The Burmese military junta expels the East Timor diplomatic mission

Today's headlines: North Korea has inaugurated a neighbourhood for the families of those killed in the war in Ukraine and is preparing for the ninth Party Congress; Indonesia has said it is ready to send its soldiers to Gaza as early as April; In Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Islami has contested some election results; India and Pakistan have stopped shaking hands at cricket matches.

MYANMAR – EAST TIMOR

Myanmar has ordered the head of East Timor's diplomatic mission to leave the country within seven days after the small country, which recently joined ASEAN, accepted a report by the Chin State Human Rights Organisation (a Christian-majority region) alleging that the Myanmar junta has committed crimes against humanity. the small country, which has just joined ASEAN, accepted a report by the Chin State Human Rights Organisation (a predominantly Christian region) alleging that the Myanmar junta committed war crimes and crimes against humanity after the 2021 coup. ‘Such an unconstructive engagement by a head of state of an ASEAN member state with an illegal organisation that opposes another ASEAN member state is totally unacceptable,’ said the Myanmar Foreign Ministry.

INDONESIA – GAZA

The Indonesian army spokesman said this morning that the country is ready to deploy 1,000 soldiers in early April as part of the International Stabilisation Force that is expected to manage security and the transition of power within the Gaza Strip, according to the plan presented by US President Donald Trump. The final decision on the deployment will be made by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, said spokesman Donny Pramono, adding that 8,000 soldiers will be ready for deployment by June.

NORTH KOREA

Pyongyang, which this morning inaugurated a new residential neighbourhood for the families of North Korean soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, is preparing to present new military development plans at the ninth Party Congress to be held later this month.

At the last meeting, in 2021, leader Kim Jong Un called for the development of a range of systems, including hypersonic weapons, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, military reconnaissance satellites, latest-generation drones and a nuclear-powered submarine. Although progress has been made, South Korea has questioned the actual functionality of some of the weapons.

BANGLADESH

Yesterday, the coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party filed a complaint with the Electoral Commission challenging the results in 32 constituencies. Last week's elections were won by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won 212 seats, compared to 77 for Jamaat, which ran with the support of students from the National Citizen Party. Some party members from Dhaka University marched against the BNP the day after the elections.

INDIA – PAKISTAN

The captains of the Indian and Pakistani cricket teams, Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha, did not shake hands before yesterday's T20 World Cup match, which took place at a neutral venue in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was won by India. During the Asia Cup in September, the Indian team also avoided the customary handshake and has not yet collected the trophy after winning the championship, as it is to be presented by the president of the Asian Cricket Council, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan's interior minister.

AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban have begun to enforce a new penal code: in the province of Badghis, in western Afghanistan, a man was sentenced to one year in prison and 39 lashes on charges of insulting the supreme leader. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid defended the penal code (which, among other things, formalises corporal punishment), stating that it is based on Islamic law, but in reality several religious scholars have contested this claim, pointing out that, on the contrary, it is inconsistent with Islamic jurisprudence.

RUSSIA

According to the foreign ministries of five countries, Britain, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed two years ago in the Kharp labour camp in the far north, by being administered a lethal poison from an equatorial frog, prepared by the same centre that created the Novichok poison that had already brought him to the brink of death in 2020, as shown by analyses from several laboratories and scientific studies.

KAZAKHSTAN

In Almaty, Kazakhstan, Orthodox priest Yakov Vorontsov, a former hieromonk of the Russian eparchy in the country who had been expelled from the Moscow Patriarchate for his condemnation of the war, was arrested. According to information released by journalist Daniar Moldabekov, he was taken away during a night-time raid on his home, where a search was carried out without warning, accused of illegal use of narcotics.

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