Myanmar

The International Criminal Court's (ICC) chief prosecutor on Wednesday asked judges for an arrest warrant for Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing for alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya Muslims.

India's coast guard said on Tuesday it had seized its biggest haul of illicit drugs when it stopped a fishing boat smuggling 5.5 tons of methamphetamine from war-torn Myanmar.

An Indian Coast Guard (ICG) reconnaissance air patrol spotted a small fishing boat in the Andaman Sea, which lies between India and troubled Myanmar, "operating in a suspicious manner."

The death toll from massive flooding in Myanmar in the wake of Typhoon Yagi has doubled to 226, state media reported, as the U.N. warned as many as 630,000 people could need help.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said he is "alarmed" by reports of ongoing Myanmar military air strikes on villages in Rakhine state, where locals told AFP more than 20 people were killed on Monday.

Fighters from a Myanmar ethnic minority armed group have seized control of a port town after more than two months of intense clashes with junta troops, they said.

The Arakan Army (AA) said late Wednesday it "completely controlled" Pauktaw, a town of 20,000 people close to a crucial deepwater port in the capital of western Rakhine state.

The spokesman of the military junta that rules Myanmar said that Myanmar's military has lost control of a strategic northern city on the Chinese border after days of clashes with three ethnic armed groups.

Alamy Photo

Swedish clothing giant H&M has said it would begin closing its operations in Myanmar, after reports of abuse against garment workers in the wake of the 2021 military takeover.

"After careful consideration we have now taken the decision to gradually phase out our operations in Myanmar," H&M said in an email to AFP.

Myanmar's junta on Tuesday said the country had "not returned to normalcy" almost two years after its coup, casting doubt over plans for elections and ending a state of emergency.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the military toppled democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government, alleging massive fraud during elections her party won in 2020.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the rule of law is at grave risk of becoming "the rule of lawlessness," pointing to a host of unlawful actions across the globe from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and coups in Africa's Sahel region to North Korea's illegal nuclear weapons program and Afghanistan's unprecedented attacks on women's and girls' rights.

Air strikes by Myanmar's military killed as many as 80 people, including singers and musicians, attending an anniversary celebration of the Kachin ethnic minority's main political organization, members of the group and a rescue worker said Monday.