Author: Mike Harrison

In this episode we turn our attention to international affairs and take a deep dive into what’s happening in Myanmar, where the military has once more taken over the country, declaring a year-long state of emergency and placing elected leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi under detention. It seized control following a general election which Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide. The armed forces had backed the opposition, who were claiming widespread fraud. And though Myanmar’s election commission said there was no evidence to support these claims the coup was staged as a…

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off last Friday legislation extending the accord The United States has extended the New START nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia for five years starting Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.”President Biden pledged to keep the American people safe from nuclear threats by restoring U.S. leadership on arms control and nonproliferation,” Mr. Blinken said in a statement.”Today, the United States took the first step toward making good on that pledge when it extended the New START Treaty with the Russian Federation for five years.”Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off last Friday legislation extending the accord.The…

Ren Quanniu, who represented one of 12 Hong Kong activists who tried to flee to Taiwan, said he had his license revoked by the Henan Provincial Justice Department. A second Chinese lawyer who represented a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist was stripped off his license on Tuesday as Beijing attempts to crush opposition to its tighter control over the territory.Ren Quanniu, who represented one of 12 Hong Kong activists who tried to flee to Taiwan, said he had his license revoked by the Henan Provincial Justice Department.Ten of the 12 activists caught at sea in August were sentenced by a Shenzhen…

Apex court says it would like to have benefit of HCs’ conclusions before taking on issue The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to intervene immediately and examine the constitutional validity of laws enacted by State governments like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which criminalise religious conversion through marriage and mandates prior official clearance before marrying into another faith.A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde asked the petitioners to first approach the respective High Courts. The CJI said the Supreme Court would like to have the benefit of the High Courts’ conclusions before taking on the issue.…

The AMMK leader said Ms. Sasikala, aide to former CM Jayalalithaa, would be back in Chennai on Feb 7 Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s close aide, V.K. Sasikala, will continue with the legal battle to retrieve the AIADMK and play a larger role in the formation of the next AIADMK government, according to Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader, T.T.V DhinakaranAddressing journalists in Madurai on Wednesday, he said Ms. Sasikala would be given a warm reception at the Tamil Nadu border on February 7 when she returns to Chennai. He said the AMMK, “formed to retrieve AIADMK” will take forward its task…

The UN warned last year that the tanker, the FSO Safer, hasn’t been maintained for more than five years and could cause an environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe. The United Nations has said that it is “very concerned” that Yemen’s Houthi rebels may reconsider their formal approval for UN experts to examine an oil tanker moored off the war-torn country’s coast loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil that is at risk of leaking.The UN warned last year that the tanker, the FSO Safer, hasn’t been maintained for more than five years and could cause an environmental,…

The Union government has issued a notice to Twitter to comply with its order of removal of content related to ‘farmer genocide’. The Centre alleged that the material was designed to spread misinformation to inflame passions and hatred and warned that refusal to do so may invite penal action.Also read: Twitter blocks several accounts posting messages in support of farmers’ stir, restores most of them laterOn Tuesday evening, Twitter restored over 250 accounts, hours after blocking them due to “legal demand”.The platform in a meeting with government officials contested the order, arguing that these accounts were not in violation of…

‘We saw a statement by the Prime Minister in the media that law will take its course. We don’t want to interfere at this stage,’ CJI Bobde told a PIL petitioner The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a bunch of petitions seeking an independent inquiry into the Republic Day violence amid the farmers’ tractor rally, saying the Prime Minister had already said the law would take its course.“We are sure that the government is inquiring into it. We saw a statement by the Prime Minister in the media that law will take its course. We don’t want to…

India was ranked 51st in the 2019 Democracy Index. India slipped two places to 53rd position in the 2020 Democracy Index’s global ranking, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, which said the “democratic backsliding” by authorities and “crackdowns” on civil liberties has led to a further decline in the country’s ranking.However, India is ranked higher than most of its neighbouring countries.India’s overall score fell from 6.9 in 2019 to 6.61 in the Index that provides a snapshot of the current state of democracy worldwide for 167 countries.”With mounting pressure on India’s democratic norms, India’s score fell from a peak of…

Raja Krishnamoorthi represents Illinois’s 8th congressional district in the House of Representatives Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been appointed as co-chair of the crucial Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, according to a statement.Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the 55-year-old first Indian-American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, is the chair of the task force.The aim of the immigration task force is to help in issues like support legislation to protect Dreamers and Temporary Protect Status (TPS) recipients, support comprehensive immigration reform, restore due process for immigrants, promote access to Citizenship and integration of AAPI…