MYANMAR’S junta said this week it had arrested more than 200 people under a new law against undermining elections, drawing criticism from a monitoring group that the legislation is being used to block criticism of the regime and prevent scrutiny.

The military government is set to begin a general election on December 28, the first since a 2021 coup overthrew the civilian administration.

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), which served as an accredited international observer during the 2015 and 2020 polls, said in an assessment that the election protection law enacted by the junta in July is a major concern.

Myanmar authorities have charged at least 229 people under the law for attempting to sabotage the election process, the junta-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported this week.

It did not provide details on those charged or exactly what punishment they faced. Myanmar junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The law prohibits actions aimed at disrupting the election as well as staging protests, including criticism on social media. Those convicted of breaking the law can face punishments ranging from three years in prison to the death penalty.

The law has been used against young people putting up boycott stickers, film directors, and artists who posted reactions on social media, and to charge journalists, according to ANFREL.

“Rather than ensuring peaceful, competitive elections, the Election Protection Law is being deployed to silence dissent, deter protests, and block independent scrutiny – turning any form of election monitoring into a criminal risk,” the group said.

ELECTION AMID CIVIL WAR

Several countries, the United Nations, and rights groups have described the upcoming multi-phase elections as a sham designed to keep Myanmar’s ruling generals in power through proxies, although the junta insists the polls have public support.

Over 100 townships, including the commercial capital of Yangon, will vote in the first phase of the elections in late December, followed by another 100 in the second phase on January 11. The details of a possible third phase are yet to be announced.

The elections will be held amidst a raging civil war, triggered by the 2021 coup in which the military ousted an elected civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy.

Her party remains dissolved under the junta’s directions and several other political groups are also boycotting the polls, drawing international criticism over the credibility of the elections.

The junta, however, has defended its plan to go ahead with the polls. “The election is being conducted for the people of Myanmar, not for the international community,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at a press conference in Yangon last week, according to the state-run newspaper. “Whether the international community is satisfied or not, is irrelevant.” — Reuters

TOKYO — Japan reaffirmed its decades-old pledge never to possess nuclear weapons on Friday after local media reported that a senior security official suggested the country should acquire them to deter potential aggressors.

The unnamed official said Japan needed nuclear weapons because of a worsening security environment but acknowledged that such a move would be politically difficult, public broadcaster NHK and other outlets reported, describing the official as being from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s office.

At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed, but declined to comment on the remarks or to say whether the person would remain in the post amid calls from opposition leaders for the official to be removed.

There is a growing political and public willingness in Japan to loosen its three non-nuclear principles not to possess, develop or allow nuclear weapons into its territory, a Reuters investigation published in August found.

While it remains a highly sensitive subject in the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, doubts over the reliability of US security guarantees under President Donald Trump and growing threats from nuclear-armed neighbors China, Russia, and North Korea have re-ignited the debate.

Some lawmakers within Ms. Takaichi’s ruling party have said the United States should be allowed to bring nuclear weapons into Japan on submarines or other platforms to reinforce deterrence.

Ms. Takaichi last month stirred debate on her own stance by declining to say whether there would be any changes to the three principles when her administration formulates a new defense strategy next year.

“Putting these trial balloons out creates an opportunity to start to build consensus around the direction to move on changes in security policy,” said Stephen Nagy, a politics professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo.

Beijing’s assertiveness and growing missile cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang are “creating the momentum to really change Japan’s thinking about security,” he added.

Taro Kono, a senior ruling-party lawmaker and former defense and foreign minister, said on Friday that Japan should not shy away from a broader debate on the pros and cons of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Discussions about acquiring or hosting nuclear weapons have long been taboo due to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two and the country’s pacifist constitution adopted after its defeat.

Nihon Hidankyo, a group of atomic bomb survivors that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world, said in a statement that it “can never tolerate such a remark”.

Such talk also risks drawing ire from neighboring countries, including regional security rival China.

“Should the information prove accurate, the situation would be extremely grave,” Guo Jiakun, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at a regular briefing when asked about the Japanese official’s reported comments.

“For some time now, Japan has persistently pursued erroneous actions and rhetoric on military security matters.”

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have soured since Ms. Takaichi last month said a Chinese attack on Taiwan that also threatened Japan could trigger a military response. China claims the democratically governed island.—Reuters

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders decided on Friday to borrow cash to loan 90 billion euros ($105 billion) to Ukraine to fund its defense against Russia for the next two years rather than use frozen Russian assets, sidestepping divisions over an unprecedented plan to finance Kyiv with Russian sovereign cash.

The leaders also gave the European Commission a mandate to keep working on a so-called reparations loan based on Russian immobilized assets but that option proved unworkable for now, above all due to resistance from Belgium, where the bulk of the assets is held.

“Today we approved a decision to provide 90 billion euros to Ukraine,” EU summit chairman Antonio Costa told a press conference early on Friday morning after hours of talks among the leaders in Brussels. “As a matter of urgency, we will provide a loan backed by the European Union budget.”

USE OF RUSSIAN ASSETS TOO COMPLEX AT THIS STAGE

The idea of EU borrowing initially seemed unworkable as it requires unanimity and Hungary’s Russia-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban had opposed it. But Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic agreed to let the scheme go ahead as long as it did not impact them financially.

The EU leaders said Russian assets, totaling 210 billion euros in the EU, will remain frozen until Moscow pays war reparations to Ukraine. If Moscow ever takes such a step, Ukraine could then use the money to pay back the loan.

“This is good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia and this was our intention,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

The stakes for finding money for Kyiv were high because without the EU’s financial help, Ukraine would run out of money in the second quarter of next year and most likely lose the war to Russia, which the EU fears would bring closer the threat of Russian aggression against the bloc.

The decision follows hours of discussions among leaders on the technical details of an unprecedented loan based on the frozen Russian assets, which turned out to be too complex or politically demanding to resolve at this stage.

The main difficulty was providing Belgium, where 185 billion euros of the total Russian assets in Europe are held, with sufficient guarantees against financial and legal risks from potential Russian retaliation for the release of the money to Ukraine.

“There were so many questions on the Reparations Loan, we had to go to Plan B. Rationality has prevailed,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told a news conference. “The EU has avoided chaos and division and remained united,” he said.

HUNGARY SCORES A WIN

With public finances across the EU already strained by high debt levels, the European Commission had proposed using the Russian assets for a loan to Kyiv or joint borrowing against the EU budget.

Using the latter option allowed Mr. Orban to claim a diplomatic victory.

“Orban got what he wanted: no reparation loan. And EU action without participation of Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia,” one EU diplomat said.

‘CAN’T AFFORD TO FAIL’

Several EU leaders arriving at the summit said it was imperative they find a solution to keep Ukraine financed and fighting for the next two years. They were also keen to show European countries’ strength and resolve after US President Donald Trump last week called them “weak”.

“We just can’t afford to fail,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who took part in the summit, urged the bloc to agree to use the Russian assets to provide the funds he said would allow Ukraine to keep fighting.

“The decision now on the table – the decision to fully use Russian assets to defend against Russian aggression – is one of the clearest and most morally justified decisions that could ever be made,” he said. — Reuters

VIOLENT protests erupted in several cities across Bangladesh after the death of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi late on Thursday, with concerns of further unrest ahead of national elections in which he was due to run.

Mr. Hadi, 32, a spokesperson for the Inquilab Mancha platform who participated in the student-led protests that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka last Friday while launching his campaign for the elections.

He was initially treated at a local hospital before being flown to Singapore for advanced medical care, where he died after spending six days on life support.

Mr. Hadi was an outspoken critic of India, and Inquilab Mancha describes itself on its website as a “revolutionary cultural platform inspired by the spirit of uprising.”

In Dhaka, videos circulating on social media showed mobs vandalizing the offices of the country’s largest daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, as well as the Daily Star.

The demonstrations were marked by emotionally charged slogans invoking Mr. Hadi’s name, with protesters vowing to continue their movement and demanding swift justice. Several areas remained tense, with additional police and paramilitary forces deployed to prevent further violence.

Police did not immediately comment, while the fire service said the blaze at the Daily Star was under control. Troops were deployed to the scene, and firefighters rescued journalists trapped inside the building.

PRESSURE ON THE GOVERNMENT
Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, after Mr. Hasina fled to India following a student-led uprising.

The government has been grappling with fresh protests over delayed reforms, and warnings of unrest by Mr. Hasina’s party, which has been barred from the vote, scheduled for February 12.

In a televised address to the nation following Mr. Hadi’s death, Mr. Yunus said: “His passing represents an irreplaceable loss to the nation’s political and democratic sphere.”

Urging citizens to remain calm, Mr. Yunus said the government was committed to ensuring a transparent investigation and bringing all those responsible to justice. He also appealed for restraint, warning that violence would only undermine the country’s path toward a credible election.

The interim administration has declared Saturday a day of state mourning in honor of Mr. Hadi, with national flags to be flown at half-mast and special prayers planned across the country.

The home of the country’s first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Mr. Hasina, was vandalized and set on fire once again, after having been attacked twice previously in February and August last year.

In Dhaka, the premises of the prominent Bengali cultural organization Chhayanaut were vandalized and torched. In the northwestern district of Rajshahi, protesters demolished an Awami League party office using a bulldozer, while demonstrators blocked major highways in several other districts.

Violence was also reported in a number of cities across Bangladesh, including the port city of Chittagong, where protesters attacked the Indian Assistant High Commission and set fire to a house belonging to a former Awami League education minister.

The unrest follows fresh anti-India protests earlier in the week, with ties between the neighbors deteriorating since Mr. Hasina fled to Delhi. On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators under the banner “July Oikya” (July Unity) marched toward the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, chanting anti-India slogans, while also demanding the return of Mr. Hasina.— Reuters