Kawhmu, Myanmar, Jan 11: Myanmar’s junta held the second phase of elections on Sunday that democracy watchdogs warn will let the military prolong its rule, opening polling in the constituency of deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

                  The armed forces have ruled Myanmar for most of its post-independence history, snatching back power in a 2021 coup after a decade-long democratic thaw, nullifying the previous poll, detaining Suu Kyi and plunging the country into civil war.

                  With Suu Kyi sidelined and her massively popular party dissolved, democracy advocates say the vote has been rigged by a crackdown on dissent and a ballot stacked with military allies.

                  Polls opened on Sunday morning in dozens of constituencies, including Suu Kyi’s former seat of Kawhmu south of commercial hub Yangon.

                  Farmer Than Than Sint acknowledged Myanmar’s “many problems” but told AFP she voted in pursuit of peace.

                  “We know it will not come right away. But we need to go step-by-step for our future generations,” the 54-year-old said after voting.

                  The junta has pledged the three-phase election will return power to the people after it ends on January 25.

                  The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), described by many analysts as the military’s prime proxy, won nearly 90 percent of lower house seats in the first phase late last month.

                  “I think the results lie only in the mouth of the military,” a 50-year-old resident of Yangon, where voting also took place, told AFP.

                  “This election has absolutely nothing to do with escaping this suffering,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

                  – ‘Engineered’ polls –

                  The first phase had a turnout of around 50 percent, far below the roughly 70 percent of the 2020 election when most voters backed Suu Kyi’s party.

                  A truck blasted loudspeaker messages along the main road in Kawhmu, urging voters to come out.

                  Kyaw Than, a 72-year-old farmer, said it was better to vote. “It would be weird to sit by and do nothing,” he said.

                  There is no polling in large enclaves carved out by rebel factions, who the military accused of staging drone, rocket and bomb attacks during the first phase of voting that killed five people.

                  Analysts say the junta is attempting to launder its image, aiming to improve diplomatic relations, increase foreign investment and sap momentum from rebels.

                  “The junta engineered the polls to ensure victory for its proxy, entrench military domination in Myanmar, and manufacture a facade of legitimacy while violence and repression continue unabated,” UN rights expert Tom Andrews said in a statement on Thursday.

                  The military justified its coup by alleging that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide over pro-military parties in 2020 through massive voter fraud.

                  Election monitors say those claims were unfounded.

                  Parties that won 90 percent of seats in 2020 — including the NLD — have been dissolved, according to the Asian Network for Free Elections.

                  Regardless of the vote, a quarter of parliamentary seats will be reserved for the armed forces under a constitution drafted during a previous period of military rule.

                  – Limited electorate –

                  More than 330 people are being pursued under junta-enacted laws, including clauses that punish protest or criticism of the poll with up to 10 years in prison.

                  There are more than 22,000 political prisoners in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group.

                  Security forces put down pro-democracy protests since the coup but activists formed ragtag guerrilla units, often fighting alongside ethnic minority armies long opposed to central rule.

                  Voting has been cancelled in dozens of constituencies, many of them battlegrounds or regions where rebels run parallel administrations beyond the junta’s reach.

                  The military waged offensives, which witnesses said included air strikes targeting civilian sites, in an attempt to claw back ground before the voting.

                  There is no official toll for Myanmar’s civil war but monitoring group ACLED, which tallies media reports of violence, estimates that 90,000 people have been killed on all sides.

KARACHI: Police detained multiple Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers at Karachi’s Numaish Chowrangi on Sunday after clashes erupted near Bagh-e-Jinnah ahead of the party’s public gathering.

The police officials said that more than 30 workers were taken into custody after the clashes, during which protesters allegedly beat up a policeman.

According to the police, the detained PTI workers were shifted into a prisoners’ van following their arrest at the intersection. Footage circulating on the internet shows protesters stopping a police vehicle and pelting it with stones near Bagh-e-Jinnah.

Police resorted to shelling to disperse PTI workers who had gathered in the area, while separate disturbances were also reported at the VIP gate of Mazar-e-Quaid, where scuffles broke out between protesters and law enforcement.

Police officials said that further action would be taken against those identified in the stone-pelting incidents.

The PTI is scheduled to hold a power show at Bagh-e-Jinnah this evening after obtaining a non-objection certificate (NOC) from the Sindh government.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had announced the “historic” public gathering during his ongoing three-day visit to Sindh.

In a statement on Saturday, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said the NOC for the gathering had been issued with specific conditions, stressing that the organisers would bear full responsibility for maintaining law and order during the event.

He said speeches against the country and state institutions would not be allowed, while the use of provocative language, objectionable material or sectarian remarks was strictly prohibited.

At the time, the KP CM was on a visit to Hyderabad and scheduled to return to Karachi, where he had landed on January 9 to kickstart his three-day visit.

While CM Afridi’s first two days in the province passed smoothly, he alleged earlier today that the provincial government blocked roads and created obstacles during his return journey from Hyderabad to Karachi.

“We were deliberately pushed onto deserted roads on our way back from Hyderabad to Karachi,” CM Afridi said in a video statement, adding that he has reached the port city and that “a rally will [surely] be held”.

Meanwhile, a PTI spokesperson stated that CM Afridi has departed for the public gathering, accompanied by senior party leaders.

According to the spokesperson, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and PTI Sindh president Haleem Adil Sheikh are also part of the delegation, along with other party leaders.

The spokesperson said the rally would proceed through different routes of Karachi before culminating at the Bagh-e-Jinnah ground.

Minister warns ‘strict action’ over violations
Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar warned that any gathering outside the designated place would prompt strict action.

“The Sindh government would take strict action if there was any gathering outside the ground or on any city road,” he said.

The provincial government had said that the district administration reserved the right to cancel the permission given to the PTI at any point due to security concerns.

Separately, Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah offered the PTI to provide them with chairs and containers to facilitate its public gathering.

“If PTI is short of people, we can send them too,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sindh Culture Minister Zulfiqar Ali stated that the former ruling party “started the drama” after realising they did not have sufficient workers. “PTI wants the Sindh government to provide people for their public gathering.”

WASHINGTON, JAN 11: US President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested Cuba should strike a deal with Washington, warning that the island nation would no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela.

Venezuela is Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, but since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces, Trump has successfully pressed interim President Delcy Rodriguez to send Venezuelan oil to the United States.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday.

“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump said.

US intelligence has painted a grim picture of Cuba’s economic and political situation, but its assessments offer no clear support for Trump’s prediction that the island is “ready to fall,” Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the confidential assessments.

The CIA’s view is that key sectors of the Cuban economy, such as agriculture and tourism, are severely strained by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions and other problems.

The potential loss of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, for decades a key ally, could make governing more difficult for the administration that has ruled Cuba since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.

For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan oil is devastating. Between January and November of last year, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the island, covering roughly 50% of Cuba’s oil deficit, according to shipping data and documents from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

Separately, Trump reposted a social media message suggesting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, born to Cuban immigrant parents, would become the next leader of Cuba.

Trump republished a Truth Social message from user Cliff Smith, posted on January 8, that read “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba,” accompanied by a crying laughing emoji.

Trump’s comment on the repost was “Sounds good to me!”

The largely unknown user, whose bio refers to him as a “conservative Californian” has less than 500 followers.

Trump’s repost comes a week after US forces seized Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.

News Desk

WASHINGTON: US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, the latest response to an attack last month that killed three Americans.

US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American military forces in the region, said multiple strikes “targeted ISIS throughout Syria,” using an acronym for the terrorist group.

Centcom’s post on X did not give specifics on where they took place.

Grainy aerial video accompanying the post showed several separate explosions, apparently in rural areas.

The strikes were part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which was launched “in direct response to the deadly ISIS attack on US and Syrian forces in Palmyra,” Centcom said.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed on December 13 after a lone gunman — whom Washington described as an IS militant — ambushed them in Palmyra.

Syria’s interior ministry later said the gunman was a member of the security forces who had been set to be fired for extremism.

“We will never forget, and never relent,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday in a post on X, replying to the Centcom statement.

The United States and Jordan carried out a round of strikes last month in response to the Palmyra attack, with Centcom saying at the time that “more than 70 targets” had been hit.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, later reported those strikes killed at least five IS members, including a cell leader.

On January 3, Britain and France announced joint strikes targeting an underground facility they said IS had likely used to store weapons.

The US personnel targeted in Palmyra were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat IS, which seized swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.

The IS members were ultimately defeated by local ground forces backed by international air strikes and other support, but the IS still has a presence in Syria, especially in the country’s vast desert.

US President Donald Trump has long been sceptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.

The Pentagon announced in April that the United States would halve the number of US personnel in Syria in the following months, while US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said in June that Washington would eventually reduce its bases in the country to one.

TEHRAN, JAN 11: /DNA/ – In a direct address to the Iranian people, President Masoud Pezeshkian outlined his government’s priorities, calling for national solidarity while sharply criticizing foreign powers accused of destabilizing the country.

The President emphasized his administration’s focus on solving the nation’s problems and alleviating public concerns. “We are trying to solve problems and alleviate people’s concerns,” he stated, promising to make every effort to bring tangible improvements to citizens’ lives.

A central theme of the speech was a strong warning against foreign interference. President Pezeshkian asserted that his government “will not allow any foreigners to sow seeds of discord among the nation.” He explicitly called on Iranians from all walks of life to join hands with the government to counter what he described as “foreign-backed riots.”

Drawing a clear line between legitimate public grievance and violence, the President urged citizens to separate themselves from the path of rioters and “armed terrorists.” He made a moral appeal for peace, stating, “No fellow citizen should create chaos, no human being should kill another person.”

On the domestic front, President Pezeshkian confirmed that his government is actively “fighting the roots of corruption in the country,” positioning this effort as a key component of solving the nation’s issues and restoring public trust.

His foreign policy criticism was pointed, particularly targeting the United States. “The US president should be ashamed of what he is doing in Venezuela, Gaza, elsewhere,” he declared, aligning Iran’s stance with global criticisms of American foreign policy.

Concluding with a call for collective action, President Pezeshkian asked “all Iranian people to join hands to solve problems of the nation,” framing national unity as the essential shield against both internal discord and external pressure.

The address appears to be a concerted effort by the new administration to consolidate domestic support, address economic and social grievances, and firmly reject external influence amid ongoing regional and international tensions.