Category: 2. World

A colonial-era bridge in Myanmar that was once the world’s tallest railway trestle has been destroyed during fighting in the years-long conflict.

A civil war has consumed Myanmar since a 2021 coup deposed the civilian government, with the military battling myriad pro-democracy guerrilla groups and ethnic armed organisations.

Representatives from the ruling military junta and anti-coup armed groups have blamed each other for the destruction of the landmark Gokteik bridge on Sunday.

In a video statement, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun claimed rebel factions, including the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and people’s defence forces groups had “bombed and destroyed” the bridge. A separate statement by the junta said the bridge had been “exploded with mines”.

A TNLA spokesperson rejected this and accused the junta of bombing the bridge. “[The] Myanmar army tried to bomb our bases … this morning by using drones. They bombed our troops, but their bomb also hit Gokteik bridge,” TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo said.

In recent weeks, clashes have erupted between junta forces and TNLA fighters in the nearby towns of Nawnghkio and Kyaukme – though the junta claimed to have recaptured Nawnghkio in July.

Spanning 300 metres and standing 102 metres above a gorge, the structure is the highest bridge in Myanmar and was the tallest railway trestle in the world when it opened in 1901 during the British colonial era.

Videos and photos on social media showed the bridge partly collapsed and damaged.

The bridge is situated at the border of the Nawnghkio and Kyaukme townships in northern Shan State. It is part of the Mandalay-Lashio railway line and draws a number of tourists.

Myanmar’s junta is preparing for a December election that is being boycotted by opposition groups and criticised by international monitors.

Analysts have predicted rebels will stage offensives around the election as a sign of their opposition.

With Agence France-Presse

A powerful typhoon has battered Vietnam’s coastal provinces, with strong winds and rains felling trees and tearing the roofs off houses.

Schools and airports were closed and almost 600,000 people across the country were ordered to leave their homes ahead of Typhoon Kajiki’s arrival on Monday afternoon in the coastal province of Ha Tinh.

One evacuee in Vietnam’s Nghe An province told news agency Reuters he could see “waves as tall as two metres, and water [flooding] the roads around us”, adding that it was “terrifying”.

It comes less than a year after the country was hit by Typhoon Yagi – its most powerful storm in 30 years – which killed 300 people in Vietnam alone.

Vietnam’s meteorological centre says the typhoon could trigger flash floods and landslides, and 400 communes across six provinces have been put on alert.

The typhoon had earlier skirted China’s southern coast – inflicting damage to roads, water supply systems and infrastructure – as it made its way towards Vietnam.

It made landfall in Vietnam on Monday afternoon, bringing with it winds of up to 118-133 km/h (73-82 mph).

Ahead of is arrival, residences in the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Hue and Da Nang were ordered to evacuate. Vietnam also suspended flights at two airports in its central region and some train services.

Authorities had earlier said the typhoon could be the country’s strongest storm this year.

The weather authority later said the storm had decreased in intensity, but that wind speeds remain high.

“I have never heard of a typhoon of this big scale coming to our city,” 66-year-old Le Manh Tung, from the coastal city of Vinh, had earlier told news agency AFP.

“I am a bit scared, but then we have to accept it because it’s nature — we cannot do anything.”

In the coastal province of Nghe An, 48-year-old resident Dang Xuan Phuong told Reuters that he could see waves of up to two metres.

Meteorologists say that as the world warms, typhoons can bring higher wind speeds and more intense rainfall, although the influence of climate change on individual storms is complicated.

Typhoon Yagi, which made landfall in Vietnam in September last year, wreaked havoc across the country, causing billions in damage and leaving some 1.5 million people without power.

The storm swept through large parts of South East Asia, including Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, killing more than 500 people across the region, according to official figures.

At least 20 people, including five journalists working for the international media, are reported to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.

A Reuters cameraman, an Associated Press (AP) journalist, and an Al Jazeera photographer were among them. It is not clear who the other two worked for.

Several people were killed in an initial strike, and others in a second which happened as rescuers attended the scene, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says an investigation is being carried out into its attack on the hospital. It added that it “does not target journalists as such”, but did not give details about the strike.

The latest deaths brings the number of journalists killed in Gaza since the start of the war there in October 2023 to nearly 200.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a leading body which promotes press freedom, the war in Gaza has been the deadliest conflict for journalists ever documented. It says more press members have been killed there in the past two years than were killed worldwide in the prior three years.

International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip independently since the start of the war.

Some journalists have been taken into Gaza by the IDF under controlled access, but international media outlets rely on local reporters for much of their coverage in Gaza.

The health ministry said people were killed when a missile hit the fourth floor, followed by a second missile on the same spot when rescuers arrived, AP reported.

In video from the scene, a doctor standing at an entrance to the hospital – the main one in southern Gaza – holds up bloodied clothes to show journalists following the first strike. Suddenly there is a blast, sending people running for cover as glass shatters. A man injured by the blast is seen trying to drag himself to safety.

In other footage, white and grey smoke can be seen billowing from an upper level of the hospital where damage is apparent. Outside, people are running and shouting amid chaos, as ambulance horns can be heard.

Reuters news agency said its cameraman, Husam al-Masri, was among those killed and Hatem Khaled injured.

The agency said it was devastated and “urgently seeking more information”.

AP said Mariam Dagga, a freelance journalist working for it, was also killed. The news agency said it was “shocked and saddened” by the 33-year-old’s death.

The others include Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, and photographer Moaz Abu Taha. US TV network NBC said Taha did not work for it, as had been initially reported. It is not clear who the fifth, Ahmad Abu Aziz, worked for.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence said one of its members was among those killed, AFP news agency reported.

Monday’s attack comes two weeks after six journalists, including four from Al Jazeera, were killed in an Israeli targeted attack near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The UN’s human rights office condemned that attack, calling it a grave breach of international law.

The IDF said it had targeted Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera reporter, alleging he had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”.

The CPJ said Israel had failed to provide evidence to back up its allegations.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which has killed more than 62,686 Palestinians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.

Reuters news agency has said its cameraman, Hussam al-Masri, was among those killed.

It adds that one of their contractors was also injured in the strikes.

Cameraman al-Masri was killed in the first strike, Reuters reports, and photographer Hatem Khaled was wounded in a second strike.

“We are devastated to learn of the death of Reuters contractor Hussam al-Masri and injuries to another of our contractors, Hatem Khaled, in Israeli strikes on the Nasser hospital in Gaza today,” a Reuters spokesperson said in a statement.

The Associated Press (AP) says Mariam Dagga, a freelance journalist working for it, was also killed. AP said it was “shocked and saddened” by the 33-year-old’s death.

The others are said to have been Mohammed Salama, working for Al Jazeera, and photographer Moaz Abu Taha.

US TV network NBC said Taha did not work for it, as had been initially reported.