Dozens of pro-democracy protesters and police officers were injured Sunday when Thai police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse a crowd gathered near the Grand Palace in the capital Bangkok.Police arrested at least 20 demonstrators for insulting the monarchy and breaching public gathering laws, saying that their actions were in accordance with international standards.Speaking to reporters, the deputy head of the Bangkok police, Piya Tavichai said that the “violence originated from the protesters’ side and police have to defend the law and protect national treasures.”Protesters said, however, that police used excessive force first before the demonstrators did anything.Videos circulated on social media showed police in riot gear clashing with demonstrators, hitting and stomping on people, some of them running to take refuge in a nearby McDonald’s restaurant.Thailand’s protest movement started last year and is presenting the biggest challenge for the government of Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha, a retired army general who seized power after the 2014 military coup. The pro-democracy protesters demand that the prime minister and his government relinquish power, demand a constitutional amendment and call on the monarchy to reform.The military-monarchy establishment drafted the constitution for which the protesters say gives the king too much power and keeps Prayuth as prime minister after a 2019 election.Prayuth and his supporters reject that claim. 
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The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh says it is concerned about deforestation in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, where five environmental activists were detained for documenting illegal logging in February.Ambassador Patrick W. Murphy and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Cambodia Mission Director Veena Reddy each met with the country’s top environmental official in separate meetings last year to discuss deforestation and restrictions faced by patrol groups that monitor illegal logging in the sanctuary.“The U.S. government will continue to urge that action be taken to cease all illegal logging and preserve the incredible biodiversity of Prey Lang and other sanctuaries,” the embassy said in a statement released last week.The Prey Lang forest spans four Cambodian provinces and was marked by severe deforestation in 2016, the year the government classified it as a wildlife sanctuary. Prey Lang, one of the last lowland evergreen forests in Southeast Asia, is significant for what the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) calls “charismatic diversity.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MB480p | 2 MB540p | 3 MB720p | 8 MB1080p | 13 MBOriginal | 34 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioA tree being cut. Footage courtesy of Ouch Leng.“Among the impressive large vertebrates are the Indo-Pacific region’s largest herbivore, the Asian elephant, and largest carnivore, the tiger,” says the WWF website. Other species include the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros.Well diversifiedThe sanctuary, which spans multiple provinces, includes large expanses of intact habitat that can support these species, but the WWF says “plans to log Cambodia’s forests, where most of the large habitat blocks lie, will result in large-scale habitat loss and fragmentation.”USAID established the $21 million Greening Prey Lang project in 2018 to promote jobs, protect the sanctuary’s biodiversity and aid forest patrols. But the project has come under criticism for aligning with the Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to rampant deforestation.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MB480p | 1 MB540p | 1 MB720p | 3 MB1080p | 5 MBOriginal | 5 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioA patrol group prepares to head into the forest. The man in the foreground is Ouch Leng, the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner. Footage courtesy of Ouch Leng.The recent embassy statement said USAID provided the ministry with documentation of illegal logging, which triggered Cambodian-led “investigations by relevant government authorities.”“Forest loss in Prey Lang, and throughout the country, is linked to several factors, including weak law enforcement and opaque governance systems,” the statement read.The embassy also said the U.S. had assisted local communities, including the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) patrol group, in collaboration with environmental ministry officials.But Cambodian authorities banned PLCN from entering the forest last year when its members, along with local civil society groups and environmental activists, attempted to conduct a Buddhist tree blessing ceremony to protect the forest.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MB480p | 1 MB540p | 2 MB720p | 5 MB1080p | 7 MBOriginal | 15 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioA monk officiates a forest protection prayer ceremony. Footage courtesy of Ouch Leng.Environmental ministry spokesperson Neth Pheaktra said PLCN was an unregistered entity.A PLCN report issued in February alleges that USAID’s collaboration with the ministry implicitly sanctions government “incrimination” of PLCN-led patrol groups.”Through its multimillion-dollar support to the Ministry of Environment and exclusion of PLCN from forest protection activities, USAID and its implementing partner Tetra Tech are supporting a monopoly on ‘forest protection’ under [Cambodia’s] Ministry of Environment,” says the PLCN report. “By silently approving the intimidation and de-legitimization of PLCN, USAID and Tetra Tech are sabotaging efforts of existing local and indigenous grassroots groups to conduct crucial forest monitoring.”“The majority of [Greening Prey Lang]’s activities directly benefit communities and non-governmental organizations in conservation efforts and no funding is provided through government systems.  We continue to work directly with the PLCN and the MOE to support a dialogue so that they can work together on the shared goal of protecting Prey Lang,” USAID said in a statement.“The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) works to address these challenges by improving technical capacity at all levels, promoting transparency and accountability, supporting active community engagement, and providing alternative livelihoods,” the statement said.Last month, Cambodian environmental ministry rangers detained five forest activists — including Goldman Environmental Prize 2016 winner Ouch Leng — for documenting illegal logging in Kratie province.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MB480p | 2 MB540p | 3 MB720p | 7 MB1080p | 11 MBOriginal | 25 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioOuch Leng with illegally milled planks. Footage courtesy of Ouch Leng.Ouch Leng, whose activism has also been honored by the Asia Society, earned international recognition in 2017 for exposing corruption in land deals that prompted Phnom Penh to cancel dozens of property concessions covering some 220,000 acres of forest.Ouch Leng’s February arrest came less than a year after a three-day detention in March 2020, which ended when authorities asked him to stop patrolling temporarily and register his entity, Cambodian Human Rights Task Force, (CHRTF) with the government.U.S. Embassy spokesperson Chad Roedemeier did not answer specific questions sent by VOA Khmer, instead referring reporters to the statement.Deforestation questionsAccording to a University of Maryland Global Forest Change dataset, Prey Lang lost about 7,500 hectares of forest cover in 2019, the most since 2016, when the forested area was depleted by close to 11,000 hectares.The deforestation alerts for 2020 and 2021 show little improvement and widespread forest clearings. According to the Goldman Environmental Foundation, while 80% of Cambodians depend on forests for their survival, the country ranks fifth globally in deforestation. Stripping the land is fueled by what the Goldman Foundation called “voracious demand” for luxury furniture in China.In response to the U.S. Embassy statement, Ministry of Environment spokesperson Neth Pheaktra on March 9 said the government has “a high commitment” to protecting the Prey Lang reserve.The ministry, he added, urged the U.S. Embassy and other development partners to work with groups “legally registered,” calling the PLCN an illegal body.The environment ministry also said that Ouch Leng’s group remains unregistered — dismissing any evidence of deforestation provided by him and other activists.“Ministry of Environment urges and encourages donors and development partners to continue to support only NGOs or associations registered legally to encourage law-abiding citizens,” the spokesperson said.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 0 MB480p | 1 MB540p | 1 MB720p | 3 MB1080p | 4 MBOriginal | 9 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioA fire burns in a tree trunk to collect resin. Footage courtesy of Ouch Leng.Cambodia’s ability to protect and conserve natural resources had improved over the past 10 years, he added, stating that the country “no longer had large-scale deforestation.”Seventy protected forest areas comprise an estimated 7.3 million hectares or 41% of Cambodia’s land cover, according to the country’s environmental ministry. Open Development Cambodia says the country’s total forest cover decreased from approximately 72% in 1973 to 48% in 2014, while dense forest decreased from 42% to 16% over the same period.On March 5 group of 110 international academics, human rights monitors, and conservationists sent an open letter to Minister of Environment Say Samal and USAID’s Reddy asking for immediate action to stop “the extreme extraction of forest resources.”They said logging trucks continued to exit the forest regularly, driving past stations monitored by environmental ministry rangers.USAID’s Cambodia profile says deforestation “not only threatens biodiversity … [but has] devastating effects of increasing flooding and erosion in the Mekong River basin, endangering livelihoods from fishing and rice cultivation, and reducing water storage and availability in the dry season.”The U.S. headquartered Rainforest Alliance says deforestation is linked to climate change because trees capture greenhouse gases such carbon dioxide, preventing them from accumulating in the atmosphere and warming surface temperatures worldwide.When trees are cut down, their stored carbons are released into the atmosphere, accounting for 10% of warming emissions worldwide, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.Cambodian businessman Try Pheap and a Cambodian military figure, Gen. Kun Kim, have been linked to illegal logging and both have been sanctioned by the U.S.According to USAID, 80% of Cambodians live in rural areas, and the livelihoods of 65% of them are dependent on forest resources that support the local economy and ensure food security. This means rural Cambodians are especially hard-hit by illegal deforestation, which can deprive them of income, food and the materials needed for shelter and fuel.In Prey Lang, for example, deforestation means indigenous collectors can no longer tap chboh trees for resin, an essential ingredient in varnish, sealing wax for waterproofing boats, waterproofing products, and torches for lighting houses in the village.Sok Phloak, a PLCN representative in Kampong Thom province, said community members should be allowed to patrol the forest to prevent increased deforestation.“We are going to lose it if we don’t have people to protect the forests,” he said. “We love these forests, which belong to not only the government but also us.”Khem Sokhy, a PLCN member in Preah Vihear province, said it was counterintuitive for the government to ban patrol groups while claiming that it wants to protect the Prey Lang forest.“If the government has the clear will to protect the forests, they must not ban the protectors who support the government’s intentions,” he said.This story originated in VOA’s Khmer Service.
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Most fans will be banned from the postponed 2020 Olympic Games when they open in July, Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Saturday.
 
The official announcement that spectators from overseas will not be allowed at the Summer Games follows a meeting of the “five-party” group, including the IOC, local organizers, the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Paralympic Committee.  
 
“In order to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this stage, the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” the Tokyo organizing committee said in a statement.
 
Before the postponement a year ago due to the COVID-19 outbreak, organizers said that 7.8 million tickets were available for the Tokyo Games.
 
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, followed by the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5. 
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Most fans will be banned from the postponed 2020 Olympic Games when they open in July, Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Saturday.
 
The official announcement that spectators from overseas will not be allowed at the Summer Games follows a meeting of the “five-party” group, including the IOC, local organizers, the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Paralympic Committee.  
 
“In order to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this stage, the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” the Tokyo organizing committee said in a statement.
 
Before the postponement a year ago due to the COVID-19 outbreak, organizers said that 7.8 million tickets were available for the Tokyo Games.
 
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, followed by the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5. 
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Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded Friday what Washington called “tough and direct” talks in Alaska that laid bare the depth of tensions between the world’s two largest economies at the outset of the Biden administration.The run-up to the talks in Anchorage, which followed visits by U.S. officials to allies Japan and South Korea, was marked by a flurry of moves by Washington that showed it was taking a firm stance, as well as by blunt talk from Beijing warning the United States to discard illusions that it would compromise.”We expected to have tough and direct talks on a wide range of issues, and that’s exactly what we had,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters moments after the Chinese delegation left the hotel meeting room.’Defensive response’U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, standing beside Sullivan, said he was not surprised that the United States got a “defensive response” from China after it raised its concerns about Chinese human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as cyberattacks and pressure on Taiwan.But Blinken said the two sides also had intersecting interests on Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and climate change.”On economics, on trade, on technology, we told our counterparts that we are reviewing these issues with close consultation with Congress, with our allies and partners, and we will move forward on them in a way that totally protects and advances the interests of our workers and our businesses,” Blinken said.Members of China’s delegation left the hotel without speaking to reporters.After pointed opening remarks Thursday from Blinken about China’s challenge to a rules-based international order, China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, lashed out with a speech criticizing U.S. democracy and American foreign and trade policies.The United States accused China of grandstanding for its domestic audience, and each side suggested the other had broken diplomatic protocol.The rebukes played out in front of cameras, but a senior U.S. administration official told reporters that as soon as they had left the room, the two sides “immediately got down to business” and held substantive and direct talks.Shift in emphasisWhile much of President Joe Biden’s China policy is still being formulated, his administration has so far placed a stronger emphasis on democratic values and allegations of human rights abuses by China.”I am very proud of the secretary of state,” Biden told reporters at the White House  on Friday morning when asked about the previous day’s meeting.In recent weeks, top Republicans have given a nod to efforts by Biden, a Democrat, to revitalize relations with U.S. allies in order to confront China, a shift from former President Donald Trump’s go-it-alone strategy.Biden has partially staked his approach on China to rebuilding American domestic competitiveness, and several top Republicans, whose cooperation will be crucial to the success of those plans, backed his administration in the face of the heated exchanges from the first day of talks.”I have many policy disagreements with the Biden administration, but every single American should unite against Beijing’s tyrants,” Republican Senator Ben Sasse said in a statement.FILE – Yang Jiechi, right, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office for China, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrive for a meeting with U.S. counterparts in Anchorage, Alaska, March 18, 2021.While Biden’s two-month-old administration is still conducting China policy reviews, Yang and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, by contrast, are veteran diplomats with decades of experience handling U.S.-China relations at the highest levels of the Chinese government.China’s social media carried comments saying Chinese officials were doing a good job in Alaska, and that the U.S. side lacked sincerity.”My sense is that the administration is testing the question of whether it is possible to get real results from these dialogues,” Zack Cooper, who researches China at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said of the U.S. side.’I don’t need you’Dean Cheng at the conservative Heritage Foundation said China’s global influence had grown to the point where it felt it could openly deride the U.S. system.”That is a vision from the Chinese perspective of, ‘You need me, I don’t need you,’ ” Cheng said.China on Friday put a Canadian citizen on trial on spying charges, and potentially plans to hold the trial of another Canadian on Monday, cases embroiled in a wider diplomatic spat between Washington and Beijing.State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter, during a regular briefing in Washington, reiterated U.S. calls for China to release the two men, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, from “arbitrary and unacceptable” detention.The Chinese military also banned Tesla cars from entering its housing complexes, citing security concerns over the cameras installed on the vehicles, according to two people who saw notices of the directive.  
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Indonesian prosecutors accused hardline Islamic cleric Rizieq Shihab of incitement and widespread coronavirus restriction violations in his first virtual court appearance on Friday.Shihab’s legal team says the charge is politically motivated, with the cleric saying in court that he was being “forced and denigrated” and that it was his right to appear in a regular courtroom. He previously refused to take part in online court proceedings.Prosecutors in the case outlined how Shihab’s return from exile in Saudi Arabia in November was celebrated with a massive rally and how his hosting his daughter’s wedding breached large-scale social restrictions.Both events collectively drew more than 10,000 people, with 33 guests at the wedding testing positive, as well as Shihab.Shihab left Indonesia in 2017 to complete a pilgrimage to Mecca shortly after being charged in a pornography case and for insulting the official state ideology. The charges were subsequently dropped.
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Security forces in Myanmar fired live rounds and tear gas on anti-coup protesters Friday, killing at least two people and injuring at least eight others in the central town of Aungban in the eastern Shan state.Several demonstrators were arrested in Aungban, as protesters again took to the streets there end elsewhere, including the cities of Yangon and Mandalay, and towns of Myingyan and Katha, and Myawaddy, according to witnesses and media reports.The Associated Press is reporting that authorities have arrested a spokesperson for National League for Democracy, the party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.There are also media reports and witness accounts that people are fleeing the country, as the crackdown has intensified, during which more than 230 people have been killed and about 2,000 arrested since the coup on February 1.The junta imposed martial law on six townships in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial hub, effectively putting about 2 million people under direct control of the military.The United States and other Western countries have condemned the coup and called for an end to the violence. They have also called for the release of Suu Kyi and other leaders arrested.
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Myanmar’s most violent day was “like a war,” according to frontline medical workers, as the military crackdown continued since the coup on Feb. 1.Thousands of anti-coup protesters have been in the streets voicing their opposition to military control, while sector professionals are refusing to work under the junta government, officially the State Administrative Council. More than 2,000 demonstrators have been detained and hundreds have been killed, according to the An anti-coup protester throws a Molotov cocktail towards police as they move towards the protest area in Yangon, Myanmar, March 17, 2021.And the surgeon admits she’s concerned the military might target her hospital next. “I’m very worried. If they occupy, if they control my hospital, we cannot conduct an operation like this,” she said.An emergency doctor at a Yangon hospital said real bullets were largely the cause for so many injured and killed protesters Sunday.“On that day, I received at least 55 gunshot wound victims. Out of those 55, they used the real bullets for 50 patients,” the doctor said.The doctor told VOA he witnessed the “8888 uprisings” in 1988, where thousands were killed. The doctor was also working during the Saffron Revolution in 2007. But from his experiences, the current military is targeting protesters to kill them.“In the other uprisings, they shot at them not aiming at the head, neck or chest. Someone who was unlucky might have died on the spot or at the hospital. They were hit in the hands or the thigh, some maybe lethal, some maybe not lethal,” he said.“But now, their attack is like a military battle. They probably use the sniper. Headshots are many. This is different. I found many dead patients, dead at the scene; they had just one shot,” the doctor said.“They aim to kill, not to threaten,” he underscored.The doctor said the military is even targeting medical employees in ambulances, who are attempting to retrieve injured patients from danger zones.An anti-coup protester uses a fire extinguisher to provide cover for others as security forces approach their encampment in Yangon, Myanmar, March 17, 2021.“This time, 2021 is very much more difficult than 2007 because the military is trying to shoot even through the ambulances. It’s very ugly. Shoot the ambulances or arrest the ambulance crew, or they do not allow the medical crew through to the scene,” he added.Zeya Thu, a Myanmar political commentator, acknowledged the current uprising has reached the Myanmar people on a much larger scale than previously.“People from all sorts of life are taking part in the 2021 movement against the coup, and the movement is a lot bigger than the one in 2007,” he told VOA.The current crackdown by the military already has seen more deaths than the Saffron Revolution, Myanmar’s previous uprising in 2007, where thousands protested in the streets about fuel prices.According to various reports, the death toll in 2007 ranged from at least 13 to upwards of 100, although VOA has obtained additional details from a leaked police report stating there were more than 20,000 arrests and 34 people killed during the 2007 unrest.Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from Britain in 1948, but most of its modern history has been governed under military rule.The NLD party led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the country’s first open democratic election in 2015. But in last November’s general elections, the military contested poll results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, without evidence. On Feb. 1, the Myanmar military, also known as Tatmadaw, removed the NLD government. Leader Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained and have since been additionally charged.Armored vehicles and live ammunition have been deployed by the military to suppress protests, while martial law has been imposed across the country. The junta has implemented daily internet shutdowns for the sake of the country’s stability, it said.
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U.N. and Western criticism of Myanmar’s military junta over last month’s coup has given hope to some ethnic Rohingya activists living in exile, who have long pushed other nations to help stop persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar.“We have to become more diplomatic in this situation when the opportunity really presented itself for us to actually do some outreach and extend our compassion to our fellow citizens,” said Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya activist in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Born in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, Ullah and her family fled in 1995 to Thailand, where she remained a stateless refugee until her settlement in Canada in 2011.  She told VOA that her community now has its “best chance to be able to make amends” through extending solidarity to the anti-junta demonstrations and pushing for a federal democratic system in Myanmar.“It is a very rare opportunity for us to do this. And I think if we blow this, we might not get another one,” she added.FILE – Burned Rohingya houses are seen in Ka Nyin Tan village of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, Sept. 6, 2017.’More vulnerable’Members of the Rohingya, who blame the military for the 2017 deadly crackdown against them, have warned a more powerful military could further endanger minority groups in Myanmar, also known as Burma.“This [Myanmar’s coup] does not create hope for a better future for Burma,” said Nasir Zakaria, the president of Rohingya Cultural Center of Chicago. “It makes the Rohingya more vulnerable in Burma.”In 2017, Myanmar’s army reportedly led a campaign of killings, rape and beatings against the Muslim minority that drove out over a half million of them to Bangladesh. The U.N. has called it a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”Despite living in poor conditions in Bangladesh, many Rohingya refugees refuse to return to Myanmar, saying stranded relatives in Rakhine State are living in constant fear.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Rohingya refugees walk at the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Feb.2, 2021.Ro Nay San Lwin, the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, shared similar skepticism of the military’s alleged attempts to turn a new page.“The military chief said in 2018 that this crisis is unfinished business from World War II, so we are really worried,” Lwin told VOA via phone from Frankfurt, Germany.Confined to villagesThe remaining Rohingya stranded in Rakhine, Lwin said, are confined in their villages that have turned into “concentration camps” because of military curfews. He said the community had been unable to voice its support for anti-coup demonstrations because of fears of military violence.“What we are worried about is that the military now is busy [with its] crackdown against protests across the country. When the situation is stable, it might launch another round of violence against the Rohingya and wipe out the remaining population,” Lwin said.This week, the U.N. humanitarian agency said at least 149 protesters had been killed in the crackdown. On Wednesday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said it had “grave concern” that the military was torturing political activists, students and youths.Some experts say developments in Myanmar have created an atmosphere in which minority groups such as the Rohingya can find a common ground with the protesting Burmese.Ronan Lee, the author of Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide and a scholar with the International State Crime Initiative, said more people in Myanmar were starting to draw a comparison between the military’s violence against the protesters and the Rohingya. He said many protesters have now begun to question the inconsistency of their silence when the military brutalized Rohingya civilians.FILE – Anti-coup protesters take cover at a barricade as they clash with security forces on Bayint Naung Bridge in Mayangone, Yangon, Myanmar, March 16, 2021.“Better this realization comes late than never at all, and some protesters in Yangon have even carried signs with slogans to indicate their regret over the Rohingya’s mistreatment,” Lee said. He added that the Rohingya leadership should work with Myanmar’s youth, who are increasingly rejecting racism in politics.Rare opportunity seen“Defeating Myanmar’s coup would provide an opportunity for the country to at last change its constitution in order to kick the military from politics permanently. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine Myanmar’s future,” Lee said.Some experts, however, warn that a broad involvement in the anti-military protests will further expose the Rohingya to Buddhist extremists in the military.”It will be prudent to take a balanced approach under the current circumstances, because our community of the remaining 600,000 people in Rakhine State is highly vulnerable,” said Wakar Uddin, a professor at Pennsylvania State University.“The risk is too high and the price will be enormous if the military is antagonized by any small misstep by the people who they hate most,” he said, arguing for sustained international pressure to resolve the Rohingya issue, regardless of which group rules Myanmar. 
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The shootings at three Georgia massage parlors and spas that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, come on the heels of a recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans since the coronavirus entered the United States.  
As details emerge, many members of the Asian American community see the Georgia killings as a haunting reminder of harassment and assaults that have been occurring from coast to coast.What happened in Atlanta?
Five people were shot Tuesday at a massage parlor about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Atlanta, four of whom died. Police found three women shot to death at Gold Spa in Atlanta, and another woman dead at Aromatherapy Spa across the street.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that its diplomats have confirmed that four of the victims who died were women of Korean descent.
A 21-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, suspected in the shooting, has been taken into custody and charged with murder.Is there a motive?
As many raised concerns the shootings are the latest in a string of hate crimes against Asian Americans, police suggested the suspect may have had other motives.  
Long told police the attack was not racially motivated. He claimed to have a “sex addiction,” and authorities said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation.  
But those statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism given the locations and that most of the victims were women of Asian descent.  How have some Asian Americans responded?
Asian American lawmakers have expressed heartbreak on social media and emphasized the need to support Asian American communities during this moment. The official Twitter account of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus wrote that its members are “horrified by the news … at a time when we’re already seeing a spike in anti-Asian violence.”
Many lawmakers acknowledged a heightened sense of fear among Asian Americans as a result of the increasing number of hate incidents.
Rep. Judy Chu of California reminded people of the effect of anti-Asian rhetoric.  
“As we wait for more details to emerge, I ask everyone to remember that hurtful words and rhetoric have real life consequences,” she wrote on Twitter. “Please stand up, condemn this violence, and help us #StopAsianHate.”How prevalent have assaults against Asian Americans been?
Recent attacks, including the killing of an 84-year-old San Francisco man in February, have raised concerns about worsening hostilities toward Asian Americans. Nearly 3,800 incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based reporting center for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and its partner advocacy groups, since March 2020. Nationally, women reported more than double the number of hate incidents compared with men.
Police in several major cities saw a sharp uptick in Asian-targeted hate crimes between 2019 and 2020, according to data collected by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. New York City went from three incidents to 27, Los Angeles from seven to 15, and Denver had three incidents in 2020 — the first reported there in six years.How far back does Anti-Asian racism go in the United States?
Racism against Asian Americans has long been an ugly thread of U.S. history and was enshrined into law in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was designed to prevent Chinese American laborers from entering the U.S. as a result of widespread xenophobia.
Asian Americans have also long been used as medical scapegoats in the U.S. and falsely blamed for public health problems, including a smallpox outbreak in San Francisco in the 1870s. This racist association between Asian Americans and illness and uncleanliness has also affected views of Asian food and contributes to the “perpetual foreigner” trope that suggests Asian people are fundamentally outsiders.
This fueled suspicions of Japanese Americans during World War II, when many were sent to detention camps solely due to their ethnicity, as well as Islamophobia and prejudice toward Muslim and South Asian Americans following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 1982, 100 years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, a 27-year-old Chinese American, Vincent Chin, died after being attacked in Detroit because of his race. At the time, a growing Japanese auto industry was leading to major job losses in the city’s auto sector. His killers, two autoworkers, mistook him for Japanese, using racial slurs as they beat him outside a club where he was celebrating his bachelor party. His death led to protests from Asian Americans nationwide.What are politicians doing about the recent uptick?
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in January condemning anti-Asian xenophobia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The directive acknowledges the role rhetoric from politicians, including the use of derogatory names for the coronavirus, has played in the rise of anti-Asian sentiment and hate incidents targeting Asian Americans. Former President Donald Trump, for example, has repeatedly used racial terms to describe the virus, including during a Tuesday night interview with Fox News.
The rash of attacks in the past two months has renewed attention from politicians, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed legislation allocating $1.4 million to Stop AAPI Hate and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center for community resources and tracking of anti-Asian hate incidents.  
Initiatives such as increased police presence, volunteer patrols and special crime hot lines have also been suggested by local officials and citizens, with big-name brands like the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Apple, based in the Bay Area, promising to donate to the cause.
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Top U.S. and South Korean foreign policy and defense officials have concluded talks in Seoul largely focused on security threats posed by North Korea.U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin met jointly with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Chung Eui-yong  and Minister of National Defense Suh Wook on Thursday.“We are committed to the denuclearization of North Korea, reducing the threat that DPRK poses to the United States and our allies, and improving the lives of all Koreans, including the people of North Korea, who continue to suffer, widespread and systematic abuses there,” Blinken said during a press event, using the abbreviation for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.South Korea hosts roughly 28,000 American soldiers, and during a ceremony this week, the two countries signed an agreement over the cost of stationing these forces, which had been a source of friction between Seoul and Washington during the final years of the Trump administration.Secretary Austin, a retired U.S. Army general, said the alliance remains “ironclad.”“The United States remains fully committed to the defense of the Republic of (South) Korea, using the full range of U.S. capabilities including our extended deterrent,” Austin said.The American officials are representing the Biden administration during its first Cabinet-level overseas trip, which included meetings in Tokyo earlier this week. But the stop in South Korea comes after four years of an often-frayed relations between Washington and Seoul that the new U.S. president appears eager to repair, analysts say.Hee-jin Koo, a research fellow with the Korean Peninsula Future Forum in Seoul, said the trip to the region by Blinken and Austin is a “turning point” for the United States and its allies.The secretaries’ visits could improve ties between Seoul and Tokyo but also mend fences between the White House and South Korea’s president, Moon Jae – which Koo says was sometimes “left out” of the Trump administration’s North Korean engagement.“So it is a reconnection between the U.S. administration and the Moon administration,” Koo told VOA.But even under new U.S. leadership, there are still differing views on how best to re-engage Pyongyang that the allies will need to resolve, Koo added.“South Korea is rather torn currently, it is trying to do a balancing act between trying to restore frayed inter-Korean relations as well as enhancing its U.S.-South Korea alliance,” she said.Washington says it has tried to open-up dialogue with North Korea, reaching out to its Mission to the United Nations in New York as well as through other back channels and has received no response.But, in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korea Central News Agency on Thursday, First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said that despite those attempts, her government intends to “disregard” Washington’s overtures.“No DPRK-U.S. contact and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK,” Choe wrote. “In order for a dialogue to be made, an atmosphere for both parties to exchange words on an equal basis must be created.”Choe also criticized joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises that began earlier this month as well as remarks that Secretary Blinken made while in Tokyo, where he said that Washington is considering new “pressure measures” against Pyongyang.Koo, the analyst, said Pyongyang might be signaling that it wants higher-level contact, like it received during the Trump administration.“What it wants is to have a status quo, also an easing of the current sanctions. Which has actually pinched North Korea’s economy especially amid the pandemic,” she said.The Biden administration is expected to soon unveil its official policy toward North Korea.Blinken said the strategy will include input from both South Korea and Japan. But he said China also has a shared interest in seeing North Korea end its nuclear weapons program.“China has a critical role to play in working to convince North Korea to pursue denuclearization,” Blinken said. “Virtually all of North Korea’s economic relationships, it’s trade, are with or goes through China, so it has tremendous influence.”From Seoul, the secretary of state will travel to Anchorage, Alaska, where later Thursday he will meet with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. It will be the first bilateral meeting between Chinese and American officials since June.
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Tokyo Olympics creative head Hiroshi Sasaki said he had resigned after making a derogatory comment about a popular female Japanese entertainer, in the latest controversy over insensitive remarks toward women to hit games organizers.Sasaki, who was the head creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies at this year’s games, said he had told a planning group through a group chat that Naomi Watanabe could play a role as an “Olympig.””There was a very inappropriate expression in my ideas and remarks,” Sasaki said in a statement issued through games organizers early Thursday. “I sincerely apologize to her and people who have felt discomfort with such contents.”Sasaki said he had told Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto late Wednesday evening that he was stepping down.Hashimoto and Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto plan to address the matter at a news conference on Thursday, organizers said.Sasaki’s resignation came swiftly after weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported his remarks on Wednesday.Last month, Yoshiro Mori stepped down from his role as president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee after causing a furor with sexist remarks when he said women talk too much.Mori, 83, a former prime minister, was replaced by athlete-turned-politician Hashimoto, who has pledged to make gender equality a top priority at the games.Sasaki was named head of the creative team in December as Olympic organizers looked to revamp plans for simplified ceremonies after the Tokyo Games were pushed back a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.The Olympics are scheduled for July 23-August 8;  the Paralympics are set for August 24-September 5.  
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