Yangon’s streets were filled with the din of clashing metal as scores protested the military coup against the country’s elected government. The first public rejection of the coup went on for 10 minutes across the city in a massive show of solidarity. Health workers in 70 hospitals across Myanmar have pledged not to work under the military regime
Ousted Myanmar leader facing prison as civil disobedience campaign against military coup grows
Myanmar police have charged ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi with possession of illegally imported walkie-talkies, which could result in a two-year prison sentence, as a civil disobedience campaign grew against the military’s coup.
A document from a police station in the capital, Naypyitaw, said military officers who searched Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence had found handheld radios that were imported illegally and used without permission by her bodyguards. The charges, confirmed by members of her party, appear to carry a maximum prison sentence of two years.
Continue reading...Singer’s message had made reference to news report about heavy-handed measures against protesters
The pop singer Rihanna has provoked the ire of the Indian government after wading into the debate over protests by farmers in the country, just as heavy police security and “war-like” barricades continue to be built up at demonstration sites around Delhi.
This week authorities began cracking down on the hundreds of thousands of farmers camped out on the Delhi border since November. Police embarked on a heavy fortification of three camps in Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu, erecting layers of concrete barriers, digging trenches, putting up barbed-wire fences and cementing iron nails in the roads, in effect cutting off entry and exit to the sites.
Continue reading...National League for Democracy urges military to acknowledge 2020 election result
The party of Aung San Suu Kyi has called for her immediate release and for Myanmar’s 2020 election results to be acknowledged by the military, which took power in a coup on Monday.
The country’s elected leader, who was among dozens of political figures picked up by the army, reportedly remains under house arrest.
Continue reading...Activists are urging a traditional show of solidarity amid wary anger over the military’s coup
In Myanmar, if you want to drive evil from your home, you bang pots and pans. Yangon’s streets were filled with the din of clashing metal in 2007, when monks called for an end to military rule, and before that, in 1988 when the former president Sein Lwin, or the “butcher of Rangoon”, ordered troops to shoot pro-democracy protesters. On Tuesday night, pots and pans were back again.
Evil has returned, they say; Gen Min Aung Hlaing has led a military coup against the democratically elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose immense popularity within the country helped her National League for Democracy (NLD) win a landslide victory in 2020. The military’s electoral proxy secured fewer than 7% of available seats, leading it, and the military, to claim widespread electoral “fraud” without evidence.
Continue reading...Government claimed accounts of news sites, actors and activists sought to foment violence amid farmer protests
Hundreds of Indian Twitter accounts including those belonging to news websites, activists and actors were suspended for more than 12 hours on Monday after the government said users were posting content inciting violence.
The move came in the wake of weeks-long protests by Indian farmers against a new farm bill. The protests turned violent last week when riot police were sent in. One demonstrator was killed and hundreds of people were injured including police officers.
Continue reading...Civilian leader urges the public to protest against any return to a military dictatorship
Myanmar has been placed on knife edge, with activists fearing a further clampdown after the military detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders in early morning raids and took direct control of the country in a coup.
A statement attributed to Aung San Suu Kyi said the military, which directly ruled Myanmar for more than 50 years, was trying to reimpose a dictatorship. “I urge people not to accept this, to respond and wholeheartedly to protest against the coup by the military,” it said. It is not possible to verify the message.
Continue reading...Analysis: Despite her popularity Aung San Suu Kyi never had leverage to curb military’s power
Since her election as Myanmar’s de facto leader in 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi’s position has always been a precarious one. For all the international celebration of Myanmar’s transition to democracy after half a century of military rule, in reality the power of the military barely diminished at all. The threat of a coup, the fallback position of the military for decades, had always lingered.
For the past five years, Aung San Suu Kyi has governed Myanmar on the basis of a 2008 constitution drawn up by the military themselves. It enshrined military power, allowing them to appoint 25% of seats in parliament, and preserve their interests while curbing some of the crucial powers of the democratically elected leader of the government.
Continue reading...Fashion brand to investigate the death of 20-year-old Jeyasre Kathiravel, reportedly killed by supervisor at Natchi Apparels
The family of a young garment worker at an H&M supplier factory in Tamil Nadu who was allegedly murdered by her supervisor said she had suffered months of sexual harassment and intimidation on the factory floor in the months before her death, but felt powerless to prevent the abuse from continuing.
H&M said it is launching an independent investigation into the killing of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 20-year-old Dalit garment worker at an H&M supplier Natchi Apparels in Kaithian Kottai, Tamil Nadu, who was found dead on 5 January in farmland near her home.
Continue reading...Energy watchdog’s Fatih Birol says shift away from coal in key regions needs to be made a global priority
Dependency on coal in key parts of the world is preventing a global green recovery from taking off, and the shift away from coal needs to be made a global priority, the head of the world’s energy watchdog has said
Coal still forms a key part of China’s energy system, and plans are in train for further coal-fired power plants in the country. India is also heavily dependent on coal, and despite increasing its renewable energy generation has shown little sign of reducing its use of the fossil fuel.
Continue reading...Military has previously threatened to ‘take action’ over alleged fraud in a November election
Myanmar’s military has taken power in a coup and declared a state of emergency, hours after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party.
Phone and mobile internet services in the city of Yangon were down on Monday morning and military trucks, one carrying barbed-wire barriers, were parked outside City Hall. The state-run MRTV network said it had been unable to broadcast. Banks were closed across the nation.
Continue reading...Armed forces release statement saying remarks by general about political system were misinterpreted
Myanmar’s armed forces have said they will protect and abide by the country’s constitution and act according to law, amid concerns in the country that the military might attempt to seize power.
In an official statement on Saturday, the military said recent remarks by its top general about abolishing the constitution were misinterpreted by media and some organisations.
Continue reading...Countries have adopted different rules on business activity, education, socialising and travel
Curfews and lockdowns Restrictions have largely been relaxed in most of Brazil’s 26 states, although several continue to limit opening hours for bars, restaurants and shops. A round-the-clock curfew was imposed this week in Brazil’s biggest state, Amazonas, after hospitals were overwhelmed.
Continue reading...A new women-led initiative in Afghanistan is working to break down the barriers to help both victims and perpetrators
Nabila felt her diesel-drenched clothes stick to her skin, her lungs filling with fumes, hot panic rising.
It hadn’t been the first time an argument with her husband had escalated: he’d been beating her throughout their 30-year marriage, even tying her to a tree in the garden outside their small home in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, leaving her freezing in the winter cold.
Continue reading...In a country where women often still resort to rags as sanitary towels, campaigners are trying to break down a damaging taboo
In a village school near the beach, Koshala Dilrukshi teaches English to students from Uswetakeiyawa, a Sri Lankan fishing village. On most days, Dilrukshi says, some of the girls in her class will be missing. They go absent when they have their periods.
It’s not uncommon throughout Sri Lanka. More than half of the adolescents responding to a Unicef study in 2015 did not want or weren’t allowed to go to school during their periods, while 37% miss one or two school days each month. For most, fear of staining, pain and discomfort are the main reasons for not going to school.
Continue reading...Realising safe play places were in short supply while waste materials were abundant, a group of friends has set about transforming life for India’s children
Children of all ages cluster on top of tin cans painted in green, red and yellow embedded in the ground, others hang off a climbing frame made of rubber tubes. Others clamber energetically up a wall of colourfully painted repurposed tyres while some play on giant dominoes.
“Tyres are versatile,” said Pooja Rai. “We use as many as 70 tyres in one playground to build seesaws and slides as well as elephants, octopuses and bikes that keep the children engaged.”
Continue reading...India’s annual 26 January Republic Day celebrations featured spectacular military and cultural pageantry, despite being curtailed by Covid restrictions, but in New Delhi thousands of protesting farmers threatened to overshadow the celebrations
Continue reading...Farmers protesting against new agriculture laws enter grounds of historic fort as violence breaks out
Farmers protesting against new agriculture laws in India broke through police barricades around the capital and entered the grounds of Delhi’s historic Red Fort on Tuesday, in chaotic and violent scenes that overshadowed the country’s Republic Day celebrations.
Police hit protesters with batons and fired teargas to try to disperse the crowds after hundreds of thousands of farmers, many on tractors or horses, marched on the capital. One protester was confirmed to have died in the clashes and dozens of police and protesters were injured.
Continue reading...Clash in Sikkim happened days before talks aimed at ending tensions in Ladakh border dispute
Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in another violent clash along the Himalayan border last week, as tensions between the two nuclear powers showed no signs of abating.
According to reports, Indian and Chinese troops came to physical blows on Wednesday along the high-altitude border in north Sikkim, a small Indian state, situated between India and Bhutan, which has been a flashpoint of India-China conflict for decades.
Continue reading...Police admit they have no evidence against Manuwar Faruqui, who has been held for three weeks
A Muslim comedian in India has been detained for more than three weeks for allegedly insulting Hindu gods during a standup routine that he did not perform.
Fellow comedians, lawyers and opposition politicians have spoken out against the detention of Manawar Faruqui, 29, who was accused of making “indecent” and “vulgar” remarks about Hinduism and government figures during a comedy show on 1 January in the city of Indore, in Madhya Pradesh.
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