Unidentified people set fire to NLD headquarters

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YANGON, Myanmar – Unidentified people threw a burning torch into National League for Democracy headquarters in Bahan township at 4am Friday.

Neighbors put out the flames using buckets of water and fire extinguishers after finding there was no water available for nearby hydrants. After they had put out the fire, the local fire service arrived, which also did not bring water with them.

“The strange thing was that the water was cut off,” one bystander told Myanmar Now. “There was no water supply at all around the office. There was no water from the hydrants when we tried to put out the fire. We had to use buckets of water. It’s lucky that there were fire extinguishers ready.”

There was some structural damage as well as damage to office furniture.

NLD representatives said they would report the arson to the police.

The NLD Party was formed after the 1988 democratic revolution. Standing as an opposition party, the NLD party entered the parliamentary by-election in 2012.

By Htay Win
Photo credit Myanmar now

Mercosur meeting that promised incorporation of Bolivia to the group results in an invitation to Uruguay to ‘jump ship’

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Argentinian president Alberto Fernandez, who has spent the last weeks leading up to the current Mercosur virtual summit promising to work to incorporate Bolivia into the bloc as a member-in-full, took a complaint from the Uruguayan president and flippled into an invitation to leave the group.

Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou said, “It should not be a burden, we are not willing to make it a corset in which our country cannot move, that is why we have talked about flexibility,” in a speech referencing Argentina’s opposition to negotiations outside the group.

The speech was fiery and so was Fernandez’s response, “We don’t want to be anyone’s burden. For me, it is an honor to be part of Mercosur … If it is a burden, the easiest thing is to abandon ship.”

Uruguay is one of the four founding remembers of the 30-year-old group. Bolivia has been in observer status since the 1990s and its president announced at the summit, the country’s “immediate willingness to carry out the tasks necessary to assume full membership,” a step that requires the approval of Brazil.

The meeting will continue on April 22.

By Milan Sime Martinic

NYC first US city to pass resolution to end qualified immunity for police

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NYC lawmakers announced that they voted to pass a resolution to “ensure that officers who violate Constitutional rights in the course of a search and seizure or by the use of excessive force are not entitled to qualified immunity.”

Qualified immunity protects police from punishment even when they break the law, and was originally established in 1967 to prevent Freedom Riders from coming after officials in Mississippi. Although it is just case law, not law, it is widely used.

The new bill’s purpose is to push back against QI.

“This legislation is simple,” said Council Member Stephen Levin, who sponsored the resolution, “It creates a set of civil rights here in New York City, mirroring those conferred by the 4th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, so that people in New York City can hold officers accountable if those officers violate their civil rights. It eliminates the shield of Qualified Immunity to allow victims the opportunity to seek justice.”

Opinion is divided, and a little confused, as to what this move will mean in practice. Many believe the local law will at least send a message that the city is in favor of a change in the direction away from QI.

The Legal Aid Society expressed support for the move but commented that it was just a first step and more meaningful change would happen if New York state passes legislation that addresses relief for victims of police misconduct, specifically A4331/S1911.

But critics have raised the point that removing the shield of QI may prevent or discourage police from thoroughly enforcing the law.

The resolution was passed this week along with several other police reforms that are part of a broader plan to reform NYC police under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

By Sid Douglas

Mystery solved: A poison formed by blue-green algae cause of mass extinction of bald eagles in southeastern US

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A substance from a previously unknown blue-green alga, also known as cyanobacteria, that lives on ground nettles in freshwater lakes is responsible for making various birds and other animals sick, according to research by teams at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany and the University of Georgia.

The harmful substance finds its way into herbivorous fish, water birds, and turtles, which were eventually eaten by the bald eagles, say the researchers, solving the long-running mystery of the mass extinction of bald eagles in the southeastern US. Since the 1990s scientists have been searching for the “eagle killer poison” that causes nerve disorders in the birds which then lose control of their bodies and die.

Though it remains unclear why the bacteria produces the poison in some lakes but not in others, a unique bromine compound may be responsible, say researchers. It turns out that the bacteria need bromine to produce their poison and the scientists point out that a herbicide containing bromine is used in some lakes to destroy the invasive ground nettle.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Protesters in Bagan curse military coup leader

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YANGON, Myanmar – Protesters cursed the military coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing, in temples and pagodas, specifically that the military wouldn’t be successful in the coup against the will of the people.

They also prayed for their fallen heroes in what they consider to be the democratic struggle for control of Myanmar.

So far, a total death toll has reached 270 throughout Myanmar, including casualties in Bagan when security forces dispersed the crowd with live rounds.

In ancient times, the people in Bagan cursed those who destroyed the pagodas and temples they built. With thousands of temples and pagodas in the same place, Bagan is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Myanmar.

By Htay Win
Photo credit Aye Yarwaddy

Photos of Bolivian ex-president in prison keep making the media, daughter charges ‘psychological and physical torture’

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Jeanine Añez is held by Bolivian courts as a “flight risk” and because of fear she might “interfere with investigations,” but her daughter Carolina Ribera says that by allowing pictures of the jailed former leader prison authorities are interfering with her mother’s privacy in actions that amount to psychological and emotional torture, and “physical harassment.”

Ribera says the ruling MAS party is using her mother as a political trophy and “so they believe they have the right to violate her in all those ways.”

“It is a type of harassment to take her pictures clandestinely, without her authorization, to Photoshop it, edit, and to publish it in all the networks and to tell lies about her. It is because of this that my mother is suffering physical and emotional torture,” said her daughter in a television interview decrying a widely published picture of her mother on her prison bed, eating. The picture was later shown to be Photoshopped with the addition of fries and a Burger King bag. This was relevant because Añez has claimed health issues with high blood pressure and, according to a Bolivian verification site, she was eating an avocado and not fried fast foods.

“She is feeling harassed in this form because this generates certain rejection, certain discomfort in the condition in which she is because she feels invaded,” charged her daughter.

Añez is being held in La Paz’s Miraflores Women’s prison among high-security inmates who are serving sentences of more than 8 years.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Argentina makes official its exit from the Lima Group

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Saying the group’s actions to isolate Venezuela in order to bring a peaceful resolution to the country’s crisis have led to nothing, the government of Alberto Fernadez has formally taken his country out of the Lima Group, a South and Central American group of nations plus Canada formed to address issues of hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime and mortality that have befallen Venezuela in the economic and political crisis that began under ex-president Hugo Chavez over a decade ago.

The exit was effective March 24, said a press release by the country’s Foreign Relations office. “Argentina will continue to maintain its commitment to stability in the region, and will seek to direct peaceful, democratic solutions that are respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of each State,” it concluded.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Court hearing for Aung San Suu Kyi postponed

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YANGON, Myanmar – The remote court hearing of Aung San Suu Kyi case was postponed until April 1 due to the inconvenience posed by the current condition of internet service in the country.

She was arrested after the Feb. 1 coup for illegal export and import.

Since early February, anti-coup protesters have taken streets and of several cities in Myanmar and there have been casualties when the protesters were met by security forces. At present, the total death toll across the country has reached 270, according to a local source.

In 2012, the Myanmar military convinced Suu Kyi to participate in the parliamentary by-election even though she initially refused to enter the election under the 2008 constitution drawn up by the military.

By Htay Win
Photo credit Tazar San

Myanmar military releases detainees from Insein prison

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YANGON, Myanmar – The Myanmar military released 628 detainees from Insein prison Feb. 14, while people were conducting a nationwide silent strike, closing shops and businesses and staying at home.

The detainees were taken to police stations on public buses, and released to go to their homes.

Since early February, the military has arrested politicians, journalists and protesters. According to a local source, the military arrested 2682 people and 2302 people were prosecuted after the military coup.

Even though the military has released some detainees, it still holds some key players of the NLD party.

By Htay Win
Photo credit VOM

Red Cross: Violence, killings, and disappearances on the rise in Colombia, affecting civilians

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At least five continuing armed conflicts are driving a resurgence of cases of disappearances, killings, sexual attacks, attacks on healthcare workers and facilities, as well as a rise in the number of people being killed or injured by explosive devices in 2020, reports the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, in findings released this week in Bogota.

Colombia has a long history of violence. More than 120,000 people have disappeared in the country in the last 60 years. In the guerilla war with FARC leftist rebels, more than 260,000 people were killed and millions displaced. The report notes 389 people were killed by explosive devices in 2020, the highest since 2016 when the country government signed a peace deal with FARC.

“In 2020, the consequences of the conflict saw an upsurge, especially compared with 2016,” said the ICRC. “Unfortunately, it is the civilian population that is paying the price of this upsurge.”

By Milan Sime Martinic

UN: 34 million people in more than 20 countries at risk of starvation

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From Afghanistan to Venezuela and Mozambique to Mali acute hunger is projected to rise steeply in many world regions, but especially heavily in Africa, says the World Hunger Hotspots report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, released this week. “Over 34 million people are grappling with emergency levels of acute hunger (IPC4)– meaning they are one step away from starvation - across the world,” says FAO.

South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Yemen, and parts of Northern Nigeria are reported as the most precarious but acute hunger is set to soar in over 20 countries, warns the report, though 16m Yemenis and 7m South Sudanese are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity by June.

Conflict, violence, the Covid pandemic, climate extremes, la Niña-driven weather, Desert Locust outbreaks, and increasingly constrained access in some countries are listed by FAO as the factors driving the crisis.

The risk of famine conditions is driven by already highly vulnerable populations, severe malnutrition, rising displacement, and the deteriorating economic situation, says FAO, reporting that a combination of humanitarian food assistance, cash, and emergency livelihood interventions is urgently necessary.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Policy paper by US-Brazil think tank recommends Biden cut ties with Bolsonaro

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Recommendations arriving at the White House this week from NGOs and experts comprising the US Network for Democracy in Brazil, USNDB, request the Biden administration suspend all political and economic agreements, negotiations, and alliances made with the Bolsonario regime.

In a 31-page document, written by professors from 10 universities, directors of NGOs such as Greenpeace and Amazon Watch, and endorsed by 100 academics from universities, organizations, and activists, USNDB supports the recommendations with high criticism of the authoritarian tendencies of Presidents Donald Trump and Bolsonaro. The paper also advises the US to restrict imports of wood, soy, and meat from Brazil, until it can be confirmed are not linked to deforestation and human rights abuses.

By Milan Sime Martinic