Three things for March 25
1. AP journalist released from detention in Myanmar
After being arrested more than three weeks ago covering a protest in Myanmar, journalist Thein Zaw was released from detention on Wednesday.
His brothers and best friend took Zaw home, looking visibly thinner, to a part of the city currently under martial law.
Zaw spoke to reporters as he left Yangon’s Insein Prison, known for decades for housing political prisoners. He said the judge in his case announced all charges against him would be dropped because he was doing his job when he was arrested.
He said he was “worried every day” in prison, and last week, his 33rd birthday passed.
“Thanks to all who tried so hard for my release,” he said. “But one thing that upsets me is that there are some people who are still inside, and I hope that they can get out as soon as possible.”
Zaw was one of nine media workers arrested during a Feb. 27 protest in Yangon, the country’s largest city. About 40 journalists have been detained or charged since Feb. 1 during the country’s political turmoil, about half of whom are still imprisoned.
2. Biden names Harris to lead efforts in border emergency
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to lead U.S. efforts in dealing with migration across the southern border.
Harris will work with Mexico and Central American nations to address the problem, a sharp increase in recent weeks of migrants arriving at the border.
By assigning Harris to lead this situation, Biden hopes to signal he is taking this current challenge seriously after stiff criticism.
“When she speaks, she speaks for me,” Biden said.
As California’s attorney general, Harris has dealt with the influx of unaccompanied minors at the state’s border with Mexico in 2014.
This work holds political risks for Harris, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and is expected to run again in the future.
“Needless to say, the work will not be easy,” Harris said. “But it is important work.”
This continues past diplomatic patterns, with Biden serving a similar role during President Barack Obama’s first term.
Harris will oversee diplomatic efforts with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras about their immigration issues. She will also help develop and implement a long-term strategy dealing with the root causes of immigration from those countries.
3. Egypt’s Suez Canal blocked by container ship
A 2,200-ton container ship has become wedged across the Suez Canal, blocking all traffic through the waterway.
Dozens of vessels were stuck behind the Ever Given, waiting for it to be moved. Egypt has reopened the canal’s older channel to divert traffic until that happens.
Fears that the blockage could tie up shipments of crude oil caused prices to rise by 4% on international markets on Wednesday.
About 12% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and forming the shortest waterway between Asia and Europe.
The New York Times reported more than 100 ships were stuck at each end of the canal on Wednesday morning.
Images showed the ship lodged horizontally against the eastern and western walls, an event experts say they have never heard of in the canal’s 150-year history.
Built in 2018, the 1,300-foot-long and almost 200-foot-wide Ever Given was knocked off course as it passed through the channel on the way from China to the Netherlands.
Attempts are underway to re-float the vessel and clear the waterway, but experts say it could take at least two days.
