BBC News Briefing

22 May, 2024

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called a general election on 4 July, the first to take place in the country in nearly five years. Chris Mason explains the timing's significance. In Myanmar, Quentin Sommerville reports on the young fighters taking on the regime - he's spent a month in the east of the country living alongside resistance groups. We're also hearing from India's D-voters prevented from taking part in the election, and taking a look at the world's most expensive feather.

GET UP TO SPEED

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Model Crystal McKinney has accused Sean "Diddy" Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2003, the latest allegation against the rapper. Representatives of Mr Combs have been approached for comment.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

The first UK July election since 1945

Rishi Sunak speaks outside Number 10 Downing Street under pouring rain.

Mr Sunak became prime minister in October 2022 after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest. Credit: Reuters

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced 4 July as the date of the next general election as rain poured down and music blasted from just outside the Downing Street gates. It's the first July election to be held in the country since 1945, and it has taken some by surprise.

Chris Mason, political editor

Was a UK summer election expected?

For weeks there had been a growing expectation the election would be held in the autumn, giving the prime minister at least two years in office and giving the economic outlook a greater opportunity to improve.

What's the reasoning for holding a vote sooner rather than later?

Those making that argument felt that things might not improve much. Also, the perceived desire of the electorate to have a say soon might risk making any Conservative defeat worse if the appointment with voters was pushed back.

What can we expect from the electoral campaign?

The Conservatives will say over and over again: Be careful what you wish for. Labour and others will say over and over again it is time for change. The outcome will be quite something, whatever happens. Either the opinion polls are broadly right and the party of government will change, or they are wrong and it will be one of the biggest upsets in recent years.

More analysis

Labour's reaction: Speaking shortly after Mr Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer has told voters the election would be a chance to change the country "for the better".

Tracker: Where the main parties stand, according to multiple opinion polls.

Explainer: All you need to know about the upcoming UK general election.

AT THE SCENE

Eastern Myanmar

Youth fighting for a different country

A young man man wears a helmet, a Barcelona FC

Unlike most of the men around him, Nam Ree has a ballistic helmet. No-one has body armour. Credit: BBC

After decades of military rule and repression, ethnic groups and a new army of young insurgent have brought the Myanmar regime to a crisis point. In the past seven months, somewhere between half and two-thirds of the country has fallen to the resistance.

Quentin Sommerville, senior correspondent

Nam Ree, a 22-year-old with the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, KNDF, explains why he joined the resistance. “The dogs [a commonly used insult for the military] have been unjust. They carried out an unlawful military coup. We, the youth, are discontented with it,” he says.

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The KNDF are a new force of young fighters and commanders which appeared after the coup. Ethnic armed groups have been fighting against the military in Karenni - also known as Kayah state - for decades. But the KNDF has brought them unity and battlefield success.

Read in full

Watch: Footage seen by the BBC shows men from Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya minority at an army training camp, being taught how to use rifles.

Refuge abroad: Mae Sot, on Thailand's western edge, has become a safe haven for men seeking to escape conscription from Myanmar.

Cyber slavery: The UN has estimated more than 120,000 people, most of them men from Asia, have been forced to work in scam centres in Myanmar.

THE BIG PICTURE

The 'doubtful Indians' barred from voting

A man holds up identification papers to the camera

In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would solve the D-voter issue and abolish detention camps from the state. Credit: BBC

In India's northeastern state of Assam, there are some 97,000 voters who have a "D" for "doubtful" marked against their name, indicating that their Indian citizenship is under question and are thus barred from voting.

How this happened

One of the pictures from Ameriguns by Gabriele Galimberti portrays a family outside their homes, with all their guns laid out before them

FOR YOUR DOWNTIME

Dual meanings

The American Dream has come to represent both a utopia and a dystopia.

Find out more

And finally... in New Zealand

A single feather of the now extinct huia bird has set a world record after being sold for NZD$46,521.50 ($28,417; £22,409) at an auction. Take a look.

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– Sofia

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