Day: April 2, 2021

Ten days after seizing power in Myanmar, the generals issued their first command to journalists: Stop using the words “coup,” “regime” and “junta” to describe the military’s takeover of the government. Few reporters heeded the Orwellian directive, and the junta embraced a new goal — crushing all free expression.

Since then, the regime has arrested at least 56 journalists, outlawed online news outlets known for hard-edge reporting and crippled communications by cutting off mobile data service. Three photojournalists have been shot and wounded while taking photographs of the anti-coup demonstrations.

With professional journalists under pressure, many young people who came

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The train, cruising in and out of mountain tunnels along Taiwan’s east coast, was packed with people rushing to see family and friends on the first day of a long holiday weekend.

Then, according to survivors’ accounts, it was jolted by a heavy crash, flew off the rails and slammed into the walls of a tunnel.

The derailment of the eight-car Taroko Express train on Friday morning was the worst such disaster in Taiwan in four decades, killing at least 50 people, including two train drivers, and injuring around 150 others, the authorities said.

Investigators are still