International

Taiwan yesterday raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, bringing curbs for a period of two weeks that will shut many venues and restrict gatherings in the wake of 180 new domestic infections. Masks are to be worn outdoors for the first time, as the government encourages work and study from home, shutting cinemas and entertainment spots, while limiting gatherings of families and friends to five indoors and 10 outdoors. Taipei’s government has already ordered restaurants and similar venues to shut. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said a “level of risk” in certain hot spots, such as Taipei’s gritty Wanhua district, had spurred the decision to raise the alert level. “Only by doing this can infections be dealt with and controlled,” he told reporters. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je urged people to stay home as much as possible, adding that schools teaching should move online. “During this time, if you have nothing on, then stay at home and don’t go out, and if you do, wear a mask to reduce infection from droplets,” said Ko, a doctor by training. President Tsai Ing-wen’s spokesman said she would reduce the number of “unnecessary meetings” or public events. The presidential office is close to Wanhua. Amid pictures on social media showing people flocking to supermarkets to stock up on toilet paper and instant noodles, the economy ministry took to Facebook to assure people that supplies were ample and there was no need to hoard. The rising community infections unnerved the stock market this week, though the government says the island’s economic fundamentals remain good. Deputy Finance Minister Frank Juan said authorities would watch market reaction on Monday, adding he did not rule out calling a meeting of the National Stabilisation Fund, which the government can use to smooth large fluctuations. Investors should act rationally, he said, pointing out that only a few sectors would be affected by the curbs, such as tourism, rather than the island’s crucial foreign trade. The new restrictions do not apply to the chip-manufacturing hub of Hsinchu, and are unlikely to affect exports of semiconductors, a global shortage of which has shut some car factories. Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said it was closely monitoring the situation, cutting non-essential gatherings and activities and reducing the movement of people across different chip fabs. Taiwan has millions of vaccine doses on order from Moderna and AstraZeneca, though only a small number have arrived from the latter due to global shortages and vaccination rates remain low. More vaccines will start arriving next month, Tsai has said. Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has reported fewer than 1,500 cases among a population of about 24mn, most of them imported from abroad, but a recent rise in community transmissions has spooked residents. The island has never gone into a full lockdown and its people are used to life carrying on near normal, despite the pandemic ranging in many other parts of the world.

Myanmar army artillery shelled positions held by civilian militias in a northwestern town for a second day yesterday, rebel fighters and a lawmaker said, after the ruling junta declared martial law there to quell a local rebellion against its rule. The junta said martial law was imposed in Mindat in Chin State late on Thursday after whom it called “armed terrorists” attacked a police station and a bank. The attacks posed a further challenge to the military as it struggles to restore order in the country amid widespread anger over its coup in February which ousted the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The resistance has expanded in recent weeks from daily street protests and strikes to attacks on junta-appointed administrators and ambushes of security forces by civilians. The newly-formed Chinland Defence Forces yesterday said it was behind the fighting in Mindat. It ambushed a convoy of military reinforcements yesterday, according to one fighter and a local legislator. “Fighting is still ongoing and Tatmadaw is firing into Mindat town using artillery,” said the lawmaker, referring to the military by its local name. He requested that he remain anonymous. “This is the most serious fighting.” The Chin rebels numbered about 400-500, who between them had about 30-40 assault rifles, plus traditional hunting rifles, he said. “But they are not trained well,” he said, adding most had only a week-long training session. A spokesman for the Chinland Defence Force declined to provide details on the fighting, citing security reasons. “They (the junta) can no longer rule the city except in some areas where they have bases. They have no control in the rural areas,” the spokesman said. One of its fighters told Reuters six trucks were seized and many weapons taken. A military spokesman did not answer calls from Reuters. The state-run Myanmar News Agency said the fighting on Wednesday and Thursday in Mindat involved 100 people who attacked a police station and about 50 targeting the state-run Myanmar Economic Bank. Security forces had repelled the attack without suffering casualties, it said. The Chin lawmaker said the fighting erupted after the military refused to release seven local youths wrongly detained by authorities. He said five local militia fighters had been killed. News website Irrawaddy said two had died, citing one of the fighters. Pro-democracy groups and ethnic minority armies have been rallying behind a National Unity Government (NUG) that is seeking domestic and international support to undermine the military as prevent it from consolidating power. The NUG earlier this month announced the formation of a People’s Defence Force, to protect civilians from the military. Some fighters have sought training with insurgents that have battled the Tatmadaw for decades in border regions. So far, 788 people have been killed in the military’s crackdown according to an advocacy group. The military, which disputes that number, imposes tight restrictions on media, information and the internet. Reuters cannot independently verify arrests and casualty numbers. In a sign of the continued defiance, pictures and video on social media showed demonstrators marching in the commercial capital Yangon yesterday chanting “we believe that we gonna win, we must win, we must win”. Others carried signs saying “coup must fail”.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday her government will explore more travel ‘bubbles’ and lead trade delegations later this year to re-connect with a post-pandemic world after more than a year of border closures. Tough lockdowns and its geographical location has helped New Zealand eliminate the novel coronavirus within its borders, but left the country of 5 million isolated from the rest of the world. With majority of its essential workers now being vaccinated and inoculation for the wider population starting in July, the government is preparing a plan for how it would reopen. Ardern said New Zealand started rebuilding contact by opening quarantine-free travel with neighbouring Australia and the South Pacific's Cook Islands, and is considering more such travel bubble options. ‘Niue is the natural next addition. Beyond that we are relatively open-minded, and I do anticipate there will be other countries we can explore opportunities with,’ Ardern said in her pre-budget speech in Auckland. More than 70,000 people landed in New Zealand from Australia since the travel bubble opened last month, and over 57,000 have travelled the other way, Ardern said. She, however, noted that vaccine roll out in New Zealand is incomplete and the number of countries it could safely open up to is also limited. Ardern said she will lead a trade and promotional delegation to Australia in early July, and will also look to lead delegations into Europe, the United States, China and the wider Asia-Pacific. ‘These trips may not have been overly notable pre-COVID, but they are hugely significant in light of the domestic realities we’ve been experiencing, and the global ones that still persist,’ Ardern said. New Zealand will announce its annual budget next week, which Ardern said would continue supporting recovery from the pandemic but will also see a shift towards a more targeted response.    

More than 11,000 academics and other university staff opposed to Myanmar’s ruling junta have been suspended after going on strike in protest against military rule, a teachers’ group said. The suspensions come as the resumption of universities after a year closed due to the coronavirus epidemic prompts a new confrontation between the army and the staff and students who are calling for boycotts over the February 1 coup. “I feel upset to give up a job that I adored so much, but I feel proud to stand against injustice,” said one 37-year-old university rector, who gave her name only as Thandar for fear of reprisals. “My department summoned me today. I’m not going. We shouldn’t follow the orders of the military council.” A professor on a fellowship in the US said she was told she would have to declare opposition to the strikes or lose her job. Her university authorities had told her every scholar would be tracked down and forced to choose, she said. As of yesterday, more than 11,100 academic and other staff had been suspended from colleges and universities offering degrees, an official of the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation said, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals. Reuters was not immediately able to ascertain exactly what proportion of total staff that figure represents. Myanmar had more than 26,000 teachers in universities and other tertiary education institutions in 2018, according to the most recent World Bank data. Students and teachers were at the forefront of opposition during nearly half a century of military rule and have been prominent in the protests since the army detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and halted a decade of tentative democratic reforms. Many teachers, like medics and other government workers, have stopped work as part of a civil disobedience movement that has paralysed Myanmar. As protests flared after the coup, security forces occupied campuses in the biggest city, Yangon, and elsewhere. A spokesman for the junta did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on the suspensions. The junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said teachers and students should co-operate to get the education system started again. “Political opportunists do not wish to see such development by committing sabotage acts,” it said. It was not clear to what extent the 11,000 staff suspensions would hamper efforts to reopen colleges but many students are also boycotting classes. At the public West Yangon Technological University, the student’s union published a list of 180 staff who had been suspended to hail them as heroes. “I don’t feel sad to miss school,” said 22-year-old Hnin, a student of the Yangon University of Education. “There’s nothing to lose from missing the junta’s education.” Zaw Wai Soe, education minister in a rival National Unity Government set up underground by opponents of the junta, said he was touched that students had told him they would only return “when the revolution prevails”. Doubts have also been raised over the return to school of younger students, with institutions now taking registrations for the start of a new year. There are nearly 10mn school students in the country of 53mn. Protesters daubed “We don’t want to be educated in military slavery” at the entrance of a school in the southern town of Mawlamyine last week, a phrase that has been echoed at demonstrations across Myanmar by students.

A third man has been arrested following the attempted assassination of Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed, police said Sunday, as they renewed an appeal for more information about another suspect. The democracy pioneer and climate activist was seriously hurt after a bomb attack in the capital Male on Thursday night that also injured a British national and two others, which police have blamed on "religious extremists". "We can confirm that a third individual has been arrested in connection with the May 6 attack early today," police said in a statement. No further details about the man were released. Police also appealed for more information about another man seen in the area where a motorcycle that the bomb had been rigged to was parked. The owner of the motorcycle as well as another man were arrested on Saturday. The bomb detonated as Nasheed walked to his car. Family members tweeted that the 53-year-old ex-president, now the parliament's speaker, remained in the intensive care unit of a hospital. But he was able to speak to close relatives on Saturday after no longer needing life support, they added. There was no immediate update on his condition from the hospital. Nasheed underwent 16 hours of surgery to remove shrapnel from his body and doctors said one shard narrowly missed his heart. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, but officials from Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have alleged that religious extremists and political interests could be involved. In October 2019 police arrested a suspected Islamic State recruiter accused of sending dozens of Maldivians to Syria. The same man was accused of setting off a homemade bomb that wounded 12 Chinese tourists in Male in September 2007. Nasheed ended decades of one-party rule in the Maldives and became its first democratically-elected president in 2008, only to be toppled in a military-backed coup in 2012. He is known internationally as a champion in the fight against climate change and rising sea levels that he says threaten to submerge the nation of 1,192 coral islands.

Myanmar’s junta declared yesterday night that a group of ousted lawmakers running a shadow government would now be classified as “terrorists”, as the military moves to tighten its grip over a country in turmoil. Since the military seized power in a February 1 coup, detaining and ousting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a nationwide uprising has refused to back down in its demands for a return to democracy. Protesters continue to take to the streets daily, while a nationwide boycott by students and faculty as well as civil servants across various sectors has brought the country to a shuddering halt. Meanwhile, a group of ousted lawmakers — many of them previously part of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party — have formed a shadow “National Unity Government” to undermine the junta. On Wednesday, the NUG announced the formation of a so-called “people’s defence force” to protect civilians facing violence from the military. By yesterday night, state-run television announced that the NUG, its people’s defence force, and an affiliated group known as the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) — the Burmese word for parliament — were now classified as “terrorist organisations”. “We ask the people not to...support terrorist actions, give aid to terrorist actions that threaten the people’s security from the CRPH, NUG, and PDF,” said the evening news broadcast. The announcement comes as sporadic bomb blasts go off more frequently across Myanmar, especially in commercial hub Yangon — which authorities have blamed on “instigators”. Previously, the junta had declared the CRPH and NUG as “unlawful associations”, and said interacting with them would be akin to high treason. But their new designation as a “terrorist organisation” means anyone speaking to them — including journalists — can be subjected to charges under counter-terrorism laws. The Arakan Army — an insurgent group that had clashed with the military in conflict-wracked Rakhine state — held the designation last year, and a journalist who had interviewed a high-ranking representative was detained.

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed is conscious after life-saving surgery, his family said on Saturday, as police made two arrests in connection with a blast they said was being treated as a terror attack. Nasheed, the president of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party and the current parliament speaker, was critically injured after a bomb exploded as he left his family home in the capital Male on Thursday. Police on Saturday said they had made two arrests in connection with the blast, without giving further details. ‘I'm good,’ Nasheed said after coming off life support, according to a tweet by his sister Nashida Sattar. His brother, Ibrahim Nashid, said doctors were happy with Nasheed's recovery. ‘He is out of life support and breathing on his own,’ he said in a tweet. ‘Managed to exchange a few words. Promised to come back stronger. I believe him.’ Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically-elected president, is an outspoken critic of extremism in the Sunni island archipelago, and has been instrumental in investigating graft allegations against opposition leaders. The country has a reputation for political unrest. Nasheed was deposed and exiled in what he called a coup in 2012, while in 2015, former President Abdulla Yameen escaped unharmed after an explosion on his speedboat. In 2007, a blast that was blamed on militants targeted foreign tourists and injured 12 people.    

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed was in a "critical" condition on Friday following an assassination attempt, doctors said. Nasheed, 53, the Maldives' first democratically elected president and still an important figure in the island nation's murky politics, was rushed to hospital after an explosion late Thursday. Since then he has undergone 16 hours of life-saving operations in the capital Male for injuries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs. The private ADK hospital said Friday evening that Nasheed was "in a critical condition in intensive care". In a televised address to the nation, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced that a team from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) would arrive Saturday to help with the investigation into the blast. Solih described the attack as an assault on the fledgling democracy, promising the perpetrators "would face the full force of the law". Police said officials from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have also been asked to assist in the investigation. Maldivian police said they were treating Thursday's bomb attack as a "deliberate act of terror" and urged the public to provide any information that could identify the perpetrators. Police said a device attached to a motorcycle was detonated as Nasheed got into a car in the capital. The hospital said earlier that shrapnel had been removed from one of his lungs and from his liver but that another piece was still in the same organ. "We are hopeful of a full recovery," said a family member who did not want to be named, adding that Nasheed was responsive and spoke with doctors when he was admitted. One of his bodyguards as well as a British national were also wounded and taken to hospital. The Indian Ocean nation is best known for its luxury holiday resorts popular with honeymooners, but it suffers from regular political turmoil. There was no claim of responsibility for Thursday's bomb attack, but officials close to Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said they suspected vested political interests opposed to his anti-corruption drive. Nasheed had vowed to investigate a $90-million theft from the state's tourism promotion authority during the tenure of former president Abdulla Yameen. "There are some dormant Islamists who could have collaborated with political elements threatened by Nasheed's anti-corruption drive," an MDP source told AFP. The government has cracked down on extremism and foreign preachers are banned. Violent attacks have been rare, though a dozen foreign tourists were wounded by a bomb blast in Male in 2007. The Islamic State claimed a boat arson attack last year, but there is little evidence the group has a presence in the archipelago. Nasheed, a liberal, is maybe best known internationally for holding a 2009 underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the threat of global warming, signing documents as officials wore scuba gear against a backdrop of coral reefs. He was toppled in a military-backed coup in February 2012, convicted on a charge of terrorism and jailed for 13 years. He left the country on prison leave for medical treatment and sought refuge in Britain. He returned after his nominee Solih won the presidency in 2018, winning parliamentary elections the next year to become speaker. Messages of support for Nasheed poured in on Friday from neighbouring India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well as Western nations, which have strongly backed his pro-democracy and environmental activism.

Explosions rocked Myanmar’s largest city Yangon yesterday as protesters held flash marches for democracy, defying a brutal junta that has held onto power for three bloody months. The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, bringing an abrupt end to Myanmar’s short-lived experiment with democracy. The power grab triggered a massive uprising which authorities have tried to quell with lethal force and live ammunition. As Myanmar entered its fourth month under military rule yesterday, protesters in commercial hub Yangon – an epicentre of unrest with a heavy security presence – staged flash demonstrations, marching rapidly through the streets to avoid confrontation with police and soldiers. The lightning-quick pace of the protests is “so that people will have time to disappear when the security forces come, or else they would die or get arrested”, said student activist Min Han Htet. In Yangon’s Insein township, a bomb blast went off around 10 am near a local school, said a resident staying nearby.

Kyrgyzstan accused Tajikistan of breaking a ceasefire by firing on homes on Saturday and said 33 of its people have been killed in the deadliest border clashes between the countries since their independence from the Soviet Union. The ceasefire was agreed on Thursday just hours after heavy fighting erupted on the Central Asian countries' long-contested border. But Kyrgyzstan's national security committee said Saturday that Tajikistan's military had "opened fire on dwellings" in the Leilik district of Kyrgyzstan's southwestern Batken region, which borders Tajikistan. The security committee said that villagers had been evacuated from the houses before the shooting began at 0645 GMT on Saturday. In a previous release, Kyrgyzstan had accused Tajikistan of blocking a strategic road connecting a Kyrgyz territory to the rest of the country. Kyrgyzstan also declared Saturday and Sunday days of mourning, while the health ministry announced that its death toll had risen from 31 to 33. Since breaking out on Thursday, the violence has left more than a hundred Kyrgyz injured and over 30 properties destroyed, Kyrgyzstan said. Tajikistan, a closed authoritarian state, has not officially acknowledged any deaths or damages from the conflict and did not immediately confirm that fighting had resumed. Clashes between communities over land and water along the border are regular occurrences, with border guards often getting involved, however this week's violence was by far the most serious during the pair's 30 years of independence. Kyrgyz authorities had said on Friday evening that fighting had finally stopped, after a ceasefire agreement that was reached on Thursday evening failed to stop intermittent shooting during the day. Tensions had appeared to cool after talks between the presidents and national security chiefs of the two countries. Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmon spoke by telephone Friday, Japarov's press service said, and agreed to meet "in the second half of May". Tajikistan's state information agency also published news of the call, confirming Rakhmon had invited Japarov to visit Tajikistan. Neighbouring Uzbekistan and Russia, which maintains bases in both countries, have offered to mediate the conflict. Border disagreements between the three countries that share the fertile Fergana Valley -- Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- stem from demarcations made during the Soviet era. The knotting, twisting frontiers left several communities with restricted access to their home countries.

Half of Myanmar’s population could be living in poverty next year, driven by the combination of the pandemic and the political crisis sparked by the military coup, the UN said yesterday. The dire warning came as renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic rebels sent more refugees fleeing across the jungle border with Thailand. Myanmar — already hit hard by coronavirus — was plunged into turmoil when the military seized power on February 1, ousting the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup sparked a massive protest movement calling for a return to democracy, which the security forces have sought to quell with a brutal crackdown. More than 750 civilians have been killed, according to a local monitoring group, while a widespread anti-junta civil disobedience movement has throttled large parts of the economy. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that by early 2022 as many as 25mn people, or nearly half the population, could be living below the poverty line. UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said the crisis could reverse progress made since 2005, which has seen Myanmar halve the number of people living in poverty. “Without functioning democratic institutions, Myanmar faces a tragic and avoidable backslide towards levels of poverty not seen in a generation,” Steiner said in a statement. The junta’s crackdown on protests has drawn the ire of some of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic armies, many of which have been battling the military for decades in border regions in the country’s north and east. Several have condemned the military and come out in support of the protest movement, offering shelter to fleeing activists in the territory they control. Clashes between the military and the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the leading rebel groups, have escalated since the coup. The KNU have seized and razed military posts and the junta has responded with repeated air strikes in the rebels’ Karen state heartland. Thai and KNU officials said there were fresh air strikes and fighting yesterday. The violence has caused alarm among civilians in the area, driving many to flee across a river border to seek safety in Thailand. The Thai authorities said a total of 2,267 Myanmar nationals had crossed into the kingdom’s Mae Hong Son province to escape the fighting, and had been taken to dedicated shelters. KNU head of foreign affairs Padoh Saw Taw Nee said that more than 100 people had crossed to Thailand yesterday. “They only have two options — to run into the jungle or cross to hide in Thailand,” he said. According to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, since mid-March more than 30,000 civilians have been forced to leave their homes by fighting between the military and KNU. Violence has also flared in northern Kachin state between the military and the Kachin Independence Army. A local humanitarian worker said that the military launched three air strikes yesterday in Momauk district as they seek to recapture a military post. One local was killed, the source said. Protests against the coup continue every day despite the threat of violence from the authorities, with demonstrators taking to the streets of Yangon yesterday in torrential monsoon rain. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group, said yesterday that a total of 759 people have been killed so far in the crackdown, and more than 4,500 arrested. The junta, which has defended seizing power pointing to claims of fraud in the November election won by Suu Kyi’s party, gives a much lower toll.

Kyrgyzstan said Friday that 13 died and dozens of properties were burned during clashes with Central Asian rival Tajikistan, after a ceasefire agreed by the two countries hung in the balance following the heaviest fighting along their disputed border since post-Soviet independence. Kyrgyzstan's health ministry said in a statement that 134 people were injured, of whom 13 died. Two of the injured are in serious condition and a girl born in 2008 was among the casualties, it said. The country's national security committee said that three servicemen had died and 20 were injured. Over 10,000 citizens had been evacuated from two districtsbordering Tajikistan where the fighting had been most intense, Kyrgyzstan also said. The clashes that erupted along the border between the two poor, mountainous countries were the heaviest in years and had raised fears they might escalate into a wider conflict. Local authorities in Kyrgyzstan's southwestern Batken region said that shooting along the shared border was still happening ‘periodically’ despite the ceasefire agreed on Thursday evening. Military representatives of the two countries did not immediately confirm the information. More than a third of the two countries' border is disputed, with the area surrounding the Tajik enclave of Vorukh, where Thursday's conflict erupted, a regular flashpoint over territorial claims and access to water. - Kyrgyz properties burned – Tajikistan, a closed authoritarian state, has so far acknowledged no casualties and no damages from the clashes. Kyrgyzstan, in contrast, published a detailed list of properties in its Batken region that had been damaged. Among the properties burned down during the violence were a border post, more than 20 homes, a school, eight shops and a casino, according to the emergencies ministry. The ministry said a state of emergency was in force in several villages and their surrounding areas on the border. ‘Local villagers have been evacuated to a safe place,’ the ministry said. Over 10,000 citizens evacuated from villages at the centre of the conflict have been ‘placed in specially organised points’ in Batken's administrative centre, ‘or went to visit relatives’, according to authorities in the Batken region. Military units from the two countries began exchanging fire on Thursday, but later that day a ceasefire was announced by Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry from 8:00 pm (1400 GMT), with armed forces returning to their bases. Tajikistan acknowledged the ceasefire in a statement published by its state information service early on Friday, saying the two sides ‘came to a mutual agreement to end the armed conflict, to withdraw personnel and military equipment to places of permanent deployment’. Tajikistan's national security committee had earlier on Thursday acknowledged that two citizens had been admitted to hospital, with one in a serious condition. Its security committee accused Kyrgyz soldiers of opening fire on Tajik troops at the Golovnaya water distribution point, located on the Isfara River. It said Kyrgyz and Tajik civilians had become embroiled in a dispute over river infrastructure on Wednesday. Border disagreements between the three countries that share the fertile Fergana Valley -- Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- stem from demarcations made during the Soviet era. The knotting, twisting frontiers left several communities with restricted access to their home countries. Uzbekistan, the most populous country in the region, offered on Thursday to help mediate the conflict. Russia, a strategic ally of the two rivals, said it was monitoring the conflict.  

Indonesia will stop issuing visas for foreigners who have been in India in the past 14 days to prevent the spread of different coronavirus strains, a government minister said on Friday. India is facing a health crisis, including the impact of a "double mutant" strain of Covid-19, with the country posting the world's highest single-day increase in cases on Friday for a second day, surpassing 330,000 infections. "Based on these observations, the government has decided to stop issuing visas for foreigners who have lived or visited India in the past 14 days," chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Friday. The curbs follow the arrival in Indonesia of a chartered flight from Chennai carrying 129 people, 12 of which had tested positive for Covid-19. Samples had been taken for genomic sequencing, said health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin. "Lots of people still enter Indonesia," he said. "We must be careful of those entering from South Asian countries." Indonesians arriving from India will be allowed to enter, however, but must follow stricter health protocols and quarantine. Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous nation, has among the worst Covid-19 epidemics in Asia, with over 1.62mn cases and 44,000 deaths as of Thursday. On Thursday, Singapore's health ministry said it would not allow entry to long-term visa holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to India, which is battling a second wave of Covid-19 infections. Singapore said it was investigating Covid-19 cases in a migrant workers' dormitory for the possibility of re-infection and is quarantining more than 1,100 of the facility's residents. So far, 17 recovered workers were found to be positive for Covid-19 at the dormitory. The government said travel restrictions with India will help curb potential cases in the dormitories because many of the labourers arrive from the South Asian nation. Indonesia and Singapore join the growing list of nations to impose restrictions on travel from India in view of the Covid-19 surge there.

Vanuatu slapped travel restrictions on its most populous island Monday after tests confirmed a body that washed ashore on the largely coronavirus-free Pacific nation was infected with Covid-19. Government sources said the deceased was a Filipino sailor whose vessel had left Port Vila a day before his body was found washed up near a village about five kilometres outside the city on Sunday 11 April. The man's crewmates and police officers who retrieved the body had all tested negative for the virus, said the sources, who wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorised to discuss the matter. It was not clear how or where the man died, or how his body ended up in the sea. The Pacific island nation has recorded only three coronavirus cases, all in arriving travellers, and the National Disaster Management Office said it was taking steps to ensure there was no transmission among the population of 200,000. It ordered a three-day ban starting Monday on all outward domestic and international travel from Efate, the island where Port Vila and a large part of the population are located. "(The) public are strongly advised to remain calm and maintain safe and healthy hygiene practics at all times," it said.

Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing will join a special Asean summit next week, the Thai foreign ministry said yesterday, his first official trip since masterminding a coup which deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The February 1 putsch triggered a massive uprising, bringing hundreds of thousands of protesters to the streets to demand a return to democracy, while civil servants have boycotted work in a bid to shutter the junta’s administration. The military has deployed lethal force to quell the anti-coup movement, killing more than 720 people and detaining some 3,100 activists, journalists and dissidents, according to a local monitoring group. The international community has largely condemned the generals for use of force against unarmed civilians — imposing targeted sanctions against top military brass, their families and army-linked businesses. But regional leaders have sought to open communications with the regime, and yesterday Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta on Myanmar’s situation will include the senior general. “Several leaders have confirmed their attendance including Myanmar’s MAH (Min Aung Hlaing),” said spokesman Tanee Sangrat in a message to reporters. The April 24 meeting of the 10-country bloc of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is expected to address the ongoing crisis in post-coup Myanmar. The announcement drew dismay from activists, who have long beseeched foreign leaders not to recognise the junta. “#Asean do not legitimise the Myanmar Military junta as a government by inviting MAH to attend the summit,” said prominent activist Wai Wai Nu on Twitter.” (The) Junta is illegitimate and illegal.” By yesterday evening, #ASEANrejectSAC was among the top-trending on Myanmar’s twitter. The military has consistently justified the putsch by alleging widespread fraud in November’s elections, which Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide. They claim power will be handed back to a civilian administration after elections are held in about a year — though they recently extended the timeline to a two-year period. Yesterday was the first day of Myanmar’s traditional New Year, and hundreds in commercial hub Yangon visited the famed Shwedagon Pagoda to pray as soldiers patrolled the streets. Leading up to the Buddhist New Year, the Thingyan festivities were a sombre affair — a far cry from previous years when revellers would take to the streets for city-wide water fights.

Opponents of Myanmar’s junta announced a National Unity Government yesterday including ousted members of parliament and leaders of anti-coup protests and ethnic minorities, saying their aim was to end military rule and restore democracy. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the Feb 1 coup that ousted a civilian government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi which had held power for five years and was starting its second term after a landslide election victory in November. People have taken to the streets day after day to demand the restoration of democracy, defying crackdowns by the security forces in which more than 700 people have been killed, according to a monitoring group. At the same time, political leaders, including ousted members of parliament from Suu Kyi’s party, have been trying to organise to show the country and the outside world that they and not the generals are the legitimate political authority. “Please welcome the people’s government,” veteran democracy activist Min Ko Naing said in a 10-minute video address announcing the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG). While setting out few positions, Min Ko Naing said the will of the people was the unity government’s priority, while acknowledging the scale of the task at hand. “We’re trying to get this out from the roots so we have to sacrifice a lot,” he said, referring to the junta. A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment. The generals justified their takeover with accusations of fraud in the November election won by Suu Kyi’s party, though the election commission dismissed the objections. One of the unity government’s primary objectives will be to win international support and recognition. “We are the democratically elected leaders of Myanmar,” said the unity government’s minister of international co-operation, Dr Sasa, who goes by one name. “So if the free and democratic world rejects us that means they reject democracy.” International pressure has been building on the Myanmar military, particularly from Western governments that have imposed limited sanctions, though the generals have a long record of dismissing what they see as outside interference. The unity government released a list of office holders including members of ethnic minorities and protest leaders, underlining the unity of purpose between the pro-democracy movement and autonomy-seeking minority communities, some of whom have battled the central government for decades. Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since the coup, was listed as state counsellor, the post she held in government. The only known communication she has had with the outside world since the coup has been monitored video calls with her lawyers. A spokesman for the democratic politicians said while they could not inform her about their new government, he was sure she was aware of what was happening. Sasa told Reuters the objective was to end violence, restore democracy and build a “federal democratic union”.

The UN rights chief warned yesterday Myanmar could be spiralling towards a “full-blown” Syrian-style conflict, after a two-month crackdown that a local monitoring group says has already claimed more than 700 lives. Myanmar is in chaos and its economy has been paralysed since the military seized power from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1. Warning of possible crimes against humanity, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet yesterday urged countries to take immediate action to push Myanmar’s military to stop its “campaign of repression and slaughter of its people.” Daily rallies across Myanmar have been met with live rounds. At least 710 civilians have been killed as of late Monday, including 50 children, according to a local monitoring group. “I fear the situation in Myanmar is heading towards a full-blown conflict,” Bachelet said in a statement. “There are clear echoes of Syria in 2011,” she warned, referring to the start of a civil war that over the past decade has killed nearly 400,000 people and forced more than 6mn to flee the country. In recent weeks, several of Myanmar’s ethnic rebel groups in some lawless border territories have stepped up attacks on the military and police, raising fears of a broader civil conflict. The military has retaliated with air strikes, which the Free Burma Rangers — a Christian aid group working in the area — said have displaced more than 24,000 civilians in Karen state by Saturday. The Rangers, which runs a health clinic in the state, said air strikes had killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 40. The area is remote and communications are difficult, and AFP has not been able to independently verify the deaths. Villagers in some areas were unable to prepare their rice crops because of fears the military would shell them in their fields, the aid group said. “They are afraid they will have no rice harvest next fall,” it said in a statement. Military attacks sent a few thousand people fleeing into neighbouring Thailand in recent weeks, but most have returned to the Myanmar side of the border. In Yangon, authorities are hunting those responsible for an underground newsletter titled “Molotov”. The publication was started by a group of young activists to fight ongoing internet outages and information suppression. “The Molotov journal is illegally published,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said, adding that legal action would be taken against those involved. At a military tribunal in the city, seven protesters accused over the murder of a suspected informer were sentenced to death, state media said yesterday. Three of the demonstrators were tried in absentia. The junta yesterday also announced  that dozens more people had been added to an arrest warrant list of 260 celebrities, doctors and ordinary citizens. Many are accused of spreading dissent against the military, while medical professionals are wanted over their work at private clinics, which have taken in injured protesters, according to state media. Meanwhile, in northwestern Sagaing region, a couple were shot dead while delivering milk after junta troops stormed the town of Tamu, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring organisation. Young people in cities nationwide continued to take to streets yesterday, some marching with flowerpots.

Russia and China are frustrating the international response to the Myanmar crisis, a top European Union diplomat said yesterday, as the death toll from a military crackdown climbed past 700. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military removed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power on February 1. International efforts to stem the violence have so far failed to yield results, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell yesterday saying  it was “no surprise” that Russia and China were blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo. “Geopolitical competition in Myanmar will make it very difficult to find common ground, as we have witnessed again and again... but we have a duty to try,” he wrote in a blog post. Europe had become a major export market for Myanmar’s garment industry in recent years, he said, suggesting the EU could offer to increase economic ties and investments if the country returns to a path of democracy. “The Myanmar military is used to international isolation and has a decade-long record of ignoring the needs and the will of the country’s citizens,” he said. Borrell’s comments follow days of intense violence in Myanmar, with clashes across the country leaving scores dead. The weekend saw a steady stream of mourners turn out to pay tribute to loved ones gunned down in the southern city of Bago, where security forces killed at least 82 anti-coup protesters in a brutal crackdown, according to a local monitoring group. The true number killed may never be known — there are reports security forces took away some bodies. Ko Thi Ha, 30, a Bago charity worker and eldest of six siblings, was among those fatally wounded. He was shot trying to escape soldiers by climbing over a brick wall with two others. “The army shouted at him not to run, but he was afraid the army would shoot him if he didn’t run,” his friend said. “He was shot in the leg and then he fell down, his head hit the brick wall and he died from the incident.” His family cremated his body after claiming it from the hospital’s mortuary. AFP-verified footage shot early Friday showed protesters hiding behind sandbag barricades wielding homemade rifles, as explosions were heard in the background. The United Nations office in Myanmar tweeted late Saturday that medical treatment had been denied to many of the injured at Bago. Overall, as of late yesterday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners revised up its civilian death toll to 706 since the coup. The junta claims a far lower number have been killed. AAPP also confirmed a man was shot dead on a motorbike yesterday at Tamu in the Sagaing region and that his female passenger was wounded and close to death. It has also verified four deaths from Saturday. Despite the bloodshed, protesters continued to rally across the country yesterday, both on foot and motorbikes. University students and their professors marched through Mandalay and the city of Meiktila yesterday morning, according to local media. Some carried stems of Eugenia flowers — a symbol of victory. In Yangon, protesters carried a banner that read: “We will get victory, we will win.” Demonstrators there, as well as in the city of Monywa, took to writing political messages on leaves including “we must win” and calling for UN intervention to prevent further bloodshed. After sunset protesters lit up their neighbourhoods with flashlights and sang songs.

La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent erupted on Friday after decades of inactivity, sending dark plumes of ash and smoke billowing into the sky and forcing thousands from surrounding villages to evacuate. Dormant since 1979, the volcano started showing signs of activity in December, spewing steam and smoke and rumbling away. That picked up this week, prompting Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves to order an evacuation of the surrounding area late on Thursday. Early on Friday it finally erupted. Ash and smoke plunged the neighboring area into near total darkness, blotting out the bright morning sun, said a Reuters witness, who reported hearing the explosion from Rose Hall, a nearby village. Smaller explosions continued throughout the day, Erouscilla Joseph, director at the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre, told Reuters, adding that this kind of activity could go on for weeks if not months. ‘This is just the beginning,’ she said. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which has a population of just over 100,000, has not experienced volcanic activity since 1979, when an eruption created approximately $100 million in damages. An eruption by La Soufriere in 1902 killed more than 1,000 people. The name means ‘sulfur outlet’ in French. The eruption column was estimated to reach 10 km (6 miles) high, the seismic research center said. Ash fall could affect the Grenadines, Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada. ‘The ash plume may cause flight delays due to diversions,’ the center said on Twitter. ‘On the ground, ash can cause discomfort in persons suffering with respiratory illnesses and will impact water resources.’ Local media have in recent days also reported increased activity from Mount Pelee on the island of Martinique, which lies to the north of St. Vincent beyond St. Lucia. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu called Gonsalves to offer aid, his ministry said. St. Vincent is one of only 15 countries to maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taipei. EVACUATIONS IN COVID ERA Some 4,500 residents near the volcano had evacuated already via ships and by road, Gonsalves said at a news conference on Friday. Heavy ash fall had halted the evacuation efforts somewhat due to poor visibility, according to St. Vincent's National Emergency Management Organisation. ‘The place in general is in a frenzy,’ said Lavern King, 28, a shelter volunteer. ‘People are still being evacuated from the red zone, it started yesterday evening and into last night.’ Gonsalves said that depending on the extent of the damage, it could be four months before evacuees could return home. Welling up with tears, he said neighboring islands such as Dominica, Grenada and Antigua had agreed to take evacuees in and cruise lines could ferry them over - as long as they got vaccinated first. That though could prove a challenge, said opposition senator Shevern John, 42. ‘People are very scared of the vaccine and they opt out of coming to a shelter because eventually they would have to adhere to the protocol,’ she said. Shelters are also having to limit the number of evacuees they take due to Covid-19 protocols. Vincentians would have to wait for further scientific analysis to know what steps to take next, she said. ‘It can go for a few days or a few weeks,’ she said. ‘At the moment, both ends of the island are covered in ash and very dark.’  

Myanmar’s junta refused yesterday to let a UN envoy visit the country, despite mounting international efforts for a diplomatic solution to the post-coup crisis. The UN’s special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, is on a tour of Asian countries aimed at charting a path out of the turmoil engulfing the country. It comes amid growing international concern at events in Myanmar, rocked by daily protests since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power on February 1. Burgener starts her trip in Thailand and will also visit China, though exact details and timings for her trip have not been confirmed. UN officials say Burgener wants to travel to Myanmar for face-to-face meetings with the generals, but a junta spokesman ruled it out. “We have not permitted this. We also have no plan to allow it at this moment,” spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP. Burgener confirmed the junta had said no to her visit. “I regret that Tatmadaw answered me yesterday that they are not ready to receive me,” she said on Twitter, using the official name for Myanmar’s military. “I am ready for dialogue. Violence never leads to peaceful sustainable solutions,” she added. At least 614 civilians have been killed in the military’s crackdown on protests and nearly 3,000 arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group. There was more bloodshed on Friday, with rescue workers reporting at least four people killed in the early morning when security forces broke up protest barricades in the city of Bago, 65km northeast of Yangon. Local media reports said the fighting continued during the day, and the death toll could be higher. UN rights officials say the military is making increasing use of heavy weaponry including rocket-propelled and fragmentation grenades, heavy machine guns and snipers. The military insists it is responding proportionately to what it says are violent protesters. At a news conference in the capital Naypyidaw, officers displayed guns they said were seized from demonstrators. The protest movement has sought to disrupt the military’s ability to run the country by encouraging key public workers such as doctors and railway staff to stay at home. Zaw Min Tun, the military spokesman, accused medical staff of “killing people in cold blood” by refusing to work. “Now the public hospitals cannot function because health workers are breaking their ethics,” he told reporters. The violent response to protests has drawn intense international criticism and on Thursday Washington imposed another set of sanctions, this time on Myanmar’s state gem company, as it seeks to deprive the junta of income. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Burgener wants to open dialogue with the junta to help end the chaos in Myanmar. An Asean summit on Myanmar is scheduled for the end of the month, but diplomats say the bloc is deeply divided over the crisis. “At one end, there are Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, who are in the mode of ‘back off, there’s nothing to see, it’s a question of internal politics,’” one diplomat said, while Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are open to a more active role for Asean. There have been reports that China has opened contacts with the CRPH, a group representing the ousted civilian government. A foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said China was in contact with “all parties” as part of efforts to restore stability. The UN Security Council was set to meet informally to hear from Myanmar lawmaker Zin Mar Aung on behalf of the CRPH. Earlier this week the CRPH, which says it has amassed nearly 300,000 pieces of evidence showing rights abuses by the junta, began talks with the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. The military has defended its seizure of power, pointing to what it said was fraud in November’s election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won comfortably. When it took over, the military imposed a one-year state of emergency, but spokesman Zaw Min Tun told CNN this may be extended by up to a year, though he insisted elections would then be held. The junta has steadily choked off communications, throttling mobile data and imposing nightly internet shutdowns, while raiding newsrooms and arresting journalists. Local news outlet Mizzima reported Thursday that its co-founder Thin Thin Aung and another former employee were detained.