Distressing mass killing of 43 children
Dozens of children have reportedly been killed in front of their families amid months of ongoing uproar sparked by Myanmar's military coup.
At least 43 children - the youngest being a girl aged just seven - have been killed in the past two months, according to child protection agency Save the Children.
The charity, based in Australia, has called on the government to do more to help defenceless victims in Myanmar, where the democratically-elected government was overthrown on February 1.
The country's military cited unsubstantiated claims of fraud in a November election that deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party swept.
At least 538 civilians have been killed in protests against the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.
The military has now ordered telecom firms to cut wireless broadband, which adds to an existing ban on mobile data.
Anti-coup activists are now working on alternative forms of communication - sharing radio frequencies, offline internet resources and providers of text message news alerts.
Internet access is currently limited to fixed-line services only.
Western countries have condemned the bloodshed and Australia has suspended military cooperation with Myanmar and redirected aid to non-government organisations in response.
Anger has sparked across towns and cities and reignited hostilities between the armed forces and ethnic minority insurgents in several different regions.
New charges of violating the official secrets act were filed against the Nobel laureate, her chief lawyer said on Thursday, the most serious so far, on top of two comparatively minor offences.
Law-breakers could be penalised with 14 years jail
Breaches of the colonial-era law are punishable by 14 years in prison.
The charges were filed against three of Suu Kyi's deposed cabinet ministers and her Australian economic adviser Sean Turnell, who are among hundreds detained in the military's sweeping crackdown since it took power, alleging fraud in an election swept by Suu Kyi's party.
Lawyer Min Min Soe said Suu Kyi looked in good health during a video hearing on Thursday.
However he was unable to tell whether the ousted leader, the figurehead of Myanmar's decades-long fight for democracy, was aware of the situation in her country.
With AAP
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