19 killed, dozens injured in Myanmar's Shan State after rebels clash with security forces

Agencies
May 12, 2018

Yangon, May 12: At least 19 people were killed Saturday in northern Myanmar when ethnic rebels attacked security force posts in restive Shan State, army and government sources said, the most deadly flare-up in recent years as fighting in the borderlands intensifies.

Rights defenders say clashes in the north near the China border have ramped up since January as the international community focuses on the Rohingya crisis in the west of the country.

The military stands accused of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the stateless minority in Rakhine.

Saturday's operation was launched by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north.

Images and video from the skirmishes shared on social media showed armed men fanning out across a residential street while a rebel soldier took cover behind a car. The sound of automatic gunfire filled the air as ambulances picked up the wounded.

"Nineteen (people) were killed in fighting," the Myanmar military source said, adding that two dozen had been wounded.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a Facebook post that one police officer and three state-backed militia members had been killed while 15 of the dead were innocent civilians.

He called the operation terrorism.

"The attack to target innocent people is not asking for ethnic rights," he said. "It is just a destructive terrorist attack."

A statement posted on the page of Myanmar's commander-in-chief said military columns were in pursuit of the "terrorist insurgents".

'Serious offensive'

TNLA spokesman Major Mai Aik Kyaw told AFP that they attacked joint military and militia posts in the Shan State town of Muse and on a road to Lashio.

"We fight because of heavy fighting in our region and the serious offensive in Kachin State," he said, referring to fresh confrontations in Myanmar's northernmost state between the military and the TNLA-aligned Kachin Independence Army.

It is unclear if members of the powerful Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, took part in the attacks on Saturday though the commander-in-chief's post said they did.

More than 100,000 displaced people now reside in camps in Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the KIA the military broke down in 2011, according to the latest UN statistics.

Those fleeing violence have sheltered in tents and even churches in Kachin, which is mainly Christian, as rights groups and rebels accuse the military of blocking aid.

Myanmar's patchwork of ethnic groups make up round a third of the population, but the Bamar, or Burmese, have filled the Buddhist-majority country's power structures since independence in 1948.

Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi said ending Myanmar's long history of clashes was her main priority after she took power in 2016, but she shares power with the military that fought the insurgencies for decades.

More than a third of Myanmar's townships are affected by unresolved conflict, according to a 2017 report from the Asia Foundation.

Suu Kyi managed to bring two ethnic groups into a ceasefire accord in February, adding to eight others who had signed the deal before she took office.

Reverend Hkalam Samsun, chairman of the Kachin Baptist Convention, said the Kachin people were "disappointed" with Suu Kyi.

"She should stand firm with the people but she compromised with the military," he said.

"She ignored the ethnic issue."

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News Network
April 11,2020

Washington, Apr 11: China is considered a developing country, make the United States too a developing one, US President Donald Trump said on Friday, alleging that Beijing has taken advantage of his country.

"China has been unbelievably taken advantage of us and other countries. You know, for instance, they are considered a developing nation. I said well then make us a developing nation too,” Trump told reporters at his daily White House news conference on coronavirus.

The president was responding to a question on China.

“They get big advantages because they are a developing nation. India, a developing nation. The United States is a big developed nation. Well, we have plenty of development to do,” he said.

Reiterating that United States was taken advantage of by the World Trade Organization, Trump said the Chinese economy started booming after it joined WTO with the help of the US.

“If you look at the history of China, it was only since they went into the WTO that they became a rocket ship with their economy. They were flatlined for years and years,” he said.

“Frankly, for many, many decades. And it was only when they came into the WTO that they became a rocket ship because they took advantage of all -- I'm not even blaming them. I'm saying how stupid were the people that stood here and allowed it to happen,” he said.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click  here

The Trump Administration will now allow that to happen, he said.

“If they don't treat us fairly, will leave. But now we're starting to win cases,” he said.

Alleging that China has taken advantage of the United States for 30 years, he said, China has taken advantage of the US through WTO and using rules that are unfair to the United States.

"They should have never been allowed it, this should have never been allowed to happen", he added.

“When China joined and was allowed to join under those circumstances the WTO, that was a very bad day for the United States because they have rules and regulations that were far different and far easier than our rules and regulations,” he said.

“Plus. They took advantage of them down to the last. China took advantage of them like few people would even think to take advantage of them and again they are considered right a developing nation,” he added.

The United States, he rued, is not considered a developing nation.

“The were given advantages (for being a developing nation). For many years China has ripped off the United States. Then I came along and right now, as you know, China is paying 25 percent," said Trump, adding that the US is now gaining "billions and billions and billions of dollars in tariffs from China”.

The US is not paying, he asserted.

“Not every country is China but China would devalue their currency and they would also pour out money and they essentially were paying most of those tariffs not us,” he said.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New York, Aug 3: The number of coronavirus cases confirmed all over the world has surpassed 18 million, while the global COVID-19 death toll stands at over 687,000 according to data from the Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

As of 06:00 Moscow time on Monday (03:00 GMT), there are 18,017,556 confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. The global death toll from COVID-19 stands at 687,930. The number of recovered individuals stands at 10,649,108.

The United States remains the country with the largest number of cases (4,665,932) and the highest COVID-19 death toll (154,841), according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Washington, Feb 19: Sri Srinivasan, a prominent Indian-American judge, has created history by becoming the first person of South Asian descent to lead a powerful federal circuit court considered next only to the US Supreme Court.

Srinivasan, 52, became the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

An Obama appointee who has already been considered for a Supreme Court seat twice, donned the mantle of the chief judge of the DC federal court circuit on February 12.

Srinivasan succeeded Judge Merrick Garland, who has been a member of the DC Circuit since 1997 and Chief Judge since 2013. He will remain on the bench, a press release said.

Notably, Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court by the then president Barack Obama was blocked by Senate Republicans in 2016.

Srinivasan, was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in May 2013.

He was the first ever Indian-American to be appointed to the second most powerful court of the US.

Neomi Rao, nominated by President Donald Trump, is the second Indian American on this powerful judiciary bench.

History being made on the DC Court of Appeals. Congratulations, Judge Srinivasan! Senator Mark Warner said.

Congratulations to Judge Sri Srinivasan on becoming the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit! A milestone for the Indian-American/Kansan community (and yet another piece of evidence my family can use that I'm underachieving), US Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai said.

According to The Washington Post, Srinivasan spoke recently about his path to the bench at an event celebrating women in the law, a field where men still dominate leadership positions.

"Everybody doubts their belonging and worthiness in some measure. I definitely did and still do. This is just going to be a part of the thing when you're looking out in the world in which everyone isn't like you. It's natural to doubt whether you belong and whether you're worthy, he said, "but you do belong and you are worthy.

Born in Chandigarh, and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, he received a B.A. from Stanford University, a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Following graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the US Solicitor General, and as a law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

From 2011 until his appointment to the US Court of Appeals, Judge Srinivasan served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.

He has argued 25 cases before the US Supreme Court. He has also taught appellate advocacy at Harvard Law School as well as a seminar on civil rights statutes and the Supreme Court at Georgetown University Law Center.

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