Myanmar, Tunisia, UAE.

Today's three stories you should know.

Sep 19, 2022

Myanmar

At least 13 people - including seven children - have been killed in an attack on a village and school by Myanmar army helicopters, according to local media reports and nearby residents. Images showed discarded shoolbags, copybooks still open on desks, and blood strewn across the floors of the destroyed school. An insurgency has raged in the country since the army overthrew a democratically-elected government in February of last year, jailed its leaders and brutally suppressed the anti-coup protests that followed. Civilians are often killed in its attacks on rebel strongholds.

Tunisia

The leaders of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahdha party have been summoned by police and the party says they are being questioned over “sending jihadists to Syria.” Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the party, and former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh are key players in Tunisian politics and have denounced President Kais Saied’s dissolution of parliament and seizure of executive powers last year. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the police station to show their support, some of them shouting “Freedom!” Larayedh said he has always been against Tunisians going to fight in Syria and Ghannouchi said they had been summoned to distract from the cost of living crisis.

UAE

In another sign that we are in the midst of a new space race, the United Arab Emirates says it will launch its first lunar rover in November. It is undertaking the mission in cooperation with Japan and, if successful, the two countries will join the US, Russia and China as the only countries to have landed spacecraft on the moon. The UAE has also announced a plan to establish a human colony on Mars by 2117.