BANGKOK — A dramatic story of survival and rescue off the western coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province has put the spotlight again on the plight of ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar who make extremely dangerous voyages across the Indian Ocean to seek better lives. Desperate survivors were pulled to safety from their capsized boat … Read more
BANGKOK — Thwel, a 25-year-old schoolteacher, saw very few options left to her after Myanmar’s military announced it is implementing conscription to fill its ranks. “As a person living in this country, I only have two options: to go abroad illegally or die here,” Thwel told The Associated Press by phone while traveling to a … Read more
Takeshi Ebisawa, a 60-year-old Japanese man—believed by U.S. officials to be a leader within the organized crime syndicate Yakuza—has been charged with conspiring to traffic nuclear substances from Myanmar to other countries with the expectation that Iran would eventually use them for its weapons program. Federal prosecutors said that Ebisawaand three co-conspirators had allegedly been … Read more
Accounts from Myanmar army soldiers who have surrendered or defected over the past three months reveal that the military is suffering from plunging morale and overstretched logistics amid a rebel offensive that has prompted mass surrenders. These accounts, provided by more than 30 soldiers, suggest that the rebels’ recent battlefield successes go beyond mere territorial … Read more
DHAKA, Bangladesh — More than 100 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police have fled their posts and taken shelter in Bangladesh to escape fighting between Myanmar security forces and an ethnic minority army, an official with Bangladesh’s border agency said Monday. It is the first time that Myanmar forces have been known to flee into … Read more
SYDNEY — Across a treacherous stretch of water, the Rohingya came by the thousands, then died by the hundreds. And though they know the dangers of fleeing by boat, many among this persecuted people say they will not stop — because the world has left them with no other choice. Last year, nearly 4,500 Rohingya … Read more
LUANG PRABANG, Laos — China’s growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea and escalating violence in Myanmar topped the agenda for Southeast Asian diplomats meeting in Laos on Monday. The gathering is the first high-level meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations since Laos took over the rotating chairmanship. The diplomats for the … Read more
BEIJING — Myanmar’s military has reached a cease-fire agreement with an alliance of ethnic minority guerrilla groups it has been battling in the country’s northeast, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday. Myanmar’s military government confirmed the development, as did the ethnic alliance. The agreement was brokered at talks mediated by China on Wednesday and Thursday … Read more
BEIJING — Myanmar’s military has reached a cease-fire agreement with an alliance of ethnic minority guerrilla groups it has been battling in the country’s northeast, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday. Myanmar’s militray government confirmed the development. The agreement was brokered at talks mediated by China on Wednesday and Thursday in Kunming, a Chinese provincial … Read more
BANGKOK — Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on a village under the control of the pro-democracy resistance in the country’s northwest have killed at least 17 civilians, including nine children, local residents and a human rights group said Sunday. The morning aerial attacks on Kanan village in Sagaing region’s Khampat town, just south of the Indian … Read more