Category Archives: Myanmar

Volunteer rescuers race to find survivors two days after Myanmar earthquake

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Red Cross says devastation is of a level not seen in Asia for over a century as more than 1,700 people killed

Rescue volunteers, many of them poorly equipped local people, raced to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings across central Myanmar, two days after a huge earthquake killed more than 1,700 people in the country and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.

Red Cross officials said Myanmar was facing “a level of devastation that hasn’t been seen over a century in Asia”, after a 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the centre of the country on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.

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Scramble to free survivors as death toll passes 1,600 after Myanmar earthquake

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Woman pulled to safety after 30 hours trapped in building a rare glimmer of hope in midst of devastation

Rescue workers battled for a second night to find survivors of Myanmar’s devastating earthquake, which has killed at least 1,644 people and injured thousands more.

Teams with little protective equipment, at times using only their bare hands, scrambled to free survivors from the rubble of countless buildings that were shattered by Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

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Myanmar earthquake: race to find survivors as junta confirms huge rise in death toll

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Military rulers have called for ‘any country, any organisation’ to help as concerns grow over how rescuers will reach affected areas

The south-east Asian bloc Asean says it is ready to support quake recovery efforts in Myanmar and Thailand and recognises the urgent need for humanitarian assistance.

Foreign ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations said in a joint statement on Saturday that the bloc “reaffirms its solidarity with the families and communities affected by the earthquake”.

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Thailand and Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as Bangkok declared disaster area with dozens trapped under skyscraper – live

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United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay

A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices has collapsed in Bangkok trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.

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Strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Myanmar, with tremors felt in neighbouring Thailand

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Witnesses in Bangkok more than 1,000km away said people ran out onto the streets in panic

An earthquake of magnitude 7.7 has struck Myanmar, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, causing hundreds of people to pour out of swaying buildings in Bangkok, the capital of neighbouring Thailand 1,400km away.

USGS said the quake on Friday was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay, about 50km (30 miles) east of the city of Monywa.

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Myanmar junta’s promise of elections denounced as ‘sham’ by experts

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There are fears military will deploy further violence in run-up to any poll, which is unlikely to be viewed as credible

The Myanmar military’s promise to hold elections in December 2025 or January 2026 has been condemned as a “sham” that risks bringing even greater violence.

Myanmar’s military junta announced on Saturday, in comments reported in state media, that it would hold a long-promised election, specifying a timeframe for the first time since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

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Tens of thousands could be held in illegal scam compounds in Myanmar, Thai police general says

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Head of anti-trafficking agency says dozens of Chinese criminal gangs were running the centres

Tens of thousands of people could be living inside illegal scam compounds in Myanmar that have proliferated near Thailand’s border, according to the head of Thailand’s anti-trafficking agency, who warned it could take months before all foreign nationals are repatriated.

Thailand has launched a major crackdown on scam compounds over recent weeks, cutting off cross-border electricity and fuel supplies.

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Myanmar airstrike on detention camp kills dozens, armed opposition group says

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Those killed in attack on camp for relatives of junta soldiers in Rakhine state were women and children, Arakan Army says

A Myanmar junta airstrike has killed 28 people, including children, and wounded 25 at a temporary detention area in western Rakhine state, an ethnic minority armed group has said.

The Arakan Army (AA) is engaged in a fierce fight with the military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swaths of territory in the past year, all but cutting off the state capital Sittwe.

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Japanese yakuza leader pleads guilty to trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar

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US authorities charged Takeshi Ebisawa with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials from Myanmar for expected use by Iran in nuclear weapons

A member of the Japanese criminal underworld has pleaded guilty to handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal, US authorities have said.

Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and a co-defendant had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offences, and both were remanded.

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Myanmar junta to free about 6,000 prisoners in annual amnesty, including 180 foreigners

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It was not clear whether Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held virtually incommunicado since 2021 coup, would be among those released

Myanmar’s military government will release about 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty on Saturday marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain.

There was no sign that the prisoner release would include Aung San Suu Kyi, 79, who has been held virtually incommunicado by the military since it seized power from her elected government in 2021. She is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted of a series of politically tinged prosecutions brought by the military.

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ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief

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Min Aung Hlaing accused of crimes against humanity over deportation and persecution of Rohingya minority

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, for crimes against humanity over the deadly crackdowns against the country’s Rohingya minority that drove hundreds of thousands to flee to Bangladesh.

Karim Khan said that “after an extensive, independent and impartial investigation” his office had concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Myanmar junta chief “bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya committed in Myanmar and in part in Bangladesh”.

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World’s conflict zones increased by two-thirds in past three years, report reveals

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Wars have spread and intensified, with far-reaching impacts on global economic growth and food security, according to latest Conflict Intensity Index

The proportion of the world engulfed by conflict has grown 65% – equivalent to nearly double the size of India – over the past three years, according to a new report.

Ukraine, Myanmar, the Middle East and a “conflict corridor” around Africa’s Sahel region have seen wars and unrest spread and intensify since 2021, according to the latest Conflict Intensity Index (CII), published by risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft.

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2 million at risk of starvation in Myanmar state amid ‘total economic collapse’

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Exclusive: a UN report will accuse the military of imposing ‘collective punishment’ on Rakhine state, more than three years after seizing power in a coup

Two million people in Myanmar’s Rakhine state could face starvation within months because fierce conflict and trade blockades have led to a “total economic collapse” and the imminent risk of famine, a senior UN official has warned.

Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh in the west, is on the brink of disaster, as people’s incomes crater, rice cultivation plummets, and military-imposed trade restrictions lead to severe food shortages and hyperinflation, according to forthcoming research from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which accuses the military of inflicting “collective punishment” on civilians.

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Myanmar military kills dozens in heaviest airstrikes since 2021 coup

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Ten children reportedly among those killed during intense aerial campaigns last month

Myanmar’s military has launched some of its heaviest aerial campaigns since the 2021 coup in recent months, killing at least 26 people in a series of attacks in early September.

The military, which has repeatedly been accused of indiscriminate aerial bombardments, launched at least seven airstrikes in four days between 3 and 6 September. According to Unicef, 10 children were among those killed. A pregnant woman also lost her unborn child.

A camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Pekhon township, southern Shan state, was one of the seven locations targeted. Daw Ohn Mar Khaing, a volunteer teacher at the camp, known as “Bangkok”, told the Guardian it was struck despite there being no fighting in the township, or opposition fighters nearby.

“We only have helpless women and children, who were displaced from the war in their villages,” she said.

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Climate scientists troubled by damage from floods ravaging central Europe

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Experts unsurprised at intensity of extreme weather but say damage wreaked shows how unprepared world is

Picturesque towns across central Europe are inundated by dirty flood water after heavy weekend rains turned tranquil streams into raging rivers that wreaked havoc on infrastructure.

The floods have killed at least 15 people and destroyed buildings from Austria to Romania. The destruction comes after devastating floods around the world last week when entire villages were submerged in Myanmar and nearly 300 prisoners escape a collapsed jail in Nigeria, where floods have affected more than 1 million people.

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Typhoon Yagi: scores dead from flooding in Myanmar

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At least 320,000 people have been displaced and 64 were still missing after the strongest storm to hit Asia this year

Myanmar’s death toll from floods rose to at least 113, the country’s military government said, following heavy rains brought on by Typhoon Yagi that has caused havoc across parts of Southeast Asia.

At least 320,000 people have been displaced and 64 were still missing, government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, according to a late-night bulletin on state-run MRTV.

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Thousands flee after Myanmar rebels use drones to bomb Rohingya villagers

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Arakan Army targeting Muslim minority as Myanmar’s military are driven out of Rakhine, UN official says

Thousands of Rohingya are being forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar and escape on dangerous boat journeys after being targeted by armed rebels, activists and officials say.

Having seized control of much of Myanmar’s Rakhine state from the military, the rebel Arakan Army has turned on the Rohingya minority in areas it controls, shelling villages, forcing them to leave their homes and reportedly rounding up groups of men.

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Children among up to 200 Rohingya killed in Myanmar drone attack

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Witnesses say people killed in artillery and drone attack that targeted civilians fleeing violence

Many dozens of Rohingya people, including children, were killed in an artillery and drone attack that targeted civilians as they tried to flee Myanmar last week.

Civilians were trying to escape violence in Maungdaw town, Rakhine state, by crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh when they were targeted last Monday. Videos shared on social media, which appeared to have been taken in the aftermath of the attack, showed bodies and bags strewn across the ground.

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Myanmar junta ‘bombing schools’, with 170 sites hit in past three years – report

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Analysis of imagery from conflict zones shows evidence of burned-out and flattened buildings, with long-term impacts on education

Airstrikes, arson, shelling and ground fighting between the military and armed rebel groups have damaged at least 174 schools and universities in Myanmar since a military coup in 2021, according to a new report.

Open source investigator, the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), said analysis of imagery from conflict zones showed burned and collapsed buildings.

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Tin Oo, NLD founder with Aung San Suu Kyi, dies aged 97 in Myanmar

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Former armed forces chief was imprisoned after failed revolt against junta and later campaigned with Nobel laureate under National League for Democracy banner

Tin Oo, one of the closest associates of Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and co-founder with her of the National League for Democracy, has died at the age of 97.

Tin Oo died on Saturday morning at Yangon general hospital, said Moh Khan, a charity worker citing a family member. Charity workers in Myanmar handle funeral arrangements.

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