Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi's son asks the military for his mother's release

Today's headlines: Red alert for temperature in Beijing; Indonesia wants to hire foreign supervisors to build new capital; Malaysia accuses four Thai men of human trafficking; Assad bombs northwestern Syria.

MYANMAR

The youngest son of Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for his mother's release. "I cannot let my mother languish in prison," Kim Aris said in an interview with the BBC. Aris, who is also a British citizen, said the coup military has never allowed him to speak to his mother held in solitary confinement and urged the international community to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.

CHINA

The temperature in Beijing reached 41 degrees Celsius, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the Chinese capital. China has a four-level weather warning system, with red being the most severe and currently in effect, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

INDONESIA

To speed up construction of the new capital Nusantara, the Indonesian government plans to hire foreign supervisors. President Joko Widodo had set a goal of inaugurating the new capital on Independence Day in 2024, Aug. 17. However, some MPs stressed the need to consider the costs of such a move, which among other things discredits Indonesian professionals.

MALAYSIA - THAILAND

Malaysia has charged four Thai nationals with human trafficking over a 2015 case when mass graves and camps operated between migrant smugglers were discovered at the border. The forests between the two countries are a major hub for migrants, most of them Rohingya refugees brought there by boat after fleeing persecution in Myanmar or overcrowded Bangladesh refugee camps.

SYRIA

Three people were killed and six wounded during an attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces on the village of Kafr Nouran near Aleppo. The White Helmets, a volunteer relief group, said the shelling coincided with the flight of a Russian reconnaissance plane over the area and other villages in northwestern Syria were hit. The military escalation coincided with talks in Astana involving Russian, Iranian, Turkish, and Syrian government and opposition representatives. 

RUSSIA

A Russian citizen from the Khabarovsk region in the Far East was arrested on charges of high treason on the instructions of the FSB services for transferring through a third party some sums in cryptocurrency to Ukraine, to the account of a charitable foundation, which would actually be used to purchase weapons for the Kiev army and drones for partisans in Russia. This is the first such case in Russia.

TURKMENISTAN

In Turkmenistan, attempts are being made to find ways to put out the fire in the crater of the Darvaz gas reservoir, nicknamed the "Gates of Hades," by cutting off the influx of gas that feeds the fire pit. Virtual and partial attempts will be made to avoid a total catastrophe given the complex geological structure of the site's various strata.

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