Category Archives: Myanmar

Destitute survivors of south-east Asia’s cyberscam farms an ‘international crisis’

Posted on by

Not enough support for freed victims, say aid agencies, with growing numbers sleeping on the streets, unable to travel home without passports or money

Charities and aid workers have called for urgent international government support for victims of south-east Asia’s deadly scam compounds, following a damning report by Amnesty International.

The numbers of survivors of cyberscam “farms” left destitute and abandoned on the city streets of Cambodia and Myanmar is an “international crisis”, according to the research published in January.

Continue reading...

Junta hails end to US protected status for Myanmar nationals

Posted on by

Human rights monitors say it is not safe to return, citing reports of ‘serious crimes in the run-up to elections’

Myanmar’s junta applauded the Trump administration on Wednesday for halting a scheme that protected its citizens from deportation from the US back to their war-racked homeland.

About 4,000 Myanmar citizens are living in the US with temporary protected status (TPS), which shields foreign nationals from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work.

Continue reading...

Thailand to let Myanmar refugees work to counter aid cuts and labour shortages

Posted on by

The move, welcomed by UN, will allow thousands of people living in camps to support themselves and their families

Thailand is setting a global precedent this month by giving refugees permission to work in the country in an effort to tackle aid cuts and its own labour shortages.

More than 87,000 refugees living in nine refugee camps along Thailand’s border with Myanmar have been totally reliant on handouts of food and foreign aid.

Continue reading...

Thousands detained as Myanmar military raids notorious KK park scam compound

Posted on by

Myanmar's military moved in to tackle a major online scam operation near the Thailand border, state media reported

Myanmar’s military has raided a major online scam operation near the border with Thailand, detaining more than 2,000 people and seizing dozens of Starlink satellite internet terminals, state media has reported.

According to a report in Monday’s Myanma Alinn newspaper, Myanmar’s army raided KK Park, a well-documented cybercrime centre, as part of operations starting in early September to suppress online fraud, illegal gambling, and cross-border cybercrime.

Continue reading...

US Congress committee investigating Musk-owned Starlink over Myanmar scam centres

Posted on by

Provision of internet access to scam centres being investigated as Starlink swiftly becomes Myanmar’s biggest internet service provider

A powerful bipartisan committee in the US Congress says it has begun an investigation into the involvement of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite business in providing internet access to Myanmar scam centres, blamed for swindling billions from victims across the world.

The move comes as it was revealed that large numbers of Starlink dishes began appearing on scam-centre roofs in Myanmar around the time of a crackdown in February that was supposed to eradicate the centres, according to a investigation by Agence France-Presse

Continue reading...

China court sentences 11 people to death over alleged role in family-run Myanmar scam operations

Posted on by

Another five people given suspended death sentences over alleged role in gang that operated scam centres and illegal gambling worth $1.4bn

A court in China has sentenced 11 people to death for their alleged roles in a family-run crime syndicate accused of running illegal gambling and scam operations worth more than $1.4bn, and for the deaths of workers who disobeyed them.

The Wenzhou intermediate people’s court on Monday sentenced 11 members of the powerful Ming family in Kokang, Myanmar to death while another five were handed death sentences suspended for two years.

Continue reading...

Historic Myanmar bridge destroyed in fighting

Posted on by

The renowned Gokteik bridge was bombed on Sunday, with the ruling military junta and rebel forces blaming each other for its destruction

A colonial-era bridge in Myanmar that was once the world’s tallest railway trestle has been destroyed during fighting in the years-long conflict.

A civil war has consumed Myanmar since a 2021 coup deposed the civilian government, with the military battling myriad pro-democracy guerrilla groups and ethnic armed organisations.

Continue reading...

London museum tells forgotten story of African and Indian troops in second world war

Posted on by

National Army Museum’s Beyond Burma exhibition examines stories of soldiers from Britain’s colonies

The forgotten story of African and Indian troops who fought in south Asia against Japanese forces during the second world war and who have largely been omitted from the official history is to be brought to life in a London exhibition.

The National Army Museum’s Beyond Burma: Forgotten Armies show includes rare items from Indian and African soldiers who toiled in some of the harshest conditions seen anywhere during the conflict.

Continue reading...

Myanmar army detaining two-year-olds as proxies for parents, witnesses tell UN

Posted on by

Investigators warn in a report that ‘frequency and brutality’ of atrocities in the country are continuing to escalate

Children as young as two years old have been detained by Myanmar’s military, often as proxies for their parents, and held in prison facilities where there is systematic torture, UN investigators have warned.

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which was set up to document and share evidence of abuse with national, regional and international courts, said in a report that the “frequency and brutality” of atrocities inside the country had continued to escalate, more than four years after the military seized power in a coup in February 2021.

Continue reading...

Myanmar military junta using European technology for drone attacks, report says

Posted on by

Junta obtained ‘anti-jamming’ product made in Europe through a Chinese company, research finds, triggering calls for tighter sanctions

Myanmar’s military is using advanced European technology to protect its drone fleet as it carries out brutal aerial campaigns, research suggests, prompting calls for sanctions against the junta to be tightened.

Myanmar’s military, which has been widely condemned for its indiscriminate attacks against civilians, obtained “anti-jamming” technology made in Europe through a Chinese company, according to a report by Conflict Armament Research (Car).

Continue reading...

Myanmar junta ends state of emergency as it prepares for elections

Posted on by

Opposition groups have vowed to snub poll that has been dismissed as ‘a fraud’ designed to legitimise military’s rule

Myanmar’s junta has ended the country’s state of emergency, stepping up preparations for a December election that is being boycotted by opposition groups and criticised by international monitors.

The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a many-sided civil war that has claimed thousands of lives.

Continue reading...

Shunned Myanmar leader thrilled at US contact after Trump tariff letter

Posted on by

Min Aung Hlaing expresses ‘sincere appreciation’ for letter from US president threatening 40% tariff

Myanmar’s military leader has praised Donald Trump and asked him to lift sanctions, as the junta sought to capitalise on a tariff letter from the US president believed to be Washington’s first public recognition of its rule.

Min Aung Hlaing, who has been in power since a 2021 coup, expressed his “sincere appreciation” for Trump’s letter, which threatened a tariff of 40% on its goods, and commended the US president for his “strong leadership” and for guiding the US “toward national prosperity with the spirit of a true patriot”.

Continue reading...

South Sudan says eight deportees from the US are under government care

Posted on by

Deportees include two people from Myanmar, two from Cuba, and one each from Vietnam, Laos and Mexico

War-torn South Sudan has said it is holding a group of eight men controversially deported from the United States.

Only one of them is from South Sudan. The rest comprise two people from Myanmar, two from Cuba, and one each from Vietnam, Laos and Mexico.

Continue reading...

US supreme court clears way for Trump to deport migrants to countries not their own

Posted on by

Justices lift judicial order, handing victory to US president in his aggressive pursuit of mass deportations

The US supreme court on Monday paved the way for the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to countries they are not from, including to conflict-ridden places such as South Sudan.

In a brief, unsigned order, the court’s conservative supermajority paused the ruling by a Boston-based federal judge who said immigrants deserved a “meaningful opportunity” to bring claims that they would face the risk of torture, persecution or even death if removed to certain countries that have agreed to take people deported from the US.

Continue reading...

UN calls on Trump to exempt poorest countries from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

Posted on by

Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US

The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.

In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.

Continue reading...

War-torn and struggling countries among those facing steepest Trump reciprocal tariffs

Posted on by

Myanmar, which is reeling from a huge earthquake and civil war, faces 44% rate amid suspicions that the underlying target is China

Developing nations in South-east Asia, including war-torn and earthquake-hit Myanmar, and several African nations are among the trading partners facing the highest tariffs set by US President Donald Trump.

Upending decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war, Trump on Wednesday announced a raft of tariffs he said were designed to stop the US economy from being “cheated”.

Continue reading...

Aftermath of the Myanmar earthquake – a visual guide

Posted on by

The 7.7 magnitude quake on Friday wrought destruction across central areas of the country, including the capital

A devastating earthquake has wrought destruction across central Myanmar, toppling ancient sites, bringing down hospital buildings and collapsing homes.

The 7.7 magnitude quake on Friday was followed by a number of aftershocks along the Sagaing fault. It also caused damage in neighbouring Thailand, where a skyscraper under construction collapsed in Bangkok.

Continue reading...

Myanmar healthcare facilities overwhelmed, WHO says, and scale of earthquake deaths and injuries ‘not fully understood’ – as it happened

Posted on by

World Health Organization issues flash appeal for $8m of emergency support amid frantic search for survivors

AFP has spoken to relatives anxiously waiting at the site of a collapsed building in Bangkok.

Daodee Paruay said she had been at the site for two days, hoping for a miracle. Her brother was an electrician working on site, and he is believed to be under the rubble. “We wait, we wait.” she said.

Continue reading...

Myanmar earthquake: woman trapped for days pulled alive from the rubble

Posted on by

Brief moment of relief as rescue workers carry a woman from the rubble of a hotel in Mandalay after a five-hour operation

A woman trapped beneath the remains of a hotel building for nearly 60 hours after a devastating earthquake struck Myanmar was pulled alive from the rubble on Monday, officials said, in a rare moment of hope for rescue teams scrambling to find survivors.

Rescuers, many of them unequipped volunteers, have spent days trying to free people from buildings collapsed following Friday’s huge earthquake, which killed more than 1,700 people in the country and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.

Continue reading...

Volunteer rescuers race to find survivors two days after Myanmar earthquake

Posted on by

Red Cross says devastation is of a level not seen in Asia for over a century as more than 1,700 people killed

Rescue volunteers, many of them poorly equipped local people, raced to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings across central Myanmar, two days after a huge earthquake killed more than 1,700 people in the country and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.

Red Cross officials said Myanmar was facing “a level of devastation that hasn’t been seen over a century in Asia”, after a 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the centre of the country on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.

Continue reading...