Myanmar junta accused of blocking aid for earthquake victims as airstrikes continue
Doctors helping with aftermath of disaster and UN special rapporteur say aid is disappearing or being blocked in some areas
Tue 1 Apr 2025 15.10 BST
Myanmar’s military is facing criticism over continued airstrikes and claims it is blocking aid to earthquake survivors, as international agencies urged “unfettered access” to humanitarian aid in the conflict-riven nation.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit central Myanmar on Friday has caused widespread destruction, killing more than 2,700 people and leaving affected areas in dire need of basic necessities such as food and water.
Two Australia-based doctors helping coordinate the emergency response at the epicentre in Mandalay and Sagaing have accused the junta of blocking supplies of emergency aid.
Le Pen conviction politically motivated, party chief claims
National Rally president Jordan Bardella has said the fraud conviction against Marine Le Pen is part of an effort to attack their far-right party. But a top prosecutor has rejected the claims.
The leader of France's far-right National Rally (RN) claimed on Tuesday that the embezzlement conviction against presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and other RN officials was politically motivated.
"Everything will be done to prevent us from coming to power," Jordan Bardella told the Cnews television channel and Europe 1 radio station.
Bardella promised a "peaceful" protest over the decision this weekend, blasting the "tyranny" of the judges in the case.
Chinese military surrounds Taiwan in latest military drills
The Chinese military on Tuesday surrounded Taiwan in what it said was a practice blockade of the island and issued a "stern warning" against Taiwanese separatists as tensions continue to escalate between the two countries.
China sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for drills Beijing said were aimed at practising a blockade of the self-ruled island.
China insists democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.
UN agency closes the rest of its Gaza bakeries as food supplies dwindle under Israeli blockade
The U.N. food agency is closing all of its bakeries in the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday, as food supplies dwindle after Israel sealed the territory off from all imports nearly a month ago.
Israel, which tightened its blockade and later resumed its offensive in order to pressure Hamas into accepting changes to their ceasefire agreement, said that enough food entered Gaza during the six-week truce to sustain the territory’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Markets largely emptied weeks ago, and U.N. agencies say the supplies they built up during the truce are running out. Gaza is heavily reliant on international aid, because the war has destroyed almost all of its food production capability.
African workers are taking on Meta and the world should pay attention
A landmark case could see the US tech giant forced to take responsibility for workers’ rights violations not just in Kenya but globally.
In 2025, the world’s largest social media company, Meta, has taken a defiant new tone on the question of whether and to what extent it accepts responsibility for the real-world harm that its platforms enable.
This has been widely understood as a gambit to curry favour with President Donald Trump’s administration, and Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg all but said so in a January 7 video announcing the end of third-party fact-checking.
Putin begins biggest Russian military call-up in years
Paul Kirby
President Vladimir Putin has called up 160,000 men aged 18-30, Russia's highest number of conscripts since 2011, as the country moves to expand the size of its military.
The spring call-up for a year's military service came several months after Putin said Russia should increase the overall size of its military to almost 2.39 million and its number of active servicemen to 1.5 million.
That is a rise of 180,000 over the coming three years.
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