Myanmar authorities burn $446m in illegal drugs

June 27, 2023

Myanmar authorities torched almost half a billion dollars of illegal drugs but warned they are failing to stop a surge in the production and trafficking of narcotics, Al Jazeera reports. Head-high piles of heroin, cannabis, methamphetamines, and opium were burned on Monday in the commercial hub Yangon in an annual spectacle to mark International Day […]Continue Reading

Mercenary chief Prigozhin starts exile in Belarus, Putin praises Russian troops

June 27, 2023

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal that ended a brief mutiny by his fighters, as President Vladimir Putin praised his armed forces for averting a civil war. A plane linked to Prigozhin and believed to be carrying him into exile was shown on a flight tracking service taking […]Continue Reading

Rohingya IDP Camp Relocated by Myanmar Junta to a ‘Sea of Mud’

June 23, 2023

Internally displaced Rohingya people who were forcefully relocated from a camp near Kyauk Talone Pagoda in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu town in western Myanmar are facing food shortages and illness at a new camp one camp resident describes as a “sea of mud”, The Irrawaddy reports. The new camp, about 400 meters from the previous one, […]Continue Reading

US places sanctions on Myanmar’s defence ministry, banks

June 22, 2023

The United States said on Wednesday it is imposing sanctions on Myanmar’s Defense Ministry and two “regime-controlled” banks that enable transactions between the military regime and foreign markets to buy arms and other materials, AFP reports. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February 2021 coup ousting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. According to Continue Reading

Thailand to Broker Talks for ASEAN to Reengage with Myanmar Junta Leaders

June 16, 2023

Thailand will hold an informal ministerial meeting with some regional countries next week to prepare the way for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to “fully re-engage Myanmar at the leaders’ level,” according to the meeting invitation letter from the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Irrawaddy reports. The letter, viewed by The Irrawaddy, […]Continue Reading

UN says Myanmar junta halts humanitarian access to cyclone survivors

June 10, 2023

Myanmar’s junta has suspended travel authorisations for aid workers trying to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the cyclone-ravaged Rakhine state, the UN’s humanitarian affairs office said Friday, AFP reports. Cyclone Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour) to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh last month, Continue Reading

Rohingya testify on Myanmar crackdown in Argentina court

June 8, 2023

Members of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority testified in person for the first time on Wednesday in Buenos Aires, as part of an Argentinian judicial investigation into alleged crimes by the Myanmar military, an activist told AFP. The hearing, behind closed doors, was “a historic day for everyone in Burma,” as Myanmar is also known, said […]Continue Reading

Cyclone Mocha’s Death Toll Reaches 202 in Myanmar

May 18, 2023

The death toll from Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar exceeded 200 on Wednesday as people on the ground started clearing away debris and counting casualties, with many fearing the death toll will climb far higher as hundreds are still missing, The Irrawaddy reports. Mocha made landfall on Myanmar’s west coast in Rakhine State on Sunday with […]Continue Reading

UN expert says Russia, China sending deadly aid to Myanmar’s military

May 17, 2023

Myanmar’s military has imported at least $1 billion in arms and other material since it staged a coup in February 2021, a UN expert said on Wednesday in a new report that calls out Russia and China for aiding the junta’s deadly campaign to crush its opposition, Reuters reports. Since the military seized power and […]Continue Reading

Rohingya in Myanmar count the dead after Cyclone Mocha

May 17, 2023

Rohingya families in cyclone-hit Myanmar buried loved ones outside shattered villages and searched the seashore for the missing, expecting little help from a government that denies their identity, AFP reports. Cyclone Mocha snapped bridges, downed power lines and ruptured close-lying huts in displacement camps and villages across Rakhine state, leaving tens of thousands of Continue Reading