Singapore police are investigating an Indian national for allegedly being involved in a public protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial citizenship law. 

Unauthorized public assemblies and protests over political situations in other countries are banned in Singapore.  

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to Indian streets to protest the citizenship law enacted by Modi’s Hindu nationalist government that provides non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who moved there before 2015 a pathway to Indian citizenship. 

Singapore police said following a report on December 24 they were investigating a 32-year-old male Indian national for participating in “a public assembly without a police permit” at the Marina Bay waterfront financial and tourist district.  

“He allegedly carried out the activity in Marina Bay, to show his opposition to India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill,” police said in a statement late Wednesday. 

The statement did not give any more details of the assembly. Local media reported the man posted a picture of himself on social media with a placard “to express his unhappiness.” 

The police said organizing or participating in a public assembly without a police permit in Singapore is illegal and that they would not grant any permit for assemblies that advocate political causes of other countries. 

Rebels in Myanmar’s Rakhine region said a captured official from Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party has died, two weeks after being taken for organizing protests against genocide accusations faced by Myanmar at the World Court. 

The Arakan Army rebels said Buthidaung National League for Democracy (NLD) Chairman Ye Thein, the most senior civilian official to die in the growing insurgency, was killed Monday in an attack on the rebels by Myanmar’s army. 

There was no independent confirmation. 

The incident underscored the increasing loss of government control in a region that came to world attention when 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh to escape an army crackdown on a different rebel group in 2017. 

The Arakan Army said its positions had come under attack from Myanmar’s army. 

“Due to big explosions, some detainees died and some were wounded. The NLD chairman from Buthidaung, Ye Thein, died on scene,” the Arakan Army said in the statement. It said he had been taken prisoner on December 11. 

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Rakhine since clashes between the Arakan Army and the army began around a year ago. 

The insurgents, whose forces are from the largely Buddhist Rakhine people, are fighting for greater autonomy. The say they have no links to the Rohingya rebel group whose attacks sparked the 2017 army crackdown that led to the accusations of genocide brought against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice by The Gambia. 

The Arakan Army is among several ethnic armed factions that have said they support the case against Myanmar. 

Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto ruler, personally led Myanmar’s defense against the accusations at hearings in The Hague earlier this month. 

The army made no comment on the report of the NLD official’s death. NLD party spokesman Myo Nyunt said it was the responsibility of the Arakan Army. 

Syrian government troops, supported by Russian warplanes, have advanced on a rebel-held town in the northwestern province of Idlib, local sources said Wednesday. 

The offensive against the town of Maaret al-Numan in the southern prot of Idlib has caused a major influx of civilians to safer areas along the Syrian-Turkish border, a war monitoring group reported. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has researchers across the war-torn country, said that following intense fighting in the area, Syrian government forces took control of dozens of villages around the strategic town, killing dozens of people and forcing thousands of local residents to flee from their homes. 

“The town will most likely be handed over to Turkish military and Russian military police in the next few days, if not hours,” Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory, told VOA, adding that rebels could not carry on the fight. 

There is an agreement between Turkey and Russia to remove all Islamist rebels from Maaret al-Numan and nearby towns in Idlib, he said.  

Center of contention

For years, Idlib has been a center of contention between Russia and Turkey, two powers that support opposite sides of Syria’s eight-year civil war. 

In September 2018, Moscow and Ankara reached an agreement that postponed a planned Syrian government offensive on Idlib and other areas near the Turkish border. 

As part of that agreement, Turkey was required to remove all extremist groups from the province, some of which are tied to the al-Qaida terrorist group. But Turkey allegedly has failed to implement its part of the deal. 

Turkey also has 12 military observation posts in the area as part of a de-escalation agreement between Turkey and Russia. 

On Tuesday, a Turkish military post reportedly was besieged by advancing Syrian troops. 

A Syrian opposition news channel, Orient News, reported that Islamist militants have been fighting government troops on several fronts, killing at least 10 soldiers on Wednesday. 

Key highway

Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been pushing toward the town of Maaret al-Numan, which is located on a highway connecting the capital, Damascus, in the south, to the city of Aleppo in the north. The objective of Assad’s forces is to take full control of the strategic M5 highway. 

Idlib province, home to nearly 3 million people, is the last major stronghold of rebel forces fighting Syrian troops. The province is largely controlled by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. 

Syrian forces and their Russian allies launched a major offensive last week into the southern part of Idlib. The offensive came after weeks of aerial bombardment that displaced tens of thousands of people. 

The military escalation has caused dozens of civilian casualties and displaced 80,000 Syrians, the U.N. said this week. 

But local groups, including the Syrian Observatory, estimated that more than 100,000 civilians in Idlib already had been displaced. 

As American families of all political stripes gather for the holidays, U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is offering ready-made arguments supporters can deploy at the family dinner table.

On Christmas Eve, the campaign unveiled a website to help Trump supporters win arguments with any liberal family members who criticize the president or his job performance.

Psychologists typically advise avoiding politics to reduce stress over the holidays. By contrast, the president’s campaign suggests supporters should welcome debate on Trump and his policies.

Arranged by topics and accompanied by descriptive narrative and video clips, the arguments tout what the campaign sees as the president’s achievements on economic and domestic matters, as well as trade and international affairs.

Similar resources also are being offered to Democrats and liberals.

A contributing author to The Atlantic magazine recently offered liberals tips for debating with conservatives, urging them to steer clear of personal attacks and focus on facts, asserting, “Truth won’t stop being truth. Trump won’t stop being Trump.”

Researchers say political debate has a direct effect on family celebrations.

According to a recent study released last year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, during periods of heightened political discord, Americans tend to avoid or cut short family holiday meals to prevent uncomfortable political confrontations with relatives.

For many, avoiding politics at the holiday table is sound advice. But adhering to it may be easier said than done.

Mexico says Bolivian security forces have increased their presence around the Mexican ambassador’s La Paz residence, where a group of former Cabinet ministers and others loyal to ousted president Evo Morales have sought refuge.

Troops gathered in larger numbers around the residence on Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said. Maximiliano Reyes, Mexico’s undersecretary for Latin America, described the Bolivian patrols around the diplomatic property as a “siege.”

Relations between the two countries have been strained since Mexico granted asylum to Morales after he resigned Nov. 10 following national upheaval over his claim of victory in an election marred by vote-rigging. Morales has since relocated to Argentina and says he plans to stay involved in politics in neighboring Bolivia, while some former top aides remain holed up in the Mexican ambassador’s residence.

Willson Santamaría, Bolivia’s deputy minister of public security, said the Morales loyalists would not be allowed to leave the country.

“We have taken the necessary steps so that the security forces immediately track and detect any help, any complicity in helping the fugitives flee the country,” he said.

Those who sought refuge in the Mexican ambassador’s residence include Juan Ramón Quintana, the former chief of staff for Morales, and five other former ministers, according to a Mexican federal official. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Several are accused by the interim government of President Jeanine Áñez of electoral fraud or other crimes.

Mexico has complained that Bolivian security and intelligence officials have surrounded both the Mexican ambassador’s residence and the embassy, recording the movement of people in and out of the facilities and even impeding the “free transit” of the ambassador.

Erick Foronda, Bolivia’s presidential secretary, denied that authorities are interfering with the movements of Mexico’s diplomats. The police presence at the diplomatic facilities was increased for security reasons following reports of planned demonstrations in the area, he said.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Wednesday that one of his allies had been forcibly conscripted and sent to serve at a remote Arctic base in a move his supporters said amounted to kidnapping.

Ruslan Shaveddinov, a project manager at Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, went missing on Monday after authorities broke into his Moscow flat and his phone’s SIM card was disabled.

On Tuesday, he resurfaced at a secret air defence base on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, Navalny said.

“He has been unlawfully deprived of freedom,” President Vladimir Putin’s top opponent said in a blog post, calling the 23-year-old a “political prisoner.”

The Russian military insisted that Shaveddinov had been dodging the draft for a long time.

Russian men are eligible for conscription between the ages of 18 and 27 and serve one year’s military service. However, many find ways to avoid this in a highly corrupt, flawed system.

Navalny said Shaveddinov has a medical condition that disqualifies him for military service but he was forcibly drafted and sent to the Arctic base without basic training.

Vyacheslav Gimadi, a lawyer for Navalny’s foundation, said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and commander-in-chief Putin were directly responsible for what he claimed was an act of “kidnapping.”

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, who is Shaveddinov’s partner, said the project manager had recently acted as a contact person for opposition lawmakers in Moscow city parliament.

“Perhaps this is the reason this has happened,” Yarmysh told AFP.

She said Shaveddinov had managed to call her from Novaya Zemlya using other people’s phones.

Navalny said Shaveddinov was not allowed to communicate with the outside world or use a phone, unlike other servicemen.

The military also assigned a man to follow Shaveddinov all the time, he added.

“The armed forces themselves don’t know what the hell they should do with him,” Navalny said.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he did not know whether Shaveddinov had been dodging the draft, but said “If he had and was drafted in this manner then everything was done in strict accordance with the law.”

Authorities have been steadily ramping up pressure on Navalny and his allies in recent years.

The 43-year-old helped organize major protests against the government this summer when tens of thousands took to the streets of Moscow to demand fair elections.

An Iranian-backed bloc in Iraq’s parliament proposed Wednesday the governor of oil-rich southern Basra province as the country’s next prime minister but the nomination was promptly rejected by Iraqi protesters who want an independent candidate to take over the government, two officials said.

The Fatah bloc, which includes leaders associated with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units, supported by Iran, had proposed Gov. Asaad al-Eidani for premier.

According to the two officials, President Barham Saleh received a memorandum from parliament which stated that the Iran-backed bloc is allegedly the largest in the house and as such has the right to nominate the next premier. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.

Earlier on Wednesday, outgoing higher education minister, Qusay al-Suhail, who had also been rejected by protesters on the streets, withdrew his nomination for prime minister.

Pressure from the demonstrations led Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi to announce his resignation late last month. That was after Iraq’s most powerful religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, withdrew support for Abdul-Mahdi’s government.

A deadline to name a new prime minister has been missed twice over disagreements on which is the largest bloc in the parliament following last year’s elections.

There are currently two main blocs — Sairoon, led by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Fatah, headed by Hadi al-Amiri. But the numbers in the blocs have continued to change since last year’s elections, with an unknown number of lawmakers leaving some blocs and joining others.

Last Saturday, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court provided guidance in a statement, but stopped short of naming the largest bloc. It said the decision should be based on parliament’s first session after taking office last year. But the court also said it would accept if two or more lists had merged to become the largest bloc.

The same day, President Saleh sent the court’s response to parliament, asking the legislature to say which is the largest bloc.

Menawhile, in the southern city of Diwaniyah, an activist who was wounded last week in a bomb attack died of his wounds late Tuesday. Following the news of his death, protesters attacked some offices of Iran-backed political parties in the city.

Ukrainian officials opened a criminal probe Wednesday after a passenger train from Russia arrived in Crimea via a new Russian-built bridge, arguing that the train illegally carried people across the Ukrainian border.
                   
Earlier this week Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the railway bridge to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. He said 14 million passengers and about 13 million tons of cargo are expected to move across the bridge next year. The train arrived in Sevastopol from St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city.
                   
Russia annexed Crimea on the grounds that residents of the peninsula voted to join up with Russia. The annexation elicited widespread international censure including U.S. and European Union sanctions on Russia. Ukraine has blocked shipment of supplies via its territory to Crimea.
                   
 The Ukrainian government has repeatedly said the new bridge was built in violation of international laws. In October 2018, prosecutors opened a criminal case against the companies involved in its construction.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen urged parliament Wednesday to have more discussion on a proposed anti-infiltration bill that the government says is needed to combat Chinese influence and has been condemned by the main opposition and Beijing.

The legislation is part of a years-long effort to combat what many in Taiwan see as Chinese efforts to influence politics and the democratic process on the island. China claims Taiwan as its territory, to be brought under Beijing’s control by force if necessary.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has begun a renewed push for the legislation, ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections Jan. 11, and it could be passed before the end of the year.

Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, which favors close ties with China, has condemned the proposed legislation as a “political tool” of Tsai and her DPP to gain votes while trying to paint them as Chinese Communist Party agents.

Threats from China

Speaking at a policy presentation on live television, Tsai said other democracies around the world had either already passed or were looking at passing such legislation to prevent Chinese interference in their internal affairs.

“Compared to these countries, Taiwan is more directly confronted with various threats and infiltration from China,” Tsai said.

But some people at home think this “democratic protection net” is a provocation and akin to martial law, she added. “I think this is a very negative and undesirable view.”

Those who have concerns about the law need to detail exactly what those concerns are and not just sprout empty phrases against it, Tsai said.

People can have a thorough discussion on this in parliament, she added.

“I believe that in the Legislative Yuan, as long as everyone sits down and has a good talk, there will be plenty of time and space for everyone to have a thorough discussion.”

China opposed to law

Speaking earlier in the day in Beijing, China’s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office reiterated its opposition to the bill, saying the DPP was trying to “blatantly reverse over” democracy and increase enmity.

China has repeatedly denied meddling in Taiwan politics.

The bill was drafted by the DPP and aims to prohibit political activities and funding from “foreign hostile forces,” generally viewed as a reference to China.

Parliament is scheduled to vote on the bill next week, a move that has attracted criticism, not only from the opposition Kuomintang.

Terry Gou, founder of Apple supplier Foxconn and Taiwan’s richest man, told a Taiwan television station Tuesday that he would protest himself outside parliament if the DPP rushes through the legislation.

Nigerian activist Omoyele Sowore and former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki left prison Tuesday evening after the attorney general ordered their release on bail, in recognition of court orders.

The release followed growing internal and international pressure on the Nigerian government to abide by court orders.

State security had ignored several court orders that former adviser Dasuki, who has been held since 2015, be released. It also sparked protests earlier this month when it re-arrested activist and former presidential candidate Sowore hours after his release on bail.

Dasuki left prison around 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Tuesday and joined his family at his home in the Asokoro district of Abuja. Sowore was released earlier in the evening, greeting jubilant supporters.

“The two defendants are enjoined to observe the terms of their bail and refrain from engaging in any act that is inimical to public peace and national security as well as their ongoing trial which will run its course in accordance with the laws of the land,” Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami said in a statement.

The government has accused Dasuki, who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan, of fraud involving $68 million of defense spending. He has pleaded not guilty.

Dasuki has been granted bail several times but the government had refused to release him. In 2016, a judge at the court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ordered his release, saying his detention was unlawful and arbitrary.
Sowore, who also founded news website Sahara Reporters, was first arrested in August. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of treason, money laundering and harassing the president.

Video of Sowore screaming and shouting as he was wrestled to the ground by security officials in court, only hours after his initial release on bail, circulated widely on social media in Nigeria and internationally.

“While I am grateful for reports on Yele’s long overdue release on bail, my number one concern is for his safety,” Sowore’s wife, Opeyemi Sowore, said in an emailed statement. “We remain resolute on Yele being cleared of all baseless charges.”

On Monday, the government’s own National Human Rights Commission called on the administration to respect court rulings.

Six U.S. members of Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also wrote to Malami on Dec. 20 that they were “deeply concerned that established legal procedure and the rule of law” were not being followed in Sowore’s case. 

Nigerian advocacy group SERAP also hailed the move, but called on the government to release others it described as unfairly detained, including journalist Agba Jalingo.

“The government cannot continue to pick and choose which court orders to obey,” it said.

The Southern African nation of Mozambique is coming off a violent, disputed election campaign, two devastating cyclones, a shadowy insurgency, an ongoing corruption scandal, and a visit by the Pope, who tried to bring this battered nation together. As the coastal nation looks toward 2020, with a major, multibillion-dollar ExxonMobil natural gas deal hanging in the air, what lies ahead, and can this fractured nation be put back together?  VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Johannesburg.

Depending on which country they’re from, the kids may ask about Father Christmas, Papa Noel, Saint Nick or Santa Claus.

But those who believe all want to know one thing: where in the world the jolly old man and his sleigh full of gifts are on Christmas Eve.

For the 64th time, a wildly popular program run by the U.S. and Canadian militaries is providing real-time updates on Santa’s progress to millions around the globe.

And this year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command is offering even more high-tech ways for children and parents to follow along.

Operation NORAD Tracks Santa has evolved from a misdirected telephone call in 1955, to a trailer parked outside the command’s former lair deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, to NORAD ’s modern-day headquarters at Colorado’s Peterson Air Force Base.

Along the way, the tens of thousands of telephone calls fielded by NORAD volunteers each year have been augmented by an explosion of technology that lets millions track St. Nick’s journey from the North Pole to the Pacific and Asia, from Europe to the Americas.

This year’s portals include Alexa, OnStar, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and 3-D apps developed for mobile devices by Cesium, a Philadelphia-based IT and defense contractor. The apps integrate geospatial and satellite-positioning technology with high-resolution graphics that display the actual positions of the stars, sun and moon and the shadows they cast at any point in Santa’s journey.

It takes a village of dozens of tech firms — including Google, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Bing Maps — to deliver the immersive effect for global Santa trackers, with some 15 million visits to the website alone last year.

And it takes a village of 1,500 volunteers to field emails and the 140,000 or so telephone calls to 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723). They staff phone banks equipped with monitors inside a building at Peterson, which offers a view of snow-capped Pikes Peak to the west.

More volunteers and firms donate food, water and coffee to those on Santa Watch.

“Hi Santa Trackers! Lots of kids are waiting to ask you about Santa,” a sign reads.

Volunteers are equipped with an Operations Center Playbook that helps ensure each and every caller can go to sleep happy and satisfied on Christmas Eve.

Longtime Santa trackers are familiar with the NORAD-Santa story.

In 1955, Air Force Col. Harry Shoup — the commander on duty one night at NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command — fielded a call from a child who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a newspaper department store ad, thinking she was calling Santa.

A fast-thinking Shoup quickly assured his caller that he was. And a tradition was born.

Today, most early calls come from Japan and Europe. The volume soars in the U.S. and Canada, said program manager Preston Schlachter. United Kingdom callers ask about Father Christmas. Those in France generally seek Papa Noel’s whereabouts.

For team members, once “Big Red” — Santa’s code name — is airborne, Schlachter said, “it’s off to the races.”

“I’ve never had a block of time move so quickly,” he said.

It was in the spring of 2017 that veteran Cambodia Daily reporters Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter traveled to the country’s Ratanakiri province, home to the sole commune that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP party had failed to win in earlier elections.

Aiming to find out why the rural province’s isolated Pate commune was the nation’s sole backer of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) in 2012, Pheap and Peter spent a day asking random locals about upcoming polls and interviewing then-incumbent SRP commune chief Romam Yuot.

Shortly after publishing the article, the reporters were faced with charges of “inciting the people,” while their employer was hit with a $6.3 million tax bill and a prime minister’s order to pay up or “pack up.”

Long known for diligent reporting on government corruption and human rights violations — along with extensive exposes on illegal logging and labor violations in the country’s garment sector — the Cambodia Daily published its final print edition Sept. 4.

With the first incitement hearing slated for Wednesday, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which ranks Cambodia 143rd out of 180 countries in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, has called for immediate withdrawal of the “absurd, trumped-up charges.”

RSF, like other international free press advocates, says charges levied against Pheap and Peter likely have nothing to do with their 2017 news reports filed from Pate, but only to serve as an example to others.

“This whole fabricated process [is] clearly a way for the Hun Sen clan to notify journalists that this would be what they risk if they dare to report independently,” said Daniel Bastard, RSF’s Asia-Pacific expert, who also warned that the looming trial is bound to have the effect of greater self-censorship among journalists.

“Scheduling the initial hearing on Dec. 25 is an additional mean trick of the kind you expect from the most authoritarian regimes, which often take advantage of the end-of-year holidays in many democratic countries to violate human rights without too much publicity,” said the RSF statement. “Well-known Chinese blogger Wu Gan was sentenced to eight years in prison on 26 December 2017. And it was on 25 December 2009 that a Beijing court sentenced Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel peace laurate and RSF Press Freedom laureate, to 11 years in prison.”

Pheap, 55, who has since fled to the U.S., and Peter, 41, who continues covering Southeast Asia from outside Cambodia, face up to two years in prison if convicted.

We caught up with Peter, a Canadian journalist who continues writing for the Cambodian Daily online and is a regular contributor to VOA, its sister outlet, RFA, and other publications.

VOA: Are these charges about your reports on a given commune voting against Hun Sen’s continued leadership, or are they really about reports on illegal logging?

Zsombor Peter: I have no clue. I wish I could give you a more satisfying answer. If I could, that would mean I knew who all were truly behind this case. But I simply don’t know, so it’s all just a guess. That’s one of the most frustrating things about this case —not knowing who is really suing us. The people who filed the complaint are just puppets.

The puppet masters could be the illegal logging syndicates we’ve upset with our investigative reporting, ruling-party politicians scared of honest election coverage, or both.

What I am sure of is that the charge against Pheap and I is not only baseless, but absurd, conjured out of thin air. Two of the three people accusing us of incitement spoke with us willingly; the third was never even approached for an interview. How can that be “incitement to commit a felony”? What’s more, no one has ever explained what felony we were allegedly inciting people to, because the lie of this case is so transparent that they can’t come up with one. All that is to say that the case is purely politically motivated.

VOA: Aun Pheap has relocated to the U.S., but you continue to report from the region. Has the recent announcement of a trial date created problems for you personally and/or professionally? Are you now forced to keep a lower profile?

ZP: The case has caused me trouble since the charge was laid in October 2017. Pretrial detention is common practice in Cambodia, in politically motivated cases especially, so the possibility of arrest became very real at that point. That makes a return risky, especially to report. So that’s eight years of country knowledge I built up that I can’t use. And, as a reporter who still covers Southeast Asia, that means fewer job opportunities. If I’m convicted, that also raises the possibility of being extradited back to Cambodia to serve my sentence.

VOA: What advice might you have for other reporters faced with these types of politically motivated charges? Would you advocate staying put and continuing to report despite the threat of imprisonment or worse? Or, would you encourage reporters to find a safe space to report from a reasonably safe distance?

ZP: I left Cambodia in October 2017, when I was charged. So I’m in no position to give advice on whether others should leave or stay put.

VOA: If you could make a prepared statement to the court about these charges, what would it be?

ZP: I would not make a prepared statement for this “court.” I would reserve a prepared statement for a real court, a court where the facts might make a difference. The fact that this case has progressed to trial without a shred of evidence is proof enough that this is not a court.

VOA: If you could return to Cambodia and report on any topic you like without fear of reprisal, what would it be?

ZP: I would report on the same things I was reporting on before I left Cambodia, which over eight years were many. They would include the illegal logging business and all other forms of corruption; the government’s repression of peaceful dissent; labor rights abuses, mainly in the garment sector, and human rights abuses more broadly; Cambodia’s balancing act with China on one hand and Europe and the U.S. on the other; and the government’s damming of the Mekong River and its tributaries. I also reported often on Cambodia’s ongoing battle with malaria drug resistance and UXO contamination and would want to pick that up as well.

The top-rated Iranian chess champion says he will not play for Iran in an upcoming tournament and is ready to renounce his citizenship because of a ban on competing against Israeli players.

Alireza Firouzja is “currently living in France…and may want to play under the French or U.S. flag” the head of the Iranian chess federation told Tehran’s ISNA news agency, adding that the 16 year-old Alireza “wants to change his nationality.”

There has been no reaction from Iran to Alireza’s apparent decision to give up his citizenship. There has also been no word from Alireza’s family.

Iranian authorities announced they were pulling out of the upcoming World Rapid & Blitz tournament in Moscow after two other Iranian players competed against Israelis in an earlier match.

But Alireza objected to the Iranian withdrawal. He is Iran’s top-ranked player and the world’s number two ranked junior player.

Iranian officials have called on all Iranian athletes to refrain from competing against Israelis.

Hopes for a peaceful Christmas were dashed in Hong Kong Tuesday after riot police fired tear gas and protesters set fire at various locations across the city that has been roiled by civil unrest for more than six months.

Large crowds had gathered in several shopping malls and a busy tourist area in response to online calls to voice their discontent with the government and to demand greater democracy.

The anti-government movement in Hong Kong, sparked by a controversial extradition law, has entered the seventh month and shows no signs of abating. Protesters say they will not give up unless the government meets their political demands, which include universal suffrage and an independent investigation into police brutality.    

After 9 p.m. local time, police fired several rounds of tear gas in a popular tourist area, Tsim Sha Tsui, to disperse protesters — including outside the luxury Peninsula Hotel.   Hundreds had gathered to disrupt traffic earlier and riot police warned they were taking part in an illegal assembly.    

The gas covered a large area, engulfing buses and other traffic in the tourist spot adorned with Christmas illuminations. Families with young children were seen covering their faces as they hurried away. Police ordered people gathered on the scenic harbor front to leave, although many appeared to be just celebrating Christmas. As riot police pushed along the seafront, a young child dressed in a Santa Claus costume looked frightened while clinging to his mother’s shoulders.

Scores of black-clad protesters got into a stand-off with police officers near the Peninsula by hiding behind opened umbrellas. Later in the evening, protesters placed large objects including wooden crates and bus signs across a thoroughfare and set them on fire.

Hong Kong police said in a late night statement that protesters threw fuel bombs at the Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station at 11 p.m. local time and warned members of the public to stay away from the area. They said protesters occupied a thoroughfare and set barricades on another street and police used crowd management vehicles to disperse “rioters” — eyewitnesses said water cannon were used on the crowds. The statement also said police warned the rioters “to stop their illegal acts.”

In the busy Mong Kok shopping district, protesters ignited objects at an entrance to the metro station. Other protesters targeted an HSBC bank by smashing its glass panels and setting fire to the front of the building. HSBC had suspended the account of non-profit platform Spark Alliance that raised funds for protesters. Some sprayed-painted the message, “Don’t forget Spark Alliance,” onto the outer walls.

Hong Kong police last week froze the equivalent of about $9 million held by Spark Alliance and arrested its four members — moves decried by critics as an attempt to clamp down on the city’s protest movement and smear its reputation.

HSBC Bank said the activities of Spark Alliance’s corporate account did not match the client’s stated business purposes. The bank maintained last week that the closure of the group’s account was “completely unrelated to the Hong Kong police’s arrest of the four individuals” and “unrelated to the current Hong Kong situation.”  

After clashes broke out Tuesday night, the metro company closed down stations at Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui early, saying the move was necessary to protect the safety of passengers and staff.  The metro system had planned to extend its service hours on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, police officers also clashed with protesters inside several upscale shopping malls, using pepper spray and beating people with batons as both sides shouted verbal abuse at one another. Local media reported that one man fell inside a shopping center in out-of-town Yuen Long while escaping police officers.    

In Harbor City shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, black-clad protesters got into a fight with people they suspected were undercover officers earlier in the evening. They threw objects at riot police officers who entered the mall while police pointed their crowd control weapons at the demonstrators. Plainclothes officers used batons to beat protesters while yelling at them. Several people were subdued. Many shops pulled down their shutters.

Police in Botswana say reported incidents of rape have nearly doubled in the past year.  Activists say successful anti-rape campaigns have made victims more confident about reporting when they are attacked.  But the higher recorded levels of rape also have spurred activists in Botswana to demand more action against sexual assault.

Thirty-two-year-old “Mpho Modise” – not her real name – was attacked and raped by two men while walking home earlier this year.

“Even up to now it is still on me.  Sometimes I try to forget about it but, when it comes to my mind, I feel the pain,” said Modise. “I tried to look for people to counsel me, but still the pain is still on me.”

Police say there were 1,600 reported cases of rape in the first three quarters of 2019 – almost double compared to that period for each of the previous two years.

Activists like Desmond Lunga of Men and Boys for Gender Equality, say the increase is due to victims feeling more comfortable about reporting attacks due to increased campaigning against rape. 

“The first thing that we have been doing as activists is to encourage people to report,” said Lunga. “There has been a lot of rape happening, but people have not been reporting.  As we see the numbers increasing, sometimes it is also to say people are seeing this and are able to go and report.”

Despite this trend, social worker Kgomotso Jongman says rape remains difficult to deal with, due to the fact that in most cases, the perpetrator is known to the victim.

“The majority of the people who were raped, were raped by family members or people closer to the family or people that they know,” said Jongman. “That is something that I found very strange and very disturbing.”

Lorato Moalusi of the Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention and Support Center says more research is needed on the causes behind the widespread sexual assaults.

“The scourge of rape is high.  Botswana has done very well in trying to control HIV but, if we are not going to try and control sexual violence, we will lose all the gains that we made,” said Moalusi. “The silence must be broken, the silence is too loud.”

Botswana’s vulnerable are hoping that more accurate rape statistics will spur the nation to take more action.

Sudan’s transitional government has declared Christmas a public holiday for the first time in years. A Sudanese minister said the decision is in line with the freedoms enshrined in the country’s constitution.

Religion Affairs and Endowments Minister Nasraddeen Mufreh said the decision is a result of the historic political changes in Sudan this year. Sudan’s military leaders ousted President Omar al Bashir in April after months of nationwide protests. Later, after a deadly crackdown by the military on demonstrators in Khartoum, opposition groups and military leaders agreed to form a joint transitional government.

Mofreh said the transitional government is committed to guaranteeing all freedoms enshrined in the constitutional declaration signed in August.

The United States recently dropped Sudan from its list of nations that severely violate religious freedoms, signaling its increasing support for Sudan’s transitional government.   

Mofreh welcomed the U.S. decision.

“We really thank them for recognizing our efforts toward respecting freedom of worship in Sudan. They have now realized that we are a civilian government after the revolution of the great Sudanese people,” Mofreh told South Sudan in Focus.

Before South Sudan became an independent country in 2011, Christian civil servants and students in Sudan would get three paid days off from work at Christmas time. But when South Sudan and its large Christian population seceded, Sudanese authorities said the country was 97 percent Muslim and imposed restrictions on religious pluralism, including restrictions on Christmas celebrations.

The secretary-general of the Sudan Council of Churches, Father William Deng, says declaring Christmas a public holiday was the proper thing to do. He says providing more rights and freedoms in Sudanese society will encourage citizens to participate in rebuilding what was destroyed during the 30 years of Bashir’s autocratic rule.

“We are not Muslims, we are not Christians, we are not Arabs, and we are not Africans, we are Sudanese. And within this Sudan, there are Muslims, there are Christians, there are Africans and there are Arabs. Sudan is for the Sudanese and these Sudanese people are faithful to different religions,” Deng told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

Khartoum resident Imman Kamaluddeen, who is from a Muslim family, said the transitional government is fulfilling a promise it made to the people.

“There is a need for all groups to enjoy the freedom of worship, and what I am seeing in this latest decision by our government to grant Christmas as a public holiday is something good and it indicates that our government is respecting freedom of worship of all Sudanese religion,” Kamaluddeen told South Sudan in Focus.

Clara Ismael, a member of Sudan’s Episcopal Church, said she is grateful to the government for declaring Christmas day a public holiday again, and she will use the occasion to visit friends and neighbors, including Muslims.

“This is something worth honoring, and we really thank the transitional government and we wish them all the best for the peace process in Sudan. People need to get stability. God is great and he will bless every step,” Ismael told South Sudan in Focus.

Senegal, home to the largest mosque in West Africa and with a 95 % Muslim population, is widely recognized for its strict adherence to Islam.  And yet each year at Christmas, streets and city squares are aglow with holiday lights and storefronts filled with tinsel and Christmas trees.  So, how do Senegalese people reconcile their devotion to Islam with their love of the Christian holiday?  Annika Hammerschlag reports from Dakar.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. is ready deal will any “Christmas Gift” that North Korea has threatened to deliver amid stalled nuclear negotiations between the two nations.

“Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test right. I may get a vase,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

North Korea has called on the U.S. to make concessions in the nuclear talks and warned earlier this month it is “entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will select to get”

The nuclear negotiations have been stalled since February with North Korea seeking sanctions relief before giving up any of its nuclear capability, a path the United States has so far rejected.

Last month, North Korea conducted its fourth launch of 2019 of what it called a “super-large, multiple-rocket launch system,” and warned it may soon launch a “real ballistic missile” in the vicinity of Japan.

North Korea last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017, and conducted a nuclear test in September 2017.

In April 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced a self-imposed moratorium on ICBM and nuclear tests, saying North Korea “no longer need[s]” those tests.

Recently, North Korean officials have issued reminders that North Korea’s pause on ICBM and nuclear tests was self-imposed and can be reversed.

Nurali Tabandeh, the leader of one of Iran’s largest Sufi sects, died on December 24 at the age of 92, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

Tabandeh passed away in Tehran’s Mehr hospital, where he had been admitted on October 31, ISNA said.

Tabandeh’s funeral is to take place on December 25 in his hometown of Bidokht in Iran’s northeast, the news agency reported.

Tabandeh was the leader of the Nematollahi Gonabadi order, which is based in the northeastern province of Khorasan but has followers all over Iran.

Tabandeh, who held a doctorate in law from the University of Paris, served briefly as a deputy culture minister following Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Tabandeh was arrested multiple times over the years, and followers of his order, also known as the Gonabadi dervishes, repeatedly clashed with security forces and pro-establishment militias.

Last year, Human Rights Watch said that Iranian courts sentenced at least 208 members of the dervish community between May and August 2018, in what the rights group described as one of the largest crackdowns against a religious minority in Iran in a decade.

The sentences included prison terms ranging from 4 months to 26 years, flogging, internal exile, travel bans, and a ban on membership in social and political groups.

The authorities also detained more than 300 dervishes following protests in January and February 2018 that included violent clashes between dervishes and security forces in Tehran.

Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, is not illegal in Iran but rights groups accuse the Iranian government of harassment and discrimination against its followers.