VOA常速英语:缅甸警方展开最全面镇压活动

Police in Myanmar launched their most sweeping crackdown in three weeks of protests against military rule on Saturday. Reuters Emily Wither reports. In the toughest crackdown yet, police in Myanmar clashed with protesters detaining dozens of people. Several media workers were also detained. Despite the crackdown, their numbers building through the morning to chant and sing, melting away into side streets as police advanced. Three domestic media outlets said a woman was shot and killed in the central town of Monwya. Police there were not immediately available for comment. The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party had won in a landslide. That's Reuters Emily Wither.

Gunmen in Nigeria on Saturday released 27 teenage boys who were kidnapped from their school last week in the northern state of Niger, where security forces continued to search for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state. Abubakar Sani Bello is the governor of Niger. "We are carefully watching their health and their condition." Earlier this month, 27 students, 3 staff and 12 members of their family were abducted by an armed gang who stormed the Government Science secondary school in the Kagara district of Niger state. The release of the school boys comes just a day after a raid on a school in Zamfara state where gunmen seized 317 girls. Schools have become targets for mass kidnappings for ransom in northern Nigeria by armed groups, many of whom carry guns and ride motorcycles.

Funeral services were held for Captain Tom Moore, the British World War II veteran who raised millions of dollars for health service workers on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19. AP's Karen Chammas reports. A World War II-era plane flew over the funeral service where soldiers also performed ceremonial duties for the captain who died on the 2nd of February in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. The private service was small, attended by just eight members of the veteran's immediate family. But soldiers carried his coffin draped in the Union flag from the hearse to a crematorium and formed a ceremonial guard. Karen Chammas,London. Visit VOAnews.com for more. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd, VOA news.