Dredgers spotted off Cambodian base where China is funding work -U.S. think tank

 A sailor stands guard at the Cambodian Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville

Fri, January 21, 2022
By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Dredgers have been spotted off Cambodia’s Ream naval base, where China is funding construction work and deeper port facilities would be necessary for the docking of larger military ships, a U.S. think tank said on Friday.

The United States, which has sought to push back against Beijing's extensive territorial claims and military expansion in the South China Sea, reiterated its "serious concerns" about China's construction and military presence at Ream.

"These developments threaten U.S. and partner interests, regional security, and Cambodia's sovereignty," a spokesperson for the State Department said.

The report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank said the dredgers could be seen in photos released this month by the Cambodian government and in commercial satellite imagery.

"Dredging of deeper port facilities would be necessary for the docking of larger military ships at Ream, and was part of a secret agreement between China and Cambodia that U.S. officials reported seeing in 2019," the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at CSIS reported.

It cited a 2019 Wall Street Journal report that said the deal granted China military access to the base in return for funding facilities improvements.

Last June, Cambodian media quoted Defense Minister Tea Bahn as saying China would help to modernize and expand Ream, but would not be the only country given access to the facility.

AMTI said a Jan. 16 commercial satellite image showed two dredgers and barges for collecting dredged sand. It said other images showed both dredgers arriving between Jan. 13 and Jan. 15.

They were also visible in a photo posted on Tea Banh’s Facebook page following his Jan. 18 visit to Ream, it said, adding that the work "could mark a significant upgrade in the base’s capabilities."

"The shallow waters around Ream mean it is currently only able to host small patrol vessels. A deep-water port would make it far more useful to both the Cambodian and Chinese navies."

AMTI said construction work had continued onshore, with land clearing in several locations in the southwest of the base since fall 2021 and said this and the dredging "indicates that the base is being prepared for significant infrastructure upgrades."

The State Department spokesperson said the United States urged Cambodia "to be fully transparent about the intent, nature, and scope of the project at Ream and the role the PRC military is playing in its construction, raising concerns about the intended use of this naval facility."

PRC stands for the People's Republic of China.

Last year, Washington sanctioned two Cambodian officials over alleged corruption at Ream and imposed an arms embargo and export restrictions on Cambodia over what it said was the growing influence of China's military in the country, as well as over human rights and corruption.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom in WashingtonEditing by Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio)

China to start building 5G satellite network to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink

Fri, January 21, 2022, 2:30 AM·5 min read

China will start building a network of a thousand satellites to provide 5G coverage within the next three months, according to state media reports.

The first batch of six low-cost, high-performance communication satellites have been produced, tested and arrived at an undisclosed launch site, according to a report by the state news agency Xinhua on Tuesday.

The company behind the project, Beijing-based start-up GalaxySpace, has said it wants to extend China's 5G coverage around the world and compete with Starlink, owned by Elon Musk's firm SpaceX, in the market for high-speed internet services in remote areas.

The Chinese constellation is small compared with Starlink, which already has around 2,000 satellites in orbit and plans to expand this to 42,000 when the network is complete.

Despite its smaller size, the 1,000-satellite Chinese network will be the first of its kind to use 5G technology.

Scientists involved in the project say this will ensure download speeds of more than 500 megabits per second with a low latency that will be a critical advantage in some demanding applications such as financial trading.

Starlink currently offers a download speed of about 110Mbps for civilian use and although it is using a different technology to 5G, it has the potential to offer 6G services in future.

Beyond the commercial rivalry, Beijing has identified Starlink, which has signed multimillion dollar contracts with the US military, as a threat to China's national security.

In 2020, researchers with the Chinese National University of Defence Technology estimated that it could increase the average global satellite communication bandwidth available to the US military from 5Mbps to 500Mbps.

The researchers also warned that existing anti-satellite weapons technology would find it virtually impossible to destroy a constellation the size of Starlink.

Zhu Kaiding, a space engineer from the China Academy of Space Technology, which is working with GalaxySpace on the project, said the Chinese project was struggling to keep pace with Starlink, which according to Musk is producing six satellites a day.

Zhu did not disclose how quickly China was producing satellites, but in a paper published in domestic journal Aerospace Industry Management in October last year, he said the Starlink programme had forced a satellite assembly line in China to increase its productivity by more than a third.

Zhu and colleagues have said that more than half the routine checks carried out at the launch site of high-frequency operations have been cancelled to save time.

The new satellites also use many components produced by private companies that have not previously been involved in Chinese space projects - a move that helped reduce the total hardware price of a high-speed internet satellite by more than 80 per cent.

Zhu said that the race against Starlink had put enormous pressure on China's space industry because "the technology is complex, the competition fierce, the deadlines tight and the workloads heavy".

It is likely that the number of civilian users of satellite internet service in China will be limited - most urban residents can access 5G through their phone and broadband services are available in most rural areas - so the most likely customers are overseas companies or the Chinese government and military.

In early 2020, GalaxySpace launched an experimental satellite to see if these unprecedented measures would affect the satellite's performance, using.terminals in sites that ranged from China's densely populated east coast to remote mountainous areas in the west of the country.

One of the biggest concerns was bad weather, according to Li Jiancheng, a lead communication technology scientist with GalaxySpace.

Although Starlink warned its users that rain or cloud can affect internet speeds or even cut off communications entirely, Li and colleagues found that the satellite could maintain download speeds of 80Mbps in the worst weather, they wrote in a paper published in Digital Communication World last year.

Two Chinese state-owned space contractors - the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation - have also launched their own global internet service programmes known as Hongyan and Hongyun.

Although they are smaller in scale than Starlink - the Hongyan constellation will include 324 satellites and Hongyun 156 - they will operate at different orbiting altitudes and frequencies to help China claim more of the diminishing resources in space, according to some scientists informed of these projects.

They say it is unlikely that China will launch a programme as big as the Starlink because two giant constellations in the lower orbit could significantly increase the risk of accidents.

Last year China complained to the United Nations that its space station had been involved in two near misses with Starlink satellites and Musk has denied blocking space, claiming that there is room in near-earth orbit for "billions" of satellites.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Officials: Florida manatees eating lettuce in pilot program


Cool temperatures brought dozens of manatees to the Florida Power and Light Manatee Lagoon in Riviera Beach, Fla. Wednesday, Jan 19, 2022. Last year was devastating for the gentle creatures, with a record set for mortality. The sea cows come to the power plant discharge area to bask in the warm water. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

CURT ANDERSON
Fri, January 21, 2022

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Manatees at risk of starvation because native seagrass is dying due to water pollution have for the first time started eating lettuce under an experimental feeding program, Florida wildlife officials said Friday.

The test facility on the east coast's Indian River Lagoon had its first takers of romaine lettuce Thursday, leading more manatees to join in, said Ron Mezich, chief of the effort’s provisioning branch at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“We think it's significant,” Mezich said in a remote news conference. “When the animals are there, we will continue to offer food and hope they take advantage of that.”

The program is adding cabbage and a second type of lettuce to entice the manatees, also known as sea cows. All of these are common foods given to manatees at rehabilitation facilities.

The unprecedented feeding program is a state and federal response to last year's record number of 1,101 documented manatee deaths. Many are starving to death because pollution from agricultural, urban and other sources has triggered algae blooms that have decimated seagrass beds on which manatees depend — especially during cold winter months.

About 25 to 35 manatees were seen Friday near the feeding site at a Florida Power & Light plant that discharges warm water the animals favor when water temperatures cool. Several hundred were spotted from the air in nearby areas, said Tom Reinert, south regional director for the FWC.

There are no immediate plans to expand the feeding program beyond Brevard County, officials said. It remains illegal for people to feed wild manatees on their own.

“This is a pilot program and we're trying to learn as much as we can,” Reinert said. But he added that seagrass restoration and a reduction in water pollution are the long-term answers to the starvation problem.

“We need a healthy lagoon to support the seagrass,” he said. “We can't feed all of them.”

In addition to the feeding experiment, officials are working with a number of facilities to rehabilitate distressed manatees that are found alive. These include Florida zoos, the SeaWorld theme park and marine aquariums. There were 159 rescued manatees in 2021, some of which require lengthy care and some that have been returned to the wild, officials said.

There are about 7,520 wild manatees in Florida waters currently, according to state statistics. The slow-moving, round-tailed mammals have rebounded enough to list them as a threatened species rather than endangered, although a push is on to restore the endangered tag given the starvation deaths.

A Pennsylvania woman rescued a ‘scared’ animal. No one knows what it is



Francesca Gariano
Sat, January 22, 2022,

A woman in Pennsylvania has experts flummoxed by the animal she discovered outside of her home.

Christina Eyth rescued the animal earlier this week near her home in Fairfield Township after finding paw prints outside of her door. Eyth followed the tracks, assuming they had belonged to her neighbor's dog after they had gotten loose. The tracks ended up leading her to directly an unidentified animal, which Eyth said was exhibiting "scared behavior."

“I peeked outside the door and that’s whenever I noticed the animal on my left hand side and it was so scared and so cold and shivering,” Eyth recalled in an interview with NBC News. "... All I could think about is 'This animal needs help.'"

Rescuing the animal was one thing: Eyth was able to lure the animal into her basement and out of the cold. Since then, though, the animal has been a mystery.

Eyth said that first, she thought the creature might be a coyote or a dog. After calling Wildlife Works, a local rescue, and transferring the creature to their facility for care, there have only been more questions.

Morgan Barron, a certified wildlife rehabilitator at Wildlife Works, had trouble identifying what this animal could be and told NBC News she couldn’t “definitively say what it is.”

“But to err on the side of caution since they can carry rabies and since it might be a coyote, we can keep it here, get genetic testing done, and then kind of go from there," Barron explained.

Barron said that since the animal's behavior is on the timid side and it isn't exhibiting signs of aggression, she believes that the animal may be a dog. In the meantime, the animal is currently being treated for mange and is being kept in isolation.

 

A four-legged creature was recently rescued from freezing cold temperatures in Pennsylvania, but what exactly the animal is has left experts puzzled.

Christina Eyth said she followed paw prints to find the animal outside her basement door in Fairfield Township, WPXI reported.

Initially thinking it was a dog, she kept the animal in her basement as it was “freezing... skiddish and scared,” she said on Facebook.

TJ’s Rescue Hideaway, a local non-profit foster-based rescue organization, was called to Eyth’s home, but they weren’t sure if the animal was a dog. So Wildlife Works in Mount Pleasant was called to help identify the animal.

The organization, which specializes in deer, raccoons, mammals and rabies vector species, said it has started treatment and collected a sample to determine what the creature is. It will likely take two to four weeks before they know anything.

“What do you think I am, dog or coyote?” the organization asked on Facebook.

Morgan Barron with Wildlife Works described the animal as “very timid, very scared and not aggressive,” which leads her to believe it is a dog.

“I honestly can’t definitively say what it is, but to err on the side of caution, since they can carry rabies and since it might be a coyote ... (we will) get genetic testing done and go from there,” Barron told WPXI.

Eyth said if the creature is a dog, TJ’s Rescue Hideaway will take care of him to help return him to full strength.

“He is eating, warm, but still scared.” Eyth said in a Facebook post. “No matter the results this animal will be helped thanks to all those involved!”

Fairfield Township is located 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

The Hubble telescope just spotted a black hole giving birth to new stars

Joshua Hawkins
Fri, January 21, 2022


Astronomers have finally captured a look at a black hole birthing new stars in the Henize 2-10 galaxy. The supermassive black hole in question is located roughly 34 million light-years away. Astronomers were able to take note of the black hole thanks to the Hubble telescope. The astronomers conducted a study based on their observations. The study was published in late January in the journal Nature.

Many people see black holes as a destructive force. While this has often been the case in the past, new evidence suggests black holes also play a role in the development of new stars. In fact, the black hole at the center of the Henize 2-10 galaxy is birthing new stars instead of eating them.

“Ten years ago, as a graduate student thinking I would spend my career on star formation, I looked at the data from Henize 2-10 and everything changed,” Amy Reines, the principal investigator on the new study wrote in a statement. “From the beginning I knew something unusual and special was happening in Henize 2-10.”

According to Reines, the newest capture of the galaxy provided by the Hubble telescope shows that the black hole birthing new stars is currently spewing out gas moving at around 1 million miles per hour. Because the black hole here is smaller, the outflow is moving slower than those found in larger galaxies. This, Reines and others say, is what led to the formation of new stars.

What this means for astronomers

black hole

One reason this study is important is because it will put more attention on smaller black holes. While not as large as some of their counterparts, these smaller supermassive black holes still have a very clear part to play. Reines says that black holes like the one in Henize 2-10 offer some promising possible clues. Dwarf galaxy black holes could give us an analog look at the way these space entities actually form.

Of course, there’s still a lot to break down and dig into when it comes to black holes. Seeing a black hole birthing new stars is both intriguing and inspiring.

“The era of the first black holes is not something that we have been able to see,” Reines said. “So, it really has become the big question: where did they come from? Dwarf galaxies may retain some memory of the black hole seeding scenario that has otherwise been lost to time and space.”

Diplomat says Tongan survival story fits with events






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This photo provided by Broadcom Broadcasting shows Lisala Folau in Tonga. The incredible story of Folau, a retired carpenter who survived overnight in the ocean after the Tonga tsunami swept him out to sea, appeared to fit with events at the time, a New Zealand diplomat said Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. 

(Marian Kupu/Broadcom Broadcasting via AP)More

NICK PERRY
Fri, January 21, 2022

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The incredible story of a retired carpenter who survived overnight in the ocean after the Tonga tsunami swept him out to sea appeared to fit with events at the time, a New Zealand diplomat said Friday.

“It’s one of these miracles that happens,” said Acting High Commissioner Peter Lund on a satellite phone from Tonga, where communications remain patchy.

The story of 57-year-old Lisala Folau, who has disabilities that make walking difficult, has captivated people in Tonga and around the world. Some have affectionately dubbed him “Aquaman.”


In a translated interview with Tonga's BroadCom Broadcasting, Folau said he was swept out to sea at about 7 p.m. Saturday from his home on Atata island and floated overnight before making landfall on an uninhabited island.

From there, he said that he drifted or swam another eight hours to a second deserted island before finally swimming again to the main island of Tongatapu, a total journey of more than 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) spread over 26 hours.

Lund said that when he had his first briefing with Tongan government officials on Sunday, the day after the tsunami but before Folau was found, they told him a person was missing from Atata island.

“And they weren't very optimistic about it,” Lund said.

But officials later revised their figures to indicate no one was missing from the island.

In an interview with Britain's Sky News, Folau described how he felt during the experience.

“The scariest part to me during the ordeal was when the waves took me from land into the sea,” he said.

“What came into my mind when I was helpless at sea were two things," he added. "One, that I still had faith in God. Two, is my family. And I only remember how my family will think, at that moment, ‘Maybe he died.’”

Folau said he had been working at his home doing some painting when his brother told him a tsunami wave was moving toward the tiny island, which has a population of about 60.

A video was shot the next day on Atata by Folau's son Koli Folau, who went searching for his father. The video shows that almost nothing was left standing on the island other than a church, where many of the villagers took shelter.

What’s making ‘other-worldly’ sounds in Ohio wilderness? 

Experts have odd explanation



Mark Price
Fri, January 21, 2022

Eerie popping sounds are being heard in Ohio’s frozen wilderness and experts say it’s not being caused by humans, animals or insects.

The source — as crazy as it sounds — is trees.

“With temperatures getting ready to dip well below the freezing point, some of you may hear some rather alarming sounds out in the woods,” Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio wrote Dec. 20 on Facebook.

“It may sound like gunfire, ricochet or even something other-worldly. ...What you are hearing are the sounds of the trees enduring the most brutal winter weather.”

Sap in the trees can literally explode out of the bark, as temperatures fall into the single digits and lower, experts say. (A low of 3 degrees was forecast Jan. 21 at the park in southeastern Ohio.)

“Once the temps drop low enough, even the most resistant sap will freeze solid inside of the tree,” park officials said.

“What happens to water when it freezes? It expands! As the sap inside the tree freezes and expands, it can cause the trees to split under the pressure. This splitting happens abruptly and creates a terribly loud bang which can amplify across the frozen winter landscape.”

The park shared a photo showing what the splits can look like, and they are surprisingly straight, like a deep gash.

Trees are damaged during the splitting process, but they are typically resilient enough for the “cut” to heal quickly, experts say.

Attempts are being made by the park to record the often bone-chilling sounds, which staff said can leave people “completely horrified of what could be out in the woods.”

The Facebook post has gotten hundreds of reactions and comments in the past day, including people who said they’ve heard the noises, but never knew the source.

“It’s very eerie to walk through the woods and hear this!” Leah Patton Whitmore wrote.

“Sounds like 22 rounds going off!” Doug Beitz posted.

Hocking Hills State Park is about 55 miles southeast of Columbus and is know for its “towering cliffs, waterfalls, and deep, hemlock-shaded gorges,” according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

China criticizes US missile sanctions as hypocrisy


Workers wearing masks stand near missiles produced by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.displayed during the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China 2021 on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021 in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province. China on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022 criticized Washington for imposing sanctions on Chinese companies the U.S. says exported missile technology and accused the United States of hypocrisy for selling nuclear-capable cruise missiles. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)More


Fri, January 21, 2022


BEIJING (AP) — China on Friday criticized Washington for imposing sanctions on Chinese companies the U.S. says exported missile technology, and accused the United States of hypocrisy for selling nuclear-capable cruise missiles.

The United States announced penalties on three companies it said were engaged in unspecified “missile technology proliferation activities." It said they were barred from U.S. markets and from obtaining technology that can be used to make weapons.

“This is a typical hegemonic action. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes it,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian. “China urges the United States to immediately correct its mistakes, revoke the relevant sanctions and stop suppressing Chinese enterprises and smearing China.”

China accounted for about 5% of global weapons exports in 2016-20, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The United States was the top global exporter, accounting for 37% of the total in 2016-20.

Cruise missiles and long-range ballistic missiles are regarded as among China's strengths in weapons technology.

Zhao defended Beijing's controls on weapons exports. He said China opposes proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and strictly controls exports of missiles.

“Normal cooperation between China and relevant countries doesn't violate any international law and doesn't involve proliferation" of weapons of mass destruction, Zhao said.

Zhao pointed to U.S. plans to sell Australia's government Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“The United States has overtly pursued double standards,” Zhao said.

The latest U.S. penalties apply to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. First Academy, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. Fourth Academy and Poly Technologies Inc. and their subsidiaries.

Chinese social media users believe Canada deliberately sent Omicron through 'poison' letter



Bryan Ke
Thu, January 20, 2022, 11:53 AM·2 min read

Chinese social media users have supported Beijing’s narrative that Canada sent a package of “poison” into China’s capital, explaining how the Omicron variant of COVID-19 entered the city.

One viral post on Weibo suggested that someone “deliberately” sent the alleged contaminated letter to Beijing, further warning other users to “be alert toward international mail,” according to Insider.

“The people of certain countries, the blackness in their hearts is powerful!” the Weibo user wrote. “At every turn, it's the responsibility of a foreign country,” another user declared.

Beijing had placed an office building on lockdown on Saturday after officials recorded the first entry of the Omicron variant in the city, NextShark previously reported. The government said the person infected by the variant did not leave the city and did not make contact with another confirmed case in the past 14 days.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, suspected that the person got infected through “an object from overseas,” a 22-page letter from Toronto that arrived in Beijing on Jan. 11.

The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control claimed to have tested 54 other packages from “the same source” and discovered strains of the Omicron variant on five of the packages. People who handled the letter are now under quarantine, while eight people who might have contact with it tested negative, South China Morning Post reported.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has debunked Beijing’s narrative, explaining that “the virus is primarily transmitted through the air,” CBC reported.

“While mail may be contaminated, the risk of COVID-19 infection when handling paper mail or cardboard packages, including international mail, is extremely low," the health agency said in a statement. “We know that the virus is most frequently transmitted when people are in close contact with others who are infected with the virus (either with or without symptoms)."

The World Health Organization and the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said that there is a low risk of getting infected after touching contaminated surfaces.

Although there is no scientific evidence behind it, some Chinese scientists reportedly promoted the “cold chain theory” to explain how COVID-19 entered China before the pandemic. The theory suggests that the virus arrived in the country through imported frozen food.

Exclusive-Myanmar junta backs Telenor unit sale after buyer M1 pairs with local firm - sources


 Telenor's logo is seen in central Belgrade

Thu, January 20, 2022
By Poppy McPherson and Fanny Potkin

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Lebanon's M1 Group will partner with a Myanmar firm to take over Norwegian telco Telenor's business in the Southeast Asian country after its military junta sought a local buyer, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Telenor https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/telenor-sells-myanmar-operations-m1-group-105-mln-2021-07-08, one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, said in July it was selling its operations there to M1 Group for $105 million, retreating from a country that has slid into chaos after a military coup in February last year.


Its exit has been mired in difficulties as the junta piles pressure on telecom and internet companies to install surveillance technology and bars senior executives from leaving the country.

Military leaders late last year rejected the sale solely to M1.

Instead, they privately approved a partnership between M1 Group and Myanmar's Shwe Byain Phyu Group, the three sources said. Two of the sources said Shwe Byain Phyu would be the majority shareholder. They declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Shwe Byain Phyu is a group of companies with interests in gem mining and petrol stations. Its chairman, Thein Win Zaw, is a director of Mahar Yoma Public Company, part of a consortium that has a stake in the military-owned telco Mytel, corporate records show. He did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the sale and his links to the military.

An October order from the office of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing seen by Reuters instructed officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the regulatory body, to reject the sale to M1 Group, which is owned by the family of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

The order did not state a reason but the sources familiar with the matter said the junta favoured a local buyer.

Representatives of M1 Group, which is based in Beirut, did not immediately answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment. A junta representative did not respond to requests for comment.

The decision was not made public and one person briefed on the matter said it was not conveyed to Telenor.

A spokesperson for Telenor said it was waiting for a response to its application for regulatory approval of the sale and declined to comment further.

In November, Reuters reported https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/telenor-sale-myanmar-unit-stalls-junta-seeks-local-buyer-participation-sources-2021-11-09 that several Myanmar firms had expressed an interest in buying Telenor Myanmar’s operations and that M1 had held talks with Shwe Byain Phyu about a partnership.

The two firms made a joint proposal to take over the Telenor unit that was accepted by the junta leadership a month later, the industry sources said.

Two of the sources said the new venture would be named Atom.

SURVEILLANCE CONCERNS

Activists have expressed concerns that Telenor's exit could deepen the junta's surveillance of the population. It is one of four telecom operators in Myanmar, alongside Qatar's Ooredoo, state-backed MPT and Mytel, which is part-owned by a military-linked company.

Activist group Justice for Myanmar called on Telenor on Friday to suspend the sale.

"The fact that Shwe Byain Phyu is a buyer, a conglomerate with known links to the Myanmar military, deepens the risk to Myanmar people, whose personal data is exposed through the sale," spokesperson Yadanar Maung told Reuters.

Telenor has said its handover to a new buyer would include all assets, including call data records, in accordance with licence obligations.

Reuters found last year telecom and internet service providers had been secretly ordered https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/how-myanmars-military-moved-telecoms-sector-spy-citizens-2021-05-18 in the months before the coup to install intercept technology that would allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens.

Telenor said https://www.reuters.com/world/norways-telenor-says-myanmar-unit-sale-came-after-juntas-pressure-surveillance-2021-09-15 in September it was pulling out of the country to avoid European Union sanctions after “continued pressure” from the junta to activate the technology.

Since the Feb. 1 coup, Myanmar security forces have killed more than 1,400 people and arrested thousands to try to crush opposition, the non-governmental organisation Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.

The junta disputes the casualty figures.

The military seized power alleging widespread fraud in a November 2020 election won by a landslide by the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. International and local monitoring groups said there were no major irregularities with the vote.

The junta has imposed nationwide and regional shutdowns of mobile data, making it harder for democracy activists to organise protests. It also issued a confidential order https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-after-pressuring-telecom-firms-myanmars-junta-bans-executives-leaving-2021-07-05 in July restricting senior foreign telecom executives from leaving the country without permission.

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson and Fanny Potkin; editing by Barbara Lewis and Carmel Crimmins)