World News Roundup: Myanmar's Suu Kyi denies junta charge of incitement to cause alarm - media; Sudan's Burhan says army ousted government to avoid civil war and more

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had said it would accept a non-political figure from Myanmar, but the junta on Monday rejected that, saying it would only agree to its leader or a minister attending. Merkel looks on as new-era parliament convenes German lawmakers gathered on Tuesday, as a new parliament featuring more women and members from ethnic minorities than ever before met for the first time while outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel looked on from the visitors' gallery.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi denies junta charge of incitement to cause alarm - media

Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has denied a charge of incitement to cause public alarm, media reported on Tuesday, in her first court testimony since a February coup plunged the country into chaos and ended a decade of democratic reform. Citing lawyers, BBC Burmese and Myanmar Now reported that Suu Kyi had denied incitement in connection with her party publishing a letter in February calling on international organisations not to cooperate with the junta.

Sudan's Burhan says army ousted government to avoid civil war

Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan defended the army's seizure of power on Tuesday, saying he had ousted the government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to avoid civil war. Speaking at his first news conference since he announced the takeover on Monday, Burhan accused politicians of incitement against the armed forces. He said Hamdok was confined in his own home and had not been harmed.

Activists disrupt Paris climate finance meeting before COP26

Activists disrupted a green finance summit in Paris on Tuesday, saying that French President Emmanuel Macron had failed to get serious on investing in combating climate change. Macron's government says it is committed to meeting its climate targets, including going carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

U.S. FDA advisers weigh Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children

An expert panel will weigh authorization of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 on Tuesday as it prepares to vote on a recommendation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The panel's vote is an important regulatory step in getting the vaccine into the arms of millions of children in the United States where schools are largely open for in-person learning.

Myanmar junta rebuked by SE Asian leaders after ASEAN summit no-show

Southeast Asian leaders sharply criticised Myanmar's junta as a regional summit opened on Tuesday without a representative from the country, following its top general's exclusion for ignoring a peace roadmap agreed six months ago. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had said it would accept a non-political figure from Myanmar, but the junta on Monday rejected that, saying it would only agree to its leader or a minister attending.

Merkel looks on as new-era parliament convenes

German lawmakers gathered on Tuesday, as a new parliament featuring more women and members from ethnic minorities than ever before met for the first time while outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel looked on from the visitors' gallery. Comprising lawmakers of the youngest ever average age and including the first two transgender women deputies, the lower house chamber, or Bundestag, convened to elect a speaker and other members of its presidium.

In Kabul children's hospital, medics struggle with staff shortages

In Kabul's main children's hospital, the crumbling of Afghanistan's health system is reflected in the eyes of exhausted staff as they eke out fast-diminishing stocks of medicines. As crowds of mothers and sick children fill waiting rooms in the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital, medical staff are squeezing three babies into a single incubator and doubling them up in cot-like infant warmer beds.

Swedish death toll in COVID-19 pandemic passes 15,000

Sweden has registered 9 new COVID-19 deaths since Friday, pushing the death toll since the start of the pandemic past 15,000, data showed on Tuesday. The grim milestone was reached with deaths having started to creep up again after a summer lull in the pandemic, although they remain far below the peak levels seen last winter.

China urges faster COVID-19 testing amid latest outbreak

China is demanding faster and more accessible COVID-19 testing services in its latest effort to reinforce a zero-tolerance policy against the virus, even when cities have already scrambled to test millions in just a few days amid outbreaks. Frequent testing, and sometimes mass testing, is standard practice in China's containment of domestically transmitted outbreaks in the past year, but health authorities say testing services remain unsatisfactory in parts of China amid flare-ups.

UK's Queen Elizabeth carries out first duty since hospital stay

Britain's Queen Elizabeth carried out her first official engagement on Tuesday since spending a night in hospital and being ordered to rest by her doctors. The 95-year-old queen, the world's oldest and longest-reigning monarch, stayed overnight at London's King Edward VII private hospital last Wednesday after undergoing "preliminary investigations" for an unspecified but not COVID-19 related ailment.

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