Near simultaneous explosions at two busy supermarkets and a convention center in Myanmar's capital yesterday have left at least three people dead and more than a dozen others wounded, an official and witnesses said.
The cause of the blasts, which struck different sections of Yangon around 3pm, was not yet known.
Three people -- a Buddhist monk, a man and a woman -- were killed and many others wounded in one of the explosions at a convention center where a Thai trade fair was being held, a security official said on condition of anonymity.
The victims were from Myanmar, but some Thais were hurt when people stampeded to get out of the convention hall following the blast, the official added.
Witnesses said earlier that the explosion blew out windows as high as the second floor.
Separately, several people were seen leaving the scene of another explosion at a City Mart supermarket with blood on their faces, a witness said on condition of anonymity. The exterior of the store in northwestern Yangon was severely damaged, with large window panes shattered and appliances from the store's shelves scattered amid debris on the ground floor of the 11-story building.
Authorities blocked off the four main roads in the area, while riot police with batons and shields stood guard, telling residents to leave the area because of the threat of further explosions.
``We managed to escape, but some of my friends were hurt,'' a sales girl cried at the scene.
Residents said more than a dozen people had been hurt in that explosion.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS