Asia
Protests, poisoning and prison: A look at the life of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny
In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin's biggest foe to Russia's most prominent political prisoner.
Already serving two convictions that have landed him in prison for at least nine years, he faces a new trial that could keep him behind for two more decades.
Navalny turns 47 on Sunday in prison, where he has been repeatedly locked up in solitary confinement.
A look at Navalny's life, political activism and the charges he has faced through the years:
June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region.
1997 — Graduates from Russia's RUDN university, where he majored in law; earns a degree in economics in 2001 while working as a lawyer.
2004 — Forms a movement against rampant overdevelopment in Moscow, according to his campaign website.
2008 — Gains notoriety for alleging corruption in state-run corporations, such as gas giant Gazprom and oil behemoth Rosneft, through his blogs and other posts.
2010 — Founds RosPil, an anti-corruption project run by a team of lawyers that analyzes spending of state agencies and companies, exposing violations and contesting them in court.
2011 — Establishes the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which will become his team's main platform for exposing alleged graft among Russia's top political ranks.
December 2011 — Participates in mass protests sparked by reports of widespread rigging of Russia's parliamentary election, and is arrested and jailed for 15 days for "defying a government official." March 2012 — Following President Vladimir Putin's reelection and inauguration, mass protests break out in Moscow and elsewhere. Navalny accuses key figures, including then-Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Chechnya's strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, of corruption.
July 2012 — Russia's Investigative Committee charges Navalny with embezzlement involving Kirovles, a state-owned timber company in the Kirov region, while acting as an adviser to the local governor. Navalny rejects the allegations as politically motivated.
December 2012 — The Investigative Committee launches another probe into alleged embezzlement at a Navalny-linked Russian subsidiary of Yves Rocher, a French cosmetics company. Navalny again says the allegations are politically motivated.
2013 — Navalny runs for mayor in Moscow — a move the authorities not only allow but encourage in an attempt to put a veneer of democracy on the race that is designed to boost the profile of the incumbent, Sergei Sobyanin.
July 2013 — A court in Kirov convicts Navalny of embezzlement in the Kirovles case, sentencing him to five years in prison. The prosecution petitions to release Navalny from custody pending his appeal, and he resumes his campaign.
September 2013 — Official results show Navalny finishes second in the mayor's race behind Sobyanin, with 27% of the vote, after a successful electoral and fundraising campaign collecting an unprecedented 97.3 million rubles ($2.9 million) from individual supporters.
October 2013 — A court hands Navalny a suspended sentence in the Kirovles case. February 2014 — Navalny is placed under house arrest in connection with the Yves Rocher case and banned from using the internet. His blog continues to be updated regularly, presumably by his team, detailing alleged corruption by various Russian officials.
December 2014 — Navalny and his brother, Oleg, are found guilty of fraud in the Yves Rocher case. Navalny receives a 3½-year suspended sentence, while his brother is handed a prison term. Both appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
December 2015 — Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption releases its first long-form video — a YouTube documentary called "Chaika," which means "seagull" in Russian but is also the last name of then-Prosecutor General Yury Chaika. The 44-minute video accuses him of corruption and alleged ties to a notorious criminal group and has piled up 26 million views on YouTube. Chaika and other Russian officials deny the accusations.
February 2016 — The European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia violated Navalny's right to a fair trial in the Kirovles case, ordering the government to pay his legal costs and damages.
November 2016 — Russia's Supreme Court overturns Navalny's sentence and sends the case back to the original court in the city of Kirov for review.
December 2016 — Navalny announces he will run in Russia's 2018 presidential election.
February 2017 — The Kirov court retries Navalny and upholds his five-year suspended sentence from 2013.
March 2017 — Navalny releases a YouTube documentary accusing then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption, getting over 7 million views in its first week. A series of anti-graft protests across Russia draw tens of thousands and there are mass arrests. Navalny tours the country to open campaign offices, holds big rallies and is jailed repeatedly for unauthorized demonstrations.
April 27, 2017 — Unidentified assailants throw a green disinfectant in his face, damaging his right eye. He blames the attack on the Kremlin.
October 2017 — The European Court of Human Rights finds Navalny's fraud conviction in the Yves Rocher case to be "arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable."
December 2017 — Russia's Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president over his conviction in the Kirovles case, a move condemned by the EU as casting "serious doubt" on the election. July 2019 — Members of Navalny's team, along with other opposition activists, are barred from running for Moscow city council, sparking protests that are violently dispersed, with thousands arrested. Navalny's team responds by promoting the "Smart Voting" strategy, encouraging the election of any candidate except those from the Kremlin's United Russia party. The strategy works, with the party losing its majority. 2020 Navalny hopes to deploy the Smart Voting strategy at regional elections in September and tours Siberia as part of the effort.
Aug. 20, 2020 — On a flight from the city of Tomsk, where he was working with local activists, Navalny falls ill and the plane makes an emergency landing in nearby Omsk. Hospitalized in a coma, Navalny's team suspects he was poisoned.
Aug. 22, 2020 — A comatose Navalny is flown to a hospital in Berlin.
Aug. 24, 2020 — German authorities confirm Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. After he recovers, he blames the Kremlin, an accusation denied by Russian officials.
Jan. 17, 2021 — Following five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia, with authorities alleging his recuperation abroad violated the terms of his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case. His arrest triggers some of the biggest protests in Russia in years. Thousands are arrested.
Feb. 2, 2021 — A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve 2½ years in prison for his parole violation. While in prison, Navalny stages a three-week hunger strike to protest a lack of medical treatment and sleep deprivation.
June 2021 — A Moscow court outlaws Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption and about 40 regional offices as extremist, shutting down his political network. Close associates and team members face prosecution and leave Russia under pressure. Navalny maintains contact with his lawyers and team from prison, and they update his social media accounts.
Feb. 24, 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine. Navalny condemns the war in social media posts from prison and during his court appearances.
March 22, 2022 — Navalny is sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court in a case his supporters rejected as fabricated. He is transferred to a maximum-security prison in Russia's western Vladimir region.
July 2022 —Navalny's team announces the relaunch of the Anti-Corruption Foundation as an international organization with an advisory board including Francis Fukuayama, Anne Applebaum, and the European Parliament member and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Navalny continues to file lawsuits in prison and tries to form a labor union in the facility. In response, penitentiary officials start regularly placing him in solitary confinement over purported disciplinary violations such as failing to properly button his garment or to wash his face at a specified time. 2023 — Over 400 Russian doctors sign an open letter to Putin, urging an end to "abusing" Navalny, following reports that he was denied basic medication after getting the flu. His team expresses concern about his health, saying in April he had acute stomach pain and suspected he was being slowly poisoned.
March 12, 2023 — "Navalny," a film about the attempt on the opposition leader's life, wins the Oscar for best documentary feature.
April 26, 2023 — Appearing on a videolink from prison during a hearing, Navalny said he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. He added sardonically that the charges imply that "I'm conducting terror attacks while sitting in prison." A hearing was set for June 6.
India train crash kills over 280, injures 900 in country's deadliest rail accident in decades
Rescuers waded through piles of debris and wreckage to pull out bodies and free people on Saturday (June 3, 2023) after two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people. Hundreds of others were trapped inside more than a dozen mangled rail cars overnight in one of the country's deadliest train crashes in decades.
The accident, which happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata on Friday (June 2, 2023) night, led to a chaotic scene as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to free survivors.
About 900 people were injured in the accident in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, said P.K. Jena, the state's top administrative official. The cause was under investigation.
At least 280 bodies were recovered overnight and into Saturday morning, Sudhanshu Sarangi, director of Odisha's fire department, told The Associated Press. He said more than 800 injured passengers were taken to various hospitals with many in critical condition.
Also Read: India train crash death toll rises above 230 with 900 injured as rescuers comb through debris
Rescuers were cutting through the destroyed rail cars to find people who may still be trapped. Sarangi said it was possible that people were stuck underneath but that it was unlikely they would still be alive.
"By 10 p.m. (on Friday) we were able to rescue the survivors. After that it was about picking up dead bodies," he said. "This is very, very tragic. I have never seen anything like this in my career."
Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a nearby track, said Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson. The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, causing up to three coaches of the second train to also derail, he added.
A third train carrying freight was also involved, the Press Trust of India reported, but there was no immediate confirmation of that from railroad authorities. PTI said some of the derailed passenger coaches hit cars from the freight train.
Read more: India train crash: Few Bangladeshis suffered minor injuries, says deputy high commission
The death toll rose steadily throughout the night as footage showed shattered carriages that had overturned completely. Scores of dead bodies, covered by white sheets, lay on the ground near the train tracks as locals and rescuers raced to help survivors.
Teams of rescuers and police continued sifting through the ruins on Saturday morning as the search operation carried on, amid fears that the death toll is likely to rise further. Scores of people also showed up at a local hospital to donate blood.
Officials said 1,200 rescuers worked with 115 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units through the night at the accident site. Saturday was declared as a day of mourning in Odisha as the state's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, reached the district to meet injured passengers.
Villagers said they rushed to the site to evacuate people after hearing a loud sound created by the train coaches going off the tracks.
Read more: Railway suspends 3 employees over Cumilla train collision, salvage work continues
"The local people really went out on a limb to help us. They not only helped in pulling out people, but retrieved our luggage and got us water," PTI cited Rupam Banerjee, a survivor, as saying.
Passenger Vandana Kaleda said that inside the train during the derailment people were "falling on each other" as her coach shook violently and veered off the tracks.
"As I stepped out of the washroom, suddenly the train tilted. I lost my balance. ... Everything went topsy turvy. People started falling on each other and I was shocked and could not understand what happened. My mind stopped working," she said, adding she felt lucky to survive.
Another survivor who did not give his name said he was sleeping when the impact woke him up. He said he saw other passengers with broken limbs and disfigured faces.
Read more: Train accident in Odisha: Hotline opened for query about Bangladeshis
The derailed Coromandel Express was traveling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, PTI said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were with the bereaved families.
"May the injured recover soon," tweeted Modi, who said he had spoken to the railway minister and that "all possible assistance" was being offered.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India's railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.
Read more: A look at deadly train crashes in India in recent decades
In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in one of the worst train accidents in India.
In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.
Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.
Read more: India sees huge potential for cooperation with Bangladesh Railway
A look at deadly train crashes in India in recent decades
The latest deadly train crash in India happened Friday, when two passenger trains derailed — killing more than 200 people, injuring more than 900 and trapping hundreds of others inside more than a dozen damaged rail cars, officials said.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India daily, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track. Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents happen annually on India’s railways. Most are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
Here's a look at other deadly India train crashes in recent decades:
October 2018 — A train ran over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India, killing at least 60 people and injuring dozens more on the outskirts of Amritsar, a city in Punjab state.
Also read: Passenger train derails in India, killing at least 50 and trapping many others
November 2016 — At least 146 people were killed when a passenger train traveling between the cities of Indore and Patna slid off the tracks. More than 200 people were injured.
July 2011 — A passenger train jumped tracks near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state in northern India, killing 68 people and leaving 239 passengers injured.
May 2010 — A passenger train derailed and was hit by a cargo train, killing 145 people in West Bengal state. Authorities blamed sabotage by Maoist rebels for the crash.
October 2005 — A passenger train plunged into a rain-swollen river in southern India, killing at least 111 people. About 100 injured passengers were rescued from coaches that derailed after floods washed away tracks in the town of Veligonda in Andhra Pradesh state.
September 2002 — An express train traveling from Calcutta to New Delhi jumped its tracks and plunged into a river, killing at least 121 people. The accident happened south of the Bihar state capital of Patna.
August 1999 — Two trains collided head-on in the city of Gauhati, killing more than 285 people.
November 1998 — Two trains collided in the northern town of Khanna, killing 210 people. The crash happened when a passenger train hit cars that had uncoupled from another train.
August 1995 — Two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people. One of the trains had stopped after hitting a cow.
Indian PM Narendra Modi invited to address Congress
U.S. congressional leaders have invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of Congress during a visit to Washington later this month as the U.S. looks to deepen its bonds with India, the world’s most populous democracy, to counter China’s growing influence even as Modi has faced criticism for eroding India’s democratic traditions and human rights.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other leaders announced Friday that Modi has been invited to make the address on June 22, stating in a letter that the “partnership between our two countries continues to grow” and calling the address an “opportunity to share your vision for India’s future and speak to the global challenges our countries both face.”
The U.S. is seeking to forge stronger ties overseas — especially in Asia — to counter China’s aggression in the region. Modi’s congressional address would come amid a state visit with President Joe Biden, which includes plans to celebrate Modi with high diplomatic honors reserved for close U.S. allies.
The White House has said that Modi’s visit will be a chance to build on a commitment to a free and secure Indo-Pacific region, as well as develop technology partnerships and tackle climate change.
Biden met with Modi in Japan last month at the Group of Seven summit, and he was expected to travel with the prime minister to later meetings in Papua New Guinea and Australia. But, the second leg of Biden’s trip was canceled so the president could travel home to deal with the stand-off with House Republicans over lifting the U.S. national debt.
Congress routinely welcomes heads of state to deliver an address during a joint meeting, a high-profile opportunity to showcase bonds between the U.S. and other nations. Modi became the fifth Indian prime minister to address Congress in 2016.
Modi’s visit seven years ago came after the politician was shunned for years because of religious violence in his home state while he was chief minister. Since ascending to become prime minister of India in 2014, his Hindu nationalist party has stifled dissent, cracked down on press criticism and introduced divisive policies that discriminate against Muslims and other minorities.
India routinely denies criticism of its human rights and civil liberties record.
Modi has also only lightly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and refused to impose sanctions.
Despite those concerns, the U.S. has more to gain than lose from a close friendship with India, the White House has reasoned. Biden is looking to strengthen the Quad, an international partnership with the U.S., Australia, India and Japan, that is seen as a potential bulwark against China’s dominance in the region.
Congressional leaders seemed to agree. Their letter to Modi states, “We look forward to paving the way for greater collaboration between our countries in the years to come.”
Tropical Storm Mawar brings heavy rains, landslide risk to Japan's southern islands
A weakened Tropical Storm Mawar brought heavy rains to Japan’s main southern islands Friday after passing the Okinawan archipelago and causing injuries to several people.
Residents in vulnerable areas were warned of the potential for flooding and mudslides, and dozens of local flights were canceled for the day. On Okinawa, strong winds continued to blow and eight people were injured. An older woman who fell had a serious head injury in Nishihara city, but the other injuries were slight.
Formerly a super typhoon, Mawar had winds blowing up to 90 kph (56 mph) as it moved east of Okinoerabujima over the Pacific Ocean, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
While wind damage was limited in Okinawa, warm and damp air from the tropical storm was intensifying seasonal rains, threatening flooding and mudslides, the meteorological agency said.
Up to 35 centimeters (1.1 feet) of rain was forecast over the next 24 hours through Saturday morning. The agency issued flooding and mudslide warnings in parts of southwestern Japan, cautioning residents near rivers and hillside to use caution.
Mawar largely skirted Taiwan and the Philippines after tearing across Guam last week. It sent waves crashing into Taiwan's east coast and brought heavy rains to the northern Philippines, though no major damage was reported.
Japan had deployed a number of PAC-3 land-to-air interceptors on southern islands for a North Korean rocket launch, but some of them were kept on base instead of being set up at intended locations due to safety precautions ahead of the typhoon. A launch Wednesday failed, but North Korea intends to try again.
The U.S. military, which has troops stationed at multiple facilities on Okinawa, was tracking the storm closely.
Mawar lashed Guam last week as the strongest typhoon to hit the U.S. Pacific territory in more than two decades. As of Wednesday, only 28% of power had been restored and about half the water system was operational, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
There have been long lines for gas and officials estimate it will be four to six weeks before power is fully restored. FEMA did not yet know exactly how many homes were destroyed.
Sri Lanka reduces interest rates for 1st time since bankruptcy as economy shows signs of rebounding
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka reduced its interest rates Thursday for the first time since the island nation declared bankruptcy, after stern fiscal controls, improved foreign currency income and help from an International Monetary Fund program resulted in inflation slowing faster than expected.
The Central Bank said in a statement that the lending and deposit interest rates were reduced by 250 basis points to 14% and 13%.
Also read: Sri Lanka hopes to reach initial agreement with IMF for help
The hope is that lowering the rates would "provide an impetus for the economy to rebound from the historic contraction activity witnessed in 2022, while easing pressures in the financial markets,” the statement said.
According to the Central Bank, the headline inflation stood at 35.3% in April, was reduced to 25.2% in May and is expected to reach single-digit territory by the the third quarter.
Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in April 2022 and said it is suspending repayment of its foreign debt. It reached an agreement in March with the IMF for a nearly $3 billion bailout program over four years and started negotiations with its creditors on debt restructuring.
Also read: Sri Lanka leader declares emergency amid protests
Inflows of foreign money have been robust since the agreement with the IMF, aided by import controls, increased income from tourism and worker remittances, allowing the Central Bank to strengthen its reserves, the statement said.
The interest rate reduction is expected to allow the private sector better access to credit facilities — a key demand of the small and medium enterprises that have cut jobs or closed during the unprecedented crisis.
“The economy is projected to rebound gradually from late 2023, supported by the easing of monetary conditions, improvements in business and investor sentiments along with the realization of improved foreign exchange inflows, the faster recovery of the tourism sector, and the implementation of growth promoting policy measures,” the Central Bank said.
Sri Lanka's economic meltdown set off by the COVID-19 pandemic cutting off its tourism and export income turned into a full-blown crisis by the government's insistence on spending its scarce foreign reserves to prop up the Sri Lankan rupee. The crisis caused shortage of essentials like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel. Angry street protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.
Qatar's prime minister reportedly meets with Taliban's supreme leader in Afghanistan
The supreme leader of the Taliban met in Afghanistan with Qatar's prime minister this month, the first-such publicly known meeting between the Taliban's reclusive leader and a foreign official, the Al Jazeera satellite news network reported Wednesday.
Haibatullah Akhunzada met Qatar's Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on May 12 in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, Al Jazeera English said. Sheikh Mohammed also is the foreign minister of Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula.
The state-owned broadcaster did not specifically discuss what the two officials spoke about, though it described the meeting as aimed at ways to end the Taliban's international isolation.
Qatari government officials declined to discuss the meeting, which Reuters first reported. The Taliban did not respond to requests for comment regarding the meeting. The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
It's unclear what effect such a meeting will have. The Taliban seized Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. In the time since, Afghanistan has become the most repressive in the world for women and girls, depriving them of virtually all their basic rights, according to the U.N. Hunger remains endemic.
Taliban fighters also exchanged gunfire with Iranian border guards on Saturday.
Qatar, which hosts a major U.S. military base in the region, served as a crucial point for those fleeing the Taliban in the chaotic days of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Qatar also hosts a diplomatic post for the Taliban and hosted talks between the group and then-President Donald Trump's administration.
North Korean leader's sister slams US for criticizing failed satellite launch
The powerful sister of North Korean Kim Jong Un on Thursday accused the United States of “gangster-like” hypocrisy for criticizing her country’s failed launch of a military spy satellite and insisted a successful launch will be made soon.
Kim Yo Jong said North Korea’s efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance capabilities were a legitimate exercise of its sovereign right and restated the country’s rejection of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban it from conducting any launch involving ballistic missile technology.
Her comments on state media came a day after the rocket carrying the satellite failed. North Korea said the rocket lost thrust after a stage separation and crashed in waters off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast.
Washington, South Korea and Japan had quickly criticized the launch. Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the U.S. National Security Council, said Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions and risked destabilizing security in the region and beyond.
In her statement, Kim Yo Jong briefly mentioned Hodge’s comments before saying the United States “is letting loose a hackneyed gibberish prompted by its brigandish and abnormal thinking.”
“If the DPRK’s satellite launch should be particularly censured, the U.S. and all other countries, which have already launched thousands of satellites, should be denounced. This is nothing but sophism of self-contradiction,” she said, using the initials of North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
She noted how the United States closely monitors the North through its own reconnaissance satellites and other aerial assets, calling the Americans a “group of gangsters” who would deem it as “illegal and threatening” had North Korea attempted to send a satellite into space by balloon.
“The far-fetched logic that only the DPRK should not be allowed to do so according to the (U.N. Security Council’s) ‘resolution’ which bans the use of ballistic rocket technology irrespective of its purpose, though other countries are doing so, is clearly a gangster-like and wrong one of seriously violating the DPRK’s right to use space and illegally oppressing it,” she said.
“It is certain that the DPRK’s military reconnaissance satellite will be correctly put on space orbit in the near future and start its mission,” she added.
Citing what she described as U.S. hostility toward the North, Kim reiterated that Pyongyang has no intent to reengage in negotiations with Washington, which have stalemated since 2019 because of disagreements over crippling U.S.-led sanctions imposed over the North’s nuclear weapons and missiles program.
Wednesday’s launch extended a provocative run in North Korean military demonstrations, including the test-firings of around 100 missiles since the start of 2022 that underscored Kim Jong Un’s attempts to acquire dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes on both the U.S. mainland and South Korea.
Wednesday’s failed launch raised security jitters in South Korea and Japan, where residents in some areas were briefly urged to take shelter shortly after the launch. South Korea’s military later salvaged an object presumed to be part of the North Korean rocket in waters 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo and plans to analyze the technology.
The International Maritime Organization’s maritime safety committee adopted a rare resolution Wednesday denouncing North Korea for conducting launches without proper notification, which have “seriously threatened the safety of seafarers and international shipping.”
Japan’s coast guard, which coordinates and distributes navigational warnings in the region, wasn't notified by North Korea until Monday, although such warnings should be made no less than five days in advance. The IMO said it “urgently calls upon (North Korea) to cease unlawful and unannounced ballistic missile launches across international shipping lanes.”
A military spy satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to develop to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure. Other weapons on his wish list include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile.
While North Korea with past long-range missile and rocket tests has shown it can put satellites in space, it’s less clear whether its technology has advanced enough to meet its stated goal of using satellites to monitor U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time.
The two Earth-observation satellites it placed in orbit in 2012 and 2016 never transmitted imagery back to North Korea, foreign experts say. And analysts say the new device displayed recently in state media appeared too small and crudely designed to process and transfer high-resolution imagery.
The U.N. Security Council imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its previous satellite and ballistic missile launches, but it has failed to punish the North over its recent tests. The council’s permanent members China and Russia have continuously rejected U.S.-led efforts to toughen sanctions on Pyongyang, underscoring a divide deepened over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Myanmar court convicts journalist injured by army on 2nd charge, extending jail term to 13 years
A court in military-ruled Myanmar has convicted a 34-year-old journalist of violating the country's counter-terrorism law, adding 10 years to the three-year prison sentence she was handed last December for filming an anti-military protest, according to her lawyer and a family member.
The conviction of Hmue Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun, a video journalist for the online Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, was the latest move against press freedom by the country's ruling military, which has cracked down on independent media since seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
Myanmar is one of the world's biggest jailers of journalists, second only to China, according to Reporters Without Borders, and it is ranked near the bottom of the watchdog's World Press Freedom Index – 173rd out of 180 countries this year.
"By imposing this additional 10-year sentence on Hmu Yadanar, the military junta led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has yet again demonstrated the extraordinary scale of the tyranny to which reporters are subjected to Myanmar," Daniel Bastard, head of the Paris-based group's Asia-Pacific desk, said in a statement on Tuesday. "We urge Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take up this highly symbolic case in order to seek effective international sanctions against its military rulers."
Since the takeover, journalists in Myanmar have faced extreme peril as the military government criminalized many aspects of reporting and has arrested more than 150 journalists, driving many others into hiding or exile.
At least 13 media outlets have had their licenses revoked and about 156 journalists have been arrested, 50 of whom remain detained. Of the detainees, 31 have already been convicted and sentenced. At least four journalists have been killed and others tortured while in detention.
Most of the detained journalists are being held under an incitement charge — defined as causing fear or spreading false news that leads the public to hate the government and military — which is punishable by up to three years in prison. Others are held under the counter-terrorism law, which carries a punishment ranging from 10 years in prison to the death penalty.
The army's takeover triggered mass public protests that the army and police responded to with lethal force, leading to armed resistance and escalating violence that has plunged Myanmar into civil war.
The lawyer for Hmue Yadanar, who asked not to be identified due to fear of reprisals from the authorities, told The Associated Press that the Thingangyun distinct court in eastern Yangon, the country's largest city, sentenced his client last Friday to 10 years in prison with hard labor for violating the country's counter-terrorism law by allegedly supporting major resistance groups. The ruling military council has declared such groups to be terrorist organizations.
The lawyer said the defense had proved that allegations of her having a financial link to resistance groups were not true, but the judge said the proof was inconclusive.
Hmue Yadanar decided not to appeal, he said.
In December last year, Hmue Yadanar was handed a three-year prison sentence with hard labor for incitement along with her colleague Kaung Sett Lin, a photographer for the photo agency, so the latest conviction brought the total time she must serve in prison to 13 years.
She and Kaung Sett Lin were arrested along with nine protesters in December 2021 after an army vehicle plowed into a peaceful flash-mob march against military rule in Yangon. The two journalists were hit by the vehicle at high speed as they were taking photos and videos from behind the protest march. Hmue Yadanar's left ear was cut in half, her left cheek was torn, bones were broken in three places in her left ankle and she had to have 15 stitches for a head wound.
She received metal implants to fix broken bones in her left leg in Insein prison in northern Yangon in March but still has to use crutches to walk, according to a family member who also asked that her name not be used because of fear of military reprisals.
"There was only one case earlier, so we could be strong in our minds. But she received another sentence and we are very sad for her. She told us not to worry too much and to stay strong. What we can do right now is pray for her release as soon as possible," she said Wednesday.
"The conviction shows the clear attitude and intention of the military council toward journalists. Freedom of the press is now far away," commented J Paing, the founder and editor of Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, which is forced to operate underground.
China responds to US complaint over plane intercept with demand for end to surveillance flights
Beijing responded Wednesday to complaints from the United States about a Chinese fighter jet's dangerous interception of an American Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the South China Sea by demanding an end to such flights.
The incident adds to military, diplomatic and economic tensions between the sides over U.S. support for self-governing Taiwan, China's refusal to engage in dialogue between their armed forces and Beijing's flying of a suspected spy balloon over the U.S.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a daily briefing Wednesday that China would keep taking measures it deems necessary to safeguard its sovereignty.
"The U.S. should immediately stop these dangerous provocations," Mao said.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called the Chinese plane's actions an "unnecessarily aggressive maneuver," adding to complaints that China's military has become significantly more aggressive over the past five years, intercepting U.S. aircraft and ships in the region.
China says it owns the South China Sea virtually in its entirety, a claim not recognized internationally and directly challenged by nations along its coast including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. military said the pilot of the Chinese J-16 fighter jet flew directly in front of the nose of the RC-135 conducting routine operations in international airspace last Friday.
Military-to-military contacts between the sides have all but evaporated in recent years amid a historic decline in governmental relations, even as trade and personal exchanges remain strong.
Further dampening prospects for a reduction in tensions, China said its defense chief will not meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when the two men attend a security conference in Singapore over the weekend.
Austin is scheduled to address the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, while Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu will speak at the gathering on Sunday.
China has said the U.S. is entirely responsible for the breakdown in communications, but has not publicly given a reason.
With its People's Liberation Army as the world's largest standing military, which answers directly to the ruling Communist Party, China frequently challenges military aircraft from the U.S. and its allies in the South and East China Seas, and the Taiwan Strait connecting the two.
Such behavior led to a 2001 in-air collision between a Chinese fighter and U.S. Navy surveillance plane in which the Chinese plane was lost and pilot killed.
In Tuesday's statement, the Indo-Pacific Command said America will continue to "fly, sail, and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international law allows," and expects all other countries to do the same.