Journalists charged

Prosecutors* in Myanmar formally charged* two journalists from Reuters news agency on January 10 with violating the Official Secrets Act. The decision indicates that the case will go forward despite international condemnation*.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested on December 12 after police accused them of violating the colonial-era* law by acquiring “important secret papers” from two policemen.

Dozens of journalists wearing black waited outside the court on January 10 to protest the arrest of their colleagues.

Trump decision rejected

A U.S. federal judge on January 9 temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s decision to end a program protecting young immigrants from deportation*.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a request by California and other plaintiffs* to prevent President Donald Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Alsup said lawyers in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that the young immigrants “were likely to suffer serious, irreparable* harm” without court action. The judge also said the lawyers have a strong chance of succeeding at trial.

Assange may become Ecuador citizen

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s name has appeared in an Ecuadorean* government database of citizen identification numbers, fuelling speculation* that he may have received citizenship from the country.

Assange has been holed up* for more than five years in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he was granted asylum* in 2012 to avoid extradition* to Sweden over rape allegations.

Swedish prosecutors in May dropped their investigation into the rape allegations, but British police have said Assange would still be arrested if he were to leave the embassy.

Abe to respond to individual Belt and Road cases

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on January 10 that Japan will “properly respond to” individual cooperation programs related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Abe made the remarks after hearing reports from Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Yoshihisa Inoue, secretary general of the Komeito Party, about a meeting of the China-Japan ruling party exchange mechanism that they attended last month.

Inoue suggested to Abe that Japan should not miss the current opportunities to improve Sino-Japanese relations and should try to realize exchanges of high-level visits between China and Japan, according to Japan’s Kyodo News.(SD-Agencies)