Shoppers across the developed world face sharply rising prices, and leaders are reaching for all manner of remedies—but that’s what central banks are for.
Behind the story of Myanmar’s brutal military leadership is a slow stream of defectors; our correspondent meets the support network they rely on. And cover songs muddle the notion of who can call it their tune.
France imposes new restrictions on anti-vaccine movement, violence escalates in Myanmar, President Biden speaks to leader of Ukraine, and Finland politics. From London.
“Bagan is actually a splendid site. You can imagine in only in this, like, fifty square kilometers, they have more than 3,000 monuments. And then all the monuments have different styles and different architecture”.
The ancient past of Bagan, Myanmar, is still visible today in the more than 3,000 temples, monasteries, and works of art and architecture that remain at the site. Beginning around 1000 CE, Bagan served as the capital city of the Pagan Kingdom. Many of the surviving monuments date from the 11th to 13th centuries. A number of these temples are still used by worshippers and pilgrims today. A 2016 earthquake, which damaged over 400 structures, brought renewed international attention to Bagan and its future.
In February 2020, a team from the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) returned from doing intensive preparatory work with international and local colleagues in Bagan to launch a long-term conservation project there. Soon after, the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 closed borders and halted travel. In February 2021, a coup d’état staged by the Burmese Military plunged the country into further uncertainty.
In this episode, Susan Macdonald, head of Buildings and Sites at the GCI, and Ohnmar Myo, the GCI’s consultant in Myanmar, discuss the history of Bagan, the demands and challenges of conservation there, and their hopes for the future of the site. Myo is a former project officer of the Cultural Unit, UNESCO, and was a principal preparator of the report that confirmed Bagan’s World Heritage Site status in 2019. This conversation was recorded in January 2021, under very different circumstances, but it captures the curiosity, ambitions, optimism, and collaborative spirit that guided the project at that time.
We preview this week’s Asean summit, which arrives at a turbulent time for the region, and discuss the possibility of an EU diplomatic mission in Kabul. Plus, can the weather bring viewers back to Fox News?
Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the country’s largest city, is home to bustling markets, numerous parks and lakes, and the towering, gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, which contains Buddhist relics and dates to the 6th century.
We get the latest from Myanmar with Asean under pressure to name an envoy to the country. Plus: we ask why Franco-UK relations are so poor and discuss official Olympic recognition for Kosovo.
We look ahead to Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial in Myanmar, as the jailed opposition leader is slapped with further corruption charges.
Plus: we look at how the papers are covering the G7 summit and unpack the latest finance news.
Myanmar is on the brink of collapse. Its armed forces are continuing a brutal crackdown—arresting, torturing and killing protesters—as Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de-facto leader, is detained. Our experts answer your questions.
Chapters 00:00 – What will happen to Aung San Suu Kyi? 02:15 – What are India and China doing? 03:37 – Should the West intervene? 05:25 – What’s happening to the Rohingya refugees? 07:16 – How will Myanmar’s neighbours be affected? 08:44 – Will civil war break out? 10:36 – Can the protesters win? 12:05 – Will Myanmar become a failed state?
Five stories to know for April 27: North Carolina shooting, Justice Department’s probe into Breonna Taylor’s death, Republicans’ drive to recall Gavin Newsom, India’s COVID deaths near 200,000 and fighting in Myanmar.
1. Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man shot by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina during an attempted arrest last week, said body camera footage showed Brown had been “executed”.
2. The Justice Department launched a civil probe of the Louisville, Kentucky, police department whose officers last year fatally shot Breonna Taylor in a botched raid.
3. A Republican-led effort to recall California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has garnered enough valid signatures to make the ballot.
4. Vital medical supplies poured into India as hospitals starved of life-saving oxygen and beds turned away coronavirus patients, while a surge in infections pushed the death toll towards 200,000.
5. Ethnic minority Karen insurgents attacked a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai border in some of the most intense clashes since a military coup threw the country into crisis.
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, from United Kingdom to Untied Kingdom, corporations and democracy in America (09:00) and Myanmar: Asia’s next failed state (17:10).
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