Myanmar’s opposition rejects military appeal for talks
Bangkok, Sep 27: The main group coordinating opposition to military rule in Myanmar rejected on Friday a surprise offer from the ruling generals to hold talks on a political solution to the country’s nationwide armed conflict. Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the opposition’s shadow National Unity Government, told The Associated Press that a joint statement issued earlier this year by opposition groups has already paved the way for a negotiated political solution if the army agrees to its conditions. Padoh Saw Kalae Say, a spokesperson of the Karen National Union, which represents the Karen ethnic minority, said it also will not accept the military’s offer. The KNU has been fighting on and off for greater autonomy since Myanmar, then called Burma, won independence from Britain in 1948. The military’s brief “Offer to resolve political issues in political means,” dated Thursday and published Friday in the Global New Light of Myanmar and other state-run newspapers, was its most direct offer of peace talks since it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.(AP)
2 boys in UK jailed for killing man with machete
London, Sep 27: Two boys in Britain who were 12 when they stabbed a stranger to death with a machete were sentenced on Friday to at least eight and a half years in prison. They are the youngest people convicted of murder in the UK for more than 20 years. The now 13-year-old defendants, who can’t be named because of their age, were convicted in June of murdering 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai. The victim, who had moved to England from the Caribbean island of Anguilla, was stabbed in the heart after encountering the boys on playing fields in the city of Wolverhampton in November 2023. (AP)
Former Defence Minister Ishiba set to become next Japan PM
Tokyo, Sep 27: Japan’s ruling party on Friday picked former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba as leader, setting him up to become prime minister next week. The party leadership win is a ticket to the top job because the Liberal Democratic Party’s ruling coalition currently controls the parliament. Considered a defence policy expert, Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and a more equal Japan-US security alliance. Ishiba is a supporter of Taiwan’s democracy. He calls for an establishment of a disaster management agency in one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. Ishiba beat out Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative who was running to become the country’s first female prime minister. (AP)