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Myanmar: amnesty for almost 6,000 prisoners (but not Aung San Suu Kyi)
Today's headlines: In South Korea, births increase for the first time in many years. The Japanese company Nippon Steel is planning legal action against Biden's veto on buying United States Steel. Art Spiegelman, a cartoonist who depicted the Holocaust, will work on a graphic novel on Gaza. In Russia, additional powers are given to police to monitor migrants.
MYANMAR
Myanmar's military junta announced today that it will release 5,864 prisoners, including 180 foreigners, as part of an amnesty to mark the country's 77 years of independence. The military said they will also commute the life sentences of 144 people to 15 years of imprisonment. No details were provided on the prisoners’ identity, but nothing suggests that 79-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi will be among the people released. The leader of the National League for Democracy was arrested on the first day of the coup, 1 February 2021. Myanmar traditionally grants amnesty to thousands of people to mark national holidays; last year, the military regime released more than 9,000 people on Independence Day.
SOUTH KOREA
In 2024, South Korea saw a rise in registered births for the first time in nearly a decade, suggesting a possible reversal in the demographic trend that makes the East Asian country one of the most severely affected by demographic winter. The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced that 242,334 births were registered last year, up by 3.1 per cent over 2023, breaking an eight-year decline. Despite this, the population continues to drop since the number of deaths also rose, to 360,757, an increase of 1.93 per cent over the previous year. South Korea’s total population stood at 51.21 million in 2024, down for the fifth consecutive year.
JAPAN – UNITED STATES
Nippon Steel, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, is ready to take legal action in response to US President Joe Biden's decision to block the acquisition of the smaller United States Steel for US$ 14.1 billion. Biden said yesterday that the deal poses a national security risk and urged Japanese and US steelmakers to “fully and permanently” abandon their plan, which is backed by US shareholders but opposed by unions. Biden's order marked the first time a US president imposed a veto on a merger and acquisition agreement involving a Japanese company.
ISRAEL – PALESTINE
American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, the famous graphic novel dedicated to the Shoah serialised between 1980 and 1991, announced plans to work with Joe Sacco, author of Palestine, a non-fiction graphic novel. The two plan to collaborate on a new project on Gaza. Spiegelman, son of Polish Jews deported to Auschwitz, said that it will probably be difficult to find a publisher for the new graphic novel in the United States, given the ongoing wave of censorship on Palestine in Western art, but added: “I will finish this thing or die trying.”
CHINA
In 2024, China’s railway system carried 4.08 billion passengers, up 10.8 per cent over the previous year. On the busiest day, the system carried 21.448 million passengers, according to the China State Railway Group Co. At the end of 2024, China's railways reached 162,000 km operating mileage, including 48,000 high-speed.
RUSSIA
Russian police have been given new powers over migrants, the TASS news agency reports. Law enforcement will be able to enter migrants’ homes without a warrant, collect information from Russian and foreign state bodies without regard to privacy rights, and monitor them through mobile technology used in payments and geo-locations.
KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a new law against drug trafficking, which increases the penalty for narcotics production to 15-20 years or life imprisonment, and allows for the confiscation of all property. The law goes easier on drug dealers, who are largely very young, dropping the maximum penalty to 8 to 10 years in prison.
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