People’s Defence Force says at least 20 officers died and police station seized in fighting on Sunday

Dozens of Myanmar security force members have been killed in fighting, rebel fighters have claimed, as Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in person at a court hearing for the first time since her government was overthrown by the military in February’s coup.

In one battle on Sunday, the People’s Defence Force (PDF) – a civilian anti-junta movement that fights back against security forces with homemade weapons – said at least 20 police had died and a police station had been seized in the town of Moebyel in Shan state in the country’s eastern fringe.

Union says more than one in four of the country’s teachers have been suspended days before start of new school year

More than 125,000 school teachers in Myanmar have been suspended for joining a civil disobedience movement to oppose the military coup that overthrew the country’s elected government in February, an official of the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation said.

The suspensions have come days before the start of a new school year, which some teachers and parents are boycotting as part of a campaign that has paralysed the country since the military seized power and cut short a decade of democratic reforms.