Asia News – By Dan Russell

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Burma
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi gave assurances to Burma’s military that her opposition party does not seek confrontation with it. Speaking in Naypyitaw to several thousand supporters she said “There are many Tatmadaw [military] servicemen in this constituency. I welcome the Tatmadaw and I want to say that our party, the NLD, is not an organization that will confront the Tatmadaw.”

North Korea
North Korean troops carried out live-fire drills neat the disputed sea border with weapons given to the by new leader Kim Jong Un. At the same time, North Korea state media and senior officials issued angry statements about the U.S.-South Korean drills set to run through April. The tension between North and South came before envoys from the U.S. and North Korea met in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss details about the distribution of food aid promised by the U.S. in an agreement reached last week. The agreement gives North Korea food aid in exchange for freezing nuclear activities and allowing nuclear inspections by the U.N.

China
Local government officials in Western Sichuan Province have acknowledged that Tibetans are calling out independence slogans before immolating themselves. “These people have things in common. First they have shouted out separatist slogans such as ‘Free Tibet’ before taking these actions. All of them have criminal records or bad reputations,” said Wu Zegang, mayor of Aba Town. Wu goes on to say that the Dalai Lama is tempting these Tibetans to self-immolate to clean their criminal records and enjoy the afterlife.

India
Indian journalist Syed Mohammed Kazmi was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the bombing of an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi on February 13. Four people, including an Israeli diplomat’s wife, were injured in a strike that Israel accuses Iran of orchestrating. Kazmi was arrested by police after investigations showed he had been in touch with a suspect believed to have stuck a magnetic bomb on the car. It is reported that he was a Delhi-based freelance journalist who worked for an Iranian publication.

India
A group of about 100 Indian journalists covering election counts in the city of Jhansi was forced to lock themselves in a school after being attacked by a crowd of about 4,000. After supporters of the losing Samjavadi party candidate and the winning Bahujan Samaj party candidate clashed, they turned on the journalists. The journalists had to take shelter in the school for several hours.