Over the past five months, Nepal has reported new outbreaks in nine districts, at least 300 cases since the outbreak began. The government has launched a vaccination campaign with 200,000 doses, but shortages, past natural disasters, and the difficulty of reaching rural communities are weighing heavily.
The case of Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, 71, one of the most influential Buddhist monks, has shaken the country. Arrested on 9 May and later released, he was suspended from all his functions until the end of legal proceedings. Protests have taken place in several districts with participants demanding equal law for all, a thorough investigation, and protection for the victim. Sri Lanka’s child protection authority has reported that some 300 monks have been accused of abuse over the past three years.
In a message written from prison, the lawyer on trial alongside Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho for the 4 June vigils in Victoria Park speaks of the importance of resilience in remembering the 1989 massacre in Beijing, whilst the Hong Kong authorities cover the void left by the crackdown with a sea of market stalls. “4 June is a matter of principle, our most reliable safeguard against the perpetuation of dictatorship and the cult of power.”
A forum bringing together over a hundred civil society organisations has urged the government to impose stricter rules for assessing the environmental and social impact of Beijing’s investments in Cambodia. For the NGOs, the issues concern hydroelectric dams and the controversial Funan Techo canal, whilst Phnom Penh defends the projects as essential for growth.
Today’s headlines: at least 55 dead in a devastating explosion in Shan State, whilst the Burmese president meets Modi in India; In Indonesia, the explosion of a World War II bomb has left 5 dead; Kuala Lumpur introduces a ban on social media for under-16s; Two ships from Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ have docked in Tartus, Syria.
Several comedians have been persecuted for jokes relating to military operations and mobilisation, as well as about the Orthodox Church and Putin. Irony and sarcasm were the only weapons for resisting the oppression of Soviet totalitarianism; today, even those are now banned.
