Your Thursday Briefing: Myanmar’s Crisis

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/briefing/myanmar-refugees-junta.html

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We’re covering the anguish of refugees from Myanmar and record-breaking Covid cases in the U.S. and Europe.

Across Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, trying to escape violence since the military seized power in a coup on Feb. 1.

Many are living in tents in the jungles of Myanmar. Some have left their homeland entirely, pouring into neighboring countries.

For those who stay, it is a fight to survive. The junta has created a humanitarian crisis in Myanmar that is worsening by the day. Rights groups say soldiers are blocking aid convoys. Children are malnourished. And the military is deploying more troops to crush resistance.

For those who leave, it is a life in limbo. Many are struggling to adapt to a place they don’t quite know, a government that doesn’t quite welcome them, and a future with no certainty. India is cracking down to prevent the region bordering Myanmar from accepting many refugees.

Worsening violence: More than 1,300 people have been killed by the junta, according to a rights group. The military was accused over the weekend of massacring at least 35 villagers, including women and children, in Kayah State.

Left hopeless: “Now we are alive, but it’s no different from being dead,” said Hei Mang, a 70-year-old whose family has been forced to ask neighbors in Myanmar for food.

Across Europe and the U.S., records for new coronavirus infections are being set day after day, as the Omicron variant tears through populations with a swiftness outpacing anything witnessed over the past two years.

The seven-day average of U.S. cases topped 267,000 on Tuesday, a record high. Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain all set records for new daily case counts this week as well. For many countries, the wave is only starting to rise.

For the vaccinated, Omicron may be milder than previous variants, but the wave of new infections is causing chaos for hospitals, testing centers and businesses. Tests are increasingly hard to find, even in places like Britain where they were once in reliable supply.

The World Health Organization warned that the circulation of the Delta variant and the rapid spread of Omicron could create a “tsunami” of infections that would overwhelm health care systems.

Quotable: “Delta and Omicron are now twin threats driving up cases to record numbers, leading to spikes in hospitalization and deaths,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director general.

Details: In France, which set a record of 208,000 new cases on Wednesday, the most in any European country since the pandemic began, the health minister said the increase was “dizzying.” In the Washington, D.C., region, cases are skyrocketing.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

Saudi Arabia will require booster shots to enter many public places.

Police in Singapore charged a man who was accused of allowing another person to use his proof of vaccination to go to a bar.

Stand News, an outspoken pro-democracy news website in Hong Kong, announced that it would shut down after the police arrested seven people connected with it. All employees of the site were dismissed.

The police raided the site’s headquarters on Wednesday, in yet another government crackdown on the city’s once-vibrant independent press. The seven people were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to publish seditious material.

After Apple Daily folded in June, Stand News — which was founded as a nonprofit in 2014 after an earlier round of mass pro-democracy protests that year — became one of the city’s last openly pro-democracy outlets. Stand News reporters documented the 2019 Hong Kong protests, including a mob attack on protesters.

Quotable: “Stand News’s editorial policy was to be independent and committed to safeguarding Hong Kong’s core values of democracy, human rights, freedom, the rule of law and justice,” the announcement said. “Thank you, readers, for your continued support.”

Asia Pacific

A Times reporter who once served in the Marines returned to the site of a battle in Afghanistan to see what had changed since the Taliban took over — and to meet a commander he once fought.

Indonesian authorities decided to allow a boat that had drifted for days carrying 120 Rohingya Muslims to land because of the severe conditions experienced by the passengers, The Associated Press reported.

Around the World

Record flooding in northeastern Brazil killed at least 20 people.

What did a year of Brexit bring British companies? Higher costs and endless forms to fill out.

A Moscow court ordered the closure of the Memorial Human Rights Center, which compiles a list of political prisoners, a day after its parent organization was ordered to close.

Thousands of cranes have died and more than half a million chickens have been culled in Israel as it tries to contain an avian flu outbreak.

With elections approaching in France, the left — once a mighty force in French politics — is now largely in tatters, and incapable of the one thing that offers a path to victory: unity.

A Morning Read

For almost two decades, the hulk of a never-finished hotel has marred an idyllic coastline in southern Spain. Its fate remains cloudy, but the lesson is clear: It’s easier to damage the environment than to fix it.

Lives lived: Keri Hulme, the Maori writer who became the first New Zealander to win the prestigious Booker Prize with her luminous debut novel, “The Bone People,” died. She was 74.

Of the thousands of articles published by The Times this year, the 10 below were among those that people spent a particularly long time reading. Revisit these great reads.

Martina Navratilova has plenty to say. (June 6)

Katie Couric’s memoir includes family skeletons. (Oct. 14)

When Dasani left home. (Sept. 28)

Four secrets about “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” (June 11)

Maureen Dowd interviews Cindy Adams, gossip’s G.O.A.T. (Aug. 7)

A Madonna who shows the beauty in going overboard. (Aug. 13)

How to survive a bear attack. (Aug. 28)

Fifty reasons to love Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.” (June 20)

David Sedaris knows what you’ll laugh at when no one is judging. (Oct. 24)

What happens when elemental forces clash in Chicago? (July 7)

What to Cook

Honey-glazed mushrooms with udon delivers the winning trifecta of sweet, savory and earthy.

What to Drink

Great Champagnes and sparkling wines to help you ring in 2022.

Wellness

Got an eye twitch? It’s a signal from your body asking you to slow down, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

What to Read

These new books explore the many ways Covid-19 has affected our lives.

Now Time to Play

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Most widely-spoken language of Senegal (five letters).

And here is today’s Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Melina

P.S. The Times reporter Erin Griffith shared what it’s like to report on the Elizabeth Holmes trial.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about a Dogecoin millionaire.

You can reach Melina and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.