MAE SOT, Thailand: Thai armored cars patrolled the town of Mae Sot Wednesday as the deep boom of artillery thundered across the border in Myanmar, where the junta and an ethnic armed group fought for a second day near a vital trade hub.
Hundreds queued to enter Thailand at the immigration checkpoint in Mae Sot, many fleeing the newest round of fighting to test the junta’s hold on power.
Thai soldiers took up positions underneath the friendship bridge linking the town with Myanmar trade hub Myawaddy, the silhouettes of their counterparts from the Myanmar army visible across the sparse 200 meters (220 yards) of dirt and dried river dividing the nations.
Above the soldiers, hundreds walked across the friendship bridge and into the safety of the kingdom.
“I’m scared, so I decided to cross to the Thai side,” Khu, 49, from Myawaddy, told AFP as she clutched her pet dog to her chest.
She said she had obtained a visa to remain in Thailand for seven days but did not want to return until the fighting stopped.
A Thai soldier, beginning his watch and who declined to give his name, said the sounds of conflict were the most intense he had heard in fifteen years on the border with Myanmar’s conflict-riven Karen state.
Jafal Sweardik, 14, had just crossed over with his family from near Myawaddy, where he said the sounds of artillery and gunfire had cast a shadow over Eid Al-Fitr festivities at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
“It was horrible, very scary,” he told AFP, adding he was looking forward to being reunited with family on the Thai side to share an Eid feast of curry and rice.
The number of people passing Thai immigration from Myanmar had increased to around 4,000 per day in recent days, an immigration official told AFP, up from the usual number of around 1,900.
He said authorities were reinforcing the number of immigration officials to address the possibility that arrivals would rise further in the coming days.
The clashes come with the junta reeling from a series of defeats in the north and west of Myanmar, leading some of its opponents to believe it can one day be toppled.
Fighters from the Karen National Union (KNU) said Saturday they had seized a military base around 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Myawaddy, and that more than 600 soldiers, police, and their families had surrendered.
KNU fighters had clashed again with the military around Myawaddy on Wednesday, a KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee confirmed to AFP.
The junta has not responded to requests for comment on the KNU claim of the surrenders at the Thingannyinaung base.
More than $1.1 billion worth of trade passed through Myawaddy in the 12 months to April, according to the junta’s commerce ministry — a vital source of revenue for the cash-strapped military.
Residents told AFP fighting started around Myawaddy on Tuesday, sending people fleeing across the border, but that KNU fighters did not appear to have entered the town.
“There was fighting the whole of last night and in the morning as well,” a resident told AFP on Wednesday, requesting anonymity for security reasons, as they hid in a basement.
“We can hear artillery sounds and explosions from our place. Planes are flying over,” they said.
“My mother and other siblings fled to Mae Sot this morning. I’m now guarding our house with my uncle.”
A truck driver on the road to Myawaddy in Myanmar said he had heard planes flying and the sound of artillery fire on Wednesday.
He said other drivers told him that authorities in the town had blocked traffic from entering from the Myanmar side.
In neighboring Thailand, one Mae Sot resident told AFP they saw eight Thai military vehicles heading toward the border on Tuesday night.
“Many people have entered Mae Sot from the other side [Myanmar],” they said.
“I saw many online posts looking for a place to stay.”
Thailand shares a 2,400-kilometer (1,490-mile) border with Myanmar, with the clashes coming as the Thai foreign minister said Tuesday the kingdom was prepared to accept 100,000 people fleeing.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and high-level Thai officials met earlier to discuss the border issue.
Thai soldiers on alert as Myanmar border clashes enter second day
https://arab.news/z7mgw
Thai soldiers on alert as Myanmar border clashes enter second day
- Thai soldiers took up positions underneath the friendship bridge linking Mae Sot with Myanmar trade hub Myawaddy
- Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldiers said they had seized a military base around 10 km west of Myawaddy
Bangladeshi police arrest student protest leaders from hospital
- Police say they arrested three student leaders ‘to keep them safe’
- Two of them were still undergoing treatment, hospital worker says
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police have discharged from hospital and arrested the leaders of a student protest that led to nationwide unrest last week, when security forces clashed with demonstrators.
Students have been demonstrating since the beginning of July against a rule that reserves a bulk of government jobs for the descendants of those who fought in the country’s 1971 liberation war.
At least 209 people have been killed and thousands injured, according to a count based on reports in the local media after the protests turned violent last week.
Most of the casualties were reported in Dhaka, which saw intense clashes between protesters, government supporters, police and paramilitary troops, when the country went into a communications blackout for six days.
Among the injured were student leaders Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, coordinators of Students Against Discrimination, the main protest organizing group. They were patients at Gonoshasthya Hospital in Dhaka, from where they were arrested by the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Friday evening. Another student leader visiting Islam and Mahmud, Abu Baker Majumder, was detained as well.
Detective Branch chief Harun Or-Rashid told reporters in Dhaka on Saturday that the trio had been detained “for security reasons” as their families were worried about their safety.
“We took them in our custody to keep them safe,” he said.
The student leaders were arrested by a group of more than a dozen plainclothes officers despite objections from medical staff, a hospital worker told Arab News.
“At first, we tried to make them understand that without proper protocols, admitted patients couldn’t be released from the hospital. Later on, they talked with our authorities, and the students were taken from the hospital. There was no way we could hold them further,” the hospital worker said on condition of anonymity.
“The students’ health was not so good ... Asif was dealing with low blood pressure, and Nahid was suffering from blood clots and bruises on different parts of his body. Both of them needed further treatment.”
The arrests come in a crackdown launched by police in Dhaka, where a curfew imposed last week was still in place.
Liton Kumar Saha, joint commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said that 2,284 people have been arrested in Dhaka over the protest-related clashes, in which numerous administration offices were set on fire.
“We are analyzing the footage of different places and identifying the miscreants. When we get confirmed about someone’s involvement in the anarchy, we conduct the operations to arrest them. It has been conducted with transparency, and we are checking the people who were involved with sabotage,” he told Arab News.
“In the last 24 hours, 245 persons were arrested in Dhaka. Our drive will continue until the situation gets normal.”
International rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns over Bangladesh’s handling of the protests, with Amnesty International saying that witness testimonies and video and photographic evidence “confirm the use of unlawful force by the police against student protesters.”
The protests broke out after the High Court upheld a controversial quota system, in which 56 percent of public service jobs were reserved for specific groups, including women, marginalized communities and children and grandchildren of freedom fighters — for whom the government earmarks 30 percent of the posts.
The Supreme Court last week scaled back the quota system, ordering 93 percent of government jobs to be allocated on merit.
Russia slams Olympic opening as ‘massive failure’
- “I wasn’t planning to watch the opening. But after seeing the photos, I couldn’t believe it wasn’t a deep fake or photoshop,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram
- “Ridiculous open-air opening ceremony forced guests to sit for hours under pouring rain“
MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday slammed the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games as a “massive failure.”
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova gave a long list of shortcomings at Friday’s ceremony, which was not broadcast live on Russian television.
“I wasn’t planning to watch the opening. But after seeing the photos, I couldn’t believe it wasn’t a deep fake or photoshop,” the spokeswoman wrote on Telegram
Only a few Russian athletes have been approved to participate in the Games as “neutrals.” Competiors under the Russian flag have been banned over Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.
Zakharova wrote that the “ridiculous open-air opening ceremony forced guests to sit for hours under pouring rain.”
“The organizers did not think of either seeding the clouds or awnings,” she said, referring to Russia’s practice of sending up planes ahead of major outdoor events to attempt to break up clouds.
France detained a Russian man just ahead of the Games’ opening, accusing him of a “destablization” plot for the event. “I wonder how many more ‘spies’ had to be embedded for the opening of the Olympics in Paris to end up such a massive failure?” said Zakharova.
Zakharova also mocked the “transport collapse” on the day, after three arson attacks on the rail system, and France’s blaming this on sabotage.
She said the center of Paris was “transformed into a ghetto for homeless people,” while “rats flooded the streets.”
Other targets were the US rapper Snoop Dogg carrying the Olympic torch and gaffes such as introducing the South Korean team as North Korea and raising the Olympic flag upside-down.
Zakharova picked on a part of the opening ceremony featuring drag queens, interpreted by some as parodying The Last Supper. She called it a “mockery of a sacred story for Christians,” saying that “the Apostles were shown as transvestites.”
“Evidently in Paris they decided that if the Olympic rings are multi-colored, you can turn it all into one giant gay parade,” she added.
A spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, Vakhtang Kipshidze, also condemned this section, writing on his personal Telegram channel that it was “cultural and historical suicide.”
Indian PM Modi likely to visit Ukraine in August, local media reports
- Ukraine’s embassy in New Delhi said it had no information to share immediately
- There was no immediate response from India’s foreign ministry
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ukraine next month, a local media report said, his first visit to the country since its war with Russia began and just weeks after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Ukraine’s embassy in New Delhi said it had no information to share immediately. There was no immediate response from India’s foreign ministry.
Western countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow following its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but “friendly” nations such as India and China have continued to trade.
India has refrained from directly blaming Russia, while urging the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
Modi met Putin just as a Russian missile struck a hospital in Kyiv killing at least 41 people. The Indian leader told Putin that the death of innocent children was “painful and terrifying.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed unhappiness over Modi’s visit, calling it a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts” to see him hug “the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.”
Russia denied striking the hospital.
The US State Department has raised concerns over India’s relationship with Russia especially at a time when it has been seeking to strengthen ties with India as a potential counterweight to an ascendant China.
New Delhi is seeking to deepen its relationship with the West while keeping ties intact with Russia.
The final date of Modi’s visit is not yet confirmed, The Print reported on Saturday.
French minister says foreign involvement not ruled out in rail sabotage
- “Who is responsible? Either it’s from within, or it’s been ordered from abroad, it’s too early to say,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said
- Two security sources said on Friday the modus operandi meant initial suspicions fell on leftist militants or environmental activists
PARIS: France’s interior minister said on Saturday he could not rule out foreign involvement in an attack that sabotaged signal stations and cables on the country’s high-speed rail network, causing travel chaos on the opening day of the Olympic Games.
Friday’s pre-dawn attacks damaged infrastructure along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled, SNCF has said.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.
“Who is responsible? Either it’s from within, or it’s been ordered from abroad, it’s too early to say,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television.
He added: “We have uncovered a certain number of elements which lead us to believe that we will know fairly quickly who is responsible.”
Two security sources said on Friday the modus operandi meant initial suspicions fell on leftist militants or environmental activists, but that there was not yet any evidence.
Traffic on France’s high-speed rail network should be back to normal by Monday, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete and rail operator SNCF’s chief Jean-Pierre Farandou told reporters on Saturday.
SNCF reiterated that transport plans for teams competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics would be guaranteed.
On Friday, 100,000 people could not take their trains, and another 150,000 faced delays but eventually got to their destinations, Vergriete said.
“There will still be disruptions tomorrow,” Vergriete said. “From Monday, there is no need to worry.”
French train networks partially restored after line sabotage ahead of Olympics
- Despite the disruptions, SNCF railway company says all transportation for Olympic teams, accredited personnel will be maintained
- The sabotage incidents have raised concerns about security as Paris hosts the Olympics, with authorities actively investigating
PARIS: French railway company SNCF said Saturday it has made progress in partially restoring high-speed train services after acts of sabotage disrupted three major lines ahead of Friday night’s Olympic Games opening ceremony on the Seine River.
SNCF said its agents worked through the night in adverse weather conditions to improve the TGV traffic from the north, east and west to Paris. As of Saturday morning, normal service had resumed on the Eastern high-speed line.
“On the North, Brittany and South-West high-speed lines, seven out of 10 trains on average will run with delays of one to two hours,” SNCF said.
The company added that traffic will continue to be disrupted on the North axis on Sunday, but conditions are expected to improve on the Atlantic axis for weekend returns. Customers are being contacted via text message and email to confirm the running of their trains.
Despite the disruptions, SNCF said all transportation for Olympic teams and accredited personnel will be maintained as planned.
The sabotage incidents have raised concerns about security as Paris hosts the Olympics. French authorities are actively investigating but say that no suspects have been identified or apprehended so far.
