The coronavirus pandemic has worsened long-standing inequalities around the world, which left unaddressed could undermine economic stability and lead to unrest, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday.Poorest families have been hit particularly hard, and the damage to education could last for years, the International Monetary Fund said in a report released ahead of next week's Spring meetings.The findings show that the warnings fund economists sounded last year have come

Around 20 children were injured Thursday when mortar fire hit a primary school in the northern fringes of Myanmar's Rakhine state, an area where the military is locked in battle with Arakan Army (AA) rebels.The attack happened in Buthidaung township, one of several areas in lockdown, and it is not clear who was responsible.Scores of civilians have been killed, hundreds injured and some 100,000 displaced since January last year when both sides stepped up operations.The AA claims to be fig

A huge New Year's Day pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong ended in mass arrests and clashes between police and hardcore protesters, as demonstrators sought to carry their movement's momentum into 2020.Hong Kong has been battered by nearly seven months of unrest - its biggest political crisis in decades - which has seen millions come out on the streets demanding greater democratic freedoms.Organisers claimed more than a million people gathered for Wednesday's rally, which had appro

Hong Kong police fired tear gas a few minutes into 2020 as pro-democracy protesters took their movement into the New Year with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for 1 January.The city has been battered by more than six months of unrest with marches attended by millions, as well as confrontations in which police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets - and protesters have responded with petrol bombs.Before midnight on Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered across the fi

An official from Aung San Suu Kyi's political party was killed in Rakhine state after planning a show of support for the leader's defence of Myanmar against genocide allegations at The Hague, a spokesman said Thursday.The National League for Democracy's (NLD) Ye Thein, party chairman in Buthidaung township, had been held for weeks by the Arakan Army, insurgents fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.The rebels said he was killed in military attacks on Christmas

A series of explosions rocked a southern Philippine city known for Islamic State-linked violence on Sunday night, wounding at least 17 people including soldiers, a military official said.A hand grenade was thrown into a military truck patrolling Cotabato City in the restive southern island of Mindanao, with eight soldiers and four civilians sustaining injuries from the bomb's shrapnel.It was quickly followed by an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the nearby to

The Thai army has expressed "regret" after troops shot dead three Muslim men foraging in the jungle this week and promised a probe, a rare admission of wrongdoing by the military in Thailand's insurgency-scarred south.On Monday security forces killed three men aged 24-27 in a jungle in Narathiwat province, believing them to be Muslim militants. The commander of the southern army region - which oversees the three southernmost provinces - apologised for the "mistake

A police officer shot a masked protester in an incident shown live on Facebook and a man was set on fire Monday during one of the most violent days of clashes in Hong Kong since pro-democracy unrest erupted more than five months ago.Protesters, who had already begun a city-wide day of action aimed at paralysing the international financial hub, reacted to the morning shooting by rampaging through train stations, barricading streets and vandalising shops throughout the day.A masked assailant al

At least 15 people were killed and another four injured in attacks by suspected Muslim rebels in Thailand's violence-wracked south, an army spokesman said on Wednesday, the largest death toll in years. The Malay-Muslim south has been in the grip of a bloody insurgency that has killed more than 7,000 people over the last 15 years. Late Tuesday militants struck two checkpoints in Yala province manned by civil defence volunteers, opening fire on them as a group of villager

Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed a "high degree of trust" in Hong Kong's unpopular leader Carrie Lam as the two met after months of increasingly violent protests in the semi-autonomous city.Xi's show of support follows speculation that Beijing was preparing to remove Lam as city authorities struggle to contain pro-democracy demonstrations that have rocked the financial hub.Their meeting in Shanghai on Monday followed another weekend of violence in Hong Kong that