Myanmar: Junta air strike kills 40

A rescue worker and an ethnic minority armed group told AFP on Thursday that a Myanmar junta airstrike killed at least 40 people in a village in western Rakhine state. 

The Arakan Army (AA) is fighting the military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swathes of territory in the past year, all but cutting off the capital Sittwe.

The Rakhine conflict is one element of the bloody chaos that has engulfed Myanmar since the military ousted Aung San Suu K.

According to AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha, a military jet bombed Kyauk Ni Maw on Ramree Island around 1:20 pm (0650 GMT) on Wednesday, causing a fire that engulfed over 500 houses.

“According to initial reports, 40 innocent civilians were killed and 20 were wounded,” he said.

A local rescue group member reported 41 deaths and 52 injuries.

“At the moment, we don’t even have enough betadine and methylated spirit to treat them, as the transportation is hard,” the rescue worker said on condition of anonymity to protect their safety.

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Ramree Island is home to a planned China-backed deep-sea port that will serve as a gateway for Beijing to the Indian Ocean, but construction has been halted by the unrest.

Photos of the aftermath of the bombing show dazed residents walking through charred, smoking ruins, the ground littered with corrugated metal, trees stripped bare of leaves, and buildings reduced to a few scraps of walls.

The military is struggling to fight opposition to its rule.

In addition to the youth-led “People’s Defence Forces” that arose to counter the coup, the military is fighting various long-established and well-equipped ethnic minority armed organisations, including the AA, that hold huge sections of land along the country’s border.

In November, the United Nations Development Programme warned that Rakhine was on the verge of famine as violence hampered commerce and agricultural production.

The United Nations said this week that the violence in Myanmar had displaced more than 3.5 million people, an increase of 1.5 million from last year.

The picture for the coming year was “grim,” according to the UN humanitarian organisation OCHA, with 19.9 million people—more than a third of the population—expected to require assistance by 2025.

Myanmar: Junta air strike kills 40

Six dead in India temple stampede

At least six people were crushed to death at a Hindu religious gathering in India, with several more injured, officials said Thursday.

A huge crowd had gathered to collect entrance tokens to visit the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh when the stampede broke out on Wednesday.

“The unfortunate incident… has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to god to give peace to the departed souls,” Prem Kumar Jain, spokesman of the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party, told reporters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of the deceased.

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“My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones,” his office said on social media platform X.

Deadly accidents are common at places of worship in India during major religious festivals due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.

In July last year, 121 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state during a Hindu religious gathering.

Another 112 people died in 2016 after a huge explosion caused by a banned fireworks display marking the Hindu new year at a temple in southern Kerala state.

Wednesday’s incident comes days before the start of the Kumbh Mela, a six-week Hindu festival of prayer and sacred bathing expected to be the largest religious gathering in history.

Up to 400 million pilgrims are expected to attend, according to organisers.

Six dead in India temple stampede

Jimmy Carter: US embassy in Nigeria closes operation

The US mission in Nigeria has announced it will close its operation on Thursday to honor former President Jimmy Carter.

The US mission announced this in a post on its official X handle on Thursday.

“The U.S. Embassy in Abuja and Consulate General in Lagos will be closed on Thursday, January 9, in honor of former President Carter’s passing.

“We remember former President Jimmy Carter, a tireless advocate for peace, democracy, and human rights. As the first U.S. President, twitter.com/i/web/status/1,” the mission stated.

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Carter, who died on Sunday, December 29, 2024, at the age of 100, served a single term from 1977-1981 and was widely praised for his post-presidential humanitarian efforts, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Carter’s corpse was transferred on Tuesday in a grand and solemn military ceremony to the US Capitol, where it will lie in state until a national funeral later this week.

His body arrived at the snow-covered US Capitol, where it will remain until Thursday, after a full day of ceremonious travel that started in his native Georgia.

A live coverage by broadcaster PBS showed members of the public move through the building’s rotunda to pay their respects to the late president, with many stopping to take a moment of silence with their hands clasped.

Flown to Washington aboard a presidential US Air Force jet, Carter’s flag-draped casket was carried atop a gun carriage in a funeral procession from the US Navy Memorial—an ode to his military service on submarines—to Capitol Hill, tracing the opposite route he took during his inauguration parade.

Jimmy Carter: US embassy in Nigeria closes operation