Myanmar’s military ruler has promised to hold an election and hand power to the winner. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was addressing the country on television, as nationwide protests against his coup last week intensified. The military seized power last Monday, detaining democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government, claiming there had been
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South Africa is suspending its rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after finding it offers limited protection against mild disease caused by the COVID-19 variant discovered there. It follows disappointing results in a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said. The government had been intending to give the AstraZeneca
At least 150 people are feared dead in northern India after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, sending a flood of water and debris into two hydroelectric dams. A portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in the Tapovan area of Uttarakhand state on Sunday, with the subsequent flooding damaging the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga
Tens of thousands of protesters took to Myanmar’s streets on Saturday to denouce the coup despite the internet being cut off by the junta. Protesters across the country’s cities also demanded the release of democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In Yangon, the country’s largest city, protesters chanted: “Military dictator, fail, fail; democracy, win,
*Warning – this story contains descriptions of a child who has suffered extensive burns* The vicious conflict in Syria has been raging for 10 years. One of the worst humanitarian disasters in history, more than 6.5 million people have been displaced, forced to escape the violence. Many of them live in camps in the Idlib
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has criticised the Russian government after diplomats from several European countries were expelled from the country for allegedly joining protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The Russian foreign ministry said Polish, German and Swedish officials took part in what it described as “illegal demonstrations” in St Petersburg and
A politician who has called for civil disobedience against the military coup in Myanmar has become the latest senior figure to be arrested. Win Htein, 79, was held at his home in Yangon and taken to the capital Naypyitaw, according to a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Mr
There was no accidental leakage of disease from a Chinese laboratory with a history of studying coronaviruses, an international team investigating the origins of COVID-19 has been told. The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was on Wednesday visited by World Health Organisation (WHO) experts who are looking for clues as to how the COVID-19 pandemic
People may be able to catch COVID-19 twice and suffer two completely separate bouts of the disease within just four months, doctors have said. The warning comes after evidence emerged of a man whose infections were separated by four months of no symptoms and serial negative tests for the virus. But although dwindling immunity could
The lawyer representing hundreds of families still grieving after the Beirut explosion has told Sky News that the British authorities may hold the key to providing them with answers and justice. It is six months since one of the largest ever non-nuclear explosions ripped through the port in the Lebanese capital. More than 200 people
Police in Myanmar have filed a charge against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been remanded in detention until 15 February. Ms Suu Kyi, who was detained on Monday as Myanmar’s military staged a coup, is charged with breaching the country’s import and export laws. A police document states that four illegally imported
Staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns across Myanmar have gone on strike to protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In a statement, the newly formed Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement said the army had put its own interests above a vulnerable population during the coronavirus pandemic
The United Nations (UN) fears the coup in Myanmar will worsen the plight of some 600,000 Rohingya Muslims still in the country. Myanmar‘s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other political leaders in early morning raids. Hundreds of
Joe Biden has criticised the military coup in Myanmar, calling it a “direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law”. The US president said: “The international community should come together in one voice to press the military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized, release the activists and officials
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained alongside the country’s president and other members of the ruling party in an early morning raid, according to reports. A spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy told Reuters news agency that Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” in
Myanmar’s military says it has taken control of the country for one year, after detaining a number of leading politicians. A state of emergency has been declared, according to military-owned TV, and power has been handed to the commander in chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing. Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi was