of people living in Xinjiang from communicating freely about the situation and denies journalists and investigators meaningful access to the region. 
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