says Russia ‘terrorizing’ Ukraine

PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of terrorising Ukrainians on Thursday, as his military announced it had shot down 36 Iranian-made attack drones deployed by Moscow’s forces.

“The enemy continued to terrorise Ukraine by launching 36 Shaheds. None reached their target,” Zelensky said in a social media post.

“I’m grateful to our air defense forces for the 100 percent result.”

Russia subjected Ukraine to a campaign of aerial bombardments on key infrastructure during winter months but those at-

“Observed behavior suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible.”

China accused the US and its allies of waging a “disinformation campaign” Thursday after the hacking claim.

“This is an extremely unprofessional report with a missing chain of evidence, this is just scissors-and-paste work,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, claiming the allegations were “a collective disinformation campaign of the Five Eyes coalition countries.”

Microsoft’s statement coincided with an advisory released by US, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and UK authorities. AFP

4 HK students sentenced over 2021 bomb plot

FOUR Hong Kong students, including two minors, were sentenced Thursday over their roles in an antigovernment plot to set off bombs in public spaces.

A court sentenced the oldest of the four to more than five years in prison and sent the other three to juvenile rehabilitation centres in a case handled under the national security law, which China imposed on the city in 2020 to quell dissent.

The four defendants, now aged 17 to 21, were members of a little-known group called “Returning Valiant,” which promoted independence from China and had called for resistance after the security law was imposed.

The group allegedly planned to make bombs using the TATP explosive in 2021, and set them off in public areas including court buildings.

tacks had waned recently.

“In total, 36 barrage munitions were launched from the northern and southern directions. The enemy presumably aimed to attack critical infrastructure and military facilities in the western regions of Ukraine,” the defense ministry said.

“All 36 Shaheds were shot down!”

Ukraine has become increasingly adept at taking down waves of Russian cruise missiles and drones after appealing to Western allies for greater air defense capabilities. AFP

Myanmar delegation visits Rohingya camps

A Myanmar government team arrived in Bangladesh on Thursday as part of a mooted pilot scheme to repatriate around 1,200 of an estimated one million Rohingya refugees.

The refugees have been stuck in ramshackle camps in southeastern Bangladesh since fleeing a 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military that is now subject to a United Nations genocide investigation.

Bangladesh and Myanmar are looking to return around 1,100 people to the violence-racked state of Rakhine in the coming weeks even though the Rohingya have expressed major misgivings.

The team of 14 Myanmar officials, all in civilian clothes, arrived by boat in the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf on Thursday morning and made no comment to reporters, an AFP journalist there said.

Shams ud Douza, Bangladesh’s deputy refugee commissioner, told AFP that the delegates would speak to Rohingyas who are earmarked to be repatriated, calling the visit a “confidence-building measure.”

Twenty Rohingya visited two resettlement camps this month in Rakhine, where the Myanmar junta plans to house them in what experts say is land that for generations belonged to the Rohingyas before being confiscated.

“We have no permanent representative in this repatriation process,” Khin Maung, a prominent Rohingya leader, told AFP.

“This repatriation process is just an eyewash. If they didn’t ensure our dignity, there is no point in returning to IDPs (internally displaced people),” he said.

One Rohingya who is meant to be repatriated in the pilot project told AFP on condition of anonymity that they did not want to go back and live in Myanmar “as non-citizens and stay in IDP camps.”

“Our place should be given back to us, our right to live like other ethnic groups should be legally guaranteed. Otherwise we cannot believe the mass murderers,” they said.

Another, Semon Ara, 53, said: “What will we do living in IDP camps? We are citizens of Myanmar, not guests. Myanmar should give back our rights and repatriate us.” AFP

Before they could procure the materials, Hong Kong’s national security police arrested them in July of that year.

Defendant Alexander Au, now 21, “is obviously more culpable – he was involved in renting the room, planning and preparation, and reconnaissance of targeted buildings,” said senior judge Alex Lee.

Lee sentenced Au to five years and eight months in prison.

The three others, aged 17 to 18, were “merely foot soldiers in the conspiracy” and failed to procure TATP ingredients, the judge said. AFP

Cambodian court jails woman union leader over strike vs. biggest casino

A CAMBODIAN court on Thursday jailed a woman union leader for two years for leading a strike against the country’s biggest casino to demand the reinstatement of workers laid off during the pandemic.

Chhim Sithar had long campaigned for the return of hundreds of workers laid off from the NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh. She was first arrested in January last year at a protest site near the casino and was charged with incitement, a common tactic authorities use against activists.

Chhim Sithar was re-arrested in November for violating bail conditions upon her return from a conference in Australia.

Several dozen former casino workers protested outside the court after her sentencing on Thursday, shouting “injus- tice” as Chhim Sithar was taken away in a prison van.

Rights groups have said the charges are baseless.

Five other union members from her group were given 18-month court monitoring orders and three more received one-year suspended jail sentences.

Prime Minister Hun Sen – who has ruled Cambodia for more than 38 years – has been accused by rights groups of using the courts to stifle dissent as he prepares for the July election.

Nagacorp – a Hong Kong-listed firm that operates NagaWorld – has an exclusive casino license to operate in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia has a complex relationship with gambling: while it has casinos, its own citizens are officially barred from playing in them. AFP