Sagaing, Burma's army uses children as human shields

Today's headlines: A Christian family in Laos attacked on charges of practising a "foreign religion"; opposition parties in Georgia call for the blocking of TV broadcasts from Moscow; more than 3,000 Russians arrested for protesting against the war in Ukraine;  Hong Kong ejects dozens of domestic workers because Covid-19 positive; migrant workers and Afghan, Indian and Nepalese students flee from Ukraine. 

MYANMAR

The Burmese military killed nine people during raids in the Sagaing region, arresting children under the age of 12 and using them as human shields. The children were detained for 36 hours in a Buddhist monastery in the village of Chin Pone. Some were 5 or 7 years old. The population tried to rescue them when helicopters arrived, but soldiers blocked them. 

RUSSIA

Almost 3,000 arrests in more than 50 cities did not stop the spontaneous protest movement in Russia against the invasion of Ukraine. The police did not have enough "avtozak" trucks to transport everyone, even the detention chambers were full, many were locked up in prisons and lagers. The General Prosecutor's Office is ready to charge anyone showing support to Kiev with 'treason'. 

KOREA

The Russian invasion of Ukraine worries South Korean citizens, who believe the attack could influence policies on the Korean peninsula, exacerbate the economic crisis and block Pyongyang's de-nuclearisation efforts. Since the beginning of the year, the North Korean regime has resumed missile tests; in Seoul, presidential candidates are exploiting the crisis for their own policies and interests.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghan refugees who fled violence in the past are among those now fleeing the Russian bombs falling in Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of people have left the country in the last four days for Poland, Hungary and Romania. Most of them are Ukrainians, but there are also students and migrant workers from Afghanistan, India and Nepal.

GEORGIA

Georgian opposition parties have asked the National Communications Commission to block the transmissions of Russian state TV. Demonstrations against the invasion of Ukraine continued in Tbilisi, while Prime Minister Iraklij Garibašvili challenged Western sanctions against Moscow, which Georgia intends to join because they are contrary to "national interests".

HONG KONG

The rapid spread of Covid-19 has exacerbated the already critical conditions of domestic workers. As a result of the infection, some of them were fired by their bosses and thrown out onto the streets. There are more than 340,000 domestic workers in Hong Kong, most of them from the Philippines or Indonesia, who also take care of children and the elderly. In the last few days alone, more than 20 have been thrown out for being positive. 

LAOS

A Christian family from a southern village was attacked and driven out of their home and land by Buddhist groups. Behind the attack on 9th February (but the news remained hidden) in Dong Savanh, Savannakhet Province, there were accusations of practising a "foreign religion". In the raid, their home was set on fire, while family members fled to find shelter with relatives. 

ISRAEL - PALESTINE

Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian fighter overnight during a raid on a refugee camp in Jenin, West Bank. Islamic Jihad said the victim was one of its affiliates. Eyewitnesses reported a firefight that erupted in a pre-dawn raid. Two other people were wounded, one of them severely hit in the head. 

• AsiaToday