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The military deposed Myanmar’s civilian government in a 2021 coup which sparked a many-sided civil war, but has promoted its election plans as a pathway to peace.

Myanmar’s junta chief said the country plans to hold elections in December and January, state media reported Thursday, pressing ahead with polls denounced as a sham by international monitors.

The military deposed Myanmar’s civilian government in a 2021 coup which sparked a many-sided civil war, but has promoted its election plans as a pathway to peace.

With members of the former government locked away, opposition groups set to boycott the vote and huge tracts of the country controlled by anti-junta rebels, observers say a fair poll is impossible.

State newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, speaking at a conference in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, “pledged that the election will be held in December this year and January next year”.It is not clear whether the junta plans to hold the election in phases — a potential sign it would struggle to guarantee security on a single nationwide polling day — or whether the timetable includes a campaign period.

On Wednesday, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said the junta is “trying to create this mirage of an election exercise that will create a legitimate civilian government”.

“You cannot have an election when you imprison and torture and execute your opponents, when it is illegal to report the truth as a journalist, when it’s illegal to speak out and criticise the junta,” he told reporters in Geneva.

Junta forces have suffered stinging territorial losses to pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic armed organisations in recent months.

Military backing from China and Russia is letting it stave off defeat, analysts say, but huge areas of the country are set to be beyond the reach of any junta-organised democratic exercise.

A junta census held last year to prepare for the poll admitted it could not collect data from an estimated 19 million of the country’s 51 million people, in part because of “significant security constraints”.

“We are currently making the necessary preparations to hold the elections as widely and extensively as possible,” Min Aung Hlaing said, according to a transcript of his conference speech in The Global New Light of Myanmar.

he National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes Russia may be readying to mount a large-scale assault against Ukraine in July or August.

North Korea may deploy additional troops to Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine in July or August and Pyongyang is continuing to supply arms to Russia, South Korean lawmakers said on Thursday, citing a briefing by the intelligence agency.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes Russia may be readying to mount a large-scale assault against Ukraine in July or August, South Korean member of parliament Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after the closed-door briefing.

“The timing of the additional deployment is that it could be as early as July or August,” Lee said, adding the agency cited a new round-up of troops for the dispatch by North Korea and a recent visit to Pyongyang by a top Russian presidential security official as grounds for its assessment.

In return for North Korea sending artillery ammunition and missiles to Russia, Pyongyang is likely receiving technical advice on satellite launches and missile guidance systems, Lee said, citing the NIS briefing.

After months of silence, both North Korea and Russia have disclosed the deployment of North Korean troops and the role they played in Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine to reclaim the Kursk region.

The two countries said the cooperation is based on the treaty signed by their leaders in June last year that includes a mutual defense pact.

The family of a Brazilian hiker found dead in Indonesia days after a fall climbing a volcano have criticised the rescue effort as too slow, before authorities carry out an autopsy Thursday to find out the time of her death.

Juliana Marins, 26, went missing on Saturday at Indonesia’s second-largest volcano, Mount Rinjani, located on Lombok island.

Attempts to evacuate her were hindered by challenging weather and terrain after authorities spotted her unmoving body with a drone.

Rescuers finally reached her body on Tuesday evening after a day-long effort and evacuated her a day later.

Her family has claimed Marins could have been saved if she was reached within hours rather than days.

“Juliana suffered severe neglect by the rescue team. Juliana would still be alive if the team had gotten to her within the estimated time of 7 hours,” her family wrote late Wednesday on an Instagram account that has amassed over one million followers.

“Juliana deserved so much more! Now we are going after justice for her, because it’s what she deserves.”

In a social media post on Thursday, her family thanked “the volunteers who bravely” helped to finally retrieve her body.

Head of Indonesia’s rescue agency Mohammad Syafii said Wednesday evening he had met with Marins’s family to explain the challenges and said they “could accept the situation we were facing”.

Indonesian authorities said her body would be taken to neighbouring island Bali on Thursday for an autopsy to establish the cause and time of death.

“Now the autopsy will be carried out in Bali. We looked for the closest option, which is Denpasar,” Indah Dhamayanti Putri, deputy governor of West Nusa Tenggara province, told reporters Thursday, referring to Bali’s capital.

“They want to know the time of death.”

Initial reports that Marins was heard screaming after falling sparked speculation that she was alive hours after the accident.

But a drone spotted her not moving on Monday and local officials said the evacuation effort was delayed by steep terrain and bad weather. 

“We have to ensure the protection of the species so that it doesn’t become extinct,” CCA research officer Sourav Chakma told news agency AFP on Thursday

Photographs of a leopard snapped by camera traps in forests in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts have raised hopes among conservationists working to save the critically endangered species.

Bangladesh’s Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA) issued pictures of the leopard emerging from lush green bush, celebrating the “evidence that these elusive big cats still persist” in the forested hills where Bangladesh borders India and Myanmar.

“We have to ensure the protection of the species so that it doesn’t become extinct,” CCA research officer Sourav Chakma told AFP on Thursday.

Leopards are listed as vulnerable as a species globally, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but critically endangered in the South Asian country of more than 170 million people, warning its population may no longer be viable.

Zoologist Monirul Khan, of Jahangirnagar University, said previous reports of the elusive cats had been based on paw prints and fleeting sightings in the forest.

As an extremely rare and secretive species, the latest sighting is very significant”, Khan said.It highlights the importance of the remaining natural forest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts as a reserve of wildlife habitat.”The predator was once widely seen in forested areas. Habitat loss, lack of prey and poaching are key contributors to the loss of leopards, experts say.Bangladesh is also home to tigers, now found only in the vast Sundarbans mangrove forests that straddle the border with India.On the Bangladesh side, the latest survey released in October 2024 recorded 125 tigers, up from 114 in 2019.

Zohran Mamdani is a Muslim of Gujarati ancestry and far-right social media politicians and users have been sharing Islamophobic posts against him. Marjorie Taylor Greene, US representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district since 2021, was one of them.

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist just won New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, and MAGA supporters are not chuffed. New York governor Andrew Cuomo, conceded defeat overnight, and if elected, Mamdani would be the first Indian-American and Muslim mayor in the history of New York City.

However, because he is a Muslim of Gujarati ancestry, far-right social media politicians and users have been sharing Islamophobic posts against him. Marjorie Taylor Greene, US representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district since 2021, was one of them.

The post shows a digitally altered picture of the Statue of Liberty covered in a black burqa. Another MAGA supporter, Don Keith shared the picture with the caption, “Congratulations New York”. Nancy Mace, the US representative for South Carolina’s 1st congressional district since 2021, shared a photo of Mamdani in a kurta pajama, and captioned it as, “After 9/11 we said “Never Forget.” I think we sadly have forgotten.”

Thanks to the popularity of the Royal Family, Harry and Meghan have become household names worldwide.

While these two might not be invited to Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, they still live like royalty in California.

Visiting their luxurious and classy mansion might be enough to make you want to move there, too. Thanks to the recent Netflix documentary, fans got to enjoy brief views into the couple’s mansion.Those of us who enjoy watching home makeover shows on HGTV might have seen mind-blowingly gorgeous kitchens.

However, Meghan and Harry’s kitchen will still make our jaws drop. This massive, open-plan space screams Heart of the Home.

An excellent family room is a marvelous adjoining feature next to the kitchen. A massive leather sofa is alluring, while two modern one-seaters can be found on the other side of the room.Visiting their luxurious and classy mansion might be enough to make you want to move there, too. Thanks to the recent Netflix documentary, fans got to enjoy brief views into the couple’s mansion.Those of us who enjoy watching home makeover shows on HGTV might have seen mind-blowingly gorgeous kitchens.

However, Meghan and Harry’s kitchen will still make our jaws drop. This massive, open-plan space screams Heart of the Home.

An excellent family room is a marvelous adjoining feature next to the kitchen. A massive leather sofa is alluring, while two modern one-seaters can be found on the other side of the room.

Clark Olofsson, a Swedish bank robber who held four people hostage for six days in a 1973 Stockholm bank siege that coined the term “Stockholm Syndrome”, has died.

Clark Olofsson, a Swedish bank robber who held four people hostage for six days in a 1973 Stockholm bank siege that coined the term “Stockholm Syndrome”, has died aged 78, his family said Thursday.

Olofsson, one of Sweden’s most notorious repeat offenders and the subject of the 2022 Netflix series “Clark”, died at a Swedish hospital after a lengthy illness, his family told online media outlet Dagens ETC.

Olofsson had a slew of convictions including robbery, attempted murder, drug dealing and assault, and spent more than half of his life in prison.

He was best known for his role in the August 23, 1973 seige of Kreditbanken in central Stockholm.

Another robber, Janne Olsson, had stormed the bank waving a submachine gun, taking three women and one man hostage as police quickly swarmed the building.

Olsson was agitated and demanded that Olofsson, who was in prison for bank robbery at the time, be brought to the bank, and Sweden’s government agreed. 

One of the hostages, Kristin Enmark, later wrote in her book “I Became the Stockholm Syndrome” that when Olofsson arrived, she saw him as her saviour.

“He promised that he would make sure nothing happened to me and I decided to believe him,” she wrote. “I was 23 years old and feared for my life.”

She spoke on the phone to authorities several times during the hostage drama, shocking the world when she came out in defence of her captors.

“I’m not the least bit afraid of Clark and the other guy, I’m afraid of the police. Do you understand? I trust them completely,” she told the prime minister at the time, Olof Palme, in one phone call.

“Believe it or not but we’ve had a really nice time here,” she said, adding that they were “telling stories” and “playing checkers”.

The minister revealed the UK Industrial Strategy would be released soon, forming the blueprint for focus areas for such a partnership with India.

The UK must harness scientific and academic relationships with India as it becomes an increasingly powerful player in the science and technology space, Britain’s minister for science, research and innovation has said.

During a session on ‘Unlocking UK-India Collaboration for a New Era of Innovation’ at India Global Forum’s Future Frontiers Forum at the Science Museum in London on Thursday, Lord Patrick Vallance called for greater mobility of high-skilled professionals through the Global Talent Visa and the need to tap into complementary skills across all sectors.

The minister revealed the UK government’s much-anticipated Industrial Strategy would be released in a few weeks, forming the blueprint for focus areas for such a partnership with India.

“There is already a strong relationship between India and the UK, and I think it’s growing,” said Vallance.

“But government-to-government relationships on science aren’t actually what drives everything. It has to be a scientist and a scientist as well. There are important academic links. I’d like to see more of that as India becomes an increasingly powerful player in the science and tech space,” he said.

The forum was addressed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal earlier on the sector-wide benefits of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) struck between the two countries, as it “adds value to science and technology and innovation”.

“A Free Trade Agreement demonstrates to the world that the two countries are friends, allies, and plan to work together closely; they trust each other,” said Goyal.

Vallance concurred and highlighted: “India has its focus areas, we have ours, now we need to create opportunities across those sectors.” Lord Ara Darzi, the British surgeon behind a seminal review of the National Health Service (NHS) and much-needed areas of reform, hailed India’s “transformative health solutions” as the “intellectual and production power” the UK must collaborate with.

The forum also included a ‘Pitchers and Punters’ curated showcase of Indian start-ups pitching to a jury of international investors.

Among the standout companies were Zypp Electric, Lina Energy, Steamology Motion Ltd and Electric Miles – with Zypp Electric winning this year’s Clean Tech Award presented by British renewable energy group Octopus Energy.

After his death, it turned out that Major Syed Moiz Abbas Shah was the same officer who had captured Abhinandan Varthaman and saved him from mob violence.

Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir attended the funeral of a Pakistani military officer who had claimed to have captured Indian Air Force pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, after his jet was shot down in a dogfight in 2019. Major Syed Moiz Abbas Shah, 37, was killed on Tuesday in a clash with the Taliban militants in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

Shah’s funeral prayers were held at his native village, Chaklala Garrison in Rawalpindi, and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir attended it, according to a statement released by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). 

A picture from the funeral prayers has also surfaced on social media, where Azim can be spotted with other Army officers. 

“Major Syed Moiz Abbas fought bravely in the face of resistance and ultimately laid down his life in the line of duty, upholding the highest traditions of bravery, sacrifice, and patriotism,” the ISPR statement quoted Munir as saying.

Shah was laid to rest with full military honours, the statement added. 

About Major Shah

Shah was commissioned into the Pakistani Army in 2011. However, he later became part of the Special Services Group (SSG) and was currently serving in the volatile Waziristan region.

After his death, it turned out that he was the same officer who had captured Abhinandan Varthaman and saved him from mob violence, local media reported.

An old clip of his interview with Geo TV on social media shows Shah, who was captain then, giving details of capturing Abhinandan Varthaman.

Operation Against Pakistan Taliban

Per the ISPR statement, the army troops killed 11 terrorists belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and wounded seven others in the same operation.

Another jawan, Lance Naik Jibran Ullah, 27, was also killed in the same battle. 

The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of several terrorist outfits in 2007. Its main aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan.

The group, believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. 

Pakistan describes TTP as “Fitna al-Khawarij”, a reference to a group in earlier Islamic history which was involved in violence.

India has consistently rubbished Pakistan’s allegations on Baluchistan but this found its way into the joint statement, with Pakistan’s all-weather ally China chairing the meet.

India refused to sign the joint statement at the SCO meet chaired by China since a consensus could not be reached on terrorism. The foreign ministry said today that foreign minister Rajnath Singh had participated in the defence ministers’ meet. 

“They could not adopt a joint statement. Consensus could not be reached. On our side we wanted the concerns of terrorism reflected in that,” a spokesperson said. 

Sources had said that the statement had skipped any mention of the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 and mentioned incidents in Balochistan instead, tacitly suggesting Indian involvement. 

India has consistently rubbished Pakistan’s allegations on Baluchistan but this found its way into the joint statement, with Pakistan’s all-weather ally China chairing the meet.

India had undertaken a massive diplomatic outreach after Operation Snidoor, sending all-party delegations to 33 nations. But none of the nations on the SCO list — Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — were included. 

In his statement at SCO, Mr Singh had taken a veiled swipe at Pakistan.

“Peace and prosperity cannot co-exist with terrorism and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of non-state actors and terror groups. Dealing with these challenges requires decisive action. It is imperative that those who sponsor, nurture and utilise terrorism for their narrow and selfish ends must bear the consequences. Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists. There should be no place for such double standards. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations,” he said.