The U.S. Justice Department has indicted three North Korean computer programmers for trying to extort and steal more than $1.3 billion as part of a global cyber scheme that included the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment.A Canadian American who allegedly laundered some of the stolen money also pleaded guilty in the scheme.North Koreans Park Jin Hyok, Jon Chang Hyok and Kim Il are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.Park, a computer programmer for North Korea’s intelligence service, was charged two years ago for his role in the Sony hack.That hack erased corporate data, obtained sensitive company emails among top Hollywood executives and forced the company to rebuild its entire computer network.The motivation for the hack was believed to be retaliation for the 2014 movie “The Interview,” which ridiculed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and even portrayed an assassination plot against him.As part of the scheme, the Justice Department said, the three plotted to steal more than $1.2 billion from banks in Vietnam, Mexico, Malta and other places. They also stole $75 million from a Slovenian cryptocurrency company and $11.8 million of digital currency from a New York financial services company.”The scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering,” Tracy L. Wilkison, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “The conduct detailed in the indictment are the acts of a criminal nation-state that has stopped at nothing to extract revenge and obtain money to prop up its regime.”The three are also believed to have been behind the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack, which affected computers in 150 countries and most notably crippled the computer network of Britain’s National Health Service.The three North Koreans are unlikely to ever appear in a U.S. courtroom.  
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump tried threats of “fire and fury,” followed by personal letters and made-for-TV summits to convince North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons. As U.S. President Joe Biden now maps out his own strategy for North Korea, many former U.S. officials want the White House to base its approach on a less flashy but in some ways even more provocative idea: that North Korea has no plans to abandon the nuclear program it spent decades building.President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House after stepping off Marine One, Feb. 17, 2021, in Washington.The United States has long demanded the complete denuclearization of North Korea, even as a wide range of Korea watchers agreed that will likely never happen. For many, the alternative is simply unfathomable; recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapons state could convince other nations to pursue the bomb, leading to a regional or global arms race.But with or without recognition, North Korea has made steady progress on its nuclear and missile programs. According to recent estimates, North Korea possesses anywhere from 15-60 nuclear warheads. It also has an increasingly diverse array of ballistic missiles, including some that may be able to reach anywhere in the continental United States. Given the trajectory, a growing number of observers advocate what they say is a more pragmatic approach that would aim to cap or reduce the threat of North Korea’s arsenal, even if the immediate goal isn’t full denuclearization. More pragmatic“A reality check is overdue,” said Markus Garlauskus, a former U.S. intelligence official, in an article this month published by the U.S. Institute for Peace. Garlauskas is not just any analyst; until June he was the U.S. government’s top intelligence officer for North Korea. FILE – A man walks past a TV screen showing a local news program about North Korea’s reported firing of an ICBM, at Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, July 5, 2017.Though North Korea’s nuclear program has made impressive technological advances in recent years, some analysts argue it’s still worth freezing at the current stage. According to nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who has visited North Korean nuclear facilities, North Korea still needs to do more nuclear and ICBM tests to be able to reach the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.Not a perfect fixBut the idea of an arms control approach doesn’t sit well with some U.S. allies in the region. Many fear it would result in a de facto recognition of North Korea’s nuclear program. “I get the rationalist argument that national or regime survival will mean that Kim won’t de-nuke,” a senior military official of a U.S.-allied nation told VOA. “But if the U.S. accepts this premise, the consequences across the region would be most significant.”An even implicit U.S. recognition of North Korea could make it easier for other countries, such as Japan and South Korea, to eventually develop their own nuclear weapons. There would also be implications for countries like Iran, who may conclude that they can develop their own nuclear weapons and eventually even achieve some degree of relations with the United States, if they persevere through a period of sanctions. Another commonly expressed concern: North Korea could decide to sell its nuclear technology to other countries or even terrorist groups.Given those concerns, some say it’s better for the United States to publicly push for denuclearization, even if it may never happen.“In some ways it is the polite fiction that must be maintained while [U.S. officials] try and reverse the trend of an expanded nuclear capability,” said the military official. Experts: Biden Thought Likely to Reverse Trump’s North Korea Policies But experts say Pyongyang remains determined to become a recognized nuclear powerFew signs from BidenBiden, who is consumed with domestic issues like the coronavirus and the economy, has given few hints about the direction of his new policy. In a briefing last week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the denuclearization of North Korea remains a “central premise” of the U.S. approach. But even Secretary of State Antony Blinken has at times in the past called for an interim agreement with North Korea. In a New York Times editorial in 2018, Blinken argued that Trump should use the Iran nuclear deal as a model when negotiating with Pyongyang.Earlier this month, Blinken said the United States would consider both sanctions and diplomacy as part of the administration’s wide-ranging North Korea policy review.But it may not be the right strategic moment to apply more sanctions. Not only are there humanitarian concerns about tightening sanctions during a global health emergency, there are questions about how effective economic pressure would be, considering North Korea has already voluntarily sealed itself from the rest of the world to contain the novel coronavirus. But the North’s pandemic calculation could eventually change, says Duyeon Kim, a Korea specialist at the Center for New American Security.“The longer the pandemic persists, the more Pyongyang will desire sanctions relief when the pandemic subsides,” she says. “The more desperate North Korea becomes for sanctions removal, the more leverage the Biden administration could have.”
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With a pandemic gutting the economy and a family to feed,  Pah – a single mother – works odd jobs by day and sells drinks in Bangkok’s entertainment industry at night, one of an untold number of women at the sharpest end of Thailand’s unprecedented economic crisis. Southeast Asia’s second biggest economy has, so far, avoided the worst of the public health crisis caused by the virus. Instead, it has been battered by the economic costs of a collapse of tourism and diminishing global demand for its exports. On Monday the Office of National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) announced a 6.1% contraction in gross domestic product over 2020, the worst in two decades.   This year has started badly, with renewed partial lockdowns after a resurgence of the coronavirus and the continued absence of foreign visitors. The NESDC warned tourists are unlikely to return until deep into the fourth quarter as vaccines rollout and travel restrictions ease. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in economic oblivion for the kingdom’s poorest, especially for women from the Thai provinces who are by expectation – and economic reality – often family breadwinners. Among them is 33-year-old Pah.  She has a 12-year-old daughter at home in the rice-farming province of Sri Saket in the populous but poor northeastern Isaan region.  Pah moved to the country’s economic powerhouse of Bangkok several years ago to work in retail. She is the only reliable income for a family that also includes an elderly mother and two younger siblings.A child looks out from a public bus window in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 4, 2020.“I’ve lost more than half my income during this second outbreak. So I’ve taken on any jobs available… ironing clothes to packing boxes for people moving house,” she says, giving only her nickname for her safety. Millions of women – many single mothers – have left the countryside for Bangkok and tourist hotspots such as Pattaya and Phuket to work in the service sector — from restaurants and bars, to massage spas and the kingdom’s large sex industry. As the second outbreak hollowed out her income, Pah had little choice but to take work in a street side bar – operating illegally during an alcohol ban – in one of Bangkok’s red-light districts, pressing her onto the fringes of the kingdom’s sex industry during a pandemic.  “I’m really stressed about money. It’s really affecting my mental health. But I’m carrying so much responsibility and I have to make sure I can still support my family.” Statistics are hard to come by in a country with a vast informal sector. The government has pledged $7 billion in relief payments for full-time workers suddenly made unemployed, and promised co-payment plans to encourage Thais to spend at street stalls and other small businesses.  But the maximum handout per person over the two rounds of virus is $740 (22,000 baht) – far from enough to cover a year lost to the pandemic. There are also widespread complaints of unequal distribution of government funds. “Women are overrepresented in the sectors and jobs which are hardest hit by COVID-19 – manufacturing, textile and garments, care services, hospitality and tourism,” UN Women Thailand said in a statement to VOA news.A fabric vender negotiates with a buyer at a roadside shop in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 5, 2020. Thailand has managed to curb COVID-19 infections over the last three months with strict controls on entry into the country.They are in “the most vulnerable types of employment with the least protection, such as workers in the informal sector, the self-employed, domestic workers, daily wage workers.” Also, their situation is exacerbated by responsibilities at home from care for children and elders, to running households. In a sign of the economic misery gripping the country, photos circulated on Thai social media on Monday showed large queues of elderly in the provinces who have been unable to register for the latest $230 (7,000 baht) handout – a scheme dubbed ‘we-win’ – because they do not own a smartphone. It is even more disheartening for the hundreds of thousands of women in Thailand’s vast sex industry, which the government broadly turns a blind eye to but does not recognize as legitimate work, therefore rendering women in the industry ineligible for its relief schemes. “Eighty percent of sex workers are mothers, more than 40% are single moms,” Thanta Laovilawanyakul, coordinator of Empower Foundation, told VOA news. A 2017 study by the foundation, an advocacy group for sex workers, found on average each sex worker provides for five family members. “That’s why many women turn to work in the entertainment industry,” Thanta added. With bars closed in Bangkok and with virtually no foreign visitors to Pattaya and Phuket women in the entertainment industries there are going online for new revenue streams. Many are being bought virtual drinks over Facebook live streams by customers trapped at home from the United States to Britain and China.  “These women will find other ways to make sure their families are taken care of. They won’t give up,” said Thanta. Driven by duty to provide, for many women like Pah there is no choice but to risk working in shadowy businesses during a virus outbreak. “Life’s always been hard… now COVID is really kicking me to the bottom,” she said, tears flowing. “What can you do? I was born poor, there’s no other choice but to keep fighting.” 
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Yoshiro Mori’s replacement as president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee is expected to be named very quickly. The 83-year-old former prime minister was forced to step down last week after making demeaning remarks about women. Basically, he said they talk too much.There is pressure to name a woman to replace Mori. But don’t bet on it happening with the Olympics opening in just over five months. Mori tried last week to work behind the scenes to appoint 84-year-old Saburo Kawabuchi, the former head of the governing body of Japanese soccer. Public opinion and social media quickly pushed back against the move and Kawabuchi withdrew from consideration. Some news reports in Japan say the front-runner might be 63-year-old Yasuhiro Yamashita, the head of the Japanese Olympic Committee and a judo gold medalist from the 1984 Olympics. Yamashita took over the Japanese Olympic body after his predecessor, Tsunekazu Takeda, was forced to step down in 2019 in a bribery scandal. Yamashita is also a member of the International Olympic Committee by virtue of his position in Japan. A panel to pick Mori’s replacement, set up by the organizing committee, met on Tuesday. It was expected to meet again Wednesday and come up with a list of candidates. It’s unclear when the choice will be announced. The panel is headed by 85-year-old Fujio Mitarai, the chairman of the camera company Canon. Organizers have promised transparency. However, except for Mitarai, the other members have not been announced. It is to be a 50-50 split of men and women with fewer than 10 members. Q: Have qualified women been mentioned for the job? A: Media in Japan have listed almost a dozen women — most in their 50s — that seem to fit the bill. Many are former Olympians and medal winners. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 in terms of gender equality in a report done by the World Economic Forum, and the “old boy network” remains stronger in Japan than in most developed countries. Q: Who are the female possibilities? A: Seiko Hashimoto, the current Olympic minister in the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, has been mentioned frequently. She won a bronze medal in speedskating in 1992. Reports Tuesday said she was reluctant to take the job. There are many other Olympic medal winners, but it’s not clear any will be interested: Yuko Arimori (silver 1992, bronze 1996, marathon); Mikako Kotani (2 bronze 1988, synchronized swimming); Naoko Takahashi (gold 2000, marathon); Yuko Mitsuya (bronze 1984, volleyball); Kaori Yamaguchi (bronze 1988, judo). Also mentioned has been former Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa and businesswoman Tomoko Namba. In addition to Yamashita, some men have also been mentioned. They include former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Olympic gold-medal swimmer Daichi Suzuki, and Koji Murofushi, who won gold and bronze in the hammer throw. Q: Did Mori’s comments do any real damage to the Olympics? A: In terms of operation, probably not. Mori surely helped work out many of the political deals to push through funding. Official costs are now $15.4 billion, though government audit suggests it might be twice that much. But now the postponed Olympics are in the hands of the pandemic. But the reputation of Japan and the Olympics took a hit. The International Olympic Committee has bragged about the strides in has made in gender equality over the past two decades — on the field and on its boards. Japan, not so much. This has not helped public opinion. Just over 80% in polls in Japan say the Olympics should be canceled or postponed again. “Japan is still governed by a club of old men.” Koichi Nakano, a politicial scientist at Sophia University, wrote in an email. “They continue to pick these old men in order to silence possible dissent and to continue to put women ‘in their place.’ Social norms are changing, though, and a clear majority of the Japanese found Mori’s comments unacceptable.” Q: How is the gender balance in the Tokyo organizing committee? A: Not good. The executive board and council met on Friday to accept Mori’s resignation. Of the 38 members of the executive board, eight are women (21%). None of the vice presidents is a woman. Of the six council members, one is a woman (16.7%). The day-to-day leadership is also almost all male, led by 77-year-old Toshiro Muto, the CEO and former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan. 
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Japan’s vaccine minister announced Tuesday the country plans to start its coronavirus vaccine program Wednesday, focused initially on inoculating 40,000 health care workers.
At a Tokyo news briefing, Cabinet Vaccine Minister Taro Kono said those first to receive the shot will be monitored for the first three weeks for any reactions.
Japanese authorities formally approved its first vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech drug, Sunday, after officials carried out further tests. Kono said the additional testing on Japanese people was necessary to reassure them of its safety. The coronavirus vaccines arrived at a Tokyo hospital late Tuesday.
Japan is the last member of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations to begin the shots.
The government plans to inoculate medical workers first, as well as people with health conditions, and workers at elderly care facilities. Kono told reporters the government will not begin vaccinating the elderly until April 1. The government expects the program to run from Wednesday through February of next year.
Vaccinations are not compulsory in Japan, and while the minister voiced confidence he could reach front-line workers and elderly people, he acknowledged he needed to formulate a plan for successfully reaching younger people and encourage them to get the shot.  
Along with Pfizer-BioNTech, Japan has also, so far, signed contracts to procure millions of doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and Moderna, enough in all for 157 million people. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.
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North Korea launched a cyberattack on U.S. drugmaker Pfizer to steal the company’s COVID-19 vaccine data, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency.Officials with the National Intelligence Service briefed lawmakers Tuesday in Seoul during a closed-door hearing with lawmakers.  This is the second time in recent months that Pyongyang has been accused of hacking pharmaceutical companies to retrieve data about their work in creating a new coronavirus vaccine. Microsoft said in November that hackers from both North Korea and Russia attempted to break into seven prominent companies, including Pfizer and its German-based partner, BioNTech.  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un long claimed that his country has no COVID-19 infections, but quickly closed its border with China as the pandemic took hold. The decision cut off impoverished North Korea from its neighbor and key trade and diplomatic ally.Pfizer-BioNTech to Boost Supply of Vaccine Doses by 500KNew goal increases total production for 2021 to a total of 2 billion doses WHO approves 2 AstraZeneca vaccines
The World Health Organization announced Monday it has approved two versions of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, action that will boost global supplies in coming weeks.     The WHO said the vaccines are safe for those 18 and older and will be distributed through the organization’s COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative targeting middle- and low-income countries.     The newly approved vaccines are produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio in South Korea and the Serum Institute of India. AstraZeneca’s vaccine makes up most of the doses in the COVAX initiative.  The approval allows countries to speed up domestic regulatory approval to import and administer the vaccines. It took the global health body less than a month to assess data on the quality, safety and efficacy of the drugs and grant the emergency-use approval.      “We now have all the pieces in place for the rapid distribution of vaccines. But we still need to scale up production,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing from Geneva on Monday.     Britain mandates traveler quarantine
Also Monday, Britain began a quarantine program for travelers arriving from 33 “red list” countries determined to be at high risk for COVID-19, as part of its effort to keep variant strains of the coronavirus out of the country. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.     Under the program, anyone entering Britain is required to spend 10 days quarantined in a hotel room. Arrivals from countries not on the list are required to quarantine at home for 10 days and take two tests for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.   Meanwhile, with the rate of new infections declining and as more of its citizens are being inoculated, a growing list of places is beginning to relax restrictions imposed to blunt the recent surge of new cases. Hong Kong announced Tuesday that it will ease restrictions beginning Thursday, allowing beauty salons, theme parks, movie theaters and sports facilities to resume operating, while extending how long restaurants and bars can stay open.  The Israeli Cabinet also announced Tuesday that it will reopen shopping malls, markets, museums and libraries to the general public effective Sunday, as long as people have proof they have been inoculated.  
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For the first time, wild camels have been sold on Australia’s leading online livestock auction. Australia has the world’s largest herd of feral camels that were introduced in the 1840s. Auctioneers in Australia weren’t sure if the group of 93 Arabian camels would sell online, but they all sold for as much as $230 each.  Most were bought to keep prickly weeds under control on farms, and there was interest from domestic meat traders. The animals had been rounded up, or mustered, by helicopter on a remote property in Queensland.  Scott Taylor is a selling agent who helped arrange the auction. He says it took two days for all the wild camels to be caught. “They came in, I think it was probably about 60 kilometers back to the yards. They were mustered in over a two-day period. Yeah, they just came straight in out of the bush and into the yards, and it is surprising how quickly they settled down once they get into captivity, for being a feral animal,” Taylor saidAlmost 100 animals were sold on AuctionsPlus, an online service that normally trades in cattle, sheep and goats.   It is estimated there are at least 300,000 feral camels in central Australia. They can often compete with livestock for scarce supplies of water. Thousands been killed by farmers. They have been declared agricultural pests by state authorities, including Western Australia. Wild herds are also considered to be a health and safety risk to isolated indigenous communities.  The animals were imported from South Asia and elsewhere in the mid-19th century. They were used in colonial Australia as transport, but when they were superseded by motor vehicles, many were released into the wild or escaped. They have, like other invasive species, adapted to Australia’s harsh conditions. Australia has had a long and disastrous record of importing animals that have become uncontrollable feral pests, including cats, foxes, pigs and cane toads.  
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Officials in New Zealand Monday were tracing the sources of three coronavirus cases that sent the nation’s largest city into its first lockdown in six months, on the same day the first doses of vaccine arrived in the country. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern implemented a 72-hour lockdown Sunday for Auckland’s nearly 2 million residents after the cases were discovered, closing schools and non-essential businesses. Officials say the new cases involve members of one family.  Health Ministry officials said genomic testing confirmed two of the cases were determined to be the variant which was first discovered in Britain and has been found to be more easily transmissible. But as of Monday, the health officials said there were no other positive cases detected so far beyond the initial cluster.At a news conference Monday, Health Director-General Ashley Bloomfield said the negative test results since the first three were found was an encouraging start but cautioned a fuller picture of the outbreak wouldn’t emerge until Tuesday, when the results from expanded testing would be known.Meanwhile, Ardern also confirmed the arrival of shipment of about 60,000 doses – 30,000 full courses – of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. She said once safety checks are completed, vaccinations should begin Saturday, with border workers the top priority.The Auckland shutdown is seen as a setback for New Zealand, which has received praise worldwide for its success against the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. The nation of 5 million has seen just 25 deaths from the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking cases globally.
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As the Australian state of Victoria enters its third day of a snap COVID-19 lockdown, the national medical association is calling for urgent changes to infection control in hotel quarantine.  Australian travelers returning from overseas must go into isolation for at least 14 days on arrival, but doctors are worried that the airborne transmission of the virus is not being taken seriously enough.   Biosecurity is a growing concern for Australia’s hotel quarantine system after new and highly contagious variants of COVID-19 were detected among returned travelers.   A five-day lockdown imposed in Victoria state Friday was in response to a cluster of infections at a hotel at Melbourne airport.  Infections were passed from passengers to staff, allowing the virus to spread into the community.  The lockdown was ordered to give contact tracers enough time to track known associates of those who have tested positive to the virus.    Doctors, however, believe that ventilation and personal protective equipment for hotel workers needs to be urgently reviewed.   Chris Moy, the federal vice president of the Australian Medical Association, says bio-security controls need to be tightened.   “Quarantine is our first and most important line of defense.  There have been holes punched in it, particularly with these new strains.  It is not just droplets’ spread, which is the big droplets which, you know, you just cough out.  It just stays quite local, to this airborne spread where essentially COVID can be taken up as a mist and stay in the air, and therefore be far more infectious for a long period of time,”  said Moy.  Victoria is in its third coronavirus lockdown since the pandemic began.     FILE – A business is chained and padlocked on the first day of a five-day lockdown implemented in the state of Victoria in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 13, 2021.More citizens are being allowed to return to New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, from Monday, but the Victorian government has suggested that repatriation flights be heavily restricted to curb the spread of new virus variants.  FILE – A mostly empty domestic terminal at Sydney Airport is seen after surrounding states shut their borders to New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 21, 2020.State premier Daniel Andrews said Australia had to have a “cold, hard discussion” about reducing international arrivals.   His comments have caused anger and dismay among thousands of Australians stranded overseas.   Foreign nationals were banned from Australia last March, but citizens and permanent residents can return.  They face mandatory quarantine on arrival and weekly quotas are limiting the number of travelers allowed home.   The government in Canberra has also announced it will stop quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders, after three COVID-19 cases were recorded in Auckland, which has been placed into a snap three-day lockdown.   Australia’s first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine has arrived, but federal authorities have conceded that its distribution across such a vast country would not be a flawless exercise.  A mass inoculation program is due to begin by the end of the month.   Australia has recorded just under 29,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.  Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand has detected about 2,200 infections.    
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Security forces in Myanmar opened fire on protesters Sunday, as demonstrations against military rule in the country enter their second week.There was no immediate confirmation of a death toll and no comment from the government.The soldiers were deployed to protests at a power plant in the Northern state of Kachin Sunday. Videos from the protest show members of the military firing into crowds to disperse them, but it was not clear whether the bullets were rubber or live ammunition.The U.S. Embassy in Yangon warned there was a possibility of an internet interruption overnight between 1:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. local time.The protests come as the military junta continues to tighten its grip on power more than a week after ousting de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. One of her closest aides, Kyaw Tint Swe, was among a handful of members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party taken from their homes by security forces overnight and detained. The leadership of Myanmar’s electoral commission has also reportedly been detained. The commission rejected the military’s claims of widespread fraud in November’s elections, which the NLD won in a landslide.   Myanmar Army Tightens Laws on Overnight Guests as Police Hunt ProtestersResidents face a fine or imprisonment if they do not report guests to local authoritiesThe military has also reportedly been cracking down on ethnic minorities, including the Kachin – during protests against military rule.In addition to protests, government employees and civil servants are on strike, resulting in disruption in train services throughout the country. The junta has ordered civil servants back to work and threatened action against them.The military has arrested protesters en masse nightly since demonstrations began. On Saturday, leaders gave the military sweeping powers to search private property.Suu Kyi’s detention is set to expire on Monday, but the military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has not specified what will happen.The military used the claims of election fraud as justification for the February 1 coup and subsequent detention of Suu Kyi and senior members of the civilian government. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the coup, promised last week in a nationally televised speech that new elections would be held to bring a “true and disciplined democracy,” but did not specify when they would take place.    The military declared a one-year state of emergency. Suu Kyi, under house arrest at her official residence in the capital, Naypyitaw, is facing charges of illegally importing and using six unregistered walkie-talkie radios found during a search of her home.   Tens of thousands of demonstrators have filled the streets of Myanmar’s biggest cities in defiance of a strict curfew and a ban on gatherings of more than four people, holding signs with pro-democracy slogans, many of them with pictures of Suu Kyi.
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The Thai government on Sunday defended its decision not to join the WHO-sponsored coronavirus vaccine program, saying that to do so would risk the country paying more for the shots and facing uncertainty about delivery times.The government has been criticized by opposition politicians and protesters for lacking transparency and being too slow in procuring vaccines. While the country of 66 million people has had low numbers of cases and deaths, it is dealing with a second wave of infections.Frontline health workers are to begin receiving 2 million imported Chinese Sinovac shots within a month, but mass vaccinations for the general population are not due to begin until locally produced AstraZeneca doses are ready in June.Government spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri, responding to media reports that Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country to skip the WHO’s COVAX scheme, said that as a middle-income country Thailand is not eligible for free or cheap vaccines under the program.”Buying vaccines directly from the manufacturers is an appropriate choice… as it’s more flexible,” Anucha said.”If Thailand wants to join the COVAX program, it will have to pay for vaccines itself with a high budget and there is also a risk,” he said, adding the country had to make an advance payment without knowing the source of vaccines and delivery dates. He did not specify the costs.In all, 190 countries have joined COVAX, which aims to ensure equitable access to vaccines during the pandemic. The scheme is jointly run by the GAVI alliance, the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and UNICEF.Thailand so far has not received or produced any vaccines, even as many of its neighbors have started inoculations.Thailand reported 166 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking its total of infections to 24,571, with a death toll of 80. 
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Myanmar’s junta on Saturday suspended laws constraining security forces from detaining suspects or searching private property without court approval and ordered the arrest of well-known backers of mass protests against this month’s coup.A series of announcements came on the eighth day of country-wide demonstrations against the Feb. 1 takeover and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which halted an unsteady transition to democracy that began in 2011.Myanmar Military Targets Sector Professionals as Demonstrations ContinueDaytime demonstrations continue but night arrests now a worry for protestersThe announcements bore echoes of the near half-century of military rule before reforms began, when the Southeast Asian country was one of the world’s most repressive and isolated states.An order signed by military ruler General Min Aung Hlaing suspended three sections of laws “protecting the privacy and security of the citizens,” which had been introduced during the gradual liberalization.Those sections include the requirement for a court order to detain prisoners beyond 24 hours and constraints on security forces’ ability to enter private property to search it or make arrests. The suspensions also free up spying on communications.The statement gave no specific end date.The coup has prompted the biggest street protests in more than a decade and has been denounced by Western countries, with the United States announcing some sanctions on the ruling generals and other countries also considering measures.Human Rights Advocates Seek Action Against Military Coup in Myanmar ‘We need more than a statement on a piece of paper’ UN official saysAs anti-coup protests sprang up again in the biggest city Yangon, the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere on Saturday, the army said arrest warrants had been issued for seven high profile critics of military rule over their comments on social media.People should inform the police if they spot any of those named and will be punished if they shelter them, the army’s True News information team said in a statement.It said cases had been filed under a law which provides up to two years jail for comments that could cause alarm or “threaten tranquility.”On the wanted list is Min Ko Naing, 58, who was imprisoned for most of the time between 1988 and 2012, and who has been prominent in encouraging protests and a civil disobedience movement followed by a swathe of government workers.Reuters was not immediately able to reach him for comment.Coup opponentsOthers with warrants against them included “Jimmy” Kyaw Min Yu, also a veteran of the 1988 student uprising, and singer “Lin Lin” Htwe Lin Ko.”I am so proud to have a warrant issued along with Min Ko Naing. Catch me if you can,” said Ei Pencilo, to her more than 1.6 million followers on Facebook.Like several others named, she worked with Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide in a November election the army alleged to be tainted with fraud – an accusation dismissed by the electoral commission.Protests in support of Suu Kyi and the election sprang up across Myanmar again on Saturday in spite of a junta call for people to avoid mass gatherings due to the coronavirus epidemic.The junta also appealed to civil servants who have been following the civil disobedience campaign to return to work, with a threat of possible disciplinary action against those who do not.The United Nations human rights office said on Friday more than 350 people have been arrested in Myanmar since the coup.Journalist Shwe Yee Win, who had reported on opposition to the coup in the western town of Pathein, was taken away by police and soldiers on Thursday and has not been heard from since, her TimeAyeyar news website and her mother said.”I am really worried,” said Thein Thein, now looking after her daughter’s one-year-old child.The government did not respond to requests for comment.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners voiced concern about a wave of overnight arrests.”Family members are left with no knowledge of the charges, location, or condition of their loved ones. These are not isolated incidents, and nighttime raids are targeting dissenting voices,” it said in a statement.Suu Kyi, for decades the standard bearer of the fight for democracy in Myanmar, faces charges of illegally importing and using six walkie-talkie radios.NLD press officer Kyi Toe said on Facebook that she was healthy under house arrest in the capital Naypyitaw.The coup and detentions have prompted anger from Western countries and the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling on Myanmar to release detainees and refrain from using violence against protesters.The United States this week began imposing sanctions on the ruling generals and some businesses linked to them.
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