Myanmar: army bombs two churches, children killed

Today's news: in Bangladesh unsurprising victory for PM Hasina; Japan earthquake death toll rises to 161; Maldives government suspends three officials who insulted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media; Supreme Court in India intervenes on convictions of Gujarat riots in 2002; Citizenship process simplified in Russia.

MYANMAR

At least 15 people, including several children, were killed in a bombing by the Burmese coup junta that hit two churches in Khampat municipality, Tamu district, while a second attack occurred as people fled the buildings. Another bomb fell near the community school, added local sources who asked to remain anonymous.

BANGLADESH

As expected, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League won between 223 and 227 seats in Parliament out of 300, but the turnout was one of the lowest ever, the Bangladesh Election Commission revealed. Yesterday, on voting day, at least a dozen locations that were supposed to host voting booths were set on fire, after the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, announced a general strike and a boycott of the elections.

MALDIVES

The Maldives government has suspended three deputy ministers who made offensive comments against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid, who all worked for the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information and the Arts, had described Modi on social media as a "clown", a "terrorist" and a "puppet of Israel ” in response to a video promoting tourism in Lakshadweep, an Indian Union Territory in the Arabian Sea.

INDIA

India's Supreme Court has annulled the pardons of 11 Hindu men sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a pregnant Muslim woman and the killing of the woman's relatives during riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002. The men, sentenced to early 2008, they were released in August 2022 on the orders of the Gujarat government which had cited their good behavior.

JAPAN

The death toll from the New Year earthquake in Japan has risen to 161, local authorities have announced, while around a hundred people remain missing. The bad weather of the last week has hindered relief efforts: heavy rain and snow have caused further collapses and landslides, while yesterday the Minister of Defense announced the dispatch of another 6 thousand soldiers.

GAZA – ISRAEL

At a conference in Doha, Qatar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is traveling to the Middle East to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, said Palestinian civilians must be able to return home and rejected officials' statements Israelis that Gaza residents should be displaced from the Strip. The diplomat then condemned the killing of journalist Hamzah Dahdouh but in recent weeks the United States has approved the sending of further weapons to Israel.

RUSSIA

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to grant Russian citizenship on a simplified basis to people from Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, as well as stateless victims of deportations or other injustices and to all foreigners willing to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, without requiring knowledge of the Russian language, history and legislation, and without the five-year period of residence in Russia.

TAJIKISTAN - GERMANY

Some Tajik terrorists linked to ISIS traveled to Germany, presenting themselves as Ukrainian citizens from war zones and asking for asylum as refugees, as reported by Bild, according to which they were preparing an attack on the Cologne Cathedral, together with a Turkmen and a a Kyrgyz, who also entered under a false identity.

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