Rohingyas living in Cox's Bazar are among those evacuated to safe shelters as the powerful storm crosses the eastern Bay of Bengal.

Deaths were reported in Myanmar after the storm tore down homes, trees and blew the roofs of shelters. Mocha is the most powerful cyclone to hit the region since 2007.

Since seizing power in a 2021 coup, the junta has used the imported weapons "to commit atrocities" against civilians, a United Nations expert said in a report.

Rakhine state was badly hit by the strongest storm in at least a decade. Local officials fear the number of victims is much higher, while the UN says 800,000 people urgently need food aid.

Since the military's coup on February 1, 2021, the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Burma has only grown more dire, with reports indicating nearly 3,000 killed, nearly 17,000 detained, and more than 1.5 million displaced.

Despite Noeleen Heyzer's connections with Myanmar's military-installed government, her efforts to end the conflict in the country made little progress.

Parts of western India and southern Pakistan are bracing for winds and flash flooding as fast-approaching Cyclone Biparjoy moves toward landfall.

Bangladesh is scheduled to hold general elections by January 2024, and observers say the EU has a key role to play in ensuring that the polls are free of electoral manipulation and misconduct.

Some say exports to the European Union are essential to provide a livelihood to ordinary people in Myanmar. Others argue that importing products plays into the junta's narrative that it's business as usual.

Protesters called on Prime Minister Hasina to step down and form a caretaker government to lead the country during next year's elections. Several Western countries have condemned Hasina's government over rights abuses.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since Myanmar's democratically elected government was overthrown in a 2021 military coup. The junta has said the partial pardon will shave 6 years off a 33-year sentence.

The pardon granted to Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi will cut her sentence by six years, but the junta still intends to keep her locked up for decades. Regime opponents dismiss the move as a "political trick."