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Sabtu, 27 Maret 2021

Top military officers from US, allies to condemn violence by Myanmar security forces - CNA

WASHINGTON: The top military officer from the United States and nearly a dozen of his counterparts are set to condemn on Saturday (Mar 27) the deadly use of force by Myanmar's security forces and say the country's military has lost credibility with its people.

The joint statement, obtained by Reuters ahead of its planned release this weekend, is a rare declaration by the most senior military commanders from countries around the world, including in Asia and Europe.

It came after news reports and witnesses said Myanmar security forces killed 114 people on Saturday, including some children, on Armed Forces Day - the bloodiest day of its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters since last month's military coup.

"As Chiefs of Defense, we condemn the use of lethal force against unarmed people by the Myanmar Armed Forces and associated security services," read the draft statement.

It was signed by 12 chiefs of defense from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States.

READ: More than 100 protesters killed in Myanmar as junta puts on show of force for Armed Forces Day

Diplomats from these countries have already condemned the bloodshed by Myanmar's military, making the statement largely symbolic. Myanmar's military has so far ignored criticism of its violent crackdown on dissent.

While the draft statement did not explicitly condemn the Feb 1 coup, which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, it said that a professional military must follow international standards for conduct "and is responsible for protecting - not harming - the people it serves".

It said the country's military must "cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions".

Myanmar's military has said it took power because November elections won by Suu Kyi's party were fraudulent, an assertion dismissed by the country's election commission. Suu Kyi remains in detention at an undisclosed location and many other figures in her National League for Democracy party are also in custody.

READ: US and Britain blacklist Myanmar military-controlled companies

The deaths on Saturday, Myanmar's annual Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of resistance to Japanese occupation in 1945, would take the number of civilians reported killed since the coup to more than 440.

New US and European sanctions this week increased external pressure on the junta. But Myanmar's generals have enjoyed some support from Russia and China, both veto-holding members of the UN Security Council that could block any potential UN action.

Russia's deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin attended a parade in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Saturday, having met senior junta leaders a day earlier.

Diplomats said eight countries - Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand - sent representatives to the Armed Forces Day parade, but Russia was the only one to send a minister.

READ: Russia says it is seeking to strengthen military ties with Myanmar

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2021-03-28 00:40:30Z
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Strong wind not main reason for Suez ship grounding: Canal chief - CNA

SUEZ, Egypt: Egypt's Suez Canal Authority chief said on Saturday (Mar 27) that strong wind was not the main reason for the grounding of the MV Ever Given cargo ship in the waterway.

"Strong winds and weather factors were not the main reasons for the ship's grounding, there may have been technical or human errors," Osama Rabie said at a press conference in Suez.

"All of these factors will become apparent in the investigation," he added.

Asked when the ship could be afloat again, he suggested it was possible "today or tomorrow, depending on the ship's responsiveness to the tides",

The MV Ever Given, which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal since Tuesday, blocking one of the world's most vital waterways in both directions.

READ: Megaship blocking Suez Canal may be refloated Saturday: Owner

READ: ‘Extreme difficulty’ freeing ship stuck in Suez Canal, says Japanese owner of vessel

The canal authority chief said more than 300 vessels are now treading water at either end of the canal, which links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Addressing journalists in Suez, Rabie outlined Egypt's efforts with tugboats and excavators to free the bow and propellers of mega-ship in order to reopen the canal.

Rabie noted that on 10.30pm on Friday the propellers had been able to spin, although not at full speed.

READ: Megaship blocks Suez Canal: What we know so far

READ: Tugs and dredgers try to free megaship blocking Suez Canal for a 4th day

However they were jammed again due to the changing tide, he said, adding that rescuers had had to resort to excavators again overnight to continue the dredging process.

"The type of soil we're dealing with is very difficult to manage, as are the tides which affect the vessel due to its size and its cargo load," he added.

Rabie also noted that the blockage had caused "no fatalities or pollution".

READ: Suez Canal blockage may disrupt supplies to the region: Ong Ye Kung

The ship's grounding is holding up about US$9.6 billion worth of cargo each day between Asia and Europe, according to Lloyd's List data.

Rabie estimated that Egypt is losing about US$12 million to US$14 million in revenue from the canal for each day it is closed.

The United States also said it was ready to send support, including a team of US Navy experts.

Rabie thanked the US for its support along with China and the United Arab Emirates.

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2021-03-27 16:32:14Z
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Salvager hopes to free ship blocking Suez Canal by start of next week - The Straits Times

ISMAILIA, EGYPT (REUTERS) - A giant container ship grounded in the Suez Canal could be freed by the start of next week if heavier tugboats, dredging and a high tide succeed in dislodging it, a Dutch firm working to free the vessel said.

The 400m-long Ever Given became wedged diagonally across a southern section of the canal amid high winds early on Tuesday (March 23), disrupting global shipping by blocking one of the world's busiest waterways.

About 15 per cent of world shipping traffic passes through the canal, and hundreds of vessels are waiting to pass through the waterway once the blockage has been cleared.

Dredgers had removed some 20,000 tonnes of sand from around its bow by Friday, but tugging operations to free the ship were suspended overnight.

"We aim to get it done after the weekend, but everything will have to work out exactly right for that," Mr Peter Berdowski, chief executive of Boskalis, told Dutch TV programme Nieuwsuur late on Friday.

Boskalis owns Smit Salvage, which was brought in this week to help with efforts by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) to dislodge the ship.

"The bow is really stuck in the sandy clay, but the stern has not been pushed totally into the clay, which is positive. We can try to use that as leverage to pull it loose," said Mr Berdowski.

"Heavy tugboats, with a combined capacity of 400 tonnes, will arrive this weekend. We hope that a combination of the tugboats, dredging of sand at the bow and a high tide will enable us to get the ship loose at the beginning of next week."

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Saturday thanked foreign partners for offers to help refloat the ship and said the SCA's chairman would brief media shortly on details of the operation to release the ship.

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Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has scrambled global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with Covid-19 restrictions.

If it drags on, shippers may decide to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.

A total of 288 vessels were waiting to enter or continue their transit through the canal as at Friday, including 65 container ships, 63 bulk carriers and 23 liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, according to a shipping source.

Three shipping agents said on Saturday that none of the ships waiting at the canal's entrances had yet requested to be rerouted.

Boskalis and Smit Salvage have warned that using too much force to tug the ship could damage it.

Mr Berdowski said a land crane would be brought in at the weekend which could lighten the Ever Given's load by removing containers, though experts have warned that such a process could be complex and lengthy.

"If we don't succeed in getting it loose next week, we will have to remove some 600 containers from the bow to reduce the weight," he said. "That will set us back days at least, because where to leave all those containers will be quite a puzzle."

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2021-03-27 12:03:06Z
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Megaship blocking Suez Canal may be refloated Saturday: Owner - CNA

CAIRO: The owner of a megaship blocking Egypt's Suez Canal hopes to refloat it as early as Saturday (Mar 27), as the crisis forced companies to re-route services from the vital shipping lane around Africa.

The MV Ever Given, which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions.

At a press conference in Japan on Friday the president of Shoei Kisen - which owns the ship - told local media there were no signs of damage to its engines and various instruments.

"The ship is not taking water. There is no problem with its rudders and propellers. Once it refloats, it should be able to operate," Yukito Higaki said in the western city of Imabari, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

The company aims to free the ship "tomorrow night Japan time", he added, the Nikkei said.

"We are continuing work to remove sediment as of now, with additional dredging tools," Higaki said, according to the agency.

READ: ‘Extreme difficulty’ freeing ship stuck in Suez Canal, says Japanese owner of vessel

READ: Suez Canal blockage may disrupt supplies to the region: Ong Ye Kung

Workers have begun using machinery that can remove pulverized rocks in a bid to free the ship on Saturday, when the canal will be at high tide.

The blockage has caused a huge traffic jam of more than 200 ships at both ends of the 193km long canal and major delays in the delivery of oil and other products.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) - the ship's technical manager - said on Friday that an attempt to refloat the vessel had failed.

"The focus is now on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel's bow," the firm said.

Smit Salvage, a Dutch firm that has worked on some of the most famous wrecks of recent years, confirmed there would be "two additional tugs" arriving by Sunday to assist, it added.

There had been "no reports of pollution or cargo damage and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding".

Crews had been seen working through the night, using a large dredging machine under floodlights.

But the vessel with gross tonnage of 219,000 and deadweight of 199,000 has yet to budge, forcing global shipping giant Maersk and Germany's Hapag-Lloyd to look into re-routing around the southern tip of Africa.

READ: Megaship blocks Suez Canal: What we know so far

READ: Tugs and dredgers try to free megaship blocking Suez Canal for a 4th day

"HUMAN ERROR?"

"Shipping companies are being forced to confront the spectre of taking the far longer route around the Cape of Good Hope to get to Europe or the east coast of North America," said Lloyd's List, a shipping data and news company.

"The first container ship to do this is Evergreen's Ever Greet... a sistership to Ever Given," it said, noting that the route can take up to an additional 12 days.

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said the megaship veered off course and ran aground when winds reaching 40 knots whipped up a sandstorm that affected visibility.

Lloyd's List said data indicated 213 vessels were now stalled at either end of the canal, which links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

The blockage was holding up an estimated $9.6 billion worth of cargo each day between Asia and Europe, it said.

"Rough calculations suggest westbound traffic is worth around US$5.1 billion daily while eastbound traffic is worth US$4.5 billion."

"THE STAKES ARE TOO HIGH"

The canal authority has said between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic metres of sand would have to be removed in order to reach a depth of 12 to 16 metres and refloat the ship.

READ: Suez Canal blockage: Friday attempt to refloat stranded ship unsuccessful

READ: Suez Canal suspends traffic amid ‘extreme difficulty’ in freeing grounded container ship

If those efforts fail, salvage teams will look to unload some of the Ever Given's cargo and take advantage of a spring high tide due to start on Sunday night to move the vessel.

Plamen Natzkoff, an expert at VesselsValue, said teams would likely throw even more resources behind their efforts in coming days to make the most of that opportunity.

"If they don't manage to dislodge it during that high tide, the next high tide is not there for another couple of weeks, and that becomes problematic," he said.

"The stakes are too high for it to take months."

Turkey on Friday offered to send a tugboat to help Egypt free the Panama-flagged vessel, as it pressed on with its bid to mend ties with regional rivals.

The United States also said it was ready to send support, including a team of US Navy experts.

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2021-03-27 08:13:58Z
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Myanmar's armed ethnic factions will not stand by if more protesters killed, says one group - CNA

CHIANG MAI: Myanmar's ethnic armed factions will not stand by and do nothing if the military junta's forces continue to kill protesters, the leader of one of the main armed groups said on Saturday (Mar 27).

At least 16 protesters were killed by security forces across Myanmar on Saturday, according to local media and witnesses, as the junta celebrated the annual Armed Forces Day.

READ: 16 protesters killed in Myanmar as junta puts on show of force for Armed Forces Day

"The Myanmar Armed Forces Day isn’t an armed forces day, it’s more like the day they killed people," General Yawd Serk, chair of the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army - South (RCSS), told Reuters.

General Yawd Serk, chairman of restoration council of shan state — General Yawd Serk, chairman of the Restoration of Shan State (RCSS/SSA), talks during an interview with Reuters in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Mar 27, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun)

"It isn’t for the protection of democracy as well, it’s how they harm democracy," he added.

"If they continue to shoot at protesters and bully the people, I think all the ethnic groups would not just stand by and do nothing."

The RCSS, which operates near the Thai border, is one of several ethnic armed groups to have denounced the coup and vowed to stand with protesters. Myanmar's two dozen or so ethnic armed factions control vast swathes of the country.

Addressing a military parade earlier, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said the army's job was to protect the people and promote democracy, reiterating his promise of a fresh election made after the army took power on Feb 1.

The junta says a Nov 8 ballot, won in a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), was rigged, forcing the military to take control.

READ: Myanmar junta warns protesters at risk of being shot in the head: State TV

The latest fatalities would bring the total death toll to more than 340 in the army's efforts to stamp out the widespread opposition to the coup.

Many protesters are calling for the formation of a federal army and Yawd Serk said he supported that.

"The ethnic armed groups now have a similar enemy and we need to join hands and hurt those that are hurting the people. We need to join together," he said.

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2021-03-27 08:06:29Z
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16 protesters killed in Myanmar as junta puts on show of force for Armed Forces Day - CNA

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16 protesters killed in Myanmar as junta puts on show of force for Armed Forces Day CNA
Myanmar: Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing vows to 'safeguard democracy' BBC News
Anti-coup protests continue in Myanmar, SE Asia News & Top Stories The Straits Times
The Myanmar military is destroying its public image. Politics won’t be the same. The Washington Post
Myanmar's military releases 300 more protesters CNA
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2021-03-27 06:33:45Z
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Jumat, 26 Maret 2021

Chinese celebs, netizens slam 'two-faced' Hugo Boss over Xinjiang - CNA

Business

At least three Chinese celebrities on Saturday dropped German fashion house Hugo Boss, the latest foreign brand caught in a concerted boycott by Chinese consumers over Western accusations of forced labour in Xinjiang.

People walk past a store of German fashion house Hugo Boss in Beijing, China, March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

27 Mar 2021 12:30PM

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BEIJING: At least three Chinese celebrities on Saturday dropped German fashion house Hugo Boss, the latest foreign brand caught in a concerted boycott by Chinese consumers over Western accusations of forced labour in Xinjiang.

Among the celebrities who ended their pacts with Hugo Boss was actor-singer Li Yifeng, who said in a statement through his agent on the Twitter-like microblog Weibo that he would only cooperate with brands that specifically support and procure cotton from the farwestern Chinese region.

Activists and U.N. rights experts have accused China of using mass detainment, torture, forced labour and sterilisations on Uighurs in Xinjiang. China denies these claims and says its actions in the region are necessary to counter extremism.

Hugo Boss, in a post on its Weibo account on Thursday, said it would "continue to purchase and support Xinjiang cotton." But it said on Friday that it was not an authorised post, and had been deleted accordingly.

In an email to Reuters on Friday, company spokeswoman Carolin Westermann said an undated English-language statement on its website stating that "so far, HUGO BOSS has not procured any goods originating in the Xinjiang region from direct suppliers" was its official position.

On Saturday, the brand's Weibo account issued a new statement saying it cherished all longstanding relationships with partners in China.

Hugo Boss China did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Chinese internet users have accused Hugo Boss for backtracking on its position, saying the brand was being "two faced", with some vowing to boycott the brand for good.

"A two-faced person is the most disgusting. I'll boycott you forever," said a Weibo user.

The United States on Friday condemned what it called a "state-led" social media campaign in China against U.S. and other international companies for deciding not to use cotton from China's Xinjiang region over forced labour concerns.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

New Balance, Under Armour, Tommy Hilfiger and Converse, owned by Nike, are among companies that have come under fire in China for statements that they would not use cotton produced in the far-western Chinese region due to suspected forced labour.

The United States and other Western countries have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which the United States has said have amounted to genocide.

"Several companies are starting to cave in to China's threats by removing their forced labour policies from their websites, and even going as far as promoting "Xinjiang

Cotton" on their websites, which reports show is tainted with Uighur forced labour," the World Uyghur Congress said in a statement.

"This is the ultimate moral test for these companies: opt for respecting human rights or embolden the genocidal regime of the Chinese Commmunist Party," said the largest group representing exiled ethnic Uighurs.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Michael Perry)

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2021-03-27 04:32:11Z
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Sabtu, 27 Maret 2021

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Jumat, 26 Maret 2021

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