U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warns Myanmar could plunge into war as despair among the civilian population rises in the wake of the military coup in February. Bachelet’s report is being discussed as part of a special interactive dialogue on Myanmar at the U.N. Human Rights Council.
 
More than five months have passed since Myanmar’s military leaders derailed the country’s fragile democracy. Bachelet says what began as a coup by the Myanmar military has rapidly morphed into an attack against the civilian population.
 
She says nearly 900 people have been killed and some 200,000 forced to flee from increasingly violent military raids on neighborhoods and villages.  She warns the widespread and systematic assaults against civilians risk sparking a broader civil war. She says despair is rising.FILE – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet looks on after delivering a speech on global human rights developments during a session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, June 21, 2021.“Some people, in many parts of Myanmar, have taken up arms and formed self-protection groups. These newly formed armed opposition groups have launched attacks in several locations, to which the security forces have responded with disproportionate force.  I am concerned that escalation in violence could have horrific consequences for civilians,” she said.   
 
Bachelet noted the coup has exacerbated several long-running conflicts in Myanmar’s borderlands.  She said fighting has resumed in Kachin, Kayin and northern Shan States. She added Chin and Kayah States, which have been largely peaceful in recent years, have taken up arms again.
 
The High Commissioner warned Myanmar’s political crisis has evolved into a multi-dimensional human rights catastrophe. This, she said, is causing inestimable suffering for the population and is devastating prospects for sustainable development.
 
Bachelet is calling on the international community to pressure the military to stop attacking its people and to return the country to democracy.  She noted 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, drew up a possible road map for addressing the crisis in Myanmar when they met in late April.
    
“ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus is an important starting point for the way forward, but I urge swift action to advance this process before the human rights situation in the country deteriorates further.  This should be reinforced by Security Council action. I urge all states to act immediately to give effect to the General Assembly’s call to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar,” Bachelet said.  
    
Myanmar is not participating in this debate because the United Nations Credentials Committee has not yet decided who is the legitimate government and should hold the U.N. seat. The choice is between the deposed democratically elected government or Myanmar’s ruling military junta, which seized power in a February 1 coup d’etat.    
…

The mudslide that destroyed dozens of homes in a Japanese seaside resort, killing at least seven people, started from an area with a history of land alternations and a massive soil mound there broke off and amplified the damage, officials said Wednesday. They say, however, more investigation and analysis are needed to determine if the mound of soil was the primary cause of the disaster in Atami, where on Wednesday, hundreds of rescue workers and dogs cautiously searched for the missing inside homes destroyed and filled with mud. Twenty-seven people still could not be reached and were possibly hit by the mudslide Saturday, according to Shizuoka prefecture and Atami city officials. Determining the numbers was difficult because many Atami residences are second homes or vacation rentals. The mud exposed after the slide ripped into streets and homes was distinctively black, showing it contained large amounts of the abandoned soil from the area where land alterations had been made. The mound of soil was inadequately built and accounted for about half the volume of the preceding or subsequent landslide, Shizuoka prefecture vice governor Takashi Namba said after an initial rough assessment. “We can at least say that the severity of the disaster was amplified by the more than 50,000 tons of the soil mound that had been sitting there,” said Namba, a former land ministry bureaucrat and a civil engineer.  He noted the area had other land alterations and development, including a solar power generation complex, deforestation, a land development for housing complex and apparently illegal industrial waste dumping. He said geological details suggest the solar complex and housing development were not the cause of the mudslide, though further examination is needed. The mound had been there since 2010 or even earlier and contained plastic and other waste, suggesting it was a waste dump rather than for development, Namba said. He also believes it was built poorly, without adequate drainage in a location rich with groundwater.  Officials are also checking ownership changes related to the mound and other projects. An assessment is planned of other land developments around the country, land ministry officials said. The landslide occurred after days of heavy rain in Atami, which like many seaside towns in Japan is built into a steep hillside. The town has a registered population of 36,800 and is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The disaster is an added challenge for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as authorities prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, starting in about two weeks. Japan is still struggling with the coronavirus pandemic. Early July, near the end of Japan’s rainy season, is often a time of deadly floods and mudslides, and many experts say the rains are worsening due to climate change. 
…

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met virtually on Tuesday with Uyghur Muslims who were detained in camps in China’s Xinjiang region to hear about their experiences and seek advice on how best to pressure China to halt repression there. The State Department said Blinken wanted to hear directly from the seven former detainees, relatives of others and advocates about conditions that they and the Uyghur community more broadly face. “The secretary thought it important to meet with these individuals to hear firsthand their stories, to hear firsthand their impression of the ongoing atrocities in Xinjiang and the internment of a million Uyghurs,” department spokesperson Ned Price said. “Also, it’s an opportunity for these participants to offer any recommendations they may have.” FILE – Demonstrators hold a protest in front of the State Department to urge the U.S. and the international community to take action against China’s treatment of the Uyghur people, May 5, 2021.China has come under severe international criticism and sanctions for detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and other minorities for political reeducation in Xinjiang. Price said the meeting showed continuity in American policy on the matter between the widely divergent Biden and Trump administrations.  Both administrations have termed the campaign in Xinjiang a “genocide” and slapped sanctions on China for human rights abuses. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met several times with Uyghur ex-detainees during his tenure as America’s top diplomat. “America has spoken out very clearly and consistently about the abuses, about the atrocities, about the ongoing genocide that is taking place in Xinjiang,” Price said. “And, as we deem appropriate, I suspect we’ll be employing additional tools going forward to hold to account those officials responsible for what has taken place there.” Since the Trump administration, the U.S. has steadily ramped up pressure on China on a number of fronts, notably over repression in Xinjiang and a clampdown on political dissent and human rights in Hong Kong. Actions have included travel bans, financial sanctions and commercial restrictions on Chinese imports to the U.S. 
 
…

Indonesia has prepared backup medical facilities for a worst-case scenario where daily coronavirus infections reach 40,000 to 50,000, an official said on Tuesday, as the country reported another day of record fatalities from its worst outbreak so far.Indonesia has one of Asia’s most severe COVID-19 epidemics, exacerbated by the highly infectious Delta variant, with hospitals overstretched, oxygen supply problems and a growing number of sick unable to receive medical attention.Southeast Asia’s largest and most populous country has seen record daily infections in 11 of the past 16 days, with 31,189 new cases and 728 fatalities on Tuesday.Just 1.6% of its more than 270 million population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government has plans to increase oxygen supplies and has identified accommodation infrastructure that can be converted into isolation facilities in the worst-case scenario.”The number can go up to 40,000 or more, that’s why we have prepared scenarios – when it comes to medications, oxygen, and also hospitals,” Luhut said, adding that help had been sought from countries like China and Singapore.Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government was adding nearly 8,000 new beds in Greater Jakarta, and was closely watching Sumatra and Kalimantan, which were seeing a rise in cases of the Delta variant.As of Monday, 76% of beds in Indonesian hospitals were occupied, health ministry data showed, though some regions on Java island have reported a rate higher than 85%.Indonesia on Saturday tightened curbs on movement, office work, dining and air travel on Java and Bali islands and on Tuesday tightened measures in 20 other provinces.Authorities have voiced concern about reports of heavy traffic in Jakarta and the city’s governor Anies Baswedan said on Twitter his inspection of office buildings on Tuesday found a number of non-essential businesses still operating.”We bury more than 300 people per day, those are our brothers and sisters,” he said in an accompanying video. “This is all about protecting them.”   
…

Cambodia’s government is stepping in to pay tuition for six Cambodian cadets whose scholarships at four U.S. military academies were rescinded amid increasingly strained ties between Phnom Penh and Washington.  
 
“Following Cambodia’s curtailment of cooperation in several areas of traditional bilateral military-military engagement, the country lost its eligibility for the U.S. military service academy program,” said Arend Zwartjes, the U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Phnom Penh, in an email to VOA in mid-June.  
 
The students, called cadets at military academies but referred to as midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, were selected for the scholarship program by the U.S. State Department. Some are not yet enlisted in the Cambodian Royal Armed Forces.  
 
Five of the students petitioned the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia to intervene to help them graduate. In letters sent to U.S. Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, copies of which were received by VOA’s Khmer Service, the students said they considered the decision to be “shockingly bad news” and that they were “heartbroken.”
 
Cambodia’s Ministry of Defense announced July 2 it would cover the $1.1 million remaining tuition for the students.
 
“Seeing the difficulties facing the Cambodian cadets due to the termination of their scholarships by the U.S., and with the spirit of responsibility for their future and for the sake of Cambodian military academy, the Cambodian government will cover the cost of tuition for all the six students until graduation,” according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of National Defense on July 2.
 
“I’m happy because this is my future, and I wish to be a competent officer after graduation,” said Nou Chanyuthea, a rising junior at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
 
Other students said they are “very happy” that the Cambodian government will pay for their tuition and fees after waiting for resolution after the academies rescinded their scholarships.  
 
Two students attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York; two are at U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado; one studies at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; and one is at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut, according to the students and a U.S. official.  
 
Some of the students are in their senior year and scheduled to graduate.  
 
The situation is seen as another setback in military relations between Cambodia and the United States after years of deterioration. Relations between the two countries have been on and off for decades “as a result of armed conflict and government changes in Cambodia,” according to the State Department website. 
 
“U.S. relations with the Kingdom of Cambodia have become increasingly strained in recent years in light of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s suppression of the political opposition and his growing embrace of the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” stated a Congressional Research Service report in 2019.
 
Tuition and fees at the U.S. military academies are structured differently than most U.S. colleges and universities. Students pay no tuition because the schools are funded by the U.S. government. Instead, students received education, services and a small stipend over their four years at the academies. 
…

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama celebrated turning 86 on Tuesday, thanking his supporters and expressing his appreciation for India, where he has lived since he fled his homeland in 1959.  “I want to express my deep appreciation of all my friends who have really shown me love, respect and trust,” the Dalai Lama said in a video message.  He reiterated his mission to serving humanity and urged supporters to be compassionate.  “Since I became a refugee and now settled in India, I have taken full advantage of India’s freedom and religious harmony,” he said.  He added that he had great respect for India’s secular values such as “honesty, karuna (compassion), and ahimsa (non-violence).”  The Dalai Lama made the hillside town of Dharmsala his headquarters after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile and accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to separate Tibet from China.  The Dalai Lama denies being a separatist and says he merely advocates for substantial autonomy and protection of Tibet’s native Buddhist culture. On Tuesday, a small celebration attended by mostly government officials was held at the Central Tibetan Administration. On a projected screen, the Dalai Lama’s video message was played and followed by a cultural performance by the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.  Usually, the spiritual leader’s birthday is a fairly elaborate affair in the town, open to members of the public who would flock to the Tsuglakhang Temple where performances were held. Sometimes, the leader would also make an appearance.  This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the celebrations were muted and behind closed doors. But a banner marking his birthday hung in the town square and Tibetan monks distributed sweets and juice to passers-by outside the closed temple.  “Many people really show they love me. And many people actually love my smile,” the Dalai Lama said with a smile at the start of the video. “In spite of my old age, my face is quite handsome,” he said with a laugh.  
…

Four people have been found dead in the aftermath of a landslide in the Japanese resort city of Atami, officials said. By Monday, roughly 1,500 emergency workers were digging through rubble in a neighborhood of the central seaside city, desperately searching for survivors. Saturday’s landslide was triggered by several days of torrential rain, which forecasters said was more rainfall than Atami usually records for the entire month of July.  Roughly 80 people are still missing, though authorities are still trying to confirm their whereabouts and are hoping that some were elsewhere during the disaster. As many as 130 homes and buildings were destroyed. Atami is a resort city, 90 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo, known for its hot springs. It sits above a bay on a steep slope. The disaster comes just days before the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics, which has been overshadowed by the rising number of COVID-19 infections across the nation.   This report includes information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
 
…

Senior foreign executives of major telecommunications firms in Myanmar have been told by the junta that they must not leave the country without permission, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.A confidential order from Myanmar’s Posts and Telecommunications Department (PTD) in mid-June said senior executives, both foreigners and Myanmar nationals, must seek special authorization to leave the country, the person said.A week later, telecom companies were sent a second letter telling them they had until Monday July 5 to fully implement intercept technology they had previously been asked to install to let authorities spy on calls, messages and web traffic and to track users by themselves, the source said. Reuters has not seen the orders.The directives follow pressure on the companies from the junta, which is facing daily protests from its opponents and a growing number of insurgencies to activate the spyware technology.A spokesman for the military did not answer multiple requests for comment. The junta has never commented on the electronic surveillance effort, but announced soon after seizing power its aim to pass a cybersecurity bill that would require telecoms providers to provide data when requested and remove or block any content deemed to be disrupting “unity, stabilization, and peace.” It also amended privacy laws to free security forces to intercept communications.The travel ban comes after intensified pressure from military officials to finish the implementation of the surveillance equipment. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the ban was meant to pressure telecoms firms to finish activating the spyware technology, although the order itself does not specify a reason.Three other telecoms sources, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the authorities had stepped up pressure on the companies to implement the intercept, but declined to elaborate further. Two sources said companies had been warned repeatedly by junta officials not to speak publicly or to the media on the intercept.Telenor declined to comment. There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Ooredoo, state-owned MPT and Mytel, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Viettel and a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate.Months before the Feb. 1 coup, telecom and internet service providers were ordered to install intercept spyware to allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens, Reuters reported in May.Reuters was not able to establish how broadly the surveillance technology has been installed and deployed, but four sources said Norway’s Telenor ASA and Qatar’s Ooredoo QPSC had yet to comply in full.Among the military’s first actions on Feb. 1 was to cut internet access and it has still not been fully re-established, with telecoms given regular lists of websites and activist phone numbers to block.The moves have left the future unclear for Myanmar’s telecom sector, which had been one of the fastest-growing globally. Telenor said on Friday it is evaluating the future of its operations in the country, with a source telling Reuters it is eying a sale of its Myanmar unit. 
…

North Korea’s coronavirus lockdown has taken a major toll on its economy. Its leader, Kim Jong Un, has hinted at a humanitarian crisis. Some fear the situation could get much worse.North Korea may be the only nation to claim it is COVID-19-free. But even it now admits a worsening pandemic-related crisis.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Staff of the Pyongyang Primary School No. 4 spray disinfectant in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 30, 2021.It’s not clear North Korea has vaccines from anywhere else, either, puzzling observers like Yang Moo-jin.Yang said he says he doesn’t know why North Korea has refused vaccines, adding North Korea isn’t known to have any particular aversion to vaccines, like some do in the West.North Korea’s basic predicament is that it wants to keep the border closed to protect from the virus but must open it to get vaccines.It’s a situation that may not threaten Kim’s rule but will get riskier the longer it lasts. 
…

Researchers in New Zealand have developed new technology that could make bridges more resilient to earthquakes. Their so-called ‘low-damage solution’ has a series of rocking bridge columns that move with seismic shocks, leaving bridges with little to no damage compared to conventional building methods.More than 900 bridges were damaged during the Kaikōura earthquake on New Zealand’s South Island in 2016. Roads and railway lines were also destroyed, disrupting the transport network. Researchers at the University of Canterbury have said that although current designs prevent the collapse of bridges, significant repairs might be needed.  They’ve developed flexible columns made of high-strength steel that move during an earthquake. They act like giant rubber bands to bring bridge supports back into position. Conventional steel bars are also used to dissipate seismic energy, reducing the impact of a powerful tremor. Alessandro Palermo, a professor in Structural Engineering and Materials at the University of Canterbury, says the technology makes bridges more resilient.“This special steel, which is usually placed in the middle of the column, is actually working as a rubber band. So, during the earthquake this high-strength steel is actually trying to bring the pier back to the original position,” Palermo said.  “And we are actually trying to combine these resilience-solutions – seismic resilience-solutions – with accelerated bridge construction. How can we actually build bridges faster and at the same time (be) resilient? This system allows (us) to do that.”   In February 2011, the New Zealand city of Christchurch was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. 185 people were killed and several thousand injured.A decade later, rebuilding work continues.Each year, more than 15,000 earthquakes are detected in New Zealand.  Only about 150 are large enough to be felt, but building homes, offices and bridges that can withstand major tremors is a priority.     
…

At least 45 people were killed and 50 injured Sunday when a Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country’s south, officials said.Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on the C-130 Hercules transport plane which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province around midday.Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu.It was one of the country’s deadliest military aviation accidents.”This is a sad day, but we have to remain hopeful,” Gonzales said in a statement.”We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy.”A search was still under way for 17 missing people.Photos of the crash site released by the Joint Task Force-Sulu showed the damaged tail and the smoking wreckage of the fuselage’s back section laying near coconut trees.Images published by local media outlet Pondohan TV on its Facebook page showed the wreckage engulfed in flames and a plume of thick black smoke rising above houses located near the site.Armed Forces Chief General Cirilito Sobejana said the aircraft was carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro on the southern island of Mindanao when it “missed the runway” as it tried to land on Jolo.The plane tried to “regain power but didn’t make it”, he told local media.The four-engine plane crashed near a quarry in a lightly populated area, First Lieutenant Jerrica Angela Manongdo said.Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Corletan Vinluan told AFP the aircraft overshot the landing strip and broke into two according to initial reports.Air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano said the cause of the crash would be investigated, while armed forces spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo told DZBB radio that it was being treated as an accident rather than an attack.Most of the passengers had recently graduated from basic military training and were being deployed to the restive island as part of a joint task force fighting terrorism in the Muslim-majority region.They were supposed to report for duty on Sunday, Gonzales said.The military has a heavy presence in the southern Philippines where militant groups, including the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, operate.Deadly accidentsC-130s have been the workhorses of air forces around the world for decades, used to transport troops, supplies and vehicles. They are also often deployed to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.The Hercules that crashed Sunday has the same tail number as one acquired from the United States and delivered to the Philippines earlier this year. Senator Richard Gordon said it was the fourth military aircraft accident this year with “mass casualties.””Are we buying defective crafts… (with) the people’s money?” he tweeted. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the accident as “very unfortunate”, and the U.S. embassy Charge d’Affaires John Law offered “sincerest condolences” to the families of the victims.Sunday’s accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed last month during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The accident prompted the grounding of the Philippines’ entire Black Hawk fleet.  
…

At least 17 people were killed when a Philippines Air Force plane carrying troops crashed on landing in the south of the country and broke up in flames on Sunday.The Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft crashed at Patikul in Sulu province, in the far south of the archipelago nation where the army has been fighting a long war against Islamist militants from the Abu Sayyaf and other factions.”So far 40 wounded and injured were rescued and 17 bodies recovered. Rescue and recovery is ongoing,” Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement, adding that 92 people had been on board.Military chief Cirilito Sobejana said the plane had “missed the runway trying to regain power.”A military spokesperson, Colonel Edgard Arevalo, said there was no indication of any attack on the plane but that a crash investigation had not begun, and efforts were focused on rescue and treatment.Pictures from the scene showed flames and smoke pouring from wreckage strewn among trees as men in combat uniform milled around. A large column of black smoke rose into the blue sky.Sobejana said in a message to Reuters that the plane had crashed a few kilometers from Jolo airport at 11:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) and had been carrying troops.”We are currently attending to the survivors who were immediately brought to the 11th Infantry Division station hospital in Busbus, Jolo, Sulu,” he said. 
…