World

MEXICO CITY — Desperate rescue workers scrabbled through rubble in a floodlit search on Wednesday for dozens of children feared buried beneath a Mexico City school, one of hundreds of buildings wrecked by the country's most lethal earthquake in a generation.

The magnitude 7.1 shock killed at least 217 people, nearly half of them in the capital, 32 years to the day after a devastating 1985 quake. The disaster came as Mexico still reels from a powerful tremor that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country less than two weeks ago.

Among the twisted concrete and steel ruin of the Enrique Rebsamen school, soldiers and firefighters found at least 22 dead children and two adults, while another 30 children and 12 adults were missing, President Enrique Pena Nieto said. 

There were chaotic scenes at the school as bulldozers moved rubble under the buzz and glare of floodlights powered by generators, with parents clinging to hope their children had survived. 

"They keep pulling kids out, but we know nothing of my daughter," said 32-year-old Adriana D'Fargo, her eyes red after hours waiting for news of her seven-year-old.

Three survivors were found at around midnight as volunteer rescue teams formed after the 1985 quake and known as "moles" crawled deep under the rubble.

TV network Televisa reported that 15 more bodies, mostly children, had been recovered, while 11 children were rescued. The school is for children aged 3 to 14.

The earthquake toppled dozens of buildings, broke gas mains and sparked fires across the city and other towns in central Mexico. Falling rubble and billboards crushed cars. 

In a live broadcast, one newsreader had time to say "this is not a drill", before weaving his way out of the buckling studio. 

Parts of colonial-era churches crumbled in the state of Puebla, where the US Geological Survey located the quake's epicenter, some 158km southwest of the capital, at a depth of 51km.

As the earth shook, Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano, visible from the capital on a clear day, had a small eruption. On its slopes, a church in Atzitzihuacan collapsed during mass, killing 15 people, Puebla Governor Jose Antonio Gali said.

US President Donald Trump mentioned the earthquake in a tweet, saying: "God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you."

In Rome, Pope Francis told pilgrims that he was praying for all the victims, the wounded, their families and the rescue workers in the majority Catholic country. "In this moment of pain, I want to express my closeness and prayers to all the beloved Mexican people," he said.

Night searches

Residents of Mexico City, a metropolitan region of some 20 million people, slept in the streets while authorities and volunteers set up tented collection centres to distribute food and water.

Volunteers, soldiers and firefighters formed human chains and dug with hammers and picks to find dust-covered survivors and dead bodies in the remains of apartment buildings, schools and a factory. 

The middle-class neighborhood of Del Valle was hit hard, with several buildings toppling over on just one street. Reserve rescue workers arrived late at night and were still pulling survivors out in the small hours of Wednesday. 

With power out in much of the city, the work was carried out in the dark or with flashlights and generators. Rescue workers requested silence as they listened for signs of life.

Some soldiers were armed with automatic weapons. Authorities said schools would be shut on Wednesday as damage was assessed.

Emergency personnel and equipment were being deployed across affected areas so that "throughout the night we can continue aiding the population and eventually find people beneath the rubble", Peٌa Nieto said in a video posted on Facebook earlier on Tuesday evening.

In Obrera, central Mexico City, people applauded when rescuers managed to retrieve four people alive, with cheers of "si se puede" — "yes we can" — ringing out.

Volunteers continued arriving throughout the night, following calls from the civil protection agency, the Red Cross and firefighters.

The quake had killed 86 people in the capital by early Wednesday morning, according to Civil Protection Chief Luis Felipe Puente — fewer than he had previously estimated. In Morelos State, just to the south, 71 people were killed, with hundreds of homes destroyed. In Puebla at least 43 died. 

Another 17 people were reported killed in the states of Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca. 

As many as 4.6 million homes, businesses and other facilities had lost electricity, according to national power company Comisiَn Federal de Electricidad, including 40 per cent of homes in Mexico City. 

Moises Amador Mejia, a 44-year-old employee of the civil protection agency, was working late into the night to rescue people trapped in a collapsed building in Mexico City's bohemian Condesa neighbourhood. 

"The idea is to stay here until we find who is inside. Day and night." 

NAYPYITAW — Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday condemned human rights violations in Rakhine state and said violators would be punished, but she did not address UN accusations of a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the military.

The Nobel Peace laureate's remarks came in her first address to the nation since attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on August 25 sparked a military response that has forced 421,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Western diplomats and aid officials, hoping for an unequivocal condemnation of violence and hate speech, welcomed the tone of Suu Kyi's message, but some doubted if she had done enough to deflect global criticism.

At the annual UN General Assembly, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, gave a cautious response and repeated a call for authorities to end military operations and allow humanitarian access.

"I take note of State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi's address today and their intention to implement the recommendations of the advisory committee for Rakhine state, that was chaired by Kofi Annan, within the shortest time possible. 

"But let me emphasise again, the authorities in Myanmar must end the military operations, allow unhindered humanitarian access and recognize the right of refugees to return in safety and dignity; and they must also address the grievances of the Rohingya, whose status has been left unresolved for far too long." 

Human rights group Amnesty International described Suu Kyi's speech as "little more than a mix of untruths and victim-blaming", saying she and her government were "burying their heads in the sand" for ignoring the army's role in the violence.

"We condemn all human rights violations and unlawful violence. We are committed to the restoration of peace and stability and rule of law throughout the state," Suu Kyi said in her address in the capital, Naypyitaw.

"Action will be taken against all people, regardless of their religion, race and political position, who go against the law of the land and violate human rights," she said.

Long feted in the West as a champion of democracy in the Buddhist-majority country during years of military rule and house arrest, Suu Kyi has faced growing criticism for saying little about abuses faced by the Rohingya.

The United States urged Myanmar on Monday to end military operations, grant humanitarian access, and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes.

Myanmar's generals remain in full charge of security and Suu Kyi did not comment on the military or its actions, except to say there had been "no armed clashes and there have been no clearance operations" since September 5.

Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh have told of soldiers and Buddhist civilians attacking and burning villages as recently as last Friday. It was not possible to verify their accounts.

Burning villages

Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population. The UN rights agency said it was "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar rejects that, saying its forces are tackling insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which has claimed responsibility for attacks since October. The government has declared it a terrorist group and accused it of setting the fires and attacking civilians.

Western governments that backed Suu Kyi's campaign against military rule still see her as the best hope for Myanmar's political and economic transition.

But she has to avoid angering the powerful army.

She also has to avoid alienating her supporters by being seen to take the side of a Muslim minority that enjoys little sympathy in a country that has seen a surge of Buddhist nationalism.

Some diplomats said she had not squarely addressed the problem of violence in her speech. 

But her domestic audience was happy.

Thousands of supporters cheered and let balloons float into the sky in the main city of Yangon as they watched her speech on a big screen. Social media saw a blizzard of posts with the message: "We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi".

The military's spokesman was not available for comment. One official familiar with the military's thinking said it would have no objection to her speech.

Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said satellite images showed about half of all Rohingya villages had been torched and it was time that Suu Kyi, the government and military faced the fact that the security forces "shoot and kill who they want" and burn villages.

Amnesty International said there was "overwhelming evidence" the security forces were engaged in ethnic cleansing. 

"While it was positive to hear Aung San Suu Kyi condemn human rights violations in Rakhine state, she is still silent about the role of the security forces," the group said.

TAIPEI — Amidst rapidly growing developments in the field of information technology, Taiwan is shifting its focus to software innovation and digital applications, moving beyond the hardware production.

Speaking during the 2017 World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) that took place in Taipei recently, Taiwanese officials looked into challenges and opportunities the sector faces, while announcing a series of schemes to strengthen Taiwan's presence in the field of software and digital application, which are seen as the future of the field.

Taiwan is keen on creating closer cooperative relationships with countries throughout Asia regarding smart applications and digital economies, President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen said at the opening of the WCIT, which attracted experts from more than 80 countries as well as 250 start-ups in the sector.

With eyes focused on transformation towards the digital economy and digital applications, she said the Taiwanese government has been liberalising laws and regulations, and promoting industrial innovation programmes such as our Asia Silicon Valley programme. 

"We also have a Digital Nation and Innovative Economic Development Plan called DIGI-plus to upgrade our digital infrastructure, with a special budget to accelerate implementation" said the president. The DIGI-Plus is a 2017-2025 programme for developing a digital country and innovation economy to reinforce digital infrastructure.

President Tsai expressed confidence that completing these projects will help make government more efficient, upgrade industry, bridge the urban-rural divide, and raise overall quality of life. And she believes that these advances will help Taiwan leave old industrial models behind, and gradually become a benchmark country for digital economy.

"Taiwan is now moving from contract hardware manufacturing into innovative smart applications. Taiwan welcomes outstanding personnel and enterprises involved in the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, and Artificial Intelligence to connect with our domestic supply chains, and develop innovative digital products and application services. Second, the Taiwanese government will provide sufficient resources so that the younger generation can fulfill their digital dreams. "A key task for my administration is to create an industrial innovation-friendly institutional environment," she said.

In a meeting with Digital Minister without Portfolio Audrey Tang on the sidelines of the conference, the minister said Taiwan was known for semiconductors, peripherals and all kind of hardware manufacturing. 

"But we are now also changing in our own value chain, driven by technologies such as artificial intelligence on the edge, Internet of Things etc., which all require us to move closer to the user and closer to design and to user needs," said Tang.

Stressing the importance of upgrading curricula in the journey towards transformation and focus on the software and digital application, the minister said work is under way in Taiwan to upgrade the curricula with focus on "what we call literacies or the building of characters. The three main characters are autonomy, interaction, and the common good".

"The idea is for the new curriculum to build up a generation who just think about their social missions, think about what common good they can bring to the world, or whatever self-fulfillment they want to make, while making others no worse. The idea is that whatever task they learn along the way is discoverable. If this gets automated, that's great, because they can focus on the higher values," said the minister, stressing on Taiwan's eagerness to share expertise with other countries in these areas.

In a meeting with the press during the conference, Minister without Portfolio Wu Cheng-chung said the future of Taiwan lies in the field of digital applications and software.

"We have launched key schemes for this transformation and are working on several fronts whether in legislation or regulation or via support extended to startups," said Chung.

"There is more focus on the internet of things, Big Data, artificial intelligence and all digital apps," said Chung.

Officials during the event stressed on keenness for increased cooperation with countries in Asia and the Middle East including Jordan, especially in the field of supporting and incubating startups and software development.

 At the opening of the event,  World Information Technology And Services Alliance Chairman Chiu Yueh-Hsiang stated that technology has become a vital part of every aspect of our lives including communication, education, manufacturing, medical cares, transportation, urban development, and resource management.  

The purpose of WCIT is to facilitate communication between different countries and enhance the application of IOC.  By connecting the dots together, "we will be able to achieve a prosperous future". 

LONDON — British police said Sunday they had made a second arrest over the bombing of a London Underground train, as their probe into the terror attack widened.

The 21-year-old man, who has not been named, was detained late Saturday in Hounslow, on the western rim of the capital, a police statement said.

Officers had earlier arrested an 18-year-old man over Friday's attack at Parsons Green station, which injured 30 people, and said they were hunting for more suspects.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Sunday that police are trying to find out how the teenager was "radicalised".

The bomb went off in a packed carriage and although the device is thought to have malfunctioned it still caused a large explosion followed by what witnesses said was a "fireball". 

It was Britain's fifth terror attack in six months — a series that has claimed 35 lives.

The Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for Friday's explosion.

The first arrest on Saturday took place at the Dover ferry terminal — a main link to Europe. A "number of items" were recovered during the operation and the teenager is now in custody in London, officers said.

Police also raided a home in Sunbury, a town west of London on Saturday. Local residents quoted in British media said the owners of the house were elderly foster parents.

Terror threat 'critical' 

Britain's terror threat was raised on Friday to "critical", indicating that another attack is feared, and soldiers have been deployed to guard key sites, including nuclear facilities.

The critical warning was last used after the deadly suicide bombing at a pop concert in the northwestern city of Manchester in May that was also claimed by Daesh.

Rudd voiced doubt over the Daesh claim it was behind Friday's incident.

"It is inevitable that Daesh will try to claim responsibility but we have no evidence to suggest that yet," she told the BBC.

Rudd had also earlier dismissed as "pure speculation" US President Donald Trump's claim, made Friday on Twitter, that a "loser terrorist" behind the attack was known to Scotland Yard.

The tweet had already drawn a terse rebuke from Prime Minister Theresa May, who said: "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

 The improvised device at Parsons Green, a quiet and well-off residential district, failed to detonate fully.

But the blast inflicted flash burns on passengers, and prompted dozens of others to flee in panic.

'Fireball flew down carriage' 

Twitter user @Rrigs posted pictures of a white bucket smouldering on the train and described how a "fireball flew down carriage and we just jumped out open door".

The bucket, which was inside a frozen food bag, looked like the type used by builders and there appeared to be cables coming from it.

Louis Hather, 21, had been travelling to work and was three carriages down from where the explosion took place.

"I could smell the burning. Like when you burn plastic," he told AFP.

He was trampled on as panicking passengers stampeded out of the station and his leg was badly cut and bruised.

The bomb's remnants were examined by forensic scientists but no further details were released.

Several victims were taken to hospital, although the health authorities said none were in a serious life-threatening condition.

DHAKA — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina headed for the UN General Assembly on Saturday to plead for global help coping with the Rohingya crisis, as the refugee deluge escaping a crackdown in Myanmar topped 400,000.

The prime minister left a day after her government summoned the Myanmar envoy for the third time to protest over its neighbour's actions. Hasina is to demand more pressure on Myanmar during talks in New York.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by Rohingya Muslims since violence erupted in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar's Rakhine state on August 25.

The United Nations said Saturday that the total number of people to have entered Bangladesh having fled the unrest had now reached 409,000, a leap of 18,000 in a day.

Conditions are worsening in the border town of Cox's Bazar where the influx has added to pressures on Rohingya camps already overwhelmed with 300,000 people from earlier waves of refugees.

The UN said two children and a woman were killed in a "rampage" when a private group handed clothes near a camp on Friday.

Hasina is to speak at the UN on Thursday.

"She will seek immediate cessation of violence in Rakhine state in Myanmar and ask the UN secretary general to send a fact-finding mission to Rakhine," a spokesman for the prime minister, Nazrul Islam, told AFP.

"She will also call the international community and the UN to put pressure on Myanmar for the repatriation of all the Rohingya refugees to their homeland in Myanmar," he said.

Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali said: "We will continue international pressure on the Myanmar government to immediately end its ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya."

Backlash fears amid Myanmar tensions 

As tensions mount between the neighbours, the foreign ministry on Friday summoned the Myanmar charge d'affaires in Dhaka to protest at alleged violations of its airspace by Myanmar drones and helicopter.

The ministry warned that the three violations between September 10 and 14 could lead to "unwarranted consequences". Myanmar did not immediately comment.

The Bangladesh government earlier protested to the embassy over the planting of landmines near their border, which have killed several Rohingya, and the treatment of the refugees.

UN leader Antonio Guterres has also said Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya could amount to ethnic cleansing.

The deaths of the three refugees backed warnings by UN agencies and other relief groups that the crisis could get out of control.

The World Health Organisation and UN children's agency on Saturday launched vaccination campaigns against measles, rubella and polio. They estimate that 60 per cent of the new arrivals are children.

Most Rohingya, who spent more than a week trekking cross-country from Rakhine to reach the Bangladesh border, have found existing camps overflowing and have instead settled on muddy roadsides.

Many families do not have a shelter over their heads and refugees have been fighting for food and water deliveries.

"The needs are seemingly endless and the suffering is deepening," said UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado.

Outside the giant Balukali camp, Jamila Khatun, 60, sat under a blue plastic bin bag held up by bamboo poles with her children and grandchildren as she recounted her journey to Bangladesh.

She said she handed over her jewellery to a Bangladesh boatman two days ago to get across the river frontier from Myanmar.

"We walked by night for three or four days to avoid the military and then came over by boat.

"We don't know what we will do or where we will live but if people here feed us we will stay. We don't want to go back," she told AFP.

Nur Khan Liton, a respected Bangladeshi rights activist working with the refugees in Cox's Bazar, told AFP: "Refugees are still pouring in. But there is no attempt to bring discipline and order in the aid management."

 Liton said the Rohingya "have become victims of muggings and extortion" and that cases of diarrhoea are spreading. "I heard that one Rohingya boy has died of diarrhoea."

 The government has put the army in charge of ferrying foreign relief aid from airports to Cox's Bazar. It also plans to build 14,000 shelters, which it hopes will be enough for 400,000 people. Each shelter can house six refugee families.

Hasina has ordered the shelters erected within 10 days, Bangladesh's disaster management secretary Shah Kama told AFP.

The authorities have sent police reinforcements to Cox's Bazar to protect Buddhist temples in case of a radical Muslim backlash. 

SEOUL/TOKYO — A North Korean state agency threatened on Thursday to use nuclear weapons to "sink" Japan and reduce the United States to "ashes and darkness" for supporting a UN Security Council resolution and sanctions over its latest nuclear test.

The Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which handles the North's external ties and propaganda, also called for the breakup of the Security Council, which it called "a tool of evil" made up of "money-bribed" countries that move at the order of the United States.

"The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche. Japan is no longer needed to exist near us," the committee said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency. 

Juche is the North's ruling ideology that mixes Marxism and an extreme form of go-it-alone nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong-un.

Regional tension has risen markedly since the reclusive North conducted its sixth, and by far its most powerful, nuclear test on September 3, following a series of missile tests, including one that flew over Japan.

The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on a US-drafted resolution and a new round of sanctions on Monday in response, banning North Korea's textile exports that are the second largest only to coal and mineral, and capping fuel supplies.

The North reacted to the latest action by the Security Council, which had the backing of veto-holding China and Russia, by reiterating threats to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea.

"Let's reduce the US mainland into ashes and darkness. Let's vent our spite with mobilisation of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now," the statement said.

Japan's Nikkei stock index and dollar/yen currency pared gains, although traders said that was more because of several Chinese economic indicators released on Thursday rather than a reaction to the North's latest statement.

South Korea's won also edged down around the same time over domestic financial concerns.

Despite the North's threats, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he was against having nuclear weapons in his country, either by developing its own arsenal or bringing back US tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn in the early 1990s.

"To respond to North Korea by having our own nuclear weapons will not maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula and could lead to a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia," Moon said in an interview with CNN.

South Korea's Unification Ministry also said it planned to provide $8 million through the UN World Food Programme and UNICEF to help infants and pregnant women in the North.

The move marks Seoul's first humanitarian assistance for the North since its fourth nuclear test in January 2016 and is based on a longstanding policy of separating humanitarian aid from politics, the ministry said.

‘Dancing to the tune’

The North's latest threats also singled out Japan for "dancing to the tune" of the United States, saying it should never be pardoned for not offering a sincere apology for its "never-to-be-condoned crimes against our people", an apparent reference to Japan's wartime aggression.

It also referred to South Korea as "traitors and dogs" of the United States.

Japan criticised the North's statement harshly.

"This announcement is extremely provocative and egregious. It is something that markedly heightens regional tension and is absolutely unacceptable," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visiting India, called for strict enforcement of the UN resolution, saying the world must force a change.

The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on a US-drafted resolution and a new round of sanctions against North Korea on Monday in response to its latest and most powerful test, banning North Korea's textile exports that are the second largest only to coal and mineral, and capping fuel supplies.

North Korea had already rejected the Security Council resolution, vowing to press ahead with its nuclear and missile programmes.

A tougher initial US draft of Monday's resolution was weakened to win the support of China, the North's lone major ally, and Russia. Significantly, it stopped short of imposing a full embargo on oil exports to North Korea, most of which come from China.

The latest sanctions also make it illegal for foreign firms to form commercial joint ventures with North Korean entities.

US President Donald Trump has vowed that North Korea will never be allowed to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile, but has also asked China to do more to rein in its neighbour. China in turn favours an international response to the problem.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the international community had reached a "high consensus" on trying to realise a peaceful solution.

"We urge the relevant directly involved parties to seize the opportunity and have the political nerve to make the correct political choice as soon as possible," Hua told a regular press briefing.

The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies.

The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.

YANGON — Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi will address the crisis engulfing Rakhine state next week, in her first speech since scores were killed in violence that has sent nearly 380,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh and sullied her reputation as a defender of the oppressed.

A crackdown by Myanmar’s army, launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25, has pushed vast numbers of refugees from the stateless Muslim minority across the border.

The violence has incubated a humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border and put intense global pressure on Suu Kyi to condemn the army campaign, which the UN has described as having all the hallmarks of “ethnic cleansing”.

At a press conference late Wednesday government spokesman Zaw Htay said Suu Kyi would “speak for national reconciliation and peace” in a televised address on September 19.

He said the Nobel laureate, who has been pilloried by rights groups for failing to speak up for the Rohingya minority, would skip the United Nations General Assembly next week to tackle the crisis unfurling at home.

She was needed in Myanmar to “manage humanitarian assistance” and “security concerns” caused by the violence. Competing rumours have intensified anti-Muslim rhetoric across the Buddhist-majority country.

Suu Kyi has been condemned for a lack of moral leadership and compassion in the face of a crisis that has shocked the international community.

Her limited comments so far have referenced a “huge iceberg of misinformation” and played down alleged atrocities against the Rohingya. 

Bangladesh is struggling to provide relief for exhausted and hungry refugees — some 60 per cent of whom are children — while nearly 30,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as well as Hindus have also been displaced inside Myanmar.

Nine thousand more Rohingya refugees poured into Bangladesh on Wednesday, the UN said, as authorities worked to build a new camp for tens of thousands of arrivals who have no shelter.

Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s first civilian leader in decades, has no control over the powerful military, which ran the country for 50 years. A free election was finally held in 2015.

There is also scant sympathy among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority for the Rohingya, who are branded “Bengalis” — shorthand for illegal immigrants.

But outside of her country Suu Kyi’s reputation as a defender of the oppressed is in ruins.

Rohingya refugees have told chilling accounts of soldiers firing on civilians and razing entire villages in the north of Rakhine state with the help of Buddhist mobs.

The army denies the allegations.

The UN Security Council was scheduled later Wednesday to discuss the refugee crisis in a closed-door meeting, with China expected to block any attempts to censure its Southeast Asian ally.

Ahead of the meeting twelve Nobel Laureates signed an open letter urging the Security Council to “intervene immediately by using all available means” to end the tragedy and “crimes against humanity” unfolding in Rakhine.

Fallen star 

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner garlanded for her dignified and defiant democracy activism under Myanmar’s former junta, was once the darling of the international community.

She made her debut before the UN assembly last September, winning warm applause for a speech delivered months after she became Myanmar’s first civilian leader.

In it she vowed to find a solution to long-running ethnic and religious hatred in Rakhine “that will lead to peace, stability and development for all communities within the state”.

In a sign of how far her star has fallen, the same rights groups that campaigned for her release from house arrest have blasted her for failing to speak up in defence of the Rohingya.

Sympathisers say her hands are tied by the army, which still runs parts of the government and has complete control over all security matters.

While the US and other Western powers — as well as the Muslim world — have criticised the military campaign, Beijing on Tuesday offered Myanmar support — saying the country was entitled to “safeguard” its stability.

Human Rights Watch’s Phil Robertson urged the Security Council to pass a “global arms embargo” on Myanmar’s military but said he expected China to to water down any moves.

The 1.1-million strong Rohingya have suffered years of discrimination in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship even though many have long-lasting roots in the country.

Bangladesh does not want the group either, though it is providing the refugees with temporary shelter.

Many Rohingya have died making the perilous journey across the border, with nearly 100 drowning in boat trips across the Naf river that divides the two countries.

Bangladeshi authorities want to establish a 2,000-acre camp close to Myanmar’s border to house around 250,000 Rohingya and are also planning to build facilities on a flood-prone island.

FLORIDA CITY/MIAMI — Residents returned on Tuesday to parts of the Florida Keys Archipelago that was hammered by Hurricane Irma’s high winds and storm surge, while the death toll rose in the second major hurricane to hit the United States this year.

Irma, which had rampaged through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, was downgraded to a tropical depression on Monday, and would likely dissipate from Tuesday evening, the National Hurricane Centre said.

At its peak the storm prompted evacuation orders for 6.5 million people in Florida, the largest evacuation in modern US history.

Irma killed 43 people in the Caribbean and at least 11 in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

A local Florida official said there had been more deaths yet to be reported, particularly on the Florida Keys, where Irma arrived on Key Cudjoe as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 215km per hour on Sunday.

Local authorities told around 90,000 residents of Miami Beach and people from some parts of the Keys they could go home, but warned it might not be prudent to remain there.

“This is going to be a frustrating event. It’s going to take some time to let people back into their homes particularly in the Florida Keys,” Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told a news conference.

Millions of people were still without power in Florida.

‘So many areas’ flooded

The city of Jacksonville, in Florida’s northeast, was recovering from heavy flooding.

“There are so many areas that you would never have thought would have flooded that have flooded,” Florida Governor Rick Scott told reporters after a helicopter tour of the area.

Irma devastated several Caribbean islands en route to Florida. It destroyed about one-third of the buildings on the Dutch-ruled portion of St Martin Island, the Dutch Red Cross said on Tuesday.

The storm was the second major hurricane to hit the United States in a little more than two weeks. Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston late last month, killing about 60 and wreaking some $180 billion in damage, largely through flooding.

Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers said on Monday that people had been killed in the Keys, which have nearly 80,000 permanent residents, but she did not have a count on how many. 

The US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was off Florida’s east coast and two amphibious assault ships were en route to help in the Keys.

Monroe County opened road access on Tuesday morning for residents and business owners from Key Largo, the main island at the upper end of the chain, as well as the towns of Tavernier and Islamorada farther to the south, fire officials said.

No timetable was given for reopening the remainder of the Keys, which are linked by a series of causeways and bridges down to Key West, a popular tourist spot on the southern tip of Florida.

Some deaths during cleanup

Several major airports in Florida that halted passenger operations due to Irma began limited service on Tuesday, including Miami International, one of the busiest US airports.

Utility companies reported some 6.9 million homes and businesses were without electricity in Florida and neighbouring states, and said it could take weeks to fully restore service.

Insured property losses in Florida from Irma were expected to run from $20 billion to $40 billion, catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimated.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told an investor conference in New York that the storm would ultimately boost the economy by sparking rebuilding.

“There clearly is going to be an impact on GDP in the short run, we will make it up in the long run,” Mnuchin said. “As we rebuild, that will help GDP. It’s too early to tell what the exact estimates will be, but I think it won’t have a bad impact on the economy.”

 Several of the deaths caused by Irma came as people started cleaning up and making repairs.

A 55-year-old man died on Monday in Tampa, Florida, while using a chainsaw in a tree during storm cleanup, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

A man died in Worth County, Georgia, on Monday while repairing the roof of a shed during sustained winds of 67kph with gusts up to 112kph, a National Weather Service report said.

A man was found dead in Winter Garden, Florida, after being electrocuted by a downed power line, local police said.

One man in South Carolina was killed by a falling tree limb and another died in a traffic accident, officials said.

The National Hurricane Centre was monitoring another hurricane, Jose, which was spinning in the Atlantic about 1,130km west of Florida. About Two-and-a-half months remain in the Atlantic hurricane season, which starts in June.

VIENNA — The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday Iran was abiding by the rules set out in a nuclear accord it signed with six world powers in 2015, after Washington suggested it was not adhering to the deal.

The State Department must notify Congress every 90 days of Iran's compliance with the deal. The next deadline is October and US President Donald Trump has said he thinks by then the United States will declare Iran non-compliant.

Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Iran had not broken any promises and was not receiving special treatment.

"The nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the [deal] are being implemented," he said in the text of a speech to a quarterly meeting of the IAEA's 35-member board of governors. 

Most sanctions on Iran were lifted 18 months ago under the deal and, despite overstepping a limit on its stocks of one chemical, it has adhered to the key limitations imposed on it.

In April, Trump ordered a review of whether a suspension of sanctions on Iran related to the nuclear deal, negotiated under President Barack Obama, was in the US national security interest. He has called it “the worst deal ever negotiated”.

 The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, travelled to Vienna last month to speak with Amano about Iran and asked if the IAEA planned to inspect Iranian military sites, something she has called for.

Iran dismissed the US demand as “merely a dream”.

Amano declined to comment on Haley’s statements when asked by reporters.

Iran has been applying an Additional Protocol, which is in force in dozens of nations and gives the IAEA access to sites, including military locations, to clarify questions or inconsistencies that may arise.

“We will continue to implement the Additional Protocol in Iran... as we do in other countries,” Amano said, referring to so-called complementary access visits granted under the protocol, details of which Amano said were confidential.

“I cannot tell you how many complementary accesses we have had, but I can tell you ... that we have had access to locations more frequently than many other countries with extensive nuclear programmes.”

 He called verification measures in Iran “the most robust regime” currently in existence.

In addition, the IAEA can request access to Iranian sites including military ones if it has concerns about activities or materials there that would violate the agreement, but it must show Iran the basis for those concerns.

That means new and credible information pointing to such a violation is required first, officials from the agency and major powers say. There is no indication that Washington has presented such information.

MIAMI/KISSIMMEE, Florida — Downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, Irma flooded several northern Florida cities with heavy rain and a high storm surge on Monday as it headed out of the state after cutting power to millions and ripping roofs off homes.

Irma, once ranked as one of the most powerful hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic, hit a wide swath of Florida over the past day, first making landfall on the Florida Keys Archipelago and then coming ashore south of Naples before heading up the west coast.

Now a tropical storm with sustained winds of up to 110km per hour, Irma was located about 56km west of Gainesville and headed up the Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said at 8am ET (1200 GMT).

The Cuban government reported on Monday that 10 people had been killed after Irma battered the island’s north coast with ferocious winds and 11 metre waves over the weekend. This raised the overall death toll from Irma’s powerful rampage through the Caribbean to 38.

Northeastern Florida cities including Jacksonville were facing flash flooding, with the city’s sheriff’s office pulling residents from waist-deep water.

“Stay inside. Go up. Not out,” Jacksonville’s website warned residents. “There is flooding throughout the city and more rain is expected.”

Heart-pounding night

After what she called a terrifying night bunkered in her house in St Petersburg, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, with her children and extended family, Julie Hally emerged with relief on Monday. The winds had toppled some large tree branches and part of a fence, but her house was undamaged. 

“My heart just pounded out of my chest the whole time,” said Hally, 37. “You hear stuff hitting your roof. It honestly sounds like somebody is just whistling at your window the whole night. It’s really scary.”

Governor Rick Scott said he would travel later on Monday to the Florida Keys. Irma first came ashore at Cudjoe Key as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 215kph.

The state’s largest city, Miami, was spared the brunt of the storm but still saw heavy flooding. Utility crews were already on the streets there clearing downed trees and utility lines. All causeways leading to Miami Beach were closed by police.

As it travelled through the centre of the state early on Monday, Irma brought gusts of up to 100 to 160kph and torrential rain to areas around Orlando, one of the most popular areas for tourism in Florida because of its cluster of theme parks, the National Weather Service said.

A piece of a McDonald’s “golden arch” sign hung in a tree near the fast-food restaurant in the central Florida city of Kissimmee on Monday morning. Valerie Gilleece, 55, had ridden out the storm in the city because her wheelchair-bound husband insisted on it, she said.

“I’m just thanking God to be alive,” Gilleece said. “I wanted to go from the start but he’s stubborn as hell.”

 Over the weekend, Irma claimed its first US fatality — a man found dead in a pickup truck that had crashed into a tree in high winds in the town of Marathon, in the Florida Keys, local officials said.

During its passage through the Caribbean en route to Florida, Irma was ranked at the rare top end of the scale of hurricane intensity, a Category 5, for days. It carried maximum sustained winds of up to 295 kph when it crashed into the island of Barbuda on Wednesday.

Ahead of Irma’s arrival, some 6.5 million people in southern Florida, about a third of the state’s population, were ordered to evacuate their homes. Some 200,000 were housed in shelters during the storm, according to federal officials.

The storm did some $20 billion to $40 billion in damage to insured property as it tore through Florida, catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimated.

That estimate, lower than earlier forecasts of up to $50 billion in insured losses, drove insurance company shares higher on Monday. Florida-based insurers Federated National, HCI Group and Universal Insurance were all up more than 12 per cent. Meanwhile, Europe’s insurance index was the biggest sectoral gainer, up 2 per cent and set for its best day in more than four months.

High winds snapped power lines and left about 5.8 million Florida homes and businesses without power, state data showed.

Miami International Airport, one of the busiest in the country, halted passenger flights through at least Monday. According to the FlightAware.com tracking site, a total of 3,582 US flights were cancelled on Monday, mostly as a result of the storm.

Irma was forecast to cross the eastern Florida Panhandle and move into southern Georgia later in the day, dumping as much as 41cm of rain, government forecasters said.

Police in Miami-Dade County said they had made 29 arrests for looting and burglary.