The world was waiting for her to speak. But the day after a damning United Nations report concluded that genocide had occurred in Myanmar under her watch, Aung San Suu Kyi used a public appearance to discuss only poetry and literature.

Arriving at the University of Yangon 24 hours after the publication of the UN fact-finding mission’s report, which concluded that the Myanmar military had carried out a genocide of the Rohingya in Rakhine and were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states, the Myanmar leader chose to stay silent on all issues of politics and made no mention of the UN.

The former Nobel peace prize winner, who was once heralded as the face of a new democratic Myanmar, but whose government is now facing mounting calls to be investigated by the international criminal court (ICC) for war crimes, spent the afternoon talking to students about the merits of Gone With the Wind, and the differences between fiction and non-fiction.(theguardian)…[+]

Survivors of a shooting at a video gamers’ competition in Florida in which three people died have told of chaotic scenes as those caught up in the violence trampled over others in panic as they tried to escape. The dead included the gunman, David Katz, 24, a player on the gaming circuit who is believed to have been angry because he lost Sunday’s tournament. Eleven people were also wounded in the gunfire.

One witness who was present during the Madden NFL 19 video game tournament in Jacksonville said she saw Katz as he fired while walking backwards. “We did see him, two hands on the gun, walking back, just popping rounds,” said Taylor Poindexter, 26, who had been ordering pizza at the bar when she heard the first shot at about 1.30pm.

“I was scared for my life and my boyfriend’s,” she told reporters, standing on crutches after spraining her ankle trying to escape.(theguardian)…[+]

Myanmar’s military has been accused of genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state in a damning UN report that alleged the army was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across the country.

The UN report said it found conclusive evidence that the actions of the country’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, “undoubtedly amounted to the gravest crimes under international law” in Rakhine as well as in Kachin and Shan, states also riven by internal conflicts.

The UN investigators were denied access to Myanmar by the government but interviewed 875 witnesses who had fled the country. They found that the military were “killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children and burning entire villages” in Rakhine, home to the Muslim Rohingya, and in Shan and Kachin. The Tatmadaw also carried out murders, imprisonments, enforced disappearances, torture, rapes and used sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and enslavement – all of which constitute crimes against humanity.(theguardian)...[+]

The governor in charge of the Egyptian resort town where two British holidaymakers died suddenly last week has confirmed there was an unusual smell in their hotel room, adding to fears there may have been something in the ventilation system that contributed to their deaths.

Major General Ahmed Abdullah, the Red Sea governor, told reporters in Hurghada that “there was a strange odour in the room” where John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan, 63 fell ill last Monday night. He said the room at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel has been sealed off and protected while a committee of specialists investigate the ventilation and air conditioning systems. The Coopers’ daughter, Kelly Omerod, who was with her parent on holiday said on Sunday that she believed “there was something in the room that’s actually killed them” and that they may have inhaled something that poisoned them.

Several hotel guests who were staying at the resort at the same time as the Coopers reported gastric problems and complained of being served raw chicken and fish, and drinks in dirty glasses. The Coopers, however, had not suffered upset stomachs, Ormerod said. At least one other guest reported lung problems. Alison Cope from Birmingham said a member of her party had suffered headaches, breathing difficulties and water on the lung, which a British doctor said was consistent with legionnaires’ disease.(theguardian)…[+]