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Geneva — One year since the conflict in Sudan erupted, thousands of desperate people are still fleeing the country daily "as if the emergency had started yesterday," the U.N. said Tuesday.   More than 8.5 million people have fled their homes since the fighting broke out, with nearly 1.8 million having escaped across the country's borders.   "A year on, the war in Sudan continues to rage, with the country and its neighbors experiencing one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian and displacement crises in the world," said Olga Sarrado Mur, spokeswoman for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR.   "The ongoing conflict has shattered people's lives, filling them with fear and loss. Attacks on civilians, and conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, continue unabated," she told a press briefing in Geneva.   "Sudan has experienced the almost complete destruction of its urban middle class: architects, doctors, teachers, nurses, engineers and students have lost everything," she added.     Fighting in Sudan erupted on April 15, 2023, between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed thousands and has sparked a humanitarian disaster.   "Thousands are crossing borders daily as if the emergency had started yesterday," Sarrado Mur said.  Those fleeing the country, mostly women and children, are arriving in remote areas across the borders "with little to nothing and in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care," she added.  "As the conflict continues, and the lack of assistance and opportunities deepens, more people will be forced to flee Sudan to neighboring countries or to move further."  Strain on South Sudan The humanitarian response plan for inside Sudan is so far 6 percent funded, while the 2024 regional refugee response plan is 7 percent funded.   The war has destroyed Sudan's already fragile infrastructure and pushed the country to the brink of famine.   Marie-Helene Verney, UNHCR's representative in South Sudan, said 635,000 people had arrived in the country since April 15 — the equivalent of 5 percent of the country's population.   "This is the world's poorest country, so you can imagine the pressure," she said, via video-link from the capital Juba.   Verney said many refugees were urban, educated and middle class, with professional skills that UNHCR is trying to match to shortages in South Sudan, notably in health and education.   "The biggest challenge that we face is really the relentlessness of this crisis ... it could get worse before it gets better," she said.   A lot of unaccompanied children were coming, and single women with "heartbreaking stories" of sexual violence en route, she added.    On Monday, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said the current situation in Sudan concerning sexual and gender-based violence was "absolutely horrific."   "It is committed by all parties to the conflict in this absolutely senseless war," he said.  Ahead of the anniversary, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has called on all parties in the conflict to protect civilians and those who can no longer fight.   "When homes, hospitals, and schools are damaged, and people who are not part of the fight are hurt, it not only causes immediate harm but also makes it much harder for communities to heal," the movement said. 

NYON, Switzerland — This week's Champions League games will go ahead as scheduled despite an Islamic State terror threat, the governing body of European soccer said Tuesday.  A media outlet linked to the terror group has issued multiple posts calling for attacks at the stadiums hosting quarterfinal matches in Paris, Madrid and London on Tuesday and Wednesday.  "UEFA is aware of alleged terrorist threats made towards this week's UEFA Champions League matches and is closely liaising with the authorities at the respective venues," UEFA said in a statement. "All matches are planned to go ahead as scheduled with appropriate security arrangements in place."  There are two matches scheduled to be held in Madrid. Real Madrid hosts Manchester City on Tuesday, and Atletico Madrid welcomes Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.  Arsenal plays Bayern Munich in London on Tuesday, and Paris Saint-Germain hosts Barcelona the following day.  "I want to reassure the public that we have a robust policing plan in place for tonight's match [in London] and we continue to work closely alongside the club's security team to ensure that the match passes peacefully," Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan said.  France Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said police have considerably reinforced security around the Parc des Princes in Paris.  "We have seen, among others, a statement from the Islamic State, which is particularly targeting stadiums. It's not new," Darmanin said. "This morning, we asked the general director of interior security to communicate the information we have with the other [security] services of the other countries hosting the quarterfinals."  Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on March 22 in which 144 people were killed.  The return matches in the Champions League are scheduled for next week.  PSG defender Danilo said he and his teammates "need to concentrate on the soccer," but coach Luis Enrique said the threat was worrying.  "Who wouldn't be concerned by that? Of course we're concerned," the PSG coach said. "We hope it's only a threat and that nothing will happen." 

LONDON — Lawmaker Simon Harris was elected Ireland's prime minister by a vote in parliament Tuesday, becoming at 37 the country's youngest-ever leader.  Harris takes over as head of Ireland's three-party coalition government from Leo Varadkar, who announced his surprise resignation last month. Harris, who served as higher education minister in Varadkar's government, was the only candidate to replace him as head of the center-right Fine Gael party.  Lawmakers in the Dáil, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, confirmed Harris as taoiseach, or prime minister, by 88 votes to 69.  Harris was first elected to parliament at 24 and has been nicknamed the "TikTok taoiseach" — pronounced TEA-shock — because of his fondness for communicating on social media. He faces challenges including a strained health service, soaring housing costs and an exodus of Fine Gael lawmakers, more than 10 of whom have said they will not run for reelection.  "I commit to doing everything that I can to honor the trust that you have placed in me today," Harris said. "As taoiseach I want to bring new ideas, a new energy and a new empathy to public life."  Varadkar was the previous youngest-ever premier when first elected at age 38, as well as Ireland's first openly gay prime minister. Varadkar, whose mother is Irish and father is Indian, was also Ireland's first biracial taoiseach.  Varadkar, 45, has had two spells as taoiseach — between 2017 and 2020 and again since December 2022 as part of a job-share with Micheál Martin, the head of Fianna Fáil.  Varadkar officially stepped down on Monday when he handed in his letter of resignation to President Michael D. Higgins.  Varadkar told the Dáil on Tuesday that his time in politics had been the "most fulfilling and rewarding time" of his life.  "But today is the beginning of a new era for my party, a new chapter in my life and a new phase for this coalition government," he said.  Harris has said he plans to keep the Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party coalition government going until March 2025, when an election must be held.  Opposition parties argued that the Irish public deserves an early election.  "Another Fine Gael taoiseach is the last thing the people need," said Mary Lou McDonald, leader of left-wing party Sinn Fein. "We need a change of leadership, we need a change of government."

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

HANOI, Vietnam — The Vatican's top diplomat began a six-day visit to Vietnam on Tuesday as a part of efforts to normalize relations with the communist nation.  Richard Gallagher, the Holy See's foreign minister, met his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son and expressed the Vatican's "gratitude" for the progress that has been made to improve ties. The visit took place after Archbishop Marek Zalewski became the first Vatican representative to live and open an office in the Southeast Asian country.  "The visit is of great importance," said Son.  Gallagher will also meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and visit a children's hospital in the capital, Hanoi, state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. He will hold Mass in Hanoi, Hue in central Vietnam, and the financial hub of Ho Chi Minh City in the south.  Gallagher is the Vatican's No. 2 and his visit to Hanoi was an "important moment" that showed that the relationship was continuing while the sides wait for an upgrade to full diplomatic relations, said Giorgio Bernardelli, the head of AsiaNews, a Catholic Missionary news agency.  Relations between the Vatican and Vietnam were severed in 1975, after the Communist Party established its rule over the entire country following the end of the Vietnam War. Relations have been strained ever since, although the sides have had regular talks since at least the late 1990s.  The agreement to appoint the Vatican's permanent representative in Vietnam was signed in July 2023, during former President Vo Van Thuong's visit to the Holy See. Thuong also extended an invitation to Pope Francis to visit Vietnam. But Thuong has since resigned, becoming the latest victim of an intense anti-corruption campaign.  Bernardelli said that the pope's potential visit was likely to be discussed, adding that it also depended on the political situation in Hanoi following the president's resignation  He said that an improvement in ties with Vietnam could also have implications for the Holy See's ties with communist-ruled China. The relationship with Vietnam had always been a "point of reference, but with important differences," since unlike China, Vietnam has been keen to improve relations with the Vatican and the West.  Beijing severed diplomatic ties with the Vatican in 1951, after the communists rose to power and expelled foreign priests.  Catholicism is officially the most practiced religion in Vietnam, with 5.9 million or 44.6% of the 13.2 million people who identified as religious in a 2019 census saying they were Catholic. That works out to more than 6% of the country's population. 

In Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, inventor Newlove Kushiator is trying to make life easier for his fellow citizens by creating all kinds of machines from castoff parts. VOA’s Gildas Da has this story from Ouagadougou, and Jackson Mvunganyi narrates.

As Ramadan draws to a close, Muslims in Kenya and the rest of the world are getting ready for the festivities of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy month fasting period. But some are cutting back on their usual preparations because of high prices. Zainab Said reports from Nairobi.

Researchers in California are developing highly sensitive sensors to more quickly detect environmental changes. Genia Dulot has the story in this week’s episode of LogOn. (Camera: Genia Dulot)

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Beijing — Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tuesday in a sign of mutual support and shared opposition to Western democracies amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.  "We would like to express our highest appreciation and admiration for the successes that you have achieved over the years and, above all, over the last decade under your leadership," Lavrov told Xi, according to Russian media.  "We are sincerely pleased with these successes, since these are the successes of friends, although not everyone in the world shares this attitude and are trying in every possible way to restrain the development of China — in fact just like the development of Russia," Lavrov said.  Russia's growing economic and diplomatic isolation has made it increasingly reliant on China, its former rival for leadership of the Communist bloc during the Cold War. In past decades, the two have closely aligned their foreign policies, held joint military exercises and sought to rally non-aligned states in groupings such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.  Lavrov held a news conference earlier Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at which they reaffirmed solidarity in international affairs.  Lavrov said Russia and China oppose any international events that do not take Russia's position into account.  He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's "so-called peace formula" was "completely detached from any realities."  Zelensky has called for the withdrawal of Russian forces and the return of all occupied Ukrainian territory, but is heavily reliant on support from the U.S., where the Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives has been holding up a new military aid package.  China and Russia are each others most important diplomatic partners, both holding permanent seats on the United Nations security council and working together to block initiatives by the U.S. and its allies to spread democratic values and human rights from Venezuela to Syria.  While China has not provided direct military support for Russia, it has backed it diplomatically in blaming the West for provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch the war and refrained from calling it an invasion in deference to the Kremlin. China has also said it isn't providing Russia with arms or military assistance, although it has maintained robust economic connections with Moscow, alongside India and other countries. amid sanctions from Washington and its allies.  At their joint news conference Wang repeated China's calls for a ceasefire and "an end to the war soon."  "China supports the convening at an appropriate time of an international meeting that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, in which all parties can participate equally and discuss all peace solutions fairly," Wang said.  China's peace proposal has found little traction, in part due to the country's continuing support for Russia and lack of vision for what a future resolution would look like, particularly the fate of occupied Ukrainian territories and their residents.  Wang also said Xi and Putin would continue to maintain close exchanges this year amid expectations of visits to each other's capitals.  "China and Russia have gone through ups and downs, and both sides have drawn lessons from historical experience and found a correct path to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations," Wang said. "Today's good relations between China and Russia are hard-won and deserve to be cherished and carefully maintained by both sides."  Lavrov arrived in China on Monday, while Wang and other leading Chinese figures have recently visited Russia and maintained China's line of largely backing Russia's views on the cause of the conflict.  China has at times taken an equally combative tone against the U.S. and its allies. China and Russia have held joint military drills, and are seen as seeking to supplant democracies with dictatorships in areas where they wield influence. China is involved in its own territorial disputes, particularly over the self-governing island of Taiwan and in the South China and East China Seas.  Just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin visited Beijing for the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics and the sides signed a pact pledging a "no limits" relationship that has China supporting Russia's line, even while formally urging peace talks.  In a phone call last week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joseph Biden pressed China over its defense relationship with Russia, which is seeking to rebuild its industrial base as it continues its invasion of Ukraine. And he called on Beijing to wield its influence over North Korea to rein in the isolated and erratic nuclear power.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — A baby monkey struggles and squirms as it tries to escape the man holding it by the neck over a concrete cistern, repeatedly dousing it with water. In another video clip, a person plays with the genitals of a juvenile male macaque sitting on a limestone block from an ancient temple to get it excited for the camera. The abuse of monkeys at the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site in northwestern Cambodia is not always so graphic, but authorities say it is a growing problem as people look for new ways to draw online viewers to generate cash. “The monkey should be living in the wild, where they are supposed to be living, but the monkey nowadays is being treated like a domestic pet,” said Long Kosal, spokesperson for APSARA, the Cambodian office that oversees the Angkor archaeological site. “They're making the content to earn money by having the viewers on YouTube, so this is a very big issue for us.” APSARA has few tools itself to stop the YouTubers from filming in general, but has opened an investigation with the Ministry of Agriculture to collect evidence for legal action against the most serious abusers — who are rarely on camera themselves, Long Kosal said. “If we can build a case, they will be arrested for sure,” he said. “Any animal abuser will be seriously punished by law in Cambodia.” YouTube, Facebook and other sites remove the videos with graphic content, but scores of other clips of cute monkeys jumping and playing remain, generating thousands of views and subscribers. Just making those videos involves very close interaction with the monkeys, however, which authorities and animal-rights activists say creates a host of other problems, both for the macaques and people visiting one of Southeast Asia's most popular tourist sites. On a recent day outside Angkor's famous 12th-century Bayon Temple, at least a dozen YouTubers, all young men, crowded around a small group of long-tailed macaques, pushing in close to get shots of a mother with a baby on her back and tracking her everywhere she moved. The wild monkeys feasted on bananas tossed to them by YouTubers and drank from plastic bottles of water. One young macaque briefly amused itself with half-eaten neon-green popsicle discarded at the side of the path, before dropping it to move on to a banana. A blue-shirted APSARA warden looked on but those filming were unfazed, illustrating the main problem: Simply taking video of monkeys is OK, even though feeding them is frowned upon. At the same time, it's making them dependent upon handouts, and the close interaction with humans means they're increasingly becoming aggressive toward tourists. “The tourists carry their food, and they would snatch the food,” Long Kosal said, flipping through multiple photos on his phone of recent injuries caused by the macaques. “If the tourists resist, they bite and this is very dangerous.” The search for food from tourists also draws the monkeys from the surrounding jungle in to the ancient sites, where they pull away pieces of the temples and cause other damage, he added. Tourist Cadi Hutchings made sure to keep her distance from the monkeys, after being warned by her tour guide of the increasing risk of being bitten. “What they want is your food, but you also need to appreciate that there needs to be a boundary between human intervention in nature,” the 23-year-old from Wales said. “It's obviously a great thing that so many tourists come because it's such a lovely place, but at the same time, you have to be careful that with more and more people … the monkeys don't get too acclimatized.” Many other tourists, however, stopped to take their own photos and videos — some holding out bananas to draw them closer — before heading to the nearby temple site. YouTuber Ium Daro, who started filming Angkor monkeys about three months ago, followed a mother and a baby along a dirt path with his iPhone held on a selfie stick to get in close. The 41-year-old said he hadn't seen any monkeys physically abused, and that he didn't see a problem with what he and the others were doing to make a living. “The monkeys here are friendly,” he said. “After we take their pictures we give them food, so it is like we pay them for them giving us the chance to take their picture.” As he spoke, a young macaque scrambled up the leg of an onlooker, trying — unsuccessfully — to grab a plastic bottle of water out of his pocket. One YouTuber said he had started filming monkeys during the COVID-19 pandemic after the numbers of tourists plummeted, making it impossible to earn a living as a tuk-tuk driver. Daro said he was looking for a way to supplement his income as a rice vendor, and that he's too new at it to have realized many returns. Many, like Phut Phu, work as salaried employees of YouTube page operators. The 24-year-old said he started filming monkeys 2 1/2 years ago when he was looking for a job in the open air to help him deal with a lung problem. He's generally at it daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., earning $200 a month — equivalent to a Cambodian minimum-wage job — and said he hoped authorities wouldn't try and put an end to it. “I need these monkeys,” he said, holding a Nikon Coolpix camera with an extreme zoom that his employer provided, the same model most of the YouTubers were using. With the difficulties involved in identifying and catching those responsible for the physical abuse of the monkeys, coupled with the draw of easy money through YouTube videos, Long Kosal said APSARA's task is a tough one. “This is the problem for us,” he said. “We need to find solid reasons which we can use against them not to make content by abusing the monkeys.” For Nick Marx, director of wildlife rescue and care for the Wildlife Alliance — which implements conservation programs across Southeast Asia and is involved in releasing wildlife back into Angkor — the answer is simple, though perhaps equally as elusive. “The biggest problem is these [videos] are generated to make money,” he said in an interview from Phnom Penh. "If people that don’t like this kind of thing would stop watching them, that would really help solve the problem of abuse.”

ORSK — Flood sirens blared out in two Russian cities on Tuesday, warning thousands more people to evacuate immediately as two major rivers swelled to bursting point in some of the worst flooding in at least 70 years. Swiftly melting snow across swathes of the Ural Mountains and Siberia has swelled some of the biggest rivers which surge across the wilds of Russia, with at least 10,500 homes recorded as flooded so far and many thousands more at risk. The Ural River, Europe's third largest which flows into the Caspian, burst through an embankment dam on Friday flooding the city of Orsk just south of the Ural Mountains. Downstream, water levels in Orenburg, a city of around 550,000, were rising. Sirens in Kurgan, a city on the Tobol river, a tributary of the Irtysh, warned people to evacuate immediately and Governor Vadim Shumkov urged residents to take the warnings seriously. "We understand you very well: It is hard to leave your possessions and move somewhere at the call of the local authorities," Shumkov said, adding that those demanding to stay in their houses were foolish. "It's better that we laugh at the hydrologists together later and praise God for the miracle of our common salvation. But let's do it alive." The peak is expected in Orenburg on Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin has been monitoring the floods from Moscow but anger boiled over in Orsk when at least 100 Russians begged the Kremlin chief to help and chanted "shame on you" at local officials who they said had done too little. With so much water flowing into rivers, emergencies were declared in Orenburg, Kurgan and Tyumen, a major oil producing region of Western Siberia - the largest hydrocarbon basin in the world. In Kurgan, a region with around 800,000 residents, drone footage showed traditional Russian wooden houses and the golden kupolas of Russian Orthodox Churches stranded among a vast expanse of water. In Zverinogolovskoye, a town in Kurgan region, the water levels of the Tobol rose 74 centimeters in just two hours. More than 19,000 people are risk in Kurgan, the TASS news agency reported. The head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, flew to Orenburg region on Tuesday to monitor the situation after being tasked to do so by Putin, the ministry said. Kurenkov will also visit the Kurgan and Tyumen regions in the Urals, the ministry added. "Preventive measures are already being taken there, rescue teams have been strengthened, and the forces and means of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations have been put on high alert," the ministry said.  Rising water was also forecast in Siberia's Ishim river, a tributary of the Irtysh river, which along with its parent, the Ob, forms the world's seventh longest river system. It was not immediately clear why this year's floods were so bad as the snow melt is an annual event in Russia. Scientists say climate change has made flooding more frequent worldwide. 

STRASBOURG, France — Europe's highest human rights court ruled Tuesday that countries must better protect their people from the consequences of climate change, siding with a group of older Swiss women against their government in a landmark ruling that could have implications across the continent. The European Court of Human Rights rejected two other, similar cases on procedural grounds — a high-profile one brought by Portuguese young people and another by a French mayor that sought to force governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the Swiss case, nonetheless, sets a legal precedent in the Council of Europe's 46 member states against which future lawsuits will be judged. "This is a turning point," said Corina Heri, an expert in climate change litigation at the University of Zurich. Although activists have had success with lawsuits in domestic proceedings, this was the first time an international court ruled on climate change — and the first decision confirming that countries have an obligation to protect people from its effects, according to Heri. She said it would open the door to more legal challenges in the countries that are members of the Council of Europe, which includes the 27 EU nations as well as many others from Britain to Turkey. The Swiss ruling softened the blow for those who lost Tuesday. "The most important thing is that the court has said in the Swiss women's case that governments must cut their emissions more to protect human rights," said 19-year-od Sofia Oliveira, one of the Portuguese plaintiffs. "Their win is a win for us, too, and a win for everyone!" The court — which is unrelated to the European Union — ruled that Switzerland "had failed to comply with its duties" to combat climate change and meet emissions targets. That, the court said, was a violation of the women's rights, noting that the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees people "effective protection by the state authorities from the serious adverse effects of climate change on their lives, health, well-being and quality of life." A group called Senior Women for Climate Protection, whose average age is 74, had argued that they were particularly affected because older women are most vulnerable to the extreme heat that is becoming more frequent. "The court recognized our fundamental right to a healthy climate and to have our country do what it failed to do until now: that is to say taking ambitious measures to protect our health and protect the future of all," said Anne Mahrer, a member of the group. Switzerland said it would study the decision to see what steps would be needed. "We have to, in good faith, implement and execute the judgment," Alain Chablais, who represented the country at last year's hearings, told The Associated Press. Judge Siofra O'Leary, the court's president, stressed that it would be up to governments to decide how to approach climate change obligations. Activists have argued that many governments have not grasped the gravity of the climate change — and are increasingly looking to the courts to force them to do more to ensure global warming is held to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement. As part of meeting those goals, the European Union, which doesn't include Switzerland, currently has a target to be climate-neutral by 2050. Despite those efforts, the Earth shattered global annual heat records in 2023 and flirted with the world's agreed-upon warming threshold, Copernicus, a European climate agency, said in January. Celebrity climate activist Greta Thunberg was in the courtroom as the decision was announced. "These rulings are a call to action. They underscore the importance of taking our national governments to court," the 21-year-old Swede told the AP. "The first ruling by an international human rights court on the inadequacy of states' climate action leaves no doubt," said Joie Chowdhury, senior attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law, "the climate crisis is a human rights crisis."

Yangon — Residents of a Myanmar trade hub fled across the border to Thailand on Tuesday amid the sounds of explosions and after an ethnic minority armed group said they had seized a key military base nearby, locals told AFP. Fighters from the Karen National Union (KNU) said Saturday that they had seized a military base around 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Myawaddy and that more than 600 soldiers, police and their families had surrendered. Contacted by AFP on Tuesday, residents said they could hear gunfire and explosions. "Some people fled already, especially those staying around the police station," one resident told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons. "We are hearing gunfire and explosions at this moment. We heard planes flying over." They said it did not appear KNU fighters were inside the town and that a bridge connecting Myawaddy to the Thai town of Mae Sot just over the border was still open. "I heard two loud explosions," another resident of Myawaddy told AFP, also asking to remain anonymous for security reasons. "Most of the shops are closed today and locals are leaving for Thailand." Myanmar mobile phone services were not working, they said, adding that residents were using Thai SIM cards. The junta has not responded to requests for comment on the KNU claim of the surrenders at the base at Thingannyinaung. AFP has asked the KNU for comment.   A resident of Thingannyinaung said she had fled her home weeks ago following previous clashes and was now sheltering at the Thai border.  "Many IDPs are now staying near the river between Thailand and Myanmar," she said, referring to internally displaced people. "We can see thousands of people from villages are coming to cross the border every day," added the resident, who requested anonymity. Thailand's foreign minister said on Tuesday the country was prepared to accept 100,000 people fleeing Myanmar, as reports of clashes emerged.  Thailand shares a 2,400-kilometre (1,490-mile) border with Myanmar, which has been embroiled in a civil war since the junta overthrew the democratically elected government in 2021. Myawaddy sits on the Asia Highway that runs from the Thai border to Myanmar's biggest city Yangon. It passes through Karen state, which has been riven by decades of fighting between the military and the KNU, which says it is seeking autonomy for the Karen population. Since the military's 2021 coup, the KNU has given shelter to political opponents of the junta and trained newer "People's Defense Forces" battling to overthrow the military's rule. Over $1.1 billion worth of trade passed through Myawaddy from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, according to the junta's commerce ministry.  The Karen State Border Guard Force, a local military-aligned militia that controls much of Myawaddy town, announced this year that it would no longer take orders from the junta. Analysts said the move would further weaken the military's position in Karen state. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.