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Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
Top 1 | Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing accused of crimes against humanity
Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing has been accused before the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing crimes against humanity for overseeing, as army chief, a deadly crackdown on protesters and activists opposed to the February 1 coup.
In a submission on Friday, the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) urged the special tribunal at The Hague to open a criminal investigation “into the widespread and systematic use of torture as part of the violent crackdown against the protest movement” in the Southeast Asian country.
A United Nations Rapporteur in July characterised the military government’s tactic against dissenters “as a brute force terror campaign”.
Top 2 | White House denies pressuring Ukraine to cede land to Russia
The Biden administration strenuously denied reports that it has urged Ukraine to cede territory to Russia as the number of troops grows along its eastern border.
Moscow has massed troops along Ukraine’s eastern border, annexed Crimea, and at least two separatist-held regions, stoking fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing a full invasion of Ukraine.
While Biden and top officials have repeatedly underscored Washington’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, reports said the president intended to press Kyiv to cede parts of its eastern territory, which separatists took control of in 2014.
Top 3 | UK: Iran faces 'last chance' to restore nuclear deal as Vienna talks resume
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi faces a “last chance” to negotiate a return to the 2015 nuclear deal following an abortive meeting last week that has all but convinced U.S. and European officials that the regime has no sincere intention to rehabilitate the pact.
Iranian officials returned to Vienna last week for a seventh round of “indirect talks” with the United States, mediated by the other signatories of the nuclear deal, but they used the long-awaited meeting to renounce “almost all of the difficult compromises” struck during the previous six rounds. They replaced those tentative agreements with a maximalist statement that the U.S. must not return unilaterally to compliance with the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but lift other unrelated sanctions imposed in recent years.
Top 4 | UN General Assembly defers action on representatives of Afghanistan, Myanmar
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Monday decided to defer action on the representatives of Afghanistan and Myanmar at the most representative organ of the UN.
Monday's decision by the General Assembly means that the two representatives will continue to represent their countries respectively.
The current representative of Afghanistan, Ghulam M. Isaczai, was appointed by the government before the Taliban takeover in August. The current representative of Myanmar, Kyaw Moe Tun, was appointed by the government before the military takeover in February.
Top 5 | Sheriff criticized for tweet showing Santa getting concealed handgun permit
A Colorado police sheriff's office is facing criticism for a tweet showing Santa Claus getting a concealed handgun permit.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office (EPSO) posted a pic of a man depicted as Old Saint Nick sitting down as an employee fills out paperwork for the beloved Christmas figure to carry a fireman.
The department's tweet was meant to advertise concealed handgun permits, sharing that it has issued 49,750 Concealed Handgun Permits through its office.
Top 6 | Debt ceiling: Mitch McConnell moves to cut deal but faces GOP resistance
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is quietly moving to concoct a plan that would allow the nation's borrowing limit to be raised and force Democrats to ultimately cast the decisive and politically toxic vote — but he'll first have to sell it to Republicans.
To accomplish his plan, Republicans will first need to cooperate under the rules of the Senate. And it's unclear if the necessary 10 GOP senators will do just that.
McConnell, who has in the past developed creative ways to avoid a debt default without having Republicans cast the key vote, has been quietly working for weeks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer ahead of the December 15 deadline set by the Treasury Department. His positioning amounts to a sharp shift from the last debt ceiling standoff earlier this fall when he initially refused to provide any GOP votes before cutting a deal to raise the debt ceiling for two months — and later pointedly told President Joe Biden there wouldn't be GOP cooperation again.
Top 7 | Germany's Free Democrats back coalition pact with SPD, Greens
Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) on Sunday backed the coalition agreement negotiated with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party, paving the way for the three-way alliance to form a new government next week.
Some 92.2 percent of party members voted in favor of the deal at a party conference in Berlin.
Party leader Christian Lindner, who is set to take over as Germany's next finance minister, sought to allay the concerns of the FDP's more conservative wing, describing the coalition agreement as one that pushes centrist policies.
Top 8 | Putin to land in India with eye on military, energy ties
Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in India on Monday for just his second overseas trip since the pandemic, seeking to bolster military and energy ties with a traditional ally being courted by Washington.
In its efforts to address a rising China, Washington has set up the QUAD security dialogue with India, Japan, and Australia, raising concerns in both Beijing and Moscow.
India was close to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, a relationship that has endured, with New Delhi calling it a "special and privileged strategic partnership".
Top 9 | Sudan's Burhan says military will exit politics after 2023 elections
Sudan's military will exit politics after elections scheduled for 2023, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told Reuters in an interview on Saturday, adding that the deposed former ruling party would have no role in the transition.
Following a military takeover led by Burhan in late October that upended Sudan's transition to civilian-led democracy, a deal was struck on Nov. 21 reinstating Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to lead a technocratic Cabinet until elections in July 2023.
The coup, which ended a partnership with civilian political parties after the ouster of Omar al-Bashir, drew international condemnation after the detention of dozens of key officials and crackdowns on protesters.
Top 10 | WHO chief scientist urges people not to panic over Omicron
The World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist told the Reuters Next conference on Friday that people should not panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and said it was too early to say if vaccines would need to be reworked.
Swaminathan said the fast-spreading variant would have to become more transmissible to out-compete the Delta variant, but much remains unknown about Omicron.
The Omicron variant has been detected in at least 38 countries but there're no reported deaths from so far, the WHO said.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
