Authorities last week froze HK$18 million (US$2.3 million) of assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily.Mark Simon told the BBC that the paper could "do nothing while none of its bank accounts are functioning".Apple Daily, a well-read tabloid, is frequently critical of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese leadership."If you don't have money, you can't order services.
It was only when he boarded the plane that would fly him to Europe that Mratt Kyaw Thu finally felt safe for the first time since Myanmar's military coup on 1 February.It had been an arduous few months for the journalist who quickly found himself on the military junta's wanted list for his reporting of its deadly crackdown on anti-coup protesters."I felt safe when I was on the plane, after passing immigration in Thailand, that was the moment when I felt a little bit freer,"
100 days after the military seized power in Myanmar, the nun who pleaded for protesters on her knees in the street says the coup has cast a pall of fear and depression over the country.The image of Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng kneeling in the dust, arms spread, begging police not to shoot "the children" went viral in March as an uprising swelled in Myanmar.Today, the 45-year-old nun works in a clinic in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state, tending to patients injured by security fo
Explosions rocked Myanmar's largest city Yangon on Saturday as protesters held flash marches for democracy, defying a brutal junta that has held onto power for three bloody months. The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February, bringing an abrupt end to Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy.The power grab has triggered a massive uprising which the authorities have tried to quell with lethal force and live
Myanmar's junta said Tuesday it would heed regional pleas to stop violence only when the country "returns to stability", as fresh fighting erupted with a major ethnic rebel group along its eastern border.The nation has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a 1 February coup, triggering a protest movement that security forces have met with deadly crackdowns.The violence – in which more than 750 people have been killed by security forces, a
Every day at sunrise, Daisy* and her sisters set out to spend several hours in the heat cleaning debris from the previous day’s protests off the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.Protests have erupted around the country since the military seized control of the government after arresting democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on 1 February, and declared a year-long state of emergency.According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a non-profit rights organisation
Myanmar's junta again postponed court proceedings against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday, her lawyers said, as they fight for permission to visit her 12 weeks after she was detained.The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted the Nobel laureate in a 1 February coup, shunting the country back into junta rule after a brief experiment with democracy. Large swathes of the population have taken to the streets in protest, with security forces unleashing a brut
Reports emerged Saturday of more than 80 killed in the latest bloodletting by Myanmar's military, as the country's own ambassador to the United Nations (UN) called for "strong action" against the junta.Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February, with protesters refusing to submit to the junta and demanding a return to democracy. After over two months of military rule, efforts to verify deaths and confirm news
More than a thousand Thai pro-democracy protesters took over a major Bangkok intersection on Wednesday, defying authorities in the first major rally since police used rubber bullets against demonstrators over the weekend.Thailand's protest movement kicked off in July, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's government and a rewrite of a military-scripted constitution.But the most controversial demand is to reform the untouchable monarchy, including the abol
Thai police used water cannon and rubber bullets outside Bangkok's Grand Palace Saturday, after demonstrators broke through a barricade of shipping containers to demand reforms to the kingdom's unassailable monarchy. It was the latest night of unrest since Thailand's pro-democracy movement kicked off in July, calling for an overhaul of Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha's administration and a rewrite of a military-scripted constitution.But their most controversial demands
Thai police shot rubber bullets and used water cannon and tear gas against pro-democracy protesters in Bangkok on Sunday at a rally outside a military barracks housing the prime minister's residence.A youth-led protest movement calling for the resignation of Prayut Chan-o-cha's government had lost steam in recent months following a second wave of coronavirus infections in Thailand.But the recent detention of four prominent protest leaders on royal defamation charges has given it a s
A billionaire Thai opposition figure accused of defaming the country's monarchy has vowed to keep campaigning for reform, despite facing what he dubbed a "politically motivated" lawsuit.Those convicted under Thailand's strict royal defamation laws can face up to 15 years in jail per charge, and earlier this week a former civil servant was sentenced to more than 43 years for sharing audio clips deemed defamatory to the monarchy. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the f
