Myanmar junta to release 6,000 prisoners in annual amnesty

Myanmar's embattled junta government said it would release almost 6,000 prisoners as part of an annual amnesty to mark the country's independence day. More than 5,800 prisoners, including 180 foreigners, will be freed, the junta said in a statement on Saturday, when the country marks 77 years of independence from British colonial rule. It did not give details of what the prisoners had been convicted of or the nationalities of the foreign detainees who were set to be deported on release.