NAY PYI TAW, 13 April, 2021 (TON): At a court hearing held virtually, the Myanmar’s former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was ousted and detained following the February 1 coup has again demanded a face-to-face meeting with her lawyers.

On Monday, the media reported that so far, the judiciary has refused.

President Win Myint, who was also taken into custody in the wake of the military takeover, had made the same demand, according to Min Min Soe, a lawyer on Suu Kyi’s defense team.
“We were able to see them both at the trial via video link, and they looked healthy,” the lawyer said.
Another charge of violating Covid-19 restrictions has also been brought against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Min Min Soe said, but exact details remained unclear.

Suu Kyi faces already one case in connection with these regulations.

The judiciary accuses the 75-year-old of several offences, including violations of foreign trade laws in connection with radio equipment found in her house.

However, it remains unclear that exactly where Suu Kyi and Win Myint are being held.

MALE, 13 April, 2021 (TON): On Monday, while speaking in a press conference, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has denied that corruption was rife in his administration. 

President Solih’s party MDP’s leader and his long-term close friend and ally Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed and Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail who also belongs to MDP have both attributed to the losses in the recent local council elections to corruption. 

The President said, “Corruption is old in the Maldives. It could still exist in every area after fading in whether it is the judiciary, government or independent institutions. It is also likely that it exists in other powers as well. We are doing what we have to do to amend this.”

“If corruption is there inside the government, we will do all we can to erase it. I am guaranteeing that we will do all we can to get rid of corruption. I will not say that there is corruption within the government to the extent that you are saying,” said President Solih. 

The President attributed a 40 percent increase in the corruption perception index in the most recent years to change brought in the administration.

The President said that regarding the ventilator scandal of the Health Ministry, the government had submitted the case to the Anti-Corruption Commission immediately upon the release of the Auditor General report. 

However, the President pledged that the government would keep on providing the full cooperation for the investigation in the matter but said that the government would not intervene in the ACC investigation.

KOHIMA, 13 April, (TON): On Monday, the ceasefire agreements with three Naga insurgent outfits have been extended by the Union government till next April.

Union Home Ministry has extended the ceasefire following agreements signed on Monday, officials in Kohima said.

It was said, "It was decided to extend the ceasefire agreements for a further period of one year with effect from April 28 to April 27 next year with National Socialist Council of Nagaland-NK (NSCN-NK) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Reformation (NSCN-R). The ceasefire was also extended from 18th April 18 to 17th April 17 next year with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-K-Khango (NSCN-K-Khango)."

The ceasefire agreements are in operation between the government and NSCN-NK, NSCN-R and the NSCN-K-Khango, which are the breakaway factions of dominant groups National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K).

However, the outfit has held around 80 rounds of negotiations with the Central government in Delhi and even outside India after signing a ceasefire pact 23 years ago.

COLOMBO, 13 April, 2021 (TON): On Monday, the Government of Sri Lanka and the China Development Bank signed a USD 500 million Financing Facility Agreement to facilitate rapid recovery of the economy affected by the pandemic.

In Beijing, Ambassador of Sri Lanka Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona signed the loan agreement to the People’s Republic of China on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and Wang Wei, Deputy Director General, China Development Bank on behalf of the China Development Bank.

The Finance Ministry said, the USD 500 million will be disbursed, during this week.

It added, the facility has been made available, on a request made by the Government of Sri Lanka to the Chinese Government and the China Development Bank to support the country’s development efforts.

However, the loan is the second tranche of the total RMB 2 billion plus USD 1 billion Foreign Currency Term Financing Facility (FTFF) supported by the Chinese side to Sri Lanka after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

COPENHAGEN, 12 April, 2021 (TON): With a vision to connect left and right wings with pragmatic and un-dogmatic voice, Denmark’s former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen plans to form a new political party.

After losing the 2019 election to the Social Democratic Party, Rasmussen resigned from his center-right Liberal Party in January, also the same year he dethroned as head of his party.

On Sunday, Rasmussen said, “There will be a NEW party with the ambition to become a sensible, pragmatic and un-dogmatic voice in the political debate.”

Danish politics have been dominated by the center-left Social Demokratiet and the center-right Venstre since the end of World War II.

However, it is likely that Rasmussen’s party sets its sights on a position between the two that would potentially upset the 80-year-old order of things.

CHITWAN, 12 April, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, a tractor carrying 25 construction workers fell off a cliff in ​​Bhandara in East Chitwan, killing 5 and 20 injured.

According to DSP Surya Bahadur Thapa, the condition of the injured is critical.

Thapa said, “Five people died on the spot. The injured have been taken to various hospitals in Bharatpur for treatment.”

The tractor was returning to Bhandara with construction workers from Rapti Municipality-11.

However, the injured were taken to the hospitals in five ambulances.

TIRUPATI, 12 April, 2021 (TON): On Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J.P. Nadda will campaign at Naidupeta town in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district to propel the chances of the saffron party in the forthcoming Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll.

BJP national secretary and AP co-incharge Sunil Deodhar said, "After receiving a grand welcome by AP BJP at Tirupati, BJP president Nadda will travel to Tirumala hills to take holy darshan (visit) of swami Balaji."

Nadda will visit the temple at 2 p.m.

Tirupati bypoll will be held on 17 April.

Deodhar said Nadda will address a BJP-Janasena rally at Naidupeta at 6 p.m., even as Coronavirus second wave is raging in the southern state.

However, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy cancelled his election meeting scheduled on Wednesday worrying over the rising COVID-19 infections.

ADDIS ABABA, 12 April, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, a top Ethiopian official said, security forces in Ethiopia's Oromia state have killed 119 militants.

The rebels were suspected to be members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), said Alemayehu Tesfaye, Chief Administrator of East Wollega zone of Oromia regional state. 

Tesfaye said a further 43 suspected OLA rebels and their accomplices were also arrested during recent military operations.

OLA is a breakaway faction of the former rebel group Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and an opposition political party claiming to fight for the rights of ethnic Oromos.

The Oromos make up about 35 per cent of Ethiopia's 110 million plus population.

However, the OLF was designated as a terrorist group by the Ethiopian Parliament in 2011 and was removed from the terror list in 2018 to help facilitate negotiations and foster reconciliation.

BEIJING, 12 April, 2021 (TON): To mark the100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China will launch mass activities.

According to a circular recently issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, in an attempt to motivate the whole party, various activities will be held, the whole army and all the Chinese people of various ethnic groups to stay true to the original aspiration, hold on to the mission, and work hard to make their due contributions.

The activities will be held in two phases, from May till the end of the year.

Thematic activities will include reviewing the oath of joining the CPC, education activities targeting teenagers, and cultural activities.

The circular urged innovative and people-oriented approaches in organizing these activities to make them more effective and appealing.

Besides this, in the circular the slogans of the CPC centenary celebration were also unveiled.

CANBERRA, 12 April, 2021 (TON): On Monday, the Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation as the most powerful political force in the country.

While appearing before the Senate inquiry into media diversity in Australia on Monday, Turnbull described the company as a "mafia gang" that uses its influence to pursue its own corporate interests with no accountability.

He said, "News Corp now is like a political party, but with just one member, or one family of members and that is an absolute threat to our democracy."

"The most powerful political actor in Australia is not the Liberal Party, or the National Party or the Labor Party. It is News Corporation and it is utterly unaccountable.

"It's controlled by an American family and their interests are no longer, if they ever were, coextensive with our own."

However, he accused the News Corp as it was a key player in his removal.

"This sounds completely unhinged and it may well be so but there is no doubt that was being undertaken and I had a direct conversation with Rupert about it," Turnbull said.

Turnbull was the second former Prime Minister to appear before the inquiry after Kevin Rudd said before it on February that every politician in Australia was afraid of Murdoch's influence.