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March
Turkey plans to host Afghan peace talks in April
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 12 - Turkey plans to host Afghanistan peace talks in Istanbul in April, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday, and Ankara will appoint an Afghanistan special envoy.
Cavusoglu’s comments come after the United States shared a draft peace plan calling for replacing Afghanistan’s government with a power-sharing interim administration pending elections under a new constitution.
The U.S. proposal is intended to jump-start stalled talks in Doha between the Taliban and a team including Afghan officials on a political settlement to decades of conflict.
Cavusoglu said Turkey had previously been asked by Afghan officials, the Taliban and the negotiation team to host talks, and this week’s decision came after a U.S. proposal for Turkey to host a meeting.
“This is not a meeting that is an alternative to the Qatar process, it is a complement to that,” state-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Cavusoglu as saying. We will carry this out in coordination with brotherly Qatar, but it will be in Turkey.”
He said the aim was for talks between the Taliban and the government to continue in a “goal-oriented” way. The exact date in April, and the content of the talks, were being discussed.
Cavusoglu also said Turkey had been sending messages to the Taliban and the negotiating team, calling for violence in the country to stop for talks to yield results.
The Taliban and the Afghan government have been negotiating in Qatar to reach a peace deal. Those talks resumed in January after an almost month-long break, but negotiators and diplomats say there has been little progress since then.
Russia also plans to hold a conference on Afghanistan in Moscow later this month, the TASS news agency said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
March
Philippines reports highest daily rise in COVID-19 cases in almost six months
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 12 - The Philippines’ health ministry on Friday reported 4,578 new coronavirus infections, the biggest daily increase in cases in nearly six months.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had risen to 611,618, while deaths had reached 12,694, with 87 fatalities added on Friday.
The renewed surge in COVID-19 cases has prompted mayors in the capital Manila, an urban sprawl of 16 cities, to impose an evening curfew until the end of March and remind the public to practise physical distancing. (Reuters)
March
More protests held in Myanmar as South Korea suspends defence exchanges
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 12 - Myanmar activists held more rallies against the junta on Friday as South Korea said it would suspend defence exchanges and reconsider development aid to the Southeast Asian nation because of the military’s harsh crackdown on the protests.
Friday’s rallies came a day after a rights group said security forces killed 12 protesters and as the lawyer of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi ridiculed new bribery allegations against her.
The deaths took to more than 70 the number of protesters killed since the coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group said.
“Despite repeated demands of the international community, including South Korea, there are an increasing number of victims in Myanmar due to violent acts of the military and police authorities,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said Seoul would suspend defence exchanges, ban arms exports, limit exports of other strategic items, reconsider development aid and grant humanitarian exemptions allowing Myanmar nationals to stay in South Korea until the situation improved.
Protests were held in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, and several other towns on Friday, social media photographs posted by witnesses and news organisations showed. There were no immediate reports of violence.
The country has been in crisis since the army ousted Suu Kyi’s elected government in a Feb. 1 coup, detained her and officials of her National League for Democracy party and set up a ruling junta of generals.
Junta spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said on Thursday Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments worth $600,000, as well as gold, while in government, according to a complaint by Phyo Mien Thein, a former chief minister of Yangon.
Adding corruption charges to the accusations facing Suu Kyi, 75, could bring her a harsher penalty. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate now faces four comparatively minor charges, such as illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios and flouting coronavirus curbs.
“This accusation is the most hilarious joke,” Suu Kyi’s lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said in a statement posted on social media. “She might have other weaknesses but she doesn’t have weakness in moral principle.”
Thursday was one of the deadliest days since the military took power. Among the dead were eight people killed in the central town of Myaing when security forces fired on a protest, the AAPP said.
In Yangon, protester Chit Min Thu was killed in the North Dagon district. His wife, Aye Myat Thu, told Reuters he had insisted on joining the protests despite her appeals that he stay home for the sake of their son.
“He said it’s worth dying for,” she said through her tears. “He is worried about people not joining the protest. If so, democracy will not return to the country.”
The bloodshed also came hours after the U.N. Security Council had called for restraint from the army, which has been trying to put down daily anti-coup protests and paralysing strikes.
Pro-democracy activists urged people not to be cowed and in posts on social media called for night demonstrations on Friday and for strikes and civil disobedience campaigns that have paralysed swathes of the economy to continue.
Candlelight vigils by protesters in defiance of a curfew have been held more frequently in recent weeks.
‘CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY’
U.N. human rights investigator Thomas Andrews told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva the military may have committed crimes against humanity. He called for multilateral sanctions on the junta and the state energy firm, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.
The army did not respond to requests for comment on the latest deaths, but the junta spokesman said on Thursday the security forces were disciplined and used force only when necessary.
Rights group Amnesty International accused the army of using lethal force against protesters and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions.
Suu Kyi fought for decades to overturn military rule under previous juntas before the start of tentative democratic reforms in 2011. She had spent a total of about 15 years under house arrest.
The army has justified taking power by saying that a November election, overwhelmingly won by Suu Kyi’s party, was marred by fraud - an assertion rejected by the electoral commission.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun reiterated the military would only be in charge for a certain period before holding an election. The junta has said a state of emergency will last for a year, but has not set a date for the election. (Reuters)
March
China warns U.S. to stay out of Hong Kong affairs ahead of Alaska meet
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 12 - China again warned the United States to stop interfering in its affairs, including Hong Kong, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday, ahead of talks between diplomats of both countries which Washington has said would be “difficult”.
China hopes the meeting can focus on cooperation, the spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said.
The two countries diplomats are set to meet in Alaska on Thursday. (Reuters)
March
Western nations condemn Houthi attack on Yemeni city Marib
Written by Nur YasminMar. 12 - Western governments condemned on Thursday an attack by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group on the city of Marib, according to a statement released by Britain’s foreign ministry.
“We, the governments of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, condemn the sustained Houthi offensive on the Yemeni city of Marib and the major escalation of attacks the Houthis have conducted and claimed against Saudi Arabia,” the statement said.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous areas and have been battling a Saudi-led coalition since it intervened in Yemen’s civil war in March 2015, have recently pushed towards the gas-rich region of Marib, aiming to take the government’s last stronghold in the north of Yemen. (Reuters)
March
Some progress made toward ceasefire in Yemen: U.S. State Department
Written by Nur YasminMar. 12 - The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that “some hopeful progress” had been made toward a ceasefire in Yemen, but more commitment was needed from the warring parties.
In a statement after U.S. special envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking returned from a tour of the Gulf and Jordan, the State Department said Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis should end their offensive on the gas-rich Marib region and cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
March
Novavax vaccine 96% effective against original coronavirus version in UK trial
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 12 - Novavax Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine was 96% effective in preventing cases caused by the original version of the coronavirus in a late-stage trial conducted in the United Kingdom, the company said on Thursday, moving it a step closer to regulatory approval.
The vaccine was also about 86% effective in protecting against the more contagious virus variant first discovered and now prevalent in the UK.
It was only around 55% effective in a separate, smaller trial in South Africa, where volunteers were primarily exposed to another newer, more contagious variant that is widely circulating there and spreading around the world.
In both trials, the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing serious illness and death.
Results from the final analysis of the UK trial were largely in line with interim data released in January, which also showed the Novavax shot to be 96% effective against the original version of the coronavirus and around 86% effective against UK variant.
The company expects to use the data to submit for regulatory authorization in various countries. It is not clear when it will seek U.S. authorization or if regulators will require it to complete an ongoing trial in the United States. (Reuters)
March
Pakistan blocks social media app TikTok over indecency complaint
Written by Nur YasminMar. 12 - Pakistan on Thursday blocked the popular social media app TikTok after a court order over a complaint that it ran indecent content, a spokesman for the country’s telecoms regulator said.
“The court has asked PTA to block access to TikTok,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran told Reuters, adding that the authority would comply with the order.
A high court in the northwestern city of Peshawar said it ordered the ban after a private complainant said the social media app was spreading indecent content, said Jehanzeb Mehsud, a lawyer who represented the PTA.
The service providers have been directed to immediately block access to TikTok, the regulator said in a statement.
The app stopped working within an hour of the direction.
A TikTok representative in Pakistan said strong safeguards were in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform.
“In Pakistan, we have grown our local-language moderation team, and have mechanisms to report and remove content in violation of our community guidelines,” the representative said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to serve the millions of TikTok users and creators in Pakistan who have found a home for creativity and fun.”
Muslim-majority Pakistan had banned the app in October, but restored it within 10 days after the company vowed to block all accounts involved in spreading “obscenity and immorality.”
The telecom regulator said the social media company had agreed to moderate accounts in accordance with local laws.
TikTok has been one of the most-downloaded apps in the South Asian nation behind WhatsApp and Facebook.
TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has become hugely popular in a short period of time, by encouraging young users to post brief videos.
But the app has been mired in controversy in a number of countries, with authorities raising privacy concerns and security fears due to its links with China.
TikTok has denied that its ties to China pose a security concern in other countries. (Reuters)
March
Afghan leaders invited by Russia to meeting on struggling peace process
Written by Nur YasminMar. 12 - Afghan political leaders including former president Hamid Karzai are mulling whether to attend a meeting organised by Russia to jumpstart Afghanistan’s peace process as diplomacy by foreign powers including Washington ramps up.
Russia plans to hold a conference on Afghanistan in Moscow on March 18 and has invited several regional players. It comes at a crunch time for the peace process as a May 1 deadline for foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan looms and the United States reviews its plans.
Peace negotiations between the Afghan government and insurgent Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha have struggled to make progress. Mohammed Naeem, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Reuters it had received an invitation from Moscow, but had not yet decided whether to attend or not.
A source close to the Taliban said on condition of anonymity that a team of around four-five members of the Islamist group’s political office in Doha would attend the conference.
Former president Karzai, his former vice-president Karim Khalili as well as former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have received invitations, their spokespeople said. Only Khalili confirmed he would attend.
President Ashraf Ghani and top peace official and former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah were also considering whether to join the conference, their offices said.
The summit comes at a sensitive time as Ghani faces pressure after U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad proposed plans for a transitional government during a regional visit last week, an option Ghani rejected in a fiery speech over the weekend saying only elections could determine the government.
Khalilzad is proposing a separate conference in Turkey in coming weeks, asking for the United Nations to run it.
Diplomatic sources say the United States, Pakistan and China have also been invited to attend on March 18. The U.S. State Department has said it has “nothing to confirm” on the matter.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not respond to request for comment.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry did not confirm or deny receiving an invitation, but said: “China is actively studying the multilateral meetings on Afghanistan proposed by Russia.” (Reuters)
March
U.N. rights expert says Myanmar death toll hits 70, seeks sanctions
Written by Nur YasminMar. 11 - The United Nations human rights investigator on Myanmar said on Thursday the military junta had “murdered” at least 70 people since its Feb. 1 coup, committing killings, torture and persecution that may constitute crimes against humanity.
More than half of those killed were under the age of 25, Thomas Andrews told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
More than 2,000 people have been unlawfully detained since the military seized power and the violence against protesters is steadily increasing, he said.
“The country of Myanmar is being controlled by a murderous, illegal regime,” said Andrews.
“There is extensive video evidence of security forces viciously beating protesters, medics, and bystanders,” he said. “There is shocking video of the aftermath of attacks, including fatal gunshot wounds to the heads of protesters, and video of soldiers dragging or carrying away the dead bodies of their victims.”
Chan Aye, permanent secretary of Myanmar’s foreign affairs ministry, said that authorities have been focused on maintaining law and order.
“The authorities have been exercising utmost restraint to deal with violent protests,” he said.
In the debate, the United States urged all countries to “press the military to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters and restore power to the democratically-elected government”.
China and Russia - which have close ties to Myanmar’s military - called for steps toward reconciliation, while also upholding the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.
Andrews, a former member of the U.S. Congress, speaking by video message from Washington, D.C., said that basic rights to freedom of expression and assembly were being denied in Myanmar.
He called for imposing multilateral sanctions on the junta leaders and on the military-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, whose revenues from natural gas projects were set to reach $1 billion this year.
“Sanctions will only be truly effective if they are unified and coordinated,” Andrews said. (Reuters)