VOA news 5 mins 2018-2-4

There are new reports about mass graves being discovered in Myanmars Rokhine State where military has been accused of atrocity against minority Rohingya Muslims. The Associate Press reported it had confirmed its existence. At least 5 previously unreported mass graves in Rakhine. State Department spokesperson X:

We are deeply, deeply troubled by the reports of mass graves. And I want to point out that these are in the northern Rakhine State, thats the exact area where we have seen the Rohingya fled their country for neighboring Bangladesh. We are watching the situation very carefully as you know, the Secretary had, not long ago, said the activities taking place in the northern Rakhine State constitute ethnic cleansing.

X said the report showed the need for officials of Myanmar to cooperate with an independent credible investigation into allegation of atrocities. Li X, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, reiterated Thursday, the need for a fact finding mission to investigate the leads of massacres in the country.

A court, that it is, in Myanmar has refused to grant bail to 2 Reuters News Agency reporters accused of violating the countrys official secrets act. The 2 reporters were detained in mid December, the next hearing is scheduled for February 6th.

A spokesperson for Myanmars leader Aung San Suu Kyi says someone threw a gasoline filled bomb at her lake side home in Yangon on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Laureate was in the capital when the incident took place. The bomb caused little damage to the residents.

Over the strong objection of the Justice Department, President Trump will clear the way for publication of a secret memo on the Russia investigation that Republicans say, shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI. Thursday White House officials confirmed reports that president would do so on Friday.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that Cuba has the opportunity to take a new direction with the coming transfer of political power. He said the future of US Cuba ties is up to Havana:

In June, President Trump laid out a new vision for our approach to Cuba, wanna support the Cuba people by steering economic activity away from the military, intelligence and security service which disregard their freedom.

Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas will speak to the UN Security Council on February 20th. Abbas will attend routine monthly meeting on the Middle East which focuses on the Israeli Palestinians issue.

28 Russia athletes banned from the Olympics over the Sochi doping scandal have their cases cleared raising questions over how this affects team of Russias exclusion from the winter games. Reuters correspondent Mathew X explains:

Its not yet known if the 28 cleared athletes will be allowed to compete in Pyeonchang now. But the incident certainly raises questions over how the Sochi scandal was handled. The so called Olympic athletes from Russia have their own uniform. They just cant match under their national flag.

And the Pentagon says the military conducted unsuccessful missile defense test over Hawaii on Wednesday. The Pentagon chief spokeswoman confirmed the test on Thursday, she said it did not meet our objectives but we learn something all the time from these tests, and we learn something from this one. The missile defense agency said a standard Missile 3 Block 2A that was launched from a facility in Hawaii attempt to intercept an intermediate range ballistic missile target during the test. This was the first test where a missile of that type was launched from land using a particular testing complex. The agency is investigating what caused the test beyond successful. Japan is planning to buy the land based system to boost its own defenses against North Korea and missile used in the test is still in development. The missile defense system tested on Wednesday could be used in Western Pacific Region, however it would not be the weapon used to protect the US against the possible missile the North Korea is working to develop.

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