Today’s news: South Korean police also open an investigation against President Yoon for the crime of “insurrection.” In Hong Kong, the Chief Executive, John Lee, dismisses two ministers. Iranian Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is released from prison for three weeks for health reasons. Manila clamps down on agencies sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
MYANMAR
The electricity outages are an increasingly common experience across Myanmar, where electricity production has plummeted by at least a third since the 2021 coup. It has fallen from 3,589 megawatts per day to the current 2,376 MW per day in November 2024, according to data of the Ministry of Electricity of the Board. Regular electricity supplies are now only available in the capital Naypyidaw – the military regime’s power center – while other areas, including the commercial capital Yangon, are severely lacking, according to residents.
SOUTH KOREA
The South Korean police also opened a investigation against President Yoon Suk Yeol under the accusation of “insurrection” for the proclamation of martial law, which was later lifted a few hours after a wave of protests and the parliament’s vote against it. Meanwhile, the impeachment motion presented by the opposition is scheduled to be voted on Saturday. The People Power Party – despite having called on Yoon to resign as party president – said it would vote against, but some of its deputies said they had not yet decided whether to obey their leaders or vote in favor of impeachment.
CHINA-TAIWAN-UNITED STATES
China has imposed sanctions to 13 American defense companies and their executives for selling weapons to Taiwan. The sanctions list includes drone and artificial intelligence companies. The announcement came on the same day that Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te passed through Guam, home to a key US military base, after a stop in Hawaii this week.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong’s Culture and Transport Ministers were dismissed by the Chief Executive, John Lee, who avoided answering questions about the reason for the dismissal. Secretary of Transportation and Logistics, Lam Sai-hung, was replaced by Mable Chan, permanent secretary of the Office. The Secretary of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Kevin Yeung, was replaced by Rosanna Law, Director of Housing. Both ministries had been at the center of controversy over the management of the taxi service and the poor results of “big events” in attracting foreign tourists to Hong Kong.
IRAN
The Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi She was released from prison for three weeks on medical grounds. His lawyer, Mostafa Nili, stated that the prison sentence had been suspended on medical advice after Mohammadi underwent surgery to remove a tumor. Her family and supporters have called for the definitive release of the 52-year-old women’s rights activist, held in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran since 2021.
PHILIPPINES-SAUDI ARABIA
The Migrant Workers Department of the Philippine government introduced new rules for sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Only whitelisted recruitment agencies will be able to place these workers in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where several cases of exploitation have arisen in the past.
RUSSIA
The head of the Kremlin’s Human Rights Council, Valerij Fadeev, officially proposed moving the Solovki stone, a monument in memory of the victims of Stalinist terror since 1990, from Moscow’s Lubyanka Square to another location, as visitors “carry out protest actions against the FSB”, which has its headquarters in front of the monument.
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